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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mexico and its Religion, by Robert A. Wilson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Mexico and its Religion
+       With Incidents of Travel in That Country During Parts of
+       the Years 1851-52-53-54, and Historical Notices of Events
+       Connected With Places Visited
+
+Author: Robert A. Wilson
+
+Release Date: May 14, 2007 [EBook #21430]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEXICO AND ITS RELIGION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: SANTA ANNA.]
+
+
+
+MEXICO AND ITS RELIGION;
+
+WITH
+
+INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN THAT COUNTRY
+DURING PARTS OF THE YEARS 1851-52-53-54,
+
+AND
+
+HISTORICAL NOTICES OF EVENTS
+CONNECTED WITH PLACES VISITED.
+
+
+
+BY
+
+ROBERT A. WILSON.
+
+
+
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+NEW YORK:
+HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
+FRANKLIN SQUARE.
+1855.
+
+
+
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year
+one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, by
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS,
+
+In the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York.
+
+
+
+
+TO
+
+THE AMERICAN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES,
+
+THE FOLLOWING PAGES
+
+Are Respectfully Dedicated.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The custom of mingling together historical events with the incidents of
+travel, of amusement with instruction, is rather a Spanish than
+American practice; and in adopting it, I must crave the indulgence of
+those of my readers who read only for instruction, as well as of those
+who read only for amusement.
+
+The evidence that I have adduced to prove that the yellow fever is not
+an American, but an African disease, imported in slave-ships, and
+periodically renewed from those cargoes of human rottenness and
+putrefaction, I hope will be duly considered.
+
+The picture of inner convent life, and the inimitable gambling scene in
+the convent of San Francis, I have not dared to present on my own
+responsibility, nor even that of the old English black-letter edition
+of Friar Thomas, but I have reproduced it from the expurgated Spanish
+edition, which has passed the censors, and must therefore be considered
+official.
+
+I have presumed to follow the great Las Casas, who called all the
+historians of the Conquest of Mexico liars; and though his labored
+refutation of their fictions has disappeared, yet, fortunately, the
+natural evidences of their untruth still remain. Having before me the
+surveys and the levels of our own engineers, I have presumed to doubt
+that water ever ran up hill, that navigable canals were ever fed by
+"back water," that pyramids (_teocalli_) could rest on a foundation of
+soft earth, that a canal twelve feet broad by twelve feet deep, mostly
+below the water level, was ever dug by Indians with their rude
+implements, that gardens ever floated in mud, or that brigantines ever
+sailed in a salt marsh, or even that 100,000 men ever entered the
+mud-built city of Mexico by a narrow causeway in the morning, and after
+fighting all day returned by the same path at night to their camp, or
+that so large a besieging army as 150,000 men could be supported in a
+salt-marsh valley, surrounded by high mountains.
+
+In answer to the question why such fables have so long passed for
+history, I have the ready answer, that the Inquisition controlled every
+printing-office in Spain and her colonies, and its censors took good
+care that nothing should be printed against the fair fame of so good a
+Christian as Cortéz, who had painted upon his banner an image of the
+Immaculate Virgin, and had bestowed upon her a large portion of his
+robbery; who had gratified the national taste for holy wars by writing
+one of the finest of Spanish romances of history; who had induced the
+Emperor to overlook his crime of levying war without a royal license by
+the bestowal of rich presents and rich provinces; so that, by the favor
+of the Emperor and the favor of the Inquisition, a _filibustero_,
+whose atrocities surpassed those of every other on record, has come
+down to us as a Christian hero.
+
+The innumerable little things about their Indian mounds force the
+conviction on the experienced eye of an American traveler that the
+Aztecs were a horde of North American savages, who had precipitated
+themselves first upon the table-land, and afterward, like the Goths
+from the table-lands of Spain, extended their conquests over the
+expiring civilization of the coast country; and this idea is confirmed
+by the fact that the magnificent Toltec monuments of a remote
+antiquity, discovered in the tropical forests, were apparently unknown
+to the Aztecs. The conquest of Mexico, like our conquest of California,
+was in itself a small affair; but both being immediately followed by
+extensive discoveries of the precious metals, Mexico rose as rapidly
+into opulence as San Francisco has in our day.
+
+The evidence that I have presented of the inexhaustible supplies of
+silver in Northern Mexico, near the route of our proposed Pacific
+Railroad, may be interesting to legislators. These masses of silver lie
+as undisturbed by their present owners as did the Mexican discoveries
+of gold in California before the American conquest, from the inertness
+of the local population, and the want of facilities of communication
+with the city of Mexico.
+
+The notion that the Mormons are destined to overrun Mexico is, of
+course, only an inference drawn from the exact parallel that exists
+between the circumstances under which this delusion has arisen and
+propagated itself and the history of Mohammedanism from its rise until
+it overran the degenerated Christians of the Eastern empire.
+
+From want of space, I have been obliged to omit much valuable original
+matter procured for me by officers of government at the palace of
+Mexico, to whom, for the kind attention that I have upon all occasions
+received from them, I heartily return my most sincere thanks.
+
+R. A. WILSON.
+
+Rochester, September 1st, 1855.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Arrival at Vera Cruz.--Its appearance from the Steamer.--Getting
+Ashore.--Within the City.--Throwing Stones at an Image.--Antiquity
+of Vera Cruz.--Its Commerce.--The great Norther of 1852.--A little
+Steamer rides out the Tempest.--The Vomito, or Yellow Fever.--Ravages
+of the Vomito.--The Vomito brought from Africa in Slave-ships.--A
+curious old Book.--Our Monk arrives at Vera Cruz, and what befalls
+him there.--Life in a Convent.--A nice young Prior.--Our Monk finds
+himself in another World                                           15
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+An historical Sketch.--Truth seldom spoken of Santa Anna.--Santa
+Anna's early Life.--Causes of the Revolution.--The Virgin Mary's
+Approval of King Ferdinand.--The Inquisition imprisons the
+Vice-King.--Santa Anna enters the King's Army.--The plan of
+Iguala.--The War of the two Virgins.--Santa Anna pronounces for
+Independence                                                       30
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Incidents of Travel.--The Great Road to the Interior.--Mexican
+Diligences.--The Priest was the first Passenger robbed.--The
+National Bridge.--A Conducta of Silver.--Our Monk visits Old Vera
+Cruz.--They grant to the Indians forty Years of Indulgence in
+return for their Hospitality.--The Artist among Robbers.--Mexican
+Scholars in the United States.--Encerro                            39
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Jalapa.--The extraordinary Beauty and Fertility of this
+Spot.--Jalap, Sarsaparilla, Myrtle, Vanilla, Cochineal, and Wood
+of Tobasco.--The charming Situation of Jalapa.--Its Flowers and
+its Fruits.--Magnificent Views.--The tradition that Jalapa was
+Paradise.--A speck of War.--The Marriage of a Heretic.--A
+gambling Scene in a Convent                                        52
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+The War of the Secret Political Societies of Mexico.--The Scotch
+and the York Free-Masons.--Anti-Masons.--Rival Classes compose
+Scotch Lodges.--The Yorkinos.--Men desert from the Scotch to the
+York Lodges.--Law to suppress Secret Societies.--The Escocés, or
+Scotch Masons, take up arms.--The Battle.--Their total Defeat      68
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Mexico becomes an Empire.--Santa Anna deposes the Emperor.--He
+proclaims a Republic.--He pronounces against the Election of
+Pedraza, the second President.--His Situation in the Convent at
+Oajaca.--He captures the Spanish Armada.--And is made General of
+Division                                                           73
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+In the Stage and out of the Stage.--Still climbing.--A moment's
+View of all the Kingdoms of the World.--Again in Obscurity.--The
+Maguey, or Century Plant.--The many uses of the Maguey.--The
+intoxicating juice of the Maguey.--Pulque.--Immense Consumption
+of Pulque.--City of Perote.--Castle of San Carlos de
+Perote.--Starlight upon the Table-land.--Tequisquita.--"The Bad
+Land."--A very old Beggar.--Arrive at Puebla                       79
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Pueblo.--The Miracle of the Angels.--A City of Priests.--Marianna
+in Bronze.--The Vega of Puebla.--First View of the Pyramid of
+Cholula.--Modern Additions to it.--The View from its
+Top.--Quetzalcoatl.--Cholula and Tlascala.--Cholula without the
+Poetry.--Indian Relics                                             88
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A Ride to Popocatapetl.--The Village of Atlizco.--The old Man
+of Atlizco and the Inquisition.--A novel Mode of Escape.--An
+avenging Ghost.--The Vice-King Ravillagigedo.--The Court of the
+Vice-King and the Inquisition.--Ascent of Popocatapetl.--How
+a Party perished by Night.--The Crater and the House in
+it.--Descent into the Crater.--The Interior.--The Workmen in
+the Volcano.--The View from Popocatapetl.--The first White that
+climbed Popocatapetl.--The Story of Corchado.--Corchado converts
+the Volcano into a Sulphur-mine                                   101
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Texas.--Battle of Madina.--First Introduction of Americans into
+Texas.--Usurpation of Bustamente.--Texas owed no Allegiance to
+the Usurper.--The good Faith of the United States in the
+Acquisition of Louisiana and Texas.--Santa Anna pronounces
+against Bustamente.--Santa Anna in Texas.--A Mexican's
+Denunciation of the Texan War.--His Idea of our Revolution.--He
+complains of our grasping Spirit.--The right of the United States
+to occupy unsettled Territory.--A few more Pronunciamientos of
+Santa Anna.--The Adventures of Santa Anna to the present Date.    113
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+From Puebla to Mexico.--The Dread of Robbers.--The
+Escort.--Tlascala.--The Exaggerations of Cortéz and Bernal
+Diaz.--The Truth about Tlascala.--The Advantages of Tlascala
+to Cortéz.--Who was Bernal Diaz.--Who wrote his History.--First
+View of Mexico.                                                   122
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+Acapulco.--The Advantages of a Western Voyage to India.--The
+great annual Fair of Acapulco.--The Village and Harbor of
+Acapulco.--The War of Santa Anna and Alvarez.--The
+Retreat.--Traveling alone and unarmed.--The Peregrino
+Pass.--Quiricua and Cretinism.--Chilpanzingo.--An ill-clad
+Judge.--Iguala.--Alpayaca.--Cuarnavaca.                           132
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+California.--Pearl Fisheries.--Missions.--Indian
+Marriages.--Villages.--Precious Metals.--The Conquest of
+California compared with that of Mexico.--Upper California under
+the Spaniards.--Mexican Conquest of California in 1825.--The
+March.--The Conquest.--California under the Mexicans.--American
+Conquest.--Sinews of foreign Wars.--A Protestant and religious
+War.--Early Settlers compared.--Mexico in the Heyday of
+Prosperity.--Rich Costume of the Women.--Superstitious
+Worship.--When I first saw California.--Lawyers without Laws.--A
+primitive Court.--A Territorial Judge in San Francisco.--Mistaken
+Philanthropy.--Mexican Side of the Picture.--Great Alms.--City of
+Mexico overwhelmed by a Water-spout.--The Superiority of
+Californians.                                                     142
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+First Sight of the Valley of Mexico.--A Venice in a mountain
+Valley.--An Emperor waiting his Murderers.--Cortéz mowing down
+unarmed Indians.--A new kind of Piety.--Capture of an
+Emperor.--Torturing an Emperor to Death.--The Children paying the
+Penalty of their Fathers' Crimes.--The Aztecs and other
+Indians.--The Difference is in the Historians.--The Superstitions
+of the Indians.--The Valley of Mexico.--An American Survey of the
+Valley.--A topographical View.--The Ponds Chalco, Xochimulco, and
+Tezcuco were never Lakes.                                         167
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+The Two Valleys.--The lake with a leaky Bottom.--The Water could
+not have been higher.--Nor could the Lagunas or Ponds have been
+much deeper.--The Brigantines only flat-bottomed Boats.--The
+Causeway Canals fix the size of the Brigantines.--The Street
+Canals.--Stagnant Water unfit for Canals.--The probable
+Dimensions of the City Canals.--Difficulties of disproving a
+Fiction.--A Dike or Levee.--The Canal of Huehuetoca.--The Map of
+Cortéz.--Wise Provision of Providence.--The Fiction about the
+numerous Cities in and about the Lake                             176
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+The Chinampas or Water Gardens.--Laws of Nature not set
+aside.--Mud will not float.--The present Chinampas.--They never
+could have been floating Gardens.--Relations of the Chinampas to
+the ancient State of the Lake in the Valley                       186
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+The gambling Festival of San Augustine.--Suppressed by
+Government.--The Losses of the Saint by the Suppression of
+Gambling.--How Travelers live in the Interior.--A Visit to the
+Palace                                                            192
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Visit to Contreras and San Angel.--The End of a brave Soldier.--A
+Place of Skulls.--A New England Dinner.--An Adventure with
+Robbers--doubtful.--Reasons for revisiting Mexico.--The Battle
+at the Mountain of Crosses.--A peculiar Variety of the
+Cactus.--Three Men gibbeted for robbing a Bishop.--A Court upon
+Horseback.--The retreat of Cortéz to Otumba.--A venerable Cypress
+Grove.--Unexpectedly comfortable Quarters.--An English Dinner at
+Tezcuco.--Pleasures unknown to the Kings of Tezcuco.--Relics of
+Tezcuco.--The Appearance of the Virgin Mary at Tezcuco.--The
+Causeways of Mexico                                               196
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+The Streets of Tacuba.--The Spaniards and the Indian Women.--The
+Retreat of Cortéz.--The Aqueducts of Mexico.--The English and
+American Burying-grounds.--The Protestant President.--The
+rival Virgins.--An Image out of Favor.--The Aztecs and the
+Spaniards                                                         208
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+The Paséo at Evening.--Ride to Chapultepec.--The old Cypresses
+of Chapultepec.--The Capture of Chapultepec.--Molina del
+Rey.--Tacubaya.--Don Manuel Escandon.--The Tobacco Monopoly.--The
+Palace of Escandon.--The "Desierto."--Hermits.--Monks in the
+Conflict with Satan.--Our Lady of Carmel                          219
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+Walk to Guadalupe.--Our Embassador kneeling to the Host.--An
+Embassador with, and one without Lace.--First sight of Santa
+Anna.--Indian Dance in Church.--Juan Diego not Saint Thomas.--The
+Miracle proved at Rome.--The Story of Juan Diego.--The holy Well
+of Guadalupe.--The Temple of the Virgin.--Public Worship
+interdicted by the Archbishop.--Refuses to revoke his
+Interdict.--He fled to Guadalupe and took Sanctuary.--Refused to
+leave the Altar.--The Arrest at the Altar                         229
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+The old Indian City of Mexico.--The Mosques.--Probable Extent of
+Civilization.--Aztecs acquired Arts of the Toltecs.--Toltec
+Civilization, ancient and original.--The Pyramid of
+Papantla.--The Plunder of Civilization.--Mexico as described by
+Cortéz.--Montezuma's Court.--The eight Months that Cortéz held
+Montezuma.--What happened for the next ten Months.--The Siege of
+Mexico by Cortéz.--Aztecs conquered by Famine and Thirst.--Heroes
+on Paper and Victories without Bloodshed.--Cortéz and Morgan      242
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+The new City of Mexico.--The Discoveries of Gold.--Ruins at
+Mexico.--The Monks, and what Cortéz gained by his Piety.--The
+City of Mexico again rebuilt.--The City under Ravillagigedo.--The
+National Palace.--The Cathedral.--A whole Museum turned
+Saints.--All kneel together.--The San Carlos Academy of
+Arts.--Reign of Carlos III.--The Mineria                          259
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+The National Museum.--Marianna and Cortéz.--The small Value of
+this Collection.--The Botanic Garden.--The Market of Santa
+Anna.--The Acordada Prison.--The unfortunate Prisoner.--The
+Causes of that Night of Terror.--The Sacking of the City.--The
+Parian.--The Causes of the Ruin of the Parian.--Change in the
+Standard of Color.--The Ashes of Cortéz                           271
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+The Priests gainers by the Independence.--Improved Condition of
+the Peons.--Mexican Mechanics.--The Oppression they suffer.--Low
+state of the Mechanic Arts.--The Story of the Portress.--Charity
+of the Poor.--The Whites not superior to Meztizos.--License and
+Woman's Rights at Mexico.--The probable Future of
+Mexico.--Mormonism impending over Mexico.--Mormonism and
+Mohammedanism                                                     280
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+The Plaza of the Inquisition.--The two Modes of human
+Sacrifice, the Aztec and the Spanish.--Threefold Power of the
+Inquisition.--Visit to the House of the Inquisition.--The
+Prison and Place of Torture.--The Story of William Lamport.--The
+little and the big _Auto da Fe_.--The Inquisition the real
+Government.--Ruin of Spanish Nationality.--The political Uses of
+theInquisition.--Political Causes of the Bigotry of Philip II.--His
+eldest Son dies mysteriously.--The Dominion of Priests continues
+tillthe French Invasion                                           292
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+Miracles and Earthquakes.--The Saints in Times of Ignorance.--The
+Eruption of Jorullo.--The Curse of the Capuchins.--The
+Consequences of the Curse.--The unfulfilled Curse.--The
+Population of the Republic.--Depopulation from 1810 to 1840.--The
+Mixture of Whites and Indians not prolific.--The pure
+Indians.--The Meztizos.--The White Population.--Negroes and
+Zambos.--The Jew and the Law of Generation.--The same Law applies
+to Cattle.--It governs the Generation of Plants.--Intemperance
+and Generation.--Meztizo Plants short-lived.--Mexico can not be
+resuscitated.--She can not recover her Northern Provinces         304
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+The Church of Mexico.--Its present Condition and Power.--The Number
+of the "Religios."--The Wealth of the Church.--The Money-power
+of the Church.--The Power of Assassination.--Educating the
+People robs the Priest.--Making and adoring Images.--The Progress
+downward                                                          319
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+Causes that have diminished the Religios--The Provincials and
+Superiors of Convents.--The perfect Organization.--The
+Monks.--San Franciscans.--Dominicans.--Carmelites.--The
+well-reputed Orders.--The Jesuits.--The Nuns.--How Novices are
+procured.--Contrasted with a Quaker Prison.--The poor deluded
+Nun.--A good old Quaker Woman not a Saint.--Protestantism felt
+in Mexico                                                         330
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+The Necessity of large Capitals in Mexico.--The Finances and
+Revenue.--The impoverished Creditors of the State.--Princely
+Wealth of Individuals                                             348
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+Visit to Pachuca and Real del Monte.--Otumba and Tulanzingo.--The
+grand Canal of Huehuetoca.--The Silver Mines of Pachuca.--Hakal
+Silver Mines.--Real del Monte Mines.--The Anglo-Mexican Mining
+Fever.--My Equipment to descend a Mine.--The great
+Steam-pump.--Descending the great Shaft.--Galleries and Veins of
+Ore.--Among the Miners one thousand Feet under Ground.--The
+Barrel Process of refining Silver.--Another refining
+Establishment                                                     352
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+A Visit to the Refining-mills.--The Falls and basaltic Columns of
+Regla.--How a Title is acquired to Silver Mines.--The Story of
+Peter Terreros, Count of Regla.--The most successful of
+Miners.--Silver obtained by fusing the Ore.--Silver "benefited"
+upon the Patio.--The Tester of the Patio.--The chemical Processes
+employed.--The Heirs of the Count of Regla.--The Ruin caused by
+Civil War.--The History of the English Company                    362
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+Toluca.--Queretaro, Guanajuato, and
+Zacatecas.--Fresnillo.--"Romancing."--A lucky Priest.--San Luis
+Potosi.--The Valenciana at Guanajuato.--Under-mining.--A Name of
+Blasphemy.--The Los Rayas.--Immense Sums taken from Los
+Rayas.--Warlike Indians in Zacatecas.                             372
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+Sonora and Sonora Land Speculators seeking Annexation.--Sonora
+and its Attractions.--The Abundance and Purity of Silver in
+Sonora.--Silver found in large Masses.--The Jesus Maria, Refugio,
+and Eulalia Mines.--A Creation of Silver at Arizpa.--The Pacific
+Railroad.--Sonora now valueless for want of personal Security.--The
+Hopes of replenishing the Spanish Finances from Sonora blasted by
+War.--Report of the Mineria.--Sonora.--Chihuahua                  382
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+A. Mineria Report on the Mineral Riches of Sonora                 391
+
+B. Report on the Mineral Riches of Chihuahua                      398
+
+C. Report on the Mineral Riches of Coahuila                       400
+
+D. Report on the Mineral Riches of Lower California               402
+
+E. The Remains of Cortéz                                          405
+
+
+
+
+MEXICO AND ITS RELIGION.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Arrival at Vera Cruz.--Its appearance from the Steamer.--Getting
+Ashore.--Within the City.--Throwing Stones at an Image.--Antiquity of
+Vera Cruz.--Its Commerce.--The great Norther of 1852.--A little Steamer
+rides out the Tempest.--The Vomito, or Yellow Fever.--Ravages of the
+Vomito.--The Vomito brought from Africa in Slave-ships.--A curious old
+Book.--Our Monk arrives at Vera Cruz, and what befalls him there.--Life
+in a Convent.--A nice young Prior.--Our Monk finds himself in another
+World.
+
+
+It was a stormy evening in the month of November, 1853, when the noble
+steamship _Texas_ cast anchor in the open roadstead of Vera Cruz,
+under the lee of the low island on which stands the famous fortress of
+San Juan de Ulua. Hard by lay a British vessel ready to steam out into
+the teeth of the storm, as soon as the officers should receive from us
+a budget of newspapers. We were too late to obtain a permit to land
+that evening, so that we lay tossing at our anchors all night, and
+until the sun and the shore-boats appeared together on the morning
+following.
+
+
+VERA CRUZ.
+
+The finest view of Vera Cruz is from the harbor; and the best time to
+look upon it is when a bright sun, just risen above a watery horizon,
+is reflected back from the antiquated domes and houses, which are
+visible above the old massive city wall.
+
+Soon we were in one of the canoes alongside, and were quickly
+transported to the mole, on which we landed, among bales of cotton and
+bundles of freight that encumbered it. The iron gate of the city was
+now opened, and we passed through it, mixed up in the crowd of
+bare-footed "cargadores" or porters, who were carrying upon their backs
+bales of cotton, and depositing them in various piles in front of the
+custom-house. How quietly and quickly these cargadores do their work!
+and what great power of muscle they have acquired by long application
+at this laborious calling!
+
+[Illustration: VERA CRUZ.]
+
+What a contrast does this city present to New Orleans, which we had
+left only four days before! Instead of the noise and bustle of a
+commercial emporium, all here is as quiet and as cleanly as a
+church-yard. Even the chiming of bells for the dying and the dead,
+which so incessantly disturbs the living by night and day in the season
+of the "vomito" or yellow fever, is no longer heard, for it is the
+healthy season--the season of "Northers." The only noise is the little
+bells upon the necks of the donkeys, that are carrying about kegs of
+water for family use. The chain-gang have completed their morning task
+of cleansing the streets and gutters, and as they are led away to their
+breakfast, a clank now and then of their chain reminds the traveler
+that crime has been as busy here as in more bustling cities. Morning
+mass is over, and bonnetless women of low and high degree are returning
+to their homes; some wearing mantillas of satin, black and shining as
+their raven hair, which are pinned by a jeweled pin upon the top of
+their heads; others, more modern in their tastes, sport India shawls;
+while the common class still cling to the "rebosa," which they so
+ingeniously twirl around their heads and chests as to include in its
+narrow folds their arms, and all above the waist except the face.
+Priests appear in black gowns, and fur hats with such ample brims that
+they lap and are fastened together upon the top of their heads. The
+armed patrol, in dirty cotton uniforms, and soldiers in broadcloth, are
+returning from morning muster; for in this hot climate the burden of
+the day's duties is discharged before breakfast. Under the arches
+(_portales_), and in the open market-place, men and women are driving a
+brisk trade, in the most quiet way, in meats, and vegetables, and
+huxter's wares. Nature has denied to the butcher of hot climates the
+privilege of salting meat, but he makes amends for this defect by
+cutting his tough beef into strips, which he rubs over with salt, and
+offers to sell to you by the yard. Vera Cruz is now as venerable a
+looking town as when I was here before, although the houses, and the
+plastered walls, and tops of the stone churches seem to have had a new
+coating of Spanish white within a few months. But the malaria from the
+swamps in the time of the vomito, or the salt atmosphere driven upon it
+by the Northers, soon replaces the familiar dingy hue. The battered
+face of the stone image, at the side of the deserted church, has
+received a few more bruises since I was last here; for the marriageable
+young misses still most religiously believe that a stone thrown by a
+fair hand that shall hit the image full in the face, will obtain for
+the thrower a husband, and an advantageous settlement for life. This is
+a small city, or the poor image could not have endured this kind of
+bruising for two hundred years.
+
+The first Spaniard that landed here was Grijalva,[1] in 1518, in a
+trading expedition fitted out by Valasquez, Governor of Cuba. He was so
+successful in his traffic with the natives, as to obtain, in exchange
+for a few trinkets, $14,000 worth of gold dust. His success so
+encouraged Valasquez, that he fitted out a much larger expedition the
+following year, the command of which he gave to Hernando Cortéz, of
+whom we shall have occasion to speak more at large hereafter. Cortéz,
+at first, landed on the island of Ulua, in front of the site of the
+present city. But when he commenced his conquest he transported his
+boats to the mouth of the river Antigua, where he founded his intended
+city, a little way below the place where the national bridge now
+stands, and gave it the name of the Rich City of the True Cross (Villa
+Rica de Vera Cruz); and there it was where he destroyed his little
+vessels. Ninety years after the conquest of Mexico, the Marquis De
+Monterey removed the port back to Ulua, and founded the present city of
+Vera Cruz. It was at first built of wood, but having been several times
+burned down, it was at length built of its present material--a porous
+stone full of animal remains, obtained from the bottom of the harbor.
+This stone, when laid in and covered over with cement, forms a very
+durable building-material. The castle, which stands upon the island of
+Ulua, is now fast going to decay.
+
+
+COMMERCE OF VERA CRUZ.
+
+As a fortification it is no longer of great value,[2] although it is
+computed that more than $16,000,000 was expended in its erection. In
+fact, its only present practical advantage is derived from the
+light-house which stands upon one of its towers.
+
+This town, although it has been the terror of seafaring men for the
+last three hundred years, has, for a like period of time, enjoyed an
+enviable commerce. Nearly three-fourths of all the silver that has been
+shipped to Europe from America during that long period has been sent
+from this port, besides the other productions of the country, such as
+cochineal, vanilla, wood of Tobasco, sarsaparilla, and jalap. To all
+this we must add that all the trade of Spain with Japan, China, and the
+Philipine Islands, was carried across Mexico from Acapulco, on the
+Pacific, to be shipped from Vera Cruz to Spain. During the long period
+we have named, this was the only port on the Atlantic side where
+foreign commerce was allowed; and this was restricted to Spain alone,
+and to a single fleet of merchant ships that came and went annually,
+until about fifty years before the Mexican independence, when free
+commerce was allowed with all the Spanish world. From a history of the
+commerce of Vera Cruz, just published at Mexico, I find that its annual
+average did not vary greatly from $12,000,000 importations against
+$18,000,000 exportations. The extra $6,000,000 being about the annual
+average of the royal revenue derived from New Spain, as this country
+was then called. Silver constituted the bulk of this $18,000,000, both
+in weight and in value. During the last fifty years of Spanish
+dominion, this commerce, extended, as we have said, to all Spanish
+possessions, was monopolized by a company of merchants styled the
+Consulado of Vera Cruz. Under the management of this company it
+averaged as high as $22,000,000. The revolution broke up this monopoly,
+and almost annihilated the commerce of this port, but it rapidly
+revived after the Spaniards were driven out of the castle, and from
+this time it has gone on increasing, until now it amounts to
+$26,000,000; the imports and exports being equal, as there is now no
+King's revenue. This commerce is now carried on principally with the
+United States, since the establishment of a line of steamers to New
+Orleans. The most important article of importation is raw cotton, for
+the supply of the great manufactories in the interior of Mexico. The
+silver goes principally to England, and is drawn again in favor of the
+cotton purchaser. There is also a large import trade in agricultural
+implements, steam-machinery for the sugar-mills and the silver mines,
+besides heavy importation of silks and wines from France and Spain.
+With this hasty notice we are compelled to quit a subject which is the
+theme of a most interesting volume.
+
+
+A NORTHER.
+
+The first time I saw Vera Cruz was during the great Norther of 1852. I
+was then returning homeward from the city of Mexico. A fierce Norther
+was blowing, and the harbor was filled with shipping that could not
+bear up against such a tornado. I stood among the anxious multitude,
+watching the symptoms of the rising storm. We looked intently at the
+heavens as they gathered blackness, and saw far off toward the horizon
+the clouds and the waves mingling together into one great vaporous
+mass. Now and then we were tantalized by brief intervals of bright
+skies; but they were again quickly overcast and shrouded in by more
+intense darkness, while the temperature fell to a degree of chilliness
+unusual in this latitude. The howling of the wind was terrific. Where
+we stood we were near enough to see, or at least to catch glimpses of
+what was taking place on board the shipping. All extra anchors that
+could be got out were soon thrown into the sea. But to little purpose;
+for a coral bottom is but a poor holding-ground in a Norther. One after
+another the vessels began to drag toward the shore; and even the castle
+itself seemed at times as though it would be torn from its rocky
+foundations and dashed upon the town, so violent was the tempest. The
+terror of those on land was hardly describable as they saw the shipping
+dragging around toward apparent destruction to both vessels and crews.
+Now and then a vessel held a little by some new obstacle that the
+anchor had caught hold of, but soon the resistance gave way, and then
+it moved on again, approaching the shore, whither all now were tending,
+except a few that occupied a good holding-ground in the lee of the
+castle and island. All did not drag at once, or drag together; but one
+by one their power of endurance gave out, and one by one they came
+dragging on, when they had no longer any help, and little hope, if the
+storm continued. "It can not last long," the spectators would mutter,
+rather in hope than expectation, for the only chance for the safety of
+the vessels was in the lulling of the tempest. Yet it did continue
+against the constant predictions of all, and momentarily increased in
+violence. Hope seemed to give way to despair as vessel after vessel
+approached the land; and as they were dashed into pieces men held their
+breath, while the hardy seamen were struggling in the waves toward the
+beach. One staunch vessel, without cargo, was carried broadside on, and
+her crew leaped out of her, and ran off in safety. Many single
+shipwrecks have caused greater destruction of property, and immensely
+greater loss of life; but here was the individual struggle of each
+separate mariner, made in the very sight of those who could render no
+assistance, but must stand idle spectators. Here strong swimmers were
+rendered powerless by the tempest, and were perishing from exhaustion
+in vain efforts to swim ashore.
+
+From this scene of disaster we turned to look back upon a more equal
+contest going on between two of the elements: a small steamer--a little
+crazy thing, it seemed, almost ready to be blown to pieces; but it was
+gallantly facing the tempest, and riding out bravely against the
+combined force of wind and waves. But she mounted the waves, one after
+another, without any difficulty, though held by but a single anchor, as
+the strain on her cable was eased away by the action of her
+paddle-wheels, which were kept in motion by an engine of the smallest
+class ever put into a river boat. This was said to be the most violent
+Norther that had visited Vera Cruz in a century. It destroyed sixteen
+vessels, and caused the loss of thirteen lives; and yet so small an
+amount of steam-power was fully able to bear up against the dreaded
+fury of a Norther, and to insure the safety of the vessel.
+
+
+THE BUCCANEERS.
+
+Vera Cruz, like almost every other Spanish American seaport town, has
+its traditional tales of the horrors committed by the buccaneers, or
+filibusters. The history of the buccaneers, their origin, their fearful
+exploits of blood, the terror that their name even now inspires in the
+minds of all Spanish Americans, are too well known to demand a
+repetition here, though we may give the substance of their story, by
+saying that they had their origin in a laudable effort to avenge the
+gross wrongs inflicted by the Spaniards upon the honest traders of
+other nations, while trafficking with the native inhabitants of
+America, within the region which the Pope, as the representative of the
+Almighty, had bestowed upon the King of Spain, to conquer and subdue
+for the benefit of the Church. Elizabeth of England raised the question
+of the validity of the title of the King of Spain derived from so
+questionable a source, and insisted that he had no rights in America
+beyond those acquired by discovery, followed up by possession. But the
+King of Spain was too good a Catholic to have his right called in
+question, and when a heretic ship was caught among the West Indies, the
+avarice of priests and officials, and their holy horror at the approach
+of heresy to these regions, were exhibited in their dealings with the
+cargo and the unhappy crew. The inhuman treatment that the Spaniards
+inflicted upon honest traders aroused men to reprisals; and all ships
+venturing into these seas went fully armed. Private war was the natural
+consequence of Spanish cruelty and injustice; and the superior prowess
+of the Dutch and English soon made sad havoc with the plunder which the
+Spaniards had wrung from the natives for a hundred years and more.
+
+The filibusters finally degenerated into pirates and robbers, and the
+treasure ships ("galleons") of Spain, and the towns upon her American
+coasts, were the victims of their depredations. The fury of the
+buccaneers was mainly directed against the monks, and when they sacked
+a town, they never failed to pay an especial visitation to the
+convents. When Vera Cruz was sacked they showed their contempt for the
+clergy by compelling the monks and nuns to carry the plunder of the
+town to their private boats; thereby grieving these "holy men" most of
+all, if we may believe the old chronicles, because they could have no
+share in the rich plunder loaded upon their own backs.
+
+The second day after our arrival in Vera Cruz a fellow-passenger, who
+had been sick all the voyage, died of the yellow fever, which he had
+contracted at New Orleans, or on the Mississippi; which was probably
+the first time that a person ever died in Vera Cruz of vomito that had
+been contracted in the United States.
+
+
+THE VOMITO.
+
+This is a fitting place to speak of this disease and of its ravages,
+which we witnessed before leaving New Orleans. It was the time for the
+frosts to make their appearance when I left New York, and with the
+expectation of seeing the ground covered with this antidote to the
+fever, crowds were returning from the north, though the marks of the
+pestilence were still visible along our route. It had followed the main
+stream of travel far northward, and now, as we ventured upon its track,
+it seemed like traversing the valley of the shadow of death. Terror had
+committed greater ravages than the pestilence; the villages and cities
+on our route were half deserted; stagnation was visible in all
+commercial places; and when we reached New Orleans this strange state
+of things was doubly intensified: it looked more like a city of the
+dead, or a city depopulated, than the emporium of the Mississippi
+valley. A stranger might have supposed that a great funeral service had
+just been performed, in which all of the inhabitants remaining in town
+had acted the part of mourners. The city itself had been so thoroughly
+cleansed, that it might challenge comparison with one of the most
+cleanly villages of Holland, while its footways seemed almost too pure
+to be trod upon. Nothing appears half so gloomy as such a place when
+deserted of its principal inhabitants.
+
+This disease was unknown in America until the opening of the African
+slave-trade. It is an African disease, intensified and aggravated by
+the rottenness and filthy habits of the human cargoes that brought it
+to America. It was entirely unknown at Vera Cruz until brought there in
+the slave-ship of 1699.[3] In like manner it was carried to all the
+West India islands. When the negro insurrection in San Domingo drove
+the white population into exile, the disease was carried by the
+immigrants to all the cities of the United States, and even to the most
+healthy localities in the interior of Massachusetts. Old people still
+remember when New York was so completely deserted that its principal
+streets were boarded up, and watchmen went their rounds of silent
+streets by day as well as by night. The fever of the present year can
+be traced directly to this accursed traffic. Slaves had been smuggled
+into Rio Janeiro, who brought the disease in its most virulent form
+from Africa. In that city it was carrying its hundreds to the grave,
+when a vessel cleared for New Orleans, having the disease on board.
+This vessel disseminated it in the upper wards of the city, while at
+the same time there arrived from Cuba another vessel which, from a like
+cause, had caught the vomito at Havana, and from this second vessel the
+disease was disseminated in the lower wards of New Orleans. It was the
+meeting of these two independent currents of the fever in the centre of
+the city, on Canal Street, that caused that fatal day on which three
+hundred victims went to their long homes. Such were the fruits of this
+offspring of an inhuman trade in a single city, in a single day.
+
+
+FRIAR PAGE.
+
+I learn from the preface of a book in the Spanish language, which I
+purchased at Mexico, entitled "The Voyages of Thomas Page," that a
+Dominican monk of that name, the brother of the Royalist Governor of
+Oxford under Charles I., was smuggled into Mexico by his Dominican
+brethren, against the King's order, which prohibited the entry of
+Englishmen into that country. As a missionary monk he resided in
+Mexico, or New Spain, as it was then called, eighteen years. On his
+return to England he published an account of the country which he
+visited, under the title of "A Survey of the West Indies." This being
+the first and last book ever written by a resident of New Spain that
+had not been submitted to the most rigid censorship by the Inquisition,
+it produced so profound a sensation, that, by order of the great
+Colbert, French Minister of State, it was expurgated and translated
+into French by an Irish Catholic of the name of O'Neil. From this
+expurgated French edition the Spanish copy now before me was
+translated. From this Spanish edition I had made the several
+translations that are found in this, and the following chapters. I have
+since found a black letter copy of the original, printed at London, in
+1677; but I have concluded to use the translations, as furnishing a
+more official character to the picture therein drawn of the grossly
+immoral state of the clergy, and of the religious orders. As it is from
+actual observation, and has the sanction of the censorship, it must be
+of more value to my readers than any account of personal observations
+that I might write. This is my apology for copying the most interesting
+portions of a long forgotten book.
+
+"When we came to land," says our author, "we saw all the inhabitants of
+the city (Vera Cruz) had congregated in the Plaza (public square) to
+receive us. The communities of monks were also there, each one preceded
+by a large crucifix. The Dominicans, the San Franciscans, the
+Mercedarios, and the Jesuits, in order to conduct the Virey (the
+Viceroy) of Mexico as far as the Cathedral. The Jesuits and friars from
+the ships leaped upon the shore more expeditiously than did the Virey,
+the Marquis Seralvo, and his wife. Many of them (the monks) on stepping
+on shore kissed it, considering that it was a holy cause that brought
+them here--the conversion of the Indians, who had before adored and
+sacrificed to demons; others kneeled down and gave thanks to the Virgin
+Mary and other saints of their devotion, and then all the monks
+hastened to incorporate themselves with their respective orders in the
+place in which they severally stood. The procession, as soon as formed,
+directed itself to the Cathedral, where the consecrated wafer[4] was
+exposed upon the high altar, and to which all kneeled as they
+entered.... The services ended, the Virey was conducted to his lodgings
+by the first Alcalde, the magistrates of the town, and judges, who had
+descended from the capitol to receive him, besides the soldiers of the
+garrison and the ships. Those of the religious orders who had just
+arrived were conducted to their respective convents, crosses, as
+before, being carried at the head of each community. Friar John
+presented (us) his missionaries to the Prior of the Convent of San
+Domingo, who received us kindly, and directed sweetmeats to be given to
+us, and also there was given to each of us a cup of that Indian
+beverage which the Indians call chocolate.
+
+"This first little act of kindness was only a prelude to a greater one.
+That is to say, it was the introduction to a sumptuous dinner, composed
+of flesh and fish of every description, in which there was no lack of
+turkeys and capons. All set out with the intent of manifesting to us
+the abundance of the country, and not for the purpose of worldly
+ostentation.
+
+
+A NICE YOUNG PRIOR.
+
+"The Prior of Vera Cruz was neither old nor severe, as the men selected
+to govern communities of youthful _religious_ are accustomed to be. On
+the contrary, he was in the flower of his age, and had all the manner
+of a joyful and diverting youth. His fathership, as they told us, had
+acquired the priory by means of a gift of a thousand ducats, which he
+had sent to the Father Provincial. After dinner he invited some of us
+to visit his cell, and there it was we came to know the levity of his
+life. It exhibited little of the appearance of a life of penance and
+self-mortification. We expected to find in the habitation of a prelate
+of such an establishment a most magnificent library, which would
+furnish an index of his learning and of his taste for letters. But we
+saw nothing more than a dozen old books lying in a corner, and covered
+with dust and cobwebs, as if they had hid themselves for shame at the
+neglect with which the treasures they contained had been treated, and
+that a guitar should be preferred to them.
+
+"The cell of the Prior was richly tapestried and adorned with feathers
+of birds of Michoacan; the walls were hung with various pictures of
+merit; rich rugs of silk covered the tables; porcelain of China filled
+the cupboards and sideboards; and there were vases and bowls containing
+preserved fruits and most delicate sweetmeats. Our enthusiastic
+companions did not fail to be scandalized at such an exhibition, which
+they looked upon as a manifestation of worldly vanity, so foreign to
+the poverty of a begging friar. But those among us that had sailed from
+Spain with the intent of living at their ease, and of enjoying the
+pleasures which riches would produce, exulted at the sight of such
+great opulence, and they desired to establish themselves in a country
+where they could so quickly win fortunes so secure and abundant.[5] The
+holy Prior talked to us only of his ancestry, of his good parts, of the
+influence which he had with the Father Provincial, of the love which
+the principal ladies and the wives of the richest merchants manifested
+to him, of his beautiful voice, of his consummate skill in music. In
+fact, that we might not doubt him in this last particular, he took the
+guitar and sung a sonnet which he had composed to a certain _Amaryllis_.
+This was a new scandal to our newly-arrived _religious_, which
+afflicted some of them to see such libertinage in a prelate, who ought,
+on the contrary, to have set an example of penance and self-mortification,
+and should shine like a mirror in his conduct and words.
+
+"When we had satiated our ears with the delicacy of music, our eyes
+with the beauty of such rich stuffs of cotton, of silk, and of
+feathers, then our reverend Prior directed us to take from his
+dispensaries a prodigious quantity of every species of dainties to
+allure the taste or satisfy the appetite. Truly we seemed in another
+world, by being transported from Europe to America. Our senses had been
+changed from what they had been the night and day before, while
+listening to the hoarse sounds of the mariners, when the abyss of the
+sea was at our feet, and when we drank fetid water, and inhaled the
+stench of pitch. In the Prior's cell of the Convent of Vera Cruz, we
+listened to a melodious voice accompanied with an harmonious
+instrument, we saw treasures and riches, we ate exquisite
+confectioneries, we breathed amber and musk, with which he had perfumed
+his sirups and conserves. O, that delicious Prior!"
+
+      [1] Apuntes Historicos de Vera Cruz, p. 102.
+
+      [2] Esterior Comercio de Mexico. M. M. Lerdo de Tegido. Mexico,
+      1853.
+
+      [3] Apuntes Historicos de Vera Cruz, p. 129.
+
+      [4] Called, in the Spanish translation, "The most holy
+      Sacrament;" but in the English original, "The bread God."
+
+      [5] These missionary monks were on their way to Manilla and the
+      Spanish East Indies by the road across Mexico.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+An historical Sketch.--Truth seldom spoken of Santa Anna.--Santa Anna's
+early Life.--Causes of the Revolution.--The Virgin Mary's Approval of
+King Ferdinand.--The Inquisition imprisons the Vice-King.--Santa Anna
+enters the King's Army.--The plan of Iguala.--The War of the two
+Virgins.--Santa Anna pronounces for Independence.
+
+
+Before commencing our journey to the interior, we must break the thread
+of our narrative by a brief biographical sketch: for this town is the
+birth-place, and here began the public career of that man whose life
+has become the history of his country. With him the Mexican Republic
+began, and with him it has been terminated. In 1822 he was first to
+proclaim a Republic in the Plaza of Vera Cruz; and when I stood in the
+Plaza of the city of Mexico, in the winter of 1854, I heard him
+proclaimed absolute ruler of a state which had already ceased to be a
+Republic. This was not the first time that he had been raised to
+absolute authority in Mexico, but the third time that this had occurred
+in his checkered career--a career that resembles more the vicissitudes
+in the life of a hero of Spanish romance than the memoirs of a living
+politician.
+
+
+SANTA ANNA.
+
+Santa Anna is a man of whom the truth has seldom been spoken; for no
+man can raise himself from a humble position to be the embodiment of
+all the powers of the state without creating a host of enemies; nor can
+a man be long in possession of absolute authority without raising up a
+tribe of flatterers. To the one, he is every thing that is shocking to
+humanity; while to the other he is the perfection of all the moral
+qualities. This scurrilous manner in which all political discussions
+are carried on in Mexico, has always furnished a ready apology for the
+suppression of liberty of speech, and for the enforcement of the
+Mexican law of ostracism in turn by every party in power.
+
+As we Americans have nothing to hope from his friendship, and nothing
+to fear from the displeasure of Santa Anna, we are able to take a
+correct view of his character from the records, and to affirm that he
+is neither a saint, as represented by one party, nor a monster, as
+represented by the other; and as greatness is a comparative term, and
+goodness is often used in a comparative sense, we may also add that he
+is the first of Mexican statesmen, and as good as the best of his
+rivals. He has suffered unnumbered and overwhelming defeats, which have
+so exhibited his recuperative talents as to attract the admiration of
+foreigners. Other aspirants have risen to popular favor, and then
+fallen, one after the other, and have disappeared. But Santa Anna's
+falls have ever been a prelude to his rising again to a greater
+elevation; and there is no point of elevation to which he has risen
+from which he has not been ignominiously hurled. He is a politician
+whose course reminds us of a skillful swimmer in the breakers; half the
+time he rides the waves and half the time he is submerged, yet never
+sinks so deep but that he rises again to the surface. When Santa Anna
+is in authority the fickle multitude cry out against him, and when he
+is in exile no suffering innocent can compare with him; and the books
+that at such times sell best in Mexico are those that vindicate his
+past career. Of such a man something must be said, and to render that
+something intelligible, a brief account of the social and political
+changes of his times must be rendered.
+
+Santa Anna was born at Vera Cruz, in the year 1796, in the most
+prosperous era of the colonial government of the vice-kingdom of New
+Spain, while Ravillagigedo was Virey. The new and liberal code,
+regulating mines and mining, was yielding its legitimate fruits in the
+immensely increased production of silver and gold, while the
+newly-granted privilege of unrestricted trade with Spain and her other
+colonies was followed by considerable shipments of grain from the
+table-lands of Mexico to the West India Islands. The profound peace
+that had reigned uninterruptedly for two hundred and seventy-five years
+was still unbroken. Not a word of disloyalty was breathed; while the
+Inquisition of Mexico watched with the utmost care for the least
+appearance of rebellion against God or the king. Such was the religious
+and political stagnation at the time Santa Anna was born; and so it
+continued for the first twelve years of his life. But his youth was not
+to be passed in a period of national repose.
+
+
+THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION.
+
+It was the year 1808 that the news arrived in Mexico of the
+imprisonment of Charles IV. and Ferdinand VII., the dotard and
+simpleton who then disputed the Spanish throne, and who had rendered
+themselves the laughing stock of all Europe by going, each one in
+person, to advocate his side of a family quarrel before a common enemy,
+the French Emperor, by whom both had thus been caught like mice in a
+cage, and compelled to abdicate. At this news a feeling of indignation
+ran through the vice-kingdom, while all Europe laughed at the strange
+combination of knave and fool exhibited in the characters of the two
+Spanish kings. The people of New Spain saw in them only the guardians
+of the Church in the power of the infidels, and at once forgot the
+unnatural crimes of their two kings. They thought only of their piety,
+and with joy the news was carried throughout New Spain, that one of
+their previous kings had consecrated his imprisonment to embroidering a
+petticoat for the Virgin Mary; and when this announcement was followed
+by another, a little more apocryphal, that the most holy image had, by
+a nod, signified her acceptance of the present, there could no longer
+be a doubt of his title of Most Catholic King, which might from that
+time onward be interpreted Most Catholic Mantua-maker. The world might
+now laugh at him, and hold him up to ridicule. All its ridicule
+mattered nothing to the Mexicans. It made no difference to them. To
+revere the king and render him a blind obedience was at all times a
+part of their religion. Whether either of the two were fit to be kings
+was not a question for the people to determine; and if the Virgin Mary
+had not nodded her approval, the solution of this question of
+competency would still be reserved for the tribunals of God and the
+Inquisition. It was sufficient for the people to know that both father
+and son had been compelled to abdicate, and that they no longer were
+kings of Spain, and that the brother of the French Emperor occupied the
+vacant throne, which the Inquisition had associated, in their
+superstition, with the throne of God itself. God and the king were
+inseparable words in the mouth of a citizen of New Spain, and he that
+dared to separate them was thought worthy of Inquisitorial fires. They
+owed the same reverence which the Aztecs rendered to their emperor
+before the conquest.
+
+Next to God and the king was the vice-king. Yet they had seen their
+beloved viceroy, Iturrigaray, deposed by a conspiracy of Spanish
+shop-keepers, which had organized itself in that focus of Mexican
+trade, the Parian. All this was bewildering to the nation. All New
+Spain was astonished to see a power sufficiently potent to arrest the
+vice-king emanate from such a quarter. And not only had they witnessed
+this, but they had also seen this same officer, whose person was so
+sacred in their eyes, cast into the prison of the Inquisition among
+"heretics, and accursed of God, and despised of Christian men," because
+he had not discriminated in favor of the Spanish-born in his appeal to
+the patriotism of the people.
+
+Before they had escaped from this bewildering of all their ideas of
+government, they were suddenly called upon to take sides in a war of
+races that had sprung up in determining the question, who constituted
+the people, among the divers races that composed the population of
+Mexico? The Cortes of Spain had just proclaimed the sovereignty of the
+people. But who were the people? The solution of this question excited
+one of the most cruel and envenomed wars on record. The handful of
+whites who had been born in Spain, and who enjoyed a monopoly of the
+lucrative offices in Church and in State, as well as a monopoly in
+trade, claimed it as their exclusive privilege to be considered the
+people, and they it was who imprisoned the vice-king, because he
+appeared to have more enlarged views than themselves. The Creoles, as
+those of pure white blood born in America are called, who were excluded
+from all places of honor or profit, held the balance of power, and it
+was doubtful for a long time to which side the Creole soldiers would
+incline. But they were not long in suspense; for when fired upon by an
+undisciplined rabble, rather than an army, of Indians, they returned
+the fire, and there, in sight of the city of Mexico, settled the
+character of a contest which was, from that time forward, to shake the
+whole social organization of the vice-kingdom--in which plantations
+were destroyed, and villages and cities sacked and burned, and the most
+unheard-of cruelties practiced by one party or the other on the
+defenseless, until the final triumph of the Creole, or white troops, in
+the time of the viceroy, Apaduer, over the insurgents, composed chiefly
+of Indians and those of mixed blood.
+
+
+RISE OF SANTA ANNA.
+
+While this war was raging in all its fury, Santa Anna arrived at an age
+to choose an occupation for life; and with the ardor of youth he
+entered the king's service as a Creole officer, a cadet in the _Fijo
+de Vera Cruz_. In this fratricidal war he soon distinguished himself
+by that activity in the performance of the duties of a subaltern which,
+in more mature years, distinguished him as a leader and a politician.
+He was at that time in the unhappy dilemma of every man born in Spanish
+America; he was compelled to choose between two evils--either to join
+the king's cause, and fight for the Spaniards who oppressed his
+country, or to run the hazard of seeing re-enacted in Mexico the bloody
+tragedy of San Domingo, if the colored races should conquer in a
+contest with the Spaniards. A few Creoles had chosen the side of the
+insurgents; but they were few; as the Spanish cause could not have been
+sustained for a day, if it had not been for the want of confidence in
+the leaders of the insurrection. But it was not in contests with his
+own countrymen that Santa Anna first won distinction; it was in a
+battle with the filibustering invaders while yet Mexico was a colony of
+Spain: it was in the bloody battle of the river Madina, in Texas, where
+an army of three thousand men (according to Mexican accounts), on their
+way to join the Mexican insurgents, were totally routed by Aridondo.
+
+The zeal which Santa Anna continually exhibited in almost daily
+contests with guerillas outside of the walls of Vera Cruz, so long as
+the contest was confined to a war of races, soon won him distinction.
+But now he is called to play the part of a military politician; for
+when the news arrived in Mexico of the new constitutional revolution of
+1820 in Spain itself, all the higher classes of society in the
+vice-kingdom were in terror. Ten years of bloodshed and civil disorder
+had been the fruits to Mexico of the first revolution of Spain--an
+insurrection that had not been effectually put down until Spain herself
+had returned to despotism, and now the newly-restored peace was
+threatened with a more bloody insurrection than the former, unless
+there was an entire separation of the two countries. Experience had
+fully demonstrated that the Spanish colonial system was compatible only
+with Spanish despotism. All native-born races desired to be free from
+the political disorders consequent upon the military revolutions of
+Spain herself. In this desire they were joined by that class who then
+ruled over the consciences of all men in Mexico, the clergy; for that
+powerful body preferred to sacrifice the allegiance they owed to the
+king, from whom they had received their preferments, rather than run
+the risk of losing their privileges.
+
+
+THE PLAN OF IGUALA.
+
+That which was the thought of all Mexicans capable of thinking, was not
+long in receiving a definite shape and form. The _pronunciamiento_
+of Colonel Iturbide, at the city of Iguala, on the 24th of February
+1821, united all the conflicting elements of Mexican society; for all
+could agree upon a plan that proposed a separation from Spain, while it
+gave guarantees to property, to the army, and to the church. Men who
+had been educated under the fatherly care of the Inquisition, had no
+idea of religious toleration; toleration for heresy was no part of
+their creed; nor had their long civil wars produced that alienation
+from the priesthood which had arisen from this cause in the other
+Spanish American states. One reason for this was that the first
+insurrection was headed by the parish priest, Hidalgo; and because the
+most prominent leaders in it were priests; while the watchword of the
+insurgents was, "_Viva_ Our Lady of Guadalupe!" who is the patron
+saint of the colored races of Mexico. The insurrection of Iguala was
+entirely distinct in its character from the popular insurrection of
+1810; for that was an insurrection of the oppressed races against the
+despotism that was grinding them in the dust. It was a peasant war; but
+the cry of Iguala rose from the soldiers of the government. It was the
+first of that long list of military insurrections that have afflicted
+Mexico. It was an insurrection of the Creole supporters of the
+government, and rendered the government powerless at once. Colonel
+Iturbide had distinguished himself, as a Creole soldier, by his
+courage, and by the cruelty which he exercised toward the first
+insurgents.
+
+When an officer in the service of the king in the first insurrection
+obtained a victory, he went to make his offering, not at the shrine of
+the Virgin of Guadalupe, but at the shrine of the Virgin of Remedies,
+so that as long as the Spanish cause prospered, the shrine of Guadalupe
+remained in obscurity; but as soon, however, as Iturbide and the
+Creoles deserted the cause of the king and joined the national
+standard, the Lady of Guadalupe was made the national patroness, and
+the order of Guadalupe was established as the first and only order of
+the empire, while Our Lady of Remedies sank into obscurity. This gave
+occasion to an unbelieving Mexican to remark that the revolution was a
+war between the Blessed Virgins, and that she of Guadalupe had
+triumphed over her that had taken shelter in the plant.
+
+As soon as the tidings of the plan of Iguala reached Vera Cruz, Santa
+Anna hastened to give in his adhesion to the cause now truly national,
+which guaranteed equal rights to all under the united leadership of
+Iturbide and of General Guerrero, the only remaining Creole leader of
+the first insurrection still in arms. On the 18th day of March, 1821,
+he was the first to proclaim the plan of Iguala in the Plaza of Vera
+Cruz. This promptness of Santa Anna in proclaiming the independence
+determined many who were hesitating in dread of a bombardment from
+Spanish forces in the Castle of San Juan de Ulua; and this important
+step it was which first brought him prominently into notice. As a
+consequence of this political movement, Santa Anna was appointed second
+in command in Vera Cruz.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Incidents of Travel.--The Great Road to the Interior.--Mexican
+Diligences.--The Priest was the first Passenger robbed.--The National
+Bridge.--A Conducta of Silver.--Our Monk visits Old Vera Cruz.--They
+grant to the Indians Forty Years of Indulgence in return for their
+Hospitality.--The Artist among Robbers.--Mexican Scholars in the United
+States.--Encerro.
+
+
+A railroad eleven miles in length, crossing the morass, connects Vera
+Cruz with the great National Road to the table-land of the interior.
+The coach in which the journey to Mexico is made is placed on a
+railroad track and pushed on before a crazy locomotive, while behind
+the engine is a long line of freight wagons. At every cow-path that
+crossed our track stood a flagman waving his little red flag to the
+train as it passed, apparently in burlesque imitation of a regular
+road.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL BRIDGE.
+
+The famous National Bridge carries the National Road over the river
+Antigua, at the mouth of which, a little way below, Cortéz built his
+Vera Cruz (Villa Rica de Vera Cruz), and where he caused his vessels to
+be sunk before commencing his expedition to the interior. Little has
+ever been known in our country of that magnificent whole, of which this
+and other bridges of solid masonry are but parts. The National Road of
+Mexico was conceived and executed by a company of merchants known as
+the Consulado of Vera Cruz. It is about ninety miles in length, and
+cost $3,000,000. From Vera Cruz it runs northward, often within sight
+of the Gulf, till it nearly reaches the Cerro Gordo, where it turns
+inland, and passing upward through that celebrated gorge to Jalapa, a
+distance of sixty miles from Vera Cruz, and at an elevation of 4264
+feet above the sea; thence, for the remaining thirty miles, it is
+carried over the famous mountain, Perote, to the great table-land of
+Mexico. It is a work of extraordinary character for the period in which
+it was built, and the method of its construction; and reminds the
+traveler of a Roman road of antiquity, though no Roman road ever passed
+over a mountain 10,000 feet in height. The ruin into which it has
+fallen in many places during the last thirty years of civil war, serves
+to keep up the illusion, though it falls far short of those ancient
+roads in the material of which it is constructed, being of small rough
+stones, covered over with a durable cement.
+
+[Illustration: THE NATIONAL BRIDGE.]
+
+The system of stage-coaches between Vera Cruz and Mexico is as nearly
+perfect as any system of traveling dependent on weather can be.
+Comfortable hotels are established at convenient distances along the
+road; and if the passenger desires it, he can have endorsed upon his
+ticket a permission to tarry upon the road as long as he may desire.
+Six, and sometimes eight horses drag the coach along at a hazardous
+speed. Twice, out of three times that I have passed over this road, I
+have been overturned. Once, while riding on the top, a heavy iron axle
+broke like a pipe-stem, throwing me off upon the rough stones, with the
+additional misfortune of having a heavy Frenchman fall upon me. But no
+bones were broken, and I still live to tell the story.
+
+The neighborhood of the National Bridge is a favorite haunt of the
+knights of the road. Though very pious in their way, they have no
+scruples in relieving any priest who may fall into their hands of such
+worldly possessions as he happens to have about him. In fact, they seem
+to take a special delight in plundering these holy men, giving them the
+precedence in relieving their wants. Out of respect to the cloth, they
+omit the ceremony of searching, to which the other passengers are
+subjected; nor do they compel him to lie down like the others. But with
+mock solemnity a robber approaches the sacred personage, and dropping
+on one knee, presents his hat for alms, which the priest understands to
+be a reverential mode of demanding all the valuables that he carries
+about him: his reverence having been disposed of, the women are
+searched; afterward the men, one by one, are ordered to rise up to
+undergo a like ceremony; and, lastly, the baggage is ransacked, and
+then all are suffered to go on their way in peace, if no shots have
+been fired from the stage. In former times the robbers used to divide
+their plunder with the Virgin Mary, but now things are altered; the
+robber takes all, and even visits the churches occasionally, not to
+worship, but for plunder. If two or three priests take passage in a
+single coach, people shake their heads and say, "That coach will
+certainly be robbed;" and so it often happens.
+
+The stage ordinarily passes this bridge in the night, when there is no
+opportunity to look at the magnificent scenery around. I saw it once by
+daylight; and long shall I remember the impression produced. I lingered
+about the spot to the last moment that "Jim," or as he is here called
+"San Diego," the driver, would permit. We reluctantly took our places
+in the coach, and when the hostler let slip the rope that held the
+heads of the leaders, our eight wild horses dashed off at a furious
+rate over a roughly paved road, to the no small disturbance of the
+reflections which such a spot awakens.
+
+We tried to think of the stirring events that had here so often taken
+place in times of civil war, when Gomez practiced such cruelties in the
+name of liberty; when robberies and murders were committed here in
+broad daylight; when the frowning battery that crowns the cliff,
+stopped the passage of armies. But it was of no use to try to think;
+the wheels would strike fire upon the boulders lying in the road,
+tumbling us about until all romance and recollection were pounded out
+of us.
+
+Gladly we halted at Plan del Rio to take a little chocolate and look at
+the ruins of a stone bridge blown up by gunpowder, while new horses
+were being brought out to drag us up the Cerro Gordo pass.
+
+Here we met a small body of soldiers conducting eight freight wagons
+that carried loads of coined silver, and were drawn by twelve horses
+each, on their way to the coast--a common sight to the people of these
+parts, as was evident from the indifference with which they regarded
+such cargoes of money; yet it was calculated to make an American stare,
+though he had been accustomed to look upon treasures of California in
+her palmiest days. But a few millions in silver make a most imposing
+show.
+
+
+FRIAR PAGE AT VERA CRUZ.
+
+Our monk, on his journey to this point, had kept along the shore,
+crossing the Antigua near its mouth, visiting old Vera Cruz. He thus
+describes what he there saw:
+
+"The first Indians whom we encountered in our journey were at old Vera
+Cruz, which is on the sea-shore, where, as we have already said, the
+Spaniards first designed to establish themselves on undertaking the
+conquest of the country, but which they had to abandon on account of
+the little protection it afforded against the north winds. Here we
+began to note the power which the clergy and friars have among the poor
+Indians; how they rule them, and the respect and veneration which are
+paid them. The Prior of Vera Cruz having written, the morning of our
+departure, advertising them of the day of our arrival, he commanded
+them to come and receive us, and to serve us during our transit through
+their territory. The poor Indians obeyed with the greatest promptitude
+the orders of the Prior, and at a league from their village twenty of
+their principal men encountered us upon horseback, and handed a wreath
+of flowers to each one of us. Then they set out on their return in
+front of our caravan, and at a bow-shot distance, and in this manner we
+proceeded until we came up with others on foot, with trumpets and
+flutes, which were played very agreeably before our whole cavalcade.
+Those who had come out were the employees of the churches and the
+chiefs of the fraternities, all of whom presented us a garland of
+flowers. Then followed others--the priests' assistants, acolitos, and
+the young people of the choir, who went singing a _Te Deum
+laudamus_, until we arrived at the market-place. There is always a
+Plaza in the midst of the village, and here it was adorned by two great
+and most beautiful elms: between these there had been constructed an
+immense arbor, in which was a table covered with jars and dishes of
+conserves, and other kinds of sweetmeats and biscuits for eating with
+the chocolate. While they were preparing the chocolate, heating the
+water, and adding the sugar, the principal Indians and the authorities
+of the village came and knelt down, and kissed our hands, and gave us
+their address, saying that our arrival was a happy event for their
+country, and that they gave us a thousand thanks because we had left
+our native country, our parents, and our firesides, in order to go to
+regions so remote to labor for the salvation of souls; and that they
+honored us as gods upon earth, and as the apostles or Jesus Christ; and
+they said so many, many things, that only the chocolate put an end to
+their eloquence. We remained an hour, and manifested our gratification
+for the demonstration of affection and bounty with which they had
+favored us, assuring them that there was not any thing in the world
+more dear to us than their salvation, and that to procure it we had not
+feared to expose ourselves to all the perils with which we were
+threatened by sea and land; nor even the barbarous cruelty of other
+Indians who did not know the true God, in whose service we had resolved
+to sacrifice even life.
+
+"With this we departed from them, making gifts to the chiefs of
+rosaries, medals, little metal crosses, 'the Lamb of God' (_Agnus
+Dei_), relics which we brought from Spain; and we conceded to each
+one forty years of indulgence, in virtue of the powers which we had
+received from the Pope for distributing them, where, when, and to whom
+we pleased. On our going out from the shade of the arbor for mounting
+our mules, we saw the market-place full of men and women on their
+knees, almost adoring us, and asking us to give them our blessing. We
+raised the hand on passing, and gave it to them by making the sign of
+the cross. The submission of the poor Indians, and the vanity excited
+by a reception so ceremonious, and with such public homage, turned the
+heads of our young friars, who began to believe themselves superior to
+the bishops of Europe; and even our illustrious superiors were not far
+from pride, but exhibited excessive haughtiness, now that they had seen
+their vanity flattered with such great acclamations in their sight as
+were lavished upon us that day, although we were only some simple
+friars. The flutes and the trumpets began to resound again at the head
+of our procession, and the chiefs of the people accompanied us as far
+as half a league, and afterward they retired to their homes."
+
+Slowly has the stage been moving up the pass. The rattle of the wheels
+has ceased, the sun has made his appearance, and the awakened
+passengers are disposed to listen to tales of wild adventures. The
+loquacious are ready with an abundant supply. The best of these is the
+tale of "The Artist among the Robbers."
+
+
+THE ARTIST AMONG THE ROBBERS.
+
+"Four years ago," began the artist who made some sketches for this
+work, "while I was making a pedestrian journey over this road, I seated
+myself, weak and hungry, upon a stone by the roadside, not a little
+tired of life and evil fortune. The remains of the yellow fever were
+still upon me, and only a single dollar burdened my pocket; for I did
+not learn, until too late, how poor a place for an artist from abroad
+is this country, where the San Carlos is creating the native article by
+scores. I had not sat long in my gloomy mood before I had company
+enough; for as I looked up I saw, trooping down the side of the hill, a
+band of men, who I thought would soon put an end to my troubles. I took
+the thing coolly, for I cared little for the result; and had I cared,
+there was no helping it now. So I patiently waited their arrival. To
+the questions of the only one who could talk English I answered
+briefly, as I supposed they would soon end my troubles. When I told him
+that I cared little if he did kill me, the whole party laughed
+uproariously. The leader now came up, and having searched me, found my
+story to be true. I then drew an outline of a picture with my pencil,
+and gave it to him. This so pleased him that he wrote me a memorandum,
+and with verbal directions as to the way I was to go if I wished for
+lodgings for the night, he bade me adieu, and the party disappeared up
+the side of the woody hill, and I set out on my journey."
+
+The leagues were very long, but the landmarks were unmistakable; and
+without difficulty the artist reached the house and presented his paper
+to the old woman that appeared at the door. This paper procured him a
+good supper, and comfortable quarters for the night; for his fine open
+countenance and yellow hair seemed to have touched the heart of this
+old Mexican matron--a class of persons, by-the-way, who are the kindest
+mortals in the world. The good cheer disposed of, he gathered up his
+feet upon his mat for the night, and slept as men do who have nothing
+to fear from robbers. When in the morning he awoke, he found the old
+dame astir, preparing for him an early breakfast, which was of a
+quality unexpected in so unpretending a mansion. When breakfast was
+prepared, and after he had finished eating it, the old woman made him
+understand by signs that he was to go into the adjoining room and there
+replenish his dilapidated wardrobe. She supplied him with a new suit
+from head to heel, and then urged him to tie around his waist a small
+sheep's entrail filled with brandy, according to the custom of Mexican
+Indians. Thus had our transient friend had his inner and outer man
+supplied in this out-of-the-way hut, at the robbers' charges, after
+which, being shown the direction in which to reach the Jalapa road, he
+bade the kind old matron _adios_, and traveled on to Encerro with
+a lighter heart than he had borne the day before.
+
+
+ENCERRO.
+
+At Encerro we left four of our fellow-passengers. They were the son and
+three daughters of the widow who kept the inn. They had been through a
+full course of studies in one of the Roman Catholic boarding-schools in
+the United States, and were now returned, having fully mastered the
+English language--the great desideratum of the Spanish-American people,
+and one of the sources from which the Catholic schools and colleges in
+the United States derive their support.
+
+What a beautiful spot is Encerro, the country residence of Santa Anna!
+It may not be as productive as his estate of Manga de Clavo, in the hot
+country, near Vera Cruz; but it is more salubrious and delightful. In
+the civil wars he had often made a stand here, and had learned to
+appreciate the beauty of the spot long before he was rich enough to
+make the purchase--for the pay received by officers of the highest rank
+in Mexico, is not sufficient to enable them to accumulate a fortune
+till far advanced in life. Politicians in Mexico, as in all other
+countries, are not unwilling to hazard their private fortunes in their
+political contests, and though the estates of the unsuccessful parties
+are not confiscated in a revolution, one reason may be that they are
+not ordinarily of great value.
+
+The stage-coach has been forgotten in story-telling while slowly
+climbing up the pass, but as soon as we had overcome this impediment we
+started off again upon an unrepaired road, at our former neck-breaking
+speed, which we kept up until we reached Encerro, where for a little
+way we had an earthen road. Yet it was only a short breathing before we
+were upon the rough stones again. We had been gradually passing through
+different strata of atmosphere in our journey upward, the changes in
+the character of the vegetation kept pace with the change of the
+climate.
+
+"Whose is that estate inclosed by such an antiquated looking stone
+wall?" I inquired, of a fellow-traveler.
+
+"That belongs to Don Isidoro; and it extends some thirty leagues," was
+the reply. "You see that ridge of hills. That is its northern boundary.
+This wall separates it from the estate of Santa Anna. In fact it is
+surrounded by a continuous and substantial stone-wall, sufficient to
+keep in cattle. This spot of land sufficiently large for a county, with
+a soil the richest in the world, and a climate like that of Jalapa, is
+given up to be a range for thousands of cattle."
+
+
+A TROPICAL FOREST.
+
+We must hasten to our journey's end, which, for the present, is Jalapa.
+While here, we can sum up the story of our eighteen hours' ride. From
+Vera Cruz we passed through a tropical marsh, presenting a striking
+contrast to what we had witnessed about that town. In place of being
+surrounded by hot, shifting hillocks of sand, we were in the midst of
+tropical vegetation. Trees not only bore their own natural burdens, but
+were borne down with creepers, vines, and parasitic plants; forming one
+strange mass of foliage of very many distinct kinds matted together and
+mingled into one. Plantations of vanilla, of coffee, of cocoa, or of
+sugar-cane, nowhere approached our road; nor were the cocoa-nut, the
+banana, and the plantain, so familiar in all tropical climates, often
+visible. Upon the whole route there were little evidences of labor,
+except those furnished by the road itself. It was all wilderness. Yet
+the graceful features of the creepers, hanging from branch to branch of
+the sycamores, and the shady arbors formed by their dense foliage,
+looked as though a gardener's hand could be traced in so much
+regularity; yet it was only Nature's own gardening, where the wild
+birds might build their nests, and breed, and sing without fear of
+disturbance. How often have I dismounted, while riding along such a
+forest, by the side of some running brook, and while my horse was
+feeding I have almost fallen asleep under the soothing influence which
+such an atmosphere produces upon a traveler, heated by fast riding
+under a vertical sun. It is one of those happy sensations that can not
+well be described, nor can it be appreciated by those who have not
+experienced it. Poets have exhausted their power in painting the
+beauties of scenes where all the senses are satiated with enjoyment.
+Yet this voluptuous gratification is soon alloyed by the evils that
+remind us that Paradise is not to be found upon this earth. Here is
+seen the whole animal kingdom busily laboring for the destruction of
+its kind. Reptiles prey upon each other; parasitic plants fix
+themselves upon trees and suck up the sap of their existence; and man,
+while he enjoys to a surfeit these bounties of nature, must watch
+narrowly against the venom and the poison that comes to mar his
+pleasure, and teach him the wholesome lesson that true happiness is
+only found in Heaven. We are now at our journey's end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Jalapa.--The extraordinary Beauty and Fertility of this Spot.--Jalap,
+Sarsaparilla, Myrtle, Vanilla, Cochineal, and Wood of Tobasco.--The
+charming Situation of Jalapa.--Its Flowers and its Fruits.--Magnificent
+Views.--The tradition that Jalapa was Paradise.--A speck of War.--The
+Marriage of a Heretic.--A gambling Scene in a Convent.
+
+
+Byron's lines, in the opening of "The Bride of Abydos" are gorgeous
+enough:
+
+    "Know ye the land of the cedar and vine,
+    Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine;
+    Where the light wings of Zephyr, oppress'd with perfume,
+    Wax faint o'er the gardens of Gull in their bloom;
+    Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit,
+    And the voice of the nightingale never is mute."
+
+But the poet would have given them a still more luxuriant coloring had
+he ever ascended the table-land of the tropics, and visited Jalapa, the
+spot which the natives insist was the site of the original Paradise.
+Paradise, jalapa, and myrtle, sound well enough together, and do not
+clash with the native tradition in relation to this delightful spot.
+
+
+PRODUCTIONS OF THE VALLEYS.
+
+We were now more than four thousand feet above the sea, on an extensive
+plateau, half-way up the mountain. The beautiful _convolvulus jalapa_
+does not flourish here, but is brought from the Indian villages of
+Colipa and Maqautla, situated in the valleys that run among the hills.
+The _myrtle_, whose grain is the spice of Tobasco, is produced in the
+forests by the river Boriderus; the _smilax_, whose root is the true
+sarsaparilla, grows deep down in the humid and umbrageous ravines of
+the Cordilleras; and cocoa comes from Acayucan. From the ever-green
+forests of Papantla and Nautla comes the _epidendrum vanilla_, whose
+odoriferous fruit is used as a perfume. Thus these characteristic
+productions of the country come from the mysterious valleys of the
+neighboring mountain, where, nearly a thousand years before any of the
+present generation was born, flourished an unknown race of men as
+civilized as were the people of Palmyra or of Egypt, as vast ruins in
+the forests of Misantla and Papantla clearly indicate: a race unknown
+to the degenerate Indians, who now wander about the ruined edifices and
+isolated pyramids of these cities, lost in the forest, as they are to
+us. A thousand years have passed away--their history has perished
+forever. The old books say that the delicate little scarlet insect,
+cochineal, was once a product of this district, and Jalapa was its
+proper market, and the mart of all the other peculiar productions of
+the neighboring region, because it was the town on the high land
+nearest to the sea-port.
+
+[Illustration: JALAPA.]
+
+Jalapa early became an important position to which foreign goods were
+brought to be exchanged for silver and gold, jalap, sarsaparilla,
+vanilla, spice of Tobasco, cocoa, cochineal, and woods of various
+colors.
+
+It is the beauty of the place itself, and the unsurpassed magnificence
+of its mountain-scenery, that throws such a charm around Jalapa. The
+transparency of its atmosphere makes the snow-crowned Orizaba and
+Perote, in the coast range of mountains, appear close at hand, with
+their dense forests of perpetual foliage, moistened incessantly by the
+clouds driven upon them from the ocean. High up in the region of
+perpetual moisture, Jalapa has a soil intensely luxuriant, and is
+beyond the reach of those parasitic plants of the low lands, that fix
+themselves upon other plants and trees, and eat out their very life, as
+the malarias do that of the human being. Roses of the most choice
+varieties grow spontaneously by the roadside, or creep over the walls.
+Nature, the parent of architects, has here shaped all her trees upon
+the most exquisite models. The very twig planted in a hedge, if left to
+itself, grows up into a tree which gracefully inclines its head like a
+weeping willow; while a mammoth white bell, or trumpet flower, hangs
+pendent from the extremity of every limb, each flower larger and more
+beautiful than our favorite house lily, and giving forth a richer odor
+than the rose. From the exquisite delicacy and richness of the fruit
+which this plant (the chirimoya) bears, and the danger arising from
+eating of it too freely, it is not unfrequently called the tree of the
+forbidden fruit; sometimes also it is called the custard plant.
+
+
+THE PARADISE OF JALAPA.
+
+Among the pleasing sights which we beheld was an orange orchard, in
+which I did not see a single tree that was not delicately and
+gracefully formed. In this profusion of nature I saw our own favorite
+flowers. A tiny crimson rose was creeping about in every place, while
+the large pink rose, which grew so rank, was clinging to an old wall
+and in full blossom; and many other varieties of crimson, white,
+yellow, and scarlet roses grow here without care; the morning-glory and
+honey-suckle are wild flowers here; the sweet-william, the
+lady-slipper, and all the flowers that we cultivate in summer, appear
+here to be spontaneous productions of nature. Even that sweetest and
+most beautiful of flowers, the passion-flower, with its mystical cross
+and five protruding seeds, was running over a frame, and yielding a
+profusion of blossoms, and a fruit--the granada--which almost equals in
+richness and delicacy the fruit of the chirimoya. But all the natural
+wonders of this town are not yet enumerated; for the fruits as well as
+the flowers of every climate flourish in Jalapa. There are
+strawberries, of the largest size, growing beside a coffee-tree the
+tree being filled with coffee-berries. Peach-trees were in full blossom
+in November, beside apricots and chirimoyas, while potatoes flourish
+among the bulbous productions of a tropical climate. The people of the
+town take a pride in its natural beauty; and there are no filthy
+alleys, no squalid poverty, or uncleanly hovels. Every house appears to
+be of stone; the walls neatly whitewashed, and bordered with pink, red,
+blue, green, or yellow; and the streets are fashioned to suit the
+grounds, without regard to checker-board regularity.
