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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ac8d59 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68556 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68556) diff --git a/old/68556-0.txt b/old/68556-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 4737691..0000000 --- a/old/68556-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9658 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Land without chimneys; or the byways -of Mexico, by Alfred Oscar Coffin - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Land without chimneys; or the byways of Mexico - -Author: Alfred Oscar Coffin - -Release Date: July 18, 2022 [eBook #68556] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Mary Glenn Krause, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAND WITHOUT CHIMNEYS; OR THE -BYWAYS OF MEXICO *** - - - - - - LAND WITHOUT CHIMNEYS - - --OR-- - - THE BYWAYS OF MEXICO. - - BY - - ALFRED OSCAR COFFIN, PH.D. - - [Illustration: text decoration] - - CINCINNATI, OHIO, - THE EDITOR PUBLISHING CO., - - 1898. - - COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY - THE EDITOR PUBLISHING COMPANY. - - - TO - PROFESSOR HELEN C. MORGAN, - MY FORMER TEACHER, - THIS BOOK - IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -CHAPTER I. - - _Page._ - -THE SAN JUAN VALLEY 10 - - -CHAPTER II. - -SALTILLO AND THE PLATEAU 29 - - -CHAPTER III. - -SAN LUIS POTOSI 45 - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE BILL OF FARE 63 - - -CHAPTER V. - -IN THE VALLEY OF THE LAJA 76 - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE VALE OF ANAHUAC 93 - - -CHAPTER VII. - -THE VALLEY OF MEXICO 107 - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE SHRINE OF GUADALUPE 118 - - -CHAPTER IX. - -PUBLIC BUILDINGS 141 - - -CHAPTER X. - -THE PASEO AND BULL FIGHT 153 - - -CHAPTER XI. - -LA VIGA CANAL 168 - - -CHAPTER XII. - -THE SUBURBS 179 - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -WITHIN THE GATES 192 - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -THE TRAIL OF THE TANGLE-FOOT 222 - - -CHAPTER XV. - -THE CITY OF THE ANGELS 232 - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -THE PYRAMID OF CHOLULA 241 - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -LAS TIERRAS CALIENTAS - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -GUADALAJARA IN THE VALE OF LERMA 269 - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN 282 - - -CHAPTER XX. - -DIVES AND LAZARUS 294 - - -CHAPTER XXI. - -POLITICAL ECONOMY 306 - - -CHAPTER XXII. - -PREHISTORIC RUINS 312 - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - -AZTEC COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY 322 - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - -THE LOST ATLANTIS 331 - - -CHAPTER XXV. - -CONCLUSION 348 - - - - -A LAND WITHOUT CHIMNEYS. - -[Illustration: CATHEDRAL, CITY OF MEXICO.] - - - - -PREFACE. - - -This book is not sent forth to fill a long-felt want; nor does the -author hope to convince all his readers to his way of looking at the -social and religious problems of Mexico. - -As a teacher of modern languages, the author went to Mexico solely for -the purpose of mastering the language, but the remembrance of that -enjoyable stay allured him like a bird of passage when the spring has -come, and so he returned to study the people. - -If what he has written will help any one to better understand our next -door neighbor, his humble efforts have not been in vain. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE SAN JUAN VALLEY. - - -Did it ever occur to the American reader that there lives a people -numbering twelve millions, who know not the comforts of the fire-place, -nor the discomforts of soot and chimney-swallows? And yet there lives -just such a people at our very doors; just across the Rio Grande, in -that strange land of romance and fiction, where the sixteenth and -nineteenth centuries go hand-in-hand and never unite; where the -variation in temperature is less than at any other place on the globe; -where an ancient race live among the ruined temples and pyramids of a -race they know not of; where the traveler finds mouldering ruins of hewn -stone engraved with figures and animals that have no likeness anywhere -else, except amid the ruins of Egypt; it is here you find the Land -Without Chimneys. The land of Montezuma; the spoil of Cortez; the -treasure-house of Spain; the modern Mexico, where fact and fancy so -mingle with romance and fable, that we hardly know when we have reached -historical data. - -When the Spaniards reached Mexico in 1518, they found that the Toltec -history, done in picture-writing, was the most reliable source of -information obtainable in this strange fairy-land. - -From these idiographic paintings we learn that the Aztecs, or Mexicans, -entered the valley from the north about 1200 A. D. Before the Aztecs -came, the valley was occupied by the Chicimecs, and before they had -pitched their tents around their capital hill, Chapultepec, the Toltecs -had ruled supreme. - -The Toltecs, being exiled from Tollan, their ancient capital near lake -Tulare, wandered a hundred and twenty years, until, in 667, A. D., they -came to the bank of a river, where they founded another city which they -called Tollan, or Tula, in honor of their ancient capital. The ruins of -this ancient city lie twenty-five miles from the city of Mexico. During -the reign of their eighth king, a famine drove the Toltecs south, -whither many emigrated to Yucatan and Guatemala, where the Toltec -language is still spoken. But before the Toltecs, there lived in Yucatan -the Maya race, the most ancient in Mexico, whose tradition dates to the -year 793 B.C., when they arrived in Yucan by water from Tulapam. Here -tradition is lost until we examine the ancient ruins and pyramids of -Uxmal and Copan, whose walls are nine feet thick and covered with the -finest facades found in America; and then language fails us as we gaze -upon the massive walls of the pyramid of Copan, containing twenty-six -million cubic feet of stone brought from a distant quarry, whose base is -six hundred twenty-four feet by eight hundred nine feet, and a tower one -hundred eighty-four feet, built of massive blocks of stone, and -surmounted by two huge trees rooted in its mold. - -Within the inside are statues and hieroglyphics and inscriptions which -tell to the world their history, but they speak in an unknown tongue, -which may tell us of their Tulapam on the lost Atlantis. In despair, we -give up the riddle of the first people of Mexico, and take a nearer view -of the present inhabitants. The country is divided into three parts--the -coast region called _tierra calienta_, where the tropical sun makes life -a burden, and engenders that scourge of Mexico, _el vomito_, or yellow -fever. - -Midway between the coast and the mountain is the _tierra templada_, -where the mean temperature is 68° F. The _tierra fria_, or cold country, -is the plateau which caps the crest of the Cordilleras, so different -from the mountains of the rest of the world that a carriage road was -built for eight hundred miles along the crest of the mountains, without -the service of an engineer. - -Here the mean temperature is 63° F., and on account of the altitude rain -seldom falls, and, where it does fall, the porous amygdaloid rocks -absorb it so quickly that the plateau is a veritable desert, where the -cactus and other thorny plants have taken possession of soil and rock -alike. What adds more than anything else to its barrenness, is the utter -lack of forest tree or green grass. Everywhere, for miles and miles of -landscape, the eye meets only the bare rock and brown earth, with here -and there the ever-present cactus and its kind. - -What wonder is it that nearly all these plateau people are beggars, when -the water for their very existence must be drawn from the locomotive -tanks each day as the train passes? Far across the treeless plain they -see the smoke of the locomotive, and from every adobe hut and -straw-thatched jackal swarm the eager-eyed women, carrying the empty -five-gallon cans of the Standard Oil Company, or their smaller _ollas_ -of burnt earthenware. - -To supply that horde would be to disable the train, so the fireman fills -a number and again mounts his engine amid the silent looks of anguish -from the disappointed faces that plead more eloquently than words. Yet -there are whole townships of this desert, fenced in with stone walls, -and upon these haciendas the rancheros grow rich off their herds at the -expense of the poor peons, and the source of their wealth is the prickly -pear. - -The thick, fleshy leaf is both food and water to the starving cattle. -Where herds are small, the herder, with a huge knife or machete, cuts -the cruel thorns from the leaves or singes them in a great bonfire; but -on the vast estates the cattle must, from necessity, get their food -without help. It may be curious to know how these leaves can furnish -water in a country where it rarely rains. The reason is, the skin is so -tough it does not lose any water by evaporation, and it is thus able to -carry water a year or more without additional rain. This cactus grows to -the height of fifteen feet, with innumerable branches armed with needles -nearly as long as your finger, and it bears bunches of fruit about the -size and shape of lemons, called _tunas_. This is the staff of life for -the poor people on the plains, and without it, existence on the plateau, -for man or beast would be impossible. - -But this country was not always a desert. Before the coming of the -Spaniards it was clothed in verdure, but “it was not like the plains of -Old Castile,” and so the reckless gold hunter turned the beautiful -plateau into a Sahara, in which the silver mines now pay from eleven to -sixteen dollars a cord for wood, brought on the backs of diminutive -burros, and five dollars and seventy-five cents for a hundred and fifty -pounds of corn. - -It is purely a lack of thrift that no effort is now made to restore the -land to its original inheritance. The eucalyptus tree of California has -been tried in many places and thrives well, and with proper protection -would soon grow a forest. The present wood supply is the mesquite, which -never grows taller than a peach tree, and the average size stick of wood -it furnishes is but little larger than a beer bottle. Yet, with all its -scarcity, the locomotives use it, because coal from the United States -costs twenty-one dollars a ton. This wood is packed on the backs of -dozens of little burros, and is carried as far as a dozen miles for -delivery. - -This is a land without chimneys, for two reasons: The climate is not -cold enough to require fires, and if it was, the poor people would never -be able to purchase wood. The little cooking that is done, is -accomplished by little charcoal fires in braziers. - -If all this country was a plateau, then my tale would not be told, but -there can be no mountains without valleys, and it is these valleys that -make Mexico one of the most delightful spots in this country. In the -lovely valley of the noisy little San Juan River, rests the beautiful -city of Monterey--“King Mountain.” - -Situated at the foot of the Sierra Madres, surrounded by cloud-covered -peaks, there seems to be not enough room for its seventy-five thousand -inhabitants, as it first bursts upon the vision through the towering -masts of Yucca palms. It is wedged between “La Silla,” Saddle Mountain, -and “Las Mitras,” the Bishop’s Mitre; but this is only the first trick -which this clear and illusive atmosphere plays upon the traveler from -the lowlands. - -The perspective seems unduly fore-shortened, and mountain peaks which -are really twenty-five miles away, appear to be within an hour’s walk. -After your law of optics has been restored, you discover that no -prettier spot could have been chosen for a city than that for Monterey. - -Founded three hundred and thirty-five years ago, upon an elevation 1700 -feet above the sea, the seasons are so nearly alike that December is as -pleasant as May. - -In the western part of the city are the homes of the wealthy; beautiful -houses in shaded gardens where tropical birds and flowers have their -home, and where spraying fountains and living streams of water remind -one of the tales of fairy-land. Just beyond these homes is the Bishop’s -Palace, the last fortification to succumb to the American army of -invasion when the city was taken. Around the palace are many cannon, -some half-buried beneath the soil, and one with the unbelched shot still -imbedded in its throat where, for fifty years it has lain in mute -testimony of that unequal struggle which General Grant called “The most -unholy war in all history.” - -Across the valley, three miles as the crow flies, are the famous hot -springs of Topo Chico, at the base of a mountain of black marble, which, -in building material, shows a beautiful stripe of alabastine whiteness. - -It was here the daughter of Montezuma and the élite of the Valley of -Mexico came to bathe and chase dull care away, after the whirl of the -court in the capital city of Tenochtitlan, long before the coming of the -white man. - -At a temperature of 106° F. the water bursts forth in a heroic stream -that bears testimony of the intense fires that hurl it forth. - -This reminds us that there is hardly a city in Mexico that has not its -hot water baths, and it need not excite surprise, when three of the -loftiest volcanoes in the world stand guard over the valley; Orizaba in -the east and Popocatapetl and Ixtacihuatl in the south, the highest -standing 17,782 feet above the sea. - -The water of Topo Chico, after serving the baths, is carried through the -valley in irrigating ditches. Leaving the horse-cars which brought us -from the city, we are enticed across the beautiful meadows to a grove of -palms and tropical flowers, and find ourselves at the lofty walls of an -enclosure which at first gives the impression of a penitentiary, but -which you afterwards learn is a “Campo Santo,” or cemetery. - -We walk around the forbidding walls until we come to a massive iron -gate, and through its opening we see a forest of wooden crosses which -tell their own tale, but the sexton will tell another. - - “A relic of by-gone days was he, - And his hair was white as the foaming sea.” - -He had dug a row of twenty-four graves, twenty-three of which were open, -but the other was filled to the brim with bones and scraps of clothing -taken from the others. A peep into these revealed cross-sections of -leg-bones here, two ribs and a hand there, with a jawbone or a vertebra -lying in the bottom. The sexton explained that a person may rest in -peace for the period of five years, and if, after that time his -relatives do not pay a tax on his grave, his resurrection day will come -to make room for newer tenants and better renters. - -And so on for a hundred years or more they will begin at the gate and -dig graves and collect taxes until they reach the rear wall, and then -start over. If everybody paid, the yard would remain intact and the -sexton would have to start a new farm; but with the average Mexican, the -cost of remaining alive is a far more serious question than remaining -dead for an orthodox resurrection. - -He much prefers using his spare cash during those five years in buying -masses from the priest to get the soul of his late departed out of -Purgatory, and if he succeeds in that, the bones may go; so every five -years he is prepared to see his friend’s lodging aired and let to new -lodgers. The wealthy rent tombs which are built in the outer wall, and -here they can peep through the glass doors and see the dust of their -fathers sifting down upon the ashes of their grandfathers to the third -and fourth generation. The sexton was not very careful in removing his -renters, and would leave a leg in No. 7 and carry the other remains to -24. I asked him if that would not complicate matters a little in the -final resurrection. He assured me that Purgatory was the place to right -such small matters, and if the priest was paid enough he would get them -all together. That reminds me of a wealthy man who died, and the priest, -with an eye to business, called upon the son of the late departed, and -impressed upon him the urgency of paying for enough masses to take his -father’s soul from Purgatory. The son asked how much would do it. The -priest, after a careful calculation said: “He was a pretty hard case and -no less than five hundred dollars will move him,” and the son paid the -money. - -After a while they met again. “And how is my father getting along?” -asked the son. “You see,” said the priest, “your father was in the -middle of Purgatory and I had to move him a long way, but I have him -towards the outer edge now, and I think two hundred dollars more will -pass him out.” The money was paid without protest, and this so -encouraged the priest that he resolved to make one more deal. - -“And how is my father now?” was asked when they met again. “Well, I have -him right at the edge of Purgatory with one foot over the line, and I -think another fifty dollars will pass him into heaven.” - -“O no!” said the son. “You don’t know my father. If he has one foot in -heaven, St. Peter and all Purgatory can’t keep him out and so I will -save this fifty dollars.” - -As the sexton and I talked, a funeral procession entered the gate, -consisting of two men and two women of the poorer class. On the head of -one man was a dead child stretched upon a board. The other came to the -sexton for instructions. He pointed them to a row of thirteen small -graves, dug about two feet deep and two of them were filled with the -bones from the others. - -The child was taken from the board and chucked in, but was found to be -several inches too long for the grave, so its head was bent up until the -pall-bearer could gouge out enough dirt to admit the body straight, and -then enough dirt and bones were raked in to cover it a foot and a half. -Meanwhile, the women sat upon neighboring graves, chatting and smoking -cigarettes until the grave was filled. Thirteen minutes after they had -entered they were gone, leaving the sexton and myself alone with the -dead. Within ten minutes another procession entered, preceded by a -company of priests with lighted candles, followed by a hearse with a -velvet covered coffin. Behind the hearse walked a procession of young -men with lighted candles, and then I knew a man was dead, for no women -attend the funerals of men. - -On entering, the body was taken from the coffin and buried, and the -coffin returned to the undertaker. Wood is too scarce in Mexico to buy -coffins when a rented one will do as well, and besides, it would give -the sexton too much trouble in his impromptu resurrections if he had to -dig through hard wood boards. - -If you should ask these people why they dig over and over a few acres of -enclosed ground when just outside there are leagues and leagues of -ground that will not grow anything else but a good crop of graves, they -would shrug their shoulders and say: “_Quien sabe?_”--who knows--with -that untranslatable gesture which forbids other question. Should you ask -the tax collector, he might look over his balance-sheet and give you an -answer about how much it takes to run the government. - -Nothing better illustrates the stature of these people than the death of -an American. He was a conductor, and the railroad employees determined -to give him an orthodox Christian burial, but no coffin could be found -long enough, so he was put into one with both ends knocked out. Then -came the inspection, and official announcement and permit, and enough -red tape to consume two whole days and all the patience of the American -colony, and involved enough writing to have chartered the city. - -All cemeteries are reached by mule car; and for those who cannot afford -a hearse, a funeral car and as many empties as are needed, are always to -be had. The funeral car is painted black or white, with a raised dais to -support the coffin, and in a sweeping gallop the cortege is soon at the -cemetery gates on schedule time. - -All head-boards and grave-stones are embellished with the ominous black -letters R. I. P. They tell me that is Latin for “May he rest in peace;” -but I think they ought to add, “For five years.” - -The cathedral in all Mexican cities is the one place of attraction. The -one here was used as a powder magazine during the Mexican war, and the -walls still bear the grim ear-marks of cannon balls. - -The finest church here is Nuestra Señora del Roble, which is old, but -seems never to be finished, and thereby hangs a tale. - -No church property is taxable here until it is finished, so the astute -priests rarely finish one. There are churches here whose foundations -were laid three hundred years ago, and as you stand in the grand nave, -bits of stone falling around you will be the only evidence of the -workmen two hundred feet above. - -The stone used is almost as porous and as light as chalk, and responds -readily to the chisel for ornamentation, but hardens on exposure. These -building blocks are nearly always two feet square, and are built into -the wall rough, and with scaffolding built around; the stone-mason, with -mallet and chisel, will work for years, creating an ornamentation that -is a joy and beauty forever. Patience here is a cardinal virtue, and -time has no value whatever, and to their credit, be it said, that these -decoraters are artists, and their work is beautiful. A man will begin -work on a hundred year job with as much _sang-froid_ as though it was to -last a month. - -A workman will take an intricate pattern of wall-paper, and, with a -paint-pot and brush, will spread that design over ten thousand square -yards of surface, and at a distance of ten feet you cannot detect his -work from genuine wall-paper. The perspective is so deceptive in one -church in Monterey, that you almost run into the rear wall before you -are aware that the long aisle is a painted one. You must stand or kneel -in the churches, as no seats are provided. One church in Puebla is the -only exception. Most of the churches are bedizened with cheap gew-gaws -and tinsel, which gives you an impression of a child’s playhouse. - -The church of San Francisco is the oldest in town, and its bells were -cast in Spain. - -A large painting in there which is meant for the _piece de resistance_, -represents Christ with a Spanish fan in his hand, and the Madonna -draped in a Spanish cloak of the vintage of 1520. Another represents the -Shepherds with violins in their hands looking at the Babe in the manger. - -It all reminds me of February 22, in New York, when national -proclivities will rise against time and circumstances, and George -Washington will blaze with all his calm dignity from the Teuton’s shop -window with a huge glass of lager in his hand, and the citizen from -County Cork flashes him forth from his aldermanic window with an extra -width to his supermaxillary, while Hop Long Quick displays him with his -weekly washee washee, sporting a three foot queue. - -I suppose all this proves that we think a lot more of ourselves than we -do of others, and of our nationality: “My country, may she ever be -right, but right or wrong, my country.” - -I suppose local color is everything to the ambitious artist, and in -making the rounds of the different churches, the amount of dripping gore -you encounter in the transit from the Sanhedrin to Calvary is appalling. -Were you to meet the _dramatis personæ_ in the flesh, and away from -their settings, you would be in doubt as to whether they were just from -the foot-ball game, or a delegation from Darktown Alley “After de Ball.” -Beyond the city and near the foothills is the modest little chapel of -Guadalupe. - -Around it is a grove of maguey plants with their long, fleshy leaves, -just as inviting to the jack-knife of the Mexican boy as a white beech -tree was to you when you were loitering around the country church. Nor -were these boys less boys than others, for all over these telltale -leaves are inscriptions, some cut “When you and I were boys, Tom, just -twenty years ago.” Nor were all these inscriptions outbursts of piety -and consecration to the church. Some still told the old, old story, that -the lovely Ramona was _La alma de mi vidi, mi dulce corizon_, the soul -of his life and his sweetheart forever. - -I sincerely hope Ramona got the letter and rewarded the young man for -his splendid sculpturing, but I doubt if he “sculped” all the things I -read. - -Some were avowals to the service of the Virgin, and I know of no place -better calculated to inspire such thoughts of worship than the little -chapel of Guadalupe. - -Beyond the chapel was a young man quarrying stone, and in his idle hours -he had chiseled out a small miniature chapel, about three feet long and -similar in design to Guadalupe. Perhaps he was the one who wrote the -pious inscription, but he looked just about old enough to have boiled -over with that effervescence about Ramona. - -While he was at work, I slyly investigated his means of saving grace. -Within the little chapel were candles and tinsels of gold leaf and -silver, and symbols made of pewter and tin, and bits of broken crockery -and other childish playthings, while around it were planted a row of -resurrection plants. - -This botanical wonder, _Selaginella lepidophylla_, grows upon the bare -rocks, and may be kept a dozen years in a trunk, but when placed in a -saucer of water, immediately changes its grey color for green, and -unfolds its fronds like a thing of life. When taken from the water it -closes up like a chestnut-burr, and continues in its dormant state till -water is given it, when it responds every time. This young man having -all this paraphernalia as a means of worship may be strange, but what -about the church from which he drew his pattern? - -What the lower classes here do not know about the bible would fill a -book. - -The city of Monterey is supplied with water from a famous spring in the -heart of the city, which also gives birth to the Santa Lucia, which is -crossed by numerous bridges, and is the public bath-house and laundry. A -whole company of soldiers will march from the barracks down the -principal street, and the first bridge they reach, down they go into the -water, and every man will take off his shirt, wade in and begin his -laundering. In all likelihood, they will find as many women already in -the water enjoying a bath, and they will all sit in the sun and smoke -cigarettes together while their clothes dry. - -The little proprieties which most people attach to a bath do not seem to -trouble these innocent people, especially when an orthodox bath-house -charges a quarter of a dollar for what the city gives free gratis for -nothing. If cleanliness is next to godliness, these people must be away -up in the line of promotion, for from sunrise to sunset, I have seen -every rod of this canal a moving panorama of black-haired swimmers, men, -women and children, while the banks were white with drying laundry. - -The painter who first made that picture about the mermaids sitting upon -a rock and combing their raven locks, must have been standing on a - -[Illustration: BATHING AT AGUASCALIENTES.] - -bridge here and got his idea from the Mexican houris trying to dry their -hair before they--well, while waiting for their clothes to get dry. - -The _puenta_ Purisima is the bridge where a wing of the Mexican army -withstood Gen. Taylor’s division. The legend says that the image of the -Virgin hovered over the Mexican army and enabled it to do wonders, and -that they re-enacted the old story of Thermopylæ. Below the old bridge -is a perpetual laundry. A Mexican laundry is a study in white, and when -you have mastered the details, it differs not one jot or tittle from all -the other laundries in the republic. - -Like Mahomet’s mountain, the Mexican laundress always carries her -clothes to the water, and rests upon her knees by the brink. She casts a -garment into the stream until it is wet, and then wads it upon a flat -stone, and soaps it until it is a mass of foam. She then puts it in a -wooden tray, such as we use in our kitchen, and rubs all the soap out of -it, and immediately empties the water and repeats the process. - -If she dips a piece a dozen times, she soaps it just as often, and -empties the soapsuds after each rubbing, and never, never uses the -soapsuds a second time. - -This is very hard on a bar of soap, but the linen is returned to you as -white as snow. - -There are many Americans in Monterey, and they are trying very hard to -implant their American customs upon the country, one of which is the -color line in public places. - -All the streets are paved with smooth, round cobble stones from the -mountain gorges. They are about the size and shape of a butter-dish, -and they make just about as smooth a pavement as so many acres of cannon -balls would make, buried half way in cement, and meeting about as -closely as round objects usually meet. - -I can think of no American equivalent, except a corduroy log bridge, or -driving across the railroad tracks in a switch-yard. - -The gutter is always in the middle of the street, which is a foot or -more lower than the rest. An American has gained a concession to lay one -street with Texas vitrified brick, and let us hope it is a fore-runner -of others. But, come to think of it, it might work a hardship to a -time-honored custom; an innovation to some might prove an iconoclast to -the church. - -It has long been a custom during Passion week and other fiestas, for the -priests to prescribe a penance for those who confessed to a sin in -thought or word or deed either in the past, present or future tense; and -one of the favorite punishments is to require a number of maidens to -walk down a street leading to a church, and return, crawling upon their -bare knees to the church to be absolved. As they would leave a trail of -blood over the cruel stones, some agonized lover would east his zerape -before his beloved and beseech her to let him lead it in front of her to -the church and spare the laceration; but poor ignorant creatures, they -have been taught that this is the only way to have their sins forgiven. - -I notice I never see men in these pilgrimages, and it must prove that -the men have more hard sense than the women, or else the priests have -their own reasons for appointing women only. - -Now what would a penance amount to on a San Antonio brick pavement? -Just a picnic, no more. It takes a regulation Monterey pavement to draw -blood in the first round. I like the Texas innovation, but I shall vote -to keep one of these threshing-machine streets for the church and _auld -lang syne_. - -In Monterey are a number of smelting works, where the lead and silver -ore is reduced to pigs, and here we see the applied difference in wages. - -The hardest work in the smelter is to weigh in and deliver to the -furnace a thousand pounds of ore every fifteen minutes, and this is not -unskilled labor either. The man has a two-wheeled cart into which he -must weigh in 600 pounds of ore, and 400 pounds of coke and flux -material. Those ores are perhaps fifty yards away at the dump, and if -the ore is very refractory, he must mix four or five grades in different -proportions. His cart must be always on scales as he goes from one pile -to the other, and he must make four trips an hour, and for this he -cannot possibly make over a dollar a day, and the regulation wages for -even the hardest work is 67½ cents for a maximum, if he is able to make -eight full hours. - -I saw an Indian boy who had become so expert, he could load his cart -with three or four different ores and not miss the amount by more than -ten pounds when weighed. - -The engines never stop night nor day, except to collect the rich gold -dust which collects in the flues. It is a very dangerous, suffocating -job, which a white man always gets ten dollars for, and a Mexican five -_reals_, or 67½ cents. - -Two railroads pass Monterey. The Mexican Central to Tampico on the Gulf, -and the Mexican National to the City; and on the latter we now leave -for Saltillo and the battle-field of Buena Vista. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -SALTILLO AND THE PLATEAU. - - -From Monterey to Saltillo is sixty-seven miles as the crow flies, 5,300 -feet in elevation as the barometer creeps, and fifty rise to the mile as -the train runs. Up, up we go with two powerful engines to the train, and -the ever-present query, “If the train should break in two, where would I -land?” - -This is no idle question either, and to reduce possibilities, the -Pullmans follow the baggage, the first-class cars next, and the second -and third-class last. This is very necessary in steep grades and sharp -curves, where the heavy Pullmans with their momentum would always -endeavor to strike off segments and chords across the arcs. - -Up we go between mountains bare of vegetation, which enables you to see -them in their naked grandeur and sublimity. You very soon conclude that -the train is on the trail of the little river, and trying to track it -out of the canon, and you also discover that it was impossible to have -built the road over any other route than the bed of the noisy, fretful -little San Juan. We pass through the canon with the little stream first -on one side and then on the other, clinging to the side of the mountain -by a path that hardly saves the train from destruction by the -overhanging rocks, but ever upward. Indeed, railroad men say that when a -car breaks loose from the yard in Saltillo, it runs all the way back to -Monterey. I don’t believe it. It might come part of the way, but I think -before it got half way down that grade, it would leave the track and -make the rest of the journey in mid-air, and in considerable less than a -mile a minute, too. - -On the way up we pass the little puebla of Garcia, where a peak of the -mountain has an opening through it, as though some Titanic cannon-ball -had crashed its way through there, showing the sunlight on the other -side. As we pass, all good Catholics take off their hats and cross -themselves. Far up the peaks, tiny spirals of smoke show where the -charcoal burners have found some isolated shrubs and are reducing them -to merchantable form. In the cleft of the rocks are also to be seen the -tuna-bearing cacti, which the half-clad Indian women are gathering for -food. At last the grade is surmounted and we reach Saltillo, the capital -of the State of Coahuila to which once also was attached the State of -Texas. - -One of the causes of the Texas revolution was that the Texans had to go -to Saltillo, fully a thousand miles from Red River, to attend to their -legal business. They asked for a separate state, and at the head of the -Texas army they kindly persuaded Santa Anna to grant it. There is great -persuasive power in a gun. - -The train passes through a long street, lined on both sides with gardens -of peaches and apples and oranges and bananas and figs. The altitude is -a mile above sea-level, so that the heat of summer is never known, and -one must sleep under blankets, even in July and August. It is a favorite -summer resort for those who want a climate with no changes whatever. The -city has a population of 20,000, but no horse-cars, so you take your -foot in your hand and go off to see the town. There is but little to -see, but of course there is the Grand Plaza, all Mexican cities have -that, and of course the Cathedral faces the Plaza, there is no exception -to that rule. The town is 300 years old, but the Cathedral was not begun -till 1745, and the main body was completed in 1800. - -The towers were begun in 1873, and may continue a hundred years longer. -In keeping with the custom of the country, the churches must be as fine -as time and money can make them, and the people give both, freely. The -Alameda is as beautiful and as restful as one could wish, with fountains -and flowers, and birds and trees to drive dull care away. I was honestly -trying to do this when a school dismissed near by, and I called several -of the “Kids” by to let me look at their text books, which consisted of -a Catechism of the Catholic faith, and an Arithmetic. There must have -been nearly a dozen boys around me, when all of a sudden they scattered -like quails before a hawk, as a watchful policeman headed for us. - -I suppose he thought the boys were about to kidnap me and came to my -rescue, but he explained that it was a place of rest and pleasure and -“Kids” were not allowed to flock there. I flocked by myself for a half -hour, and the young ladies’ school dismissed and they all passed, -dressed in black, and with bare heads generally, but several had lace -mantillas. If ever I wanted to examine text-books, I thought now was the -time, but to save my life I could not muster courage to ask that -policeman if it was any harm for me to flock anywhere else but on that -park bench, and while I hesitated the dream vanished--and so did I. I -thought it was time to go see Alta Mira, the baths of San Lorenzo. - -Beyond the city limits is a dismantled old fort, a relic of French -occupation. It was a very rude affair of sun-dried bricks, and is now -occupied by a hermit and a vicious dog who demanded backsheesh. The -_who_ refers to both man and beast, for, after looking at the persuasive -face and teeth of that dog, you quite willingly pass over the coppers to -the old man. I have never heard of the couple using force on travelers, -but the argumentative look on that dog’s face showed that they -understood each other, and especially since the isolation of the fort -encourages the presumption. - -Ten miles from Saltillo is the battle-field of Buena Vista, where -General Taylor, after a two days’ fight, defeated the Mexicans. After -the battle the Mexican women went among the wounded, ministering to the -American as well as to the Mexican soldiers. - -Whittier has made their name immortal in his beautiful poem: - - “THE ANGELS OF BUENA VISTA.” - -which closes with the following lines: - - “Sink, O Night, among thy mountains, let thy cool, gray shadows fall; - Dying brothers, fighting demons, drop thy curtain over all! - Through the thickening winter twilight, wide apart the battle rolled, - In its sheath the sabre rested, and the cannon’s lips grew cold. - - “But the noble Mexic women still their holy task pursued, - Through that long, dark night of sorrow, worn and faint and lacking food, - Over weak and suffering brothers, with a tender care they hung, - And the dying foeman blessed them in a strange and Northern tongue. - - “Not wholly lost, O Father! is this evil world of ours; - Upward, through its blood and ashes, spring afresh the Eden flowers; - From its smoking hell of battle, Love and Pity send their prayer, - And still thy white-winged angels hover dimly in our air!” - -Near the old French fort is a narrow stream of water, precious as all -water is on the plateau. Through irrigating ditches it winds around the -hill to the valley, through a winding street, among adobe houses, -serving each as it passes, as a laundry, fountain or bath-house. The -people on the lower course did not seem to care how the water had been -treated before it reached them, but they believe in the old saw: “Where -ignorance is bliss,” etc. - -Along the hard, sunbaked street we pass and look in upon more squalor -than was ever dreamed of in a city. The hovels are built of sun-dried -brick, with no windows nor chimneys for ventilation. Within is neither -floor nor table nor chair nor bed nor any piece of furniture. The women -and children and dogs and men all herd together on the bare floor, or at -most on straw mats. Neither shoes nor stockings find a place here. The -men wear a presentable suit of white cotton or coarse linen, and are -bare-footed, or wear a pair of leather sandals on their feet. These are -simply pieces of sole leather under the bottom, held on by thongs passed -between the toes to the ankle. Every man is his own shoemaker. The women -often wear only a chemisette and neither shoes nor stockings, and when -they do wear shoes, they wear no stockings. Privacy is absolutely -unknown, in this or any other Mexican city, except in the heart of the -city or among foreigners, and it requires the utmost watchfulness on the -part of the police to keep a semblance of public decency, even in the -city of Mexico; and even then, the Indians are tacitly exempt from -punishment for infractions. It must not be understood that this -assertion includes everybody, but you must remember that five-sixths of -the population is classed as low caste or peons, and strong enough -numerically to imprint their influence upon every city in the country. -Through almost every city flows a stream of water, and in this hundreds -of men and women bathe promiscuously. Some cities require some garment -to be worn, but while changing clothes and putting on the bathing suit, -they are protected only by the blue sky and the Republic of Mexico. - -These hovels are the centers of a great manufacturing industry; within, -the women are pounding the fibre from the thick leaves of the aloe or -maguey, and making brushes, mats, hammocks, rope and twine. The fibre is -very much like the unraveled strands of our seagrass rope, and so -strong that ordinary wrapping cord must be cut with a knife. The weaving -apparatus is crude in the extreme. A post with a windlass and three -wooden arms stands in the ground, and a boy turns the windlass. A man -walks backwards with a basket of fibre hanging from his neck. Having -fastened a thread to each of the arms of the crank, he slowly feeds each -lengthening strand as it twists around the windlass. In ten minutes he -can twist a thread fifty feet long. The threads are woven any desirable -size, the most common being such as is used in making hammocks. As the -husband prepares the thread, the wife weaves the mats or hammocks, and -goes off to the market to sell. Within such hovels, all the -manufacturing of Mexico is carried on, with no machinery anywhere. Of -course, without wood, steam is impossible, and water power there is -none. - -Saltillo is famed for one thing above all others, and that is the beauty -of its zerapes. A zerape is a cross between a cloak, a blanket, a shawl -and a mat, because it is used for all these. It is the one garment a -Mexican prizes next to his hat, the _sine qua non_ of his attire. The -zerape is a hand-woven blanket, with figures and colors that would make -Pharaoh’s adopted son turn green with envy. They are woven and worn all -over Mexico, but those made in Saltillo are a thing of beauty and a joy -forever, to the happy possessor. When the Mexican starts out in the -morning, his zerape is folded across his shoulder with the fringed ends -nearly touching the ground. If he is hunting work, or going to work, or -walking for pleasure, or holding up the sunny side of a street corner -to keep it from falling down, the zerape is always there. If he sits -down, he either sits upon that zerape or fondly folds it across his lap. -When night comes, if he has a home, he spreads that zerape on the dirt -floor for his bed. If he has no home, a nice soft corner of the stone -pavement is carpeted with his zerape. When morning comes, he goes -through the same programme. Many slit a hole through the center and -stick their heads through. Those who cannot buy, take an old salt sack -and rip it up, and presto! a zerape. In the Torrid Zone on the coast, -when the hot sun melts the asphalt pavements, an Indian may be seen -comfortably smoking his cigarette, his head covered with a woolen -sombrero weighted down with silver ornaments, and several yards of -woolen zerape covering his reeking body. - -Ephraim is wedded to his idols. If the men are wedded to the zerape, the -women are equally inseparable from the _rebosa_. The _rebosa_ is a -shawl, nothing more--that is from appearance, but with the Mexican women -and girls, it is second self. The common gray, cotton article is called -a _rebosa_, the finer black article is a _tapalo_, while the lace -fabrication is a _mantilla_, but it is of the _rebosa_ that we now -speak. Hats nor bonnets are ever worn by the women at any time or place, -the _rebosa_ is used instead. It is drawn across the brow until the ends -hang down below the waist, then one end is thrown across the opposite -shoulder, protecting the neck and making a drapery both picturesque and -pleasing. Sometimes she wears it around her shoulders as a shawl. If she -has a baby, she lets the slack out in the back, loops the youngster in -it and takes a half hitch with the ends in front. It is an every day -sight to see caravans of women come to town with large baskets of fruit -on their heads, and the black-eyed youngsters tied in the _rebosa_ and -peeping over the mother’s shoulder. When the mothers sit by the roadside -to rest the “Kids” are not unwrapped, but they usually keep the peace -until released. - -The _rebosa_ is the first garment a girl learns to wear, and I might -add, until she is quite large it is often the only one. The most -remarkable thing about it is, they never cease wearing them. Peep into -these hovels, and every woman and girl child will be sitting listlessly -on the stone floor, or busily at work with head and ears tightly wrapped -up, their sparkling eyes and pleasant faces alone showing. But draw a -camera on them, presto! every face is instantly covered. In walking, one -or both hands is always engaged in holding the folds under the chin, as -no shawl pins are used. The girl of fashion is a combination of painted -face, India inked eyebrows and bella-donna eyes, but the ordinary middle -class girls have rare beauty sometimes, and a series of faces would make -“mighty interesting reading,” but no camera that I have seen can get -their faces, unless covered with a _rebosa_. - -The prevailing color of _rebosas_ is as much a distinctive emblem of -caste, as any rule in the social decalogue. No high caste woman would -dare be seen with a gray _rebosa_, and though a low caste might be able -to buy one of the more costly black ones, I have never seen one do so, -and the observance of these social adjuncts is as unchanging as the laws -of the Medes and Persians. - -Saltillo as seen from the rear is disappointing. Most towns are painted -white, but here the dull, wearied-looking sun-baked adobe houses are not -pleasing. We visit a high school for young ladies and wonder that all -this youthful beauty can bide this dull town, and that reminds me that -there is not a mixed school in all Mexico, even the kindergartens being -separate. You do not need to visit the primary schools, as you can hear -all you wish a block away. The noise that first greets you will remind -you of the last inning at the base-ball park when everybody is asking -who killed the umpire. There may be three hundred children and each one -is studying at the top of his voice, if voices ever have top and bottom, -and the priests are stalking among them. The catechism is the first book -placed in the hands of the child, and his duty to the church, the priest -and the pope, are the first lines he ever learns. This statement will -help make plain some other things I shall say later about the religious -status of the country. - -In the early gray of the July morning, with the chilling fog settling -all around us, we draw our heavy wraps about us and leave with no -regrets Saltillo, “The Stepping Stone.” We have indeed stepped upon the -plateau, and for a hundred and fifty miles the track is as straight as a -carpenter’s rule. What a monotony! Desert, yucca palms, cactus, dust. -Not a living thing but cactus. No birds, no insects, no rabbits, no -snakes--nothing that breathes claims this for a home. The railroad -authorities did not plan this road for the beauty of its landscape, but -for the economy of building. Ten thousand feet above sea-level lies the -back-bone of the Cordilleras, and the plain is as level as a floor. - -For twelve hundred miles a carriage can travel here without making a -road, so while the journey is disappointing to the tourist, the railroad -company pats itself on the back for long-headedness. - -Away in the distance we see a tiny curl of white dust no larger than a -man’s hand, and reaching to heaven. That is the sign of the burro -pack-team bearing their bundles of fagots for the hungry maw of the -locomotive. Poor little donkeys, not weighing more than three hundred -pounds, without bridle or saddle or harness or halter, and without food -except as they can argue with the thorns and thistles by the wayside, -follow, follow forever the narrow trail to the wood-pile by the railroad -track, drop their burden and return. - -Surely the earth is round to the donkey. When he was no larger than a -kid, he followed his mother along the same trail until he got large -enough to carry a pack-saddle himself. That wearied, discouraged look he -has always had, even to the twentieth generation. It is a part of his -inheritance. He never had any frisky colt days in a pasture, nor did he -have to “be broke” to harness when he reached the state of Coahuila and -donkeyhood. In fact he was never born, but like Topsy “just growed up,” -a burden-bearing burro. From the Rio Grande to Yucatan, he has -gridironed the country and impressed it with his stamp. He and his -companions have trailed, Indian file, loaded to the guards with silver -ore, until his sharp little feet cut the trail so deep that his burden -was raked off by the banks. He then started a new trail by the side of -that until his little legs are out of sight in the trails cut by his -feet in the solid rock; and then repeats, until you may count twenty or -more little parallel gridiron paths for hundreds of miles. He has worn -through solid rock in a dozen parallel paths, and only the final -recorder in the burro paradise can tell how many weary journeys he had -to make to write his name so well. - -Neither the trolley car nor the bicycle will ever make his shadow grow -less; he is a part of the country, as indispensable as water itself. -While the Indians load the tender with wood, I follow the fireman and -brakeman into the chaparral. They have a pail of water, a wicker basket, -and a long stick with a string lasso on the end, and are hunting -tarantulas. Being something of a naturalist myself, I was well -acquainted with tarantulas, and I promptly told them I had not lost any -tarantulas, and if they had nothing better to lose than tarantulas, they -needed guardians. To those who have not a speaking acquaintance with his -vitriolic majesty, I will say it is a huge hairy spider that will cover -the bottom of a tea-cup, and when placed in a saucer is able to grasp -the edge all round, so great is the spread of its claws. It is very -vindictive and can leap up to a man’s face when making close -acquaintance. In Texas I have known its bite to kill a person in twelve -hours. I saw one catch a chicken under the wing, and the chicken fell -within one minute. - -However, I joined the hunters. We first looked for a hole in the ground, -and as the hole denotes the size of the tarantula, only the larger ones -were sought. When a hole about the circumference of a half dollar was -found, one man guarded that with the stick and basket, while the other -sought the outlet, for they always have two entrances to their homes. -When it was found, the water was poured in, and out he came into the -lasso placed over the other hole--and is caught dangling at the end of -the stick. What is he good for? To sell. The Mexican is the greatest -gambler this side of Monte Carlo. Tomorrow is the fiesta of his patron -saint, and he will celebrate. As every one chooses a saint to his -liking, and churches and towns do likewise--there is scarcely a day in -the calendar that is not somebody’s saint day. Tomorrow he will “knock -off” from work, go to the bull-ring and bet his money on the bull or the -man, and whichever one gets killed, he is so much loser or winner. He -goes to the cock-pit and stakes again, and a bird soon spears another -through with his gaff; but a tarantula fight! Bravo! that is a sport -royal. In the bull-ring, the bull sometimes gets wounded and bellows to -be allowed to go home to his mother. In the cock-pit, a bird gets a gaff -pinned through his upper works and decides to settle the fight by -arbitration; but a tarantula, _Caramba!_ they simply eat each other up. -The only way you can lose money is that the other fellow’s cannibal will -eat yours first. - -The engineer blows his whistle and calls us in, and we trail again -through the white dust to Catorce, a hundred and fifty miles as the -crow flies, only no crow ever flies over this Sodom and Gomorrah. -Catorce means fourteen, as the mines were discovered by a band of -brigands numbering fourteen. You get off at the station and see nothing -but a station and three or four pack trains of burros that have just -brought in a load of silver. Follow their gridiron trail, and eight -miles further you come to Catorce, a city of from ten to twenty thousand -people, according to the output of silver, and these people have never -heard the rumble of wheels. Ore was first found here in 1790, and for -thirty years the silver output was over three million dollars yearly. - -There are hundreds of these mines here, and the drainage tunnel of the -San Augustin mine runs into the mountain more than a mile and a half and -cost a million and a half dollars. Up, up you climb the rocky sides of -the mountain, but there is no other way to reach Catorce, and when -there, you are in one of the richest spots on earth, where the ore often -assays $15,000 to the ton. The streets run forty-five degrees one way, -and I suppose they ought to run the same coming back, but if you let go -your hold on the street corners, you would fall out of town so fast you -could not measure the angle. The only level place in town of course has -a plaza and a very fine cathedral. I have made a similar statement -several times, which needs no repetition. Whenever you enter a Mexican -town you will always find “A very fine plaza and a very fine cathedral.” -That copyright phrase will fit anywhere, with sometimes a modification -of _very_ and a change of church for cathedral. - -Catorce is the last town in the temperate zone. A few miles beyond, -standing solitary upon the desert like Lot’s wife in the geography, is a -pyramid erected by the railroad company. It marks the exact line of the -Tropic of Cancer. On the north the legend reads:-- - - TROPICO DE CANCER. - ZONA TEMPLADA. - -on the south, - - TROPICO DE CANCER. - ZONA TORRIDA. - -Out of respect to your early teaching in geography you ought to perspire -and be exceeding warm in the Torrid Zone, and see all kinds of -gay-plumaged birds and jungles of flowers, but the hammer of the -iconoclast has shattered one of your long cherished dreams. - -The sun was shining upon a landscape over which clouds never hover. You -pull your overcoat around you on this cold July day, and look through -your closed windows for the other canard--the landscape. The landscape -is all there according to the book, and for that you are thankful, but -how changed! As far as the eye can reach and ten times farther are -beautiful rock-colored rocks, and dust-colored dust and thorny thorns -and dust-hidden sky. Where are the flowers? Never were any. And the -birds? Never will be any. Not a blade of grass nor a chirp of insect. -For forty miles around, or as far as the eye can reach is the dry, -parched dust, and the chaparral, sere and yellow. - -After a hundred and fifty miles of desert, how welcome is the oasis! -Bocas is its name, and the last stopping-place before we reach the great -city of San Luis Potosi. - -Las Bocas is a fine hacienda and recalls old feudal times along the -Rhine. Here is a fine old castle with its walled enclosure, its -beautiful arched bridge and its herds and flocks and gardens and -retinue. By the railroad track is a distillery for making liquid lava -from the aloe or maguey plant, which is sold under the name of mescal -for the purpose of making men drunk. Those who know say it will eat the -lining out of a lead-pipe stomach. I saw a case of delirium tremens -which it is guaranteed to give, and I can only liken it to a caged hyena -after Lent. - -Away in the distance is the snow-white trail of a stone wall, which -winds its tortuous path many leagues away to encircle the hacienda de -Las Bocas, while within its bounds and feeding upon the rocks and thorns -are the thousands of cattle that maintain its opulence. How that kind of -food can work such wonders is beyond my ken. When I was in school I -learned that cattle have four stomachs. I think one would be quite -sufficient for all the food a cow can get from a cactus bush, and a -couple of millstones might be helpful in digesting the rocks. No one -told me that the rocks were positively a part of the bill of fare, but I -pointed to ten miles of rocks enclosed by a wall and asked a man why -they fenced in the rocks, and he said it was a pasture, and he ought to -know, as he is a native and to the manner born. - -Four hundred and seventy-five miles from the Rio Grande, and the only -trees seen were upon the little oases watered by tiny streams. We leave -the plateau and climb the mountain into the city of San Luis de Potosi. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -SAN LUIS POTOSI. - - -And no more satisfactory city can be visited than San Luis, situated in -the crater of a fertile valley, while its suburbs extend to the rich -silver mines of the mountains which give it name. - -The mines have been worked over three hundred years, but the city is -only two hundred years old. The mines were discovered to the Spaniards -by a pious monk, who named them Potosi, because of the resemblance to -the mines of Peru. - -Three million dollars annually, are mined. A very unusual thing for -Mexico, the railroad station is in the heart of the city. Seventy-five -thousand people make their home here, and the law requires all houses to -be kept freshly painted; and what a restful revelation it is, with -asphalt pavements swept clean each night, and hotels that make a -traveler glad. The only drawback to complete happiness is a lack of -water. Most cities here draw their water from the mountains in -aqueducts, but San Luis has outgrown its supply. - -At the public fountains, a stream of water-carriers by hundred stand -patiently in line to fill their vessels from the tiny, discouraged -stream trickling from the Dolphin’s mouth, and the police stand guard to -see that all are served in the order of arrival. All day and all night -this pitiful waiting goes on forever. It is like buying tickets for the -Symphony concerts in Boston, where the people come before day and buy -choice places in the long line of earnest waiters. The water is free, -but the successful ones sell to those in the city who do not care to -enter the crush, or to the hotels and wealthy ones who can buy. All -kinds of vessels are used, but the preference is given to the -five-gallon cans that brought kerosene into the city. - -With two of these fastened to a shoulder yoke, the men peddle the water -at three cents a can. With the women, the favorite is the large Egyptian -model earthenware called _olla_. With this poised gracefully on one -shoulder and elbow, and the opposite hand held across the head to -balance, it completes one of the most picturesque scenes so common here. -Rebecca at the Well has simply stepped out of the old picture book and -assumed her ancient calling. The feature of the profession, however, is -a man with a nondescript wheel-barrow which no man can describe. - -Rainfall is quite plentiful here, but the porous amygdaloid rocks can -not hold it. At present an American citizen is boring an artesian well, -and the interest displayed by the citizens is remarkable. All day long -hundreds of anxious watchers will stand around the drill, evincing the -same interest we used to show at our boarding house when the first -strawberry short-cake of the season was cut, and the anxious boarders -were watching to see who would get the strawberry. - -The burro train has lost its hold upon San Luis. For three hundred years -all the silver was carried to the sea, two hundred and seventy-five -miles away, by burros, but now, with two railroads, things have changed. -The Mexican National leads to the capital, the Mexican Central to the -bay of Tampico. - -Here are many fine buildings to see; the Governor’s palace, palace of -justice, State capitol, the museum, the library with a hundred thousand -volumes, cathedral, and the churches of Carmen, Merced, San Augustin, -San Francisco, Military College, and the _Teatro de la Paz_, one of the -finest opera houses in the country. - -As in all the cities, the street ears start from the main Plaza, and -from here you may visit Guadalupe, Tequisquiapan, the baths of La -Soledad, Axcala and Santiago. - -In the rainy season, the street cars bear this legend: “There is water -in the river.” As a matter of course, the cars do a land-office business -as long as the water lasts. The cars lead to the _Paseo_, a beautiful -shaded avenue two miles long, asphalt pavements, and fountains at either -end, with the usual scramble for water. - -At the extreme end is the church of Guadalupe, with two tall towers, and -a fine clock presented by the king of Spain, in return for the gift of -the largest single piece of silver ore ever taken from a mine--the mine -of San Pedro. - -The city of San Luis Potosi is building a hall that is to be the eighth -wonder of the world. It has cost millions and will cost millions more. -Seven years ago a dozen skilled stonemasons from Pennsylvania were -imported to do the ornamental carving on the front. One Fourth of July a -member of the party got drunk and killed a Mexican. He was tried and -condemned to be shot. - -Then arose the certainty that with him in the grave there would be no -one to do the fancy carving on the City Hall, so it was decided to keep -him at work and shoot him when he had finished. Every day this workman -hangs like a fly against the great white wall and pecks away at -gargoyles and griffins’ heads, while a file of soldiers stand in the -streets looking at him. - -His life ends with his job, and the Mexicans say he is the most -deliberate workman in the world. At the present rate of progress, by the -best obtainable calculations, the front of the City Hall will be -sufficiently scrolled and carved about the middle of 1950. All the -churches contain valuable paintings. - -The most remarkable thing about these cities, there is no noise. There -is no steam, no manufactories, no wagons, no drays, and as the people go -without shoes, there is no noise of any kind. You may sit on the busiest -street here and close your eyes, and feel all the quiet and comfort of a -cemetery. Those who like to sleep late in the morning can better -appreciate this. The days and nights are of equal length, and you could -stop in the most populous hotel in the city and sleep until ten o’clock -in the day. No bell-boy, no breakfast bell; just quiet. The one -exception to noise is the market place; it was made for noise, and is -different from all the others in the country. - -In other cities there are several market places which relieve the -congestion, but here there is but one. Before daylight the hubbub begins -and lasts till noon, and the main building is soon crowded, and its -overflow spreads to the four streets which pass it. There are no passing -vehicles, so from curb to curb are hundreds of women sitting flat upon -the ground with their gray _rebosas_ around their heads, and their -scanty wares spread about. They sell everything, and the streets are -redolent with unknown and unsavory odors from the charcoal braziers, -from which the designing maid or matron offers her concoctions to the -unsuspecting wayfarer. - -Of course you try some of these experiments; you do not know what you -are eating, but it never kills. This compels me to say that very, very -few people eat at home, but go to the market for their meals, going from -one stall to the other. Another market feature, green corn is always -offered cooked, and the same is true of sweet potatoes. Some people buy -their supplies and take them home to be cooked, but green corn and -potatoes never. They are both boiled with their jackets on, and if a -vendor has a bushel, he or she boils the whole and stacks it up on the -pavement, and it may be five or six hours later, the purchaser buys an -ear and hulls the grains off and eats his dinner with no salt or -accompaniment whatever. - -The market is never closed for three hundred and sixty five days in the -year. In many stalls are wholesale dealers who supply the retailers. In -unloading the corn or grain to put it in bins, there will be half a -dozen women or children in the dust under the cart, scrambling for the -grains as they fall from the sacks. When the cart has gone, they winnow -all the dust through their hands looking for the missing grain. - -These market gatherings are the simon-pure article of the native -element, unadulterated by foreign influence. Here are Indians from the -mountains, peons from the haciendas and peasants from the surrounding -country and the gentry from the city, all hobnobbing together. The usual -dress of these women vendors is startling. The Indians wear a string of -beads around their necks and one or two yards of coarse cloth fastened -wherever it will fit best, and they are dressed up. The peasants wear a -string of beads and a chemise which commences too late above and stops -too soon below, and all are barefoot. The high-caste women all dress in -American or French styles, except that they wear no head gear but their -own black hair, and they wear the most ill fitting high-heel, -needle-pointed shoes that are made. The national color for Spanish and -Mexican women is black. Meet a hundred ladies at a time, and every dress -without exception is jet. I rather think it is vanity. We put salt on -watermelon to enhance its sweetness by comparison, and so with black -hair, black dress and fair skin, the contrast I think was the final end -sought. - -Elite society never appears on the street here till six o’clock, unless -a fiesta or church service calls it out; and before that hour, what -careful preparation is had? The hair is usually braided and let alone. A -quantity of India ink along the eyebrows make a black _en rapport_ with -the hair, and a little belladonna in the eyes will add a sparkle that -will wither up men’s souls and scatter them prone at her -feet--metaphorically speaking, and when those cheeks have been -kalsomined--I mean whitewashed--that is--painted, if the dear ladies -will spare my life for mentioning it, and when mi-lady has thus -performed her renovation--I mean toilet, and placed her diamonds on her -neck where they will show best, and wrapped as to her shoulders with the -diaphanous mantilla and steps under the electric light, I tell you she -is--is indescribable. - -The dress of the men of the lower class is just a kaleidoscope, that’s -all. Some of the Indians are dressed like their women, in their long -hair and a strip of cloth hung where it hangs the best. The high top -straw sombrero or the Panama hat with a string under the chin is the -prevailing style, although the more costly woolen hat is represented. -White cotton and brown linen constitute the dress goods. - -The usual cut of coat is a short jacket or jumper. Others wear a long -sack coat, and instead of buttoning it they gather the two corners -together and tie them in a knot. This distinctive style has a kind of -freemasonry importance in which I was never initiated. Then his -pantaloons are white, with the bottom widened immensely. The shepherds -have a style all their own. They have a buckskin jacket cut short, and -buckskin pantaloons cut long, with a row of buttons on the outside. Then -he takes his knife and slits the legs inside and out, from the knee -down, then he gathers up the ends and tucks them under his belt, and -depends upon his underwear for effect on dress parade. He always scores. -Some people might say he looks badly, but with his clan he is in very -correct form and why should you object? - -The porters, or public drays dress in white cotton, with one leg of -their pants rolled up to the knee, leaving the leg bare. - -Around his neck he wears a large badge like a policeman’s, with his -official number, showing that he is licensed to carry packages, from -express money orders to upright pianos. He is the only express wagon -here, and is absolutely reliable. He will shoulder your Saratoga and -trot a mile without resting. I recall the case of one who stumbled with -an American drummer’s trunk on his back, and when the street -commissioners gathered up his remains, they were spread over two square -yards of pavement. P. S. the trunk was not injured. - -Four of these _cargadors_ will carry your piano to any part of the city. -For moving household goods, they have vans made on the plan of a -hospital stretcher, with a man in the shafts at each end, and a rope -passing over his shoulders to the shafts, and they will carry a dray -load each time. Two dozen chairs by actual count is what I have seen one -man carry. The mule has been promoted to the street car, out of respect -to the two-legged express wagon. - -The dress of the cow-boy and rural police is something to admire. A high -sombrero, costing from twelve to fifty dollars, weighted down with -monograms and silver ornament. - -Leather or buckskin suit with silver buttons from boots to neckband. -Silver spurs and silver bridle bits. Saddle whose every piece of -ornament is solid silver, a horse-hair lariat, and if he is a _Rurale_, -a rifle, and he sits his horse like a centaur. - -The dude is in a class alone, but he counts one when on dress parade. A -tall, black sombrero with silver ornaments. Scarlet jacket, reaching to -the waist, and sprayed with silver braid in fantastic designs. Buckskin -pantaloons, flaring at the bottom and silver buttons all the way up, and -along-side a series of cross-section slashes, interwoven with a -beautiful ribbon from spur to waistband. Silver spur and bridle bit, a -saddle worth as much as the horse, and a bright nickel-plated revolver -buckled around his waist. - -At the fashionable hour for promenade, he mounts his horse, and slowly -rides over the town and graciously permits the populace to admire him. I -think he ought to be knighted for his liberality. Most people who go to -that much trouble to shine, generally make you buy a dollar theater -ticket for the pleasure of looking at him, strains his constitution and -bylaws showing off, and cannot ride a horse at all. - -But commend me to the Mexican dude. After he has set the town agog, he -turns up a certain avenue, which contains a certain house, projecting -from which is a balcony, in which dwells the only girl in town, and, -after he has passed in all his silent glory, he throws bouquets at -himself for the wonderful impression he has made, and then goes home to -undress. Earth cannot hold him much longer. I fear his own ardor and -faith in himself will finally sublimate him, but our loss is heaven’s -gain. The children; there are no children; they are just vest-pocket -editions of old folks. Usually they are dressed in their innocence, but -that is a quality of goods that does not last long here. When a boy is -old enough to wear anything else, it is exactly like his father’s, tall -sombrero, pants that strike his heels, and a red sash around his waist. -Suspenders are not worn here. When a girl is no longer innocent, she -dresses in a _rebosa_. By wrapping it around her head it reaches her -feet. They don’t have much time to be little for they marry at eleven -and twelve. The upper class men, of course dress as Americans, but Paris -sets the fashion in Mexico always. All these things you see at the -market in San Luis Potosi, but you see them in hundreds, while I have -only described them as individuals, and have not half turned the -kaleidoscope yet. - -The streets must be all vacated by eleven o’clock at night, and when the -hour for closing has arrived, nothing is locked up. The thousand and one -vendors have no care for their goods. A piece of canvas is spread over -them and a brickbat placed on to keep the wind from interfering, and -they go home. - -The policeman does the rest--he never sleeps. Crime does not pay in -Mexico. The laws are as swift as a bolt of Jupiter. A person is arrested -this morning, tried and shot before night. They waste no sentiment on -criminals and they are too expensive to feed. - -Another curious custom is, the money received during the day must always -be in sight. A wooden tray on top of a pile of goods holds the receipts -of the entire day and not a piece is hidden. The taxation law is very -rigid, and a certain per cent. of all sales is collected by the city, -and the inspector must be always free to look at your sales and figure -on his per cent. - -As hard as the law is on poor people, you never hear them complain. They -respect the laws even though they do not like them. Just imagine an -American counting up square and even with a tax collector on a day’s -sale! When Bellamy gets his colony in working order and invites me to -come and see the wonder of the twentieth century, that is the sight I -want to see. - -The wearing of pistols here is not a sign of revolution. Probably it is -not loaded, and a Mexican would not shoot you for anything. If his liver -was out of order to the extent of wanting your blood, he would take his -knife and reduce you to sausage meat, but shoot you, never. That is not -his style. A pistol is as much an article of full dress as a pair of -gloves would be in America, or a tin sword is to our military -organizations. - -When Mexico had her monthly revolution, and when bandits used to come in -and take the town, every man had to go armed in order to find himself -after the cyclone; but she has comparative peace now, yet wearing -pistols for a hundred years has made it quite a habit. I went on an -excursion with a party of harmless looking Mexicans, and we tried to sit -down on a bench, and every man and boy of them had to unload his cannon -pocket before he could sit down--and the other fellow too. - -At your work, the law supposes you to be unarmed, but in making a -journey, though it be the length of a street, you are allowed to arm -against bandits. On every first and second-class car, ten out of every -dozen men will carry huge revolvers, but you might live there for -months and never hear of a person getting shot. - -In this great city, everything is so quiet you are constantly enquiring -if anything has happened, or is happening, or has any likelihood of -happening; you cannot understand the absence of noise and bustle. - -It finally dawns upon you that the native never hurries. He has mastered -the ethics of rest, he never exerts himself. He does so delight to sit -himself down long and often and ponder over the wear and tear of the -foreigner. The state feels as he does about it, so it has placed -comfortable seats everywhere, where the native can rest. Just rest. He -never “Hellos” to an acquaintance across the street; if he wishes to -speak, he motions with his hand. All this saves wear and tear, and by -this means, the nation has saved vast stores of conservated energy to -use in the next world. He has been saving energy for four hundred years -and has never let any of it out. - -There is no “hello” on the street, and no vehicles, and everybody is -barefooted, so there is no noise. They don’t “hello” in the telephone. -They talk some sweet, musical Spanish in it that is a real pleasure to -listen to. Instead of thundering back “Who’s that?” he sweetly says -“_Quien habla?_”--Who speaks? - -The national watchword is, “Never do to-day what you can possibly put -off till to-morrow.” An excursion agent went to a large hotel and asked -what were the rates per day. “Four dollars,” said the major-domo. “But -my party contains seventy people, what rates do we get for the party?” -“Four dollars and a half each, more trouble.” The same in buying goods. -The man who buys wholesale quantities has to pay for the extra trouble -he causes the clerks. - -“_Poco tiempo_,”--wait a little, is the national leveler for all -difficulties and broken contracts. You order a suit of clothes to be -delivered tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes--neither do the clothes, You -get down your dictionary and hunt up all the cuss words you can command, -and hurl them at that tailor, and expect to see him shrivel up before -you. Does he? Not a shrivel! He offers you a cigarette, carefully rolls -one for himself and forces wreaths of smoke through his nostrils, and -turning to you says: “_Poco tiempo_”--what’s your hurry? _Manana_ will -do, tomorrow, tomorrow, _manana_ comes, and also another _poco tiempo_. - -You engage a guide and want to go see a place you have come a thousand -miles to see, and want to start this afternoon. “Well, why not _manana_? -You _Americanos_ do hurry through life so!” He works two days, carving a -wonderful cane he sells for a quarter. His two days _tiempo_ count for -nothing. He lives in yesterday and today, but never in tomorrow. He will -wait for the millennium but will never go to meet it. He will never -hurry from the comforts of today into anxieties of tomorrow. _Manana_, -the panacea for all ills, the _Nirvanah_. - -The language of gesture has a new meaning here. When a person wants you -to approach him, he frantically motions you away. When you see your lady -acquaintance across the street, and she motions with her fingers and -thumb for you to come to her, you must read it backwards because she -does not mean it, she is simply recognizing you. - -When ladies meet and re-enact the great American humbug of miscellaneous -kissing, it is always given and received on the cheek. When two -gentlemen meet, they rush into each others arms and rapidly pat each -other on the back with the right hand, and finally shake hands, and if -they meet each other a dozen times a day, they effusively shake. - -At the railway station, the departing friend embraces, pats, shakes, and -jumps aboard, If the train is delayed, he gets out again and talks until -the conductor cries, “_Vamanos!_” then he goes through the same -performance again with each of his dozen friends, and when half a dozen -lugubrious groups are similarly engaged, the conductor simply waits -until they have finished. - -Indeed, to such an extent does this leave-taking interfere with business -that signs are placed up asking the people not to delay business by -their long salutations. - -At Guanajuato the following sign is tacked up:--“_Se suplica a los -pasajeros eviten las despididas y saludos prolongadosque retarder la -marcha de los carros._” - -In all places the innate politeness and courtesy of the people show a -study for your comfort. In walking, your Mexican friend insists that you -walk on the inside next the wall, while he walks next the street. In -accepting an invitation for a carriage drive, you must enter first and -accept the rear seat; but if a lady invites a gentleman he is not -supposed to accept the rear seat when offered. After the drive your host -will alight first and assist you. In the street car, the gentlemen -always offer their places to ladies, and salute all passengers when -entering and leaving the ear. People have said they also shake hands -with the driver, but I do not believe all I hear. - -When you are introduced to a gentleman, he tells you his house and all -his belongings are yours, giving you the street and number, and says: -“Now you know where your house is.” If you admire his horse or his -paintings or his wife, he says: “Take them, they are yours.” To be sure -you are not expected to take him too literally, but it shows that the -French are not the only people who claim politeness as a national trait. - -If you are invited to his house for refreshments, you are to precede -your host on entering, but he will precede to the door when you signify -your readiness to depart. - -The salutation on the street is “_adios_,” the equivalent of the French -_adieu_, but “_buenos dias_,” “_buenos tardes_,” and “_buenos noches_” -are also used for good morning, etc., and are always used in the plural. -Why, the deponent sayeth not. One of the adjuncts of an introduction, is -for the native to offer his cigarette case; and to refuse the invitation -to smoke, is to also refuse the introduction, and this little custom -nearly brought trouble upon the writer’s head. His early education had -been sadly neglected, and the manly art of smoking had never been taught -him, so he was forced to practice deception on his kind friends to keep -the peace. The deadly cigarette is rolled in the thin innershuck of the -Indian corn, and holds its shape whether filled or not, so I filled my -pocket with empty cases. When my new-made friend asked that I smoke -with him the pipe of peace, I replied cordially, “_Sí Señor_,” and took -the proffered cigarette, and with the same hand felt in my pocket for a -match and exchanged the loaded cigarette for a harmless one, and, -presto! I am in good form and all goes merry as a marriage bell. He -tells me his house, his sisters and all he has are mine for ever, and I -quietly add another item to my million dollar possessions. In one summer -I have acquired more wealth and real estate and beautiful maidens by -actual gift, than Jay G. and Brigham Y. acquired in a lifetime. - -Already I have become a bloated aristocrat, and daily receive and give -away haciendas that cover nine square leagues of land. - -The custom-house officials already have their eye on me, and are even -now figuring on the dividends they will declare when I attempt to leave -the country, but every bitter has its antidote, so I am congratulating -myself on the change of dates. A few years ago I was in this country -when each state collected its customs’ duties from every other state, -and that sometimes meant two or three inspections daily. Now things have -changed and they inspect only on the border, so I shall have fewer -bribes to offer the officials from my newly-acquired millions. - -This people’s generosity runs them into bankruptcy. Once a kind friend -introduced himself to me, said he always did like my country and people, -said he had a beautiful sister named Inez and she was mine. “Take her, -señor, she is yours,” also a whole block of buildings. I thanked him -profusely and began to take stock of my new possessions, when he said -in excellent English, “Have you a loose quarter about your clothes you -could lend me to buy a supper?” We had reached a part of the street -where there was no light when he made his modest request, and he had his -hand on a very persuasive looking knife. I had my eye on him and my hand -on a good revolver, so in very choice Texas language I told him I had -the drop on him. - -After reflecting that he had nearly impoverished himself by enriching me -with all his possessions, I took pity on him and gave him a pewter -quarter that some of my dear friends had passed on me that very morning. -Instinctively his native politeness came to the front, and with hat in -hand he _kotowed_, and in the softest of Spanish he thanked me a -thousand and one times, and incidentally let the quarter fall to the -pavement to catch the ring of it. Proving counterfeit money here is a -regular trade which they all learn. - -Hereafter I shall positively refuse all gifts, because I am going to -call upon the president, and when I admire the national palace he will -of course say: “Take it, it is yours,” and it will appear ungrateful in -me to refuse it and mean in me to accept it, because all new presidents -have to start a revolution; and then he might not appreciate my motives, -and sometimes they do not understand American jokes till a week after -their perpetration. This is due to British influence at the embassy. - -In the Capital I went once to a hotel, and before the carriage could -stop, three flunkies fell over themselves grabbing for my baggage, they -were so glad to see me. One got an umbrella, one a camera and one a -valise, and ran up stairs to my room to welcome me, and this welcome -only cost me twenty-five cents. - -The proprietor wrung my hands and then wrung his own, and then spreading -them out with a magnanimous gesture said: “This hotel is yours señor, -and all my servants; just make yourself at home.” I blushed profusely -and told him I certainly appreciated a four-story stone front on San -Francisco Street, and I would remember him in my prayers. - -After a week of his hospitality, when I offered to treat him to a cigar, -he incidentally mentioned that I owed him sixteen _reals_ for each day -of my pleasant sojourn. I asked him what for. “Your room, señor.” I told -him very forcibly that he told me to make myself at home. “So I did,” -said he. “But I never pay board at home,” said I, but the point was lost -on him. He was wearing a British hat, impervious to jokes. Next summer -he will ask me what I meant. - -This is the second time I have got into trouble by accepting largesse, -and for the first time I understand what the old Trojans meant when they -said: “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” - -Hereafter, I shall positively refuse all gifts, and sell off about -twenty hotels and villas and haciendas which I have accumulated beyond -my needs. That much wealth actually interferes with a man’s rest and the -color of his hair. - -While in this state of mind and also in San Luis Potosi, I will -discourse on the Bill of Fare. I know a Boston friend who would have -said William of Fare, but I never could talk Bostonese, and just plain -bill of fare will do me, when I am traveling. The Texas lingo just says -“Hash.” - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE BILL OF FARE. - - -If Cicero was right in his _De Senectute_ that old age can be enjoyed -only by those who in youth preserve their vigor, then the blessings of -Nirvanah are the rightful inheritance of Mexico, and she will never lose -that inheritance if bustle and hurry will forfeit it. - -The hotels are run to suit the guests. When you arrive, you register, -and when you next enter the corridor, you see upon the large blackboard -your name, room, title, residence, destination, past history and future -prospects and whatever else that will be of interest to the public. Now -all of that is a labor-saving machine, and saves nerve tissue and wear -and tear. - -When the newspaper reporter wants news, he steps into the hotel -corridor, and the proprietor silently points to the blackboard and goes -to sleep again. The reporter reads the bulletin board and goes off and -writes a two-column “interview” upon what Mr. A. thinks of Mexico, and -you are saved all unnecessary prevaricating. The system is also very -helpful to the police in search of lost friends for whom they have -formed strong attachments, and for the custom house officials who have -word that you passed a certain station and will bear watching. The -bulletin board is a very diverting study in black and white for ordinary -people, who look for the names of chance friends whom they do not -expect, but who might be there. And the porters and curio vendors scan -the list and patiently await your arrival on the street and tell you all -about yourself. It is a regular bunco steer, but he is different from -the genuine article. The g. a. will enveigle you somewhere and beat you -on the sly. The Mexican artist stops in the broad sunlight, right in -front of your hotel and beats you to your teeth. - -He will sell you curios three hundred years old that he made last month, -and has been waiting every day since for a person of just about your -state of greenness and inexperience to sell to. As soon as he fleeces -you, he kindly offers to find other rare bric-a-brac for you that he -does not deal in, and will take you to his pal who is working other -pastures. After you return to your friends and proudly show your -acquisitions, some one who knows, will solemnly diagnose your head for -phrenological knowledge. When he has diagnosed to his satisfaction, he -will painfully tell you that your bump of Jack-assedness is abnormally -developed. He will advise you to learn that little line of Shakespeare, -or some other authentic writer that says: “I was a stranger and ye took -me in.” - -The hotel Bulletin is a great convenience. When you have found your -room, you take an inventory, which will serve you in every other city. -If you are in the city of Mexico, the inventory includes glass windows -(elsewhere, it will be windows with iron bars) an iron bedstead built -for one--which may or may not be inhabited--an iron washstand with iron -enameled bowl and pitcher, chair, table, half a candle and candlestick. -Kerosene is fifty cents a gallon. The scarcity of wood makes itself felt -everywhere. The table, door and chair are the only things made from that -precious article. Stone floors forever, which may be or may not be -carpeted. The walls are decorated with printed placards giving the price -per day, week, or month, _sin o con comida_--without or with board. - -The marvel of the establishment is the door-key. A man with such a piece -of iron on his person in the States would be arrested for carrying -concealed weapons. It is so heavy they have made arrangements to relieve -the lodger from carrying it. In the corridor is a keyrack with numbers, -and a man stands all day to receive your key when you go out and to -return it to you when you come back. The servant goes to him for it to -clean up the room, and I have never known a lost or misplaced article -under this system. The lock and key are made by hand at the blacksmith -shop, and I think are sold by the pound. They are usually fastened upon -huge rough doors made in the carpenter shop, and put together with -three-inch wrought iron nails, with an inch or more of the point -clinched on the opposite side from which they are driven. Of course -there are neither fireplaces nor stoves in any hotel, but one, in the -whole country. - -The hotels are arranged in quadrangles, with the four sides facing an -open court, redolent with flowery fragrance and fruits and bird music. -Usually a fountain plays in the center, and in fair weather the table is -spread here. Every story has an open veranda which looks upon this -court. In the City of Mexico, the thermometer hesitates between 65 and -75°F, so when the rainy season is not on, meals can be had in the -_patio_ the year around. In the morning you rise at six or ten or any -other hour that suits your fancy. No bells rung, no doors shaken, no -noise made--you are simply let alone, and when you come, no frowns for -your delay. - -You ask when is the breakfast hour. “When the señor wishes.” If you go -to the table at six the servant brings hot coffee and rolls, as though -the whole establishment was wound up to start at that minute. Should you -sit down at half past nine, the Señora would declare by all the saints -as witnesses that you are just in time and she was looking for you at -that moment. You feel that you might be discommoding the establishment, -so you ask for the dinner hour. The answer will be graciously given, -“From twelve to three-thirty we shall be honored to serve you, and if -not at those hours, when the Señor wishes.” Finally you learn that there -is no dinner hour, the bell is never rung, the table is never set, but -whenever you choose to eat, the servants are to serve you. An ordinary -dinner lasts two hours and these meals are what the people live for. The -following, for one day may be termed an average: - - - BILL OF LADING. - - - BREAKFAST. - -Coffee, Bread, Cookies. - - - DINNER. - -1 Soup. -2 Rice, Radishes. -3 Eggs. -4 Beef, Corn, Snap-beans, Cabbage, Parsnips, Gambane. -5 Steak, Potatoes. -6 Sausage, Chili. -7 Brains. -8 Frijoles. (black beans). -9 Coffee, Fruits, Wine, Cigars. - * * * * * * * - - - SUPPER. - -1 Soup, Vermicelli. -2 Mutton, Potatoes, Chili. -3 Mutton Chops, Potatoes, Calabashes. -4 Chicken with Salad, Stewed Bananas, Frogs. -5 Frijoles. -6 Preserves, Fruits, Wines, Cigars. - * * * * * * * - -The stars stand for certain dishes that only Mexicans call for and their -name and flavor would never be known to a foreigner. The coffee is grown -in the state of Vera Cruz and is excellent, and is made strong and -thick. The usual method of serving is to half-fill your cup, and add an -equal quantity of milk. It is sweetened with little cubes of white -sugar, or the native brown article, called pilonces. - -The bread used for breakfast is a species of cooky that represents the -baker’s highest art. Nothing approaching it have I found elsewhere. -_Prosquitos de la manteca_ it is called, and is made into rings, loops -and bows. It is brittle, crisp and sweetened, but not so much as a -doughnut. Another kind is prepared in spherical segments and crescents, -and is built of numbers of exceedingly thin layers of dough with fruit -between, and so frail, that when once broken it falls to pieces in -crisp fragments like Prince Rupert’s Drops, the glass phenomena the -teacher in Physics used to astound us with. How they can give it the -tension to fly to pieces was one of the things that a layman in the -cooking art does not imbibe freely. This fabric is very appropriately -called pastel. The distinctive feature of the meal is, they give you -only one thing at a time in the order I have numbered them, and they -come in serials as unchanging as the seasons. - -After a few meals you become quite expert in guessing what will come -next. - -If there are ten plates stacked by you, you know there will be ten -courses of one dish each. You have already learned that soup, rice and -eggs are the first three, and the next to the last is always beans with -coffee closing, so you have only five to guess. _Mirabile dictu_, the -national dish and universal dessert is beans, just ordinary beans, but -the people don’t know enough to say ‘beans,’ they spell it _frijoles_ -and pronounce it free-hole-ahs. You will notice that they spell better -than they pronounce. As a labor of pure love and charity to my fellow -countrymen of Boston, I say to them, beware! Your prestige is in danger. -As a race of bean-eaters, the Mexicans have about three hundred years -the start of you and they have about nine different varieties to -practice on, and a different aroma of garlic to fit each one. Besides -all that they eat beans. There are thirty-five tribes of Indians in -Mexico, speaking one hundred and fifty languages and dialects, but they -are all united on _frijoles_, and they have entered the contest to beat -Boston or eat up all the beans. - -The national dish is a trinity, composed of _frijoles_, _tortillas_ and -_chili_. The tortilla is of common stock but aristocratic in -association. You sit at the table as a foreigner, and baker’s bread will -be set before you, and the Mexican at your left will be the governor of -the state and the waiter brings him a stack of _tortillas_. - -The _tortillas_ reduced to United States’ talk is just corn batter -cakes. The architectural plan of their building is simple. The corn is -put in lime water over night to soak and soften, and the next morning is -put on a hot stone, and the women take another stone and pound it into -meal; then they take water and make it up into cakes and half cook on a -stone and stack them. No salt or grease or any thing but water is put -with it. They look like circles of brown sole-leather and, when about -three days old are about as tough and tasteless. This is the bread of -Mexico, the staff of life. The approved method of eating it, is to -spread it out, put on a spoonful of _frijoles_ and roll it into a -cylinder, then eat it as though it were a banana. - -_Chili_ is the third member of the trinity and is everything else but -chilly--it is hot. It includes every kind of green, red and yellow -pepper, and is cooked with nearly every article of food, and is cooked -by itself and is eaten raw, but is hot always. The natives eat so much -_chili_ that it acts as an antiseptic, and I was told by a man who ought -to know that in the Mexican war soldiers left on the field lay dead for -weeks and could not decay but dried up. That is true now, but it is not -_chili_ but altitude that prevents dissolution. Fresh meat cannot spoil -nor can vegetables rot. I can stand _chili_ in broken doses, but when -they gave me a big green pepper as large as an apple and stuffed with -stuffing and dressed with dressing and swimming in an innocent looking -sauce and disguised with a name I never heard of before, do you blame me -if I thought I had struck a new tropical fruit and cut a respectable -quarter of it off and made its acquaintance? Did I raise a howl? Ask of -the winds that far around with fragments strewed the sea. - -If ever I catch that girl outside of the state of Vera Cruz I shall -teach her a lesson. Her name was Guadalupe, but she lacks much of being -a model follower of the good saint by that name. She gave me green -gourds stewed with water cress or some other green thing I never heard -of and called it _calabash_, and I knew no better. Then she gave me -cabbage boiled with bananas and bread fruit, and said that was all the -style in Vera Cruz, and finally she invented this other villainy. She -thinks I am not accustomed to fine living, but I hope yet to have my -revenge. If she crosses the river into Texas, I mean to get her into a -railroad eating-house there and compel her to eat some of those -terracotta images they sell for ham sandwiches, and when lock-jaw sets -in, she will have to keep her mouth shut as long as I had to keep mine -open with that loaded green pepper. - -When these people get hold of any meat, they roll it up in the tortilla -and call it enchilada. They cook light bread after the pattern of a -naval torpedo. The loaf is about the size of a Mason’s fruit jar, -pointed at both ends like a torpedo, and baked to a crust half an inch -thick. Such a loaf would do you bodily injury in the hands of your -enemy. I saw so many curious things brought from the invisible -work-shop. I found my way back there and told the cook I was in pursuit -of knowledge and wanted to see, and _veni vidi_--I learned. No stove, -not an iron or tin or metal vessel of any kind was visible in the land -without chimneys. - -A wall of earth and masonry is built up, waist high, like a blacksmith’s -forge. All around this are port-holes in which the charcoal fire is -made, and all over the top of the forge are holes for the cooking -vessels, which are made of unglazed earthenware, and this is all. The -charcoal makes no smoke, so there is no need of chimneys. Necessity is -the mother and grandmother of invention, and these people have jogged -along five hundred years without iron vessels, and they cook about as -well as some folks I know. - -The servants are models of their kind. With their sandaled feet they -glide about without noise and do their work without murmur. You leave -your soiled linen in their charge and find it on your bed as white as -snow. They receive your gratuity with a thousand thanks and profound -obeisance, stumble over their own feet to do you some unnecessary -service, and as soon as off duty they offer to guide you about the city. -They are rarely off duty until they have put in sixteen hours of hard -work, then the blanket and stone floor make the only parenthesis between -his day’s grind and tomorrow. The serving class is more servile than can -be found anywhere. They take more abuse and less wages. Five dollars a -month, Mexican money, is high water mark for female servants, and that -reduced to American money means forty dollars a year. When spoken to by -a superior, they must always answer in a deprecating manner as: “Ever at -your service;” “Yours to obey;” “At your command,” etc. - -All pretentious houses and hotels are built in quadrangles, with a -carriage driveway entering a huge gate to the open court. At night this -is closed by a pair of tall gates or doors twelve or fifteen feet high, -like those in front of our fire companies, and a servant must lie there -all night to answer a summons or to admit a belated lodger. Without -changing the clothes he has worn all day, he lies on the soft side of a -stone pavement night after night with his zerape or a piece of straw -matting under him, and a stone for a pillow. In the interior, women -servants often lie on the floor in hallways, in order to be handy should -a guest need light or water during the night, or to admit lodgers to -upper floors after closing time, and they also sleep in the clothes they -wear during the day. - -Travelers on the ocean either lose or gain a day in crossing the line, -depending upon which direction they are going, and in Mexico you either -lose a meal or gain a surplus name for one you did not get. - -The morning lunch of bread and coffee is called _deseyuno_. The -breakfast proper, from twelve to three, is _almuerzo_. From four to -eight is the principal meal called _comida_, dinner, or _cena_, supper, -whichever you choose to call it. I tried faithfully to keep up with them -all, but I always felt that I had lost something in keeping tally on -four meals and only remembered eating three. I believe there is a trick -in it. - -Salt meats are never seen except in American restaurants, and they sell -at fifty cents a pound. Pork is always dressed by skinning the animal -and not by scraping. No person needs to go to market. Everything is -brought to your door by peddlers. The table is usually set in the court -among the flowers, and it is a very common occurrence for peddlers to go -to the head of the table with a basket of fruit and dicker bargains with -the hostess during the meal. This method makes the meat supply very -precarious except on Monday. After the bull-fights Sunday afternoon, all -the slaughtered bulls are sold to the market. - -On Monday when the proprietor asks me how I liked my steak, I always -feel like giving him some American slang and saying, “It was bully.” The -fruits are the very best, and as the season is perpetual, you can secure -them fresh every day, such as strawberries, bananas, pine apples, -mangos, figs, limes and agua cates or bread fruit. The lime is larger -than the orange, but not so sweet and is used in the place of lemons. It -is at the market place where you see the fruits in all their profusion, -and are tempted to eat your dinner under the unusual surroundings. - -Here you eat by faith, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence -of things not seen. I hope no one will accuse me of irreverence for -using these words, but they just suit me in this particular. - -A suitable motto for the general market eating houses ought to be tacked -over the entrance, and, with suitable apologies to Mr. Dante’s Inferno, -that motto ought to read: “Who enters here leaves Soap behind.” The -cooking is done while you wait, and chief among the things you eat by -faith is the hot tamale--twice hot, once by pepper and once by steam. -The vendor has a large tinned bucket enclosed by a blanket to hold the -steam, and the whole contained in a willow basket. If your faith is -sufficient, you call for a dozen tamales and the vendor fishes from its -steaming, greasy depths, an article wrapped in sections of corn shucks. -On dissecting the article you find about equal parts of corn meal, chili -and bits of meat. And the meat! Aye, there’s the rub! If we only knew. -There are tamales and tamales. All kinds and conditions of meat are said -to find a last resting place in the tamale. Carlyle calls the process -_Sartor Resartus_, or the tailor made over; the great American faith -article of the same vintage is plain “hash.” - -Beef, pork, chicken, frogs and _armadillos_ are all known to the trade, -and dark hints or _innuendoes_ to that effect, say that the fat prairie -dogs and the Chilhuahua pups make prime tamales. The prairie dog is -always fat. The Chilhuahua pup is only a vest-pocket edition of dog that -weighs about two pounds, and the other genus or species of Mexican dog -that I know has a blue skin and no hair except on the end of his tail. -The ordinary tamale is anonymous, and it is well, for, like the boarding -house hash, it is better _in cog_. - -The tunas from the prickly pear and the algæ from the canals and -irrigating ditches also enter into the bill of fare. With conscious -pride in my ability to grapple with the unknown, I made a foolish boast -that there was nothing in the Mexican market that my stomach had bolted -at, although my taste and my stomach had some pretty lively debates -concerning the editorial fitness and filthiness of certain things. - -But in an evil hour I boasted. I believe the good book says pride goeth -before a fall. I was proud. I had bearded the Mexican lion in his den -and had eaten through the lines. I had met the enemy and “they were -our’n,” and I boasted of my cast-iron stomach. - -My friend said: “Have you eaten any _Gusanas de la Maguey_? No? Well, -come with me.” Now gentle reader, “If you have tears prepare to shed -them now.” You have seen a tomato-worm. Well! the word _gusana_ means -worm, and this particular _gusana_ is built on the order of a tomato -worm, but he lives in better pasture on the maguey plant, and grows a -little larger and a little fatter than your middle finger, or say the -size of a cannon fire-cracker. - -As we approached the market my knees got weak. I had had my pride, and -was now going for my f--_gusanas_. - -I felt that a volcanic eruption was about to take place in my immediate -neighborhood, and remarked that nature was very kind to these people. My -friend neither stopped nor made a shadow of turning, but marched -straight to a sorcerer he knew and said, “Señora, my friend is anxious -for some _gusanas de la maguey_ at my expense.” - -She slowly fished up a dozen stewed, and I fainted! - -RIGHT -(_Curtain._) - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -IN THE VALLEY OF THE LAJA. - - -Beyond San Luis we come to Villa Reyes with the immense Hacienda of -Jaral, which at one time controlled 20,000 peon laborers, and during the -Revolution of 1810, furnished a full regiment of cavalry to the Viceroy -to fight the patriots. Beyond is the town of Dolores Hidalgo, “The -Sorrowful Hidalgo,” where was born Hidalgo, the George Washington of -Mexican Independence. Sept. 15, 1810, he set the watchfires burning -which dimmed not till Spanish misrule was ended in 1820. Still nearby, -is the city of San Miguel De Allende, also named for Allende, another -patriot priest who, like Hidalgo, suffered martyrdom for Mexican -liberty. - -Here are the famous baths, with the water gushing from the mountain -side, through the baths to the evergreen gardens and fruits and flowers -in the valley. This city is situated on the enchanted Cerro de -Moctezuma, and overlooks the beautiful valley of the Laja (Lah-hah.) The -Hotel Allende was once the palatial home of a wealthy and pious man, -Señor Don Manuel Tomas de la Canal and his wife who donated the chapel -of the Casa de Loreto. Here is a beautiful Gothic church, the only one -in Mexico, and was the work of a native architect who drew his plans -with a stick in the sand, and this was the only guide his workmen had. A -dozen miles from San Miguel is the town of Atontonilto, famous as the -place where Allende and Hidalgo started with the Banner of the Virgin of -Guadalupe, and marched with it to San Miguel and opened the Revolution. -Here we leave the plain and enter the Vale of Laja, 250 miles north of -the city of Mexico. Before us is a frowning gateway of solid rock, but -following the shimmering little river, the beautiful valley breaks upon -the view like a panorama. Everywhere is the pepper tree, loaded to the -tips with the beautiful berries that look so much like our cherries. -Dame Nature here is at her best. Bananas, oranges, lemons and -pomegranates everywhere shade the peaceful homes whose acres in the rear -are covered with maize and pepper and fruits and flowers. - -The people of Mexico do not live in the country, but in cities, towns -and hamlets, and prefer to thus live and travel long distances to their -work. In the Vale of Laja, it is one continual series of hamlets, where -the canon has widened into a beautiful valley whose season is perpetual -summer. Whatever grows elsewhere, grows here. Up the rocky slopes where -cultivation is impossible, the rich lava soil still supports countless -thousands of maguey and cactus plants that produce food and fuel, drink -and clothing. The bushels of succulent _tunas_ that a single cactus -bears, will feed a family for weeks, and the only labor required is the -picking. A stalk of _maguey_ will furnish in its undeveloped bud an -excellent substitute for cabbage. The unfermented sap is the _agua -miel_, or honey water of commerce. When fermented, a single stalk will -furnish for months a gallon a day of pulque. - -Its broad leaves, which are eight feet long, furnish a thatch for the -house, and when dried, an excellent fuel. It is here the natives laze -their time away from sheer ennui. It is in this valley the railroad -contractors never go to hunt laborers. A Mexican works when he is -hungry, and why should he be hungry in this valley where his rations may -be had for the picking? And what would he do with money? The saloon has -no charms where every man is his own distiller, and the law gives no -occasion for “moonshine” and “blind tiger.” So it is the poor plains’ -people who grade the road and drive the spikes, and even here the -railroad people experience difficulties. The native has an inseparable -attachment for his humble home, and will not under any circumstance -follow a construction gang far. When the construction train has passed -his home two or three miles, he finds it too far to return home at -night, and the next day he bolts for home, and the company has to hire -new laborers in the neighborhood; but when the work gets too far to walk -home, they throw up their jobs also. If a few are influenced to remain, -the whole family joins the procession, and move their temporary -residence each day. The same is true of the army. When on the march it -rarely has to supply a commissary, as each soldier’s wife follows the -march and cooks for him. In the midst of each hamlet in this valley is -to be seen the ever-present bell tower, and, clustered among the orange -trees, the little chapel. The native may have no other resting place -but mother earth, but his last penny will go to build his church. - -While drinking in the beauties of the valley, we suddenly turn into the -equally beautiful city of Celaya, in the state of Guanajuata. - -In 1570, sixteen married men and seventeen bachelors founded the town, -and it increased so in population, that in 1655, by a decree of Philip -IV, of Spain, it was made a city, but it was three years afterwards that -the inhabitants found it out. For beauty and importance of location, -Celaya has no peer. Here is a junction of the two most important -railroads, the Central and National, which offer transportation in every -direction for the product of its woolen mills and the extensive -haciendas throughout the valley. - -This is a great market for opals. As a precious stone, the opal ranks -high, but on account of its reputed bad luck, there are people who would -not wear one as a gift. Those of Hungary and Australia are harder than -these, but the fiery, prismatic glint of the opals of Celaya surpasses -any in the old country. I have heard of a fourteen carat opal in Hungary -that could not be bought for five thousand dollars. In Celaya they are -of all grades and all prices, but the most remarkable thing about them -is, in Celaya everybody offers them for sale. It does not matter when -the train arrives, in the grey of morning or the dead of night, the -ragged vendors are always on hand. As the train pulls into the station, -a hundred hands will be thrust through the fence pickets, and in each -hand, on a piece of black cloth, lie the beautiful gems, sparkling in -the artificial light. - -“All _Americanos_ are rich,” is a saying of these people, as honestly -believed as the catechism, and all prices are made on that basis. If -your early education has been neglected in the line of precious stones, -you will do well to let these pirates pass, for they are Shylocks all, -these black-eyed natives. - -One will look you in the eye, cross himself and swear by all the saints -that fifty dollars or nothing will move his opal. - -If you know your business and the price of opals, you have the money in -your hand, and as the train starts, hold the silver temptingly before -his eyes, and rare is the case when this will not “fetch” him. - -An opal may be precious, but to a hungry man, silver is more precious. -And that little trick is good for other trades as well as opals. - -Anxiety or interest on your part is as fatal as greenness in trading -with these sharpers. Utter contempt and unconcern on your part, throws -the burden of concern upon him, and he soon begins to make concessions -by asking how much will you give. However much you may want a thing, you -must impress him that it is purely a matter of sympathy for his poverty -that you buy. You may slyly hear him set the price to one of his -countrymen, and when you come up and ask the price, without turning a -hair, he will multiply it by two. - -The city of Celaya has much of interest in the church line; which is the -base of all greatness in this priest-ridden land. These are said to be -the prettiest churches in Mexico. The one of Our Lady of Carmen contains -the chapel of the Last Judgment and the most beautiful paintings and -frescoes. San Francisco, San Augustin, Tercer Orden are all hung with -paintings of the Michael Angelo of Mexico, Eduardo Tresguerres, painter, -architect and sculptor, a native of Celaya. - -The public buildings are worth seeing and the baths are delightful. I -have never heard this town spoken of in connection with beautiful women, -but the most beautiful madonna face I have seen outside a picture frame, -I saw here at the railroad station, and the artist who would paint a -picture of beauty should seek this Celayan Helen, and yet from her -apparel, she was of humble family, but so was Cinderella. - -This city is especially noted for its dulcies, or sweetmeats, and here -are made the best in Mexico. To be in good form of course you must eat -some Celayan dulcies; and having satisfied your conscience, we pass into -the Vale of Solis. - -No serpent ever made a more tortuous track than did our train, trying to -leave that valley through the canon cut by the fretful little river in -ages past. Up the perpendicular cliffs which would shame Niagara, we -find a trail blasted from the granite sides just wide enough to admit -the track. Under a beetling cliff we pass El Salto de Medina, or -Medina’s Leap. So goes the story: Juan Medina was a famous bandit when -those gentlemen of the road carried the riches and cares of the country -upon their shoulders, and most generously relieved the good people of -all trouble in looking after their wealth. Spanish history does not -mention that they ever received a vote of thanks for the self imposed -duties, but such is the nature of this sordid world. But one day a -committee did call upon the bandit on some very pressing business when -he was not receiving guests. Perhaps the committee had forgotten his -“day at home.” The intrusion so disturbed the bandit that he started -away on the pony express, and the committee actually began shooting at -him, and, seeing no other escape from his friends, he spurred his horse -over the chasm and was dashed to atoms. I did not see the atoms, but I -saw the cliff three or four hundred feet high, and if you believe the -first part of the story, the atomic theory was easy. - -Not a shrub is visible to mar the vision of this huge pile of granite -reaching a thousand feet in the air. Creeping along its side we enter -the Lopilote Canon, almost as dark as a tunnel. There must be something -in a name. Lopilote means buzzard, and I suppose it is called Lopilote -canon because the buzzards have no where else to roost but on the edge -of the canon, as there is not a bush visible. It reminds me of the man -who had a horse that was named Napoleon, all on account of the bony -part. On the rear platform is the place to stand. This is a narrow-gauge -road, and only has room for the cars with no margin for landscape. -Standing on the steps you can easily touch the rock wall on one side -with your hand, while on the other you may hear the splash of the -imprisoned waters over a sheer fall of many hundreds of feet, but -nothing can be seen. The engineer can see only one coach behind his -engine as he makes his famous curve of 35 degrees, the shortest on any -road in America. Up and straight ahead, where the eye can see only -granite walls with peaks bathed in clouds, and no visible means of -passage, but at last light breaks through the top, and the devil’s hole -is passed. - -What a sigh of relief it is to be over with the nervous strain. What if -a wheel had slipped or an axle broken, or a stray rock had fallen upon -that ten foot trail? There was hardly a chance in a million for a life -to have been saved. It recalled the dilemma of a negro who was asked his -preference of travel, by rail or steamboat. He unhesitatingly chose the -railroad with this argument: “Ef the train runs off the track, dar yo -is. Ef the steamboat sinks, whar is you?” He had never traveled the -Lopilote Canon when he made the remark, or he would have chosen to walk. - -Once out of the Sierra Madre Mountains, we are again in the beautiful -Vale of Lerma. The river Lerma is the longest in Mexico, seven hundred -miles, and changes its name to Rio Grande de Santiago before it empties -into the Pacific. We cross the river at the beautiful city of Acambaro, -in the state of Guanajuata, where a branch road leads to Morelos and -Patzcuaro, the beautiful lake region. Here is a quaint old arched -bridge, built in 1513. Here were headquarters for the Army of -Independence, under Hidalgo in 1810, and Gen. Scott’s army crossed this -bridge on the march to the city of Mexico. This is called the most -self-satisfying city in Mexico, and lies hidden among the trees a half -mile from the station. The lover of the quaint and curious should by all -means see this old town of ten thousand inhabitants, whose only -diversion is to go down and see the train come in. Its quietness is -oppressive, and the town seems to be under a spell like the enchanted -city in the Arabian Nights. - -The fine music by the female orchestra is one of the attractions. In the -foreground is the river Lerma, in the background the trees ever green -and the mountains ever blue, and peeping up here and there the towers of -old churches, which altogether make an enchanted scene worth your -journey to see. - -It was many centuries ago that the Tarascan and Otomite Indians built -this town, and in 1526 Don Nicholas Montanes marched his Spanish troops -through the quiet town and laid the foundation of the Catholic church we -see in all its glory today. The hand of the vandal has not yet laid hold -of Acambaro with its modern innovations and church repairs according to -_fin du siecle_ notions of architecture, so the town really looks the -age it claims, and the descendants of these same Indians live in the -identical houses their ancestors built. - -In the Calle de Amargura are fourteen little chapels commemorating the -stations of the cross, ending in the Soledad on the hill. The church of -San Francisco and the deserted convent have their especial charms. -Acambaro is in the state of Guanajuata (_wan-a-water_), but in the See -of Michoacan. While sitting in the beautiful plaza whose immense trees -reach to the caves of the old convent towers, you see a carriage -approaching drawn by two white mules. As it draws near the crowd, a -tall, fine-looking man in long black robe appears and holds his hands -above his head. Instanter, every person in sight of that carriage falls -to his knees or upon his face, and remains until the hands of the -mysterious stranger are lowered. It is the Bishop of Michoacan on the -way to his palace in Morelia, and he stopped to bless the people. Slowly -and reverently the worshipers rise from their groveling in the dust, -with a radiance upon their dusky faces as though the Son of God had just -passed by. This is the class of people that keep Mexico living back in -the seventeenth century. - -Still down the Lerma from Acambaro is the Hacienda de Robles extending -thirty-three _kilometers_ on each side of the river, and which furnishes -hundreds of peons, and still further is the city of Irapuata, the -perpetual home of the strawberry. For three hundred and sixty-five days -in the year no train has ever passed Irapuata without strawberries being -offered for sale, for in this rich valley it is perpetual seedtime and -harvest. The whole year is springtime, and the energies of all the -people are devoted to strawberries. It was Sydney Smith who said: -“Doubtless God Almighty could have made a better berry than the -strawberry, but God Almighty has never done so.” The _fresas_ are all -offered in a basket holding from one pint to three quarts, and are -arranged with great care, so that the large ones shall all be on top. If -you know your business you do not buy till the train is pulling out, and -then a silver dime gets _fresas_, basket and all. When you consider that -a Mexican dime is worth five and a half cents in Uncle Sam’s money, you -can figure out the cost at leisure. The basket would sell at fifteen -cents in the States, and the bottom does not punch up to the middle -either. When I look at my pile of empty baskets, I wonder if I cheated -the little pirates, but I get my balm in knowing that hundreds of people -pay them the thirty or forty cents they first ask for them, which will -enable them to strike a balance sheet. I know strawberries are -perishable, and a twenty-five cent basket today will not be worth a dime -by the next train time, which is next day, so I offer him the price a -day in advance, which he would have to take tomorrow. He knows that I am -“onto his curves,” as the baseball boys say, so we get along finely and -always trade as the train begins to move and he realizes that it is now -or never. - -From the river and from wells dug in the valley irrigation makes this -unusual fertility possible, and the old-time well-sweep is everywhere, -with its long see-saw pole with a weight at one end and a bucket tied to -the other. A ride of a mile on the horse-car is worth while. You will -see what you see in almost every Mexican town, not a shade tree on the -streets, and the brown, flat-roofed adobe houses without windows are -anything but inviting. Of course there are fine churches, what town has -not its Carmen and Merced and San Francisco? And of course its plaza and -band-stand, and Sundays and every alternate evening in the week the -government furnishes its citizens with music. - -Irapuato is an important junction for trains going to the Pacific Coast, -and is in the midst of a fertile valley that needs no Nile to enrich it, -no augurs to propitiate the God of the harvest, no winter, no summer, -this is Utopia. - -Leaving Irapuato and Acambaro behind, we still follow the Lerma towards -its source. We pass thousands and thousands of peons with their oxen -plowing with a sharp stick, or treading out the grain on the harvest -floor just as they did in Egypt three thousand years ago. Fat cattle and -water-fowl and farms and landscape and shifting panorama give us an -uncanny feeling that the thing is not real, that such a beautiful -country is seen only in pictures, that some hallucination has taken hold -upon us, so swiftly and charmingly do they change in their beauty. Were -all of Mexico like the Vale of Lerma, it would be the fairest spot on -earth. And then comes the sickening thought that the whole seven hundred -miles of this paradise is in the possession of two or three dozen land -owners that nothing on earth could prevail upon to sell to the small -farmer. These land owners live either in Paris or Madrid, and support -palaces in the old world from blood money of these debtridden Mexicans. -More than that, they have had laws enacted to restrain their descendants -from parting with the land, the rightful inheritance of the Indians who -till it on sufferance, and are thus made aliens in the land of their -birth. - -In the distance is the fountain head of Rio Lerma, and now we see the -snow cap of the Volcan de Toluca, and at its base the beautiful city of -Toluca, the capital of the state of Mexico. Here within three hours of -the city of Mexico, are two of the grandest natural wonders on earth, -the precipice of Ocoyocac and El Volcan de Toluca. This city of twenty -thousand inhabitants was built in 1533, and is upon the dividing line of -the tropical country of _tierra caliente_ and the mountainous _tierra -templada_, so absolutely everything you have ever seen growing, will -grow here. Its altitude is sufficient for wheat which grows in British -America, and the warm winds from the Pacific make an eternal tropical -summer for everything else. The buildings in the city are superior to -most you have seen. The market-house with its pillars painted in -Pompeiian colors is the finest in Mexico, and was once an exposition -building. At the station vendors will offer you fruits and basket at -such a price you wonder if they were stolen. Here too is a great market -for baskets and bird cages, and the baskets are so closely woven they -will hold water. - -Here is the _Instituto Liberario_, the Harvard College of Mexico. Here -grows the coral tree, whose graceful stem is six or seven feet high with -pendant palm-shaped foliage, and crowned with vegetable coral of the -deepest red, an exact counterpart of the Mediterranean article. Horse -cars lead to the city along _Calle Independencia_, where stands a statue -to _Hidalgo et Libertador_, and here the wealth of the Republic is -displayed in its public buildings. Around the plaza is that universal -arrangement of huge arches called _portales_ or arcades, which enclose -the sidewalk and support the second story. The average height is twelve -or fifteen feet, and besides being a sidewalk, it is also used for -vendors’ booths. Here are sold lace work and drawn work and feather work -and carved work and onyx and souvenirs of all kinds. - -Here is shown the fine residence of a rich haciendado who was once a -great patron of the bull-ring and furnished many a _toro bravo_ for the -ring, and when the noble animals entered the arena with his colors -dangling from their necks, the very walls shook with the loud huzzas. -Once upon a time a famous bull fought his way back to life. The lances -of the picadores broke and he killed all the horses. The banderilleros -could not place the darts so he could not shake them from his shaggy -neck, and the matadores lost their reputation and were hissed from the -ring, because they could not place the sword. Here the old haciendado -begged the president to not permit him to be lassoed and assassinated, -but to give him his freedom. This was granted, and many years afterward -when he died his skin was stuffed to adorn his master’s banquet hall. - -Behind the city is the volcano, which can be explored in two days. The -height is 16,156 feet and the top is no more than ten feet wide, and the -crater contains a fathomless lake with a whirl-pool in the center. -Standing here amid the eternal snows the earth is spread before you as -is denied in any other part of the world. Three miles up in the air you -stand and in the west you see the Pacific Ocean; across the Sierra -Madres appear the snow-white top of Volcan Popocatapetl (smoking -mountain) 17,685 feet high; Volcan Ixtaccihuatl (white woman) 15,714 -high; Citlatepetl (mount of the star) 17,664 feet high; Nauchampatapetl -(square rock) and Pirote’s Chest, peak answering peak, and still through -the azure vista beyond lie the blue waters of the Mexican Gulf. Toluca -is the fourth highest mountain in Mexico, being overtopped by Orizaba -and the two named above. It is from these eternal reservoirs that the -cities get their supplies of ice, and any day the Indians laden with -their chilly burden descend among the human mozaics to furnish the -American barrooms with their _sine qua non_ at ten cents a pound. - -Of course the usual churches and fine paintings must be seen, so we -visit Tercer Orden, Carmen and Tecajec. And now we prepare to see a -sight that has not a peer on the globe. Two engines are hitched to the -train and we begin to climb the Sierra Madres. We stop at the little -town of Ocoyocac, and in a half hour the train returns on the horse shoe -curve one thousand perpendicular feet above the town. Not a bush nor a -blade of grass interrupts the vision as we nervously look down one-fifth -of a mile upon the toy-looking houses we could drop a stone upon. You -instinctively hold your breath as we creep around this narrow trail -blasted from the solid granite and marvel at the engineering that could -ever dream of such possibilities. Far beyond over the plain of Toluca is -a panorama that will abide with you forever, but which you can never -describe. We soon come to the mills of JaJalpa and pass under the stone -aqueduct more than a hundred feet high which curries the pure mountain -water to the thirsty city below. - -Every city near a mountain gets its water through these massive stone -aqueducts that are built to last a thousand years. Up, up we slowly -climb with our two locomotives until we reach Salazar and take a few -minutes to raise steam for the final climb. At last we stop on the -back-bone of the Sierras, at La Cima, (the summit) twenty-four miles -from the capital, and 11,000 feet above the sea. Herein the Torrid Zone -among the clouds the frost is white upon the rails, and the damp fog -chills you to the marrow. There behind us is a rushing mountain torrent, -the source of the river Lerma, just starting on its seven hundred mile -journey to the Pacific. Here just in front of the locomotive is a -fretful little brook that breaks into a thousand cascades in its journey -to the Mexican Gulf. Forty miles to the south is a scene that defies -description. A hundred miles to the south stand those mighty sentinels -of the beautiful Nahuatl Valley, Popocatapetl and Ixtaccihuatl, in that -clear atmosphere, almost in speaking distance. In the midst of the -valley lie the silver lakes of Texcoco and Xochimilco, large enough to -mirror those lofty sentinels and reflect their perpetual robes of white -to the nymphs and naiads in the azure depths below. - -Could these everlasting hills speak, what a tale they could unfold of -the awful tragedies they have witnessed in this valley; of crimes and -bloodshed and migrations and banishments; of nations who wrought while -Phœnician commerce was young; of cities built and crumbled to dust; of -opulence and power and intrigue! They might tell us who carved the -Calendar Stone, and who evolved its astronomical knowledge, and who -wrote the hieroglyphics of Tula, and in what language are the facade and -tablet inscriptions of Palenque and Uxmal, and, before the Aztecs, -whence came the Toltecs, and Tlascalans, and their forerunners the -Tezcucans, who in turn were driven out by the Acolhuas in the inverse -order by Tepanecs, and Chalcos, and Xochimilcos, and who built the seven -mysterious cities of Cibola, and the pyramid of Bholula, and the mounds -and the pyramids of Tampico, and Panuco and the pyramids to the sun and -moon at Teotihuacan, and why was the stately avenue of pillars left at -ancient Mitla, and why, O Sphinx of the Valley! dost thou not reveal the -secrets of the dead past whose unmultiplied aeons are to thee as but an -open book? But the sphinx answered never a word. My tears and eloquence -turned to thin air in the morning frost, and after waiting a reasonable -time for an answer, I thought of that old tale about Mahomet and the -mountain, and that decided my course. I determined to go find out for -myself, and as the engineer had dropped one engine behind he said if I -was going with him I had better get a move on myself, so I set forth to -solve the mysteries that have baffled the world in the Valley of Mexico. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE VALE OF ANAHUAC. - - -The time is four hundred years ago; the place, the present site of the -City of Mexico. In its stead was Tenochtitlan. In this beautiful valley -were four kingdoms, three aristocratic republics, a number of minor -states and the independent monarchy of Yucatan. Of the four kingdoms in -the valley, the Aztec or Mexican was chief, and dictated terms to the -other three--Colhuacan, Tlascopan and Michoacan. The three republics -were Tlaxcala, Cholula and Huexotzinco, the ancient enemies of the -Aztecs, and with whose combined aid Cortez finally conquered them. - -On the shores of Lake Texcoco, the Athens of Mexico, stand Cortez and -his band of pirates, gazing across the blue waters of the lake towards -an island on its bosom, twenty-five miles away. Upon that island is a -city, Tenochtitlan, the Rome of Mexico, and the capital of the Aztecs, -which the Spaniards called “the most beautiful city on earth.” - -Upon the bosom of that lake float thousands of boats, and connecting the -city to the mainland are two mighty causeways, guarded by drawbridges -and portcullis. According to Spanish authority, within that city were -two thousand temples, one hundred palaces and a thousand sumptuous -dwellings and hanging gardens, aqueducts and irrigating canals, -sculpture and architecture, an elaborate system of religion and -philosophy, a priesthood, a written language by means of ideographic -paintings, artistic jewelers and a hundred other elements of -civilization that have since been swept away by the bigoted Spaniards as -the dewdrops before the _sirocco_. - -Within the great plaza there arose a mighty temple, the teocalli, -erected to the war-god Huitziloptchli. This temple was a truncated -pyramid, whose base was three hundred and eight feet each way, and whose -height was one hundred feet, and was reached by a spiral stairway -passing four times around. Five thousand priests officiated in this -temple, and on its summit was a block of jasper, the sacrificial stone, -which is now in the national museum. Upon this stone were sacrificed -daily, human victims taken in war, and offered to appease the war-god -who had made them successful against their enemies, and twenty thousand -victims a year had their hearts cut out by the priests and laid smoking -on this altar. - -Each morning as the sun rose behind Popocatapetl, the huge drum of -serpent skins resounded, the white-robed priests with their wild -minstrelsy wound slowly round the pyramid in sight of every inhabitant -in the city, and, arriving at the top, turned their faces to the rising -sun, stretched their victims across the convex surface of the -sacrificial stone, tore the palpitating hearts from the writhing bodies, -and, having first offered them to the sun, laid them smoking upon the -altar and hurled the bodies down the sides of the pyramid. - -Before the altar in the sanctuary stood the colossal image of -Huitziloptchli, or Mexitle the “left-handed warrior,” the tutelary deity -and war-god of the Aztecs. In his right hand he wielded a bow, and in -his left a bunch of golden arrows to denote their victories. Around his -waist were the huge folds of a serpent, consisting of pearls and -precious stones, and the same ornaments were sprinkled all over his -body. Upon the left foot were the feathers of a humming bird whose name -the dread deity bore. Around his neck was suspended a chain of alternate -gold and silver hearts, to denote the sacrifice in which he most -delighted. - -The invisible God, the Cause of Causes, was represented by no image and -was confined by no temple. The adjoining sanctuary was dedicated to a -milder deity who stood next to God. This was Tezcatlipoca, the creator -of the world. His image was represented by a young man, richly garnished -with gold ornaments and holding a shield, burnished like a mirror, and -in it he saw reflected the doings of the world. In a golden platter he -received the bleeding hearts of the sacrifice as his offering. Before -these altars burn perpetual fires, attended by Vestal Virgins who took -their training in the temple, and whose heads were the price of -unchastity. At the birth of a female child, its parents dedicated it to -the service of some divinity, and Tepantlohuatzin, the superior general -of that district, took charge of her education. Two months after birth -she was taken to the temple, and a passion flower, a small censer and a -little incense were placed in her hand as a symbol of her future -occupation. At five years of age she was placed in the seminary to learn -the intricacies of the religion, and those who took the vow had to -sacrifice their hair. - -Boys dedicated to the priesthood were consecrated to Quetzaleoatl, god -of the air. At two years of age, the superior made an incision in the -breast, which was a sign of consecration. If a priest was guilty of -unchastity, he was beaten to death, and his limbs were cut off and -presented to his successor as a warning. - -Thirty miles from the city was Teotihuacan, the hill of the gods, where -stand the pyramid to Tonateuh the sun, and one to Meztle, the moon. Here -kings and priests were elected, ordained and buried, and hither flocked -pilgrims from every direction to consult the oracles, to worship in the -temples of the sun and moon, and to place sacrificial offerings on the -altars of their deities. - -The priests were separated by several hierarchical degrees. The first of -the supreme pontiffs bore the title of Teoteucli “Divine Lord,” and the -next was Hueitcopixqui “High Priest,” and was conferred upon those only -of illustrious birth. These high priests were oracles, and war was never -undertaken without consulting them. Then came the superior-general of -the seminary, the steward of the sanctuary, the hymn-laureate of the -feast, sacrificers, diviners and chanters. - -Four times a day were the priests required to incense the altars, and -burn incense to the sun four times a day and five times at night, The -perfumes were liquid styrax, (_Liquidambar styraciflua_), and copal -resin (_rhus copallina_). The custom of human sacrifice, however, was -not always a trait of the Aztec. According to the picture-writing of the -Aztecs, the race began its existence somewhere in the misty past, but -when and where the deponent sayeth not. It was in 648 A.D., that seven -of the Nahuatl tribes left their fatherland, and the other six tribes -covered the valley with kingdoms, while the Aztecs in the year 1160, -came, in their wanderings, to the shores of the lakes, and stopped at -different places, cultivating the soil and building reed huts, but -having no place to permanently locate their city. In 1216 they reached -Tzompango, (place of bones) which city they afterwards gave the name of -Mexicatl, their war-god, and changed their own name from Aztecs to -Mexicatls. - -Xolotl, king of the Chicimecs, seeing he had nothing to fear from them, -permitted them to sojourn in his territory. Not long afterwards an Aztec -priest carried off a daughter of a Chicimec general, and they were -compelled to leave the country. They fled to the land of the Colhuas, -where now stands the castle of Chapultepec. A few years afterwards the -Colhuas demanded tribute, and, being unable to pay, the Colhuas reduced -them to abject slavery. The Colhuas were soon afterwards conquered by -the Xochimilcos, and in desperation called upon their Aztec slaves for -assistance. Animated with the hope of their own freedom, the Aztecs -completely conquered the Xochimilcos, and celebrated their victory with -human sacrifice. The Colhuas, alarmed at the prowess and future -possibilities of their slaves, gave them their liberty, and bade them -depart from the country. Happy to regain their liberty, they once more -set out and settled near the lakes, Tezcoco, Xochimilco, Chalco, and -Xaltocan, from which they were never to depart. - -Tenoch, their chief, saw a cactus growing upon a rock in an island, and -on the cactus an eagle perched, and holding in his talons a serpent. -Thinking this a propitious sign they immediately founded a city (1325) -and called it Tenochtitlan, “stone and cactus,” and to this day the -emblem and coat of arms of Mexico is the eagle on a cactus and holding a -serpent in his talons. Here they erected a temple to their war god and -went out in search of a victim to sacrifice to offer upon the altar. The -only animal found was a Colhuan Indian, and, recognizing in him only one -of their old oppressors, they tore out his heart and offered it upon the -altar. This led to a war of retaliation and expiation which for two -hundred years stained the new capital with blood. - -Shut in upon the island, and cut off from the mainland by their enemies, -the Aztecs, having no land to cultivate, no textures to make clothing, -went naked and ate fish and aquatic plants. In their extremity they made -rafts and floored them with reeds, and dug up the mud from the lake and -spread it upon the reeds and began the cultivation of flowers and the -necessities of life upon these _chinampas_ or floating gardens, which -are to be seen to this day. Towed by his canoe, the Aztec gardener could -move his farm whenever a quarrelsome neighbor made life a burden. - -That was six hundred years ago, when the Mexican nation was small, but -they soon outgrew the confines of the island, and, driven to -desperation, resolved to conquer the mainland. In 1357 there were -thirty powerful cities in the valley, united by a sort of feudal bond, -each striving to get the mastery, which was finally gained by the -Colhuas. The Mexicans now elected a warrior king, Huitzilihuitl “feather -of the humming bird,” who was unmarried. Being a politician, he went to -Azcapozalco, (now a suburb of the capital) the capital of the Tepanecs, -and asked the king of the Tepanecs for his daughter in marriage, and the -formation of an offensive and defensive alliance. This the Tepanec king -was glad to do, as he knew the fighting quality of the Mexican. No -sooner was this accomplished than the Mexican king went to the principal -chiefs in the valley and married into all their families, and the Aztec -supremacy had its birth. - -Released from the islands, the Mexicans secured cotton cloth for their -naked bodies, and carried on a rapid commerce. In 1427, the Mexicans won -a naval battle over their enemies on lake Chalco, and built the great -causeway across the lake as a military road to Tlacotalpan which exists -today. Then they resolved to conquer the city of Azcapozalco, the -capital of the Tepanecs, and to do so allied themselves with the -Acolhuas in 1428, and in a battle which lasted two days the Mexicans -completely subjugated the Tepanecs, and made them allies, subject to the -order of their masters. - -Itzacoatl “The Great” was king and died in 1440, having served his -country thirty years as a general and thirteen as king. His nephew -Montezuma I. succeeded him. In 1449 the city was swept by a flood, and -he built an immense dike nine miles long to protect the city from the -lake. This dike at the present day is called Albarredo Vieja. He also -had his portrait sculptured on the rocks at Chapultepec. Montezuma I. -was the ablest of the Aztec kings and built and fortified the outposts -of the city and died in 1469 after a reign of twenty years. - -It had become a custom for each king to prove his right to be king by -conquering his enemies and bringing the prisoners home to be sacrificed -at his coronation. This was to make and keep the young men as warriors. -Axayacatl was the sixth king and he immediately set out against the -kingdom of Tehuantepec to capture prisoners for his coronation -sacrifice. He added their territory to his own and returned home laden -with spoil, and had his portrait sculptured on the rock of Chapultepec -by the side of Montezuma I. He died in 1481 and his son Tizoc succeeded. -In his short reign of five years, he conquered fourteen cities and built -more temples in the capital. Ahuitzotl was his successor, and -immediately began work on the great temple begun in previous years. He -began war to get victims for his coronation, which he postponed till the -temple should be completed, which was four years. When the dedication -day arrived, festivities lasted four days, and fifteen thousand -prisoners were sacrificed upon the altar of the war-god. This king -extended the Mexican empire to its present limits and died in 1502. He -was liberal, and when he received tribute from his vassal states, he -called the people together and distributed it among them. To his -soldiers he gave bars of gold and silver, and precious stones. - -His successor was Montezuma II. whom Cortez so foully murdered in later -years. Montezuma was an oriental despot, and he made his capital the -fairest city in the new world. His predecessors had guaranteed the -integrity of their island city by every means in their power. The temple -occupied the great place now covered by the Cathedral and Plaza Mayor. -It was surrounded by a wall of stone and lime, ornamented by figures of -serpents raised in relief which had the name of _cotepantla_, wall of -serpents. This quadrangled wall was pierced with huge battlemented -gateways, opening upon the four principal streets of the city. Over -these gates were arsenals, and within the walls were barracks of -thousands of soldiers. - -Throughout the city were canals by the side of the streets in this new -world Venice, so that canoes from their trading excursions could -traverse any part of the city. Great military causeways led to the -mainland across the lakes, and were guarded by drawbridges, to shut the -enemy out or shut themselves in. The city could not be entered by any -other way than these causeways. The southern one was called Iztapalapan -and was seven miles long. The northern one was Tepejecac, three miles -long, which now leads to Guadalupe. The other two were Tlacopam and -Chapultepec and were each two miles long, They were broad enough to -allow ten men abreast on horseback, and are all in use today. The city -was nine miles in circumference and was guarded at every point. - -No sooner was Montezuma elected, than he waged war upon the Otomites to -get victims for his inaugural, and returned with five thousand prisoners -which were promptly slaughtered to the war-god, and then he became a -very tyrant. He immediately dismissed all ordinary servants, and -compelled six hundred princes of the royal blood in his conquered -provinces to be his servants, and they had to approach him barefooted -and in common apparel. On the streets his subjects must close their eyes -when he passed and not look upon his dazzling greatness. He drank from -gold vessels and no vessel was ever used the second time. Swift runners -by relays, brought him fresh fish and fruits each day from the gulf, a -distance of two hundred miles. A thousand women were in his harem, and -when a favorite prince deserved a favor, he made him a present of one of -his houris. - -Menageries and aviaries, representing all the birds and animals of his -kingdom from New Mexico to Guatemala, were provided for, and fed daily -with the food each was accustomed to. In the midst of his extravagances, -Cortez appeared on the other side of the lake with a hundred and fifty -thousand Indian allies of the valley, who were only too anxious to see -their ancient enemy humbled. - -Montezuma was the only Aztec king who was no soldier. He allowed the -crafty Spaniards to fill his capital, and to buy their departure, filled -their room to the ceiling with gold and silver, which only whetted the -appetites of the treasure-seekers and they asked for more. Montezuma was -treacherously imprisoned and was afterwards murdered by Cortez, then the -Mexicans rose in their might on that terrible July night in 1520 and -drove them from the city, and Guatemotzin was made king. He was a -soldier from the old stock, and had he been king at first, the -Spaniards would never have set foot in Tenochtitlan. He immediately put -the city in defense for the return of the Spaniards. Meanwhile Cortez -built a fleet of boats for the lake and got men and cannon from Cuba, -and spent a year in organizing the disaffected Indians in the valley -against their ancient enemy. - -The next year, in May 1521, he appeared again with Indians from every -nation in the valley, according to the exaggerated Spanish authority, -five hundred and twenty thousand men, and laid siege to the city by land -and by water, for three months, and then occurred a scene that has never -been exceeded in history for bravery. - -The Mexicans were born warriors to a man. The besieging army was armed -with cannon and muskets and sword and horse, and was clad in steel coats -of mail, yet for three months there were daily hand-to-hand combats, -where Mexicans fought with short obsidian knives against the blades of -Toledo. The great city, nine miles in circumference, was filled with -people to the brim, their food supply cut off, the aqueduct which -brought them fresh water from Chapultepec across the lake, destroyed; -forced to drink the brackish salt water from the lake, and to eat the -bark and roots from trees, yet they asked no quarter. Mothers would sit -and see their starved children die at their breasts, and then ravenously -devour their dead bodies. Men wounded unto death, would still hurl -defiance at the invaders when too weak to hurl their weapons. - -Cortez had succeeded so well in his blockade that all the timorous -nations in the valley, like wolves around a wounded bison, severed -their allegiance to the Aztec king and flocked to the Spaniards, till he -had, by his own figures, nearly half a million men around the doomed -city. He sent embassadors to Guatemotzin to surrender, as resistance was -hopeless. Guatemotzin ordered the messengers to be sacrificed. Then -Cortez ordered his men to tear the city down as they went, as every -house contained Mexican warriors. For days they fought and destroyed. -The Mexicans resisted every inch of the ground, and when a Spaniard was -captured, would take him to the temple and sacrifice him in full view of -the Spanish army. The city was reeking with the unburied dead, and the -Mexicans were eating the flesh of their comrades, but they asked no -quarter. Cortez hated to destroy so beautiful a city, and after twelve -days of fighting and seven-eighths of the houses had been destroyed and -the canals filled with the rubbish, he sent another commission to treat -with Guatemotzin. “Tell Malinche the Aztecs are men and not children,” -was his answer. Thus angered, Cortez turned his savage Indian allies -upon the starving emaciated Mexicans, and butchered forty thousand more -that night before they stopped to rest, and then waited till morning and -sent another embassy to the proud king. “Tell Malinche I am prepared to -die where I am,” was all his answer; and the stench and steam from the -putrifying bodies was terrible, but no man, woman or child begged for -mercy, so Cortez ordered the destruction of the rest of the city. All -day long they tore down walls upon weak and dead and dying Mexicans, but -met defiance from everyone like a wounded tiger, tracked to his lair by -the trailing huntsman. To the Indian allies they would say: “Aye, -destroy, but the more you tear down the more you will have to build up. -If we conquer, we will make you rebuild; if the white man conquer, he -will make you rebuild;” and still the destruction went on. - -The Mexicans had stripped the bark from all the trees and had dug up the -roots and eaten them, and were still eating their dead companions and -drinking salt water, but not one asked for quarter or begged for mercy. -All the houses had been destroyed but a small cluster which were still -filled by dying Mexicans. The Spaniards and Indians were wading in mire -caused by the pools of blood, and closed upon the last remaining -Mexicans. Thirteen days of slaughter and starvation had reduced them to -skeletons, but they hurled stones with their weak arms at their enemies. -As their enemies closed upon them, many plunged into the canal to commit -suicide. Twenty Spaniards closed around Guatemotzin and the brave king -with buckler and sword stood to receive them all. His subjects begged -the conquerors to spare his life. His only remark was that he hoped they -would spare his wife and child. When he was taken before Cortez, he -proudly walked up to him and said: “Malinche, I have done all a brave -man can do, now do what you will.” Then touching a knife in the belt of -Cortez, he said: “You had better use that on me.” Cortez afterwards -tortured him to make him disclose his wealth and then murdered him. - -Of all that mighty host, not one had proved a traitor or begged for -mercy, or acted a coward. They had lived by the sword and died by it -without a murmur. Probably thirty thousand were left alive on that last -day, too weak to fight, and not quite dead from hunger, and that was all -that was left of the great Mexican Empire. Of the beautiful dream city, -not one stone was left above another and today, only the four causeways -are left in the city of Mexico that was a part of Tenochtitlan. - - “Here didst thou fall, and here thy hunters stand - Signed in thy spoil, and crimsoned in thy lethe.” - -The siege of the city of Tenochtitlan lasted seventy five days. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: CHURCH OF SAN AUGUSTIN.] - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. - - -Where stood the ancient pyramid and temple to the war-god in -Tenochtitlan, today stands the great Cathedral facing the Plaza Mayor in -the City of Mexico. Where stood Montezuma’s palace is now the National -Palace; where was Montezuma’s treasure-house are now the Post-office and -National Museum, with Montezuma’s shield, the sacrificial stone from the -ancient temple, and a thousand gods and idols inscribed in the ancient -Aztec and Toltec languages. Chapultepec, which was used as Montezuma’s -summer-house, is still used as the “White House” of Mexico. Montezuma’s -favorite cypress tree, which measures fifty feet in circumference, is as -green today as any tree in the beautiful park of Chapultepec, and -nowhere outside the pages of the Arabian Nights is there such an -enchanting, living story as can be seen every day in the City of Mexico. - -Unless you touched with your own hand, and saw with your own eyes, the -very elements of this strange, fascinating history, you might doubt your -reason and pronounce the whole story a figment of the imagination; but -here is history personified. - -Let us begin with the great Cathedral, the center-piece of Mexico and -its past. Here on this spot stood the ancient temple on the top of the -lofty pyramid, down whose bloody sides flowed the blood of a hundred and -thirty thousand human sacrifices, and not two hundred yards from here, -in the museum, you can put your hand upon the sacrificial stone that -bore witness to every one. Here in front of this idol, an altar received -the reeking hearts, torn with obsidian knives from the breasts of that -dead army, and there at your back stand both the hideous god that -exacted this sacrifice, and the blood-stained porphyritic altar itself. - -Here is no room for doubt. The museum, or those in other lands, contain -all that history has told us of, and they were dug from the ruins when -the foundation of the cathedral was laid. The first church on the site -of the pyramid was completed in 1523, but the present cathedral was not -completed till 1573. The roof was put on in 1623, three years after the -first mass was said, and it was forty-five years afterwards before it -was dedicated. The towers were completed at a cost of $200,000 in 1791, -two hundred and eighteen years after the foundations were laid. With the -cheap and gratuitous labor with which it was built, its actual cost will -never be known, but was in the millions. The length is 387 feet; width, -177 feet, and height 179 feet. The towers are 203½ feet, and built of -cut stone, and the roof of brick tiles. Humboldt said that the view from -the towers is the finest in the world. The group of forty or fifty bells -in the towers are the finest in this country, but they are not set in -chimes. The largest is the Santa Maria de Guadalupe, nineteen feet high -and cost $10,000. It is next to the big Russian bell in the Kremlin. The -second in size is the Dona Maria in the eastern tower. When these bells -strike the hour of noon, every head in the street is bared. The interior -of the cathedral is in the shape of a Latin cross. Ninety quadruple -pillars, each thirty-five feet in circumference support the roof. - -The vaulted roof with its rich decorations, massive altars of intricate -carvings, the choir and organ, are grand beyond description. There are -seven chapels on each side, separated by carved railings and gratings. -The choir and main altar are enclosed by a massive railing of gold, -silver and copper, valued at one million dollars. There are five naves -and six altars; the altar of Los Reyes (the Kings) is the finest. -Beneath it are the heads of Hidalgo, Allende, Jiminez and Aldama, -brought here with great pomp and ceremony after the war of Independence -had been fought and won. In the chapel of San Felipe de Jesus are the -remains of Augustin Yturbide, _El Libertador_, the first Emperor of -Mexico. The Chapel of San Pedro contains the remains of the first -Archbishop of Mexico, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, and one of the characters -of early Mexican history, Gregorio Lopez, the reputed son of Philip II. -of Spain. - -A number of fine paintings hang upon the wall, a genuine Murillo and a -Michael Angelo. Those in the dome represent the Assumption of the -Virgin. Over the stalls is the Immaculate Conception, by Juan Carreo. -Near the choir and Altar of Pardon are two paintings by La Sumaya, the -only examples by a woman. In La Capilla de las Reliquias are twelve -pictures of the Holy Martyrs by Herrera. The Sacristy walls are covered -by the great pictures of The Entry into Jerusalem, The Glory of St. -Michael, The Immaculate Conception, The Assumption, The Triumph of the -Sacrament and The Catholic Church, by Christobal de Villolpando and Juan -Carreo. In another room may be found The Last Supper and The Triumph of -Faith, by José Alcibar, and the portraits of all the Archbishops. In the -Chapter Room are three of the best, John of Austria imploring the Virgin -at Lepanto, and a Virgin, by Cortona, and the Virgin of Bethlehem, by -Murillo. There are other paintings whose number is legion, and would -require a book to describe them all. - -The High Altar was once the richest in the world, but has been many -times plundered in the many revolutions, yet still holds much of its -former magnificence. The solid gold candlestick, heavier than one man -could lift, the statue of the Assumption made of solid gold and inlaid -with rubies, diamonds and precious stones worth a million dollars, and -many other costly things have been plundered, and still it is doubtless -decorated more costly than any other church in America. It was from the -tower of the pyramid in the same place that Montezuma pointed out to -Cortez the beauties of the city and valley. - -The group of churches about the Cathedral, but not a part of it, is -interesting. La Capilla de las Animas (the Chapel of Souls) where masses -are said for the souls in Purgatory, is in the rear. El Sagrario -Metropolitano is in the east and was the first parish church in Mexico. -Its foundations were laid in 1521, and it is now one of the most -beautiful churches in Mexico. Its rich facades and decorations are -superb. La Capilla de La Soledad is between this and the cathedral and -near by is the parish church of San Pablo. - -Four squares north is Santa Domingo, the house of the Spanish -Inquisition, now used as a medical college. Near the south end of the -same plaza is a fountain marking the spot where the eagle came down in -1325, and picked up the snake and lighted on the cactus as is now seen -in Mexico’s coat of arms. One square west of the Alameda is the church -of San Hipolito of the Martyrs, built on the spot where so many -Spaniards were slaughtered in the retreat on the night of _noche -triste_, (dismal night) July 1, 1520. - -In a corner of a wall at the juncture of a little side street is a -curious tablet, showing in relief an eagle carrying an Indian in its -talons. The inscription in the medallion above asserts: “So great was -the slaughter of the Spaniards at this point by the Aztecs, July 1, -1520, called for this reason _Noche Triste_, that having in the -following year triumphantly re-entered the city, the victors resolved to -build a chapel here, dedicated to San Hipolito, because the capture of -the city occurred on that Saint’s day.” - -The City of Mexico has 375,000 inhabitants and hundreds of churches -worth a king’s ransom, and they are still being enriched, and by whom? -The paupers! The more ignorant a person is, the more gullible, and these -well-groomed priests, by keeping the people ignorant, play upon their -credulity. In the Chapel of Lost Souls, where prayers are said for souls -in Purgatory, a priest named Concha carried on this farce until he was -eighty-seven years old. The cheapest mass even for the paupers is one -dollar, and the rich are squeezed for all they are worth. Father Concha -during his lifetime celebrated forty-five thousand masses at so much a -say, which must have netted him a million dollars! No priest can -celebrate more than one mass a day and two on Sunday, which makes about -four hundred and fifty in a year. Suppose he accepts two hundred dollars -from two hundred poor people at a dollar a mass, and accepts five -hundred dollars from the wealthy; he accepts more money than he can -legally earn in a year. Does he return that money? Not much. And how is -the poor deluded creature to ever know that the prayer he paid for will -ever be said, to help the late departed friend in Purgatory? He has -absolute faith in the process, and it never occurs to him to figure out -the possibility of his particular prayer being laid upon the shelf on -account of press of business. - -Most priests make engagements or “intentions” for more masses than they -can perform, and if he is honest, he will sell his surplus to a less -favored brother priest with few “briefs” at a handsome profit. -Technically they are supposed to do that, but who ever knew a priest to -do so? - -O no, he knows a good thing when he sees it and the “dear people” will -never know the whole thing is a humbug. To be sure, when the priest -finds a tough case he will charge a good round sum to pray him out of -Purgatory, and he usually collects from Mr. T. C. while he is alive and -in good health, clothed and in his right mind. - -Reprobate sinners who had a tough time on earth and no hopes for better -in the future, generally fix the future all right with the _padre_ -before they start to the house-warming. Now these good fathers do not -believe a word of the doctrine they preach, because they are all well -educated, but they teach it to the people and threaten with -excommunication if they do not find the shekels, so the poor beggars -will go naked to find their assessment. - -And not only in Mexico. I know a poor woman in Michigan who had to sell -her only cow to raise a forty dollar assessment on a new church, and she -did it under fear of a threat. I have had a poor cancer-eaten _pilowa_ -hold out her skinny hand to me and beg in the name of God for “_un -centavo, Señor_,” for her starving children, and I have followed her -back to the vestry to see her buy candles to burn before the altar of -her chosen saint for value received from that defunct in times past. -What does the priest care for the price of blood-money? Follow me to -Jinks and see. - -Jinks is a licensed gambling house, that I was told on good authority -paid the city twenty thousand dollars a year to run the faro bank, three -card monte and the roulette wheel. In search after knowledge, I went to -Jinks. It is as public as a theater and good order is preserved by -policemen who sit to the closing hour and see the lights out. There at a -late hour I saw barrels and barrels of silver dollars change hands. -Neither bank drafts, paper money nor gold are accepted--only silver. - -Great brawny armed porters are there whose only duty is to carry boxes -of silver from the vaults to the table, and from the table to the -vaults, and at every table sit the clean faced priests who gamble with -stacks of silver till the wee sma’ hours, and tomorrow they will go -among their parishioners and beg more money for Mother Church. They -teach the people that absolute obedience to church behests can only be -had in obedience without will and will without reason. - -Says Charles Lampriére: “The Mexican church, as a church, fills no -mission of virtue, no mission of morality, no mission of mercy, no -mission of charity. Virtue cannot exist in its pestiferous atmosphere. -The cause of morality does not come within its practice. It knows no -mercy and no emotion of charity ever nerves the stony heart of the -priesthood, which, with an avarice that knows no limit, filches the last -penny from the diseased and dying beggar, plunders the widows and -orphans of their substance as well as their virtue, and casts such a -horoscope of horrors around the death-bed of the dying millionaire, that -the poor, superstitious wretch is glad to purchase a chance for the -safety of his soul in making the church the heir of his treasure.” - -The reader may get the impression that I am rather hard on the Catholic -Church. Of the church in the United States I know but little, but when -the reader has seen as much of the church as I saw in Mexico, he will at -least be charitable to the writer. There in the Catholic Church the -worship of Christ is hidden behind the theatricals of gaudily dressed -priests, incensed sanctuaries, ornamented images of the Virgin Mary, -beautiful pictures, frescoed paintings, scapulars, medals, relics, and -Agnus Deis, with their accompanying indulgences; and associated with -most entrancing music, fragrant flowers, lighted candles, gorgeously -dressed altars, surpliced acolytes, blessed ashes, holy water, -consecrated wafers, holy oil and chrism. - -There are also the attractive ceremony of extreme unction, confession, -satisfaction, besides the lenten feasts, the days of abstinence, -genuflections and stations of the cross, the crozier, and mitres, with -the pontifical high mass, decorations, Latin liturgies, illuminated -missals, gold and silver ciboriums, ostensoriums and chalices, -candelabras and vases, crosses and precious stones, costly laces and -fine linens, and the royal purple and the countless ceremonies which the -blind follower is not meant to understand. - -The bible and Christ are left out of the above enumeration, and never -have I seen the bible in the hands of a Mexican layman. They are -discouraged from owning a bible and are told that the priest will read -and interpret it for them. What can a Mexican Indian get for his peace -of soul and conscience out of the above enumeration, when probably five -hundred words constitute his entire vocabulary and Latin is no part of -it? All these insignia must he go through before he gets to Christ, and -then he is told he is not worthy to go to Him, but must pray the Holy -Virgin and the Saints to intercede for him, else he will be eternally -damned in the fires of Purgatory. Some particular Saint is chosen and -assigned him, and he is assured that if he buy candles enough and burn -them on the altar before that particular saint, the said saint will -prosper his undertaking, and if it succeed, he must ever afterward give -the credit to the saint. - -We were looking at the statue of the patriot, Hidalgo. My young Mexican -friend said: “Hidalgo is our patron saint, he freed us from Spain; who -is yours?” I said that I was a protestant and had no patron saint. -“But,” he said, “you must have one. We were subjects of Spain, and -Hidalgo started the revolution that made us free. Therefore he was -canonized and became our patron, and now we pray to him when we want -favors. Your people were once slaves and got your freedom from the -Americans, and you must have had a leader, else how could ten million -slaves vanquish sixty million Americans?” “But,” I said: “you don’t read -American history. We did not get our freedom by a revolution, but by a -civil war with Americans fighting on both sides.” “But you were bound to -have a leader, who was he?” “Oh!” I said, “it was Frederick Douglass.” A -beam of satisfaction crossed his countenance as he handed me his hand: -“We have both been in the toils and our good saints have made us free. -_Viva_ Douglass _y Viva_ Hidalgo!” - -And so these poor deluded people are taught that every good and perfect -thing cometh from above, but--through the hands of a saint or the Mother -of God, and the only honor that redounds to Christ and his Father is the -fact that they are members of the same family as the Holy Virgin. And so -by a system of black-mail, more tyrannical than was the brigandage of -twenty years ago, priest-ridden Mexico has built three magnificent -piles of rock and marble and alabaster and chalcedony with the blood of -widows and orphans. - -The world was shocked a few years ago because Mtesa did the same thing -in Africa. The only difference I see is that Mtesa killed his victims -outright and mixed mortar with the blood of young girls, but here the -process is a lingering torture of body and mind, and a life of abject -poverty and misery for the living that overwhelms the stranger with its -omnipresence. The Catholic faith has changed these people’s ceremonies, -but not their dogmas. The bowing to the statues and altars and images of -the apostles, and the veneration of the shrines and the absolute faith -in the incantations of the priests to the power they do not understand, -is exactly what the Aztecs did in the temple of the war-god six hundred -years ago. - -His public ceremony is changed and he no longer offers human sacrifice -upon the altars, but there are Indians in Mexico today who will secretly -celebrate their ancient festivals, and slyly hang wreaths of flowers -upon the huge idols on exhibition in the City of Mexico. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE SHRINE OF GUADALUPE. - - -Three miles north of the City is the Hill of Tepeyacac. Leading from the -city is the ancient causeway built across the lake to Tepeyacac before -the Conquest. A street car now traverses this causeway to the town of -Guadalupe and the famous Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the holiest -fane in Mexico. The chain of mountains which bound the Valley of Mexico -on the north here project into the valley and terminate in the Hill of -Tepeyacac, in the Aztec language, “the termination.” Before the -Conquest, the Indians worshiped on this hill an idol called Tonantzin, -“The Mother of the Gods.” This deity seemed to have corresponded to the -Cybele of classical antiquity. - -Father Florencia, who is the safest authority to follow on the -apparition up to the year 1688, when he published his book, “The -Northern Star of Mexico,” piously observes:--“The Virgin desired that -her miraculous appearance should take place on this hill to dispossess -the mother of false gods of the vain adoration rendered to the idol by -the Indians, and to show the latter that she alone was the Mother of the -true God, and the true mother of men, and that where crime and idolatry -and human sacrifice had abounded, grace should still more abound. - - -THE LEGEND. - -Tradition says that an Indian neophyte, Juan Diego, was on his way on -the morning of Saturday, Dec. 9, 1531, to hear the Christian doctrine -expounded by the Franciscans of Santiago Tlalteloco. His home was at -Tolpetlac, and to reach the city he had to pass the Hill of Tepeyacac. -On reaching the eastern side of the hill, he heard strains of music -which seemed to him like the notes of a chorus of birds. He stood still -to listen, and then beheld on the hillside the vision of a beautiful -lady, surrounded by clouds, tinged with the colors of the rainbow. - -The lady called Juan, and as her appearance was both commanding and -gracious he at once obeyed, and she addressed him as follows: “Know, my -son, that I am the Virgin Mary, mother of the true God. My will is that -a temple should be built for me here on this spot, where you and all -your race will be always able to find me and seek my aid in all your -troubles. Go to the Bishop and in my name tell him what you have seen -and heard. Tell him, too, that this is my wish, that a church be built -for me here, and for so doing I will repay you with many graces.” - -Juan sought the Bishop, who was Juan de Zumarraga, a Franciscan, the -first and last Bishop of Mexico; for during the closing years of his -life, the see was raised to the rank of archbishop. Juan Diego had some -difficulty in gaining admission to the prelate’s presence, and when he -succeeded in delivering his message, small attention was paid to it, as -the Bishop was inclined to treat the story as an hallucination. Juan -Diego returned that afternoon to his village, and passed the same spot -where he had seen the vision in the morning. - -The lady was again there, and asked him how he had sped. He related the -slight attention the Bishop had paid him, and asked the lady to be -pleased to choose another messenger. But she replied that he was not to -be dejected, but to return to the episcopal residence and deliver the -message the following day. The next day was Sunday and Juan rose early, -came in and heard mass at the parish church of Santiago Tlalteloco, and -then repaired to the house of the Bishop and repeated his errand with -great earnestness. This time the prelate paid more attention to the -Indian’s narrative, and told him if the lady appeared again, he was to -ask her for a sign. At this Juan was dismissed and the Bishop sent two -servants after him covertly, to observe what he did and whither he went. -The servants did as they were bidden, following Juan along the same road -that leads today from the City of Mexico to Tepeyacac, but when Juan -reached the Hill, he became invisible to their eyes, and though they -walked round and round the Hill they could not find him. Therefore they -returned to the Bishop and told him that in their opinion Juan was an -impostor and an embassador of the devil and not of the Virgin. - -But while Juan was invisible to them he was once more in converse with -the lady, and told her the Bishop had commanded him to ask for a sign, -so she told him to return on the following morning and she would give -him a sign which would win him full credit for his mission. - -On reaching home Juan found his uncle, Juan Bernadino, dangerously sick. -Instead of returning to the lady next day, he spent the time hunting -medicine-men among his tribe, and in gathering simple remedies for a -cure. But all day his uncle got steadily worse, and so the following -morning, Dec. 12, 1531, he started for the Franciscan convent of -Santiago Tlalteloco to fetch a confessor for his uncle. The road led by -the Hill of Tepeyacac, and fearful of meeting the vision again, he -determined to pass by another route. But this did not avail him, for -near the place where the spring now bubbles up, he saw the vision for -the fourth time. The lady did not seem at all offended at Juan for not -coming on the day she had commanded, but told him not to be anxious -about his uncle, as at that moment he was sound and well again. She then -spoke of the sign or token for the Bishop, and told Juan to climb to the -top of the hill (where the small chapel now stands) and that there he -should find a quantity of roses growing; that he should gather them all, -fill his tilma with them, and carry them to the Bishop. - -Juan knew well that December was not the time of year for roses, and -besides that bare rock never produced flowers at any time of year, but -he immediately did as the lady told him, and found the spot aglow with -the most beautiful roses blossoming. He gathered them one by one and -immediately repaired to the Bishop’s residence. Juan told him what had -happened, and opened out his tilma. The flowers fell to the ground, when -it was seen that a representation of the vision had been miraculously -painted on the coarse fabric of the tilma. The Bishop fell on his knees -and spent some time in prayer. He then untied the tilma from the -Indian’s neck, and placed it temporarily over the altar of his private -oratory. - -Such is the tradition, believed by the majority, though not by all -Mexican Catholics. I shall not treat of the legend theologically, but as -a traveler interested in all traditions and monuments so abundant in -this historic land. - -The apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe belongs not to that class of -beliefs in the Catholic Communion which are articles of faith binding on -the conscience of all Catholics, but to those pious popular traditions -which have received a more or less direct sanction from the -ecclesiastical authorities, and which it is considered improper in -members of the Catholic Church to doubt or call in question, at least -publicly. This may satisfy the curiosity of a number of people who -profess no particular belief, but are anxious for impartial information. - -Bishop Zumarraga at once set to work to build a hermitage or small -chapel at the foot of the hill of Tepeyacac for the reception of the -miraculous painting, and, as Father Florencia observes, “_Bis dat qui -cito dat_,” the work was pushed so rapidly that the building was ready -Dec. 26, 1531, fourteen days after the vision appeared on the _tilma_. -The painting was transported to the chapel with great pomp, and the -occasion forms the subject of one of the wall paintings in the present -_basilica_, executed by Father Gonzalo Carrasco, and to which allusion -will be made in the description of the edifice. For ninety years the -piety of the Mexicans was displayed towards the image in this small -chapel. But such was the quantity of alms deposited by the worshipers, -that enough money was soon available to erect a sumptuous shrine for the -reception of the venerated image. This church was dedicated by Juan de -La Cerna, Archbishop of Mexico, November 1622. In this church the image -was venerated 350 years, and is substantially the same as the present -_basilica_ in spite of external repairs and internal alterations. - -In 1629 occurred the great inundation in Mexico City, and it was -determined by the Archbishop Francisco Manso y Zuniga and the Marquis de -Ceralvo, to bring the image of the Virgin to the city to procure a -subsidence of the waters. - -Quite a fleet of barges and gondolas, with the civil and ecclesiastical -dignitaries on board, started fer the sanctuary of Guadalupe, as it was -not possible to reach it on foot on account of the inundation. The image -on the _tilma_ was taken on board the barge of the archbishop, which, as -evening approached was lighted, as were the gondolas, with Chinese -lanterns. Musicians played sacred music as the fleet moved over the -placid waters. On arriving in the city, the image was placed in the -archiepiscopal mansion, whence, on the following day, it was carried to -the Cathedral, where it remained four years, the inundation lasting that -long. However, the Mexicans assert that it was the intercession of the -Virgin that caused the subsidence of the water after all. - -In 1666, the Dean of the Cathedral of Mexico, D. Francisco Siles, -determined to collect the floating traditional evidence of the -apparition in a clear and methodical form. Quite a number of witnesses -were examined by the tribunal, composed of the following -ecclesiastics:--Juan de Poblete, Juan de la Camara, Juan Deiz de la -Barrera and Nicolas del Puerto. - -Canons Siles and Antonio de Gama went to the village of Cuantitlan, -where Juan Diego was supposed to have been born, to look up witnesses. -Some of the witnesses examined were over a hundred years old. All of the -witnesses testified to having, in childhood, heard the tradition from -their parents. It was then attempted on the strength of the evidence -thus collected, to obtain the approval of Rome for the apparition, but -the attempt was then unsuccessful. - -Cardinal Julio Rospillozi, who in 1667 was elected Pope under title of -Clement IX., wrote in 1666 to Dr. Antonio de Peralta y Castaneda, of the -Cathedral of Puebla, saying it would be impossible to obtain the -countenance of Rome. He said that as the image seemed to be identical -with the Immaculate Conception, it seemed superfluous to grant a special -office for the festival of Guadalupe. Afterwards, being elected Pope, he -granted some favors to this devotion. - -In 1740, Boturini obtained the papal authority for crowning the image, -but his failure and subsequent disgrace are well known. In 1751, the -Jesuit priest, Juan Francisco Lopez, was sent to Rome on a special -mission, both to confirm the choice of Mexico of the Virgin of Guadalupe -as its special patron, and to obtain a special mass and office for the -feast of the 12th of December. He took with him two copies of the image, -said to have been made by the celebrated artist Miguel Cabrera. Lopez -performed his mission with great energy and success. He obtained an -audience with the reigning Pope, Benedict XIV., showed him the copies -and gained all his requests. When, in 1756, he returned to Mexico -bearing the papal briefs, he was received with immense honors and -rejoicings. - -To come to a later date, in 1886, the archbishops of Mexico, Michoacan -and Guadalajara applied to the Pope for permission to crown the image. -This privilege can be granted only by the Pope, and the crowning is -theoretically done by him. Leo XIII. made favorable answer in February -1887, and in August 1894 granted some additions to the office and -lessons for the day. The ceremony of the coronation took place at last, -Oct. 12, 1895, in the presence of thirty-seven Mexican, American, -Canadian and other prelates, and a large concourse of the clergy and the -most prominent citizens of Mexico. When the crown was raised to its -position above the image, the congregation broke into loud acclamations. -The crown itself is a miracle of the jeweler’s art, and with its galaxy -of gems--diamonds, rubies and sapphires--is worth a king’s ransom. - -Early in 1887 Father Antonio Plancarte y Labastida, a nephew of the then -archbishop of Mexico, prepared to carry out a long cherished design for -the renovation and embellishment cf the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. -For this purpose, the image, after much opposition on the part of the -Indians, was conveyed to the neighboring Church of Capuchinas, and the -extensive plans were then initiated. The architect first employed was -Emilio Donde, but he was soon superseded by Juan Agea. At an early hour -on the morning of Sept. 30, 1895, the image was carried back to the -_basilica_, and the restored building was consecrated Oct. 1. - -The first impression on entering is an ensemble of gorgeous and -harmonious coloring, and it is some time before the eye can rest on -individual objects. Naturally the raised Presbyterium and High Altar -claim attention. The Presbyterium is reached by four separate flights of -twelve steps. It is paved with diamond slabs of white and black Carrara -marble. The altar and reredos, the latter affecting the form of a frame -for the painting of the Virgin, are severe and classical in design. The -only material used is the finest Carrara marble known as “Bianco P.,” -and exquisitely wrought gilded bronze. All the marble of the altar is -monolithic, and was executed at Carrara by the sculptor Nicoli, the -Mexican architects Juan Agea and Salome Pina. All the bronze work is -from Brussels. On either side of the altar is a figure kneeling in -adoration; that on the left, or Gospel side, is Bishop Zumarraga, that -on the Epistle side is Juan Diego, who is represented as making an -offering of roses. Both are of Carrara marble. At the top of the reredos -are three angels, representing the archdioceses of Mexico, Michoacan and -Guadalajara, which applied to Pope Leo XVI. for permission to crown the -image. The central one holds out a crown of singularly pure and chaste -design. Below them and immediately above the frame is a cherub in -relief, holding the jeweled crown. The High Altar is double, there being -slabs for the celebration of mass, both before and behind. Over the High -Altar is a handsome Byzantine baldachin sustained by pillars of Scotch -granite from Aberdeen, and the baldachin is surmounted by a gilded cross -formed of roses. The rose occurs in all the decorations, as it is the -symbol of the Virgin of Guadalupe. - -On the top of the front arch of the baldachin are the arms of Pope Leo -XIII. and the apices of the other three arches are filled with the arms -of the Archbishops of Mexico, Michoacan and Guadalajara. On the vault of -the baldachin, in Gothic letters are the Latin distiches, composed for -the image by Pope Leo XIII. and which are as follows:-- - - _Mexicus heic populus mira sub Imagine gaudet_ - _Te colere, alma Parens, praesidioque frui_ - _Per te sic vigeat felix, teque auspice, Christe_ - _Immotam servet firmior usque fidem._ - Leo P. P. XIII. - - -TRANSLATED. - -“The Mexican people rejoice in worshiping Thee, Holy Mother, under this -miraculous image, and in looking to Thee for protection may that people -through Thee, flourish in happiness, and ever, under Thy auspices, grow -stronger in the faith of Christ.” - -The four angels of the baldachin between the arches are occupied with -allegorical bronze statues of the four cardinal virtues, Prudence, -Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. - -Underneath the High Altar is a crypt, the vaulted iron roof of which is -capable of sustaining a weight of three hundred thousand pounds. This -crypt contains four altars underneath the high altar, also urns or -cinerariums for the reception of the thirty persons who contributed -$5000 each to $150,000 for the High Altar. - -The railing around this altar is of solid silver, and weighs fifty-two -thousand pounds, or twenty-six tons. Immediately in front of the High -Altar, but below the Presbyterium is a kneeling marble statue of Mgr. -Labastida y Davalos, late archbishop of Mexico, and underneath the -statue rests the ashes of his parents. His own are soon to be removed -here. - -The vaults of the roof are painted blue with gold stars in relief. The -stars are of cedar, gilded over and screwed into the roof. The ribs of -the vaulting are beautifully decorated in the Byzantine style, and the -dome is a rich mass of gilding festooned with pink roses. The several -divisions of the dome are occupied alternately by frescoes of the Virgin -of Guadalupe and of angels bearing scrolls. In each division is one of -the poetical avocations in which the Catholics impetrate the Virgin, -such as “Seat of Wisdom,” “Mirror of Justice,” “Mystical Rose,” “Ask for -the Covenant,” etc. The windows of the dome, of stained glass, were -given by the College of the Sacred Heart of San Cosme. - -The most striking of the interior decorations are the fine large wall -frescoes. The one on the right represents the conversion of the Indians -through the Virgin of Guadalupe. Groups of friars are preaching and -baptizing, while hovering in the air is the figure of the Virgin. This -is by the artist Felipe S. Gutierrez. The next represents the image -being carried to the small chapel, December 26, 1531. This is a -brilliant piece of work, and reflects great credit upon the young -artist, a young Jesuit priest, Fr. Gonzalo Carrasco. The image is -carried beneath a canopy, and attended by gorgeously arrayed priests and -prelates. Then there are the friars and Indians and Spanish cavaliers, -and acolytes bearing candles, flabelli, etc. In the lower right-hand -corner is represented the first miracle alleged to have been wrought by -the Virgin of Guadalupe. The Indians, in honor of the procession are -letting off arrows, and one of them enters the neck of an Indian. His -mother begs the procession to turn back, and as it passes her son, so -goes the story, he is healed. - -On the western side, nearest the High Altar, is the fresco of the taking -of evidence for the Apparition in 1666. This is by Ibarraran y Ponce. -The next is by Felix Parra, and is called a gorgeous poem in color. It -represents the period of “Matlazahuatl,” the dread pestilence which -devastated the city in 1737, when the Archbishop Antonio Bizarron y -Equiarreta solemnly put the city under the protection of the Virgin and -immediately the plague departed. In the foreground is an Indian stricken -with the plague. The last fresco represents the presentation of a copy -of the image to Pope Benedict XIV. The Pontiff is in the act of -exclaiming: “_Non fecit taliter omni Nationi!