+
+I stood in an upper story of the house of a Mr. Todd, on the opposite
+side of the little stream that runs in front of the town, and looked
+out from that favored position. The sun had just escaped from the folds
+of an imprisoning cloud, and was shining full upon the beautiful town
+and hill. The unabsorbed moisture on the leaves gave them an additional
+lustre. The green peering up every where amidst the whitened walls; the
+graceful form of the trees, where their outline could be traced; the
+curiously shaped roofs of the old stone churches, with buttresses and
+towers; the college of San Francisco, a curiously fashioned pile of
+buildings, standing out above all others; the hill behind the town, the
+lofty mountain of Perote, on its left flank, on whose top the sky
+seemed to rest--all combined to give credibility to that which has been
+said of the beauty of Jalapa by an old Spanish author--that Jalapa was
+"a piece of heaven let down to earth." This figure was afterward
+applied to Naples, and the remark was added--"See Naples, and die." But
+the Jalapanos say, "See Jalapa, and pray for immortality, that you may
+enjoy it forever." It is the boast of the Indian, that "Jalapa is
+Paradise."
+
+One is almost tempted to agree with them; for here grow all plants that
+are pleasant to the eye, or good for food. Adam and Eve were not placed
+in the garden to plant and to sow, but to prune and dress the plants
+that grew of themselves. Here grow an abundance of broad-leaved plants,
+and for thread there is the fibre of the _maguey_, or century plant;
+while the thorns of the cactus are the needles used among the natives;
+so that all the materials were at ready hand for making their garments,
+as soon as our first parents had their eyes opened--by taking Jalap, I
+suppose--and so discovering that they were naked. It is a curious
+conceit, that the sin of Adam, in introducing a parasite into Eden,
+entailed a curse on this medicinal plant, which from that day, the
+story goes, has for very shame hid its face by day, and only by night
+opened its pretty scarlet flowers, which close again as the morning
+light appears.
+
+In favor of the notion that Jalapa was the ancient Paradise, the
+argument is, that Paradise must have been in the tropics, in a region
+elevated far above the baleful heat and malaria of the low lands, in a
+climate where plants could grow to the utmost perfection. And there is
+no such place in the world except Jalapa. Here, too, when the daily
+shower, which is requisite to bring all vegetable nature to perfection,
+rendered garments of wool necessary to protect humanity from
+rheumatism, nature had provided the needles and thread needed to
+fashion them. So that, taken all together, this Indian theory is more
+probable than many of the unnumbered traditions of this country, where
+traditions and miracles appear to grow as spontaneously as wild
+flowers.
+
+In such a spot as this, where all the powers of nature seem to have
+combined to form an earthly Paradise, and where the surrounding
+mountain-scenery is unsurpassed on the earth's surface, we might look
+for enlarged notions of the power, the majesty, and wisdom of that God
+who created it all. But images, like dolls, tricked out in the tawdry
+finery, are the objects which this people adore, and to whom they
+attribute more miraculous powers than were ever ascribed to the gods of
+their heathen ancestors. Humboldt says, "This people have changed their
+ceremonies, but not their religious dogmas."[6]
+
+
+A REVOLUTION.
+
+But let us take a look at the interior of this town. It is a little
+disturbed now, as there was a revolution yesterday--a revolution and a
+counter-revolution in fact, all in one day.
+
+The Governor and Legislature of the State of Vera Cruz, which meets in
+this place, were taken prisoners in the forenoon, for imposing a tax
+upon the retail trade; but in the afternoon their friends rallied, and
+the Governor and Legislature were released, and the rebels driven from
+the town. In this double battle one man, at least, lost his life, for
+the funeral took place as we entered. War is a terrible calamity at any
+time; but when it is carried to that foolish extent of shedding blood,
+it becomes an intolerable evil, and prudent men show their wisdom by
+running from it: at least they did so at Jalapa.
+
+Jalapa, it may be here remarked, is built on the site of an old Indian
+village, which was one of the first to enter into alliance with Cortéz.
+For the benefit of the original inhabitants, that Franciscan Convent
+was built by the conqueror. It is now converted into a college. Its
+steeple is worth a visit, and well rewards the labor of climbing; for
+from it another view, even more splendid than that I have described, is
+to be obtained. From this point the snow-covered Orizaba is added to
+the already imposing prospect; both it and Perote, with the intervening
+mountain and valleys, can all be embraced at a single glance. The
+position of the valleys, which produce the different plants that have
+been enumerated, are here pointed out; and from this spot, they show
+the place where the mountain has been pierced in search of the precious
+metals, while a little way off is the road to the extensive
+copper-mines.
+
+
+THE HERETIC AND THE JALAPINA.
+
+There is a curious story about the first marriage that took place
+between a heretic and a Jalapina. The hero held the important position
+of agent of the English _Real del Monte_ Company at Jalapa. In one
+of the families that had been greatly reduced in their worldly
+circumstances by the ruin of the _Consulado_ of Vera Cruz, was a
+dark beauty with whom he became deeply enamored. But how to make her
+his wife was the difficulty. The lady was willing--was more than
+willing; "for when the fires of Spanish love are kindled, they burn
+unextinguishably," says the proverb. Or, in the poetical language of
+the Indians, "it burns as did the fires of Mount Orizaba in its
+youth--fires that only went out when its head was coated with silver
+gray." The mother was willing; and no one but the Church had aught to
+say why they should not be united. How could the holy sacrament of
+matrimony be profaned by administering it to a heretic? It never had
+been, it never must be, in the Republic. He might take the woman if he
+chose, and live with her; but to marry them would be a sin. So said the
+Padre of the parish, and so said every dignitary of the Church up to
+the Bishop of Puebla, then the only remaining bishop in the Republic.
+The intercession of political authorities was invoked. The matter
+became serious, and a council was held at Puebla to dispose of the
+case. From this holy council came the intimation to the lover that a
+bribe of $2000 might be of service. But John Bull by this time had
+become stubborn. He had spent money enough; he would spend no more; he
+would get a chaplain from a man-of-war then at Vera Cruz; or better
+still, he would take his intended bride to New Orleans; for he would be
+married and not mated, as is the case of those who can not raise the
+fee claimed by the priest. He would not be ranked with that
+poverty-stricken set that are unmarried, or, as the phrase is, are
+"married behind the Church." He was no _peon_. It was contrary to an
+Englishman's ideas to have a wife unmarried; and as no English chaplain
+came along, he wrote to the Roman Catholic Bishop of New Orleans,
+giving an account of his difficulties, and inquired if he would marry
+him under the circumstances. With a liberality that ever distinguishes
+Catholic functionaries in Protestant countries, he promptly replied
+that he would marry them personally, if the parties would come to New
+Orleans, or, if he should chance to be unavoidably engaged, then his
+chaplain should perform the ceremony. Whereupon our hero and his
+lady-love started for New Orleans; and being there united in holy
+matrimony by the bishop, spent the happy month, so long deferred, in
+festivities, and then returned home, supposing that their troubles were
+now all at an end.
+
+But this foreign marriage proved to be only the beginning of evil to
+them. They had committed an unpardonable sin; they had defrauded the
+priest of his fee, and had set a bad example, which others might follow
+for the very economy of the thing.
+
+Hardly had our newly-wedded pair found themselves located in their own
+house, and finished receiving the usual round of congratulations, when
+the wife was summoned to appear before the priest. She at once
+complied, accompanied by her husband. The priest inquired why the
+husband came, as he had not been sent for; he had only sent for the
+wife. The husband gave him an Englishman's answer--that she was his
+wife, and where she went, there it was his place to go. The priest's
+reply to this opened the cause. The marriage was not lawful, and he
+must detain her, and send her on to Puebla, and have her placed in a
+convent. Such was the order he had received, and which he exhibited;
+and the two soldiers at the door were stationed there to carry the
+order into execution.
+
+At this point in the affair the Englishman drew two arguments from
+under his coat, and leveling one of them at the head of the padre,
+suggested to him the propriety of not interposing any obstacle to the
+return of himself and wife to their home. This was a poser; an act of
+open impiety; a Kentucky argument. But there was no remedy. The
+Inquisition was not now in authority; its instruments of torture had
+been destroyed; its fires had been extinguished; and so the Englishman
+got the best of the argument, and retired peaceably to his own home.
+
+At his house the Englishman was waited upon by the Alcalde, who
+informed him that he had been ordered to take the wife, and that he
+dared not disobey. But he suggested a method by which the order might
+be evaded. This was to send the wife every day, at a certain hour, into
+a neighbor's house, and at that hour the officers would come and search
+his dwelling, and would accordingly report "Not found." This farce
+continued to be enacted daily for nearly three months, when the
+husband, becoming tired of it, wrote to the Bishop of New Orleans an
+account of the manner in which his house had been besieged, and in due
+time received a reply from that excellent ecclesiastic, stating that he
+would satisfactorily arrange the business; at the same time expressing
+his regrets that he had not before been informed of the condition of
+affairs.
+
+In the mean time, another priest in the town chanced to be discussing
+the all-absorbing question of the day, the heretic marriage, and
+unfortunately happened to remark that a marriage by an American priest
+was not a lawful marriage. This was too much for our Englishman, and he
+answered it--as an Englishman is accustomed to answer insulting remarks
+in relation to the affairs of his household--not by a single blow, but
+by such a pommeling as never a priest had sustained since the Conquest.
+Yet there was no earthquake on the occasion, and Orizaba was not
+discomposed at witnessing such a shocking act of impiety.
+
+Time moved on, and with it came the parish priest to validate the
+marriage. But our Englishman would not be _validated_. No, not he; and
+when the priest began to mutter and to move his hands, the Englishman's
+blood was up, and so was his foot, and this ceremony was terminated
+according to a formula not laid down in any prayer-book now extant.
+This was the end of the war. The pair had passed through many
+tribulations in order to consummate their union; yet both declare that
+the prize was worth the contest.
+
+
+THE MONK AT JALAPA.
+
+Our good monk, with whom we parted at Vera Cruz, visited the convent at
+Jalapa, on his journey, and thus records what he saw:
+
+"The night of our arrival at Jalapa we were entertained at the convent
+of San Francisco, where we passed the day following, as it was Sunday.
+The income of this convent is great, notwithstanding the community is
+composed of only six _religios_, though it might well maintain more
+than a score of them. The guardian of Jalapa is no less vain than the
+prior of Vera Cruz; but he received us with much kindness, and treated
+us magnificently, although we were of another order.
+
+"In this town, as in all others, we observed that the lives and customs
+of the clergy, both seculars and regulars (monks), were greatly
+relaxed, and that their conduct completely gave the lie to their vows
+and their professions. The order of San Francisco, besides the vows
+common to the other orders; that is to say, chastity and obedience,
+exacts that the vow of poverty shall be observed more scrupulously than
+the other mendicants enforce it. Their dress should be of coarse cloth,
+and of a color to which they have given a name [monk's gray]; their
+girdles, or cordons, of rope, and their shirts of wool, if they can
+bear them. They are to go without stockings; and, finally, it is not
+lawful for them to use shoes, but to wear sandals. Not only are they
+prohibited having money, but they ought not even to touch it; neither
+to possess any thing as their own. In their journeys it is forbidden
+them to mount a horse, although they should fall by the way from
+fatigue. It is necessary that they should go afoot with sorrow and
+fatigue; esteeming the infraction of any of these precepts a mortal
+sin, which merits excommunication and hell. But they neglect all the
+obligations which the rigorous observance of these rules imposes upon
+them--to the neglect of all discipline, and to the disregard of the
+penalties. Those that have been transported to this country live in a
+manner which does not in any thing show that they have made a vow to
+God of even trifling privations. Their lives are so free and immodest
+that it might be suspected, with reason, that they had renounced only
+that which they could not, or were unable to attain.
+
+
+MONKISH GAMBLING.
+
+"We were surprised and even scandalized at the extraordinary sight of a
+San Franciscan of Jalapa, riding most beautiful mule, with a groom, or
+rather lackey, behind him, while only going to the end of the village
+to confess a sick man. His reverence, as he went along, had his
+garments tucked up from beneath, which exhibited a stocking of
+orange-color; a shoe of the most exquisite morocco; small clothes of
+Holland linen; with knots and braids of four fingers in width. Such a
+spectacle made us observe with more attention the conduct of that
+friar, and that of others beneath whose broad sleeves were exhibited a
+jacket embroidered with silk. They also wore shirts of Holland; and
+hand-ruffs inclosed their hands. But we did not discover, either in
+their garments or in their table, any thing that indicated
+mortification; on the contrary, every thing exhibited the same vanity
+which was noted in the people of the world.
+
+[Illustration: GAMBLING IN A CONVENT.]
+
+"After supper some of them began to speak of cards and dice, and they
+invited us to play, in order to contribute to the entertainment of
+their guests, one hand at a rubber. Almost all of our party excused
+themselves; some for want of money, others from not knowing the play.
+At length they found two of our _religious_ that would place themselves
+hand to hand with other two Franciscans. The party being arranged, they
+commenced playing with admirable dexterity. A little was put down at
+first; it was doubled. The loss vexed the one, the gain stimulated the
+other. At the end of a quarter of an hour the convent of the Angelic
+Order[7] of our father of San Francisco had converted itself into a
+gaming house, and the poor _religious_ (friars) into profane
+worldlings. We, who were simply spectators, had occasion to observe
+what passed in the play, and to acquire matter for reflection upon such
+a life. As the game went on engrossing in interest, the scandal
+continued to increase. The draughts of liquor were repeated with much
+frequency; the tongue unloosed itself; oaths mingled themselves with
+jests, while loud laughter made the edifice to tremble. The vow of
+poverty did not escape from the sacrilegious mirth. One of the San
+Franciscans, who had often touched money with his fingers and placed it
+on the table, when he gained any considerable sum, in order to divert
+the company, opened his broad sleeve, and with the hem he swept the
+table of all the stakes, amounting sometimes to more than twenty gold
+ounces, into his other sleeve; saying, at the same time, "Take care of
+it thou that canst, I have made a vow not to touch it." It was
+impossible for me to listen to such imprecations, and to witness such
+scandalous lives, without being moved; more than once I was on the
+point of reproving them, but I considered that I was a stranger, a
+passing guest, and besides, what I should say to them would be like
+preaching to the desert. I therefore rose up without making any noise
+and went to my sleeping-place, leaving the profane crowd; who continued
+with their diversions until the dawn. The next day the friar who had
+laved his part with so much facetiousness, with more of the manner of a
+brigand than a _religious_, more suitable for the school of
+Sardanapalus or of Epicurus than for the life of a cloister, said that
+he had lost more than eighty doubloons, or gold ounces--it appearing
+that his sleeve refused to protect that which he had made a vow of
+never possessing.
+
+
+MORALS OF THE MONKS.
+
+"This was the first lesson which the Franciscans gave us of the New
+World. It clearly appeared that the cause of so many friars and Jesuits
+passing from Spain to regions so distant, was libertinage rather than
+love of preaching the gospel, or zeal for the conversion of souls. If
+that love, if that zeal, were the motives of their conduct, they might
+offer their own depravity as an argument in favor of the truths of the
+gospel. Wantonness, licentiousness, avarice, and the other vices which
+stained their conduct, discovered their secret intentions. Their
+anxiety for enriching themselves, their vanity, the authority which
+they exercised over the poor Indians, are the motives which actuate
+them, and not the love of God or the propagating of the faith."
+
+      [6] Essai Politique.
+
+      [7] This is the title of this order of friars.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+The War of the Secret Political Societies of Mexico.--The Scotch and
+the York Free-Masons.--Anti-Masons.--Rival classes compose Scotch
+Lodges.--The Yorkinos.--Men desert from the Scotch to the York
+Lodges.--Law to suppress Secret Societies.--The Escocés, or Scotch
+Masons, take up arms.--The Battle.--Their total Defeat.
+
+
+As Jalapa is a pleasant resting-place in a journey to the interior, we
+will stop here to discuss national affairs for a little while. The
+first political subject in order is the furious contest that for ten
+years was carried on between two political societies, known as the
+_Escocés_ and _Yorkinos_--or, as we should call them, Scotch
+Free-Masons and York Free-Masons--whose secret organizations were
+employed for political purposes by two rival political parties.
+
+
+MASONS AND ANTI-MASONS.
+
+At the time of the restoration of the Constitutional Government of
+Spain in 1820, Free-Masonry was introduced into Mexico; and as it was
+derived from the Scotch branch of that order, it was called, after the
+name of the people of Scotland, _Escocés_. Into this institution
+were initiated many of the old Spaniards still remaining in the
+country, the Creole aristocracy, and the privileged classes--parties
+that could ill endure the elevation of a Creole colonel, Iturbide, to
+the Imperial throne. When Mr. Poinsett was sent out as Embassador to
+Mexico, he carried with him the charter for a Grand Lodge from the
+American, or York order of Free-Masons in the United States. Into this
+new order the leaders of the Democratic party were initiated. The
+bitter rivalry that sprung up between these two branches of the Masonic
+body, kept the country in a ferment for ten years, and resulted finally
+in the formation of a party whose motto was opposition to all secret
+societies, and who derived their name of Anti-Masons from the party of
+the same name then flourishing in the United States.
+
+When the Escocés had so far lost ground in popular favor, as to be in
+the greatest apprehension from their prosperous but imbittered rivals,
+the Yorkinos, as a last resort, to save themselves, and to ruin the
+hated organization, they _pronounced_ against all secret societies.
+Suerez y Navarro, in his "Life of Santa Anna," thus relates the history
+of these Secret Political Societies:
+
+"After the lodges had been established, crowds ran to initiate
+themselves into the mysteries of Free-Masonry; persons of all
+conditions, from the opulent magnates down to the humblest artisans. In
+the Scotch lodges were the Spaniards who were disaffected toward the
+independence; Mexicans who had taken up arms against the original
+insurgents through error or ignorance; those who obstinately declared
+themselves in favor of calling the Spanish Bourbons to the Imperial
+throne of Mexico; those who disliked the Federal system; the partisans
+of the ancient régime; the enemies of all reform, even when reforms
+were necessary, as the consequence of the independence. To this party
+(after the overthrow of the Empire) also belonged the partisans of
+Iturbide; those who were passionately devoted to monarchy; and the
+privileged classes.
+
+"In the assemblages of the Yorkinos were united all who were
+republicans from conviction, and those who followed the popular
+current--the mass of the people having devoted themselves to this
+organization. It is enough to say, in order to mark the position of
+both parties, that among the Yorkinos figured, in great numbers, those
+that believed the name of _republican_ was not a mere imagination.
+
+"Some individuals of both associations had the same object and the same
+identical end, and only differed in the modes of making their
+principles triumphant. A great number of persons, who co-operated in
+the creation of the new order, had belonged to the Scotch order, and
+had labored for the overthrow of Iturbide. They knew the secrets of the
+Scotch party, their projects, their tendencies; and the desertion of
+such furnished a thousand elements to the new order to make war upon
+the party they had abandoned. When parties were fully organized and
+assailing each other, the contest became terrible, and its consequences
+fearfully disastrous. Actions the most harmless, and questions purely
+personal, were matters for the contests of parties. The press was the
+organ of mutual accusations--now against particular individuals, and
+now against parties in conjunction. The Escocés multiplied their
+attacks until they lost all influence in affairs. Generals, Senators,
+Deputies, and Ministers abandoned their standard, as time increased the
+power of their rival with every class of individuals that embraced the
+new order. In the nature of things there was desertion and fear,
+because, as a writer, who was initiated into both orders, remarks: 'A
+general enthusiasm had taken possession of men's minds, who thought
+they saw in the new order the establishment of future prosperity.'
+
+"The seekers for office found ready access in these lodges to those who
+had office to dispense. The liberal found in the York lodges the strong
+support of liberty and liberal institutions. The high functionaries of
+government found aid and support in the strength of opinions; and the
+people, ever in search of novelty, united themselves to this
+association, in order to form one mass which sooner or later would
+suppress the privileged classes.
+
+
+INTRIGUES.
+
+"No intrigue, nor any effort, was able to check the progress of the
+York lodges. This induced their enemies to present the project of a law
+in the Senate, where the Escocés had a majority, to suppress secret
+societies by severe penalties against those who adhered to such
+associations. For the better insuring of success, the Escocés assumed
+the language of morality; and, confounding their own affair with that
+of their native country, clamored hypocritically against the pernicious
+influence which clandestine meetings exercised in public affairs.
+According to them the cry of the nation was against secret societies.
+The bill passed the Senate after prolonged discussion, being supported
+by those persons who knew it was intended to satisfy an offended party,
+whose prestige diminished day by day. If the factions had not
+originated in secret societies, they might have extirpated the evil by
+proscribing masonry. When have the ravages of the hurricane been found
+to content themselves with logical and pleasant words? At what time,
+and in what country, has a law been enforced, where those who were to
+execute it found an insuperable obstacle in their own sentiments?
+Indeed, it was impossible to destroy the political fanaticism of the
+day by the mere dash of a pen! The evil had gone to its utmost limit,
+and could not be cured by rigor or persecution.
+
+"The demoralization was so great that it extended to the armed force,
+because the greater part of the chiefs and officers had joined one or
+the other of the societies. Besides the seductive influences of the
+lodges, two generals, distinguished for their services in the first
+insurrectionary war, brought with them a number of soldiers to the
+party to which each severally belonged. General Nicholas Bravo was the
+head of the Escocés, and Don Vincente Guerrero was the leader of the
+Yorkinos. Both derived support from the names and prestige of these two
+personages, and from the popularity which each enjoyed with his
+companions-in-arms. The Scotch party feared the day would come, in
+which the deputies--the majority of whom were their enemies--would
+decree the total proscription of all those persons who were hostile, or
+suspected of being hostile, to the Yorkinos, as the Chambers had fallen
+into the practice of submitting to the caprices of the dominant order.
+They therefore appealed to arms, having exhausted the right of
+petition.
+
+"General Bravo, Vice-President of Mexico, and leader of the Escocés,
+having issued his proclamation, declaring that, as a last resort, he
+appealed to arms to rid the republic of that pest--secret societies,
+and that he would not give up the contest until he had rooted them out,
+root and branch, took up his position at Tulansingo--a village about
+thirty miles north of the City of Mexico. Here, at about daylight on
+the morning of the 7th January, 1828, he was assailed by General
+Guerrero, the leader of the Yorkinos, and commander of the forces of
+government."
+
+After a slight skirmish, in which eight men were killed and six
+wounded, General Bravo and his party were made prisoners; and thus
+perished forever the party of the Escocés. This victory was so complete
+as to prove a real disaster to the Yorkinos. The want of outside
+pressure led to internal dissensions; so that when two of its own
+members, Guerrero and Pedraza, became rival candidates for the
+presidency, the election was determined by a resort to arms, which
+brought about the terrible insurrection of the Acordada.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Mexico becomes an Empire.--Santa Anna deposes the Emperor.--He
+proclaims a Republic.--He pronounces against the Election of Pedraza,
+the second President.--His situation in the Convent at Oajaca.--He
+captures the Spanish Armada.--And is made General of Division.
+
+
+We left Santa Anna at Vera Cruz, having just completed the first of
+those politico-military insurrections which fill up the history of his
+times. He had added the city of Vera Cruz to the national cause, by a
+timely insurrection. Iturbide had rewarded him for this important
+service by bestowing upon him the ribbon of the order of Guadalupe,
+making him second in command at Vera Cruz. The chief command of the
+department was bestowed upon an old insurrectionary leader, who was
+known by the assumed name of Guadalupe Victoria. He was a good-natured,
+honest, inefficient old man, whose great merit consisted in having
+lived for two years in a dense forest, far beyond the habitations of
+men. While thus hiding himself from a host of pursuers, he acquired
+that habit, supposed to be peculiar to wild beasts, of passing several
+days without food, and then eating inordinate quantities--a habit which
+he found impossible to change in after-life, when he had become
+President of Mexico. The story of this man's sojourn among wild beasts
+had been told all over Mexico, and had given him a great popularity,
+which he brought to the support of the national cause.
+
+In 1822 the Mexican nation was still in its swaddling clothes. Its
+birth had hardly cost a pang; but its infancy, its childhood, and its
+youth, were to be attended with a series of convulsions, the fruits of
+the vicious seeds sown in the conception of the new State. By the
+_pronunciamiento_ of a part of a regiment of the King's Creole
+troops the connection between Spain and Mexico was severed forever, and
+the colonel of these troops became the Emperor of Mexico. In this
+revolution the nation acquiesced, and thus discovered to the soldiery
+their unlimited power when their arms are turned against their own
+government. From that time onward Mexico, like every other country
+where the Spanish language is spoken, became the victim of her own
+soldiery. This liberation of Mexico was by no means the result of the
+outburst of national patriotism, but the consequence of the utter
+incapacity of Spain longer to hold the reins of her colonial
+governments. She indeed sent out a new vice-king to Mexico after the
+breaking out of the insurrection; but the best that he could do was to
+sanction what had been done by a treaty at Cordova, in which it was
+stipulated that Iturbide and the new viceroy, O'Donoghue, should be
+associated with others in a regency, until Spain should send out one of
+the Spanish Bourbon princes to occupy the imperial throne of Mexico.
+
+The Spanish parliament refused to sanction the treaty of Cordova;
+O'Donoghue died, and Iturbide was left in possession of executive
+power, without a defined office, while an insane opposition sprung up
+against him in the new Congress which he had called together. This
+unlooked-for opposition soon convinced him that the tearing away of a
+nation from its traditional ideas was like the letting out of waters,
+and that he must either ride upon the wave or be overborne by the
+tempest. A resolution of Congress, to take from him the command of the
+army, brought matters to a crisis. Accordingly, on the night of the
+18th of March, 1821, he caused himself to be proclaimed Emperor by his
+partisans; and the next day this new revolutionary act was confirmed by
+Congress, under the intimidation of military force, and the nation
+again acquiesced.
+
+ITURBIDE DEPOSED.
+
+The revolution had caused a stagnation in all the departments of
+commerce and of revenue. Iturbide had inaugurated his insurrection by
+seizing, at Iguala, a million of dollars belonging to the Manilla
+Company, on its way to Acapulco. He made another like seizure at
+Perote; but these high-handed measures, while they proved but a drop in
+the bucket toward sustaining his government, increased his
+embarrassments, by destroying all confidence; so that his new authority
+had stamped upon it the unmistakable marks of dissolution. He was an
+emperor without traditional associations; he had an empire without a
+revenue; a large standing army without pay. The fickle multitude, who
+supposed that independence was to prove an antidote for every evil,
+began to murmur; while a host of demagogues, who envied the good
+fortune of Iturbide, were all beginning to clamor for a republic. The
+blow, however, came from an unexpected quarter. Santa Anna had
+quarreled with a superior officer, General Echevarri, and Iturbide had
+recalled him from his command. But Santa Anna thought it most advisable
+to disobey the Emperor; and in the Plaza of Vera Cruz, surrounded by
+the garrison, he proclaimed a republic, on the 2d of December, 1822. He
+joined in his insurrection the name and the influence of Victoria, yet
+both were insufficient to save him from a complete route at the hands
+of Echevarri. At the critical moment in the affairs of Santa Anna, the
+Grand Lodge of the Ecoscés decreed the overthrow of Iturbide, and sent
+orders to General Echevarri, who was a member of the order, to unite
+his forces to those of Santa Anna in overturning the empire. This was a
+bitter pill for that general to swallow, but he swallowed it; and the
+two leaders together swallowed the empire.
+
+Iturbide, being unable to stem the torrent of insurrection, had
+abdicated; a Republic had been established upon the ruins of the
+empire, and Victoria, the "wild man of the woods," was elected first
+President. He served out his time; but the last year of his government
+was disturbed by the terrible insurrection of the Acordada, which had
+arisen out of the election of Pedraza as his successor. Santa Anna was,
+at the time of this election, at Jalapa, discharging the duties of
+Vice-Governor of Vera Cruz, when the people of the town surrounded his
+house and called upon him to pronounce against the election. Thus
+becoming implicated, he was forced to make a new insurrection. This
+third _pronunciamiento_ of Santa Anna, was on the 5th of September,
+1828.
+
+He made his first stand at the Castle of Perote; but finding this too
+isolated a position, he marched to Oajaca, in the extreme southwest of
+the Republic, and took up his quarters in the Dominican convent of that
+city. As he was closely hemmed in by an active enemy, provisions grew
+scarce, and he was forced to resort to a novel method of supplying
+himself. On a feast-day, at the San Franciscan church, he dressed a
+party of his soldiers in the garb of monks, and, having placed them in
+a convenient position, he made prisoners of the whole assembled
+congregation, and then proceeded to divest them of all ready cash on
+hand, and then emptied the contribution-box of the money destined for
+the poor saints[8] at Jerusalem, and retired and ended the war; for the
+successful termination of the insurrection of the Acordada in the city
+of Mexico accomplished the object for which Santa Anna took up
+arms--the declaration by Congress, that General Guerrero, a man of
+mixed blood was the real President elect, instead of Pedraza, a white
+man, and the candidate of the aristocracy.
+
+
+CAPTURE OF THE ARMADA.
+
+When King Ferdinand had regained his despotic authority, in 1825, by
+the aid of French bayonets, he bethought himself of Mexico, the most
+productive of his lost colonial possessions in America, which had
+yielded, to his predecessors, the total sum of $2,040,048,426,[9] or
+rather an annual revenue in silver dollars of $6,800,000 during a
+period of three hundred years. He was also incited by his impoverished
+_noblesse_, who could no longer obtain colonial appointments for
+their sons. The Spanish merchants also complained of the loss of their
+monopolies. But what at last aroused him to activity was the expulsion
+of the Spaniards from Mexico, in consequence of the ascendancy of the
+democratic party. Those of mixed and Indian blood were now truly
+enfranchised; and they were heard to utter strange voices, which had
+until then been suppressed by the combined power of a spiritual and
+temporal despotism: so that the bones of Cortéz, the benefactor of the
+Kings of Spain, were no longer safe in the convent of San Francisco,
+where they had lain for three hundred years.[10] They were in such
+imminent danger of being dragged out and scattered to the winds by the
+mob, as those of "the accursed" enslaver of their race, that they were
+removed by stealth, and for a time deposited in the most sacred shrine
+in Mexico: afterward they were secretly removed to Europe, where they
+cried to the Spanish king for vengeance on the sacrilegious nation. An
+Armada was at last fitted out, and landed at Tampico; and now all
+Mexicans, from the President down to the humblest _peon_, watched
+the result with the deepest anxiety, as they saw Santa Anna undertaking
+the defense of the country with untried soldiers. For on the issue of
+the struggle depended the question whether the whole nation should be
+again reduced to servitude, or whether they should be left in the
+enjoyment of their newly-acquired liberty. The contest was one of
+several days' continuance: when at last it was terminated by a
+capitulation, all Mexico rang with rejoicing; and Santa Anna, then not
+thirty-five years of age, received the military rank which he now
+holds--General of Division.
+
+       [8] Breva Reséña Histórica, p. 280.
+
+       [9] See King's Proclamation, printed at Havana, 6th September,
+       1831.
+
+      [10] See note 1.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+In the Stage and out of the Stage.--Still climbing.--A moment's View
+of all the Kingdoms of the World.--Again in obscurity.--The Maguey,
+or Century Plant.--The many uses of the Maguey.--The intoxicating
+juice of the Maguey.--Pulque.--Immense Consumption of Pulque.--City
+of Perote.--Castle of San Carlos de Perote.--Starlight upon the
+Table-land.--Tequisquita.--"The Bad Land."--A very old Beggar.--Arrive
+at Puebla.
+
+
+The time allotted for my visit to Jalapa had come to a close. I took
+out the ticket, endorsed _Escala donde le convengo_, which I
+translated--"Let him stop when, where, and as long as he pleases," and
+once more took my seat in the stage, which, on a fine afternoon, was
+starting for Perote upon the table-land. This short journey lay across
+the mountain of Perote, passing over an elevation of 10,400 feet, the
+highest elevation that a stage-coach has yet reached, and one from
+which the traveler can oftentimes enjoy a view of all the vegetable
+"kingdoms of the world in a moment of time." I took my seat upon the
+top of the coach, above the driver, that I might enjoy a last lingering
+look at this Nature's paradise, before the mountain-ridge should
+intervene between the world I had left behind, and the great salt
+desert that we were soon to traverse.
+
+The prospect from the coach-top, as we traveled onward, was even more
+beautiful than that I have already described. For several miles beyond
+Jalapa we were descending and passing through one of those valleys of
+which the Spanish poets so often sing, where the roadside is covered
+with a profusion of the flowers and vegetation that flourish only in
+the most luxuriant soil. The valley was soon passed, and we began to
+ascend so rapidly, that before an hour had passed we could mark the
+changing vegetation, and observe the products of a colder climate; for
+this changing vegetation is a barometer, which, in Mexico, marks the
+ascent and descent as regularly as the most nicely-adjusted artificial
+instrument. So accurately are the stratas of vegetation adjusted to the
+stratas of the atmosphere which they inhabit, as to lead the traveler
+to imagine that a gardener's hand had laid out the different fields
+which here rise one above another upon the side of the mountain that
+constitutes the eastern inclosure of the table-land. The fertility of
+the soil did not seem to diminish; it was only the character of the
+vegetation that changed step by step, as we wound our way up toward the
+summit of the Perote.
+
+
+MOUNTAIN VIEW.
+
+We changed horses at La Hoya, a place memorable in the annals of civil
+war, as the spot where General Rincon blocked up the pass when Santa
+Anna was retiring in 1845, a fugitive from the country. Here the road
+becomes so steep as to induce the traveler to walk a little, for the
+better opportunities he can thus have of surveying the novel sights
+that present themselves at every turn of the road. When he is fatigued
+with climbing, and breathing the peculiar air of this altitude, he can
+seat himself by the roadside to wait the arrival of the coach, and to
+catch momentary glimpses, among floating clouds, of the country through
+which he has passed in his ascent from the coast. He can see a long
+distance through such a rarified atmosphere; but it is only a
+bird's-eye view, as the mass that is heaped together is more than his
+vision can fully take in, before a cloud, ragged and torn, has passed
+across the picture. The eye is delighted more with the details of a
+scene, than with this mass of all the excellences of all the climates.
+Still he has time to divide into sections the world below him; and as
+he thus contemplates in part, he at length realizes as a whole the
+scene that is presented. The art of man never has, and never can,
+produce such a combination in the arrangement of the courses of
+vegetation. As the traveler stands at an elevation where pine-trees
+crow in the tropics, where a post-and-board fence incloses a field of
+grain, and where a storm of snow and sleet had fallen only a few hours
+before, he can look down upon hills and plains, one below another, each
+one, in the descending scale, exhibiting more and more of tropical
+productions, until the regions of cocoa-nuts, and bananas, and
+sarsaparilla, and palms, and jalap, and vanilla, are reached in his
+perspective. This is a specimen chart, where all the climates and
+productions of the world are embraced within the scope of a single
+glance.
+
+It is time to re-enter the coach, and close all openings, for a dense
+fog is coming up from the sea, and has thrown so thick a curtain over
+the prospect, that the eye can not penetrate it. The long line of
+freight-wagons, that have served to mark the route that we have come,
+disappear, one after another: we ourselves are soon enveloped in
+darkness. With the fog has come a chill and piercing air, and the
+pleasure of our mountain ride is now over. Still we move on and up with
+little hindrance, as the road on this side of the "divide" is in good
+repair. But as we go down on the other side, we are impeded by
+freight-wagons held fast in the mud, and unable to move down-hill--it
+being easier to drag a wagon up an ascent than to draw it down-hill
+through stiff mud. An entirely different world now presents itself. We
+are in a fine grain-growing country. Well-cultivated fields stretch out
+as far as the eye can reach, with farm-houses scattered here and there,
+that strikingly remind the traveler of his northern home at this season
+of the year.
+
+
+THE MAGUEY.--PULQUE.
+
+The fences here are chiefly formed by rows of the _maguey_ or _century
+plant_, growing at the side of a ditch. Here it reaches its greatest
+perfection, and adds materially to the fine appearance of the fields,
+and is seen every where upon the table-land. It grows wild upon the
+mountains, and springs up in uncultivated places, as a weed. It is
+cultivated, as a domestic plant, in little patches, and is also planted
+in fields of leagues in extent. It grows luxuriantly in the richest
+soils, and shows itself in those desert plains, where nothing else,
+except a few spears of stinted grass and chaparral can exist.
+
+The uses to which the maguey is applied are more numerous than the
+methods of its cultivation. When its immense leaf is pounded into a
+pulp, it forms a substitute for both cloth and paper. The fibre of the
+leaf, when beaten and spun, forms a beautiful thread, resembling silk
+in its glossy texture, but which, when woven into a fabric, more
+resembles linen than silk. This thread is now, and ever has been, the
+sewing thread of the country. The leaf of the maguey, when crudely
+dressed and spun into a coarse thread, is woven into sail-cloth and
+sacking; and from it is made the bagging in common use. The ropes made
+from it are of that kind called Manilla hemp. It is the best material
+in use for wrapping paper. When cut into coarse straws, it forms the
+brooms and whitewash-brushes of the country; and, as a substitute for
+bristles, it is made into scrub-brushes; and, finally, it supplies the
+place of hair-combs among the common people.
+
+The great value of the maguey plant arises from the amount of
+intoxicating liquid which it produces, which is the chief source of
+intoxication among the common people of the table-land. There are two
+species of this plant cultivated. One of them flourishes in the desert
+portions of the country, from which an abominable liquor is distilled,
+called _mescal_, or _mejical_. The other is the flowering maguey, or
+century plant, of which so many fabulous stories are told in the United
+States. This is one of the wonders of the vegetable world. Until the
+plant has reached its tenth year, or thereabouts, there is no trace of
+a flower. In its fifteenth year, or thereabout, there are certain
+appearances which indicate that the central stem, or _hampe_, which
+sustains the flower, is about to form in the centre of the plant. If
+persons are not on the watch to cut out the heart at the proper time,
+the _hampe_ shoots out, and grows to about the height of a telegraph
+post--for which I have often mistaken it--absorbing in its development
+the sap, which, when fermented, forms the intoxicating drink called
+_pulque_. The sprouting of the stalk takes place in November or
+December; but the beautiful cluster of flowers, for which it is so much
+admired, does not form at its top till February. In this last month,
+the monster leaf that envelops the _hampe_ begins gradually to unfold
+itself, exposing to view a slender stalk, higher than a man on
+horseback, with arms extended. On this stalk grow the flowers. Such is
+the century plant--in botanical language, the _Agava Americana_.
+
+The juice of the maguey, in its unfermented state, is called
+_honey-water_. It is gathered from the central basin by cutting off a
+side-leaf and cutting out the heart, just before the sprouting of the
+_hampe_, for whose sustenance this juice is destined. The basin, thus
+formed, yields every day from four to seven quarts--according to the
+size and thriftiness of the plant--for a period of two or three months.
+The process of taking it out of the plant is a little curious. Into the
+end of a long gourd is inserted a cow's horn, bored at the point;
+through this horn and into the gourd the juice is sucked up by applying
+the mouth to a hole in the opposite side of the gourd. From the
+gourd-shell the juice is emptied into a bottle formed from the skin of
+a hog, which still retains much of the form of the animal. To form this
+bottle of honey-water into _pulque_, all that is necessary is to put
+into it a little of the same material which has been laid aside till it
+became sour, which operates like yeast, causing the honey-water to
+ferment.
+
+As soon as the maguey juice in the hog-skin has fermented, it is
+_pulque_; and is readily sold for eight, and sometimes as high as
+twenty-five cents a quart, producing a very large revenue upon the cost
+of the plant. It is not ordinarily sold at wholesale; but each maguey
+estate has its retail shops in town, from which the whole product of
+the estate is retailed out. One man, who has five of these shops in the
+city of Mexico, keeps his carriage; and is reckoned, among the magnates
+of the land, deriving from this source alone, it is said, $25,000 a
+year. The excise which Government derives from the sale of this liquor,
+which, in taste, resembles sour butter-milk, amounted to $817,739 in
+the year 1793.
+
+
+PEROTE.
+
+The traveler from the coast always arrives at Perote at a late hour;
+and as he leaves it again at an early hour next morning, he recollects
+nothing of it but its chilly night air, and the good supper which he
+was too cold to enjoy. But on his return from Mexico, he usually has an
+hour of daylight, which he can improve in a survey of this small and
+cleanly town. Here the freight-wagons, with their twenty horses apiece,
+stop to recruit; and the cargo-mules, that take this route, are
+gathered in the immense stable-yards, which give to the place the
+appearance of a collection of caravansaries. The whitewash-brush has
+been industriously applied to the outside of the houses; and though
+they are chiefly built of that frail material, dried mud, they present
+a very neat and tidy appearance, giving one a very correct idea of what
+may have been the appearance of one of the first class of Indian towns
+in the times of Cortéz.
+
+A few rods to the north of the town stands the castle of San Carlos--a
+square fort, with a moat and glacis. It is built in the best style of
+fortifications of the last century, having been designed as a
+depository for silver, when, in consequence of the wars of Spain with
+maritime nations, it was not deemed prudent to send it forward to the
+coast: it was much used for this purpose when the road below was
+blocked up, in the times of the insurrection, that began in the year
+1810. At one time the accumulation here was so great that it is said
+to have amounted to 40,000,000 of silver dollars; weighing about 1300
+tons, or a little short of the whole silver export of two years. This
+castle is now in a fine state of repair. It has a large garrison of
+lancers, and at the time of my visit was daily in expectation of the
+arrival of Santa Anna. From this castle Santa Anna, in 1828, issued his
+_pronunciamiento_ against Pedraza. In this castle he was imprisoned by
+Rincon, in 1845, after his capture at Xico. From this castle he was
+banished by decree of the Mexican Congress; and to it he was now
+returning to hold the supreme power in the State.
+
+At two o'clock in the morning we were aroused from our comfortable beds
+to take our places in the stage; and soon we were again upon the road.
+There is something exceedingly attractive in the appearance of the
+skies upon this elevated table-land, 7692 feet above the ocean. The
+morning star-light is very beautiful. It is so much clearer, and the
+stars are therefore so much brighter here than in the dense atmosphere
+where we inhabit, that the traveler, half chilled and sleeping, rouses
+himself to contemplate the brilliant sights above him. The brightest
+stars that he has watched from childhood up, are brighter now than
+ever. New stars have filled the voids in his celestial chart, and
+satellites are dancing round well-known planets. The North Star is
+still visible, now 19° above the horizon. The Dipper has dipped far
+down to the northward. The Southern Cross--that mysterious combination
+of five stars, that emblem of the faith of Southern America, which only
+reaches full meridian at midnight prayers--is here 25° above the
+horizon, shining brilliantly. And then there are so many unknown
+southern stars, and so many unfamiliar constellations, that the short
+hours of night are well spent upon the driver's box.
+
+We have been gradually descending into what appears to have once been
+the bottom of a salt lake. The ground is partially incrusted with a
+compound salt called _tequisquita_, is composed of equal proportions of
+muriate of soda, carbonate of soda, and insoluble metal (common earth):
+this compound is used by the Mexican bakers and soap-boilers as a
+substitute for salt and soda. A stinted grass is here and there
+scattered in patches over the _bad land_, as these barren plains are
+called; but the dry earth, which is rarely moistened for six months
+together, is covered with drifting sand, which is driven about by the
+hot winds of this desert.
+
+How great was the change from what we had passed! The celestial chart,
+that we had been admiring with so much rapture, had gradually rolled
+itself up, and as the sun came out, we had a view of the dreariness
+around us. It was truly a _bad land_--a land of evil--even a land
+for wolves to prowl in, and where vultures watch for the carcasses of
+dying mules, and where robbers ply their calling with little fear of
+detection. Here, in the midst of all this dreariness, we saw a pretty
+lake, and beautiful scenery around it, that looked for a little while
+like an enchanted scene, and then vanished into air. We passed the
+hostelry of Tepeyagualco, where water is drawn from a fabulous depth,
+and soon came to that most celebrated spring of fresh water, situated
+upon the boundary-line of the two departments of Vera Cruz and Puebla,
+and bearing the poetical name of "The Eye of Waters." But we were
+followed by a driving storm of sand all the way to Nopaluca, where we
+breakfasted at twelve o'clock.
+
+
+AGED BEGGAR.
+
+As we came out from breakfast we encountered an old beggar, whom I had
+often seen before at this place. He was so old that Time seemed to have
+forgotten him, and he too had forgotten Time. He could only reach his
+age by approximation: he recollected that his third son was earning
+day-wages when the decree came (in 1767) for the expulsion of the
+Jesuits. This would make the old beggar 130 years of age, if we call
+the son eighteen, and the father twenty-five at the time of his birth.
+Poor old man! how much he has suffered from outliving his own kindred.
+One after another he has followed to the grave his children and his
+children's children, to the third and fourth generation, till now the
+lad that leads him by the hand, the only link that binds him to the
+race of the living, is of the sixth generation.
+
+Toward evening, after we had passed the storm of dust, we came to the
+large village of Amosoque, which is the only town of any magnitude
+between Perote and Puebla. It is noted for its excellent spurs; and was
+formerly much more noted as a haunt of robbers. From this village we
+were driven in a little more than an hour to the city of Puebla.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Puebla.--The Miracle of the Angels.--A City of Priests.--Marianna
+in Bronze.--The Vega of Puebla.--First View of the Pyramid of
+Cholula.--Modern Additions to it.--The View from its
+Top.--Quetzalcoatl.--Cholula and Tlascala.--Cholula without the
+Poetry.--Indian Relics.
+
+
+_Pueblo de los Angelos_--the "Village of the Angels"--derives its
+name from a miracle that occurred during the building of its celebrated
+Cathedral. While its walls were going up, angels are said to have come
+down from heaven nightly, and laid on the walls the same amount of
+stone and mortar that the masons laid the day previous. It is, of
+course, a sacred city. Its people, particularly the women, are the most
+devout in all Mexico; and, of course, the most profligate, as we shall
+show presently. It is a city of priests, and monks, and nuns, and
+friars, of every order, white and gray, black and greasy. As in all
+Spanish-American towns, the fronts of the houses are plastered and
+painted in fresco; but the fresco painting has gone too long without
+renewing, and the town looks now, as it did two years ago, gray,
+streaked, and inhospitable. The unwashed houses are filled with
+unwashed people; and the streets swarm with filthy beggars, and monks
+asking for alms in the name of the most blessed Virgin. The streets,
+thanks to the male and female chain-gangs, are kept quite clean. But
+all else is dirty. If the angels, when they finished their work on the
+Cathedral, had left a whitewash brush behind them, they would have done
+the city a real service. The houses, inside and out, and occupants too,
+and the reputation of its men from olden time, all need whitewashing.
+
+
+CHARACTER OF THE POBLANAS.
+
+Perhaps I could not present a more deplorable picture of the moral
+condition of the ladies of Puebla, who are celebrated for being so very
+devout, "but not very virtuous," than by copying the following from
+Madame Calderon de la Barca's "Life in Mexico:"
+
+"Yesterday (Sunday), a great day here for visiting after mass is over.
+We had a concourse of Spaniards, all of whom seemed anxious to know
+whether or not I intended to wear a Poblana dress at the fancy ball,
+and seemed wonderfully interested about it. Two young ladies or women
+of Puebla, introduced by Señor ----, came to proffer their services in
+giving me all the necessary particulars, and dressed the hair of
+Josefa, a little Mexican girl, to show me how it should be arranged;
+mentioned several things still wanting, and told me that every one was
+much pleased at the idea of my going in a Poblana dress. I was rather
+surprised that _every one_ should trouble themselves about it. About
+twelve o'clock the President, in full uniform, attended by his
+aids-de-camp, paid me a visit, and sat about half an hour, very amiable
+as usual. Shortly after came more visits, and just as we had supposed
+they were all concluded, and we were going to dinner, we were told that
+the Secretary of State, the Ministers of War and of the Interior, and
+others, were in the drawing-room. And what do you think was the purport
+of their visit? To adjure me by all that was most alarming, to discard
+the idea of making my appearance in a Poblana dress! They assured us
+that Poblanas generally were _femmes de rien_, that they wore no
+stockings, and that the wife of the Spanish Minister should by no means
+assume, even for one evening, such a costume. I brought in my dresses,
+showed their length and their propriety, but in vain; and, in fact, as
+to their being in the right, there could be no doubt, and nothing but a
+kind motive could have induced them to take this trouble; so I yielded
+with a good grace, and thanked the cabinet council for their timely
+warning, though fearing that, in this land of procrastination, it would
+be difficult to procure another dress for the fancy ball.
+
+[Illustration: ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUMES.]
+
+"They had scarcely gone, when Señor ---- brought a message from several
+of the principal ladies here, whom we do not even know, and who had
+requested that, as a stranger, I should be informed of the reasons
+which rendered the Poblana dress objectionable in this country,
+especially on any public occasion like this ball. I was really thankful
+for my escape.
+
+"Just as I was dressing for dinner, a note was brought, marked
+_reservada_ (private), the contents of which appeared to me more odd
+than pleasant. I have since heard, however, that the writer, Don José
+Arnaiz, is an old man, and a sort of privileged character, who
+interferes in every thing, whether it concerns him or not. I translate
+it for your benefit:
+
+"The dress of a Poblana is that of a woman of no character. The lady of
+the Spanish minister is a _lady_ in every sense of the word. However
+much she may have compromised herself, she ought neither to go as a
+Poblana, nor in any other character but her own. So says to the Señor
+de C----n, José Arnaiz, who esteems him as much as possible."
+
+If priests were angels, the town would be rightly named, for it is a
+city of priests and _religious_ men who have consecrated their lives
+to begging, and count it a merit with God to live on charity. Convents
+of male and female _religious_ abound, and, as the books tell us,
+$40,000,000, in the form of mortgages upon the fairest lands of the
+Vega of Puebla, is consecrated to their support, under the supervision
+of the bishop. That smoking mountain, that outlet to infernal fires, is
+so lose at hand as to suggest the idea that this whole mass of impurity
+and moral rottenness may have been vomited up from the bottomless pit,
+or that the fallen angels, in their way thitherward, tarried here to
+found a sacred city, see its Cathedral finished, and then led the way
+down the inclined plane to that brimstone convent where friars "most do
+congregate."
+
+
+MARIANNA IN BRONZE.
+
+In this city of dirty houses and dirty faces there is, nevertheless,
+some public spirit. Since I was last here a bronze equestrian statue
+has been set up in the Grand Plaza. It is a bronze woman, sitting
+quietly and easily upon a furious bronze horse. The horse is in a
+terrible state of excitement, but the woman is not alarmed in the
+least; for she seems to be well aware that it is only make-believe
+passion, badly executed in bronze. Who could this woman be but
+Malinche, or Marianna, the Indian mistress of Cortéz--a fit patroness
+of the women of Puebla. She was the first convert that Cortéz ever made
+to Christianity; and her sort of Christianity is not unusual in Mexico.
+That beautiful cone that rises so majestically out of the plain between
+Puebla and Tlascala bears the name of Malinche; but as this name was
+applied to her paramour as well as to herself, an additional
+testimonial, in the form of a bronze statue, was deemed requisite; for
+she is considered here as almost a saint, and would be altogether such
+if she had not been the mother of children, and ended her career by
+getting married. That act of getting married--not her former
+life--rendered her unfit for a saint; for how could an honest housewife
+be a saint? She might have been the best of mothers and the best of
+wives, and have performed scrupulously the duties that God had assigned
+to her upon earth; but she was lacking in romance, in those aerial
+materials from which saints are made. Saints are made in damp, cold
+prison-cells, where, in the midst of self-inflicted misery, they see
+visions, dream dreams, and perform cures upon crowds as deluded as
+themselves.
+
+It was a delightful afternoon when I mounted my horse for a ride to
+Cholula. The wind of the day before had driven away every vapor from
+this exceedingly transparent atmosphere, excepting only the cloud that
+was resting upon Popocatapetl, a little below its snow-covered summit.
+It was such weather as we have at "harvest home," and it was truly a
+"harvest home" throughout the whole Vega. Men were working in gangs in
+the different fields, gathering stalks, or husking corn, or cutting
+grain, or plowing with a dozen plows in company, or harrowing, or
+putting in seed. It was harvest-time and seed-time together. The full
+green blade and the ripened grain stood in adjoining fields in this
+region of perpetual sunshine. As I rode along between carefully
+cultivated estates, I did not fail to catch the enthusiasm which groups
+of cheerful field-laborers always inspire in one whose happiest
+recollections run back to the labors of the farm. Such are the
+varieties this country affords: three days ago I was enjoying the most
+delicate tropical fruits, which I plucked fresh from the trees;
+yesterday I was traversing a salt desert covered with clouds of
+drifting sand; and I was now among grain-farms of a cold climate.
+
+
+PYRAMID OF CHOLULA.
+
+Right before me, as I rode along, was a mass of trees, of ever-green
+foliage, presenting indistinctly the outline of a pyramid, which ran up
+to the height of about two hundred feet, and was crowned by an old
+stone church, and surmounted by a tall steeple. It was the most
+attractive object in the plain; it had such a look of uncultivated
+nature in the midst of grain-fields. It would have lost half its
+attractiveness had it been the stiff and clumsy thing which the
+pictures represent it to be. I had admired it in pictures from my
+childhood for what it was not; but I now admired it for what it really
+was--the finest Indian mound on this continent; where the Indians
+buried the bravest of their braves, with bows and arrows, and a
+drinking cup, that they might not be unprovided for when they should
+arrive at the hunting-grounds of the Great Spirit. A little digging, a
+few years ago,[11] has furnished the evidence on which I base this
+assertion. This digging has destroyed the old monkish fiction to
+reinstate the truly Indian idea of the dead, and of the necessity of
+mounds for their burial.
+
+By going round to the north side, I obtained a fine view of the modern
+improvements which have been constructed upon this Indian mound. I rode
+up a paved carriage-way into the church-yard that now occupies the top,
+and giving my horse to a squalid Indian imp who came out of the vestry,
+I went in and took a survey of the tawdry images through which God is
+now worshiped by the baptized descendants of the builders of this
+mound. My curiosity was soon gratified, and I returned to my place in
+the saddle.
+
+[Illustration: PYRAMID OF CHOLULA.]
+
+I followed the wall around the church-yard, stopping from point to
+point to look upon the vast map spread around on every side. Orizaba,
+which I first saw when 150 miles out at sea as a mammoth sugar-loaf
+sitting upon a cloud, had at Jalapa, and at "the eye of waters,"
+different forms, while here it appeared to be joined with the Perote,
+forming the limit of the horizon toward the east. On the west were
+Popocatapetl, Iztaccihuatl, and Malinche; while smaller mountains and
+hills seemed to complete the line of circumvallation, which gave to the
+elevated plain of Puebla the aspect of the bed of an exhausted lake,
+and to the isolated hills, rising here and there upon its surface, the
+appearance of having been islands when the waters covered the face of
+the land.
+
+The cloud was still resting upon Popocatapetl; but its crest, far above
+the clouds, was in that region where, in the tropics, ice and snow lie
+undisturbed forever. The marks which it bore of having once been the
+smoke-pipe of one of Nature's furnaces, furnished us with the
+translation of its name--"The mountain with a smoking mouth." But that
+lake of fire has long since ceased to burn, and when the mountain had
+last emitted smoke was unknown to the oldest inhabitant. And that other
+mountain, Iztaccihuatl, or the "White Woman," lying so quietly and
+snug, in her covering of perpetual snow, at the side of the volcano,
+called up in the minds of the Indians the strange conceit of man and
+wife. There were forests on the mountain sides and trees along the
+rivers covered with green, but all else looked dry and parched. Seldom,
+indeed, has the eye of man ever rested on a finer farming country than
+the great plain of Puebla, and seldom are lands seen better cultivated.
+
+
+CHOLULA.
+
+Cholula was of old sacred to Quetzalcoatl, the "God of the Air," who,
+during his abode upon earth, taught mankind the use of metals, the
+practice of agriculture, and the arts of government. Translating myth
+into history, we may call him the great Aztec reformer. He is
+represented as a man of fair complexion with curling hair and flowing
+beard, very different from the type of the Aztecs. On his way from
+Mexico to the coast he remained for a while at Cholula, where a mound
+and temple was raised to his honor.
+
+This tradition made Cholula the Mecca of the Indian world; and with the
+merchants who came to attend the annual fair held at the base of the
+mound came also hosts of pilgrims, to offer sacrifice to the memory of
+that god who introduced flowers into the native worship, and
+discouraged cruelties and human sacrifices.
+
+At Cholula I was so fortunate as to procure one of the images of
+Quetzalcoatl, cut in stone, with curled hair and Caucasian features. I
+afterward verified the same by comparison with the great image found at
+Mexico, not without strong suspicions that both were counterfeits; for
+in this country even the most sacred records are open to suspicion.
+Popular tradition and the most approved authors will have it, that some
+stray white man had found his way among the Mexicans, and taught them
+empirically the calculations and divisions of time, and a very few of
+the arts of civilized life unknown to our Indians, and they venerated
+him as a god. But the probabilities are that the whole story is a myth,
+and for once the Inquisition was right in suppressing speculation in
+relation to him, whether he was Saint Thomas or not.
+
+At the base of this pyramid, three hundred years ago, flourished the
+rich and opulent city of Cholula, which, according to Cortéz,[12]
+contained 40,000 houses. He says that he counted from this spot 400
+mosques,[13] and 400 towers of other mosques--that the "exterior of this
+city is more beautiful than any in Spain." That is, as he and all other
+historians of the Conquest agree in representing it, it was at the same
+time not only the Mecca and the commercial centre, but the centre of
+learning and refinement of Mexico. Here Indian philosophers met upon a
+common footing with Indian merchants. Its government, too, was
+republican; and upon these very plains, three hundred years ago and
+more, flourished two powerful republics, Tlascala and Cholula. The
+first was the Lacedæmon, the second the Athens of the Indian world, and
+when united they had successfully resisted the armies of Montezuma and
+his Aztecs. But Aztec intrigue was too powerful for the American
+Athens, and the polished city of Cholula having been subdued by the
+same arts by which Philip of Macedon had won the sovereignty of
+Athens--a combination of intrigue and of arms--Tlascala was left alone
+to resist the whole force of the Aztec empire, now aided by the
+faithless Cholulans. Yet Tlascala was undismayed by the new combination
+brought to bear against her, and did not readily listen to the proposed
+alliance of Cortéz. It was only after three terrible battles with
+Cortéz, that Tlascala learned to appreciate the value of his
+alliance--an alliance which has conferred upon her perpetual freedom
+and a distinct political organization to the present time.
+
+This is the poetry of the thing. Let us give it a little matter-of-fact
+examination.
+
+The spot on which I stand, instead of being what it has often been
+represented to be, is but a shapeless mass of earth 205 feet high,
+occupying a village square of 1310 feet. It is sufficiently wasted by
+time to give full scope to the imagination to fill out or restore it to
+almost any form. One hundred years ago, some rich citizen constructed
+steps up its side, and protected the sides of his steps from falling
+earth by walls of adobe, or mud-brick; and on the west side some adobe
+buttresses have been placed to keep the loose earth out of the village
+street. This is all of man's labor that is visible, except the work of
+the Indians in shaving away the hill which constitutes this pyramid. As
+for the great city of Cholula, it never had an existence; for if there
+had been, only three hundred years ago, such a city here, composed of
+40,000 houses, with 400 towers, besides the 400 mosques, then some
+vestige or fragment of a fallen wall or a ruined tower would still be
+visible. But I searched in vain for the slightest evidence of former
+magnificence, and was driven to the unwelcome conclusion that the whole
+city was fabricated out of some miserable Indian village, inferior,
+perhaps, to the present town of one-story, whitewashed mud huts.
+
+My contemplations were broken in upon by a swarm of squalid women and
+children from the church vestry, importuning me to buy relics in clay,
+which might answer the double purpose of images of saints or of heathen
+gods, according to the taste of the purchaser. But when they found me
+impracticable, they brought out their greatest curiosity--a flint
+arrow-head, such as used to be plowed up in scores near the place where
+I was born. Thoroughly disgusted with the sight of this Acropolis, with
+this ancient Athens of mud, I turned my horse's head toward Puebla; and
+as I rode on, I met scores of these modern Athenians trotting homeward,
+bare-headed and bare-footed, carrying "papooses" on their backs, while
+their faces, forms, and hair, and ragged dress, were the very
+counterpart of the Indians of North America.
+
+The Indians of Puebla have long enjoyed the distinguished honor of
+being the governing men, while the white inhabitants were ineligible to
+a seat in the city councils. This city was formerly an Indian village,
+bearing the indigestible name of Cuetlaxcapen, or "Snake in the Water;"
+but, in 1530, the Vice-King Mendoza established here a Spanish colony,
+but left the original government unchanged; so that, down to the
+independence, the city administration was conducted by an Indian
+alcalde, assisted by a council of four Indians. Notwithstanding the
+anomalous form of its government, Puebla has ever been a great
+manufacturing town, and at this day consumes a quantity of cotton equal
+to some of our large manufacturing cities.
+
+      [11] The living witnesses of the result of this excavation are
+      still at Cholula, and the fact is mentioned in several American
+      works; my inference from the fact is the only novelty in the
+      matter.
+
+      [12] Cortéz's "Letters," Folsom's translation, p. 71.
+
+      [13] This word mosques Cortéz constantly makes use of, apparently
+      to keep before the people of Spain the idea that he Was
+      conducting a holy war.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A Ride to Popocatapetl.--The Village of Atlizco.--The old Man of
+Atlizco and the Inquisition.--A novel Mode of Escape.--An avenging
+Ghost.--The Vice-King Ravillagigedo.--The Court of the Vice-King
+and the Inquisition.--Ascent of Popocatapetl.--How a Party perished
+by Night.--The Crater and the House in it.--Descent into the
+Crater.--The Interior.--The Workmen in the Volcano.--The View from
+Popocatapetl.--The first White that climbed Popocatapetl.--The Story
+of Corchado.--Corchado converts the Volcano into a Sulphur-mine.
+
+
+One of the first objects of interest in Mexico is the volcano of
+Popocatapetl. A stage runs from Puebla to Atlizco, but beyond that
+village the visitor must travel upon horseback. Atlizco is worthy of a
+special notice from its situation in a most fertile valley, and its
+peculiar location at the base of a conical hill. This hill, like every
+attractive locality in Mexico, is the scene of romantic traditions of
+the common people. From many, I select one illustration of the state of
+society in the times of the vice-kings.
+
+There once was, the tradition runs in this village, an old _hidalgo_
+who possessed a plantation in the immediate neighborhood of the town.
+His family consisted of himself and two daughters; and he was rich.
+Upon a certain time, one of those strolling monks, with whom the
+country abounds, chanced to offer an indignity to one of the daughters,
+and the old man chanced to return the indignity by inflicting upon the
+monk such a beating as never poor friar had yet received in the
+vice-kingdom--such a one as the feelings of an outraged father alone
+could justify. This was not the end of the matter; it was only the
+beginning of evil to the old man, as he well knew, for he had laid his
+hands upon one of the consecrated--one who had received the sacrament
+of "Holy Orders;" and, above all, he was rich enough to tempt the
+cupidity of the Inquisition, which always watched with jealous care
+over the orthodoxy of those whose estates, when confiscated, would add
+to "the greater glory of God," that is, to the treasury of the "Holy
+Office."
+
+Guilty or not guilty, the old man had but one mode of escape, and that
+was by avoiding an arrest. To effect this object he resorted to a novel
+expedient. As soon as he heard that his accuser had started for Mexico,
+it was given out that the old man had suddenly died. A circumstance by
+no means thought remarkable, when it became known that he had assaulted
+a priest. As he had not yet been accused, his neighbors ventured to
+come to his funeral; and a coffin, with his name and age marked upon
+it, was decently buried in holy ground. The funeral fees, too, were
+secured before the estate was pounced upon by the familiars of the
+Inquisition. The daughters put on the deepest mourning, and hid
+themselves from the public gaze, among their relatives; for they had
+not only to endure the loss of home and estates, but were to be shunned
+as the accursed of God--the children of one dying while under the
+accusation of sacrilege. As for the Inquisition, its officials did not
+care to investigate the question of the decease, for it had reaped all
+the benefit it might hope for from his conviction--"The Holy Office"
+had become his heir.
+
+
+THE OLD MAN OF ATLIZCO.
+
+Strange appearances and stranger noises after a time were heard about
+the cave that is said to be in the top of the hill of Atlizco, and
+sometimes a ghost had been seen wandering about the hill by certain
+benighted villagers; and one time, when the accusing monk was returning
+rather later than usual from a drunken revel, this ghost who had now
+become the town-talk, chanced to fall in with him, and to give him such
+a beating as few living men could inflict, and then disappeared. Still
+there was no earthquake, and the sun rose and set as though no injury
+had been done to a priest.
+
+Time wore its slow course along, without any important incident
+occurring in this matter, until the reputation of the new Virey,
+Ravillagigedo, reached Atlizco. Shortly thereafter there appeared at
+the vice-royal palace in the city of Mexico an old man, who related in
+a private audience the story of his griefs and of his misfortunes, and
+insisted that, in striking "the Lord's priest," he had no intention of
+committing an act of impiety, but that the feelings of a father had
+overcome him in an unguarded moment, and induced him to avenge an
+attempt made to dishonor his daughter. The story of the old man touched
+the Virey, who had a manly heart wrapped up in a forbidding exterior.
+But it was a delicate undertaking even for a vice-king to attempt to
+wrest a rich estate out of the clutches of the "Holy Office" without
+himself being suspected of heresy, or of disloyalty to the Church. Yet
+Ravillagigedo was never at a loss for expedients when justice was to be
+done or the oppressed relieved. The best advice, however, that he could
+give the old man was to hide himself again, and to send his daughters
+to Mexico to accuse the monk.
+
+Upon a set day, the vice-king was found arrayed in state, surrounded by
+a council of Inquisitors, before whom the daughters, in the deepest
+mourning, presented themselves as the accusers of the profligate monk.
+They stated, with an artless simplicity which could not fail to
+convince, the story of the wrongs the monk had done them. The
+Inquisitors, sitting in the presence of the incorruptible Virey, could
+not, for very shame, do otherwise than declare unanimously that the
+monk, and not the old man, was worthy of the censure of the Church.
+
+"Then let us wipe away the stain that rests upon the fair fame of these
+ladies as daughters of one dying suspected, by decreeing their father's
+innocence," said the Virey.
+
+This being assented to, the record of the old man's innocence was made
+up, and, when duly attested by the Inquisitors, was handed to the
+daughters. A door was at this moment opened, and there entered into the
+august presence a gray-headed old man, to whom the daughters presented
+the record. The old man, when he had received the record, advanced,
+and, bowing humbly, made confession of his fault. It was a bitter pill
+for the "Holy Office" thus to be tricked into the performance of a
+common act of justice, and in this way to lose a valuable estate. From
+this time onward, it is said that Inquisitors were never known to hold
+court with a Virey.
+
+
+ASCENT OF POPOCATAPETL.
+
+At Atlizco horses must be procured for the journey up the mountain, for
+beyond this point there is no carriage-road. I here follow the verbal
+narrative of Mr. Frank Kellott, the artist of whom I have already made
+mention, as I dared not venture where bleeding of the lungs is produced
+by the rarity of the atmosphere and by the fatigue.
+
+"The company consisted of Mr. Corchado, the proprietor, Mr. Munez, a
+neighboring gentleman, three ladies, and myself, all on horseback.
+Sixteen Indians had been sent forward on foot early in the morning,
+with all the conveniences to make the trip a safe and agreeable one.
+The party went cheerfully up the mule-road that leads to the mountain
+rancho of Zacopalco, one of the highest inhabited points upon our
+globe. The soil upon the mountain, composed of volcanic mud, yields
+such rich grasses, that almost at the upper edge of the timber there is
+a milk-house (_lecheria_), where a cattleherd, if caught out at night,
+may find a shelter. The inner man being well cared, for at the rancho,
+we journeyed on, following the path that led us through a tangled mass
+of trees and plants, and among _barrancas_ whose sides were covered
+with pines. The timber grew shorter and more stunted as we proceeded,
+until, at the height of 12,544 feet, the pines entirely disappeared. A
+little farther on, at an elevation of 12,692 feet, we were at the limit
+of vegetation. After journeying a league or so over the yielding sand
+mixed with sharp stones, twelve of our Indians and our horses gave out.
+From this point for a little way farther, our party proceeded on foot,
+with the four remaining servants.
+
+"We had gone only a little way farther when two of our fair companions
+also gave out, and we sent them back to the rancho with the returning
+horses and the fatigued servants, for there was now no time for delay,
+if we intended to reach the summit that day. The third lady went
+bravely on, and would probably have enjoyed the honor of being the
+first woman that had ever ascended Popocatapetl, had it not been for
+the unfortunate arrangement she had made in her wardrobe. Instead of
+putting on the pantaloons, or _bloomers_, she had added extra skirts by
+way of precaution against the cold; so that when she had climbed about
+3000 feet over volcanic sand and loose stones, she gave out from
+fatigue and the bruises she had received in her numerous falls. It was
+a painful effort even for those of us who had no _skirts_ to impede
+us to get on; and it was imprudent for her to proceed farther, for the
+icicles would be in her way as much as the sand and stones; for these
+icicles were like spikes projecting upward from the rocks, and between
+which we should have to place our feet and pick our way as best we
+could without falling upon them. In this state of things there was no
+alternative, and we were reluctantly obliged to dissuade her from
+farther effort, and to consign her over to the kind attentions of three
+more of our Indians, who had given out, to conduct her down the
+mountain.
+
+"Unfortunately, one of the last three Indians sent back had in his
+pocket all the chocolate, an article almost indispensable to the
+comfort of a party climbing a high mountain, and, unconscious of our
+loss, we continued our way until it was too late to remedy this loss.
+The basaltic rock which we had now reached was covered with the icicles
+which I have described, and we found no little difficulty in placing
+our feet between them, and guiding ourselves with the iron-pointed
+sticks which had been furnished us; while the dizziness caused by
+looking back upon the world we had left behind added to our troubles.
+
+"Mr. Corchado, to draw off our attention from our own hardships,
+related to us the story of the death of six of his workmen, who
+undertook to make the journey down the mountain by night. Each of them
+had a load of stolen brimstone on his head. The day after this rash and
+criminal attempt, their dead bodies were found in such a situation as
+to indicate plainly the manner of their death. Stiffened with the
+intense cold, and impeded by their heavy burdens, they had stumbled in
+the darkness, and had fallen upon the sharp ice. One had his cheek
+pierced, and the others had divers wounds and bruises marked upon them
+as they lay frozen in death. The story of these unfortunates was not
+calculated to inspire us with very pleasant reflections, in case the
+weather should change while we were on the mountain.
+
+
+A NIGHT UPON THE SUMMIT.
+
+"We climbed on, having reached the basaltic rock at an elevation of
+16,805 feet, and with exhausting labor we traveled upon it until toward
+evening, when we came to that immense yawning abyss, the crater. The
+mouth was about three miles in circumference, of a very irregular form.
+Into this we entered, and soon arrived at the house which was to be our
+lodging for the night. This house was a curiosity in its way; as it was
+not built like any other house, and could not be, on account of the
+rarity of the atmosphere at this elevation of 17,125 feet, and the
+impossibility of obtaining sufficient oxygen, in a closed room, to feed
+combustion. It was therefore built in the form of a miniature volcano.
+There was an outside and an inside wall, of a circular form, the
+outside wall sloping inwardly, and the inside wall, which rested on
+pillars, sloping outwardly, until it met the outside wall. The fire was
+built in the open court, in the centre of the building, and the party
+sat under the arches and warmed themselves. The night that we were
+there, the perverse smoke took the same direction as the heated air,
+and filled the whole inside to suffocation, so that our condition was
+most disagreeable, notwithstanding the arrangements that Mr. Corchado
+had made in his own apartment for the comfort of his guests, for the
+reflection of the sun on the snow had thrown a film over our eyes, in
+spite of our green vails. Our stomachs were nauseated at this giddy
+height, and, though we had almost every other kind of eatable and
+drinkable, our appetites craved only chocolate, which we could not
+obtain. Our heads were dizzy, and our limbs were weary, and we lay down
+in a dense smoke to try to sleep.
+
+
+DESCENT INTO THE CRATER.
+
+"Morning came to our relief, and with it the film had passed from our
+eyes. We looked up to the top of the mountain above us, and then down
+into that fearful abyss into which we were soon to descend. We could
+eat no breakfast, and could drink no coffee, and so we were soon ready
+for our day's journey. We followed a narrow footpath until we reached a
+shelf, where we were seated in a skid, and let down by a windlass 500
+feet or so, to a landing-place, from which we clambered downward to a
+second windlass and a second skid, which was the most fearful of all,
+because we were dangling about without any thing to steady ourselves,
+as we descended before the mouth of one of those yawning caverns, which
+are called the 'breathing-holes' of the crater. They are so called from
+the fresh air and horrid sounds that continually issue from them. But
+we shut our eyes and clung fast to the rope, as we whirled round and
+round in mid air, until we reached another landing-place about 500 feet
+lower. From this point we clambered down, as best we could, until we
+came among the men digging up cinders, from which sulphur, in the form
+of brimstone, is made.
+
+"We took no measurements within the crater, and heights and distances
+here can only be given by approximation. We only know that all things
+are on a scale so vast that old Pluto might here have forged new
+thunder-bolts, and Milton's Satan might have here found the material
+for his sulphurous bed. All was strange, and wild, and frightful.
+
+"We crawled into several of the 'breathing holes,' but nothing was
+there except darkness visible. The sides and bottom were, for the most
+part, polished by the molten mass, which had cooled in passing through
+them; and if it had not been for the ropes around our waist, we should
+have slipped and fallen we knew not whither. We almost fancied that, in
+the moving currents of air, we heard the wailings of the lost in the
+great sulphurous lake below. The stones we threw in were lost to sound
+unless they hit upon a projecting rock, and fell from shelf to shelf.
+The deep darkness was fearful to contemplate. The abyss looked as
+though it might be the mouth of the bottomless pit. What must have been
+the effect when each one of these 'breathing holes' was vomiting liquid
+fire and sulphur into the basin in which we stood? How immeasurable
+must be that lake whose overflowings fill such cavities as this! It is
+when standing in such a place that we get the full force of the figures
+used by the Scriptures in illustrating the condition of the souls that
+have perished forever.
+
+"Let us turn from great to smaller things--to witness the labors of the
+men who work, and eat, and often sleep in the volcano. Some are digging
+sulphur and placing it in baskets, while others are waiting to carry it
+upon their heads up the side of the crater. Others, again, out of our
+sight far up the mountain, are working at the oven, when the weather is
+clear, and there is no cloud between them and the sun, as it is only in
+the finest weather that men can work upon the top, or carry burdens to
+the hacienda. When the weather is fine, all the works are in full
+operation, and good profits are realized by furnishing brimstone for
+the manufacture of sulphuric acid.
+
+"We are at the top once more; and now that our eyesight, which we lost
+in climbing the mountain, is restored to us, we will take a view of the
+lower world. Looking toward the west, every object glows in the
+brightness of the rising sun, except where the mountain casts its vast
+shadow even across the valley of Toluca. How strangely diminished now
+are all familiar objects that are visible! The pureness of the medium
+through which things are seen presents distant objects with great
+distinctness, but it will not present them in their natural size, for
+it can not change the angle of vision. The villages upon the table-land
+were apparently pigmy villages, inhabited by pigmy men and pigmy women,
+surrounded with pigmy cattle, and garrisoned by pigmy soldiery. It is,
+by an optical illusion, Liliput in real life. Had the English satirist
+placed himself where we now stood, he would have more than realized the
+picture which his fancy painted. He might have seen the marshaled hosts
+of Liliput marching to the beat of drum, in the proud array of war.
+
+"If you wish to see all the sights, you must walk around the mountain,
+and look down its steepest side, where there is no table-land, into the
+'hot country.' The distance is so vast, the descent so steep, that an
+inexperienced climber suffers from dizziness. If you climb to the very
+summit, 250 feet above the mouth of the crater, you will find more
+surface about you. But it is a point where few can desire to remain
+long, or to visit it a second time."
+
+
+THE SULPHUR MINE.
+
+In Cortéz's letters to the Emperor we read as follows: "As for sulphur,
+I have already made mention to your Majesty of a mountain in this
+province from which, smoke issues; out of it sulphur has been taken by
+a Spaniard, who descended seventy or eighty fathoms by means of a rope
+attached to his body below his arms; from which source we have been
+enabled to obtain sufficient supplies, although it is attended with
+danger. It is hoped that it will not be necessary for us to resort
+[again] to this means of procuring it." ... "As the Indians told us
+that it was dangerous to ascend, and fatal to those who made the
+attempt, I caused several Spaniards to undertake it, and examine the
+character of the summit. At the time they went up, so much smoke
+proceeded from it, accompanied by noises, that they were either unable
+or afraid to reach its mouth. Afterward I sent up some other Spaniards,
+who made two attempts, and finally reached the aperture of the mountain
+whence the smoke issued, which was two bow-shots wide, and about three
+fourths of a league in circumference, where they discovered some
+sulphur which the smoke deposited."[14] (Bernal Diaz says that the
+crater was perfectly round, a mile in diameter.--Vol. i. p. 186.)
+During one of their visits they heard a tremendous noise, followed by
+smoke, when they made haste to descend; but before they reached the
+middle of the mountain there fell around them a heavy shower of stones,
+from which they were in no little danger.
+
+In or about the year 1850, Corchado, an active and enterprising white
+man, had become a favorite with the Indians at the foot of the
+mountain, who proposed to him that he should accompany them when they
+again undertook one of their expeditions into the volcano, which of
+late had been very frequent. This was a proposition that exactly
+accorded with his adventurous character. Accordingly, on an appointed
+day, he appeared at the rendezvous, with a rope, a piece of sail-cloth,
+and an iron bar. Thus provided, the party, which was a large one,
+started up the mountain, but one by one they gave out, until only
+Corchado and a single Indian arrived at the mouth of the crater. Here,
+unfortunately, Corchado fainted from the loss of blood and fatigue; and
+the Indian, not knowing what better to do, covered him with the
+sail-cloth, and then started down the mountain for assistance. In a
+short time he revived under the sail-cloth, and from his dangerous
+position he drew himself into the volcano, that he might not perish
+from cold outside. He descended as far as the shelf, and, looking over
+into the abyss, he found himself so refreshed by the atmosphere of the
+volcano that he brought down the bar, sail-cloth, and rope, determining
+to pass the approaching night at the bottom of the volcano. When he had
+fixed his bar and rope, the relieving party arrived, and all descended,
+one by one, upon the rope to a point where they passed the night in
+safety.
+
+Corchado, on his return, gathered up some of the scoria and carried it
+to Puebla, when it was found to contain so large a percentage of
+sulphur as to warrant its 'denouncement' as a sulphur-mine. Capital was
+procured at Puebla sufficient to set up the rude apparatus we have
+already described, by means of which a very handsome profit on the
+adventure was realized. But, owing to a lawsuit, in which the affair
+was at that time (1852) involved, no effort had yet been made to pierce
+the mountain, or to explore a passage through some vent or fissure. A
+good path had been made up the mountain, and in the month of May it was
+considered quite a safe undertaking to visit these sulphur-works.
+
+      [14] This must have been the great fissure, and not the crater. I
+      see no objection to this statement; for in this Cortéz had no
+      motive to falsify, and it is the ordinary appearance of an active
+      volcano.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Texas.--Battle of Madina.--First Introduction of Americans into
+Texas.--Usurpation of Bustamente.--Texas owed no Allegiance to the
+Usurper.--The good Faith of the United States in the Acquisition of
+Louisiana and Texas.--Santa Anna pronounces against Bustamente.--Santa
+Anna in Texas.--A Mexican's Denunciation of the Texan War.--His Idea
+of our Revolution,--He complains of our grasping Spirit.--The right
+of the United States to occupy unsettled Territory.--A few more
+Pronunciamientos of Santa Anna.--The Adventures of Santa Anna to the
+present Date.
+
+
+We must resume again the narrative of historical events, in order
+better to set forth the condition of the country through which we are
+traveling.
+
+Texas is a turning-point in the history of Mexico. Captain Don Alonzo
+de Leon, in the year 1689,[15] by command of the Vice-King of New Spain,
+took formal possession of Texas, in the name of His Most Catholic
+Majesty of Spain. Afterward a few military and missionary settlements
+were commenced, with indifferent success, as the Indians were of a less
+docile character than those of the southern provinces. They were ever
+restive under the yoke of spiritual taskmasters, so that the feeble
+missions and presidios had only a sickly existence down to the time of
+the breaking out of the civil wars of Mexico.
+
+We have already noticed the statement that, in the year 1819, a Mexican
+general routed at the River Madina a party of 3000 men, who were on
+their way to join the Mexican insurgents. The above number is somewhat
+improbable; say there were 500, which would be about as many as could
+well be mustered at that early period for a filibustering expedition at
+New Orleans.
+
+In 1820 Moses Austin applied to the Spanish authorities, and obtained
+from them the right to settle a certain number of families in Texas. He
+died soon after, and his son Stephen obtained a confirmation of the
+grant, or, rather, a new grant, from the authorities established at
+Mexico under the Federal Constitution of 1824. Under that constitution
+Texas was annexed to Coahuila, and, together with it, was formed into
+the united state of Coahuila and Texas. From the authorities of this
+state divers other Americans obtained grants of land under the
+provisions of the colonization law of the Mexican Congress of the year
+1824. From this time all things went smoothly on, and the grantees were
+busily engaged in introducing the number of families which were
+stipulated for in the said law, and in the grants made under it, when
+the Spanish armada landed at Tampico.
+
+
+DOWNFALL OF BUSTAMENTE.
+
+In consequence of the great dangers threatening the country, Congress
+had conferred dictatorial powers upon the President of the Republic,
+Vincente Guerrero. By virtue of his dictatorship, he had invested the
+Vice-president of the Republic, Bustamente, with the command of an army
+of reserve, which he established at Jalapa. As soon as the Spanish army
+had capitulated to Santa Anna, Bustamente put forth a _pronunciamiento_,
+and, marching to the city of Mexico, he deposed the President, whom he
+afterward caused to be cruelly put to death. Having now, by means of a
+successful military insurrection, possessed himself of the executive
+power, he proceeded by violent means to overturn, one by one, the
+governments of the individual states. In this war against the states he
+was also successful, except in the most distant one, that of Coahuila
+and Texas.
+
+Texas clearly owed no allegiance to the usurper Bustamente. It was an
+independent state in all respects, excepting those powers it had
+conceded to the general government by adopting the Federal
+Constitution. The subversion of this Constitution reinstated Texas as
+an independent republic. It owed no farther allegiance to Mexico. Texas
+might at once have applied for admission into our Union, or have asked
+to be annexed to any other foreign state, pleading not only her
+inherent right to do so, but the excessive cruelties that Bustamente
+inflicted on those state authorities that opposed his usurpations.
+
+The learned and eloquent General Tornel, distinguished alike as a
+statesman and a soldier, from whose popular history we have below made
+a brief extract, in pleading the cause of his country, charges bad
+faith against the United States in the acquisition of both Louisiana
+and Texas, but in both arguments he fails to make out a case. By the
+treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800, France acquired an imperfect title to
+Louisiana; by the treaty of Paris in 1803, she conveyed all her title
+to the United States. But, before the United States would pay over any
+money on account of the treaty of 1803, she required Spain to confirm
+the treaty of San Ildefonso by putting France into the actual
+possession of Louisiana. This being done, and not till it was done, did
+the United States pay over the $15,000,000 stipulated as the purchase
+money. The dispute with Spain about boundaries was settled by the
+treaty for the acquisition of Florida, in 1819, which established
+boundaries that were confirmed in a subsequent treaty with Mexico. Thus
+far, certainly, there was no breach of faith.
+
+On the night of January 3d, 1832, the garrison of Vera Cruz _pronounced_
+against the usurping government of Bustamente, which was then suffering
+dreadfully from the want of funds. A delegation was sent the same night
+to Santa Anna, who had been in retirement at his estate of _Manga de
+Clavo_ since the murder of his friend, President Guerrero. This fourth
+insurrection was prosecuted with varying success for several months,
+but was finally terminated by the capitulation of Bustamente at Puebla,
+and the recalling of Pedraza from banishment in the United States, to
+serve out the few months that remained of his term of office as
+President.
+
+In 1832 Santa Anna was elected successor to Pedraza as President of the
+Federal Republic of Mexico. Texas had now of right the option of
+returning into the family of Mexican States, or of maintaining her
+separate existence; but she was under no obligation to return, for, the
+confederacy having been once broken up, it was optional with the only
+member that had not submitted to the usurper to re-enter this
+unreliable family, or to continue outside. This election was not long
+open; for, by the _pronunciamiento_ of Toluca (1835), the Federal
+Constitution was again abolished, and Santa Anna became dictator in
+fact, if not in name. The clergy were at the bottom of this last
+revolution, and they demanded, as the price of their support, the
+extirpation of heresy from the territory of the Republic. This meant
+the indiscriminate slaughter of all Texans. Santa Anna, who, in all his
+previous wars, had never shown a disposition to be cruel to the
+vanquished, was so dazzled with the prospects before him as to be
+willing to make the slaughter of the Alamo and of Fannin's division an
+offering to a priesthood who were plotting for the restoration of the
+Inquisition. The battle of San Jacinto was, in its consequences, more
+disastrous to the designs of the ecclesiastical party than even to
+Santa Anna himself.
+
+
+MEXICAN VIEW OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS.
+
+Let me stop in my narrative of events to translate a Mexican's eloquent
+denunciation of the Anglo-Saxon race. It is from the pen of General
+Tornel, a most uncompromising enemy of that race and of its religion.
+Thus he opens his account of the Texan difficulty:
+
+"In order to understand what we to-day (1852) are, and what we to-day
+value, it is indispensable to discover, and to perpetuate the history
+of one of the greatest scandals of the age--all of its antecedents, all
+of its consequences, all that can aid in coming to knowledge of this
+greatest act of injustice of which the Mexican nation has been the
+victim.
+
+"Those who cross the sea change their skies, but not their nature. The
+Anglo-Saxons abandoned their country from physical and moral
+necessities, and on account of their political and religious quarrels.
+Transporting themselves to the virgin forests of America, they brought
+with them the characteristics of Northmen; they were distinguished for
+sobriety, laboriousness, and industry; for ardor in their enterprises;
+for constancy, and for that spirit of adventure which subjugates all by
+the right of conquest. They leveled all obstacles by the vigor of their
+arm and the sweat of their brow, and from their successes has arisen
+the hope of acquiring every thing by the inspiration of their talents
+and the force of their genius.
+
+"The English, of whom John Cabot was a compatriot, came by the northern
+route [to America], and discovered an immense country, whose rivers are
+the grandest, whose forests appear to be antediluvian, whose lakes
+would be called seas in Europe; with harbors on an extensive coast
+which rival the greatest in the world. It has a soil suited to every
+purpose of agriculture. In short, it has facilities for all
+enterprises, and for raising the material of a productive commerce
+sufficient to establish advantageous relations with the Old World, and
+for creating an independent society; for supplying its necessities; for
+making its condition enviable; for rivaling the power, the influence,
+and the destinies of its parent country.
+
+"The country which they discovered they found scarcely inhabited,
+although here and there wandered some tribes without social
+organization, without government, without the power of concentration,
+even to the extent which numbers give to savages. They [the colonists]
+early learned that they could establish their dominion without
+resistance, and that they could extend it as far as they could open the
+country with the ax of the active colonist, who considered himself the
+heir of undiscovered wealth, which would result from an inevitable
+destiny. The colonies which were established along the coast, and those
+which were formed in the interior, increased, as increases the gentle
+rill in its onward course by uniting with other rills and with rivers,
+until, becoming one vast torrent, it precipitates itself into the
+ocean. The colonies of Tyre, of Carthage, or Rome were never comparable
+with the Anglo-American colonies, who appropriated to themselves, in
+less than a century, regions more extended than the half of Europe.
+
+"The observer of the providential destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race in
+America notices that the emancipation of the thirteen American
+colonies, which constituted so many states and an independent nation,
+instead of being the result of the alleged political grievances, was
+rather the impulsive force of expansion, which encountered insuperable
+obstacles while the states were colonies subordinate to a European
+nation. They were retarded in their advances by relations and
+compromises with other nations. The Anglo-Saxon, when translated to the
+wilds of America, needed only a stopping-place in order to found a
+peculiar and exclusive polity, which should enable him to march ever
+onward in his aggressions and usurping institutions.
+
+"The United States of America lost no time in making themselves
+powerful; a nation rich in its industry, enviable in its commerce,
+respectable in its social organization, which are so favorable to the
+advancement of the condition of man. When the government had regulated,
+with great prudence and wisdom, the interior system of the states, it
+placed itself upon the watch for the compromised circumstances of
+embarrassed European states that possessed colonies on the American
+continent. Some of these colonies were contiguous to the limits which
+the United States had acquired definitely by the treaty of peace of
+1783. In order to augment, at the expense of her neighbors, her
+possessions, already immense, and not yet well populated, she set about
+acquiring territory by astuteness, by cunning, by violence, and also by
+justifiable means, when such were available. Spain first, and Mexico
+afterward, have been her victims; and to-day these rich and powerful
+states display the spoils, for such they are in reality, which they
+have wrested from us. Such are the people that already rival those
+nations of Europe whose territories are the most extensive, and whose
+commerce is spread over all the seas."
+
+
+WEAKNESS OF THE SPANISH TITLE.
+
+My limits will not permit me to follow General Tornel through his
+statement of the manner in which Louisiana, Florida, and Texas were
+acquired, and to notice his complaints of the injustice committed by
+the Americans in all these acquisitions. He loses sight of the fact
+that Spain had no title to her possessions in America but that of
+discovery, and that very doubtful claim had not, in a period of 300
+years, been strengthened by actual settlement. Three or four
+dilapidated mud forts, and as many more feeble missions, constituted
+the sum total of the Spanish possession of Texas; and settlements
+scarcely worthy of the name in the other northern departments
+constituted all the title that Spain could put forth to those
+countries; while the right of Mexico was as much weaker, as Mexico was
+a weaker power than Spain, and morally incapable of settling the
+disputed territory. The claim of the United States was the necessity
+for land in which to settle her population, which was so rapidly
+augmenting by foreign immigration. Once in ten years she requires a
+portion of the wild land nominally belonging to Mexico, and once in ten
+years she must take it.
+
+
+SANTA ANNA.
+
+In 1836, while Santa Anna was a prisoner in Texas, Bustamente, then in
+banishment in Europe, was elected President by the same party that had
+chosen Santa Anna as Dictator. In 1838, the government having incurred
+the hostility of France, Vera Cruz was blockaded for several months,
+during which time a night foray was made into the town by a party of
+French sailors, headed by the Prince de Joinville. On their return,
+they were pursued by Santa Anna to the Mole, where they stopped farther
+pursuit by discharging a cannon, which deprived Santa Anna of one of
+his legs, and effectually wiped out the recollections of his
+unfortunate Texan campaign. In 1841, the government being no longer
+able to raise funds at two per cent. a month, the Minister of War,
+Valencia, pronounced against Bustamente in the citadel of Mexico. The
+result was, that Santa Anna was again elevated to supreme power,
+according to the plan of Tacubaya, and the interpretation he put on
+that plan. In 1843 a slight change was made in the Constitution, but he
+remained in power until 1845, when, having left the capital to put down
+the insurrection of Paredes, Congress declared against him. Herrera was
+appointed President, and Santa Anna was imprisoned for a while in the
+castle of Perote, and finally banished from the country. In 1847 he was
+recalled by the Federal party, with the consent of President Polk, and
+became the chief support of the war, notwithstanding his totally
+inadequate means for organizing a successful defense. When the defense
+could no longer be protracted, he left the city by night, and retired
+to the West Indies, and afterward to Carthagena, where he remained
+until he was recalled in 1852, and again restored to supreme authority.
+
+We may sum up the politico-military life of Santa Anna by saying that
+he has been engaged in eight _pronunciamientos_. Five of these have
+been made by himself; three by others, for his benefit. Twice he has
+been chosen President by the Federal party of the Federal Republic of
+Mexico. Three times he has been made President by the Central, or
+Ecclesiastical party. He has been twice banished from Mexico, and each
+time recalled again and placed at the head of affairs. He has twice
+been taken prisoner, when his captors held long consultations upon the
+propriety of putting him to death. He has, in turn, been the candidate
+of all parties, and has served all parties faithfully in turn, but most
+faithfully of all he has served himself. Actively engaged through life
+as a politician and a soldier, he has found time to readjust the whole
+complicated system of Mexican laws, and, in a series of volumes of
+autocratic decrees, he has drawn from that chaotic mass a new system of
+jurisprudence, that will stand as a monument of his genius as long as
+the Mexican nation shall continue.
+
+      [15] _Bréva Reséña Histórica_, by Gen. Tornel. Mexico, 1852.
+      p. 135.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+From Puebla to Mexico.--The Dread of Robbers.--The Escort--Tlascala.--The
+Exaggerations of Cortéz and Bernal Diaz.--The Truth about Tlascala.--The
+Advantages of Tlascala to Cortéz.--Who was Bernal Diaz.--Who wrote his
+History.--First View of Mexico.
+
+
+At early twilight, two stage-loads of passengers, drawn rapidly by
+twelve wild horses through the now deserted streets of Puebla,
+approached the gate that opened out upon the road to Mexico. The rattle
+of the wheels and the clatter of so many hoofs had awakened the
+gatekeeper, and at our approach the ponderous portals that inclosed the
+city by night flew open, and away we whirled out into the beautiful
+vega of Puebla.
+
+In times of civil disorder, this is a fine field for robbers to ply
+their vocation in; and even now, when all was quiet, there was no
+little apprehension of a visit from these sovereigns of the road. The
+passengers had noticed my unmistakable Anglo-Saxon name, as it was
+called at the stage-door, and, when I had taken my seat, an elegant,
+long Colt's revolver was passed to me by a passenger in full uniform.
+Such is one of the advantages that a traveler enjoys who belongs to a
+race of men of acknowledged courage--an advantage that enabled we to
+travel alone across the continent without encumbering myself with a
+weapon; for, where all supposed me fully armed, and skilled in the use
+of weapons by instinct, I found it convenient to go unarmed. Upon the
+present occasion, I did not wish to raise a smile of incredulity by
+protesting that I had never fired a pistol in my life, so I quietly
+consented to play the part of hero.
+
+By displaying my weapon carelessly in my hand when we stopped to take
+coffee at Saint Martin's, I procured a seat upon the outside, which had
+been refused me at Puebla.
+
+Our escort consisted of a body of six lancers, who, standing at the
+roadside, saluted us as we passed, and then rode after us at the top of
+their speed. Poor fellows! they found it hard riding to keep up with
+the coach. It was some consolation for them to see a man seated on the
+top of the stage with a Colt's pistol, even if he did not know how to
+use it, and for once they rode out their beat without getting
+frightened at their shadows. As the robbers were as great cowards as
+themselves, whether the man on the box was really a fire-eater or not,
+it answered the same purpose. These stage-guards are heroes in their
+way; they always come when the road appears the safest, and never fail
+to ask for charity, but invariably leave you just as the coach
+approaches a thicket. A few days ago, this guard caught a fellow on the
+road whom they believed to be a robber, and hung him with a
+pocket-handkerchief.
+
+
+REPUBLIC OF TLASCALA.
+
+We are now passing the borders of that famous Indian republic, of the
+high table-land, which shut out despotism by a lofty wall,[16] and was
+so completely isolated in the times of Montezuma that its people could
+obtain no foreign products, not even cotton or salt;[17] whose food was
+the maize which they cultivated, and the game which they caught upon
+the snow-capped mountains; whose clothing was made from the maguey, and
+from skins of animals taken in the chase; a people whose government was
+a council of elders, which was presided over by an hereditary chief;
+whose political institutions have been the study and admiration of the
+learned of many lands. That is, in plain English, they were an ordinary
+tribe of North American savages, obtaining their living, as other
+Indians did then and do now, by the cultivation of Indian corn and
+hunting, having the same crude form of government that is common to all
+the savage tribes of North America. They gloried in their savage
+notions of independence, and submitted only to the merest shadow of
+authority. They had not yet reached that point of social organization
+at which the loose government of savages gives way to the despotism of
+the next stage of advancement, which we shall call _barbarism_. The
+difference between the Tlascalans and the Aztecs was the same
+difference that exists between the North American savages, who live in
+underground wigwams,[18] and the barbarous tribes of the interior of
+Africa, that live in cities of mud huts above the ground, and who yield
+a slavish obedience to a half-naked emperor, who sits or squats upon an
+ox-hide in a mud palace, exercising the power of life and death,
+according to his momentary caprice, upon thousands of trembling slaves.
+The concentrated power and wealth of a whole tribe is in single hands,
+and is made available for conquest and for the sensual enjoyment of a
+single individual. Savages can only act in concert when all are agreed,
+hence councils are their governing power, and the orator has as much
+influence among them as the successful warrior; but when they have
+advanced a step, and power has become concentrated, the orator becomes
+silent, and the war-chief is the government.
+
+I had read with avidity the histories of Mexico, and gave to them
+implicit credence, until I stood upon the Indian mound of Cholula, and
+searched in vain for the least vestige of that magnificent city of
+40,000 houses, which, only 300 years ago, was in the height of its
+prosperity; and though it is not in the power of man, in the space of a
+thousand years, wholly to obliterate the traces of a great city, yet
+not a vestige of the Cholula of Cortéz can now be found. As I followed
+up the investigation, I soon discovered that not a vestige of any of
+the cities that entered into the alliance with Cortéz can now be found.
+Not a vestige exists even of the old city of Mexico, except the
+calendar and sacrificial stones, of which I shall speak hereafter.
+
+
+CORTÉZ AND BERNAL DIAZ.
+
+Cortéz says that a dry stone wall, nine feet high, inclosed Tlascala
+from mountain to mountain, through which he entered between overlapping
+semicircles of the wall. He says that he was attacked first by an army
+of 6000 Indians, then by an army of 100,000 on one day, and on the next
+by 149,000. He says farther, "I attacked another place, which was so
+large that it contained, according to an examination I caused to be
+made, more than 20,000 houses." Of the capital of Tlascala, he says,
+"It is larger than Granada, and much stronger, and contains as many
+fine houses and a much larger population than that city did at the time
+of its capture."
+
+A comparison of the statements of Bernal Diaz and those of Cortéz will
+cast some discredit upon the narrative of the former. The stout old
+chronicler cuts down the 100,000 Indians in the second battle to
+50,000, and makes no mention of the third great action, in which
+149,000 Indians were said by Cortéz to have been engaged. Here is
+another comparison:
+
+"There is," says Cortéz, "in this city [Tlascala], a market, in which
+every day 30,000 people are engaged in buying and selling, besides many
+other merchants who are scattered about the city. The market contains a
+great variety of articles, both of food and clothing, and all kinds of
+shoes for the feet, jewels of gold, and silver, and precious stones,
+and ornaments of feathers; all as well arranged as they possibly can be
+found in any public square in the world."[19]
+
+Now see the difference between this great Munchausen and his professed
+apologist and companion, the writer of Bernal Diaz, who was familiar
+with the suppressed manuscript of Las Casas, and makes quotations from
+it. "The elder Xicotencotl," says Bernal Diaz, "now informed Cortéz
+that it was the general wish of the inhabitants to make him a present,
+if agreeable to him. Cortéz answered that he should at all times be
+most happy to receive one; they accordingly spread some mats on the
+floor, and over them a few cloaks, upon which they arranged five or six
+pieces of gold, a few articles of trifling value, and several parcels
+of manufactured _nequen_--altogether a poor present, and not worth
+twenty pesos (dollars). The caziques, on presenting these things to
+Cortéz, said to him, 'Malinche! we can easily imagine that you will
+not exactly experience much joy on receiving a present of such
+wretched things as these; but we have told you before that we are
+poor--possessing neither gold nor other riches, as the deceitful
+Mexicans, with their present monarch, Montezuma, have, by degrees,
+despoiled us of every thing we had. Do not look to the small value of
+these things, but accept them in all kindness, and as coming from your
+faithful friends and servants.' These presents were, at the same time,
+accompanied by a quantity of provisions."[20]
+
+
+THE TRUTH ABOUT TLASCALA.
+
+Thus, according to Cortéz, the Tlascalans dwelt in cities rivaling the
+most polished and commercial cities of Europe; according to Diaz, they
+were so poor that they were unable to make a present worth twenty
+dollars! Cortéz gives a view of "a large wall of dry stone, about nine
+feet in height, which extends across the valley from one mountain to
+the other: it was twenty feet in thickness, surmounted throughout its
+whole extent by a breastwork a foot and a half thick, to enable them to
+fight from the top of the wall." Diaz says, "We came to an enormous
+intrenchment, built so strongly of stone, lime, and a kind of hard
+bitumen, that it would only have been possible to break it down by
+means of pick-axes."[21] Such a wall, or the vestiges of it, would last
+for thousands of years; for it is not in the destructive power of man
+wholly to obliterate it, and yet I have been utterly unable to find
+even a ruin, and I verily believe the whole of this Chinese wall is a
+fiction.
+
+Tlascala is an Indian reservation of an oval shape, sixty-nine miles
+long by forty-two miles wide. Its climate is cold. Its soil is not
+remarkably good. It has had its independent government since the time
+of Cortéz. Its means of subsistence have been increased, and extensive
+manufactories have been established. The only enumeration ever made of
+its inhabitants was in 1793, when it was found to contain 51,177 souls.
+In the extravagant official estimate of last year, its population is
+set down at 80,171.[22] Cortéz says that Tlascala contained a population
+of 500,000 inhabitants, according to a report made by his orders. We
+have here our historians within metes and bounds, between mountains and
+stone walls; a perfect non-intercourse established with all the world;
+all foreign means of supply cut off, and the Indians dependent for
+subsistence upon their own rude cultivation of maize. My readers may
+call me extravagant if I should say that Tlascala probably contained
+about 10,000 inhabitants in the time of Cortéz, and could therefore, in
+an emergency, produce 1000 warriors. A greater number than this would
+be contrary to the laws of population. I might here stop and call hard
+names, but it is not my purpose to "bring a railing accusation" against
+any. My only duty is to place evidence before the reader, and then let
+him judge how much reliance is to be placed upon any historical
+statements that have been trimmed and modified to suit the purposes of
+the Spanish Inquisition.
+
+The quick wit of Cortéz early discovered that Tlascala was a great
+natural fortress, and that he could make it the centre and base of his
+operations in the wars he was contemplating against the different
+Indian tribes of the table-land. The hatred borne against the Mexicans
+by the Tlascalans assured him of their co-operation against Montezuma.
+Hence the Tlascalans were especially favored. They shared with him in
+all the perils of his enterprise, and in the plunder gathered from the
+conquered tribes; for with them rested the question whether he should
+succeed, and be hailed as the hero of a holy war, or should be branded
+as a buccaneer, robber, and enslaver. And when, in course of time, the
+Indian element became the ruling power, curses loud and deep were
+muttered against the enslaver of the Indians, and the Tlascalans came
+in for their share of imprecations.
+
+
+CENSORSHIP OF HISTORICAL BOOKS.
+
+But who was Bernal Diaz? This would be a strange question to ask in a
+country where there was liberty of speech and liberty of the press, but
+in Spain the censorship was not only repressive, but it was
+"suggestive." It not only suppressed the writings of authors, but
+compelled them to father productions that were the very opposite of
+those they wished to publish. Take the case of poor Sahagun, who wrote
+a refutation of the historian of the conquest, under the pretense of
+giving the Indian account of that event: when his book was finally
+allowed to see the light, after a delay of many years, it was found
+that his own account of the conquest had been suppressed, and the
+regular Spanish account had been substituted. Of Las Casas's "Apology
+for the Indians,"[23] which had occupied thirty-two years of his life,
+that part only was allowed to appear which treated of Saint Domingo.
+But his refutation of the histories of the conquest of Mexico is wholly
+suppressed. To have proved the Conquistadors a gang of unprincipled
+buccaneers would have spoiled a Holy War, which was just what the
+Inquisition would not allow to go before the world. To the little work
+of Boturini on Mexico there are appended, 1. The declaration of his
+faith in the Roman Catholic Church in the most unequivocal terms. 2.
+The license of the Jesuit father. 3. The license of an Inquisitor. 4.
+The license of the Judge of the Supreme Council of the Indias. 5. The
+license of the Royal Council of the Indias. 6. The approbation of the
+"qualificator" of the Inquisition, who was a bare-footed Carmelite
+monk. 7. The license of the Royal Council of Castile. Beyond all this,
+the writer must be a person in holy orders, and be a person of
+sufficient influence to obtain the favorable notice of all these
+bodies, who were instinctively hostile to the diffusion of all
+information, particularly in regard to the New World. Nor was this the
+end of the difficulty; the license of any one of these officials could
+be revoked at pleasure, and, when republished, the work had to be
+re-"_viséd_." Even as late as the year 1825, a Spanish standard author
+could not be republished without expurgation.[24] With such facts
+before us, it is safe to declare that not a single statement of fact
+that affected either the interests of the king or the Church was ever
+published in Spain or her colonies during the three hundred years of
+the existence of the Inquisition; but every thing published was
+modified to suit the wishes of the censors, without any regard to the
+sentiments of the putative author.
+
+But who was Bernal Diaz? How came he to be familiar with the writings
+of Las Casas that never saw the light? Had he access to the secret
+archives of the convent? He refers to the account of Las Casas as
+follows:
+
+"These [the slaughters at Cholula] are, among others, those abominable
+monstrosities which the Bishop of Chiapas, Las Casas, can find no end
+in enumerating. But he is wrong when he asserts that we gave the
+Cholulans the above-mentioned chastisement without any provocation, and
+merely for pastime."[25] The history of Diaz is among the standard
+literary productions of that age, and is a very picture of candor and
+simplicity. On every page there are such evident efforts at
+truthfulness as to raise a suspicion that something more than, a simple
+narrative was the object of writing this book fifty years after the
+conquest. By supposing the author to be only sixteen years old when he
+came to America, Lockhart makes him only seventy years of age when he
+wrote the work. But if we suppose him to have been of a reasonable age
+when he began his adventures, he must have been between eighty and
+ninety years old when this book is alleged to have been written. Gomara
+had overdone the matter in the superhuman achievements which he had
+ascribed to Cortéz, while Las Casas had proved the conqueror and his
+party to have been a gang of cruel monsters. Now, something had to be
+done to avert the odium that was beginning to attach to this crusade
+against the enemies of the Church. In Spain, where a padlock was upon
+every man's mouth, and where each one buried his suspicions in the most
+secret recesses of his heart, and trembled lest, even in his dreams, a
+thought of impiety might reach the ear of a familiar, history could
+always be made to conform to the interests of the Church.
+
+Since the records of the Spanish Inquisition have become the property
+of the public, and the manner in which the facts of history were
+trifled with is now understood, it is a question more easily asked than
+answered, Who wrote such and such a book?
+
+
+WHO WROTE BERNAL DIAZ?
+
+Who, then, wrote the history of Bernal Diaz? We have seen that it cuts
+down the monstrous exaggerations of Cortéz more than a half, yet we
+shall see that the statements of Diaz are still incredible. It is a
+very religious book, as the Spaniards understand the word religion, and
+reflects great credit on the Church. But, with the slight evidence we
+have presented, no one would charge the work with being altogether a
+fiction, and Bernal Diaz a myth. All that can be said is, that we are
+left in that state of uncertainty in which every one finds himself who
+looks into a record that was within the control of the Inquisitorial
+censors.
+
+Our stage-ride has been forgotten in discussing historical questions;
+and while we have been dwelling upon Cortéz and Bernal Diaz, we have
+crossed the plain, and been climbing the heights of Rio Frio, and now
+we begin to catch glances of the valley and of the city of Mexico--a
+city and valley so renowned in history and tradition, that it seems
+more like a city of the Old World than a town in the interior of the
+continent that Columbus discovered. Truly it is an old city. It was an
+old city before Columbus was born--an old city in a new world. It is
+one of the links that binds the present age to ages long past and
+almost forgotten--a city where the present and the past are strangely
+mingled together. In its streets are "penitents," wandering, in
+sackcloth and sandals, with a downcast look and a rope for
+self-castigation, among soldiers in new French uniforms and ladies in
+the latest Paris fashions. This is not the time for a favorable view of
+the valley from this point. To see it in its full glory, we must look
+upon it at sunrise.
+
+      [16] Folsom's _Letters of Cortéz_, p. 49.
+
+      [17] _Bernal Diaz._ Lockhart's translation. London, 1844.
+      Vol. i. p. 157.
+
+      [18] "We buried our dead in one of the subterranean
+      dwellings."--_Diaz_, vol. i. p. 152.
+
+      [19] _Letters_, p. 61.
+
+      [20] _Bernal Diaz_, vol. i. p. 179.
+
+      [21] Vol. i. p. 144.
+
+      [22] _Collección de Léyes_, 1853, p. 184.
+
+      [23] _Lord Kingsborough_, vol. vi. p. 265.
+
+      [24] _A Year in Spain, by an American._
+
+      [25] _Bernal Diaz_, vol. i. p. 207.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+Acapulco.--The Advantages of a Western Voyage to India.--The great
+annual Fair of Acapulco.--The Village and Harbor of Acapulco.--The
+War of Santa Anna and Alvarez.--The Retreat.--Traveling alone and
+unarmed.--The Peregrino Pass.--Quiricua and Cretinism.--Chilpanzingo.--An
+ill-clad Judge.--Iguala.--Alpayaca.--Cuarnavaca.
+
+
+Let us now make a journey in another direction--from Acapulco northward
+to the city of Mexico--the route that the East India trade used to
+follow. But, first of all, let us discourse a little time about this
+port of Acapulco, once so famous upon the South Seas. It was not
+discovered when Cortéz built, in Colima, the vessels that went to
+search for a northwest passage; but when they had returned from their
+fruitless search, they anchored in the mountain-girt harbor of
+Acapulco. The discoveries of the celebrated navigator, Magellan, fixed
+the commercial character and importance of this sea-port. He had sailed
+through the straits that bear his name, and coasted northwardly as far
+as the trades. From this port he bore away to the Spice Islands,
+discovering on the voyage the Philippine Islands, where the city of
+Manilla was founded. By this voyage he demonstrated that the advantages
+of a route across the Pacific were so superior to a voyage around Cape
+Horn, as to justify the expense of a land transit from Acapulco to Vera
+Cruz, and reshipment to Spain. Now that the Panama Railroad is made,
+this demonstration may prove advantageous to other nations.
+
+
+ACAPULCO.
+
+The practical advantage of this discovery was the establishment of the
+annual Manilla galleon, in which was sent out 1,000,000 silver dollars
+to purchase Oriental products for the consumption of Spain and all her
+American colonies. In this galleon sailed the friars that went forth to
+the spiritual conquest of India. In it sailed Spanish soldiers, who
+followed hard after the priests, to add the temporal to the spiritual
+subjugation of Oriental empires. To this harbor the galleon returned,
+freighted with the rich merchandise of China, Japan, and the Spice
+Islands. When the arrival of the galleon was announced, traders
+hastened from every quarter of New Spain to attend the annual fair.
+Little vessels from down the coast came to get their share of the
+mammoth cargo. The king's officers came to look after the royal
+revenue; and caravans of mules were summoned to transport the Spanish
+portion of the freight to Vera Cruz. Thus, for a short time, the
+population of this village was swollen, from 4000 to 9000, which fell
+off again when the galleon took her departure.
+
+[Illustration: ACAPULCO.]
+
+Such was the commercial condition of the town of Acapulco down to the
+time of the independence. From this time it was lost to commerce, until
+it was made a half-way house on the voyage to California. The town lies
+upon the narrow intervale between the hills and the harbor. It is built
+of the frailest material, and is destroyed about once in ten years by
+an earthquake.
+
+The castle of San Diego stands upon the high bank, and, though
+commanding the entrance to the harbor, is itself commanded by the
+surrounding high lands, and has so often been taken by assault during
+the last thirty years as to be considered untenable. The harbor appears
+like a nest scooped out of the mountains, into and out of which the
+tide ebbs and flows through a double channel riven by an earthquake in
+the solid rock. Tradition says it once had another entrance, but that
+an earthquake closed it up and opened the present channel. There is
+still another opening in the sharp mountain ridge that incloses it from
+the sea, but this opening, dug by the labor of man, at a point opposite
+the entrance of the harbor, was to let the cool sea-breeze in upon one
+of the hottest and most unhealthy places upon the continent. Such, in
+substance, is and was the little city of Acapulco, the seat and focus
+of the Oriental commerce of New Spain and of all the Spanish empire.
+
+
+WAR OF SANTA ANNA AND ALVAREZ.
+
+Santa Anna and Alvarez are the only remaining insurrectionary chiefs in
+Mexico. When I was last in the capital, Santa Anna was reigning supreme
+in the vice-royal palace, and Alvarez was supreme at Iztla, the capital
+of the Department of Guerrero, of which Acapulco is the sea-port town.
+The two chiefs had been long hostile to each other, but a gold mine,
+discovered upon the bank of the River Mescala, was "the straw that
+broke the camel's back." Alvarez had not been consulted in the
+disposition made of it. Santa Anna felt himself powerful in his
+newly-equipped army of 23,000 men, the finest army that had ever been
+seen in Mexico--an army which he was maintaining at a daily cost of
+$23,000. Alvarez was equally strong in his mountain fastnesses, in the
+affections of the _Pintos_, or "Spotted People," and, above all,
+in the poverty of his country. Santa Anna took the initiative by
+sending 2000 men to garrison Acapulco, and Alvarez committed the first
+open hostility, by closing the passes against them. Then the campaign
+began. Santa Anna traveled at the head of his grand army. During his
+unobstructed march to Acapulco there occurred a great many victories,
+for victories are indigenous products of Mexico. The siege of the
+castle of San Diego de Acapulco was the first of the long list of
+unsuccessful sieges that distinguished the year 1854. The besiegers
+dared not risk an assault, and they had not sufficient material for
+conducting a regular siege. For some weeks the opposing forces remained
+looking at each other, while almost the only blood spilled was by the
+clouds of musquitoes that hovered over the camp of the grand army, and
+by the swarms of fleas that infested the castle. It might well be
+called a bloody war, for few escaped without bearing the scars of
+wounds and bloodletting.
+
+While the besieging army was itself thus almost devoured, and had
+devoured all the eatables of the Pintos, symptoms of rebellion showed
+themselves at Mexico, to suppress which required the presence of Santa
+Anna. The generals of his army thought that they also might render more
+important services to the country in the streets of Mexico than in this
+inglorious war with bloody insects! A retreat was therefore sounded,
+and the country of the Pintos was evacuated. Thereupon rushed forth the
+little garrison from the clutches of the devouring insects, and issued
+a heroic proclamation, which was enough to frighten a whole army.
+
+It is time to commence my itinerary across the mountains northward to
+the city of Mexico. My journey was by the same mule-path that Oriental
+merchants have climbed for centuries, as is shown by the vestiges of
+that strange race of which Humboldt speaks--an inter-mixture of
+Manillamen and Chinamen with the native race.
+
+My traveling companion, who had a pistol, left me and went back at the
+first _venta_, or station-house, four leagues from Acapulco. At
+Lemones, the second station-house, four leagues farther, I passed the
+night sleeping upon a table on the veranda. This is the common
+lodging-place for solitary travelers in Mexico. Here I formed my first
+acquaintance with the _venta_ pig, who considers himself the peculiar
+friend of the traveling public. All the advances made by my new
+acquaintance at this first interview were occasional tugs at the
+blanket during the night, and divers unsuccessful attempts to turn the
+table over. At Alta, two stages farther on, the pig ensconced himself
+on a mat with the children, while he gave me no farther annoyance than
+an occasional visit, and thrusting of his nose into the hammock where I
+slept.
+
+It was still dark when I left Alta in order to clear the Peregrino Pass
+and reach Tierra Colorado that day. In a few hours I gained the top of
+the pass, and sat down to take a survey of the zigzag way up which my
+old horse had climbed, and of the extensive region of hill and mountain
+country before me. It is difficult to believe that over this slight
+mule-path all the Spanish commerce of India has passed, and cargoes of
+silver dollars, amounting to hundreds of millions, during a period of
+three hundred years. Over this pass armies have continued to advance
+and to retreat with one uniform result: if the army is a large one, it
+is starved out of the country; if it is a small one, it is destroyed.
+Hunger devours the large armies; the Pintos devour the little ones. All
+around was now as quiet and solitary as the grave. There were no signs
+to indicate that this spot had been the scene of so much life and
+contention. The prospect was a delightful one, and I could have enjoyed
+it much longer had I not been assailed by that common enemy, that has
+assailed every general and colonel that has crossed this pass--an empty
+stomach; so that I and my old horse did our very best to reach the ford
+of the Papagalla, where there was a presumptive possibility that
+eatables might be found. I found entertainment for beast at the ford,
+but no food for his rider until we reached Tierra Colorado.
+
+Here prevails not only that harmless cutaneous affection, the _Quiricua_,
+which causes people to appear spotted or painted (_Pintos_), but also
+_Cretinism_, the much more formidable disease so prevalent among the
+mountains of Switzerland.
+
+This town is also remembered as the scene of a bloody battle. General
+Garay, who had lost his way the day before, had here come up, and we
+jogged along together; but as a Mexican general and escort are a
+doubtful protection to an unarmed man, if there is any real danger on
+the road, a prudent traveler will shake them off and travel on alone.
+
+We passed Buena Vista, the fine sugar estate of M. Comonfort, and
+Aquaguisotla, and slept at Mazatlan, and the next day arrived at the
+famous city of Chilpanzingo, or City of the Bravos, the centre and
+focus of the insurrection in the southern provinces. Here, in the
+public square or plaza, in front of a church built by Cortéz, there was
+a grand bull-fight, or rather ox-fight, in which great efforts were
+made to infuse some life into a dozen stupid cattle. These efforts were
+attended with very indifferent success. A deep _barranca_ extends
+to the Mescala, the largest river in Southern Mexico, across which we
+passed on a raft of gourds, propelled by two naked Indians, who swam
+across, each holding in his right hand a corner of the raft.
+
+
+AN ILL-CLAD JUDGE.
+
+The next night, after dark, I arrived at a little village, and turned
+into an open caravansary. The old man of the establishment was very
+kind, and offered me a mat to lie on, but he had no corn for my horse.
+After making some inquiries that were a little unpleasant for a man who
+was traveling without a passport to answer, he said he would procure
+for me some corn from the alcalde. This village magistrate, who, in the
+absence of the "Judge of First Instance," is _ex officio_ a judge,
+was an enormous negro, over six feet in height, whose dignity was not
+certainly dependent upon his official robes, for a single napkin
+constituted his whole apparel. He sat upon an ox-skin, which did duty
+for the wool-sack--the very personification of the majesty of the law,
+with curled wig, and hide as black as the gown of the Lord Chief
+Justice, with the advantage that both were natural. This was the second
+negro I had yet seen in the country. The other held a commission as
+captain in the army, and was in the escort of General Garay.
+
+I had a hard day's ride to reach the city of Iguala in time to witness
+the celebration of the independence, which was proclaimed here in 1821.
+The celebration, for the most part, consisted in eating and drinking
+from booths placed around the central square of the town. As I had
+little time to spare, I hurried on, and soon came to the Puente de
+Iztla, the carriage-road, that is finished thus far southward from the
+city of Mexico.
+
+I started early next morning upon my journey. During the greater part
+of the day the road led through a continuous corn-field, and toward
+evening we came to the pretty Indian village of Alpayuca, so neat and
+well-ordered that it might have passed for one of the missionary Indian
+villages of our northern Indians, were it not for the fine old Catholic
+church, which must have cost in its construction, centuries ago, fifty
+times the value of the present village, without including the cost of
+the bronze railing, brought from China in the prosperous days of the
+Manilla Company.
+
+
+CUARNAVACA.
+
+Not stopping to examine the ruins of great antiquity near this place, I
+rode on six leagues farther, when I arrived at the venerable city of
+Cuarnavaca, the place selected by Cortéz as the finest spot in all New
+Spain. This was bestowed upon him, at his own request, by the Emperor
+Charles V. as a residence. It merits to this day the distinction that
+has been given to it as one of the finest spots on earth. It stands
+close under the shadow of the huge mountains that shield it from the
+northern blast, and it is at the same time protected from the extreme
+heat of the tropics by its elevation of 3000 feet. The immense church
+edifices here proclaim the munificence of Cortéz, while the garden of
+Laborde, open to the world, shows with what elegant taste he squandered
+his three several fortunes accumulated in mining. The combination of a
+fine day in a voluptuous climate, the beautiful scenery, and the happy
+faces of the people celebrating New Year's day in the shade of the
+orange-trees, made an impression upon a traveler not easily forgotten.
+
+I was too near the city of Mexico to remain long here, and I rode on,
+up the zigzag way that leads over the mountain rim of the Valley of
+Mexico. I was not fortunate enough to accomplish the journey from city
+to city in a single day, and, from necessity, had to pass the night at
+the half-way house, upon the summit of the mountain, 10,000 feet above
+the sea. A poor Hungarian, who had been detained here like myself, came
+and laid his blankets with mine, and then we lay down, and chattered
+and shivered together until the morning. Such a night as this detracts
+somewhat from the enjoyments of this otherwise pleasant journey; but
+when I got a morning view of the valley and city of Mexico from the
+Cross of the "Marquis of the Valley," the sufferings of the chilly
+night were soon forgotten.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+California.--Pearl Fisheries.--Missions.--Indian
+Marriages.--Villages.--Precious Metals.--The Conquest of
+California compared with that of Mexico.--Upper California
+under the Spaniards.--Mexican Conquest of California in 1825.--The
+March.--The Conquest.--California under the Mexicans.--American
+Conquest.--Sinews of foreign Wars.--A Protestant and religious
+War.--Early Settlers compared.--Mexico in the Heyday of
+Prosperity.--Rich Costume of the Women.--Superstitious Worship.--When
+I first saw California.--Lawyers without Laws.--A primitive
+Court.--A Territorial Judge in San Francisco.--Mistaken
+Philanthropy.--Mexican Side of the Picture.--Great Alms.--City
+of Mexico overwhelmed by a Water-spout.--The Superiority of
+Californians.
+
+
+I can not enter the valley of Mexico, and there discuss the various
+subjects that present themselves, without first gathering from
+California the data that will elucidate the condition of a country
+abounding in precious metals.
+
+
+MEXICAN CALIFORNIA.
+
+There is a striking dissimilarity between the two Californias. The
+American State of California is as celebrated for its fertility as for
+its mineral wealth. Peninsular California, on the other hand, is not
+distinguished for its minerals, nor remarkable for its fertility. With
+the sea washing it on either side, it is a country of drought and
+barrenness. It is like a neutral ground between the two rainy seasons.
+To the north of it, the winter is the season of abundant rains, with
+dry summers. To the south of it, the summer rains are heavy and
+continuous, without any showers in winter. Thus, lying between the
+opposite climates, it rarely enjoys the refreshing rains of either. Its
+back-bone is not a continuation of the rich Sierra Nevada, but of the
+coast range, which is poor in minerals. The Mexican estimates set down
+the population as amounting to 12,000,[26] but an American, who has
+carefully examined the country, going down the whole length of the
+peninsula on the one side, and returning by the other, fixes it at
+4000. The inhabitants are an imbecile race of mixed bloods and Indians,
+dwelling in the few small villages which the country contains, and upon
+the ranchos and haciendas.
+
+
+CALIFORNIAN PEARL-FISHERY.
+
+Cattle thrive where water is to be found, and many of the natives are
+excellent herdsmen. Fish are abundant, but the Californians lack the
+necessary energy to become successful fishermen upon a large scale. The
+pearl fisheries have for centuries brought strangers to this shore of
+the Gulf, and many of the inhabitants have served as divers with
+success. The production of pearls in the Sea of Cortéz, or Gulf of
+California, has been so great during the last three centuries, that
+Mexico has become the greatest country for pearls yet known. Every
+female above the rank of a peasant must have at least one pearl to
+ornament the pin that fastens her shawl or mantilla upon the top of her
+head. Most of these pearls are of small value, on account of their
+imperfection in shape or color; but their abundance is one of the first
+things that strike a stranger on entering Mexico. With a change of
+fashions, the foreign demand for pearls fell off so much that, for the
+last half century, these fisheries have been almost discontinued; but
+with the reviving demand for pearls, the fisheries have again risen to
+importance. For a more detailed account of these pearl-fisheries, I
+must refer to the following note.[27]
+
+In the year 1600 the Jesuits first undertook the establishment of a
+mission at Loretto, on the Gulf coast, which has ever since been the
+capital of the Peninsula. From the time of their first establishment
+here down to the time of the expulsion of the Jesuits from all the
+dominions of Spain, in 1767, they continued to cultivate this field,
+though it proved more than a match for their wonted perseverance. In a
+few places, the soil was made to yield its increase by the skillful
+application of the waters that sprung up among the mountains and rocks.
+Wherever irrigation was possible at small expense, there an oasis made
+its appearance, which was in striking contrast to the general
+barrenness that prevailed.
+
+The manner in which conversions were effected by the Spanish priests
+may seem a little strange to the "voluntaries" of our day. The idea of
+running down a convert with dogs may seem to be rather an original
+method of proselyting, and has been severely commented upon by Forbes,
+and other Americans who have visited the Missions. But then such men
+should bear in mind that Catholics are not voluntaries, and never rely
+upon persuasion to make converts when they have the power to use a
+stronger argument. If this same class of missionaries used dogs to
+convert the Waldenses in Italy, there is a greater reason for using
+them among the half-brutish Indians of California. With such a race,
+moral suasion has no force; and to adduce arguments to convince a man
+whose only rule of action is the gratification of his sensual
+appetites, would be labor thrown away.
+
+The good fathers took a more sensible view of the case. Having once
+obtained the consent of an Indian to receive Christian baptism, they
+took good care that he should not fall back from his profession, but
+retained him a prisoner of the cross. They used as much mildness as is
+compatible with their system, and only compelled their converts to
+labor as much as was necessary to the success of the mission, the rest
+of the time being devoted to their spiritual edification; that is, they
+were employed in repeating Latin prayers and a Spanish catechism, after
+an old Indian who acted as prompter. Sometimes it was necessary to
+allow the Indians to go abroad for a time, but then their return was
+provided for by retaining the squaws and papooses as hostages, in the
+same manner as they provided for the return of the plantation bulls, by
+shutting up the cows and calves in the _corral_.
+
+The system pursued by the Jesuits, and, after their expulsion, by the
+Dominicans, was to treat the Indians as though they were half human and
+the other half bestial. Abstractly considered, this was very wrong; but
+it was practically the only system of treatment that gave any promise
+of improving their condition. Though in many respects they were treated
+as slaves, yet the missionaries had generally at heart the best
+interests of the Indians. With them it was a settled rule, that when an
+Indian was to be married, his kindred should be carefully inquired
+after, and that among them he was to marry, or not at all; for long
+experience had taught the fathers that certain diseases, hereditary
+among them, were checked by each marrying into his own clan, while they
+were aggravated by intermarriage with a stranger.
+
+We may sum up the whole story of the combined missionary and
+governmental efforts at colonization in Lower Peninsular California,
+during a period of two hundred and fifty years, by saying that they
+jointly succeeded in establishing a poverty-stricken village of mud
+huts, called San Josef, at Cape San Lucas, where the Manilla galleon,
+on its voyage to Acapulco, could procure a supply of fresh vegetables
+to stay the ravages of the scurvy among its crew. They also established
+a less important village at La Paz, which, with Loretto, and divers
+small hamlets and ranches, constitutes all there is of this parched
+peninsula.
+
+Upper California comes to my aid in illustration of the early condition
+of Mexico, for, without this assistance, many phenomena that are
+witnessed in Mexico would be inexplicable. The effects of sudden
+wealth, the great accumulations of precious metals in few hands, the
+gross immoralities to which such a state of things gives rise, the
+almost fabulous state of society that arises when, by delays in its
+export, the accumulations become burdensome to the possessors, are no
+longer novelties in our day, and they now serve to illustrate the
+romance of the history of other times.
+
+When, in the year 1847, a party of American settlers and trappers
+hoisted the bear-flag in Upper California, their situation was
+strikingly similar to that of Cortéz and his party. Numbers were about
+equal in each case. The Territory of California was equal to the whole
+empire of Montezuma. The hunters and trappers had a more formidable
+enemy to contend with than Cortéz had; but they proved themselves more
+than a match for all antagonists. Like Cortéz, they found numerous
+villages of mud huts and a country governed by priests, but immensely
+superior in civilization and in arms to the Aztecs.
+
+
+MISSIONS IN CALIFORNIA.
+
+In 1776, the monks of the angelic order of San Francis had established
+missions along the coast. Adopting in this fertile country the practice
+of enforcing the labor of the Indians, the missions became vast grazing
+farms, where the priest, like the patriarchs of old, was the spiritual
+and temporal head of the establishment, and had flocks and herds
+innumerable. Villages (_pueblos_) had been established by the aid of
+the royal government, and mud forts (_presidios_) were founded as a
+protection to both mission and pueblo; and ranges (_ranchos_) for
+cattle were granted to individuals.
+
+Such was California when it submitted to the "Plan of Iguala." It was
+reported to have had 75,000 Indians in connection with its missions,
+and a large white and mixed population. But, according to our custom,
+we must deduct two thirds from all Spanish enumerations, and estimate
+the population of every class at only 25,000 at most.
+
+The priests of the missions had quietly acquiesced in the usurpation of
+Iturbide, and acknowledged his empire; but when Santa Anna proclaimed a
+republic, they were struck with horror. The idea of conferring civil
+rights upon Indians was monstrous. The very existence of the missions
+depended on keeping these poor creatures in servitude. And as for
+republicanism, that was incompatible with the government of the Church;
+and, as good Catholics and priests, they solemnly protested against it.
+Had these missionaries been as poor as the apostles, they probably
+would not have been disturbed for their want of republicanism. But
+their wealth proved their ruin, and the ruin of Upper California.
+
+The new republic was at peace, and the surplus soldiery had to be got
+rid of. It was not safe to disband them at home, where they might take
+to the roads and become successful robbers; but 1500 of the worst were
+selected for a distant expedition--the conquest of the far-off
+territory of California. And then a general was found who was in all
+respects worthy of his soldiery. He was pre-eminently the greatest
+coward in the Mexican army--so great a coward, that he subsequently,
+without striking a blow, surrendered a fort, with a garrison of 500
+men, unconditionally, to a party of 50 foreigners.
+
+
+MEXICAN CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA.
+
+Such was the great General Echandrea, the Mexican conqueror of
+California; and such was the army that he led to the conquest of
+unarmed priests and an unarmed province. It was a perilous
+expedition--perilous, not to the soldiers, but to the villagers upon
+their route. All dreaded their approach and rejoiced at their
+departure, for their march through their own country was a continued
+triumph, if one may judge from the amount of plunder they took from
+their friends upon the road. It was an expedition that Falstaff would
+have rejoiced to command, and his regiment would have distinguished
+themselves in such a war. Dry and dusty were the desert plains over
+which they marched, and dry and dusty were the throats of the army, for
+_cigaritos_ were scarce, and _muscal_ could seldom be found. But the
+toils of the long marches were relieved by frequent _fandangoes_, for
+the wives that followed the expedition equaled the men in numbers and
+courage.
+
+This long journey, and these days of perilous marching and nights of
+dancing, at length came to an end by their arrival at the enemy's
+frontier--the frontier of California, which, to their joy, they found
+unguarded; nor was there any found to dispute their passage or "to make
+them afraid;" for, had there been fifty resolute persons to oppose
+them, this valiant army would have absconded, and California would have
+remained an appanage of the crown of Spain. But Providence had ordered
+it otherwise; and this horde of vagabonds (_leperos_) came rushing
+on, with their wives and children, until they reached the cattle-yards
+(_corrals_), and then was displayed their valor and their capacity
+for beef, and in the name of "God and Liberty" they gratified their
+appetite for plunder. The priests, on their part, stood up manfully,
+and witnessed a good confession. They refused to accept this phantom of
+liberty which a party of vagabonds brought to them. The conquerors,
+however, could afford to be magnanimous in the midst of so much good
+eating, and no vengeance was inflicted upon unarmed men. But when the
+prefect of the missions was shipped off to Manilla, the war was at an
+end, for there was no means of defense, or, rather, it was changed from
+a war against priests to one against the cattle.
+
+Thus was California conquered and annexed to the United States of
+Mexico in the year 1825, and the laws and constitution of that republic
+extended over it. But it is an abuse of words to say that any law
+existed from that time onward. The confusion produced by the irruption
+of this horde of vagabonds continued uninterrupted, and it involved, in
+one chaotic mass, law, order, and every public and private right. The
+history of the country is inexplicable, and its public archives are a
+mass of such gross irregularities, and show such a total disregard of
+all law, that they are little better than the Sibylline leaves.
+
+
+AMERICAN CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA.
+
+The party that raised the "bear flag" met with no opposition. The party
+that landed from the shipping, and took possession of Monterey and San
+Francisco, were alike successful. But when a small party of American
+soldiers, under General Kearney, entered the country from the west, the
+_rancheros_ took the alarm, and rushed forth on their fleet horses to
+defend their private property from spoliation, for they had no idea of
+regular soldiers disconnected from robbery and cattle-stealing! The
+Californians fought bravely, and hemmed in the little army of Americans
+until they were in a suffering condition for provisions, and until the
+dreaded hunters and trappers, and draughts from the shipping, routed
+the herdsmen and released the beleaguered force. This is all there was
+that looked like war in the American acquisition of this most valuable
+territory.
+
+Not only was there this similarity in respect to the inadequate means
+by which Mexico and California were acquired, but there is also a
+striking similarity in the fact of the immediate discovery of
+inexhaustible mines of precious metals, that gave importance to an
+otherwise comparatively insignificant conquest. Though so many
+centuries apart, each produced the same effect upon the political
+affairs of nations by suddenly furnishing the world with an abundant
+supply of the precious metals. The mines of Mexico, with some small
+supplies from South America, furnished the sinews of those religious
+wars that desolated Europe after the Reformation, and enabled Spain to
+maintain her vast armaments in the Spanish peninsula, and in her
+Italian kingdoms and principalities, and in her Belgian provinces.
+Spain was able to subsidize the armies of the Catholic League in
+France, and the forces of the Catholic Princes of Germany, and to turn
+back the tide of the Protestant Reformation after it had entered Italy,
+overrun Navarre, and reached her own frontier. The gold of California
+and Australia has furnished England the sinews by which she has set on
+foot armies, and subsidized nations in the present crusade against
+Russia.
+
+At the time of the Reformation, all the precious metals were poured
+into the lap of a fanatical Catholic government; now they are in
+Protestant hands, and all, at last, find their resting-place, even
+those of Mexico, in the London market; while out of English
+Protestantism has our republic arisen, which is still united to her by
+a common language, a common religion, and commercial relations, so that
+the London market regulates the value of our stocks and the price of
+the food we eat. But our common Protestantism is not the Protestantism
+of the Reformation: that was the Protestantism of princes, and every
+where rested for support upon state patronage, the people, in that
+epoch, having no political existence. Protestantism was then a state
+institution, and soon lost its vitality in such an unnatural alliance.
+The Protestantism of our day is the Protestantism of dissent, which
+rejects state support, yet has shown itself more powerful than
+governments. It has restored peace to Ireland, and made its proselytes
+there by tens of thousands after the last British regiment was
+withdrawn. It has rent in twain the Church of Scotland, and is fast
+revolutionizing the Church of England, by driving to Rome those who
+prefer superstition to democracy, while it draws the remainder of the
+nation to itself. In the United States it is the ruling power, though
+it has here no political authority. It has penetrated the most obscure
+hamlets of France and Spain, and made thousands of converts in Italy
+itself. And where its preachers could not penetrate, there the written
+Word has found its way.
+
+
+MEXICO TWO CENTURIES AGO.
+
+The letters of Cortéz show that he, like his master, was above the
+superstitions of the Spanish race; yet both, skillful diplomatists,
+knew well how to avail themselves of the superstitions of others. The
+early Spanish adventurers to Mexico were a good illustration of the
+doctrine of total depravity, and the priests, that held them in
+leading-strings, were as depraved as themselves. "Like priests, like
+people." Our first settlers in California had learned self-government
+and self-control in the school of Protestantism; and when they took
+possession of that part of the country beyond the limit of Spanish
+settlements, where there were no laws and no written code, they were a
+law unto themselves, and the Spanish Americans that gathered about them
+found more perfect protection to life and property than they had ever
+before enjoyed. The Spanish adventurers at Mexico lavished the wealth
+which they had acquired by the forced labor of the Indians in the mines
+upon priests and monks, who amused them with lying miracles. They also
+gave money as an atonement for the criminal lives they led, and to
+shield themselves from the vengeance of the Inquisition, where they
+were suspected of being rich. The religion of the Californians was a
+simple veneration for the truths of Scripture. In some it amounted to
+devotion, but it was devotion sanctioned by reason and the
+understanding. They all alike despised superstition and abhorred
+despotism. In conclusion, I may add, that, had such a race of men as I
+saw in the mountains and villages of California at an early period of
+its settlement existed at the time of the conquest of Mexico, they
+would have revolutionized the world.
+
+We have heard much of the immorality, excessive extravagance and luxury
+of the cities of California; but the following picture of the state of
+the city of Mexico in the heyday of its prosperity, five years before
+it was destroyed by an inundation, is from the black-letter volume of
+Thomas Gage, of which I have already availed myself.
+
+"Almost all Mexico is now built with very fair and spacious houses,
+with gardens of recreation. The streets are very broad; in the
+narrowest of them three coaches may go, and in the broadest of them six
+may go in the breadth of them, which makes the city seem a great deal
+bigger than it is. In my time it was thought to be of between thirty
+and forty thousand inhabitants, Spaniards, who are so proud and rich,
+that half the city was judged to keep coaches; for it was a most
+credible report that in Mexico there were about 15,000 coaches.
+
+"It is a by-word that at Mexico there are four things fair; that is to
+say, the women, the apparel, the horses, and the streets. But to this I
+may add the beauty of some of the coaches of the gentry, which do
+exceed in cost the best of the court of Madrid, and other parts of
+Christendom, for they spare no silver, nor gold, nor precious stones,
+nor cloth of gold, nor the best silks from China, to enrich them; and
+to the gallantry of their horses the pride of some doth add the cost of
+bridles and shoes of silver. The streets of Christendom must not
+compare with those in breadth and cleanness, but especially in the
+riches of the shops which do adorn them. Above all, the goldsmith's
+shops and works are to be admired. The [East] Indians, and the people
+of China, that have been made Christians, and every year come thither,
+have perfected the Spaniards in that trade. There is in the cloister of
+the Dominicans a lamp hanging in the Church, with three hundred
+branches wrought in silver, to hold so many candles, besides a hundred
+little lamps for oil set in it, every one being made with several
+workmanship so exquisitely that it is valued to be worth four hundred
+thousand ducats; and with such like curious works are many streets made
+more rich and beautiful from the shops of goldsmiths.
+
+"To the by-word touching the beauty of the women I must add the liberty
+they enjoy for gaming, which is such that the day and night is too
+short for them to end a _primera_ when once it is begun; nay, gaming is
+so common to them, that they invite gentlemen to their houses for no
+other end. To myself it happened that, passing along the streets in
+company with a friar that came with me the year before from Spain, a
+gentlewoman of great birth, knowing us to be new-comers, from her
+window called unto us, and, after two or three slight questions
+concerning Spain, asked us if we would come in and play with her a game
+at _primera_. Both men and women are excessive in their apparel, using
+more silks than stuffs and cloth. Precious stones and pearls farther
+much this vain ostentation. A hatband and rose made of diamonds in a
+gentleman's hat is common, and a hatband of pearls is ordinary in a
+tradesman; nay, a blackamore, or tawney young maid and slave, will make
+hard shift but she will be in fashion with her neck-chain and Bracelets
+of pearls, and her ear-bobs of considerable jewels.
+
+[Illustration: MEXICAN COSTUMES.]
+
+"Their clothing is a petticoat of silk or cloth, with many silver or
+golden laces, with a very double ribbon of some light color, with long
+silver or golden tags hanging down in front the whole length of their
+petticoat to the ground, and the like behind; their waistcoats made
+like bodies, with skirts, laced likewise with gold and silver, without
+sleeves, and a girdle about their waist of great price, stuck with
+pearls and knobs of gold. Their sleeves are broad and open at the end,
+of Holland or fine China linen, wrought, some with colored silks, some
+with silk and gold, some with silk and silver, hanging down almost to
+the ground; the locks of their heads are covered with some wrought
+quoif, and over it another of net-work of silk, bound with a fair silk,
+or silver, or golden ribbon, which crosses the upper part of their
+foreheads, and hath commonly worked out in letters some light and
+foolish love posie; their bare, black, and tawney breasts, are covered
+with bobs hanging from their chains of pearls. And when they go abroad,
+they use a white mantle of lawn or cambric, rounded with a broad lace,
+which some put over their heads, the breadth reaching only to their
+middles behind, that their girdle and ribbons may be seen, and the two
+ends before reaching to the ground almost; others cast their mantles
+only upon their shoulders; and swaggerers like to cast the one end over
+the left shoulder, while with their right arm they support the lower
+part of it, more like roaring boys than honest civil maids. Their shoes
+are high and of many soles, the outside whereof of the profaner sort
+are plated over with a lift of silver, which is fastened with small
+nails with broad silver heads. Most of these are or have been slaves,
+though love have set them loose at liberty to enslave souls to sin and
+Satan; and for the looseness of their lives, and public scandals
+committed by them and the better sort of the Spaniards, I have heard
+them say often, who possessed more religion and fear of God, they
+verily thought God would destroy that city, and give up the country
+into the power of some other nation.
+
+"And I doubt not but the flourishing of Mexico in coaches, horses,
+streets, women, and apparel, is very slippery, and will make those
+proud inhabitants slip and fall into the power and dominion of some
+other prince of this world, and hereafter, in the world to come, into
+the powerful hands of an angry Judge, who is the King of kings and Lord
+of lords, which Paul saith (Heb. x. 31) is a fearful thing. For this
+city doth not only flourish in the ways aforesaid, but also in the
+superstitious worshiping of God and the saints they exceed Rome itself,
+and all other places of Christendom. And it is a thing which I have
+very much and carefully observed in all my travels, both in Europe and
+America, that in those cities wherein there is most lewd licentiousness
+of life, there is also most cost in the temples, and most public
+superstitious worship of God and the saints."
+
+So much for worthy Thomas Gage, and his estimate of the Mexicans of his
+day.
+
+
+AMERICANS IN CALIFORNIA.
+
+I arrived at San Francisco in the midst of the gold excitement. The
+town was crowded with rough-looking muscular men in red shirts, slouch
+hats, and trowsers over which were drawn high-topped boots. A Colt's
+revolver, a belt filled with gold, and an unshaven visage completed the
+_tout ensemble_ of a crowd who were purchasing supplies for their
+companions in the mines. They strode along, conscious that they
+belonged to the Anglo-Saxon race and the aristocracy of labor. As they
+turned into the temporary houses or booths which then constituted the
+town, or threaded their way among the piles of merchandise that
+encumbered the streets, the effeminate natives instinctively shrunk
+back, conscious of their own imbecility; the Spanish Americans were
+overawed by their presence; and even Sidney convicts thought it most
+profitable to turn their thoughts to honest labor.
+
+The miner had his vices too as well as his virtues. If you will follow
+him as he opens right and left a crowd that surrounds a table heaped
+with lumps of gold and silver coin, you will see how carelessly he
+throws down a piece of metal, looking sharply into the eye of the
+cunning dealer of the monté cards. If he detects a false move, he cocks
+his weapon, and draws the gold back into his bag and strides away.
+
+Such were the men who knew no fear, and dreaded no labor or fatigue,
+and who have made California in five short years a state more powerful
+than the Republic of Mexico.
+
+In an interior town I was called to practice as an attorney. My first
+client was the driver of an ox-team, who was suing for extra services
+in addition to his regular wages of five hundred dollars a month and
+board (Doe _vs._ Pickett). My office was a space of four feet by six,
+partitioned off by two cotton sheets, in the corner of a canvas store.
+The ground was for a while the floor; yet I paid in advance the monthly
+rent of two ounces of gold, and never had occasion to regret the
+outlay. The heavy winter rains at length compelled my landlord to lay a
+floor of rough boards, which cost him seven hundred dollars for a
+thousand feet.
+
+Before the establishment of the state government, there was a judiciary
+created by an autocratical edict of General Riley; and a pamphlet,
+extracted and translated from the Mexican Constitutional laws of 1836,
+constituted the _Corpus Juris Civilis_ of the Territory of California.
+The remainder of the law was made up of the judge's ideas of equity,
+and of the law he had read before leaving home. Inartificial and rude
+as was this system, still it was wonderfully efficient; and it was well
+for the people of California that it was so, for an unparalleled
+immigration had brought with it an unparalleled amount of litigation.
+
+With the daily occurring causes of litigation, crowds assembled at the
+school-house on the Plaza, where from morning to night sat a judge
+dispensing off-hand justice. In front of him sat three or four clerks
+conducting the business. The crowds of lawyers, litigants, and
+witnesses that surrounded the court were not idle spectators, but
+represented the ordinary accumulation of business for the day, which
+was to be disposed of before the adjournment of the court. Speedy
+justice was more desirable than exact justice, where labor was valued
+at a gold ounce a day; and none were more desirous of speed than the
+lawyers, whose prospects of compensation depended much upon the
+promptitude with which judgment was rendered.
+
+The moving spirit of the whole scene, Judge A----, watched from behind
+the desk all that was said or done, seldom withdrawing his attention
+unless to administer an oath for the consideration of one dollar, or to
+sign an order for the consideration of two dollars. Sometimes he would
+change his position; but, whether warming his uncovered feet at the
+fire-place, or drawing on his boots, or replenishing his stock of
+tobacco, there was the same unalterable attention on his part. As soon
+as he comprehended a case, his authoritative voice was heard, closing
+the discussion, and dictating to a clerk the exact number of dollars
+and cents for which he should enter up a judgment. And then another,
+and another case was called up, and submitted to this summary process,
+until about nine o'clock at night, when the day's work terminated. All
+orders asked for by a responsible attorney were granted _ex parte_, the
+judge remarking that if the order was not a proper one, the other party
+would soon appear, and then he could ascertain the real merits of the
+case. The grand feature of this court was the facility with which an
+injunction could be obtained, and the rapidity with which it could be
+set aside.
+
+
+CALIFORNIAN COURTS.
+
+Crime was almost unknown until we got a state government and a code of
+laws, which, with misplaced philanthropy, had made the legal practice
+so easy upon criminals that a conviction was next to impossible. Then
+it was that crime stalked abroad in the face of day, and Sidney
+convicts plied their trade in San Francisco after it had become a city.
+Shops were entered and robbed in business hours; and by night, men were
+murdered in the streets; and thefts escaped punishment. Then it was
+that men, caught in the commission of crime, were hanged in the open
+streets, and combinations were formed for self-defense. But when a new
+Legislature gave efficiency to the laws, the community yielded a
+willing obedience to the magistrate. From an early day there had been
+"miners' courts," which, with their alcaldes, had conciliated
+differences. But when magistrates were elected, these courts
+disappeared. This was a change from bad to worse, for no condition is
+so deplorable as that of a people whose magistracy are powerless.
+
+Such is a fair picture of California in its worst estate, when the
+worst and the best of all nations were there congregated, and kept in
+subjection by the law-abiding spirit of an Anglo-Saxon immigration--a
+state of society in the first year of its existence, yet infinitely
+superior to that existing in the city of Mexico a hundred years after
+the discovery of the mines of Haxal and Pachuca. But we may complete
+the contrast by adding the more deplorable part of the picture which
+Friar Thomas Gage has drawn.
+
+"It seems," says he, "that religion teaches that all wickedness is
+allowable, so that the churches and clergy flourish. Nay, while the
+purse is open to lasciviousness, if it be likewise open to enrich the
+temple walls and roofs, this is better than any holy water, or water to
+wash away the filth of the other. Rome is held to be the head of
+superstition; and what stately churches, chapels, and cloisters are in
+it! What fastings, what processions, what appearances of devotion! And,
+on the other side, what liberty, what profaneness, what whoredoms, nay,
+what sins of Sodom are committed in it, insomuch that it could be the
+saying of a friar to myself, while I was in it, that he verily thought
+there was no one city in the world wherein were more Atheists than in
+Rome. I might show this much in Madrid, Seville, Valladolid, and other
+famous cities in Spain and in Italy; in Milan, Genoa, and Naples;
+relating many instances of scandals committed in those places, and yet
+the temples are mightily enriched by those who have thought their alms
+a sufficient warrant to free them from hell and purgatory. But I must
+return to Mexico, which furnishes a thousand witnesses of this
+truth--sin and wickedness abounding in it--and yet no such people in
+the world toward the Church and clergy. In their lifetime they strive
+to excel one another in their gifts to the cloisters of nuns and
+friars, some erecting altars to their best-devoted saints, worth many
+thousand ducats, others presenting crowns of gold to the pictures of
+Mary, others lamps, others golden chains, others building cloisters at
+their own charge, others repairing them, others, at their death,
+leaving to them two or three thousand ducats for an annual stipend.
+
+
+MEXICO TWO CENTURIES AGO.
+
+"Among these great benefactors to the churches of that city, I should
+wrong my history if I should forget one that lived in my time, called
+Alonzo Cuellar, who was reported to have a closet in his house laid
+with bars of gold instead of brick; though indeed it was not so, but
+only reported for his abundant riches and store of bars of gold, which
+he had in one chest, standing in a closet distant from another, where
+he had a chest full of wedges of silver. This man alone built a nunnery
+for Franciscan nuns, which stood him in above 30,000 ducats, and left
+unto it, for the maintenance of the nuns, 2000 ducats yearly, with
+obligation of some masses to be said in the church every year for his
+soul after his decease. And yet this man's life was so scandalous, that
+commonly, in the night, with two servants, he would go round the city
+visiting such scandalous persons, whose attire before hath been
+described, carrying his beads in his hands, and at every house letting
+fall a bead, and tying a false knot, that when he came home in the
+morning, toward break of the day, he might number by his beads the
+uncivil stations he had walked and visited that night.
+
+"Great alms and liberality toward religious houses in that city
+commonly are coupled with great and scandalous wickedness. They wallow
+in the bed of riches and wealth, and make their alms the coverlet to
+cover their loose and lascivious lives. From hence are the churches so
+fairly built and adorned. There are not above fifty churches and
+chapels, cloisters and nunneries, and parish churches in the city; but
+those that are there are the fairest that ever my eyes beheld, the
+roofs and beams being, in many of them, all daubed with gold, and many
+altars with sundry marble pillars, and others with Brazil-wood stays
+standing one above another, with tabernacles for several saints, richly
+wrought with golden colors, so that twenty thousand ducats is a common
+price of many of them. These cause admiration in the common sort of
+people, and admiration brings on daily adoration in them to those
+glorious spectacles and images of saints; so Satan shows Christ all the
+glory of the kingdoms to entice him to admiration, and then he said,
+'_All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship
+me_' (Matthew, iv. 8, 9). The devil will give all the world to be
+adored.
+
+"Besides these beautiful buildings, the inward riches belonging to the
+altars are infinite in price and value, such as copes, canopies,
+hangings, altar-cloths, candlesticks, jewels belonging to the saints,
+and crowns of gold and silver, and tabernacles of gold and crystal to
+carry about their sacrament [the Saviour of the world in the form of a
+wafer] in procession, all of which would mount to the worth of a
+reasonable mine of silver, and would be a rich prey for any nation that
+could make better use of wealth and riches. I will not speak much of
+the lives of the friars and nuns of this city, but only that they there
+enjoy more liberty than in Europe--where they have too much--and that
+surely the scandals committed by them do cry up to Heaven for
+vengeance, judgment, destruction.