_” Between the first two -frescoes is a mural inscription in Latin: “The Mexican people, in honor -of the Virgin of Guadalupe, who in old time appeared on the hill of -Tepeyacac to Juan Diego, erected a holy temple, and with all piety -venerated the ancient image. One of the most conspicuous in its cult, -was the Archbishop Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Davalos, a most -munificent restorer of the Collegiate Church. Now at length, as all had -wished, and as the Chapter of the Vatican Basilica had decreed in A. D. -1740, the famous image, with the sanction of the Supreme Pontiff, Leo -XIII., was crowned with a diadem of gold, on the fourth day before the -Ides of October 1895, Prospero M. Alarcon being Archbishop of Mexico, to -stand forever as a shield, the protection and the honor of the Mexican -people.” - -The apse behind the High Altar is elaborately decorated and contains -many mural paintings of popes and archbishops. In the apse is the chapel -and family vault of Mr. Antonio de Mier y Celis. This chapel is a -perfect gem of the decorative art and is dedicated to St. Joseph. The -crypt underneath is an exact reproduction of the Escorial at Madrid. The -three stained glass windows are from Munich and cost $17,000. There are -in all, ten altars in the church, and its total cost is nearly four -million dollars. During all the revolutions and political upheavals in -Mexico, the sanctity of Guadalupe has immured it from plunder; the most -reckless freebooters forbearing to invade the hallowed ground of the -Virgin. - -You leave this place weighed down with impressions of magnificence, -wealth and beauty. Outside the door of this four million dollar church -you step over a hundred naked, starving beggars, holding their skeleton -fingers for coppers. One cent seems to be the regulation fee expected, -and if you give a beggar five cents he returns four cents change. - -Near by is the government building in which the treaty of peace was -signed between Mexico and the United States. Guadalupe Hidalgo is what -the treaty is called in history, out of patriotism for the memory of -Hidalgo. By the little chapel is a geranium plant in full bloom. Its -stem is five inches in diameter, and the top is thirty feet in the air. -I suppose the Virgin exercises an influence over it as with every thing -else here. Across the little plazuela is another miracle attributed to -the image. At the foot of the rocky hill where the vision appeared the -last time, boils up a spring of water that is a veritable geyser. It is -said to have appeared after the apparition had vanished. It is covered -with a pavilion, _Capillo del Pocito_, and is about ten feet in -diameter, and about the same from the curb to the water. The dangerous -pit is fenced in with an iron railing, and as you gauze into its -chalybeate depths surging below, an attendant draws up a basin of water -and passes it to you with a wonderful narrative of its curative -properties for unfruitful women, and the large number of such women who -annually resort to it for relief with the Virgin’s blessing. - -This is the Indian’s Mecca, and on December 12, all Indians make a -pilgrimage here in honor of Juan Diego, the only Indian saint in the -calendar. The encircling town of ten thousand devotees with a permanent -residence here is an earnest of the strong hold it has upon them. It is -said that whoever drinks from this miraculous spring is compelled to -return again, no matter how far he may wander. And so I was impelled to -drink of the vile smelling water with the hope that at some time it will -carry me to Guadalupe again without the necessity of a yard and a half -of railroad ticket which gets punched into fragments on a ninety day -circular tour. I stayed the violent eruption which the medicated water -threatened within, and turned to the broad stone steps that led to the -top of the hill where Juan plucked the roses. The beautiful line of -steps leads up the basaltic cliff to a height of a hundred and fifty -feet, and where the roses grew is a little chapel, “La Capilla de -Cerrita,” crowning the summit of Tepeyacac. Though nearly four hundred -years old, the chapel is in good repair, and is still the holiest shrine -in Mexico. The entire walls are covered with pictures of the miraculous -cures by the image. - -There is a picture of a man falling from a church steeple, and -afterwards brought to life by the passage of the image, and a -bull-fighter impaled on the horns of the enraged bull, and a hundred -similar scenes where the image had asserted itself. - -It was worth much to see the adoration and utter abandon lavished upon -this image. Pilgrims from everywhere stretched themselves prone upon the -floor, and the look of resignation said as plainly as the words could, -“Now Lord lettest Thou Thy servant die in peace.” - -I shook myself up to see if I could awaken a little devotion within -myself, but the only feeling I had was borrowed from that little -incident on Mount Carmel, when that rugged old spokesman, Elijah, the -Tishbite called down fire to consume the worshipers of Baal. - -The faithful looked up as I wandered among them with note-book and -pencil. They did not speak, but that look would have filled three -columns of close printed small pica type if translated, about the -unregenerate heathen that did not bow to the sacred image nor cross -himself when he passed by the holy water. The scribe was there solely in -pursuit of knowledge, and when he had all the little chapel contained, -he stepped over the prostrated forms on the floor and passage-way and -went out to see some more miracles performed by the Virgin. - -Ten steps from the door loomed up another miracle as big as life and -almost as natural. This was the old stone sail and ship’s mast, and -thereby hangs a tale, to wit, namely, as follows: - -“Once upon a time,” as the story-books go, a very rich family owned a -ship which was long over-due at Vera Cruz, so this family went to the -Virgin, or to the image rather, and laid the case before it. They said -the ship’s cargo was worth almost its weight in Spanish doubloons, and -if she would bring that ship to port, they would make her an _ex voto_ -offering of the ship, if she would let them have the cargo. The image -listened and concluded that the bargain was fair enough, so she let the -ship come to port. True to their promise, the owner had the mast, sails -and cordage brought across the Cordillera Mountains 265 miles to -Guadalupe and set them up in front of the church and then encased the -whole in stone just as you see it today, and if any one doubts that the -Virgin saved the ship, why, “there stands the mast itself to prove it.” -It is useless to argue against facts. A single look of interest draws a -half dozen guides who want to explain all about the Virgin and the -image. I give them enough money to get drunk on and die if they will -leave me alone and tell me no more about the wonder. After they are gone -I turn to the Campo Santo, just behind the chapel. This is the -Westminster of Guadalupe, full to running over with illustrious -pilgrims, bandits and all. - -At the barred gate I was met by a tall pirate who claimed my camera. I -told him I had passed the custom-house with that box, and that there was -nothing seditious in it but a half dozen exposures of his -fellow-citizens, and from the scarcity of clothes they had on they were -really exposed before I found them, and besides, I had a deed and title -to that camera stretching all the way to Boston. He said that was all -_bueno_, but he did not care a _hot tamale_ about that, but he would -swear by all the saints and the Virgin herself that I and my camera -would part company before I entered that gate. “Why sir, don’t you know -that you stand on holy ground, right on the Hill of Tepeyacac itself, -and right in that gate is the tomb of Santa Anna?” I told him that was -all _bueno_, too, but we had Santa Anna’s wooden leg in the Smithsonian -Institution, and I was not afraid of any one-legged man hurting me, -especially one that had been planted twenty-six years. And besides, I -told him the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed right here February -2, 1848, and if I remembered correctly the treaty acknowledged that he -got licked, and we could lick him again and tie one hand behind our -backs. I did not want to trouble the Virgin to bring this gate-keeper -back to life, so I gave him my camera. - -Among the Indians of our country one can hardly ever get an Indian’s -picture; they think you can “hoodoo” them if you once get their picture. -Perhaps they think the same here, for I have never found a Campo Santo -unguarded, and they all draw the line between me and my camera. - -I went in and saw that Santa Anna was still dead, and his grave was -covered with the same wonderful roses that the Virgin ordered here four -hundred years ago. Then I began to figure out what right that old -brigand had to be buried here on this holy hill. - -He was five times president of Mexico, four times Military Dictator, and -was twice banished to the West Indies, “For his own and for his -country’s good.” “Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, February 21, 1798.” So -his birth-day just lacked one day of making him Father of his Country, -but seven times with the reins of government in his hands, nearly -qualified him to be step-father anyway. He ought to have come to the -United States and entered politics. - -When the War of Independence began in 1821, he joined the Mexican forces -under Iturbide, but quarreled with him the next year and put himself at -the head of a new party, and seeing which was the winning side, he -joined Guerrera and soon became Commander-in-chief of the army. He then -overthrew Guerrera in favor of Bustamente, then overthrew Bustamente in -favor of Pedraza, and in 1833 he sat down on Pedraza and modestly made -himself president. - -Then he told the dear people that it was time to elect a new president, -and that there was only one candidate, and the first two letters of his -name were Santa Anna. Incidentally, he reminded the people that he had -the army to back him. - -They say he was elected by a large majority, (so was Cromwell.) Having -settled that little matter, he went over in Texas and chased the Texas -army all over the state for two years, till he got it corraled in a bend -of the San Jacinto River, and then sat down to supper, but during the -night the Texans broke out and to their great surprise captured Santa -Anna himself. He never forgave the Texans for that. - -The Texans wanted to barbecue him just as he had done the Texans at the -fall of the Alamo in San Antonio, and the massacre at Galiad, but -General Sam Houston saved his neck. He went back home in disgrace and -was banished, but he would not stay banished. He came back and made -himself president in 1846. - -When Texas entered the Union he started over to chase Texans again, but -at the battle of Cerro Gordo, General Scott got his wooden leg and he -had to give up the chase. When the French put Maximilian on the Mexican -throne in 1861, Santa Anna was an exile in the West Indies. He wrote a -letter of congratulation to Maximilian, and said, “If you want a man to -wipe up the earth with General Juarez’ army I am the man to do it.” -Maximilian declined with thanks. Then he wrote a letter to Juarez and -said, “If you want a man to wipe up the earth with that French army, I -am the man.” Juarez declined with thanks. Santa Anna had his feelings -hurt, so he came home, raised an army and licked both Maximilian and -Juarez for snubbing him. In 1867, Mexico got too small for him, so he -was asked to consider himself banished for an indefinite period. - -In 1874 he asked his country to let him come home to die, and the -country graciously granted him the privilege and welcome, if he would -promise to die. So he came home and met all the agreement and died, and -here he is. - -His grave-stone had R. I. P. and the boy said it was, “Let her rip,” but -a few had “perpituidad” which meant that they had paid their rent till -the final resurrection. The others were, “Rest in Peace,” for five -years, and if the rent is not paid, the resurrection takes place -immediately. - -At Saltillo, the cemetery has two heaps of grinning skulls and bones -that will measure 25,000 cubic feet of dead people who did not pay rent -and were evicted. - -A hundred dollars will buy the little word “perpituidad” on your -tombstone, which will protect you till Gabriel sounds the final -reveille. - -I went back to my gate-keeper and said: “Now my good fellow, laying -aside all jokes, what has Santa Anna done so noble as to give him a -grave on this hill?” - -He said this hill was a regular boom in real estate and that all his -renters paid gilt-edge prices for beds, and as S. A. had the shekels, he -got the bed. “And sir, if you have got the rocks, you can get lodging -here.” - -I declined with thanks, and told him I always carried a Coffin with me. - -The road from Mexico to Guadalupe is three miles long, and has twelve -stone shrines to commemorate the stations of the cross. All the pilgrims -venerate these shrines on the march to Guadalupe. When Maximilian was -meeting with such cool reception by the Mexicans, he walked the whole -distance barefooted, in December, to win the good will of the Mexicans -by apparent conformity to their customs. The Mexicans took him down to -Queretaro and shot him. - -I have gone thus minutely, and perhaps tediously, into the details of -this legend to “find a moral and adorn the tale;” to expose the -fraudulent practices and glaring deceit which the priest-hood has -foisted upon the ignorant people. Whenever their hold upon the people -seems to weaken, a cock-and-bull story like the one just told will awe -the superstitious people by thousands to the rescue. Think of that -humbug when the water was four years falling, and then the image getting -the credit for it! - -As a matter of fact, Mexico City was built upon an island only two feet -higher than Lake Texcoco, a salt lake with no outlet, and both lake and -city are in a crater, and all the water that falls in that forty mile -valley must remain until evaporated, even though it takes four years to -lower the height of a broken cloud-burst. After the water has evaporated -to its usual level, why, the “Virgin lowered the water.” - -Every priest in Mexico knows the geography of the valley and why the -lake is salt, and why inundations take place even today in the principal -streets of the city. In the light of this knowledge, their duping -practices seem more reprehensible. Such is their hold, however, that -since the church and state have been separated by law, several -revolutions have been threatened because the state has attempted to -interdict some of the senseless customs of the fiestas. Even within the -last six years, the state proposed to put restrictions upon some of the -ceremonies of Guadalupe, and had to recall the proposition to prevent a -revolution. - -It is encouraging to know that you never see an intelligent Mexican -making a door-mat of himself before these shrines. He knows it is not -worship as well as the priest, but there are thousands who are yet in -the dark and the only hope of the priest-hood is continual ignorance of -the masses, but education is weakening that every year. It is said that -when an Indian earns two dollars, he gives one to the priest, forty-five -cents for pulque, and supports his family with the remainder. As bad as -that may look in print, I can say it is not far from an actual fact. -Stand in front of that four million dollar church with all its useless -finery, and then gaze at the thousands of beggars that crowd its steps -and overflow to the street, who have to sit down to hide their nakedness -and to better support their weak stomachs, and draw your own conclusion. -And who ever heard of a Mexican church supporting a charity or raising a -poor fund? Not I, and I have seen all of it. If these people had one -tenth of the intelligence of the French Communes, they would walk into -those churches and have a grand lottery drawing with no blanks. - -As I have seen it, the whole thing is a whited sepulcher. I mingled with -ten thousand French on July 14 when they celebrated the fall of the -Bastile, and sang with them the Marseillaise, not because I was French, -but because it was an effort and a successful one of establishing -individual freedom; and it pleased me, and I wondered when I might join -with Mexico and help them sing La Golondrina and celebrate the Fall of -Guadalupe. - -Old Cato’s climax in his Roman speech-making could well be paraphrased -for the nineteenth century, and when thinking of the incubus of Mexican -progress, would fit well with a change of one word when we say: - - “_Carthago delenda est._” - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -PUBLIC BUILDINGS. - - -Where once stood the Palace of Montezuma, now stands the national -Palace. It occupies the entire eastern side of the Plaza Mayor, with a -frontage of 675 feet, and was built in 1692. It is open to the public -all day long. - -On the ground floor of the plaza front are the barracks. On the second -are the President’s chambers and those occupied by the Spanish Viceroys -and the Austrian usurper, Maximilian. - -At the extreme front is the Ambassadors’ Hall, so long that the -President at one end in his chair of state seems but a pigmy, and so -narrow that three persons with outstretched hands can touch either wall. -The idea of spacious halls seems never to have entered the Mexican’s -head. Huge buildings they have, but they are only a succession of rooms -whose dimensions depend upon the usual length of building timbers, which -is never over twenty feet. It seems easy to connect the joists on -supporting pillars and enlarge the room, but, “We have always done this -way.” So the Ambassadors’ Hall has a probable length of 300 feet, and an -actual width of about twenty. - -At the Southern end is a raised dais where the President presides; at -the other, under a canopy are two magnificent state chairs. One was the -property of Cortez, and has his name on the back in pure gold, and the -date 1531. It is in excellent repair, since its construction was -entirely of metal covered with brocade, and one might doubt its -antiquity were not the ear marks of old Spain everywhere visible in all -its workmanship, even in its coat-of-arms. The other is covered entirely -with pure gold and is the chair of state of the President, and must be -worth $20,000 if appearances comport with the actual value of gold. Just -opposite this chair is a painting fifteen by thirty feet, depicting the -great battle of Puebla when President Diaz first won his spurs in -defeating the French army. An old grizzled veteran who fought in the -battle will point out the notables in the picture, not omitting his own -which stands to the left of the President. - -On the same wall hang the pictures of George Washington and the leaders -of Mexican Independence, Iturbide, Hidalgo and Morelos. There is no room -closed to the visitor, so we visit the President’s barber shop, -reception room, library and the Hydrographic office where maps and -charts are being made. All these rooms are furnished differently, and -are as elegant and comfortable as even a president could wish. Nearby is -the treasurer’s office, and how my feet clogged when I tried to go by! I -just want to change money all the time; I know of no better way to get -rich than to change money. Hand over one of Uncle Samuel’s ten-dollar -bills, and get eighteen dollars and sixty cents back, is just doubling -your money as fast as you can stow it away. It beats the lottery -business all to pieces. So when I passed by the treasurer’s office I -wanted to change money, but I was loaded down at that moment and could -not. When you step into a restaurant and give a U.S. dollar for your -dinner and get your dinner and another dollar in change, you want to eat -some more. - -In the courtyard is a curious plant that has a flower exactly in -imitation of the human hand with all its fingers. It is the -_cheirostemon plaxanifolium_ or hand tree. Only three specimens exist in -Mexico. As all the public buildings are under one roof, we soon find -ourselves at the Post Office with its seven days wonders. No one goes to -the window and inflicts upon the unoffending young lady that much abused -old legend, “Is there a letter here for me?” O no, that is not the -style. When the mail arrives, the letters are arranged alphabetically -and numbered consecutively, then the list is typewritten and posted on -the bulletin board, where he who runs may read. Beginning with No. 1 on -the first day of the month, the numbers run to the end of the month and -start over. The foreign list is published separate from the native. If -you find your name on the bulletin you pass to the window and call for -date and number only, and a book inside has a duplicate list. The letter -is handed you, and you sign your name opposite the number of the letter, -giving street, number and hotel. At the same time a policeman stands at -your elbow, scrutinizing all persons and their handwriting, and -qualifying himself to find you again if necessary in case of forgery. To -an American the system may seem cumbersome, but he must remember that -he is in a country where letters to the United States cost five cents, -and I have seen domestic letters from one state to the other cost ten -cents, as much as many people earn, so there is not much letter writing. - -Then it has its advantage. Every time a clerk is called to the window, -she knows there is a letter needed, and it saves the endless “yes, no, -yes, no” all day long, and the sorting of hundreds of letters to look -for the name of a person who is not expecting a letter at all, “but just -thought I would ask you.” The system is infinitely better than that in -Texas towns with a Mexican population. No Mexican signs his name without -a flourish which obscures the name entirely sometimes, and besides, the -Mexican names have a way of spelling themselves different from the -pronunciation. - -The Texas post-mistress lumps all Mexican mail in one box, and when a -Mexican shows his head at the window she hands him all the Spanish -literature on hand, and he takes what he wishes. If he is dishonest, he -can purloin any mail he sees fit. The Mexican officials are very kind, -and always try to keep a clerk who knows English. Of course she is -always out when you need her most, but that does not detract from their -good intentions; but the Spanish language is so easy a person can learn -a hundred words a day, and if he knows Latin he has nearly half the -language to start with. - -Next door to the Post Office is the National Museum, the most wonderful -repository in America, where ancient Mayan, Aztec and Toltec relics lie -side by side with the civilization of today. Here are gods without -number and idols by the thousand. - -Strangest among these symbols is the ever-present serpent, that subtile -being that has left its stamp in the mythology of the old world. -Wherever native religions have had their sway, this symbol is certain to -appear. It appears in Egypt, Greece, Assyria and among the superstitions -of the Celts, Hindoos and Chinese, and here upon these ancient idols he -is carved upon porphyry and granite in natural size and heroic -dimensions, but always in coil, with the rattlesnake fangs and tail -conspicuous. - -Here is also the Aztec sacrificial stone of basalt, nine feet in -diameter and three feet thick, within whose bloody arms, from Spanish -authority, twenty-thousand victims were annually offered up. All of the -Spanish under Cortez would have been killed upon that awful retreat of -Noche Triste, were it not for the zeal of the Mexicans to capture them -alive to offer as sacrifice rather than kill them in battle. The central -figure of all this interesting collection is the calendar stone upon -whose mysterious records the scholars of Europe and America have labored -with only partial success. The stone is circular, is hewn from a solid -piece of porphyry, and weighs fifty tons. How it ever reached this -island is a mystery, when the people had no beasts of burden; how it was -carved is a mystery as the people did not know iron. The greatest wonder -is the inscription which accurately records the length of the solar, -lunar and siderial year, calculated eclipses, and is a more perfect -calendar than any European country possesses. - -From this stone we learn that the Aztecs divided the year into 365 -days; these were divided into 18 months of 20 days each, and, like the -ancient Egyptians, they had 5 complementary days to make out 365. But -the year is composed of six hours more than 365 days, and in America we -add the six hours every four years and make leap-year. The Aztecs waited -52 years, and then interposed 13 days, or rather 12½, which brought the -length of their tropical year to within the smallest fraction of the -figures of our most skillful astronomers. Like the Persians and -Egyptians, a cycle of 52 years was represented by a serpent, so -prominent in mythology. - -This interpolation of 25 days in every 104 years showed a nicer -adjustment of civil to solar time than that presented by any European -calendar, since more than five centuries must elapse before the loss of -an entire day. Their astrological year was divided into months of 13 -days each, and there were 13 years in their indications which contained -each 365 periods of 18 days each. It is also curious that their number -of lunar months of 13 days each were contained in a cycle of 52 years -with the interpolation of 13 days (12½) should correspond exactly with -the Great Sothic period of the Egyptians, viz: 1461. By means of this -calendar, the priests kept their own records, regulated the festivals -and sacrifices, and made all their astronomical calculations. They had -the means of setting the hours with precision; the periods of the -solstices and equinoxes and the transit of the sun across the zenith of -Mexico. This stone was dug up in the great square in 1790 where it had -lain buried since the Conquest in 1520, but its high scientific -deductions are out of all proportion to the advance of the Aztec in -other branches of learning, since the stone is more exact today than any -European calendar in existence, therefore it must have been made by -another race. The characters are in the Toltec language, but there are -many points of it which the Toltecs copied from the Mayas of Yucatan, -and the Mayas seem to have copied from the Egyptians, of which we shall -speak in another chapter. - -There are other relies more ancient than the Calendar Stone, and others -more recent. There is the ideographic picture-writing, through which we -learn the history of the race previous to the Conquest. Here is -Montezuma’s shield, the armor worn by Cortez in the Conquest, his -battle-flag, the statue of the war god Huitzilopochtle, Tula monoliths, -the Goddess of Water, Palenque cross, Chacmol, and the finest carriage -in the world, built by Maximilian for his Mexican capital. The body is -painted red, the wheels are gilded, and the interior is lined with white -silk brocade, heavily trimmed with silver and gold thread. - -In Ethnology and Zoology the exhibits would require days to see. The -museum is open every day but Saturday, and is thronged ever. The Indians -never tire gazing on the scenes which recall the times when they were -masters. In the midst of the quadrangle is a beautiful garden of rare -plants and tall palms. - -Soldiers guard the entrance and police welcome you and ask for your -camera and umbrellas, and as your party starts, a uniformed lad will -fall in at your heel, attach himself to your shadow and never leave you -till you descend the steps to the exit. He does not seek your -companionship necessarily for publication, “but as an evidence of good -faith.” He is not intrusive nor garrulous; his duty is simply to be ever -present. With tens of thousands of valuable relics in easy reach, -probably they are acting wisely upon past experience. - -The next door leads to San Carlos, the National Art Gallery. Here are -the famous paintings of “Padre Los Casas,” “The Deluge,” and Murillo’s -“San Juan de Dios” and “The Lost Sheep.” In the fourth and fifth salons -are the works of native Mexicans, and their love to old Spain is shown -by their paintings; whole sides of the salons are given to the cruel -tale of the Conquest and the Inquisition: Spanish Cavaliers, holding up -the cross in one hand and the drawn sword in the other, and cutting down -the ignorant natives who would not confess the Virgin; the death of -Montezuma, surrounded by heaps of gold so gluttonously hoarded by the -Spaniards; the fate of his brother, Guatemotzin, the last of the Aztec -chieftains, whose feet are held in the fire by his Christian torturers, -to disclose his hidden treasures, and the haughty chieftain still kept -his heroic mien without a murmur. - -One of his generals who was similarly tortured appealed to him. Turning -a look of scorn upon him Guatemotzin replied: “And say, am I on a bed of -roses?” There is a weird fascination about the paintings that makes you -feel that the paintings have just stepped from the pages of Prescott’s -Conquest of Mexico. It is the Chamber of Horrors where the Spanish -Inquisition is depicted by men who knew. Overhead are scores of -medallions of famous men of Mexican birth, and beneath each a famous -picture. Leaving this salon we come to a well lighted hall with several -hundred easels and folding stools. This is the instruction room, and is -filled with students and models and casts and charts, where lessons are -given to all who apply without regard to creed or race or color. The -Color Line has no place in Mexico. Beneath the salon are halls filled -with statuary, where clay modeling and sculpture is taught, and as you -leave with weary limb you are convinced that it is in truth a National -Academy. - -Then there is the Mineria, the School of Engineering and Mines, on San -Andres and Betlemita streets. It cost a million and a half of dollars, -and was the work of the sculptor and architect, Tolsa. It contains rich -collections of geological and minerological specimens, and a -meteorological observatory, also a fossil of the Pleiocene horse of -three toes. The mint on Apartado Street struck its first coin in 1535, -and since then the coins of republics, empires and dictatorships have -run from it in a constant stream of gold and silver to the enormous sum -of $2,200,000,000. - -Then there is the National Library and the Preparatory School on San -Ildefonso Street, with a thousand students and fine equipment and -botanical garden. Public instruction is free and gratuitous in every -respect, without regard to race or religion. - -Just beyond the Cathedral is a National Pawnshop, Monte de Piedad, -“Mountain of Mercy.” It was founded more than a hundred years ago by -Count Regla, the owner of the famous silver-mine of Real de Monte, who -gave three hundred thousand dollars for the purpose, so that the poor -and needy could get money on their belongings at reasonable interest. -Any article deposited is valued by two disinterested parties, and -three-fourths of its value is promptly advanced. If the party ceases to -pay interest on the loan, the article is kept six months longer, and -then exposed for sale. If not sold in the next six months, it is sold at -public auction, and all that is realized from the sale above the -original pawn, is placed to the borrower’s credit. If this money is not -called for in a specified time, it reverts to the bank of the -institution. This is a government institution, and has entirely broken -up the small pawn-shops that charge unreasonable interest. The rate of -interest is never raised, and it lends a million dollars a year, and has -fifty thousand customers. One dollar is the smallest sum loaned, and ten -thousand the largest, and the loans are about three hundred daily. About -one-third of the articles pawned are never redeemed, and tourists can -find some wonderful bargains here. The Diamond snuff-box presented Santa -Anna when he was Dictator is here. $25,000 will buy the little trifle. - -In all the wars and revolutions this old city has seen, all parties have -respected this grand institution, with one exception: When Gonzales was -president in 1884, he ran so short of money, that to keep the National -credit, he levied upon its treasury. An English syndicate with a capital -of $25,000,000 has recently bought the institution for one million, and -will still carry on the banking business. - -Chapultepec, “The hill of the Grass-hopper,” is the president’s White -House and the West Point of Mexico. It is three miles from the city, and -is situated upon a perpendicular rock, two hundred feet high, and was a -veritable Gibraltar in war times when cannon were unknown. This castle -was the pride and ambition of Carlotta, the wife of Maximilian, and she -spent half a million dollars on the interior furnishings. The interior -is remodeled on the Pompeiian style. The castle is reached by a winding -road around the hill, and also by a secret cavern through the hill. On -the rock in front are the engraved pictures of Montezuma I. and his -successor. In the rear is the immense park of _ahuehuete_ or cypress -trees, next in size to the redwoods of California. One of these -venerable monarchs is fifty feet in circumference and one hundred and -seventy feet high, under which was Montezuma’s favorite seat. This park -measures two miles in length, and reaches to Molino del Rey, “The King’s -Mill,” which figured in the war with the United States. It is now the -National Arsenal. - -The Military Academy is at Chapultepec, and the whole hill is a military -camp. From the citadel a view can be had of the whole valley of Mexico, -forty miles long and thirty wide. To the left of the road leading up to -the castle is a cave, closed with an iron gate. This is said to have -been the treasure house of both Montezuma and Cortez. A stairway leads -up through the hill to the castle. A large collection of animals are in -the park and a beautiful flower garden. From here leads an aqueduct -that supplies the city with water, just as it did before the Conquest. -Here was made the last stand against the American army under General -Pillow, and U. S. Grant was one of the first to mount the hill, and the -flower of the cadet army was slain here, and they were only boys. The -occasion has been remembered by the government, and at the foot of the -hill stands a large monument with the names of all the boys who fell. On -one side is this inscription: - - “DEDICATED TO THE STUDENTS - WHO FELL - IN DEFENDING THEIR COUNTRY AGAINST - THE AMERICAN INVASION.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -THE PASEO AND BULL-FIGHT. - - -The City of Mexico with its 350,000 inhabitants is a disappointment to -the foreigner. The business portion looks just like an American city. -All the Mexican cities are paved with cobble stones, with the street -lowest in the center, which is the gutter. Here the streets are broad, -cross at right angles, high in the middle with gutters next the -sidewalk, and are paved with asphalt. The houses are four story, and the -shops have glass show windows, very unusual in Mexico. The reason is, -this is not a Mexican city. It was built by foreigners and is now run by -foreigners. - -On July 14, when the French celebrated the Fall of the Bastile, -four-fifths of the business houses were draped in the tri-color of -France. With twenty-five foreign consuls, six vice consuls, and fourteen -foreign ministers, each with its attaches and dependencies, it is no -wonder the city’s local ear-mark is lost in this assembly of foreigners; -and, were it not for the languages of Spanish and French which fall so -musically on the ear, the scene would not be very different from a -street in Chicago, if we eliminate the vehicles. It is due the foreign -element that the city has the finest boulevard in America. - - -LA PASEO DE LA REFORMA. - -The Latin American races are very fond of carriage-driving, and one of -the first signs of wealth is the laying out of the promenade where the -“four hundred” may drive at the fashionable hour. Before the present -Paseo was built, the fashionable drives were Paseo de La Viga and Paseo -de Bucareli. Every afternoon, then as now, were to be seen two long rows -of carriages with crowds of gentlemen on horse-back and multitudes of -foot passengers. - -The Paseo de Bucareli, or Paseo Nuevo, is in the southwestern part of -the city. It was opened Nov. 4, 1778, by Don Antonio Maria de Bucareli, -the viceroy. It has the same starting point as La Reforma, the circular -plazuela in which stands the statue of Charles IV. and extends half a -mile almost due south to the Garita de Belem. In the glorieta near the -city gate, is what was once a handsome fountain, surmounted by a statue -of Victory, erected in 1829 in honor of Guerrero, and which was -originally gilded. For promenading, the Paseo is now practically -deserted, but is becoming a fashionable residence section. - -The glories of Paseo de La Viga have indeed departed. The once famous -and fashionable drive is almost deserted, save during Lent when an old -custom prescribes that fashion shall air itself there. It traverses the -bank of La Viga canal for many miles, past the _chinampas_ or floating -gardens, through a double avenue of shade trees, where continual -processions of Indians are seen from the Lake country, paddling to -market with canoes laden to the guards with vegetables, fruits and -flowers. - -But Fashion is a tyrannical mistress, and she decrees that Paseo de La -Reforma be the only place to see and be seen. It leads from the statue -of Charles IV. to the gate of Chapultepec, two miles and a half. It is -laid with smooth asphalt, and has a uniform width of two hundred feet. - -It has double avenues of shade trees on each side, with broad foot ways -on the side, lined with seats for the weary. At certain intervals, the -street widens into glorietas, or circles, four hundred feet in diameter. -The street passes on each side of these glorietas and leaves them as -green islands with beautiful flowers and statuary. There are six of -these glorietas and more are to be added. - -All along the curbing of the Paseo, are statues of men famous in Mexican -history, and are contributed by different states. At the entrance to the -Paseo is the equestrian statue of Charles IV. of colossal size. - -Thirty tons of metal were used in the casting, and it is the largest -single casting in the world. Humboldt says it has but one superior, that -of Marcus Aurelius. - -A royal order issued Nov. 30, 1795, granted to the Viceroy Marquis de -Branceforte to erect this statue in the Plaza Mayor. The commission was -given to the sculptor Don Manuel Tosta, and the casting in bronze to Don -Salvador de la Vega. The mold and furnaces were made ready in the garden -of San Gregorio, and after two days spent in fusing the mass, the cast -was made at 6 a.m. Aug. 4, 1802. The casting, remarkable alike for being -in a single piece, and for being the first important piece of bronze -executed in America, came out of the mold complete and without defect. -In 1803, it was erected in front of the cathedral where now is the -bandstand of the Zocalo. Here it remained till 1822 when the Mexicans -had achieved their independence, and the feeling against Spain was so -bitter it was encased in a wooden globe and painted blue, but was -finally placed for safety from the mob in the patio of the university, a -comparatively out-of-the-way place. Here it remained in obscurity till -1852 when it was set up in the commanding position it now occupies. The -height of horse and rider is fifteen feet nine inches. The king is -dressed in classic style, wearing a laurel wreath and raising aloft a -scepter. - -On both sides of the Paseo at its entrance, are colossal figures on high -granite pedestals said to represent Aztec warriors. The work must have -been done by Spaniards, in ridicule, for a more hideous pair of warriors -never went to battle. - -The first glorieta contains Cordier’s Columbus, one of the most -admirable and artistic modern statues to be found in the world. This was -the work of the French sculptor, Cordier, and was erected at the cost of -Don Antonio Escandon. The base is a platform of basalt, surrounded by an -iron railing, above which are five lanterns. From the base arises a -square mass of red marble with four basso-relievos; the arms of Columbus -with garlands of laurel; the rebuilding the monastery of La Rabida; the -discovery of San Salvador; a fragment of a letter from Columbus to his -patron Raphadi Sauris; beneath which is the dedication by Señor -Escandon. - -Above the basso-relievos and surrounding the pedestal, are four -life-size figures in bronze, of monks and missionaries, and crowning the -whole upon the top of a pedestal of red marble is the figure of -Columbus, drawing aside the veil which hides the new world. - -In the next glorieta is Cuauhtemoc, a worthy companion of Columbus, and -is the work of Don Francisco Jiminez. The statue of the great warrior -king is magnificent, as he appears hurling defiance at his country’s -enemies. The base contains some fine basso-relievos, one representing -the torture of Cuauhtemoc (also spelled Guatemotzin) by the cruel -Spaniards. The fretting around the structure is all after the old Aztec -pattern, and the trophies of Indian arms and insignia are all intensely -appropriate to the warrior who preferred death of his whole people to -the surrender of his city to the Spaniards. Facing the Paseo is the -following inscription: “_A la memoria de Cuauhtemoc y de los Guerreras -que Combatieron Heroicamente en Defensa de su Patria M. D. XXI._” - -Mexico is indebted to Maximilian and his wife Carlotta for this Paseo. -She had set her heart upon a “Paseo Imperaliz,” and Maximilian entered -heartily into the scheme, but he did not live to complete it. His idea -was to establish a court that should rival any in Europe, and he had -already introduced titles of nobility. - -He planned to create a handsome park of Chapultepec, with lakes and -streams and drives, with deer and swans and all the other nice things. -What was done he paid for out of his own civil lists, and he intended to -pay for it all and present it to the city. The Mexican people could not -brook a European Emperor, but they all loved “Poor Carlotta,” and as she -planned the Paseo, every year they add some new improvement until it has -now become the glory of the republic. Every addition is an evidence of -good taste, and Carlotta’s park idea is already planned. From the last -glorieta two roads branching to Tacubaya and Tlaxpana are being -prepared, and the park grounds will then extend from Molino del Rey to -the Exposition building, three miles. - -One never tires of sitting on this boulevard and viewing the motley -throng as it passes in review, driving, riding or promenading. Ladies in -Parisian bonnets and Spanish mantillas; the dashing equestrian rigged in -the paraphernalia of Mexican horsemanship, or breeched and booted after -the manner of Rotten Row itself. Stately vehicles drawn by snow-white -mules; four-in-hands tooled along in the most approved European style; -youthful aristocrats astride Lilliputian ponies, followed by liveried -servants; here and there mounted police with drawn sabres, giving an air -of old world formality to the whole proceeding. In and out among them -flash the bicycles ridden by men, women and children from all civilized -countries; the kaleidoscope of the pedestrians, dressed in their -peculiar garb with red and gray and black _rebosas_, raven black hair -exposed to view, and the Indians from the mountains in their severe -simplicity. The procession passes up the right, with here and there a -light American buggy, or a heavy-wheeled English mail phaeton with a -real live dude at the front holding the reins, and a liveried flunkey -facing behind and holding a flaring bouquet, and, after reaching -Chapultepec, it comes back on the other side, leaving the center to the -horsemen, and to the latter’s disgust, the bicycles. - -And we must not forget the centaurs, the Mexican horsemen; rigged out in -all the silver ornaments of bridle and saddle worth more than the -spirited horse, and ten thousand people to admire them, they never -appear to better advantage than when exhibiting on the Paseo. Spanish -and Mexican ladies rarely ride, and when they do, they are so very -exclusive they ride in closed carriages. At the glorietas are stationed -military bands with from forty to eighty pieces in each, and the -procession always exhibits to “slow music.” - -Poor Maximilian, at heart a great man, but the dupe of Europe, planned -this city as a king and died as a king. Could he return now, what might -be his feelings to see his plans carried out? And poor Carlotta! the -idol of Mexico, a victim of circumstances, has never forgotten that -fatal day when Maximilian was shot at Queretaro and the flash of the -rifles left her a queen without a throne and a wife without a husband. -To this day she drags out a miserable existence at the Austrian capital, -a maniac that has spent thirty years murmuring and jibbering his name. -There is in America a miserable lack of respect to kings, be they never -so good and kind and great, and Mexico was only true to the free air of -the mountains when she refused Maximilian. Mountain-born men will always -be free. - - -BULL-FIGHTING. - -The Aztec in his palmy day offered human sacrifice. He daily made war -upon his neighbors to secure the victims, and washing his hands in gore -has been his profession for six hundred years; this is why bull-fighting -with its fascination and danger and death is to him so dear. - -Every Sunday afternoon and every feast-day is given up to this bloody -pastime and everybody goes. The foreigner goes once, sometimes twice, -but rarely three times, but he never forgets what he sees. Four dead -bulls, three dead horses, from one to three maimed or dead men is the -possible result of a Sunday’s sport. Each city has its _plaza de torus_ -or bull-ring, just as we have theaters, and the bull-fighters go from -town to town as our opera companies. The stars of the company are the -swordsmen. The bull-ring is a circular amphitheater, after the manner of -the Roman Coliseum, and will seat from four to twenty thousand. The -government takes a strong hand in lotteries and bull-fights, and in the -latter, receives twenty-one per cent. of the gate receipts. In the -federal district, the secretary of the republic presides at the fight. - -Four different haciendas are licensed by the government to breed bulls -for fighting purposes, Durango and Cazadero being the most noted. -Poncama Diaz, a nephew of the president, is called the star matador of -the world, and owns the Bucarelli bull-ring in the city, which is -capable of seating 20,000 people. The arena is a circle 200 feet in -diameter, and open to the sky. Around this is an eight foot wall to -protect the people, and at intervals along this wall are “escapes” for -the fighters when the bulls decide there is not enough room in the -ring. Receding from the ring are the tiers of seats arranged in the -manner of a circus. Those on the shady side usually selling for a -dollar, while the “bleachers” sell for 25 or 37 cents. Over these seats -are the private boxes, and above all the gallery for the _olla podrida_. - -An ordinary troupe consists of two matadores or swordsmen, four -banderilleros or dart stickers, two or four picadores or lancers, and -the lazadores who lasso and drag the dead animals from the ring. The -program usually consists of the killing of four bulls in an hour, with -sometimes an extra. The president of the function, (every thing here is -a function) may reject any part of the performance or fine any member -who commits a breach of ring etiquette. The performance is set for four -o’clock and is always the same. The crowd waits, grows impatient, the -band plays. The crowd grows more impatient, the band plays again--plays -all the time. Finally the judge appears, (every function must have a -mediator between the people and the event) and is seated in his -decorated box, and the band plays again. - -The judge makes a sign to the bugler who blows the opening of the gates, -through which comes a snow-white horse bearing a rider dressed in green -and gold, with knee pants and silver buckles, flowing cape, cocked hat -and waving plume. This is the president of the company, and he begs the -permission and approval of the fight. The judge assents and throws him -the keys of the bull-ring, (what else is he there for?) and the rider -retires. Again the bugler blows and the company enter in full force, and -the costume of each is worth a thousand dollars in gold. No two are -dressed alike as to color. Silk jackets that reach the waist, knee pants -and silk stockings and a cockade hat, all present the prismatic colors -of the rainbow. Around each is a Spanish cloak, held around the waist -with the left hand. As they make their bow to the audience, the cloak is -let loose with the left hand and swings around gracefully pendant from -the left shoulder. - -Again the bugle blows, and through the open gate a fierce bull from the -mountain is ushered in. As he passes the gate a man overhead thrusts a -steel dart into his shoulder, and on the dart is a rosette and a silk -ribbon bearing the name of the hacienda whence he came. Maddened by the -wound and frightened by the noise and people, he seeks the cause, and -sees two horsemen in the arena. The horse is blindfolded to prevent his -shying, and has a piece of sole-leather covering his side for -protection. The horseman has a lance and endeavors to thrust it into his -shoulder to ward him off. The lance point is short and is not meant to -do serious harm, but to wound and irritate the bull and make him furious -for the final battle. Sometimes the lance fails to score, sometimes it -holds in his tough hide and the handle breaks and the bull buries his -horns in the horse’s belly, and hurls both horse and rider in the air. - -The horse was intended for the sacrifice from the beginning, and this -was a part of the program. When the bull has killed one or two horses, -he is encouraged to fight, and that is just what the whole thing is for. -A man with a red flag draws the bull’s attention to the other side -while the dead horse is dragged out, and sometimes a dead man. Again the -bugle blows and the ring is cleared, and two banderilleros enter. With a -red flag one gets the bull’s attention, and a banderillero runs to the -center. In each hand he holds a banderilla, a sharp steel dart about a -foot long, and ornamented with rosettes and streamers. When the bull -charges, he must reach over his horns and plant both of his banderillas -in a shoulder at the same time. Sometimes the spread of horns is four -feet, and the banderillero must make the pass and escape in a flash. As -the bull makes the charge in a frenzied run, you find yourself -unconsciously rising from your seat in anticipation of the almost -certain death of the man, and women who see it for the first time -usually faint and are promptly carried out. - -Should the man succeed in planting the banderillas, the crowd shower -cigars and flowers and fans upon him and shout _bravo! bravo!_ Should -the bull succeed in thrusting his horns through the man’s equatorial -region and toss him in the air, the crowd shout _bravo torus!_ just the -same and cheer and whistle. They paid their money to see blood and what -does it matter if it be man or bull’s? At this point it is proper for -the American ladies to faint and come to and hurry out, while the -Mexicans laugh at people who leave before the fun begins. The idea of -fainting for such a small thing! The dead man is carried out and the -other banderillero takes his place, and as the bull charges he must -plant his banderillas in the other shoulder. Sometimes the experts vary -the program by sitting in a chair until the bull is within six feet of -him, and then rises and makes his thrust in time to escape, and the -bull goes off writhing in pain and trying to shake the cruel darts from -his shoulder. - -Sometimes a detachable rosette is thrust between his eyes as he charges, -and the stream of blood that follows betrays the steel point behind the -beautiful rosette. Then men with red flags will tantalize him. They -stand behind the flag, and as the bull charges the men step aside, -holding the flag at arm’s length in the same place, and the bull passes -under the flag into empty air, where the man was. Quick as a cat he -detects the fraud and turns upon the man, who makes a two-forty sprint -to one of the escapes, where the bull tries to batter down the planks to -get to him. The bull is now mad enough to fight a circular saw, and -again the bugle blows. The ring is cleared and now enters the matador. -The judge hands him a red flag and a sword. He must now challenge the -bull to single combat, and to the victor belong the congratulations, and -the man knows full well that if he gets killed the crowd will cheer the -bull just as heartily as they would if it were the other way. - -All the preliminaries of the fight were to aggravate the bull to his -highest fighting power, then turn him over to the matador, the “star of -the evening.” Rules as rigid as the Marquis of Queenbury prevail, and -woe to the man who should violate a rule or take advantage of the bull! -The judge would instantly order him from the ring and fine him. The -ethics of the fight require that the man shall stand in the middle of -the ring, wave the red flag as a challenge, and as the bull starts -toward him put the flag behind him. As the bull charges, he must reach -over his horns, thrust the sword through his shoulder, pierce the heart, -and the point of the sword must appear between the bull’s fore legs, and -it must all be done in a single stroke. - -The hand and the eye must be as quick as lightning to do that when the -bull is on the run. If the stroke is successful, the sword flashes a -moment in the air and the next its hilt is resting against the shoulder -blades, and the bull falls as if struck by lightning. Then the air is -rent with shouts and dollars and fans and handkerchiefs, and with one -foot upon the dead animal, the matador bows his appreciation. The bugle -blows, the two lazadores gallop in, throw their lariats over the two -hind legs of the bull, and without checking their gallop, drag him out -and prepare for another. A bull is killed every fifteen minutes as -regular as the clock. - -Sometimes the sword misses the heart, and the bull walks off with a -stream of blood and an ugly sword wound, and then the hisses and remarks -that fall upon the matador sometimes drive him to suicide. I saw a -matador driven to desperation by the hisses, and seizing another sword -he made the stroke just behind the ear, severing the medulla oblongata, -a more difficult stroke than the other, thereby redeeming himself. -Sometimes a bull with wide stretch of horns will disconcert a matador -and he will attempt to retreat at the last moment, but then it is as -often death as escape. - -One Sunday a company had unusually bad luck. Three horses and two men -had already been killed, and only two bulls, and the troupe had no more -matadors. One man was apologizing to the audience that the sport could -not proceed as he had already lost two men, when the bull suddenly made -a charge upon him and caught him between the shoulders. The “sport” -closed for the day, and the people pronounced it a great success. - -The next Sunday there was hardly standing room from the crowd that came -back hoping for a similar show. I met the crowd returning, and asked how -was the fight? Several shook their heads and looked dejected. “_No -bueno_, nobody was killed and the whole thing was a fiasco.” If a bull -refuses to fight after the lance has been thrust into him, the bugler at -a sign from the judge blows him out. It must be a bloody, thoroughbred -fight or none at all. It requires a long education to harden people to -suffering and blood as these people practice daily. I saw two soldiers -walk out of the barrack to fight a duel with pocket-knives, and a -hundred people stood by and saw them kill each other and not a hand was -raised to stay them. The _modo duello_ among the cow-boys is very -effective. When two cow-boys have a difficulty that cannot be settled, -their friends take them off and tie their left hands together and stick -two bowie knives in the ground for their right hands, and leave them. -The one that is left alive can cut himself loose and come back to camp. -If neither comes back by the next day, the friends go over and bury -them. There is also a woman bull-fighter in Mexico; her name is La -Charita. Arizona Charley, an American cowboy has also endeared himself -to the Mexican heart by proving himself a first-class matador. -Bull-fighting is as much a national sport as our base-ball. At one time -it was interdicted in the federal district, and the people would go to -Puebla every Sunday, seventy-five miles away, to see the “sport.” To the -lovers of the sport it matters little whether the bull or horse or the -man gets killed, or all three. What they want is their money’s worth. - -The meat is sold to the butchers after the fight, and Monday morning -when the waiter asks the _Americano_ how is his steak, the answer -generally comes, “It’s bully.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -LA VIGA CANAL. - - -On the side-walk adjacent to the western entrance to the cathedral is an -iron and glass Kiosk. This is Mexico’s flower market. Every morning in -the year from daybreak until eight o’clock, the sidewalk and the -adjoining street is one mass of fragrance and color. Every flower you -know and as many as you do not know are spread in the greatest profusion -possible, which fact suggests an inexhaustible supply-house somewhere. -Here are roses, jassamines, pansies, violets, heliotropes, sweetpeas, -gardenias, camelias, lilies, honeysuckles, forget-me-nots, verbenas, -lark-spurs, poppies, morning-glories, tulips, geraniums, and orchids of -untold variety and color. And there were purchasers. Priests from all -the churches, milliners and café proprietors, dry-goods’ merchants, -hotel keepers, the señora in her private carriage, señoritas with holy -shrines and patron saints to honor, devotees whose special saint day is -to be celebrated by a fiesta--everybody buys flowers, and they come by -the ton as fast as other tons are sold. And they are arranged by master -hands into cornucopias, crosses for the church altar, wreaths for the -funeral car, decorations for the cemetery, and into any design the -purchaser may indicate. - -[Illustration: GROUP EL ABRA.] - -I ask where such a world of flowers can come from in such an unbroken -stream. “From Las Chinampas,” the floating gardens. Floating Gardens! -that sounded like the tales I had read, and here are people just from -them! I anxiously ask where are they: “_En Canal La Viga_;” and so the -search began. A street-car takes us to La Embarcadero where a hundred -eager boatmen leave the wharf and come running to see us. I always -thought I was popular, but here was an ovation I had not looked for. -Then I learned something new. Each of my hundred friends had the best -boat on La Viga, and each of my hundred friends was the best pilot from -the canal to the lakes. Here was absolute perfection in ship building -and nautical knowledge that would make Diogenes put up his lamp and say: -“Eureka!” After each had extolled the virtues of his particular scow, or -flatboat, or raft, whichever it approached nearest in appearance, we -chose one. - -If Canal La Viga was ever dug by man, history is silent about it. It was -here when the conquerors came. It serves the same purpose as Niagara -River, and brings the water of Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco down to Lake -Texcoco. It has a uniform width and depth, and its banks are lined with -stately avenues of trees the entire length. To the great middle-class -and Indians, this is the great highway of commerce and resort for -pleasure. Sundays and feast days it is a mass of moving color. In the -dim past this city was the Venice of the New World, so boating is an -inheritance. The boats are from ten to fifteen feet long; from four to -eight wide and are generally poled along. There is an awning and -comfortable seats where the passenger may enjoy the scenery protected -from the sun. You make any arrangement you can as to price, and your -boatman spits on his hands and pushes off, and if it is early in the -morning you meet hundreds of crafts coming to market loaded down with -fruits, grain and vegetables, pigs, lambs and chickens, and charcoal and -baskets and everything else that the Lake country produces. The -vegetables, by irrigation, surpass anything you have over met in that -line; heads of lettuce larger than cabbage, and radishes as large as an -ear of corn. A diminutive steam tug is met, trailing twelve or fifteen -barges loaded with grain and cordwood from the upper lakes. Under a -shade tree by the water, is a laundry after the fashion of the country, -and a man and woman are washing clothes. The man’s part consists in -sitting down and looking tired while the woman scrubs. - -If it is Sunday the boats are laden with garlanded merry-makers with -tinkling guitars and singing and dancing and having a “large time.” On -the right is the once famous Paseo de La Viga, whose glory has long -since departed to the Paseo de La Reforma. In spite of its neglect, La -Viga is one of the most delightful drives in the city, especially in -early morn, when canal traffic is at its best, and during Holy Week when -the great middle-class take their holiday. Almost immediately after -starting, we reach the old puebla of Jamaica, which, like the Paseo, has -the look of having seen better times. On the opposite bank and by the -Paseo, stands a melancholy bust of Guatemotzin, the last of the Aztec -chieftains, whom the Mexicans delight to honor--another testimonial of -ancient aristocratic grandeur. The next point of interest is the old -Garita de la Viga, the custom-house building, dating back to Spanish -times. - -Until a month prior to this writing, all boats paid custom duties on -whatever merchandise they brought to the city. When the duties were paid -the smaller boats were admitted through a small gate-way, which -necessitated the lowering of the awnings, while the large ones had to -discharge their cargoes. - -On the up-stream side of the romantic old bridge is always a blockade of -boats of every description, from mud scows to steamboats, waiting for a -transfer. The first town beyond the Garita is the quaint little town of -Santa Anita, the Coney Island of the Canal. It is essentially a Mexican -town of thatched reed houses, nearly every one a restaurant for the sale -of those unnamable dishes one meets with so often, which have a far-off -smell, but fill a long-felt want. After hearing their names called, you -are no wiser, but feel better. There are also liquid and semi-liquid -refreshments to suit the taste, provided your sense of taste has been -destroyed before coming here. The insidious and seductive pulque mixed -with the firey tequila and mescal are all loaded with malice _præpens_, -and are better left to the lava-scarred throats that have met them -before. All the fruit drinks are excellent, but the drink par excellence -is the pina. It is made from grated pine-apple, sweetened with sugar and -cooled with the snow just brought from Popocatapetl that morning. - -When Horace sang of the wine of Brundusium cooled with the snows of -Hymettus, he had not heard of the pina of Santa Anita backed up by -Popocatapetl. Here are games, and all manner of games peculiar to the -people, and flower-booths where the people buy flowers and garland each -other, where even the humblest may wear a crown woven of fragrant -flowers woven by the hand of Romeo or Juliet, only they call each other -Ramon and Inez. Here is a fine old church with a beautiful tower and a -diminutive plaza with restful seats and entrancing music. - -Be sure to stop at the hacienda of Don Juan Corona. He was a retired -bull-fighter, and in his old age became antiquarian, and his house is a -vast museum of costly and rare antiquities. When he died he left a -legacy to found a school for the poor, and if you have any pennies to -bestow upon the señora who shows you around, they will be well spent. - -We leave the merry-makers and proceed on our search for _las chinampas_, -after our boatman has mulcted us for coppers enough to tank up at a -pulque joint. The thick ropy liquid has loosened his tongue in a -marvelous manner, and the flood gates of his information bureau are -raised, and for an hour he gives us chapters of unwritten history and -legends of the country. That which I knew, he gave in Spanish, and that -which neither of us knew he gave in Aztec, and he justified his claim of -being the best informed guide on La Viga. Henceforth I call him Ananias. -The two snow-clad volcanoes were close by on our left and I asked him -which was Ixtaccihuatl and which Popocatepetl. “This is Esclaéwa and -that is Popocaltepay,” he promptly answered. I said: “Man, your -pronounciation is bent a little bit to starboard; everybody else says -Popocatepetl.” “Of course they do,” he said, “which only proves that -everybody else is wrong. I say it is Popocaltepay.” That scored one more -for that designing pulque, and added to the title of Ananias, that of -Geographer with a pedigree only three removes by blood from some people -Baron Munchausen once knew. - -The next town reached was Ixtacalco, where the people seem to have -sobered down, and the burg showed less bent for pleasure and more for -business. Here a fine old stone bridge crosses La Viga, and a -discouraged old chapel with its portals wandering down to the water’s -edge, where, in the good old days gone by, the boatman muttered an _ave_ -and deposited his offering to the saint in whose honor it was -consecrated, in the hope that good luck might attend his market voyage. -In front of the church, dedicated to Saint Matias, and which is a -Franciscan foundation of more than three hundred years ago, is a little -plaza with a fountain of running water. Along the lane from this plaza -and marked by a palm-tree, is the ruin of what was once the chapel of -Santiago, which is used as a dwelling. - -In the midst of these inhabitants is the remnant of what was once a most -gallant image of Santiago himself, now galloping to defend the faith on -a headless horse, another relic of the romantic past, the work possibly -of some cavalier of Spain, under the leadership of that prince of brave -men, Hernan Cortez--for cruel as he was, we cannot withhold from him the -meed he justly earned in bearding the lion in his den, though The New -World Venice was buried in his blood-reeking canals. Who knows whose -work it was, least of all the inhabitants of Ixtacalco, or the -mutilated image itself, or if it knows, it discloses not its secret. We -told Ananias to drive on, but that worthy assumed an electrocuted -countenance that was wonderful to behold. The long distance had already -paralyzed one side, and “He barely had strength enough to take him back -to the city, and the Lake is fifteen kilometers. You will have to hire -another boatman from here, and señor, by all the saints I could not pass -that bridge, it is beyond my territory, and besides, señor, how much -more will you give me to carry you to the next town?” - -There! at last we see him in his true light, a pirate! Three well-earned -titles in one day and it was not a very good day for titles either, and -he had no appearance of aristocracy either. Certainly he did not belong -to the Order of the Bath. “Here,” said I, “I will give you three cents -to get drunk and drown yourself.” Off came his sombrero and down came a -salaam almost to the prow of his boat. “Señor, I think I heard you say -you wanted to see the chinampas.” “Chinampas! why of course, that is -what I left the city to see, where are they?” “Well señor, we passed the -floating garden a mile back at Santa Anita.” Caramba! Here was the title -of knave to add to his already long list. With the hope of “holding me -up” at the bridge for a raise in wages, he had silently passed the -chinampas for fear I would stop. - -My admiration began to grow for this Captain Kidd, and I was anxious to -know how many cards he yet held up his sleeve, but it was expensive, so -telling him to soak his head, I crossed the bridge and struck out upon -the causeway, and for miles and miles there was nothing but chinampas! -They could have been seen from Ananias’ boat had it not been for the -bank of the canal. This then was the mint where the flowers and -vegetables were coined for the great city. Floating garden is now a -misnomer. In years gone by they really floated on rafts, but as the -French say “_Nous avons change tout cela._” Since the lake was drained -they are all stationary and are likely to remain so unless -“Popocaltepay” resumes business again. - -The Chinampas are a net-work of islands--Venice moved from the city to -the lakes. The land-owner simply taps the canal with a ditch, leads it -around three sides of a square and brings it into the canal again, -making a rectangular island of any dimension he chooses. His neighbor -beyond taps to his canal, and the system is extended for miles and miles -just like the streets of a city, the business blocks answering for the -islands. Through these canal streets dart thousands of boats that -harvest the crops that grow here forever. Surrounded and saturated with -water the chinampas are always moist and fertile and as there is no -winter it is one perpetual seed time and harvest. The accumulated humus -and vegetable matter make it unnecessary to even fertilize. - -Broad streets cross these areas at intervals and among these islands and -along the causeways the Indians live. No mosquito is ever billed for an -evening’s entertainment, and the voice of the mud-turtle is not heard in -the land. Malaria? perhaps, but what of that? A few dollars to the -priest, a few masses for the soul in Purgatory, and the general average -in the end is about the same. Your average Indian, like the Hindoo, is -a fatalist, and “Kismet!” what is to be will be. There is something of -beauty in these humble homes, and where flower-growing is a profession, -it would be strange if their beauty had left no impression upon the -lives and homes, and so all the people of La Viga decorate with flowers. -The thatched house of reeds will be hidden under its wealth of vine and -flower of the _copra del oro_ with its immense golden cups approaching -in size a squash blossom. Within these huts are specimens of dark beauty -and features and wealth of hair that many a fairer maiden might envy. -Seated under her own vine and pomegranate tree, wrapped in thought and a -scant petticoat, she weaves a mat of rushes or knits a hammock that will -find its way to the home of some who read these lines. - -Are they happy? “Where ignorance is bliss,” etc. They were born here, -their parents before them were born here, this beautiful valley has all -the charms to them that your home has for you. And is not Antonio here? -and is he not the best gardener on La Viga, and are they not going to -the little chapel next fiesta to be joined by the priest? Surely -happiness in this world is measured by the contentment of our lot. - -Not all the people of the Chinampas have boats. The great highway along -the bank carries more passengers than the placid waters. An Indian woman -with a hundred and thirty pounds on her head will trot her thirty miles -to market and return next day. I say trot because no other word will do. -All people of the burden-bearing class have a swing trot that they keep -up all day. And the income! what glowing picture of opulence does the -Indian not feel when he spends two days in the mountains burning -charcoal, then loads himself and burro with his wealth, and trots his -twenty miles to market? A dollar and a half for both loads would drive -him speechless, but let us confine ourselves to actual facts, and grant -him a whole dollar. He counts himself well paid, and the five days labor -and forty mile journey count for nothing. He is not selling his time, -but his _carbon_ which he patiently peddles till sold, only keeping -enough to feed his burro with. I suppose he feeds him with it, for I am -sure I have never seen him carry along anything else that looked like -feed. For dessert a few banana peels around the market place and broken -pottery is about his only chance unless good luck blows some old straw -hat his way; then he feasts. Time! What is time to the Indian? Has he -not a whole year? - -The next town on La Viga is Mexicalcingo, seven miles from the city. -Before the Conquest it was of some importance, but now only a straggling -village with dirty streets, which shelter possibly three hundred people. -The ruins of the monastery and church of San Marco, built by the -Franciscans, are here. The old causeway and military road, seven miles -long, that once crossed the lake from Mexico to Ixtapalapan, crosses La -Viga at this point. This was a dependency of the Aztec City. A very -picturesque view of the high old bridge of Aztec time is had, and the -bright green maize on one hand, and the old ecclesiastical building on -the other, bowered in masses of dark green foliage, are very pleasing. -Past the ancient old bridge the scene changes but little except there -are less signs of habitation, and finally the last town of La Viga is -reached, Culhuacan. This is a picturesque old town, half of it built on -the hill, and here are the ruins of a fine old church and monastery. -Here La Viga begins to broaden out into a lake, and everywhere, both -parallel with it and at right angles to it, are many branches of the -canal, which in wet weather are small lakes themselves. - -The journey might be continued out into Lake Xochimilco “The Field of -Flowers,” and the quaint and beautiful town of the same name would be -well worth the time; but we started out to see where all those beautiful -flowers came from, and _veni, vide_, I returned. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -THE SUBURBS. - - -There are twenty suburban towns around the capital that can be visited -by horse-cars, or as the natives say, “tram-vias.” They are -Atzcapotzalco, Tacuba, Tacubaya, Jamaica, Santa Anita, Chapultepec, -Molino Del Rey, Churubusco, San Angel, Castaneda, Tlalpam, Cepoyacan, -Popotla, San Joaquin, Contreras, Azteca, Nueva Tenochtitlan, Guadalupe, -Tlaxpano, Tlalnepantla and Mixcoac. You will notice that most of them -bear Aztec and not Spanish names, which means that they are older than -the Conquest, and are worth seeing, even though you do not get out of -the cars. - -The farthest away is old Tlalpam, about 20 kilometers, and most of the -journey is made by steam. Seven or eight cars leave the city, drawn by -mules to the gate of the city where they are coupled together, and a -locomotive pulls the train through the beautiful valley at the rate of -fifteen miles an hour. It makes one feel a little bit creepy to know -that he is thus hurried along in a train of street cars, but they are -made by a reliable New York firm and that gives confidence. We pass -through a valley overlain with volcanic tufa, and herein lies the -secret of the wonderful productiveness of this farming land. It is -easily pulverized and makes a fertilizer as potent as the commercial -ones. Old Tlalpan is on the rim of the valley and the foot hills of the -plateau, and is a residence suburb of the wealthy who do business in the -city. The walls of the private residences are as forbidding as a -penitentiary. Solid masonry from ten to twenty feet high, capped with -broken glass fastened in cement. - -A Mexican’s home is indeed his castle, to which he enters through stone -walls and iron gates. You are not wanted there and are never invited. I -knew an American professor who taught five years in Mexico, and had seen -the inside of only three homes, and then he went on business, and saw -none of the female members. Such is the custom and seclusiveness of the -people. - -Tlalpan reminds me of a citizen of New York who went into a _fin du -siecle_ saloon to get a drink, and when he paid his reckoning it was one -dollar. He naturally protested against the exorbitance, and the clerk -called his attention to his surroundings. “My dear sir, look about you; -this is no dive, these paintings cost a hundred thousand dollars.” The -victim paid the dollar, and thought long and deeply. The next day he -returned by way of a harness shop, and got a pair of blind bridles that -draymen use on their horses, and thus equipped he entered that -aristocratic saloon and walked up to the counter. “Gimme a drink -straight without any scenery today.” That is old Tlalpam. Every street -has its blind bridles up and no scenery, but it is not peculiar to -Tlalpam. I have never seen a Mexican’s home with a front yard. At the -edge of the sidewalk up goes his stone house or his stone wall, pierced -with an opening and closed by a heavy iron gate fastened always on the -inside. Members of the family have to give the password or its -equivalent before it is ever opened, and tramps are unknown. Life would -have no pleasures for a tramp who could not open the back-gate and creep -up to the kitchen and frighten a woman to death by a flash of his living -picture. - -In Tlalpam you walk a block between high walls to the cross street, and -do the same to the next and the next, and you can imagine how delightful -it is, “Straight without scenery.” You must not forget that none of the -streets have shade trees. So after I had admired all the beautiful stone -walls and stone pavements, a wicket was suddenly opened to pass someone -in, and I got a flashing glance of languid señoras and señoritas taking -their siesta in hammocks swung between lime trees redolent with -fragrance and--some one shut the gate. If that sleepy old town thought -that I had come all the way there to look at the stone walls, little did -it know me. I pounded on that gate till the startled inhabitants thought -I was trying to break into jail, but I got in, and found myself in one -of the most beautiful and fascinating places I had yet seen. The -spraying fountains and flowers and song birds, and the Moorish setting -of the surroundings, took me back to the wonderful stories of the -Alhambra. Meanwhile that astonished household was all agape at the -unheard of intrusion, but great is the power of flattery. I frankly told -them that I had been sent all the way from the United States by a -committee of one, to hunt out the most beautiful places in Mexico and -secure their photographs at all hazard to display and strike dead with -envy the people who live in the stuffy cities of America. That on that -very morning I had left the City of Mexico for the express purpose of -getting a picture of the finest place and the most beautiful ladies in -Tlalpam, and with that end in view I was here.----“Enough Señor, enough! -Take us; we are all yours, the house, the fountains, the trees, the -girls--they are all yours, take them.” - -Here was eloquence and victory combined and I did not know what to do -with all the victory. I had solemnly promised not to accept any more -costly presents from these good people, but this bunch of girls seemed -to be different from hotels and other real estate, so I resolved to make -the old gentleman a present of his house and lot, and keep the girls: so -I very gladly embraced--er--the opportunity of posing them for their -pictures. Why these good people should hide so much loveliness and -beauty behind impassable stone walls is beyond my ken. - -How old is Tlalpam? I don’t know, but it began at a time when the memory -of man runneth not to the contrary. Upon the walls, the crop of glass -planted in the cement did not seem to flourish very much. It was a very -glassy looking glass and seemed to need irrigating, but time is long -with these people, and if it does not pan out a crop in the next fifty -years, they will wait patiently for _manana_, that scape-goat of all -incompleted enterprises--to-morrow. I don’t know whatever gave these -people an idea that they could grow glass anyway, unless it was the -Spanish moss. This moss is a parasite that grows upon all kinds of -trees, but in old Tlalpam it grows upon the wires stretched across the -street to hold the street lamps, and it is aristocratic moss that grows -with its head up instead of trailing, and I call that making headway -against adverse conditions. The weeds and cacti upon the wall seemed to -make their way better than the broken glass, and when I last saw them, -they were green and were getting up in the world. - -“But it is a long lane,” etc., as the proverb says, so at last the -supply of aristocracy gave out at the rise of the hill, and we reached -the realm of the great unwashed, who had neither walls nor rags to hide -their nakedness. The happy children were clothed with innocence which -needed no other protection than the blue sky and the Republic of Mexico. - -Higher and higher we go up the hill. The avenue we started in led into -the main street, this street finally led into a path, and the path -terminated in a cow trail and this trail merged into a squirrel path -which ran up a tree; so, like the King of France, “We marched up the -hill, and then marched down again.” But before starting down we stopped -to rest at the tree where the squirrel trail disappeared, and looked -over the valley, and could realize the emotions of Cortez when he stood -at the same place and viewed a similar scene. Across the silver lake lay -the City of Mexico, twenty kilometers away, with its thousands of spires -and pulse-throbs that supplied the veins and arteries and capillaries to -the fortunes and hopes of its tens of thousands of dependencies. No -wonder Cortez said it was the fairest city man ever looked upon. The -one thing a stranger never quite masters here is the rarified atmosphere -which destroys all ideas of distance and nullifies all laws of optics. -You have traveled the road and know it is twenty kilometers, but the -city is brought so like a mirage that you seem almost able to hear the -clock strike. We leave our squirrel path and find ourselves in the city -of the dead, a beautiful place shaded with eucalyptus trees and -furnished with restful seats. - -Soon there enters a figure heavily veiled and places a wreath of -amaranth upon a new-made grave, marked with a wooden cross, and R. I. P. -We leave her to her sorrow and follow a limpid stream from the mountain -back to the city below. Beyond is the parched chaparral and the thorny -cactus now laden with its harvest of purple tunas, surely the manna of -the desert for these discouraged-looking peons. Beside the stream were -green trees of limes and oranges and English walnuts and agua caties and -an air of restfulness. - -We follow the stream into the little plaza with its spraying fountain -and fragrant _Datura suaveolens_, which grows into quite a bush. The -pleasant seats invite us to sit and listen to the notes of the noisy -purple grackle and the discordant tropical jay as they take their -morning bath. Rip Van Winkle is still asleep and Mrs. Xantippe R. V. W. -has not yet come from the market, and so for fear of disturbing the -serenity of that Elysian Field, we tip-toe back to the station where the -car is waiting, and that sleepy old town does not know to this day that -a band of camera fiends invaded its sacred precincts, even unto its -highest citadel and returned without the loss of a single man. Happy Old -Tlalpam. R.I.P. - -Back across the ancient bed of the lake we fly, and where once was -Montezuma’s fleet are herds of sleek cattle, knee-deep in rich alfalfa, -awaiting their turn to contribute to the material welfare of the mammoth -city. We reach a junction, Churubusco! Immediately we think of that -history class of twenty years ago, when we had to “stay in” after school -because those battles would not fight themselves in the right places; -when Chancellorsville and Crown Point and Saratoga and Churubusco could -not agree as to time, place and manner. Here was a chance to settle one -point, even if the teacher had long since died of worry, and we -anxiously get out and look. - -“Where _is_ Churubusco?” “This is Churubusco.” “But,” I said, “I don’t -see anything but a street-car stable with come mules in it.” “All the -same this is Churubusco.” “Well,” I enquired, “where does this mule car -go from this junction?” “It goes to San Angel, a summer residence town.” -I determined to go out there and come back when my mind was settled to -take a look at Churubusco, but when I got back, there it was, just an -adobe mule stable. I sat on a bench opposite and tried to think what did -General Scott want with the stable, and why they put it in the history. -I suppose it was put there to punish unoffending little boys who liked -to play base-ball. I took out my camera and prepared to shoot the -harmless stable, and changed my mind. I was not on a warlike expedition, -but was in pursuit of knowledge, and I did not want to add another blot -on the sanguinary page of America’s Dr. Ledger. No, not for a brevet. I -put up my magazine. - -A general vegetable merchant, who had three cabbages and four turnips on -a board, seeing my troubled countenance, very kindly came over and said: -“_Que pense, Señor?_” I said: “I am thinking about General Scott -bringing his army up here after that car stable and then did not take it -away after you gave it to him. Now don’t you think he was off his base?” -He shrugged both shoulders, took his cigarette from his mouth and -thought a minute, and then he uttered these words of wisdom: “_Quien -sabe?_” - -I said, “Well if you live here and do not know, how am I expected to -know, and what are the histories to do about it? And my good fellow, -just between you and me and the gatepost, don’t you think if General -Scott had come here and taken a good look at that stable first, he would -have gone on to town and had a good night’s rest, and saved me all this -unrest and pang of conscience about that history lesson, and that poor -dead teacher?” - -With his eyes full of pity he said: “Señor, are you hungry?” “Yes I am, -and I am disgusted with your old street-car stable.” “Señor, here’s your -car if you are going to town.” I turned my face to the city and my back -on Churubusco. - -We soon reached the city gate, where the locomotive was unhitched and -the mules were re-hitched, and we were soon on the street, where we met -a funeral car with its black canopy flying behind, as the mules, under -whip and lash, hurried to the city of the dead, and I went to drown my -thoughts in a glass of pina. Others may have this drowning mania -sometimes, so I give this recipe free gratis for nothing, as I got it -from the señora on the Zocalo. The pine-apple is first pared and sliced -as we do apples. Then on her knees the señora takes her stone rolling -pin and stone vessel like a wash board and reduces the slices to pulp, -which is strained and sweetened and iced, and is sent to you by the -señorita, who guarantees to drown all your troubles for just six cents, -and she innocently prattles away until the glass is empty, and “of -course the caballero will have another.” Under ordinary circumstances -you would not, but many a man has taken his second glass there just -because he did not know how to say no. The next car is bound for -Atzcapotzalco, so we jump aboard and pass out upon that terrible -causeway where the Spanish army were almost annihilated on that -memorable night of _Noche Triste_, July 1, 1520. - -At the bridge you pass through the Riverra de San Cosme and are shown El -Salto de Alvarado. Alvarado was the most trusted lieutenant of Cortez, -and on the retreat that night the Aztecs cut the causeway and the waters -rushed in, separating the army of Cortez into two parts. Alvarado was -fighting in the rear, and when he attempted to join Cortez he found the -dike cut. His men were all killed or taken prisoners, and he gathered -all his strength and made the leap from the end of his lance that made -him famous. Authorities do not give the distance, but say it was -impossible for any other man. Aztecs and Tlaxcalans alike looked on in -amazement and cried: “Surely this is Tonatiuh, the child of the Sun!” - -Here the Aztecs stopped to gather up the rich booty which Cortez had -taken from their treasure-house and was forced to leave behind in the -breach, and the circumstance alone enabled the invaders to reach the -village of Popotla, a mile further, where Cortez sat down to weep over -the destruction of his army. The tree under which he sat is by the side -of the street and is known as the tree of _Noche Triste_--Melancholy -Night. It is a cypress and is called by the Aztecs, Ahuehuete. Some -years ago a religious fanatic set fire to it and disfigured it, but it -still shows a trunk forty feet high and the same in circumference. The -American tourists were about to take it all away as relics, so the city -was compelled to enclose it in a lofty iron fence, which is fully able -to enforce the ordinance, “Keep off the grass.” The natives very -naturally expected me to attempt to scale the fence and get a branch, -and to let them know that all Americans could live up to their -reputation. I vigorously shook one or two of the iron posts which -stubbornly refused to leave the enclosure. All the same I felt proud; I -had proved to them that I was an Americano, who would rob the dead, if -the dead had any keep-sakes about him that would do to exhibit at home. - -Having thus patriotically saved our national reputation, I boarded the -car for Atzcapotzalco, which was once an independent kingdom and the -capital of the Tepanecs. Atzcapotzalco, only seven miles from -Tenochtitlan, held the Aztecs in subjection. Once when the Aztec King -sent a present, Maxatla, the tyrant, in derision returned to the king a -woman’s dress. Later he allured to his court the wife of the Aztec king -and violated her. For this insult, the Aztec king Itzacoatl, “Serpent of -stone,” made an alliance with the Acolhuans, and in a two days’ battle -the city of Atzcapotzalco was taken, 1448, and reduced to a slave market -and never again rose to power. I think they were still talking about -that battle when I was there. Old age seemed to have settled down upon -everything, and the task to arouse them was so great I refused the -contract and left it just as Cortez found it in 1520. The valley -surrounding it is very fertile and alfalfa and vegetables were as green -as ivy. - -Tacubaya is the Monte Carlo of Mexico and the most aristocratic suburb -around the city, with fine residences and beautiful gardens and the most -handsome villas in the country. From the gate of Chapultepec a causeway -leads through a most beautifully shaded avenue to the city, and then I -lost interest in it. I was riding a bicycle and when I reached those -cobble-stone pavements I gave them my undivided attention. A tall fellow -from Texas did the swearing for the crowd, and he was so fluent there -was no need for reinforcement, so my whole mind was given to -calculations as to whether I could mount that next stone or climb out of -the next hole. I saw a policeman and I thought he was coming to read the -law, which says no team shall go faster than a walk, so I stopped to -give him my impression of the inquisition and the rack, but I was -disappointed. He had simply used up all the shade on his corner and was -hunting for more. A frog once lived in Kiota, so the Japanese story -runs, and he started out to see the world. When he reached the top of a -hill he reared on his hind feet to view the world. As everybody knows, a -frog’s eyes are on the back of his head, and as he reared up, his eyes -pointed right back to Kioto, so he returned and said: “All the world is -like Kioto.” So all of Tacubaya is like the main street, just -cobble-stones. I am sorry I missed all the beauties they say are there, -but all I saw was the front wheel of that bicycle and the cobble-stones. -Bicycling is best done in that town on foot. - -With Penon it is different. Penon was once an island in Lake Texcoco, -but since the draining of the lake it is high and dry and is noted for -the hot baths and its beautiful bath house. The whole establishment is -paved in glazed tiles laid in mosaics, and the pillars are all painted -after the ancient Egyptian style. I never was an Egyptian, but if I was -I think I would mistake this excellent imitation for one of the old -establishments that Anthony and Cleopatra used to patronize so -liberally. The ride to Penon on bicycle across the ancient bed of the -lake cannot be excelled. - -On the road we passed the new penitentiary and the boys wanted to stop -and see it, but I was perfectly satisfied to “pass by on the other -side.” Not that I was likely to meet any old acquaintance among its -officials, but on general principles I argue that a penitentiary is a -good place to stay away from. You might get lost in there and not get -out, and besides, we had been interviewed by the greatest newspaper in -the city, and as most fellows’ wood-cuts always look like somebody you -never heard of, I thought those officials might have seen those -pictures and would arrest us--I mean the other fellows--for some jail -bird that escaped long ago; but they were bound to go so I told them -_somebody_ had to attend to those bicycles, and if they would not I felt -it my bounden duty to stay there and guard them. So I went to the pen by -proxy. They say it was grand and had cages and other attractive -furniture all from the United States. I always mean to go to the -penitentiary by proxy. - -Across the lake is the city of Texcoco, that was once the Athens of the -valley as Tenochtitlan was the Rome. Here are many ancient remains of -buildings built when this was the most bitter rival the Aztec capital -had. Were it not for the help of the Texcocoans, Cortez never would have -conquered the Island City. Beyond here are the Arcos de Zempoala, an -aqueduct 37 miles long, supported by arches nearly a hundred feet high. -Two leagues from Texcoco is the Malino de Flores, “The Mill of the -Flowers,” which is not a mill at all, but the entrancing home and estate -of an old Spanish family, Cervantes by name, and one of the oldest and -noblest of the Grandees from old Spain. - -In this fairy land of a hermitage you marvel as you never did before at -the possibilities of beautiful surroundings and Moorish architecture. I -wish I might describe this beautiful place, but no one can unless he be -artist, florist and architect, and as I am neither I will not mar its -beauty by a parody of an attempt. For a description of the towns I did -not visit, consult any good cyclopedia. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -WITHIN THE GATES. - - -The city contains nearly six hundred miles of streets well-paved but not -supplied with shade trees. In nomenclature they area puzzle. The -principal street is San Francisco; the first block of it is called first -San Francisco; the second block, second San Francisco, etc., and often a -street changes its name every now and then, and the names include -everything: La Nina Perdita, or Lost Child Street, Crown of Thorns -Street, Holy Ghost Street, Mother of Sorrows Street, Blood of Christ -Street, Jesus of Nazarus Street, The Immaculate Host of Jesus Street. - -And the shop signs are a law unto themselves. No sign indicates the kind -of business done in the shops. Thus, “El Congresso Americano” may be a -blacksmith shop or a milliner’s establishment; “El Sueno de Amor” is the -Dream of Love, but is likely over a shoe store; “La Perla Del Orient” -was a lottery ticket office; “El Amor Cantivo,” Captive Love, was a dry -goods’ store; and so on with “El Mar,” The Sea; “La Coquetta,” “El -Triumfo de Diablo” and “The Port of New York.” Sometimes they hit a -meaning which was not meant; “The Gate of Heaven” was all right, as it -was placed over a drug store. - -Other signs ending in “ria” indicate the goods sold. “Sombrereria” is a -hat store, “sombrerero” is the hatter and “sombrero,” the hat. -“Zapateria,” shoe store; “zapatero,” shoe dealer; “zapato,” a shoe. -“Sasastaria,” a tailor shop; “plataria,” silversmith, etc., but these -signs are used only where articles are made, all others being fanciful. -The stores are nearly all kept by Frenchmen and styles are the same as -in Paris. The ladies of the “400” do their shopping in their carriages, -and have the goods brought to the carriage for inspection. - -The metric system prevails. Railroad tickets are sold by the kilometer, -land by the hectare, cloth by the meter and sugar by the kilogram. -Silver money is coined in the same denomination as ours, and the coppers -are as large as a silver quarter. The law for counting money by dollars -and cents was passed in 1890, but the people still count by the old way, -though they know both. The old way is a copper tlaco, a cent and a half, -a cuartillo, three cents. For silver, medio, 6¼ cents; real, 12½ cents, -which is equivalent to our “bit.” A quarter, or “two bits” is two reals, -in Spanish _dos reales_ but always pronounced “do reals.” The real is -the unit of calculation, the people rarely using the term pesos, or -dollars, in small amount, If you ask the hotel _prietor_ what are his -terms, instead of saying two dollars, he will say sixteen reals, and -will use that term for any amount less than five dollars. An actual real -of 6¼ cents is no longer coined, and its value leads to serious -complications. - -Your street car fare is twelve cents for two tickets. You offer the -conductor a quarter and he will give you twelve cents, and will try to -argue that he is right, but when you enter the number of his badge on -your note-book he promptly gives up the other cent, but he never fails -to try to claim it. I have known fruit vendors to lose a trade in trying -to keep the odd cent in a quarter, arguing that a real is 6¼ cents in -theory but only 6 in practice. Counterfeiting is the greatest industry -in the republic outside of the lottery business. Paper money is rarely -seen, and that makes the volume of silver enormous, and requires -everybody to carry bags of it. If you paid a man a hundred dollars in -quarters, he would test each one separately hunting for counterfeits, -before he would accept payment, and the “ring” of money testing in the -market is a regular Babel. No man or woman trusts another in making -change, and if there is no hard surface near to throw it upon, into the -mouth it goes, and if the teeth make the least indenture, back to you it -is flung. - -The street car system is excellent. All the street cars are horse cars -drawn by mules. They are hitched tandem and go always at a gallop. The -cars go from one to fifteen miles and have regular schedule time. They -all meet and start from the Zocalo on the Plaza Mayor by the Cathedral, -where there is a general conductor with a time-card who starts them off. -They always go in trains of from three to six or nine cars in first, -second and third class, and with short distances the fare is three, six -and nine cents. When there are only two classes, the fare of the first -is double the second. The first class car is painted yellow, and bears -the legend, “For 20 passengers,” and must never carry more. The theory -is that if a passenger is willing to pay for comfort he shall have it. -Second class cars are painted green, with the legend, “For 35 -passengers.” For long distances the fare may reach as high as thirty -cents. The conductor sells you a numbered ticket, and the collector -takes it up, and in your presence must tear off one corner to prevent -the possibility of using it a second time. Gentlemen always offer seats -to ladies, and salute the passengers on entering and leaving the car. As -the car is reaching a crossing or turning a corner the driver blows a -tin horn, the same that makes life a burden for us on Christmas day. If -the car is going to a bath-house or other public place where charges are -made, the conductor will sell you a coupon ticket with admittance to the -place, the price being always printed on it, thus saving you much -trouble in a rush. - -Courtesy is the price of position here, and no better officials can be -found than the street car conductors, and, the least infraction or -discourtesy reported to headquarters receives prompt attention. The -railroads also run three separate classes of cars with prices -accordingly, but not quite in the proportion as street cars. Thus, from -Celaya to Guadalajara, the distance is 161 miles, and a return ticket, -first class, is $9.86, second $6.56, and third $4.90. - -Of carriages there are four classes. Carriages painted yellow and flying -a yellow flag are third class and cannot charge more than twenty-five -cents for a half hour or less, nor more than fifty cents for a whole -hour. Those painted red and carrying a red flag cannot charge more than -thirty-seven cents, and for an hour seventy-five cents. Blue, fifty -cents for half hour, $1 for one hour. Green, special rates at option of -driver and passenger. When a passenger enters a carriage, the flag must -be taken down immediately so that everybody may know it is engaged and -will not hail the driver, and he cannot make other engagements until the -carriage is empty. All carriages and horses are inspected by a -commission who pass upon the respectability of carriage and team and -order the proper color painted across the doors, and the printed rates -pasted inside so that no intelligent traveler need be imposed upon. And -every hotel must post in its rooms the rates “con comida,” or “sin -comida”--with or without board. No one need pay in advance; no matter -how dilapidated you look or how scant your baggage, you may hire the -most costly apartment in the hotel and no questions asked about -security. - -This is because the law protects the people, and if you defrauded a poor -market woman out of a copper the law would follow you to the confines of -the republic and imprison you for debt. That settles the bum question. -The hotel proprietor assigns you to your room and cares not a straw -about you until you are ready to leave. If you pay, very well, come -again. If not, by clapping the hands at the door brings a policeman -immediately. The policeman hears the landlord’s story, and gives you -your option--either pay or go with him, and the prisoner becomes the -property of the creditor until he is paid. - -The police system is excellent, from the reason I am told that they are -not appointed by political favor, but are soldiers from the barracks -and can be always found. Every street-crossing has a policeman all day -and another all night, so during the twenty-four hours there is not a -moment when he cannot be found. When the night squad comes on at 6 p. m. -each man brings a lighted lantern and sets it in the middle of the -crossing, and it is possible to stand at a crossing and count forty -lanterns down the four intersecting streets. As soon as the houses are -closed the policeman tries the doors and windows of each house to see if -they are fastened, and returns to his lantern. Every half hour during -the night each man must blow his whistle to show that he is awake and on -duty. If you are a stranger and ask for direction, the _politico_ will -take you to the next crossing and deliver you to another and you may -thus be passed to a dozen _politicos_, and they will take every -precaution to deliver you safely. If you are a prisoner, the process is -the same, and no man knows what you are arrested for but the first. The -man who delivers the prisoner simply tells from whom he got him, and so -to the next until the first is reached who makes the charge. This makes -bribery and escape impossible, for when a prisoner is delivered to the -next man, the deliverer must report. It is exactly after the manner of -the registry department of our post office. Should the person making the -arrest receive a bribe and permit an escape, no one would know, but when -once started down the line no _politico_ would take the chances. - -Every gambling house or assignation house or cock-pit or any other -institution that the government licenses, is also furnished with -policemen. All day long he stands guard at your door, and all night -long his lantern sits at your steps, and, like the old man of the sea, -he is always there to prevent disturbance. In the gambling house, he -sits like a statue till the business is closed and sees all that passes. -You give a ball in your private house, the _politico_ takes a chair by -the door and sits quietly till your guests have departed. You get up a -little picnic or an excursion a few miles from the city, a special coach -is fastened to the train carrying a company of infantry to keep you -company all day. A foreign consul gives a reception to other consuls, a -squad of mounted police sit their horses like statues in front of the -consulate until it is all over. The American colony gives a 4th of July -celebration, all day long they follow the procession or look at the -dancing but never a word say they. They are neither meddlesome nor -prying, they are just omnipresent. - -Your society gives a parade. Your line of march must be made known to -the prefect of police and every rod of that distance will be guarded by -cavalry. You enter a theater and every tier of seats has a silent man in -uniform. You enter a hotel and any complaint from guest or proprietor is -made to the _politico_. You sit at a public table or other place, and -the proprietor refuses to serve you on account of color, the _politico_ -locks the door and takes the proprietor before the tribunal. He is -absolutely everywhere, but he is neither garrulous nor loquacious, and -he answers all questions with a courtesy that is refreshing. Beyond the -city limits he is no longer a _politico_ but a rurale, a horseman -dressed in buckskin and “booted and spurred and ready to ride.” He -patrols the outlying country as a policeman, judge or soldier. On the -western division of the railroad, whenever the train stops, two rurales -armed with rifles and sabres inspect the train. When the train leaves -the station, a rurale stands on each platform and looks through the -glass door at the passengers till the train gets to the next station, -where he gets off and another takes his place, and so on to the end of -the road. The next train going the next way, each squad is carried back -to their homes, only to repeat the program to-morrow. When the train -stops for dinner you leave your wraps and luggage in the seat and pass -into the dining room, while a rurale locks the car door and stands guard -till your return. - -Never a word do these silent men say. For hours they stand looking -through the car door to see that no harm comes to anything or anybody. -No one ever hears of train robbers in Mexico, but there is a reason for -all this. A country that has been accustomed to its annual revolution -and whose whole list of presidents and emperors nearly have died a -violent death, must needs be ruled by an iron hand. - -And it has not been more than fifteen years since bandits ruled the -country and dictated terms to the government. As late as February 15, -1885, a commission of officers was sent from Zacatecas by the government -to make a treaty with the bandit chief, Eraclio Bernal, and they -returned unsuccessful. The bandit said he would disband his men under -these conditions: “Pardon for himself and band, a bonus of thirty -thousand dollars for himself, and to keep an armed escort of twenty-five -men, or to be put in command of the army in the district of Sinaloa.” -That is the answer the chief sent to the government; and I have seen an -express wagon leave the train with the mail and express, with enough -armed men to fill the wagon, to escort it through the streets of a city -of seventy-five thousand inhabitants. This condition remained until -President Porfirio Diaz hit upon a plan that it took a thief to catch a -thief, so he sent word to the bandits that if they would quit robbing -and come in, he would make them all officers with a salary, and they -could still patrol their old haunts and keep the other fellows down, and -they accepted. Now these men are guarding the very trains they used to -rob. They are born horsemen and can ride a horse ninety miles a day on -the trail. They are the best horsemen in the world, and can throw the -lasso and shoot as well as ride. On a wager you can put a rurale in -chase after a steer and he will throw the riato over either foot you -name, and never check the speed of his horse. - -They are a law unto themselves, and independent of municipal authority. -The rurales may find a man breaking open a freight car, and they take -him behind the depot, try him, dig his grave and shoot him into it, and -the case is settled. No court or civil law will ever go behind their -acts, and that stroke of President Diaz has given the country its -prosperity. The wrong-doers know that the rurales are everywhere, and -that their vengeance or justice is swift and sure. There is a tacit -understanding that jails and criminals are expensive, and dead prisoners -are inexpensive; therefore, if a man’s crime is worthy of death, he is -shot immediately, and all convicts are turned into the army to do the -dirty work of the camp. Should he try to escape, a hundred men know that -they will be commended who shoot him first, so there is no wasted -sentimentality with crime, it is simply an option, be good or be dead. - -Ten years ago a man dared not travel without an armed escort, and now -the same men he feared are his armed escort. When a great celebration is -on hand and the military is wanted to parade, nine-tenths of the -admiration is bestowed upon the rurales. Centaurs they are, with their -caparisoned horses with every piece of metal about saddle and bridle of -solid silver. His own dress is characteristic. With his yellow buckskin -clothes with silver buttons, silver spur and tall sombrero with silver -spangles and monogram, he is an object to win your admiration. Go where -you will, in mountain and valley, hillside and plain, you will meet the -rurales (they always go in pairs) with their ever ready rifle and -lariat, looking for evil doers. Neither money nor time nor patience is -wasted on criminals, and you never hear of mistrials, or appeals, or -“deferred till next session.” Their court dockets are never crowded. The -official shooter with his Winchester goes from court to court and shoots -the prisoners as fast as they are condemned. - -The republic supports an army of forty-five thousand men, and every town -and city is a garrison, and has its military bands. Since the people -support the army, they think the army is theirs, and they make claims -upon what they claim as theirs. Every town has its military band, and -many of them have three or four, and three evenings of each week and -all of Sunday afternoon and evening the bands must play for the people. -This is a rule without exception, and they are good bands and play fine -music. The bands number from forty to eighty performers each, and in -large cities there is no evening without music, alternating with -different parks, but on Sunday they are all on duty, and with the band -comes the social feature of the people. Around the band stand is a -circular asphalt walk, possibly an acre in circumference. While the band -is playing, the parents and duennas and chaperones are seated. - -The young men four or five deep are promenading on the outer -circumference of the circle and the young ladies on the inner, but going -in the opposite direction. Here are possibly a thousand young people -thus enjoying themselves, the young men talking to each other and the -young ladies to each other, but never opposite sexes to each other. -Their social customs are as unchanging as the laws of the Medes and -Persians, and for a young man to speak to a young lady in public would -be a breach of etiquette never forgiven, and a young lady would not dare -walk two squares on a public street unattended by a duenna, unless she -was going to prayers. She would run the risk of her social standing. -There is no doubt that they do throw “sheep-eyes” at each other in the -promenades, but speak, never. At 10 P.M. the band plays its last number, -and the duennas gather up the young ladies and the young men gather up -themselves and they all go home and talk about the glorious time they -had. - -The young and unmarried never mingle. Should a young man have seen his -fate among these promenaders he may not say so to her. He finds out -where she lives and “plays the bear”--that is he passes along the street -on the opposite side and gazes longingly at her balcony. This he does -many times and many days. Of course she pretends that she does not see -him, but at the same time she is earnestly looking for him every day. If -she goes to the window he may stop. Further encouragement is given by -her disappearing from the window and returning with a smile _a la -Juliet_, and the young man goes home and pats himself on the back and -throws bouquets at himself for his great success. Perhaps he will keep -up this bear business for a year, perhaps two, and has never spoken to -the little angel. Sometimes he will get under her window with his guitar -with twelve strings and burden the night-wind with his made-to-order -songs, and if she does not pour a pitcher of water on his head he has -made so much headway that he would be justified in thrashing any other -fellow who should hang around the premises playing bear, “_haciendo del -orso_.” - -He is supposed now to have made enough headway to be allowed to call and -get an introduction and he must find a mutual friend who can do it for -him. He arranges the matter, and at last is admitted and introduced to -the señorita in the presence of the mother and father and duenna, and he -never, no never sees her alone. He invites her to the theater, and when -the carriage calls the whole family is dressed and ready to go, and he -never sees her except in their presence. If there is no objection on the -part of the parents, and if Barkis is willing--and she generally -is--the marriage takes place, and “they live together happy ever -afterwards” as the story books say. Their courtship seems to be in -accumulating all the imaginable difficulties possible, and _always_ -presumes that the parents will be unwilling and must be outwitted, and -this invents plots and counter plots _ad infinitum_. Of course the -parents know, and the young folks know they know, but it is the custom -to invent difficulties and they can not depart from custom. A married -woman’s sphere is but little different from the unmarried; she can -accompany her husband on the street is one advantage. She is pretty as -paint can make her and as ignorant as hermits usually are. A woman’s -world here has two hemispheres--the home and the church, and she lives -and dies knowing no more. - -A woman who makes claims to aristocracy must not under any circumstances -earn a penny or she loses caste immediately. If she teaches or -embroiders for the church or for charity she is excused, but for -herself, never. Sometimes poverty clips the wings of these high-flyers, -and it becomes a serious struggle between starving and losing caste. In -such cases they will sometimes ostensibly give music lessons for -charity, but collect for it on the sly and still preserve their social -standing. - -With the great middle class, all this is different--they live in another -world. They make no pretense to tinsel aristocracy, and have their -living to make and they make it with no limitations whatever beyond -their capacity, and for intelligence and business, a wife from this -class of Mexican women is worth seventy-nine of the bluest blood -aristocracy I have seen in Mexico. They have a fair education in -Spanish, and both French and English are taught in the schools now, and -I have found them able to converse in all three, and could buy and sell -with as good a margin for profit as men. - -Of course there are three classes here, and the third class will be -treated of in a separate chapter. The only bearing they have here is -that they are servants to the other two, but their social standing does -not count for much, Very few girls in this class are unmarried at -thirteen or fourteen years of age, and twelve year old girls as mothers -is as common a sight as pig-tracks, Maturity comes early in the tropics, -and a woman is a wrinkled back-number at thirty. - -The marriage ceremony does not trouble these people much. They have not -the money to buy the license, and so they omit the legal ceremony. On a -hacienda near San Luis Potosi, a peon lost his wife. He came to the boss -and asked for a mule to take the body to the cemetery, and also asked -for two dollars. He explained that he might bring back another wife with -him, so he wanted to be prepared for emergencies. After three hours he -brought back another wife, and his household machinery never missed a -cog. - -Feast days without number give this happy people the opportunity of -enjoying themselves and resting. Not resting because they are weary or -overworked, but resting on general principles. The Ethics of Rest is a -science they have appropriated unto themselves. They do say that men who -love music and flowers will never make cowards or traitors. “_La Fiesta -de las Flores_”--the feast of flowers, is held on Friday before Holy -Week; “_Viernes de Dolores_” or Sad Friday. This _fiesta_ was once held -on La Viga when every boat on the lakes took part in the decoration of -everything and everybody, but Fashion has now decreed that it be held in -the Alameda. The Alameda is the Charing Cross of Mexico. It is a park of -forty acres that was once the site of the Inquisition, where Indians -were barbecued because they did not accept the Catholic religion. The -Inquisition held its last _auto-da-fe_ and burned its last conspicuous -victim, Gen. José Morelos, in the Plaza as late as November, 1815! - -The Alameda has been the birthplace of gunpowder plots, and St. -Bartholomew’s days and revolutions all and sundry for many, many years, -but now it is a peaceful pleasure park, beautiful with fountains, and -aviaries of rare birds and redolent with orange blossoms and whatever -the ingenuity of man can add in the list of charming flowers and shaded -walks and shrubs that never know the sere and yellow leaf, and here on -_Viernes de Dolores_, before daybreak the throngs pour in a steady -stream of Indians from across the mountains and the dwellers from the -plains and the lake dwellers are there and everybody has flowers. The -patient burros have come laden with flowers till only their ears are -seen. From away down on the coast, Jalapa has sent two carloads of -_flores_, and everybody buys flowers and decorates and makes himself -pleasant. No one must fail to do homage to Flora, the goddess of -_flores_, and so garlands and wreaths and merry-makers make possible for -the first time the extravagant displays I have so often seen on the -drop-curtains of the opera house and thought were so impossible. The -fountains were festooned and draped with the rarest of fragrant flowers, -and rarer orchids, and every available place on person or thing was -adorned, and two bands played alternately, and from early morn till late -at night was one vast holiday. - -Then there is another _Fiesta de los Flores_, a _fiesta_, but not a -feast. This is the “_Combate de Flores_.” This is designed especially -for the aristocracy and is held on Paseo de La Reforma. It is a custom -borrowed from Cannes or Nice, and is exactly what the name implies, a -combat of flowers. The line of battle extends from the statue of Charles -IV to the gates of the castle of Chapultepec, over two miles. The -carriages are all decorated with flowers, and as they pass and repass -each other the occupants pelt each other with flowers. The ladies in the -balconies along the Paseo also take part. The hour for assembly is 4 p. -m. A double line of cavalry extends clear to Chapultepec. At each -glorieta is a military band. The sidewalks are jammed by an admiring -multitude who watch the carriages pass with their occupants resting -literally on a bed of roses with which to pelt each other, to finally -stop at the statue of Cuauhtemoc, where the prizes are to be given to -the best decorated carriages. The prizes were escritoires in ebony, -bronze vases, statuettes and diplomas of honorable mention. The -carriages were transformed into crystallized dreams. - -One lady, whose name was Concha, had a carriage body of an immense white -shell of eglantines and white and cream roses. Another was a cornucopia -of sea-weed and palms interlocked with flowers of every hue. President -Diaz and his wife appeared in an undecorated carriage, possibly to save -the embarrassment of the jury in distributing prizes. And what more -esthetic and harmless recreations could we have than the utter abandon -with which these people enjoy the blessings of life and nature? Our -lives have little enough of sunshine sifted into them, and we might -learn some valuable lessons from these tropic people how to get our -quota of real joy out of three hundred and sixty-five days. The fountain -of youth which Ponce de Leon sought in vain is here discovered, -happiness. - -The drainage of the city is not good, and were it not for the altitude, -the death rate here would be terrible. Imagine yourself in New Orleans, -and find yourself suddenly lifted a mile and a half in mid air, and you -are in the City of Mexico. The air is rare and pure. A corpse could be -left out of ground any length of time and would not decompose, but would -only dry up. Fresh meat never spoils, and vegetables simply grow old and -refrigerators are unknown. There is no winter, no summer, but the rainy -season from May till September is followed by the dry season. During the -rainy season you may expect a shower once a day, lasting perhaps an -hour, perhaps ten minutes, and then the sun shines again. The nights are -glorious with southern constellations, and Polaris and the Southern -Cross are both seen, but the handle of the great dipper is broken off -below the horizon. - -You wear the same clothes the year round, as the climate is the same. -After four o’clock you must put on wraps, for the nights are always cool -enough to require blankets every night in the year. The Mexican made -shoe is an instrument of torture which nobody would endure but a -Mexican, because he has never seen a better. High heel and tooth-pick -toe, throws all the weight in a pointed toe which must hold twice its -normal capacity. The unsightly gait the women make with this -uncomfortable shoe is distressing, and to add to the torture they do not -wear stockings--so I am told. My own shoes wore out and I tried in four -cities, without success, to buy a pair of low-cut shoes. We wear them -for the comfort they bring in hot weather, but they have none, so they -do not make low-quarter shoes. You never see perspiration on a person’s -face here, no matter how violent the exercise. - -The Mexican chews tobacco--never. He smokes tobacco, always, men, women -and children, on the street, in the theater, at the table--everywhere is -the deadly cigarette, and they inhale the smoke and emit it from the -nostrils. The Pullman car is the only place where it is necessary to -display the sign “_No se permitir fumar_.” The matches are wax tapers -and double enders. When a person asks for a match, he lights one end and -puts it out, and always returns you the unused end. Such a match will -hold a blaze a minute. High caste ladies do not smoke in public. The -floors of the cars and other public places are pitted as though they -have had the small-pox where smokers have thrown their half-burned -matches which burn long enough to scorch the floor. - -The theaters are built after our style except that every tier of seats -is divided into boxes holding six chairs. Everything goes well until the -last act, when a porter calls upon you politely for six cents for the -use of the chair, and then you learn that the price of the ticket does -not include a seat, and that a seat concession goes with every theater. -You may stand if you prefer, but a Spanish play is no shorter than an -English one. In the front center of the stage is the prompters stand. -Through a trap-door in the stage near the foot-lights his head projects -above the floor and is concealed from the audience by a tin cornucopia -opening toward the stage, so he can be seen as well as heard by the -actors, but he can also be heard by the audience as he prompts their -half-learned lines. - -Kerosene at fifty cents a gallon is the universal public illuminator, -and the empty five-gallon cans with the U. S. brand are met with -everywhere. - -Sept. 16 is Independence Day in Mexico, and its observance is worthy of -note. Its birth was similar to our own, and the child of oppression from -the mother country. Spain prohibited the Mexicans any trade whatever -with any other country but Spain under penalty of death. No schools -whatever were allowed except in charge of the priests, who suppressed -every branch of useful knowledge. No manufactures of any kind were -allowed if Spain could produce and sell the article, and nothing was -allowed to be planted in the rich soil that Spanish farmers in Spain -could sell in Mexico. In 1810, a patriotic Catholic priest, Maguel -Hidalgo y Castella (Hidalgo his father’s name, Castella his mother’s) -with a desire to benefit his starving countrymen, introduced the -silkworm and planted vineyards. These industries were promptly destroyed -by the Spanish officials, and thus were the seeds of rebellion and -liberty planted. - -Hidalgo had been among his countrymen and organized a rebellion. On the -night of Sept. 15, 1810, it was whispered to Hidalgo that his plans were -discovered and the government forces were marching on him. With swift -decision he had the church bells of Dolores to sound the danger signal, -and when the alarmed population reached the plaza, they found their -priest with torch and musket. With burning words he told them of their -wrongs and discovered plans, and at that strange hour and in the -darkness where one could not distinguish friend or foe he gave the -famous _grito_, Mexico’s Declaration of Independence: “Long live our -Mother, most holy Guadalupe! Long Live America! Death to bad -Government!” - -Thus, in that modest hamlet, now known as Dolores Hidalgo, was set on -foot the revolution which eleven years later gave Mexico her -independence, after three hundred years of oppression and cruelty never -equalled before in any other country. And now, on the night of Sept. 15, -you may witness the most remarkable celebration among liberty-loving -people. Before night the tri-color is displayed from every building, and -across the streets are hung innumerable Chinese lanterns ready for -lighting. - -As night advances, the ten acres of the Plaza Mayor becomes a seething -mass, just as it was that memorable night of Noche Triste three hundred -and seventy-six years ago when the Aztecs drove the Conquistadors from -this very plaza beyond the city gates. As the hands of the great clock -in the cathedral slowly move, those ten acres of faces are turned upon -its illuminated dial and all voices are hushed. As the hands come -together, a magic wand is touched somewhere, and ten thousand lights -flash on the scene from a thousand beacons. The string of Chinese -lanterns sway across the streets. Immediately that sea of faces is -turned to the opposite end of the Plaza facing the national palace. Like -a scene from “Dore’s Last Judgment,” those silent faces, in the lights -and shadows of the illumination, point southward, waiting Hidalgo’s -hour. Exactly at eleven o’clock, appears the soldier-president, Porfirio -Diaz, bearing above his head the banner of red, white and green, and -from under its folds launches forth again the _grito_ that for -eighty-seven years has been their war-cry: “_Mexicanos! Viva -Independencia! Viva La Republica!_” Instanter the trumpets blare, the -cannons boom, martial music is set free, the bells from the towers give -tone and the heavens are lit with the glare of fireworks that rival the -halcyon days of Popocatapetl. Ten thousand resound the glorious call. -“_Viva Mexico! Viva Independencia!_” until the very soul of every -freeman instinctively cries in its own language, “_Viva Independencia!_” - -The next day the grand review of the army takes place, and promptly at -ten o’clock the regulars of the infantry and cavalry pass by in new -uniform, but their glory is eclipsed when two thousand rurales, the -finest horsemen in the world, flash by in their buckskin uniforms, the -silver sheen of their trappings glinting in the sunlight on horses that -know every water hole and aroya from the Rio Grande to Tehuantepec. For -a whole week these light-hearted people celebrate with balls and -banquets and fireworks and _fiestas_ and the poor are remembered with -gifts from the president’s wife. - -Hidalgo was a martyr to his cause, and within eight months his head hung -from the castle walls of Chihauhua, but now rests in the Cathedral under -The Altar of Kings. Iturbide took up his fallen sword and in 1821 -entered the capital at the head of his victorious troops and was hailed -as “El Libertador,” and was crowned as the first Emperor of Mexico. -Santa Anna headed the revolution that banished him, and on his return in -1824 was shot as is the custom with Mexico’s rulers. - -But there is another day as dear to Mexico as September 16, and that is -July 18, the day when Juarez died. Benito Pablo Juarez (Whareth) was a -full blood Indian, born in Ixtlan in the state of Oajaca, in 1806. From -1847 to 1852 he was governor of Oajaca and was banished by Santa Anna. -He returned in 1855 and joined the revolution of Alvarez which deposed -Santa Anna, and after continual fighting, was declared president in -1861. Immediately he issued a decree suspending for two years all -payments on the public debt. Forthwith England, Spain and France sent a -combined army to seek redress. England and Spain soon withdrew, but -Louis Napoleon, taking advantage of the civil war in the United States, -and presuming that the disrupted union could never enforce the Monroe -Doctrine, declared war against Mexico and offered the throne to -Archduke Maximilian, of Austria, as Emperor. For seven years were the -contending armies in the field, but in 1867 Maximilian was taken -prisoner and shot at Quétaro, and Juarez ruled supreme. And then that -Aztec Indian by one fell stroke lifted the pall from his much warred -people and did an act which astonished the world. For three hundred and -fifty years had the Catholic Church misruled and despoiled Mexico. The -people were taxed to the starving point to enrich the priests. It was -the Catholic Church of France that had placed Maximilian on the throne, -and the Catholic Church of Mexico that kept him there and fought his -battles against the liberty-loving Indians. - -Three-fourths of all the lands and property of Mexico were deeded to the -church free of taxation, and when the “Procession of the Host” passed -along the streets, every foreigner or skeptic who did not at once kneel -was in danger of the Inquisition. This was the state of affairs in 1867, -but Juarez faltered not. All the vindictiveness of his race was kindled -when he thought of the tale of bricks that had been required of them -under Spanish rule and in that supreme moment he divorced church and -state, and confiscated all the church property to the state. No -thunderbolt could have been more swift or more obedient than his decree. -Every convent, monastic or religious institution was closed and devoted -to secular purposes. Every religious society of Jesuits and Sisters of -Charity was banished from the country. So thorough was his work, that -now no convent or monastery can openly exist in Mexico, and no priest or -nun or Sister of Charity can now walk the streets of Mexico in any -distinctive article of dress to distinguish them from any other -citizens. - -Catholic worship is still permitted in the cathedral, but the Mexican -flag floats from the tower to show that it is a state institution and -can at any time be closed or sold or converted into any use the -government sees fit, and that the clergy and priests are “tenants at -will.” All those rites which once supported the claims of the Catholic -Church to omnipotence are now performed by the state. The civil -authority performs the marriage ceremony, registers births and provides -for the burial of the dead. Marriage ceremony by the priests is not -prohibited, and they are legally superfluous, but those who cling to the -old, first secure the state rite and afterwards seek the church service. -The church controlled all educational institutions, all public opinion -and the keys of heaven and hell. - -When the soldiers of Juarez pulled down the fetishes of the Indians, the -Indians stood speechless expecting fire from heaven to consume them for -sacrilege, for thus they were taught by the priests. The exiled monks -cursed them for _anathema maranatha_ and prophesied that the earth would -open and destroy the despoiled, but the soldiers laid paved streets -across the yards of convents that had witnessed crimes and debauchery in -the guise of holiness in the “Retreats” that would smell to heaven, and -not a soldier was engulfed. For the first time the ignorant people -learned that the priesthood was not infallible, that the fear of the -church had no terrors to this Indian president, and the old Aztec spirit -returned, and for the first time the veneer christianity of the -Catholic faith showed its shallow depths, and the disappointed adherents -lifted not a finger against this dark-skinned iconoclast. The church at -that time owned eight hundred and sixty-one large country estates valued -at $71,000,000. Twenty-two thousand lots of city property valued at -$113,000,000 and other property not listed, making a total of -$300,000,000, and the revenue of the clergy from the people direct was -$22,000,000 annually, which was more than the income of the government -from all its customs and internal taxes. By the irony of fate, -Protestants who before this were not allowed in the country, now bought -from the state this very property. - -Thus, the former spacious headquarters of the Franciscans with one of -the most beautiful chapels in the world, fronting Calle de San -Francisco, the most fashionable street in Mexico, was sold to Bishop -Riley, acting for the American Episcopal mission, at the price of -$35,000, and is now valued at over $200,000. Likewise in Puebla the -American Baptists have bought the old palace of the Inquisition, and a -similar palace in the City of Mexico is now a medical college. The -national library occupies an old convent, and a large share of its -treasures were confiscated from the Roman churches. Since 1867 -Protestant churches are springing up everywhere, where it was worth a -man’s life to propose such a thing before. Previous to this so -persistent was the church that the national seal bore the legend: -“Religion, Union and Liberty,” placing the church first, and even after -Mexico secured independence the seal remained the same. - -Juarez was both a Washington and a Lincoln to Mexico, and so when July -18th comes around to mark the day of his death, from Dan to Beersheba is -one vast blast of bunting and fireworks. I was in the capital on that -memorable day when the city put on its holiday dress to do honor to the -name of Juarez and to strew flowers on his grave. - -All lovers of liberty were given an opportunity to hear the eagle -scream. President Diaz was the chief figure in the procession and was -the first to lay his offering on the tomb, followed by the members of -congress, the diplomatic corps and the military bodies. The stars and -stripes were there of course, end the Spaniards were there in numbers. -Two hundred and fifty Cubans had a place in the procession, each with a -miniature flag of Cuba on his coat and “Cuba Libre” on his badge. They -objected to the Spaniards on the ground that the celebration was in -honor of liberty and a patriot, to neither of which virtues could Spain -lay claim while Cuba was breathing her life out in a death struggle, and -the police had to intervene to prevent blood-shed over the patriot’s -grave. - -By the decree of Juarez, there came to Mexico freedom from a worse -slavery than that which darkened our shores; the slavery of the Romish -Church. The Catholic religion still prevails, but it is a Juggernaut -with pneumatic tires, and it runs a course lined with bayonets. There -are millions of benighted adherents yet under the spell of the -priesthood, but Protestant churches are springing up everywhere with the -free bible. After the wonderful achievements of the Juarez -administration, it seems remarkable how conspicuous by its absence is -the Indian face from public affairs in Mexico. She has a standing army -of over 45,000 men, but all its officers are white, and the same is true -of the police force, and the military bands whose rank and file are of -Indian blood have the leaders white. The students of the military -academy are white, so are all members of congress, the superintendent of -public works and all places of trust, although legally, every man of age -is privileged to vote and hold office. - -But behind the law are the _leges non scriptæ_, the spirit of social -caste, as broad as the leagues of territory, and as powerful as a -Corliss engine. The Indian’s face is no debar from good society nor a -residence in any part of the city where he may buy, but the old regime -of Spaniard and Indian, master and servant, has taken deep root and is -still as powerfully in evidence as in the slave states of America. Of -the twelve million inhabitants, one-third are pure Indians, speaking a -hundred and twenty different languages. Onehalf are Mestizos or mixed -races, and the remaining one-sixth are foreigners, the Spaniards -predominating, and the remnant is the governing power. - -Public opinion in Mexico has been defined as “the opinion entertained by -the president;” and this is almost absolutely true, if you may also add -a few thousand land owners, professional men, professors and students. -The rest do not count. No such thing as a public mass meeting to discuss -public questions has ever taken place in Mexico. A presidential canvass -simply means that the candidate who first gets control of the army gets -elected, but a campaign, never. - -While every adult male citizen has a right to vote, less than thirty -thousand votes are cast in a presidential election, and the great mass -of the people never know there is a change unless there is a revolution. - -One day before the election I saw a two-line announcement in an American -paper published in the city which said: “Tomorrow the citizens of Mexico -will elect a president.” Early the next morning I was on the street -expecting a great excitement or patriotic demonstration, but not a cog -of that great wheel of industry missed a revolution. About ten o’clock I -began to ask people about the election, but no one could give me a word -of information. I went to the National Palace and everything was going -on as usual. I asked a number of people where could I find the voting -places, but got no information whatever, and I began to think the -announcement was a canard. Two days afterwards I was in the state of -Vera Cruz and saw in another paper the following election news: -“Porfirio Diaz was unanimously elected president of Mexico for the fifth -time.” That was all. I had been on the streets the whole of election day -and could not find a single person who could tell me of the election. - -To differ in speech or newspaper from the policy of the party in power -is to prepare your own grave for treason, or for banishment, so those -who have a grievance against the government have no recourse by electing -a better governing power, so they simply wait till they feel strong -enough and find a man to issue a “_Pronunciamento_,” and a revolution is -born, and sad but true, there is no other way. Free speech and -mass-meetings and opposition candidates are unknown except at the point -of a bayonet. Excepting Juarez, the Indian, Porfirio Diaz--who is part -Indian of the same tribe as Juarez--is the most progressive president -the country has ever had, and the constitution was changed so he might -succeed himself and thus complete the good work he inaugurated, but -Diaz’s first term was gained at the head of a revolution. He was a -candidate in 1871, and in the election only 12,661 votes were cast, of -which Juarez received 5,837, Diaz 3,555, and Lerdo 2,874. Diaz refused -to abide by the decision and issued a manifesto and entered the capital -at the head of an army, assumed the presidency, had the people ratify -his proceedings, and then proceded to build railroads and encourage -foreign capital to come in and rehabilitate the wasted country, and, -regardless of fear or favor, has created the modern Mexico. So -successful was he that the people decided it was better to keep him than -have the annual revolution, so the constitution which Juarez had framed -was changed to permit him to succeed himself, which he has done so well -that he is serving his fifth term, but not all consecutively. - -Cardinal Newman once said: “To be perfect, one must have changed often.” -If that be true, the government of Mexico ought to be pluperfect by now. -Since her Independence in 1821, she has had fifty-seven presidents, two -emperors and one regency, and with possibly four exceptions, each change -of administration was attended by violence. - -In 1848 occurred the first change without violence, but Arista was -banished in the next two years, and in the next three months there were -four presidents, which brings the average up to normal. What a bonanza -for the Salt River candidates of the United States! - -When you visit the picture gallery of the National Palace, the guide -will say: “This is president so-and-so, elected at such a date, and who -was shot at such a time. And this is president so-and-so, who was shot -at such a date.” - -All the leaders of the war of Independence were shot, so were both the -emperors, and nearly all the presidents were shot or banished. These -presidential shooting matches have made the country a land of experts in -teaching the young idea how to shoot. Whenever the winning man has -secured the army and re-entered the capital, the other fellows, in the -language of General Crook, “rise like a flock of quail and light -running.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -THE TRAIL OF THE TANGLE-FOOT. - - -On the plains of Tlaxcala, Apam and Puebla, in the rich lava beds, and -on the desert which is so poor one can hardly raise a disturbance on it, -are millions of acres of land devoted to the culture of the maguey and -the preparation of one of the vilest drinks known to man. - -The century plant, the agave, the aloe and the maguey are one and the -same. It is called century plant, because outside of the tropics it -might live a hundred years and never bloom, like our Louisiana -sugar-cane; but here in Mexico from six to fourteen years are sufficient -for its maturity, as it requires that much time to accumulate enough -vitality for its crowning effort in life--the propagation of seed. When -it has reached this stage it shoots up a central stalk a foot in -diameter and twenty feet high, crowned by a panicle of beautiful -greenish-yellow flowers, and then the plant dies down as completely as -any annual. - -But the pulque farmer does not permit the plant to blossom. When it -shows indication of shooting up its central bud as large as a cabbage, -the same is cut out, leaving a cavity capable of holding four or five -quarts. Into this cavity the sap collects and is sold as _agua miel_ or -honey water. After twenty-four hours fermentation it becomes pulque, the -national drink of Mexico, for, of the 350,000 inhabitants of the -capital, 250,000 are pulque drinkers. A single plant can be milked five -months and in that time will produce one hundred and sixty gallons of -pulque. Each morning a small army of pulque gatherers will enter the -field with long calabashes or gourds, through which they suck up the -pulque on the siphon principle, and inject it into the pig-skin bottle -held on the back by a band around the forehead. This skin-bottle is the -same that is mentioned in the New Testament and is secured entire from -the animal, and with the ends at the hoof tied and loaded with pulque, -has the exact semblance of a hog on a man’s shoulder. The pulque must -reach market the same day it is gathered, as it becomes vinegar within -twenty-four hours, so special pulque trains run on all roads entering -the city. - -Seventy five thousand gallons is the daily consumption in the City of -Mexico, and the railroads make a thousand dollars a day for carriage, -and the custom houses collect on each gallon as it enters the _garitas_ -or city gates. When the sap first appears it is greenish in color and -sweet, hence its name of _agua miel_, or honey water. Carbonic acid soon -collects as fermentation advances, and then it is called pulque. Pulque -has the color of soapsuds, almost the consistency of molasses and a -compound taste not found in the dictionary nor listed in _Materia -Medica_. As to smell, it is a cross between a slaughter house and a -compost heap of decaying vegetables. Fermentation is so rapid it would -explode a cask in a few minutes, so the gatherers empty it from the -pigskins into tinnacals or ox hides strapped to a wooden frame. To -retard fermentation, it is poured into vats and a little milk and rennet -are added, which do not quite coagulate it, but give it the aromatic -odor of Limburger cheese. From these vats it is loaded on the trains and -hurried to the city where it is again transferred in pigskin to wagons -loaded with hogsheads with the bung open. In front of the retail -pulqueria, the wagon stops and the final unloading begins. A hogshead is -turned on its side at the rear of the wagon and the spigot is pulled, -and the ropy liquid is passed through a large funnel into a pigskin on -the ground, by passing through a leg. This pigskin holds as much as a -beer keg, and when full, the huge porter replaces the spigot, wraps a -string around the leg and shoulders the pig which looks natural enough -to squeal. The porter empties this into five or six huge casks which are -setting on the counter, where the dealers dole it out at a cent a glass -to the hundreds who push and fight for standing room until the last cask -is empty, and a similar scene will take place every day in the year. - -Just opposite my window I watched a crowd for hours that had overflowed -the sidewalk struggling to get inside and they did not thin out till ten -barrels had been emptied, which means five hundred gallons. And the same -is true for every pulqueria in the city from the time the first train -load arrives till every cask is empty. Pulquerias have no written sign, -but over each door is a plaited awning of green maguey leaves which has -all the power that an electric lamp has to swarms of night insects. At -one cent a drink, even the paupers can get gloriously inflated, and it -takes half the police force to drag off those who find the streets too -narrow for their new style of perambulating. - -The ordinary simon pure pulque is just liquid filth, no more, no less. -Private families remove the Limburger essence by means of a harmless -chemical and add sugar and orange juice, but the dealer at the pulque -joint knows better; he adds a quantity of marihuana to the cask, and -presto! he has the regulation Kentucky tangle-foot, warranted to kill at -forty rods. With one or two drinks of this, the Mexican’s eyes look two -ways at once, and he just spoils for a fight, and at once hunts some one -to disagree with him. He will walk up to a stranger and look him over in -a zigzag way and say: “_Viva Mejico_.” The other fellow was just out -hunting ducks himself, so he replies: “_Viva Espania_,” or “_Viva Cuba -Libre_,” and then their heads and feet change places, and when they come -to their senses they are lying on the soft side of a stone floor in the -“_husga_” and wondering “_Who struck Billy Patterson_.” After witnessing -the surging, seething mass of frenzied men and women with their savage -Indian nature all ablaze with pulque, no one longer wonders at the large -number of police he meets. The government is absolutely powerless to -stop the sale of drugged pulque, and the number of deaths annually from -pulque fights is incredible. In one year, the number of fights with -knives alone was over six thousand in the capital. I know of no more -dangerous animal than a Mexican loaded with pulque and marihuana, face -distorted and blood-shot eyes aflame, and a knife in his belt. Blood is -his glory and he loves a long knife which he can throw thirty feet with -the accuracy of a pistol bullet. - -Outside the cities the duello is the code of honor and the long knife -the peacemaker. Among the cow boys and miners the friends of each tie -their left hands together and stick a bowie-knife in the ground by each -and walk off. The one that lives longest may cut the cords and come back -to camp. If neither returns the boys know that they crossed the Styx -together. Pulque is not the only drink made from the maguey, it is only -the swill of the great unwashed. For the more epicurean tastes the root -of the plant is roasted and distilled and from the product is a fiery -liquid, which for courtesy is called mescal, but in reality is molten -lava, and its nearest kin is another distillation called tequila, which -is almost pure alcohol. They are sold in saloons at three cents a drink, -and the American who attempts to wrestle with the monster takes a glass -of mescal and a glass of water and tries to swallow them both at the -same moment in order to keep the lining of his throat from scalding off -as the lava goes down. The native, to show his contempt for the method, -will look you in the eye and drink the fiery liquid without water. It -brings water to his eyes, and the clotted blood-shot spots appear almost -as rapidly as the shades of a chameleon on a rose bush. I saw a maniac -suffering with delirium tremens from mescal, and a more pitiable object -I have never seen. How he pleaded and begged for three cents, offering -his soul in exchange just for one more drink before he died. I went to -a restaurant and got him some soup and it had the effect of water upon a -hydrophobia victim and I can only liken him to a caged hyena. - -The maguey must not be called a profligate because it gives birth to -five different intoxicating drinks; it serves other purposes as well. -From the leaves the natives thatch their houses, and the spines make -needles and pins. The fibre of the leaf is used in making rope, -wrapping-twine, hammocks, sisal, mats, carpets, hairbrushes, brooms, -baskets, paper and thread, firewood, and from the roots a very palatable -food is made, and upon its bountiful leaves there feeds an army of green -caterpillars about the size of your middle finger, and epicures do say -that when they are properly stewed and set before you that you forget -all about clam-bakes and gumbo soup and shrimp-pies and edible birds’ -nests and just concentrate your mind upon the _gusanos de la maguey_, to -all of which I say amen. I had to concentrate all of my attention and -other things, too, to prevent a violent volcanic eruption just looking -at the tempting morsel. I do not doubt the epicures in the least; on the -contrary, I had so much faith in their judgment that I was willing to -take their word without the caterpillars. But I did eat one dozen--by -proxy, that is paying for them and enjoying that consumptive Mexican’s -appetite as the whole dozen followed each other down the chute, but I -might add, I had to put a weight on my stomach to avoid--well a -catastrophe. - -The maguey is absolutely independent of rain or moisture. It grows on -the mesa that does not get a rain in six years. It is a bulbous plant -and multiplies by suckers set in holes. The usual method is to take a -crow-bar and dig a hole among the rocks and give it just enough earth to -hold the roots and it will do the rest. There is nothing more beautiful -than a maguey farm on the plains of Tlaxcala, with the plants set ten -feet each way and spread over the plain for forty or fifty miles. The -plants are so green they seem to have a blue tint, and the rows are so -symmetrical, no matter which way you look, your vision will focus to a -point in the distance where all rows converge to the vanishing point -like the rails of a railroad on level ground. For a hundred miles south -of the capital, every available rod of ground is planted in maguey which -grows without any cultivation whatever, and will yield to the farmer ten -dollars to the stalk during the single five months of its productive -period. No field gets ripe at once. An acre with several hundred stalks -may not have two dozen to come to maturity this year, and as soon as -they are exhausted new bulbs are set in their stead, which makes a -perpetual orchard. A plant that is to mature this year is easily known -by the bleaching of the leaves as it yields its last vitality to the -central bud. - -Whenever the train stops, hordes of women gather around to sell to the -passengers from earthen-ware vessels at a cent a drink. As the passenger -lifts the putrid liquid, the dripping vessel leaves a trail of viscid -streamers, like the gossamers of the bridging spider, or the saliva from -an ox under the yoke, and especially if the wind is blowing, the network -of sticky pulque streamers from car windows is just about as pleasant -as the opening chorus of a candy-pulling, or the closing scene at a -turpentine still. - -In the families of the Spanish and French, pulque is never taken, but -wines, champagne and sherry, are the household drinks, and the great -national drink of America, lager beer, is slowly adding the dignified -William goat and the overflowing schooner to the pictorial decorations -of the Mexican house-fronts. The amount of liquid refreshments these -people, especially the women, can embrace within their anatomy is -astonishing. The dinner hour is prolonged from one to two hours in -conversation and guzzling, and when a gentleman sees a lady’s glass -empty at any part of the table, it is customary for him to walk around -to her chair and fill the glass from his bottle; and these opportunities -are eagerly sought by the watchful men, as it indicates a lack of -attention to permit a lady’s glass to become empty. But I have never -seen this class of people drunk or tipsy. The liquor must be very weak -to permit so many bottles being emptied without a knockout. - -A young Mexican at Guadalupe attempted to make his national drink -aristocratic by giving it a lofty name. He asked me if I would not seal -our good friendship by joining him in a glass of _vino blanco_. I told -him I did not know what white wine was, as red was the only fast color -the Americans patronized, but I would seal the friendship all right and -let him drink for both of us. To this he raised not a particle of -objection. I doubt if any such magnanimous windfall had ever come his -way before when he could drink for two. He landed me in a pulque joint -and this was my awakening to the _vino blanco_. - -I had come in search of knowledge, and found it by means of my nose, -which I had to hold while I grandiloquently told him to “tank up.” The -proprietor brought him a half gallon rancid soapsuds, which he first -offered me. I backed off and told him I had not done a thing to him to -deserve such punishment, and besides, soapsuds more than a week old -always went against my constitution and by-laws, and that I was subject -to heart-failure anyway, and had to guard against undue exertion, such -as vomiting, etc. He said it was not soapsuds, but “_vino blanco_,” -(pulque nueva), and if I did not believe it was new pulque, just smell. -I told him that was exactly what ailed me now, I had smelled and was -leaning against the counter on account of it, and if he would just let -me off I would burn a candle to his choice saint. After my friend had -“tanked up” and swallowed most of the fragrance, I was able to stand up -once more, and then I very kindly asked that proprietor if he did not -think that stuff was ripe enough to bury. I said, “Sir, in my country -when a corpse is kept till the flies swarm in the house, it is a sure -sign that it is time for the funeral. Now sir, just look at the flies.” -“O yes,” said he, “_los muscos_ love _vino blanco_ also, and they come -because they know a good thing when they se--smell it.” Now what was the -use of wasting logic on this logician? So my friend and I entered the -street. It was a warm day, and while we had argued, I think the heat had -contracted the street. At any rate it was much too narrow for my friend -and his _vino blanco_, and he and a lamp-post had quite an argument -about who had the right of way. - -I think the post must have hit him below the belt from the way he fell -out, and with the guilt of the act resting so heavy on my conscience I -fled from the scene and vowed I would never buy soapsuds any more for my -poor, martyred Guadalupe guide. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -THE CITY OF THE ANGELS. - - -La Puebla de Los Angelos is the authorized version of the sacred city, -but “Puebla” serves for all ordinary uses. This city is seventy-five -miles southeast of the capital. It is not on account of its transcendent -beauty or rare virtue that it is called the City of the Angels, but from -its wonderful history, woven into mystic legends by the zealous priests. -And for the story: - -“Once upon a time,” as all good stories should begin, the Indians saw -angels hovering over the place when it was an Indian village, before the -Conquest, and hence its name. Another version is that one of the good -bishops was looking for a site on which to build a town, and in his -dream saw a vision of two angels measuring town lots on the border hills -of a beautiful plain, and went right out and found the place where -Puebla now stands to agree with his dream, and forthwith founded the -city. Still a more recent explanation is given, that when they were -building the church, angels built as much wall by night as the workmen -built by day; and if you are disposed to doubt the statement, why, they -show you the church itself, which ought to convince the most skeptical. - -The cathedral is built of massive basalt, and is thought by many to be -much finer than the cathedral of the capital. It fronts the Plaza Mayor, -and is built upon a platform of porphyry with Doric and Ionic -superstructure. The inside is bedizened with glitter and tawdry -jimcracks as usual, entirely out of keeping with the beauty and -magnificence of the building. The main altar is gilded with gold to the -value of a hundred thousand dollars, and before Maximilian’s time there -hung from the ceiling a famous chandelier of pure gold, also valued at a -hundred thousand dollars. The church party was backing Maximilian, so -the lamp was melted into coin to pay the army. In the towers are -eighteen bells, the largest weighing ten tons. Why these churches have -so many bells that are not rung, and have no chimes is another of the -unanswered questions, and must remain so until the last call. The pulpit -is of pure onyx, and the floor of glistening marble, and over the -door-way is the insignia of the Golden Fleece. The two grand organs are -encased and decorated with as fine work of sculpture as can be found -anywhere, and the walls are lined with costly paintings. Of course here -is shown a piece of the original crown of thorns. - -In the church of San Francisco is a doll brought over by Cortez and -carried by him through all his campaigns. It is an image of the Virgin, -and the benighted natives venerate it as though it were a god, and this -is but an index to the christianity of the country. The name of Christ -is rarely heard, and the name of Jesus is so secular that you may go -into a hotel corridor and say$1‘Jesus!’ and a half dozen men will answer -and come to you. Go into any crowd and say the same word, and there will -always be some one named Jesus, and possibly several. It is rather -painful to your piety to have some bandit try to pass a pewter quarter -on you or to keep the odd cents in a trade, and then to know the rascal -is named Jesus Maria Magdalene. There is not a Christ Church to be found -in all this land of churches, and as a means of saving grace, Christ is -not counted. In the Mexican Catholic Church, the people pray to the -powers in the order of their importance; first to the Mother of God, -“Most Holy Mother,” second, to the saints, and lastly they mention the -name of the Infant Jesus as being the son of Mary. In the prayers and in -the sermons and in the paintings he is always figured as an infant in -the arms of the Virgin, or the Man of Sorrows with his heart on the -outside of his anatomy. After looking at a thousand such pictures one is -tempted to believe that the X-ray is not such a modern innovation after -all. In the case of the twelve stations on the march to Calvary, with -the aid of red paint all the horrors and mental anguish that the human -frame can endure are displayed in life-size as a scourge to the laggard -believer. - -I do not fancy the poetry of Burns, but these grewsome images of wax and -papier mache with the real thorns on his head and the red paint gore -dripping everywhere, always recall the lines: - - “The fear o’ hell’s the hangman’s whip, - To haud the wretch in order.” - -The impression it always makes on me is that the threat is always -implied: “If you do not repent, you will be treated in the same -manner,” and I honestly believe the Indians so interpret it. In the nave -of these churches are hung the twelve apostles, in all stages of ancient -martyrdom and modern dilapidation. Statues with broken or missing legs -and streams of red paint gore pouring in congealed rivulets from Roman -scourges and spear-points savor more of the bull-ring than of a -sanctuary. On the altar is a copy of the Holy Bible containing the Old -and New Testaments, translated out of the original tongues, and with the -former translations diligently compared and revised; but out of its lids -of solid silver bedecked with ribbons and symbols, they hear not a word -of christian living, nor of the beautiful life of Christ, nor of their -duty to their fellow man, but prostrate before these gory statues the -worshipers go round and round, counting their beads and crossing -themselves and gazing upon the ghastly anatomies before them, and this -is their worship. If they are oppressed with the weight of earthly sins -they are told to pray to the Holy Mother of God to intercede with St. -Peter in behalf of the afflicted one, and in addition to burn candles -upon the altar of Saint Francis or Saint Xavier, who have the contract -to use their good offices in behalf of the sinner, said sinner -guaranteeing to burn so many candles in acknowledgement, which candles -can be had from the church commissary two doors to the rear on the -right. And this is the substitute the Aztecs got by renouncing their -idolatry. They asked bread and received a stone. - -Puebla is called the City of the Angels, but it ought to be called the -City of Churches. This was always the bulwark of the Church of Rome in -the New World and was the last to succumb to the new order of things -under Juarez. This is the city that backed Maximilian in his fight -against the patriots and quartered the French army for seven years, and -where the _auto-de-fe_ of the Inquisition was pushed with all the zeal -of Torquemada. When Juarez destroyed the church party, Pueblo had a -dozen nunneries and as many monasteries, with all their concomitant -cess-pools of vice, as Maria Monk so vividly describes in her Montreal -experience. Under the liberal educational crusade of President Diaz, the -people are becoming too enlightened to ever revert to the old regime. - -Puebla is a city of a hundred thousand inhabitants and ranks as the -fourth city in importance. It is the market for the beautiful onyx which -is mined near the city. It is in a fertile valley, and for miles and -miles to the rim of the mesa lies one of the most beautiful scenes -within the Republic. Three volcanoes and three other snow-capped peaks -overlook the city. From Mount Malinche the city I think gets its pure -water brought by aqueducts. Puebla is the key to the country in time of -war as it commands the approach to the sea. It was captured by Iturbide, -Aug. 2, 1821; by Scott, May 25, 1847; occupied by the French, May 5, -1862; captured by the French, May 17, 1863; Recaptured by the Mexicans, -Apr. 3, 1867. The old fort on the Hill of Guadalupe must be visited. -Here the Mexicans under Porfirio Diaz defeated a veteran French army May -5, 1862, and earned their right to the national holiday of “Cinco de -Mayo.” - -Though the city is over seven thousand feet above the sea, the valley -produces everything, wheat, rye, cochincal, maize, cotton, sugar, rice, -tobacco, coal and iron, stone quarries, and lime and kaolin for -porcelain, dye woods, and all kinds of tropical fruit in luxuriance, and -the valleys of alfala feed the finest beef steers it has ever been my -good fortune to see. The city was built in 1532 and is a model of -neatness, and as no animal matter decomposes at this altitude the -presence of disagreeable odors is unknown. Six railroads enter the town -and the tramvias lead to many interesting suburbs. Twenty-five miles -away is Popocatapetl, but with no forest or hill between the city and -the volcanoes to proportionate the distance, it hardly appears five -miles. If you wish to ascend the volcanoes, the Inter-Oceanic train -stops at the small station of Amecameca at the foot, where guides and a -two days’ supply of provisions are furnished. - -Here upon the second highest mountain in America, and the third highest -in the world, you may sit in the snow and cool yourself off after the -exertion of the climb. I cooled off at the bottom and climbed it by -proxy. My proxy said the view from the crater was magnificent and I felt -satisfied. The street-car line that leads to Cholula passes over the -Atoyac near the city across a very quaint, old arched bridge, built when -the city was born. About five hundred yards to the right of the track is -the natural wonder of Coxcomate. From the car window it looks like a -pile of white stones or a well bleached haystack, but on a nearer -approach it proves to be a tumulus of white calcareous stone, evidently -of water formation, about fifty feet in height and a hundred in -diameter at the base, and the form is that of a truncated cone. At the -apex is an elliptical opening, twenty-five feet along its minor and -fifty along its major axis. It is a bell-shaped cavity and lined with -ferns of various descriptions. The depth is about a hundred feet, and -its width along the bottom about sixty. On one side of the bottom is a -mass of gorgeous ferns, and on the other a pool of water. - -Of course Coxcomate has it legends. One is that the Aztecs were wont to -worship the genius of this spot, and occasionally to throw in human -victims to appease his subterranean majesty. It is also said that the -Spanish Inquisition used to cast in heretics and leave them where they -could calmly meditate upon the controverted points of doctrine. Whatever -its former use, it is a curious freak of nature, situated in the midst -of a level plain. It seems to have been a volcanic bubble, of which -there are many in this country. - -From Puebla a branch road takes us to Santa Ana, and a tram-way from -there to ancient Tlaxcala, the capital of Tlaxcala. Tlaxcala was a -republic in ancient times, as were also Cholula and Huexotzinco, and -these were life-long enemies of the Aztecs; and it was by fanning this -blaze that Cortez united them to conquer the Aztecs, and to the -Tlaxcalans is due the credit of the Conquest. They were faithful to the -uttermost to the Spaniards, and in the first defeat gave Cortez a home -and haven until he could collect another army, and again followed him, -this time to victory. Cortez always appreciated this kindness, and it is -here in squalid little Tlaxcala, degenerated into a village of five -thousand diminutive people, that more relics of Cortez are found than at -any other place. - -The municipal palace contains four oil paintings bearing the date of the -Conquest, and the banner of Spain which Cortez carried throughout his -conquering career. The material is of heavy brocaded silk which sadly -shows its age. It is nine by six feet, cut swallow-tail and is nearly -perfect, though approaching four hundred years old. The iron spear-head -bears the monogram of the rulers of Spain, and the original staff, now -broken, is kept with it. Immense sums have been offered for it from -Spain, but the Tlaxcalans refuse all offers. Here are also the arms of -Tlaxcala, illuminated on parchment, and bearing the signature of Charles -V., and the standards presented to the chiefs by Cortez, as well as the -robes in which the chiefs were baptized. Here also are a collection of -Tlaxcalan idols and the treasure-chest of Cortez, which was locked by -four different keys and could be opened only when all four guardians -were present together. Here is to be seen the oldest church in Mexico, -San Francisco, built three hundred and eighty years ago, under plans -furnished by Cortez himself. The roof is supported by carved cedar beams -brought from Spain, and in a little chapel is the original pulpit from -which the Christian religion was first preached in the new world. - -Here of course you see the crude figures of bleeding saints and -sublimated martyrs and harrowing crucifixions, painted in all their -mangled horrors to hold in awe the superstitious native. As the Greek -boasts forever of Marathon and Thermopylæ, so with the Tlaxcalans in -their departed glory. A more squalid lot cannot be found than upon the -sun baked mesa of Tlaxcala. Living in adobe huts and filth and rags, it -requires the light of history to convince you that these were once -warriors second to none in the valley, who boldly met the Spaniards in -open battle when first they saw each other. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -THE PYRAMID OF CHOLULA. - - - “Nations melt - From Power’s high pinnacle, when they have felt - The sunlight for a while and downward go.” - -Eight miles from Puebla in the midst of the vale of Atoyac stands the -sphinx of Cholula, a pyramid covering forty-four acres of ground, whose -base is one thousand four hundred and twenty-three feet and whose -altitude is one hundred and seventy-seven feet, with a truncated apex -two hundred feet square. This was once crowned by a temple, but now by a -church called Nuestro Señora de los Remedios. The City of Cholula was -the sacred city of the Aztecs, but the pyramid antedates their -tradition. When it was built, by whom and for what purpose will not be -known till the sea yields up its dead, but there it stands built of -brick, twice larger than Cheops, and so overgrown with trees that it -looks like a natural hill. A winding road with steps leads to the top, -whence a view of the whole valley is to be had. - -With his usual exaggeration, Cortez said that from its summit four -hundred heathen temples could be seen. At present the town of Cholula -contains about six thousand inhabitants, and I counted only fifty-four -church steeples seen from its summit, of course omitting those visible -in Puebla. Naturally Cholula has its legends, and what ancient edifice -has not? The Aztecs knew nothing of the history of the pyramid. -According to Toltecan tradition, it was built by the followers of -Quetzacoatl. Among all nations of Anahuac, the god of air was -Quetzacoatl, “Feather-decked-serpent,” the great, good and fair god. He -had been a high priest in old Tollan, and according to all the statues -representing him, was bearded and had a white skin. He was a god of -peace and discouraged war and animal sacrifice, and introduced the -culture of maize and cotton and the smelting of metals and the working -of stone. When he wished to promulgate a law, he sent a hero whose word -could be heard a hundred leagues away to proclaim it from the summit of -Tzatzitepetl, “The mountain of clamors.” Under his tutelary care, maize -grew to such a size that a single ear was all a man could carry, and -cotton grew with all the colors already in it. In a word, the Aztecs -believed that the reign of Quetzacoatl was the golden age of the -country. - -Tezcatlipoca (shining mirror) was the principal god next to Teotl, -having descended to earth by means of a spider’s web. He fought with the -high-priest Quetzacoatl, and then told him it was the will of the gods -that he journey to the ancient kingdom of Tlapallan. Quetzacoatl was -escorted out by a number of people singing hymns, and finally reached -Tolula. His gentle manners and integrity won the hearts of the -Cholulans, so he dwelt with them and taught them the arts of -civilization, the smelting of metals, the weaving of cloth and the -making of delicate pottery. After a sojourn of twenty years at Cholula, -Quetzacoatl decided to continue his journey to Tlapallan and departed -toward the sea, saying he would return. Gradually the report spread that -he was dead; he was then proclaimed a god by the Toltecs of Cholula, and -was afterwards proclaimed protector of the city, in the center of which -they reared the pyramid to his honor and crowned the top with a temple. -In this temple was an image of the “god of the air,” wearing a mitre on -his head waving with plumes of fire, and around his neck a resplendent -collar of gold, in his ears pendants of mosaic turquoise, in one hand a -jeweled sceptre, and in the other a shield, curiously painted, the -emblem of his rule over the winds. The sanctity of the place and the -magnificence of the temple spread, until the worship of Quetzacoatl was -shared by all the nations of Anahuac, and Cholula became a Mecca, the -Holy City of the Valley. - -Quetzacoatl created a new religion based on fasting, penitence and -virtue, and he belonged to another race than the one he civilized, but -what was his country? In all the Aztec writings and on all his statues -he is called “the fair god,” and when Cortez landed in Mexico, Montezuma -refused to make war upon him, saying, “It is the return of Quetzacoatl.” -The Cholulans forgot the art of war in the pursuit of the arts of peace -as taught by Quetzacoatl, and Cholula became the great emporium of the -plateau. Cholula became a dependency of the Aztecs, and this gave -offence to the Tlaxcalans, the bold Swiss mountaineers of Anahuac, who -were the enemies of the Aztecs. So when Cortez arrived and conquered -the Tlaxcalans, they were only too willing to join him against the -Cholulans. It was in 1519 that Cortez selected six thousand Tlaxcalans -and a large number of Cempoallans and marched against the city of -Cholula. Cortez had been invited by the ruler to visit the city and was -the guest of the nobility, but here is shown one of the blackest spots -in his entirely perfidious character. Cortez left the main part of his -army outside the city with instructions to rush in when the signal gun -should be fired, and to weave sedges around their heads so as to be -distinguished from the Cholulans in the slaughter. The next morning he -had his men to conceal their arms and assemble around the great square. -He then sent word to the princes and all persons of distinction in the -city that he desired a conference with them in the square, and they came -to do honor to their invited guest, followed by the thousands, curious -to look upon the strange horses and fair-skinned strangers. Then Cortez, -to make a pretext for his deed, accused the chiefs of plotting treachery -against him, and at the signal, his army closed in the three sides of -the square and began the slaughter of the unarmed inhabitants. All the -accumulated hatred of the Indian allies was let loose in this hour of -vengeance. All within the square were slaughtered, including all the -persons of distinction of the republic, and then the butchers with fire -and sword spread through the streets of the city, and to the summit of -the pyramid. - -The statue of Quetzacoatl was thrown down and robbed of its treasures. -The temple was fired, and in the blaze of its destruction the savages, -both Spanish and Indians loaded themselves with booty from the thrifty -Cholulans, and with his sword in one hand and the crucifix in the other, -the missionary bandit, Cortez, offered the remaining inhabitants a -respite if they would accept baptism and acknowledge the King of Spain -as their sovereign! Under the guise of friendship, and while accepting -the hospitality of his host, this Christian savage stooped to a perfidy -which the natives scorned. - -This sacred city whose court magnificence rivaled the pomp of -Montezuma’s capital became a Golgotha. Upon the top of the pyramid where -was the temple, stands a catholic church, and in front an ancient cross -which the priest told me was almost as old as the Conquest. At the -northeast of the plaza where the massacre occurred stands the Church of -Seven Naves, which was built by the special order of Cortez from models -of the Cathedral Mosque of Cordova in Spain. The chapel has sixty-four -supporting columns, and the small mullioned windows and Moorish frescoes -give it a repose of perfect harmony with its peaceful environments. I -sat in the plaza that had once flowed in blood. It was July 18, and the -populace was celebrating the anniversary of the death of the patriot -Juarez, and as the glare of fire-works cast unnatural shadows among the -stately trees, I was reminded that Cholula once furnished the toys and -fire-works for the whole valley. This industrious people was called in -derision “the race of traders;” and even as I sat, the keen-eyed boys -detected the presence of strangers and scented a trade in “antiquias.” -After throwing a few stones at a tree, they leisurely drifted by me, -and finally returned, and mysteriously drew from their pockets curious -toys and fragments of pottery in a pattern different from any now made, -and declared them to be “antiquias viejas de Cholula.” These people are -up to date and can make you a relic to order if they only know what you -want, and will date it back as far as you wish; but these were the -simon-pure article of Cholula as she was in her halcyon days. - -Near Cholula are smaller pyramids very similar to those of the Mound -Builders of the Mississippi Valley. Stretching across the fertile valley -the shadows point to Popocatapetl, only six leagues away, but the -diaphanous atmosphere would make you believe it only one. The ancient -capital is now a compact village of six thousand people, as silent and -bereft of enterprise as though it dwelt under the spell of the Enchanted -City in the Arabian Nights. The young men were discussing the -independence of “Cuba Libre;” the women were at church, and the Indian -women from the hills with their babies strapped to their backs and their -bare feet upon the pavement, glided more like phantoms of a vanished -race than realities of the present. Though 380 years have passed since -that awful remembrance, its every aspect seems to accent its -Bartholomew’s day. The silence is oppressive, so we climb the pyramid to -view the valley, and such a view! To the north six leagues is Tlaxcala; -to the south and reaching the horizon an endless valley; to the east, -Puebla and the gateway to the gulf; and to the west the two snow-capped -volcanoes, and within these boundaries a garden spot that equals the -valley of Mexico. - -Throughout this broad expanse are hamlets and orchards and pastures and -fields of evergreen maguey and cochineal, cactus and tropical fruits. -The scene is like a picture or the mirage of some unseen habitation. The -animals and men in the distance creep like insects in a pantomime. Not a -column of smoke to denote the presence of a factory nor the revolution -of a single wheel of commerce. A blast of a tin horn from the horse-car -tells us this is the last car to Puebla tonight, and we leave the -beautiful sunset glistening from the snow-clad peak of Popocatapetl, and -leave the unsolved riddle of the pyramid to the ages. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -LAS TIERRAS CALIENTAS. - - -To the “Hot Lands,” we leave Puebla by the Inter-Oceanic railroad and -make the wild ride to the city of Vera Cruz. The first part of the -journey is across the mesa of burning sand and bare rocks. Soon after -leaving the city we pass the mount of Malinche, which supplies the city -with water. Malinche is the name given to Cortez soon after he reached -Mexico, For miles and miles not a tree graces the landscape. Now and -then a brilliant cluster of morning glories appear, but they are shrubs -and not vines. The geranium also appears, and no longer a shrub, but -almost a tree twenty feet high. Flocks of discouraged sheep and very -earnest cattle seem to be devoting all their attention to eating sand -and rocks. Of course it is contrary to custom for these animals to make -a steady diet off this kind of fodder, but with my most earnest -investigation it was all I saw for them to eat. A sparrow could be seen -anywhere on any given acre of ground. - -A few shepherds wrapped in _serapes_ were constantly on the watch to -keep the gaunt and restless wanderers within their imaginary boundaries, -for it was contrary to custom to allow one flock to eat the sand that -belongs to another. The miserable huts of the natives are measured by -the length of the discarded cross-ties of the railroad. A quadrangle of -these stuck a foot in the ground and thatched with maguey leaves and the -citizen is “at home.” So is the donkey or whatever other animal he -possesses. Sometimes he has several razorback pigs tethered by a foot to -the end of a rope and they root in the ground and hone their backs -against the cross-tie that answers for a door-post and are happy. As the -train approaches a station, scores of women and girls press around the -car windows beseeching the passengers to buy fruits at the first class -cars, and cooked provisions at the second and third. The most of the -first class passengers are Americans, and as a rule they do not invest -heavily in Mexican provisions. They say it requires too much faith to -eat them. - -And pulque. How could we get along without the fragrant pulque? With a -large earthen jar in her left hand, and a small one without handle in -her right, she anxiously seeks purchasers. When a purchaser is found, -down goes that right hand, fingers and all to the bottom of the jar, and -as it comes up full, the white, ropy fluid frescoes with its sticky -streamers everything in reach. In their anxiety to out-sell each other, -the anxious eyes are scanning every window for engagements while the -right hand mechanically is immersed to the wrist in the larger vessel. -At one cent a drink, and often as many vendors as purchasers, two or -three cents is the average revenue these people make from a train that -passes only twice a day. It is sad to see the hungry pleading eyes of -these half-naked women as they in vain offer their scanty wares to -people who do not buy. I have bought food from one of these beggars and -given it to another just to see them eat, and no starved beast could -have shown greater hunger and zeal with which they picked up every crumb -from the ground. - -In the cities beggars are kept scarce by the police, but on these -plateaux they swarm, and grown men and women will crowd around the -train, and their clothing would not average two yards to the person. -Only twice did I see beggars attempting to offer an equivalent for the -alms they begged--at La Barca on the Mexican Central Road where two -blind beggars with cracked voices and rheumatic guitars inflicted the -painful combination upon the unoffending passengers. I think the -grimaces were given without charge, and only the music was expected to -be paid for, but I am sure my coppers were given for the heroic efforts -of that face to reach the sublimity of the music. The face was always -about three and a half flat keys below the instrument, and the much -abused instrument made no attempt to catch up with that wonderful voice, -but plodded along with her “reglar steady” for all pieces. Those three -organizations covered the whole baseball diamond in their progress, but -they all got together at the home base, and while the worthy Mrs. Beggar -collected the pennies, the crowd cheered the first warbler and called -for the second. Each one had the pitch that belonged to the other -fellow’s songs, but the crowd got it all anyway so what was the -difference? Anyway they were the only beggars that offered a _quid pro -quo_ and the crowd forgave them much, even as they had sinned much -against the musical profession in traveling on the high C’s without any -chart. - -Out of pure charity I took one of the Mrs. Beggar aside and very softly -asked her if she did not think an ordinary three-cornered file would -help her husband’s voice and also his throat. The word “throat” was my -Waterloo. Lifting her coal black eyes to mine she looked the thanks she -uttered as she said: “Lord, señor, a thousand thanks, that is the very -thing, he has not had a square meal today.” When will people learn that -everything intended for the throat is not to be eaten? Such gross -ignorance discourages my good Samaritan impulse and seriously interferes -with my work as a reformer. The same thing happened at a restaurant -where the same dish of butter had kept guard on the table so long that -it was being consumed by its own inactivity, and was making itself felt -further and further from its base of operations. Out of pure charity for -my fellow boarders, I heroically made a martyr of myself and relieved -the old guard which “died but never surrendered,” so the other fellows -might have a fresh dish, and what was the result? _Bismillah!