+
+"It is ordinary for the friars to visit their devoted nuns, and to
+spend whole days with them, hearing their music, feeding on their
+sweetmeats; and for this purpose they have many chambers, which they
+call _loquatories_, to talk in, with wooden bars between the nuns and
+them; and in these chambers are tables for the friars to dine at, and
+while they dine the nuns recreate them with their voices. Gentlemen and
+citizens give their daughters to be brought up in these nunneries,
+where they are taught to make all sorts of conserves and preserves, all
+sorts of music, which is so exquisite in that city that I dare be bold
+to say that the people are drawn to churches more for the delight of
+the music than for any delight in the service of God. More, they teach
+these young children to act like players; and, to entice the people to
+the churches, they make these children act short dialogues in their
+choirs, richly attiring them with men and women's apparel, especially
+upon Midsummer's day and the eight days before their Christmas, which
+is so gallantly performed that many factious strifes and single combats
+have been, and some were in my time, for defending which of these
+nunneries most excelled in music and in the training up of children."
+
+Such is a picture drawn by a candid writer of one of the most devout
+Catholic cities in the world, where licentiousness and papacy went hand
+in hand until they reached that extreme point of corruption, that, as
+in the case of Sodom, God overthrew the city by a judgment from heaven;
+not by fire and brimstone, but by a water-spout, which, in the space of
+the five years that it lay upon the town three feet deep, loosened the
+foundations of all buildings and impoverished the inhabitants. And when
+at length the earth opened and swallowed up these waters, the city had
+to be rebuilt. The misery and distress that this flood inflicted upon
+the lower orders of the inhabitants was great in the extreme.
+
+It was on Sunday morning that the cause of the moral superiority of the
+American miners over those of Mexico was visible. Then the noise and
+bustle about my residence was hushed. The most immoral seemed to be
+overawed by a sense of respect for the religious opinions of others;
+and when the sound of a ship-bell, hung on the limb of a tree, was
+heard, all except the baser sort repaired to the shade of an oak, so
+large and venerable that it might have shielded the whole household of
+Abraham while engaged in family worship. A portable seraphine gave
+forth a familiar tune, in which all joined in singing with a zest which
+is only realized by those whom it carries back in recollection to
+distant home. Then the voice of the preacher was heard invoking the
+blessing of God upon the assembled worshipers, and his pardon of their
+offenses; and then followed his exhortation to seek from God the pardon
+of their many sins; and as he, with heartfelt earnestness, "reasoned of
+righteousness, temperance, and a judgment to come," many a
+stern-visaged miner trembled for his condition, and went away a better
+and a more honest man--ten thousand times more improved than if he had
+presented a crown of gold to the Virgin Mary.
+
+We are now prepared to enter the valley of Mexico, and examine the
+objects that there present themselves.
+
+      [26] _Collección de Léyes_, p. 180.
+
+      [27] "The whole Pacific coast produces pearls, but the most
+      extensive pearl-fisheries, at the present time, are in the Gulf
+      of California, where, among an inexhaustible supply of little
+      pearls, there are produced some of the very finest quality. The
+      pearls of the Countess de Regla, those of the Marquesa de
+      Gudalupe, and Madame Velasco, are from these fisheries, and are
+      remarkable for their great size and value. The great pearl
+      presented to General Victoria, while he was President, was from
+      the same locality." (WARD, vol. ii. p. 293.)
+
+      "The pearls of this gulf are considered of excellent water, but
+      their rather irregular figure somewhat reduces their value. The
+      manner of obtaining pearls is not without interest. The vessels
+      employed in the fisheries are from fifteen to thirty tons burden.
+      They are usually fitted out by private individuals. The armador
+      or owner commands them. Crews are shipped to work them, and from
+      forty to fifty Indians, called Busos, to dive for the oyster. A
+      stock of provisions and spirits, a small sum of money to advance
+      the people during the cruise, a limited supply of calaboose
+      furniture, a sufficient number of hammocks to sleep in, and a
+      quantity of ballast, constitute nearly all the cargo outward
+      bound.
+
+      "Thus arranged, they sail into the Gulf; and, having arrived at
+      the oyster banks, cast anchor and commence business. The divers
+      are first called to duty. They plunge to the bottom in four or
+      five fathom water, dig up with sharpened sticks as many oysters
+      as they are able, rise to the surface, and deposit them in sacks
+      hung to receive them at the vessel's side. And thus they continue
+      to do till the sacks are filled, or the hours allotted to this
+      part of the labor are ended.
+
+      "When the diving of the day is done, all come on board and place
+      themselves in a circle around the armador, who divides what they
+      have obtained in the following manner: two oysters for himself,
+      the same number for the Busos, or divers, and one for the
+      government. This division having been concluded, they next
+      proceed, without moving from their places, to open the oysters
+      which have fallen to the lot of the armador. During this
+      operation, that dignitary has to watch the Busos with the
+      greatest scrutiny, to prevent them from swallowing the pearls
+      with the oysters, a trick which they perform with so much
+      dexterity as to almost defy detection, and by means of which they
+      often manage to secrete the most valuable pearls.
+
+      "The government portion is next opened with the same precautions,
+      and taken into possession by the armador. And, last of all, the
+      Busos open theirs, and sell them to the armador in liquidation of
+      debts incurred for their outfits, or of moneys advanced during
+      the voyage. They usually reserve a few to sell to dealers on
+      shore, who always accompany these expeditions with spirituous
+      liquors, chocolate, sugar, cigars, and other articles of which
+      Indian divers are especially fond. Since the Mexicans obtained
+      their independence, another mode of division has been adopted.
+      Every time the Busos come up, the largest oyster which he has
+      obtained is taken by the armador, and laid aside for the use of
+      the Virgin Mary. The rest are thrown in a pile; and, when the
+      day's diving is ended, eight oysters are laid out for the
+      armador, eight for the Busos, and two for the government.
+
+      "In the year 1831, one vessel with seventy Busos, another with
+      fifty, and two with thirty each, and two boats with ten each,
+      from the coast of Sonora, engaged in this fishery. The one
+      brought in forty ounces of pearls, valued at $6500; another,
+      twenty-one ounces, valued at $3000; another, twelve ounces,
+      valued at $2000, and the two boats a proportionate quantity.
+      There were, in the same season, ten or twelve other vessels, from
+      other parts, employed in the same trade, which, if equally
+      successful, swelled the value of pearls taken in that year to the
+      sum of more than forty thousand dollars."--FARNHAM'S _Scenes in
+      the Pacific_, p. 307.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+First Sight of the Valley of Mexico.--A Venice in a mountain
+Valley.--An Emperor waiting his Murderers.--Cortéz mowing down
+unarmed Indians.--A new kind of Piety.--Capture of an
+Emperor.--Torturing an Emperor to Death.--The Children paying
+the Penalty of their Fathers' Crimes.--The Aztecs and other
+Indians.--The Difference is in the Historians.--The Superstitions
+of the Indians.--The Valley of Mexico.--An American Survey of the
+Valley.--A topographical View.--The Ponds Chalco, Xochimulco, and
+Tezcuco were never Lakes.
+
+
+My first view of the Valley of Mexico was from the point where the
+Acapulco road passes the Cross of the "Marquis of the Valley." I had
+read with eagerness the History of the Conquest, and of the adventures
+of the noble _Conquistador_. Not a shadow of a doubt had then crossed
+my mind in regard to the truth of all that had been so elegantly
+written. Beautiful composition had supplied the place of evidence, and
+that practice of writing romances of history which the Spaniards had
+inherited from the Moors had completely captivated me, as it had
+thousands of others. The aspect of the valley was all that my fancy had
+painted it. The sun was in the right quarter to produce the greatest
+possible effect. The unnumbered pools of surface-water that abound in
+the valley appeared at that distance like so many lakelets supplied by
+crystal fountains, as each one reflected the bright sun from its
+mirror-like surface; these all were inclosed in the richest setting of
+nature's green.
+
+It was such a scene as would justify the extravagant language which
+Spaniards have employed in describing it. While I recalled its
+traditional history, I was tempted to exclaim as a native would have
+done, and to give credence to the fables of which this valley has been
+the scene. Here, as the story ran, amid floating gardens of rarest
+flowers and richest fruits, lay, in olden time, another Venice--a
+Venice in an inland mountain valley--a Venice upon whose Rialto never
+walked a Shylock with his money-bags; for in this market-place the most
+delicious fruits the world produces, the loveliest flowers, rich stuffs
+resplendent with Tyrian dyes, and princely mantles of feather-work,
+were bought with pretty shells, and such money as the sea produces. It
+was a Venice with its street of waters and its central basin, where
+jostled the gondolas of the Aztec nobles and the light canoes of birch
+bark among the vessels of commerce which came laden with slaves and
+other merchandise from the surrounding villages--a basin that
+disappeared the same day that the Indian empire fell.
+
+
+GUATEMOZIN.
+
+This basin was the last vestige of Aztec dominion; and when there no
+longer was any safe shelter upon the land, Guatemozin retired to his
+canoe and took shelter here, and calmly waited till his time should
+come to be murdered. He could not flee. He could not capitulate, for he
+was an emperor. As he sat here waiting for death, what must have been
+his reflections! What thoughts did not the very boat he occupied call
+up! How often had it carried him out upon the lake to the floating
+gardens and volcanic islands, where he had witnessed so many times the
+gorgeous reflections of an evening sun upon the snow-capped
+Popocatapetl, in whose bowels "the god of fire" had his dwelling! And
+then the lake itself, how much it had perplexed his thoughts, that in
+one part its waters should be fresh, with islands teeming with the
+richest vegetation, and in another part salt and bitter, with utter
+barrenness resting upon its shores! How he used to meet his brother of
+Tezcuco in the after part of the day, to exchange congratulations and
+talk over affairs of interest to both the royal families! Now all these
+pleasures were terminated forever. His brother of Tezcuco was in the
+ranks of his enemies, seeking his destruction.
+
+Thus sat the emperor, surrounded by a numerous fleet of canoes, whose
+occupants were without hope of escape or strength to fight; but, with
+Indian stoicism, all sat waiting their inevitable doom from freebooters
+whom they had disappointed of their prey. As the emperor and his nobles
+sat here witnessing the destruction of their pumice-stone palaces and
+mud-built huts, and the filling up of their canals, they consoled
+themselves with the reflection that their gold and their wealth were
+all at the bottom of these canals, and that the Spaniards, in their hot
+haste to enjoy the spoils of the city, were unwittingly burying forever
+the prize for which they were contending. Such were the thoughts of
+these Aztecs as they sat in their canoes, longing for death to relieve
+them from agony of suspense, enduring all the torments of the extremest
+thirst, which they vainly sought to quench by draughts of the brackish
+water of the lake. They had not long to wait; for, by the express
+commands of Cortéz, his followers were mowing down unresisting
+citizens, because the emperor, over whom they had no control, would not
+surrender himself.
+
+Who can stand for the first time upon the mountain rim that incloses
+this valley, and not have his thoughts carried back to some such scene
+as this? The recollection is not easily eradicated that the remnant of
+a once powerful tribe of Indians, partially emerged from barbarism,
+here received their death, in cold blood, at the hands of a party of
+white murderers. The good Archbishop Loranzana commends the piety of
+Cortéz in never neglecting to attend mass before going out to his daily
+work of slaughter. It was a pious act, no doubt, that on the last
+morning of the siege he stopped and listened to a mass--that pantomime
+which set forth the death of the Redeemer of the world--preparatory to
+consummating the butchery of Indians incapable of resistance.
+
+Garci Holguin, the master of a brigantine, or rather flat-boat, bolder
+than the rest, drove through the fleet of canoes that occupied the
+basin, until he encountered in the centre a canoe containing the person
+of the emperor, whom he made prisoner and brought to Cortéz, whereupon
+the slaughter ceased.
+
+Neither the horrid sight which the city presented, nor the fallen
+fortunes of a brave enemy, could move the soul of Cortéz. A brigand
+knows no remorse and feels no pity. Gold had been the object of his
+pious mission, and when he found not gold enough to satisfy the
+cravings of his gang, he soaked the fallen emperor's feet in oil, and
+then burned them at a slow fire, to extort from him a confession of the
+place of concealment of his supposed treasure; and when, in after
+years, he was tired of the burden of such a prisoner, he wantonly
+hanged him up by the heels to die in a distant forest.
+
+In this very city where Cortéz tortured Guatemozin was a son of Cortéz,
+who inherited the spoils of his father's atrocities, put to the torture
+by one of the Vice-kings, while the children's children of the
+Conquistadors paid for the wealth they inherited in the terrible
+penalties inflicted upon them by the buccaneers, that ravaged their
+coasts for two hundred years. Have not the sins of the fathers been
+visited upon the children?
+
+The Aztecs, their empire, and their city, have long since disappeared;
+their crimes, and the despotism which they exercised over the tribes
+they had conquered, are all forgotten in the terrible catastrophe that
+extinguished their national existence. Three hundred years of servitude
+in the indiscriminate mass of Indian serfs has blotted out every
+feeling of nationality. A few vagabonds among them still claim royal
+descent, and, by virtue of their blood or their imposture, pretend to
+exercise, in obscure villages, an undefined jurisdiction over Indians
+as oppressed as themselves. But the characteristics of the North
+American Indians are still visible; they still exhibit the
+contradictory traits of Indian character--cruelty and kindness, shyness
+and self-possession; enduring the greatest trials without a murmur, and
+suffering oppression without complaint; delighting as much as their
+northern brethren in tawdry exhibitions, in traditions of the
+marvelous, they seem to carry hidden in their inmost soul an idea that
+the time will come when they may take vengeance of the despoilers of
+their race. They have the Indian's love of adventure and want of
+courage. They delight rather in a successful stratagem than in open
+hostility, and deem no act of treachery dishonorable by which they can
+gain an advantage. Still, they have less romance in their composition
+than the unenslaved northern Indians, into whose souls the iron of
+despotism has never entered.
+
+
+THE AZTECS AND THEIR HISTORIANS.
+
+The great difference between what is recorded of the North American
+Indian and the Aztec is owing less to any difference in themselves than
+to the character of the historians who have written of them. The
+northern writers were not carried away by the romance of Indian life;
+they were matter-of-fact men, and they drew only matter-of-fact
+pictures. Spanish historians, and all early Spanish writers upon New
+Spain, except the two brigands, Cortéz and Diaz, were priests. With
+them, truth was not an essential part of history. By the law of all
+countries, the Conquistadors had outlawed themselves by levying
+unlicensed war; but as they bore a painting of the Virgin Mary on one
+of their standards and the cross on the other, it would be impiety to
+place their conduct in its true light. Las Casas was an exception, and
+endured persecution for speaking the truth. "He had powerful enemies,"
+was all that his apologist dare say, "because he spake the truth." And
+if we add to this the sevenfold censorship already described, my reader
+will agree with me that it is absurd to place confidence in records
+over which the Inquisition exercised a surveillance.
+
+The fabled Aztec empire has almost passed from the traditions of the
+Mexican Indians. The name of only one of their chiefs, Montezuma,
+remains among them, and this name is affixed to almost every thing that
+has an ancient look and is in a dilapidated condition. In my wanderings
+among them, I never rejected their proffers of rude hospitality, and I
+have listened with pleasure to their wild traditions. I soon found
+that, like other Indians, they draw from a supernatural "dream-world"
+the fortitude that enables them to bear without a murmur their hard lot
+in the present. They readily embraced the superstitions of the
+Spaniards, and rendered to the virgin of Guadalupe the adoration they
+had formerly bestowed upon their own gods. Their conversion may be
+summed up in the words of Humboldt: "Dogma has not succeeded to dogma,
+but ceremony to ceremony. The natives know nothing of religion but the
+external forms of worship. Fond of whatever is connected with a
+prescribed order of ceremonies, they find in the Christian religion
+particular enjoyment. The festivals of the Church, the fire-works with
+which they are accompanied, the processions mingled with whimsical
+disguises, are a most fertile source of amusement to the lower Indians."
+
+
+THE VALLEY OF MEXICO.
+
+There has been a great deal of poetry and very little plain prose
+written about the valley of Mexico. At an early morning hour I stood
+upon the heights of Rio Frio; at another morning, as already said, at
+the Cross of the Marquis; again, upon the highest peak of the Tepeyaca,
+behind Guadalupe, I saw a tropical morning sun disengage itself from
+the snowy mountains. From these three favored spots I have looked upon
+the valley, where dry land and pools of water seemed equally to compose
+the magnificent panorama. Immense mirrors of every conceivable shape
+and form were reflecting back the rays of the sun, while the green
+shores in which they were set enhanced the effect. The white walls, and
+domes, and spires of the distant city heightened the effect of a
+picture that can only be fully appreciated by those who have looked
+downward through the pure atmosphere of such a lofty position; but when
+I came down to the common level, the charm was broken. Instead of
+lakelets and crystal springs, I found only pools of surface-water which
+the rains had left; and the canals were but the ditches from which, on
+either side, the dirt had been taken to build the causeway through the
+marsh, and were now covered with a coat of green. These lakes have no
+outlet, and as evaporation only takes up pure water, all the animal,
+vegetable, and mineral matter that is carried in is left to stagnate
+and putrefy in the ponds and ditches.
+
+A practical "man of the times," with more common sense than poetry in
+his composition, must grieve as he looks at the great advantages here
+possessed for drainage and irrigation which are unimproved. There is
+not a spot in the whole valley that is not capable of the most perfect
+drainage,[28] while basins have been formed by nature in the highest
+points, from which irrigation could be supplied to the whole valley;
+but decay and neglect--fitting types of the social condition of the
+people--every where exhibit themselves. Water stands in all the narrow
+canals or ditches that occupy the middle of the streets, for the want
+simply of a sewer to draw it down to the level of the Tezcuco. Once a
+year the flags are taken off from the covered ditches, and the mud is
+dipped out, while a bundle of hay, tied to the tail of a dirt-cart, is
+daily dragged through the open ones.
+
+I have spoken only of the lower division of this valley--the valley in
+which the city stands. If we consider the two partly separated valleys
+as one, the whole will constitute an oval basin 75 miles long from
+north to south, with an average width from east to west of 20 miles.
+Two thirds of the southern valley is a marsh, and might well be called
+the "Montezuma Marsh," it so strikingly resembles the marsh of that
+name in the State of New York, though the whole body of ponds and
+marshes of this valley contains much less water than its northern
+namesake. The stage-road from Vera Cruz crosses this marsh for fourteen
+miles, and has a great number of small stone bridges, beneath which the
+water runs with considerable current toward the north, on account of
+the difference of level between the southern fresh-water ponds and the
+lower salt-water ponds, as in the days of Cortéz. There are occasional
+dry spots, and now and then there is open water; but the greater
+portion is filled with marsh grass, and furnishes good feeding for the
+droves of cattle that daily frequent it for that purpose. The ancient
+village of Mexicalzingo, or "Little Mexico," the traditional home of
+the Aztecs before they built Mexico, is situated on one of the dry
+spots, slightly elevated above the level of the fresh water; and on
+another dry spot or island, six miles distant, stands the famous city
+of Mexico itself, resting on piles driven into a foundation of soft
+earth. The canal of Chalco commences at the northerly extremity of the
+Xochimulco, and, passing by Mexicalzingo and the floating gardens,
+continues along the eastern front of the city, and empties itself into
+the salt (_tequisquite_) pond of Tezcuco, having received as a
+tributary the canal of Tacubaya, which passes along the southern
+boundary of the city.
+
+
+THE LAKES OF THE VALLEY.
+
+The highest water of the valley of the city of Mexico is the pond of
+Chalco, in the extreme southeast, being 4-8/12 feet above the level of
+the Grand Plaza of the city, and 20 miles distant therefrom, and
+11-2/12 feet above Tezcuco;[29] but its volume being small for the last
+400 years, the slight impediments of long grass and a few Indian dikes
+have prevented any injury to the city by a too rapid flow to the
+northward. Xochimulco is the pond, or open space in the marsh, that
+extends from the Chalco to near Mexicalzingo. Tezcuco is the lowest
+water in the valley, being 6-1/2 feet below the Grand Plaza of the
+city.[30] It receives the surplus of the waters that have not already
+been evaporated in the other ponds. At this great elevation, 7500 feet,
+evaporation does its work rapidly all over the valley, but it is in
+Tezcuco that the residuum of the waters is deposited.
+
+      [28] Report of M. L. Smith, Lieutenant of Topographical
+      Engineers, United States Army.
+
+      [29] Lieut. Smith's Report.
+
+      [30] Ibid.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+The two Valleys.--The Lake with a leaky Bottom.--The Water could not
+have been higher.--Nor could the Lagunas or Ponds have been much
+deeper.--The Brigantines only flat-bottomed Boats.--The Causeway
+Canals fix the size of the Brigantines.--The Street Canals.--Stagnant
+Water unfit for Canals.--The probable Dimensions of the City
+Canals.--Difficulties of disproving a Fiction.--A Dike or Levee.--The
+Canal of Huehuetoca.--The Map of Cortéz.--Wise Provision of
+Providence.--The Fiction about the numerous Cities in and about the
+Lake.
+
+
+It may be well here to repeat that, strictly speaking, there are two
+valleys of Mexico--the upper northern valley, and the valley of the
+city of Mexico; the first extends in an oval form to the north of the
+hills of Tepeyaca, some sixty miles, and communicates with the plains
+of Otumba and Apam. In this valley are the two ponds, or _lagunas_, of
+Zumpango and San Cristobal, the highest waters of Mexico; and in it
+also is the half of the Tezcuco, which is the lowest laguna of the
+valleys. It is a country of fine farming lands, and was probably
+inhabited long before the time of the arrival of the Aztecs in the
+lower valley, as I infer from its proximity to the extensive ruins of
+Teotihuican, that have come down from a remote and highly-civilized
+antiquity.
+
+
+THE ANCIENT LAKES.
+
+The valley of the city of Mexico, which lies to the south of these
+hills, is also of an oval shape, but is not more than twenty miles in
+extent. The surface-water with which it is saturated is in part fresh,
+and in other parts _tequisquite_; that is, where the waters have a
+current, they are fresh; but where they remain from year to year
+discharging their volume only by evaporation, then they become infused
+with the saline properties of the soil,[31] and all about them is marked
+with barrenness. If the process of evaporation was less intense than it
+is,[32] all vegetation would die from the extreme humidity of the soil;
+as the gardener's phrase is, it would rot. Even in the city of Mexico
+itself, a couple of feet of digging in its alluvial foundation brings
+you to the water-level in the dry season, and seventy or eighty yards
+of boring does not carry you beyond the perceptible influence of
+_tequisquite_.[33] The effects of this law of evaporation puzzled the
+Aztecs, who were, of course, ignorant of all philosophical principles,
+and could only account for the disappearance of the immense mass of
+water that fell in the valley in the wet season, upon the hypothesis
+that the Tezcuco had a leaky bottom, or that there was a hole in the
+lake--an idea that thousands in Mexico credit to the present day. This
+was the origin of that absurd story which Cortéz repeats in his
+letters, that this lake communicated with the sea, and had its daily
+tides.
+
+There could not have been a much greater volume of water in this marshy
+valley in the time of Cortéz than at present, if the whole
+accumulations of each year were to be carried off by evaporation alone
+from so small a surface as is here presented for the sun to act upon.
+But as the volume of water is the turning-point in the history or fable
+of the conquest, I must adduce the proofs and arguments that are at
+hand to establish this statement. The level of the water could not have
+been higher, it is clear, for in that case neither Mexico,
+Mexicalzingo, or Iztapalapan could have been inhabited.
+
+Cortéz's account of deep waters has often been made plausible by adding
+the hypothesis that the accumulating mud of centuries has filled up the
+lakes, so that they now are only shallow ponds. But this by no means
+removes the difficulty, for then, as now, the waters of the southern
+laguna flowed into Tezcuco, conveying with them the infinitesimal
+infusion of _tequisquite_ that had instilled itself into the Chalco.
+Had the volume of Chalco and Xochimulco been increased several feet,
+then the slight Indian barriers and the long grass would no longer have
+been able to retard the progress of the water till evaporation had
+diminished its quantity, but, precipitating itself in a mass into the
+Tezcuco, it would have overwhelmed the town of Tezcuco and all other
+villages upon the shores, and established an equilibrium of surface in
+the two ponds.
+
+All the lagunas, canals, and ditches that have been described are
+navigated by small scows that draw but a few inches of water, which are
+the medium of an extensive internal commerce. Through the lagunas and
+canal of Chalco come from Cuatla all the supplies of the products of
+the hot country for the city and surrounding region. This commerce
+exceeds the whole foreign trade of the republic.[34] This kind of boat
+was probably introduced by Cortéz, and in this convenient form his
+thirteen brigantines were probably made; for, had his brigantines been
+of a larger draught of water, they could not have navigated canals
+intended only for Indian canoes. One of these vessels, when supplied
+with a sail, a cannon, and a movable keel or side-board, would be a
+formidable auxiliary in an assault upon the city at the present day.
+And if one such scow was placed in the ditch on each side of the
+southern causeway, as Cortéz alleges, it would enable an assailing
+enemy to present just so much more front as the additional width of two
+boats would give him.
+
+
+THE CAUSEWAYS AND CANALS.
+
+Writers have expressed their surprise at the existence of two navigable
+canals to each causeway, one on either side, as an immense expenditure
+of unnecessary labor. The explanation of this is found in the fact that
+in the construction of a pathway (for Cortéz says that it was only 30
+feet in width) through wet and marshy ground, a broad ditch is
+ordinarily made on either side to obtain earth for the embankment, and
+to keep the water-level permanently below the top of the pathway. So it
+is, and so it must always have been at Mexico, in order to keep these
+foot-paths in traveling condition. In the dry season, which is the
+winter, these broad ditches are covered with floating islands of green
+"scum;" but in the rainy season, which is the summer, they may be
+navigated by the shallow Mexican scows. A pathway of earth thirty feet
+in width could not endure the winds and waves of a navigable lake, or
+the wear and "swash" of a canal twelve feet deep on either side; and
+the fact that Cortéz navigated the ditches in the rainy season
+establishes the insignificant size of his famous brigantines.
+
+As the level of the surface of the land and the surface of the water at
+Mexicalzingo, at Mexico, and at the village Tezcuco, does not
+materially vary now from what it was in the time of Cortéz, if we can
+take for data the foundations of the church built by the Conquistadors
+at these several places, we shall have to look to another quarter for a
+supply of water for the city canals, which were sufficiently capacious
+for canoe navigation. This supply we readily obtain by allowing the
+waters of the canals Tacubaya and Chalco to pass through the streets of
+the city in ditches sufficiently large for canoes, instead of passing
+along the south and east fronts outside. By this hypothesis we obtain a
+current, a prerequisite to the very idea of a canal, particularly in
+the streets of a city.
+
+The _savans_ of Europe have shown their profound ignorance of the first
+principles of canal navigation in taking it for granted that the canals
+of Mexico were filled with stagnant water, that had "set back" from the
+stagnant pond of Tezcuco; and that the level of the pond must at all
+times have been so high as to fill the canals, thus keeping the city in
+constant danger from any sudden rise in the laguna. But, aside from the
+rules of canal construction, there is an important sanitary question
+involved. The present ditches in the middle of the streets, though they
+have a perceptible current, and a slight infusion of _tequisquite_,
+are an intolerable nuisance, and have a deleterious effect upon the
+public health. How much more so must they have been when, from the
+uncleanly habits of the Indians, they were the common receptacle of all
+kinds of filth, and were constantly stirred up to their very bottoms by
+the setting-poles of the navigators? The system of canalling is a
+system of slack-water navigation, but abhors stagnant water.
+
+We come next to the question of the dimensions of these street canals.
+We know that they were intended only for the navigation of Indian
+canoes; that two of them, which intersected the causeway of the night
+retreat, Cortéz crossed with his army, all of them climbing down into
+the canal, wading across, and then climbing up on the other side while
+loaded with their armor, and fighting all the time against a superior
+force of the Aztecs; and that Alvarado actually leaped across one of
+the openings, shows conclusively that the canals could not have more
+than equaled in breadth the present canal of Chalco. On the hypothesis
+that Cortéz used scows that drew no more water than the scows that at
+present navigate the canals, his story becomes credible, so far, at
+least, as the possibility of making the circuit of the city in large
+boats in a season of rains.
+
+
+TRUTH AGAINST FICTION.
+
+It is an ungracious task to sift truth from fables. One man is
+displeased at seeing held up as a fiction a narrative which he has been
+accustomed to read with pleasure, and to take for truth, because it was
+elegantly written; and he requires an accumulation of proofs and
+arguments before he will abandon a belief which he has adopted without
+evidence. Another man, who deals only in matters of fact, is easily
+convinced, and is annoyed at an accumulation of proofs and arguments
+where one is sufficient. The superstitious man can not, of course, be
+convinced, for his belief does not rest upon evidence; and he is
+indignant that an attempt should be made to detract from the glory
+obtained by the Virgin Mary and the Church in this victory over the
+infidels. Had I attempted to prove that the feather which is now
+preserved with so much care in the Church of _San Juan de Lateran_ at
+Rome did not fall from the wing of the angel Gabriel when he came to
+announce to Mary her conception, and that the whole history of that
+feather was a fable, notwithstanding it has received the attestations
+of so many of the Holy Fathers, I should be cursed for my impiety no
+more than I shall be for raising the question of the authenticity of
+the histories of the Conquest. With all these difficulties before me, I
+will venture to add one or two more reasons that have induced me to
+doubt the existence of those famous brigantines, which required a depth
+of twelve feet of water.
+
+In support of the hypothesis that the street ditches, called canals,
+were independent of the Tezcuco for their supply, we have still the
+remains of an old Indian dike, which extended from near Iztapalapan,
+along the east part of the city, to Guadalupe or Tepeyaca, which must
+have been intended to shut off the Tezcuco when the water was high, and
+when it receded they probably opened a weir at the northern extremity,
+through which the waters of the city that had been discharged upon the
+flats of San Lazaro found an outlet.
+
+The waters of the valley are now distributed in the best possible
+manner to favor evaporation; and yet so completely is this power taxed,
+that when, in 1629, a water-spout, bursting over the small river
+Guautitlan, had forced the waters of Zumpango over its barriers into
+the San Cristobal, and that again into the Tezcuco, the city was
+inundated to the depth of about three feet. Evaporation was unable to
+remove or materially lessen this new volume of water in a period of
+five years. This fully demonstrates that the average annual fall of
+water is equal to the full capacity of evaporation. The valley of
+Mexico is a very small one over which to dispose of the mass of water
+that the mountain-torrents in summer and the tropical rains pour into
+it, and with the small margin of six and a half feet for rising and
+falling, the city must have been in constant jeopardy. Still the floods
+have been much less frequent than would have been supposed, fully
+demonstrating the great uniformity in the fall of water in the Mexican
+season of rain. When a water-spout occurred in the Chalco in 1446, in
+the time of the Aztec kings, there was a flood, which probably ran off
+into the Tezcuco. Under the Spaniards the following floods are
+enumerated: the first in 1553; the second in 1580; the third in 1604;
+the fourth in 1607; the fifth in 1629.
+
+After the flood of 1607, the tunnel of Huehuetoca was undertaken, and
+constructed in eleven months, for the purpose of letting out of the
+valley the waters of the River Guautitlan, so as to prevent it from
+falling into Tezcuco or flooding the city. For those times it was a
+great work, but we should say now that it was poorly engineered and
+badly managed, and not worthy the notice it has received in books on
+Mexico. Since that time, the great inundation of 1629 occurred while
+the mouth of the tunnel was closed. After that time, the Spaniards,
+instead of building inside of the tunnel an elliptical tube, actually,
+by a hundred years of misapplied labor, turned the tunnel into an open
+cut.
+
+
+THE MAP OF CORTÉZ.
+
+Cortéz furnished a map to illustrate his description. This map has the
+same defect as his narrative; that is, it was untrue at the time he
+made it. In order to bring Tezcuco about the city, he places the
+village of that name due east of Mexico, although he well knew that it
+was nearly north, as the two towns are distinctly in sight, although at
+a distance of about six leagues. Now, if we carry the village of
+Tezcuco and the shore of the lake with it to its correct position, we
+shall have the Laguna of Tezcuco in about its present form and size.
+The apology for his defeat at Iztapalapan, by the breaking open of the
+dike and letting in the salt water, is, of course, inadequate, as the
+dike could not have supported a head of water sufficient to drown his
+men, nor could so great a head of salt water be obtained at that point.
+
+In this survey of the ponds of Mexico, I have drawn upon the experience
+which has been acquired in the process of evaporation at the extensive
+salt manufactories of Syracuse and the surrounding villages in Western
+New York, and also the experience of our engineers Upon the Erie Canal,
+and the engineers upon the dikes or levees at Sacramento, where the
+nature of the soil resembles that of Mexico. And I may now conclude
+this long survey of the canals and lagunas of Mexico, by saying that it
+is a wise provision of Providence that all bodies of water that have no
+outlet are found to contain a considerable infusion of salt, otherwise
+their accumulations of decaying matter would be such that mankind could
+not live in their vicinity. This valley is an illustration of that
+truth. Tezcuco, surrounded by barrenness, is not deleterious to life,
+while the fresh-water lagunas, though continually changing their
+volume, render Mexico unhealthy in summer by the gases which they
+exhale from decaying vegetation.
+
+
+ANCIENT POPULATION OF THE VALLEY.
+
+I have pretty thoroughly described this small valley, and have also
+stated how large a portion of it is flooded with surface-water, and how
+large a portion of this water is infused with salt. In the vicinity of
+Tacubaya the land is remarkably fertile, and there is good tillable
+land as the mountains are approached, especially about Chalco on the
+southeast; but under Indian cultivation, the whole of this valley could
+have produced sustenance for only an extremely limited population, if
+the product of the floating gardens and the ducks caught upon the pond
+should be added. It is totally inadequate to feed the population of
+Mexico under the vice-kings, 400,000, or its present population of say
+300,000; nor could the valley itself be made to sustain one third of
+this. This valley, it must be recollected, is inclosed on all sides
+except the north by mountains that exceed 10,000 feet in height, while
+the commissariat capacity of barbaric tribes is not such as to provide
+extensive supplies from a distance. Under such circumstances, we should
+look for an extremely limited population. Yet the most surprising part
+of the story of the conquest is the enormous population assigned to the
+numerous large cities which they allege the valley contained. Diaz
+says, "A series of large towns stretched themselves along the banks of
+the lake, out of which [the lake] still larger ones rose magnificently
+above the water." Cortéz says that Iztapalapan contained "10,000
+families," which would give the town 50,000 inhabitants; "Amaqueruca,
+20,000 inhabitants;" "Mexicalzingo, 3000 families," or 15,000
+inhabitants; "Ayciaca more than 6000 families;" "Huchilohuchico, 5000
+or 6000." The population of Chalco he does not give, nor the population
+of the very numerous villages whose names he mentions. At the present
+day there are a few mud huts in nearly every locality named, but not
+enough in any one instance to merit the name of a village. And this, I
+am inclined to believe, was the real condition of things in the time of
+Cortéz. The city of Mexico alone would have exhausted the limited
+resources of the valley. Old Thomas Gage was as much puzzled two
+hundred years ago to account for this astonishing disappearance of the
+numerous Indian cities of this valley as we are, and also for the
+supposed filling up of the lakes, never appearing to suspect that the
+story of Cortéz was a fiction.
+
+      [31] There has been much speculation in regard to the origin of
+      the saline properties of this water; but the Artesian borings
+      going on while I was in Mexico, I think, sufficiently demonstrate
+      that the earthy bottom of the valley, for hundreds of feet,
+      contains an infusion of carbonate and muriate of soda.
+
+      [32] The atmosphere of Mexico is so intensely dry, that the
+      hygrometer of Deluc frequently descends to 15°.--HUMBOLDT'S
+      _Essai Politique_, vol. ii. p. 110.
+
+      [33] When the Artesian well, in process of construction near my
+      residence, had reached a depth of seventy yards, the water that
+      came up was slightly impregnated with this salt.
+
+      [34] _Comércio de Mexico_, 1852.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+The Chinampas or Water Gardens.--Laws of Nature not set aside.--Mud
+will not float.--The present Chinampas.--They never could have been
+floating Gardens.--Relations of the Chinampas to the ancient State of
+the Lake in the Valley.
+
+
+All the world has heard of the floating gardens (_chinampas_) of
+Mexico, but all the world has not seen them. I have not seen any
+floating gardens, nor, on diligent inquiry, have I been able to find a
+man, woman, or child that ever has seen them, nor do I believe that
+such a thing as a floating garden ever existed at Mexico. Humboldt
+admits that they do exist; says that he has seen floating earthy masses
+of great size in the tropical rivers, and then describes the manner of
+the construction of the chinampas, but in such a way as to satisfy the
+careful reader that he does not intend to say that he saw them himself,
+and evidently makes his statement upon hearsay; and takes it up as an
+admitted fact, without having his mind called to the physical
+impossibilities of floating a mass of earth that was of a greater
+specific gravity than water.
+
+
+FAITH AND TESTIMONY.
+
+When the historians of the Conquest wrote their marvelous narratives of
+alleged adventures and of the new empire, it was a question for the
+Emperor and the Inquisition solely, whether their writings should pass
+for history or be condemned as fabulous. With this question the people
+had nothing to do but to believe as it suited those in authority. The
+question being settled that the publication of the letters of Cortéz as
+a verity would redound to the glory of the Church and the king, then it
+was also settled that there should be no contradiction published; and
+as these marvelous tales were spread abroad throughout Europe, with the
+masses of silver from the newly-discovered mines, men were prepared to
+believe almost any thing--even that rich vegetable mould, when
+saturated with water, could float.
+
+It not being lawful to promulgate the facts of the Conquest, the memory
+of events that really transpired ultimately passed from the
+recollections of men, so that the letters of Cortéz were taken for
+truth, even in their most minute details; so that, in a subsequent
+century, we find a vice-king employing an engineer to search for and
+clean out the hole in the bottom of the Tezcuco! for, from the
+vice-king down to the most insignificant official, all assumed that the
+letters of Cortéz gave a correct picture of affairs at that time; and
+all showed the greatest embarrassment in accounting for the magnitude
+of the changes that are supposed to have occurred without a
+sufficiently adequate cause. It is a common difficulty in all purely
+Catholic countries, for there the rule of evidence is an unnatural one.
+The people have been taught to believe from their infancy that the laws
+of nature can be set aside upon every trifling occasion, at the
+momentary caprice of any one of the multitude of saints "who are to
+govern the world;" and on proof that any mortal has set aside the laws
+of nature or wrought a miracle, he at once becomes a saint. With these
+"dutiful children of the Church" there can be no fixed laws of
+evidence; the only ground of belief is, and ever must be, Has the
+statement been sanctioned by the highest authority? If so, it is true;
+if not, it is to be doubted, however positive the proofs may be. A
+difficulty that the traveler every where encounters is that he can
+believe nothing that he hears, even on the most trifling subject,
+without careful examination and weighing of testimony. As he can not
+examine every thing himself, he is constantly liable to be imposed upon
+by taking for granted that which is every where affirmed. Humboldt for
+once, with all his caution, seems to have fallen into the common trap,
+and credited, without examination, the story of the floating gardens.
+
+
+THE CHINAMPAS.
+
+The chinampas are formed on the fresh-water mud on each side of the
+canal of Chalco, from the southeast corner of the city to a point near
+the ancient village of Mexicalzingo, and for a part of the way they are
+on both sides of that beautiful but now neglected _paséo_, Las Vegas;
+there are also a small number near the causeway of Tacubaya, and in
+other parts of the marsh; their number might be extended without limit
+if it was not regulated by the demands of the vegetable market of
+Mexico. Chinampas are formed by laying upon the soft mud a very thick
+coating of reeds, or rather rushes, in the form and about the size of
+one of our largest canal scows. Between two chinampas a space of about
+half the width of one is left, and from this open space the mud is
+dipped up and poured upon the bed of dry rushes, where it dries, and
+forms a rich "muck" soil, which constitutes the garden. As the specific
+gravity of this garden is much greater than that of the water, or of
+the substratum of mud and water combined, it gradually sinks down into
+its muddy foundation; and in a few years it has to be rebuilt by laying
+upon the top of the garden a new coating of rushes and another covering
+of mud. Thus they have been going on for centuries, one garden being
+placed upon the top of another, and a third placed over all, so soon as
+the second gives signs of being swallowed up in the all-devouring mud.
+
+The gardeners navigate the open space between their islands with light
+boats; and during the short hours of the morning, the market-boat
+alongside each island is loaded with a cargo of vegetables, fruits, and
+flowers, which are to be displayed in the great market of Santa Anna.
+More pleasing than a drive on the _paséo_ is a boat-ride down the canal
+of Chalco at eventide, when the proprietor of each of these little
+estates is seen standing in the canal alongside, and throwing upon his
+thirsty plants a plentiful supply of the tepid canal water, which, from
+every leaf and flower, reflects back the rays of a setting sun, that
+have penetrated the long shadows of the trees of Las Vegas. Some of the
+chinampas have small huts upon them, where a gardener lives, who
+watches over two or three of these little properties. Sometimes also
+shrubs, and even trees, are planted along the edges, which yield both
+fruits and flowers, and serve to keep the dry earth from falling into
+the water. When looking at one of the largest and best cared for
+chinampas, the beholder can hardly divest himself of the idea that it
+is a floating island, and might well have been the residence of
+Calypso.
+
+This is the whole of the story of the chinampas, the most fertile and
+beautiful little gardens upon the face of the earth. A correct picture
+of them would be poetry enough, without the addition of falsehood; for
+whether it is the rainy season or the dry season, it is always the same
+to them. They know no exclusive seed-time, and have no especial season
+for harvest; but blossoms and ripe fruits grow side by side, and
+flowers flourish at all seasons. As market gardens they are unrivaled,
+and to them Mexico is indebted for its abundant supplies.
+
+The evidence that Humboldt[35] produces in favor of floating gardens,
+viz., that he saw floating islands of some 30 feet in length in the
+midst of the current of rivers, amounts to little in this case; for
+every one that has traveled extensively in tropical lowlands has seen
+vegetation spring up upon floating masses of brush-wood. Where earth
+torn from the river bank is so bound together by living roots as to
+form a raft, it will always float for a little while upon the current,
+provided that its specific gravity does not materially exceed that of
+the water; and those grasses that flourish best in water will spring up
+and grow upon these islands. Peat, too, in bogs, will float and form
+islands, for the simple reason that it is of less specific gravity than
+water; and vegetation will also spring up on these peat islands. But
+all this furnishes no evidence that the invariable law of nature, which
+carries to the bottom the heaviest body, has been suspended at Mexico.
+Had the floating gardens been built in large boats made water-tight,
+they might have floated. But, unfortunately, the Indians had not the
+means for constructing such boats. Even timber-rafts would have become
+saturated in time, and sunk, as rafts of logs do if kept too long in
+the "mill-pond," waiting to be sawed into lumber.
+
+There is another law of nature, which must not be lost sight of, which
+is at war with the idea of a garden floating on a bed of rushes; and
+that is capillary attraction, which would raise particles of water, one
+by one, among the fibres of the rushes until the frail raft on which
+the earth rested was saturated; and still pressing upward, the busy
+drops would penetrate the superincumbent earth, moistening and adding
+to the specific gravity of the garden by filling the porous earth until
+it became too heavy to float, if it ever had floated.
+
+Nearly three hundred years had passed away before men ventured to
+question the truth of the statement that the gardens along the canal of
+Chalco ever floated, and then it seemed like temerity to raise the
+question, even if it were only a popular fallacy. It has therefore been
+treated by all modern writers as a well-established matter, and one of
+not sufficient importance to justify its minute investigation. With me
+the question was a far different one. I had, after careful inquiry and
+observation, come to the conclusion that the marshes of the valley of
+Mexico were, in the time of Cortéz, substantially in the condition in
+which we find them at the present day; that the filling up they had
+undergone in that time was counterbalanced by the relief they had
+gained by the canal of Huehuetoca. The chinampas constitute an
+important link in the chain of proofs to establish this fact. If I have
+succeeded in showing that these gardens of the Aztecs, instead of
+floating upon the water, rested upon the muddy bottom, it follows as a
+matter of course that the depth of the water in the laguna could not,
+in the day of the Aztecs, have been materially greater than it now is.
+
+      [35] _Essai Politique_, vol. ii. p. 61.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+The gambling Festival of San Augustine.--Suppressed by Government.--The
+Losses of the Saint by the Suppression of Gambling.--How Travelers live
+in the Interior.--A Visit to the Palace.
+
+
+GAMBLING AT TLALPAN.
+
+I have already said that my first entry into the valley of Mexico was
+from the south, through the suburban city of Tlalpan, where in good old
+times was held the great gambling festival of San Augustine. The
+advancing morality of our day has put an extinguisher on this noted
+festival, which was one of the most noted days in the Mexican calendar.
+Crowds flocked to it to gamble, to dance, and to adore the most holy
+Saint Augustine. To a looker-on it was hard to say whether it was the
+devil or the saint whom the people had come to worship. The chief
+business of high-born dames seemed to be to make a display of their
+taste in dress, and to set off the whole contents of their wardrobe;
+for five times in each day was their entire wardrobe changed, and so
+often did they appear in a new set of jewels. To this festival came
+also noblemen and highway robbers, to gamble and to rob each other, and
+to be robbed by the women at the _monté_ table. In honor of the saint,
+the city was crowded with monks, and thieves, and Magdalens, and the
+dignitaries of the Church and state. The rich and the poor came
+together to enjoy the saturnalia in honor of the most blessed Saint
+Augustine. Gambling was here duly sanctified by the participation of
+the priests, who were here, as they are every where in Mexico, the most
+expert gamblers at the tables. While this festival continued, money
+changed hands more rapidly than in California in her worst days. Five
+dances a day were the pastime; but at the monté table was the solid
+sport. This was the great attraction that had called all the crowd
+together. It was an exciting scene to see the ounces piled up as men
+got excited in the game. What is there left of woman's virtue, when
+the highest ladies of the court stake their ounces at a public
+gaming-table, and poorer ones eagerly throw down their last piece of
+silver? Woman's rights have not yet reached that point with us that she
+may gamble and get drunk without losing caste; and God grant they never
+may.
+
+It is a consolation to be able to add that the late government of the
+State of Mexico had sufficient firmness to suppress this abominable
+festival of the Church, much to the pecuniary disadvantage of the saint
+and his priesthood. Indeed, there is now no public gambling, not even
+in the city of Mexico, except the lottery of the Academy of Fine Arts,
+and the lottery which is monthly drawn to promote the adoration of our
+Lady of Guadalupe. This last is one of the most corrupting of all
+lotteries. Tickets for as small a price as a Spanish shilling are
+hawked about the street, and by the exhibition of a splendid scheme the
+poor Indians are tempted to venture their last _real_ in the hopes of
+winning a rich prize, through the kind interposition of the Virgin, to
+whom they are taught to pray for that purpose. It is true that a mass
+is performed for the benefit of all losers, but this mass has never had
+the power of restoring to the poor Indian his lost shilling.
+
+Let us now go from this place, where gambling used annually to have its
+festival, or, rather, harvest of victims, into the cathedral church of
+San Augustine, to whom the lucky gamblers were accustomed to dedicate a
+part of their winnings, that thus they might sanctify their unrighteous
+calling by bringing robbery to the saint for an offering. Poor saint!
+how much he and his priests have suffered by this wanton interference
+of the civil government in Church affairs--this prohibition of
+monté-playing in honor of the festival of San Augustine! There was much
+in this church to admire, and much of that gold displayed which
+gamblers are accustomed to lavish upon their idols. It seemed like
+another worship and another religion from that which I had been
+accustomed to witness in the humble chapels of the Pintos, in whose
+country I had so long been wandering.
+
+Again I was in the saddle, and soon upon that noted causeway by which
+Cortéz entered the city of Mexico. It has lost none of its attractions
+in the course of centuries, but has been kept in fine repair as a
+carriage-road, while the venerable trees that line it on either side
+look as old as the time of the Conquistadors. This noble carriage-way,
+through the marshy ground of the valley of Mexico, is an enlargement of
+the old causeway of the Indians, or, rather, it has been built over and
+around it, that having been less than thirty feet in width. I soon
+arrived at Churubusco, the scene of one of the bloody battles of the
+American campaign in this valley. There was little here to look at, and
+I hurried on and entered the south gate of the city, and soon arrived
+at the _Hôtel de Paris_, to which I had been directed. My poor old
+mustang here ended a twelve days' journey, over mountains and plains of
+_pedregal_, without a shoe to his hoofs.
+
+A party of Californians, who had been stopping here for some weeks, had
+left the day before, and I was ushered into French society, in which to
+form my first impressions of Mexico. Still, there was an exquisite
+pleasure in once more getting clean, and eating food cooked after a
+civilized manner. Not that I had in any wise become tired of drinking
+porridge, extracted from corn, called _atola_, or dissatisfied with
+eating bits of fowl, which the maid of honor to General Garay so
+ingeniously served up with her fingers, after having it well flavored
+with Cayenne or Chili pepper! He that does not love Chili must keep out
+of Spanish America. And he will prove a poor traveler who can not sit
+down with a good appetite to a supper of small black beans (_frijoles_),
+and a dozen Indian cakes (_tortillas_), as thin and as tough as a
+drum-head, which serve the double purpose of spoon and plate.
+
+
+ABODE IN MEXICO.
+
+My room was on the roof, and when my inner and outer man was fully in
+order, I used to walk till a late hour of the day upon the paved
+house-top, now leaning against the parapet and looking up to the
+snow-covered mountains, whose shadowy forms could be made out even by
+moonlight, and upon the shadowy towers and domes of the city. Thus
+pleasant days and weeks flew on. Sometimes I rode about the valley,
+carefully searching after the relics of times past, and at other times
+surveying the curiosities of the city. Once this order was broken in
+upon, in order to accompany that noble-hearted man and excellent
+embassador, Governor Letcher, to the palace, where I had an interview
+with Arista, then the President of Mexico, who strikingly resembled our
+own President of that day, Millard Fillmore.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Visit to Contreras and San Angel.--The End of a brave Soldier.--A
+Place of Skulls.--A New England Dinner.--An Adventure with
+Robbers--doubtful.--Reasons for revisiting Mexico.--The Battle at
+the Mountain of Crosses.--A peculiar Variety of the Cactus.--Three
+Men gibbeted for robbing a Bishop.---A Court upon Horseback.--The
+retreat of Cortéz to Otumba.--A venerable Cypress Grove.--Unexpectedly
+comfortable Quarters.--An English Dinner at Tezcuco.--Pleasures
+unknown to the Kings of Tezcuco.--Relics of Tezcuco.--The Appearance
+of the Virgin Mary at Tezcuco.--The Causeways of Mexico.
+
+
+A RIDE TO SAN ANGEL.
+
+The ride to San Angel has this advantage over all others out of Mexico,
+that the road is nearly all the way upon dry land, thus presenting a
+pleasant contrast to the gloominess of all the others, except the
+Tacuba road. There is less of stagnant water, and little appearance of
+_tequisquite_. It is lined with fields of corn and maguey. Contreras is
+upon this road--the point where Santa Anna's line of defenses was first
+broken, and broken in the same way as at Cerro Gordo, and by the same
+officer, the late General Riley. It was the defect of all Mexican
+military operations, that they were not sufficiently on the look-out
+for night attacks. In the night Riley had been allowed to get behind
+the position of his adversary at Cerro Gordo; and here again he got
+behind and above him, by crawling up a ravine in a foggy night, from
+which point he charged Valencia in reverse. That successful charge of
+the brave old soldier raised him to the brevet rank of Major General,
+and sealed the fate of the city.
+
+What sort of a victory has it proved to the hero of this battle? He had
+spent the best portion of his life in the Indian territory, arranging
+difficulties, appeasing strifes, overawing the turbulent, and
+restraining the lawlessness of white intruders. And now he had become
+an old man, with the rank only of Major, as he had no kind friend at
+court. But the Mexican war opened to him the prospect of winning a
+"sash" or of being brought home in a coffin. The sash was won, but the
+coffin was near at hand; for, while he was gaining his laurels, he
+contracted a cancer, which in a short time after his return from a
+distant command, consigned him to the home prepared for all living.
+Forty long years had he followed the profession of arms, and endured
+its hardships without a murmur; yet, when he laid down his sword to
+die, he had nothing to leave to his children but the commissions
+Congress had awarded him on his California revenues. War is a hard
+trade for the bravest of the brave, and with very few prizes except to
+political favorites, who with high-sounding titles, but without
+military experience, ride by the side of some brave subaltern, gather
+his laurels, and enjoy the fruits of his experience.
+
+A slight breastwork and a heap of bones and skulls mark the site of
+this gallant exploit of General Riley. And we fancied that we could
+select the American skulls from the common mass, as they clearly
+belonged to two distinct races of men; one set of skulls being thin and
+firm, while the other was thick and porous. We rode on, and soon came
+to San Angel, where were many pleasant places for suburban residences,
+and an immense convent garden celebrated for its fruits. But now all
+was parched and dry, for it was midwinter, which is here the middle of
+the dry season, and it was not yet the time for the new foliage to
+appear upon the trees, for that does not take place till February.
+
+The occasion of our ride was an invitation to dine with an American
+family at the paper-mill of Mr. M'Intosh, the English banker. This was
+the greatest treat that I had yet met with in Mexico. Though I have had
+the honor of dining in more distinguished places, both in Mexico and in
+the United States, I never attended a dinner-party that I enjoyed so
+much. It was a thrifty family, and a charming old-fashioned New England
+housewife had prepared the dinner. Perhaps this is saying enough to
+enable the reader to fill out the picture, for he will be sure to guess
+that pumpkin-pies were not forgotten; for what would a down-east
+thanksgiving dinner be without this national dish? The dinner was a
+charm in itself, while the attendant circumstances gave it a double
+relish. To complete the pleasure of the visit, we made our way into
+"the Yankee's" kitchen, and there had the pleasure of seeing a
+cooking-stove, and cooking-furniture of tin, copper, and iron,
+displayed after the most approved fashion. Verily this universal Yankee
+nation preserves its distinctive characteristics every where!
+
+
+AN ADVENTURE.
+
+On our way home we must needs have an adventure. But whether the party
+that overtook us on the road were really robbers, or only
+pleasure-seekers hurrying to escape from the rain, I have my doubts to
+the present day. But my ministerial companion, who was more experienced
+in such matters, having been kept here a long time by our government to
+look after the unburied American dead, insisted that it was a genuine
+case of attempted robbery. All I can say in the premises is, that eight
+California robbers would not have run off in that style without first
+ascertaining whether that old revolver had any powder in it or not.
+When we squared up for a fight, they might have known that it was
+because my old mustang would not move; and they could have had all our
+availables for the asking; but it was saving time in them to run when
+they heard us call out in that hated "Yankee language," and they did
+scamper off most expeditiously.
+
+We got back to the city, without a wetting and without a chance of
+getting frightened, where the faithful old mustang and I parted company
+forever. Ten Mexican dollars was the market value of horse, saddle, and
+bridle--less than the cost of his city eating, which he had enjoyed
+with a gusto; and we took diverse ways at parting. The faithful old
+fellow went to the silver mines, and I returned to the United States,
+after an absence of three years and more, in which I had been through
+perils by land and perils by water, but not sufficient to satisfy my
+taste for adventure.
+
+Up to this time I was a firm believer in the story of Cortéz. But when
+I had retired from active duties, I began to think of writing a book. I
+did what no other foreign writer on Mexico has yet done--I made a
+journey to the country _at my own charges_. I was not in the employment
+of any company or any government; I was under no obligation to praise
+any man who did not deserve it, and not disposed to speak unnecessary
+evil of any, whether they deserved it or not. My advantages above most
+writers upon Mexico were these: my independent position, and my
+intimate knowledge of the character of the North American Indians,
+acquired before I had gained any preconceived notions from the writings
+of others. My father, who had lived among the Iroquois, or Six Nations,
+in the family of Joseph Brandt, and went through the usual forms of
+adoption in place of some Indian who had died, gave me my first lessons
+on Indian character; and a taste so early acquired I followed up in
+after life. My ancestors for several generations dwelt near the Indian
+agency at Cherry Valley, on "Wilson's Patent," and in a neighboring
+village was I born, but removed early in life to a part of the country
+that had belonged to the Senecas, where I enjoyed a good opportunity of
+studying Indian character.
+
+It was the feast-day of the kings, _los Reyes_, when after my return to
+Mexico, I was again in the saddle, riding out from Mexico toward the
+village of Tezcuco. I had to take a by-way to avoid the Guadalupe road,
+which was blocked up in consequence of the holiday. In doing so, I had
+to leap a ditch or canal, in which both I and my horse came near
+closing our pilgrimage in a quagmire; but in time we were again upon
+the road. It is a dreary place about the hill of Tepeyaca, or
+Guadalupe, and if the Virgin had not smiled upon the barren hill and
+made roses grow out of it, it would be as uninviting as one of the
+hills of the valley of Sodom. This hill is now called the "Mountain of
+Crosses," for upon it, in 1810, the first insurgent, Hidalgo, the
+priest of Dolores, won a battle against the royal troops, which should
+have been followed up by an entry into Mexico; but Providence ordered
+it otherwise, and the forest of crosses that once covered it proclaimed
+a bloody slaughter without any results.
+
+The shores of Tezcuco approach the hill in the wet season, leaving but
+a narrow margin for the road, but in the dry season this margin is
+greatly enlarged. I have already explained the composition of
+_tequisquite_, and the manner of its production; here it was lying in
+courses, or spots, as it had been left by the receding and drying up of
+the water during the present dry season. Little piles of it had been
+gathered up here and there to be taken to town for use, probably by the
+bakers or soap-boilers, who are said to pay fourteen shillings an
+_aroba_ for it. Besides a little stunted grass, there was here no sign
+of vegetable life except a peculiar species of the cactus family, which
+resembled a mammoth beet without leaves, but bearing upon its top an
+array of vegetable knives that surrounded a most exquisite scarlet
+flower.
+
+
+FATE OF ROBBERS.
+
+There was another sight by the road side more in keeping with the
+gloomy thoughts which this desert plain excites: it was the dead bodies
+of three men, who had been condemned by a military commission for
+robbing a bishop. They were shot, and their bodies were placed on three
+gibbets as a warning to others. The bishop said he would have pardoned
+the robbery, but when they went to that extreme limit of depravity of
+searching within his shirt of sackcloth for concealed doubloons, it was
+more than a bishop could endure. The worthy ecclesiastic had renounced
+the world and all its vanities, and had put on the badges of poverty
+and self-mortification for $50,000 a year, and he wore the disguises
+that ought to have shielded him from the suspicion of being rich!
+
+These military commissions are no new invention in Mexico, for that
+famous Count de Galvez, the Vice-king who built the castle of
+Chapultepec and deposed the Archbishop of Mexico, had a traveling
+military court, with chaplain and all spiritual aids, to accompany the
+dragoons that scoured the road in search of robbers. When a fellow was
+caught, court, chaplains, and dragoons made rapid work in dismissing
+him to his long resting-place, and saying a cheap mass for the repose
+of his soul, and then again they were ready for another enterprise. In
+this way the roads were made safe in the times of that Viceroy.
+
+Had I known the real distance to Tezcuco, I ought to have abandoned the
+journey on account of the lameness of my horse. But either the Virgin
+Mary, or, more probably, the extreme purity of the atmosphere on these
+elevated plains, had deprived me of the power of measuring distance by
+the eye. This is excessively annoying to a traveler. He sees the object
+he is attempting to approach at an apparently moderate distance, plain
+in sight, and as he rides along, hour after hour, there it stands, just
+where it seemed to be when he first got sight of it. I finally reached
+my destination in good time for a dinner, and for as good a night's
+"entertainment for man and beast" as could be found in all the Republic
+of Mexico.
+
+When I turned the head of the lake, I was close upon the track which
+Cortéz and his retreating band followed into the plains of Otumba. Poor
+wretches! what a time they must have had of it in this disconsolate
+retreat--wounded, jaded, like tigers bereft of their prey! They mourned
+for their companions slain, but most of all for the booty they had lost.
+
+    "They grieved for those that went down in the cutter,
+    And also for the biscuits and the butter:"
+
+and hobbled on, as best they could, while the natives pursued them with
+hootings and volleys of inefficient weapons. Passing this point and
+turning to the north-east, they entered the plains of Otumba, where
+they encountered the whole undisciplined rabble of the Aztecs, and
+scattered them like chaff before the wind.
+
+
+A NIGHT AT TEZCUCO.
+
+Soon after I had passed the head of the lake and turned southward, I
+entered a cultivated country between tilled grounds and little mud
+villages along the road. These were the representatives of the
+magnificent cities enumerated by Cortéz. That fine grove of cypresses
+which had been a landmark all day was now close at hand, and I could
+form some idea of its great antiquity. But the day was passing away,
+and it was still uncertain whether I could find safe quarters for the
+night, where my horse, and the silver plates on my bridle, and the
+silver mountings of my saddle would be safe. I never own such fancy
+trifles, but they were on the horse given me at the stable.
+
+A good dinner and a clean bed I did not expect to find, nor could I
+have found them a year earlier. But the new and enterprising company of
+Escandon and Co., who now have the possession of the Real del Monte
+silver mines, of which I shall speak hereafter, had just completed the
+"Grand House" (_Casa Grande_) in connection with the salt manufacture,
+which they carry on here solely for the use of that single mine. It was
+a neat, one-story residence of dried mud (_adobe_), and worthy the
+occupancy of the proudest king of Tezcuco. Though the flagging of the
+interior court was not all completed, yet the managing partner had
+taken possession, and it was fitted up according to the most approved
+style of an Anglo-Saxon residence. As horse and rider passed into the
+outer court, there stood ready a groom to lead the former into the
+inner court, where were the stables for the horses, and I entered the
+house to enjoy the unlooked-for pleasures of English hospitality in
+this out-of-the-way Indian village.
+
+The resident partner was an Englishman. His connection with the Real
+del Monte Company extended only to the manufacture of salt. But even
+this was an extensive affair, and had already absorbed an investment of
+$100,000, in order to provide the salt used in only one branch of the
+process of refining silver at that mine. The gentleman was now absent,
+but his excellent English wife and her brother knew full well how to
+discharge the duties of host even to an unknown stranger. The dinner
+was of the best, and there was no lack of appetite after a hard day's
+ride on a trotting horse. So we all had the prime elements of
+enjoyment. Entertainment for man and beast is among the highest
+luxuries to be found by the wayside. It was an equal luxury to my hosts
+in their isolated residence to receive a visit from one whose only
+recommendation was that the English language was his native tongue, so
+that when we retired from the dining-room we had become old
+acquaintances.
+
+
+REMAINS OF TEZCUCO.
+
+The King of Tezcuco never knew what it was, on a raw winter's evening,
+to sit before a bright wood fire, in a fire-place, with feet on fender
+and tongs in hand, listening to an animated conversation so mixed up of
+two languages that it was hard to tell which predominated. Not all the
+stateliness to be found in Mexican palaces, where, in a lordly
+tapestried halls, men and women sit and shiver over a protracted
+dinner, can yield pleasures like those grouped around an English
+fireside. The evening was not half long enough to say all that was to
+be discussed. As we sat and chatted, and drank our tea with a gusto we
+had never known before, we forgot altogether that we were indulging in
+plebeian enjoyments upon the spot where a king's palace had probably
+stood. Instead of such plebeian things as a wood floor and Brussels
+carpet, his half-clad majesty had here squatted upon a mat, and dealt
+out justice or injustice, according to his caprice, to trembling crowds
+of dirty Indians, whose royal rags and feathers made them princely.
+Dignity and majesty are truly parts of Indian character, but a good
+dinner and a clean bed are luxuries that an Indian, even though he were
+an emperor, never knew.
+
+My business here was to search for relics, and as soon as daylight
+appeared I was astir. But no relics could be found except some stone
+images so rudely cut as to be a burlesque upon Indian stone-cutting.
+There was a sacrificial stone and a calendar stone built into the steps
+of the church of San Francisco, which were so badly done that the use
+to which they had been applied could just be made out. Here, too, was a
+rude stone wall, that had been built over the grave of Don Fernando,
+the first Christian king of Tezcuco, who had been converted to
+Christianity by Cortéz. There is also here one of those little chapels
+which Cortéz built, which indicate extremely limited means in the
+builder.
+
+At the distance of a bow-shot from this is the site of the "slip"
+(canal) which Cortéz says he caused to be dug, twelve feet wide and
+twelve feet deep, in order to float his brigantines. Near by, the
+Indians were digging a new canal for the little steam-boat which now
+plies on the laguna. When they reached a point less than three feet
+from the surface, they were stopped by the water. How could Cortéz,
+under greater disadvantages, dig to the depth of twelve feet, without
+even iron shovels?
+
+I returned to the _hacienda_ and inquired if there were no other
+relics. The proprietor assured me that he had been unable to find any
+except the Indian mounds which he showed me, and some stone cellar
+steps that he had found in digging. And this is all that now remains of
+the great and magnificent city of Tezcuco, which had entered into
+alliance with Cortéz, and which, for more than a hundred years after
+the Conquest, was under the especial care of a Superintendent sent from
+Spain, as an Indian Reservation.
+
+There are here eight Franciscan monks and a convent; seven of these
+monks I was assured were living at home with their families and
+children, but the eighth, who happened to be a cripple, lived in the
+convent. A major in the guard was pointed out to me, who, having
+committed a murder, took sanctuary in the church, where he remained
+several days, when--and we have his own word for it--the Virgin Mary
+appeared to him and freely forgave him. On this news getting abroad,
+there was great rejoicing in Tezcuco that the Virgin had at last
+visited them. From being stigmatized as a murderer, the object of this
+visit was almost adored as a saint, and became one of the principal men
+of the village, and was created a major in the new corps.
+
+After I had surveyed the salt-works and the glassworks, I turned my
+horse's head toward Mexico by the road along the eastern shore, so that
+I made the complete circuit of Lake Tezcuco.
+
+Thus far my visit to the royal city of Tezcuco had been perfectly
+successful, except in the attempts made to convince the young
+Englishman that I was not a dead-shot with the rifle; and I started
+home with a slight shade upon my veracity for denying my ability to
+pierce the centre of the bull's-eye. But otherwise it was a
+disagreeable parting to all of us. As I returned by the east side of
+the lake, the splendid high farming-lands that extend from the shore to
+the foot of the mountain were strikingly in contrast with the flatness
+and barrenness of the plain on the water-side, which is so slightly
+elevated above the level of the salt water that a few inches of rise in
+the laguna spreads out an immense sheet of saline water, and yet there
+is not a solitary evaporating vat where there is an unlimited demand
+for the evaporated article at fourteen shillings the _aroba_.
+
+Cortéz speaks of the fine fields of corn on the east side of the lake.
+But they could not have been finer in his day than they are at present,
+though they furnished him with the supplies that supported his army. I
+reached the head of Tezcuco at noontide, where the heavy water of the
+salt lake was driving up toward the fresh water, as described by
+Cortéz, but it was under the pressure of a strong north wind.
+
+
+THE AZTEC CAUSEWAYS.
+
+Now that I am on the new causeway, broad and spacious like all the
+others, it may be well to conclude the discussion of the physical
+condition of this valley by determining the size of the old Aztec
+causeways.
+
+An island embosomed in a marsh has always formed a favorite retreat for
+an Indian tribe, whether among the everglades of Florida, or the
+wild-rice swamps of north-western Canada. Such a retreat is still more
+desirable when, in addition to the security it affords from an enemy,
+it is likewise a resort for wild ducks, as was and is the case with the
+laguna of the Mexican valley. Hence, probably, the Aztecs selected this
+place as the site of their village; and to reach it, it was necessary
+to make one or more footpaths across the marsh. As the Aztecs had no
+beasts of burden, this must have been a task of no little magnitude. To
+have made it thirty feet wide would not only have been a work of
+immense difficulty, but would have destroyed the defensive character of
+their position. Still, we can, upon this occasion, afford to be a
+little liberal with the statements of Cortéz, as we have had to cut his
+hundreds of thousands of warriors down to a few thousand of
+miserably-armed Indians, and reduce his magnificent cities to small
+Indian villages. In order to make the island of Mexico at all
+inhabitable, we have had to reduce his lakes from navigable basins of
+twelve feet or more in depth to mere evaporating ponds. His floating
+islands have been transformed into garden-beds built upon the mud; and
+his canals have sunk to mere ditches. Now I propose to be liberal to
+the old Conquistador in the matter of his famous causeways, and will
+therefore admit that they might have been twelve feet in width--as
+broad as the tow-path of the Erie Canal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+The Street of Tacuba.--The Spaniards and the Indian Women.--The
+Retreat of Cortéz.--The Aqueducts of Mexico.--The English and
+American Burying-grounds.--The Protestant President.--The rival
+Virgins.--An Image out of Favor.--The Aztecs and the Spaniards.
+
+
+As I rode along the street to the gate and causeway of Tacuba, over
+which Cortéz retreated on the "sorrowful night" (_triste noche_),
+I naturally fell into reflections upon the righteous retribution that
+overtook a portion of the Spanish robbers on that night, and upon the
+mysterious ways of Providence in allowing Cortéz and a remnant to
+escape being burned alive by the Indians after the infamous lives
+which, by their own admissions, they had been leading in the city. The
+Indians had made a feeble resistance when Alvarado murdered their
+chiefs, and had cringed into submission when Cortéz returned. But now
+their wrongs had reached that point where even Aztecs could endure no
+more. Their cup of iniquity seemed full, when Cortéz, who had left a
+wife in Cuba, sent to the little village of Tacuba, called by Diaz
+Tlacupa, to fetch thence some "women of his _household_, among whom was
+the daughter of Montezuma [he had already one daughter of Montezuma in
+his power] whom he had given in charge of the King of Tlacupa, her
+relative, when he marched against Narvaez."[36] The women being
+rescued, Cortéz afterward sent Ordaz, with four hundred men, which
+brought on hostilities that ended in this night retreat.
+
+
+THE HOUSEHOLD OF CORTÉZ.
+
+Cortéz was worse than the Mormon governor of Utah, who is said to have
+thirty-six wives in his household. But they are, at least, voluntary
+inmates of his harem, while the "household" of Cortéz had been taken by
+violence. It is one of the prominent traits of Indian character that,
+while they are inhuman to their female captives, they guard with the
+utmost jealousy the virtue of their wives. Even among the debased
+Indians of California, female infidelity is punished with death; and I
+have seen the whole population of an Indian village on the Upper
+Sacramento thrown into the utmost confusion--the women howling, and the
+men brandishing their weapons--because a base Indian had sold his wife
+to a still baser white man. "Such a thing was never," they said, "done
+in the tribe before." And here we have Cortéz, in contempt of even
+Indian notions of virtue, sending to bring to his harem, by violence,
+another daughter of Montezuma.
+
+As Bernal Diaz goes more into detail than Cortéz, he now and then drops
+an expression that furnishes a clew to many an enigma otherwise
+unexplainable. In speaking of the avarice of the officers, he lets fall
+the following confession of his own infamy:
+
+"This was a good hint to us in future, so that afterward, when we had
+captured any beautiful Indian females, we concealed them, and gave out
+that they had escaped. As soon as it was come to the marking day, or,
+if any one of us stood in favor with Cortéz, he got them secretly
+marked [viz., branded with a red-hot iron] during the night-time, and
+paid a fifth of their value to him. In a short time we possessed a
+great number of such slaves."[37]
+
+Never was there a band of Anglo-Saxon outlaws, cut-throats, pirates, or
+buccaneers that reached that point of human depravity that they could
+brand, as cattle are branded, with a red-hot iron, swarms of women
+taken by violence, in order that they might not make any mistakes in
+recognizing their numberless wives! None but Spanish heroes of a "holy
+war" ever exhibited such a picture of total depravity.
+
+When the Aztecs were thus roused to action by the brutal lust of
+Cortéz, they assailed him with phrensy rather than with courage, until
+his quarters in the city became untenable, and then this night retreat
+was undertaken, in which all the gold, if there really was any, and all
+other treasures, and two sons and one daughter of Montezuma, were lost
+in the confused rush of such a multitude over this foot-path. The
+Indian story is that Cortéz slew the children of Montezuma when he
+found himself unable to carry them off. Perhaps he did, but the
+probability is that they perished by chance, or, rather, it seems to
+have been by chance that Cortéz or any of his gang escaped and came
+safe to Tacuba.
+
+We must now give up history to talk of things by the road-side.
+
+The "hard water" from the springs on the south side of Chapultepec is
+carried over stone arches upon the causeway of Tacubaya to the gate of
+Belin. But at Santa Fé, several leagues distant from the city, is a
+stream of soft water, which is brought to the powder-mill (_Molina
+del Rey_), where it turns a wheel. Thence the aqueduct, passing by
+the north side of Chapultepec, is carried along the highway to the
+causeway of San Cosmo. It passes the gate of San Cosmo, enters the
+city, and terminates in the street of Tacuba. By these two gates, and
+by the side of these two parallel aqueducts, the American army entered
+the city of Mexico.
+
+The objects of interest by the road-side, after I had passed the city
+gate, were, first, the French Academy, which is well worthy of a visit
+for its pretty grounds, if nothing more. When we had got farther on,
+the land rose a little above the water-level of the swamp. Here a
+branch-road and the aqueduct turned off to Chapultepec, and in the
+angle thus formed by the two roads is the English burying-ground or
+cemetery. In this resting-place of the dead there is not a spot that
+can not be irrigated at all seasons of the year, while the art of man
+has been busy in improving the advantages that nature has so lavishly
+bestowed.
+
+Just before my first arrival in Mexico, public attention had been
+particularly directed to this quiet spot, from its having been chosen
+as the place for depositing the ashes of the last President of Mexico,
+at whose burial no holy water had been wasted and no candles had been
+burned, and for the repose of whose soul no masses had ever been said,
+or other religious rites performed, and yet he slept as quietly as
+those who had gone to their burial with the pomp and circumstance of a
+state funeral. No priest had shrived his soul, his lips had not been
+touched with the anointing oil, nor was incense burned at his funeral;
+yet he died in peace, declaring in his last hours that he had made his
+confession to God, and trusted in him for the pardon of his sins, and
+refused all the proffered aid of priests in facilitating his journey to
+heaven. Thus died, and here was privately buried, the first and last
+Protestant President of Mexico, the only really good man that ever
+occupied that exalted station, and probably the only native Mexican who
+ever had the moral courage to denounce the religion of his fathers upon
+his dying bed.
+
+
+THE AMERICAN CEMETERY.
+
+Adjoining the English cemetery on the south side is the American
+burying-ground, which has been established since the war, where have
+been collected the remains of 750 Americans, that died or were killed
+at Mexico, and a neat monument has been erected over them. Here
+Americans that die henceforth in that city can be buried. An
+appropriation of $500 a year would make this more attractive than the
+English cemetery, but the place has been wholly neglected by Congress
+since that worthy man, the Rev. G. G. Goss, completed his labors. There
+is a pleasure in observing the natural affinities which, in foreign
+countries, draw close together these two branches of the Anglo-Saxon
+family. A common language and a common religion overmaster political
+differences, and the English and American dead are laid side by side to
+rest until the judgment. At the south of the American cemetery is a
+vacant lot, which the King of Prussia should purchase, so that the
+Germans may no longer be dependent on Americans for a burying-place,
+and that the three great Protestant powers of the world may here, as
+they every where should, be drawn close together.
+
+[Illustration: MONUMENT TO THE AMERICANS.]
+
+Tacuba is a very small village, and is not in any wise noted except for
+an immense cypress-tree, that must have been a wonder even in the time
+of Cortéz. Tacuba has the historical notoriety of being the place where
+hostilities first broke out between the Aztecs and the Spaniards, and
+the spot where the night retreat of the latter terminated. Here the
+land is quite fertile, and a little way from the village are several
+water-mills, where the grain raised in this part of the valley is
+ground into flour.
+
+
+THE VIRGIN OF REMEDIES.
+
+A little way beyond Tacuba is the hill and temple of the Virgin of
+Remedies. It was upon this hill, within the inclosure of an Indian
+mound, that the retreating party of Cortéz made their first bivouac,
+and built fires and dressed their wounds. Hence they gave to the hill
+the name of _Remedios_, and the church afterward erected was dedicated
+to our Lady of Remedies. Diaz tells us that it became very celebrated
+in his time. The story about Cortéz finding a broken-nosed image in the
+knapsack of one of his soldiers is not mentioned either by himself or
+Bernal Diaz, and must therefore be an afterthought, to give
+plausibility to a subsequent imposition. From this point Cortéz and his
+party, without their women or treasures, trudged along to the foot of
+the hills to Tepeac, or Guadalupe, and thence around the foot of
+Tezcuco to the plains of Otumba.
+
+The story is, that while Cortéz and his men were resting here, a
+soldier took from his knapsack an image, with nose broken and an eye
+wanting, which Cortéz made the patron saint of the expedition, and held
+it up to their adoration, and that this little incident so encouraged
+the men that they started off with renewed vigor. The whole of this
+story is probably a very silly modern invention. The bulk of the forces
+of Cortéz was most probably composed of that class of reprobates that
+to this day can be found about almost any of the West India sea-ports,
+ready for any enterprise, however hazardous. They have no religion;
+they are not even superstitious, but yield a nominal acquiescence to
+the forms of the Catholic religion. Cortéz speaks often of his efforts
+to effect the conversion of the Indians, but it is in such a business
+sort of way as to lead to the impression, that it was all done to make
+an impression at home, but was really a matter that he did not care
+much about. The famous image, according to the current story,
+disappeared soon after the Conquest, but was found about 150 years
+afterward in a maguey plant, and was as much dilapidated as if it had
+been exposed to the weather for the whole of that century and a half.
+
+Such, in substance, is the tradition of the Virgin of Remedies, who for
+a century divided with the Virgin of Guadalupe the adoration of the
+people in the most amicable manner. But when the insurrection of 1810
+broke out, these two virgins parted company. "_Viva_ the Virgin of
+Guadalupe!" became the war-cry of the unsuccessful rebels, while
+"_Viva_ the Lady of Remedies!" was shouted back by the conquering
+forces of the king. The Lady of Guadalupe became suspected of
+insurrectionary propensities, while all honors were lavished upon the
+Lady of Remedies by those who wished to make protestations of their
+loyalty. Pearls, money, and jewels were bestowed upon her by the
+nobility and the Spanish merchants; and as one insurrectionary leader
+after another was totally defeated, the conquering generals returned to
+lay their trophies at the feet of the Lady of Remedies, to whose
+interposition the victory was ascribed. They carried her in triumphant
+procession through the streets of Mexico, singing a _laudamus_. Then it
+was that the Lady of Remedies was at the zenith of her glory. Her
+person was refulgent with a blaze of jewels, and her temple was like
+that of Diana of Ephesus, and all about the hill on which it stood bore
+marks of the greatest prosperity.
+
+
+RISE AND FALL OF THE VIRGIN.
+
+Her healing powers were then unrivaled, and the list of cures which she
+is claimed to have effected surpasses that of all the patent medicines
+of our day. She was an infallible healer, alike of the diseases of the
+mind and of the body. A glimpse of her broken nose and battered face
+instantaneously cured men of democracy and unbelief. Heretics stood
+confounded in her presence, while the halt, the lame, and the leprous
+hung up their crutches, their bandages, and their filthy rags, as
+trophies of her healing power, among the flags and other trophies of
+her victories over the rebels. Nothing was beyond her skill; from
+mending a leaky boat to securing a prize in the lottery; from giving
+eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, mending a broken or a paralyzed
+limb, or a broken heart, to putting the baby to sleep. Her votaries
+esteemed her omnipotent, and carried her in procession in times of
+drought, as the goddess of rain; and when pestilence raged in the city,
+she was borne through the infected streets. Such was she in the times
+of her glory.
+
+Now all is changed. She is still a goddess, but her glory is eclipsed.
+She, like many a virgin in social life, neglected to make her market
+while all knees were bowing to her, and now, in the sear and yellow
+leaf, she is a virgin still. Her temple is dilapidated, her garlands
+are faded, her gilding is tarnished, the buildings about her Court are
+falling to decay, while the bleak hill which her temple crowns looks
+tenfold more uninviting than if it never had been occupied. When I
+entered this neglected temple of a neglected image, an old,
+superannuated priest was saying mass, and three or four old crones were
+kneeling before her altar. Such are the effects that followed the
+revolution of Iguala. Not only was her hated rival of Guadalupe
+elevated from her long obscurity to be the national saint, but the
+animosity against this dilapidated image of Remedies was carried to
+that extreme of cruelty that, when the Spaniards were expelled from
+Mexico, the passports of the "Lady of Remedios" were made out, and she
+was ordered to leave the country. Poor thing!
+
+The porter's eye glistened at the now unwonted sight of a silver
+dollar, and he soon had me through the most secret recesses of the
+sanctuary. The only things I saw worthy of admiration were some
+pictures, made from down or the feathers of the humming-bird, by which
+a richness of color was imparted to the pictures that could not be
+obtained from paints.
+
+At last we came to the back of the great altar, and the curtain of
+damask silk being drawn up by a little string, we saw sitting in a
+metallic maguey plant a bright new Paris doll, dressed in the gaudy
+odds and ends of silk that make such a thing an attractive Christmas
+present for the nursery. Paste supplied the place of jewels, and a
+constellation of false pearls were at the back of her shoulders. The
+man kept his gravity, and did reverence to the poor doll, while I
+burned with indignation at being imposed upon by a counterfeit
+"universal remedy for all diseases." I had often read in the
+apothecaries' advertisements cautions against counterfeits, and rewards
+for their detection, and I always noticed, from these printed
+evidences, that the counterfeits were exactly in proportion to the
+worthlessness of the genuine article, and that medicine which was
+utterly valueless itself suffered most from the abundance of
+counterfeits. So it was with the Lady of Remedios; after she had fallen
+below the dignity of a humbug, and no man was found so poor as to do
+her reverence, she was spirited away to the Cathedral of the city of
+Mexico, in order to save her three jeweled petticoats from being
+stolen, and a child's doll, covered with paste jewels, now personified
+the great patron saint of the vice-kingdom of New Spain.
+
+
+AZTEC AND ROMISH IMAGES.
+
+I again mounted my horse, angry at being cheated. Though the day was a
+most lovely one, I rode home in fit humor to contrast the system of
+paganism which Cortéz introduced with the more poetical system which
+preceded it, and to compare these cast-off child's dolls with the
+allegorical images of the Aztecs. My landlord had two boxes of such
+images, collected when they were cleaning out one of the old city
+canals. By way of parlor ornaments, we had an Aztec god of baked earth.
+He was sitting in a chair; around his navel was coiled a serpent; his
+right hand rested upon the head of another serpent. This, according to
+the laws of interpreting allegories, we should understand to signify
+that the god had been renowned for his wisdom; that with the wisdom of
+the serpent he had executed judgment; and that his meditations were the
+profundity of wisdom. And yet this allegorical worship, defective as it
+may have been, was forcibly superseded by the adoration of a child's
+doll--one that had very possibly been worn out and thrown from a
+nursery, and perhaps picked up by some passing monk, was made the
+goddess of New Spain, and clothed with three petticoats, one adorned
+with pearls, one with rubies, and one with diamonds, at an estimated
+cost of $3,000,000. Which was the least objectionable superstition?
+
+We have been taught to look upon the worship of the Aztecs as
+monstrous; but the witnesses against them were themselves monsters, who
+were seeking for a pretense to excuse their own brutality in reducing
+the Indians to the most debasing slavery, while they appropriated to
+their own use the best looking of the squaws, and kept such swarms of
+supernumerary wives that each Spaniard had to brand them with a red-hot
+iron in order to know his own family. The fathers of the present
+mixed-breed population of Mexico tell us that the Aztecs offered human
+sacrifices, and feasted upon human flesh. They hope, by dwelling upon
+the enormities of the Indians, to excuse their own still more
+detestable crimes. For three centuries their stories were
+uncontradicted, and they have been received as historical verities. But
+the character of the witnesses warrants us in receiving their
+statements with some incredulity.
+
+      [36] _Bernal Diaz_, vol. i. p. 338.
+
+      [37] _Bernal Diaz_, vol. i. p. 31, 32.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+The Paséo at Evening.--Ride to Chapultepec.--The old Cypresses
+of Chapultepec.--The Capture of Chapultepec.--Molina del
+Rey.--Tacubaya.--Don Manuel Escandon.--The Tobacco Monopoly.--The
+Palace of Escandon.--The "Desierto."--Hermits.--Monks in the Conflict
+with Satan.--Our Lady of Carmel.
+
+
+My residence was near the _Paséo Nuevo_, and at evening, while the sun
+had yet an hour of his daily task to finish, I habitually sauntered
+forth for a walk up and down the Paséo, to look at the crowd of
+coaches, with tops thrown back, so that the bare-headed ladies, in full
+dress for dinner, might enjoy the evening air, acquire an appetite, and
+salute their friends by presenting the backs of their hands, while they
+twirled their fingers at them with a hearty smile. Gentlemen on
+richly-caparisoned horses dashed along between the rows of advancing
+and returning carriages, stopping now and then by the side of a
+well-known carriage to exchange salutations, or, by an exhibition of a
+well-timed embarrassment, proclaim the favored object of their
+evening's ride. Crowds of foot-passengers sauntered along the
+road-side, looking at the rich display made by the aristocracy and
+nobility of the republic. At the entrance of the Paséo, in front of the
+amphitheatre, where on Sundays bulls are tortured to death as a popular
+amusement, is the equestrian bronze statue of Carlos IV., the work of
+Tolsa, who, as artist and architect, has won for himself undying renown
+at Mexico. The garden of Tolsa, the College of Mines, and the bronze
+horse, testify to the greatness of his genius. Half way down the Paséo
+is a fountain, around which two semicircles of coaches place themselves
+for a little time, to look on the passing current of carriages and
+horsemen. They soon disappear as the sun shows symptoms of descending
+behind the mountains. On Sundays the scene is more animated, and then
+the President, with his body-guard of lancers, and attendants in
+scarlet livery, is seen to dash into the Paséo, ride down and return
+through the Alameda, among whose trees and fountains the Sabbath crowds
+most do congregate.
+
+One morning when all was quiet in this place of display, I rode down
+the street of San Francisco, and turned up the Paséo between the prison
+of the Acordado and the bronze horse. There was nothing to disturb the
+monotony that now reigned but cabs or omnibuses on their way to or
+returning from Tacubaya. Passing through the open gate of Belin, I rode
+along at the side of the aqueduct to the rock of Chapultepec.
+
+
+CYPRESSES OF CHAPULTEPEC.
+
+It calls up singular reflections to look upon a living thing that has
+existed for a thousand years, though it be only a tree. Though so many
+centuries have rolled over the venerable cypresses of Chapultepec, yet
+they still are sound and vigorous. The extensive springs of pure water
+that issue from beneath this immense rock have kept them flourishing in
+the midst of a _tequisquite_ valley. Long gray threads of Spanish moss
+hang pendent from the extremity of their limbs and cover the lower
+leaves. These trees are the only living links that unite modern and
+ancient American civilization; for they were in being while that
+mysterious race, the Toltecs, were still upon the table-lands of
+Mexico--a race that has left behind, not only at Teotihuacan, but in
+the hot country, the imperishable memorials of a civilization like that
+of Egypt; and from them the Aztecs acquired an imperfect knowledge of a
+few simple arts.[38]
+
+These trees had long been standing, when a body of Aztecs, wandering
+away from their tribe in search of game, fixed themselves upon the
+islands of this marsh, first about the rock of Chapultepec, then at
+Mexicalzingo and Iztapalapan, and finally at Mexico. These trees were
+undisturbed by the Spaniards when Cortéz took the city, and the
+Americans respected their great antiquity, so that during all the wars
+and battles that have taken place around and above them, they have
+passed unharmed.
+
+Not only unnumbered generations, but whole races have appeared and
+disappeared, while these trees have quietly flourished amid the strife
+of the elements and the contentions of men, taking no heed of the
+passing events of which they were spectators. The Toltecs, of whom we
+must speak more fully hereafter, were the first of these races that
+disappeared from the table-land--the victims of wars, and of that
+plague of the Indian races, the _matlazhuatl_. As the Aztecs rose
+into importance by their success in war and by the multitude of their
+captives, Indian princes made the springs near Chapultepec their
+favorite bathing-place, and spread their mats under these trees, and in
+their shadow enjoyed their noontide slumbers. Then the pale-faces came,
+and peopled the valley with a race of mixed blood, and vice-kings
+occupied the place that had been the sacred retreat of the Aztec
+chiefs.
+
+These trees had added many rings to their already enlarged
+circumference before the vice-kings disappeared, and an emperor sat in
+the shade which had been their favorite retreat; and the Aztec eagle
+floated again upon the standard that waved over Chapultepec; but it was
+only the galvanized corpse of that brave bird, and the emperor was only
+a victim prepared for the sacrifice. Since that time much bad gunpowder
+has been burned over the heads of the trees, and the roots have been
+shaken by the discharge of the cannon of the castle at every change of
+rulers, as one ephemeral government succeeded another, but these
+cypresses still remain unharmed, and may outlive many other dynasties.
+
+
+
+CHAPULTEPEC AND MOLINA DEL REY.
+
+The Americans captured Chapultepec by a _coup de main_. Having made
+several breaches through the stone wall behind the cypresses, they
+rushed through under those trees and up the side of the hill next to
+them, not allowing themselves to be delayed by the turnings of the
+road. The general in command, the late General Bravo, was a man of
+tried courage, and not deficient in military sagacity. He sent most
+urgent requests to Santa Anna for reinforcements, urging that General
+Scott was too prudent a soldier to attack the city before carrying the
+castle, and that the garrison was inadequate for its defense. But Santa
+Anna was completely paralyzed, as Scott designed he should be, by the
+large force, under General Smith, which was threatening the south front
+of the city. When it was too late, Santa Anna discovered that this was
+only a feint.
+
+[Illustration: CHAPULTEPEC.]
+
+The King's Mill (_Molina del Rey_) is an old powder-mill, standing
+on elevated ground in the rear of Chapultepec. It has nothing about it
+to give it notoriety except the slaughter of the American troops that
+here took place from a masked battery, manned by a body of volunteers
+from the work-shops of the city. The whole affair was a military
+mistake. Its capture was not necessary to insure the capture of
+Chapultepec, for, as soon as that fortress, which commanded the mill,
+should be in our power, the mill would be untenable. But repeated
+successes had made the American officers imprudent, so that without
+first battering down its walls, the division of General Worth rushed
+up, regardless of a flank fire of the castle, to carry this old
+building by assault. After the sacrifice of about 700 lives, cannon
+were brought out and the breach made, and then the difficulty was at an
+end.
+
+A mile or so by the road leading south and west from Chapultepec is
+Tacubaya, where are the suburban residences of the Archbishop, the
+President, and of divers city bankers; and where the English banker,
+Mr. Jimmerson, has introduced English gardening, and, in a Mexican
+climate, enjoys the pleasure of an English country residence.
+
+
+DON MANUEL ESCANDON.
+
+The most attractive establishment of Tacubaya is the new palace of Don
+Manuel Escandon, a native-born, self-made Mexican millionaire; a man
+whose capital has so enormously accumulated before he has even reached
+middle life, that he was able to propose to discount a bill for
+$7,000,000 as an ordinary business transaction, though ultimately
+government divided the bid with another house. This most remarkable
+instance of accumulation of wealth in modern times is deserving of a
+passing notice, which I give on the authority of my landlord, who had a
+personal knowledge of his history.
+
+Don Manuel enjoyed, in addition to an intimate knowledge of his own
+countrymen, the advantages of a foreign education, which had extended
+to an examination of those arts and improvements that elevate Europeans
+above the semi-barbarous people of Spanish America. The first
+enterprise that brought him prominently forward was the establishment
+of that vast and most perfect system of stage-coaches, of which I have
+already spoken, on an original capital of $250,000. The wretched
+condition of the roads, and the heavy losses that at first always
+attend enterprises of that magnitude, disheartened his partners, who
+were glad to sell out to him $150,000 of the capital stock at a
+discount of 50 per cent. Afterward the late Zurutusa bought into the
+scheme, and ultimately became the owner of all the property, having,
+before his death, more than realized the highest anticipations of
+himself or Escandon. A hundred thousand dollars, or thereabouts, were
+the profits to Escandon by this establishment of a series of hotels and
+stages quite across the continent. By the successful running of a
+blockade of the coast, he realized nearly another hundred thousand
+dollars. The numerous enterprises open to men of superior sagacity, who
+fully understand the wants of a country in a state of chaos, and are
+familiar with the improvements of other countries, were readily
+embraced by him, until he found himself possessed of sufficient capital
+to become the principal purchaser of the extensive silver mines of
+_Real del Monte_, of which the salt-works of Tezcuco are but an outside
+appendage.
+
+The tobacco monopoly had yielded to the King of Spain an average return
+of nearly a million annually. Under the Republic the consumption of the
+weed had greatly increased, but, from the prevalence of disorder in
+every branch of the administration, this important branch of the
+revenue was almost entirely absorbed by the officials through whose
+hands it passed, so that the sum realized by government in the most
+unproductive year fell off to $25,000, but finally reached $45,000, the
+amount at which it was farmed out by Escandon and Company. Since that
+time the return to government has gone on increasing, until it was
+advertised to be let the last year at the round sum of $1,200,000. How
+much more the partners realized during the years that they held the
+contract is, of course, known only to themselves.
+
+The new house which Don Manuel has built at Tacubaya is decidedly the
+finest palace in the republic. The position is well chosen, and the sum
+of $300,000 has been laid out upon the house and grounds. It is a
+combination of an Italian villa, with the comforts and conveniences of
+English life. London, Paris, and New York have alike contributed to its
+furniture. I was told that $50,000 was invested in pictures alone. When
+I looked at the perfection to which the house, the grounds, and the
+ornamental works had been carried, my only wonder was that $300,000
+could have paid for such a combination of elegance and good taste. The
+family, which consists only of Don Manuel and his widowed sisters, had
+left on account of the cholera then prevailing in Tacubaya, but the
+steward readily opened every door to my companion; and thus, without
+intruding upon the privacy of a family, or even having the honor of
+their acquaintance, I obtained access to one of the finest private
+residences that I have ever yet seen, either in this country or any
+other. In this house it was that the Gadsden treaty was proposed, at a
+dinner-party at which Mr. Gadsden and Santa Anna were present.
+
+
+THE DESIERTO.
+
+There was nothing to detain me longer at Tacubaya; but a ride upon the
+Tacubaya road is not well finished without being extended to the
+_Desierto_, a place now as attractive in its ruins as it was in its
+prosperity.
+
+A description of what it once was I copy from old Thomas Gage: "But
+more north [south] westward, three leagues from Mexico, is the
+pleasantest place of all that are about Mexico, called the _Solidad_,
+or _Desierto_, 'the Solitary Place' or 'Wilderness.' Were all
+wildernesses like it, to live in a wilderness would be better than to
+live in a city. This hath been a device of bare-footed Carmelites, to
+make show of their apparent godliness, and who would be thought to live
+like hermits, retired from the world, that they may draw the world unto
+them. They have built them a stately cloister, which, being upon a hill
+and among rocks, makes it to be most admired. About the cloister they
+have fashioned out many holes and caves, in, under, and among the
+rocks, like hermits' lodgings, with a room to lie in, and an oratory
+to pray in, with pictures, and images, and rare devices for
+self-mortification, as scourges of wire, rods of iron, haircloth
+girdles with sharp wire points, to gird about their bare flesh, and
+many such like toys, which hang about their oratories, to make people
+admire their mortified and holy lives.
+
+"All these hermits' holes and caves, which are some ten in all, are
+within the bounds and compass of the cloister, and among orchards and
+gardens, which are full of fruits and flowers, which may take two miles
+in compass; and here among the rocks are many springs of water, which,
+with the shade of the plantain and other trees, are most cool and
+pleasant to the hermits. They have also the sweet smell of the rose and
+the jessamine, which is a little flower, but the sweetest of all
+others; and there is not any flower to be found that is rare and
+exquisite in that country which is not in that wilderness, to delight
+the senses of those mortified hermits.
+
+"They are weekly changed from the cloister, and when their week is
+ended others are sent, and they return into their cloisters; they carry
+with them their bottles of wine, sweetmeats, and other provisions. As
+for fruits, the trees do drop them into their mouths. It is wonderful
+to see the strange devices of fountains of water which are about the
+gardens; but much more strange and wonderful to see the resort thither
+of coaches, and gallants, and ladies, and citizens from Mexico, to walk
+and make merry in those desert pleasures, and to see those hypocrites,
+whom they look upon as living saints, and so think nothing too good for
+them to cherish them in their desert conflicts with Satan.
+
+"None goes to them but carries some sweetmeats or some other dainty
+dish to nourish and feed them withal, whose prayers they likewise
+earnestly solicit, leaving them great alms of money for their masses;
+and, above all, offering to a picture in their church, called our Lady
+of Carmel, treasures of diamonds, pearls, golden chains, and crowns,
+and gowns of cloth of gold and silver. Before this picture did hang, in
+my time, twenty lamps of silver, the poorest of them being worth a
+hundred pounds. Truly Satan hath given them what he offered unto Christ
+in the desert.
+
+"All the dainties and all the riches of America hath he given unto them
+in that desert, because they daily fall down and worship him. In the
+way to this place is another town, called Tacubaya, where is a rich
+cloister of Franciscans, and also many gardens and orchards; but it is,
+above all, much resorted to for the music in that church, wherein the
+friars have made the Indians so skillful that they dare compare with
+the Cathedral Church of Mexico."
+
+      [38] "The Toltecs appeared first in the year 648, the Chicimecs
+      in 1170, the Nahualtecs 1178, the Atolhues and Aztecs in 1196.
+      The Toltecs introduced the cultivation of maize and cotton; they
+      built cities, made roads, and constructed those great pyramids
+      which are yet admired, and of which the faces are very accurately
+      laid out. They knew the use of hieroglyphical paintings; they
+      could work metals, and cut the hardest stones; and they had a
+      solar year more perfect than that of the Greeks and Romans. The
+      form of their government indicated that they were the descendants
+      of a people who had experienced great vicissitudes in their
+      social state. But where is the source of that cultivation? Where
+      is the country from which the Toltecs and Mexicans
+      issued?"--HUMBOLDT, _Essay Politique_, vol. i. p. 100.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+Walk to Guadalupe.--Our Embassador kneeling to the Host.--An
+Embassador with, and one without Lace.--First sight of Santa
+Anna.--Indian Dance in Church.--Juan Diego not Saint Thomas.--The
+Miracle proved at Rome.--The Story of Juan Diego.--The holy Well of
+Guadalupe.--The Temple of the Virgin.--Public Worship interdicted
+by the Archbishop.--Refuses to revoke his Interdict.--He fled to
+Guadalupe and took Sanctuary.--Refused to leave the Altar.--The
+Arrest at the Altar.
+
+
+"_Placuit pinturas in ecclesia esse non debere, ne quod colitur vel
+adoratur, in parietibus pingatur_--Pictures ought not to be in the
+churches, nor should any that are reverenced or adored be painted upon
+the walls." So say the canons of the Council of Toledo.
+
+I was one of a vast crowd that, on a Sunday of December, 1853, were
+hurrying out of the city by the old gate and causeway of Tepeac to the
+suburban village of Guadalupe Hidalgo, once Tepeac, but now consecrated
+to the Virgin Mary, who, tradition says, appeared there in a bodily
+form to an Indian _peon_. Juan Diego was the name of the Indian, and
+1531 is the date assigned to the incident. I shall hereafter take
+occasion to relate the story as given by the veracious Juan, and duly
+attested by authority which ought to be competent to settle the
+question, if any thing can do so. I hope that my readers will do their
+best to believe it. If they honestly endeavor to do so, and do not
+succeed, I trust they will not suffer on account of their lack of
+faith.
+
+The occasion that was drawing the multitude together was the
+consecration of the bishop-elect of Michoican, which was to be
+celebrated with great pomp at this most sacred shrine of the patron
+goddess of the Republic. The State and the Church were duly represented
+upon the platform by the President, the nuncio, and the archbishop.
+Beneath the platform, and within the silver railing, were the official
+representatives of foreign nations, who were easily distinguished by a
+strip of gold or silver lace upon the collars and lapels of their
+coats. To this uniformity of dress there was a single exception in the
+person of the new American embassador, Mr. Gadsden, whose plain black
+dress and clerical appearance would have conveyed the impression that
+he was a Methodist preacher, had he not been engaged, with all the
+awkwardness of a novice, upon his knees, in crossing himself.
+
+This was the first occasion on which I had ever seen Santa Anna. If
+looks have any weight determining a man's character, then truly he was
+entitled to his position, for he was, by all odds, the most imposing in
+appearance of any person in that assemblage, or any other I have yet
+seen in Mexico. His part in the performance was that of godfather to
+the bishop. Surrounded by kneeling aids-de-camp, he alone stood up, in
+the rich uniform of a general of division, seeming the perfection of
+military elegance and dignity. Each badge of prelatical rank, before it
+was put upon the new bishop, was handed to Santa Anna, who kissed it,
+and then returned it. He stood without apparent fatigue during the
+whole of that long ceremony. I have often seen Santa Anna since that
+time, but never have I seen him appear to such advantage as upon this
+occasion.
+
+
+THE BIBLE IN MEXICO.
+
+On the next Sabbath I attended the Indian celebration of the appearance
+of the most blessed Virgin. During the Christmas holidays in the
+country of the Pintos, I had seen Indians dressed up in whimsical
+attire, enacting plays, and singing and dancing; but this was the first
+time that I had ever seen, in a house dedicated to the worship of God,
+or, rather, in a temple consecrated to the adoration of the Virgin,
+fantastic dances performed by Indians under the supervision of priests
+and bishops. When I found out what the entertainment was, I was
+heartily vexed that I should be at such a place on the Sabbath day. The
+dancing and singing was bad enough, but the climax was reached when the
+priest came down from the altar, with an array of attendants having
+immense candles, to the side door, where the procession stopped to
+witness the discharge, at mid-day, of a large amount of fire-works in
+honor of the most blessed Virgin Mary.
+
+I hurried home from this profanation of the Lord's day, and sat down
+and contemplated the old Aztec god, who had been deified for his
+wisdom, and could not but regret the change that had been imposed upon
+these imbecile Indians. The next Sabbath after this was the national
+anniversary of the miraculous apparition; but, having seen enough of
+this sort of thing, I concluded that my Sabbaths would be better spent
+in staying at home and reading a Spanish Testament, which had been
+brought into the country in violation of the law. When I was first at
+the city of Mexico, Governor Letcher related to me the stratagem by
+which he contrived to smuggle an American Bible agent out of the
+country when the police were after him, on an accusation of selling
+prohibited books! for in such a country as this, the Word of God is a
+prohibited book.
+
+Juan Diego, upon whose veracity rests the story of the miraculous
+appearance of the Virgin, was an Indian _peon_; and though, like the
+rest of his race, he probably was an habitual liar, yet when he bears
+testimony to a miracle he is presumed to speak the truth. He lived in a
+mud hut somewhere about the barren hill now consecrated to the Virgin
+of Guadalupe. The attempt to make out that it was Saint Thomas, or the
+Wandering Jew who here had an interview with the Virgin Mary, and that
+the old rag on which the picture is painted is really a part of the
+cloak of Saint Thomas, is, by a very verbose proclamation of the
+Archbishop of Mexico, dated 25th March, 1795, pronounced a damnable
+heresy. I have in my possession a copy of this precious document,
+bearing the signature of Don Alonzo Nunez de Haro y Peralto.
+
+As I learn from the said proclamation that "the adoration of this holy
+image" [picture] exists not only in Mexico, but in South America and
+Spain, and that it has propagated itself in Italy, Flanders, Germany,
+Austria, Bohemia, Poland, Ireland, and Transylvania, I shall be excused
+for giving the substance of this miraculous apparition, since it is now
+an article of belief of all good Catholics, having been proved before
+the Congregation of Rites at Rome to have been a miraculous appearance
+of the Mother of God upon earth, in the year and at the place
+aforesaid. And the proclamation farther informs us that his holiness,
+Benedict XIV., was so fully persuaded of the truth of the tradition,
+that he made "cordial devotion to our Lady of Guadalupe, and conceded
+the proper mass and ritual of devotion. He also made mention of it in
+the lesson of the second _nocturnal_..., declaring from the high throne
+of the Vatican that Mary, most holy, _non fecit taliter omni nationi_."
+
+
+STORY OF JUAN DIEGO.
+
+Juan Diego had a sick father, and, like a good and pious son, he
+started for the medicine-man. He was stopped by the Virgin at the spot
+where the round house on the extreme right of the picture is situated.
+She reproached him with the slowness of the Indians in embracing the
+new religion, and at the same time she announced to him the important
+fact that she was to be the patron of the Indians, and also charged him
+to go and report the same to Zumarraga, who then enjoyed the lucrative
+office of Bishop of Mexico. Juan obeyed the heavenly messenger, but
+found himself turned out of doors as a lying Indian. The second time he
+went for the medicine-man he took another path, but was again stopped
+on the way at the spot where the second round house now stands. She now
+required him to go a second time to the bishop, and, in order to
+convince him of the truth of the story, she directed the Indian to
+climb to the top of the rock, where he would find a bunch of roses
+growing out of the smooth porphyry. The Indian did as he was commanded,
+and finding the roses in the place named, he gathered them in his
+_tilma_, and carried them to the bishop. The spot is marked by a small
+chapel. On opening his _tilma_ before the bishop and a company of
+gentlemen assembled for that purpose, it was found that the roses had
+imprinted themselves around a very coarse picture of the Virgin. This
+is the story of the miraculous appearance of our Lady of Guadalupe.
+
+[Illustration: TEMPLE OF THE VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE.]
+
+The bishop was hard to convince at first, but when he considered that
+the Indian could not himself paint, and had no money with which to pay
+an artist, and, above all, as there was a fair chance of making money
+by the transaction, he finally yielded to conviction. His example was
+soon followed by the whole nation; and then the several buildings, one
+after another, began to make their appearance. There was some
+difficulty at first in identifying the place of the first appearance of
+the Virgin, but this difficulty was removed by the Virgin herself, for
+she again appeared and stamped her foot upon the spot, whereupon there
+gushed forth a spring of mineral water.[39] This has proved an
+infallible cure for all diseases of body and mind, and to it the
+Indians resort to drink, and wash, and drink again, until it would seem
+that they must soon exhaust the fountain, so great is the multitude
+that resort to this spring of the Virgin.
+
+The Collegiate Church--for there can not be two Cathedrals in one
+diocese--is the principal building in the picture. It is not large, but
+it surpasses any thing I have yet seen for its immense accumulation of
+treasure, excepting always the Cathedral. A railing formed of plates of
+pure silver incloses both the choir and the altar of the Virgin. These
+are joined together by a passageway, which is inclosed by a portion of
+the same precious railing. The golden candlesticks, the golden shields,
+and other ornaments of gold, dazzle the eyes of the beholder, while the
+three rows of jewels, one of pearls, one of emeralds, and one of
+diamonds, encircling "the holy image," produce an impression not easily
+erased. The contrast that is presented between these hoards of wealth
+and the extreme poverty of the multitude that here congregate is most
+striking.
+
+The religion of Mexico is a religion of priestly miracles, and when the
+ordinary rules of evidence are applied to them, they and the religion
+that rests upon them fall together; hence the necessity of exacting at
+the start a blind submission to authority, and an abnegation of the
+reasoning faculties the moment the subject of religion is approached.
+We have applied the ordinary rules of evidence to the romance of the
+Conquest, and we find that it will not stand the test of an
+examination. But if we doubt the history of the Conquest, we must doubt
+the history of all the miracles of the Church, for all of them rest on
+the like untenable grounds. I did not wonder at finding the country
+abounding in unbelief. Now that the fires of the Inquisition have
+ceased to burn, the priesthood are made the butt and laughing-stock of
+those who are educated. Still, the national mind does not run toward
+the pure Gospel, which is here unknown and prohibited, but to
+infidelity and socialism. A sincere Protestant can have no sympathy
+with either side.
+
+
+AN INTERDICT.
+
+The following is Thomas Gage's account of an affair that took place in
+this temple in his time:
+
+"Don Alonzo de Zerna, the archbishop, who had always opposed Don Pedro
+Mexia and the Virey, to please the people, granted to them to
+excommunicate Don Pedro, and so sent out bills of excommunication, to
+be fixed upon all the church doors, against Don Pedro, who, not
+regarding the excommunication, and keeping close at home, and still
+selling his wheat at a higher price than before, the archbishop raised
+his censure higher against him, by adding to it a bill of _cessatio a
+divinis_, that is, a cessation of all divine service. This censure is
+so great with them that it is never used except for some great man's
+sake, who is contumacious and stubborn in his ways, contemning the
+power of the Church. Then are all the church doors shut up, let the
+city be never so great; no masses are said; no prayers are used; no
+preaching permitted; no meetings allowed for any public devotion; no
+calling upon God. The Church mourns, as it were, and makes no show of
+spiritual joy and comfort, nor of any communion of prayers one with
+another, so long as the party remains stubborn and rebellious in his
+sin and scandal, and in not yielding to the Church's censure.
+
+"And whereas, by this cessation _a divinis_, many churches, especially
+cloisters, suffer in the means of their livelihood, who live upon what
+is daily given for the masses they say, and in a cloister where thirty
+or forty priests say mass, so many pieces of eight [dollars] do daily
+come in, therefore this censure is inflicted upon the whole Church,
+that the party offending or scandalizing, for whose sake this curse is
+laid upon all, is bound to satisfy all priests and cloisters, which, in
+the way aforesaid, suffer, and to allow them so much out of his means
+as they might have daily got by selling away their masses for so many
+dollars for their daily livelihood. To this would the archbishop have
+brought Don Pedro, to have emptied out his purse, nearly a thousand
+dollars daily, toward the maintenance of about a thousand priests, so
+many there may be in Mexico, who from the altar sell away their bread
+god [sacrament][40] to satisfy with bread and food their hungry
+stomachs. And secondly, by the people suffering in their spiritual
+comfort, and in their communion of prayers and worship, thought to make
+Don Pedro odious to the people. Don Pedro, perceiving the spiteful
+intent of the archbishop, and hearing the outcries of the people
+against him, and their cries for the use of their churches, secretly
+retired to the palace of the Virey, begging his favor and protection,
+for whose sake he suffered.
+
+"The viceroy immediately sent out his orders commanding the bills of
+excommunication and _cessatio a divinis_ to be pulled down from the
+church doors; and to all the superiors of the cloisters to set open
+their churches, and to celebrate their services and masses as formerly
+they had done. But they disobeyed the vice-king through blind obedience
+to their archbishop. The viceroy commanded the arch-prelate to revoke
+his censures; but his answer was, that what he had done had been justly
+done against a public offender and great oppressor of the poor, whose
+cries had moved him to commiserate their suffering condition, and that
+the offender's contempt of his first excommunication had deserved the
+rigor of the second censure, neither of which he would nor could revoke
+until Don Pedro Mexia had submitted himself to the Church and to a
+public absolution, and had satisfied the priests and the cloisters who
+suffered for him, and had disclaimed that unlawful and unconscionable
+monopoly wherewith he wronged the whole commonwealth, and especially
+the poorer sort therein.
+
+
+ARREST OF AN ARCHBISHOP.
+
+"The viceroy, not brooking this saucy answer from a priest, commanded
+him presently to be apprehended, and to be taken under guard to San
+Juan de Ulua, and then to be shipped to Spain. The archbishop, having
+notice of this resolution of the viceroy, retired to Guadalupe, with
+many of his priests and prebends, leaving a bill of excommunication
+against the viceroy himself upon the church doors, intending privately
+to fly to Spain, there to give an account of his carriage and behavior.
+But he could not escape the care and vigilance of the viceroy, who,
+with his sergeant and officers, pursued him to Guadalupe, which the
+archbishop understanding, he betook himself to the sanctuary of the
+church, and there caused the candles to be lighted upon the altar, and
+the sacrament of his bread god to be taken out of the tabernacle, and
+attiring himself with his pontifical vestments, with his mitre on his
+head, his crosier in one hand, in the other he took his god of bread,
+and thus, with his train of priests about him at the altar, he waited
+for the coming of the sergeant and officers, whom he thought, with his
+god in his hand, and with a Here I am, to astonish and amaze, and to
+make them, as did Christ the Jews in the garden, to fall backward, and
+disable them from laying hands on him.
+
+
+BANISHMENT OF THE ARCHBISHOP.
+
+"The officers, coming into the church, went toward the altar where the
+bishop stood, and, kneeling down first to worship their _god_, made
+short prayers; which being ended, they propounded unto the bishop, with
+courteous and fair words, the cause of their coming to that place,
+requiring him to lay down the sacrament [the consecrated wafer], and to
+come out of the church, and to hear the notification of what orders
+they brought unto him in the king's name. To whom the archbishop
+replied, that whereas their master the viceroy was excommunicated, he
+looked upon him as one out of the pale of the Church, and one without
+any power or authority to command him in the house of God, and so
+required them, as they regarded the good of their souls, to depart
+peaceably, and not to infringe the privileges and immunities of the
+Church by exercising in it any legal act of secular power and command;
+and that he would not go out of the church unless they durst take him
+and the sacrament together. With this the head officer, named Tiroll,
+stood up and notified unto him an order, in the king's name, to
+apprehend his person in what place soever he should find him, and to
+guard him to the port of San Juan de Ulua, and there to deliver him to
+whom by farther order he should be directed thereto, to be shipped to
+Spain as a traitor to the king's crown, a troubler of the common peace,
+and an author and mover of sedition in the commonwealth.
+
+"The archbishop, smiling to Tiroll, answered him, 'Thy master useth too
+high terms and words, which do better agree unto himself, for I know no
+mutiny or sedition like to trouble the commonwealth, unless it be by
+his and Don Pedro Mexia his oppressing of the poor. And as for thy
+guarding me to San Juan de Ulua, I conjure thee by Jesus Christ, whom
+thou knowest I hold in my hands, not to use here any violence in God's
+house, from whose altar I am resolved not to depart; take heed God
+punish you not, as he did Jeroboam for stretching forth his hand at the
+altar against the prophet; let his withered hand remind thee of thy
+duty.' But Tiroll suffered him not to squander away the time and ravel
+it out with farther preaching, but called to the altar a priest, whom
+he had brought for the purpose, and commanded him, in the king's name,
+to take the sacrament [wafer] out of the archbishop's hand; which the
+priest doing, the archbishop, unvesting himself of his pontificals,
+yielded himself unto Tiroll; and, taking his leave of all his prebends,
+requiring them to be witnesses of what had been done, he went prisoner
+to San Juan de Ulua, where he was delivered to the custody of the
+governor of the castle, and, not many days after, was sent in a ship
+prepared for that purpose to Spain, to the king in council, with a full
+charge of all his carriages and misdemeanors."
+
+      [39] This water is impregnated with carbonic acid, sulphate of
+      lime, and soda.
+
+      [40] It is difficult to convey to Protestant readers the idea
+      which the Spaniards attach to the sacramental bread or wafer
+      after the priest has pronounced the words of consecration. They
+      call it both God and Jesus Christ, and claim for it divine
+      worship.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+The old Indian City of Mexico.--The Mosques.--Probable Extent of
+Civilization.--Aztecs acquired Arts of the Toltecs.--Toltec
+Civilization, ancient and original.--The Pyramid of Papantla.--The
+Plunder of Civilization.--Mexico as described by Cortéz.--Montezuma's
+Court.--The eight Months that Cortéz held Montezuma.--What happened
+for the next ten Months.--The Siege of Mexico by Cortéz.--Aztecs
+conquered by Famine and Thirst.--Heroes on Paper and Victories
+without Bloodshed.--Cortéz and Morgan.
+
+
+As we have carefully surveyed the suburbs, and all the valley of
+Mexico, it is time to take a survey of the city itself, and examine its
+condition at different periods of its history.
+
+
+THE MEXICO OF THE AZTECS.
+
+The Aztec city of Mexico perished with its conquest by the Spaniards.
+Day by day, as the siege went on, the Indians that followed the
+soldiers pulled the houses down, when the latter had passed, and threw
+the rubbish into the canals; so that, on the day on which the conquest
+was effected, the city ceased to exist. Many times has that old city
+been restored, in the imagination of enthusiasts, with its forty
+pyramids (_teocallis_) and unnumbered palaces, adorned with all the
+luxury and magnificence of the most refined civilization, united with
+barbaric grandeur and inhumanity in so strange a combination as to
+distract our feelings between hate and admiration.
+
+It was easy to build an Indian city that would present a most imposing
+appearance, for the climate was well fitted for drying mud thoroughly.
+Besides, there was an inexhaustible supply of pumice-stone
+(_tepetate_), and an exceedingly soft, gray quarry stone, for caps and
+lintels, with an excellent quality of cement, and material for
+"_fresco_ painting" of the walls, abundant and cheap. All these
+articles are combined in the building of the modern city, and give it
+its present appearance of elegance and great durability. But in the old
+city, one-story palaces of dried mud, plastered and frescoed, with
+large interior courts like that I have described at Tezcuco, must have
+been among the most imposing structures. If _tepetate_ was employed
+in the construction of the royal palaces, it would not have added
+materially to the weight resting upon the earthy foundations; for when
+the water in the ditches occupied half the street,[41] the foundations
+must have been so much softer than at present, that structures of the
+lightest material only could be borne.
+
+In his anxiety to keep up a resemblance between his conquests and that
+of Granada, Cortéz calls the _teocallis_, or Indian mounds which he
+found, _mosques_, and speaks of "forty towers, the largest of which
+has fifty steps leading to its main body, and is higher than the tower
+of the principal church in Seville."[42] Bernal Diaz says there were
+"115 steps to the summit."[43] I must reduce the size of this great
+pyramid to the size of the isolated rock that the Cathedral is said to
+occupy. The difficulty of getting rid of the earth that composed these
+forty artificial mountains does not seem to have troubled historians so
+much as it would a contractor. I have often thought that those hillocks
+of earth on the north side of the town were once small artificial
+mounds on which the Indians offered their worship, for in the canal
+near by was found that collection of clay divinities of which I have
+already spoken.
+
+The difficulty in the way of forming a correct idea of that old city,
+is owing to the defective character of our witnesses. The one confesses
+to the habitual practice of falsehood for the purpose of deceiving the
+Indians; the other acknowledges practices that render the character of
+both infamous, and would make their testimony of no weight in a court
+of justice unless corroborated. We must therefore feel our way as best
+we can.
+
+With the rude implements of the Indians, houses of the driest blocks of
+mud, though covered with cement and painted with colored wash, could
+easily have been thrown down; but gunpowder or iron bars would have
+been necessary to overturn a wall composed either of stone or
+_tepetate_ and cement. Villages built of dried mud are often imposing
+in their appearance, and are yet most perishable; for the first
+overflow of waters, that shall cover but a few inches of the walls of
+the houses, will in a few hours reduce a whole village to a mass of
+ruins. Again, the dry wall that has fallen becomes saturated, and
+dissolves itself into soft mud. My hypothesis is, therefore, not
+without its difficulty, for at every inundation of the city in the
+times of the Aztecs we have to suppose it totally destroyed; an evil
+that could not be remedied until the water had entirely subsided, and
+new mud had been formed into blocks and dried in the sun, and a new
+village or city built every twenty-five years.
+
+To sum up my theory of Aztec civilization: they had earthen gods,
+earthen cooking utensils, and earthen aqueducts; their temples were
+small buildings, upon moderately-sized Indian burial mounds, and their
+palaces and sacred inclosures were of dried mud, and of a single story
+in height.
+
+
+THE TOLTECS.
+
+With this solution, the difficulty that occurred to Humboldt is in part
+removed, viz., that the allotted time--one hundred and seventy
+years--was too short a period in which to transform a tribe of North
+American Indians into a settled community. The remainder of the
+difficulty is explained by an event taking place in our own days. It is
+hardly thirty years since the Apache Indians began the systematic
+plunder of the northern states of Mexico, and now even these nomades
+begin to show the first glimmerings of civilization. Their captives
+teach them the use of much of the plunder they have brought to their
+own villages. Though their treatment of female captives is inhuman, yet
+it is not an uncommon thing for a captive to become a wife, and to
+introduce into her wigwam, and to inculcate upon the minds of her
+children, a few of the primary ideas of civilization. It is the
+commonly received notion that the Toltecs abandoned the table-land
+about the time of the arrival of the Aztecs, but continued to flourish
+in the region of the Gulf coast and in other parts of the hot country;
+that the vast ruins which abound in those regions were inhabited cities
+till within a few generations of the coming of the Spaniards; and that
+in Yucatan, the part most distant from Mexico, that civilization
+continued quite down to that period; that for a great portion of the
+one hundred and seventy years of their national existence, the Aztecs
+kept up predatory excursions into the Toltec region, and out of its
+dense population derived an inexhaustible supply of slaves and the
+plunder of civilization, included in which may have been the best
+wrought of the stone idols that are still preserved. So that the Aztec
+civilization resolves itself into the very ancient civilization of the
+Toltecs.
+
+
+PYRAMID OF PAPANTLA.
+
+We have removed to a greater antiquity, but have not got rid of the
+question of the origin of Mexican civilization. The year 600, named by
+Humboldt, may be considered as the time of their appearance on the
+table-land; out many of the ruins in the hot country might claim a
+thousand years earlier antiquity. These massive remains must have
+stood, abandoned as they are now, in the midst of the forest, for a
+long time before the Conquest, as their very existence was unknown to
+the Spaniards until near the close of the last century. The close
+resemblance between the apparently most ancient of these works, and
+those of the Egyptianss and other Eastern civilizations, does not
+involve the idea of a common origin or of intercourse, but only leads
+to the suggestion that the human race, in its progress, naturally
+follows the same path, whether upon the eastern or western continent,
+and that it is separated by a cycle of thousands of years from the
+civilization of our day. As a specimen of the works of the Toltecs, I
+insert a sketch of the pyramid of Papantla.
+
+[Illustration: PYRAMID OF PAPANTLA.]
+
+"The pyramid of Papantla," says Humboldt,[44] "is not constructed like
+the pyramids of Cholula and Mexico. The only materials employed are
+immense stones. Mortar is distinguished in the seams. The edifice,
+however, is not so remarkable for its size as for its symmetry, the
+polish of the stones, and the great regularity of their cut. The base
+of the pyramid is an exact square, each side being eighty-two feet in
+length. The perpendicular height appears not to be more than from
+fifty-two to sixty-five feet. This monument, like all the Mexican
+_teocallis_, is composed of several stages. Six are still
+distinguishable, and a seventh appears to be concealed by the
+vegetation with which the sides of the pyramid are covered. A great
+stairway of fifty-seven steps conducts to the truncated top of the
+_teocalli_, where the human victims were sacrificed. On each side of
+the great stairs is a flight of small stairs. The facing of the stories
+is adorned with hieroglyphics, in which serpents and crocodiles, carved
+in relievo, are discernible. Each story contains a great number of
+square niches, symmetrically distributed. In the first story we reckon
+twenty-four on each side, in the second twenty, and in the third
+sixteen. The number of these niches in the body of the pyramid is three
+hundred and sixty-six, and there are twelve in the stairs toward the
+east. The Abbé Marquez supposes that this number of three hundred and
+seventy-eight niches has some allusion to a calendar of the Mexicans,
+and he even believes that in each of them one of the twenty figures was
+repeated, which, in the hieroglyphical language of the Toltecs, served
+as a symbol for marking the days of the common year, and the
+intercalated days at the end of the cycles. The year being composed of
+eighteen months of twenty days, there would then be three hundred and
+sixty days, to which, agreeable to the Egyptian practice, five
+complementary days were added.... This pyramid was visited by M. Dupé,
+a captain in the service of the King of Spain. He possesses the bust,
+in basalt, of a Mexican, which I employed M. Massard to engrave, and
+which bears great resemblance to the _calautica_ of the heads of Isis."
+
+I prefer in this way to copy from an author of unquestionable authority
+an important historical fact, rather than to search for less accessible
+sources of evidence on which I rest the theory, that what of this kind
+we have seen at the city of Mexico are but fragments from the wreck
+that befell the American civilization of antiquity, which had succumbed
+before the inroads of northern savages. This is sufficient inquiry into
+antiquities till we come to the museum.
+
+
+MEXICO ACCORDING TO CORTÉZ.
+
+It is but justice to add the substance of Cortéz's account of this
+ancient city, which is embodied in the following paragraphs:
+
+"This noble city contains many fine and magnificent houses, which may
+be accounted for from the fact that all the nobility of the country,
+who are the vassals of Montezuma, have houses in the city, in which
+they reside a certain part of the year; and, besides, there are
+numerous wealthy citizens who also possess fine houses. All these
+persons, in addition to the large and spacious apartments for ordinary
+purposes, have others, both upper and lower, that contain
+conservatories of flowers. Along one of the causeways [the Chapultepec]
+that lead into the city are laid two [water] pipes, constructed of
+masonry, each of which is two paces in width, and about five feet in
+height.... The inhabitants of this city pay greater regard to the style
+of their mode of living, and are more attentive to elegance of dress
+and politeness of manners than those of other provinces and cities,
+since, as the caçique Montezuma has his residence in the capital, and
+all the nobility, his vassals, are in the constant habit of meeting
+there, a general courtesy of demeanor necessarily prevails.... For, as
+I have already stated, what can be more wonderful than that a barbarous
+monarch, as he is, should have every object found in his dominions
+imitated in gold, silver, precious stones, and feathers, the gold and
+silver being wrought so naturally as not to be surpassed by any smith
+in the world, the stone-work executed with such perfection that it is
+difficult to conceive what instruments could have been used, and the
+feather-work superior to the finest production in wax and
+embroidery?... He possessed out of the city as well as within numerous
+villas, each of which had its peculiar sources of amusement, and all
+were constructed in the best possible manner for the use of a great
+prince or lord. Within the city, his palaces were so wonderful that it
+is hardly possible to describe their beauty and extent. I can only say
+that in Spain there is nothing equal to them. There was one palace
+somewhat inferior to the rest, attached to which was a beautiful
+garden, with balconies extending over it, supported by marble columns,
+and having a floor formed of jasper elegantly inlaid. There were
+apartments in this palace sufficient to lodge two princes of the
+highest rank with their retinues.... The emperor has another beautiful
+palace, with a large court-yard paved with handsome flags in the style
+of a chess-board.
+
+"Every day, as soon as it was light, six hundred nobles and men of rank
+were in attendance at the palace, who either sat or walked about the
+halls and galleries, and passed their time in conversation, but without
+entering the apartments where his person was.... Daily his larder and
+wine-cellar[45] were open to all who wished to eat and drink. The meals
+were served by three hundred youths, who brought on an infinite variety
+of dishes; indeed, whenever he dined or supped, the table was loaded
+with every kind of flesh, fish, and vegetables that the country
+produced. The meals were served in a large hall, in which Montezuma was
+accustomed to eat, and the dishes quite filled the room, which was
+covered with mats, and kept very clean. He sat on a small cushion
+curiously wrought of leather.[46] He is also dressed four times every
+day in four different suits entirely new, which he never wears a second
+time. None of the caçiques who enter his palace have their feet
+covered, and when those for whom he sends enter his presence, they
+incline their heads and look down, bending their bodies; and when they
+address him, they do not look him in the face; this arises from
+excessive modesty and reverence....[47] No sultan or other infidel lord,
+of whom any knowledge now exists, ever had so much ceremonial in his
+court."
+
+
+PROCEEDINGS OF THE SPANIARDS.
+
+It was in the spring of 1519 that Cortéz and his company had landed at
+Vera Cruz. From that point they had marched toward Mexico without
+opposition, except the skirmishes with the Tlascalans, and without
+opposition they had entered the city of Mexico on the 5th of November,
+1519. Here they had been received with every mark of hospitality and
+treated with every kindness. But this did not prevent their
+treacherously seizing the person of their host, and making him a
+prisoner in their quarters. In his name they had governed his tribe,
+and ransacked his dominions in search of the treasures collected by the
+gold-washers, and had even interfered in the religious worship of a
+superstitious people, and murdered, in cold blood, a party of their
+chiefs celebrating an Indian feast. Still there had been no war, until
+Ordaz was sent, with his four hundred men, to recapture the concubines
+of Cortéz, who had been rescued, as already mentioned. This was in July
+of the following year, eight months after their first entry into
+Mexico, and on the 10th of July, 1520, the licentious rule of the
+Spaniards at Mexico was terminated by the events of the _triste noche_.
+
+The mere handful that had at first entered the city had been increased
+by the army of Narvaez, so that when the news reached Cortéz that
+Alvarado and the eighty odd men that had been left with him in the city
+were threatened with difficulty, he marched a well-appointed army of
+fourteen hundred men, besides two hundred Tlascalans, to his relief.
+Their retreat to Tlascala has already been described, the character of
+the brigantines has been discussed, as well as the absurd story of his
+having dug a slip or launching canal at Tezcuco, twelve feet broad and
+twelve feet deep. We have seen that the towns and villages said to have
+been built in the lake, and the still greater number of large towns on
+the main land, could only have been petty Indian hamlets, and that the
+central portions of the valley of Mexico would not have been habitable
+if the lakes of Mexico had been any thing more than evaporation ponds.
+And, lest I should venture too far, I will conclude this remark by
+adverting to the testimony of Diaz, which concedes that when his book
+was written the face of the country was substantially as it now is, and
+as I have already described it to be. But he endeavors to save the
+story of the Conquest by the shallow pretense that, during the few
+years that intervened between that event and the date of his history,
+the whole face of the country had completely changed.[48]
+
+The great mystery is why so large a body of Spaniards, if they really
+amounted to the number claimed by Cortéz, should have retreated from
+the city at all, as they do not complain of being short of provisions.
+They had the great _teocalli_ for a fortress, on which they might have
+planted their cannon, and leveled the city in a few days, if not in a
+few hours, and the great Plaza in which to manoeuvre their cavalry
+and protect the Indians while leveling the rubbish of the broken walls.
+But a panic having seized them, and having escaped from the city by a
+badly-managed night retreat, ten months elapsed before the Spaniards,
+on the 13th of May, 1521, laid siege to the city. And with varying
+success the siege was continued just three months, until Guatemozin was
+taken prisoner, on the 13th of August, 1521, so that the siege was
+carried on in the midst of the rainy season, when the flats must have
+been covered with water, and the ditches well filled. No difficulty was
+experienced in bringing up his flat-boats to the sides of the muddy
+causeways, or in cutting off the supplies of provisions by water, or in
+breaking down the earthen aqueduct of Chapultepec, so that the Indians
+were finally subdued by the combined forces of hunger and thirst. When,
+the Aztecs were so enfeebled by want that they could no longer offer
+resistance, the Spaniards rushed into the town, seized the unresisting
+Guatemozin, and shouted victory.
+
+
+INDIAN WARFARE.
+
+It requires a familiarity with Spanish character, and the Moorish,
+Oriental origin of their literature, in order to read Spanish-American
+military annals understandingly, as much so as it does a knowledge of
+Indian character in order to sift out the truth from accounts of Indian
+wars. The superstitious dread which the Aztecs at all times evinced for
+the Spanish horses and horsemen is common to all savages.[49] The
+appearance of two or three horses, kept ready for that purpose, was
+sufficient to restore the battle after the Spaniards had taken to their
+heels. And while the facts of the siege amount to little more than
+keeping possession of the narrow causeways, by aid of superior
+implements of war, until famine and thirst had done their work, yet the
+Spanish histories of the Conquest make it to surpass in interest, and
+in the magnitude of forces engaged, almost any siege on record. And so
+plausibly is the narrative written, that the reader drinks it in with
+breathless anxiety, without once stopping to ask himself how so many
+hundreds of thousands of Indians could be fed in a salt valley,
+inclosed by high mountains, without the aid of a regularly organized
+commissariat department, or how such masses of undisciplined Indians
+could be manoeuvred upon a narrow causeway, where numbers add no
+strength, but only tend to augment the confusion--where, as in this
+case, there had to be a daily advance and retreat in presence of an
+active enemy.
+
+
+IMPROBABILITY OF CORTÉZ'S ACCOUNT.
+
+The interesting note which we have copied describes an event within the
+memory of the present generation. And it is well recollected what
+trepidation was caused in that colony of the British Empire by the
+approach to the frontier of a nation of barbarians who despised fear,
+whose religion was war, and who knew no sin like that of turning the
+back to any enemy. Yet a hundred horsemen, with firearms, from a
+missionary village, unaccustomed to war, were sufficient to turn back
+this mighty host of brave savages. It can not be claimed that the
+Aztecs were superior to these Mantatees, or that the force of Cortéz
+was inferior in equipment to the hundred unwarlike Griquas whose
+"thunder and lightning" (as they termed the musketry) drove them back.
+The missionary was a Protestant, a man of truth, and had no glory to
+win, and therefore told only the simple truth. Cortéz, out of a much
+inferior affair, has fabricated a romance, with such verisimilitude
+that he has astonished the world by an account of achievements which he
+never performed. To write well is nine tenths of a hero; and in the
+time of Cortéz, as it is even now at Mexico, it was the easiest thing
+imaginable to manufacture an astonishing victory out of the very
+smallest amount of material. If no lives were lost in the battle, so
+much more astounding is the victory. This practice of sacrificing human
+life is only a modification of cannibalism, and the very mission on
+which the Spaniards came to Mexico was to extinguish that crime, so
+that they would jeopardize their title to the country should they
+presume to shed the blood of each other in their interminable wars. And
+so long as only women, and children, and Indians are the sufferers,
+they do no violence to the rules of warfare which Cortéz and the
+Conquistadors introduced. The armies of Mexico have never been
+deficient in good writers; a specimen of the capacity of one of them I
+have already given in the chapter on Texas; so that their stately and
+dignified histories of the national squabbles of the last thirty years
+are equal to Cortéz in gross exaggeration, and not a whit behind him in
+elegance of composition.
+
+
+MORGAN AND CORTÉZ.
+
+A hundred years after the conquest of Mexico, there sailed out of the
+harbor of Port Royal, now Kingston, in Jamaica, an unlawful military
+enterprise, about equal in force to that with which Cortéz first landed
+at Vera Cruz, but immensely inferior to the panic-stricken host that
+fled by night from the city of Mexico. The fitting out of this unlawful
+expedition, like that of Cortéz, had the connivance of the local
+authorities. The difference between the two was, that Morgan did not
+understand the Spanish Oriental style of proclaiming his own heroism,
+and furthermore, his expedition was not directed against a
+miserably-armed rabble of Indians, but against the fortified city of
+Panama, held by a garrison of royal troops.
+
+Mooring his little fleet in the harbor of Chagres, Morgan marched his
+small force across the Isthmus, which then presented greater
+difficulties to his passage with cannon and munitions of war than
+Cortéz encountered in his march to Mexico. Like Cortéz in his first
+expedition, Morgan met with no opposition in his first visit to Panama,
+but, with his men, lived at free quarters in rioting and debauchery,
+committing those atrocities that pirates alone can commit, until, their
+appetites and their passions being satiated, they returned to the Gulf
+coast, taking with them the plunder of a city which was then the
+depository of the treasures drawn from South America. They returned a
+second time to Panama, as Cortéz did to Mexico. This time they met with
+resistance, but they carried the town by assault, and devoted it to
+utter destruction. Their efforts were seconded by a terrible
+earthquake, from which the people fled, and built a new city at a
+distance of a few miles from the ruins.
+
+For more than two hundred years the rank vegetation of a tropical
+forest has been driving its massive roots beneath its foundations, and
+yet the ruins of Panama still bear the marks of having once been a city
+of much magnificence. Two massive stone bridges, a pavement, diverse
+broken walls, and a solid tower standing up above the tops of the tall
+forest-trees, proclaim the incontrovertible fact that the traces of a
+large city can not be altogether blotted out in the course of a few
+centuries.
+
+Morgan has never gratified the world with a narrative of his
+adventures, nor has any of his gang enlightened us with a history of
+the conquest of Panama, nor has any Saxon bishop Lorenzana yet been
+found so lost to all moral sense as to commend the piety of such
+infamous men. And yet, in the boldness of his enterprise, in the
+courage of its execution, in the amount of plunder realized, in
+military talent and prowess, Morgan the pirate was incalculably
+superior to Cortéz the hero.
+
+      [41] CORTÉZ, _Letters_, p. 111.
+
+      [42] Ibid.
+
+      [43] _Diaz_, p. 247.
+
+      [44] _Essai Politique_, vol. ii. p. 172.
+
+      [45] This is a little too strong a statement, considering that
+      there never was and never could be a cellar at Mexico.
+
+      [46] The naked negro alcalde mentioned in Chapter XII. was also
+      seated on a leather cushion.
+
+      [47] This is not all fancy. No people in the world show more
+      profound reverence to the aged or deference to their chiefs than
+      the North American Indians.
+
+      [48] "Iztapalapan was at that time a town of considerable
+      magnitude, built half in the water and half on dry land. The spot
+      where it stood is at present all dry land; and where vessels once
+      sailed up and down, seeds are sown and harvests gathered. In
+      fact, the whole face of the country is so completely changed,
+      that he who had not seen these parts previously would scarcely
+      believe that waves had ever rolled over the spot where now
+      fertile corn-plantations extend themselves to all sides, so
+      wonderfully have all things changed here in a short space of
+      time."--BERNAL DIAZ, vol. i. p. 220.
+
+      [49] Moffatt's Southern Africa, page 242, furnishes the following
+      complete illustration of the effect produced by horsemen and
+      fire-arms upon savage warriors. "The commando approached within
+      150 yards with a view to beckon some one to come out. On this,
+      the enemy commenced their terrible howl, and at once discharged
+      their clubs and javelins. Their black, dismal appearance and
+      savage fury, with their hoarse and stentorian voices, were
+      calculated to daunt; and the Griquas [horsemen], on their first
+      attack, wisely retreated to a short distance, and then drew up.
+      Waterboer, the chief, commenced firing, and leveled one of their
+      warriors to the ground; several more instantly shared the same
+      fate. It was confidently expected that their courage would be
+      daunted when they saw their warriors fall by an invisible weapon,
+      and it was hoped they would be humbled and alarmed, that thus
+      further bloodshed might be prevented. Though they beheld with
+      astonishment the dead and the stricken warriors writhing in the
+      dust, they looked with lion-like fierceness at the horsemen, and
+      yelled vengeance, violently wrenching the weapons from the hands
+      of their dying companions to supply the place of those they had
+      discharged at their antagonists. Sufficient intervals were
+      afforded, and every encouragement held out for them to make
+      proposals, but all was ineffectual. They sallied forth with
+      increased vigor, so as to oblige the Griquas to retreat, though
+      only to a short distance, for they never attempted to pursue
+      above 200 yards from their camp. The firing, though without any
+      order, was very destructive, as each took a steady aim. Many of
+      their chief men fell victims to their own temerity, after
+      manifesting undaunted spirit. Again and again the chiefs and Mr.
+      Melville met to deliberate on how to act to prevent bloodshed
+      among a people who determined to die rather than flee, which they
+      could easily have done.
+
+      "Soon after the battle commenced, the Bechuanas came up, and
+      united in playing on the enemy with poisoned arrows, but they
+      were soon driven back; half a dozen of the fierce Mantatees [the
+      enemy] made the whole body scamper off in wild disorder. After
+      two hours and a half's combat, the Griquas, finding their
+      ammunition fast diminishing, at the almost certain risk of loss
+      of life, began to storm [charge], when the enemy gave way, taking
+      a westerly direction. The horsemen, however, intercepted them,
+      when they immediately descended toward the ravine, as if
+      determined not to return by the way they came, which they
+      crossed, but were again intercepted. On turning round they seemed
+      desperate, but were again soon repulsed. Great confusion now
+      prevailed, the ground being very stony, which rendered it
+      difficult to manage the horses. At this moment an awful scene was
+      presented to the view. The undulating country around was covered
+      with warriors all in motion, so that it was difficult to say who
+      were enemies or who were friends. Clouds of dust were rising from
+      the immense masses, who appeared flying with terror or pursuing
+      with fear. To the alarming confusion was added the bellowing of
+      oxen, the vociferations of the yet unvanquished warriors, mingled
+      with the groans of the dying, and the widows' piercing wail, and
+      the cries from infant voices. The enemy again directed their
+      course toward a town which was in possession of a tribe of the
+      same people still more numerous. Here again another desperate
+      struggle ensued, when they appeared determined to inclose the
+      horsemen within the smoke and flames of the houses, through which
+      they were slowly passing, giving the enemy time to escape. At
+      last, seized with despair, they fled precipitately. It had been
+      observed during the fight that some women went backward and
+      forward to the town, only about half a mile distant, apparently
+      with the most perfect indifference to their fearful situation.
+      While the commando was struggling between hope and despair of
+      being able to rout the enemy, information was brought that the
+      half of the enemy, under Choane, were reposing in the town,
+      within sound of the guns, perfectly regardless of the fate of the
+      other division, under the command of Karagauye. It was supposed
+      they possessed entire confidence in the yet invincible army of
+      the latter, being the more warlike of the two. Humanly speaking,
+      had both parties been together, the day would have been lost,
+      when they would with perfect ease have carried devastation into
+      the centre of the colony [of the Cape]. When both parties were
+      united, they set fire to all parts of the town, and appeared to
+      be taking their departure, proceeding in an immense body toward
+      the north. If their number may be calculated by the space of
+      ground occupied by the entire body, it must have amounted to
+      upward of 40,000. The Griquas pursued them about eight miles; and
+      though they continued desperate, they seemed filled with terror
+      at the enemies by whom they had been overcome.... As fighting was
+      not my province, I avoided discharging a single shot, though, at
+      the request of Mr. Melville and the chiefs, I remained with the
+      commando as the only means of safety. Seeing the savage ferocity
+      of the Bechuanas in killing the inoffensive women and children
+      for the sake of a few paltry rings, or to boast that they had
+      killed some of the Mantatees, I turned my attention to these
+      objects of pity, who were flying in consternation in all
+      directions. By my galloping in among them, many of the Bechuanas
+      were deterred from their barbarous purpose. Shortly after they
+      began to retreat, the women, seeing that mercy was shown them,
+      instead of flying, generally sat down, and, baring their bosoms,
+      exclaimed, 'I am a woman. I am a woman.' It seemed impossible for
+      the men to yield. There were several instances of wounded men
+      being surrounded by fifty Bechuanas, but it was not till life was
+      almost extinct that a single one would allow himself to be
+      conquered. I saw more than one instance of a man fighting boldly
+      with ten or twelve spears or arrows fixed in his body.... The
+      men, struggling with death, would raise themselves from the
+      ground, and discharge their weapons at any one of our number
+      within their reach: their hostile and revengeful spirit only
+      ceased when life was extinct. Contemplating this deadly conflict,
+      we could not but admire the mercy of God that not one of our
+      number was killed, and only one slightly wounded. One Bechuana
+      lost his life while too eagerly seeking for plunder. The slain of
+      the enemy was between four and five hundred.
+
+      "The Mantatees are a tall, robust people, in features resembling
+      the Bechuanas; the dress, consisting of prepared ox-hides,
+      hanging doubly over their shoulders. The men, during the
+      engagement, were nearly naked, having on their heads a round
+      cockade of black ostrich feathers. Their ornaments were large
+      copper rings, sometimes eight in number, worn round their necks,
+      with numerous arm, leg, and ear rings of the same material. Their
+      weapons were war-axes of various shapes, and clubs. Into many of
+      their knob-sticks were inserted pieces of iron resembling a
+      sickle, but more curved, sometimes to a circle, and sharp on the
+      outside. They appeared more rude and barbarous than the tribes
+      around us, the natural consequences of the warlike life they had
+      led. They were suffering dreadfully from want; even in the heat
+      of battle, the poorest class seized pieces of meat and devoured
+      them raw."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+The new City of Mexico.--The Discoveries of Gold.--Ruins at
+Mexico.--The Monks, and what Cortéz gained by his Piety.--The City
+of Mexico again rebuilt.--The City under Ravillagigedo.--The National
+Palace.--The Cathedral.--A whole Museum turned Saints.--All kneel
+together.--The San Carlos Academy of Arts.--Reign of Carlos III--The
+Mineria.
+
+
+The city of Mexico, as rebuilt by Cortéz, was but an humble affair. The
+small amount of plunder realized from the city destroyed; the necessity
+for large remittances to secure peace at the Spanish court; the general
+poverty and destitution of the Indians inhabiting the surrounding
+villages, and the narrow limits of the Aztec empire, were great
+impediments in the way of erecting a magnificent city. On a small
+scale, he resembled Santa Anna in the activity with which he could
+organize an army after defeat, or resuscitate affairs when apparently
+irretrievable. He knew how to improve the most slender means to the
+accomplishment of ulterior purposes. Perseverance is not one of the
+leading characteristics of the Spanish race, yet it is surprising to
+see how much they will often accomplish with what would appear to us
+totally inadequate means. Such was eminently the talent of Cortéz.
+Surrounded by disappointed men, who had been lured to the country by
+magnificent pictures of its resources, he still went on extending his
+conquests among the surrounding tribes.
+
+Fortunately, the most precious of all metals is obtained by the most
+simple process, and the gold-washings of the Mescala and other parts of
+the south, which the Indians had but partially wrought, received more
+attention as soon as they learned how readily the precious metal could
+be exchanged for the gewgaws of the Europeans. Gold dust was greedily
+exchanged for its weight in bright silver coins, and an ounce of gold
+was not unfrequently given for a bright-colored handkerchief. In a few
+months the means for the organization of a community were obtained from
+the gold-diggings. Nothing tends so much to elevate the lowly as the
+discovery of gold-washings, in which individual effort, and not
+machinery, is the ruling power, and the producer of wealth. But even a
+gold country has its evils; for nowhere have I ever seen so many
+disappointed men as at the very place where an abundance of gold could
+be had for simply washing it out of the mud; and nowhere have I seen so
+large a proportion of unemployed men as on the spot where the wages of
+labor were fabulously high. Still, with all these drawbacks, the city
+of Cortéz rapidly progressed under the stimulus of gold discoveries,
+until he found the wildest of his dreams falling short of the reality.
+
+
+THE MONKS IN MEXICO.
+
+The new city did not occupy the exact position of its Indian
+predecessor, but was clustered around the still remaining navigable
+canals, upon the southern border, while the main portion of the old
+city, which lay toward the northern limits of the island--where to this
+day such an abundant supply of earthen gods is to be found by
+digging--was left a mass of ruins. These were not, by any means, the
+ruins of fallen stone walls, or capitals, or columns, but shapeless
+masses of earth, which proclaim most unmistakably the kind of
+magnificence which distinguished the ancient capital of the Aztec
+empire.
+
+The monks, who scented gold as buzzards scent carrion, began early to
+discover the growing wealth of this new city, and soon a party of a
+dozen Franciscans, in sackcloth with downcast visages, approached the
+city. They came, not as religious teachers, but as spiritual
+scavengers, who had consecrated their lives for gold to clean out the
+road to heaven for the vilest sinners. Cortéz, who had been the
+greatest sinner, was now the greatest penitent. The whole city was
+moved at the coming of these holy men, who carried the cross before
+them, but forgot not the cards and the dice in their pockets--who
+daily, in the mass, consecrated spiritual bread for famishing souls,
+and at night spent the wages of their piety at the gambling-table. To
+the surprise of his fellow-profligates, and to the astonishment of the
+Indians, Cortéz, walking bare-footed, led the procession that escorted
+the monks from near the spot where his brigantines had sailed among the
+corn-fields of Iztapalapan to the little chapel he had partly finished,
+and which now stands in the yard of the Franciscans.[50] He was so
+zealous in the performance of his devotions and his penances that he
+won the affections of the holy fathers to such a degree that he ever
+found faithful supporters in the powerful order of Saint Francis in all
+his troubles at the Spanish court. The question of his sincerity
+mattered little to them. It was the benefit of his public example which
+they, above all things, desired in their search after golden treasures.
+To get gold and to gratify their vices was their pious calling. Though
+they boast of having baptized some 6000 Indians, this argues nothing,
+except as it tends to show the numbers of the Indian population of the
+valley; for, as a badge of their subjugation, the Indians received
+Christian baptism; and truly it has been said of them, "They feared the
+Lord, but served their graven images."
+
+We have now a sadder tale to tell; one that philanthropists have
+grieved over so often. Gold-washings are soon exhausted, but they
+frequently lead to the discovery of silver mines, which become so
+profitable as to drive away the very memory of the gold-washings. Thus
+the fact that gold-washings ever existed in Mexico, or even in Brazil,
+is almost forgotten, and the places where those washings were rests in
+vague tradition.
+
+But while gold is procured by the most simple process, to extract
+silver requires science, and an immense expenditure of labor and
+machinery, in delving to the very bowels of the earth, and in
+separating the slight percentage of pure silver from the mass of ore.
+In this exhausting labor, which is often assigned to convicts, Indians
+were employed until they gave up the ghost. The conquerors had
+appropriated to themselves the best-looking of the Indian females,
+while their husbands--for Indians marry very early in life--were
+consigned to the mines as laborers and carriers in the bowels of the
+mountain. From this promiscuous intercourse, so early introduced, has
+arisen the present mixed-blood population of Mexico. The offspring of
+sin, they are a nation of sinners. The pure Indians are the descendants
+chiefly of the unenslaved tribes, like the Tlascalans and Tezcucans,
+who carried on the subsequent wars of Cortéz, and the whites are mostly
+descendants of later immigrations.
+
+In a former chapter we have seen that the evils which California
+suffered in the first years of its existence afflicted Mexico down to
+the time of the great inundation of 1629; and from the pen of an
+eye-witness we have given a picture of the state of society at that
+time. But during the five years that the water rested on the city, its
+superabundant wealth disappeared; many of the nobility and gentry
+withdrew to Puebla, carrying with them their treasures and their vices,
+while multitudes of the poorer classes perished. So that when the
+Virgin of Guadalupe, in her great mercy to an afflicted people, caused
+the earth to open and swallow up the great excess of waters, they had
+become a sobered and a more moral population. It is from this abating
+of the waters in the year 1634 that we have to date the origin of the
+present city of Mexico; for the foundations of all the buildings except
+those about the Cathedral were so much softened by five years of
+soaking that they could not be relied on; and a new city grew up upon
+new foundations. This is the Mexico of the present day; a city more
+elegant than substantial, and dependent more upon the plaster and
+colored washings of its walls than solid masonry for its apparent
+durability.
+
+
+THE VICEROY RAVILLAGIGEDO.
+
+It was the great Vice-king Ravillagigedo, toward the close of the last
+century (1789), who gave the finishing strokes to the city, and
+established its reputation as the finest city on this continent while
+the vice-kingdom continued. It was then one of the best-lighted cities
+to be found, while in its paving he expended the large sum of
+$347,715.[51] We have seen, in our own day and in our own large cities,
+the popular applause which follows the rigid enforcement of wholesome
+ordinances; and it may be well supposed that in a city like Mexico,
+such an unusual proceeding would elevate the fearless magistrate in
+popular estimation, and make him the subject of all kind of apocryphal
+anecdotes.
+
+The best of the anecdotes illustrating his sternness in enforcing city
+ordinances is the following: A police officer once reported to him the
+case of the occupants of a house who had neglected sweeping in front of
+their premises. He informed him that the family had consisted of a
+widowed mother and two daughters, but that the mother had died during
+the previous night, and that, instead of sweeping the street as usual,
+the daughters sat at the door weeping, and soliciting money of
+passers-by to bury the dead body. "Return," said the viceroy sternly to
+the officer, "and stand at the door until there are twelve shillings (a
+dollar and a half) in the plate, and then take it, and bring it and the
+offenders to me." The officer did as directed. "Deliver the money to
+the municipal treasurer, in payment of the fine for violating the city
+ordinance," said the vice-king to the officer, "and then return to your
+duty." He then turned to the orphans: "I hear that your mother is dead,
+and that you wish to obtain the means of burying her. Here is an order
+on your parish priest, who will bury your mother, and here is a trifle
+for yourselves," he said, handing to each of them a gold ounce. They
+went their way, blessing the man that had succored them in their
+necessity. This early example of the rigid enforcement of city
+ordinances has never been forgotten in Mexico, where, considering its
+limited means, for its revenue[52] does not exceed $400,000, including
+its landed rents, its government is well sustained, and its laws better
+enforced than in many of our own cities. Its police consists of a
+military patrol,[53] who, oddly enough, perform the duties of
+lamplighters.