_ that -eagle-eyed waiter reported that I just actually made my living off that -brand of butter, and next meal the old guard had been replaced by a -whole pound of the same vintage but more vigorous and loud. Such -ignorance leads people to misinterpret my noble motives. Now, here I was -trying to make good music for coming generations, by offering that old -lady a file to rasp down the nightingale’s fog horn, and she thinks I am -so entranced with the unearthly music that I want to show my -appreciation by giving them a cubic meal. Alas this thankless world! It -was ever thus. - -I said they were the only beggars that paid for their alms, but I make -one exception. Between Guadalajara and San Pedro a beggar has a gold -mine. Not what you would call a gold mine, but it is one for him. He has -a fortune in his knees, which got on the wrong side of his legs, and as -the street-car stops to change mules he painfully hobbles on crutches to -the car, makes his exhibit, collects the coppers and hobbles back to his -seat to wait for the next car, and he never utters a word. He has what -ordinary people call “a sure thing.” He always made me think of the -tramp and the dog. The dog found the tramp in the hay-mow and growled. -The tramp said: “Good doggie, good doggie,” and the dog wagged his tail -but kept growling. The tramp said: “It may be all right, but I don’t -know which end to believe.” So every time my beggar friend turned his -face away from the car, his knees and feet seemed to try to come back, -and I did not know which end to believe. This beggar question is too -large and has made me wander away from my subject. I was talking about -the women sousing their dirty hands into the pulque, but small matters -like that do not count. The old saw is still in vogue, that we must all -eat our peck of dirt before we die, and so we in Mexico just eat our -peck and get the dreaded duty from our minds. - -There are many more miles of desert and pastures where the cattle still -feed upon sand, and then we come to the fortress of San Juan de Los -Llanos. In the midst of the desert where it never rains, and where -there is no green thing in sight, lies this huge fortress of St. John of -the Plains. For four hundred years this has been the King’s highway from -the gulf to the capital, and all the treasures of gold and silver to -Europe, and of merchandise from Europe have had to pass along here in -caravans of pack-animals and armed escorts. This road was a veritable -Captain Kidd’s treasure-house to the hundreds of bandits that have -swarmed through this country, so it is no more of a policy than -necessity that the soldiers are here. - -We are now nearing the rim of the plateau and pass through miles of rich -mining country until we leave the state of Puebla and enter the state of -Vera Cruz. We are a hundred miles from the sea and eight thousand feet -above it on the backbone of the Cordilleras. Around us is white frost, -and in four hours we shall be in perpetual summer. We are above the -clouds and everything is invisible. The clouds envelop the train like a -pall, and we are conscious of only one thing; we are plunging down the -mountain with breaks down, and with the descent of one hundred and -thirty-three feet to the mile. A rift in the clouds discloses a -semi-tropical forest, and upon every tree are myriads of beautiful -orchids of blue, red, scarlet, orange--every color and in the greatest -profusion. A thousand feet below is a little town we are trying to -reach. The train approaches it first on this side and then on that, and -winds down the mountain in a kind of spiral, and at last stops at the -station. Above us is the track we have just left, and if a rock was -loosed from it, it would fall upon the roof of the train at the station. -There is one place on the road where a stone dropped from a car window -would hit the track at two separate levels. It is a journey one never -wants to take twice by daylight. If you pass the dangers at night you -save the nervous speculation as to what would happen if a wheel should -break on the brink of a chasm a thousand feet deep, and a floating cloud -conceals the nature of the rocks you would land upon in the awful depths -below. - -Every few hundred yards by the track are wooden crosses and stone -cairns. I ask my neighbor: “_Porque las cruces?_” He devotedly crosses -himself and mentions them as unfortunate meeting places of travelers and -bandits, and after the meeting the traveler still remained. Every one -who passes considers it his duty to add a stone to the cairn. - -At the stations the half-clad natives, shivering in the chill mountain -air, offer food and beautiful flowers for sale. Orange blossoms from the -valley and a dozen other rare blossoms the foreigner has never seen, and -the beautiful orchids with the roots done up in leaves are offered for a -real, (12½ cents) which would cost five or six dollars at an American -florist’s. - -Down, down we go, through dark canons and over spider bridges and below -the clouds. Now our wraps are uncomfortably warm and we lay them aside -and open the windows. From every where comes the odors of rare tropical -flowers and the iridescent rays of beautiful butterflies, and we are -half down the mountain at Jalapa (Halapa). Jalapa is a city of fifteen -thousand population, and was once the capital of Vera Cruz and has much -to endear it to the tourist. As the train stops you enter a street-car -drawn by six mules which will carry you to town on the hillside of -Meniltepec. When you wish to come back to the train, the brakes are set -and the car will bring you back itself, and the mules will be down after -a while to draw it back. It is a regular toboggan affair, and you feel -as if you were shooting the chutes, were it not for the heavy bumpers -that would stop you were the brakes to give way. I think the Mexican -style of carrying the babies slung over the back must have originated in -Jalapa. If a nurse should undertake to roll a baby carriage, and while -talking to a policeman should let the buggy get a start down any street, -it would shoot the chute for Vera Cruz on an incline of thirty degrees. - -Before the Inter-Oceanic Rail Road was completed the street-cars ran to -Vera Cruz, seventy miles away, and all the company had to do was to mass -their mules in Vera Cruz and their cars in Jalapa and start the cars on -schedule time with enough brakemen to prevent a hot box. The streets are -not quite as crooked as a corkscrew, and not quite as straight as a -cow-trail when she is grazing, and starting from the top, each first -floor window looks out upon its neighbor’s house-top. It rains here -about eight days in the week. The town is four thousand feet above sea -level, and just behind it is the Copre de Perote peak, thirteen thousand -four hundred and three feet high, and plenty high to catch the rain -clouds from the gulf. When they strike the jagged edge of this toboggan -slide which holds Jalapa, they simply disgorge and go back for another -load. They seem to be a very faithful, conscientious set of clouds that -put in a good day’s work and never grumble about working over-time or -the agitation of an eight hour system. I got tired carrying my umbrella. -It would rain half an hour and sunshine half an hour till the next cloud -got snagged on that mountain, and so between them there was no rest for -my umbrella. I am always full of good motives and advice, and the same -work a lawyer wants ten dollars for, I distribute with a lavish -ha--mouth. Armed with my good intentions and my dripping umbrella, I -called upon a member of the city council and suggested the idea of -filing off the rough edges of the mountain so it would not snag the -clouds and drench the people so often, but my words and good intentions -were all wasted. Those citizens have been sliding down hill so long and -been drawn up again by mules, they have no energy whatever, and would -never climb that mountain till they got street-cars up there. And -besides, if the cloud system was altered they would have to establish a -different sewer-system, and that means work, and of course they would -not. - -These clouds have done one thing though, they have banished the thatch -roof, and every house is built of stone and roofed with half-cylindrical -brick tiles which project a full yard over the eaves. This constant -drizzle has killed the usefulness of the old and tried friend--the -almanac. You don’t have to ask when it will rain for you know it will -rain in half an hour. Then it is no pleasure looking in the almanac to -see when the first frost will fall so we can gather chestnuts or pecans, -because frost never comes, and fall never comes, and winter never -comes, but it just stays one eternal spring. The trees are always green -and if a leaf falls another grows in its place, and if you pluck an -orange another blossom springs out immediately, and if you cut a bunch -of bananas, a new shoot starts up for another stem, and as fast as you -pick the coffee berry, a perfect shower of snow white blossoms appear. - -There is absolutely no season. Four crops of corn can be grown, allowing -ninety days to each crop. Sugar and coffee and tobacco are the main -crops. The state of Vera Cruz borders the gulf for five hundred miles -with an average width of seventy-five, and in all that territory, the -soil does nothing but push things out. The Indian takes a sharp stick -and makes a hole in the ground and drops a grain of corn, covering it -with his foot, and ninety days afterwards he gathers his crop, and that -is absolutely all he does in the way of labor. A banana stem will spring -up eight or ten inches in diameter with several bunches of bananas and -eighty to the bunch. He gathers them and knocks the stalk down and -presto! another springs from the roots, and this he does perpetually. - -The coffee plant is the most beautiful plant in this region, and bears -till the slender branches touch the ground. The fruit is like our -cherries or plums, and the natives eat it as we do cherries, and only -the seed is sold for drinking. All around Jalapa in the forest grows the -vanilla vine so dear to the cake and ice-cream fraternity. The vine -grows all over the forest like grape vines, and is not cultivated. The -flowers are greenish yellow with spots of white, and the pods grow in -pairs like snap-beans, six inches long and as large as your finger. -They are first green and then yellow, and when fully ripe are brown. The -pods are dried in the sun and then touched up with palm oil to make them -shine. The Indians make a good living by gathering the pods and selling -them in Jalapa, which is the chief market for vanilla. They also gather -from these woods sarsaparilla, which has its home here. All druggists -keep on their shelves a drug called Jalap, which grows here and gets its -name from the old town of Jalapa. With pine-apples and plantains and -limes and apricots and pomegranates and bread fruit and sugar and coffee -and tobacco all growing at their doors, what wonder is it that the -people all say, “Jalapa is a bit of heaven dropped down to earth.” All -they need is a tree to grow hammocks ready-made and swinging, and the -millennium has come. It is situated near the foot of the volcano of -Orizaba, the second highest mountain in America outside of Alaska, and -the rich hills and valleys are covered with vast heaps of volcanic tufa -and ashes which are natural fertilizers. - -The American army on its march from Vera Cruz stopped here to shoot the -chutes--and the natives--and exchange hospitality with them. The natives -have a very vivid recollection of that visit, and on the principal -street stands a tall granite monument with this inscription: - - “SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF THE NATION’S HEROES - WHO DIED IN DEFENSE OF THEIR COUNTRY - AGAINST THE AMERICAN INVASION IN 1847.” - -The thing is so absolutely true and incisive that most Americans who -read it like to quietly slip off to another street where there is no -grim accuser. Every time he looks dispassionately back at that war he -feels like the big bully who slugged the little boy in the street just -because the boy had spunk enough to fight back, and then took all his -apples. California, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona must always feel like -blood money to the American people, as they were taken from Mexico to -extend slave territory. - -Santa Anna was born in this town, and the reckless traveling up and down -these toboggan streets must have given him his dare-devil spirit which -marked every stage of his eventful life. - -Jalapa is the summer resort of the moneyed people of Vera Cruz. Every -May when the Yellow Fever awakes from his sleep in Vera Cruz, the brave -citizens in a body back up the hill to Jalapa and shake their fists at -him and dare him to cross the line, and the fever does not dare. They -would simply pull a plug out of one of their special clouds and flood -him back to the sea. There must have always been a city here: behind the -present city are stone pyramids fifty feet high, and countless -foundations of stone walls laid in cement. There are oak trees four feet -in diameter growing through pavements laid in hewn stone and cement. The -architecture is different from that of the Aztec, and there is neither -language nor tradition as to who built these ancient ruins. They lie -towards the coast between Jalapa and Orizaba. - -Tell it not in Gath, but they do say that the most beautiful women in -Mexico live in Jalapa. “Bewitching, alluring are the women of Jalapa,” -is what the natives mean when they say: “_Las Jalapenas son -halaguenas._” Perhaps this accounts for the saying that Jalapa is a -part of paradise let down to earth. The prevailing type of beauty here -is the blonde with blue eyes and brown hair, while elsewhere it is the -brunette with black eyes and hair. After one has seen _las Jalapenas -halaguenas_, the old churches and the musty paintings lose their -interest. The old town shows its age probably more than any other in -Mexico, and if these old stones could speak they might tell us of the -building of Cholula. Whatever is old in Mexico is still older in Jalapa. -Excursions to Coatepec and Jelotepec, about six miles away, may be made -on horse-cars through tropical forests and coffee groves, and then we -continue our tobogganing to Vera Cruz. On the down slide we pass Cerro -Gordo, where General Scott defeated Santa Anna, April 18, 1847. He must -have defeated the town too, for it is not there. A few mud huts are -patriotic enough to remain and continue the name, for which they deserve -much credit. Perhaps they are guarding the place to preserve Santa -Anna’s wooden leg which was lost here in battle. They have not yet -learned that it is in Washington City. - -We finally stow away our thermometer to prevent its melting and running -away. They say that straight down in the ground underneath Vera Cruz to -an indefinite depth it is really hotter than Vera Cruz. Perhaps. Vera -Cruz is a good place to stay away from. From May to October it is the -summer residence of his majesty _El Vomito Negro_, a black vomit, -familiarly known as Yellow Fever. This is not only his summer residence, -but his permanent home, but during the winter months he is “not at -home;” but May 1st., on house-cleaning day, his residence is open to all -comers, be they light-weight, middle-class or sluggers. He gives all -odds and guarantees a knockout in the first round or forfeit the -championship. - -During 1868-4 the French army planted four thousand soldiers in a little -cemetery which they facetiously called “_Le Jardin d’Acclimation._” The -Mexicans call it “_La Ciudad de los Muertos_,” the City of the Dead. The -population of Vera Cruz in 1869 was 13,492 and the number of deaths for -the ten years ending in 1879 was 12,219. The average duration of life by -these figures was eleven years! The annual deathrate is ninety per -thousand population, while in the United States it is 22.28 per -thousand. The safest way to see the city in the summer is to go in on -the train, go out to the old castle of San Juan d’Ulloa about a mile out -in the harbor, climb to the light house and take a good look, then get -on the same train and get up and out, or rather out and up. The town -covers about sixty acres and has no suburbs but sand and water. An -avenue of palms on the main street is the principal feature. If you stay -till night you will see the raven hair of the Mexican ladies sparkling -with gems, but they are only fireflies or “lighting bugs.” Three or four -of these tropical fireflies placed under a tumbler will give light -enough to read by. They have a natural hook on their bodies, so they are -fastened in the hair by this hook without pain to themselves. Our -American cities are troubled about their street-cleaning department; but -Vera Cruz has a street-cleaning commission that is a commission. Here -they work without salary and only ask bed and board. The only other -bonus they ask is that the city fine any person five dollars for killing -any member of the commission; which seemed only reasonable, so the city -gladly consented, and now the agreement is entirely satisfactory to -employer and employee. - -The city council, on the city records, calls these commissioners -Zopilotes, but ordinary people just call them turkey-buzzards.$1‘Their -contract calls for bed and board--or tree. They find their board in the -garbage piles and refuse heaps of the streets, and their bed on the -church steeples and on the city hall and on your gate post or any other -soft place where it is comfortable to rest after a hard day’s work. The -city has not yet appointed a commission to clean up behind the -commissioners, and if I should suggest the thing to them they would -misunderstand my ideas of reform, so I will leave them to their fate and -the heavy death roll which they will still charge to _El Vomito_ and -exonerate the Zopilotes. Owing to an oversight in drawing up the -contract, no mention was made of nesting-places for the commissioners, -and so they had to make other arrangements elsewhere, but where it is -the deponent sayeth not. - -Their day’s work was done and we saw that all the resorters had resorted -to their resorts, so we resorted to the train, unpacked our thermometer -and hied us away. Vera Cruz has had a monopoly of the shipping business, -but has a rival now in Tampico. When you go to Tampico, you must tar and -grease your hands, face and neck, then wear a pair of leather gloves -and muzzle your face with wire netting. You may keep the insects off but -you will smell like a barrel of train oil. The entomologists must have -got tired classifying insects and dumped all the remnants at Tampico. -One sociable little fellow has a habit of crawling under your toe-nail -while you sleep and digging a hole till he is out of sight and then -going to sleep. He has no special reason for this except to make you cut -off your toe to get him out or to make you sleep in your boots. The -monkeys and parrots are very sociable too, but familiarity breeds -contempt. If I must associate with monkeys I prefer those with two legs -so when I abuse them they can understand my wrath. - -For description of Tampico see Encyclopædia Britannica. Besides the -Inter-Oceanic, there is another railroad entering Vera Cruz, the British -road that was thirty-five years in building and cost forty million -dollars. This road leaves the plateau at Boca del Monte (mouth of the -mountain) eight thousand feet above the sea, and falls four thousand -feet in passing over the first twenty-five miles of circuitous track, -and it falls twenty-five hundred perpendicular feet in the first twelve -miles, or two hundred and eighty feet to the mile. That tired, sinking -feeling is very, very present when you start down. A double engine -called the “Farlie,” having two sets of driving machinery and the boiler -in the center, pulls this train, and when it starts up hill it has to -stop every ten miles to rest. The Britishers who built that road had -faith and plenty of it. Below Orizaba, the road crosses a gorge a -thousand feet deep, and was blasted from the solid rock. To do so, -workmen were suspended by ropes over the cliff, and worked for hours -with hammer and chisel. One piece of track clinging to the wall is not -over ten rods long and required seven years to build. So costly was this -road that when it was first opened in 1873 first class freight rates -from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico, two hundred and sixty-three miles -away, were $76 a ton on freight trains and $97.77 on passenger trains. - -Since Tampico is now a rival port freight is only $45 a ton and still -the road hardly pays for its outlay. We soon enter the beautiful valley -of La Joya (the Gem) and down, down below the clouds we pass through -evergreen foliage of ferns and flowers that surpass anything in beauty -ever attempted by brush and canvas; mammoth ferns and tangled vanilla -vines and other parasitic vines that coil around the giant trees and -strangle them to death, and then feed upon the remains. Tropical birds -of all colors and migratory birds from other lands are here without -number. It is here the Indian hunter pursues his vocation of killing to -make the wonderful featherwork, so salable in the capital, and just here -we enter the beautiful city of Orizaba, the capital of Vera Cruz. - -Behind the city is the snow-capped volcano of Orizaba, eighteen thousand -three hundred and fourteen feet above the sea, three miles and a half -high. Violent eruptions took place here in 1545-6 but it has been on a -strike ever since. Being the second highest mountain in North America, -perhaps it is putting on airs. At any rate it is chilly enough now and -the melting snows form innumerable cascades and waterfalls; and so the -Chicmec Indians called the volcano “Ahauializapan” or “Joy in the -waters,” but the Spaniards had neglected their pronunciation in their -early youth and this was their Shibboleth, so they called it Orizaba and -let it go at that. Earthquakes have always been a specialty with -Orizaba, and the largest church has had its steeples thrown down three -times, and many others have a rakish, corkscrew perpendicular, which -gives the impression that they have been on a jag or are trying to -imitate the leaning tower of Pisa. A river runs through the town, and -runs cotton and sugar and flour mills. Orizaba is exactly of the same -altitude as Jalapa and what was said of the richness and fertility of -that burg is true of Orizaba. Volcanic ash is the fertilizer which needs -only moisture, which is abundant. The streets are paved with lava, and -there are three schools for girls and two for boys. If you like mountain -climbing, plenty of blankets, two days’ provisions--and some -silver--will take you to the crater of Orizaba, if your lungs can stand -the rarified air. - -I also ascended Orizaba, and my proxy said he could almost see into the -land of the almighty dollar, the vision was so grand. I felt happy. -Delightful excursions through the pretty gardens to Yngenio, the lakes -and mills of Nogales, to the innumerable cascades of Rincon Grande, -Tuxpango, El Bario Nuevo and Santa Ana. On the way to these, the orchids -and other floral beauties just beg of you to pluck them and thus make -room for their companions. Down the mountain we glide with brakes set -and enter the steel laces of the spider bridge across the Metlac and -hold our breath to lighten our weight to the other side. We feel much -better after we are over, and just beyond in the tropical vale of Seco -is Cordova, on the border of the _tierra caliente_ and _tierra -templada_. We are in the same belt as Jalapa and Orizaba, therefore in -the heart of the coffee plantations. The principal food of the -lower-class is bananas. The banana is an annual that grows about ten -feet high and about a foot in diameter before the bud appears, and then -from the top springs a purple bud eight or nine inches long, shaped like -a large acorn. This cone hangs from a long stem upon which a leaf -unfolds, displaying a large cluster of young fruit. As soon as these -have set, the leaf drops off and another unfolds, exposing another young -brood of buds. When these set, the process is repeated until there are -nine or ten circles of young bananas, and when complete the bunch has -nearly a hundred bananas, and the stalk never has to be replanted. It -requires less attention and produces more than any plant known. - -If the coffee plant was allowed to grow with its own sweet will, it -would become a tree thirty feet high, but then the berry would be hard -to gather, so it is topped and pruned so as to spread laterally. The -leaf is a shining evergreen, the flower is a snowy white star with the -odor of jassamines, and the fruit is a bright red, turning to purple -when ripe. The fruit looks much like a cherry and tastes as well, but -this is not for what it is cultivated. Within the berry are two kernels -or seeds with their flat sides adjoining, and enclosed in a thin -pericarp. The fruit is spread in the sun to dry, and the outer surface -is shriveled to a pulp, when it is removed by the hand. The pericarp or -thin husk still remains, and this is removed by being broken between -rollers and winnowed, and the coffee berry is ready for market. It must -be shipped alone as it will absorb any and all odors with which it comes -in contact, and a cup of coffee with a Limburger aroma is not a desired -innovation. The Mexican prides himself on the superiority of his coffee -bean, and all travelers praise the article as drunk _a la Mexicana_. - -A president of France once visited a village hostelry, and asked the -woman in charge to bring him all the chicory she had in the house. After -she had proudly delivered all her chicory to him he said: “And now -madam, I will thank you for a cup of good coffee.” The Mexican is not -above deception, however. Parrots grow here by the million and paroquets -by the billion, and in nearly all colors of the rainbow, but only the -ones with the yellow head will ever learn to talk, and no color of -paroquets will do more than chatter. But what is that small thing to a -Mexican? He simply gets a number of parrots and a pot of yellow ochre, -and in three shakes of a sheep’s tail he has a cage full of yellow-head -parrots worth five dollars each before they learn to talk. They next -spot the American “greenies” with money to burn, and the rest, is it not -written in the book of a retributive Nemesis who recorded those blue -streaks of profanity when that parrot got its first bath? Yea, verily. - - “In ways that are dark and tricks that are vain, - The heathen Chinee is peculiar.” - -Bret Harte may come down here with his mandolin and pick that same tune -in Spanish and he will receive an encore. - -The Mexican will sell you “antiquias” from a pyramid that he made last -month, and he will sell you a coffee-wood walking stick that was made -from an old railroad crosstie and loaded with lead, and he will sell you -a blanket he stole from you last night, but when you call for coffee you -get the real article, and it is not prepared in either iron or tinned -vessels, but unglazed pottery. They fill your cup half full of coffee -and half full of milk and pass you the sugar, and when you have done, -like Oliver Twist, you call for more. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: CATHEDRAL GUADALAJARA.] - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -GUADALAJARA IN THE VALE OF LERMA. - - -Guadalajara, which is reached by the Mexican Central R. R. from -Irapuata, was built in 1541 and in importance ranks next to the city of -Mexico. It is the capital of Jalisco, situated near the River Lerma, -which here changes its name to Santiago, in the midst of a plain hemmed -in on three sides by mountains, and on the fourth side is the Canon of -Santiago and the jumping-off place to the Pacific Ocean. - -Being the only city of importance near the Pacific and never having had -a railroad till 1888, it is strictly a Mexican city without foreign -tendency. The city is exceedingly beautiful, with streets crossing at -right angles and lined with orange trees for shade, the rarest of -innovations in this country. There are a score of public parks with -music stands, fourteen portales or arcades covering the sidewalks for -many squares, and fourteen bridges spanning the San Juan River. - -The Degollado Theatre is the largest on the continent, with the possible -exception of the Metropolitan in New York. The only academy of fine arts -in the country outside the capital is here. It is a great manufacturing -city, but not a column of smoke or the noise of a wheel breaks the -Sunday quiet. It is entirely what the word means--manufactures, -hand-made. Pass across the little river among the humble adobe dwellings -and every house is a work-shop for cotton and silk and wool and leather -and musical instruments. Seated upon the dirt floor with a distaff in -her hand, I saw Penelope weaving rebosas after the manner of the ancient -Greeks. Two doors further I saw young girls with foot-power looms -weaving cotton goods, and hard by were a score of young women weaving -hosiery with small hand-worked machines. Leather and straw hats and -baskets were all done by hand, and what a busy city! For squares and -squares, every doorway revealed a hive of busy workers, for Guadalajara -must supply the country a hundred miles around, and forever, and -forever, the pack-trains from the Pacific country and the mountains come -and go with the exchange of commerce. It is the busiest city I have yet -found here and the people are happy. Saddles and hats and hammocks and -baskets and pottery and shoes are made by the thousand tons and all by -hand or the crudest of foot-power machinery. It is wonderful to see the -skill of mere boys, who seem to inherit the trades of their ancestors, -like the watch-makers of Switzerland or the wood-carvers of Germany. - -Of necessity, hand-made articles come high in price, and that forces -other thousands into the trade to make rather than to buy. A manilla hat -will sell for four dollars right in the shop where it is made, and -woolen sombreros without ornament are from four to ten dollars, and a -pair of French suspenders costs a dollar and a half. A curious custom -is the grouping together of all similar industries. In seeking a pair of -shoes I was sent to a quarter of the town where for an hour every open -door gave forth its leather odor, and the wall outside was lined with -leather articles. There is no mooted question about shop-made shoes. -Every workman sits in front of his door with his kit of tools on the -sidewalk and works and waits for custom, and if he does shoddy work it -is done under your gaze. All the rope and hemp dealers and workers in -sisal are grouped in like manner, and the far-famed Guadalajara pottery -can be found all in one square. Guadalajara is the home of the chocolate -industry. The botanical name of the chocolate tree is _Theobroma cacao_, -and on account of the theobromine the seeds contain, it is one of the -most nourishing foods in the country. The cacao tree grows about 20 feet -high. The leaves are large and the flowers small, and the fruit is a -long purple pod similar to the yellow locust pods of our forests. The -pod contains from twenty to forty beans, each very similar in size and -color to the shelled almond. Butter made from these beans has an -agreeable taste and odor, and rarely becomes rancid. The principal -constituents are stearin and olein, and is much used in surgery, and in -France is used in pomade. The chocolate of commerce is prepared by -roasting the seeds, which establishes the aroma and changes the starch -into dextrin. The seeds are then crushed, winnowed and molded, and are -ready for export. For instructions in the art of preparing the steaming -beverage, consult your cook. I do not know. - -The most noted point in the city is the Hospicio de Guadalajara. This -building covers eight acres of ground, and within its walls are -twenty-three patios or open courts where fountains play and flowers -bloom in the open air, and mangoes, oranges and bananas grow in the very -doors. This is a public institution for foundlings and orphans and the -deaf, dumb and blind. Girls and boys occupy opposite sides of the -building, and are grouped according to age. A matron in white cap led me -through the entire establishment, beginning with the nursery with its -long rows of cribs with infants of all ages and in all stages of humor. -Some are orphans by necessity and some by desertion, but they have a -better home than thousands with healthy parents. Life here is not a -sinecure and the children are all taught valuable trades. Crippled and -deformed little girls were embroidering and embossing laces and silks -upon patterns so intricate it looked impossible to follow without -machinery. I shall never again believe that the Irish and Venetian -lace-workers have a monopoly of this wonderful and painfully intricate -knowledge. There is a bazaar in the front where these finished articles -are offered for sale, and that is the main channel through which they -receive gratuities. A direct gratuity would be respectfully declined as -it is a state institution and well supported, but you would be told that -to purchase these articles would be directly helpful to the poor -unfortunates who were weaving their lives into those wonderful patterns. - -I asked the matron as to their final disposition. She said that the -afflicted ones would of course stay still death. The healthy girls -would be helped to places of self-support, and the boys would all go to -the army, if they had not mastered some trade. The children have a -beautiful chapel in an open court and decorated in the most pleasing -manner. I learned more of the nobler side of the Mexican people by a day -spent here than in all my wanderings elsewhere. Sorrow and affliction -are like to bring us in a more sympathetic union, and the hundreds of -patient and afflicted children trying to solve the problems of life -under difficulties, force home the truth that all human nature is the -same. Except for the Spanish language, these neatly dressed attendants -and wards could not be told from any similar institution in our own -land, and they will compare as favorably in any line of conduct or -results achieved, and the moral tone and timbre of the institution is a -paragon of excellence. The Hospicio San Miguel de Belen is a similar -institution for afflicted adults with hospital, lunatic asylum and -school attached. - -I suppose penitentiary life is never pleasant, but prison life here is -the most pleasant I have seen. The outer walls look grim enough, but -within there must be two acres of flower plots all under care of the -prisoners. The guards are all upon the walls and can see all that goes -on below. The penitentiary is arranged like a turbine wheel, or rather -like a wagon wheel, with avenues from all parts of the ground converging -to a central arena without roof, and where the prisoners may be all -assembled under inspection if need be. There is here also a reformatory -for boys with dungeons for refractory ones and books and lessons for -the ignorant ones. While it is called a penitentiary, there are no long -term men there; they are all in the army, where they do all the drudgery -work of the barracks. They wear a distinctive uniform and would be -instantly shot if they attempted to escape. It is very easy to gain -admission here, because the visitor is on the wall forty feet above -ground and every part of the wall is traversed by narrow bridges across -the amphitheatre over which the guards constantly travel. The prisoners -are allowed to come to the office and sell anything they manufacture, -and their friends may bring them the raw material, so a man may be a -prisoner and yet support his family. The building contains a court of -justice and prisoners from the patrol wagon are brought directly here -and tried and turned into their wards. - -Monopolies have no chance here; the government controls everything. The -slaughter house is a model of cleanliness and water is freely used. A -hundred or more animals are slaughtered daily and the butchers buy as -the animals are quartered. Prices go according to the grade of meat and -as it is a state affair there is no swindling and no bidding on prices. -The animals are slaughtered without cruelty. One is drawn up a gangway -by a windlass and fastened so it cannot struggle, and a knife is driven -behind the horns, severing the medulla oblongata, and another into the -heart, and the blood drawn off by a conduit while the carcass falls into -a car and is drawn to the skinning room and in six minutes is quartered -and sold. The city market is a wonder all by itself. It covers an -entire square and the roof is supported by 196 arched portales on the -outside, and the number within the mazy interior are too many to count. -Underneath is sold everything that is common to the country. - -Across the San Juan River, five kilometers away, is the suburban town of -San Pedro. The tramcar passes through the city gate under a huge arch -and enters a beautiful avenue of giant elms and camphor trees, and -finally stops at a shaded plazuela in the midst of the little town. The -town for the most part consists of mud-colored adobe huts with no -comfort or convenience, but you soon discover that this is a residence -town of the merchants of Guadalajara. You discover this by the lofty -stone walls shutting out the eyes of the vulgar. One of the first -indications of wealth is a desire to be seclusive, and to wall the great -world out from one’s own little selfish world. Even the church is walled -in and the cemented coping stuck with jagged glass, and the entrance -guarded by heavy iron gates. - -But San Pedro is known by one thing alone worth notice--pottery. -Guadalajara pottery is known all over the world. Here is found a -peculiar clay that gives it _a priori_ advantage, and for generations -the making of pottery has been the business of the town, and the knack -of the thing is inherited. The delicate and artistic painting is done by -people who never had a lesson in art or pigments. Everything in the -shape of a vessel is made in San Pedro, from the huge urns that hold -your largest lawn plants to the minute toy that may be covered with a -button. Not only vessels, but every thing the Mexican has ever seen he -can reproduce in clay, be it horse or man or procession or bull-fight or -building, and he will make it as true to life and color and purpose as a -photograph. But in San Pedro they do more than that. You can sit for a -statue or a bust, six feet or six inches, and the workman will take his -clay and produce a likeness your own mother would know. They are -absolutely true to life in every respect, and will be colored as to eyes -and clothes to the fractional part of a division of a tint, and I refuse -to abate one jot or tittle of the statement. - -But everybody in San Pedro can do that, so we have not yet reached the -celebrity. To find _the_ artist of Mexico, of Guadalajara, of San Pedro, -you must walk two squares east on the street that leads from the -southeast corner of the plaza, turn down to the right half a square till -you come to a little tumble-down adobe house on the left. The -latchstring is on the outside and you are always welcome. Within is Juan -Pandero, the Indian sculptor, a genius if there is one. To be exact -there are two, father and son. If you want a statuette of your beautiful -self it is made while you wait, or will be built and sent to your hotel, -or he will go to your room and do it. But more than that, send him your -photograph and he will do the same, and herein lies his genius. Only -these two can produce statues from photographs, and they will be as true -to life as though he made them from models. And the tools. Such tools! -Seated on the floor with a lump of clay and an old case knife, and the -outfit is complete. - -From the hill of San Pedro, the City of Guadalajara and the Vale of the -Lerma lie before you, and you notice what you have noticed a hundred -times before, how like the hills of Palestine are the landscape. Take -any series of pictures of the Holy Land and of Mexico, and no person who -had not traveled in one or the other could tell the difference. The -houses low, flat-roofed and painted white, the absence of trees and the -naked plain force the resemblance every time a vista is opened. - -Back to the city among those magnificent elms and to the Paseo. The -Paseo! what would any Mexican city be without its Paseo, where -fashionable people take their outing with such system and abandon? This -Paseo extends for a mile along both sides of the Rio San Juan de Dios. -There are also the Botanical gardens, and the Alameda, and the mint and -state buildings with the finest of architecture, so unlooked for in this -far-away place. Churches! ah yes, same old thing, even to the earthquake -brand, and they are costly and beautiful. The cathedral was begun in -1561 and completed in 1618. Both towers were thrown down by an -earthquake in 1818. Paintings without number adorn the wall. The -Assumption, by Murillo, is a genuine master-piece. All the saints in -this part of the vineyard have been remembered in the christening. There -are El Sagraria, San Francisco, San Augustin, San Felipe, La Campania, -Guadalupe, Mexicalt-zingo, Jesus Maria, Capuchinas, Santa Monica, El -Carmen, San José de Analco, San Sebastian de Analco, La Parroqua de -Jesus, San Juan de Dios, Aranzazu, La Soledad, San Diego, Belen, La -Concepcion, La Trinidad y la Parroqua del Pilar, and I am tired of -naming them; but if you will get an almanac and call off all the saints -in the calendar, I will agree to find their churches christened and -waiting for them in Guadalajara. - -Nothing but a conscientious duty makes me go around among these old -paintings, and what do I know about them? I stood in an art gallery once -before a picture called “The Transfiguration;” my companion asked me how -much was it worth. I sized up the gilt frame and measured the space it -covered and said it must have cost ten dollars. He pointed to the name -in one corner and said in disgust: “Don’t you see Raphael’s name on -there? that picture is worth forty thousand dollars!” I dropped my -catalogue to hold my palpitating heart in place and told him I knew -better. Why, there were not ten yards of canvas in the whole thing, and -the molding was not much over eight inches wide and there was not fifty -feet of it, and I knew the price of molding and canvas too. Forty -thousand dollars! who ever heard the like? “But it is not the frame, -goosie, look at the picture!” I looked at it, and then I told him to -look at the picture on the other side, at that Stag Fight, or at that -fellow on the beech-log fishing, and “there’s a picture to look at.” - -He cast a withering glance at me and said some words which sounded like -this: “----!----!!----!!! natural born fool.” I stayed an hour trying -to get educated enough to see the forty thousand dollars. Hundreds of -people came, looked in the catalogue at the price and then showed their -superior education. “Now, that’s what I call art.” “Just look at the -expression.” “What an ensemble!” “Note the radiance of that halo!” I -merely asked them what was it anyway. Some said it was the price, some -said it was an original old master, and some said it was both. I saw -hundreds of pictures I liked better, but I was out of style. I saw a -beech forest with silver bark and purple and brown leaves that I thought -was a gem, and some one turned up his nose in disgust and pointed to the -price; only $25! bah! And then I wept because my art education had been -so sadly neglected, and so I never miss an opportunity now to improve -it. Now, when the guide strikes an attitude and proudly points to a -painting and says: “_Murillo!_” I throw up both hands and step back a -pace or two and say: “_Murillo! Murillo!_ Ah, _Murillo!_ Just look at -that expression! What an ensemble!” Then I look at the guide’s face to -see how I am getting along, and he looks happy, and then we pass on. -Then he stops. “The Entombment, by Titian, $50,000.” Then I go into -ecstacies and strike another attitude: “The Entombment! $50,000! Titian! -$50,000! Ah, Titian! $50,000! That’s art!” When we stopped again I was -just about to raise my hands again, and looked to him for my cue, but he -said: “By a Mexican, $25.” “Oh!” I said in contempt. “Just a daub! Why -in the name of Saint Peter doesn’t that man learn to paint!” That guide -said I ought to make art my calling, and I do not know till this day -what he meant. - -Of course excursions outside of the city are in order. The cars lead to -Tlacotalpan, about five kilometers away, a quaint old town that looks -like Rip Van Winkle’s summer residence. The Falls of Juanacatlan are -farther. You go by rail twelve miles to Castillo, and go by horse-car -one league farther to the River Lerma. The river is over a hundred yards -wide and the cascade is seventy-one feet high. In high water the falls -are beautiful, but a huge flour-mill has been erected which draws most -of the water through a flume when the river is low, at which time it is -possible to walk across the rocks the entire distance above the falls. -The mill was not completed when I was there, but judging by the name it -bears, it will be a very correct and moral mill. The part of the name as -completed reads: “The Mill of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary -Magdalene;” and when the annex is added to the mill, I was assured that -the rest of the name would be added, as at present there was not enough -room. Between Castillo and the falls is a rich valley covered with fine -beef cattle for the city market, and here can be witnessed some of the -finest work of roping cattle to be found among cowboys. While in full -gallop they can rope any foot of the animal that may be desired. - -Above here the river Lerma passes through Lake Chapala, and as it -emerges from the other side it bears the name of Rio Grande de Santiago. -Surely baptism is a wonderful alembic that can make a saint of a muddy -little river by one emersion only. But its good works follow it, and -where it empties into the Pacific, behold the Bay of San Blas! It was -from Lake Chapala that the Aztec migration began, 648 A. D., for the -valley of Mexico, and on this march their name was changed from Aztecs -to Mexicatls, in honor of their war-god, Mexitli. Soon after the river -leaves the lake, and just beyond Guadalajara, it forms a wonderful -canon, which for grandeur is not surpassed on this continent. The chasm -is a narrow barranca two thousand feet down its perpendicular walls. - -You stand on the brink in the _tierra templada_ and behold the tiny, -silver stream a full half mile below you in the _tierra caliente_, the -hot lands of the Pacific. You will never see elsewhere such a work of -nature as the canon de Rio Santiago. No, not even in the Colorado Canon. -It seems as though the great Titans in play had spaded this great block -of the continent from those perpendicular walls, and hurled it at the -Cyclops in the sea. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN. - - -Entering Mexico from El Paso on the Mexican Central R. R., we traverse -the plateau that is continuous from Santa Fe to the City of Mexico; and -dreary enough, too, is the journey, with a perpetual landscape of -mesquite brush, cactus and chaparral. The first place of interest is -Chihuahua, two hundred and twenty-four miles from the Rio Grande, with -its famous silver mines of Santa Eulalia. The city laid a tax of -twenty-five cents on every pound of silver taken from the mine, and with -its share of the revenue, built the famous church of San Francisco at a -cost of eight hundred thousand dollars. - -This is the home of the Chihuahua dog, a beautiful nervous little -creature that is smaller than a squirrel and can easily be carried in -the pocket. It somewhat resembles a marmoset, and is bought by people -who are inclined toward pets. I have heard it darkly hinted that the -Mexican hot tamale was largely made up of Chihuahua dogs, but after -seeing the animal I do not believe it, as it would not pay dividends. -Judging by the size, a person with an ordinary appetite could easily -misplace two of them, and as tamales sell for a cent a piece or twelve -cents for a square meal, the dearest principle of speculation would be -sacrificed with a dollar dog cooked up with a plebeian mongrel. It is -true I have never known what was in the scores of tamales with which I -have made a personal acquaintance, but I will never believe that a -Chihuahua dog was actually _killed_ for that purpose. With the armadilla -it is different. His market value is only rated by the number of steaks -or tamales he will make up, and of him I can believe anything. - -All of this country for almost a thousand miles is devoted to mining, -which forms almost the only industry. At Lerdo, near the Nazas River is -the choicest cotton-growing section of the country. This is the Laguna -region and is very similar to the Nile. It rarely rains, but with -irrigation, wheat and corn grow all the time, and cotton has to be -planted only once in seven years, as it grows that long from one -planting. Eight hundred miles from the Rio Grande and four hundred and -forty miles from the city is Zacatecas, a city of eighty-five thousand -and the capital of Zacatecas. Nothing grows here but rocks and silver, -and I believe they do not grow any more, but they have a great deal of -the old stock still on hand. In the heart of the Sierra Madres, this old -town is built upon a silver mine which was discovered in 1546 and since -then has disgorged a billion dollars. - -The sight of the town from the north is startling. You have climbed to a -height of 8,000 feet and see no indication of a city until the train -crosses the crest. At night when the city is a blaze of light it -surpasses anything seen outside of Fairyland, as the train winds in a -spiral down into town, dropping 136 feet to the mile. At the station the -mules have pulled up the street cars and gone back to town, and as you -get aboard the driver loosens the brake and lets the car roll into town -by gravity. Like the nests of swallows clinging to the cliffs are the -houses of Zacatecas, perched far up where it seems only a goat could -climb. - -And Zacatecas also has its Guadalupe, upon whose summit is the church of -Los Remedios, and up the road, as narrow as the one which leads to -righteousness and as rocky as the one up from Jordan, lined with sharp -stones and crull cactus, crawl devotees on bleeding knees to do penance -for their souls’ salvation, at the behests of priests who grow rich from -their savings. Of course all the saints have churches named for them, -and here is probably the oldest Presbyterian Church in the world. It was -once dedicated to San Augustin, but has now become the property of the -Presbyterians. In the old church of Guadalupe is probably more to -interest the stranger than in any other church in this land of churches. -In the main altar are life-size figures of the crucifixion, and behind -these is a painting of Calvary with the Jews and Roman soldiers, drawn -to affiliate with the statues in front with startling effect. The church -is filled with people kneeling at the altars and whispering in the -confessionals. The old art gallery is filled with pictures of the saints -in all gradations of trials and temptations which prepared them for -immortality. The new chapel is the gift of a maiden lady of great -wealth, and is the finest chapel in Mexico. The floor is inlaid with -hard woods in different colors, and the altar is rich with silver and -gold and gilding and wax figures, and silk and satin hangings. The altar -rail is of onyx and solid silver. The walls are finely frescoed, and -arched to a dome fifty feet above the floor. Everywhere are mines, -mines, and from their yawning mouths the Mexican laborers climb ladders -all day, bearing on their back canvas sacks holding two hundred pounds -of ore, and receive the princely sum of thirty-five cents a day. The -richest churches and the poorest people in Mexico are always found in -the same town and are correlative. The very fact that the people are -poor, is because they have made the church rich. A million dollar church -whose portals are filled with a hundred ragged paupers begging alms is -an every day occurrence. - -As the train leaves Zacatecas going south, it climbs a grade one hundred -and seventy-five feet to the mile, and ere long reaches Aguas Calientes, -“Hot Waters,” and the town runs riot in smoking, steaming, hot waters -that burst from the mountain side and offer free baths and prepared -laundry facilities free gratis for nothing to all who wish them, and -they are thoroughly appreciated. Men, women and children paddle in the -water and bathe and dress and undress with no worry at all about the -small conventionalities of privacy, etc. Now and then you will see a -baby tied to a string, who paddles to the length of his tether while his -mother is busy with her laundering. The town was built in 1520 and is -worthy of a visit at any time, but to see it in its glory you must come -to La fiesta de San Marcos. Saint Mark is the patron saint of the city, -and from April 23 to May 10, all the turkeys in reach are slaughtered -to grace the festal board and the business houses close for a holiday. -There is a fine old bell in the great church by the plaza, and whenever -it is heard the peons uncover their heads, cross their hands and engage -in prayer. People from all over the country come here to bathe in the -hot waters and take life easy. It is better than heating water at home. -Fruit is abundant and cheap, oranges selling two for a cent in Mexican -money, or four for a cent in Uncle Samuel’s coin. Flowers grow so -luxuriously in this warm moist atmosphere, that geraniums and oleanders -grow to the height of trees. - -Below Aguas Calientes is the city of Leon, on the river Turbois, in the -state of Guanajuata. It contains a hundred thousand population and is -the third city in importance in Mexico. It has five hundred and seven -streets, two hundred and thirty-six manzanas and ten plazas. Nearly -everything in use by the citizen is made here, but the leather industry -prevails. There is no machinery whatever, but everywhere are handlooms -for weaving _rebosas_, shops for the making of bridles and the cruel -spade-like bridle-bits, saddles, leather clothing and sombreros, so much -prized by cow-boys and haciendados. - -Guanajuata is the capital of the state and is pronounced -“Wah-nah-water.” The original name of the town was Guanashuata, “The -Hill of the Frogs” in the Tarascan tongue, on account of the fanciful -shape of the overhanging mountain. For three hundred years mining has -been the business of this city which contains sixty crushing mills to -reduce the quartz. The richest silver mine in the country is here, the -Veta Madre, which has already produced $800,000,000 by the crude methods -in vogue here, which never secure over sixty percent of the real value. -Owing to the scarcity of fuel and water, machinery is impractical, so -the usual method of extraction is as follows: the rock is ground into a -fine powder and made into a paste with water, and spread upon the floor -of a large court a hundred feet square, after the manner of a brick-yard -mortar-pit; then certain preparations of salt, sulphate of iron and -quicksilver are added, and for three weeks a drove of broken-down -donkeys and men tramp leg-deep in this huge mud-pie. When the -amalgamation is complete and the quicksilver has collected all the -silver, it is taken in wheel-barrows to washing tanks, where half-naked -men and boys puddle it till the metal falls to the bottom and the refuse -washes away. It is barbarous treatment for men and animals, and a slow -method, but the only practical one where coal sells for $20 a ton and -wood $11 a cord. Wading naked in quicksilver and vitriol is not -calculated to lengthen life, and the life of mules in this business is -generally four years and of the drivers eight, and yet they never lack -for drivers. The mines average $33 to every ton of raw material handled, -and the silver is so plentiful and the profits so satisfactory that the -forty percent. loss does not trouble the owners. The 85,000 people all -get a living and are happy and what more is needful. - -Queretaro with its fifty thousand population is especially noted for -opals. It is a remarkable fact that every industry in Mexico is -distributed by towns. Irapuato for strawberries, Celaya for dulces, -Lerdo for cotton goods, Leon for leather, Puebla for onyx, Orizaba for -fruits, Saltillo for Zerapes, Guadalajara for pottery, Jalapa for -beautiful women, and so on from Dan to Beersheba. And so Queretaro -contains the mines which produce the fiery opal which brings so much ill -luck to the owners, according to the reigning superstition. This was an -Aztec town, captured by the Spaniards in 1531. It was here the treaty of -peace with the United States was finally ratified in 1848, and where Mr. -Seward was met with so much honor in 1869. The Hercules Cotton Mill is -the greatest attraction of Queretaro and one of the greatest in the -country. It has an over-shot waterwheel forty-six and a half feet in -diameter, and also a Corliss steam engine which burns wood costing -sixteen dollars a cord. One thousand eight hundred employees work here -twelve hours a day with wages from thirty-seven and a half to fifty -cents a day, and weavers get six or seven dollars a week. The premises -are walled in by a fort, and in front is stationed a company of -thirty-seven men with Winchester rifles. All large establishments have -to do this, as the large amount of money changing hands on payday is but -an invitation to desperate men of the Jesse James persuasion to make an -informal call. This mill has twenty-one thousand spindles and seven -hundred looms, and manufactures the unbleached cotton which the common -people wear. In the midst of a profusion of flowers stands a statue of -Hercules which cost fourteen thousand dollars before it left Italy. -Protective tariff in favor of this mill against imports is nine and -three quarter cents per square metre, which enables it to sell its cloth -at thirteen cents per square yard wholesale. A better grade of goods is -sold in the United States for five cents. Free Trade is yet a long ways -off in Mexico. - -Maximilian and his two generals were shot here, and the saddest thing -connected with the history is the fate of poor Carlotta, his wife. She -was very dear to the people of Mexico, and when Maximilian was taken -prisoner many people pleaded for his life. The governments of Europe -protested against his execution, and the United States asked a stay of -his sentence. The princess Salm-Salm rode a hundred and sixty miles on -horseback and on bended knee prayed Juarez to spare his life. The next -day after his capture, Carlotta hurried to Vera Cruz and set sail for -France and begged Napoleon III to keep his word and uphold the treaty of -Miramar, and Napoleon insulted her for her trouble. She then went to -Rome and prayed to Pope Pius IX., but fared no better and distracted by -her failures she became a raving maniac, and for these thirty years no -light of reason has ever returned, but in the Austrian capital she sits -in gross darkness, babbling the name of Maximilian. As for the Indian -president, Juarez, he listened to all petitions but gave but one answer; -that war was war, and as for sickly sentimentalism, he had gone out of -the posing business, and they who lived by the sword should die by the -sword. - -While Maximilian was in power, he issued a decree that every officer -taken in arms against the government should be shot without trial, and -he executed that decree with every Mexican officer he captured. Now -Juarez was in power and the law had never been repealed, and he decided -it would work as well with Juarez as with Maximilian. Aside from all -this he decided that one dead Austrian Emperor on Mexican soil was worth -a hundred live ones, and Juarez always lived up to his convictions. - -P. S. Maximilian was shot. - -Pachuca is the capital of Hidalgo, eight thousand feet above the sea, -and overcoats are needed the whole year. There are three hundred mines -here and the business has been carried on four hundred years, and the -quantity of silver taken out will never be known. The Trinidad alone in -ten years yielded fifty million dollars. The other principal mines are -the Rosario, Caridado, Xacal, Santa Gertrudis, Caxyetana and Dolores. At -Acambaro we change cars for the Lake Region, through the beautiful towns -of Morelia, the capital of Michoacan and the residence of the Bishop. In -olden times when the Tarascan Kings got tired acting King, they took -their boats, and leaving Tzintzuntzan, their capital, paddled over to -Patzcuaro, “Place of Pleasure.” - -The town is very old and the streets are very crooked, with shrines and -saints set in the walls at every corner, but the old settlers were right -when they called it a place of pleasure. After a good night’s rest it is -the proper thing to see the sunrise, that will leave its impression with -you forever. Up the street to the Hill of Calvary you pass fourteen -stations of the Cross where the faithful pray. You hurry on to Los -Balcones, a stone parapet in front of the church of Calvary and what a -sight meets your eye! From your elevation of a mile and a half above -the sea, the world is spread before you like a panorama. Spread at your -feet is Laguna Patzcuaro, “Lake Beautiful,” with its green islands and -giant trees, and as the sun comes up out of the Sierras he discloses to -your enchanted gaze a level plain with forty-three towns with a setting -of mountains and valleys worth a journey to see. Lake Patzcuaro is the -highest navigable water on the globe, being over seven thousand feet -high. It is a thousand feet below you on Los Balcones, but its thirty -miles of length and twelve of width are before you as a mirror. On its -bosom is the quaintest little steamboat that ever paddled a wheel, the -Mariano Jiminez, and it will take you among all the beautiful islands, -and to the old town of Tzintzuntzan. This was once the capital of the -ancient Kingdom of Tarasco that resisted to the last the sovereignty of -Montezuma, and after the Conquest was the seat of the Bishopric of -Tarasco. This Bishopric was held in such high esteem by Philip II of -Spain that he presented the cathedral with the finest creation from the -brush of Titian, “The Entombment.” The old church is crumbling down, but -the Indians venerate the painting so much the Bishop has forbidden its -removal. Art lovers have offered immense sums for it, but the church -authorities refuse to entertain offers in any sum, and so it hangs where -it was hung over three hundred years ago. - -The lake is dotted with innumerable fisher boats and timber rafts and -large flat-bottom boats hewn from giant trees. The fishermen simply dip -their nets in the water at random and catch the fish, which here form -one of the chief articles of food; but we started out to study art, and -not fish, so we land on the opposite side to see the famous painting -which is so zealously guarded. You are admitted through the outer wall -into the patio where sit a number of Indian women braiding mats, and the -padre said they were doing penance. With a lighted candle the padre -leads you through a dark corridor to a grim door, barred, chained and -padlocked. This door leads into a chamber dark as night. The padre opens -a grated window and lets in a flood of light and the picture lies -revealed with its life-size figures. You know you are in the presence of -the great master, because everybody says so. - -Artists from every part of the world have come to see this painting and -they all say it is a genuine Titian, and I knew this was the proper -place and time to expiate on art as I had heard those learned critics do -before the Transfiguration. I had finished nearly all the phrases they -said when the padre closed the window and the flood-gate of my -eloquence. Ah, but it was grand! After the padre had blown out the -light, barred, chained and pad-locked the door, a new idea came to me. -The bishop of Mexico has offered these Indians fifty thousand dollars -for the picture and they laughed at him, and ten times that figure -cannot buy it. All the figures are life-size and it is large enough, but -fifty thousand dollars will plaster both sides. My idea is to go down -there to Tzintzuntzan and get a job of doing penance in that old church -and finally get myself elected guardian of the keys to that room, and -then I will write this letter to the bishop of Mexico: “Dear Bishop: I -hear that you have money to burn; also that you have fifty thousand -dollars to invest in old canvas, especially the brand that adorns the -dark alcove in the old cathedral at Tzintzuntzan. If you mean b-i-z, -meet me at the Rialto on Lake Beautiful this P. M., just as the moon is -rising in China, and we will give that old canvas the first fresh air -bath it has had in three hundred years. - -“P. S.--Come prepared to move in light marching order, because the state -of Michoacan will hardly be large enough for you and the picture after -morning mass. - -“N. B., P. S. No. 2.--Don’t forget the fifty thousand dollars, for - -RIGHT -“Yours Truly.” - -If ever I get to be doorkeeper down there I shall certainly vote to use -that fresh air fund to the best advantage, and there will still be -profit enough to give all those enthusiastic art lovers a square meal -after I have started to Canada, and I certainly would do that much for -them. In coming years when the Tzintzuntzan poets shall say, “What are -the wild waves saying?” they will answer, that they saw the only -hustling doorkeeper that old church ever had, cross that lake between -two days once, and before Aurora, child of the morn, had awakened from -her sleep, he had reached the other side of the mountains and lit -running. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -DIVES AND LAZARUS. - - -There is probably no other country where the gulf between the rich and -poor is so wide. Six thousand people own all the land in Mexico, and -eleven million people have to live upon terms made directly or -indirectly by those six thousand. The same six thousand are also the -governing class, and make all laws to favor their own interest. For -instance, all the land of the rich is exempt from taxation, and this -compels the poor laborer to pay the tax for the support of the -government. It is hard for a man to acquire land here, as the holders -will not sell, and the laws against foreigners are very strict. Mexico -has never forgotten 1848, when California, Arizona and New Mexico were -seized by the United States, and she now sees to it that Americans get -no more. Thus, no American, without consent of the president, can -acquire land within twenty leagues of the border. This precaution is -based upon the experience of Texas. Mexicans allowed the Americans to -settle in Texas, and so soon as they felt strong enough they struck out -for independence and got it. If Americans were allowed to buy along the -Rio Grande, it would be but a few years till the Rio Grande country -would declare independence and join Texas, just as Texas joined the -union. - -The rich have also made a law that a man may become a slave for debt, -and the property of the creditor. As a legal enactment the law has been -repealed, but as a matter of fact, the law is as operative today as it -ever was, and this class of slave labor is known as peons. The peon may -owe the creditor a hundred dollars. He is paid such low wages he never -cancels his debt, but continues till it is doubled. Should he become -dissatisfied with his master, he can get some one else to buy him by -paying the debt, and he thus becomes the slave of the second, but this -is always done legally. The original owner must write out a statement of -the amount of debt, and allow the peon three days for each hundred -dollars to seek a new master. Once in debt, always in debt, so the poor -peon is never free, and his wife is included in his contract, and the -haciendas will have no other kind of labor. The Mexican by nature is -averse to work, and where land is so fertile and fruit is so plenty, it -is hard to get a free Mexican to work, and harder to hold him. The peon, -on the other hand, has both a moral and legal compulsion to work, and -the fear of the law compels him to work every day but Sundays and feast -days. So this is the kind of labor the haciendados seek. - -In opening a new plantation, instead of hiring men, the owner spends six -or eight thousand dollars in buying peons from other farms, before his -new place has earned him a dollar. When he becomes the property of his -new master, a contract must be made as to time and wages. The peon -agrees to work on all days except feast days, and to receive in wages -two dollars and a half a month, plus a ration of corn, beans and salt, -or four dollars a month without rations. The rations consist of six -almuds (6½ quarts each) of corn, half an almud of frijoles (beans) and -one pound of salt. If a peon refuses to pay his debts in money or work, -the law places him in close confinement. Life on these haciendas is -peculiar to itself. The buildings are in the form of a huge rectangle -surrounded by high walls and entered by massive gates which are closed -at night. The walls are mounted by towers and pierced by loop-holes for -muskets, and generally surrounded by a moat. All these precautions have -been necessary in a land infested by bandits and subject to the annual -raids of the revolutionists who could get horses and supplies to furnish -a regiment. - -The hacienda of Jaral once controlled 20,000 peons and furnished a full -regiment for the Spanish army in the war of independence. Within this -enclosure on one side is the residence of the bosses, as the owners -nearly all live in Europe. On the other sides, in adobe huts with dirt -floors, live the peons with their families and dogs, while in the center -or in a separate enclosure are the animals. It reminds one of the feudal -days to hear the signal bell rung and see the hundreds of people -hurrying to the hacienda and closing the ponderous gates and preparing -for a siege. Revolutions and bandits are not as frequent now as -formerly, but the haciendas have no faith in Utopia, so they still build -in accordance with past experience. The universal work animal is the ox, -and he is worked just as he was on the Nile four thousand years ago. -The plow is a sharp stick with an iron point that does not turn the soil -but only opens a furrow. The beam is fastened to the yoke, and the yoke -is fastened to the animal’s horns by means of raw-hide thongs, the -universal hammer and nails of the country. The people mend, repair and -make everything by means of raw-hide. The plowman holds the single -handle with his left hand, and in his right he carries a goad with a -steel point on the end with which he persuades his team. The driver -never speaks to his team, but if he wants the team to go to the left he -silently prods the right hand ox, and vice versa. The cruel method of -fastening the yoke to the horns compels the oxen to pull by their necks -instead of by their shoulders, and with a heavy two-wheeled cart loaded -with a ton of stone, their necks soon become so stiff they cannot bend -them, and cannot graze nor drink water unless they stand in it leg deep. - -Innovations? O no, the Mexican wants no innovation. An enterprising -Yankee shipped some plows down, and the natives sawed off one handle of -every one. He had always plowed with one handle and always will. In -making excavations for building, no wheel-barrow is seen. A piece of -raw-hide stretched between two poles and carried by two men is the only -wheel-barrow they will ever use. The only ladder in the country is an -upright pole with cross-pieces tied on by ropes. To saw lumber a pit is -dug and the log laid across the top, then with one man in the pit and -one on the log, it is sawed into lumber. For wagons they use only -two-wheel carts, and in loading, sometimes three or four hundred pounds -will overbalance on the forward side and crush the mule to the ground, -but with whip and lash he is made to get up and move. - -I have seen these two-wheel carts come from the mines loaded with over -two tons of silver, and drawn by eight mules, and only one mule in the -shafts, and his back would be bent into the segment of a circle and his -legs spread like a cotton toy. - -To thresh their grain, it is spread in the yard and the oxen and donkeys -are driven over it two or three days to tramp it out, just as they did -in Egypt in Pharaoh’s time. After ten yoke of oxen had tramped over the -wheat for two days, I fear there are fastidious people who would refuse -to eat it, but we can get accustomed to many things when we have to. -Even the green scum on the stagnant water of the canal makes a fine dish -when you cannot do any better. - -There came a Yankee to this country once who saw a Mexican threshing -machine, which consisted of about thirty sheep, goats and burros, that -were wading knee-deep in grain and threshing it out; so when he got -home, he sent that farmer a Yankee threshing machine almost as a -present, and it was put to work. The grain was threshed clean and it -performed the work of a dozen men and twice that number of animals, and -seemed a great success, but it got bruited to the priests. They came and -saw the machine and stood in amazement. From their standpoint it was too -great an innovation, and what might it not lead to? They declared that -the devil was in the machine, and positively forbade the peons to use -it! The threats and warnings frightened the poor ignorant peons out of -their wits, and that machine was sent back across the Rio Grande. - -When railroads were first introduced, the priests had the tracks torn -up, and for a long time the rubber hose of the air-brake was continually -cut open, because it was said to be the work of the devil. Wise priests -they are in Mexico. Well do they know that where intelligence and -invention find their way among those Indians, the power of the -priesthood is gone, so it is not a matter of ignorance with them. They -are well-educated--too well to permit innovations that will lessen their -influence and shekels. I have met these priests outside of their -official capacity, and found that many of them were educated in Europe -and America and were well posted in the affairs of today, all of which -proves that their teaching what they know to be false is the most -transparent humbug. - -The tools and manner of working is shiftless to the last degree. I have -seen plantations planted in corn, and it was done by men digging holes -with short handled grubbing-hoes, in which to plant, and when it was -large enough to cultivate, take a short paddle or a board, and on their -knees rake the dirt to each stalk. - -The corn has been inbred until it is of the most stunted growth, when a -few bushels of Texas corn would give new life to it. It is a rare thing -to see a stalk on the plateau over five feet high, while the conditions -of the soil ought to produce a height of twelve feet. For irrigation -they still use the old well-sweep, a long pole balanced in a fork, and -as the weighted end goes down, the laden bucket rises at the other, and -all day the laborer draws this water to slake his thirsty field. A -suction pump would do the work of six men, but I have not seen such an -innovation as a pump in all this land. In making a cart the native will -take his ax and hew him out one complete, and there will be no particle -of iron about it. - -With the woman, life is a continual tread-mill until she dies. From -girlhood to old age her business is grinding corn, and it takes her -entire time. In the entire country I have seen no other corn mill. The -usual method is to put the corn to soak in lime water to soften the -grains, and then they are laid upon a stone a dozen at a time and -crushed by another stone roller made exactly like our kitchen rolling -pins; and when it comes to grinding corn for a large family, a dozen -grains at a time, it means a day’s work. In large cities of over a -hundred thousand population, the public mill is the same. I visited a -number where meal was ground for sale, and on the floor were thirty or -forty women down on their knees grinding corn; the metata, or nether -stone is held against the stomach like a washboard, and the rolling-pin -stone is worked up and down to crush the corn, but always she is on her -knees. This constant labor gives the peon woman a stolid look of -resignation that never departs from her features. For use, the grated -meal is dampened and made into thin cakes the size and thickness of a -saucer, and cooked by placing on a hot stone or piece of sheet-iron. - -Neither knives, forks, dishes or spoons enter into their household -equipment. The tortilla is about the color and toughness of leather, -and is baked and stacked away for future use. The frijoles are cooked in -a small burnt clay vessel, then poured into or upon a frijola, which is -then rolled into a cylinder and eaten. If by good fortune they have -anything else to eat, the tortilla is used as a plate for this dainty -and then the plate is eaten. Their adobe houses have dirt floors and no -windows or chimneys. They never use fire except for cooking and that is -done on the outside. Within are neither bed, table nor chairs. Sometimes -there is a straw mat for a bed, and they sleep in the clothes they have -worn all day, the men rolling in their zerapes and the women in rebosas. -Shame and modesty in the usual amenities of life are entirely absent, -and no privacy whatever is sought or needed. The men dress in white -cotton and wear sandals on their feet, and each man is his own -shoemaker. The women wear, often, simply a coarse chemise or at most a -short petticoat reaching to the bare knees. Sometimes they wear coarse -shoes, but never stockings. Their faces have a perpetual look of -sadness. They are slaves for debt, and have nothing else in life to hope -for. Marriage laws are almost unknown. They have not the money to secure -a legal marriage, so the formality is dispensed with. In some of the -largest cities in the country you may take a seat in a public park, and -when no policeman is near some cadaverous looking woman will approach -leading a daughter, and will offer to sell her for two or three -dollars--to such stress are they driven by their condition. - -Do not think for a moment that all this suffering and depravity will -awaken sympathy from the rich. The rich are Spaniards, and being such, -have neither sympathy nor charity for Mexicans and Indians. In trading -with these poor people I have purposely paid them more than the price -asked, when some Spaniard, thinking I had been cheated, would rush up -and abuse the seller and attempt to restore my money. - -Caste distinctions are drawn as tight as steel wires, and a peon would -no more resent an insult from a Spaniard than if he were a superior -being. They are fatalists, and accept their lot as their portion. Before -the law they are all equal, but if the aristocracy should appropriate a -particular park or street or sidewalk, the rabble would cower and huddle -near the edge but would no more trespass than if it were an enchanted -spot. The laws are made by the aristocracy, and in a lawsuit for damages -the poor would have no show at all, and in most cases the _leges non -scriptæ_ are more powerful than the written. By common consent (of the -aristocracy) the people have divided themselves into classes and they -never transgress their acknowledged boundaries. No peon would think of -asking a well-dressed gentleman for a cigarette light, and said -gentleman would not use said peon for a door-mat. - -The most remarkable feature is the zeal with which the police enforce -caste rules. The railroads and street-cars are all divided into classes -and the police are always present to see that the _pilagua_ or poor -class always go third-class. Even should one have a first-class ticket, -the policeman would promptly eject him. At the bull-ring or theater the -police assort them by their clothes, and I have yet to hear of a protest -by the ejected. In the alamedas and promenades, if the aristocracy -appropriate the inner circle next the band stand, the people immediately -fall back to the outer circle, and a string of police will see that they -stay there. But to all Americans, however dressed, barriers fall away -like cobwebs, and with a tip of the hat the official bids you “_Passe -señor_.” Ordinary servants are chosen from the great middle class, and -employers require such exact obedience and homage that no servant of the -United States would remain a day. No matter how often a servant is -called, she must always answer with some deprecating remark denoting her -position, such as: “Yes, your humble servant,” or “At your service, -Señora,” and this formula must never be omitted. In nine cases out of -ten no beds are furnished servants, and I have seen men and women spread -themselves over the bare floor night after night and sleep in the same -clothing they wore all day. For this faithful service women get five -dollars a month, in a country where the cheapest cotton cloth is -thirteen cents a yard. But Mexican servants are the best in the world. -They know nothing of the comforts of life as we know them, so they do -not grumble at their lot. Obedience and hardship are their inheritance, -and like the caged bird that has never known freedom, they never chafe. -It is this submission that makes the priesthood anxious to keep American -innovation out; but let intelligence be once awakened to superior -conditions, and automatic obedience to church and master will suffer a -compound fracture. - -The life of the great middle class woman is the happiest of the lot. Not -being ground by poverty nor bound by the laws of aristocratic society, -she enjoys life. The blue blood deserves our greatest sympathy. She must -never appear without _duenna_ or escort. If she engage in any occupation -whereby she earns money or is drawn from her seclusiveness, she -immediately loses caste. An educated lady may do missionary work or -perform in music for some _funcion_; very well, but if it be known that -she received pay for so doing, it would mean her Waterloo. In -consequence most such places in the country are filled by foreigners who -have no such restrictions to face. Sometimes gentility frazzels out to a -very name with no income, and then the poor lady is in the strait -whether she shall go hungry or lose caste, so she works by stealth. To -the public she gives music lessons or art lessons for the love of it but -on the quiet she collects tuition, and thus is able to live and still -hold her own with the four hundred. - -A Mexican lady has her world in two hemispheres, the church and the -home. When she is not in one she is in the other. They neither visit nor -receive calls. A Mexican’s home is for himself and he does not invite -his dearest friends to it. This is not indicative of selfishness but the -custom. If you want to see anyone you never go to their home, but to the -plaza at eight when the band begins to play, and see your friends. That -is what the band is for, to play while you visit. And so her life is -spent. In her home all day peeping through iron bars, and on Sunday -going to the bull fight, and three evenings a week going to the plaza to -chat. Her home is furnished with elegance, but she has a peculiar -custom. If her best room will hold forty chairs, then forty will be -there. In nearly every home I have seen the walls held as many chairs as -would set around the four sides, but their use was never revealed to me. -Great is custom. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - -POLITICAL ECONOMY. - - -Life is extremely hard in Mexico. The absence of fuel and water places -her industries at a great disadvantage, and to foster her crude -industries she is compelled to put a prohibitory tariff on imports, -which falls heavily upon the consumer. A reciprocity treaty with the -United States would solve the problem, but who ever heard of the -American Congress agreeing upon subjects of great importance. When I -first went to Mexico each state collected its own custom duties -independent of the national government, and custom officials met the -train at every state line. I knew a lady who moved from Kansas to Nueva -Leon, the second state across the border, and on a silver water-pitcher -valued at $35, she paid an _ad valorem_ duty of $17.15. The custom -regulations have changed now, and duty is no longer collected by -individual states, but it is bad enough as it is. American ham in Mexico -costs fifty cents a pound, cheese seventy-five cents, canned salmon one -dollar a can, and mackerel twenty-five cents each. - -Through the kindness of D. Appleton & Co., I am permitted to use some -figures below, taken from that very excellent work by David A. Welles, -“A Study of Mexico.” - -“In 1885, an American living in the City of Mexico induced the landlady -to order an American cooking-stove. In due time the stove arrived, and -this is a copy of the bill presented and paid upon delivery: - - -ORIGINAL INVOICE: - -1 stove weight 282 pounds -1 box pipe “ 69 “ -1 box stove furniture “ 86 “ - --- - Total 437 pounds or 199.3 kilos. - -Cost in St. Louis, U.S. currency $26 50 -Exchange at 20 per cent 5 30 - ------ - Total $31 80 - -Freight from St. Louis to City of Mexico (rail) at - $3 15 per 100 pounds $15 75 -Mexican consular fee at El Paso 4 85 -Stamps at El Paso 45 - ------ - $52 85 - -Cartage and labor on boxes examined by customhouse - at El Paso $ 50 -Forwarding commission, El Paso 2 00 -Exchange 16⅔ per cent. on $7 64 freight advanced by - Mexican Central Railroad 1 25 - ------ - $56 60 - - -IMPORT DUTIES: - -1 box, 128 kilos (stove) iron without brass or copper - ornaments, at 19 cents per kilo $24 42 -1 box, 31.3 kilos. iron pipe, at 24 cents per kilo 7 51 -1 box iron pots, with brass handles, at 24 cents per kilo 9 48 - ------ - $41 41 -Add 4 per cent. as per tariff 1 65 - ------ - $43 06 -Package duty, 50 cents per 100 kilos 1 00 - ------ - $44 06 -Add 5 per cent. as per tariff 2 20 - ------ - $46 26 -Add 2 per cent. municipal duty 93 - ------ - $47 19 -Add 5 per cent. consumption duty 2 36 - ------ - $49 55 -Dispatch of goods at Buena Vista station, City of - Mexico 38 -Stamps for permit 50 50 43 - ------- - $107 03 -Cartage in City of Mexico 75 - ------- - Total $107 78 - - RESUME: - -Original cost of stove with exchange $31 80 -Freight, consular fees and forwarding 24 80 -Import duties 50 43 -Cartage 75 - ------- - Total $107 78 - - [NOTE.