+
+
+THE NATIONAL PALACE.
+
+The National Palace is an immense structure, which occupies the eastern
+front of the Grand Plaza, and is sometimes foolishly called the Halls
+of the Montezumas. It contains within itself all the offices of
+government, besides the barracks of the President's guard. Besides
+being the city residence of the President himself, it contains the two
+halls that were formerly occupied by the two legislative bodies, the
+Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, while such a burlesque of our free
+institutions existed in Mexico. In this palace also was the National
+Mint, so long as any body would trust the nation with his silver bars
+to coin; but, now that the mint is farmed out, it is removed to a
+private establishment. In this building are all the archives of the
+vice-kingdom and the republic, and he who would study the history of
+the past must diligently labor here.
+
+The Cathedral is upon the northern side of the Grand Plaza, and is said
+to occupy the site of the great _teocalli_, and to have a rocky
+foundation. Whether this last assertion is really true, I have no
+means of verifying, but there must be something unusual about its
+foundations, as its towers are the only ones that I know of in the city
+that do not lean a little. Ninety years was this vast edifice, or,
+rather, pile of edifices, in building, and the amount of treasure
+expended in its construction seems to a stranger to be fabulous. The
+best of its many fine views, or, rather, the one I admire the most, is
+the one from the entrance to the National Palace, though the one most
+commonly given is that from the front of the Municipality building,
+which occupies the entire south front of the Plaza.
+
+
+IMAGES IN THE CATHEDRAL.
+
+The interior of the Cathedral is certainly imposing, but I had so early
+in life attached the idea of the Gothic architecture to every thing
+magnificent in the way of churches, that this Moro-Spanish style fails
+to produce an effect commensurate with the merits of the building.
+Again, images are not associated with my early ideas of divine worship;
+and when, passing from side altar to side altar, I feel that I am only
+looking at wax figures, they produce no solemnity in me. And when I
+afterward learned, or thought I learned, that the showman of the
+strolling museum got his "wax figures" at the same shop, or from the
+same moulds in which were cast the images of the saints, they call up
+the idea of Punch and Judy.
+
+Before these images I have seen hundreds of worshipers prostrate,
+repeating their prayers with the most profound reverence, while the
+sight of the image filled me with boyish glee that I could hardly
+suppress. The identical image that was labeled Bluebeard in the museum
+is now Saint Peter. The "Disconsolate Widow" is now "the Weeping
+Virgin." Charlotte Temple, and the baby that never knew its father, is
+now Mary and the infant Christ. Macbeth, looking as though he had the
+toothache, is Saint Francis. Othello is here a saint; and the sleeping
+Desdemona is now the sleeping Virgin. The monster that poisoned six
+husbands, and sits meditating the death of a seventh, is now dressed in
+the latest Paris finery, and is a saint. The old miser, who laid up
+such hoards while he starved himself to death, is here placed among
+saints; the clothes are different, but there is the same forbidding
+visage. Here, too, are the Queen of Sheba, the Babes in the Wood, the
+Belle of the West, the Terrible Brigand, and Sir William Wallace--all
+transformed into images of saints, before whom the people bow down with
+the most profound reverence, and to whose intercession they commit the
+salvation of their souls.
+
+I do not know whether the showman or the priests are to blame for my
+irreverence, or whether it is the fault of the system itself. The
+argument in favor of the adoration of images is that they make
+impressions on the senses which aid devotion; but, if the impressions
+made on my senses are to be considered, the whole tendency is to debase
+the immortal Maker of heaven and earth below the level of humanity,
+"and to change the image of the incorruptible God into an image made
+like to corruptible man." There was abundant proof of this in the
+tabernacle of our Lady of Remedies above the great altar of the
+Cathedral. There sits enthroned this cast-off bauble of some nursery,
+emblazoned with jewels enough to supply the means to educate the whole
+population of Mexico. To this piece of dilapidated wood and plaster of
+Paris are conceded attributes of God Almighty: to grant rain in times
+of drought; health in times of pestilence; a safe delivery to women in
+peril of childbirth; and before it, in times of public calamity, the
+highest dignitaries walk in solemn procession.
+
+Nothing disgusts an Anglo-Saxon more than to witness the mental
+degradation of the descendants of the Castilians, the slaves of
+superstition, craft, and imposture. From generation to generation they
+have lived in constant fear of the secret agents of the Inquisition,
+and of the evil spirits that are ever plotting against the peace of
+good Christians. The permanency of the laws of Nature, the very
+foundation of all self-reliance and courage, is believed to be at the
+caprice of every one of a legion of saints, each of whom has been
+canonized on proof of working a miracle. Truth, and honesty, and
+chastity are subordinate virtues, and only a slavish devotion to his
+conscience-keeper can sustain a believer in the hour of greatest
+necessity.
+
+There are important truths to be learned in Mexico, and even in this
+immense pile of buildings devoted to superstition. Among these is the
+perfect equality that should exist in a place of worship. Here the rich
+and the poor meet together upon a level; the well-dressed lady and the
+market-woman are here kneeling together before the same image. The
+distinctions of wealth and rank are for the moment forgotten. While I
+was looking on and admiring this state of things, I saw a market-man on
+his return homeward with an empty hen-coop on his back. He walked
+boldly up, and knelt among the body of worshipers, told his beads, and
+then started up and trudged on his homeward journey. This equality is
+only for an hour, and hardly so long; yet it is an hour daily, and must
+have its effect in this country of inequalities in reminding the most
+humble that this inequality is only for this world, and that at the
+termination of life all will stand upon a common level.
+
+
+THE SAN CARLOS.
+
+The San Carlos, or Academy of Arts, is now in a flourishing condition,
+on account of the success of the lottery that supports it. The number
+of students here gratuitously instructed in different branches of art
+is quite large. Here, too, it is refreshing to see equality triumphant;
+the child of the _peon_ and of the prince sit side by side, and on the
+days of public exhibition, the crowds that throng its halls are
+admitted gratuitously, and are of as miscellaneous a character as are
+its pupils. The pictures of _Pangre_ are the present great attraction,
+and every new production of his genius gains him additional applause.
+The works that Humboldt so much admired are still here, but since his
+time there have been added several marbles of considerable merit.
+
+This Academy of San Carlos is one of the many monuments of that
+greatest of the kings of Spain since the Conquest, Don Carlos III.,
+though not brought into full operation until the reign of his imbecile
+successor, Carlos IV. All the monuments of which Mexico can boast at
+this day are traceable to the reign of the only enlightened Spanish
+prince of whom Spain can boast in a period of 300 years. Nearly a
+hundred years have elapsed since the foundation of this academy, and it
+has not yet produced a man of the first class either in painting or
+sculpture.
+
+The College of Mines, the finest building in this city, is another
+exhibition of the liberal spirit which governed in the reign of Don
+Carlos. Under this prince a new code of mining laws had been digested,
+strikingly resembling the present miner's rules in California. Their
+immediate effect was almost to double the production of silver, while
+the Mineria was both a school to impart scientific knowledge in
+relation to mining, and a bank to advance money to develop new mineral
+enterprises. Its support now rests upon the tax it is authorized to
+levy of one shilling upon every mark ($8) of silver produced.
+
+      [50] As it is an unimportant question whether Cortéz first built
+      a chapel for the Franciscans back of the Cathedral, or the one in
+      the yard of the Franciscans, I here repeat the popular tradition.
+
+      [51] HUMBOLDT, _Essai Politique_.
+
+      [52] As my readers may be a little curious to know how the city
+      government is sustained, I translate the statement of city
+      revenue of 1851.
+
+      There were in that year 379 licensed _pulque_-shops,
+        yielding a revenue of                                 $65,297
+      538 retail grocer shops in which liquor is
+        sold by the gill                                       25,609
+      8 breweries pay a city tax of                             1,697
+      132 cafés, fondas, and eating-houses pay                  4,418
+      Tax on grain and bread consumed in the city              53,762
+      Public diversions, $3103; permitted plays
+        (not gambling), $3221                                   6,324
+      Tax on canals, $6798; tax on coaches, $20,157;
+        markets, $56,130                                       83,085
+      Donation of the proceeds of a bull-fight                    830
+      Gifts, in bread and meat, to the prisons                  4,561
+      A tax of one dollar on the slaughtering of
+        21,984 beef-cattle                                     21,984
+      16,404 calves were slaughtered, paying six
+        shillings tax                                          12,303
+      145,040 sheep, at one shilling and sixpence              27,194
+      9394 pigs paid five shillings tax, or                     5,870
+      42,734 swine, full grown, paid six shillings             32,055
+      7750 goats and kids, at one shilling and sixpence         1,453
+      Tax on property entering the city gates                   1,878
+      Licenses to slaughter to individuals                        136
+      The water rents of $20,000 were consumed in repairs.
+      The tax on fish yielded                                    $390
+      The balance of the revenue consists of certain city properties.
+
+      _Expenditures._
+
+      The heaviest items are for the public prisons           $69,863
+      For the hospitals of the insane                          48,000
+      Lancasterian schools                                      3,600
+      Lights and city patrol                                   52,422
+      Exhibition of flowers and fruits in November last         1,831
+      Salaries of school-teachers, and rent of houses
+        for schools                                             4,812
+      Religious worship in Hospital of San Hippolito,
+        and for vaccine matter                                  2,282
+      Cleaning the streets by night and by day                 21,378
+      Salaries                                                 31,472
+      Dinners and festivals                                       151
+
+      The city has a debt of $617,978, and has, as a set-off, a
+      claim against the supreme government for $1,700,000 of its
+      funds seized from time to time, and for keeping prisoners.
+
+      [53] The arrests in the year 1851 were 212 men and 182 women for
+      infractions of police regulations; 1256 men and 1944 women for
+      excessive drinking; 384 men and 120 women for robbery; 180 men
+      and 84 women on suspicion of robbery; 120 men and 25 women for
+      picking pockets; 15 men and 3 women for murder; 728 men and 246
+      women for affrays and wounds; 209 men and 85 women for carrying
+      forbidden weapons; 36 men who had escaped from prison; 39 men and
+      17 women for false pretenses; 354 men and 403 women for
+      incontinence and adultery; 311 men and 318 women for the
+      violation of public decency; 64 delinquent youth for the house of
+      correction--making a total of arrests for the year of 3918 men
+      and 3430 women; besides, they have protected 315 persons
+      apprehensive of assaults from evil-doers. _And they have freed
+      the city from the plague of 6048 dogs!_ Just as many dogs
+      arrested as human beings. These statistics furnish an inadequate
+      idea of the number of knife-fights that are of so common
+      occurrence among the _peons_ about the _pulque_-shops, in which
+      women and men show an equal skill at stabbing in the back.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+The National Museum.--Marianna and Cortéz.--The small Value of
+this Collection.--The Botanic Garden.--The Market of Santa Anna.--The
+Acordada Prison.--The unfortunate Prisoner.--The Causes
+of that Night of Terror.--The Sacking of the City.--The Parian.--The
+Causes of the Ruin of the Parian.--Change in the Standard of
+Color.--The Ashes of Cortéz.
+
+
+MUSEUM.--BOTANIC GARDEN.--MARKET.
+
+The National Museum has its weekly exhibitions, and attracts as great a
+crowd of the common people as does the Academy of Arts. Here as perfect
+equality reigns as in the San Carlos or in the Cathedral. The first
+object of interest is the large collection of stone idols which have
+been dug up from time to time in and about the Grand Plaza. There are
+dog-faced idols, and apish gods, and unearthly things, besides the
+sacrificial stone, and a rude attempt to represent a goddess. Whether
+or no this was a sort of Aztec Lady of Remedies I did not learn. The
+Aztecs might easily have produced these works without exhibiting much
+civilization; but I have heard it surmised that they must have been
+among the plunder of more civilized tribes.
+
+On the two opposite sides of the first hall we entered, I saw spread
+out the pictorial chronology of two dynasties that had passed away--the
+vice-regal line of potentates standing over against the royal line of
+Aztec emperors. The portraits of the vice-kings, from Cortéz down to
+the last of his successors, stretch entirely across one side of the
+hall, and about the same number of Indian caçiques are daubed upon a
+piece of papyrus that is fastened upon the opposite wall. It requires
+the greatest possible stretch of liberality for one accustomed to
+Indian efforts of this kind to dignify such intolerable daubs with the
+name of paintings. And yet this is the picture-writing of the Aztecs,
+with which the world has been so edified for centuries. If there is or
+ever was an Iroquois Indian that should undertake to stain so
+miserably, I verily believe he would be expelled from his tribe. To
+make it manifest that this was intended for a chronological record of
+the imperial line, black lines were daubed from one of these effigies
+to another. From a printed label in Spanish affixed to this wonderful
+relic, I learned that it was intended to represent the wanderings of
+the Aztecs from California.
+
+It is usual for North American Indians to store up traditions of the
+extensive wanderings of their ancestors, and if one is asked to
+represent the tradition on bark, he would produce very much such an
+affair as this, though with a somewhat greater resemblance to the human
+form. Another picture represents Marianna, the mistress of Cortéz, with
+her rosary, and Cortéz with his fingers in much such a position as boys
+place them in when they wish to convey the idea that they have
+perpetrated a joke--a very satisfactory method of representing the
+piety of Cortéz. Close by the pious couple is the representation of a
+scene which they seem to have come out to witness. A bloodhound is
+represented tearing an Indian to pieces, while a Spaniard is holding on
+to the end of the dog's chain.
+
+The banner under which Cortéz fought, or rather one of them--for he had
+two--is here preserved in a gilt frame. It represents the Virgin Mary
+portrayed on crimson silk. In this hall is also a miniature
+representation of a silver mine, with the workmen at their several
+branches of labor. The remains of the vice-regal throne are here piled
+up in a corner.
+
+In the next room there are some paintings of no very great value, which
+should have been kept in the Academy; also a miniature fortress and a
+small mineral collection, and any quantity of specimens of Indian
+idols, so misshapen as to be unfit for use as images of the Virgin and
+of the saints.
+
+As a Vice-royal and National Museum, the whole affair is beneath
+contempt. If the few articles in it that are valuable were divided
+between the Mineria and the San Carlos, and the rest thrown away, it
+would be an advantage to all concerned. The Indian relics in this
+museum are not only much inferior to the specimens of the art of the
+savage islanders of the South Seas, but immensely inferior to many
+private collections of Indian curiosities that I have seen, and they go
+far to demonstrate the entire absence of civilized arts among the
+aboriginal inhabitants of Mexico.
+
+In an interior court of the museum is the Botanic Garden. This, like
+the National Museum, is a paltry affair. With the exception of the
+_Manolita_, or tree that bears a flower resembling the human hand, of
+which there are but two in the Republic, there is nothing deserving of
+notice in this garden. In the large interior court of San Francisco a
+Frenchman has, as a private speculation, opened a garden and made a
+collection of the national plants of Mexico that is well worth a visit.
+In this private garden is one of the finest and rarest collections of
+the cactus family that I have ever seen, either in Mexico or elsewhere.
+
+The market of Santa Anna is the central market of the city. It adjoins
+the palace, and is close to the canal. The products of the chinampas
+are here displayed to the best advantage. As Mexico is within easy
+marketing distance of the hot country, we have here daily presented the
+fresh productions of two zones. This is one of the places where the
+appetite of a stranger can not only be gratified with the greatest
+variety of delicacies ever collected in one spot, but the excellency
+and abundance of the articles presented are perplexing to the person
+who would venture upon the bold experiment of tasting every new article
+offered to him. As a vegetable and flower market, it has no equal.
+
+
+THE ACORDADA.
+
+The Acordada Prison is the principal state as well as city prison. Here
+are confined men charged with every offense, from rioting to murder.
+Oftentimes these extremes are found together in the interior court of
+the prison, where the felon, with his hands steeped in innocent blood,
+is entertaining a crowd of novices in crime with the details of his
+adventures, and of his many hair-breadth escapes from the cruel
+officers of the law. He is as eloquent in giving lessons to novices as
+his compeers in our own prisons, and he carefully instructs his hopeful
+pupils in the best ways of avenging their wrongs upon society. Some in
+the prison are merry, and enjoy a dance, while others are indulging in
+obscene jests and ribaldry. Still, there are those that find means to
+labor and to work at repairing shoes or clothes in the midst of this
+babel of sin and tumult.
+
+The Acordada gave its name to that night insurrection to which I have
+so often referred. Two regiments of artillery, quartered in the palace
+of the Inquisition, _pronounced_ against the legality of the election
+of Pedraza to the presidency. One night they took possession of the
+Acordada, where they were joined by the whole body of desperadoes there
+confined. Among the persons at that time detained in this prison, and
+on that night wantonly killed, was an Englishman, who had been kept in
+prison for several years, charged with the singular offense of having
+married the daughter of an ex-marquis. There had been romance in his
+courtship and romance in his marriage, but it had not met with the
+approbation of the father, who unfortunately had influence enough to
+get the newly-married man into prison, and to keep him there. At last
+the father had relented, and on the next day the poor Englishman was to
+have been set at liberty. Long and trying had been the sufferings of
+the unfortunate man, doomed to pass the best years of his life among
+robbers and assassins. Though every thing that kindness could do to
+lighten his sufferings had been done lay his own countrymen, yet the
+weary years of imprisonment, superadded to the sudden blasting of his
+hopes, had brought premature old age upon him while yet in the prime of
+life. But now all was forgotten in anticipation of a to-morrow that he
+was never to see. When the attack was made upon the prison, he went to
+the door of his cell to learn the cause of so unusual a disturbance,
+and was instantly killed--the first victim of the night of the
+Acordada.
+
+On that fearful night the Acordada was unusually full of desperadoes,
+whom the civil disorders and stagnation of business had driven to
+crime. A battle in the night in the streets of a large city is a
+fearful thing, at least when cannon are the chief weapons used; but
+when there is added to this cause of alarm that the news had spread
+through the city that all the murderers and housebreakers in the prison
+had been let loose, with arms in their hands, to murder and to ravage
+the city, an idea may be formed of the terror of a population who were
+cowards by instinct. The contempt with which they had regarded the
+lower orders was to be fearfully retaliated. Hate, mingled with
+avarice, and inflamed by _pulque_ and bad liquor, was to do its work,
+and that, too, without pity. Men, untamed by kindness of those above
+them, were now the masters of the lives and property of all, and there
+was no remedy. Fear had held the common people in a degraded position,
+but they feared no longer. Those who had lorded it over the poor
+instead of laboring to elevate their condition, were now to suffer the
+consequences of that neglect.
+
+It is a thankless task to labor for the elevation of the degraded, and
+oftentimes we are stung with the ingratitude of those whom we have
+desired to aid. But God, who has enjoined this unpleasant duty upon us,
+has borne our daily ingratitude without casting us off, and we but
+imitate him when we continue to minister to the ungrateful, and the
+unthankful, and even the unmerciful. The people of Mexico had shown
+more liberality, and given more than we. But they had not given it to
+educate and to elevate the condition of the poor, but to feed pampered
+priests, "who walked in long robes, and who loved salutations in the
+markets," and to women like them, who had placed themselves in an
+unnatural relation to the world. God requires of all men not only
+contributions of money, for that is but half charity, but personal
+services in discharge of the duties of good citizens, and in relieving
+the afflicted; and he that disregards such duties may suffer as the
+Mexicans did in the night of the Acordada insurrection, which turned
+young hairs gray, and destroyed forever the happiness of unnumbered
+families.
+
+When the common people, brutalized by oppression, found themselves
+masters of the city, and their oppressors powerless, then burst forth
+the pent-up hatred of ten generations. "They call us _leperos_ and
+dogs," said some of them; "let us play the part of dogs--hungry dogs,
+among these spotted sheep." The palaces of the great were no protection
+against these infuriated _peons_, and women who boasted of titles of
+nobility were not safe. The wealth that generations of unjust
+monopolists had accumulated was scattered to the winds. _Leperos_ now
+rioted on carpets from Brussels and on cushions of Oriental stuffs, and
+quaffed the choice wines of Madeira and Champagne. In the fury of their
+intoxication they lost all restraint, and indulged in every excess and
+enormity. Robbery and murder were the order of the day. In carrying
+away the plunder, disputes arose, and then they murdered each other as
+readily as they had murdered those who claimed the title of citizens.
+Fear was the only authority they had learned to respect, and they knew
+no other government than the hated police; but now, when the police
+were powerless, they could amuse themselves according to the instincts
+of their brutish natures. They had never been taught self-control, and
+animal indulgence was the utmost of their ambition, and they found
+amusement in violating all laws, human and divine. The murders, the
+ravishings, the wanton destruction of the richest household stuffs, and
+luxuries, and works of art in that night, can not all be written, nor
+can they ever be effaced from the memory Of those who witnessed them.
+
+
+THE PARIAN.
+
+Stretching across the Grand Plaza, opposite the Cathedral and in front
+of the buildings of the Municipality, once stood the noted mart of
+commerce called the Parian, an ill-looking structure, in which was
+accumulated the mass of foreign merchandise. In this same pile of
+buildings had been concocted the conspiracy which, in the year 1808,
+had caused the seizure of the Vice-king, Iturrigaray, and his
+imprisonment in the Inquisition. The complaint against the Vice-king
+was that he was about to recognize the political equality of the
+native-born population with the emigrants from Spain. For this offense,
+his reputation and that of his kindred was to be forever blackened by a
+suspicion of heresy.
+
+In the night of the Acordada insurrection, the Spanish shop-keepers of
+the Parian found themselves utterly defenseless. They could no longer
+invoke the aid of the Inquisition in oppressing and trampling on the
+people, whom their wantonness, and the wantonness of others like them,
+had brutalized. The neglect and oppression which had reduced a laboring
+man to a _lepero_ had not made him insensible to the unequal laws
+which elevated above him a race of beings destitute of that manly
+courage which oftentimes gives plausibility to oppression. Now the
+lepero took delight in visiting upon the present occupants of this
+building a fearful punishment for the crime committed there twenty
+years before, and among the guilty crowd there was to be found many an
+innocent sufferer.
+
+The isolated crowds that had been traversing the streets, and indulging
+their wantonness on a small scale, at length, as the night wore away,
+began to concentrate around the Parian, and quickly such devastation of
+property was made as might be expected where the rich and poor had no
+common interest in its preservation, and where criminal and poor man
+were almost convertible terms. The plunderers had little idea of the
+value or uses of the property they were scattering to the winds; and
+while they wasted millions worth of property, they wantonly shed the
+blood of the proprietors in the midst of their merchandise. Nor did the
+evil end when daylight appeared; for among the consequences of this
+night insurrection was the transfer of all authority to new hands.
+Those who the day before had been stigmatized with the impurity of
+their blood, were now the governing power, who, under the forms of law,
+were to carry into effect the behest of the successful insurgents.
+Neither the sight of the ruins of the night before, nor bales of
+merchandise strewed about among corpses and spattered with blood, could
+move the new masters of the city to pity the fallen condition of a
+class of men who had proved themselves too cowardly to defend their own
+usurpations, and too tyrannical to instill into the lately proscribed
+races any ideas of compassion.
+
+
+THE OVERTURN.
+
+For three hundred years pure white blood and Spanish birth was an
+indispensable qualification for promotion in the vice-kingdom, and the
+slightest tincture of colored blood was an indelible disgrace. But one
+night of tumult and rapine changed the popular standard of color. And
+he who had boasted the day before of his pure white blood and Spanish
+origin, now sought to hide himself from the officers of the law, who
+visited with the penalty of banishment the crime of having been born in
+Spain. Men now, for the first time, boasted of their Indian origin, and
+of the slight infusion they were able to discover of colored blood in
+their veins; while a man of Indian descent, and who spoke a provincial
+dialect, was declared elected President of the Republic of Mexico: so
+uncertain are all divisions of rank formed on the arbitrary distinction
+of color.
+
+During the night strange murmurings were heard against "the accursed
+enslaver of their race." The descendants of Cortéz were fearful for the
+safety of his ashes, which had lain quietly in the convent of San
+Francisco[54] so long as the Inquisition possessed the power of
+compelling men to reverence his memory as the champion of the Cross,
+the favorite of the Virgin Mary, the hero of a holy war against the
+infidels. But now that this accursed institution, and the infamous gang
+connected with its management, had become powerless, the national
+feeling began to manifest itself so openly that the remains were
+removed secretly and by night to the sanctuary of the most sacred
+shrine of Mexico, that of Santa Teresa, where they remained until a
+safe opportunity presented itself for shipping them off to the Duke of
+Montebello, a Sicilian nobleman, who inherits the titles and also the
+vast estates of Cortéz in the valleys of the Cuarnavaca and Oajaca,
+upon which none of the revolutionary governments have laid violent
+hands.
+
+      [54] For a more authentic account, see Appendix E.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+The Priests gainers by the Independence.--Improved Condition of
+the Peons.--Mexican Mechanics.--The Oppression they suffer.--Low
+state of the Mechanic Arts.--The Story of the Portress.--Charity
+of the Poor.--The Whites not superior to Meztizos.---License and
+Woman's Rights at Mexico.--The probable Future of Mexico.--Mormonism
+impending over Mexico.--Mormonism and Mohammedanism.
+
+
+The clergy and the other white fomenters of the separation from Spain
+never contemplated the formation of a republic, or the arming of the
+_leperos_. They were alarmed at the bold reforms of the liberal Cortes
+of Spain, and trembled at the prospect of losing their privileges and
+monopolies. They judged that the safest course for them was the
+establishment of an empire upon the subversion of the vice-kingdom,
+which would be so weak a power that they could overawe it. The priests
+reasoned correctly, and have augmented their privileges and their
+wealth, as we shall presently see. The Spanish monopolists were ruined
+by the Revolution, as we have seen in the last chapter. But the common
+people were the gainers ultimately by the expulsion of the Spaniards,
+though the whole country suffered for a time by the withdrawal of the
+capital of the Spaniards. The benefit derived by the _peons_ from this
+revolution was the political importance which it gave them. The Parian
+and the _lepero_ perished together. The latter ceased to exist when the
+last stone of the former disappeared. The Spaniards had been banished
+from the country long before the authorities undertook the removal of
+this obnoxious edifice, and those who wished to avoid a like fate
+sought security in acts of benevolence; so that at Mexico charitable
+institutions are now so well conducted, that it is one of the few
+Catholic cities in the world that can boast of being free entirely from
+beggars. Political power gave to the common people an importance in the
+social scale which they had never before enjoyed. With the cheapness of
+clothing the unclad multitude have disappeared, and the new generation
+find more employment and better wages than their ancestors did, when
+all branches of industry were clogged with monopolies, and they are,
+consequently, more industrious and temperate.
+
+
+MEXICAN MECHANICS.
+
+Still, the Mexican _peon_ is immensely below the American laborer, and
+still has to be watched as a thief, for the want of a little morality
+intermixed with his religious instruction. It is a degrading sight to
+stand at the door of one of the large coach manufactories at Mexico,
+and to witness the manner in which they search them, one by one, as
+they come out. The natives, who have learned the most difficult parts
+of coach-building from English and French employers, can not for a
+moment be trusted, lest they should steal their tools or the materials
+upon which they are employed. I saw even the man who was placing the
+gorgeous trimmings on the Nuncio's coach carefully searched, lest he
+should have concealed about his person a scrap of the valuable
+material. That they are thieves is not to be wondered at when their
+catechism teaches them "that a theft that does not exceed a certain
+amount is not a grave offense."[55]
+
+
+LOW STATE OF MECHANIC ARTS.
+
+With us, a mechanic is associated with the idea of a person occupying a
+respectable position in life; but at Mexico he still belongs to a
+degraded class, as men are there esteemed; he is a _peon_, on a footing
+with a common laborer. The highest wages are three shillings a day,
+while at least two days in the week he is kept from his usual
+employment by "days of obligation," that is, festival days on which it
+is unlawful to work. _Tortillas_, Indian griddle-cakes, with black
+beans (_frijoles_) and red peppers (_chilie_), are his daily food; and
+his lodgings are a palm-leaf mat upon a stone or earthen floor, while
+his _serapa_ does duty for a blanket at night. The greasy friar does
+not forget him as he goes his rounds in search of Peter's pence; and
+the priest sets before him the horrid consequences of entering
+Purgatory without first discharging the debt he still owes for his
+baptism. He and his "wife" still remain unmarried; for how can they
+ever raise the money to pay the priest? And if by chance he gets
+involved in debt, or for the debt of one of his kindred, one third part
+of his daily labor is embargoed by the creditor.
+
+When the Mexican mechanic has a small kit of uncouth tools, he works
+upon his own account, but at the smallest possible profit. When he has
+finished a pair of shoes, if he be a shoemaker, he or his wife starts
+out to dispose of them to some passer-by in the street before a new
+pair is undertaken. When the tinman has finished a sprinkling pot, he
+or his boy walks the street till it is sold, and then perhaps a tin
+bath is made; and if, luckily, from a chance customer he has obtained
+an extra price, a _fiesta_ is proclaimed to the family connection, and
+maybe the additional luxury of buying a ticket in the lottery of the
+Virgin of Guadalupe is indulged in, and a vow is made that if he wins a
+prize, one half of the profits of the stake shall be deposited as a
+gift at her shrine. In this way a week is passed, and it is terminated
+with the entire exhaustion of the little fortune of the poor mechanic.
+The kindred have had a time; _pulque_ and liquor have been passed
+around freely; the women have enjoyed "equal rights" with the men; they
+have drunk their full share, and smoked their little cigars. The
+tin-man, once more penniless, with an aching head, but with a light
+heart, returns to his little hammer, and a piece of solder and tin got
+on the pledge of his future earnings. Such is the condition of native
+Mexican mechanics, and of the mechanic arts at the capital.
+
+[Illustration: TRAVELING IN MEXICO.]
+
+The complicated machinery by which our shoes are made, or the equally
+complicated machinery by which tin is worked up into culinary vessels,
+never entered into the dreams of a Mexican mechanic. No Mexican man of
+science ever thought of degrading himself so low as to undertake the
+improvement of the mechanic arts; yet it is astonishing to see what
+Mexican mechanics do accomplish with their imperfect means. I have
+often stopped to witness the success of a poor old man building a
+piano, which was both skillfully arranged and well-toned, and yet the
+tools employed were apparently inadequate for such a purpose. In the
+same primitive style were coaches built before foreigners came and
+substituted coaches of modern pattern instead of the old, egg-formed
+coach-bodies of the vice-kingdom.
+
+It may seem like trifling to be dwelling thus upon the character of the
+substratum of Mexican society, but it is from this very substratum that
+the wealth or poverty of a nation is to be traced. The sense of the
+dignity of labor is the foundation of American prosperity, while the
+degradation of the mechanics and laboring class of Mexicans is the
+cause of the national imbecility.
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE PORTRESS.
+
+Let us look at the common people of Mexico from another point of view.
+I will reproduce in substance the tale of the old Meztizo woman, who
+opens and shuts the great street door to all well-known inmates, by day
+and by night, and to such others as can give satisfactory answers. She
+is esteemed a lucky woman because she has the use of a small room on
+the ground floor for her services, where she and a number of her
+relatives are often hived together. Her story is very likely not true
+in every particular, for it can not be denied that she, like all of her
+class, does not consider falsehood _per se_ as any other than a venial
+sin. How should she, considering the teaching she receives?[56] But the
+story is nevertheless, in the main, a pretty fair picture of the life
+of the humbler classes in republican Mexico.
+
+She will tell you how her husband basely left her with a family of
+children, and took to another woman, because they were not able to pay
+the priest to get legally married. Her eldest son was seized and taken
+to the wars, where he was compelled to stand up to shoot and be shot
+at, to settle the question which of two sets of white men should enjoy
+the right of plundering the people. Whether he should hereafter be
+discharged honorably, or run away, or be killed in battle, it was the
+same to her, for the man that recruited the soldiers would know that he
+had once been a soldier, and would be sure to seize him first when
+ordered to furnish recruits; and, let what will be the course of
+political events, he is certainly lost to her forever.
+
+Her eldest daughter had been a help to her. She ground corn for the
+_tortillas_, and could guard the house door while the old woman went to
+the public wash-house to wash a few shirts which gentlemen had
+occasionally intrusted to her care. But a chance shot in one of the
+street battles had hit her, and she too was gone. Her second son had
+stopped too long in front of the _pulque_-shop after his day's work was
+finished, and was involved in a street affray, in which knives were
+drawn, and a man killed. Whether he was the guilty one or not, it
+mattered little, as he was the first to fall into the hands of the
+officers. For a long time he had been kept in the chain-gang, but
+lately he had been sent to the silver mines, where he would probably
+end his days carrying ore on his back like a beast of burden, a
+thousand feet under ground.
+
+She had a second daughter, old enough to carry food to her son while he
+was in prison, and to lighten his misery by a daily visit while he
+belonged to the chain-gang. But since he has been taken from the city,
+they two are left alone in the world. She has now no money, or she
+would get her daughter married, as the priest would trust her if she
+would only pay a small part of the fee. Still she is considered
+fortunate; for, having the reputation of an honest women, she has got a
+portress's situation, and little means are thrown in her way by which
+she obtains a comfortable living. But her relatives, who are poorer
+than herself, sympathize with her, and come and eat up her _tortillas_.
+
+Such is the substance of many a tale of misery, if you will stop and
+listen to the pictures which the lowly draw of their condition in any
+of the Mexican cities. Often they are fabricated, but very often they
+are true. The old woman who tells you a tale to excite your sympathies
+has perhaps only borrowed a tale of misfortune which she has heard her
+neighbor tell. Those who reproach these poor unfortunates with being
+beggars, thieves, and liars, forget that they have been made such by
+oppression. The greatest amount of suffering caused by the civil wars
+falls upon the poor; and among the suffering poor, the women are the
+greatest sufferers. If they are more intemperate than the men, it is
+their misfortunes, too often, that have driven them to seek a temporary
+solace in _pulque_. The slight hold they have on their husbands is the
+cause of their jealousy, and if they take part in bloody affrays, it is
+because they are under the influence of intoxication, and not from any
+inherent inclination to cruelty.
+
+Never did a white skin cover a kinder heart than that of the poor
+Meztizo women of Spanish America. Their primitive hut by the wayside is
+as much at your service as your own castle, and you are heartily
+welcome to their humble fare. I never was so unfortunate as to need
+their assistance, but I have often been astonished at the ready charity
+of the poor to those poorer than themselves. I once encountered an
+Irishman who had begged his way from the Gulf coast almost to the
+Pacific, and I was greatly surprised at the cheerfulness with which a
+poor widow woman, keeper of a _venta_, accepted of a blessing instead
+of more tangible coin for a night's entertainment. In delicate health
+always, and not without a full share of experience among strangers, I
+know full well how to appreciate the kind offices which a woman only
+can render. When death stared me in the face, and she could do nothing
+for a perishing heretic except to solicit a passing procession to chant
+a _misericordia por un infirmo Americano_, that kindly office was not
+wanting. When, with returning health, I ventured out into the street,
+leaning upon a staff, a poor Indian woman, forgetting her native
+shyness, begged me to sit down under the shade of her roof while she
+prepared for me a little orange-water, and when, a little refreshed by
+her orange-water, I tottered on, I shall never forget the look of
+sympathy which she bestowed upon an unknown stranger. An Indian woman
+is always kind, but the kindest of her race is the poor despised Indian
+woman of Spanish America.
+
+It is too common to look down coldly, and not unfrequently with
+contempt, upon those who occupy the humbler walks of life, and to speak
+only of their vices. The _peon_ has his vices, and they are glaring
+enough, but he is certainly not worse than his white neighbor. I had
+been so long in California, and had seen so many exhibitions of courage
+in street-fights and personal encounters, that I had come almost to
+consider the words white man and brave man as synonymous. But when I
+found myself in Mexico at the breaking out of a civil war, I soon
+learned that white men are not always brave, and that they were
+superior to the Indian in little else except in the gilding with which
+they covered their vicious and corrupt lives. They borrow their customs
+from Paris and their style of living, but their morals are even below
+the Paris standard of virtue.
+
+
+WOMAN'S RIGHTS AT MEXICO.
+
+The law, which sinks the civil existence of the wife in the husband,
+and which charges the husband with liability for the debts and
+trespasses of the wife, is sometimes stigmatized as harsh, unnatural,
+and tyrannical. If those that consider it so could for a little while
+enjoy the matrimonial freedom of Mexico, they would soon discover
+abundant reason for praising the wisdom of our ancestors in hedging
+about with so many disabilities an institution which is both the
+safeguard of public morality and of our free government. Family
+government, self-government, and political freedom dwell together;
+while despotism and family license are inseparable. At Mexico, old
+family relations are not broken up by new marriages. Household family
+worship is unknown, but, like so many pagans, each one trudges off to
+say her prayers separately, and at a favorite shrine. The wife has her
+separate property and interests, which she manages with the aid of her
+"next friend." The husband, too, has his separate interests, and too
+often his "next friend" is his neighbor's wife.
+
+After my return from Mexico, I heard a woman in a public assembly
+advocating, as social reforms, the institutions of a country in a state
+of moral and political decomposition. I felt like exclaiming, "Cursed
+be that woman who would introduce into our happy country the social
+customs of paganism; and cursed be that people who listen to her
+infidelity!" May a like evil fall upon those legislative tinkers who
+have deprived the husband of the power of creating a trust for the
+protection and support of his wife in time of necessity.
+
+We have examined sufficiently the social condition of Mexico to show
+that there is no natural sympathy between the whites and the colored
+races, or the governing and governed races of Mexico. For a brief
+period, indeed, Guerrero, a man of Indian descent, occupied the
+presidency; but he was deposed and murdered, and the government has
+ever since been in the hands of the whites. The present Pinto war in
+the southwest looks toward again reviving the Indian rule. It is
+carried on too languidly to promise success, as there seems to be no
+one in the movement possessed of the energy of that Indian drummer,
+Carrera, who usurped the supreme power in Guatemala. On the other hand,
+Mexico is like a ripe pear, ready to fall into the lap of any
+unscrupulous adventurer who chooses to make common plunder of its
+churches, its church jewels, and the inordinate private fortunes of its
+priesthood and nobility.
+
+
+MORMONISM AND MOHAMMEDANISM.
+
+There is a rising cloud that is gathering blackness in the northwest,
+and must sooner or later precipitate itself and with the force of a
+tempest sweep away--to use the words of General Tornel--in one mighty
+flood "the religion, language, and national existence of the Mexicans."
+This is Mormonism. I have watched this delusion from its rise, near my
+own residence in Western New York, and followed its advancing progress,
+until, from a little rill, it has become a mighty torrent--a political
+element so potent that its existence in the United States is now
+scarcely tolerable. Where can it go except it precipitate itself upon
+the territories of imbecile Mexico? To such a sect of fanatics Mexico
+can present no opposition. It must surrender to Brigham Young and to
+his followers their wealth, their images, their wives and their
+daughters, as the Aztecs surrendered all to Cortéz.
+
+I have often traced the close analogy between the rise of Mormonism and
+that of Mohammedanism, as well as the striking similarity that exists
+between these two systems of false religion. Each one is founded, after
+a fashion, on the Bible, to which each has supplemented a volume of
+miserable fables, the one called the Book of Mormon, and the other the
+Koran. Each has a spurious prophet, who is exalted above the prophets
+of Scripture. Both systems permit polygamy, and both are most
+ultra-Protestant in relation to the forms and ceremonies, images and
+pictures of the Oriental and Latin churches. And as God sent the great
+Mohammedan imposture to punish the corrupt Christianity of a former
+age, so in like manner He may soon commission Mormonism to wipe out of
+existence the corrupt Christianity of Mexico. Mormonism has not yet
+developed a military character, because it would be madness to raise an
+arm against the United States. But when it shall have once passed the
+frontier and entered the dominions of a feeble state, then we shall see
+how keen an edge fanaticism can give to the sword in the hands of men
+naturally courageous, when the double motive is held out of a new
+supply of wives, and the inexhaustible treasures of the churches to
+stimulate their fanaticism.
+
+      [55] Having lost my memorandum, I am uncertain whether the number
+      of days was one or more, and whether the number of _francs_ named
+      was six or eight. The following is my best recollection of the
+      question and answer on theft:
+
+          "_Q._ Is theft a grave offense?
+
+          "_A._ A theft that does not exceed in value a day's labor is
+          not a grave offense; some theologians contend that a theft
+          that does not exceed six francs is not a grave offense."
+
+      [56] I again quote the Catechism from recollection.
+
+          "_Q._ What is a venial sin?
+
+          "_A._ A lie that does not destroy charity among neighbors is
+          a venial sin."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+The Plaza of the Inquisition.--The two Modes of human Sacrifice, the
+Aztec and the Spanish.--Threefold Power of the Inquisition.--Visit to
+the House of the Inquisition.--The Prison and Place of Torture.--The
+Story of William Lamport.--The little and the big _Auto da Fe_.--The
+Inquisition the real Government--Ruin of Spanish Nationality.--The
+political Uses of the Inquisition.--Political Causes of the Bigotry of
+Philip II.--His eldest Son dies mysteriously.--The Dominion of Priests
+continues till the French Invasion.
+
+
+AN AUTO DA FE.
+
+The _Plazuelo_ or _Plazuelito_, the "Little Plaza" of the Inquisition,
+is now, as it ever has been, a market-place--the Smithfield of Mexico.
+On Sundays and all other market-days, there is here an abundant supply
+of flowers, meats, and vegetables. On great holidays, in the times of
+the vice-kings, the scene was changed. Fruits and vegetables were, for
+the time, placed in the background, and an act of "faith" (_auto da
+fe_), or burning of heretics, was offered as a public spectacle. The
+grandest of all the bull-fights of Mexico was nothing in comparison
+with this vice-regal exhibition. As among the Aztecs and the pagan
+Romans, the sacrificial victims were kept in reserve for important
+occasions, and for occasions when a bull-fight would have been a most
+inadequate exhibition. The consecration of a new archbishop, or the
+arrival of a new Vice-king from Spain, or the marriage of a member of
+the royal family, or some similar important political or religious
+event, could only call forth this extraordinary show of roasting men
+alive.
+
+If we are to believe the statements of Cortéz and Bernal Diaz,[57] the
+Aztecs were accustomed to offer human sacrifices on festival days upon
+a large circular stone still preserved. With an obsidian knife, life
+was instantly extinguished by opening the heart-case and taking out the
+heart, which was offered to their god of war. This horrid worship, if
+indeed it ever existed, was suppressed, and one more horrid and
+cold-blooded in its atrocities substituted. There was seldom wanting a
+victim on those great occasions, for prisoners who would otherwise have
+been let off with confiscation of estates and a long imprisonment were
+now doomed to the flames, to accomplish the double purpose of a
+spectacle and strike terror into the ranks of the higher classes, who
+too often furnished the victims. But the higher classes were all
+present. Suspicion might attach to their absence. And he that dared not
+breathe aloud in his own bed-chamber, or tell the whole truth at the
+confessional, from apprehension of an inquisitorial spy, took good heed
+that no act or look of his on the day of the great fiesta should betray
+him to this secret, but every where present tribunal, lest he himself
+should be the sacrificial victim at the next entertainment.
+
+The roasting of a human victim at the _auto da fe_ was a purely
+democratic institution. The _leperos_, who were beneath the
+jurisdiction of the Inquisition, felt none of the terrors that haunted
+the rich even in night visions. Without the least apprehension, they
+enjoyed the magnificence of the spectacle, and their hatred toward the
+high-born was gratified by the sight of one, and sometimes many,
+respectable persons burned in the fire for their entertainment. They
+were always ready to manifest their gratitude to the holy office by
+assailing and perhaps murdering any one who had incurred the
+displeasure of the priests, but whom it was not politic to arrest.
+Thus, by a threefold power, did the Inquisition enforce the discipline
+of the Church: by the authority of the king and the law, the dread
+which it inspired; the sympathies of a rabble, whom it was their
+interest to keep brutalized; and the religious sentiment of the nation,
+so far as there was any. But this last was a very uncertain reliance,
+for the same law which makes heresy a crime, legalizes hypocrisy, and
+the inquisitor cared very little for the thoughts of men so long as
+they remain unuttered; and as no two men think alike, the crime of
+heresy appears to consist in expressing too frankly the logical
+deductions of the understanding upon the all-important subject of
+religion. To speak disrespectfully of the holy office, the Inquisition,
+was the worst of heresy.
+
+
+THE HALLS OF THE INQUISITION.
+
+The north front of the Plazuelo of the Inquisition, now generally
+called the Plaza of the Dominicans, is occupied by the great yard of
+the Dominican convent, which is separated by a high wall from the
+Plaza, and by a street from the buildings of the Inquisition. Within
+this yard there is a large flagstone, with a hole in its centre, which
+stone, on days of the _auto da fe_, used to be brought out into the
+Plaza, and, with iron post, neck-ring, and chain attached, constituted
+the simple apparatus for the human sacrifice. The Dominican fathers
+have carefully laid aside the iron post, with its ring and chain, and
+perhaps, with them, the most valuable of the instruments of torture,
+which were removed from the Inquisition building. As there are two
+classes of bull-fights, the ordinary and the grand bull-fight, so there
+was the ordinary _auto da fe_, performed in this Little Plaza, and the
+grand act of faith, _auto da fe general_, which ordinarily ought to
+come off in the Grand Plaza of the city, in front of the vice-regal
+palace.
+
+Seeing the great door open as I was passing, I ventured to enter the
+central court of the Inquisition, from which the halls of the different
+tribunals and the chambers of the inquisitors and officials were
+entered and lighted. All had now been thoroughly whitewashed and
+renovated, and bore no marks of the fearful scenes that had been here
+enacted. When I stood in the hall where its judgments used to be
+delivered, I had to tax my memory of books to draw a picture of events
+that here daily transpired in times past. I saw no Bridge of Sighs, yet
+the whole institution was founded upon the sighs, and groans, and riven
+hearts of its victims, of many of whom the world was not worthy. The
+rich were the most profitable game, but a beautiful woman was the most
+acceptable spectacle to a populace debased from infancy by attendance
+on bull-fights. A foreigner that had been by special grace licensed to
+visit Mexico, was considered a fortunate prize, for to offer a
+foreigner as a human sacrifice was in accordance with the ancient
+custom of the Aztecs. There was only one foreigner who amassed great
+wealth, and that was Laborde the miner, who bought his peace by
+building the Cathedral of Toluca.
+
+There was nothing to interest a stranger in the empty halls where once
+these legalized murderers had held their nightly meetings, and I
+wandered away toward the prison and the place of torture, where, inch
+by inch, the life had been torn from the victims of priestly vengeance.
+I shuddered as I entered the prison door-way, though fifty years had
+passed since the last and most distinguished of its victims had entered
+here, the Vice-king Iturrigaray. Here, too, the hand of the
+white-washer had been busy, and the cells were now made comfortable
+rooms for the soldiery. The instruments of torture were all carefully
+removed from the place of torture, and the room bore no marks of the
+shocking scenes which had here so often transpired. Here poor Ramé, the
+Frenchman, had dragged out his long imprisonment, and here William
+Lamport, the unfortunate Irish victim, prepared himself for death. But
+Lamport's story is worth giving in full, to illustrate the scenes.
+
+
+STORY OF WILLIAM LAMPORT.
+
+William Lamport was an Irishman by birth, and must have been a Roman
+Catholic, or he could not have obtained a license to visit Mexico. He
+was probably one of that large class of Irish Catholics who emigrated
+to Spain in order to enjoy their religion more freely than they could
+at home, under English oppression. It was probably two intercepted
+letters that cost this Irishman his life. His accusation sets forth
+that he was the author of two writings, in one of which "things were
+said against the Holy Office, its erection, style, mode of process,
+&c., in such a manner that, in the whole of it, not a word was to be
+found that was not deserving of reprehension, not only as being
+injurious, but also insulting to our holy Catholic faith." The
+Prosecuting Attorney (_fiscal_) says of the other writing "that it
+contained detestable bitterness of language, and contumelies so filled
+with poison as to manifest the heretical spirit of the author, and his
+bitter hatred against the Holy Office." Let his fate be a warning to
+all traveling letter-writers who are disposed to criticise too severely
+"the erection and style" of a very awkward-looking building, and the
+mode of process therein used in condemning men to the flames. Probably,
+before he got through with his intercourse with the Inquisition, he
+many times wished himself back under the liberal government of the
+Anglo-Saxon oppressors of his country!
+
+It was a delightful day in the year 1569, when the most splendid _auto
+da fe_ that ever took place in Mexico was celebrated upon the occasion
+of the burning of Lamport. A throne had been placed for the Vice-king,
+and conspicuous seats were prepared for the _audiencia_. All the
+officials of the city and of the department were present to add
+importance to the grand performance ("_funcion_"). Not less brilliant
+was the display which the whole body of the priesthood made upon the
+occasion. The Archbishop, as spiritual Vice-king, displayed a bearing
+that dazzled the populace, while his attendant clergy, with the whole
+body of the monastic orders, added immensely to the grand spectacle.
+The procession, headed by the Grand Inquisitor and his subordinates,
+was followed by the officials and familiars, while the poor Irishman
+walked with his eyes raised to Heaven, for the purpose, said the
+priests, "of seeing if the devil, his familiar, would come to his
+assistance."[58] The sermon and the ordinary exercises, including the
+oath administered to all the dignitaries present to support the Holy
+Office, were spun out to an unusual length, so that it proved to be a
+protracted meeting, as well as the greatest festival the Mexicans ever
+witnessed since the time that Montezuma offered human sacrifices. But
+in the midst of the preliminary exercises Lamport escaped burning
+alive, for when his neck had been placed in the ring, he let himself
+fall and broke his neck, so that the crowd were compelled indignantly
+to put up with burning of the dead body of a heretic. The unbeliever
+cheated them out of half their expected sport.
+
+
+THE INQUISITION IN SPAIN.
+
+It may look like wandering from the main topic of discussion to devote
+a chapter to an institution which has ceased to exist for forty years.
+But no one can fully comprehend the social and political character of
+the diverse and conflicting nationalities and discordant elements that
+for three hundred years constituted the Spanish empire without fully
+understanding the character and workings of the Inquisition, which,
+from "the Council of the Supreme" in Spain, extended, with its
+complicated ramifications, through all the provinces, and penetrated
+every social organization in Europe and America,[59] and even to the
+most distant East India possessions, binding all the several parts
+together as the nervous system does the parts of the human body; or
+rather by external folds, as the anaconda does its victim. The
+Inquisition was emphatically the nervous system of the Spanish
+monarchy. From the time of Philip II. to the last of her kings, Spain
+had but one monarch that could have escaped a lunatic asylum on a
+commission _ad inquirendo_, and not a single royal family in all that
+time that had not at least one judicially declared idiot in the
+household; and more than once it was the regular successor to the
+throne. And yet this ingeniously contrived craft of priests held all
+most firmly together, and made it capable of resisting every outside
+pressure until the French imperial armies entered Madrid.
+
+When French gunpowder was applied to the Holy Office, the Spanish
+empire lost its nationality, and its different parts fell to pieces
+like a rope of sand, and revealed to the world the sad truth that the
+Spanish race, whether in the Peninsula or in the colonies, was now
+incapable of self-government. The Inquisition had consumed its powers
+of vitality. So long accustomed to submit to and lean upon despotic
+authority, its various nationalities had lost the power of
+self-support. Spain, from the earliest historical periods, had ever
+been the victim of foreign colonial despotisms or imported tyrants
+until Philip II., under whom the Inquisition becoming firmly
+established, it thenceforward continued a Catholic province of the
+Roman Church, until Rome and the Papal Spanish empire fell together by
+the hands of Napoleon. From that time onward, Spain and all her former
+provinces have continued the sport of military insurgents--a melancholy
+evidence of the mental, physical, and moral ruin that overtakes a
+country abandoned to the despotism of priests.
+
+Though the origin of the Inquisition of Spain is familiar to all, yet
+few are accustomed to look upon it in its political bearings. The
+"pious" Isabella, or, as she is called by the descendants of the
+Moriscoes, "Isabella the Accursed," is conceded to have been the
+founder of the modern Inquisition, and yet her great piety did not
+prevent her from giving a death-blow to the _Fuero_ of Castile, the
+most liberal government of Europe except that of Aragon. The popularity
+which she acquired by the conquest of Granada, the religious furor
+excited by that successful war, and the union with Aragon, enabled her
+to establish the Inquisition. By means of her priests associated in its
+gloomy tribunals she was able to suppress popular rights. A shadow of
+the _Fueros_ of Catalonia, Valencia, and Aragon still remained, but
+she had sapped the foundation on which they rested by the establishment
+of the Holy Office. Charles V. was sufficiently powerful to disregard
+such humble instrumentalities in carrying out any purpose he deemed to
+be of advantage to his states. He was not a bigot by education, and we
+have to look to disappointed ambition as the cause of the virulence
+with which he persecuted the least indication of heresy. He had been
+thwarted in his ambitious schemes; this he attributed to the
+Reformation, which he himself had fostered at its beginning, in order
+to sow discord among the princes of Germany. He had hoped that upon
+their mutual jealousy he might establish despotic authority; but the
+treason of Maurice of Saxony had subverted his darling scheme at the
+moment of its apparent success, and in disgust he retired from public
+life to spend the remainder of his days in recruiting his health and
+cursing the heretics.
+
+
+PHILIP II. AND THE INQUISITION.
+
+The Inquisition burned with renewed flames under Philip II. from
+precisely the same cause that had made it tolerable to his father. To
+the troubles caused by the Reformation he attributed the election of
+his uncle Maximilian "King of the Romans," and his own consequent loss
+of the Germanic empire. But, as a compensation for this loss, he had
+substantially acquired England by his marriage with Queen Mary, and had
+the satisfaction of having his soldiers mingled with those of England
+in his war against France, and of seeing his own Archbishop of Toledo
+preside in the tribunal that condemned to the flames the Protestant
+bishops of England. The _autos da fe_ of Smithfield were weeding out
+heresy and liberty from England, which he already began to look upon as
+a province of his empire, when his wife died, and the avowed heresy of
+Elizabeth blasted his hopes in that quarter. The heretic Prince of
+Nassau had raised insurrection in the Netherlands, which deprived him
+of Holland. When the French Catholic League, which he had so long
+subsidized, was about to declare him, or at least his daughter,
+sovereign of France, the relapsed heretic, Henry IV., blasted this hope
+by laying siege to Paris. On the side of the Catholic states of Europe
+his affairs went on most prosperously. He had acquired Portugal, with
+all her American and East India provinces. But in these new
+acquisitions he was not safe from the assaults of the heretics. The
+Dutch robbed him of Brazil, and of the Cape of Good Hope, and of the
+islands of Ceylon and Java in the East Indies. When his missionary
+emissaries had excited an insurrection by which he might have acquired
+Japan in a religious war, the Dutch were there with their ships, and,
+laying them alongside the rebel camp, they cannonaded it, while the
+imperial army on the land side utterly destroyed together emissary
+priests and rebels, and forever excluded Spain and her emissaries from
+the islands, and even England after the negotiation of a Spanish
+marriage. Nor were his treasure-ships safe from these audacious Dutch,
+who prowled about the West Indies and seized his galleons. The ships
+from Goa, laden with the treasures of the East, had to take a
+circuitous route to avoid the Dutch, who were continually on the
+look-out at the Cape of Good Hope. As if this was not enough, the
+failure of his great armada sent against England, and the ravaging of
+his own coasts by Essex, increased his hatred against the heretics to
+something like a mania.
+
+These are sufficient reasons for accounting for the zeal of Philip II.
+on the subject of religion, and his blindness to the consequences of
+thus abandoning his empire and his people as common plunder to a
+merciless horde of plunderers, who bound his empire most firmly
+together, but it was in the bands of national ruin. This, too, may
+account for his often-repeated remark that he would not shield his own
+son if he should incur the censure of the Inquisition. When his eldest
+son and heir openly avowed his hatred to the Inquisition, we find him
+dying a mysterious death. It has already been remarked that there can
+be no such thing as reliance upon historical truth in a country where
+the Inquisition is in full authority. But it does not follow from this
+that we ought to adopt the popular surmise that Philip was privy to the
+murder of his son, or even that he was actually murdered. It may have
+been a murder, as the inquisitorial assassins were numerous, or it may
+have been a natural death, as represented in books that have been
+published by permission of the censors. All that we know is, that his
+death happened advantageously for the continuance of the Holy Office.
+
+
+FATE OF THE INQUISITION.
+
+Philip III. can hardly be considered an accountable being. The same may
+be said of his son and of his son's sons, to say nothing of those heirs
+to the Spanish crown that were legally adjudged idiots. The nominal
+father of Charles III., though he was King of Spain, must be considered
+as not merely bordering on idiocy, but as actually a man of unsound
+mind. Charles III., though he had courage to drive from his dominions
+the Jesuits, dared not undertake a reform of the clergy. We may
+conclude this chapter by saying that the Inquisition had its origin in
+political considerations, or in the revengeful feelings of really great
+sovereigns of Spain, and that its continuance was owing to the weakness
+or impotency of their successors; and though it was the terror of all
+classes above the street rabble, it was too powerful to be suppressed
+before the emancipation of the people which followed the French
+invasion. Such is the fate of a race over whom priests have once
+acquired dominion.
+
+      [57] The defense of the invasion of Mexico by Cortéz in time of
+      peace, and reducing the Aztecs to slavery, rests on the ground
+      that the Aztecs were monsters.
+
+      [58] Though I do not entirely follow Pinblanch, yet I give him as
+      authority for this incident.
+
+      [59] Mr. Gayarre, who, under a commission from the State of
+      Louisiana, is examining the colonial records at Madrid, has
+      discovered the evidence of an attempt made to introduce the
+      Inquisition into New Orleans even after our people had begun to
+      settle there. This is his statement:
+
+        "It appears," says Gayarre, "that soon after the death of
+        Charles III., an attempt was made to introduce the much-dreaded
+        tribunal of the Inquisition into the colony. The reverend
+        Capuchin, Antonio de Sedella, who had lately arrived in the
+        province, wrote to the Governor to inform him that he, the holy
+        father, had been appointed Commissary of the Inquisition; that
+        in a letter of the 5th of December last, from the proper
+        authority, this intelligence had been communicated to him, and
+        that he had been requested to discharge his functions with the
+        most exact fidelity and zeal, and in conformity with the royal
+        will. Wherefore, after having made his investigations with the
+        utmost secrecy and precaution, he notified Miro that, in order
+        to carry, as he was commanded, his instructions into perfect
+        execution in all their parts, he might soon, at some late hour
+        of the night, deem it necessary to require some guards to
+        assist him in his operations.
+
+        "Not many hours had elapsed since the reception of this
+        communication by the Governor, when night came, and the
+        representative of the holy Inquisition was quietly reposing in
+        bed, when he was roused from his sleep by a heavy knocking. He
+        started up, and, opening his door, saw standing before him an
+        officer and a file of grenadiers. Thinking that they had come
+        to obey his commands, in consequence of his letter to the
+        Governor, he said, 'My friends, I thank you and his Excellency
+        for the readiness of this compliance with my request. But I
+        have now no use for your services, and you shall be warned in
+        time when you are wanted. Retire, then, with the blessing of
+        God.' Great was the stupefaction of the friar when he was told
+        that he was under arrest. 'What!' exclaimed he, 'will you dare
+        lay your hands on a Commissary of the holy Inquisition?' 'I
+        dare obey orders,' replied the undaunted officer, and the
+        reverend Father Antonio de Sedella was instantly carried on
+        board of a vessel, which sailed the next day for Cadiz.
+
+        "Rendering an account of this incident to one of the members of
+        the cabinet of Madrid, Governor Miro said, in a dispatch, 'the
+        mere name of the Inquisition uttered in New Orleans would be
+        sufficient not only to check immigration, which is successfully
+        progressing, but would also be capable of driving away those
+        who have recently come, and I even fear that in spite of my
+        having sent out of the country Father Sedella, the most fatal
+        consequences may ensue from the mere suspicion of the cause of
+        his dismissal.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+Miracles and Earthquakes.--The Saints in Times of Ignorance.--The
+Eruption of Jorullo.--The Curse of the Capuchins.--The Consequences
+of the Curse.--The unfulfilled Curse.--The Population of the
+Republic.--Depopulation from 1810 to 1840.--The Mixture of Whites
+and Indians not prolific.--The pure Indians.--The Meztizos.--The
+White Population.--Negroes and Zambos.--The Jew and the Law of
+Generation.--The same Law applies to Cattle.--It governs the
+Generation of Plants.--Intemperance and Generation.--Meztizo
+Plants short-lived.--Mexico can not be resuscitated.--She can not
+recover her Northern Provinces.
+
+
+Earthquakes are, and ever have been, very frequent through the whole of
+Mexico. Yet they have never been very severe, particularly at the city,
+as is demonstrated by the very existence of a city upon such a mass of
+soft earth as I have shown in a former chapter constitutes the
+foundation of Mexico. A reasonable amount of hard shaking would
+dislocate its muddy basis and engulf the city. Now and then some
+unusually frail structure is toppled down, and the church steeples are
+swayed a little this way or that, but the cement that sustains them has
+heretofore proved sufficiently cohesive to save them from being shaken
+to pieces or tumbled down.[60] Some ten years ago, the convent church,
+in which was the miraculous image of our Saviour, was thrown down, and
+the image that had annually poured forth its precious blood for the
+healing of the spiritual and temporal maladies of all pious believers
+was buried under the ruins. But this calamity was only a precursor of a
+greater miracle; for, on removing the rubbish, the sacred image was
+found intact, and as ready as ever to bleed again to order for ready
+pay. The spiritual interpretation of this astounding phenomenon was,
+that the devil, in his malice, had attempted, as of old, to crush the
+miraculous power of the Saviour; and now, again, as upon the high
+mountain, he was foiled, and the flow of blood was not intermitted.
+
+
+IGNORANCE AND MIRACLES.
+
+Miracles have ever been the most fruitful source of profit that the
+Church enjoys, for at the annunciation of every new miracle the
+faithful are quickened to devotion and to contributions, which, above
+all things, is to be desired by the "impoverished Church" of Mexico.[61]
+An earthquake is always a windfall or a godsend to the priesthood. An
+outsider is often surprised at the number of miracles that, in old
+times, were connected with earthquakes. But rarely do we hear of modern
+miracles. The spirit of miracles works only in times of most profound
+ignorance; and experience has convinced the Church that the only
+prospect of the continuation of miraculous visitations of the holy
+Apostles and of the Virgin in Mexico, depends upon the continuation of
+the people in the most profound ignorance, and in childlike obedience
+to their spiritual superiors. So long as this state of things
+continued, the holy Virgin was ever present among them, performing the
+most astounding cures, and even, upon one occasion, causing the ground
+to open and swallow up the surplus waters of the valley, to the relief
+of the "most devout people of Mexico," besides performing other
+astounding miracles, that have been duly attested by Pope, prelates,
+and the Council of Rites. But now, since the education of the common
+people has been attempted, although on a very limited scale, and men
+are allowed to speak openly, the most holy Virgin of Guadalupe has
+withdrawn her wonder-working power from an unbelieving people, while
+the blind, the halt, the lame, the palsied, and the diseased crowd
+around her shrine, not to obtain her healing mercy, but to solicit
+charity. The saints, also, have ceased to stir up the elements, so that
+volcanic fires have ceased throughout the whole limits of the republic,
+and earthquakes have almost forgotten to perform their annual duty of
+shaking the earth.
+
+The last volcanic eruption in Mexico was one of the most astounding of
+which the record has come down to us, whether in Mexico or in any other
+country. Fortunately, we have reliable evidence in relation to this
+event, for Humboldt not only surveyed the volcano as it appeared in his
+day, but, from eye-witnesses of the first eruption, learned the
+incidents that fill out the history, and also the miraculous cause
+which is assigned for this mighty convulsion of nature. His story I
+shall follow in preference to the popular tradition of the awful
+consequences that succeeded the curse pronounced by two Capuchin friars
+upon the estate of Jorullo.
+
+Just one hundred years ago, which was fifty years before the time of
+the visit of Humboldt, two Capuchin friars came to preach at the estate
+which occupied the beautiful valley of Jorullo. This valley was
+situated between two basaltic ridges, and was watered by two small
+streams of limpid water, the San Pedro and the Cuitamba. These small
+parallel rivers furnished an abundant supply of water, which was well
+employed in irrigating flourishing sugar and indigo plantations. These
+Capuchins, not having met with a favorable reception at the estate of
+San Pedro, poured out the most horrible imprecations against the
+beautiful and fertile plains, foretelling that, as the first
+consequences of their curse, the plantation would be swallowed up by
+flames rising out of the earth, and that afterward the neighboring
+mountains would forever remain covered with snow and ice. After
+denouncing the curse, the two holy men went on their way.
+
+
+ERUPTION OF JORULLO.
+
+On the night of the 28th and 29th of September, 1759, horrible
+subterraneous noises were heard, which had been preceded by slight
+shocks of an earthquake since the June preceding. The affrighted
+Indians fled to the Aquasareo, and soon thereafter a tract of land
+twelve miles square, which now goes by the name of the "evil land"
+(_mal pais_), rose up in the form of a bladder, and boiled, and
+seethed, and bubbled like a caldron of pudding, shooting up columns of
+fire from ten thousand orifices. Sometimes a number of orifices would
+unite into one vast crater, and vomit forth such a column of fire as
+was never before seen by human eyes since the time when "the smoke of
+the country went up as the smoke of a furnace."
+
+Intelligent witnesses assured Humboldt that flames were seen to issue
+forth, which, from a surface of more than a mile square, cast up
+fragments of burning rock to a prodigious height. The two small rivers
+were swallowed up, and their decomposed waters added fuel to the
+flames, which burned for many months with a fierceness that is
+indescribable.
+
+Such is the origin of the volcano of Jorullo, in the State of
+Michoican, and such is the pretended consequence of a curse pronounced
+by Capuchin monks upon one of the most beautiful estates in the
+country; and for generations since, the dread of incurring the
+displeasure of strolling vagabond monks has rested like a blight upon
+the common people; and yet this is but one of the thousand ways by
+which the Mexican priesthood play upon the credulity of the ignorant in
+a country where convulsions of nature are matters of almost ordinary
+occurrence. Every extraordinary event in nature is ascribed to the
+exercise of supernatural power on the part of the clergy or the most
+holy images of the Church.
+
+The fires of Jorullo have ceased to burn for half a century. The
+central crater that was eventually formed, and the numerous little
+orifices of fire, have long since become cold, and all the evidences of
+an active fire have passed away. But to this day the Indians watch the
+progress of the cooling process; as they anticipate that, before many
+years have passed, the unfulfilled portion of the curse will be
+realized, and that those now live who will see the surrounding
+mountains covered by perpetual snow--an evil which the half-clad
+Indians of the tropics appear to dread more than perpetual fire.
+
+The last and only enumeration of the inhabitants of Mexico or New Spain
+was made in 1794, by that distinguished Vice-king to whom I have so
+often referred, Ravillagigedo. This enumeration gave as the actual
+population 3,865,529, besides the departments of Vera Cruz, Guanajuato,
+and Cohahuila, which were estimated to contain 518,000 more, making a
+sum total of 4,412,529. Since that time there has been a great deal of
+extensive guessing, until by this simple process the population was
+brought up to 7,661,520, in 1853.[62] The process by which this increase
+is effected is to add one sixth for supposed omissions in the census,
+and a like number for supposed increase in the subsequent fifteen years
+till the breaking out of war, and taking for granted that the
+population has not retrograded during forty-five years of intermittent
+war. Such conclusions are made in violation of all the laws of
+population.
+
+
+POPULATION OF MEXICO.
+
+It may not be uninteresting to my readers to run over the laws which
+regulate the decrease of population, although it is too much our custom
+to look only at the other side of the picture. The social and civil
+wars of Mexico have been of such a character, as we have seen, as to
+warrant the belief that from this cause alone population must have
+constantly diminished, from their very commencement in 1810 until 1840,
+when matters were comparatively resuscitated. The employment for labor
+during the time that the large estates were neglected, and while the
+canals of irrigation and the silver mines were in ruins, was of the
+most limited character; and the very indigent circumstances to which it
+reduced the majority of those who ranked above the _leperos_ must also
+have diminished the population of the republic much below that of the
+vice-kingdom under Ravillagigedo.
+
+Since 1840, notwithstanding the frequent wars, Mexico, in favored
+localities, may have slightly increased in population; but this
+increase is more than balanced by the Indian wars of the northern
+departments, which have depopulated large tracts of country, sometimes
+extending across one tier of states even into the heart of Durango and
+Guanajuato; so that I hazard nothing in affirming that the population
+of the whole country must be less to-day than it was in 1794,
+notwithstanding that Humboldt sets down an estimate of 5,800,000 for
+the year 1803, and 6,500,000 for the year 1808. I might go farther, and
+affirm that the constant insecurity of life and property in all but the
+central parts of the republic is such as to keep down the natural
+increase of a population never prolific, being made up of a combination
+of uncongenial races--whites and Indians, whose intermixture leads to
+sterility.
+
+The census shows two fifths of the population to be pure Indians,
+mostly laborers: this class would have been the one most likely to have
+increased since the Revolution, had there remained the same amount of
+employment and wages as formerly. In consequence of the abolition of
+monopolies, the articles necessary for the comforts of life became much
+cheaper and more easy of attainment to the laboring classes, which
+would tend to increase the number of this class. These Indians,
+moreover, had remained to a great extent free from the deleterious
+intermixture of white blood. But the pure Indian, compared with the
+pure Caucasian, is a race, under the most favorable circumstances, of
+slow increase. The diseases hereditary among the Indians are aggravated
+by promiscuous marriages, so that in California the missionaries used
+to inquire diligently after a man's family connections, and compel a
+convert to marry into his own clan, or not marry at all.
+
+The Meztizos, or mixed races, constitute another two fifths of the
+population. This is a less vigorous race than the pure Indian. They are
+all the children of sin, mostly the offspring of illicit intercourse,
+and are for this cause a feebler race than the offspring of the same
+mixture where the man was only blessed with a single wife. As all
+marriage of whites with Indians in New Spain was unlawful, these
+Meztizos bore the same relation to the law in New Spain which the
+mulattoes do in our Southern States.
+
+
+RACES IN MEXICO.
+
+The whites were set down at one million, or about one fifth of the
+whole population, at the most prosperous period of the vice-kingdom. I
+doubt if they now amount to half or even a quarter of that number, and
+of this population there is a very vigorous French immigration, now
+amounting to five or six thousand, and about as many Germans, a handful
+of English, and still less Americans. The native white population does
+not possess the physical energy requisite for rapid increase. They form
+no portion of the laboring people; they live in effeminacy, and their
+children are not nursed at the healthy breasts of athletic negresses,
+as are the children of our Southern planters, but are suckled by a more
+enervated race than themselves, viz., the Meztizos. The emigration from
+Spain was never an emigration of laboring men. It consisted almost
+entirely of priests, stewards, clerks, and taskmasters, to whom labor
+was considered as degrading. When the Spaniards lost a monopoly of
+these employments, and sank to the level of the native races, their
+numbers rapidly declined. The slight foreign immigration above
+mentioned is not one of laborers, for labor is considered an unbecoming
+employment at Mexico for white men, but an immigration of tradesmen and
+shop-keepers, who add nothing to the material wealth of the country.
+
+Of the Mexican Negro race I never knew but two, and one of them held
+the post of captain in the army, and the other was the naked alcalde,
+mentioned in a former chapter, who was discharging the functions of
+"Judge of First Instance." The reasons assigned for the disappearance
+of this race from Mexico after so large an importation of slaves as
+that which took place in the last century is the incongeniality of the
+climate of Mexico, particularly of the table-lands, to the negro
+constitution. At the breaking out of the Mexican revolution, almost the
+only negro slaves in the country were in the department of Vera Cruz.
+The sugar-planters of the hot country of the interior, finding it
+impossible to carry on their estates by the use of negro slaves,
+attempted to reduce the mortality among their working people by raising
+up a race of those disgusting-looking beings called Zambos, a cross of
+negroes and Indians; but it was attended with the usual ill success
+that has followed every attempt to cross or intermingle different and
+distinct races of men, animals, or even plants.
+
+
+INTERMIXTURE OF RACES.
+
+The advantages arising from transplanting the human race, as well as
+vegetables and plants, are manifestly great. But transplanting should
+never be confounded with intermixing races, whether they be human, or
+of the lower animals, or of plants. When God, in his infinite wisdom,
+saw fit to choose out a family that he destined to continue for
+thousands of years, He transplanted it into a new soil and climate, and
+subjected it to divers migrations. First it went down into Egypt, and
+then, "with a high hand and an outstretched arm," He brought it up out
+of Egypt, and after a sojourn of forty years in the wilderness, He
+re-established it in the land of Canaan. This is the origin of the most
+perfectly developed race of the present time. Whether in the tropics or
+in the most northern latitudes, the Jew is the same intellectual and
+physical man, and carries about with him the indelible marks of a
+descendant of those patriarchs who were commanded not to intermarry
+with the people among whom they dwelt. The Jew may wander and sojourn
+in strange lands, but he cherishes with national pride the blood of
+Abraham, which he insists still flows in his veins, and he is most
+careful, of all things, to transmit it pure to his children. Though
+Canaan abounded with fragments of nationalities, his boast is that his
+blood is not intermixed with any of them. To the history of the Jews we
+might add the experience of the Franciscan missionaries of California,
+that for a healthy offspring a man must marry among his own clan.
+
+The constant complaints we hear of the deterioration of imported
+animals of choice breeds is the result of a disregard of this law of
+propagation. The importations of Merino sheep, and afterward of the
+Saxon, proved a failure chiefly from this cause. Those engaged in the
+importation of English cattle begin already to make the same complaint,
+which they would not have done had they taken the precaution to import
+their foreign stock in families. The Mulatto is an apparent, not a real
+exception to the rule. He is superior to the Negro, often superior to
+his white father; but it is a superiority for a generation only, and
+carries with it the seeds of its own dissolution. The mule is superior
+to the donkey, but lasts only for a generation. The Oregon ox, a cross
+between the Spanish and American breeds, is superior to either of the
+pure breeds. But it is the concentration in one animal of what might be
+the material of divers generations.
+
+I once asked a Dutchess county farmer the cause of the great
+superiority of his crops of wheat over those of his neighbors, and his
+reply was that he always brought his seed from a distance, changed it
+often, and took good care not to let it intermix with the wheat of that
+region. The same, or, rather, greater results have attended the
+transportation of American seeds and plants to California, where a new
+soil and a new climate has produced upon all the staples of agriculture
+such an improvement as to astonish men who have made this branch of
+industry a study. It is the result of the migration of plants where
+there are no plants of the same character to intermix, and so
+deteriorate the race by crossing the breed. In trees the same law holds
+unchangeably. We produce fine fruit by inoculation and by grafting; but
+experience has taught us never to inoculate upon a grafted stem, but
+always upon a natural branch. As the Conquistadors selected the
+best-looking Indian women for the mothers of the Meztizos, so the
+fruit-raiser selects the best natural stems to inoculate with his
+artificial varieties of fruit. In this way we get better fruit by
+exhausting the root, and a whole race of plants are sometimes worn out
+by mixture from too close a proximity of the different families of the
+same genus. In the laws which Moses gave to the children of Israel, we
+find a provision against the evils of intermixtures in the precept:
+"Thy cattle shall not gender with diverse kind." "Thou shalt not sow
+the field with, divers seeds." In these precepts God has taken care to
+guard the wholesome generation of plants as well as of animals.
+
+The successful intermingling of the Protestant Anglo-Saxon immigration
+with our own people in the second and third generations is not an
+exception to the law of generation, as both are but branches of the
+same stock, and are successfully planted together. Nor is the mortality
+which follows the Catholic immigration an exception to the beneficial
+law of migration, for habits of intemperance account for the short
+lives of these immigrants; and though their offspring is abundant, yet
+it is all tainted with an inheritance of disease, and too many of the
+children suffer the ruinous consequences of having drawn "still slops"
+from a mother's breast in infancy. For physically, and in the chain of
+generation, most truly are the sins of the fathers visited upon the
+children to the third and fourth generation.
+
+Our collection of material for an argument will be complete when I have
+added that the trees most prolific of artificial fruit die the
+earliest, and suffer most from running sores; that the vines cultivated
+artificially to produce the choicest wines suffer most from the mildew,
+and the potatoes of the most artificial varieties are the ones that
+have suffered most from the rot. When the cholera first visited Mexico,
+its passage through the country was like the ravages of the Angel of
+Death among the Meztizos and the fragments of decaying races. And this
+progress toward depopulation can not be stayed by the infusion of a
+vigorous stock. The law of sexuality in plants leads to the
+intermarriage of the vigorous with the decaying and the intermixture of
+blossoms; nor can human plants long vegetate together without
+intermarriages, which ingraft the vigorous constitutions with the virus
+of the old and decaying.
+
+
+PROSPECTS OF MEXICO.
+
+If, then, I have correctly enunciated the law of migration of men,
+animals, and plants, and if the law of intermixture of distinct races,
+or distinct species of the race, has been truly stated, the important
+argument to be drawn from it, which interests all Americans inquiring
+into the future of Mexico, is, that the present incongruous fragments
+of population which the internal disorders of Spain have set loose in
+Mexico can never be transformed into a homogeneous nationality, nor can
+sufficiently permanent elements of strength be found in this political
+chaos to constitute a permanent government. The degraded condition to
+which labor is reduced forbids the idea of an immigration of foreign
+laborers, while the miserable scale of wages--a quarter of a dollar a
+day upon the estates, payable out of the plantation store, or three
+shillings in the towns--holds out no inducement for poor men of a
+healthy race to abandon their own country and migrate to Mexico in
+sufficient numbers to form a substratum of society which ultimately
+might rise into a nationality.
+
+A still more important question is disposed of by the facts stated in
+this chapter, viz., that there is no possibility of the present
+inhabitants of Mexico ever successfully driving back the Apaches and
+reconquering the northern provinces. Her title to the wild regions of
+the north, which rests on discovery and colonization, is lost by her
+utter inability to subdue the Indians and to colonize, after a
+probation of three hundred years. At this day the whole of the northern
+provinces lie, like waifs, open to any civilized people to take
+possession who require an additional territory. But nothing is so
+absurd as the American process of acquisition by treaty of territories
+which already are, or soon will be, covered all over by immense
+land-claims, in districts subjugated by the Indians, instead of
+acknowledging the title of the Apaches to the lands they have conquered
+from Mexico, and long held in possession, and purchasing of those who
+are the real sovereigns of Northern Mexico.
+
+      [60] An attempt was made to explain away the story of Cortéz
+      getting drowned out at Iztapalapan, a point above the level of
+      the city of Mexico, by suggesting that _perhaps_ an earthquake
+      may have changed the face of the valley. But, unfortunately,
+      Iztapalapan was the southern support of the old Indian levee
+      (_calzado_), built to keep the water off of the city of Mexico in
+      seasons of heavy rains.
+
+      [61] Though the richest ecclesiastical quasi-corporation in the
+      world, your ears are constantly saluted with solicitations for
+      contributions to the impoverished Church.
+
+      [62] _Colleccion de Leyes_, p. 184.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+The Church of Mexico.--Its present Condition and Power.--The Number
+of the "Religios."--The Wealth of the Church.--The Money-power
+of the Church.--The Power of Assassination.--Educating the
+People robs the Priest.--Making and adoring Images.--The Progress
+downward.
+
+
+The Catholic Church of Mexico is a peculiar institution. Its historical
+antecedents have been considered in previous chapters in connection
+with other subjects. Men no longer whisper their unbelief with
+trembling, nor have they any longer to dread inquisitorial fires if
+they refuse to pay tithes to the bishop, or if they neglect to bestow
+rich gifts upon the priests. Still the Church survives the losses of
+this important engine of piety, and continues unmodified by passing
+events. In the midst of revolutions it stands unchanged, a relic of the
+last century. It stands like a great showman's wagon from which the
+horses have been detached, and children, great and small, are collected
+around to look at its images. Unfortunately, there is an abundance of
+full-grown children in a country where, for centuries, a combination of
+spiritual and temporal despotisms have dwarfed the intellects of men
+down to the standard of a toy-shop religion, which had long rejoiced in
+crushing the human intellect, while it disdained to enlighten the
+humblest understanding.
+
+[Illustration: MEXICAN PRIESTS TRAVELING.]
+
+Mexico is the only Catholic country in which the Church has remained
+unchanged during all the revolutions of the last half century. The
+French infidel armies, and the wars and revolutions that followed the
+French invasions, overturned the Church of Spain and Italy, so that the
+Church organization that now exists in those peninsulas is a new
+creation. Not so in Mexico. Its revolution was for the purpose of
+saving the privileges of the Church from the too sweeping reforms of
+the Cortes of Spain. And there it now stands, with all the properties
+and annuities which it enjoyed in the time of the idiot kings. The
+Inquisition no longer enforces with fire the censures of the Church,
+and men are no longer compelled by legal process to pay tithes. But for
+these losses the Church has received a heavy compensation. The priests
+and inquisitors who ruled the childish court of Spain would allow no
+independence to the Mexican Church, but supplied, by royal appointment,
+all the candidates for vacant bishoprics and chapters, while the
+Vice-king was allowed to fill the inferior offices of the Church.
+
+By the partial separation of Church and state which took place in
+1833, the Church of Mexico became independent of the state. The
+chapters acquired the right of electing their own bishops; the
+bishops, by virtue of their spiritual authority, appointing the
+priests and exercising control over all Church property as _quasi_
+corporations-sole, at least over all property not vested in religious
+communities, if practically there could be said to be any real
+exception. What that newly-acquired power of the Mexican bishops
+amounts to, we in the United States, from our own experience of the
+same authority, can judge.
+
+
+STATISTICS OF THE CHURCH.
+
+That the reader may know how extensive is this money-power of the
+bishops, I subjoin an extract from a statistical chart[63] published by
+Señor _Lerdo de Tejado_, _First Official de Ministerio de Fomento_, the
+following synopsis of the clergy and their incomes:
+
+"There is one archbishop, the Archbishop of Mexico, and eleven bishops,
+and one to be created at Vera Cruz. There are 184 prebends and 1229
+parishes. The total number of ecclesiastics is 3223.[64] There are 146
+convents of monks and 59 convents of nuns, and 8 colleges for
+propagating the faith. The convents of monks are inhabited by 1139
+persons, and there are 1541 nuns in convents, and with them 740 young
+girls and 870 servants. There are 238 persons in the colleges for
+propagating the faith." This is less than half the number of the
+_religios_ under the vice-kings, while the riches of the Church have
+immensely increased, as we shall presently see.
+
+
+REVENUE OF THE CHURCH.
+
+I translate from the same author, in a note, statistics upon the
+much-agitated question of the wealth of the Church of Mexico,[65] from
+which it will be seen that the total amount consumed in the maintenance
+of these 3223 persons, is annually $20,000,000, besides the very large
+sums expended in the repairs and ornaments of an enormous number of
+churches, and in gifts at the shrines of the different images, which
+can not be appropriated to the maintenance of the clergy. This sum of
+$20,000,000, if fairly divided among them, would yield an abundant
+support, though not an extravagant living; but, unfortunately, the
+greatest portion of this immense sum is absorbed by the bishops, while
+the priests of the villages contrive to exist by the contributions they
+wring out of the _peons_. At the time of the census, 1793, the twelve
+bishops had $539,000[66] appropriated to their support; but now their
+revenues are so mixed up with the revenues of the Church, that it is
+impossible to say how much these twelve successors of the apostles
+appropriate to their own support.
+
+
+MONEY-POWER OF THE CHURCH.
+
+In place of the Inquisition which the reformed Spanish government took
+away from the Church of Mexico, the Church now wields the power of
+wealth, almost fabulous in amount, which is practically in the hands of
+a close corporation-sole. The influence of the Archbishop, as the
+substantial owner of half the property in the city of Mexico, gives him
+a power over his tenants unknown under our system of laws. Besides
+this, a large portion of the Church property is in money, and the
+Archbishop is the great loan and trust company of Mexico. Nor is this
+power by any means an insignificant one. A bankrupt government is
+overawed by it. Men of intellect are crushed into silence; and no
+opposition can successfully stand against the influence of this Church
+lord, who carries in his hands the treasures of heaven, and in his
+money-bags the material that moves the world. To understand the full
+force of his power of money, it must be borne in mind that Mexico is a
+country proverbial for recklessness in all conditions of life; for
+extravagant living and extravagant equipages; a country where a man's
+position in society is determined by the state he maintains; a country,
+the basis of whose wealth is the mines of precious metal; where
+princely fortunes are quickly acquired and suddenly lost, and where
+hired labor has hardly a cash value. In such a country, the power and
+influence of money has a meaning beyond any idea that we can form. Look
+at a prominent man making an ostentatious display of his devotion: his
+example is of advantage to the Church, and the Church may be of
+advantage to him, for it has an abundance of money at 6 per cent. per
+annum, while the outside money-lenders charge him 2 per cent. per
+month. The Church, too, may have a mortgage upon his house over-due;
+and woe betide him if he should undertake a crusade against the Church.
+This is a string that the Church can pull upon which is strong enough
+to overawe government itself.
+
+This money-power of the Church yet lacks completeness and concentration
+to make it even a tolerable substitute for the power lost by the
+abolition of the Inquisition, as this wealth is distributed among 12
+independent bishops. But, having succeeded in establishing the temporal
+power of her bishops in Mexico more firmly than in the United States,
+the Papal court made another step in advance. In 1852, Mexico was
+electrified with delight at the condescension of the Holy Father in
+sending a _nuncio_ to that city. For two full years this representative
+of the Holy See was _fêted_ and toasted on all hands, as little less
+than the Pope himself, whom he represented. But last year all these
+happy feelings were dashed with gall and wormwood by an announcement
+that as the bishops controlled all this immense property by virtue of
+their spiritual authority, there was a resulting trust in his favor, or
+at least in favor of the Pope, whom he represented with full powers. It
+was Pandora's box opened in the midst of "a happy family." There was no
+disputing the nuncio's law; but to render to him an account of their
+receipts and disbursements, or to deliver over the bonds and mortgages
+to this agent of the Pope, was most unpleasant. The old Archbishop
+keeps fast hold of the money-bags, which, so far, the keys of Saint
+Peter have been unable to unlock. The battle waxes loud and fierce
+between the parties and their partisans, and Santa Anna stands looking
+on, dreaming of the happy time when, through the internal dissensions
+of the Church, these accumulations of 300 years of robbery and false
+pretenses will fall into the public treasury, and the people as well as
+the government will obtain their enfranchisement.
+
+The money-power of the Church has proved sufficiently strong to save it
+from the hungry maw of a famishing government, and to stand unaffected
+by the revolutions that surround it; and now and then, when too
+bitterly assailed by some political reformer, it finds relief in the
+assassination of the assailant, as in the case of the eloquent member
+of the last Congress, who, after a violent philippic against the
+corruptions of the priests, was found murdered in his chamber. And, as
+in case of the inquisitorial assassinations, the crime was proved to
+have been connected with a robbery. The power to overawe courts of
+justice, proverbially corrupt, and the facilities with which
+assassinations are procured, are now the most dreaded weapons of the
+Church, and may account for the nominal conformity of the intelligent
+classes.
+
+The unbelievers in Mexico, though considerable in numbers, are not
+organized with a positive creed. Theirs is only a negative
+existence--unbelief; and they are generally found conforming outwardly,
+as a more convenient and prudent course than running a tilt with the
+well-organized forces of the Church.
+
+There is nothing peculiar in the spiritual powers of the Church of
+Mexico, as these powers are common to all Catholic countries, and vary
+only with the ignorance and brutality of the people; the more degraded
+the people, the greater is the power of the priest and bishop. The
+intelligent Catholic, educated among Protestants, looks upon his priest
+as a religious instructor, and interprets the _ego te absolvo_ as
+rather a matter of form, meaning little more than that he will
+intercede for him. He has caught and is applying a Protestant idea
+unwittingly. But with the gross multitude who constitute the mass of
+the Spanish-American population, the priest is the God of the people;
+his giving or withholding absolution is a matter of life or death; and,
+however corrupt and debauched he may be, he still holds jurisdiction
+over the pains of hell and the bliss of heaven. For a reasonable
+consideration in money, he will shut up the one and open the other. The
+offering in the mass of the bloodless sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as it
+is called, is not sufficient for the Catholic in a Protestant country,
+but the priest must also preach a sermon every Sabbath, like a
+Protestant minister, though he still holds to the efficacy of the mass
+in conferring blessings on the living and the believing dead. The
+preaching of the priest is a rare thing in an exclusively Catholic
+country. The mass is his livelihood, and if he be the head of a
+community, or a popular priest, he often makes a profit in taking in
+masses to say, and letting out the job at a discount. The whole matter
+may be summed up by saying that the more profoundly ignorant the people
+are, the more devotional do they become, so that the priest has always
+a pecuniary interest in the ignorance of the people, and if he makes
+any effort toward their enlightenment, it is an effort made directly
+against his own pecuniary interests and the income of his office.
+
+
+WORSHIP OF IMAGES.
+
+The most ancient anti-Catholic, I might with propriety say, Protestant
+sect, whose form of synagogue worship is congregational, and who are
+republican at heart, though too often submitting to a despotism, are
+the Jews. Between these two, the Jew and the Catholic, there exists an
+unmitigated hostility. The Catholic reviles the Jew with a sin of
+which, most likely, his own ancestors were not guilty,[67] and the Jew
+curses the Nazarene for the idolatry of his worshipers. He will make no
+allowances for the nice distinction between adoration and worship, and
+insists that the making the likeness of any _thing_ to be set up in a
+place of worship is idolatry, and that the image of the cross is as
+much an image as the image of Him who hung thereon. And in all this the
+Jew is right, if we are to obey the commandment of God. Yet the Jew
+forgets that a thousand years of trial were requisite to cure his
+ancestors of their proneness to idols. After their first mission,
+accomplished in the birth of Christ, God has preserved them a perpetual
+witness against paganism. But so subtle is this sin, that we find
+ourselves setting up sensuous representations, while we point the
+finger of scorn at the Catholic, who ascribes miraculous power to an
+image of the Virgin. And what is the difference, the Almighty himself
+being judge, between setting up a cross in a place of worship or
+ascribing miraculous power to an image, or, as is the fashion to say,
+some spirit acting through the image? Are they not different stages of
+the same disease, and each equally calculated to provoke the Almighty
+to jealousy.
+
+
+SUMMARY OF EVILS.
+
+Image worship has another curious aspect. It is a very tolerable
+thermometer by which to measure the downward progress of nations. Pagan
+Rome, in times of comparative purity, had her laws against idolatry;
+but as her higher classes advanced in refinement and sensuality, and
+the plebeians became debased and brutalized, the whole religious ideas
+of the nation degenerated into idolatry, associated with a despotic
+miracle-working priesthood, and soon followed by a political despotism.
+It is curious to witness how exactly it takes on the same form in
+different countries in traveling this downward road. The Buddhist of
+China, who has reached a thousand-fold lower level than the Catholic,
+has his unmarried priesthood, his monks, and nuns, and self-imposed
+penances, and tortures, and holy water, and a ritual in an unknown
+tongue (Sanscrit), so strikingly resembling the Catholic as to suggest
+the idea of a common origin, if such an idea were not impossible. Yet
+in the moral standard they seem to have reached the point of total
+depravity. Hence we might sum up the cause that have produced the
+Mexican of the present day by enumerating the absence of the scriptural
+idea of family relation; the despotism exercised by the priesthood with
+the aid of an Inquisition, and the unnumbered toll-gates they have
+placed on the road to heaven; the effeminacy of the higher classes and
+debasement of the peasantry; the absorption of half the revenues of the
+country in superstitious and idolatrous purposes, and the uncleanly
+habits superinduced by mental and physical degradation for generations,
+so that the word _leper_ is used to designate a poor man in the city
+where that loathsome disease has its victims.
+
+      [63] _Grando Sinoptico de la Republica Mejicana en 1850. Por
+      Miguel M. Lerdo y Tejado_; approved by the Mexican Society of
+      Geography and Statistics.
+
+      [64] This number 3223 includes all of the 1139 monks, except the
+      lay brothers. The two classes of priests, those who are not monks
+      and those who are monks, are distinguished in Catholic countries
+      as seculars and regulars (_clerigos_ and _religios_). Humboldt
+      says the Mexican clergy are composed of 10,000 individuals
+      (_Essai Politique_, vol. i. p. 172), and, including the nuns, and
+      lay brothers and sisters, he puts the sum total of the religious
+      at 14,000. But in a note he gives the numbers in five of the
+      principal departments out of twelve, which foot up at only 5405
+      for the clergy of both orders.
+
+      [65] "The general revenue destined for the maintenance of the
+      clergy and of religious services in the republic may be divided
+      into four classes: first, that which appertains to the bishops
+      and to the canons, who form the chapter of the Cathedral; second,
+      those revenues which appertain to particular ecclesiastics and
+      chaplaincies; third, those of curates and vicars; fourth, those
+      of divers communities of _religios_, of both sexes.
+
+      "The first class is principally of tithes and first-fruits, the
+      product of which was very considerable in times past, when they
+      included a tenth part of all the first fruits which grew upon the
+      soil of the republic, and the firstlings of the cattle. But
+      lately this revenue has much fallen off, since by the law of the
+      17th of October, 1833, it is no longer obligatory upon the
+      cultivators to pay this contribution. Nevertheless, there still
+      are many persons who, for conscientious reasons, or for other
+      cause, continue to pay this tax, so that it produces a very
+      considerable sum. This part of the clergy also receive
+      considerable sums which have been left by devout persons for the
+      performance of certain annual ceremonies called
+      _anniversaries_.
+
+      "The collegiate church of our Lady of Guadalupe has, in addition
+      to a monthly lottery, which operates upon a capital of $13,000,
+      certain properties and other capitals of which the government
+      takes no account.
+
+      "Particular ecclesiastics and chaplains are supported on a
+      capital generally of $3000, established by certain pious persons
+      for that object, besides the alms of the faithful, which are
+      given for a certain number of masses to be applied to objects of
+      their devotion.
+
+      "The support of curates consists of parochial rights, viz.,
+      fees for baptisms, marriages, funerals, responses, and religious
+      celebrations (_funcions_) which, in their respective churches,
+      they command the faithful to make; and, finally, by the profits
+      which they derive from the sale of _novenas_, medals,
+      scapularies, ribbons (_madedas_), wax, and other objects which
+      the parishioners employ.
+
+      "The income of convents of monks, besides the alms which they
+      receive for masses, _funcions_, and funerals, which they
+      celebrate in the convent churches, consists of the rents of great
+      properties which they have accumulated in the course of ages.
+
+      "The convents of nuns are in like manner supported by the income
+      of great estates, with the exception of two or three convents
+      which possess no property, and whose inmates live on charity.
+
+      "Besides the incomes named, which pertain to the _personnel_ of
+      the clergy, there are, in the cathedrals and other parochial
+      [churches], revenues which arise from some properties and
+      foundations created for attending to certain dues called
+      "_fabrica_" which consist of all those objects necessary for the
+      services of this worship (_culta_).
+
+      "From the want of publicity which is generally observed in the
+      management of the properties and _rents_ [incomes] of the clergy,
+      it is impossible to fix exactly the value of one or the other;
+      but they can be calculated approximately by taking for the basis
+      those data which are within the reach of the public, which are
+      the total value of the production of the annual return
+      (_movimiento_) of the population for births, marriages, deaths,
+      and, finally, the devout practices which are still customary
+      among the greater part of the population. Observing carefully
+      these data, I assume, without the fear of committing a great
+      error, that the total amount which the clergy to-day realize in
+      the whole extent of the republic, for _rents_, proceeds of
+      tithes, parochial rights, alms, religious ceremonies
+      (_funcions_), and for the sale of divers objects of devotion, is
+      between eight and ten millions of dollars.
+
+      "Some writers have estimated the properties belonging to the
+      clergy at one half of the productive wealth of the nation; others
+      at one third part; but I can not give much credit to such
+      writers, as they are only calculations that rest on no certain
+      data. I am sure that the total amount of the property of the
+      clergy, for chaplaincies, foundations, and other pious uses,
+      together with rustic and city properties, which belong to the
+      divers religious corporations, amount to an enormous sum,
+      notwithstanding the falling off that is said to have taken place
+      from the amounts of former years.
+
+      "All property in the district of Mexico [federal district] is
+      estimated at $50,000,000, the half of which pertains to the
+      clergy. Uniting the product of this property to the tithes,
+      parochial rights, etc., I am well assured that the total of the
+      income of the clergy amounts to from eighteen to twenty millions
+      of dollars."
+
+      [66] The Archbishop of Mexico                    $130,000
+           The Bishop of Pueblo                         110,000
+           The Bishop of Valladolid                     110,000
+           The Bishop of Guadalajara                     90,000
+           The Bishop of Durango                         35,000
+           The Bishop of Monterey                        30,000
+           The Bishop of Yucatan                         20,000
+           The Bishop of Oajaca                          18,000
+           The Bishop of Sonora                           6,000
+                                                       --------
+           Total individual income of twelve bishops   $539,000
+
+                --_Essai Politique_, vol. i. p. 173.
+
+      The reason why the Bishop of Sonora was limited to $6000 was that
+      his diocese was so poor that he had that salary paid out of the
+      king's revenue.
+
+      [67] Most of the Jews of our day are the descendants of the
+      Babylonian Jews, who did not return to Jerusalem after the
+      Captivity, but remained in the province of Babylon until they
+      were driven out, some four hundred or more years after Christ;
+      the Babylonian, not the Jerusalem Talmud, being most commonly in
+      use among them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+Causes that have diminished the Religios.--The Provincials and
+Superiors of Convents.--The perfect Organization.--The Monks.--San
+Franciscans.--Dominicans.--Carmelites.--The well-reputed Orders.--The
+Jesuits.--The Nuns.--How Novices are procured.--Contrasted with a
+Quaker Prison.--The poor deluded Nun.--A good old Quaker Woman not a
+Saint.--Protestantism felt in Mexico.
+
+
+THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS.
+
+The monkish orders of Mexico have remained unchanged from the time of
+their first establishment. We have seen that they have fallen off
+immensely in numbers, but have increased immensely in efficiency, by
+the termination of those internal controversies between the
+Spanish-born and Creoles, and by enfranchisement from state control.
+Not only are they now all native-born, but the Meztizos seem to be the
+predominant race in the priesthood. The priesthood is not now so
+inviting an employment as it was before the suppression of the
+Inquisition. Miracles have ceased to be a profitable speculation, while
+the revenue once paid to the monks has been followed by ill-suppressed
+contempt. The employment once monopolized by the Spaniards being now
+thrown open to general competition, there is less willingness to submit
+to the despotism which ever reigns in religious houses than there was
+in the times of the vice-kings. Hard fare, cruel treatment, and public
+contempt have diminished the candidates for monastic orders, until the
+old proverb--"He that can not do better, let him turn monk"--is not
+unknown at Mexico. With the increase of liberty the number of nuns has
+diminished, as violence can no longer be used in getting a girl into a
+convent. For all these reasons the number of the _religios_ has rapidly
+diminished, while the wealth and efficiency of the Church has
+increased.
+
+Having spoken of the bishops, the lords spiritual of Mexico, and the
+controlling influence they exercise over a feeble government, we come
+next to the second class of spiritual masters of the country--the heads
+of orders, the provincials, and the heads of religious houses. These
+two classes of dignitaries are usually elected for their known severity
+of discipline, either by the procurement of the bishop, or through
+fanaticism of the monks or nuns, who, having voluntarily made
+themselves convicts and prisoners for life, now undertake to add to
+their self-afflicted mortification by choosing for their head a
+superior the most hateful of their number. The novice is taught that
+the greatest favor with Heaven is to be obtained by implicit obedience
+under most trying circumstances, and the more cruel the despotism they
+unmurmuringly submit to, the greater will be the accumulation of good
+works. But cursed to the lowest depths of Purgatory is that recluse who
+dares to murmur even in his inmost thoughts; and if he so far forgets
+his duty as to murmur aloud, then all the powers of the Church are
+brought to crush his insubordination.
+
+We have thus followed spiritual despotism through its various stages,
+from the Pope to the bishops; from the bishops to the provincials of
+religious orders; and then down to superiors of a community of half a
+dozen monks or nuns, by whom immorality is pardonable, but who regard
+disobedience or insubordination in the slightest particular "like the
+sin of witchcraft and idolatry." Such is the perfect organization of
+the papacy in all its parts, which, acting as one great secret,
+political, social, and religious association, labors continually to
+concentrate the riches of the nations at Rome as a common centre.
+
+There is a peculiar feature in the Catholic Church in Mexico unknown in
+other Catholic countries: it is the preponderance of the regular clergy
+(monks) over the secular clergy. This is owing to Cortéz, who wrote to
+the Emperor Charles V. to send him regulars, for the conversion of the
+Indians, instead of seculars, assigning as a reason for this request
+"that the latter display extravagant luxury, leave great wealth to
+their natural children, and give great scandal to the newly-converted
+Indians." Hence more than one half of the Mexican clergy are monks, and
+wear the cowl; for at the time of the census of 1793, as we have seen,
+there were in the city of Mexico 1646 monks, besides lay brothers,
+against 550 secular priests, while in the fifteen convents for nuns
+there were 923 of these female monks.
+
+
+CHARACTER OF THE DIFFERENT ORDERS.
+
+The reader has already become quite familiar with the Franciscan
+fathers and their vows of poverty and self-mortification, and their
+skill at playing for gold ounces. They have pretty well maintained that
+reputation since the time of Friar Thomas Gage. But there are some
+honorable exceptions to this rule, though few and far between. We have
+already noticed how they were favored by Cortéz, and the result has
+been that they are the richest fraternity in the republic. These holy
+men of the Angelic Order of Saint Francis have lately discovered a new
+source of wealth in renting their large central court to a Frenchman,
+who occupies it with the best garden of plants in Mexico; and as the
+convent occupies nearly a whole square in the central part of the city,
+they have pierced the convent walls, and rented out shops upon the
+business streets, while the soldiers of Santa Anna occupy the vacant
+cloisters of the convent. In this "happy family," with all the immense
+wealth of the establishment, the _donados_, and those monks who are so
+poor as to have no friends, find but a miserable subsistence.
+
+Of the Dominicans I have already spoken in connection with the
+Inquisition. In their yard is the flag-stone which was used by them in
+offering human sacrifice before the Revolution. There it is kept as a
+relic and symbol of the power once enjoyed by the Church. There is yet
+a lingering hope that there may be restored to these brethren the power
+of roasting alive human beings. In speaking of depravity of morals, it
+is hard to say which of the fraternities has reached the lowest level,
+though common consent concedes the palm to the Dominicans.
+
+The name of the Carmelites carries us back to the time of the Crusades;
+but they are better known in Mexico as the former proprietors of the
+_Desierto_, which Thomas Gage so touchingly describes. Their habitual
+practice of self-denial and mortification, in appearance, while rioting
+on the luxuries that devotees lavished upon them, has not been
+forgotten. These holy brothers had a hand in the Inquisition as well as
+the Dominicans. They were a set of scamps set to watch the purity of
+other men's lives, while they themselves lived a life of habitual
+profligacy. The ruins of their old convent, the _Desierto_, is still
+one of the most attractive spots about the city. As the traveler
+wanders among its ruined walls, he will find in the subterraneous cells
+ring-bolts fastened in the walls, where poor prisoners for their faith
+endured something more than self-mortification.
+
+The monks of Santiago, San Augustin, and the Capuchins have all fine
+convents, and are rich; but the monks of Saint James are the most
+inveterate beggars.
+
+The monks of San Fernando enjoy an enviable reputation compared with
+the spotted sheep I have just been considering. They are late comers,
+and have not learned all the ways of wickedness of the older orders.
+Next come the "Brethren of the Profession," of whom it is pleasant to
+speak, after saying so many hard things of their neighbors. They stand
+so high as men of character and learning, that I am tempted to tell
+their story on hearsay, for want of better authority. They were once
+Jesuits, but when the royal _cebula_ of Carlos III. came for their
+expulsion, these fathers had sustained so good a character for charity
+and usefulness that they were allowed to return, on condition of
+renouncing the name and peculiarities of that order. I am inclined to
+believe this strange story to be substantially true, for clearly they
+are of the Jesuits, and yet they are not Jesuits. The reputation which
+they enjoyed in 1767 they still retain, and not only command the
+respect of all classes of society in Mexico, but their chapel is the
+fashionable church of the city, where genteel people resort to say
+their prayers.
+
+"The Brethren of the Holy Places of Jerusalem"--the Hieronomite monks,
+are not numerous, and are known in the markets as lenders of money,
+with the interest of which they support themselves and "the poor saints
+of Jerusalem;" that is, a portion of those lazy, greasy, fighting Latin
+monks at Jerusalem, that have been one of the causes of the present war
+in Europe.
+
+"The Hospitalers of Saint John" (_Juanos_) are better known for their
+exploits in the time of the Crusaders than for any thing they have done
+in Mexico.
+
+It would be a thrice-told tale to repeat the story of the Jesuits; the
+world knows that too well already. The details of their proceedings in
+Mexico till the time of their expulsion have been too often written by
+their enemies. Their great prosperity and their great wealth made them
+the envy of the other orders, as corrupt and depraved as themselves,
+but not so dangerous, because they had reached that point at which
+depravity ceases to contaminate. Dirty, greasy monks could not endure
+an order that wore the garb of gentlemen, and were in favor with the
+aristocracy, while they themselves were despised.
+
+This envy was all-powerful with them, and led, for a time, to the
+laying aside of their own private bickerings, and uniting in the
+crusade against the common enemy, the Jesuits, and acting in harmony
+with the political power.
+
+
+NUNNERIES.
+
+The Church has always made much of the nuns. It has ever been the
+custom of the priesthood to endeavor to throw a veil of romance over
+the very unromantic way of life followed by females who have shut
+themselves up for life in a place hardly equal to a second-class
+state-prison. Woman has an important place which God has assigned her
+in the world; but when she separates herself from the family circle,
+and elbows her way to the rostrum, where, with a semi-masculine attire,
+and with a voice not intended for oratory, she harangues a tittering
+crowd upon the rights of women to perform the duties of men; or goes to
+the opposite extreme, and shuts herself up within high stone walls to
+avoid the society of the other sex, she equally sins against her own
+nature, and not only brings misery upon herself, but inflicts upon
+society the evils of a pernicious example, and furnishes a theme for
+all kinds of scandal.
+
+Proud families who have portionless daughters; relatives who desire to
+get rid of heirs to coveted estates; convents in want of funds and
+endowments,[68] or a pretty victim for the public entertainment on
+taking the veil; friends who have unmarriageable women on their hands;
+and romantic young misses, ambitious of playing the queen for a day at
+the cost of being a prisoner for life, have all contributed to populate
+the fifteen nunneries of the city of Mexico. In the flourishing times
+of the Inquisition, this business of inveigling choice victims into
+convents was more profitable, for then murmuring could be crushed into
+silence, and parents dreaded to oppose the wretched pimps of
+superstition who came to inveigle their daughters into convents.
+
+
+NUNNERIES AND PRISONS.
+
+The Quaker prison of Philadelphia is a paradise compared with such a
+place as this. If the reader has ever placed his eye at the keeper's
+eye-hole in that prison, he must have seen in many a cell a cheerful
+face, and the appearance of as much comfort as is compatible with an
+imprisoned condition; for ministering angels have been there--mothers
+in Israel, who have torn themselves from their domestic duties for a
+little time to minister consolation to the very criminals in prison;
+and, now that the prison-door has separated the poor wretch forever
+from society, whose laws have been outraged, she, by her kindness and
+teaching, has led the convict to look to Heaven with a hope of
+forgiveness, and daily to pray for those he has injured, while he reads
+in the holy book which she gave him, that a repenting thief accompanied
+the Son of God to Paradise.
+
+Let us turn from such an unpoetical scene as this, which that cheerful
+prison presents, to the convent of Santa Teresa, the most celebrated of
+all the ten or fifteen nunneries now in operation about the city of
+Mexico. In a cold, damp, comfortless cell, kneeling upon the pavement,
+we may see a delicate woman mechanically repeating her daily-imposed
+penance of Latin prayers, before the image of a favorite saint and a
+basin of holy water. This self-regulating, automaton praying machine,
+as she counts off the number of allotted prayers by the number of beads
+upon her rosary, beats into her bosom the sharp edge of an iron cross
+that rests within her shirt of sacking-cloth, until, nature and her
+task exhausted, she throws herself down upon a wooden bed, so
+ingeniously arranged as to make sleep intolerable.[69] This poor victim
+of self-inflicted daily torture, half crazed from insufficient food,
+and sleep, and clothing, has endured all this misery to accumulate a
+stock of good works for the use of less meritorious sinners, besides
+the amount necessary to carry herself to heaven; for penance, and not
+repentance, is this poor pagan's password for salvation.
+
+The old Quakeress is not a fashionable saint, for she never dreamed of
+this huxter business in spiritual affairs. Out of the overflowing
+goodness of her heart, she had tried to lighten the miseries of life in
+her own humble and quiet way, and found her happiness in seeing all
+about her made comfortable. The money that others expended in buying
+masses for the repose of their own souls and those of their relatives
+after death, she expended in ministering to soul and body in this
+world, leaving to God above the affairs of departed spirits, to deal
+with them according to His mercy. She never presumed to add to the
+torments of this life, or undertook to lighten the torments of the
+departed. Her duties lay all in this world, and when her labors were
+ended, she quietly lay down in death, leaving her future condition to
+God. She never would pierce her bosom with an iron cross, though it had
+often been pierced by the trials of life. She has seen enough of real
+poverty and mortification, but never dreamed of such a thing as poverty
+and mortification self-imposed, by wearing upon her flesh a garment of
+sacking-cloth, or the ingenious invention of a bed so contrived as to
+deprive herself of wholesome sleep. Images and holy water occupy no
+place in her creed, though soap and water are almost too prominent. She
+did her good deeds from a sense of duty which she owed to her kind, and
+from the pleasure that it gave her to relieve misery while discharging
+the ordinary duties of life, and never dreamed of the sweet odor her
+good works left behind her--an odor which followed her to heaven--an
+odor more acceptable to the Almighty than all the endowments she might
+have left to pay for masses for the repose of her soul.
+
+
+SELF-CASTIGATION.
+
+There is so much that is monotonous in talking over the details of
+affairs of the different orders of these female monks, from the Sister
+of Guadalupe to the Sisterhood of Mercy, that it is as well to consider
+them as one, as divers households of single women, who, to win
+extraordinary favor of God, had separated themselves from their
+families, and devoted their lives, some to repeating prayers and acts
+of self-mortification, some to attending at the hospitals on the sick
+or the blind, the idiotic, the deformed, the deaf and the dumb, others
+to educating young ladies according to their peculiar notions of
+education, others again consecrating themselves to pauperism, and
+living upon charity; and when the daily supply of alms has failed,
+these self-made poor sisters collect together, and there wait and pray,
+and ring their bell, until some benevolent individual shall chance to
+hear the well-known signal, and come and relieve them.
+
+Such is the system of religion of all countries which bear the
+Christian name, but where freedom does not exist, and where liberty can
+not thrive. There is a trifling difference in its phases as exhibited
+in the Greek and the Latin Churches, but the difference is too slight
+for us outsiders to notice. In Mexico it exists in its most
+unadulterated state, less contaminated than elsewhere with
+Protestantism or other foreign substances.
+
+
+PENANCES.
+
+The old farce of self-castigation is here still enacted, as it has been
+for three hundred years, but in the dark, _of course_; and blood, or
+some substitute for it, is heard to fall upon the floor by the few
+selected witnesses;[70] but a party of boys, report says, being
+somewhat skeptical about the quality of this blood, concealed
+themselves in the church, and when the pious farce began, took so
+active a part in the sport upon the naked backs of the fathers, as to
+inflict bodily injury, and break up the bloody entertainment. Still
+Protestantism has been felt in Mexico, if not embraced, and the common
+people look back to the happy time when the soldiers of their
+Protestant conquerors made money plenty among them, and when
+even-handed justice was dealt out alike to rich and poor, high and low.
+Though the foreigners laughed at the fables of the priests and
+ridiculed the monks, they yet were honest in their dealings with the
+people instead of taking by violence. As there are no people so
+besotted that they do not admire courage and honesty, so the _Paisano_
+looks upon the heretic as a man of a superior race to himself.
+
+      [68] I have selected three cases of taking the veil, to which I
+      have added captions, which lift the veil from this practice of
+      consecrating young girls to superstitions uses. They are
+      extracted from Madame Calderon's Life in Mexico.
+
+      _Taking the Veil._
+
+      "I followed the guide back into the sacristy [of the convent],
+      where the future nun was seated beside her grandmother, in the
+      midst of her friends and relations, about thirty in all.
+
+      "She was arrayed in pale blue satin, with diamonds, pearls, and a
+      crown of flowers. She was literally smothered in blonde and
+      jewels; and her face was flushed, as well it might be, for she
+      had passed the day in taking leave of her friends at a fête they
+      had given her, and had then, according to custom, been paraded
+      through the town in all her finery. And now her last hour was at
+      hand. When I came in, she rose and embraced me with as much
+      cordiality as if we had known each other for years. Beside her
+      sat the Madrina, also in white satin and jewels; all the
+      relations being likewise decked out in their finest array. The
+      nun kept laughing every now and then in the most unnatural and
+      hysterical manner, as I thought, apparently to impress us with
+      the conviction of her perfect happiness; for it is a great point
+      of honor among girls similarly situated to look as cheerful and
+      gay as possible--the same feeling, though in a different degree,
+      which induces the gallant highwayman to jest in the presence of
+      the multitude when the hangman's cord is within an inch of his
+      neck; the same which makes a gallant general, whose life is
+      forfeited, command his men to fire on him; the same which makes
+      the Hindoo widow mount the funeral pile without a tear in her eye
+      or a sigh on her lips. If the robber were to be strangled in the
+      corner of his dungeon--if the general were to be put to death
+      privately in his own apartment--if the widow were to be burned
+      quietly on her own hearth--if the nun were to be secretly
+      smuggled in at the convent gate like a bale of contraband goods,
+      we might hear another tale. This girl was very young, but by no
+      means pretty; on the contrary, rather _disgraciée par la nature_;
+      and perhaps a knowledge of her own want of attractions may have
+      caused the world to have few charms for her.
+
+      "Suddenly the curtain was withdrawn, and the picturesque beauty
+      of the scene within baffles all description. Beside the altar,
+      which was in a blaze of light, was a perfect mass of crimson and
+      gold drapery; the walls, the antique chairs, the table before
+      which the priests sat, all hung with the same splendid material.
+      The Bishop wore his superb mitre, and robes of crimson and gold,
+      the attendant priests also glittering in crimson and gold
+      embroidery.
+
+      "In contrast to these, five-and-twenty figures, entirely robed in
+      black from head to foot, were ranged on each side of the room,
+      prostrate, their faces touching the ground, and in their hands
+      immense lighted tapers. On the foreground was spread a purple
+      carpet bordered round with a garland of freshly-gathered flowers,
+      roses, and carnations, and heliotrope, the only things that
+      looked real and living in the whole scene; and in the middle of
+      this knelt the novice, still arrayed in her blue satin, white
+      lace veil and jewels, and also with a great lighted taper in her
+      hand.
+
+      "The black nuns then rose and sang a hymn, every now and then
+      falling on their faces and touching the floor with their
+      foreheads. The whole looked like an incantation, or a scene in
+      Robert le Diable. The novice was then raised from the ground and
+      led to the feet of the Bishop, who examined her as to her
+      vocation, and gave her his blessing, and once more the black
+      curtain fell between us and them.
+
+      "In the _second act_ she was lying prostrate on the floor,
+      disrobed of her profane dress, and covered over with a black
+      cloth, while the black figures kneeling around her chanted a
+      hymn. She was now dead to the world. The sunbeams had faded away
+      as if they would not look upon the scene, and all the light was
+      concentrated in one great mass upon the convent group.
+
+      "Again she was raised. All the blood had rushed into her face,
+      and her attempt to smile was truly painful. She then knelt down
+      before the Bishop, and received the benediction, with the sign of
+      the cross, from a white hand with the pastoral ring. She then
+      went round alone to embrace all the dark phantoms as they stood
+      motionless, and as each dark shadow clasped her in its arms, it
+      seemed like the dead welcoming a new arrival to the shades.
+
+      "But I forget the sermon, which was delivered by a fat priest,
+      who elbowed his way with some difficulty through the crowd to the
+      grating, panting and in a prodigious heat, and ensconced himself
+      in a great armchair close beside us. He assured her that she 'had
+      chosen the good part, which could not be taken away from her;'
+      that she was now one of the elect, 'chosen from among the
+      wickedness and dangers of the world'--(picked out like a plum
+      from a pie). He mentioned with pity and contempt those who were
+      'yet struggling in the great Babylon,' and compared their
+      miserable fate with hers, the Bride of Christ, who, after
+      suffering a few privations here during a short term of years,
+      should be received at once into a kingdom of glory. The whole
+      discourse was well calculated to rally her fainting spirits, if
+      fainting they were, and to inspire us with a great disgust for
+      ourselves.
+
+      "When the sermon was concluded the music again struck up; the
+      heroine of the day came forward, and stood before the grating to
+      take her last look of this wicked world. Down fell the black
+      curtain. Up rose the relations, and I accompanied them into the
+      sacristy. Here they coolly lighted their cigars, and very
+      philosophically discoursed upon the exceeding good fortune of the
+      new-made nun, and on her evident delight and satisfaction with
+      her own situation. As we did not follow her behind the scenes, I
+      could not give my opinion on this point. Shortly after, one of
+      the gentlemen civilly led me to my carriage, and _so it
+      was_."
+
+      _A Victim for her Musical Powers._
+
+      "In the convent of the Incarnation I saw another girl sacrificed
+      in a similar manner. She was received there without a dowry, on
+      account of the exceeding fineness of her voice. She little
+      thought what a fatal gift it would prove to her. The most cruel
+      part of all was that, wishing to display her fine voice to the
+      public, they made her sing a hymn alone, on her knees, her arms
+      extended in the form of a cross, before all the immense crowd:
+      "Ancilla Christi sum," "The bride of Christ I am." She was a
+      good-looking girl, fat and comely, who would probably have led a
+      comfortable life in the world, for which she seemed well fitted;
+      most likely without one touch of romance or enthusiasm in her
+      composition; but, having the unfortunate honor of being niece to
+      two _chanoines_, she was thus honorably provided for without
+      expense in her nineteenth year. As might be expected, her voice
+      faltered, and instead of singing, she seemed inclined to cry out.
+      Each note came slowly, heavily, tremblingly; and at last she
+      nearly fell forward exhausted, when two of the sisters caught and
+      supported her."
+
+      _A Victim of her Confessor._
+
+      "She was in purple velvet, with diamonds and pearls, and a crown
+      of flowers; the corsage of her gown was entirely covered with
+      little bows of ribbon of divers colors, which her friends had
+      given her, each adding one, like stones thrown on a cairn in
+      memory of the departed. She had also short sleeves and white
+      satin shoes.
+
+      "Being very handsome, with fine black eyes, good teeth, and fresh
+      color, and, above all, with the beauty of youth, for she is but
+      eighteen, she was not disfigured by even this overloaded dress.
+      Her mother, on the contrary, who was to act the part of Madrina,
+      who wore a dress facsimile, and who was pale and sad, her eyes
+      almost extinguished with weeping, looked like a picture of Misery
+      in a ball-dress. In the adjoining room long tables were laid out,
+      on which servants were placing refreshments for the fête about to
+      be given on this joyous occasion. I felt somewhat shocked, and
+      inclined to say with Paul Pry, 'Hope I don't intrude.'
+
+      "----, however, was furious at the whole affair, which he said
+      was entirely against the mother's consent, though that of the
+      father had been obtained; and pointed out to me the confessor
+      whose influence had brought it about. The girl herself was now
+      very pale, but evidently resolved to conceal her agitation, and
+      the mother seemed as if she could shed no more tears--quite
+      exhausted with weeping. As the hour for the ceremony drew near,
+      the whole party became more grave and sad, all but the priests,
+      who were smiling and talking together in groups. The girl was not
+      still a moment. She kept walking hastily through the house,
+      taking leave of the servants, and naming, probably, her last
+      wishes about every thing. She was followed by her younger
+      sisters, all in tears.
+
+      "But it struck six, and the priests intimated that it was time to
+      move. She and her mother went down stairs alone, and entered the
+      carriage which was to drive them through all the principal
+      streets, to show the nun to the public, according to custom, and
+      to let them take their last look, they of her and she of them. As
+      they got in, we all crowded to the balconies to see her take
+      leave of her house, her aunts saying, 'Yes, child, _despidete
+      de tu casa_, take leave of your house, for you will never see
+      it again!' Then came sobs from the sisters; and many of the
+      gentlemen, ashamed of their emotion, hastily quitted the room. I
+      hope, for the sake of humanity, I did not rightly interpret the
+      look of constrained anguish which the poor girl threw from the
+      window of the carriage at the home of her childhood.
+
+      "At stated periods, indeed, the mother may hear her daughter's
+      voice speaking to her as from the depths of the tomb, but she may
+      never fold her in her arms, never more share in her joys or in
+      her sorrows, or nurse her in sickness; and when her own last hour
+      arrives, though but a few streets divide them, she may not give
+      her dying blessing to the child who has been for so many years
+      the pride of her eyes and heart.
+
+      "They gave me an excellent place, quite close to the grating,
+      beside the Countess de S----o; that is to say, a place to kneel
+      on. A great bustle and much preparation seemed to be going on
+      within the convent, and veiled figures were flitting about,
+      whispering, arranging, &c. Sometimes a skinny old dame would come
+      close to the grating, and, lifting up her veil, bestow upon the
+      pensive public a generous view of a very haughty and very
+      wrinkled visage of some seventy years standing, and beckon into
+      the church for the major-domo of the convent (an excellent and
+      profitable situation, by the way), or for padre this or that.
+      Some of the holy ladies recognized and spoke to me through the
+      grating.
+
+      "But, at the discharge of fireworks outside the church, the
+      curtain was dropped, for this was the signal that the nun and her
+      mother had arrived. An opening was made in the crowd as they
+      passed into the church, and the girl, kneeling down, was
+      questioned by the bishop, but I could not make out the dialogue,
+      which was carried on in a low voice. She then passed into the
+      convent by a side door, and her mother, quite exhausted and
+      nearly in hysterics, was supported through the crowd to a place
+      beside us, in front of the grating. The music struck up; the
+      curtain was again drawn aside. The scene was as striking here as
+      in the convent of the Santa Teresa, but not so lugubrious. The
+      nuns, all ranged around, and carrying lighted tapers in their
+      hands, were dressed in mantles of bright blue, with a gold plate
+      on the left shoulder. Their faces, however, were covered with
+      deep black veils. The girl, kneeling in front, and also bearing a
+      heavy lighted taper, looked beautiful, with her dark hair and
+      rich dress, and the long black lashes resting on her glowing
+      face. The churchmen near the illuminated and magnificently-decked
+      altar formed, as usual, a brilliant background to the picture.
+      The ceremony was the same as on the former occasion, but there
+      was no sermon.
+
+      "The most terrible thing to witness was the last, straining,
+      anxious look which the mother gave her daughter through the
+      grating. She had seen her child pressed to the arms of strangers
+      and welcomed to her new home. She was no longer hers. All the
+      sweet ties of nature had been rudely severed, and she had been
+      forced to consign her, in the very bloom of youth and beauty, at
+      the very age in which she most required a mother's care, and when
+      she had but just fulfilled the promise of her childhood, to a
+      living tomb. Still, as long as the curtain had not fallen, she
+      could gaze upon her as upon one on whom, though dead, the
+      coffin-lid is not yet closed.
+
+      "But while the new-made nun was in a blaze of light and distinct
+      on the foreground, so that we could mark each varying expression
+      of her face, the crowd in the church, and the comparative
+      faintness of the light, probably made it difficult for her to
+      distinguish her mother; for, knowing that the end was at hand,
+      she looked anxiously and hurriedly into the church, without
+      seeming able to fix her eyes on any particular object, while her
+      mother seemed as if her eyes were glazed, so intensely were they
+      fixed upon her daughter.
+
+      "Suddenly, and without any preparation, down fell the black
+      curtain like a pall, and the sobs and tears of the family broke
+      forth. One beautiful little child was carried out almost in fits.
+      Water was brought to the poor mother; and at last, making our way
+      with difficulty through the dense crowd, we got into the
+      sacristy. 'I declare,' said the Countess ---- to me, wiping her
+      eyes, 'it is worse than a marriage!' I expressed my horror at the
+      sacrifice of a girl so young that she could not possibly have
+      known her own mind. Almost all the ladies agreed with me,
+      especially all who had daughters, but many of the old gentlemen
+      were of a different opinion. The young men were decidedly of my
+      way of thinking, but many young girls who were conversing
+      together seemed rather to envy their friend, who had looked so
+      pretty and graceful, and 'so happy,' and whose dress 'suited her
+      so well,' and to have no objection to 'go and do likewise.'"
+
+      [69] "The Santa Teresa, however, has few ornaments. It is not
+      nearly so large as the _Encarnacion_, and admits but
+      twenty-one nuns. At present there are, besides these, but three
+      novices. Its very atmosphere seems holy, and its scrupulous and
+      excessive cleanness makes all profane dwellings seem dirty by
+      comparison. We were accompanied by a bishop, Señor Madrid, the
+      same who assisted at the archbishop's consecration--a
+      good-looking man, young and tall, and very splendidly dressed.
+      His robes were of purple satin, covered with fine point-lace,
+      with a large cross of diamonds and amethysts. He also wore a
+      cloak of very fine purple cloth, lined with crimson velvet,
+      crimson stockings, and an immense amethyst ring.
+
+      "When he came in we found that the nuns had permission to put up
+      their veils, rarely allowed in this order in the presence of
+      strangers. They have a small garden and fountain, plenty of
+      flowers, and some fruit; but all is on a smaller scale, and
+      sadder than in the convent of the Incarnation. The refectory is a
+      large room, with a long, narrow table running all round it--a
+      plain deal table, with wooden benches; before the place of each
+      nun, an earthen bowl, an earthen cup with an apple in it, a
+      wooden plate, and a wooden spoon; at the top of the table a
+      grinning skull, to remind them that even these indulgences they
+      shall not long enjoy.
+
+      "In one corner of the room is a reading-desk, a sort of elevated
+      pulpit, where one reads aloud from some holy book while the
+      others discuss their simple fare. They showed us a crown of
+      thorns, which, on certain days, is worn by one of their number by
+      way of penance. It is made of iron, so that the nails, entering
+      inward, run into the head, and make it bleed. While she wears
+      this on her head, a sort of wooden bit is put into her mouth, and
+      she lies prostrate on her face till dinner is ended; and while in
+      this condition her food is given her, of which she eats as much
+      as she can, which probably is none.
+
+      "We visited the different cells, and were horror-struck at the
+      self-inflicted tortures. Each bed consists of a wooden plank
+      raised in the middle, and, on days of penitence, crossed by
+      wooden bars. The pillow is wooden, with a cross lying on it,
+      which they hold in their hands when they lie down. The nun lies
+      on this penitential couch, embracing the cross, and her feet
+      hanging out, as the bed is made too short for her, upon
+      principle. Round her waist she occasionally wears a band with
+      iron points turning inward; on her breast a cross with nails, of
+      which the points enter the flesh, of the truth of which I had
+      melancholy ocular demonstration. Then, after having scourged
+      herself with a whip covered with iron nails, she lies down for a
+      few hours on the wooden bars, and rises at four o'clock. All
+      these instruments of discipline, which each nun keeps in a little
+      box beside her bed, look as if their fitting place would be in
+      the dungeons of the Inquisition. They made me try their _bed
+      and board_, which I told them would give me a very decided
+      taste for early rising.
+
+      "Yet they all seem as cheerful as possible, though it must be
+      confessed that many of them look pale and unhealthy. It is said
+      that, when they are strong enough to stand this mode of life,
+      they live very long; but it frequently happens that girls who
+      come into this convent are obliged to leave it from sickness long
+      before the expiration of their novitiate. I met with the girl
+      whom I had seen take the veil, and can not say that she looked
+      either well or cheerful, though she assured me that 'of course,
+      in doing the will of God,' she was both. There was not much
+      beauty among them generally, though one or two had remains of
+      great loveliness. My friend, the Madre A----, is handsomer on a
+      closer view than I had supposed her, and seems an especial
+      favorite with old and young. But there was one whose face must
+      have been strikingly beautiful. She was as pale as marble, and,
+      though still young, seemed in very delicate health; but her eyes
+      and eyebrows were as black as jet; the eyes so large and soft,
+      the eyebrows two penciled arches, and her smiles so resigned and
+      sweet, would have made her the loveliest model imaginable for a
+      Madonna.
+
+      "Again, as in the Incarnation, they had taken the trouble to
+      prepare an elegant supper for us. The bishop took his place in an
+      antique velvet chair; the Señora ---- and I were placed on each
+      side of him. The room was very well lighted, and there was as
+      great a profusion of custards, jellies, and ices as if we had
+      been supping at the most profane _café_. The nuns did not sit
+      down, but walked about, pressing us to eat, the bishop now and
+      then giving them cakes, with permission to eat them, which they
+      received laughing.
+
+      "After supper a small harp was brought in, which had been sent
+      for by the bishop's permission. It was terribly out of tune, with
+      half the strings broken; but we were determined to grudge no
+      trouble in putting it in order, and giving these poor recluses
+      what they considered so great a gratification. We got it into
+      some sort of condition at last, and when they heard it played,
+      they were vehement in their expressions of delight. The Señora
+      ----, who has a charming voice, afterward sang to them, the
+      bishop being very indulgent, and permitting us to select whatever
+      songs we chose, so that, when rather a profane canticle, "The
+      Virgin of the Pillar" (La Virgin del Pilar), was sung, he very
+      kindly turned a deaf ear to it, and seemed busily engaged in
+      conversation with an old madre till it was all over.
+
+      "In these robes they are buried; and one would think that if any
+      human being can ever leave this world without a feeling of
+      regret, it must be a nun of the Santa Teresa, when, her
+      privations in this world ended, she lays down her blameless life,
+      and joins the pious sisterhood who have gone before her; dying
+      where she has lived, surrounded by her companions, her last hours
+      soothed by their prayers and tears, sure of their vigils for the
+      repose of her soul, and, above all, sure that neither pleasure
+      nor vanity will ever obliterate her remembrance from their
+      hearts."--_Life in Mexico_, vol. ii. p. 9.
+
+      [70] "All Mexicans at present, men and women, are engaged in what
+      are called the _desagravios_, a public penance performed at this
+      season in the churches during thirty-five days. The women attend
+      church in the morning, no men being permitted to enter, and the
+      men in the evening, when women are not admitted. Both rules are
+      occasionally broken. The penitence of the men is most severe,
+      their sins being no doubt proportionably greater than those of
+      the women; though it is one of the few countries where they
+      suffer for this, or seem to act upon the principle, that 'if all
+      men had their deserts, who would escape whipping?'
+
+      "To-day we attended the morning penitence at six o'clock, in the
+      church of San Francisco, the hardest part of which was their
+      having to kneel for about ten minutes with their arms extended in
+      the form of a cross, uttering groans, a most painful position for
+      any length of time. It was a profane thought, but I dare say so
+      many hundreds of beautifully-formed arms and hands were seldom
+      seen extended at the same moment before. Gloves not being worn in
+      church, and many of the women having short sleeves, they were
+      very much seen.
+
+      "But the other night I was present at a much stranger scene, at
+      the discipline performed by the men, admission having been
+      procured for us by certain means, _private but powerful_.
+      Accordingly, when it was dark, enveloped from head to foot in
+      large cloaks, and without the slightest idea of what it was, we
+      went on foot through the streets to the church of San Agustin.
+      When we arrived, a small side door apparently opened of itself,
+      and we entered, passing through long vaulted passages, and up
+      steep winding stairs, till we found ourselves in a small railed
+      gallery looking down directly upon the church. The scene was
+      curious. About one hundred and fifty men, enveloped in cloaks and
+      sarapes, their faces entirely concealed, were assembled in the
+      body of the church. A monk had just mounted the pulpit, and the
+      church was dimly lighted, except where he stood in bold relief,
+      with his gay robes and cowl thrown back, giving a full view of
+      his high, bald forehead and expressive face.
+
+      "His discourse was a rude but very forcible and eloquent
+      description of the torments prepared in hell for impenitent
+      sinners. The effect of the whole was very solemn. It appeared
+      like a preparation for the execution of a multitude of condemned
+      criminals. When the discourse was finished, they all joined in
+      prayer with much fervor and enthusiasm, beating their breasts and
+      falling upon their faces. Then the monk stood up, and in a very
+      distinct voice read several passages of Scripture descriptive of
+      the sufferings of Christ. The organ then struck up the
+      _Miserere_, and all of a sudden the church was plunged in
+      profound darkness, all but a sculptured representation of the
+      Crucifixion, which seemed to hang in the air illuminated. I felt
+      rather frightened, and would have been glad to leave the church,
+      but it would have been impossible in the darkness. Suddenly a
+      terrible voice in the dark cried, 'My brothers! when Christ was
+      fastened to the pillar by the Jews, he was _scourged_!' At these
+      words the bright figure disappeared, and the darkness became
+      total. Suddenly we heard the sound of hundreds of scourges
+      descending upon the bare flesh. I can not conceive any thing more
+      horrible. Before ten minutes had passed, the sound became
+      _splashing_ from the blood that was flowing.
+
+      "I have heard of these penitencies in Italian churches, and also
+      that half of those who go there do not really scourge themselves;
+      but here, where there is such perfect concealment, there seems no
+      motive for deception. Incredible as it may seem, this awful
+      penance continued, without intermission, for half an hour! If
+      they scourged _each other_, their energy might be less
+      astonishing.
+
+      "We could not leave the church, but it was perfectly sickening;
+      and had I not been able to take hold of the Señora ----'s hand,
+      and feel something human beside me, I could have fancied myself
+      transported into a congregation of evil spirits. Now and then,
+      but very seldom, a suppressed groan was heard, and occasionally
+      the voice of the monk encouraging them by ejaculations, or by
+      short passages from Scripture. Sometimes the organ struck up, and
+      the poor wretches; in a faint voice, tried to join in the
+      _Miserere_. The sound of the scourging is indescribable. At the
+      end of half an hour a little bell was rung, and the voice of the
+      monk was heard calling upon them to desist; but such was their
+      enthusiasm, that the horrible lashing continued louder and
+      fiercer than ever.
+
+      "In vain he entreated them not to kill themselves, and assured
+      them that heaven would be satisfied, and that human nature could
+      not endure beyond a certain point. No answer but the loud sound
+      of the scourges, which are many of them of iron, with sharp
+      points that enter the flesh. At length, as if they were perfectly
+      exhausted, the sound grew fainter, and little by little ceased
+      altogether. We then got up in the dark, and with great difficulty
+      groped our way in the pitch darkness through the galleries and
+      down the stairs till we reached the door, and had the pleasure of
+      feeling the fresh air again. They say that the church floor is
+      frequently covered with blood after one of these penances, and
+      that a man died the other day in consequence of his
+      wounds."--_Life in Mexico_, vol. ii. p. 213.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+The Necessity of large Capitals in Mexico.--The Finances and
+Revenue.--The impoverished Creditors of the State.--Princely
+Wealth of Individuals.
+
+
+Having spoken of the Church, the great power which overawes the
+government, it is also proper to mention the secondary powers: the men
+of colossal fortune. In a country like Mexico, whose wealth arises from
+mines of silver, these immense private fortunes are requisite to the
+successful development of its resources. Large capitals must be
+constantly hazarded on the single chance of striking a _bonanza_, in an
+adventure as uncertain as a game of _monté_. The abandoned mine often
+turns out to be the treasury of an untold fortune to the man who was
+laughed at for attempting its restoration, while the most promising
+adventure proves a total failure. The temptations to these adventures
+are dazzling in the extreme. The ambitious man forgets the shame and
+irretrievable ruin that follows a failure, and looks only to the
+chances of winning a title of nobility and "a house full of silver."
+Men who shun the gambling-table will adventure all on a mine, and in a
+year or two they have passed from the memory of men, for they have
+become poor. Again, a man of slender means has become rich in the
+Mexican sense, which means a man of millions, and then he is at once
+elevated by his admirers into that brilliant constellation which is the
+"great bear" of the Mexican firmament.
+
+
+STATE CREDITORS.
+
+Still, these powerful private individuals prevent the consolidation of
+any government, whether republican or dictatorial, and put far off that
+necessary evil, the confiscation of the estates of the Church. If there
+is a Congress in session, its members are influenced as our own are
+influenced. They are swayed this way and that by private interests.
+When Congress is not in session, they are constantly operating upon the
+treasury, or, rather, the minister of the treasury is diving about
+among them to raise the means to keep afloat from day to day. They will
+not submit to their full share of taxation. When they advance money on
+the pledge of some income, it is on the most onerous terms, so that at
+least one quarter of the revenue of Mexico is used up in interest or
+usury. Long experience has reduced the business of shaving the revenue
+to a system. The most common way to do this is to buy up some claim at
+twelve and a half cents on a dollar, and then couple it at par with a
+loan of money on the assignment of some _rent_. Every thing is farmed
+out, until at last, two years ago, Escandon proposed to farm the whole
+foreign duties.
+
+Many a time have I sat down in the large ante-room of the treasury to
+look upon and study the characters of those who have come there to be
+disappointed, when promises will no longer satisfy hunger. One poor
+woman had got a new promise in 1851, and three months' interest, on
+money _deposited_ with the Consolado of Vera Cruz, and invested in 1810
+in building the great road of Perote. Santa Anna, on his return, gave
+her a new order, and she presented it to the minister with bright
+hopes, when he gave her fifteen dollars--all he had in the treasury.
+The best way to collect a debt at Mexico is to convert it into a
+foreign debt, if possible, and then, if there is a resident that stands
+high with his minister, the matter meets with prompt attention. He that
+can buy a foreign embassador at Mexico has made a fortune.
+
+
+MEXICAN MILLIONAIRES.
+
+I have spoken of two rich men of Mexico, the first Count of Regla, and
+one who has succeeded to his mine. As I was standing on the Paséo, a
+lad passed driving a fine span of mules. "That is the Count de Galvez,"
+said my companion, "the son of the late Count Perez Galvez, the lucky
+proprietor of the _bonanza_ in the mine of La Suz at Guanajuato."
+
+"But that _bonanza_ has given out," said I.
+
+"No matter; this boy's inheritance is sometimes estimated at
+$9,000,000." A snug capital with which to begin the world!
+
+Laborde, the Frenchman who projected and established the magnificent
+garden at Cuarnavaca, and also built, from his private fortune, the
+great Cathedral of Toluca, made and spent two princely fortunes in
+successful mining, and at last ended his checkered career in poverty.
+The Countess Ruhl, the mother of young Galvez, and her brother the
+Count Ruhl, are also fortunate miners. The latter is now interested in
+the _Real del Monte_. But the rich man of the Republic is the Marquis
+de Jaral, in the small but rich mining department of Guanajuato. This
+man's wealth surpasses that of all the three patriarchs put together. A
+few years ago, the whole amount of his live-stock was set down by his
+_administrador_ (overseer) at three million head. He then sent thirty
+thousand sheep[71] to market, which yielded him from $2.50 to $3 a
+head, or from $75,000 to $90,000 annually. The goats slaughtered on the
+estate amounted to about the same number, and yielded about the same
+amount of revenue. Besides all this, there is his annual product of
+horses and cattle, and corn and grain fields many miles in extent.
+Truly this Marquis of Jaral is a large farmer. But as I said of mining,
+so I may also say that large capitals are necessary to carry on
+agriculture successfully in the vast elevated plains of the northern,
+or, rather, interior departments, for the whole value of the valley of
+Jaral consists in an artificial lake, which an ancestor of the present
+proprietor constructed before the Revolution for the purpose of
+irrigation; for, without irrigation, his little kingdom would be
+without value. I might speak of many other landed proprietors whose
+estates are princely, but none are equal to Jaral. Indeed, all men of
+wealth possess landed estates. It is the favorite investment for
+successful miners to purchase a _few_ plantations, each of a dozen
+leagues or so, under cultivation.
+
+      [71] WARD'S _Mexico_, vol. ii. p. 470.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+Visit to Pachuca and Real del Monte.--Otumba and Tulanzingo.--The grand
+Canal of Huehuetoca.--The Silver Mines of Pachuca.--Hakal Silver
+Mines.--Real del Monte Mines.--The Anglo-Mexican Mining Fever.--My
+Equipment to descend a Mine.--The great Steam-pump.--Descending the
+great Shaft.--Galleries and Veins of Ore.--Among the Miners one
+thousand Feet under Ground.--The Barrel Process of refining
+Silver.--Another refining Establishment.
+
+
+An opposition line of stages upon the road that extends sixty miles
+from the city of Mexico to the northern extremity of the valley has
+brought down the fare to $3. It is a hard road to travel in the wet
+season, and not a very interesting one at any time. Three miles of
+causeway across the salt marsh brought us to the church and village of
+our Lady of Guadalupe Hidalgo. From this place we passed for several
+leagues along the barren tract that lies between the two salt-ponds of
+San Cristobal and Tezcuco, and soon arrived at Tulanzingo, where the
+great battle of the Free-masons was fought, and where eight poor
+fellows lost their lives in the bloody encounter. This, and the
+horrible battle of Otumba, which Cortéz fought a little way east of
+this spot, are memorable events in the history of Mexico--more
+memorable than they deserve to have been.
+
+As we rode along the eastern rim of the valley, the sun was shining
+brightly on the western hill that inclosed it. The opening made by the
+canal of Huehuetoca was plain in sight. To read about this canal and to
+derive an idea of it from books is to get an impression that here, at
+least, the Spaniards did a wonderful work. But to look at it is to
+dissipate all such complimentary notions. The engineer who planned it
+may have been a skillful man, but the government that fettered his
+movements, like all Spanish governments of those times, consisted of a
+cross between fools and priests. Even those pious gamblers, the
+Franciscans, had a finger in the business. After absorbing, for near a
+hundred years, the revenue appropriated to completing the work, they
+abandoned it to the merchants of Mexico, who finally finished it. The
+pond that was to be drained by it, the Zumpango, was certainly an
+insignificant affair. There was nothing farther of interest until we
+arrived at Pachuca.
+
+Pachuca is the oldest mining district in Mexico. In its immediate
+vicinity are the most interesting silver mines of the republic. These
+mines were the first that were worked in the country, and immediately
+after the Conquest they were very productive. They were worked for
+generations, and then abandoned; again resumed after lying idle for
+nearly a century, and worked for almost another hundred years; and then
+once more abandoned, and resumed again while I was in Mexico. They now
+produce that princely revenue to Escandon and Company of which I have
+already spoken.
+
+
+THE HAKAL MINE.
+
+The Hakal (_Haxal_) mine in part belonged to the number of those which
+the English Real del Monte Company worked on shares, with poor success,
+for twenty-five years. It lies about three fourths of a mile from the
+village of Pachuca. That company devoted their chief attention to the
+mines upon the top of the mountain, at an elevation of 9057 feet, and
+seven miles distant from this place, and these mines were comparatively
+neglected. The new company, immediately upon taking possession, devoted
+particular attention to the Hakal, which resulted in their striking a
+_bonanza_,[72] in the Rosario shaft, which was yielding, from a single
+small shaft, about $80,000 a month, if I recollect rightly.[73] The ore
+of this mine is of a peculiar quality, and its silver is best separated
+from the scoria by the smelting process, of which I shall treat more
+fully when I come to speak of the mines of Regla. The Guadalupe shaft,
+close by the Rosario, was doing but little when I was there, as it does
+not belong to the same proprietors. On the night of my arrival they had
+just completed the work of pumping the water out of the San Nicholas
+shaft, famous for the immense amount of silver taken from it in the
+early period of the mining history of Mexico.
+
+Mounted on a good horse, and followed by a lackey, I rode up the zigzag
+carriage-road which the English company constructed a quarter of a
+century since in order to convey their immense steam machinery to the
+top of the mountain, some seven miles distant. This road is still kept
+in a good state of repair, and forms a romantic drive for those who
+keep carriages in the mountains. The sun was shining upon the
+cultivated hills and rolling lands far below us as we jogged along our
+winding way up the mountain. At every turn in the road new beauties
+presented themselves. But it was getting too chilly for moralizing, and
+both lackey and I were pleased when we reached the village upon the top
+of the mountain, which bears the name of Real del Monte. The house of
+entertainment here is kept by an English woman, who seems to be a part
+of the mining establishment. While in her domicile, I found no occasion
+to regret that I was again elevated into a cold latitude.
+
+
+THE MINING MANIA.
+
+More than thirty years have passed since that second South Sea
+delusion, the Anglo-Spanish American mining fever, broke out in
+England. It surpassed a thousand-fold the wildest of all the New York
+and California mining and quartz mining organizations of the last five
+years. Prudent financiers in London ran stark mad in calculating the
+dividends they must unavoidably realize upon investments in a business
+to be carried on in a distant country, and managed and controlled by a
+debating society or board of directors in London. Money was advanced
+with almost incredible recklessness, and agents were posted off with
+all secrecy to be first to secure from the owner of some abandoned mine
+the right to work it before the agent of some other company should
+arrive on the ground. No mine was to be looked at that was not named in
+the volumes of Humboldt, and any mine therein named was valued above
+all price. In the end, some $50,000,000 of English capital ran out, and
+was used up in Mexico. It was one of those periodical manias that
+regularly seize a commercial people once in ten years, and for which
+there is no accounting, and no remedy but to let it have its way and
+work out its own cure in the ruin of thousands. It is the same in our
+own country.[74]
+
+
+DESCENT INTO A MINE.
+
+After a hearty breakfast at the tavern, I called at the office, or, as
+it is here called, "the Grand House" (_Casa Grande_), and was
+introduced by Mr. Auld, the director, to the foreman, who took me to
+the dressing-room, where I was stripped, and clad in the garb of a
+miner except the boots, which were all too short for my feet. My rig
+was an odd one; a skull-cap formed like a fireman's, a miner's coat and
+pants, and my own calf-skin boots. But in California I had got used to
+uncouth attire, and now thought nothing of such small matters. We
+therefore walked on without comments to the house built over the great
+shaft, where my good-natured English companion, the foreman, stopped me
+to complete my equipment, which consisted of a lighted tallow candle
+stuck in a candlestick of soft mud, and pressed till it adhered to the
+front of my miner's hat. Having fixed a similar appendage to his own
+hat and to the hat of the servant that was to follow us, we were
+considered fully equipped for descending the mine.
+
+While standing at the top of the shaft, I was astonished at the size
+and perfect finish of a steam-pump that had been imported from England
+by the late English mining company. With the assistance of balancing
+weights, the immense arms of the engine lifted, with mathematical
+precision, two square timbers, the one spliced out to the length of a
+thousand, the other twelve hundred feet, which fell back again by their
+own weight: these were the pumping-rods, which lifted the water four
+hundred feet to the mouth of a tunnel, or _adit_, which carried it a
+mile and a quarter through the mountain, and discharged it in the creek
+above the stamping-mill. There is a smaller pump, which works
+occasionally, when the volume of water in the mines is too great for
+the power of a single pump.
+
+A trap-door being lifted, we began to descend by small ladders that
+reached from floor to floor in the shaft, or, rather, in the half of
+the shaft. The whole shaft was perhaps fifteen or twenty feet square,
+with sides formed of solid masonry, where the rock happened to be soft,
+while in other parts it consisted of natural porphyry rock cut smooth.
+Half of this shaft was divided off by a partition, which extended the
+whole distance from the top to the bottom of the mine. Through this the
+materials used in the work were let down, and the ore drawn up in large
+sacks, consisting each of the skin of an ox. The other half of the
+shaft contained the two pumping timbers, and numerous floorings at
+short distances; from one to another of these ran ladders, by which men
+were continually ascending and descending, at the risk of falling only
+a few feet at the utmost. The descent from platform to platform was an
+easy one, while the little walk upon the platform relieved the muscles
+exhausted by climbing down. With no great fatigue I got down a thousand
+feet, where our farther progress was stopped by the water that filled
+the lower galleries.
+
+Galleries are passages running off horizontally from the shaft, either
+cut through the solid porphyry to intersect some vein, or else the
+space which a vein once occupied is fitted up for a gallery by
+receiving a wooden floor and a brick arch over head. They are the
+passages that lead to others, and to transverse galleries and veins,
+which, in so old a mine as this, are very numerous. When a vein
+sufficiently rich to warrant working is struck, it is followed through
+all its meanderings as long as it pays for digging. The opening made in
+following it is, of course, as irregular in form and shape as the vein
+itself. The loose earth and rubbish taken out in following it is thrown
+into some abandoned opening or gallery, so that nothing is lifted to
+the surface but the ore. Sometimes several gangs of hands will be
+working upon the same vein, a board and timber floor only separating
+one set from another. When I have added to this description that this
+business of digging out veins has continued here for near three hundred
+years, it can well be conceived that this mountain ridge has become a
+sort of honey-comb.
+
+
+THE MINERS.
+
+When our party had reached the limit of descent, we turned aside into a
+gallery, and made our way among gangs of workmen, silently pursuing
+their daily labor in galleries and chambers reeking with moisture,
+while the water trickled down on every side on its way to the common
+receptacle at the bottom. Here we saw English carpenters dressing
+timbers for flooring by the light of tallow candles that burned in soft
+mud candlesticks adhering to the rocky walls of the chamber. Men were
+industriously digging upon the vein, others disposing of the rubbish,
+while convicts were trudging along under heavy burdens of ore, which
+they supported on their backs by a broad strap across their foreheads.
+As we passed among these well-behaved gangs of men, I was a little
+startled by the foreman remarking that one of those carriers had been
+convicted of killing ten men, and was under sentence of hard labor for
+life. Far from there being any thing forbidding in the appearance of
+these murderers, now that they were beyond the reach of intoxicating
+drink, they bore the ordinary subdued expression of the Meztizo.
+According to custom, they lashed me to a stanchion as an intruder; but,
+upon the foreman informing them that I would pay the usual forfeit of
+cigaritos on arriving at the station-house, they good-naturedly
+relieved me. Then we journeyed on and on, until my powers of endurance
+could sustain no more. We sat down to rest, and to gather strength for
+a still longer journey. At length we set out again, sometimes climbing
+up, sometimes climbing down; now stopping to examine different
+specimens of ores that reflected back the glare of our lights with
+dazzling brilliancy, and to look at the endless varieties in the
+appearance of the rock that filled the spaces in the porphyry matrix.
+Then we walked for a long way on the top of the aqueduct of the adit,
+until we at last reached a vacant shaft, through which we were drawn up
+and landed in the prison-house, from whence we walked to the
+station-house, where we were dressed in our own clothes again.
+
+
+REFINING SILVER.
+
+When my underground wanderings were ended, and dinner eaten, it was too
+late in the day to visit the refining works; but on the next morning,
+bright and early, I was in the saddle, on my way to visit the different
+establishments connected with this mine. First, upon the river, at the
+mouth of the adit, was a stamping-mill, where gangs of stamps were
+playing in troughs, and reducing the hard ore to a coarse powder. A
+little way farther down the stream the ore was ground, and then, in
+blast ovens or furnaces, was heated until all the baser metals in the
+ore became charged with oxygen to such a degree that they would not
+unite with quicksilver. The ore was then carried and placed in the
+bottom of large casks, and water and quicksilver were added, and then
+they were set rolling by machinery for several days, until the silver
+had formed an amalgam with the mercury, while the baser metals in the
+ore were disengaged from the silver. The whole mass being now poured
+out into troughs, the scoria was washed off from the amalgam, which was
+gathered and put into a stout leathern bag with a cloth bottom, and the
+unabsorbed mercury drained out. The amalgam, resembling lead in
+appearance, being now cut up into cakes, and placed under an immense
+retort, fire was applied; the mercury, in form of vapor, was driven
+through a hole in the bottom of the platform into water, where it was
+condensed, while the silver remained pure in the retort. This is called
+the barrel process, and is used for certain kinds of ore.
+
+I had come self-introduced to the Real del Monte, but that had not
+prevented my receiving the accustomed hospitality of the establishment.
+A groom and two of their best horses were at my service during my stay.
+As the weather was fine, and the roads of the first class of English
+carriage-ways, I heartily enjoyed the ride down the mountain gorge
+until it opened upon the broad plain where the second refining
+establishment, that of Vincente, is situated. Except that the iron
+floors of their blast ovens were made to revolve while in a state of
+red heat, all was substantially the same as at the last place.