--This stove was shipped from El Paso in a lot of goods for - Messrs. ---- & Co., the largest importing house in Mexico, thereby - saving the expense of two-thirds the consular fees--$14-56--which, - if paid on the invoice alone, would have added $9 71 to charges and - raised the total to $117 49.] - -In 1878 Hon. John W. Foster, then United States Minister to Mexico, in a -communication to the Manufacturers’ Association of the Northwest, -(Chicago) thus analyzed the items of cost, in the City of Mexico, of a -tierce weighing gross 328 pounds, containing 300 pounds (net) of sugar -cured hams: - -New York cost, 300 pounds at 11 cents $33 00 -New York expense, such as cartage, consular invoice, - ($4 gold), manifest, etc., average 5 per cent. on - large shipments 1 65 -Freight from New York to Vera Cruz at 1 cent per - pound, payable in New York 3 25 - ------- - $37 90 - -Exchange on New York, $37 90 at 18 per cent. $6 82 -Import duties in Vera Cruz, 138 kilos at 24 cents per - kilo 33 12 -Municipal duties in Vera Cruz, $1 03 for every 400 - pounds 84 -Lighterage and handling from steamer to warehouse - ($1 to $1 50 per every 200 pounds) 1 63 -Maritime brokerage, 2 per cent. on freight ($3 25) 07 -Opening and closing barrel 50 -Additional charges in Vera Cruz for stamps and - cartage to railroad station 1 50 -Commission in Vera Cruz, 2 per cent. on $70 66 1 41 -Exchange on Vera Cruz, 1 per cent. on $39 06 39 -Railroad freight from Vera Cruz to City of Mexico, - 140 kilos at $54 32 per ton 7 60 -Local duties in City of Mexico, 2 per cent. on Federal - duty, $33 12 66 -Local expense in City of Mexico, cartage in depot, - expense in custom house, etc. 75 - ------- - Total $93 19 - -Therefore, $1 in hams in New York was worth $2.82 in Mexico, or 31 cents -per pound! A similar analysis showed that an invoice of ten kegs of cut -nails, which cost in New York $22.50, when imported into the City of -Mexico cost $141.64, or $1 value in nails in New York was equal to $6.29 -in Mexico, and salt that cost $2 a barrel in New York, cost $20.40 in -Mexico. These are simply specimens of tariff duty, but the internal -revenue system is no less remarkable. - -Every inhabitant of the republic who sells goods to the value of $20 -must give the buyer an invoice of same, and affix and cancel a stamp of -corresponding value. Retail sales are exempt from this law so long as -they are less than $20. Retail sellers in the market, or others whose -capital does not exceed $300, are exempt. Tickets of all descriptions, -railroad, theatre, etc., must have a stamp, also each page of the report -of meetings; each leaf of a merchant’s ledger, cash or day book, and -every cigar sold separately must be delivered to the buyer in a stamped -wrapper. Sales of spirits pay 3 per cent; gross receipts of railroads -(city) 4 per cent; public amusements, 2 per cent of entrance fees; -playing cards 50 per cent, and mercantile drafts pay a dollar on the -hundred. Each beef animal on leaving a town pays 50 cents; each fat pig, -25 cents; each sheep, 12 cents; and everything else you can mention. - -A miller in Mexico has to pay thirty-two separate taxes on his wheat, -from the time it leaves his field till he can offer it to his customers -as flour. The country swarms with officials who collect taxes from every -conceivable source, fandangos, christenings, marriages, funerals, -buryings, etc., while you live, and then collect taxes on your grave -after you are dead. It is very much like a case I knew in Texas when a -man was sentenced to prison for life, and the judge found that he had -overlooked one indictment, so he promptly added ten years. I am puzzled -to know if this taxation gave rise to the belief in the transmigration -of souls, or whether the belief in transmigration gave the cue to the -officials to collect from the shades. Perhaps this delinquent tax is -charged to the estate of Purgatory et al. Every man between the ages of -18 and 66 is taxed for the privilege of living, and the only way to -escape this tax is to live in Vera Cruz and die young. Poor old Mexico. - -I might devote ten pages to this subject, but what is the use? A country -with such a prohibitive tariff shuts out her only source of revenue on -imports, and exports nothing of importance but money, so how can she -survive except by robbing the people? The country is very poor, the -State of South Carolina producing two and a half times as much as the -entire northern half of Mexico, and if you compare them by proportionate -areas, twenty-five times as much. The interminable system of taxation is -the most despicable system on American soil. - -I have at last discovered why so many beggars go naked in Mexico. They -go naked and beg in order to escape the tax gatherer, since a man is -taxed on clothes and material and upon all incomes greater than $150. -History tells of a certain people that brought on a revolution and a -republic, just on account of such harmless pastime as licking stamps. -The time will come in Mexico when the people will lick just one stamp -too many, then they will rise in their might and stamp the industry in -the ground. (Joke not intended). - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - -PREHISTORIC RUINS. - - “Thou unrelenting Past! - Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain-- - And fetters strong and fast, - Hold all within thy unbreathing reign. - - “Far in thy realm withdrawn, - Old empires sit in sullenness and gloom; - And glorious ages gone, - Lie deep within the shadow of thy womb. - - “Full many a mighty name - Lurks in thy depths, unuttered, unrevealed; - With thee are silent fame, - Forgotten arts, and wisdom disappeared.” - - -What strange people first entered this land? Who built these stupendous -monuments? Whence did they come and whither did they go? And what -characters are these engraved on walls which no man can read? And what -catastrophe removed from the continent every single inhabitant of a -gifted race? And why do we strive so hard to lift the veil which for so -long has guarded these strange portals? - -Every man who has looked upon these speechless but eloquent landmarks of -these vanished races feels a burning desire to know more of them. To -the curious and inquisitive, Mexico offers an endless field, and a few -of these most noted ruins will be mentioned here. - -The pyramid of Cholula, covering forty-four acres of ground, has already -been mentioned. On Lake Texcoco stood the ancient city of Texcoco, and -here have been found the foundations of three great pyramids, built of -adobe and burnt brick. Sculptured blocks with finely chiseled bas -reliefs have also been found. Three miles from Texcoco is a group of -ruins called the Hill of Tezcocingo. The hill is very regular in outline -and rises to the height of six hundred feet. The most noted part of this -hill is the aqueduct which supplied it with water. The embankment which -leads the aqueduct from the mountain is from sixty to two hundred feet -high. The canals which brought the water are cemented with mortar mixed -with pounded brick. Thirty miles from the capital are the ruins of -Teotihuacan, “The City of the Gods.” Here are two immense pyramids -dedicated to the Sun and Moon. The one to the Sun is seven hundred and -sixty feet square and two hundred and sixteen feet high, with three -terraces, the one to the Moon is one hundred and fifty feet high. -Between them is a paved road one hundred and thirty feet wide. There are -a number of smaller pyramids dedicated to the stars and the whole valley -for six miles is strewn with relics. - -On the Mexican Central Railroad, sixty miles from the city, is the town -of Tula, or Tollan as it was called by the Toltecs. This was their -ancient capital and is covered with ruins. There are two pyramids, -probably dedicated to the Sun and Moon. One is one hundred and ninety -six feet square and forty-six feet high, and the other one hundred and -thirty one feet square and thirty-one feet high, and both rest upon -raised foundations. The hillside for a mile has evidences of buildings -made from adobe, brick and cut stone. At Queretaro, it was found that -all the projecting points were made strong by ditches, walls and -embankments. Bancroft in his “Native Races” says that at Canoas there is -a fortified hill with forty-five defensive works, including a wall forty -feet high, and a rectangular platform with an area of five thousand -square feet. - -At Quemada in the state of Zacatecas is said to be a hill whose every -approach is guarded by walls of stone, with paved roads for many miles -surrounding it. On top of the hill was a citadel, guarded by a wall -twenty feet high and nine feet thick. To the south of Cholula are the -ruins of Xochicalco, the “Hill of Flowers,” said to be the finest ruins -in Mexico. The hill is a natural one rising nearly four hundred feet and -having a circumference of nearly three miles. The hill was surrounded by -a wide ditch and terraced to the top. Five of these terraces wind around -the hill, and are paved with stone laid in mortar, and supported by -perpendicular walls of stone. The top of the hill was leveled to an area -of two hundred and eighty-five by three hundred and twenty-eight feet, -upon which was a pyramid five stories high. The neighboring farmers have -been using it as a stone-quarry, but there yet remain some fine -specimens of chiseled bas-relief. These huge masses of porphyry were cut -by people unacquainted with the use of iron, and as one sculptured -block is eight feet long and three feet broad, and was carried nearly -four hundred feet up the mound, we can appreciate the labor involved. -There is no stone in this neighborhood, and yet the whole of this hill, -three miles in circumference, is cased in stone. What a warlike -neighborhood this must have been to require such fortification! - -At Monte Alban is another group of a similar kind. At the summit of the -hill is a platform half a mile wide, literally covered with sculptured -stone. Mr. Bandelier considers this the most precious remains of -aboriginal work on the continent. In the state of Oaxaca are the -celebrated ruins of Mitla, built by a different people from the others. -Besides the two mounds, Mr. Bandelier found the remains of thirty-nine -buildings, most of which were built of stone. Huge blocks of stone were -used and covered with a facing in which were traced peculiar geometrical -designs. The columns are huge stone pillars without chapter or base. -Mitla is an isolated spot with the pall of the tomb around it, except -for the Zapotec Indians who live near. At Guingola in the same state is -a fortified hill and a ruined settlement. In the state of Vera Cruz on -the Panuco river Mr. Norman found twenty mounds and the ruins of a great -city now covered by a forest. Cortez found this place inhabited by -Totonac Indians whose traditions knew nothing of the ruins. The largest -mound covers two acres, and was faced with stone 18 inches square. From -the sculptures and inscriptions it was probably the work of the Mayas. - -The Smithsonian Report of 1873, page 373, says: “There is hardly a foot -of ground in the state of Vera Cruz, in which, by excavation, either a -broken obsidian knife or a piece of pottery is not found.” The Mayas -here probably made their last stand against the invading Nahuas, who -also had to retreat before the advancing Totonacs. The ruins around -Orizaba and Jalapa belong to this class. At Papantla is a pyramid ninety -feet square and seven stories high, built solid, with a stairway leading -to the top. Also at Tuscapam is another pyramid and the remains of many -other buildings. When the country is fully explored, there will probably -be as many more found as are already known. - -One of the latest discoveries happened while I was in Mexico in 1896, -and was by a Cuban, Mr. G. M. Moliner, who lives in the city of Mexico. -He spent four years in Egypt, and for ten years has studied archæology -in America. He has a sword which he found in Mexico and which he claims -is coeval with the time of the Phoenicians. It is of copper and weighed -eight pounds when discovered, and the scabbard four. The characters on -one side he describes as Persian, and on the other as Phoenician. The -inscription “_Tai Abracadabra_” was pointed out to a representative of -the Mexican Herald, and the symbols of the gnostic beasts, the man, the -eagle and the dragon, and the blade represents the bull’s tongue. He has -also discovered a curio of copper, representing episodes in the history -of the mound-builders as he claims, showing the city of the sun, figures -of warriors, the conquering race armed with swords and oval shields, and -bearing the insignia of the wolf’s head, while the conquered race is -armed with battle axes and fire poles, and have the insignia of a -bird’s claw. When he discovered this piece of copper, he also discovered -what he calls the missing link between the past and present. It is a -piece of jet black marble about ten inches square and polished as smooth -as glass. - -Mr. Moliner claims that this stone contains an epitome of the -prehistoric race and the link that connects them to Asia. This missing -link is the imprint of the head of Hermes, found in one corner of the -lustrous black marble. This design is about two inches square, and -though the marble is half an inch thick, the impression is on both -sides. He claims that the design was painted and imbedded by discoloring -acids. He has had the stone photographed and the study of the photograph -is most interesting. The room must be darkened and only a little light -must reach it. He explained that the ancient priests did this painting -in the dark, through green obsidian glasses, and it must be viewed under -similar conditions. Looking at the photograph in full light, it -presented an enlarged representation of the alleged head of Hermes as -found on the marble. When the room was darkened and the full glare of -the light shone on it through green glasses, the photograph had the -appearance of burnished silver. By shifting the photograph, caves and -rocks would appear, and by another shifting appeared the outlines of a -building with towers and turrets on the crest of a rock, showing a -building of archaic architecture such as is seen in ancient biblical -illustrations. Mr. Moliner declares this to be the ancient Chapultepec. -By another shifting of the light, the head of Hermes appeared with five -component parts, to wit: the sacred Maya stone, the sacrificial knife, -the imperial diadem, and the mask and artificial snout found in Mexico -by the conquerors, the last three being in use by the Aztecs from time -immemorial. From the upper part of this head of Hermes rose a trinity of -faces, more or less distinct, one looking straight ahead, and the other -two right and left. - -One of the oldest of religious trinities is that of Hermes, and Mr. -Moliner claims that his discovery is similar to the symbol in the Louvre -in Paris. The head of Hermes as found in the Louvre is on white marble, -a slab eight feet high, and underneath it the inscription “Hermes from -the Pelagic Times.” - -The foregoing descriptions have been of ruins of the Nahuatl tribes; we -will now turn to those of the Mayas where - - “Antiquity appears to have begun - Long after their primeval race was run.” - -The city of Copan, in Honduras near the Guatemala line, claims to be the -oldest city in America. What must be the feelings of the traveler as he -gropes through a tropical forest and comes face to face with this huge -structure? First there is a terrace eight hundred and nine feet one way -and six hundred and twenty-four feet the other way, seventy-six feet -high and containing twenty-six million cubic feet of stone, brought from -a quarry two miles away. On the terrace were four pyramids, the largest -rising one hundred and seventy-two feet, and surmounted by two huge -trees rooted in its mold. Within these ruins were found fourteen -statues, the largest thirteen feet four inches tall, and all covered -with bas reliefs and hieroglyphics whose workmanship was equal to that -on the Egyptian pyramids. In front of the statues stand huge altars six -feet square, divided into thirty-six tablets of hieroglyphics which tell -to the world their history, but they speak in an unknown tongue, and we -do not know whether these are the emblems of a Mayan pantheon or the -relics from the palace of pre-Adamic man. Everywhere is a dark mystery -which has baffled the scholars of the world for these three hundred -years. The curtain falls, the traveler returns, and the æons begin again -their cycles around mysterious Copan. - -North of Copan is the hamlet of Quiriga, with ruins similar to those of -Copan, made of cut sandstone. Mr. Catherton found eight standing -statues, one fallen, and the fragments of thirteen more. The -hieroglyphics are similar to those of Copan, but the statues are two or -three times as tall. No people have ever been found with any tradition -whatever concerning these mysterious ruins. Throughout Yucatan and -Guatemala are ruins and inscriptions, but the people and their -traditions have been swallowed up by oblivion. Northward out of -Guatemala in the state of Chiapas in Mexico is Palenque, the sphinx and -Mecca of Central America. This is a fertile, productive country, which -was deserted and covered with ruins when Cortez landed. This old -deserted city covers more than a mile. The pyramid, according to Mr. -Stephens’ measurement at the base was 310 by 260 feet, and was cased in -stone, now thrown down by the growth of trees. In one room of the -temple was found a stone tablet four feet long and three feet broad, -and sculptured in bas relief. It is set in the wall and around it is a -stucco border, but its significance is unknown. The principal figure is -carved with a necklace of pearls around the neck, and suspended from the -pearls is a medallion containing a face. Rising from the center of the -ruins is a tower thirty feet square with a staircase. Southwest of the -palace is the pyramid called the “Temple of Inscriptions,” whose slope -was 110 feet of solid masonry. Each of the corner pieces contained on -its surface hieroglyphics, each of which contained 96 squares. - -In Uxmal are ruins that rival Palenque and are the most interesting of -any in Yucatan. There are so many, we will mention only one, and give -the dimensions on the authority of Bancroft. The pyramid is 350 feet -square at the base and surmounts a quadrangle of buildings. The building -on the south is 279 feet long, 28 feet wide and 18 feet high. The one on -the north is 264 feet long, 28 feet wide and 25 feet high. The eastern -one is 158 feet long, 35 feet wide and 22 feet high and the western one -173 feet long, 35 feet wide and 20 feet high. These buildings contained -76 rooms all facing an open court 214 by 258 feet. The walls are -massive, of solid rock and 9 feet thick, and the floors were cemented. -The most attractive part of the whole building is the beautiful facades -which cover 24,000 feet of surface and are pronounced the finest of -native American art. The major trend of the facade is diamond lattice -work, with the turtle, serpent and elephant’s trunk alternating. The -terrace which supported this building contained 60,000 cubic yards of -material. The walls were of massive masonry, and the sculpture is truly -artistic, and yet these people knew not the use of metallic tools. - -Here was enacted the greatest tragedy that history has ever recorded. At -these altars unnumbered priests waved their censers in the worship of -Quetzacoatl, the nature god of the Mayas, and now their cities are -overgrown by a tropical forest and are lost to the world, which knows -neither their name nor location, and it was by the merest accident that -we know of their very existence. Nepenthe rules here supreme. A tropical -forest has overgrown their pyramids and trees nine feet in diameter now -close the entrance to their temples, and nine feet of vegetable mold now -cover the altars where sacerdotal processions performed their mysterious -rites probably while Cheops was building. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - -AZTEC COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. - - “By midnight moons o’er moistening dews, - In vestments for the chase arrayed, - The hunter still the deer pursues, - The hunter and the deer a shade.” - PHILIP FRENEAU. - - -From the foregoing chapter we see that the ancient Aztec civilization -had nothing in common with the red Indian. Buildings, customs and -religion linked him to a higher civilization, or else prove that he -possessed the germs of self-evolution, enabled him to cope with the -great unknown, and single-handed to civilize himself. The latter process -will be hard to believe, the former will be hard to prove; but for -argument we will take a hasty glance at other nations whose history -corresponds most closely with the ancient inhabitants of Mexico. - -The Chaldeans, according to Berosus, held that the world is periodically -destroyed by deluges and conflagrations. They believed that the deluges -were caused by the conjunction of the planets in Capricorn, and the -conflagrations by conjunction in Cancer. The Chaldean philosophers had -also their _Annus Magnus_ or great year, at the end of which the present -terrestrial and cosmical order would terminate by fire and afterwards be -renewed. - -The ancient Scythians believed that the world undergoes revolution both -by fire and by water. The Egyptians believed that the earth would -flourish through the interval expressed by the _Annus Magnus_ or great -year, a cycle, as with the Chaldeans, composed of revolutions of the sun -and moon, and terminating when they returned together to the same sign -whence they set out. At the end of each cycle the earth was supposed to -be destroyed by fire or water, and to be renovated for the abode of man. -The Hindoo cosmogony taught the doctrine of secular catastrophes and -renovations. Water is then introduced, over which moves Brahma, the -creator. Brahma then causes dry land to appear and vivifies the earth in -succession with plants, animals and man, then he sleeps 4320 millions of -years--a day for Brahma, and then the earth is destroyed by fire. The -fire is finally quenched by rain which falls a hundred years and -inundates heaven and earth. The breath of Vishnu next becomes a strong -wind by which the clouds are dispersed, and Deity in the form of Brahma -awakes from his serpent couch on the deep and renews the world, and -sleeps again another day. The power of Brahma is thus outlined by -Emerson: - - “If the red slayer thinks he slays, - Or if the slain thinks he is slain, - They know not well the subtle ways - I keep, and pass, and turn again. - - “Far or forgot, to me is near, - Shadow and sunshine are the same; - The vanished gods to me appear, - And one to me are shame and fame. - - “They reckon ill who leave me out. - When me they fly I am the wings; - I am the doubter and the doubt, - And I the hymn the Brahman sings. - - “The strong god pines for my abode, - And pine in vain the sacred seven; - But thou, meek lover of the good, - Find me and turn thy back on heaven.” - -The Jews also hold a prophecy that the world was to endure 2000 years -before the flood, 2000 under the law and 2000 under the Messiah, and -then to be destroyed by water, and a large part of the Christian world -accepts the same today. - -Orpheus and Menander, early Greek poets who lived in the twilight of -Greek civilization, reproduce the myth of the _Annus Magnus_, and teach -that the earth is to be destroyed at the completion of the cycle. In the -Sybilline books, 1300 years before our era, this faith is shadowed and -the world is destined to endure ten ages, the first of which is the -Golden Age. After a renovation by fire the Golden Age will return, when, -according to Virgil, the serpent will perish; the earth will produce her -crops spontaneously; the kid will no longer fear the lion; the grape -will be borne upon the thorn-bush, and scarlet and yellow and royal -purple will become the native colors of the woolly fleece: - - _“Ipsæ lacte domum referent distenta capellæ_ - _Ubera; nec magnos netuent armenta leones._ - _Ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores;_ - _Occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni_ - _Occidet; Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum._ - * * * * * - _Molli paulatim flavescet campus arista,_ - _Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva,_ - _Et duræ quercus sudabunt roscida mella.”_ - -According to Winchell, the Stoics got the same doctrine from the -Phoenicians, and in speaking of the restoration after the conflagration, -use the same term we find in the Scriptures, though written many hundred -years earlier. Chrysippus calls it “Apocatastasis”--restitution--as St. -Peter does in the Acts. Marcus Antoninus several times calls it -“Palingenesia”--regeneration--as our Savior does in Matthew, and Paul in -his epistle to Titus. The Pythagoreans, who taught the transmigration of -souls, had the same ideas regarding the revolutions as had the Stoics. -Plato taught the same, and Aristotle alone of all the ancient -philosophers, taught the immortality of the soul and a continuance of -the present order of things. - -Among the Arabians, the story of the Phœnix is an allegory of the earth. -This bird of fable no sooner crumbles to ashes than she rises again in -more than pristine beauty. They have a similar story of the eagle which -goes to the sun to renew its strength, and David alludes to the myth in -the Psalms where he says: “Thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s,”--a -passage which in the Chaldee language reads: “Thou shalt renew thy youth -like the eagle in the world to come.” The Persians represent their god, -Fire, as the final avenger of the earth. The Aztecs, according to -Humboldt, felt the curiosity common to man in every stage of -civilization, to lift the veil which covers the mysterious past and the -awful future. They sought relief like the nations of the old world, -from the oppressive idea of eternity, by breaking it up into distinct -periods or cycles of time, each of several thousand years. There were -four of these cycles, and at the end of each, by the agency of one of -the elements, the human family was swept from the earth, and the sun -blotted from the heavens, to be rekindled again by sacred fire. - -The great feast of the “renewal of fire” began on the last day of the -Sothic period of fifty-two years, when the last fragment of time lost by -leap year had been made up. In the evening the fire was extinguished -throughout the valley, and all the earthen vessels were broken in -preparation for the end of the world. At this time every one was in -terrible suspense, fearing he had seen the sun for the last time. The -whole empire was a prey to anxiety, and the people stood on the temples -watching the mountain tops, where bonfires would be lighted if the gods -showed themselves merciful. Then processions of priests marched to the -mountain so as to arrive at midnight, when they solemnly awaited the -turn of the night which would assure them that the sun would rise once -more and continue fifty-two years to the end of the next cycle. When the -critical hour had passed, a priest with two sticks and a rotary motion -of the hands produced the sacred fire. Then a funeral pyre was raised -and the victims sacrificed. Then an extraordinary activity followed the -despondency, and every one lighted his torch from the funeral pile and -hastened to his dwelling, and couriers with the sacred fire spread -through all the empire and the new blaze was kindled in every hearth and -on every temple top, and they were happy for they had fifty-two years -more to live. The thirteen days complementary to the cycle--intended to -make the solar and civil years agree--were spent in whitewashing and -renewing their furniture for the new cycle. - -The Aztecs believed in the periodical destruction of the world and had a -tradition of the flood, and their idea of the re-peopling of the earth -very nearly coincides with Jewish scriptures. The following is a -translation of the Popol Vuh, or National Book of the Quiches of -Guatemala; “There was not yet a single man; not an animal; neither -birds, nor fishes, nor crabs, nor wood, nor stones, nor ravines, nor -forests; only the sky existed. The face of the land was not seen; there -was only the silent sea and the sky. There was not yet a body, naught to -attach itself to another; naught that balanced itself; naught that made -a sound in the sky. There was nothing that stood upright; naught there -was but the peaceful sea--the sea, silent and solitary in its limits; -for there was nothing that was. * * * Those who fecundated, those who -give life, are upon the waters like a growing light. * * * While they -consulted, the day broke, and at the moment of dawn, man appeared. While -they consulted, the earth grew. Thus verily, took place the creation as -the earth came into being.$1‘Earth’ said they; and the earth existed. -Like a fog, like a cloud, was the formation; as huge fishes rise in the -water, so rose the mountains; and in a moment the high mountains -existed.” - -This is the account of the first creation, and what follows, refers to -the fourth and last creation.--“Hear, now, when it was first thought of -man, and of what man should be formed. At that time spake he who gives -life, and he who gives form, the Maker and Moulder, named Tepen, -Gucumatz;$1‘The day draws near; the work is done; the supporter, the -servant is ennobled; he is the sun of light, the child of whiteness; man -is honored; the race of man is upon the earth.’ So they spake.” * * * -Immediately they began to speak of making our first mother and our -father. Only of yellow corn and white corn were they flesh, and the -substance of the arms end legs of man. They were called simply _beings_, -formed and fashioned; they had neither mother nor father; we call them -simply _men_. - -Woman did not bring them forth, nor were they born of the Builder and -Moulder, by Him who fecundates, and Him who gives being. “Thought was in -them; they saw; they looked around; their vision took in all things; -they perceived the world; they cast their eye from the sky to the -earth.” “Then they were asked by the Builder and Moulder$1‘What think you -of your being? See ye not? Understand ye not? Your language, your limbs, -are they not good? Look around, beneath the heavens; see ye not the -mountains and the plains?’ - -“Then they looked and saw all there was beneath the heavens. And they -gave thanks to the Maker and the Moulder, saying;$1‘Truly, twice, and -three times thanks! We have being; we have been given a mouth, a face; -we speak, we understand, we think, we walk, we feel, and we know that -which is far and that which is near. All great things and small on the -earth and in the sky do we see. Thanks to thee, O Maker, O Moulder, -that we have been created, that we have our being, O our Grandmother, O -our Grandfather!’”[A] - -Is there anything more noble in any language than these sentiments of -untutored beings, striving to lift the veil and peer into the beyond? No -philosopher in any land ever gave tongue to more lofty sentiments, nor -approached nearer the real truth of divination, and we must remember, -these sentiments were not borrowed from the Spaniards, but were recorded -in the native writing of Guatemala, ages before the coming of _Los -Conquestadors_. The Aztec worshipped many gods, but he also believed in -one Great God, the “Causer of Causes.” To him was never an image made. -He was reverenced under the name of Teotl, but being invisible and -infinite, they never attempted to make a likeness of him, either in -idols or in painting. They made sacrifice of human beings, but not to -Teotl. - -I herewith present a prayer, translated from the Aztec language by -Lucien Biart, and addressed to the Unseen God:--“Mighty God, thou who -givest me life, and whose slave I am, grant me the supreme grace of -giving me meat and drink; grant me the enjoyment of thy clemency, that -it may support me in my labors and in my wants. Have pity on me who live -sad, poor and abandoned, and since I serve thee by sweeping thy temple, -open to me the hand of thy mercy.” - -What this lacks of being the Lord’s Prayer, is hardly worth mentioning. - -All the other ancient nations we have mentioned, had intercourse with -one another. The Greeks studied in Egypt, and had dealings with the -Phœnicians. The Jews were taken captives to the east and the Hindoos -spread to the west, so it is not strange that they should all have an -almost identical cosmogony, but here is a people separated by an ocean, -having the same belief, a knowledge of the art of building, of sculpture -and of writing. Then how shall we account for all this unless we suppose -that they had known contact with each other in some past age? Alfred -Wallace, the great English scientist, says that none but the -unscientific ever resurrect the Atlantis theory, but with the risk of -being declared unscientific, I wish to present some facts of scientific -value, and leave the verdict with the reader. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - -THE LOST ATLANTIS. - - “Man’s steps are not upon thy paths; thy fields - Are not a spoil for him; thou dost arise - And shake him from thee; the vile strength he wields - For earth’s destruction, thou dost all despise, - Spurning him from thy bosom to the skies, - And send him, shivering in thy playful spray, - And howling to his gods, where haply lies - His petty hope in some near port or bay, - And dash him again to earth--there let him lie.” - - -“The Story of Atlantis,” recorded by Plato in his Timaeus, as -communicated to Solon by the Egyptian priests, has, in the light of -modern geography, been generally regarded as a myth, but within a few -years has been revived, and there are not wanting investigators of -profound learning who regard it as authentic. The following is the -translation from the Greek of Plato: “Among the great deeds of Athens, -of which the recollection is preserved in our books, there is one which -should be placed above all others. Our books tell that the Athenians -destroyed an army which came across the Atlantic Sea, and insolently -invaded Europe and Asia; for this sea was then navigable, and beyond the -strait where you place the Pillars of Hercules, there was an island -larger than Asia (Minor) and Lybya combined. From this island one could -pass easily to other islands, and from these to the continent which lies -around the Interior Sea. - -“The sea on this side the strait (Gibraltar) of which we speak, -resembles an harbor with a narrow entrance; but there is a genuine sea, -and the land which surrounds it is a veritable continent. In the Island -of Atlantis lived three kings with great and marvelous power. They had -under their dominion the whole of Atlantis, several other islands and -some parts of the continent. - -“At one time their power extended into Lybya, and into Europe as far as -Tyrrhenia (Italy), and uniting their whole force, they sought to destroy -our whole country at a blow; but their defeat stopped the invasion and -gave entire independence to all the countries this side the Pillars of -Hercules. Afterwards, in one day and one fatal night, there came -earthquakes and inundations which engulfed the warlike people. - -“Atlantis disappeared beneath the sea, and then that sea became -inaccessible so that navigation on it ceased on account of the quantity -of mud the engulfed island left in its place.” - -Plutarch, in his life of Solon, relates that when the law-giver was in -Egypt “he conferred with the priests and learned the story of Atlantis.” - -Diodorus Siculus states that: “Over against Africa lies a very great -island, in the vast ocean many days’ sail from Lybya westward. The soil -there is very fruitful, a great part whereof is mountainous, but much -likewise champaign, which is the most sweet and pleasant part, for it -is watered by several navigable streams, and beautiful with many gardens -of pleasure, planted by divers sorts of trees and an abundance of -orchards. The towns are adorned with stately buildings and banqueting -houses, pleasantly situated in the gardens and orchards.” - -Theopompus who wrote in the fourth century B. C. tells substantially the -same story, which was given by Silenus to the ancient King Midas, -recorded by Aristotle.[B] The Gauls possessed traditions on the subject, -which were collected by the Roman historian Timagenes, who lived in the -first century, B. C. This record states that three distinct people dwelt -in Gaul (France). 1, The Aborigines; 2, The invaders from a distant -island, (Atlantis); 8, The Aryan Gauls. Marcellus also, in a book on the -Ethiopians speaks of several islands lying on the Atlantic ocean near -Europe, which we may undoubtedly identify as the Canaries; but he adds: -“The inhabitants of these islands preserve the memory of a much greater -island, Atlantis, which had for a long time exercised dominion over the -smaller ones.” - -Now, all these writers most positively state that an island did exist -west of Africa, and was destroyed by a cataclysm. This island could not -have been very far from the shores of America, for the tribes of Central -America, in Mexico, in Venezuela and in British and Dutch Guiana, -distinctly describe these cataclysms, one by water, one by fire and a -third by winds. - -Catlin, in his “Lifted and Subsided Rocks in America,” describes the -traditions of such a cataclysm. The Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, in his -“Quatre Lettres sur La Mexique,” and his “Sources de l’Histoire -Primitive du Mexique,” has translated the “Teo Amoxtli,” which is the -Toltecan mythological history of the cataclysm of the Antilles. Catlin -found the tradition of such a cataclysm among the Indians of North -America. The Indians farther south state that the water was seen coming -in waves like mountains from the east, and of the tens of thousands who -ran for the high ground of the west, only one man, by one authority, and -two by another, and seven by another, succeeded in reaching high ground, -and from them sprang the present race of Indians. The tribes near the -coast distinctly describe three cataclysms, water, fire, and winds, -while those inland were sensible only of the flood of waters which ran -to the base of the mountains.[C] - -“From amidst the thunder and flames which came out of the sea, whilst -mountains were sinking and rising, the terror-stricken inhabitants -sought every expedient of safety. Some fled to the mountains, and some -launched their rafts and canoes upon the turbulent waters, trusting that -a favorable current might land them upon a hospitable shore, and thus in -the elemental strife the ancient civilized people became widely -dispersed.”[D] - -“The festival of$1‘Izcalli’ was instituted to commemorate this terrible -calamity, in which princes and people humbled themselves before the -Divinity and besought Him not to renew the frightful convulsions.” - -It is claimed that by this catastrophe, an area larger than the Kingdom -of France became engulfed, including the Lesser Antilles, the extensive -banks at their eastern base, which at that date were vast fertile -plains, the peninsula of Yucatan, Honduras and Guatemala and the great -estuaries of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. With the -peninsula of Yucatan went down the splendid cities of Palenque, whose -sites are now in the ocean bed as well as the bones of the inhabitants, -and the continent has since risen sufficiently to restore the sites of a -number of the ancient cities, but the people were blotted from the face -of the earth. There is nothing more remarkable than the truthfulness of -the traditions of North American Indians. For hundreds of years -tradition has said that the Enchanted Mesa in New Mexico had been once -inhabited, and during the present year, an expedition from the -Smithsonian Institution explored the Mesa and verified the tradition. - -In proof of the Cataclysm and submergence of Central America, our modern -geographies tell us that Old Guatemala was destroyed by a water volcano -in the sixteenth century, and again in the eighteenth by an earthquake. -The sea shells on both sides the Isthmus of Panama are alike, and -according to the law of the geographical distribution of animals, this -could only have come about by the Isthmus having at one time been -submerged, and remaining so long enough for the intermingling of species -and being raised again, and the fossils on both sides support the -hypothesis. The situation of Atlantis, west of Africa in the Atlantic -Ocean, would be so near to Central America that any disturbance, like -the one described by Plato, would be compelled to affect Central -America in the manner described by the traditions of the natives. - -The nearest lands west of Africa, where Plato locates Atlantis, are the -Canary Islands, the nearest being fifty miles from Africa, and the whole -group extending three hundred miles, and are separated from the mainland -by a channel more than five thousand feet deep. Of all the oceanic -islands (not continental) discovered by Europeans, the _Canaries alone -were inhabited_, Here they found the Guanches, now extinct, who at the -time of their discovery were not aware that a continent existed in their -neighborhood, for, on being asked by the missionaries how they came to -this archipelago, they answered: “God placed us on these islands, and -then forsook and forgot us.” - -Now who were the Guanches? Their islands had never been connected with -Africa, because the channel between them is a mile deep, and Wallace in -his “Island Life” has proved that any island surrounded by water more -than five thousand feet deep is of volcanic origin. If craniometry is a -reliable science the Guanches were not savages, but superior to the -Egyptians. According to Prof. Flower’s measurements, the skull of the -English of low grade contains one thousand five hundred and forty-two -cubic centimeters, the Guanches one thousand four hundred and -ninety-eight, Japanese one thousand four hundred and eighty-six, Chinese -one thousand four hundred and twenty-four, Italians one thousand four -hundred and seventy-five, and the ancient Egyptians one thousand four -hundred and sixty-four. That the remnant of a race found in mid-ocean -should have a better developed brain than many continental nations, is -significant, and if the Guanches were a part of the inhabitants of -Atlantis, we can easily understand their ability to make war and subdue -their neighbors as related by Plato. - -The late Sir Anders Retzius, of Stockholm, the learned authority on -craniometry says: “The Dolichocephali of America are nearly related to -the Guanches of the Canary Islands, and to the Atlantic population of -Africa,--Moors, Turaricks, Copts, etc.--and the same kind of skull is -found in the Canary Islands in front of the African Coast, and on the -Islands in the Caribbean Sea on the opposite coast which faces Africa. -The color of the skin in the population on both sides of the Atlantic is -reddish brown, resembling tanned leather; the hair is the same; the -features of the face and the build of the frame as I am led to believe, -presenting the same analogy.”[E] - -And now as to their dispersion. When Columbus set sail from Palos in -1492, he steered direct for the Canary Islands for repairs, and when he -left the Canaries, without any effort of his own, the trade winds -carried his vessels straight to the West Indies, and these winds blow in -this direction all the time. In December 1731 a ship started from -Teneriffe with a cargo of wine for one of the western Canaries, and -having only six men on board the ship became unmanageable, and the trade -winds carried them straight to Trinidad on the Island of Cuba. While -Atlantis was sinking, some of the inhabitants likely escaped on rafts -and boats, and being exactly in the location whence Columbus and the -Teneriffe ship were, they had nothing to do but to wait, and the trade -winds would take them to the West Indices and Yucatan and Central -America. We can now easily see why the oldest civilization of America is -in Central America. Some of the immigrants stopped in the West Indies, -for the aborigines Columbus found there spoke the same language as the -Mayas and Caribs of Yucatan speak today. Some stopped in South America, -for Dr. Lund, the Swedish naturalist, found in the bone caves of Minas -Geraes, Brazil, human skulls identical with those of Mexico. This may -possibly account for the superior civilization of Peru, where the -ingrafted population would amalgamate with the native races and produce -those wonderful paved roads the Spaniards found there. - -Of course there will be objections to this hypothesis, and we will now -proceed to answer the objections. - -Dr. Waitz, in his “Anthropology of Primitive Peoples” says: “The first -elements of civilization as far as history reaches, always appear as -communicated from one people to another, and of no people can it be -proved how, where and when they have become civilized by their own -inherent power.” - -If this be true, then the ancient Mexican must have learned civilization -from some other people, and we know the red Indian had none to spare. -Winchell in his genealogical charts, represents the entire peopling of -the Pacific Slope from Alaska to Chili by Mongoloid branches. The world -knows that Mongolian civilization has always been fossilized and the -race is absolutely devoid of civilizing qualities. Their state is -founded upon the worship of their ancestors, and their exalted egotism -has for ages resisted every attempt to force advancement among them. To -say that the Mongols crossed Behring Strait and gave origin to the -Esquimaux is entirely compatible, for the Esquimaux are just about the -calibre a Chinese colony of that date would produce. To say that Mongols -are the source of Aztec civilization and Inca sun-worship is to propound -an anthropological paradox. From Alaska to the ancient confines of -Mexico, there is not one stone left to acknowledge the hundreds of years -of Esquimo and Indian occupancy, so we cannot expect light from that -source. - -Separated from Africa by a channel only fifty miles wide, we may with -justice assume that the civilization of the continent of Atlantis and -that of Egypt was very similar. Egypt is the only land of the ancient -world where pyramids are found, and on a direct line with the trade -winds we find pyramids in Yucatan, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. In -Egypt we find the temples emblazoned with hieroglyphics chiseled in the -solid rock, describing one of the oldest civilizations in the world. In -Uxmal, Mexico, Palenque and Copan are tablets, friezes, bas-reliefs, -facades and hieroglyphics, though inferior to the Egyptian in mimetic -art, still of the highest order, considering this to be the product of -the neolithic age, and the length of time since the separation from the -home roof-tree. The Egyptians were the only ones of the ancient people -who embalmed their dead. According to the French Historian, Lucien -Biart, the Zapotecs and Chicimecs of the Mexican Valley embalmed their -chiefs, and if we may believe this same author, the caves of the -Cordilleras are vast museums as full of interest us the catacombs of -Rome. That the Americans mummified their dead is proved by mummies -having been found in Peru and in the northwestern part of Patagonia. Dr. -Aq. Ried, the discoverer, has deposited one in the museum of Ratisbon, -Bavaria, and another was sent to the Smithsonian Institution.[F] - -This mummy led to the remark of Professor Alexander Winchell in his -“Pre-Adamites.” “The humid atmosphere, unlike that of Peru, leads to the -inference that the mummification of the dead was practiced under some -controlling motive which must have been inherited from ancestors -dwelling in a more propitious clime, and which even the dripping -meteorology of Patagonia was insufficient to eradicate.” - -The Egyptians were accurate astrologers and astronomers. They accurately -calculated the eclipses and the reappearance of stars whose journey -would require over a thousand years, and the pyramids are set to the -cardinal points in Egypt and in Mexico. In the City of Mexico is the -great calendar stone of solid porphyry weighing fifty tons. It was -brought many leagues across a broken country, without beasts of burden, -and Bustamente states that a thousand men were employed in its -transportation. From it we learn that the Aztecs or Toltecs were -astronomers and astrologers and calculated eclipses and knew the -solstices of the sun. They divided the year into eighteen months of -twenty days each, and, like the Egyptians, had five complementary days -to make out the three hundred and sixty-five, and every fifty-two years -they added thirteen (twelve and a half) days for a leap year to make the -solar and civil years agree. Like the Persians and Egyptians, a cycle of -fifty-two years or “An Age,” was represented by a serpent, so prominent -in mythology. Their astrological year was divided into months of -thirteen days each, and there were thirteen years in their indications, -which contained each, three hundred and sixty-five periods of thirteen -days. - -It is also worthy of note that their number of lunar months of thirteen -days was contained in a cycle of fifty-two years, with the intercalation -of thirteen days (twelve and a half,) should correspond exactly with the -number of years in a great Sothic Period of the Egyptians, viz. 1461. Is -it reasonable to suppose that this strange affinity with Egyptian -civilization was accidental, or that a Turanian people independently -evolved itself into a counterpart of Hamitic Berbers? The stone is not -modern; it is not written in Aztec characters but in Toltec, a people -whom the Aztecs supplanted, and they claimed that the knowledge was not -original with them, but acquired from the Mayas who had preceded them in -Yucatan. The ideographic paintings of the Aztecs preserve traditions of -the creation of the world, a universal flood, the confusion of tongues -and the dispersion of man; and that a single man and woman saved -themselves in a boat which landed at Mount Colhuacan, and that all their -children were born deaf and remained so until a dove, one day, from the -top of a tree, taught them each in a different tongue. - -All Aztec traditions, without exception, insist that they came from a -far-off island called “Azatlan” (probably Atlantis.) Dr. Lapham, in his -“Antiquities of Wisconsin,” claims that the Aztecs were identical with -the Mound-builders, and locates Azatlan in Wisconsin, on account of the -large number of effigy mounds there; and Dr. Foster in his “Prehistoric -Races” pictures these mounds called Azatlan; but the Aztec painting -published by Gemelle Carera in his _Giro del Mondo_, has hieroglyphics -representing their departure from Azatlan in canoes and on rafts, after -their confusion of tongues, and a _teocalli_, or temple by the side of a -palm tree, of which neither condition can be true of Wisconsin. - -Max Muller, the greatest authority on philology, says that of all -indices to the mysteries of the ancient world, language is the most -satisfactory, and the _only_ evidence worth listening to with regard to -ante-historic periods. If we class the languages of the world into -groups according to cognation, we find the Aryan languages comprising -the Indian, Persian (Sanskrit), Hellenic, Latin group (Italian, -Wallacian, Provencal, French, Portugese and Spanish), Slavonic -(Russian), Teutonic (English), and the Keltic or Welsh, of which the -oldest is the Sanskrit and Zend. The Semitic group comprises the Hebrew, -Phœnician, Assyrian and Arabic, while the Babylonian and Chinese stand -alone. The Aryan and Semitic form a class known as _the inflectional_, -and are the only languages of the world that are adapted to and possess -a literature, and that have advanced the progress of the world in -religion, arts or sciences. Though springing from a common center, they -have grammatical structures that prevent the one being derived from the -other. The Semitic branched southward and westward, and was the language -of the Chaldee, Arab, Hebrew and Egyptian, the latter sometimes classed -as Hamitic. The Chinese is an organic language, monosyllabic, and -destitute of all grammar. The nouns have no number, declension or cases, -and the verbs are without conjugation through moods, tenses and persons. -All Mongoloid that reached America must have done so by Behring Strait, -and all such races, or descendants of such races, would undoubtedly have -kept a trace of their parental language. If the Aztecs were derived from -Mongoloids, we should expect a monosyllabic language, but on the -contrary, the Aztec language has more diminutives and augmentatives than -the Italian, and its substantives and verbs are more numerous than in -any other language. - -Another proof of its wealth is, that when missionaries first went among -them, they found no trouble in expressing abstract ideas like religion, -virtue, etc. The consonants most used are l, t, x, z; next the sound of -tl and tz. L is of most frequent occurrence, but is never found at the -beginning of a word. The Aztec language, sweet and harmonious to the -ear, has no sharp or nasal sounds; the penultimate of most of its words -is long. The language is rich, exact and expressive, as is proven in the -“Natural History” by Dr. Hernandez, who describes twelve hundred plants, -two hundred birds, many quadrupeds, reptiles, insects, metals, etc., and -was able to call each by a separate name, given by the Indians. Poets -and orators there were by the hundred, and their written inaugurals make -as interesting reading as we hear from many of our legislators, many of -which were translated by the French scholar, Lucien Biart, who died -since these pages were begun. - -If Max Muller is correct, then there can be no kinship between the -Mongols and Aztecs, and if they ever had communication with other -people, it must have been from the east. The Sanskrit word for God, is -_Devan_; the Latin, _Deus_; the Greek, _Oeoo_; and the Aztec, _Teotl_. -This similarity of sound and spelling might be purely accidental, and on -the other hand, it might have something of a long kinship to identify -it. The Pythagorean doctrine of transmigration of souls was a ruling -passion with the Aztec. This may have been the fruition of all -polytheistic religions, or it might have been the retention of -primordial culture, for we know the Egyptian embalmed his dead, lest the -dissolution of the body would destroy the soul also. - -The greatest desecration that could befall the ancient Greeks and Romans -was the refusal of burial, because the soul of him thus uncared for -wandered thenceforth as a disembodied ghost. - -We read in Homer’s Iliad how the dead Patroclus comes to the sleeping -Achilles, and tries in vain to grasp him with loving arms, but the soul, -like smoke, flits away below earth. How Hermotimos the seer used to go -out of his body, till at last, the soul, coming back from a spirit -journey, found that his wife had burnt his body on a funeral pile, and -that he had become a bodyless ghost. How Odysseus visits the bloodless -ghosts in Hades, and the shadows of the dead in Purgatory wondered to -see the body of Dante there, which stopped the sunlight and cast a -shadow. - -How, in Virgil’s Æneid, the love-maddened Queen Dido could wish no -greater curse to befall Æneas, than that his body should lie unburied on -the plain, and even the old boatman, Charon, in Hades, refused to ferry -across the River Styx the shades of any who lacked burial while on -earth. - -This idea of the phantom life of souls as shades and shadows, -constitutes the higher philosophy of the transcendental metaphysics of -the ancient Greeks, whose exponent was Pythagoras. Religious fervor was -strong in the Aztec, and from his devotion to formality, Atlantis must -have been the home of ceremonial religion. The words _Atlas_ and -_Atlantic_ have no satisfactory etymology in any language known to -Europe. These are not Greek and cannot be referred to any European -language, but in the Nahuatl or Toltecan language we find the radical -_a_, _atl_, which signifies water, man and top of the head. From these -come a series of words, such as _atlan_, on the border of, or amid the -water, from which comes the adjective _Atlantic_. Therefore the Atlantic -Ocean must have received its name from the continent Atlantis before the -cataclysm. We have also _Atlaca_, to combat, to be in agony. It also -means to hurl, to dart from the water, and in the preterit makes Atlaz. -From the island of Atlantis, the Atlas mountain in northern Africa would -seem to the inhabitants to be hurled out of the water, hence its name -was probably given by these same people, as the word occurs in no other -language. - -On the map of Mexico today are more than a hundred towns with the same -combination of letters of _atl_ or _lan_ which shows that the -combination is an essential part of the Aztec language. There are many -traditions that are receiving light from the nineteenth century that -crystalizes them into accepted history. For twenty-six centuries has the -siege of Troy stood out in profile as the model epic of the world, but, -on account of its antiquity, of doubted veracity. Now Dr. Schlieman’s -excavations seem destined yet to find the funeral pyre of Patroclus, -surrounded by the remains of Trojan captives. And even later, the French -archaeologist M. Marcel Dieulafay has brought to light the ancient city -of Susa, and we may even now behold the Palace of Artaxerxes Mnemon, -whose foundations were laid by Xerxes I. 485 B. C.; and now after -twenty-three centuries, the student may take his Bible in his hand, turn -to the Book of Esther and read, while the guide in the ancient capital -of Persia points to the spot where Mordecai sat, to that corner where -Haman was hanged, and to this court where the lovely Esther was crowned -queen, and whence the sorrowing Vashti departed, as the unfortunate -Hebe, cup-bearer of Jove, before the victorious Ganymede. - -Plato records the sad fate of Atlantis nearly five hundred years B. C., -and Solom had recorded it in a poem two hundred years earlier. Plato -says the expedition against Egypt took place during the reign of the -Athenian Kings, Cecrops and Erectheus, and, according to the “Marble of -Paros,” these Kings ruled 1582 B. C. and 1409 B. C., which is not a -great deal earlier than the siege of Troy. Though this is very ancient -history, we have as much right to believe Plato’s history as Homer’s, if -it can be well established. - -The Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg is the greatest authority on the -translation of Aztec literature, and he maintains that the oldest -certain date in the Nahuatl or Toltecan language reaches back to 955 B. -C., and as the Toltecs dwelt some time in the country of Zibalba before -they dispossessed the Colhuas, their migration must have begun more than -a thousand years B. C. The Colhuas were the remnant of those who had -escaped the terrible calamity of Atlantis. To those who reject the -theory here offered, I would say the field is large and inviting to any -whose insight into the past can help solve the problems of the origin of -the ancient Mexicans. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -CONCLUSION. - - “And thy request think now fulfilled, that asked - How first this world and face of things began, - And what before thy memory was done - From the beginning.” - - -The existence of the Continent of Atlantis is an hypothesis, but so was -the existence of Lemuria, and there are scientists today of -international repute who firmly believe that a continent once existed in -the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and India, and the proof is not -wanting. - -On the island of Madagascar are found thirty-three species of monkeys -called Lemurs, which are not found in Africa, nor in any other part of -the globe except Ceylon, India, and the Malay Archipelago. Because these -Lemurs are found only in that region, Sclater, the English Zoologist, -has called the sunken continent “Lemuria.” Between Madagascar and India -are a number of submerged banks of less than a thousand fathoms deep, -which a slight elevation would make comparatively easy stages of -communication between Madagascar and India for all animals. An elevation -of three hundred feet would unite Java, Sumatra and Borneo, into one -great peninsula of the Asiatic continent. - -The island of Madagascar is two hundred and fifty miles wide and a -thousand miles long, and is separated from Africa by the Mozambique -channel, only two hundred and fifty miles wide. Africa has monkeys, apes -and baboons; also lions, leopards, hyenas, zebras, rhinoceri, elephants, -buffalo, giraffes, and many species of deer and antelope; but strange to -say, not _one_ of these is found in Madagascar, or anything like unto -them, and yet Madagascar is only two hundred and fifty miles away. There -are in Madagascar, according to Wallace’s “Island Life,” and Dr. -Hartlaub’s “Birds of Madagascar,” one hundred species of land birds, and -only four or five have any kindred in Africa; but in Malaysia and India -we find identical species, and on the islands of Mauritius, Rodriguez, -Bourbon and the Seychelles group, we find so many curious birds without -wings with kindred in Madagascar, we know that the islands at some time -have been connected, else how could birds without wings get from one to -the other? There are five species of lizards which are found in -Mauritius, Bourbon, Rodriguez and Ceylon, and even to the Philipine -Islands. - -The Mascarine group contains a thousand and fifty-eight species of -plants, of which sixty-six are found in Africa but not in Asia, and -eighty-six are found in Asia but not in Africa, showing a closer -relationship to Asia than to Africa. Milne-Edwards has even surmised a -Mascarine continent, to include all the outlaying islands around -Madagascar. Beccari, in his work on the distribution of palms, after -noting the difficulty of the dispersion of the fruits, reaches the -conclusion that, when we find two congeneric species of palms on widely -separated lands, it is reasonable to infer that the lands have once been -united. On the Mascarine Islands, in Ceylon, the Nicobars, at Singapore, -on the Malaccas, New Guinea, in Australia and Polynesia, occur various -species of _Phycosperma_, all very difficult of dissemination, and hence -could only have reached their present habitat by being connected by -intervening lands now in the ocean bed. - -Winchell in his “Pre-Adamites” states among his principles: 1. The -doctrine of Pre-Adamites is entirely consonant with the fundamental -principles of Biblical christianity; 2. A chain of profound relationship -runs through the constitution of all races, and they may be -genealogically connected; 3. The initial point of the genealogical line -may be located in Lemuria. Peschell in his “Races of Man,” says: “This -continent which would correspond with the Indian Ethiopia of Claudius -Ptolemaus, is required by anthropology, for we can then conceive how the -inferior populations of Australia and India, the Papuans of the East -Indian Islands, and lastly, the Negroes, would thus be enabled to reach -their present abode by dry land. The selection of this spot is far more -orthodox than it might at first glance appear, for we here find -ourselves in the neighborhood of the four enigmatical rivers of the -Scriptural Eden,--in the vicinity of the Nile, Euphrates, Tigris and -Indus. By the gradual submergence of Lemuria, the expulsion from -Paradise would also be inexorably accomplished.” To this he adds the -argument of such ecclesiastical writers as Lactautius, the venerable -Bede, Hrabanus Maurus, Cosmos Indiclopleustes, and the anonymous -geographer of Ravenna. - -I go thus into detail to show that men believe in the submerged -continent of Lemuria, though they have never seen it, but cannot explain -the presence of plants and animals on widely separated islands except by -supposing they were once connected. If we could establish a similar -relationship with Atlantis, the matter would explain itself. From the -presence of rock salt, sand and sea-shells on the desert of Sahara, we -know that it was once the bottom of the ocean, and the cause of its -rising might have been the submergence of Lemuria, or vice versa, and -the submergence of Atlantis may have had a counter result elsewhere. -Charles Martins says that: “By the rules of hydrography and botany, the -Azores, the Canaries and Madeira are the remains of a great continent -which formerly united Europe to North America.”[G] - -However, Atlantis does not have to stand altogether on theory. The -governments of the world have gone about it in a practical manner, which -is worthy of notice. - -In 1873, Her Majesty’s ship _Challenge_ made soundings in the Atlantic -off the north coast of Africa, and in 1874 the German frigate, -_Gazelle_, made further soundings in the same regions, and in 1877 -Commodore Gorringe of the U. S. sloop _Gettysburg_, discovered, about a -hundred miles from the Strait of Gibraltar, an immense bed of pink coral -in thirty-two fathoms of water. Corals never work in water deeper than -two hundred feet, so at last here is proof positive that there are -sunken islands there. These various soundings, when located on a map, -indicate the existence of an extended bank of comparatively shallow -water, in the midst of which the Canaries and the Madeiras rise to the -surface. - -The location of the newly discovered mountains in the Atlantic, lies -within the fifteen thousand fathom line, and here is probably the stump -of the ancient Atlantis. - - -FINIS. - -[Illustration] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[A] Histoire des nations civilises du Mexique et de l’Amerique -centrale, durant les siecles antericurs a Christophe Colomb, ecrite -surs des documents originaux et entierement mediis, purises aux -anciennes archives des indigenes, par M. l’Abbe Brasseuer de Bourbourg. -4 forts. vol. in-3 raisin avec carte et figures. - -[B] Aristotle _Consolatio ad Appollonium_ § 27, P. 137. - -[C] Catlin P. 145. - -[D] Foster, Prehistoric Races of the U. S. - -[E] Present State of Ethnology in Relation to the Form of the skull. -Smithsonian Report 1860 P. 264 _et seq._ - -[F] Vid. Aq. Ried, Smithsonian Annual Report, 1862, pp. 87, 426. - -[G] “_Revue des Deux Mondes._” March, 1867. - - -Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - -Nuesta Senora=> -Nuestra Señora -{pg 20} - -little peubla=> -little puebla -{pg 30} - -a los pasajeroes=> -a los pasajeros -{pg 58} - -Si Senor=> -Sí Señor -{pg 60} - -him a stack or=> -him a stack of -{pg 69} - -suffered martydom=> -suffered martyrdom -{pg 76} - -narrow-guage road=> -narrow-gauge road -{pg 82} - -road to Tlacotalpam=> -road to Tlacotalpan -{pg 99} - -altar of the war god=> -altar of the war-god -{pg 100} - -dug up the the roots=> -dug up the roots -{pg 105} - -El Segario Metripolitano=> -El Sagrario Metropolitano -{pg 110} - -Viva Hildalgo!=> -Viva Hidalgo! -{pg 116} - -was soon superceded=> -was soon superseded -{pg 126} - -Biano P.=> -Bianco P. -{pg 126} - -Sacret Heart of San Cosme=> -Sacred Heart of San Cosme -{pg 128} - -Gaudalupe Hidalgo is=> -Guadalupe Hidalgo is -{pg 130} - -the pedestrains, dressed=> -the pedestrians, dressed -{pg 158} - -sport as our base ball=> -sport as our base-ball -{pg 167} - -senoritas=> -señoritas{pg 168} - -Nous avous change tout=> -Nous avons change tout -{pg 175} - -For desert a few banana=> -For dessert a few banana -{pg 177} - -old ecclesiastial building=> -old ecclesiastical building -{pg 177} - -senoras=> -senoras -{pg 181} - -an as they pass=> -and as they pass -{pg 207} - -get our quoto of=> -get our quota of -{pg 208} - -Viva Idependencia!=> -Viva Independencia! -{pg 212} - -gusanas de la maguey=> -gusanos de la maguey -{pg 227} - -pulque neuva=> -pulque nueva -{pg 230} - -believe that the X ray=> -believe that the X-ray -{pg 234} - -northeast of the the plaza=> -northeast of the plaza -{pg 245} - -La Cindad de los=> -La Ciudad de los -{pg 261} - -appointed a commision=> -appointed a commission -{pg 262} - -Bert Harte may come=> -Bret Harte may come -{pg 267} - -San Jose de Analco=> -San José de Analco -{pg 277} - -road to Tlacotalpam=> -road to Tlacotalpan -{pg 279} - -It somewhat resemble a marmoset=> -It somewhat resembles a marmoset -{pg 282} - -Flowers grows so luxuriously=> -Flowers grow so luxuriously -{pg 286} - -prepartions of salt=> -preparations of salt -{pg 287} - -one of the fedual days=> -one of the feudal days -{pg 296} - -I have met these priest=> -I have met these priests -{pg 299} - -The frijolas are cooked=> -The frijoles are cooked -{pg 301} - -ancient philosopers=> -ancient philosopers -{pg 325} - -Phillipine Islands=> -Philipine Islands -{pg 349} - -Senora=> -Señora -{x4} - -Senor=> -Señor -{x9 } - -senor=> -señor -{x9 } - -senora=> -señora -{x4} - -senorita=> -señorita -{x2 } - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAND WITHOUT CHIMNEYS; OR THE -BYWAYS OF MEXICO *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 5em; text-indent: -3em;} - -.poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: .45em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} -.poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} -.poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} -.poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} -.poem span.i15 {display: block; margin-left: 10em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} -.poem span.i13 {display: block; margin-left: 13em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} -</style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Land without chimneys; or the byways of Mexico, by Alfred Oscar Coffin</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Land without chimneys; or the byways of Mexico</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Alfred Oscar Coffin</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July 18, 2022 [eBook #68556]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Mary Glenn Krause, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAND WITHOUT CHIMNEYS; OR THE BYWAYS OF MEXICO ***</div> -<hr class="full" /> - -<table style="border: 2px black solid;margin:auto auto;max-width:50%; -padding:1%;"> -<tr><td> - -<p class="c"><a href="#CONTENTS">Contents.</a></p> -<p class="c">Some typographical errors have been corrected; -<a href="#transcrib">a list follows the text</a>.</p> -<p class="c">(etext transcriber's note)</p></td></tr> -</table> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/cover.jpg"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="500" alt="[The -image of the book's cover is unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_i">{i}</a></span></p> - -<div class="blk"> -<h1><img src="images/landwout.png" -width="450" -alt="Land Without Chimneys - -—OR— - -The Byways of Mexico." /></h1> - -<p class="c">BY<br /> -Alfred Oscar Coffin, Ph.D.<br /><br /> -<img src="images/barr.png" -width="120" -alt="[Image unavailable.]" /><br /> -<br /><br /> -CINCINNATI, OHIO,<br /> -THE EDITOR PUBLISHING CO.,<br /> -1898.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_ii">{ii}</a></span>  </p> - -<p class="c"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1898, by<br /> -The Editor Publishing Company.</span><br /><br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_iii">{iii}</a></span><br /><br /> -TO<br /> -PROFESSOR HELEN C. MORGAN,<br /> -MY FORMER TEACHER,<br /> -THIS BOOK<br /> -IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_iv">{iv}</a></span>  </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_v">{v}</a></span>  </p> - -<h2><a id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> - -<table> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td class="rtb"><i>Page.</i></td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The San Juan Valley</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_10">10</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Saltillo and the Plateau</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_29">29</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">San Luis Potosi</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_45">45</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Bill of Fare</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_63">63</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">In the Valley of the Laja</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_76">76</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Vale of Anahuac</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_93">93</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Valley of Mexico</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_107">107</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Shrine of Guadalupe</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_118">118</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Public Buildings</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_141">141</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Paseo and Bull Fight</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_153">153</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">La Viga Canal</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_168">168</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Suburbs</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_179">179</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_vi">{vi}</a></span></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Within the Gates</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_192">192</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Trail of the Tangle-Foot</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_222">222</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The City of the Angels</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_232">232</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Pyramid of Cholula</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_241">241</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Las Tierras Calientas</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_248">248</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Guadalajara in the Vale of Lerma</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_269">269</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Cities of the Plain</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_282">282</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Dives and Lazarus</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_294">294</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Political Economy</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_306">306</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Prehistoric Ruins</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_312">312</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Aztec Cosmogony and Theogony</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_322">322</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Lost Atlantis</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_331">331</a></td></tr> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV.</a></th></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Conclusion</span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_348">348</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_vii">{vii}</a></span>  </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_viii">{viii}</a></span>  </p> - -<h1>A Land Without Chimneys.</h1> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/i_010.png"> -<img src="images/i_010.png" width="600" height="461" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>CATHEDRAL, CITY OF MEXICO.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_9">{9}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HIS book is not sent forth to fill a long-felt want; nor does the -author hope to convince all his readers to his way of looking at the -social and religious problems of Mexico.</p> - -<p>As a teacher of modern languages, the author went to Mexico solely for -the purpose of mastering the language, but the remembrance of that -enjoyable stay allured him like a bird of passage when the spring has -come, and so he returned to study the people.</p> - -<p>If what he has written will help any one to better understand our next -door neighbor, his humble efforts have not been in vain.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_10">{10}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /><br /> -THE SAN JUAN VALLEY.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">D</span>ID it ever occur to the American reader that there lives a people -numbering twelve millions, who know not the comforts of the fire-place, -nor the discomforts of soot and chimney-swallows? And yet there lives -just such a people at our very doors; just across the Rio Grande, in -that strange land of romance and fiction, where the sixteenth and -nineteenth centuries go hand-in-hand and never unite; where the -variation in temperature is less than at any other place on the globe; -where an ancient race live among the ruined temples and pyramids of a -race they know not of; where the traveler finds mouldering ruins of hewn -stone engraved with figures and animals that have no likeness anywhere -else, except amid the ruins of Egypt; it is here you find the Land -Without Chimneys. The land of Montezuma; the spoil of Cortez; the -treasure-house of Spain; the modern Mexico, where fact and fancy so -mingle with romance and fable, that we hardly know when we have reached -historical data.</p> - -<p>When the Spaniards reached Mexico in 1518, they found that the Toltec -history, done in picture-writing, was the most reliable source of -information obtainable in this strange fairy-land.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_11">{11}</a></span></p> - -<p>From these idiographic paintings we learn that the Aztecs, or Mexicans, -entered the valley from the north about 1200 A. D. Before the Aztecs -came, the valley was occupied by the Chicimecs, and before they had -pitched their tents around their capital hill, Chapultepec, the Toltecs -had ruled supreme.</p> - -<p>The Toltecs, being exiled from Tollan, their ancient capital near lake -Tulare, wandered a hundred and twenty years, until, in 667, A. D., they -came to the bank of a river, where they founded another city which they -called Tollan, or Tula, in honor of their ancient capital. The ruins of -this ancient city lie twenty-five miles from the city of Mexico. During -the reign of their eighth king, a famine drove the Toltecs south, -whither many emigrated to Yucatan and Guatemala, where the Toltec -language is still spoken. But before the Toltecs, there lived in Yucatan -the Maya race, the most ancient in Mexico, whose tradition dates to the -year 793 B.C., when they arrived in Yucan by water from Tulapam. Here -tradition is lost until we examine the ancient ruins and pyramids of -Uxmal and Copan, whose walls are nine feet thick and covered with the -finest facades found in America; and then language fails us as we gaze -upon the massive walls of the pyramid of Copan, containing twenty-six -million cubic feet of stone brought from a distant quarry, whose base is -six hundred twenty-four feet by eight hundred nine feet, and a tower one -hundred eighty-four feet, built of massive blocks of stone, and -surmounted by two huge trees rooted in its mold.</p> - -<p>Within the inside are statues and hierogly<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_12">{12}</a></span>phics and inscriptions which -tell to the world their history, but they speak in an unknown tongue, -which may tell us of their Tulapam on the lost Atlantis. In despair, we -give up the riddle of the first people of Mexico, and take a nearer view -of the present inhabitants. The country is divided into three parts—the -coast region called <i>tierra calienta</i>, where the tropical sun makes life -a burden, and engenders that scourge of Mexico, <i>el vomito</i>, or yellow -fever.</p> - -<p>Midway between the coast and the mountain is the <i>tierra templada</i>, -where the mean temperature is 68° F. The <i>tierra fria</i>, or cold country, -is the plateau which caps the crest of the Cordilleras, so different -from the mountains of the rest of the world that a carriage road was -built for eight hundred miles along the crest of the mountains, without -the service of an engineer.</p> - -<p>Here the mean temperature is 63° F., and on account of the altitude rain -seldom falls, and, where it does fall, the porous amygdaloid rocks -absorb it so quickly that the plateau is a veritable desert, where the -cactus and other thorny plants have taken possession of soil and rock -alike. What adds more than anything else to its barrenness, is the utter -lack of forest tree or green grass. Everywhere, for miles and miles of -landscape, the eye meets only the bare rock and brown earth, with here -and there the ever-present cactus and its kind.</p> - -<p>What wonder is it that nearly all these plateau people are beggars, when -the water for their very existence must be drawn from the locomotive -tanks each day as the train passes? Far across the treeless plain they -see the smoke of the locomotive, and from every adobe hut and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_13">{13}</a></span> -straw-thatched jackal swarm the eager-eyed women, carrying the empty -five-gallon cans of the Standard Oil Company, or their smaller <i>ollas</i> -of burnt earthenware.</p> - -<p>To supply that horde would be to disable the train, so the fireman fills -a number and again mounts his engine amid the silent looks of anguish -from the disappointed faces that plead more eloquently than words. Yet -there are whole townships of this desert, fenced in with stone walls, -and upon these haciendas the rancheros grow rich off their herds at the -expense of the poor peons, and the source of their wealth is the prickly -pear.</p> - -<p>The thick, fleshy leaf is both food and water to the starving cattle. -Where herds are small, the herder, with a huge knife or machete, cuts -the cruel thorns from the leaves or singes them in a great bonfire; but -on the vast estates the cattle must, from necessity, get their food -without help. It may be curious to know how these leaves can furnish -water in a country where it rarely rains. The reason is, the skin is so -tough it does not lose any water by evaporation, and it is thus able to -carry water a year or more without additional rain. This cactus grows to -the height of fifteen feet, with innumerable branches armed with needles -nearly as long as your finger, and it bears bunches of fruit about the -size and shape of lemons, called <i>tunas</i>. This is the staff of life for -the poor people on the plains, and without it, existence on the plateau, -for man or beast would be impossible.</p> - -<p>But this country was not always a desert. Before the coming of the -Spaniards it was clothed in verdure, but “it was not like the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_14">{14}</a></span> plains of -Old Castile,” and so the reckless gold hunter turned the beautiful -plateau into a Sahara, in which the silver mines now pay from eleven to -sixteen dollars a cord for wood, brought on the backs of diminutive -burros, and five dollars and seventy-five cents for a hundred and fifty -pounds of corn.</p> - -<p>It is purely a lack of thrift that no effort is now made to restore the -land to its original inheritance. The eucalyptus tree of California has -been tried in many places and thrives well, and with proper protection -would soon grow a forest. The present wood supply is the mesquite, which -never grows taller than a peach tree, and the average size stick of wood -it furnishes is but little larger than a beer bottle. Yet, with all its -scarcity, the locomotives use it, because coal from the United States -costs twenty-one dollars a ton. This wood is packed on the backs of -dozens of little burros, and is carried as far as a dozen miles for -delivery.</p> - -<p>This is a land without chimneys, for two reasons: The climate is not -cold enough to require fires, and if it was, the poor people would never -be able to purchase wood. The little cooking that is done, is -accomplished by little charcoal fires in braziers.</p> - -<p>If all this country was a plateau, then my tale would not be told, but -there can be no mountains without valleys, and it is these valleys that -make Mexico one of the most delightful spots in this country. In the -lovely valley of the noisy little San Juan River, rests the beautiful -city of Monterey—“King Mountain.”</p> - -<p>Situated at the foot of the Sierra Madres, surrounded by cloud-covered -peaks, there seems<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_15">{15}</a></span> to be not enough room for its seventy-five thousand -inhabitants, as it first bursts upon the vision through the towering -masts of Yucca palms. It is wedged between “La Silla,” Saddle Mountain, -and “Las Mitras,” the Bishop’s Mitre; but this is only the first trick -which this clear and illusive atmosphere plays upon the traveler from -the lowlands.</p> - -<p>The perspective seems unduly fore-shortened, and mountain peaks which -are really twenty-five miles away, appear to be within an hour’s walk. -After your law of optics has been restored, you discover that no -prettier spot could have been chosen for a city than that for Monterey.</p> - -<p>Founded three hundred and thirty-five years ago, upon an elevation 1700 -feet above the sea, the seasons are so nearly alike that December is as -pleasant as May.</p> - -<p>In the western part of the city are the homes of the wealthy; beautiful -houses in shaded gardens where tropical birds and flowers have their -home, and where spraying fountains and living streams of water remind -one of the tales of fairy-land. Just beyond these homes is the Bishop’s -Palace, the last fortification to succumb to the American army of -invasion when the city was taken. Around the palace are many cannon, -some half-buried beneath the soil, and one with the unbelched shot still -imbedded in its throat where, for fifty years it has lain in mute -testimony of that unequal struggle which General Grant called “The most -unholy war in all history.”</p> - -<p>Across the valley, three miles as the crow flies, are the famous hot -springs of Topo Chico, at the base of a mountain of black marble, which, -in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_16">{16}</a></span> building material, shows a beautiful stripe of alabastine whiteness.</p> - -<p>It was here the daughter of Montezuma and the élite of the Valley of -Mexico came to bathe and chase dull care away, after the whirl of the -court in the capital city of Tenochtitlan, long before the coming of the -white man.</p> - -<p>At a temperature of 106° F. the water bursts forth in a heroic stream -that bears testimony of the intense fires that hurl it forth.</p> - -<p>This reminds us that there is hardly a city in Mexico that has not its -hot water baths, and it need not excite surprise, when three of the -loftiest volcanoes in the world stand guard over the valley; Orizaba in -the east and Popocatapetl and Ixtacihuatl in the south, the highest -standing 17,782 feet above the sea.</p> - -<p>The water of Topo Chico, after serving the baths, is carried through the -valley in irrigating ditches. Leaving the horse-cars which brought us -from the city, we are enticed across the beautiful meadows to a grove of -palms and tropical flowers, and find ourselves at the lofty walls of an -enclosure which at first gives the impression of a penitentiary, but -which you afterwards learn is a “Campo Santo,” or cemetery.</p> - -<p>We walk around the forbidding walls until we come to a massive iron -gate, and through its opening we see a forest of wooden crosses which -tell their own tale, but the sexton will tell another.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“A relic of by-gone days was he,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And his hair was white as the foaming sea.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>He had dug a row of twenty-four graves, twenty-three of which were open, -but the other<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_17">{17}</a></span> was filled to the brim with bones and scraps of clothing -taken from the others. A peep into these revealed cross-sections of -leg-bones here, two ribs and a hand there, with a jawbone or a vertebra -lying in the bottom. The sexton explained that a person may rest in -peace for the period of five years, and if, after that time his -relatives do not pay a tax on his grave, his resurrection day will come -to make room for newer tenants and better renters.</p> - -<p>And so on for a hundred years or more they will begin at the gate and -dig graves and collect taxes until they reach the rear wall, and then -start over. If everybody paid, the yard would remain intact and the -sexton would have to start a new farm; but with the average Mexican, the -cost of remaining alive is a far more serious question than remaining -dead for an orthodox resurrection.</p> - -<p>He much prefers using his spare cash during those five years in buying -masses from the priest to get the soul of his late departed out of -Purgatory, and if he succeeds in that, the bones may go; so every five -years he is prepared to see his friend’s lodging aired and let to new -lodgers. The wealthy rent tombs which are built in the outer wall, and -here they can peep through the glass doors and see the dust of their -fathers sifting down upon the ashes of their grandfathers to the third -and fourth generation. The sexton was not very careful in removing his -renters, and would leave a leg in No. 7 and carry the other remains to -24. I asked him if that would not complicate matters a little in the -final resurrection. He assured me that Purgatory was the place to right -such small matters, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_18">{18}</a></span> if the priest was paid enough he would get them -all together. That reminds me of a wealthy man who died, and the priest, -with an eye to business, called upon the son of the late departed, and -impressed upon him the urgency of paying for enough masses to take his -father’s soul from Purgatory. The son asked how much would do it. The -priest, after a careful calculation said: “He was a pretty hard case and -no less than five hundred dollars will move him,” and the son paid the -money.</p> - -<p>After a while they met again. “And how is my father getting along?” -asked the son. “You see,” said the priest, “your father was in the -middle of Purgatory and I had to move him a long way, but I have him -towards the outer edge now, and I think two hundred dollars more will -pass him out.” The money was paid without protest, and this so -encouraged the priest that he resolved to make one more deal.</p> - -<p>“And how is my father now?” was asked when they met again. “Well, I have -him right at the edge of Purgatory with one foot over the line, and I -think another fifty dollars will pass him into heaven.”</p> - -<p>“O no!” said the son. “You don’t know my father. If he has one foot in -heaven, St. Peter and all Purgatory can’t keep him out and so I will -save this fifty dollars.”</p> - -<p>As the sexton and I talked, a funeral procession entered the gate, -consisting of two men and two women of the poorer class. On the head of -one man was a dead child stretched upon a board. The other came to the -sexton for instructions. He pointed them to a row of thirteen small -graves, dug about two feet deep<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_19">{19}</a></span> and two of them were filled with the -bones from the others.</p> - -<p>The child was taken from the board and chucked in, but was found to be -several inches too long for the grave, so its head was bent up until the -pall-bearer could gouge out enough dirt to admit the body straight, and -then enough dirt and bones were raked in to cover it a foot and a half. -Meanwhile, the women sat upon neighboring graves, chatting and smoking -cigarettes until the grave was filled. Thirteen minutes after they had -entered they were gone, leaving the sexton and myself alone with the -dead. Within ten minutes another procession entered, preceded by a -company of priests with lighted candles, followed by a hearse with a -velvet covered coffin. Behind the hearse walked a procession of young -men with lighted candles, and then I knew a man was dead, for no women -attend the funerals of men.</p> - -<p>On entering, the body was taken from the coffin and buried, and the -coffin returned to the undertaker. Wood is too scarce in Mexico to buy -coffins when a rented one will do as well, and besides, it would give -the sexton too much trouble in his impromptu resurrections if he had to -dig through hard wood boards.</p> - -<p>If you should ask these people why they dig over and over a few acres of -enclosed ground when just outside there are leagues and leagues of -ground that will not grow anything else but a good crop of graves, they -would shrug their shoulders and say: “<i>Quien sabe?</i>”—who knows—with -that untranslatable gesture which forbids other question. Should you ask -the tax collector, he might look over his balance-sheet and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_20">{20}</a></span> give you an -answer about how much it takes to run the government.</p> - -<p>Nothing better illustrates the stature of these people than the death of -an American. He was a conductor, and the railroad employees determined -to give him an orthodox Christian burial, but no coffin could be found -long enough, so he was put into one with both ends knocked out. Then -came the inspection, and official announcement and permit, and enough -red tape to consume two whole days and all the patience of the American -colony, and involved enough writing to have chartered the city.</p> - -<p>All cemeteries are reached by mule car; and for those who cannot afford -a hearse, a funeral car and as many empties as are needed, are always to -be had. The funeral car is painted black or white, with a raised dais to -support the coffin, and in a sweeping gallop the cortege is soon at the -cemetery gates on schedule time.</p> - -<p>All head-boards and grave-stones are embellished with the ominous black -letters R. I. P. They tell me that is Latin for “May he rest in peace;” -but I think they ought to add, “For five years.”</p> - -<p>The cathedral in all Mexican cities is the one place of attraction. The -one here was used as a powder magazine during the Mexican war, and the -walls still bear the grim ear-marks of cannon balls.</p> - -<p>The finest church here is Nuestra Señora del Roble, which is old, but -seems never to be finished, and thereby hangs a tale.</p> - -<p>No church property is taxable here until it is finished, so the astute -priests rarely finish one. There are churches here whose foundations<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_21">{21}</a></span> -were laid three hundred years ago, and as you stand in the grand nave, -bits of stone falling around you will be the only evidence of the -workmen two hundred feet above.</p> - -<p>The stone used is almost as porous and as light as chalk, and responds -readily to the chisel for ornamentation, but hardens on exposure. These -building blocks are nearly always two feet square, and are built into -the wall rough, and with scaffolding built around; the stone-mason, with -mallet and chisel, will work for years, creating an ornamentation that -is a joy and beauty forever. Patience here is a cardinal virtue, and -time has no value whatever, and to their credit, be it said, that these -decoraters are artists, and their work is beautiful. A man will begin -work on a hundred year job with as much <i>sang-froid</i> as though it was to -last a month.</p> - -<p>A workman will take an intricate pattern of wall-paper, and, with a -paint-pot and brush, will spread that design over ten thousand square -yards of surface, and at a distance of ten feet you cannot detect his -work from genuine wall-paper. The perspective is so deceptive in one -church in Monterey, that you almost run into the rear wall before you -are aware that the long aisle is a painted one. You must stand or kneel -in the churches, as no seats are provided. One church in Puebla is the -only exception. Most of the churches are bedizened with cheap gew-gaws -and tinsel, which gives you an impression of a child’s playhouse.</p> - -<p>The church of San Francisco is the oldest in town, and its bells were -cast in Spain.</p> - -<p>A large painting in there which is meant for the <i>piece de resistance</i>, -represents Christ with a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_22">{22}</a></span> Spanish fan in his hand, and the Madonna -draped in a Spanish cloak of the vintage of 1520. Another represents the -Shepherds with violins in their hands looking at the Babe in the manger.</p> - -<p>It all reminds me of February 22, in New York, when national -proclivities will rise against time and circumstances, and George -Washington will blaze with all his calm dignity from the Teuton’s shop -window with a huge glass of lager in his hand, and the citizen from -County Cork flashes him forth from his aldermanic window with an extra -width to his supermaxillary, while Hop Long Quick displays him with his -weekly washee washee, sporting a three foot queue.</p> - -<p>I suppose all this proves that we think a lot more of ourselves than we -do of others, and of our nationality: “My country, may she ever be -right, but right or wrong, my country.”</p> - -<p>I suppose local color is everything to the ambitious artist, and in -making the rounds of the different churches, the amount of dripping gore -you encounter in the transit from the Sanhedrin to Calvary is appalling. -Were you to meet the <i>dramatis personæ</i> in the flesh, and away from -their settings, you would be in doubt as to whether they were just from -the foot-ball game, or a delegation from Darktown Alley “After de Ball.” -Beyond the city and near the foothills is the modest little chapel of -Guadalupe.</p> - -<p>Around it is a grove of maguey plants with their long, fleshy leaves, -just as inviting to the jack-knife of the Mexican boy as a white beech -tree was to you when you were loitering around the country church. Nor -were these boys less<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_23">{23}</a></span> boys than others, for all over these telltale -leaves are inscriptions, some cut “When you and I were boys, Tom, just -twenty years ago.” Nor were all these inscriptions outbursts of piety -and consecration to the church. Some still told the old, old story, that -the lovely Ramona was <i>La alma de mi vidi, mi dulce corizon</i>, the soul -of his life and his sweetheart forever.