+Following the meanderings of the stream, I had been gradually
+descending from the sharp air of early spring to the more appropriate
+temperature of the tropics, as I had occasion to notice in looking into
+the fine garden of the English director, which exhibited both the
+fertilizing effects of irrigation upon English flowers, and the
+advantages of tropical heat upon native varieties.
+
+      [72] A very rich portion of a vein is called a _bonanza_.
+
+      [73] Mr. Thomas Auld, the director of the company, furnished me
+      very accurate data in relation to affairs, but these are with my
+      other losses at New Orleans.
+
+      [74] Before leaving California, a young man in my office, who had
+      been using some of my money which he could not replace, proposed
+      to repay me in a certificate printed in red ink, which
+      certificate declared that I had paid $2000 toward the capital
+      stock of ---- Mining Company; Capital Stock, $250,000; signed
+      Col. ----, President, a gentleman a little in arrears at his
+      boarding-house, and my defaulting young man was secretary. Rather
+      an unpromising show that, as the property consisted of a tavern,
+      built of canvas upon Colonel Fremont's Maraposa grant, on the
+      principle of squatter sovereignty. Near by the squatter had dug a
+      promising hole, and if only money and machinery could be had,
+      _perhaps_ he might realize something from it. The young man
+      assured me that they had an agent in New York negotiating for
+      machinery, and in a few months they would be able to declare
+      dividends. Biting my lips to suppress a hearty laugh, I put the
+      paper printed with red ink into my pocket.
+
+      On my arrival in New York, I was thunderstruck at seeing a gilded
+      sign stuck up on the Merchants' Exchange: "---- MINING COMPANY
+      OFFICE." Not over-troubled by modesty, I ventured in, and
+      inquired if that machinery had been sent out. I was requested to
+      be seated in a fine cushioned chair. As I love entertainment, I
+      sat down, and took a survey of the desks, the Brussels carpet,
+      the ledgers, and the piles of pamphlets, which clearly
+      demonstrated that a man would get his money back many times over
+      before he paid it in. It seemed strange how all this could he
+      supported on the supposed future earnings of a hole in the
+      ground. The Board of Directors assembled. Many of them, I was
+      assured, were the leading men of New York, and things went off
+      with all solemnity. When all was ready, an immense piece of the
+      richest gold quartz was taken from a desk, such as used to be
+      sold at good prices in San Francisco for this very purpose. But
+      not a man in that august assembly dreamed of the manner in which
+      such things are gotten up, except perhaps the said agent sent out
+      to get machinery, but now figuring as a director. I was easily
+      prevailed on to sign an argumentative certificate, and was shown
+      one signed by Robert J. Walker on a much worse hole in the ground
+      than this. I was also informed that New York was not the proper
+      market, which I understand to mean that machinery could not be
+      obtained in New York on the credit of a quartz vein; and in
+      London they would not look at a scheme that did not embrace a
+      million at least, said the agent aforesaid. Therefore he proposed
+      to give me an engraved certificate, declaring that I had paid
+      $8000, which of course I readily accepted when I found that there
+      was no machinery in the case, and that all I had to rest my
+      engraved certificate upon was the one hundredth part of the said
+      hole in the ground, with a doubtful title. The last I heard of
+      this agent was, that he was traveling with his wife upon the
+      Rhine. Whether he was in search of machinery or not, I did not
+      stop to inquire.
+
+      Instead of the above being an extraordinary case, I understand
+      that it is about a fair average of the California gold schemes
+      that have been brought upon the stock-market of New York. If the
+      papers are only drawn up in the proper form, the most prudent men
+      in Wall Street are sometimes found to embark their capital before
+      the question has ever been settled whether gold can be
+      successfully obtained from quartz in California.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+A Visit to the Refining-mills.--The Falls and basaltic Columns of
+Regla.--How a Title is acquired to Silver Mines.--The Story of Peter
+Terreros, Count of Regla.--The most successful of Miners.--Silver
+obtained by fusing the Ore.--Silver "benefited" upon the Patio.--The
+Tester of the Patio.--The chemical Processes employed.--The Heirs of
+the Count of Regla.--The Ruin caused by Civil War.--The History of the
+English Company.
+
+
+We rode along the stone road across the plain, passing now a number of
+English-made wagons laden with stamped ore for Regla, and then a drove
+of cargo-donkeys trudging along under the weight of bags filled with
+the rich ore of Hakal. Now and then, too, we encountered American
+army-wagons converted to peaceful employment, and adding to the
+material wealth of Mexico. But our ride was not a long one before we
+reached Regla, the utmost limit of our journeyings, a distance of
+twelve miles from the "Real." Here the first salutation from the
+English gentleman at the head of the establishment was that breakfast
+was waiting, as it was now eleven o'clock, and we must not visit the
+works upon an empty stomach. My surprise at this unlooked-for
+hospitality was a little diminished when I learned that all these
+entertainments of strangers are at the company's expense.
+
+
+THE FALLS OF REGLA.
+
+The _patio_, or open yard of Regla, on which the principal portion of
+the ores of the Real del Monte company are "benefited," or, as we
+should say, extracted, is situated deep down in a _barranca_, where
+both water-power and intense heat can be obtained to facilitate the
+process of separation. The immense amount of mason-work here expended
+in the erection of massive walls would make an imposing appearance if
+they had been built up in the open plain; but here they are so
+overshadowed by the mason-work of nature that they sink into
+insignificance in comparison. The bank, some two hundred feet high, of
+solid rock, as it approaches the waterfall on either side, has the
+appearance of being supported by natural buttresses of basaltic
+columns--columns closely joined together and placed erect by the hand
+of nature's master-builder. Still, all would have been stiff and formal
+had the sides of the _barranca_ been lined only with perpendicular
+columns; but broken and displaced pillars are piled in every
+conceivable position against the front, while a vine with brilliant
+leaves had run to every fissure and spread itself out to enjoy the
+sunshine. The little stream that had burst its way through the upright
+columns and over the broken fragments, fell into a perfect basin of
+basalt, heightening immensely the attractions of the spot. I sat down
+upon a fallen column, and for a long time continued to contemplate the
+unexpected scene, of which, at that time, I had read nothing. There was
+such a mingling of the rich vegetation of the hot country with the
+rocky ornaments of this pretty waterfall that I could never grow weary
+of admiring the combined grandeur and beauty of the place, from which
+Peter Terreros derived his title of Count of Regla.
+
+Peter Terreros, the first Count of Regla, became one of the rich men of
+the last century in consequence of a lucky mining adventure. In olden
+times the water in the Real del Monte mines had been lifted out of the
+mouth of the Santa Brigeda and other shafts in bulls' hides carried up
+on a windlass. When near the surface, this simple method of getting the
+water out of a mine has great advantages on account of its cheapness,
+and is now extensively employed in Mexican mines. But after a certain
+depth had been reached, the head of water could no longer be kept down
+by this process, and, in consequence, the Real del Monte was abandoned
+about the beginning of the last century, and became a complete ruin;
+for no wreck is more complete than that which water causes when it once
+gets possession of a mine, and mingles into one mass floating timbers,
+loosened earth, rubbish, and soft and fallen rock. By the mining laws
+of Mexico, the title to a mine is lost by abandoning and ceasing to
+work it. It becomes a waif open to the enterprise of any one who may
+"re-denounce" it. The title to the soil in Mexico, as in California,
+carries no title to the gold and silver mineral that may be contained
+in the land. The precious metals are not only regarded in law as
+treasure-trove, but they carry with them to the lucky discoverer the
+right to enter upon another person's land, and to appropriate so much
+of the land as is necessary to avail himself of his prize. Colonel
+Frémont's Mariposa claim, and all other California land claims, are
+subject to this legal condition.
+
+
+PETER TERREROS.
+
+Peter Terreros, then a man of limited means, conceived the idea of
+draining this abandoned mine by means of a tunnel or adit (_socabon_)
+through the rock, one mile and a quarter in length, from the level of
+the stream till it should strike the Santa Brigeda shaft. Upon this
+enterprise he toiled with varied success from 1750 until 1762, when he
+completed his undertaking, and also struck a _bonanza_, which continued
+for twelve years to yield an amount of silver which in our day appears
+to be fabulous. The veins which he struck from time to time, as he
+advanced with his _socabon_, furnished means to keep alive his
+enterprise. When he reached the main shaft, he had a ruin to clear out
+and rebuild, which was a more costly undertaking than the building of a
+king's palace. Yet his _bonanza_ not only furnished all the means for a
+system of lavish expenditure upon the mines and refining-works, but
+from his surplus profits he laid out half a million annually in the
+purchase of plantations, or six millions of dollars in the twelve
+years. This is equal to about 500,000 pounds' weight of silver. Besides
+doing this, he loaned to the king a million of dollars, which has never
+been paid, and built and equipped two ships of the line, and presented
+them to his sovereign.
+
+The humble shop-keeper, Peter Terreros, after such displays of
+munificence, was ennobled by the title of Count of Regla. Among the
+common people he is the subject of more fables than was Croesus of
+old. When his children were baptized, so the story goes, the procession
+walked upon bars of silver. By way of expressing his gratitude for the
+title conferred upon him, he sent an invitation to the king to visit
+him at his mine, assuring his majesty that if he would confer on him
+such an exalted favor, his majesty's feet should not tread upon the
+ground while he was in the New World. Wherever he should alight from
+his carriage it should be upon a pavement of silver, and the places
+where he lodged should be lined with the same precious metal. Anecdotes
+of this kind are innumerable, which, of course, amount to no more than
+showing that in his own time his wealth was proverbial, and demonstrate
+that in popular estimation he stood at the head of that large class of
+miners whom the wise king ennobled as a reward for successful mining
+adventures, and that he was accounted the richest miner in the
+vice-kingdom. The state and magnificence which he oftentimes displayed
+surpassed that of the Vice-king. This, in no way embarrassed an estate,
+the largest ever accumulated by one individual in a single enterprise.
+
+Count Peter is estimated to have expended two and a half millions of
+dollars upon the buildings constituting the refining establishment of
+Regla, which goes under the general designation of the _patio_. Why his
+walls were built so thick, or why so many massive arches should have
+been constructed, is an enigma to the present generation, as they could
+by no means have been intended for a fortress down in a _barranca_.
+
+But let us go in and examine the different methods of "benefiting"
+silver here applied. The ores from the Rosario shaft of the Hakal mine
+of Pachuca are here stamped and ground, and then thrown into a furnace,
+after having been mixed with lime, which in fire increases the heat;
+while upon the open _torta_ we shall see that lime is used to cool the
+mass. Litharge (oxide of lead) is added, and the mass is burned until
+the litharge is decomposed, the lead uniting with the silver and the
+oxygen entering into the slag, into which the baser metals, or scoria
+in the ore, have been formed. This is cast out at the bottom of the
+furnace. The mass of molten lead and silver is drawn off, and placed in
+a large oven with a rotary bottom, into which tongues of flame are
+continually driven until the lead in the compound has become once more
+oxydized, forming litharge, and the silver is left in a pure state.
+This is the most simple method of purifying, or "benefiting" silver.
+
+
+BENEFITING THE ORE.
+
+A little beyond the furnace is a series of tubs, built of blocks from
+broken columns of basalt. In the centre of each revolves a shaft with
+four arms, to each of which is fastened a block of basalt, that is
+dragged on the stone bottom of the tub, where broken ore mixed with
+water is ground to the finest paste. Here the chemical process of
+"benefiting" commences. A bed is prepared upon the paved floor
+(_patio_) in the yard, in the same manner as a mortar bed is prepared
+to receive quicklime dissolved in water. In the same way is poured out
+the semi-liquid paste. This is called a _torta_, and contains about
+45,000 lbs. Upon this liquid mass four and a half _cargas_ of 300 lbs.
+of salt is spread, and then a coating of blue vitriol (sulphate of
+copper) is laid over the whole, and the tramping by mules commences. If
+the mass is found to be too hot for the advantageous working of the
+process, then lime in sufficient quantities is added to cool it; and if
+too cool, then iron pyrites (sulphate of iron) is added. The mules are
+then turned upon the bed, and for a single day it is mixed most
+thoroughly together by tramping and by turning it over by the shovel.
+On the second day 750 lbs. of quicksilver are added to the _torta_, and
+then the tramping is resumed.
+
+The most important personage, not even excepting the director, is
+called "the tester;" for the condition of the ores varies so much, that
+experience alone can determine the mode of proceeding with each
+separate _torta_, and upon the tester's judgment depends oftentimes the
+question whether a mining enterprise, involving millions of dollars,
+shall prove a profitable or unprofitable adventure. Perhaps he can not
+read or write, though daily engaged in carrying on, empirically, the
+most difficult of chemical processes. To him is intrusted the entire
+control of the most valuable article employed in mining--the
+quicksilver. He is constantly testing the various _tortas_ spread out
+upon the _patio_; to one he determines that lime must be added; to
+another, an opposite process must be applied by adding iron pyrites.
+When all is ready, with his own hands he applies the quicksilver, which
+he carries in a little cloth bag, through the pores of which he
+expresses the mercury as he walks over and over the _torta_, much after
+the manner that seed is sown with us. The tester determines when the
+silver has all been collected and amalgamated with the mercury. Whether
+the tramping process and the turning by shovels shall continue for six
+weeks or for only three, is decided by him. When he decides that it is
+prepared for washing, the mass is transported to an immense washing
+machine, which is propelled by water, where the base substances are all
+washed from the amalgam, and then the amalgam is resolved into its
+original elements of silver and quicksilver by fire, as already
+explained, with the loss of about seventy-five to one hundred pounds of
+mercury upon each _torta_.
+
+Let us now run over the many chemical processes that have been resorted
+to in order to separate the silver from the ore. The roll-brimstone,
+that has been procured in Durango, or in the volcano of Popocatapetl,
+is bought up at the mint in the city of Mexico, where it is burned in a
+room lined with lead, and into which water is jetted until the smoke of
+the burning brimstone is condensed. This water of sulphur is then
+carefully collected, and distilled in a boiler of platinum, on which
+sulphur can not act. The sulphuric acid obtained by this distillation
+is used to separate the gold that is found in the silver bars from
+silver. This sometimes amounts to ten per cent. The acid dissolves the
+silver, but does not act upon the gold, which is thus separated from
+the silver. The sulphate of silver is drawn off and poured upon plates
+of copper, by which means the silver is precipitated, and sulphate of
+copper, or blue vitriol, is produced, which, not being of use in the
+mint, is sold to the Real del Monte Company, where it is employed in
+obtaining silver. The process by which the company obtain their salt
+has been already stated, while the lime they use is burned upon the
+mountains. After all these hard and laborious processes, only from five
+to ten per cent. of silver is obtained, except in cases of _bonanzas_,
+which shows that silver mines can be profitably worked only in those
+countries where labor commands the lowest standard of wages.
+
+
+THE HEIRS OF REGLA.
+
+The heirs of the Count Peter inherited his accumulated treasures, his
+purchased estates, his title, and his prospects of future success in
+mining, which were as brilliant as they had been in his lifetime. They
+never dreamed of financial embarrassments in the midst of accumulations
+of wealth which surpassed the wildest of Oriental romances. They forgot
+that their wealth rested upon the perfect security which they inherited
+from the wise and virtuous government of Carlos III., of blessed
+memory; that he it was who had put out the fires of the Inquisition,
+and so curtailed the power of the priests that they could no longer
+plunder with impunity, or rob the Terreros of the fruits of their
+father's enterprise by threatening them with the censure of the Church,
+which, in the reign of a feeble king, had a significant meaning. The
+new code of mining laws, the cheapness of quicksilver, and the opening
+of commerce, had all combined to make their fortune, which they might
+lose in a moment if the heir to the throne should prove an idiot, as
+was most likely, and priests should again usurp the control of affairs,
+and play their old game of plundering the rich while they excited the
+populace.
+
+Fortunately for the family of Terreros and the many successful mining
+families of that period, Charles IV. was not quite so much of an idiot
+as his grandfather or his great-grandfather had been, and though the
+Inquisitors resumed their fires, yet it was with such comparative
+moderation as not to interfere seriously with the progress of that
+prosperity to which Carlos III. had given an impulse. The Countess of
+Regla still sported the richest jewels to be found in New Spain, and
+her sister's coronet was the envy of all the ladies of the court. But
+the insurrection of Hidalgo came upon them in the midst of prosperity,
+overwhelming alike the rich and the poor. The large Spanish capitals
+began to be withdrawn from the country, the plantations were broken up,
+and the mines, abandoned by their laborers, soon fell to ruin; and they
+who had been baptized in the midst of the most ostentatious display of
+wealth, found themselves pinched to sustain their ordinary expenses.
+
+
+THE REAL DEL MONTE.
+
+The Terreros family kept their title good to the Real del Monte by
+retaining a few workmen about the premises; but it was substantially
+abandoned for twenty-five years before the English Real del Monte
+Company took possession. In the space of two years this company had
+cleared out and rebuilt the adit by working gangs of hands night and
+day. Another party, engaged upon the shafts, arrived at the adit level
+at the same time with the workmen upon the drain. A third party,
+engaged in making and repairing a carriage-road from the sea to the
+mine, had completed their labors; while a fourth party, in charge of
+machinery and steam-power apparatus enough to equip a Cornish mine of
+the largest class, had arrived at the mine. In this fourfold, and much
+of it useless labor, the company had exhibited untiring activity, while
+they exhausted all their capital without realizing the return of a
+single dollar. But they derived rich hopes from reading the story of
+Peter Terreros, and they continued to hope on and hope ever, for a
+period of twenty-five years longer, when they ceased to exist. The
+story of this company is summed up in saying that they expended upon
+this vast enterprise the sum of $20,000,000, and realized from it
+$16,000,000. They disposed of all their interests here for about what
+their materials were worth as old iron, and the present proprietors
+enjoy the fruits of their labors at a cost of less than a million of
+dollars, with a fair prospect of yet realizing from their speculation
+as large a treasure as that acquired by Peter Terreros, the first Count
+of Regla.
+
+Having thus described with some minuteness one of the most extensive
+silver mines in the world, where an average of 5000 men and unnumbered
+animals are employed, it will not be necessary to go into details as we
+notice the many other celebrated mines of Mexico.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+Toluca.--Queretaro, Guanajuato, and
+Zacatecas.--Fresnillo.--"Romancing."--A lucky Priest.--San Luis
+Potosi.--The Valenciana at Guanajuato.--Under-mining.--A Name of
+Blasphemy.--The Los Rayas.--Immense Sums taken from Los Rayas.--Warlike
+Indians in Zacatecas.
+
+
+A stage runs daily from the city of Mexico by Tacubaya and the Desierto
+to the beautiful valley and city of Toluca. This town is greatly
+indebted for its present celebrity to successful mining adventures. Its
+Cathedral is a monument of the munificent liberality of the Frenchman
+Laborde, whose fortune was ever unequal to his generosity. We have
+spoken already of the almost Oriental magnificence displayed in the
+famous garden which he built and adorned at Cuarnavaca. After spending
+the wealth acquired from the _bonanza_ of Tasco, he started off in
+search of new adventures and a new fortune. Being again successful, he
+made Toluca the beneficiary of his princely liberality. The celebrated
+Cathedral of that city, and all its ornaments, are the proofs of his
+munificence. When his third fortune was exhausted, the fickle goddess
+forsook him, and he who had three times been raised from nothing to the
+condition of a millionaire, came in his old age to the archbishop for
+relief from his poverty. This relief he obtained by selling the jewels
+he had once bestowed upon the Church. Such often are the vicissitudes
+in the life of a successful miner. I can not notice here the many
+interesting objects gathered as I would wish to do, nor have I space
+for a description of the beautiful mountain scenery about Toluca.
+
+
+MIDDLE STATES OF MEXICO.
+
+The middle states of Mexico, Guanajuata, Zacatecas, Durango, and San
+Luis, are deserving of a more extended notice than my limited space
+will permit. There is little of war or romance to recount in the
+history of any of them. Their story is made up of notices of silver
+mines, and times of great _bonanzas_ and cattle-raising. Here the
+population is mostly white, made up of the hardy peasantry from Biscay.
+The Indians on the high table-lands were too hardy to be reduced to
+slavery: the result is the same here as in Chili. The two races have
+not extensively intermixed, as the Indians were driven northward,
+where, for a period of three hundred years, they have, in a measure,
+maintained their independence, and have so much improved in the art of
+war that they are able to return again and fight for the homes of their
+ancestors. The white inhabitants of these states are more cleanly in
+their habits, and more industrious than the Southern people. The little
+state of Queretaro has little to boast but its agriculture, but to the
+north of it is a country of mines and pasturage.
+
+There was formerly great rivalry between the states of Guanajuato and
+Zacatecas on the ground of their mining successes. Each in turn has had
+its season of boasting, for it has happened that, in those years when
+Guanajuato was most prosperous, Zacatecas was not in _bonanza_, and
+_vice versa_. When I was first in Mexico, San Luz and San Luce, at
+Guanajuato, were in _bonanza_, with divers others; and out of
+$300,000 in silver bars brought down to the city of Mexico, nearly ten
+per cent. of gold was extracted. But now both these _bonanzas_ have
+given out, and the annual product of silver in the State of Guanajuato
+has fallen off over $2,000,000, while the mines of Zacatecas are in a
+most flourishing condition, as is shown by the large sum of $1,200,000
+being demanded by government for renewing the lease of the mint at
+Zacatecas.
+
+Fresnillo is the most flourishing of the mines of Zacatecas. This mine
+was formerly considered of little value. Among its advantages is an
+American manager, who for many years has aided in the direction of its
+affairs. On my return from Mexico, I found the road up the Perote
+covered with wagons laden with portions of a monster steam-engine, the
+fifth that was to be employed to pump the water from this mine. It
+seems incredible that so large a sum as $1,000,000 should be required
+for the freight alone of this new machinery. But, after I had become
+familiar with the vast scale on which every thing is conducted at a
+large silver mine, where millions appear as the small dust of the
+balance, I can credit what my readers might think improbable.[75]
+
+I have often spoken of the peculiarities of peasant life in the country
+and of the _peons_ of the cities. But there is another phase of humble
+life to be considered--the social state of the mine laborer. Like all
+men whose wages are very irregular, and subject to the fluctuations
+which follow mining speculations, they themselves become irregular in
+their lives. They have all heard of the many instances of persons of as
+humble condition as themselves accidentally falling upon a princely
+fortune, and they know, too, what a miraculous change such a discovery
+makes in the social condition of a _peon_, for every miner in
+Zacatecas knows the homely distich:
+
+    "Had the metals not been so rich at San Bernabe,
+    Ibarra would not have wed the daughter of Virey."[76]
+
+In addition to scraps and snatches of songs, the mining laborers have
+their _romances_, which are as wild as the _yarns_ of the sailor, and
+have for their almost universal theme the miraculous acquisition and
+loss of a fortune. The hero possesses princely wealth to-day, though
+yesterday he was suffering for food, and to-morrow he will be again
+bereft of all by the fickle turns that Fortune makes in the wheel of
+destiny. The wildest of our romances never come up to many incidents
+that have occurred in their own mine; and when they attempt fiction, it
+is on the pattern of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. I do verily
+believe that all that class of Arabian tales are but the reproduction
+of the _romances_ from the Oriental gold-washings.
+
+The most important mines in the State of San Luis Potosi are those near
+Cuatorce. In the midst of bleak and precipitous mountain ridges is the
+village of Cuatorce, from which a circuitous mountain road leads to the
+entrance of the mining shafts, in which more wonderful things have
+occurred than in the wildest of the "romances." The story of Padre
+Flores is a familiar one, but will bear repeating.
+
+
+PADRE FLORES.--CUATORCE.
+
+The padre, being tired of the idle life of a pauper priest, bought, for
+a small sum, the claim of some still more needy adventurer. After
+following his small vein a little way, he came to a small cavern
+containing the ore in a state of decomposition. This, in California,
+would be called a "rotten vein." With all the difficulties to be
+encountered in obtaining a fair value for mineral in a crude state, the
+poor priest realized from his adventure over $3,000,000, which was
+considered a very fair fortune for an unmitred ecclesiastic.
+
+The Mineral Report, mentioned in the last note, which is so full on the
+subject Fresnillo, insists that it is a continuation of the formation
+of Cuatorce and the other mines of San Luis. The mountains at Cuatorce
+are more dreary, bleak, and barren than in any other of the principal
+mining districts, as it is more exposed to the storms and tempests from
+the northeast and from the ocean. It was in this State of San Luis
+Potosi that Dr. Gardner's quicksilver mine was alleged to exist, and in
+the ineffectual efforts made to determine its whereabouts our
+government has become quite familiar with the location of all the
+worked mines of this state. The mines upon the mountains of Cuatorce
+are said to have been discovered in 1778 by a negro fiddler, who, being
+compelled to camp out on his way home from a dance, built a fire upon
+what proved to be an outcrop of a vein, and, in consequence, found in
+the morning, among the embers, a piece of virgin silver. It is a
+doubtful question among those who are anxious about trifles whether the
+name _Potosi_ given to this mine, owes its origin to the similarity
+between the mode of its discovery to that of the celebrated mines of
+that name in South America, or to the vast amount of silver at one time
+taken from it.
+
+Guanajuato, when it yielded its six millions a year of silver, besides
+a fair supply of gold, was one of the most important States in the
+republic. With every successful speculation, new adventurers were found
+to invest their capital in resuming the working of abandoned mines,
+until at last men have become bold enough to undertake, for the third
+time, the draining of the great shaft of the Valenciana, so famous in
+the last century. When I was last in Mexico that undertaking was
+reported to have been accomplished. This mine is on a more magnificent
+scale than even the Real del Monte. Its central shaft alone cost a
+million of dollars; and though steam power can not be used, yet it is
+so dry that horse windlasses can keep it clear of water. Its
+abandonment in every instance has been in consequence of some
+insurrectionary chief setting the works of the mine on fire, and not
+from any deficiency in its product of silver. When I was in Mexico, so
+little progress had been made in restoring the mine that it was not
+thought worth visiting. But the most sanguine hopes were entertained
+that it would again be as productive as in the times when its abundant
+riches secured for its owner the title of Marquis of Valenciana, though
+he had worked with his own hands on the shaft which afterward yielded
+him its millions.
+
+
+THE MINE OF LOS RAYAS.
+
+Second in importance among the old mines of Guanajuato is _Los Rayas_.
+Its history presents a new feature in the mining system of Mexico, not
+before mentioned, but which is important to a right understanding of
+the operation of the mining code. The right of discovery gives title to
+two hundred _varas_ along the mine, and to two hundred _varas_ (about
+500 feet) in depth. The consequence of this limitation is, that when a
+very rich claim is made, there immediately springs up a contest to get
+below it, and to cut off the lucky discoverer from the lower part of
+his expected fortune, and he has no means of avoiding such a result but
+by driving his shaft downward until he reaches a point below his first
+two hundred _varas_, which entitles him to claim another section
+downward.
+
+This principle is strikingly illustrated in the case of the famous mine
+of the priest Flores at Cuatorce, which he blasphemously named "the
+Purse of God the Father,"[77] where there are marks of divers attempts
+being made to undermine him, though without success. But the case is a
+different one when the _bonanza_ is upon a high ridge, and it can be
+undermined by drifting in from a lower level. Then commences a lively
+contest to determine who can dig the fastest, and make the most rapid
+progress in this contest of mining and countermining.
+
+The Marquis de los Rayas owes his title and his princely fortune of
+$11,000,000 to a successful contest of this character. The Santa Amita
+was in _bonanza_, yielding an ore so pregnant with gold that the crude
+mass often sold for its weight in silver.
+
+
+DEEP MINING.
+
+Contests of this kind are very different from those which used to take
+place in California some years ago, when twenty feet square was marked
+off upon the top of a ridge, through which the claimant had to sink his
+shaft to the base rock on which the gold was supposed to be deposited.
+When the rock was reached, it was often found difficult to keep the
+lines that had been marked off on the surface, particularly when the
+lead grew richer as it approached the border of the claim.
+Controversies were frequent, and frequently resulted in subterranean
+quarrels and fights, and, of course, ended in superterranean lawsuits.
+But the Mexican rival parties were seldom near enough for a fight, and
+the quarrel ended, as it began, in a contest to determine who could dig
+the fastest.
+
+Another peculiar feature of deep mining is the construction of the main
+shafts. A description of the method of construction of one of these I
+take from Ward's Mexico,[78] a book that is otherwise of little value
+to a person seeking for information on the subject of mines at
+Guanajuata, so great has been the revolution there in a few years in
+the condition of mining affairs: "I know few sights more interesting
+than the operation of blasting in the shafts of Los Rayas. After each
+quarryman (_barretero_) has undermined the portion of rock allotted to
+him, he is drawn up to the surface; the ropes belonging to the
+horse-windlasses (_malacates_) are coiled up, so as to leave every
+thing clear below, and a man descends, whose business it is to fire the
+slow matches communicating with the mines below.
+
+"As his chance of escaping the effects of the explosion consists in
+being drawn up with such rapidity as to be placed beyond the reach of
+the fragments of rock that are projected into the air, the lightest
+_malacate_ is prepared for his use, and two horses are attached to it,
+selected for their swiftness and courage, and are called the horses of
+_pegador_. The man is let down slowly, carrying with him a light and a
+small rope, one end of which is held by one of the overseers, who is
+stationed at the mouth of the shaft. A breathless silence is observed
+until the signal is given from below by pulling the cord of
+communication, when the two men by whom the horses are previously held
+release their heads, and they dash off at full speed until they are
+stopped either by the noise of the first explosion, or by seeing from
+the quantity of cord wound round the cylinder of the _malacate_ that
+the _pegador_ is already raised to a height of sixty or seventy _varas_
+[Spanish yards], and is consequently beyond the reach of danger."
+
+The author then goes on to enumerate the risks that attend this calling
+of _pegador_, and the consequent high wages that have to be paid to
+persons who undertake this perilous office, all of which accidents and
+adventures must be familiar to those of my readers who have paid any
+attention to the business of blasting rocks; and as his hairbreadth
+escapes have nothing in them remarkable, we may conclude this notice of
+Los Rayas by adding his statement that the king's fifth from this mine,
+from 1556 to his time, amounted to the snug sum of $17,365,000. He
+gives only the sum reported, and makes no calculation for the large
+sums out of which the king was annually cheated at all the mines. That
+my reader may understand how a sum so apparently incredible as five or
+eight times seventeen millions of dollars could be taken out of a
+single mine, he must recollect that Los Rayas was a most productive
+mine shortly after the Conquest, and that for a century or two it was
+comparatively of little value, until Mr. José Sardaneta undertook the
+undermining of the rich mine of Santa Amita in 1740, and that afterward
+the rich product of the lower levels of the Santa Amita are included in
+this immense sum.
+
+
+INDIANS AND SOLDIERS.
+
+There is too much sameness in the details of the histories of the
+various other important mines of this State and of those in the
+adjoining State of Durango to justify the lengthening out this chapter,
+and I will conclude it with giving the substance of a statement I heard
+the American gentleman make on the subject of Indian depredations in
+the very centre of the republic, showing the great inconvenience
+suffered in consequence of the state of insecurity in which the people
+constantly live. A party of their own Indians, a most degraded band of
+cowardly vagabonds, that lived not a great way from the city, concluded
+to personify a company of northern savages, in order more successfully
+to plunder the inhabitants. With shoutings, these vagabonds rushed into
+the houses of the people, who were so paralyzed by the very sight of
+Indians in a hostile attitude, that, without resistance, they suffered
+them to plunder whatever came within their reach which tempted their
+cupidity or lust. At length, becoming satiated with liquor and
+champagne that they had taken from a carrier, they had to retire and
+camp out for the night. In their retreat they were pursued by a captain
+and soldiers of the regular army, who, being more numerous than the
+Indians, exhibited a great deal of courage until they came in sight of
+the savages, when, all at once, it was concluded to encamp for the
+night, and to resume the pursuit the next day, when the Indians would
+be at such a distance that they would not disturb their pursuers by
+their whooping.
+
+      [75] By reference to a long and able paper on the mines in the
+      hill of Proano (Fresnillo), it appears that one half of the cost
+      of four pumping-engines already in operation in that mine was the
+      freight from Vera Cruz to the mine.
+
+      [76] This translation is bad enough, but no worse than the
+      original.
+
+      [77] This will sound to Protestant readers something like
+      horrible blasphemy; but it must be borne in mind that God the
+      Father of the Catholics is an entirely different idea from the
+      spiritual God whom we worship. The devout Protestant who
+      recognizes but one Being worthy of adoration, veneration, and
+      worship, never ventures to mention any of the names by which He
+      is known but with the profoundest reverence. The Catholic, on the
+      other hand, has a host of objects which he deems worthy of
+      adoration, and seems to have cheapened the article by multiplying
+      it. His senses are all exercised in his peculiar kind of worship,
+      and, as a natural consequence, they are apt to conclude that the
+      Almighty enjoys those exhibitions that give them the greatest
+      pleasure. They worship him by performing a pantomime of the life
+      and suffering of Christ, which is called the mass, and seek to
+      propitiate him by offering the body of his Son in sacrifice. They
+      bestow upon God gifts of jewels and of gold; and as he passes
+      through their streets in the form of a wafer, as they believe,
+      the soldiers present arms, beat the drum, and discharge their
+      cannon, as to an earthly prince. Though our Saviour (_Santo
+      Christo_) heads the calendar of intercessors between God and
+      man, he is seldom invoked, though they often honor him by naming
+      their children after him. As they have conferred upon a multitude
+      of their saints the supernatural powers of God, they have
+      necessarily brought God himself down to earth. If I might be
+      pardoned the expression, I should say that they treat him and his
+      well-beloved Son with a loving intimacy. The worship of the
+      Catholics is substantially materialism, more or less gross,
+      according to its distance from or its proximity to Protestantism.
+      There is no blasphemy, according to their system, in naming their
+      shops after the Holy Ghost, a horse-stable after "the Precious
+      Blood," though I could never hear them mentioned or see them
+      without having my Protestant notions shocked, while I equally
+      shocked their feelings by refusing to kneel to the Host, and
+      slipping out of the way to avoid it. Nor could I exhibit the
+      least reverence to their religious emblems without committing
+      what in me would be an act of idolatry, the two systems being so
+      diametrically opposite that one can not go a step toward the
+      other without breaking over a fundamental doctrine of his own
+      belief. God is an invisible Spirit, says the Protestant. God is a
+      Spirit, answers the Catholic, but he daily assumes the form of a
+      wafer, and traverses our streets, and in that form we most
+      commonly worship him. Such is the religious antagonism that will
+      ever be found in the world while man remains what he now is, ever
+      divided between mentalism and materialism. Forms and names often
+      differ, but these are the two ideas into which all the religious
+      systems of the world resolve themselves, although abortive
+      attempts are often made to combine them.
+
+      [78] Vol. ii. p. 452.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+Sonora and Sonora Land Speculators seeking Annexation.--Sonora and its
+Attractions.--The Abundance and Purity of Silver in Sonora.--Silver
+found in large Masses.--The Jesus Maria, Refugio, and Eulalia Mines.--A
+Creation of Silver at Arizpa.--The Pacific Railroad.--Sonora now
+valueless for want of personal Security.--The Hopes of replenishing
+the Spanish Finances from Sonora blasted by War.--Report of the
+Mineria.--Sonora.--Chihuahua.
+
+
+LAND TITLES.
+
+It has been said in another chapter that the Apaches had extended their
+depredations beyond the first tier of States, and had entered Durango,
+Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, and even Guanajuato, making this second
+tier of states their stamping ground, while Sonora, Chihuahua,
+Coahuila, over which they now rode without opposition to a country more
+abundant in plunder, are left as political waifs to any who may choose
+to take possession of them. As in all abandoned countries, there are
+inhabitants here incapable of getting away, and too poor even for the
+Indians to notice; and there are a few miserable villages still
+existing, with a fragment of their former population. All the
+inhabitants of these wretched hamlets have their eyes fixed on the
+United States as the only hope of relief from their Indian plunderers.
+The proprietors of estates, extending over vast districts, too cowardly
+to defend their claims, which exceed in extent European principalities,
+are sitting quietly down at a respectful distance, anxiously looking
+forward to the time when their claims will rise in value from a few
+dollars to as many hundred thousands by an annexation to the United
+States. Mexican operators in grants have not been idle. They have
+ascertained what the United States courts call a title, and have been
+providing themselves with the necessary parchments,[79] while American
+operators, in connection with them, have been equally busy.
+
+Chihuahua and Sonora are the States or Departments to be affected by
+our Pacific Railroad. Sonora is the most valuable of the two, not only
+on account of its inexhaustible supply of silver, but also on account
+of its delightful climate and agricultural resources. It is like the
+land of the blessed in Oriental story. California does not surpass it
+in fertility or in climate. With industry and thrift, it could sustain
+a population equal to that of all Mexico. The table-lands and the
+valleys are so near together that the products of all climates flourish
+almost side by side. Food for man and beast was so easily procured that
+the descendants of the early settlers sunk into effeminacy long before
+the breaking out of the great Apache war of the last century. Drought,
+however, makes the formation of artificial lakes and reservoirs
+necessary to the full development of its agricultural wealth.
+
+
+CHIHUAHUA AND SONORA.
+
+But it is the remarkable abundance of silver which distinguishes it
+above all other countries except Chihuahua. I have described, in a
+former chapter, the long and laborious processes by which silver is
+produced from the ore in the southern mines, and also the great depths
+from which it is raised. In Sonora, silver is most commonly extracted
+from the ore by the simple process of fusion. But in the district of
+Batopilos, it is, or rather was, found pure. If we should adopt the
+theory that veins of ore extend through the entire length of Mexico,
+then I should say that they "crop out" in Sonora, or, rather, that the
+silver _lodes_ which are here above the surface dip toward the city of
+Mexico, and also northward toward California. The mountain chain which
+traverses California under the name of the _Sierra Nevada_ appears to
+be only a continuation or reappearance of the mountain chain here
+called _Sierra Madre_ (Mother Range), which forms the boundary between
+the departments of Sonora and Chihuahua.
+
+On the western declivity of this mountain range, the most remarkable
+illustration of this fact of cropping out is found at Batopilos,
+already mentioned. This town is in a deep ravine. The climate is, like
+that of the California gulches, intensely hot, but remarkably healthy.
+Here the _lodes_ of silver ore are almost innumerable,[80] with crests
+elevated above the ground. The mine of _El Carmen_, in the times of the
+vice-kings, produced so immensely that its proprietor was ennobled,
+with the title of Marquis of Bustamente. This was the beginning of the
+family of Bustamente. A piece of pure silver was found here weighing
+four hundred and twenty-five pounds. I should like to continue in
+detail to enumerate the rich surface mines in the southern portions of
+these two States, but, lest I should weary my reader, I must omit them,
+and refer those who wish to learn more to the translations from the
+last official reports of the _Mineria_, entitled Chihuahua and Sonora,
+which are embodied in the Appendix.
+
+"The 'Good Success Mine' (_Bueno Successo_) was discovered by an
+Indian, who swam across the river after a great flood. On arriving at
+the other side, he found the crest of an immense _lode_ laid bare by
+the force of the water. The greater part of this was pure massive
+silver, sparkling in the rays of the sun. The whole town of Batopilos
+went to gaze at the extraordinary sight as soon as the river was
+fordable. This Indian extracted great wealth from his mine, but, on
+coming to the depth of three Spanish yards (_varas_), the abundance of
+water obliged him to abandon it, and no attempts have since been made
+to resume the working. When the silver is not found in solid masses,
+which requires to be cut with the chisel, it is generally finely
+sprinkled through the _lode_, and often serves to nail together the
+particles of stone through which it is disseminated."[81]--"The ores of
+the _Pastiano_ mine, near the _Carmen_, were so rich that the _lode_
+was worked by bars, with a point at one end and a chisel at the other,
+for cutting out the silver. The owner of the Pastiano used to bring the
+ores from the mine with flags flying, and the mules adorned with cloths
+of all colors. The same man received a reproof from the Bishop of
+Durango when he visited Batopilos for placing bars of silver from the
+door of his house to the great hall (_sala_) for the bishop to walk
+upon."[82]
+
+The next mine of interest in our progress northward is the _Morelos_,
+"which was discovered in 1826 by two brothers named Aranco. These two
+Indian _peons_ were so poor that, the night before their great
+discovery, the keeper of the store had refused to credit one of them
+for a little corn for his _tortillas_. They extracted from their claim
+$270,000; yet, in December, 1826, they were still living in a wretched
+hovel, close to the source of their wealth, bare-headed and
+bare-legged, with upward of $200,000 in silver locked up in their hut.
+But never was the utter worthlessness of the metal, as such, so clearly
+demonstrated as in the case of the Arancos, whose only pleasure
+consisted in contemplating their hoards, and occasionally throwing away
+a portion of the richest ore to be scrambled for by their former
+companions, the workmen."
+
+Near the Morelos is the _Jesus Maria_. Though on the western or Sonora
+slope of the mountain, it is only eight leagues from Chihuahua. This,
+like Morelos, is a modern discovery, and, of course, was not included
+in the number of those Sonora mines which produced such an intense
+excitement about a hundred years ago in Mexico, and even in Spain.
+Here, within the circuit of three leagues, two hundred metallic _lodes_
+were registered in one year. The story of the mine of _El Refugio_,
+discovered by a fellow of the name of Pacheco, gave occasion for
+anecdotes like those of the Arancos which we have just recited. A
+dealer had an old cloak which took the fancy of Pacheco, and to
+purchase this thing he gave ore from which the dealer realized $8000.
+Three twenty-fourths (three bars) of the product of this mine netted,
+between the years 1811 and 1814, $337,000. On the Sonora side of the
+mountain is _Santa Eulalia_. The ores of this _real_ [district] are
+found in loose earth, filling immense caverns, or what are called
+"rotten ores" in California, and are easily separated by smelting. One
+shilling a mark ($8) was laid aside from the silver which one of these
+caverns produced, which shilling contribution constituted the fund out
+of which the magnificent Cathedral of Chihuahua was built.
+
+
+THE MINE OF ARAZUMA.
+
+Proceeding northward, we come to a spot the most famous in the world
+for its product of silver, the mine of _Arazuma_. For near a century,
+the accounts of the wealth of this mine were considered fabulous; but
+their literal truth is confirmed by the testimony of the English
+embassador. After examining the old records which I have quoted, I have
+no doubt that the facts surpassed the astonishing report; for in
+Mexico, the propensity has ever been to conceal rather than
+over-estimate the quantity of silver, on account of the king's fifth;
+yet it is the king's fifth, _actually paid_, on which all the estimates
+of the production of Sonora silver mines are based. Arazuma (which, in
+the report of the Mineria that I have translated for this volume,
+appears to be set down as Arizpa) was, a hundred years ago, the world's
+wonder, and so continued until the breaking out of the great Apache war
+a few years afterward. Men seemed to run mad at the sight of such
+immense masses of virgin silver, and for a time it seemed as if silver
+was about to lose its value. In the midst of the excitement, a royal
+ordinance appeared, declaring Arazuma a "creation of silver" (_creador
+de plata_), and appropriating it to the king's use. This put a stop to
+private enterprise; and, after the Indian war set in, Arazuma became
+almost a forgotten locality; and in a generation or two afterward, the
+accounts of its mineral riches began to be discredited.
+
+We have the following record in evidence of the masses of silver
+extracted at Arazuma. Don Domingo Asmendi paid duties on a piece of
+virgin silver which weighed 275 lbs. The king's attorney (_fiscal_)
+brought suit for the duties on several other pieces, which together
+weighed 4033 lbs. Also for the recovery, as a curiosity, and therefore
+the property of the king, of a certain piece of silver of the weight of
+2700 lbs. This is probably the largest piece of pure silver ever found
+in the world, and yet it was discovered only a few miles distant from
+the contemplated track of our Pacific Railroad.
+
+I might continue enumerating the instances of mineral wealth brought to
+light in these two states, Sonora and Chihuahua, if I supposed it would
+be interesting to my readers; but as they have heard enough of silver,
+I may add that rich deposits of gold were found at Molatto in 1806, and
+a still greater discovery of gold was made a few years ago. In this
+latter discovery, the poor diggers suffered so much from thirst that a
+dollar was readily paid for a single bucket of water, and at length, by
+reason of the drought, this rich _placer_ had to be abandoned.
+
+
+FUTURE OF SONORA.
+
+Such is Sonora, a region of country which combines the rare attractions
+of the richest silver mines in the world, lying in the midst of the
+finest agricultural districts, and where the climate is as attractive
+as its mineral riches. But its richest mineral district is near its
+northern frontier, and is almost inaccessible, and can never be
+advantageously worked without an abundant supply of mineral coal for
+smelting; nor can any of its mines or estates be successfully worked
+without greater security for life and property than at present exists.
+The capitalists of Mexico will not invest their means in developing the
+resources of Sonora, and in consequence, the finest country in the
+world is fast receding to a state of nature. I found in the Palace at
+Mexico a copy of the last report of the Governor of Sonora upon the
+state of his Department, in which he mentions, among many other causes
+of its decadence during the last few years, the extensive emigration of
+its laboring population to California.
+
+Extravagant as are these statements of the mineral riches of Sonora,
+they probably do not come up to the reality, as the largest of them are
+founded on the sums reported for taxation at the distant city of
+Mexico, when it was notorious, as already stated, that a large portion
+of the silver was fraudulently concealed in order to avoid the taxes.
+Such concealment could be successfully carried on in a region so
+distant and inaccessible as Sonora was in the time of Philip V., for it
+was in the reign of that idiot king, before the liberal
+mining-ordinances of Carlos III., that the Sonora mining-fever broke
+out.
+
+A hundred years have passed since the once formidable Apaches swept
+over northern Sonora like a deluge, blotting out forever the hopes
+which the Spanish court had conceived of retrieving the fallen finances
+of their empire from this _El Dorado_. But Providence had ordered it
+otherwise. The Spaniards had done enough to demonstrate its
+inexhaustible wealth, and then they were driven away from this
+"creation of silver,"[83] and the whole deposit held for a hundred
+years in reserve for the uses of another race, who were destined to
+overrun the continent.
+
+I should have but half performed my task should I omit to speak of the
+excellent bay and harbor of Guaymas, in the southern part of Sonora.
+After San Francisco, it is the finest harbor on the Pacific, and is the
+natural route through which our commerce with the East Indies should be
+directed. The long experience of Spain taught her that a western route
+to the East Indies was so much superior to the one by the Cape of Good
+Hope as to compensate for a transhipment of all of her East India
+merchandise upon mules' backs from Acapulco to Vera Cruz. Much more
+advantageous must it be to us, when a railroad from El Paso, passing
+through the midst of the silver district I have described, shall
+transfer our commerce with Japan and China to the Pacific side of our
+continent. Here the very silver necessary for the purchase of tea is
+nearly as abundant as tin in some of the European mines, and, as in
+California, the prospects held out to the farmer are equal to mineral
+attractions.
+
+It would be folly for our government to acquire Sonora without first
+providing for connecting it with our country by railroad, and equally
+foolish to acquire it without making provision, in the treaty of
+acquisition, for reducing all land-titles to the size of a single
+township, in consideration for the superior value given to the property
+by the annexation, and for annulling all land-titles under which there
+is not an actual occupancy. The Spanish courts concede to government
+this power over private rights, and for this reason a treaty of
+acquisition from Mexico would prevent the confusion that now exists in
+California, and enable American settlers to locate understandingly at
+once. All titles should continue to be subject, as they now are, to the
+right of the miner to enter in search of precious metals, thus no
+conflicts in relation to the rights of land-owners and miners could
+arise. The principle on which the Mexican mining laws and the
+California mining customs are established should be recognized by the
+United States. But that right of entry would not arise until the
+construction of a railroad should afford the means of actually reducing
+the country to possession, which Spain never has accomplished, and
+Mexico never can accomplish.
+
+      [79] When I was first at the city of Mexico, Governor Letcher
+      introduced to me a son of the late emperor, who had a claim for
+      land in California which he had not located before the
+      annexation. I advised him, without a fee, that our courts did not
+      recognize foreign "floats," and that, by his own _laches_, he had
+      lost his claim, which he now spread along the Sacramento River
+      for 400 miles. Finding out, after an expenditure of several
+      thousand dollars, the defect, he got a new claim from the late
+      President Lombardini of thirty miles square, which he will
+      probably now pin tight in Sonora. The defect of our two last
+      treaties with Mexico was in not having a clause inserted reducing
+      all titles to land to six miles square, as a consideration for
+      the enhanced value by the annexation.
+
+      [80] I would not like to make such extravagant statements on my
+      own authority, however satisfactory the testimony might be to
+      myself, for the abundance of silver in Sonora is beyond the
+      belief of most men. But, fortunately, I have, in Ward's "Mexico,"
+      an authority that can not be disputed. The work is accessible to
+      all my readers. The author was charged by the British government
+      with an examination of the mines of Mexico.
+
+      [81] Ward, vol. ii. p. 578.
+
+      [82] Ibid.
+
+      [83] I do not know exactly how to translate the Spanish idea
+      attached to the words _creador de plata_ unless by saying
+      that it is a spot where baser substances are supposed to be
+      converted into silver by some unknown process of nature.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+A.
+
+MINERIA REPORT ON THE MINERAL RICHES OF SONORA.
+
+Among the five-and-twenty states and territories that compose the
+Mexican confederation, there is no other which contains in its
+respective territory the like wonderful mineral riches which abound in
+the state of which we treat. This would appear almost fabulous; but
+there is proof enough from the testimony of many residents of that
+state, and from the assertion of travelers, from the evidences which
+the archives of the various missions exhibit, and from the royal
+registry of mines (_reales de minas_), and, lastly, from the
+indubitable fact of the production of great quantities of gold and
+silver from the mines and _placers_ of this state, considering the
+small amount of forces, and its isolation from all the principal
+settlements of the republic by reason of the distance which separates
+it from them.
+
+In fact, many metals of universal estimation, such as gold, silver,
+mercury, copper, and iron, in a pure state, in grains, in masses, or in
+dust, as well as mixed with other metals, superficially or in veins,
+are found in the extensive territory of Sonora; lead, or combinations
+of lead, for aiding in extracting metals by fire, and for the
+construction of munitions of war, amianthus or incombustible crystal,
+divers ores of copperas, exquisite marble, alabaster, and jasper of
+various colors, as well as quarries of stone of _chrispa_ and magnetic
+stones, muriate and carbonate of soda, saltpetre or nitrate of potassa,
+are, in enumeration, the mineral productions which are found in
+abundance in the territory of the state of Sonora, which comprehends
+the region from the river of Fort _Monte Clarasal_ at the south to the
+Gila at the north, and from the Sierra Madre at the east to the
+Colorado at the northwest.
+
+To the disgrace of the nation, these authentic and exact notices of
+the marvelous riches of this remote state have availed nothing in
+determining speculators (_empresarios_) to resort to those places in
+pursuit of a fortune so certain, or at least to have avoided, by the
+means of colonization, the loss which is _feared_ of this inestimable
+jewel.
+
+The territory of the state of Sonora lacks nothing but security [from
+incursions of Indians] in order that the hand of man may be profusely
+recompensed for his labor. Virgin soils, where the agricultural fruits
+of all climates not only flourish, but many of these improve in
+quality; navigable rivers, which contribute in part to the easy
+transportation of the products to the ports of the Pacific for
+exportation and consumption; mines and _placers_ of precious metals, in
+many of which there is no necessity of capital to explore and collect
+them--are not these stimulants enough to attract there a population
+thrifty and civilized? In order to ascertain the mineral riches which
+the nation may lose in a short time, we call attention to the mineral
+statistics which follow, although they are imperfect and diminutive.
+
+As already we have said, the whole of Sonora is mineral; but as among
+us we only give this name to those places in which there have been
+discovered and worked a conjunction of veins, it results that the
+places in this state to which for this cause has been given the name of
+mineral are thirty-four. Some of the mines are _amparadas_ [viz.,
+worked sufficient to confer a legal title to the occupant], and are
+imperfectly in a state of operation. The names of all of these two
+classes, which are sixteen in all, are Hermosillo, San Javier, Subiate,
+Vayoreca, Alamas, Babicanara, Batuco, La Alameda, Rio Chico, El Aguaja,
+Aigame, El Luaque, Saguaripa, La Trinidad, San Antonio, and El Zoni.
+
+The remaining eighteen are found abandoned, some for the want of water,
+and others for the want of laborers or capital, and by the fear which
+the barbarous Indians inspire. The names of these last minerals are San
+Juan de Sonora, that of the Sierra at the northwest of Guaymas,
+Arizuma, Bacauchi, Antunes, San José de Gracia, El Gavilau, San
+Ildefonso de la Cienequilla, San Francisco el Calou, Santa Rosa, San
+Antonio de la Huenta, Vadoseco Sobia, Mulatos, Basura, Alamo-Muerto,
+and San Perfecto.
+
+In the same state have been discovered twenty-one _placers_; of these,
+one is of virgin silver, in grains and plates (_planchas_), and twenty
+of pure gold, in grains and dust; but as nearly all these are situated
+in the mineral districts (_minerales_) already mentioned, the names of
+those which are not given are the following: Agua Caliente, Quitovac,
+Las Palomas, La Canaca, and Totahiqui. With the exception of three, to
+which gold-hunters from time to time resort to relieve their
+necessities, all the others remain abandoned.
+
+There was only one mineral district actually in work at the close of
+the last century and the beginning of the present; those now actually
+in process of being worked are fourteen, and their names are La Grande,
+La Quintera, El Subiate, Bulbaucda Europita, Vayoreca, La Cotera, Santo
+Domingo, Noercheran, La Sibertao, Minas-Núevas, El Tajo, Minas Prietas,
+and another near La Grande.
+
+From the mineral districts (_minerales_) abandoned there ought to be
+inferred an increased number of mines, which are in the same condition,
+but we do not know their names, and we have only notices of the twenty
+following: Pimas, La Tarasca, Ubalama, Ojito de San Roman, Yaquis, La
+Guerita, Noaguila, Las Animas, Afuerenos, Piedras-verdes Navares, La
+Calera, Caugrejos, Guillarmena, San Atilano, San Teodoro, and El
+Gavilau. In those in Pinas, and in one of those of the _mineral_ of San
+José de Gracia, have been found considerable amounts of pure silver
+deposited in their veins, and mineral taken from San Teodoro has
+produced one half silver. In extracting the silver from the ore in this
+place, we ought to mention that the greater part of these mines are
+susceptible of great _bonanzas_, from not having been worked
+extensively, as their proprietors abandoned them when the metals failed
+to appear upon the surface, and when the exploration was a little more
+costly.
+
+There are eleven haciendas in the State of Sonora for purifying the
+metals which the mines and _placers_ produce, without taking into the
+account many little establishments, with from two to five horse-mills,
+with one bad furnace for the fusion of metals. Three of these are
+situated in Alamas, five in Aduana, one in Promontorio, another in
+Tatagiosa, and the last in Minas Nuevas (New Mines). There are many
+abandoned mines, as the rubbish and ruins indicate, which we have
+noticed, in all the abandoned mineral districts.
+
+The methods which they have observed in extracting the metals from the
+ore are the _patio_ [by application of quicksilver in an open yard],
+and that of fusion, with the aid of some metals that assist the fusion;
+but from the fact that the quicksilver augments considerably the price,
+the few that there carry on the business have preferred the process of
+fusion to that of the _patio_, from being less costly, and because the
+docility of the metals afford facilities to this process.
+
+No machines of new invention have been introduced into that state,
+either for the drainage of the mines or for facilitating the extracting
+of the metals. This ought not to surprise us, in places so desert and
+distant from the metropolis, unaccustomed to the vivifying movements of
+commerce, and to the necessities which civilization has engendered in
+the more important populations in the central parts of the republic.
+That which is rare, and ought to call attention, is the exception of
+some mines, where _malacatos_ [water-sacks of bull-hides, drawn up by a
+windlass] are used for discharging water. In almost all those which
+have thus been worked, they have not had an opportunity to exhibit
+their riches, as the abundance of water in many of them was the
+principal cause of their abandonment.
+
+The greatest difficulty in the way of giving an exact idea of the
+products of the mines and placers of Sonora is the scandalous
+contraband exportations of gold and silver which are made from the
+ports of the Sea of Cortéz [Gulf of California] on the one hand, and,
+on the other, the difficulties that have presented themselves to his
+Excellency, the Governor of that state, for giving the statistical
+notices which have been sought on repeated occasions by the Junta of
+the Mineria, both of which causes have made difficult the account which
+we furnish; but by those which they themselves furnished of the
+production of those minerals before and since the independence of the
+nation, and by the exhibits of various witnesses presented in the
+remission of bars which from thence they made to the capital of the
+republic, when the ports of the Pacific were sealed to foreign
+commerce, the production of precious metals having yielded in divers
+epochs not far from 4500 pounds of silver, without considering the gold
+(abundant enough in _placers_ and in rivers), and from what is known,
+the quantities of this metal extracted have been considerable, and in
+more abundance than in the mineral districts of the other states of the
+republic.
+
+Attention having been much called to the ley and weight of the grains
+of pure gold found on the surface in Quitovac, Cienequilla, and San
+Francisco, as well as those masses of virgin silver found in Arizuma,
+which wonderful riches stimulated the colonial government to despoil
+the proprietors of it, and afterward the King of Spain, in declaring
+that it pertained to his royal patrimony.
+
+All those places in Sonora which are actually abandoned, as well as all
+the lands of that state, are susceptible of producing great riches. The
+reasons on which these assertions are founded are those which M. Saint
+Clair Duport mentions in speaking of the probable variation there will
+be in value of gold and silver in time, by reason of the great
+extractions hereafter of these metals, particularly in California [this
+was before the annexation of California] and Sonora, where, as in the
+Ural Mountains, and the Altai Mountains of Central Asia, gold is
+extremely abundant, and because in the _placers_ mentioned explorers
+have recognized gold in dust, which they have not washed for want of
+water in some, and from the difficulty that exists in others in order
+to work them, such as those of Arizuma and La Papagueria.
+
+Nothing could be said in relation to the number of operatives who are
+employed in working the mines of this state, nor the day-laborers; nor
+in respect to articles consumed there, as well in the digging of the
+metals as in extracting them from the ores, because, as has already
+been said, his Excellency the Governor has not been able to give the
+notices which have been sought, and there are no other better
+authorities through whom information can be procured. For in this state
+there are no mining courts,[84] but the ordinary judges of first
+instance are the authorities which take cognizance of matters which
+occur in the department of the Mineria.
+
+      [84] The title to all mines in Mexico rests solely upon discovery
+      and improvement, without any regard to the proprietorship to the
+      land on which the mines are located; but the proof of discovery
+      and improvement must be made and recorded in the mineral courts,
+      except in Sonora, where the ordinary courts have jurisdiction.
+
+There are no companies for the exploration of the mines in that remote
+state. Some inhabitants, in distant periods, have procured the
+formation of numerous caravans with the character of companies, and
+with the object of collecting precious metals, which they encountered
+in the placers of Arizuma and of Papagueria, but until now they have
+not been able to hold with effect undertakings so laudable.
+
+Various are the causes on account of which the riches which lie buried
+through all parts of the immense territory of the State of Sonora have
+not been explored. Some of these reasons have already been referred to,
+but, for greater clearness, we take this opportunity to recapitulate
+them all. The first, which are much noted, are the following:
+
+1st. The absolute want of personal security.
+
+2d. The scarcity of population, and of the means of subsistence for the
+few hands that they were able to have devoted to working mines in the
+immediate vicinity of hostile Indians.
+
+3d. The irregularity and the want of experience and capital in those
+who have undertaken the exploration and the extraction of metals, which
+has occasioned the abandonment of this class of speculations whenever
+they presented any difficulties, or commenced to be more costly by
+failing to produce metals upon the surface of the earth. Some certain
+speculations which have been directed with regard to the rules which
+regulate mineral industry, and have been prosecuted with capital, have
+well compensated the labors and efforts of the proprietors.
+
+Gold and silver, as above said, are not the only mineral productions of
+Sonora. In the part of Muchachos, situated in the Sierra Madre, between
+Tueson and Tubac, and in Mogollon, a place situated in the mountains of
+Apuchuria, in those of Papagueria, and near the Colorado, are found
+great masses of virgin iron, and abundant veins of the same metal.
+Cinnabar was discovered in 1802 in the hill of Santa Teresa, situated
+in the _mineral_ of Rio Chico; and in the hills which are at the north
+of the Colorado, it has been found in the past age. Copper is also
+found in Antunes, Tonuco, Bacauchí, Pozo de Crisante, Sierra de
+Guadalupe, Sierra de la Papagueria, and particularly in the Couanea,
+from whence have been extracted great quantities of this metal, with a
+great ley of gold. Metals of lead (_metales plomosos_) abound in Agua
+Caliente, Alamo-Muerto, La Papagueria, Arispe, and La Cieneguilla. From
+these two last points have been taken considerable quantities of them,
+for supplying all other mines of the state [to aid in fusion], and for
+munitions of war. Copperas, or sulphate of iron, is abundant in San
+Javier, San Antonio de la Huerta, and Agua Caliente. In the first of
+these placers a vein runs from south to north, from pieces of which,
+dissolved in water, there results a tint which, by evaporation, forms
+into grains, and produces the same effect as the tint of China. In
+Cucurpe is _amianto_, or incombustible crystal, which the ancients so
+much valued. Marbles of various classes and colors, as well as
+alabasters and jaspers, are found in Opasura, Hermosillo, Uores, La
+Campana, and other points; but we do not know as yet the place from
+which the Aztecs obtained the beautiful reddish marble which they used
+in the construction of their divinity of Chapultepec, which is
+preserved in the National Museum, and which, according to all
+conjectures and probabilities, proceeded from the quarries of marble of
+that state. There are quarries of the stone of chrispa, and even the
+magnet in Alamas, Hermosillo, in Sierras of the frontier, and in the
+causada of Barbitas, ten leagues distant from Hermosillo, near the
+route of La Cieneguilla. Muriate and carbonate of soda, saltpetre, or
+nitrate of potassa, are found in the margin of the rivers which empty
+into the Gulf of Cortéz [of California], and particularly in the mouths
+of the Colorado.
+
+
+B.
+
+REPORT ON THE MINERAL RICHES OF CHIHUAHUA.
+
+The statistical notices which have until to-day been received, embrace
+five cantons or departments of that state, which show that there exist
+in it sixteen _minerals_ [districts containing mines], of which twelve
+are in working, and four abandoned in consequence of the incessant
+incursions of barbarous Indians. Their names are Hidalgo del Parral,
+Minas Nuevas, San Francisco del Oro, Santa Barbara, Zopago, Chinipas,
+Guazapores, Batozegache, Guadalupe y Calvo, Cuacogornichie, Galeana,
+Cosihuiriachic, Santa Eulalia, Barranco, and two more, without names,
+in the canton Caleana.
+
+Twenty-one mines are found in operation in the twelve _minerals_ in
+action. The number of those abandoned is increasing, and is not
+permanent; and the only cause referred to is that many of them are
+abandoned for want of capital, and others from the hostility of the
+barbarians. The products of those that were worked in the year 1849
+amount to 146,818 marks of silver, of a ley of eleven _dineros_, and 7
+marks, 7 oz., and 4 eighths of gold to the twenty-two quintals. The
+number of haciendas and furnaces for extracting the metal from the ore
+was twenty, and the processes which they use in that state are the
+_patio_ and the furnace; the last is the most general. Finally, there
+has been put in practice a third system, by the house of Manning and
+M'Intosh, for the purpose of separating the silver by means of the
+precipitate of copper. The consumptions of the last year, 1849, amount
+to $544,194, notwithstanding which the notices omit the returns of
+various mines, haciendas, furnaces, and water-mills. The items are
+quicksilver at $140 a hundred, gunpowder, lime, wood, sulphate of
+copper, salt, iron, steel, metals of aid [metals thrown into the
+compound to aid the process of extracting], tallow, grease, hides,
+leather, corn, straw, grain, flesh, beans, and bars of iron. The number
+of operatives is not known with exactness, because the reports only
+refer to certain mines and haciendas, but in these they amount to 1833,
+besides day-laborers at five _reals_ (5/8ths of a dollar) a day for
+half the time. The most important improvements that have been
+introduced into some of these mines consist in the establishment of
+pumps for facilitating draining, and in the introduction of German
+ovens for fusing a greater quantity of mineral at a less cost and with
+greater perfection, being so much the more interesting as the condition
+of the metals presents itself more easily to this kind of benefiting.
+
+Four companies have been established for prosecuting the labor of the
+mines, Preseña, Rosario, Tajo, and Prieta. The first takes its name
+from Señor Delille, the second is composed of Mexicans, and the last
+two are composed of Mexicans, English, and naturalized Spaniards.
+Nothing is known in relation to their capitals. Besides the precious
+metals, we find lead in Naica and Babisas, of the canton of Matamoros;
+copper, from which only _magistral_ is taken, is found in the canton of
+Mina, and sulphur and saltpetre in the canton of Iturbide. The reports
+mention nothing in respect to the authorities that take cognizance of
+the affairs of the Mineria; but it is presumed that, as in the rest of
+the nation, the judges of first instance take knowledge of
+controversies, and the courts of mines, if by chance they are
+established, take cognizance of the economy and government of the
+mines.
+
+The mint of Guadalupe and Calvo coined in 1848, $720,765, and in 1849,
+$665,225, of which two sums $1,027,130 were of silver, and $355,859 in
+gold, the whole being the proceeds of 116,015 marks, 1 oz., and 4
+eighths of silver, of the ley of eleven _dineros_, and of 2351 marks, 5
+oz., 2 eighths of gold, with ley of twenty-two carats. This appears
+from the reports of the mint of the capital of that state.
+
+
+C.
+
+REPORT ON THE MINERAL RICHES OF COAHUILA.
+
+This state, one of the least populous, and exposed, like all the
+frontier states of the north, to the incessant incursions of the
+barbarous tribes, offers at present very little interest to those
+speculations which engender the exercise of mineral industry--that
+which, besides experience and capital, requires for its development an
+abundance of hands and entire security. While the publication of the
+mineral statistics of the nation not only brings the idea of
+manifesting the present condition of this branch of industry among us,
+but also that of propagating its exercise as one of the principal
+elements of riches among the Mexicans, it is necessary to speak of the
+state in which the Mineria is in Coahuila, and of hopes which it makes
+to spring up for the future. There are twelve mines actually
+_amparadas_, or in labor, in the four _minerals_ already mentioned:
+their names are unknown to us, and it is only known that their monthly
+products amount to 200 marks [of 8 ounces] of silver and 150 loads of
+_greta_ [litharge]. The number of operatives employed in all these
+amount to 193, and the day laborers receive four _reals_ [half a
+dollar] a day.
+
+There is no exact notice of the number of mineral districts and single
+mines abandoned in the State of Coahuila; but the number is
+considerable, according to the information furnished from 1843 by the
+deputation of Santa Rosa. Among those deserving a particular mention is
+that of the Sierra de Timulco and that of Potrerillos, by the good ley
+of the metals of the mines of the first, and by the uniformity of the
+veins and not unappreciable richness of the second. These veins run
+generally from northwest to southeast, and in the course they
+encounter, scattered about, silver-bearing galena [sulphuret of lead],
+lead, copper, with sulphuret of zinc. The amount of the consumptions of
+the mines that are worked is also unknown; but it is known that the
+gunpowder costs the operators $9 an aroba [of 25 pounds], of lead, $12
+a carga of 300 pounds; that of _greta_, $6; copper, of superior
+quality, $16 the hundred weight; the carga of coal, six _reals_ [three
+fourths of a dollar], and wood, one _real_ a mule-load. The ruins and
+the heaps of rubbish manifest that in other times there was much
+activity in the labor of the mines and haciendas for separating the
+metals; but to-day there are only in existence some furnaces, which are
+the least costly, which the miners of Coahuila can use for their
+metals. This they effect generally in ovens, and in _galemes_ in the
+open plain. But this method of separating the metals, which Coahuilans
+have been necessitated to adopt as the least expensive, until
+quicksilver has notably fallen in price, has not remained stationary,
+as in other parts of the republic. These simple inhabitants have
+succeeded, by the force of experiments, in obtaining as a result the
+power of fusing 25 cargas [of 300 pounds] of metal, with the
+aggregation of 18 cargas of _greta_, in only one furnace and in the
+space of twenty-four hours, by consuming only 45 pounds of coal for
+each carga of metal.
+
+There are three companies in that state for working the mines in the
+mineral district of Ramirez, and another in that of Trinudco. There is
+no notice of the amount of funds employed, but it is presumed that they
+are not considerable, by considering the smallness of the fortunes of
+the inhabitants of the frontier.
+
+In government and economy of mines the Assembly of Mineria of the
+valley of Santa Rosa have jurisdiction, but in litigations the judges
+of first instance have jurisdiction, to whom a particular law of this
+state gives authority.
+
+In Coahuila, besides silver, there is found virgin iron in masses of
+considerable volume and of extraordinary value in the Sierra of
+Mercudo, in Guadalupe, and other points.
+
+There is copper in Putula or Rios and in Guadalupe. In these mineral
+districts we also encounter lead. _Amianto_ (incombustible crystal)
+also abounds in Niezca and in the vicinity of Monclova, as also nitre
+in San Blas, jurisdiction of San Buonaventura. In the hills of Gizedo,
+correspondent to the district of Santa Rosa, are extracted sulphur and
+copperas.
+
+It is difficult to ascertain and to mention all the causes which have
+led to the decadence of the mineral industry of this state, because the
+reports which the authorities have remitted do not state it exactly;
+but there is no doubt that they are two, viz., the want of security
+occasioned by the frequent incursions of the barbarians, and the little
+affection which the agricultural people that occupy that state have for
+mining enterprises; that, as already said, they require recognizances,
+as well as capital and hands, things which are scarce enough in the
+vast territory of the frontier state of Coahuila.
+
+
+D.
+
+REPORT ON THE MINERAL RICHES OF LOWER CALIFORNIA.
+
+The sparse population of this territory, the want of scientific
+information in its inhabitants, and the difficulties which have existed
+in the way of keeping up an intercourse with their fellow-citizens of
+the centre of the republic, are causes weighty enough for explaining
+the ignorance in which we live concerning the mineral riches of that
+interesting peninsula. Without doubt, if we are permitted to judge of
+it from the abundance of the precious metals which California of the
+North and Sonora contain, and their contiguities, we ought to infer
+that in the territory of Southern California the designated metals
+should be found in considerable quantities. The official notices which
+we possess in respect to Lower California fortify this conjecture.
+Those exhibited by persons who lack competent instruction upon this
+point contribute in part to foretell what will be the grade of
+prosperity which will come in time with the developing of the mineral
+industry in this territory.
+
+Southern California, by its topographical position alone, is called to
+occupy an important place, not only among the integral parts of the
+nation, but even among foreign parts of America which are bounded by
+the Pacific. If its first necessity is attended to, with the
+augmentation of population commerce will come to give it the consequent
+movement and animation, and the Mineria will come to complete the
+circle of its prosperity; so that it is now difficult to perceive the
+grand importance, commercial and political, which this despised
+peninsula, which is called Lower California, will yet attain when the
+transition of time and the sequel of events come to realize these
+Utopian offspring of a patriotic sentiment; but we will occupy
+ourselves with the statistical mineral notices of that territory.
+
+There are nine mineral districts (_minerales_) which are now
+recognized in California: their names are San Antonio, Zule, Santa
+Anna, Muleje, Triumpho, Las Virgenes, El Valle Perdido, Los Flores,
+Cuecuhilas. There is a range traversing from north to south for the
+space of forty leagues in that territory, which contains also a
+multitude of veins which have not been explored. In all these minerals
+abound, but the irregular and inconstant labor of some of the mines
+does not permit us to consider them as in action.
+
+Explorations of some mines of gold and silver have been made in
+California, but they remain in the same state with the other
+_minerales_. One and another have been worked superficially, but their
+possessors abandoned them when they presented any obstacle, which made
+the working more costly, so that it is no exaggeration to say they all
+are now abandoned. In a country almost a wilderness (_desierto_), where
+the want of conveniences in exploration of the mines failed to engender
+the stimulus of acquiring and preserving the proprietorship of the
+discoveries,[85] and where, with the same facility with which they
+abandon one known vein, they proceed to work another new vein--in a
+country where the great part of the inhabitants might well be
+considered as tribes that have only reached the first grades of
+civilization, rather than organized societies, it is not strange that
+there is a want of mineral recognizances where only the mines at which
+the metals are easily procured, and not costly in extracting from the
+ore, are worked.
+
+      [85] The proprietorship of mines in Mexico is acquired by proof
+      being made to the mining court of discovery and actual working;
+      and is again lost by an abandonment of four months; there is no
+      other source of title to mineral lands.
+
+Notwithstanding that which has been said, there are various residents
+of the mineral districts referred to that extract gold and silver
+sufficient to cover their commercial transactions, to pay their
+laborers and the salaries of their operatives, to procure certain
+necessaries, and to enjoy certain luxuries which many of their
+fellow-citizens do not enjoy. To ascertain to what value these
+extractions of metals ascend is extremely difficult for the want of
+data with which to aid any calculation.
+
+The benefiting (extracting the metals from the ores) is no less
+imperfectly done than the labor of the mines. There are no haciendas
+for benefiting; many persons that engage themselves in mining
+speculations have in that territory one, two, and even five
+horse-mills, with which they grind the metal; this they mix with
+quicksilver and salt--imitating the process by the _patio_--in
+proportion of 50 pounds of the first and 75 of the second to 625 (25
+arobas) of metal, and, proceeding by means of fusion in bad ovens, they
+obtain silver. Some others obtain it by means of vases of refining with
+the aid of lead.
+
+The consumptions of the Californians in the extraction of the precious
+metals consist of quicksilver, salt, and wood; the first they have
+purchased in the last years at two dollars a pound, the second at
+thirty-seven and a half cents for twenty-five pounds, and the third at
+a quarter of a dollar a mule-load. It is to be presumed that when the
+quicksilver of Northern California comes to compete with the
+quicksilver of Spain in the mineral districts of the interior[86] of the
+republic, the price of this principal element for conducting the
+working of mines will fall greatly in all the nation, and that the
+Mineria will assume a grade of prosperity never yet seen in our
+country; and Lower California, by its proximity to the places of the
+production of mercury, will obtain it, without doubt, at a still lower
+price. The day-laborers, who work the mines of this territory, receive
+for their labor from seventy-five cents to one dollar; but there is not
+a fixed number, neither is their occupation constant.
+
+      [86] This term is applied to all places distant from the capital.
+
+It is not necessary to speak of the existence of companies for
+exploring mines in a country where there is such a scarcity of
+population, and where there is not an accumulation of capital
+sufficient in order that a part of it might be employed in the
+hazardous enterprises of mineral industry. The judges of first instance
+are the authorities that in Lower California take cognizance of all
+accounts concerning the affairs of mines (_á la Mineria_).
+
+In the river which passes by Muleje and Gallinas, the inhabitants of
+those places collect the sands, from which they obtain small quantities
+of gold in dust. In another placer, which embraces an extension of
+seven leagues, they also extract some gold in dust in quantities as
+insignificant as those which result from the sands of the river
+mentioned.
+
+Silver and gold are the only metals that have claimed the attention of
+the Californians, because they derive an advantage from their
+extraction, and not because there do not exist other metals less
+valuable, but which yield proportionably greater profit to the miners
+that undertake the exploration; these are lead, copper, iron,
+magistral, crystal of Roca, loadstone, and alum.
+
+
+E.
+
+THE REMAINS OF CORTÉZ.
+
+The account of the disposition of the remains of Cortéz, given on page
+279, is the one commonly received, and contained in works of standard
+authority. Since this volume was placed in the hands of the printers, I
+have received a new number of the _Apuentes Históricos_, which contains
+another account, which is undoubtedly the true one. According to this,
+when the body of Cortéz was first brought to America, it was taken to
+Tezcuco, and buried at the San Franciscan convent, beside that of his
+friend, King Don Fernando. In the course of the following century it
+was taken to Mexico and buried in the convent of the Jesuits (the
+Pro-for is probably intended). After the Revolution, it was transported
+to Sicily by the agent of his descendant, the present "Marquis of the
+Valley."
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Mexico and its Religion, by Robert A. Wilson
+
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