</p> - -<p>I sincerely hope Ramona got the letter and rewarded the young man for -his splendid sculpturing, but I doubt if he “sculped” all the things I -read.</p> - -<p>Some were avowals to the service of the Virgin, and I know of no place -better calculated to inspire such thoughts of worship than the little -chapel of Guadalupe.</p> - -<p>Beyond the chapel was a young man quarrying stone, and in his idle hours -he had chiseled out a small miniature chapel, about three feet long and -similar in design to Guadalupe. Perhaps he was the one who wrote the -pious inscription, but he looked just about old enough to have boiled -over with that effervescence about Ramona.</p> - -<p>While he was at work, I slyly investigated his means of saving grace. -Within the little chapel were candles and tinsels of gold leaf and -silver, and symbols made of pewter and tin, and bits of broken crockery -and other childish playthings, while around it were planted a row of -resurrection plants.</p> - -<p>This botanical wonder, <i>Selaginella lepidophylla</i>, grows upon the bare -rocks, and may be kept a dozen years in a trunk, but when placed in a -saucer of water, immediately changes its grey color for green, and -unfolds its fronds like<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_24">{24}</a></span> a thing of life. When taken from the water it -closes up like a chestnut-burr, and continues in its dormant state till -water is given it, when it responds every time. This young man having -all this paraphernalia as a means of worship may be strange, but what -about the church from which he drew his pattern?</p> - -<p>What the lower classes here do not know about the bible would fill a -book.</p> - -<p>The city of Monterey is supplied with water from a famous spring in the -heart of the city, which also gives birth to the Santa Lucia, which is -crossed by numerous bridges, and is the public bath-house and laundry. A -whole company of soldiers will march from the barracks down the -principal street, and the first bridge they reach, down they go into the -water, and every man will take off his shirt, wade in and begin his -laundering. In all likelihood, they will find as many women already in -the water enjoying a bath, and they will all sit in the sun and smoke -cigarettes together while their clothes dry.</p> - -<p>The little proprieties which most people attach to a bath do not seem to -trouble these innocent people, especially when an orthodox bath-house -charges a quarter of a dollar for what the city gives free gratis for -nothing. If cleanliness is next to godliness, these people must be away -up in the line of promotion, for from sunrise to sunset, I have seen -every rod of this canal a moving panorama of black-haired swimmers, men, -women and children, while the banks were white with drying laundry.</p> - -<p>The painter who first made that picture about the mermaids sitting upon -a rock and combing their raven locks, must have been standing on a</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/i_028.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_028.jpg" width="600" height="365" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>BATHING AT AGUASCALIENTES.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_25">{25}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">bridge here and got his idea from the Mexican houris trying to dry their -hair before they—well, while waiting for their clothes to get dry.</p> - -<p>The <i>puenta</i> Purisima is the bridge where a wing of the Mexican army -withstood Gen. Taylor’s division. The legend says that the image of the -Virgin hovered over the Mexican army and enabled it to do wonders, and -that they re-enacted the old story of Thermopylæ. Below the old bridge -is a perpetual laundry. A Mexican laundry is a study in white, and when -you have mastered the details, it differs not one jot or tittle from all -the other laundries in the republic.</p> - -<p>Like Mahomet’s mountain, the Mexican laundress always carries her -clothes to the water, and rests upon her knees by the brink. She casts a -garment into the stream until it is wet, and then wads it upon a flat -stone, and soaps it until it is a mass of foam. She then puts it in a -wooden tray, such as we use in our kitchen, and rubs all the soap out of -it, and immediately empties the water and repeats the process.</p> - -<p>If she dips a piece a dozen times, she soaps it just as often, and -empties the soapsuds after each rubbing, and never, never uses the -soapsuds a second time.</p> - -<p>This is very hard on a bar of soap, but the linen is returned to you as -white as snow.</p> - -<p>There are many Americans in Monterey, and they are trying very hard to -implant their American customs upon the country, one of which is the -color line in public places.</p> - -<p>All the streets are paved with smooth, round cobble stones from the -mountain gorges. They are about the size and shape of a butter-dish,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_26">{26}</a></span> -and they make just about as smooth a pavement as so many acres of cannon -balls would make, buried half way in cement, and meeting about as -closely as round objects usually meet.</p> - -<p>I can think of no American equivalent, except a corduroy log bridge, or -driving across the railroad tracks in a switch-yard.</p> - -<p>The gutter is always in the middle of the street, which is a foot or -more lower than the rest. An American has gained a concession to lay one -street with Texas vitrified brick, and let us hope it is a fore-runner -of others. But, come to think of it, it might work a hardship to a -time-honored custom; an innovation to some might prove an iconoclast to -the church.</p> - -<p>It has long been a custom during Passion week and other fiestas, for the -priests to prescribe a penance for those who confessed to a sin in -thought or word or deed either in the past, present or future tense; and -one of the favorite punishments is to require a number of maidens to -walk down a street leading to a church, and return, crawling upon their -bare knees to the church to be absolved. As they would leave a trail of -blood over the cruel stones, some agonized lover would east his zerape -before his beloved and beseech her to let him lead it in front of her to -the church and spare the laceration; but poor ignorant creatures, they -have been taught that this is the only way to have their sins forgiven.</p> - -<p>I notice I never see men in these pilgrimages, and it must prove that -the men have more hard sense than the women, or else the priests have -their own reasons for appointing women only.</p> - -<p>Now what would a penance amount to on a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_27">{27}</a></span> San Antonio brick pavement? -Just a picnic, no more. It takes a regulation Monterey pavement to draw -blood in the first round. I like the Texas innovation, but I shall vote -to keep one of these threshing-machine streets for the church and <i>auld -lang syne</i>.</p> - -<p>In Monterey are a number of smelting works, where the lead and silver -ore is reduced to pigs, and here we see the applied difference in wages.</p> - -<p>The hardest work in the smelter is to weigh in and deliver to the -furnace a thousand pounds of ore every fifteen minutes, and this is not -unskilled labor either. The man has a two-wheeled cart into which he -must weigh in 600 pounds of ore, and 400 pounds of coke and flux -material. Those ores are perhaps fifty yards away at the dump, and if -the ore is very refractory, he must mix four or five grades in different -proportions. His cart must be always on scales as he goes from one pile -to the other, and he must make four trips an hour, and for this he -cannot possibly make over a dollar a day, and the regulation wages for -even the hardest work is 67½ cents for a maximum, if he is able to make -eight full hours.</p> - -<p>I saw an Indian boy who had become so expert, he could load his cart -with three or four different ores and not miss the amount by more than -ten pounds when weighed.</p> - -<p>The engines never stop night nor day, except to collect the rich gold -dust which collects in the flues. It is a very dangerous, suffocating -job, which a white man always gets ten dollars for, and a Mexican five -<i>reals</i>, or 67½ cents.</p> - -<p>Two railroads pass Monterey. The Mexican Central to Tampico on the Gulf, -and the Mexi<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_28">{28}</a></span>can National to the City; and on the latter we now leave -for Saltillo and the battle-field of Buena Vista.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 408px;"> -<a href="images/i_032.png"> -<img src="images/i_032.png" width="408" height="282" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_29">{29}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /><br /> -SALTILLO AND THE PLATEAU.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">F</span>ROM Monterey to Saltillo is sixty-seven miles as the crow flies, 5,300 -feet in elevation as the barometer creeps, and fifty rise to the mile as -the train runs. Up, up we go with two powerful engines to the train, and -the ever-present query, “If the train should break in two, where would I -land?”</p> - -<p>This is no idle question either, and to reduce possibilities, the -Pullmans follow the baggage, the first-class cars next, and the second -and third-class last. This is very necessary in steep grades and sharp -curves, where the heavy Pullmans with their momentum would always -endeavor to strike off segments and chords across the arcs.</p> - -<p>Up we go between mountains bare of vegetation, which enables you to see -them in their naked grandeur and sublimity. You very soon conclude that -the train is on the trail of the little river, and trying to track it -out of the canon, and you also discover that it was impossible to have -built the road over any other route than the bed of the noisy, fretful -little San Juan. We pass through the canon with the little stream first -on one side and then on the other, clinging to the side of the mountain -by a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_30">{30}</a></span> path that hardly saves the train from destruction by the -overhanging rocks, but ever upward. Indeed, railroad men say that when a -car breaks loose from the yard in Saltillo, it runs all the way back to -Monterey. I don’t believe it. It might come part of the way, but I think -before it got half way down that grade, it would leave the track and -make the rest of the journey in mid-air, and in considerable less than a -mile a minute, too.</p> - -<p>On the way up we pass the little puebla of Garcia, where a peak of the -mountain has an opening through it, as though some Titanic cannon-ball -had crashed its way through there, showing the sunlight on the other -side. As we pass, all good Catholics take off their hats and cross -themselves. Far up the peaks, tiny spirals of smoke show where the -charcoal burners have found some isolated shrubs and are reducing them -to merchantable form. In the cleft of the rocks are also to be seen the -tuna-bearing cacti, which the half-clad Indian women are gathering for -food. At last the grade is surmounted and we reach Saltillo, the capital -of the State of Coahuila to which once also was attached the State of -Texas.</p> - -<p>One of the causes of the Texas revolution was that the Texans had to go -to Saltillo, fully a thousand miles from Red River, to attend to their -legal business. They asked for a separate state, and at the head of the -Texas army they kindly persuaded Santa Anna to grant it. There is great -persuasive power in a gun.</p> - -<p>The train passes through a long street, lined on both sides with gardens -of peaches and apples and oranges and bananas and figs. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_31">{31}</a></span> altitude is -a mile above sea-level, so that the heat of summer is never known, and -one must sleep under blankets, even in July and August. It is a favorite -summer resort for those who want a climate with no changes whatever. The -city has a population of 20,000, but no horse-cars, so you take your -foot in your hand and go off to see the town. There is but little to -see, but of course there is the Grand Plaza, all Mexican cities have -that, and of course the Cathedral faces the Plaza, there is no exception -to that rule. The town is 300 years old, but the Cathedral was not begun -till 1745, and the main body was completed in 1800.</p> - -<p>The towers were begun in 1873, and may continue a hundred years longer. -In keeping with the custom of the country, the churches must be as fine -as time and money can make them, and the people give both, freely. The -Alameda is as beautiful and as restful as one could wish, with fountains -and flowers, and birds and trees to drive dull care away. I was honestly -trying to do this when a school dismissed near by, and I called several -of the “Kids” by to let me look at their text books, which consisted of -a Catechism of the Catholic faith, and an Arithmetic. There must have -been nearly a dozen boys around me, when all of a sudden they scattered -like quails before a hawk, as a watchful policeman headed for us.</p> - -<p>I suppose he thought the boys were about to kidnap me and came to my -rescue, but he explained that it was a place of rest and pleasure and -“Kids” were not allowed to flock there. I flocked by myself for a half -hour, and the young ladies’ school dismissed and they all<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_32">{32}</a></span> passed, -dressed in black, and with bare heads generally, but several had lace -mantillas. If ever I wanted to examine text-books, I thought now was the -time, but to save my life I could not muster courage to ask that -policeman if it was any harm for me to flock anywhere else but on that -park bench, and while I hesitated the dream vanished—and so did I. I -thought it was time to go see Alta Mira, the baths of San Lorenzo.</p> - -<p>Beyond the city limits is a dismantled old fort, a relic of French -occupation. It was a very rude affair of sun-dried bricks, and is now -occupied by a hermit and a vicious dog who demanded backsheesh. The -<i>who</i> refers to both man and beast, for, after looking at the persuasive -face and teeth of that dog, you quite willingly pass over the coppers to -the old man. I have never heard of the couple using force on travelers, -but the argumentative look on that dog’s face showed that they -understood each other, and especially since the isolation of the fort -encourages the presumption.</p> - -<p>Ten miles from Saltillo is the battle-field of Buena Vista, where -General Taylor, after a two days’ fight, defeated the Mexicans. After -the battle the Mexican women went among the wounded, ministering to the -American as well as to the Mexican soldiers.</p> - -<p>Whittier has made their name immortal in his beautiful poem:</p> - -<p class="c"> -“THE ANGELS OF BUENA VISTA.”<br /> -</p> - -<p class="nind">which closes with the following lines:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Sink, O Night, among thy mountains, let thy cool, gray shadows fall;<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_33">{33}</a></span><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Dying brothers, fighting demons, drop thy curtain over all!<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Through the thickening winter twilight, wide apart the battle rolled,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In its sheath the sabre rested, and the cannon’s lips grew cold.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“But the noble Mexic women still their holy task pursued,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Through that long, dark night of sorrow, worn and faint and lacking food,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Over weak and suffering brothers, with a tender care they hung,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And the dying foeman blessed them in a strange and Northern tongue.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Not wholly lost, O Father! is this evil world of ours;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Upward, through its blood and ashes, spring afresh the Eden flowers;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From its smoking hell of battle, Love and Pity send their prayer,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And still thy white-winged angels hover dimly in our air!”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>Near the old French fort is a narrow stream of water, precious as all -water is on the plateau. Through irrigating ditches it winds around the -hill to the valley, through a winding street, among adobe houses, -serving each as it passes, as a laundry, fountain or bath-house. The -people on the lower course did not seem to care how the water had been -treated before it reached them, but they believe in the old saw: “Where -ignorance is bliss,” etc.</p> - -<p>Along the hard, sunbaked street we pass and look in upon more squalor -than was ever dreamed of in a city. The hovels are built of sun-dried -brick, with no windows nor chimneys for ventilation. Within is neither -floor nor table nor chair nor bed nor any piece of furniture. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_34">{34}</a></span> women -and children and dogs and men all herd together on the bare floor, or at -most on straw mats. Neither shoes nor stockings find a place here. The -men wear a presentable suit of white cotton or coarse linen, and are -bare-footed, or wear a pair of leather sandals on their feet. These are -simply pieces of sole leather under the bottom, held on by thongs passed -between the toes to the ankle. Every man is his own shoemaker. The women -often wear only a chemisette and neither shoes nor stockings, and when -they do wear shoes, they wear no stockings. Privacy is absolutely -unknown, in this or any other Mexican city, except in the heart of the -city or among foreigners, and it requires the utmost watchfulness on the -part of the police to keep a semblance of public decency, even in the -city of Mexico; and even then, the Indians are tacitly exempt from -punishment for infractions. It must not be understood that this -assertion includes everybody, but you must remember that five-sixths of -the population is classed as low caste or peons, and strong enough -numerically to imprint their influence upon every city in the country. -Through almost every city flows a stream of water, and in this hundreds -of men and women bathe promiscuously. Some cities require some garment -to be worn, but while changing clothes and putting on the bathing suit, -they are protected only by the blue sky and the Republic of Mexico.</p> - -<p>These hovels are the centers of a great manufacturing industry; within, -the women are pounding the fibre from the thick leaves of the aloe or -maguey, and making brushes, mats, hammocks, rope and twine. The fibre is -very<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_35">{35}</a></span> much like the unraveled strands of our seagrass rope, and so -strong that ordinary wrapping cord must be cut with a knife. The weaving -apparatus is crude in the extreme. A post with a windlass and three -wooden arms stands in the ground, and a boy turns the windlass. A man -walks backwards with a basket of fibre hanging from his neck. Having -fastened a thread to each of the arms of the crank, he slowly feeds each -lengthening strand as it twists around the windlass. In ten minutes he -can twist a thread fifty feet long. The threads are woven any desirable -size, the most common being such as is used in making hammocks. As the -husband prepares the thread, the wife weaves the mats or hammocks, and -goes off to the market to sell. Within such hovels, all the -manufacturing of Mexico is carried on, with no machinery anywhere. Of -course, without wood, steam is impossible, and water power there is -none.</p> - -<p>Saltillo is famed for one thing above all others, and that is the beauty -of its zerapes. A zerape is a cross between a cloak, a blanket, a shawl -and a mat, because it is used for all these. It is the one garment a -Mexican prizes next to his hat, the <i>sine qua non</i> of his attire. The -zerape is a hand-woven blanket, with figures and colors that would make -Pharaoh’s adopted son turn green with envy. They are woven and worn all -over Mexico, but those made in Saltillo are a thing of beauty and a joy -forever, to the happy possessor. When the Mexican starts out in the -morning, his zerape is folded across his shoulder with the fringed ends -nearly touching the ground. If he is hunting work, or going to work, or -walking for pleasure,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_36">{36}</a></span> or holding up the sunny side of a street corner -to keep it from falling down, the zerape is always there. If he sits -down, he either sits upon that zerape or fondly folds it across his lap. -When night comes, if he has a home, he spreads that zerape on the dirt -floor for his bed. If he has no home, a nice soft corner of the stone -pavement is carpeted with his zerape. When morning comes, he goes -through the same programme. Many slit a hole through the center and -stick their heads through. Those who cannot buy, take an old salt sack -and rip it up, and presto! a zerape. In the Torrid Zone on the coast, -when the hot sun melts the asphalt pavements, an Indian may be seen -comfortably smoking his cigarette, his head covered with a woolen -sombrero weighted down with silver ornaments, and several yards of -woolen zerape covering his reeking body.</p> - -<p>Ephraim is wedded to his idols. If the men are wedded to the zerape, the -women are equally inseparable from the <i>rebosa</i>. The <i>rebosa</i> is a -shawl, nothing more—that is from appearance, but with the Mexican women -and girls, it is second self. The common gray, cotton article is called -a <i>rebosa</i>, the finer black article is a <i>tapalo</i>, while the lace -fabrication is a <i>mantilla</i>, but it is of the <i>rebosa</i> that we now -speak. Hats nor bonnets are ever worn by the women at any time or place, -the <i>rebosa</i> is used instead. It is drawn across the brow until the ends -hang down below the waist, then one end is thrown across the opposite -shoulder, protecting the neck and making a drapery both picturesque and -pleasing. Sometimes she wears it around her shoulders as a shawl. If she -has a baby, she<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_37">{37}</a></span> lets the slack out in the back, loops the youngster in -it and takes a half hitch with the ends in front. It is an every day -sight to see caravans of women come to town with large baskets of fruit -on their heads, and the black-eyed youngsters tied in the <i>rebosa</i> and -peeping over the mother’s shoulder. When the mothers sit by the roadside -to rest the “Kids” are not unwrapped, but they usually keep the peace -until released.</p> - -<p>The <i>rebosa</i> is the first garment a girl learns to wear, and I might -add, until she is quite large it is often the only one. The most -remarkable thing about it is, they never cease wearing them. Peep into -these hovels, and every woman and girl child will be sitting listlessly -on the stone floor, or busily at work with head and ears tightly wrapped -up, their sparkling eyes and pleasant faces alone showing. But draw a -camera on them, presto! every face is instantly covered. In walking, one -or both hands is always engaged in holding the folds under the chin, as -no shawl pins are used. The girl of fashion is a combination of painted -face, India inked eyebrows and bella-donna eyes, but the ordinary middle -class girls have rare beauty sometimes, and a series of faces would make -“mighty interesting reading,” but no camera that I have seen can get -their faces, unless covered with a <i>rebosa</i>.</p> - -<p>The prevailing color of <i>rebosas</i> is as much a distinctive emblem of -caste, as any rule in the social decalogue. No high caste woman would -dare be seen with a gray <i>rebosa</i>, and though a low caste might be able -to buy one of the more costly black ones, I have never seen one do so,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_38">{38}</a></span> -and the observance of these social adjuncts is as unchanging as the laws -of the Medes and Persians.</p> - -<p>Saltillo as seen from the rear is disappointing. Most towns are painted -white, but here the dull, wearied-looking sun-baked adobe houses are not -pleasing. We visit a high school for young ladies and wonder that all -this youthful beauty can bide this dull town, and that reminds me that -there is not a mixed school in all Mexico, even the kindergartens being -separate. You do not need to visit the primary schools, as you can hear -all you wish a block away. The noise that first greets you will remind -you of the last inning at the base-ball park when everybody is asking -who killed the umpire. There may be three hundred children and each one -is studying at the top of his voice, if voices ever have top and bottom, -and the priests are stalking among them. The catechism is the first book -placed in the hands of the child, and his duty to the church, the priest -and the pope, are the first lines he ever learns. This statement will -help make plain some other things I shall say later about the religious -status of the country.</p> - -<p>In the early gray of the July morning, with the chilling fog settling -all around us, we draw our heavy wraps about us and leave with no -regrets Saltillo, “The Stepping Stone.” We have indeed stepped upon the -plateau, and for a hundred and fifty miles the track is as straight as a -carpenter’s rule. What a monotony! Desert, yucca palms, cactus, dust. -Not a living thing but cactus. No birds, no insects, no rabbits, no -snakes—nothing that breathes claims this<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_39">{39}</a></span> for a home. The railroad -authorities did not plan this road for the beauty of its landscape, but -for the economy of building. Ten thousand feet above sea-level lies the -back-bone of the Cordilleras, and the plain is as level as a floor.</p> - -<p>For twelve hundred miles a carriage can travel here without making a -road, so while the journey is disappointing to the tourist, the railroad -company pats itself on the back for long-headedness.</p> - -<p>Away in the distance we see a tiny curl of white dust no larger than a -man’s hand, and reaching to heaven. That is the sign of the burro -pack-team bearing their bundles of fagots for the hungry maw of the -locomotive. Poor little donkeys, not weighing more than three hundred -pounds, without bridle or saddle or harness or halter, and without food -except as they can argue with the thorns and thistles by the wayside, -follow, follow forever the narrow trail to the wood-pile by the railroad -track, drop their burden and return.</p> - -<p>Surely the earth is round to the donkey. When he was no larger than a -kid, he followed his mother along the same trail until he got large -enough to carry a pack-saddle himself. That wearied, discouraged look he -has always had, even to the twentieth generation. It is a part of his -inheritance. He never had any frisky colt days in a pasture, nor did he -have to “be broke” to harness when he reached the state of Coahuila and -donkeyhood. In fact he was never born, but like Topsy “just growed up,” -a burden-bearing burro. From the Rio Grande to Yucatan, he has -gridironed the country and impressed it with his stamp. He and his -com<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_40">{40}</a></span>panions have trailed, Indian file, loaded to the guards with silver -ore, until his sharp little feet cut the trail so deep that his burden -was raked off by the banks. He then started a new trail by the side of -that until his little legs are out of sight in the trails cut by his -feet in the solid rock; and then repeats, until you may count twenty or -more little parallel gridiron paths for hundreds of miles. He has worn -through solid rock in a dozen parallel paths, and only the final -recorder in the burro paradise can tell how many weary journeys he had -to make to write his name so well.</p> - -<p>Neither the trolley car nor the bicycle will ever make his shadow grow -less; he is a part of the country, as indispensable as water itself. -While the Indians load the tender with wood, I follow the fireman and -brakeman into the chaparral. They have a pail of water, a wicker basket, -and a long stick with a string lasso on the end, and are hunting -tarantulas. Being something of a naturalist myself, I was well -acquainted with tarantulas, and I promptly told them I had not lost any -tarantulas, and if they had nothing better to lose than tarantulas, they -needed guardians. To those who have not a speaking acquaintance with his -vitriolic majesty, I will say it is a huge hairy spider that will cover -the bottom of a tea-cup, and when placed in a saucer is able to grasp -the edge all round, so great is the spread of its claws. It is very -vindictive and can leap up to a man’s face when making close -acquaintance. In Texas I have known its bite to kill a person in twelve -hours. I saw one catch a chicken under the wing, and the chicken fell -within one minute.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_41">{41}</a></span></p> - -<p>However, I joined the hunters. We first looked for a hole in the ground, -and as the hole denotes the size of the tarantula, only the larger ones -were sought. When a hole about the circumference of a half dollar was -found, one man guarded that with the stick and basket, while the other -sought the outlet, for they always have two entrances to their homes. -When it was found, the water was poured in, and out he came into the -lasso placed over the other hole—and is caught dangling at the end of -the stick. What is he good for? To sell. The Mexican is the greatest -gambler this side of Monte Carlo. Tomorrow is the fiesta of his patron -saint, and he will celebrate. As every one chooses a saint to his -liking, and churches and towns do likewise—there is scarcely a day in -the calendar that is not somebody’s saint day. Tomorrow he will “knock -off” from work, go to the bull-ring and bet his money on the bull or the -man, and whichever one gets killed, he is so much loser or winner. He -goes to the cock-pit and stakes again, and a bird soon spears another -through with his gaff; but a tarantula fight! Bravo! that is a sport -royal. In the bull-ring, the bull sometimes gets wounded and bellows to -be allowed to go home to his mother. In the cock-pit, a bird gets a gaff -pinned through his upper works and decides to settle the fight by -arbitration; but a tarantula, <i>Caramba!</i> they simply eat each other up. -The only way you can lose money is that the other fellow’s cannibal will -eat yours first.</p> - -<p>The engineer blows his whistle and calls us in, and we trail again -through the white dust to Catorce, a hundred and fifty miles as the -crow<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_42">{42}</a></span> flies, only no crow ever flies over this Sodom and Gomorrah. -Catorce means fourteen, as the mines were discovered by a band of -brigands numbering fourteen. You get off at the station and see nothing -but a station and three or four pack trains of burros that have just -brought in a load of silver. Follow their gridiron trail, and eight -miles further you come to Catorce, a city of from ten to twenty thousand -people, according to the output of silver, and these people have never -heard the rumble of wheels. Ore was first found here in 1790, and for -thirty years the silver output was over three million dollars yearly.</p> - -<p>There are hundreds of these mines here, and the drainage tunnel of the -San Augustin mine runs into the mountain more than a mile and a half and -cost a million and a half dollars. Up, up you climb the rocky sides of -the mountain, but there is no other way to reach Catorce, and when -there, you are in one of the richest spots on earth, where the ore often -assays $15,000 to the ton. The streets run forty-five degrees one way, -and I suppose they ought to run the same coming back, but if you let go -your hold on the street corners, you would fall out of town so fast you -could not measure the angle. The only level place in town of course has -a plaza and a very fine cathedral. I have made a similar statement -several times, which needs no repetition. Whenever you enter a Mexican -town you will always find “A very fine plaza and a very fine cathedral.” -That copyright phrase will fit anywhere, with sometimes a modification -of <i>very</i> and a change of church for cathedral.</p> - -<p>Catorce is the last town in the temperate zone.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_43">{43}</a></span> A few miles beyond, -standing solitary upon the desert like Lot’s wife in the geography, is a -pyramid erected by the railroad company. It marks the exact line of the -Tropic of Cancer. On the north the legend reads:—</p> - -<p class="c"> -<small>TROPICO DE CANCER.</small><br /> -ZONA TEMPLADA.<br /> -</p> - -<p class="nind">on the south,</p> - -<p class="c"> -<small>TROPICO DE CANCER.</small><br /> -ZONA TORRIDA.<br /> -</p> - -<p>Out of respect to your early teaching in geography you ought to perspire -and be exceeding warm in the Torrid Zone, and see all kinds of -gay-plumaged birds and jungles of flowers, but the hammer of the -iconoclast has shattered one of your long cherished dreams.</p> - -<p>The sun was shining upon a landscape over which clouds never hover. You -pull your overcoat around you on this cold July day, and look through -your closed windows for the other canard—the landscape. The landscape -is all there according to the book, and for that you are thankful, but -how changed! As far as the eye can reach and ten times farther are -beautiful rock-colored rocks, and dust-colored dust and thorny thorns -and dust-hidden sky. Where are the flowers? Never were any. And the -birds? Never will be any. Not a blade of grass nor a chirp of insect. -For forty miles around, or as far as the eye can reach is the dry, -parched dust, and the chaparral, sere and yellow.</p> - -<p>After a hundred and fifty miles of desert, how welcome is the oasis! -Bocas is its name, and the last stopping-place before we reach the great -city of San Luis Potosi.</p> - -<p>Las Bocas is a fine hacienda and recalls old<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_44">{44}</a></span> feudal times along the -Rhine. Here is a fine old castle with its walled enclosure, its -beautiful arched bridge and its herds and flocks and gardens and -retinue. By the railroad track is a distillery for making liquid lava -from the aloe or maguey plant, which is sold under the name of mescal -for the purpose of making men drunk. Those who know say it will eat the -lining out of a lead-pipe stomach. I saw a case of delirium tremens -which it is guaranteed to give, and I can only liken it to a caged hyena -after Lent.</p> - -<p>Away in the distance is the snow-white trail of a stone wall, which -winds its tortuous path many leagues away to encircle the hacienda de -Las Bocas, while within its bounds and feeding upon the rocks and thorns -are the thousands of cattle that maintain its opulence. How that kind of -food can work such wonders is beyond my ken. When I was in school I -learned that cattle have four stomachs. I think one would be quite -sufficient for all the food a cow can get from a cactus bush, and a -couple of millstones might be helpful in digesting the rocks. No one -told me that the rocks were positively a part of the bill of fare, but I -pointed to ten miles of rocks enclosed by a wall and asked a man why -they fenced in the rocks, and he said it was a pasture, and he ought to -know, as he is a native and to the manner born.</p> - -<p>Four hundred and seventy-five miles from the Rio Grande, and the only -trees seen were upon the little oases watered by tiny streams. We leave -the plateau and climb the mountain into the city of San Luis de Potosi.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_45">{45}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /><br /> -SAN LUIS POTOSI.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">A</span>ND no more satisfactory city can be visited than San Luis, situated in -the crater of a fertile valley, while its suburbs extend to the rich -silver mines of the mountains which give it name.</p> - -<p>The mines have been worked over three hundred years, but the city is -only two hundred years old. The mines were discovered to the Spaniards -by a pious monk, who named them Potosi, because of the resemblance to -the mines of Peru.</p> - -<p>Three million dollars annually, are mined. A very unusual thing for -Mexico, the railroad station is in the heart of the city. Seventy-five -thousand people make their home here, and the law requires all houses to -be kept freshly painted; and what a restful revelation it is, with -asphalt pavements swept clean each night, and hotels that make a -traveler glad. The only drawback to complete happiness is a lack of -water. Most cities here draw their water from the mountains in -aqueducts, but San Luis has outgrown its supply.</p> - -<p>At the public fountains, a stream of water-<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_46">{46}</a></span>carriers by hundred stand -patiently in line to fill their vessels from the tiny, discouraged -stream trickling from the Dolphin’s mouth, and the police stand guard to -see that all are served in the order of arrival. All day and all night -this pitiful waiting goes on forever. It is like buying tickets for the -Symphony concerts in Boston, where the people come before day and buy -choice places in the long line of earnest waiters. The water is free, -but the successful ones sell to those in the city who do not care to -enter the crush, or to the hotels and wealthy ones who can buy. All -kinds of vessels are used, but the preference is given to the -five-gallon cans that brought kerosene into the city.</p> - -<p>With two of these fastened to a shoulder yoke, the men peddle the water -at three cents a can. With the women, the favorite is the large Egyptian -model earthenware called <i>olla</i>. With this poised gracefully on one -shoulder and elbow, and the opposite hand held across the head to -balance, it completes one of the most picturesque scenes so common here. -Rebecca at the Well has simply stepped out of the old picture book and -assumed her ancient calling. The feature of the profession, however, is -a man with a nondescript wheel-barrow which no man can describe.</p> - -<p>Rainfall is quite plentiful here, but the porous amygdaloid rocks can -not hold it. At present an American citizen is boring an artesian well, -and the interest displayed by the citizens is remarkable. All day long -hundreds of anxious watchers will stand around the drill, evincing the -same interest we used to show at our boarding house when the first -strawberry short-cake<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_47">{47}</a></span> of the season was cut, and the anxious boarders -were watching to see who would get the strawberry.</p> - -<p>The burro train has lost its hold upon San Luis. For three hundred years -all the silver was carried to the sea, two hundred and seventy-five -miles away, by burros, but now, with two railroads, things have changed. -The Mexican National leads to the capital, the Mexican Central to the -bay of Tampico.</p> - -<p>Here are many fine buildings to see; the Governor’s palace, palace of -justice, State capitol, the museum, the library with a hundred thousand -volumes, cathedral, and the churches of Carmen, Merced, San Augustin, -San Francisco, Military College, and the <i>Teatro de la Paz</i>, one of the -finest opera houses in the country.</p> - -<p>As in all the cities, the street ears start from the main Plaza, and -from here you may visit Guadalupe, Tequisquiapan, the baths of La -Soledad, Axcala and Santiago.</p> - -<p>In the rainy season, the street cars bear this legend: “There is water -in the river.” As a matter of course, the cars do a land-office business -as long as the water lasts. The cars lead to the <i>Paseo</i>, a beautiful -shaded avenue two miles long, asphalt pavements, and fountains at either -end, with the usual scramble for water.</p> - -<p>At the extreme end is the church of Guadalupe, with two tall towers, and -a fine clock presented by the king of Spain, in return for the gift of -the largest single piece of silver ore ever taken from a mine—the mine -of San Pedro.</p> - -<p>The city of San Luis Potosi is building a hall that is to be the eighth -wonder of the world. It has cost millions and will cost mil<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_48">{48}</a></span>lions more. -Seven years ago a dozen skilled stonemasons from Pennsylvania were -imported to do the ornamental carving on the front. One Fourth of July a -member of the party got drunk and killed a Mexican. He was tried and -condemned to be shot.</p> - -<p>Then arose the certainty that with him in the grave there would be no -one to do the fancy carving on the City Hall, so it was decided to keep -him at work and shoot him when he had finished. Every day this workman -hangs like a fly against the great white wall and pecks away at -gargoyles and griffins’ heads, while a file of soldiers stand in the -streets looking at him.</p> - -<p>His life ends with his job, and the Mexicans say he is the most -deliberate workman in the world. At the present rate of progress, by the -best obtainable calculations, the front of the City Hall will be -sufficiently scrolled and carved about the middle of 1950. All the -churches contain valuable paintings.</p> - -<p>The most remarkable thing about these cities, there is no noise. There -is no steam, no manufactories, no wagons, no drays, and as the people go -without shoes, there is no noise of any kind. You may sit on the busiest -street here and close your eyes, and feel all the quiet and comfort of a -cemetery. Those who like to sleep late in the morning can better -appreciate this. The days and nights are of equal length, and you could -stop in the most populous hotel in the city and sleep until ten o’clock -in the day. No bell-boy, no breakfast bell; just quiet. The one -exception to noise is the market place; it was made for noise, and is -different from all the others in the country.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_49">{49}</a></span></p> - -<p>In other cities there are several market places which relieve the -congestion, but here there is but one. Before daylight the hubbub begins -and lasts till noon, and the main building is soon crowded, and its -overflow spreads to the four streets which pass it. There are no passing -vehicles, so from curb to curb are hundreds of women sitting flat upon -the ground with their gray <i>rebosas</i> around their heads, and their -scanty wares spread about. They sell everything, and the streets are -redolent with unknown and unsavory odors from the charcoal braziers, -from which the designing maid or matron offers her concoctions to the -unsuspecting wayfarer.</p> - -<p>Of course you try some of these experiments; you do not know what you -are eating, but it never kills. This compels me to say that very, very -few people eat at home, but go to the market for their meals, going from -one stall to the other. Another market feature, green corn is always -offered cooked, and the same is true of sweet potatoes. Some people buy -their supplies and take them home to be cooked, but green corn and -potatoes never. They are both boiled with their jackets on, and if a -vendor has a bushel, he or she boils the whole and stacks it up on the -pavement, and it may be five or six hours later, the purchaser buys an -ear and hulls the grains off and eats his dinner with no salt or -accompaniment whatever.</p> - -<p>The market is never closed for three hundred and sixty five days in the -year. In many stalls are wholesale dealers who supply the retailers. In -unloading the corn or grain to put it in bins, there will be half a -dozen women or children in the dust under the cart, scrambling for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_50">{50}</a></span> -grains as they fall from the sacks. When the cart has gone, they winnow -all the dust through their hands looking for the missing grain.</p> - -<p>These market gatherings are the simon-pure article of the native -element, unadulterated by foreign influence. Here are Indians from the -mountains, peons from the haciendas and peasants from the surrounding -country and the gentry from the city, all hobnobbing together. The usual -dress of these women vendors is startling. The Indians wear a string of -beads around their necks and one or two yards of coarse cloth fastened -wherever it will fit best, and they are dressed up. The peasants wear a -string of beads and a chemise which commences too late above and stops -too soon below, and all are barefoot. The high-caste women all dress in -American or French styles, except that they wear no head gear but their -own black hair, and they wear the most ill fitting high-heel, -needle-pointed shoes that are made. The national color for Spanish and -Mexican women is black. Meet a hundred ladies at a time, and every dress -without exception is jet. I rather think it is vanity. We put salt on -watermelon to enhance its sweetness by comparison, and so with black -hair, black dress and fair skin, the contrast I think was the final end -sought.</p> - -<p>Elite society never appears on the street here till six o’clock, unless -a fiesta or church service calls it out; and before that hour, what -careful preparation is had? The hair is usually braided and let alone. A -quantity of India ink along the eyebrows make a black <i>en rapport</i> with -the hair, and a little belladonna in the eyes will add a sparkle that -will wither up men’s souls<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_51">{51}</a></span> and scatter them prone at her -feet—metaphorically speaking, and when those cheeks have been -kalsomined—I mean whitewashed—that is—painted, if the dear ladies -will spare my life for mentioning it, and when mi-lady has thus -performed her renovation—I mean toilet, and placed her diamonds on her -neck where they will show best, and wrapped as to her shoulders with the -diaphanous mantilla and steps under the electric light, I tell you she -is—is indescribable.</p> - -<p>The dress of the men of the lower class is just a kaleidoscope, that’s -all. Some of the Indians are dressed like their women, in their long -hair and a strip of cloth hung where it hangs the best. The high top -straw sombrero or the Panama hat with a string under the chin is the -prevailing style, although the more costly woolen hat is represented. -White cotton and brown linen constitute the dress goods.</p> - -<p>The usual cut of coat is a short jacket or jumper. Others wear a long -sack coat, and instead of buttoning it they gather the two corners -together and tie them in a knot. This distinctive style has a kind of -freemasonry importance in which I was never initiated. Then his -pantaloons are white, with the bottom widened immensely. The shepherds -have a style all their own. They have a buckskin jacket cut short, and -buckskin pantaloons cut long, with a row of buttons on the outside. Then -he takes his knife and slits the legs inside and out, from the knee -down, then he gathers up the ends and tucks them under his belt, and -depends upon his underwear for effect on dress parade. He always scores. -Some people might say he<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_52">{52}</a></span> looks badly, but with his clan he is in very -correct form and why should you object?</p> - -<p>The porters, or public drays dress in white cotton, with one leg of -their pants rolled up to the knee, leaving the leg bare.</p> - -<p>Around his neck he wears a large badge like a policeman’s, with his -official number, showing that he is licensed to carry packages, from -express money orders to upright pianos. He is the only express wagon -here, and is absolutely reliable. He will shoulder your Saratoga and -trot a mile without resting. I recall the case of one who stumbled with -an American drummer’s trunk on his back, and when the street -commissioners gathered up his remains, they were spread over two square -yards of pavement. P. S. the trunk was not injured.</p> - -<p>Four of these <i>cargadors</i> will carry your piano to any part of the city. -For moving household goods, they have vans made on the plan of a -hospital stretcher, with a man in the shafts at each end, and a rope -passing over his shoulders to the shafts, and they will carry a dray -load each time. Two dozen chairs by actual count is what I have seen one -man carry. The mule has been promoted to the street car, out of respect -to the two-legged express wagon.</p> - -<p>The dress of the cow-boy and rural police is something to admire. A high -sombrero, costing from twelve to fifty dollars, weighted down with -monograms and silver ornament.</p> - -<p>Leather or buckskin suit with silver buttons from boots to neckband. -Silver spurs and silver bridle bits. Saddle whose every piece of -ornament is solid silver, a horse-hair lariat, and if<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_53">{53}</a></span> he is a <i>Rurale</i>, -a rifle, and he sits his horse like a centaur.</p> - -<p>The dude is in a class alone, but he counts one when on dress parade. A -tall, black sombrero with silver ornaments. Scarlet jacket, reaching to -the waist, and sprayed with silver braid in fantastic designs. Buckskin -pantaloons, flaring at the bottom and silver buttons all the way up, and -along-side a series of cross-section slashes, interwoven with a -beautiful ribbon from spur to waistband. Silver spur and bridle bit, a -saddle worth as much as the horse, and a bright nickel-plated revolver -buckled around his waist.</p> - -<p>At the fashionable hour for promenade, he mounts his horse, and slowly -rides over the town and graciously permits the populace to admire him. I -think he ought to be knighted for his liberality. Most people who go to -that much trouble to shine, generally make you buy a dollar theater -ticket for the pleasure of looking at him, strains his constitution and -bylaws showing off, and cannot ride a horse at all.</p> - -<p>But commend me to the Mexican dude. After he has set the town agog, he -turns up a certain avenue, which contains a certain house, projecting -from which is a balcony, in which dwells the only girl in town, and, -after he has passed in all his silent glory, he throws bouquets at -himself for the wonderful impression he has made, and then goes home to -undress. Earth cannot hold him much longer. I fear his own ardor and -faith in himself will finally sublimate him, but our loss is heaven’s -gain. The children; there are no children; they are just vest-pocket -editions of old folks. Usually they are dressed<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_54">{54}</a></span> in their innocence, but -that is a quality of goods that does not last long here. When a boy is -old enough to wear anything else, it is exactly like his father’s, tall -sombrero, pants that strike his heels, and a red sash around his waist. -Suspenders are not worn here. When a girl is no longer innocent, she -dresses in a <i>rebosa</i>. By wrapping it around her head it reaches her -feet. They don’t have much time to be little for they marry at eleven -and twelve. The upper class men, of course dress as Americans, but Paris -sets the fashion in Mexico always. All these things you see at the -market in San Luis Potosi, but you see them in hundreds, while I have -only described them as individuals, and have not half turned the -kaleidoscope yet.</p> - -<p>The streets must be all vacated by eleven o’clock at night, and when the -hour for closing has arrived, nothing is locked up. The thousand and one -vendors have no care for their goods. A piece of canvas is spread over -them and a brickbat placed on to keep the wind from interfering, and -they go home.</p> - -<p>The policeman does the rest—he never sleeps. Crime does not pay in -Mexico. The laws are as swift as a bolt of Jupiter. A person is arrested -this morning, tried and shot before night. They waste no sentiment on -criminals and they are too expensive to feed.</p> - -<p>Another curious custom is, the money received during the day must always -be in sight. A wooden tray on top of a pile of goods holds the receipts -of the entire day and not a piece is hidden. The taxation law is very -rigid, and a certain per cent. of all sales is collected by the city, -and the inspector must be always free to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_55">{55}</a></span> look at your sales and figure -on his per cent.</p> - -<p>As hard as the law is on poor people, you never hear them complain. They -respect the laws even though they do not like them. Just imagine an -American counting up square and even with a tax collector on a day’s -sale! When Bellamy gets his colony in working order and invites me to -come and see the wonder of the twentieth century, that is the sight I -want to see.</p> - -<p>The wearing of pistols here is not a sign of revolution. Probably it is -not loaded, and a Mexican would not shoot you for anything. If his liver -was out of order to the extent of wanting your blood, he would take his -knife and reduce you to sausage meat, but shoot you, never. That is not -his style. A pistol is as much an article of full dress as a pair of -gloves would be in America, or a tin sword is to our military -organizations.</p> - -<p>When Mexico had her monthly revolution, and when bandits used to come in -and take the town, every man had to go armed in order to find himself -after the cyclone; but she has comparative peace now, yet wearing -pistols for a hundred years has made it quite a habit. I went on an -excursion with a party of harmless looking Mexicans, and we tried to sit -down on a bench, and every man and boy of them had to unload his cannon -pocket before he could sit down—and the other fellow too.</p> - -<p>At your work, the law supposes you to be unarmed, but in making a -journey, though it be the length of a street, you are allowed to arm -against bandits. On every first and second-class car, ten out of every -dozen men will carry huge<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_56">{56}</a></span> revolvers, but you might live there for -months and never hear of a person getting shot.</p> - -<p>In this great city, everything is so quiet you are constantly enquiring -if anything has happened, or is happening, or has any likelihood of -happening; you cannot understand the absence of noise and bustle.</p> - -<p>It finally dawns upon you that the native never hurries. He has mastered -the ethics of rest, he never exerts himself. He does so delight to sit -himself down long and often and ponder over the wear and tear of the -foreigner. The state feels as he does about it, so it has placed -comfortable seats everywhere, where the native can rest. Just rest. He -never “Hellos” to an acquaintance across the street; if he wishes to -speak, he motions with his hand. All this saves wear and tear, and by -this means, the nation has saved vast stores of conservated energy to -use in the next world. He has been saving energy for four hundred years -and has never let any of it out.</p> - -<p>There is no “hello” on the street, and no vehicles, and everybody is -barefooted, so there is no noise. They don’t “hello” in the telephone. -They talk some sweet, musical Spanish in it that is a real pleasure to -listen to. Instead of thundering back “Who’s that?” he sweetly says -“<i>Quien habla?</i>”—Who speaks?</p> - -<p>The national watchword is, “Never do to-day what you can possibly put -off till to-morrow.” An excursion agent went to a large hotel and asked -what were the rates per day. “Four dollars,” said the major-domo. “But -my party contains seventy people, what rates do we get for the party?” -“Four dollars and a half<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_57">{57}</a></span> each, more trouble.” The same in buying goods. -The man who buys wholesale quantities has to pay for the extra trouble -he causes the clerks.</p> - -<p>“<i>Poco tiempo</i>,”—wait a little, is the national leveler for all -difficulties and broken contracts. You order a suit of clothes to be -delivered tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes—neither do the clothes, You -get down your dictionary and hunt up all the cuss words you can command, -and hurl them at that tailor, and expect to see him shrivel up before -you. Does he? Not a shrivel! He offers you a cigarette, carefully rolls -one for himself and forces wreaths of smoke through his nostrils, and -turning to you says: “<i>Poco tiempo</i>”—what’s your hurry? <i>Manana</i> will -do, tomorrow, tomorrow, <i>manana</i> comes, and also another <i>poco tiempo</i>.</p> - -<p>You engage a guide and want to go see a place you have come a thousand -miles to see, and want to start this afternoon. “Well, why not <i>manana</i>? -You <i>Americanos</i> do hurry through life so!” He works two days, carving a -wonderful cane he sells for a quarter. His two days <i>tiempo</i> count for -nothing. He lives in yesterday and today, but never in tomorrow. He will -wait for the millennium but will never go to meet it. He will never -hurry from the comforts of today into anxieties of tomorrow. <i>Manana</i>, -the panacea for all ills, the <i>Nirvanah</i>.</p> - -<p>The language of gesture has a new meaning here. When a person wants you -to approach him, he frantically motions you away. When you see your lady -acquaintance across the street, and she motions with her fingers and -thumb for you to come to her, you must read it backwards<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_58">{58}</a></span> because she -does not mean it, she is simply recognizing you.</p> - -<p>When ladies meet and re-enact the great American humbug of miscellaneous -kissing, it is always given and received on the cheek. When two -gentlemen meet, they rush into each others arms and rapidly pat each -other on the back with the right hand, and finally shake hands, and if -they meet each other a dozen times a day, they effusively shake.</p> - -<p>At the railway station, the departing friend embraces, pats, shakes, and -jumps aboard, If the train is delayed, he gets out again and talks until -the conductor cries, “<i>Vamanos!</i>” then he goes through the same -performance again with each of his dozen friends, and when half a dozen -lugubrious groups are similarly engaged, the conductor simply waits -until they have finished.</p> - -<p>Indeed, to such an extent does this leave-taking interfere with business -that signs are placed up asking the people not to delay business by -their long salutations.</p> - -<p>At Guanajuato the following sign is tacked up:—“<i>Se suplica a los -pasajeros eviten las despididas y saludos prolongadosque retarder la -marcha de los carros.</i>”</p> - -<p>In all places the innate politeness and courtesy of the people show a -study for your comfort. In walking, your Mexican friend insists that you -walk on the inside next the wall, while he walks next the street. In -accepting an invitation for a carriage drive, you must enter first and -accept the rear seat; but if a lady invites a gentleman he is not -supposed to accept the rear seat when offered. After the drive your host -will alight first and assist you. In the street car, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_59">{59}</a></span> gentlemen -always offer their places to ladies, and salute all passengers when -entering and leaving the ear. People have said they also shake hands -with the driver, but I do not believe all I hear.</p> - -<p>When you are introduced to a gentleman, he tells you his house and all -his belongings are yours, giving you the street and number, and says: -“Now you know where your house is.” If you admire his horse or his -paintings or his wife, he says: “Take them, they are yours.” To be sure -you are not expected to take him too literally, but it shows that the -French are not the only people who claim politeness as a national trait.</p> - -<p>If you are invited to his house for refreshments, you are to precede -your host on entering, but he will precede to the door when you signify -your readiness to depart.</p> - -<p>The salutation on the street is “<i>adios</i>,” the equivalent of the French -<i>adieu</i>, but “<i>buenos dias</i>,” “<i>buenos tardes</i>,” and “<i>buenos noches</i>” -are also used for good morning, etc., and are always used in the plural. -Why, the deponent sayeth not. One of the adjuncts of an introduction, is -for the native to offer his cigarette case; and to refuse the invitation -to smoke, is to also refuse the introduction, and this little custom -nearly brought trouble upon the writer’s head. His early education had -been sadly neglected, and the manly art of smoking had never been taught -him, so he was forced to practice deception on his kind friends to keep -the peace. The deadly cigarette is rolled in the thin innershuck of the -Indian corn, and holds its shape whether filled or not, so I filled my -pocket with empty cases. When my new-made friend asked that I<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_60">{60}</a></span> smoke -with him the pipe of peace, I replied cordially, “<i>Sí Señor</i>,” and took -the proffered cigarette, and with the same hand felt in my pocket for a -match and exchanged the loaded cigarette for a harmless one, and, -presto! I am in good form and all goes merry as a marriage bell. He -tells me his house, his sisters and all he has are mine for ever, and I -quietly add another item to my million dollar possessions. In one summer -I have acquired more wealth and real estate and beautiful maidens by -actual gift, than Jay G. and Brigham Y. acquired in a lifetime.</p> - -<p>Already I have become a bloated aristocrat, and daily receive and give -away haciendas that cover nine square leagues of land.</p> - -<p>The custom-house officials already have their eye on me, and are even -now figuring on the dividends they will declare when I attempt to leave -the country, but every bitter has its antidote, so I am congratulating -myself on the change of dates. A few years ago I was in this country -when each state collected its customs’ duties from every other state, -and that sometimes meant two or three inspections daily. Now things have -changed and they inspect only on the border, so I shall have fewer -bribes to offer the officials from my newly-acquired millions.</p> - -<p>This people’s generosity runs them into bankruptcy. Once a kind friend -introduced himself to me, said he always did like my country and people, -said he had a beautiful sister named Inez and she was mine. “Take her, -señor, she is yours,” also a whole block of buildings. I thanked him -profusely and began to take stock of my new possessions, when<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_61">{61}</a></span> he said -in excellent English, “Have you a loose quarter about your clothes you -could lend me to buy a supper?” We had reached a part of the street -where there was no light when he made his modest request, and he had his -hand on a very persuasive looking knife. I had my eye on him and my hand -on a good revolver, so in very choice Texas language I told him I had -the drop on him.</p> - -<p>After reflecting that he had nearly impoverished himself by enriching me -with all his possessions, I took pity on him and gave him a pewter -quarter that some of my dear friends had passed on me that very morning. -Instinctively his native politeness came to the front, and with hat in -hand he <i>kotowed</i>, and in the softest of Spanish he thanked me a -thousand and one times, and incidentally let the quarter fall to the -pavement to catch the ring of it. Proving counterfeit money here is a -regular trade which they all learn.</p> - -<p>Hereafter I shall positively refuse all gifts, because I am going to -call upon the president, and when I admire the national palace he will -of course say: “Take it, it is yours,” and it will appear ungrateful in -me to refuse it and mean in me to accept it, because all new presidents -have to start a revolution; and then he might not appreciate my motives, -and sometimes they do not understand American jokes till a week after -their perpetration. This is due to British influence at the embassy.</p> - -<p>In the Capital I went once to a hotel, and before the carriage could -stop, three flunkies fell over themselves grabbing for my baggage, they -were so glad to see me. One got an umbrella, one a camera and one a -valise, and ran up stairs<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_62">{62}</a></span> to my room to welcome me, and this welcome -only cost me twenty-five cents.</p> - -<p>The proprietor wrung my hands and then wrung his own, and then spreading -them out with a magnanimous gesture said: “This hotel is yours señor, -and all my servants; just make yourself at home.” I blushed profusely -and told him I certainly appreciated a four-story stone front on San -Francisco Street, and I would remember him in my prayers.</p> - -<p>After a week of his hospitality, when I offered to treat him to a cigar, -he incidentally mentioned that I owed him sixteen <i>reals</i> for each day -of my pleasant sojourn. I asked him what for. “Your room, señor.” I told -him very forcibly that he told me to make myself at home. “So I did,” -said he. “But I never pay board at home,” said I, but the point was lost -on him. He was wearing a British hat, impervious to jokes. Next summer -he will ask me what I meant.</p> - -<p>This is the second time I have got into trouble by accepting largesse, -and for the first time I understand what the old Trojans meant when they -said: “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”</p> - -<p>Hereafter, I shall positively refuse all gifts, and sell off about -twenty hotels and villas and haciendas which I have accumulated beyond -my needs. That much wealth actually interferes with a man’s rest and the -color of his hair.</p> - -<p>While in this state of mind and also in San Luis Potosi, I will -discourse on the Bill of Fare. I know a Boston friend who would have -said William of Fare, but I never could talk Bostonese, and just plain -bill of fare will do me, when I am traveling. The Texas lingo just says -“Hash.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_63">{63}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /><br /> -THE BILL OF FARE.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">I</span>F Cicero was right in his <i>De Senectute</i> that old age can be enjoyed -only by those who in youth preserve their vigor, then the blessings of -Nirvanah are the rightful inheritance of Mexico, and she will never lose -that inheritance if bustle and hurry will forfeit it.</p> - -<p>The hotels are run to suit the guests. When you arrive, you register, -and when you next enter the corridor, you see upon the large blackboard -your name, room, title, residence, destination, past history and future -prospects and whatever else that will be of interest to the public. Now -all of that is a labor-saving machine, and saves nerve tissue and wear -and tear.</p> - -<p>When the newspaper reporter wants news, he steps into the hotel -corridor, and the proprietor silently points to the blackboard and goes -to sleep again. The reporter reads the bulletin board and goes off and -writes a two-column “interview” upon what Mr. A. thinks of Mexico, and -you are saved all unnecessary prevaricating. The system is also very -helpful to the police in search of lost friends for whom they have -formed<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_64">{64}</a></span> strong attachments, and for the custom house officials who have -word that you passed a certain station and will bear watching. The -bulletin board is a very diverting study in black and white for ordinary -people, who look for the names of chance friends whom they do not -expect, but who might be there. And the porters and curio vendors scan -the list and patiently await your arrival on the street and tell you all -about yourself. It is a regular bunco steer, but he is different from -the genuine article. The g. a. will enveigle you somewhere and beat you -on the sly. The Mexican artist stops in the broad sunlight, right in -front of your hotel and beats you to your teeth.</p> - -<p>He will sell you curios three hundred years old that he made last month, -and has been waiting every day since for a person of just about your -state of greenness and inexperience to sell to. As soon as he fleeces -you, he kindly offers to find other rare bric-a-brac for you that he -does not deal in, and will take you to his pal who is working other -pastures. After you return to your friends and proudly show your -acquisitions, some one who knows, will solemnly diagnose your head for -phrenological knowledge. When he has diagnosed to his satisfaction, he -will painfully tell you that your bump of Jack-assedness is abnormally -developed. He will advise you to learn that little line of Shakespeare, -or some other authentic writer that says: “I was a stranger and ye took -me in.”</p> - -<p>The hotel Bulletin is a great convenience. When you have found your -room, you take an inventory, which will serve you in every other city. -If you are in the city of Mexico, the in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_65">{65}</a></span>ventory includes glass windows -(elsewhere, it will be windows with iron bars) an iron bedstead built -for one—which may or may not be inhabited—an iron washstand with iron -enameled bowl and pitcher, chair, table, half a candle and candlestick. -Kerosene is fifty cents a gallon. The scarcity of wood makes itself felt -everywhere. The table, door and chair are the only things made from that -precious article. Stone floors forever, which may be or may not be -carpeted. The walls are decorated with printed placards giving the price -per day, week, or month, <i>sin o con comida</i>—without or with board.</p> - -<p>The marvel of the establishment is the door-key. A man with such a piece -of iron on his person in the States would be arrested for carrying -concealed weapons. It is so heavy they have made arrangements to relieve -the lodger from carrying it. In the corridor is a keyrack with numbers, -and a man stands all day to receive your key when you go out and to -return it to you when you come back. The servant goes to him for it to -clean up the room, and I have never known a lost or misplaced article -under this system. The lock and key are made by hand at the blacksmith -shop, and I think are sold by the pound. They are usually fastened upon -huge rough doors made in the carpenter shop, and put together with -three-inch wrought iron nails, with an inch or more of the point -clinched on the opposite side from which they are driven. Of course -there are neither fireplaces nor stoves in any hotel, but one, in the -whole country.</p> - -<p>The hotels are arranged in quadrangles, with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_66">{66}</a></span> the four sides facing an -open court, redolent with flowery fragrance and fruits and bird music. -Usually a fountain plays in the center, and in fair weather the table is -spread here. Every story has an open veranda which looks upon this -court. In the City of Mexico, the thermometer hesitates between 65 and -75°F, so when the rainy season is not on, meals can be had in the -<i>patio</i> the year around. In the morning you rise at six or ten or any -other hour that suits your fancy. No bells rung, no doors shaken, no -noise made—you are simply let alone, and when you come, no frowns for -your delay.</p> - -<p>You ask when is the breakfast hour. “When the señor wishes.” If you go -to the table at six the servant brings hot coffee and rolls, as though -the whole establishment was wound up to start at that minute. Should you -sit down at half past nine, the Señora would declare by all the saints -as witnesses that you are just in time and she was looking for you at -that moment. You feel that you might be discommoding the establishment, -so you ask for the dinner hour. The answer will be graciously given, -“From twelve to three-thirty we shall be honored to serve you, and if -not at those hours, when the Señor wishes.” Finally you learn that there -is no dinner hour, the bell is never rung, the table is never set, but -whenever you choose to eat, the servants are to serve you. An ordinary -dinner lasts two hours and these meals are what the people live for. The -following, for one day may be termed an average:<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_67">{67}</a></span></p> - -<table class="csml"> -<tr><td> </td><td>BILL OF LADING.</td></tr> - -<tr><td> </td><td>——</td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td>BREAKFAST.</td></tr> - -<tr><td> </td><td>Coffee, Bread, Cookies.</td></tr> - -<tr><td> </td><td>——</td></tr> - -<tr><td> </td><td>DINNER.</td></tr> - -<tr><td>1</td><td> Soup.</td></tr> -<tr><td>2</td><td> Rice, Radishes.</td></tr> -<tr><td>3</td><td> Eggs.</td></tr> -<tr><td>4</td><td>      Beef, Corn, Snap-beans, Cabbage, Parsnips, Gambane.</td></tr> -<tr><td>5</td><td> Steak, Potatoes.</td></tr> -<tr><td>6</td><td> Sausage, Chili.</td></tr> -<tr><td>7</td><td> Brains.</td></tr> -<tr><td>8</td><td> Frijoles. (black beans).</td></tr> -<tr><td>9</td><td> Coffee, Fruits, Wine, Cigars.</td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td class="ltspc">* * * * * * *</td></tr> - -<tr><td> </td><td>——</td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td>SUPPER.</td></tr> - -<tr><td>1</td><td> Soup, Vermicelli.</td></tr> -<tr><td>2</td><td> Mutton, Potatoes, Chili.</td></tr> -<tr><td>3</td><td> Mutton Chops, Potatoes, Calabashes.</td></tr> -<tr><td>4</td><td> Chicken with Salad, Stewed Bananas, Frogs.</td></tr> -<tr><td>5</td><td> Frijoles.</td></tr> -<tr><td>6</td><td> Preserves, Fruits, Wines, Cigars.</td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td class="ltspc">* * * * * * *</td></tr> -</table> - -<p>The stars stand for certain dishes that only Mexicans call for and their -name and flavor would never be known to a foreigner. The coffee is grown -in the state of Vera Cruz and is excellent, and is made strong and -thick. The usual method of serving is to half-fill your cup, and add an -equal quantity of milk. It is sweetened with little cubes of white -sugar, or the native brown article, called pilonces.</p> - -<p>The bread used for breakfast is a species of cooky that represents the -baker’s highest art. Nothing approaching it have I found elsewhere. -<i>Prosquitos de la manteca</i> it is called, and is made into rings, loops -and bows. It is brittle, crisp and sweetened, but not so much as a -doughnut. Another kind is prepared in spherical segments and crescents, -and is built of numbers of exceedingly thin layers of dough with fruit -between,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_68">{68}</a></span> and so frail, that when once broken it falls to pieces in -crisp fragments like Prince Rupert’s Drops, the glass phenomena the -teacher in Physics used to astound us with. How they can give it the -tension to fly to pieces was one of the things that a layman in the -cooking art does not imbibe freely. This fabric is very appropriately -called pastel. The distinctive feature of the meal is, they give you -only one thing at a time in the order I have numbered them, and they -come in serials as unchanging as the seasons.</p> - -<p>After a few meals you become quite expert in guessing what will come -next.</p> - -<p>If there are ten plates stacked by you, you know there will be ten -courses of one dish each. You have already learned that soup, rice and -eggs are the first three, and the next to the last is always beans with -coffee closing, so you have only five to guess. <i>Mirabile dictu</i>, the -national dish and universal dessert is beans, just ordinary beans, but -the people don’t know enough to say ‘beans,’ they spell it <i>frijoles</i> -and pronounce it free-hole-ahs. You will notice that they spell better -than they pronounce. As a labor of pure love and charity to my fellow -countrymen of Boston, I say to them, beware! Your prestige is in danger. -As a race of bean-eaters, the Mexicans have about three hundred years -the start of you and they have about nine different varieties to -practice on, and a different aroma of garlic to fit each one. Besides -all that they eat beans. There are thirty-five tribes of Indians in -Mexico, speaking one hundred and fifty languages and dialects, but they -are all united on <i>frijoles</i>, and they have entered the contest to beat -Boston or eat up all the beans.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_69">{69}</a></span></p> - -<p>The national dish is a trinity, composed of <i>frijoles</i>, <i>tortillas</i> and -<i>chili</i>. The tortilla is of common stock but aristocratic in -association. You sit at the table as a foreigner, and baker’s bread will -be set before you, and the Mexican at your left will be the governor of -the state and the waiter brings him a stack of <i>tortillas</i>.</p> - -<p>The <i>tortillas</i> reduced to United States’ talk is just corn batter -cakes. The architectural plan of their building is simple. The corn is -put in lime water over night to soak and soften, and the next morning is -put on a hot stone, and the women take another stone and pound it into -meal; then they take water and make it up into cakes and half cook on a -stone and stack them. No salt or grease or any thing but water is put -with it. They look like circles of brown sole-leather and, when about -three days old are about as tough and tasteless. This is the bread of -Mexico, the staff of life. The approved method of eating it, is to -spread it out, put on a spoonful of <i>frijoles</i> and roll it into a -cylinder, then eat it as though it were a banana.</p> - -<p><i>Chili</i> is the third member of the trinity and is everything else but -chilly—it is hot. It includes every kind of green, red and yellow -pepper, and is cooked with nearly every article of food, and is cooked -by itself and is eaten raw, but is hot always. The natives eat so much -<i>chili</i> that it acts as an antiseptic, and I was told by a man who ought -to know that in the Mexican war soldiers left on the field lay dead for -weeks and could not decay but dried up. That is true now, but it is not -<i>chili</i> but altitude that prevents dissolution. Fresh meat cannot spoil -nor can vegetables rot. I can stand <i>chili</i><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_70">{70}</a></span> in broken doses, but when -they gave me a big green pepper as large as an apple and stuffed with -stuffing and dressed with dressing and swimming in an innocent looking -sauce and disguised with a name I never heard of before, do you blame me -if I thought I had struck a new tropical fruit and cut a respectable -quarter of it off and made its acquaintance? Did I raise a howl? Ask of -the winds that far around with fragments strewed the sea.</p> - -<p>If ever I catch that girl outside of the state of Vera Cruz I shall -teach her a lesson. Her name was Guadalupe, but she lacks much of being -a model follower of the good saint by that name. She gave me green -gourds stewed with water cress or some other green thing I never heard -of and called it <i>calabash</i>, and I knew no better. Then she gave me -cabbage boiled with bananas and bread fruit, and said that was all the -style in Vera Cruz, and finally she invented this other villainy. She -thinks I am not accustomed to fine living, but I hope yet to have my -revenge. If she crosses the river into Texas, I mean to get her into a -railroad eating-house there and compel her to eat some of those -terracotta images they sell for ham sandwiches, and when lock-jaw sets -in, she will have to keep her mouth shut as long as I had to keep mine -open with that loaded green pepper.</p> - -<p>When these people get hold of any meat, they roll it up in the tortilla -and call it enchilada. They cook light bread after the pattern of a -naval torpedo. The loaf is about the size of a Mason’s fruit jar, -pointed at both ends like a torpedo, and baked to a crust half an inch -thick. Such a loaf would do you bodily injury<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_71">{71}</a></span> in the hands of your -enemy. I saw so many curious things brought from the invisible -work-shop. I found my way back there and told the cook I was in pursuit -of knowledge and wanted to see, and <i>veni vidi</i>—I learned. No stove, -not an iron or tin or metal vessel of any kind was visible in the land -without chimneys.</p> - -<p>A wall of earth and masonry is built up, waist high, like a blacksmith’s -forge. All around this are port-holes in which the charcoal fire is -made, and all over the top of the forge are holes for the cooking -vessels, which are made of unglazed earthenware, and this is all. The -charcoal makes no smoke, so there is no need of chimneys. Necessity is -the mother and grandmother of invention, and these people have jogged -along five hundred years without iron vessels, and they cook about as -well as some folks I know.</p> - -<p>The servants are models of their kind. With their sandaled feet they -glide about without noise and do their work without murmur. You leave -your soiled linen in their charge and find it on your bed as white as -snow. They receive your gratuity with a thousand thanks and profound -obeisance, stumble over their own feet to do you some unnecessary -service, and as soon as off duty they offer to guide you about the city. -They are rarely off duty until they have put in sixteen hours of hard -work, then the blanket and stone floor make the only parenthesis between -his day’s grind and tomorrow. The serving class is more servile than can -be found anywhere. They take more abuse and less wages. Five dollars a -month, Mexican money, is high water mark for female servants, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_72">{72}</a></span> that -reduced to American money means forty dollars a year. When spoken to by -a superior, they must always answer in a deprecating manner as: “Ever at -your service;” “Yours to obey;” “At your command,” etc.</p> - -<p>All pretentious houses and hotels are built in quadrangles, with a -carriage driveway entering a huge gate to the open court. At night this -is closed by a pair of tall gates or doors twelve or fifteen feet high, -like those in front of our fire companies, and a servant must lie there -all night to answer a summons or to admit a belated lodger. Without -changing the clothes he has worn all day, he lies on the soft side of a -stone pavement night after night with his zerape or a piece of straw -matting under him, and a stone for a pillow. In the interior, women -servants often lie on the floor in hallways, in order to be handy should -a guest need light or water during the night, or to admit lodgers to -upper floors after closing time, and they also sleep in the clothes they -wear during the day.</p> - -<p>Travelers on the ocean either lose or gain a day in crossing the line, -depending upon which direction they are going, and in Mexico you either -lose a meal or gain a surplus name for one you did not get.</p> - -<p>The morning lunch of bread and coffee is called <i>deseyuno</i>. The -breakfast proper, from twelve to three, is <i>almuerzo</i>. From four to -eight is the principal meal called <i>comida</i>, dinner, or <i>cena</i>, supper, -whichever you choose to call it. I tried faithfully to keep up with them -all, but I always felt that I had lost something in keeping tally on -four meals and only remembered eating three. I believe there is a trick -in it.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_73">{73}</a></span></p> - -<p>Salt meats are never seen except in American restaurants, and they sell -at fifty cents a pound. Pork is always dressed by skinning the animal -and not by scraping. No person needs to go to market. Everything is -brought to your door by peddlers. The table is usually set in the court -among the flowers, and it is a very common occurrence for peddlers to go -to the head of the table with a basket of fruit and dicker bargains with -the hostess during the meal. This method makes the meat supply very -precarious except on Monday. After the bull-fights Sunday afternoon, all -the slaughtered bulls are sold to the market.</p> - -<p>On Monday when the proprietor asks me how I liked my steak, I always -feel like giving him some American slang and saying, “It was bully.” The -fruits are the very best, and as the season is perpetual, you can secure -them fresh every day, such as strawberries, bananas, pine apples, -mangos, figs, limes and agua cates or bread fruit. The lime is larger -than the orange, but not so sweet and is used in the place of lemons. It -is at the market place where you see the fruits in all their profusion, -and are tempted to eat your dinner under the unusual surroundings.</p> - -<p>Here you eat by faith, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence -of things not seen. I hope no one will accuse me of irreverence for -using these words, but they just suit me in this particular.</p> - -<p>A suitable motto for the general market eating houses ought to be tacked -over the entrance, and, with suitable apologies to Mr. Dante’s Inferno, -that motto ought to read: “Who enters here leaves Soap behind.” The -cooking<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_74">{74}</a></span> is done while you wait, and chief among the things you eat by -faith is the hot tamale—twice hot, once by pepper and once by steam. -The vendor has a large tinned bucket enclosed by a blanket to hold the -steam, and the whole contained in a willow basket. If your faith is -sufficient, you call for a dozen tamales and the vendor fishes from its -steaming, greasy depths, an article wrapped in sections of corn shucks. -On dissecting the article you find about equal parts of corn meal, chili -and bits of meat. And the meat! Aye, there’s the rub! If we only knew. -There are tamales and tamales. All kinds and conditions of meat are said -to find a last resting place in the tamale. Carlyle calls the process -<i>Sartor Resartus</i>, or the tailor made over; the great American faith -article of the same vintage is plain “hash.”</p> - -<p>Beef, pork, chicken, frogs and <i>armadillos</i> are all known to the trade, -and dark hints or <i>innuendoes</i> to that effect, say that the fat prairie -dogs and the Chilhuahua pups make prime tamales. The prairie dog is -always fat. The Chilhuahua pup is only a vest-pocket edition of dog that -weighs about two pounds, and the other genus or species of Mexican dog -that I know has a blue skin and no hair except on the end of his tail. -The ordinary tamale is anonymous, and it is well, for, like the boarding -house hash, it is better <i>in cog</i>.</p> - -<p>The tunas from the prickly pear and the algæ from the canals and -irrigating ditches also enter into the bill of fare. With conscious -pride in my ability to grapple with the unknown, I made a foolish boast -that there was nothing in the Mexican market that my stomach had bolted -at,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_75">{75}</a></span> although my taste and my stomach had some pretty lively debates -concerning the editorial fitness and filthiness of certain things.</p> - -<p>But in an evil hour I boasted. I believe the good book says pride goeth -before a fall. I was proud. I had bearded the Mexican lion in his den -and had eaten through the lines. I had met the enemy and “they were -our’n,” and I boasted of my cast-iron stomach.</p> - -<p>My friend said: “Have you eaten any <i>Gusanas de la Maguey</i>? No? Well, -come with me.” Now gentle reader, “If you have tears prepare to shed -them now.” You have seen a tomato-worm. Well! the word <i>gusana</i> means -worm, and this particular <i>gusana</i> is built on the order of a tomato -worm, but he lives in better pasture on the maguey plant, and grows a -little larger and a little fatter than your middle finger, or say the -size of a cannon fire-cracker.</p> - -<p>As we approached the market my knees got weak. I had had my pride, and -was now going for my f—<i>gusanas</i>.</p> - -<p>I felt that a volcanic eruption was about to take place in my immediate -neighborhood, and remarked that nature was very kind to these people. My -friend neither stopped nor made a shadow of turning, but marched -straight to a sorcerer he knew and said, “Señora, my friend is anxious -for some <i>gusanas de la maguey</i> at my expense.”</p> - -<p>She slowly fished up a dozen stewed, and I fainted! -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(<i>Curtain.</i>)</span><br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_76">{76}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /><br /> -IN THE VALLEY OF THE LAJA.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">B</span>EYOND San Luis we come to Villa Reyes with the immense Hacienda of -Jaral, which at one time controlled 20,000 peon laborers, and during the -Revolution of 1810, furnished a full regiment of cavalry to the Viceroy -to fight the patriots. Beyond is the town of Dolores Hidalgo, “The -Sorrowful Hidalgo,” where was born Hidalgo, the George Washington of -Mexican Independence. Sept. 15, 1810, he set the watchfires burning -which dimmed not till Spanish misrule was ended in 1820. Still nearby, -is the city of San Miguel De Allende, also named for Allende, another -patriot priest who, like Hidalgo, suffered martyrdom for Mexican -liberty.</p> - -<p>Here are the famous baths, with the water gushing from the mountain -side, through the baths to the evergreen gardens and fruits and flowers -in the valley. This city is situated on the enchanted Cerro de -Moctezuma, and overlooks the beautiful valley of the Laja (Lah-hah.) The -Hotel Allende was once the palatial home of a wealthy and pious man, -Señor Don Manuel Tomas de la Canal and his wife who donated the chapel -of the Casa de Loreto. Here is a beautiful Gothic church, the only one -in Mexico,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_77">{77}</a></span> and was the work of a native architect who drew his plans -with a stick in the sand, and this was the only guide his workmen had. A -dozen miles from San Miguel is the town of Atontonilto, famous as the -place where Allende and Hidalgo started with the Banner of the Virgin of -Guadalupe, and marched with it to San Miguel and opened the Revolution. -Here we leave the plain and enter the Vale of Laja, 250 miles north of -the city of Mexico. Before us is a frowning gateway of solid rock, but -following the shimmering little river, the beautiful valley breaks upon -the view like a panorama. Everywhere is the pepper tree, loaded to the -tips with the beautiful berries that look so much like our cherries. -Dame Nature here is at her best. Bananas, oranges, lemons and -pomegranates everywhere shade the peaceful homes whose acres in the rear -are covered with maize and pepper and fruits and flowers.</p> - -<p>The people of Mexico do not live in the country, but in cities, towns -and hamlets, and prefer to thus live and travel long distances to their -work. In the Vale of Laja, it is one continual series of hamlets, where -the canon has widened into a beautiful valley whose season is perpetual -summer. Whatever grows elsewhere, grows here. Up the rocky slopes where -cultivation is impossible, the rich lava soil still supports countless -thousands of maguey and cactus plants that produce food and fuel, drink -and clothing. The bushels of succulent <i>tunas</i> that a single cactus -bears, will feed a family for weeks, and the only labor required is the -picking. A stalk of <i>maguey</i> will furnish in its undeveloped bud an -excellent substitute for cabbage. The unfer<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_78">{78}</a></span>mented sap is the <i>agua -miel</i>, or honey water of commerce. When fermented, a single stalk will -furnish for months a gallon a day of pulque.</p> - -<p>Its broad leaves, which are eight feet long, furnish a thatch for the -house, and when dried, an excellent fuel. It is here the natives laze -their time away from sheer ennui. It is in this valley the railroad -contractors never go to hunt laborers. A Mexican works when he is -hungry, and why should he be hungry in this valley where his rations may -be had for the picking? And what would he do with money? The saloon has -no charms where every man is his own distiller, and the law gives no -occasion for “moonshine” and “blind tiger.” So it is the poor plains’ -people who grade the road and drive the spikes, and even here the -railroad people experience difficulties. The native has an inseparable -attachment for his humble home, and will not under any circumstance -follow a construction gang far. When the construction train has passed -his home two or three miles, he finds it too far to return home at -night, and the next day he bolts for home, and the company has to hire -new laborers in the neighborhood; but when the work gets too far to walk -home, they throw up their jobs also. If a few are influenced to remain, -the whole family joins the procession, and move their temporary -residence each day. The same is true of the army. When on the march it -rarely has to supply a commissary, as each soldier’s wife follows the -march and cooks for him. In the midst of each hamlet in this valley is -to be seen the ever-present bell tower, and, clustered among the orange -trees, the little chapel. The native may have no other resting<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_79">{79}</a></span> place -but mother earth, but his last penny will go to build his church.</p> - -<p>While drinking in the beauties of the valley, we suddenly turn into the -equally beautiful city of Celaya, in the state of Guanajuata.</p> - -<p>In 1570, sixteen married men and seventeen bachelors founded the town, -and it increased so in population, that in 1655, by a decree of Philip -IV, of Spain, it was made a city, but it was three years afterwards that -the inhabitants found it out. For beauty and importance of location, -Celaya has no peer. Here is a junction of the two most important -railroads, the Central and National, which offer transportation in every -direction for the product of its woolen mills and the extensive -haciendas throughout the valley.</p> - -<p>This is a great market for opals. As a precious stone, the opal ranks -high, but on account of its reputed bad luck, there are people who would -not wear one as a gift. Those of Hungary and Australia are harder than -these, but the fiery, prismatic glint of the opals of Celaya surpasses -any in the old country. I have heard of a fourteen carat opal in Hungary -that could not be bought for five thousand dollars. In Celaya they are -of all grades and all prices, but the most remarkable thing about them -is, in Celaya everybody offers them for sale. It does not matter when -the train arrives, in the grey of morning or the dead of night, the -ragged vendors are always on hand. As the train pulls into the station, -a hundred hands will be thrust through the fence pickets, and in each -hand, on a piece of black cloth, lie the beautiful gems, sparkling in -the artificial light.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_80">{80}</a></span></p> - -<p>“All <i>Americanos</i> are rich,” is a saying of these people, as honestly -believed as the catechism, and all prices are made on that basis. If -your early education has been neglected in the line of precious stones, -you will do well to let these pirates pass, for they are Shylocks all, -these black-eyed natives.</p> - -<p>One will look you in the eye, cross himself and swear by all the saints -that fifty dollars or nothing will move his opal.</p> - -<p>If you know your business and the price of opals, you have the money in -your hand, and as the train starts, hold the silver temptingly before -his eyes, and rare is the case when this will not “fetch” him.</p> - -<p>An opal may be precious, but to a hungry man, silver is more precious. -And that little trick is good for other trades as well as opals.</p> - -<p>Anxiety or interest on your part is as fatal as greenness in trading -with these sharpers. Utter contempt and unconcern on your part, throws -the burden of concern upon him, and he soon begins to make concessions -by asking how much will you give. However much you may want a thing, you -must impress him that it is purely a matter of sympathy for his poverty -that you buy. You may slyly hear him set the price to one of his -countrymen, and when you come up and ask the price, without turning a -hair, he will multiply it by two.</p> - -<p>The city of Celaya has much of interest in the church line; which is the -base of all greatness in this priest-ridden land. These are said to be -the prettiest churches in Mexico. The one of Our Lady of Carmen contains -the chapel of the Last Judgment and the most beautiful<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_81">{81}</a></span> paintings and -frescoes. San Francisco, San Augustin, Tercer Orden are all hung with -paintings of the Michael Angelo of Mexico, Eduardo Tresguerres, painter, -architect and sculptor, a native of Celaya.</p> - -<p>The public buildings are worth seeing and the baths are delightful. I -have never heard this town spoken of in connection with beautiful women, -but the most beautiful madonna face I have seen outside a picture frame, -I saw here at the railroad station, and the artist who would paint a -picture of beauty should seek this Celayan Helen, and yet from her -apparel, she was of humble family, but so was Cinderella.</p> - -<p>This city is especially noted for its dulcies, or sweetmeats, and here -are made the best in Mexico. To be in good form of course you must eat -some Celayan dulcies; and having satisfied your conscience, we pass into -the Vale of Solis.</p> - -<p>No serpent ever made a more tortuous track than did our train, trying to -leave that valley through the canon cut by the fretful little river in -ages past. Up the perpendicular cliffs which would shame Niagara, we -find a trail blasted from the granite sides just wide enough to admit -the track. Under a beetling cliff we pass El Salto de Medina, or -Medina’s Leap. So goes the story: Juan Medina was a famous bandit when -those gentlemen of the road carried the riches and cares of the country -upon their shoulders, and most generously relieved the good people of -all trouble in looking after their wealth. Spanish history does not -mention that they ever received a vote of thanks for the self<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_82">{82}</a></span> imposed -duties, but such is the nature of this sordid world. But one day a -committee did call upon the bandit on some very pressing business when -he was not receiving guests. Perhaps the committee had forgotten his -“day at home.” The intrusion so disturbed the bandit that he started -away on the pony express, and the committee actually began shooting at -him, and, seeing no other escape from his friends, he spurred his horse -over the chasm and was dashed to atoms. I did not see the atoms, but I -saw the cliff three or four hundred feet high, and if you believe the -first part of the story, the atomic theory was easy.</p> - -<p>Not a shrub is visible to mar the vision of this huge pile of granite -reaching a thousand feet in the air. Creeping along its side we enter -the Lopilote Canon, almost as dark as a tunnel. There must be something -in a name. Lopilote means buzzard, and I suppose it is called Lopilote -canon because the buzzards have no where else to roost but on the edge -of the canon, as there is not a bush visible. It reminds me of the man -who had a horse that was named Napoleon, all on account of the bony -part. On the rear platform is the place to stand. This is a narrow-gauge -road, and only has room for the cars with no margin for landscape. -Standing on the steps you can easily touch the rock wall on one side -with your hand, while on the other you may hear the splash of the -imprisoned waters over a sheer fall of many hundreds of feet, but -nothing can be seen. The engineer can see only one coach behind his -engine as he makes his famous curve of 35 degrees, the shortest on any -road in America. Up and straight<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_83">{83}</a></span> ahead, where the eye can see only -granite walls with peaks bathed in clouds, and no visible means of -passage, but at last light breaks through the top, and the devil’s hole -is passed.</p> - -<p>What a sigh of relief it is to be over with the nervous strain. What if -a wheel had slipped or an axle broken, or a stray rock had fallen upon -that ten foot trail? There was hardly a chance in a million for a life -to have been saved. It recalled the dilemma of a negro who was asked his -preference of travel, by rail or steamboat. He unhesitatingly chose the -railroad with this argument: “Ef the train runs off the track, dar yo -is. Ef the steamboat sinks, whar is you?” He had never traveled the -Lopilote Canon when he made the remark, or he would have chosen to walk.</p> - -<p>Once out of the Sierra Madre Mountains, we are again in the beautiful -Vale of Lerma. The river Lerma is the longest in Mexico, seven hundred -miles, and changes its name to Rio Grande de Santiago before it empties -into the Pacific. We cross the river at the beautiful city of Acambaro, -in the state of Guanajuata, where a branch road leads to Morelos and -Patzcuaro, the beautiful lake region. Here is a quaint old arched -bridge, built in 1513. Here were headquarters for the Army of -Independence, under Hidalgo in 1810, and Gen. Scott’s army crossed this -bridge on the march to the city of Mexico. This is called the most -self-satisfying city in Mexico, and lies hidden among the trees a half -mile from the station. The lover of the quaint and curious should by all -means see this old town of ten thousand inhabitants, whose only -diversion is to go down and see the train come<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_84">{84}</a></span> in. Its quietness is -oppressive, and the town seems to be under a spell like the enchanted -city in the Arabian Nights.</p> - -<p>The fine music by the female orchestra is one of the attractions. In the -foreground is the river Lerma, in the background the trees ever green -and the mountains ever blue, and peeping up here and there the towers of -old churches, which altogether make an enchanted scene worth your -journey to see.</p> - -<p>It was many centuries ago that the Tarascan and Otomite Indians built -this town, and in 1526 Don Nicholas Montanes marched his Spanish troops -through the quiet town and laid the foundation of the Catholic church we -see in all its glory today. The hand of the vandal has not yet laid hold -of Acambaro with its modern innovations and church repairs according to -<i>fin du siecle</i> notions of architecture, so the town really looks the -age it claims, and the descendants of these same Indians live in the -identical houses their ancestors built.</p> - -<p>In the Calle de Amargura are fourteen little chapels commemorating the -stations of the cross, ending in the Soledad on the hill. The church of -San Francisco and the deserted convent have their especial charms. -Acambaro is in the state of Guanajuata (<i>wan-a-water</i>), but in the See -of Michoacan. While sitting in the beautiful plaza whose immense trees -reach to the caves of the old convent towers, you see a carriage -approaching drawn by two white mules. As it draws near the crowd, a -tall, fine-looking man in long black robe appears and holds his hands -above his head. Instanter, every person in sight of that carriage falls -to his knees or upon<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_85">{85}</a></span> his face, and remains until the hands of the -mysterious stranger are lowered. It is the Bishop of Michoacan on the -way to his palace in Morelia, and he stopped to bless the people. Slowly -and reverently the worshipers rise from their groveling in the dust, -with a radiance upon their dusky faces as though the Son of God had just -passed by. This is the class of people that keep Mexico living back in -the seventeenth century.</p> - -<p>Still down the Lerma from Acambaro is the Hacienda de Robles extending -thirty-three <i>kilometers</i> on each side of the river, and which furnishes -hundreds of peons, and still further is the city of Irapuata, the -perpetual home of the strawberry. For three hundred and sixty-five days -in the year no train has ever passed Irapuata without strawberries being -offered for sale, for in this rich valley it is perpetual seedtime and -harvest. The whole year is springtime, and the energies of all the -people are devoted to strawberries. It was Sydney Smith who said: -“Doubtless God Almighty could have made a better berry than the -strawberry, but God Almighty has never done so.” The <i>fresas</i> are all -offered in a basket holding from one pint to three quarts, and are -arranged with great care, so that the large ones shall all be on top. If -you know your business you do not buy till the train is pulling out, and -then a silver dime gets <i>fresas</i>, basket and all. When you consider that -a Mexican dime is worth five and a half cents in Uncle Sam’s money, you -can figure out the cost at leisure. The basket would sell at fifteen -cents in the States, and the bottom does not punch up to the middle -either. When I<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_86">{86}</a></span> look at my pile of empty baskets, I wonder if I cheated -the little pirates, but I get my balm in knowing that hundreds of people -pay them the thirty or forty cents they first ask for them, which will -enable them to strike a balance sheet. I know strawberries are -perishable, and a twenty-five cent basket today will not be worth a dime -by the next train time, which is next day, so I offer him the price a -day in advance, which he would have to take tomorrow. He knows that I am -“onto his curves,” as the baseball boys say, so we get along finely and -always trade as the train begins to move and he realizes that it is now -or never.</p> - -<p>From the river and from wells dug in the valley irrigation makes this -unusual fertility possible, and the old-time well-sweep is everywhere, -with its long see-saw pole with a weight at one end and a bucket tied to -the other. A ride of a mile on the horse-car is worth while. You will -see what you see in almost every Mexican town, not a shade tree on the -streets, and the brown, flat-roofed adobe houses without windows are -anything but inviting. Of course there are fine churches, what town has -not its Carmen and Merced and San Francisco? And of course its plaza and -band-stand, and Sundays and every alternate evening in the week the -government furnishes its citizens with music.</p> - -<p>Irapuato is an important junction for trains going to the Pacific Coast, -and is in the midst of a fertile valley that needs no Nile to enrich it, -no augurs to propitiate the God of the harvest, no winter, no summer, -this is Utopia.</p> - -<p>Leaving Irapuato and Acambaro behind, we still follow the Lerma towards -its source. We<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_87">{87}</a></span> pass thousands and thousands of peons with their oxen -plowing with a sharp stick, or treading out the grain on the harvest -floor just as they did in Egypt three thousand years ago. Fat cattle and -water-fowl and farms and landscape and shifting panorama give us an -uncanny feeling that the thing is not real, that such a beautiful -country is seen only in pictures, that some hallucination has taken hold -upon us, so swiftly and charmingly do they change in their beauty. Were -all of Mexico like the Vale of Lerma, it would be the fairest spot on -earth. And then comes the sickening thought that the whole seven hundred -miles of this paradise is in the possession of two or three dozen land -owners that nothing on earth could prevail upon to sell to the small -farmer. These land owners live either in Paris or Madrid, and support -palaces in the old world from blood money of these debtridden Mexicans. -More than that, they have had laws enacted to restrain their descendants -from parting with the land, the rightful inheritance of the Indians who -till it on sufferance, and are thus made aliens in the land of their -birth.</p> - -<p>In the distance is the fountain head of Rio Lerma, and now we see the -snow cap of the Volcan de Toluca, and at its base the beautiful city of -Toluca, the capital of the state of Mexico. Here within three hours of -the city of Mexico, are two of the grandest natural wonders on earth, -the precipice of Ocoyocac and El Volcan de Toluca. This city of twenty -thousand inhabitants was built in 1533, and is upon the dividing line of -the tropical country of <i>tierra caliente</i> and the mountainous <i>tierra -templada</i>, so absolutely everything you have ever seen grow<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_88">{88}</a></span>ing, will -grow here. Its altitude is sufficient for wheat which grows in British -America, and the warm winds from the Pacific make an eternal tropical -summer for everything else. The buildings in the city are superior to -most you have seen. The market-house with its pillars painted in -Pompeiian colors is the finest in Mexico, and was once an exposition -building. At the station vendors will offer you fruits and basket at -such a price you wonder if they were stolen. Here too is a great market -for baskets and bird cages, and the baskets are so closely woven they -will hold water.</p> - -<p>Here is the <i>Instituto Liberario</i>, the Harvard College of Mexico. Here -grows the coral tree, whose graceful stem is six or seven feet high with -pendant palm-shaped foliage, and crowned with vegetable coral of the -deepest red, an exact counterpart of the Mediterranean article. Horse -cars lead to the city along <i>Calle Independencia</i>, where stands a statue -to <i>Hidalgo et Libertador</i>, and here the wealth of the Republic is -displayed in its public buildings. Around the plaza is that universal -arrangement of huge arches called <i>portales</i> or arcades, which enclose -the sidewalk and support the second story. The average height is twelve -or fifteen feet, and besides being a sidewalk, it is also used for -vendors’ booths. Here are sold lace work and drawn work and feather work -and carved work and onyx and souvenirs of all kinds.</p> - -<p>Here is shown the fine residence of a rich haciendado who was once a -great patron of the bull-ring and furnished many a <i>toro bravo</i> for the -ring, and when the noble animals entered the arena with his colors -dangling from their<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_89">{89}</a></span> necks, the very walls shook with the loud huzzas. -Once upon a time a famous bull fought his way back to life. The lances -of the picadores broke and he killed all the horses. The banderilleros -could not place the darts so he could not shake them from his shaggy -neck, and the matadores lost their reputation and were hissed from the -ring, because they could not place the sword. Here the old haciendado -begged the president to not permit him to be lassoed and assassinated, -but to give him his freedom. This was granted, and many years afterward -when he died his skin was stuffed to adorn his master’s banquet hall.</p> - -<p>Behind the city is the volcano, which can be explored in two days. The -height is 16,156 feet and the top is no more than ten feet wide, and the -crater contains a fathomless lake with a whirl-pool in the center. -Standing here amid the eternal snows the earth is spread before you as -is denied in any other part of the world. Three miles up in the air you -stand and in the west you see the Pacific Ocean; across the Sierra -Madres appear the snow-white top of Volcan Popocatapetl (smoking -mountain) 17,685 feet high; Volcan Ixtaccihuatl (white woman) 15,714 -high; Citlatepetl (mount of the star) 17,664 feet high; Nauchampatapetl -(square rock) and Pirote’s Chest, peak answering peak, and still through -the azure vista beyond lie the blue waters of the Mexican Gulf. Toluca -is the fourth highest mountain in Mexico, being overtopped by Orizaba -and the two named above. It is from these eternal reservoirs that the -cities get their supplies of ice, and any day the Indians laden with -their chilly burden descend among<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_90">{90}</a></span> the human mozaics to furnish the -American barrooms with their <i>sine qua non</i> at ten cents a pound.</p> - -<p>Of course the usual churches and fine paintings must be seen, so we -visit Tercer Orden, Carmen and Tecajec. And now we prepare to see a -sight that has not a peer on the globe. Two engines are hitched to the -train and we begin to climb the Sierra Madres. We stop at the little -town of Ocoyocac, and in a half hour the train returns on the horse shoe -curve one thousand perpendicular feet above the town. Not a bush nor a -blade of grass interrupts the vision as we nervously look down one-fifth -of a mile upon the toy-looking houses we could drop a stone upon. You -instinctively hold your breath as we creep around this narrow trail -blasted from the solid granite and marvel at the engineering that could -ever dream of such possibilities. Far beyond over the plain of Toluca is -a panorama that will abide with you forever, but which you can never -describe. We soon come to the mills of JaJalpa and pass under the stone -aqueduct more than a hundred feet high which curries the pure mountain -water to the thirsty city below.</p> - -<p>Every city near a mountain gets its water through these massive stone -aqueducts that are built to last a thousand years. Up, up we slowly -climb with our two locomotives until we reach Salazar and take a few -minutes to raise steam for the final climb. At last we stop on the -back-bone of the Sierras, at La Cima, (the summit) twenty-four miles -from the capital, and 11,000 feet above the sea. Herein the Torrid Zone -among the clouds the frost is white upon<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_91">{91}</a></span> the rails, and the damp fog -chills you to the marrow. There behind us is a rushing mountain torrent, -the source of the river Lerma, just starting on its seven hundred mile -journey to the Pacific. Here just in front of the locomotive is a -fretful little brook that breaks into a thousand cascades in its journey -to the Mexican Gulf. Forty miles to the south is a scene that defies -description. A hundred miles to the south stand those mighty sentinels -of the beautiful Nahuatl Valley, Popocatapetl and Ixtaccihuatl, in that -clear atmosphere, almost in speaking distance. In the midst of the -valley lie the silver lakes of Texcoco and Xochimilco, large enough to -mirror those lofty sentinels and reflect their perpetual robes of white -to the nymphs and naiads in the azure depths below.</p> - -<p>Could these everlasting hills speak, what a tale they could unfold of -the awful tragedies they have witnessed in this valley; of crimes and -bloodshed and migrations and banishments; of nations who wrought while -Phœnician commerce was young; of cities built and crumbled to dust; of -opulence and power and intrigue! They might tell us who carved the -Calendar Stone, and who evolved its astronomical knowledge, and who -wrote the hieroglyphics of Tula, and in what language are the facade and -tablet inscriptions of Palenque and Uxmal, and, before the Aztecs, -whence came the Toltecs, and Tlascalans, and their forerunners the -Tezcucans, who in turn were driven out by the Acolhuas in the inverse -order by Tepanecs, and Chalcos, and Xochimilcos, and who built the seven -mysterious cities of Cibola, and the pyramid of Bholula, and the mounds -and the pyramids of Tampico,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_92">{92}</a></span> and Panuco and the pyramids to the sun and -moon at Teotihuacan, and why was the stately avenue of pillars left at -ancient Mitla, and why, O Sphinx of the Valley! dost thou not reveal the -secrets of the dead past whose unmultiplied aeons are to thee as but an -open book? But the sphinx answered never a word. My tears and eloquence -turned to thin air in the morning frost, and after waiting a reasonable -time for an answer, I thought of that old tale about Mahomet and the -mountain, and that decided my course. I determined to go find out for -myself, and as the engineer had dropped one engine behind he said if I -was going with him I had better get a move on myself, so I set forth to -solve the mysteries that have baffled the world in the Valley of Mexico.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 364px;"> -<a href="images/i_096.png"> -<img src="images/i_096.png" width="364" height="270" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_93">{93}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /><br /> -THE VALE OF ANAHUAC.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HE time is four hundred years ago; the place, the present site of the -City of Mexico. In its stead was Tenochtitlan. In this beautiful valley -were four kingdoms, three aristocratic republics, a number of minor -states and the independent monarchy of Yucatan. Of the four kingdoms in -the valley, the Aztec or Mexican was chief, and dictated terms to the -other three—Colhuacan, Tlascopan and Michoacan. The three republics -were Tlaxcala, Cholula and Huexotzinco, the ancient enemies of the -Aztecs, and with whose combined aid Cortez finally conquered them.</p> - -<p>On the shores of Lake Texcoco, the Athens of Mexico, stand Cortez and -his band of pirates, gazing across the blue waters of the lake towards -an island on its bosom, twenty-five miles away. Upon that island is a -city, Tenochtitlan, the Rome of Mexico, and the capital of the Aztecs, -which the Spaniards called “the most beautiful city on earth.”</p> - -<p>Upon the bosom of that lake float thousands of boats, and connecting the -city to the mainland are two mighty causeways, guarded by drawbridges -and portcullis. According to Spanish authority, within that city were -two thous<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_94">{94}</a></span>and temples, one hundred palaces and a thousand sumptuous -dwellings and hanging gardens, aqueducts and irrigating canals, -sculpture and architecture, an elaborate system of religion and -philosophy, a priesthood, a written language by means of ideographic -paintings, artistic jewelers and a hundred other elements of -civilization that have since been swept away by the bigoted Spaniards as -the dewdrops before the <i>sirocco</i>.</p> - -<p>Within the great plaza there arose a mighty temple, the teocalli, -erected to the war-god Huitziloptchli. This temple was a truncated -pyramid, whose base was three hundred and eight feet each way, and whose -height was one hundred feet, and was reached by a spiral stairway -passing four times around. Five thousand priests officiated in this -temple, and on its summit was a block of jasper, the sacrificial stone, -which is now in the national museum. Upon this stone were sacrificed -daily, human victims taken in war, and offered to appease the war-god -who had made them successful against their enemies, and twenty thousand -victims a year had their hearts cut out by the priests and laid smoking -on this altar.</p> - -<p>Each morning as the sun rose behind Popocatapetl, the huge drum of -serpent skins resounded, the white-robed priests with their wild -minstrelsy wound slowly round the pyramid in sight of every inhabitant -in the city, and, arriving at the top, turned their faces to the rising -sun, stretched their victims across the convex surface of the -sacrificial stone, tore the palpitating hearts from the writhing bodies, -and, having first offered them to the sun, laid<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_95">{95}</a></span> them smoking upon the -altar and hurled the bodies down the sides of the pyramid.</p> - -<p>Before the altar in the sanctuary stood the colossal image of -Huitziloptchli, or Mexitle the “left-handed warrior,” the tutelary deity -and war-god of the Aztecs. In his right hand he wielded a bow, and in -his left a bunch of golden arrows to denote their victories. Around his -waist were the huge folds of a serpent, consisting of pearls and -precious stones, and the same ornaments were sprinkled all over his -body. Upon the left foot were the feathers of a humming bird whose name -the dread deity bore. Around his neck was suspended a chain of alternate -gold and silver hearts, to denote the sacrifice in which he most -delighted.</p> - -<p>The invisible God, the Cause of Causes, was represented by no image and -was confined by no temple. The adjoining sanctuary was dedicated to a -milder deity who stood next to God. This was Tezcatlipoca, the creator -of the world. His image was represented by a young man, richly garnished -with gold ornaments and holding a shield, burnished like a mirror, and -in it he saw reflected the doings of the world. In a golden platter he -received the bleeding hearts of the sacrifice as his offering. Before -these altars burn perpetual fires, attended by Vestal Virgins who took -their training in the temple, and whose heads were the price of -unchastity. At the birth of a female child, its parents dedicated it to -the service of some divinity, and Tepantlohuatzin, the superior general -of that district, took charge of her education. Two months after birth -she was taken to the temple, and a passion flower, a small censer and a -little in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_96">{96}</a></span>cense were placed in her hand as a symbol of her future -occupation. At five years of age she was placed in the seminary to learn -the intricacies of the religion, and those who took the vow had to -sacrifice their hair.</p> - -<p>Boys dedicated to the priesthood were consecrated to Quetzaleoatl, god -of the air. At two years of age, the superior made an incision in the -breast, which was a sign of consecration. If a priest was guilty of -unchastity, he was beaten to death, and his limbs were cut off and -presented to his successor as a warning.</p> - -<p>Thirty miles from the city was Teotihuacan, the hill of the gods, where -stand the pyramid to Tonateuh the sun, and one to Meztle, the moon. Here -kings and priests were elected, ordained and buried, and hither flocked -pilgrims from every direction to consult the oracles, to worship in the -temples of the sun and moon, and to place sacrificial offerings on the -altars of their deities.</p> - -<p>The priests were separated by several hierarchical degrees. The first of -the supreme pontiffs bore the title of Teoteucli “Divine Lord,” and the -next was Hueitcopixqui “High Priest,” and was conferred upon those only -of illustrious birth. These high priests were oracles, and war was never -undertaken without consulting them. Then came the superior-general of -the seminary, the steward of the sanctuary, the hymn-laureate of the -feast, sacrificers, diviners and chanters.</p> - -<p>Four times a day were the priests required to incense the altars, and -burn incense to the sun four times a day and five times at night, The -perfumes were liquid styrax, (<i>Liquidambar styraciflua</i>), and copal -resin (<i>rhus copallina</i>). The custom of human sacrifice, however, was<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_97">{97}</a></span> -not always a trait of the Aztec. According to the picture-writing of the -Aztecs, the race began its existence somewhere in the misty past, but -when and where the deponent sayeth not. It was in 648 A.D., that seven -of the Nahuatl tribes left their fatherland, and the other six tribes -covered the valley with kingdoms, while the Aztecs in the year 1160, -came, in their wanderings, to the shores of the lakes, and stopped at -different places, cultivating the soil and building reed huts, but -having no place to permanently locate their city. In 1216 they reached -Tzompango, (place of bones) which city they afterwards gave the name of -Mexicatl, their war-god, and changed their own name from Aztecs to -Mexicatls.</p> - -<p>Xolotl, king of the Chicimecs, seeing he had nothing to fear from them, -permitted them to sojourn in his territory. Not long afterwards an Aztec -priest carried off a daughter of a Chicimec general, and they were -compelled to leave the country. They fled to the land of the Colhuas, -where now stands the castle of Chapultepec. A few years afterwards the -Colhuas demanded tribute, and, being unable to pay, the Colhuas reduced -them to abject slavery. The Colhuas were soon afterwards conquered by -the Xochimilcos, and in desperation called upon their Aztec slaves for -assistance. Animated with the hope of their own freedom, the Aztecs -completely conquered the Xochimilcos, and celebrated their victory with -human sacrifice. The Colhuas, alarmed at the prowess and future -possibilities of their slaves, gave them their liberty, and bade them -depart from the country. Happy to regain their liberty, they once more -set out<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_98">{98}</a></span> and settled near the lakes, Tezcoco, Xochimilco, Chalco, and -Xaltocan, from which they were never to depart.</p> - -<p>Tenoch, their chief, saw a cactus growing upon a rock in an island, and -on the cactus an eagle perched, and holding in his talons a serpent. -Thinking this a propitious sign they immediately founded a city (1325) -and called it Tenochtitlan, “stone and cactus,” and to this day the -emblem and coat of arms of Mexico is the eagle on a cactus and holding a -serpent in his talons. Here they erected a temple to their war god and -went out in search of a victim to sacrifice to offer upon the altar. The -only animal found was a Colhuan Indian, and, recognizing in him only one -of their old oppressors, they tore out his heart and offered it upon the -altar. This led to a war of retaliation and expiation which for two -hundred years stained the new capital with blood.</p> - -<p>Shut in upon the island, and cut off from the mainland by their enemies, -the Aztecs, having no land to cultivate, no textures to make clothing, -went naked and ate fish and aquatic plants. In their extremity they made -rafts and floored them with reeds, and dug up the mud from the lake and -spread it upon the reeds and began the cultivation of flowers and the -necessities of life upon these <i>chinampas</i> or floating gardens, which -are to be seen to this day. Towed by his canoe, the Aztec gardener could -move his farm whenever a quarrelsome neighbor made life a burden.</p> - -<p>That was six hundred years ago, when the Mexican nation was small, but -they soon outgrew the confines of the island, and, driven to -desperation, resolved to conquer the mainland.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_99">{99}</a></span> In 1357 there were -thirty powerful cities in the valley, united by a sort of feudal bond, -each striving to get the mastery, which was finally gained by the -Colhuas. The Mexicans now elected a warrior king, Huitzilihuitl “feather -of the humming bird,” who was unmarried. Being a politician, he went to -Azcapozalco, (now a suburb of the capital) the capital of the Tepanecs, -and asked the king of the Tepanecs for his daughter in marriage, and the -formation of an offensive and defensive alliance. This the Tepanec king -was glad to do, as he knew the fighting quality of the Mexican. No -sooner was this accomplished than the Mexican king went to the principal -chiefs in the valley and married into all their families, and the Aztec -supremacy had its birth.</p> - -<p>Released from the islands, the Mexicans secured cotton cloth for their -naked bodies, and carried on a rapid commerce. In 1427, the Mexicans won -a naval battle over their enemies on lake Chalco, and built the great -causeway across the lake as a military road to Tlacotalpan which exists -today. Then they resolved to conquer the city of Azcapozalco, the -capital of the Tepanecs, and to do so allied themselves with the -Acolhuas in 1428, and in a battle which lasted two days the Mexicans -completely subjugated the Tepanecs, and made them allies, subject to the -order of their masters.</p> - -<p>Itzacoatl “The Great” was king and died in 1440, having served his -country thirty years as a general and thirteen as king. His nephew -Montezuma I. succeeded him. In 1449 the city was swept by a flood, and -he built an immense dike nine miles long to protect the city from the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_100">{100}</a></span> -lake. This dike at the present day is called Albarredo Vieja. He also -had his portrait sculptured on the rocks at Chapultepec. Montezuma I. -was the ablest of the Aztec kings and built and fortified the outposts -of the city and died in 1469 after a reign of twenty years.</p> - -<p>It had become a custom for each king to prove his right to be king by -conquering his enemies and bringing the prisoners home to be sacrificed -at his coronation. This was to make and keep the young men as warriors. -Axayacatl was the sixth king and he immediately set out against the -kingdom of Tehuantepec to capture prisoners for his coronation -sacrifice. He added their territory to his own and returned home laden -with spoil, and had his portrait sculptured on the rock of Chapultepec -by the side of Montezuma I. He died in 1481 and his son Tizoc succeeded. -In his short reign of five years, he conquered fourteen cities and built -more temples in the capital. Ahuitzotl was his successor, and -immediately began work on the great temple begun in previous years. He -began war to get victims for his coronation, which he postponed till the -temple should be completed, which was four years. When the dedication -day arrived, festivities lasted four days, and fifteen thousand -prisoners were sacrificed upon the altar of the war-god. This king -extended the Mexican empire to its present limits and died in 1502. He -was liberal, and when he received tribute from his vassal states, he -called the people together and distributed it among them. To his -soldiers he gave bars of gold and silver, and precious stones.</p> - -<p>His successor was Montezuma II. whom Cortez<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_101">{101}</a></span> so foully murdered in later -years. Montezuma was an oriental despot, and he made his capital the -fairest city in the new world. His predecessors had guaranteed the -integrity of their island city by every means in their power. The temple -occupied the great place now covered by the Cathedral and Plaza Mayor. -It was surrounded by a wall of stone and lime, ornamented by figures of -serpents raised in relief which had the name of <i>cotepantla</i>, wall of -serpents. This quadrangled wall was pierced with huge battlemented -gateways, opening upon the four principal streets of the city. Over -these gates were arsenals, and within the walls were barracks of -thousands of soldiers.</p> - -<p>Throughout the city were canals by the side of the streets in this new -world Venice, so that canoes from their trading excursions could -traverse any part of the city. Great military causeways led to the -mainland across the lakes, and were guarded by drawbridges, to shut the -enemy out or shut themselves in. The city could not be entered by any -other way than these causeways. The southern one was called Iztapalapan -and was seven miles long. The northern one was Tepejecac, three miles -long, which now leads to Guadalupe. The other two were Tlacopam and -Chapultepec and were each two miles long, They were broad enough to -allow ten men abreast on horseback, and are all in use today. The city -was nine miles in circumference and was guarded at every point.</p> - -<p>No sooner was Montezuma elected, than he waged war upon the Otomites to -get victims for his inaugural, and returned with five thousand prisoners -which were promptly slaughtered<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_102">{102}</a></span> to the war-god, and then he became a -very tyrant. He immediately dismissed all ordinary servants, and -compelled six hundred princes of the royal blood in his conquered -provinces to be his servants, and they had to approach him barefooted -and in common apparel. On the streets his subjects must close their eyes -when he passed and not look upon his dazzling greatness. He drank from -gold vessels and no vessel was ever used the second time. Swift runners -by relays, brought him fresh fish and fruits each day from the gulf, a -distance of two hundred miles. A thousand women were in his harem, and -when a favorite prince deserved a favor, he made him a present of one of -his houris.</p> - -<p>Menageries and aviaries, representing all the birds and animals of his -kingdom from New Mexico to Guatemala, were provided for, and fed daily -with the food each was accustomed to. In the midst of his extravagances, -Cortez appeared on the other side of the lake with a hundred and fifty -thousand Indian allies of the valley, who were only too anxious to see -their ancient enemy humbled.</p> - -<p>Montezuma was the only Aztec king who was no soldier. He allowed the -crafty Spaniards to fill his capital, and to buy their departure, filled -their room to the ceiling with gold and silver, which only whetted the -appetites of the treasure-seekers and they asked for more. Montezuma was -treacherously imprisoned and was afterwards murdered by Cortez, then the -Mexicans rose in their might on that terrible July night in 1520 and -drove them from the city, and Guatemotzin was made king. He was a -soldier from the old stock, and had he been king at<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_103">{103}</a></span> first, the -Spaniards would never have set foot in Tenochtitlan. He immediately put -the city in defense for the return of the Spaniards. Meanwhile Cortez -built a fleet of boats for the lake and got men and cannon from Cuba, -and spent a year in organizing the disaffected Indians in the valley -against their ancient enemy.</p> - -<p>The next year, in May 1521, he appeared again with Indians from every -nation in the valley, according to the exaggerated Spanish authority, -five hundred and twenty thousand men, and laid siege to the city by land -and by water, for three months, and then occurred a scene that has never -been exceeded in history for bravery.</p> - -<p>The Mexicans were born warriors to a man. The besieging army was armed -with cannon and muskets and sword and horse, and was clad in steel coats -of mail, yet for three months there were daily hand-to-hand combats, -where Mexicans fought with short obsidian knives against the blades of -Toledo. The great city, nine miles in circumference, was filled with -people to the brim, their food supply cut off, the aqueduct which -brought them fresh water from Chapultepec across the lake, destroyed; -forced to drink the brackish salt water from the lake, and to eat the -bark and roots from trees, yet they asked no quarter. Mothers would sit -and see their starved children die at their breasts, and then ravenously -devour their dead bodies. Men wounded unto death, would still hurl -defiance at the invaders when too weak to hurl their weapons.</p> - -<p>Cortez had succeeded so well in his blockade that all the timorous -nations in the valley, like<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_104">{104}</a></span> wolves around a wounded bison, severed -their allegiance to the Aztec king and flocked to the Spaniards, till he -had, by his own figures, nearly half a million men around the doomed -city. He sent embassadors to Guatemotzin to surrender, as resistance was -hopeless. Guatemotzin ordered the messengers to be sacrificed. Then -Cortez ordered his men to tear the city down as they went, as every -house contained Mexican warriors. For days they fought and destroyed. -The Mexicans resisted every inch of the ground, and when a Spaniard was -captured, would take him to the temple and sacrifice him in full view of -the Spanish army. The city was reeking with the unburied dead, and the -Mexicans were eating the flesh of their comrades, but they asked no -quarter. Cortez hated to destroy so beautiful a city, and after twelve -days of fighting and seven-eighths of the houses had been destroyed and -the canals filled with the rubbish, he sent another commission to treat -with Guatemotzin. “Tell Malinche the Aztecs are men and not children,” -was his answer. Thus angered, Cortez turned his savage Indian allies -upon the starving emaciated Mexicans, and butchered forty thousand more -that night before they stopped to rest, and then waited till morning and -sent another embassy to the proud king. “Tell Malinche I am prepared to -die where I am,” was all his answer; and the stench and steam from the -putrifying bodies was terrible, but no man, woman or child begged for -mercy, so Cortez ordered the destruction of the rest of the city. All -day long they tore down walls upon weak and dead and dying Mexicans, but -met defiance from everyone like a wounded tiger,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_105">{105}</a></span> tracked to his lair by -the trailing huntsman. To the Indian allies they would say: “Aye, -destroy, but the more you tear down the more you will have to build up. -If we conquer, we will make you rebuild; if the white man conquer, he -will make you rebuild;” and still the destruction went on.</p> - -<p>The Mexicans had stripped the bark from all the trees and had dug up the -roots and eaten them, and were still eating their dead companions and -drinking salt water, but not one asked for quarter or begged for mercy. -All the houses had been destroyed but a small cluster which were still -filled by dying Mexicans. The Spaniards and Indians were wading in mire -caused by the pools of blood, and closed upon the last remaining -Mexicans. Thirteen days of slaughter and starvation had reduced them to -skeletons, but they hurled stones with their weak arms at their enemies. -As their enemies closed upon them, many plunged into the canal to commit -suicide. Twenty Spaniards closed around Guatemotzin and the brave king -with buckler and sword stood to receive them all. His subjects begged -the conquerors to spare his life. His only remark was that he hoped they -would spare his wife and child. When he was taken before Cortez, he -proudly walked up to him and said: “Malinche, I have done all a brave -man can do, now do what you will.” Then touching a knife in the belt of -Cortez, he said: “You had better use that on me.” Cortez afterwards -tortured him to make him disclose his wealth and then murdered him.</p> - -<p>Of all that mighty host, not one had proved a traitor or begged for -mercy, or acted a coward.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_106">{106}</a></span> They had lived by the sword and died by it -without a murmur. Probably thirty thousand were left alive on that last -day, too weak to fight, and not quite dead from hunger, and that was all -that was left of the great Mexican Empire. Of the beautiful dream city, -not one stone was left above another and today, only the four causeways -are left in the city of Mexico that was a part of Tenochtitlan.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Here didst thou fall, and here thy hunters stand<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Signed in thy spoil, and crimsoned in thy lethe.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>The siege of the city of Tenochtitlan lasted seventy five days.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 399px;"> -<a href="images/i_110.png"> -<img src="images/i_110.png" width="399" height="292" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 543px;"> -<a href="images/i_112.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_112.jpg" width="543" height="744" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>CHURCH OF SAN AUGUSTIN.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_107">{107}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /><br /> -THE VALLEY OF MEXICO.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">W</span>HERE stood the ancient pyramid and temple to the war-god in -Tenochtitlan, today stands the great Cathedral facing the Plaza Mayor in -the City of Mexico. Where stood Montezuma’s palace is now the National -Palace; where was Montezuma’s treasure-house are now the Post-office and -National Museum, with Montezuma’s shield, the sacrificial stone from the -ancient temple, and a thousand gods and idols inscribed in the ancient -Aztec and Toltec languages. Chapultepec, which was used as Montezuma’s -summer-house, is still used as the “White House” of Mexico. Montezuma’s -favorite cypress tree, which measures fifty feet in circumference, is as -green today as any tree in the beautiful park of Chapultepec, and -nowhere outside the pages of the Arabian Nights is there such an -enchanting, living story as can be seen every day in the City of Mexico.</p> - -<p>Unless you touched with your own hand, and saw with your own eyes, the -very elements of this strange, fascinating history, you might doubt your -reason and pronounce the whole story a figment of the imagination; but -here is history personified.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_108">{108}</a></span></p> - -<p>Let us begin with the great Cathedral, the center-piece of Mexico and -its past. Here on this spot stood the ancient temple on the top of the -lofty pyramid, down whose bloody sides flowed the blood of a hundred and -thirty thousand human sacrifices, and not two hundred yards from here, -in the museum, you can put your hand upon the sacrificial stone that -bore witness to every one. Here in front of this idol, an altar received -the reeking hearts, torn with obsidian knives from the breasts of that -dead army, and there at your back stand both the hideous god that -exacted this sacrifice, and the blood-stained porphyritic altar itself.</p> - -<p>Here is no room for doubt. The museum, or those in other lands, contain -all that history has told us of, and they were dug from the ruins when -the foundation of the cathedral was laid. The first church on the site -of the pyramid was completed in 1523, but the present cathedral was not -completed till 1573. The roof was put on in 1623, three years after the -first mass was said, and it was forty-five years afterwards before it -was dedicated. The towers were completed at a cost of $200,000 in 1791, -two hundred and eighteen years after the foundations were laid. With the -cheap and gratuitous labor with which it was built, its actual cost will -never be known, but was in the millions. The length is 387 feet; width, -177 feet, and height 179 feet. The towers are 203½ feet, and built of -cut stone, and the roof of brick tiles. Humboldt said that the view from -the towers is the finest in the world. The group of forty or fifty bells -in the towers are the finest in this country, but they are not set in -chimes. The largest is the Santa Maria<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_109">{109}</a></span> de Guadalupe, nineteen feet high -and cost $10,000. It is next to the big Russian bell in the Kremlin. The -second in size is the Dona Maria in the eastern tower. When these bells -strike the hour of noon, every head in the street is bared. The interior -of the cathedral is in the shape of a Latin cross. Ninety quadruple -pillars, each thirty-five feet in circumference support the roof.</p> - -<p>The vaulted roof with its rich decorations, massive altars of intricate -carvings, the choir and organ, are grand beyond description. There are -seven chapels on each side, separated by carved railings and gratings. -The choir and main altar are enclosed by a massive railing of gold, -silver and copper, valued at one million dollars. There are five naves -and six altars; the altar of Los Reyes (the Kings) is the finest. -Beneath it are the heads of Hidalgo, Allende, Jiminez and Aldama, -brought here with great pomp and ceremony after the war of Independence -had been fought and won. In the chapel of San Felipe de Jesus are the -remains of Augustin Yturbide, <i>El Libertador</i>, the first Emperor of -Mexico. The Chapel of San Pedro contains the remains of the first -Archbishop of Mexico, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, and one of the characters -of early Mexican history, Gregorio Lopez, the reputed son of Philip II. -of Spain.</p> - -<p>A number of fine paintings hang upon the wall, a genuine Murillo and a -Michael Angelo. Those in the dome represent the Assumption of the -Virgin. Over the stalls is the Immaculate Conception, by Juan Carreo. -Near the choir and Altar of Pardon are two paintings by La Sumaya, the -only examples by a woman. In<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_110">{110}</a></span> La Capilla de las Reliquias are twelve -pictures of the Holy Martyrs by Herrera. The Sacristy walls are covered -by the great pictures of The Entry into Jerusalem, The Glory of St. -Michael, The Immaculate Conception, The Assumption, The Triumph of the -Sacrament and The Catholic Church, by Christobal de Villolpando and Juan -Carreo. In another room may be found The Last Supper and The Triumph of -Faith, by José Alcibar, and the portraits of all the Archbishops. In the -Chapter Room are three of the best, John of Austria imploring the Virgin -at Lepanto, and a Virgin, by Cortona, and the Virgin of Bethlehem, by -Murillo. There are other paintings whose number is legion, and would -require a book to describe them all.</p> - -<p>The High Altar was once the richest in the world, but has been many -times plundered in the many revolutions, yet still holds much of its -former magnificence. The solid gold candlestick, heavier than one man -could lift, the statue of the Assumption made of solid gold and inlaid -with rubies, diamonds and precious stones worth a million dollars, and -many other costly things have been plundered, and still it is doubtless -decorated more costly than any other church in America. It was from the -tower of the pyramid in the same place that Montezuma pointed out to -Cortez the beauties of the city and valley.</p> - -<p>The group of churches about the Cathedral, but not a part of it, is -interesting. La Capilla de las Animas (the Chapel of Souls) where masses -are said for the souls in Purgatory, is in the rear. El Sagrario -Metropolitano is in the east and was the first parish church in Mexico. -Its foundations were laid in 1521, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_111">{111}</a></span> it is now one of the most -beautiful churches in Mexico. Its rich facades and decorations are -superb. La Capilla de La Soledad is between this and the cathedral and -near by is the parish church of San Pablo.</p> - -<p>Four squares north is Santa Domingo, the house of the Spanish -Inquisition, now used as a medical college. Near the south end of the -same plaza is a fountain marking the spot where the eagle came down in -1325, and picked up the snake and lighted on the cactus as is now seen -in Mexico’s coat of arms. One square west of the Alameda is the church -of San Hipolito of the Martyrs, built on the spot where so many -Spaniards were slaughtered in the retreat on the night of <i>noche -triste</i>, (dismal night) July 1, 1520.</p> - -<p>In a corner of a wall at the juncture of a little side street is a -curious tablet, showing in relief an eagle carrying an Indian in its -talons. The inscription in the medallion above asserts: “So great was -the slaughter of the Spaniards at this point by the Aztecs, July 1, -1520, called for this reason <i>Noche Triste</i>, that having in the -following year triumphantly re-entered the city, the victors resolved to -build a chapel here, dedicated to San Hipolito, because the capture of -the city occurred on that Saint’s day.”</p> - -<p>The City of Mexico has 375,000 inhabitants and hundreds of churches -worth a king’s ransom, and they are still being enriched, and by whom? -The paupers! The more ignorant a person is, the more gullible, and these -well-groomed priests, by keeping the people ignorant, play upon their -credulity. In the Chapel of Lost Souls, where prayers are said for souls -in Purgatory, a priest<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_112">{112}</a></span> named Concha carried on this farce until he was -eighty-seven years old. The cheapest mass even for the paupers is one -dollar, and the rich are squeezed for all they are worth. Father Concha -during his lifetime celebrated forty-five thousand masses at so much a -say, which must have netted him a million dollars! No priest can -celebrate more than one mass a day and two on Sunday, which makes about -four hundred and fifty in a year. Suppose he accepts two hundred dollars -from two hundred poor people at a dollar a mass, and accepts five -hundred dollars from the wealthy; he accepts more money than he can -legally earn in a year. Does he return that money? Not much. And how is -the poor deluded creature to ever know that the prayer he paid for will -ever be said, to help the late departed friend in Purgatory? He has -absolute faith in the process, and it never occurs to him to figure out -the possibility of his particular prayer being laid upon the shelf on -account of press of business.</p> - -<p>Most priests make engagements or “intentions” for more masses than they -can perform, and if he is honest, he will sell his surplus to a less -favored brother priest with few “briefs” at a handsome profit. -Technically they are supposed to do that, but who ever knew a priest to -do so?</p> - -<p>O no, he knows a good thing when he sees it and the “dear people” will -never know the whole thing is a humbug. To be sure, when the priest -finds a tough case he will charge a good round sum to pray him out of -Purgatory, and he usually collects from Mr. T. C. while he<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_113">{113}</a></span> is alive and -in good health, clothed and in his right mind.</p> - -<p>Reprobate sinners who had a tough time on earth and no hopes for better -in the future, generally fix the future all right with the <i>padre</i> -before they start to the house-warming. Now these good fathers do not -believe a word of the doctrine they preach, because they are all well -educated, but they teach it to the people and threaten with -excommunication if they do not find the shekels, so the poor beggars -will go naked to find their assessment.</p> - -<p>And not only in Mexico. I know a poor woman in Michigan who had to sell -her only cow to raise a forty dollar assessment on a new church, and she -did it under fear of a threat. I have had a poor cancer-eaten <i>pilowa</i> -hold out her skinny hand to me and beg in the name of God for “<i>un -centavo, Señor</i>,” for her starving children, and I have followed her -back to the vestry to see her buy candles to burn before the altar of -her chosen saint for value received from that defunct in times past. -What does the priest care for the price of blood-money? Follow me to -Jinks and see.</p> - -<p>Jinks is a licensed gambling house, that I was told on good authority -paid the city twenty thousand dollars a year to run the faro bank, three -card monte and the roulette wheel. In search after knowledge, I went to -Jinks. It is as public as a theater and good order is preserved by -policemen who sit to the closing hour and see the lights out. There at a -late hour I saw barrels and barrels of silver dollars change hands. -Neither bank drafts, paper money nor gold are accepted—only silver.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_114">{114}</a></span></p> - -<p>Great brawny armed porters are there whose only duty is to carry boxes -of silver from the vaults to the table, and from the table to the -vaults, and at every table sit the clean faced priests who gamble with -stacks of silver till the wee sma’ hours, and tomorrow they will go -among their parishioners and beg more money for Mother Church. They -teach the people that absolute obedience to church behests can only be -had in obedience without will and will without reason.</p> - -<p>Says Charles Lampriére: “The Mexican church, as a church, fills no -mission of virtue, no mission of morality, no mission of mercy, no -mission of charity. Virtue cannot exist in its pestiferous atmosphere. -The cause of morality does not come within its practice. It knows no -mercy and no emotion of charity ever nerves the stony heart of the -priesthood, which, with an avarice that knows no limit, filches the last -penny from the diseased and dying beggar, plunders the widows and -orphans of their substance as well as their virtue, and casts such a -horoscope of horrors around the death-bed of the dying millionaire, that -the poor, superstitious wretch is glad to purchase a chance for the -safety of his soul in making the church the heir of his treasure.”</p> - -<p>The reader may get the impression that I am rather hard on the Catholic -Church. Of the church in the United States I know but little, but when -the reader has seen as much of the church as I saw in Mexico, he will at -least be charitable to the writer. There in the Catholic Church the -worship of Christ is hidden behind the theatricals of gaudily dressed -priests, in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_115">{115}</a></span>censed sanctuaries, ornamented images of the Virgin Mary, -beautiful pictures, frescoed paintings, scapulars, medals, relics, and -Agnus Deis, with their accompanying indulgences; and associated with -most entrancing music, fragrant flowers, lighted candles, gorgeously -dressed altars, surpliced acolytes, blessed ashes, holy water, -consecrated wafers, holy oil and chrism.</p> - -<p>There are also the attractive ceremony of extreme unction, confession, -satisfaction, besides the lenten feasts, the days of abstinence, -genuflections and stations of the cross, the crozier, and mitres, with -the pontifical high mass, decorations, Latin liturgies, illuminated -missals, gold and silver ciboriums, ostensoriums and chalices, -candelabras and vases, crosses and precious stones, costly laces and -fine linens, and the royal purple and the countless ceremonies which the -blind follower is not meant to understand.</p> - -<p>The bible and Christ are left out of the above enumeration, and never -have I seen the bible in the hands of a Mexican layman. They are -discouraged from owning a bible and are told that the priest will read -and interpret it for them. What can a Mexican Indian get for his peace -of soul and conscience out of the above enumeration, when probably five -hundred words constitute his entire vocabulary and Latin is no part of -it? All these insignia must he go through before he gets to Christ, and -then he is told he is not worthy to go to Him, but must pray the Holy -Virgin and the Saints to intercede for him, else he will be eternally -damned in the fires of Purgatory. Some particular Saint is chosen and -assigned him, and he is assured that if he buy candles enough and burn<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_116">{116}</a></span> -them on the altar before that particular saint, the said saint will -prosper his undertaking, and if it succeed, he must ever afterward give -the credit to the saint.</p> - -<p>We were looking at the statue of the patriot, Hidalgo. My young Mexican -friend said: “Hidalgo is our patron saint, he freed us from Spain; who -is yours?” I said that I was a protestant and had no patron saint. -“But,” he said, “you must have one. We were subjects of Spain, and -Hidalgo started the revolution that made us free. Therefore he was -canonized and became our patron, and now we pray to him when we want -favors. Your people were once slaves and got your freedom from the -Americans, and you must have had a leader, else how could ten million -slaves vanquish sixty million Americans?” “But,” I said: “you don’t read -American history. We did not get our freedom by a revolution, but by a -civil war with Americans fighting on both sides.” “But you were bound to -have a leader, who was he?” “Oh!” I said, “it was Frederick Douglass.” A -beam of satisfaction crossed his countenance as he handed me his hand: -“We have both been in the toils and our good saints have made us free. -<i>Viva</i> Douglass <i>y Viva</i> Hidalgo!”</p> - -<p>And so these poor deluded people are taught that every good and perfect -thing cometh from above, but—through the hands of a saint or the Mother -of God, and the only honor that redounds to Christ and his Father is the -fact that they are members of the same family as the Holy Virgin. And so -by a system of black-mail, more tyrannical than was the brigandage of -twenty years ago, priest-ridden Mexico has built<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_117">{117}</a></span> three magnificent -piles of rock and marble and alabaster and chalcedony with the blood of -widows and orphans.</p> - -<p>The world was shocked a few years ago because Mtesa did the same thing -in Africa. The only difference I see is that Mtesa killed his victims -outright and mixed mortar with the blood of young girls, but here the -process is a lingering torture of body and mind, and a life of abject -poverty and misery for the living that overwhelms the stranger with its -omnipresence. The Catholic faith has changed these people’s ceremonies, -but not their dogmas. The bowing to the statues and altars and images of -the apostles, and the veneration of the shrines and the absolute faith -in the incantations of the priests to the power they do not understand, -is exactly what the Aztecs did in the temple of the war-god six hundred -years ago.</p> - -<p>His public ceremony is changed and he no longer offers human sacrifice -upon the altars, but there are Indians in Mexico today who will secretly -celebrate their ancient festivals, and slyly hang wreaths of flowers -upon the huge idols on exhibition in the City of Mexico.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 314px;"> -<a href="images/i_123.png"> -<img src="images/i_123.png" width="314" height="189" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_118">{118}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /><br /> -THE SHRINE OF GUADALUPE.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HREE miles north of the City is the Hill of Tepeyacac. Leading from the -city is the ancient causeway built across the lake to Tepeyacac before -the Conquest. A street car now traverses this causeway to the town of -Guadalupe and the famous Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the holiest -fane in Mexico. The chain of mountains which bound the Valley of Mexico -on the north here project into the valley and terminate in the Hill of -Tepeyacac, in the Aztec language, “the termination.” Before the -Conquest, the Indians worshiped on this hill an idol called Tonantzin, -“The Mother of the Gods.” This deity seemed to have corresponded to the -Cybele of classical antiquity.</p> - -<p>Father Florencia, who is the safest authority to follow on the -apparition up to the year 1688, when he published his book, “The -Northern Star of Mexico,” piously observes:—“The Virgin desired that -her miraculous appearance should take place on this hill to dispossess -the mother of false gods of the vain adoration rendered to the idol by -the Indians, and to show the latter that she alone was the Mother of the -true God, and the true mother of men, and that<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_119">{119}</a></span> where crime and idolatry -and human sacrifice had abounded, grace should still more abound.</p> - -<p>THE LEGEND.</p> - -<p>Tradition says that an Indian neophyte, Juan Diego, was on his way on -the morning of Saturday, Dec. 9, 1531, to hear the Christian doctrine -expounded by the Franciscans of Santiago Tlalteloco. His home was at -Tolpetlac, and to reach the city he had to pass the Hill of Tepeyacac. -On reaching the eastern side of the hill, he heard strains of music -which seemed to him like the notes of a chorus of birds. He stood still -to listen, and then beheld on the hillside the vision of a beautiful -lady, surrounded by clouds, tinged with the colors of the rainbow.</p> - -<p>The lady called Juan, and as her appearance was both commanding and -gracious he at once obeyed, and she addressed him as follows: “Know, my -son, that I am the Virgin Mary, mother of the true God. My will is that -a temple should be built for me here on this spot, where you and all -your race will be always able to find me and seek my aid in all your -troubles. Go to the Bishop and in my name tell him what you have seen -and heard. Tell him, too, that this is my wish, that a church be built -for me here, and for so doing I will repay you with many graces.”</p> - -<p>Juan sought the Bishop, who was Juan de Zumarraga, a Franciscan, the -first and last Bishop of Mexico; for during the closing years of his -life, the see was raised to the rank of archbishop. Juan Diego had some -difficulty in gaining admission to the prelate’s presence, and when he -succeeded in delivering his message,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_120">{120}</a></span> small attention was paid to it, as -the Bishop was inclined to treat the story as an hallucination. Juan -Diego returned that afternoon to his village, and passed the same spot -where he had seen the vision in the morning.</p> - -<p>The lady was again there, and asked him how he had sped. He related the -slight attention the Bishop had paid him, and asked the lady to be -pleased to choose another messenger. But she replied that he was not to -be dejected, but to return to the episcopal residence and deliver the -message the following day. The next day was Sunday and Juan rose early, -came in and heard mass at the parish church of Santiago Tlalteloco, and -then repaired to the house of the Bishop and repeated his errand with -great earnestness. This time the prelate paid more attention to the -Indian’s narrative, and told him if the lady appeared again, he was to -ask her for a sign. At this Juan was dismissed and the Bishop sent two -servants after him covertly, to observe what he did and whither he went. -The servants did as they were bidden, following Juan along the same road -that leads today from the City of Mexico to Tepeyacac, but when Juan -reached the Hill, he became invisible to their eyes, and though they -walked round and round the Hill they could not find him. Therefore they -returned to the Bishop and told him that in their opinion Juan was an -impostor and an embassador of the devil and not of the Virgin.</p> - -<p>But while Juan was invisible to them he was once more in converse with -the lady, and told her the Bishop had commanded him to ask for a sign, -so she told him to return on the following<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_121">{121}</a></span> morning and she would give -him a sign which would win him full credit for his mission.</p> - -<p>On reaching home Juan found his uncle, Juan Bernadino, dangerously sick. -Instead of returning to the lady next day, he spent the time hunting -medicine-men among his tribe, and in gathering simple remedies for a -cure. But all day his uncle got steadily worse, and so the following -morning, Dec. 12, 1531, he started for the Franciscan convent of -Santiago Tlalteloco to fetch a confessor for his uncle. The road led by -the Hill of Tepeyacac, and fearful of meeting the vision again, he -determined to pass by another route. But this did not avail him, for -near the place where the spring now bubbles up, he saw the vision for -the fourth time. The lady did not seem at all offended at Juan for not -coming on the day she had commanded, but told him not to be anxious -about his uncle, as at that moment he was sound and well again. She then -spoke of the sign or token for the Bishop, and told Juan to climb to the -top of the hill (where the small chapel now stands) and that there he -should find a quantity of roses growing; that he should gather them all, -fill his tilma with them, and carry them to the Bishop.</p> - -<p>Juan knew well that December was not the time of year for roses, and -besides that bare rock never produced flowers at any time of year, but -he immediately did as the lady told him, and found the spot aglow with -the most beautiful roses blossoming. He gathered them one by one and -immediately repaired to the Bishop’s residence. Juan told him what had -happened, and opened out his tilma. The flowers fell to the ground, when -it was seen that a representa<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_122">{122}</a></span>tion of the vision had been miraculously -painted on the coarse fabric of the tilma. The Bishop fell on his knees -and spent some time in prayer. He then untied the tilma from the -Indian’s neck, and placed it temporarily over the altar of his private -oratory.</p> - -<p>Such is the tradition, believed by the majority, though not by all -Mexican Catholics. I shall not treat of the legend theologically, but as -a traveler interested in all traditions and monuments so abundant in -this historic land.</p> - -<p>The apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe belongs not to that class of -beliefs in the Catholic Communion which are articles of faith binding on -the conscience of all Catholics, but to those pious popular traditions -which have received a more or less direct sanction from the -ecclesiastical authorities, and which it is considered improper in -members of the Catholic Church to doubt or call in question, at least -publicly. This may satisfy the curiosity of a number of people who -profess no particular belief, but are anxious for impartial information.</p> - -<p>Bishop Zumarraga at once set to work to build a hermitage or small -chapel at the foot of the hill of Tepeyacac for the reception of the -miraculous painting, and, as Father Florencia observes, “<i>Bis dat qui -cito dat</i>,” the work was pushed so rapidly that the building was ready -Dec. 26, 1531, fourteen days after the vision appeared on the <i>tilma</i>. -The painting was transported to the chapel with great pomp, and the -occasion forms the subject of one of the wall paintings in the present -<i>basilica</i>, executed by Father Gonzalo Carrasco, and to which allusion -will be made in the description of the edifice.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_123">{123}</a></span> For ninety years the -piety of the Mexicans was displayed towards the image in this small -chapel. But such was the quantity of alms deposited by the worshipers, -that enough money was soon available to erect a sumptuous shrine for the -reception of the venerated image. This church was dedicated by Juan de -La Cerna, Archbishop of Mexico, November 1622. In this church the image -was venerated 350 years, and is substantially the same as the present -<i>basilica</i> in spite of external repairs and internal alterations.</p> - -<p>In 1629 occurred the great inundation in Mexico City, and it was -determined by the Archbishop Francisco Manso y Zuniga and the Marquis de -Ceralvo, to bring the image of the Virgin to the city to procure a -subsidence of the waters.</p> - -<p>Quite a fleet of barges and gondolas, with the civil and ecclesiastical -dignitaries on board, started fer the sanctuary of Guadalupe, as it was -not possible to reach it on foot on account of the inundation. The image -on the <i>tilma</i> was taken on board the barge of the archbishop, which, as -evening approached was lighted, as were the gondolas, with Chinese -lanterns. Musicians played sacred music as the fleet moved over the -placid waters. On arriving in the city, the image was placed in the -archiepiscopal mansion, whence, on the following day, it was carried to -the Cathedral, where it remained four years, the inundation lasting that -long. However, the Mexicans assert that it was the intercession of the -Virgin that caused the subsidence of the water after all.</p> - -<p>In 1666, the Dean of the Cathedral of Mexico, D. Francisco Siles, -determined to collect the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_124">{124}</a></span> floating traditional evidence of the -apparition in a clear and methodical form. Quite a number of witnesses -were examined by the tribunal, composed of the following -ecclesiastics:—Juan de Poblete, Juan de la Camara, Juan Deiz de la -Barrera and Nicolas del Puerto.</p> - -<p>Canons Siles and Antonio de Gama went to the village of Cuantitlan, -where Juan Diego was supposed to have been born, to look up witnesses. -Some of the witnesses examined were over a hundred years old. All of the -witnesses testified to having, in childhood, heard the tradition from -their parents. It was then attempted on the strength of the evidence -thus collected, to obtain the approval of Rome for the apparition, but -the attempt was then unsuccessful.</p> - -<p>Cardinal Julio Rospillozi, who in 1667 was elected Pope under title of -Clement IX., wrote in 1666 to Dr. Antonio de Peralta y Castaneda, of the -Cathedral of Puebla, saying it would be impossible to obtain the -countenance of Rome. He said that as the image seemed to be identical -with the Immaculate Conception, it seemed superfluous to grant a special -office for the festival of Guadalupe. Afterwards, being elected Pope, he -granted some favors to this devotion.</p> - -<p>In 1740, Boturini obtained the papal authority for crowning the image, -but his failure and subsequent disgrace are well known. In 1751, the -Jesuit priest, Juan Francisco Lopez, was sent to Rome on a special -mission, both to confirm the choice of Mexico of the Virgin of Guadalupe -as its special patron, and to obtain a special mass and office for the -feast of the 12th of December. He took with him two copies of the image, -said to have been made by the cele<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_125">{125}</a></span>brated artist Miguel Cabrera. Lopez -performed his mission with great energy and success. He obtained an -audience with the reigning Pope, Benedict XIV., showed him the copies -and gained all his requests. When, in 1756, he returned to Mexico -bearing the papal briefs, he was received with immense honors and -rejoicings.</p> - -<p>To come to a later date, in 1886, the archbishops of Mexico, Michoacan -and Guadalajara applied to the Pope for permission to crown the image. -This privilege can be granted only by the Pope, and the crowning is -theoretically done by him. Leo XIII. made favorable answer in February -1887, and in August 1894 granted some additions to the office and -lessons for the day. The ceremony of the coronation took place at last, -Oct. 12, 1895, in the presence of thirty-seven Mexican, American, -Canadian and other prelates, and a large concourse of the clergy and the -most prominent citizens of Mexico. When the crown was raised to its -position above the image, the congregation broke into loud acclamations. -The crown itself is a miracle of the jeweler’s art, and with its galaxy -of gems—diamonds, rubies and sapphires—is worth a king’s ransom.</p> - -<p>Early in 1887 Father Antonio Plancarte y Labastida, a nephew of the then -archbishop of Mexico, prepared to carry out a long cherished design for -the renovation and embellishment cf the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. -For this purpose, the image, after much opposition on the part of the -Indians, was conveyed to the neighboring Church of Capuchinas, and the -extensive plans were then initiated. The architect first employed was -Emilio Donde, but he<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_126">{126}</a></span> was soon superseded by Juan Agea. At an early hour -on the morning of Sept. 30, 1895, the image was carried back to the -<i>basilica</i>, and the restored building was consecrated Oct. 1.</p> - -<p>The first impression on entering is an ensemble of gorgeous and -harmonious coloring, and it is some time before the eye can rest on -individual objects. Naturally the raised Presbyterium and High Altar -claim attention. The Presbyterium is reached by four separate flights of -twelve steps. It is paved with diamond slabs of white and black Carrara -marble. The altar and reredos, the latter affecting the form of a frame -for the painting of the Virgin, are severe and classical in design. The -only material used is the finest Carrara marble known as “Bianco P.,” -and exquisitely wrought gilded bronze. All the marble of the altar is -monolithic, and was executed at Carrara by the sculptor Nicoli, the -Mexican architects Juan Agea and Salome Pina. All the bronze work is -from Brussels. On either side of the altar is a figure kneeling in -adoration; that on the left, or Gospel side, is Bishop Zumarraga, that -on the Epistle side is Juan Diego, who is represented as making an -offering of roses. Both are of Carrara marble. At the top of the reredos -are three angels, representing the archdioceses of Mexico, Michoacan and -Guadalajara, which applied to Pope Leo XVI. for permission to crown the -image. The central one holds out a crown of singularly pure and chaste -design. Below them and immediately above the frame is a cherub in -relief, holding the jeweled crown. The High Altar is double, there being -slabs for the celebration of mass, both before and behind. Over the High -Altar<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_127">{127}</a></span> is a handsome Byzantine baldachin sustained by pillars of Scotch -granite from Aberdeen, and the baldachin is surmounted by a gilded cross -formed of roses. The rose occurs in all the decorations, as it is the -symbol of the Virgin of Guadalupe.</p> - -<p>On the top of the front arch of the baldachin are the arms of Pope Leo -XIII. and the apices of the other three arches are filled with the arms -of the Archbishops of Mexico, Michoacan and Guadalajara. On the vault of -the baldachin, in Gothic letters are the Latin distiches, composed for -the image by Pope Leo XIII. and which are as follows:—</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i1"><i>Mexicus heic populus mira sub Imagine gaudet</i><br /></span> -<span class="i0"><i>Te colere, alma Parens, praesidioque frui</i><br /></span> -<span class="i0"><i>Per te sic vigeat felix, teque auspice, Christe</i><br /></span> -<span class="i0"><i>Immotam servet firmior usque fidem.</i><br /></span> -<span class="i15">Leo P. P. XIII.<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<h3>TRANSLATED.</h3> - -<p>“The Mexican people rejoice in worshiping Thee, Holy Mother, under this -miraculous image, and in looking to Thee for protection may that people -through Thee, flourish in happiness, and ever, under Thy auspices, grow -stronger in the faith of Christ.”</p> - -<p>The four angels of the baldachin between the arches are occupied with -allegorical bronze statues of the four cardinal virtues, Prudence, -Justice, Fortitude and Temperance.</p> - -<p>Underneath the High Altar is a crypt, the vaulted iron roof of which is -capable of sustaining a weight of three hundred thousand pounds. This -crypt contains four altars underneath the high altar, also urns or -cinerariums for the re<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_128">{128}</a></span>ception of the thirty persons who contributed -$5000 each to $150,000 for the High Altar.</p> - -<p>The railing around this altar is of solid silver, and weighs fifty-two -thousand pounds, or twenty-six tons. Immediately in front of the High -Altar, but below the Presbyterium is a kneeling marble statue of Mgr. -Labastida y Davalos, late archbishop of Mexico, and underneath the -statue rests the ashes of his parents. His own are soon to be removed -here.</p> - -<p>The vaults of the roof are painted blue with gold stars in relief. The -stars are of cedar, gilded over and screwed into the roof. The ribs of -the vaulting are beautifully decorated in the Byzantine style, and the -dome is a rich mass of gilding festooned with pink roses. The several -divisions of the dome are occupied alternately by frescoes of the Virgin -of Guadalupe and of angels bearing scrolls. In each division is one of -the poetical avocations in which the Catholics impetrate the Virgin, -such as “Seat of Wisdom,” “Mirror of Justice,” “Mystical Rose,” “Ask for -the Covenant,” etc. The windows of the dome, of stained glass, were -given by the College of the Sacred Heart of San Cosme.</p> - -<p>The most striking of the interior decorations are the fine large wall -frescoes. The one on the right represents the conversion of the Indians -through the Virgin of Guadalupe. Groups of friars are preaching and -baptizing, while hovering in the air is the figure of the Virgin. This -is by the artist Felipe S. Gutierrez. The next represents the image -being carried to the small chapel, December 26, 1531. This is a -brilliant piece of work, and reflects great credit upon the young -artist, a young Jesuit priest, Fr. Gon<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_129">{129}</a></span>zalo Carrasco. The image is -carried beneath a canopy, and attended by gorgeously arrayed priests and -prelates. Then there are the friars and Indians and Spanish cavaliers, -and acolytes bearing candles, flabelli, etc. In the lower right-hand -corner is represented the first miracle alleged to have been wrought by -the Virgin of Guadalupe. The Indians, in honor of the procession are -letting off arrows, and one of them enters the neck of an Indian. His -mother begs the procession to turn back, and as it passes her son, so -goes the story, he is healed.</p> - -<p>On the western side, nearest the High Altar, is the fresco of the taking -of evidence for the Apparition in 1666. This is by Ibarraran y Ponce. -The next is by Felix Parra, and is called a gorgeous poem in color. It -represents the period of “Matlazahuatl,” the dread pestilence which -devastated the city in 1737, when the Archbishop Antonio Bizarron y -Equiarreta solemnly put the city under the protection of the Virgin and -immediately the plague departed. In the foreground is an Indian stricken -with the plague. The last fresco represents the presentation of a copy -of the image to Pope Benedict XIV. The Pontiff is in the act of -exclaiming: “<i>Non fecit taliter omni Nationi!</i>” Between the first two -frescoes is a mural inscription in Latin: “The Mexican people, in honor -of the Virgin of Guadalupe, who in old time appeared on the hill of -Tepeyacac to Juan Diego, erected a holy temple, and with all piety -venerated the ancient image. One of the most conspicuous in its cult, -was the Archbishop Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Davalos, a most -munificent restorer of the Collegiate Church. Now at length, as all<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_130">{130}</a></span> had -wished, and as the Chapter of the Vatican Basilica had decreed in A. D. -1740, the famous image, with the sanction of the Supreme Pontiff, Leo -XIII., was crowned with a diadem of gold, on the fourth day before the -Ides of October 1895, Prospero M. Alarcon being Archbishop of Mexico, to -stand forever as a shield, the protection and the honor of the Mexican -people.”</p> - -<p>The apse behind the High Altar is elaborately decorated and contains -many mural paintings of popes and archbishops. In the apse is the chapel -and family vault of Mr. Antonio de Mier y Celis. This chapel is a -perfect gem of the decorative art and is dedicated to St. Joseph. The -crypt underneath is an exact reproduction of the Escorial at Madrid. The -three stained glass windows are from Munich and cost $17,000. There are -in all, ten altars in the church, and its total cost is nearly four -million dollars. During all the revolutions and political upheavals in -Mexico, the sanctity of Guadalupe has immured it from plunder; the most -reckless freebooters forbearing to invade the hallowed ground of the -Virgin.</p> - -<p>You leave this place weighed down with impressions of magnificence, -wealth and beauty. Outside the door of this four million dollar church -you step over a hundred naked, starving beggars, holding their skeleton -fingers for coppers. One cent seems to be the regulation fee expected, -and if you give a beggar five cents he returns four cents change.</p> - -<p>Near by is the government building in which the treaty of peace was -signed between Mexico and the United States. Guadalupe Hidalgo is what -the treaty is called in history, out of pa<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_131">{131}</a></span>triotism for the memory of -Hidalgo. By the little chapel is a geranium plant in full bloom. Its -stem is five inches in diameter, and the top is thirty feet in the air. -I suppose the Virgin exercises an influence over it as with every thing -else here. Across the little plazuela is another miracle attributed to -the image. At the foot of the rocky hill where the vision appeared the -last time, boils up a spring of water that is a veritable geyser. It is -said to have appeared after the apparition had vanished. It is covered -with a pavilion, <i>Capillo del Pocito</i>, and is about ten feet in -diameter, and about the same from the curb to the water. The dangerous -pit is fenced in with an iron railing, and as you gauze into its -chalybeate depths surging below, an attendant draws up a basin of water -and passes it to you with a wonderful narrative of its curative -properties for unfruitful women, and the large number of such women who -annually resort to it for relief with the Virgin’s blessing.</p> - -<p>This is the Indian’s Mecca, and on December 12, all Indians make a -pilgrimage here in honor of Juan Diego, the only Indian saint in the -calendar. The encircling town of ten thousand devotees with a permanent -residence here is an earnest of the strong hold it has upon them. It is -said that whoever drinks from this miraculous spring is compelled to -return again, no matter how far he may wander. And so I was impelled to -drink of the vile smelling water with the hope that at some time it will -carry me to Guadalupe again without the necessity of a yard and a half -of railroad ticket which gets punched into fragments on a ninety day -circular tour.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_132">{132}</a></span> I stayed the violent eruption which the medicated water -threatened within, and turned to the broad stone steps that led to the -top of the hill where Juan plucked the roses. The beautiful line of -steps leads up the basaltic cliff to a height of a hundred and fifty -feet, and where the roses grew is a little chapel, “La Capilla de -Cerrita,” crowning the summit of Tepeyacac. Though nearly four hundred -years old, the chapel is in good repair, and is still the holiest shrine -in Mexico. The entire walls are covered with pictures of the miraculous -cures by the image.</p> - -<p>There is a picture of a man falling from a church steeple, and -afterwards brought to life by the passage of the image, and a -bull-fighter impaled on the horns of the enraged bull, and a hundred -similar scenes where the image had asserted itself.</p> - -<p>It was worth much to see the adoration and utter abandon lavished upon -this image. Pilgrims from everywhere stretched themselves prone upon the -floor, and the look of resignation said as plainly as the words could, -“Now Lord lettest Thou Thy servant die in peace.”</p> - -<p>I shook myself up to see if I could awaken a little devotion within -myself, but the only feeling I had was borrowed from that little -incident on Mount Carmel, when that rugged old spokesman, Elijah, the -Tishbite called down fire to consume the worshipers of Baal.</p> - -<p>The faithful looked up as I wandered among them with note-book and -pencil. They did not speak, but that look would have filled three -columns of close printed small pica type if translated, about the -unregenerate heathen that<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_133">{133}</a></span> did not bow to the sacred image nor cross -himself when he passed by the holy water. The scribe was there solely in -pursuit of knowledge, and when he had all the little chapel contained, -he stepped over the prostrated forms on the floor and passage-way and -went out to see some more miracles performed by the Virgin.</p> - -<p>Ten steps from the door loomed up another miracle as big as life and -almost as natural. This was the old stone sail and ship’s mast, and -thereby hangs a tale, to wit, namely, as follows:</p> - -<p>“Once upon a time,” as the story-books go, a very rich family owned a -ship which was long over-due at Vera Cruz, so this family went to the -Virgin, or to the image rather, and laid the case before it. They said -the ship’s cargo was worth almost its weight in Spanish doubloons, and -if she would bring that ship to port, they would make her an <i>ex voto</i> -offering of the ship, if she would let them have the cargo. The image -listened and concluded that the bargain was fair enough, so she let the -ship come to port. True to their promise, the owner had the mast, sails -and cordage brought across the Cordillera Mountains 265 miles to -Guadalupe and set them up in front of the church and then encased the -whole in stone just as you see it today, and if any one doubts that the -Virgin saved the ship, why, “there stands the mast itself to prove it.” -It is useless to argue against facts. A single look of interest draws a -half dozen guides who want to explain all about the Virgin and the -image. I give them enough money to get drunk on and die if they will -leave me alone and tell me no more about the wonder. After they are gone -I turn to the Campo Santo, just<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_134">{134}</a></span> behind the chapel. This is the -Westminster of Guadalupe, full to running over with illustrious -pilgrims, bandits and all.</p> - -<p>At the barred gate I was met by a tall pirate who claimed my camera. I -told him I had passed the custom-house with that box, and that there was -nothing seditious in it but a half dozen exposures of his -fellow-citizens, and from the scarcity of clothes they had on they were -really exposed before I found them, and besides, I had a deed and title -to that camera stretching all the way to Boston. He said that was all -<i>bueno</i>, but he did not care a <i>hot tamale</i> about that, but he would -swear by all the saints and the Virgin herself that I and my camera -would part company before I entered that gate. “Why sir, don’t you know -that you stand on holy ground, right on the Hill of Tepeyacac itself, -and right in that gate is the tomb of Santa Anna?” I told him that was -all <i>bueno</i>, too, but we had Santa Anna’s wooden leg in the Smithsonian -Institution, and I was not afraid of any one-legged man hurting me, -especially one that had been planted twenty-six years. And besides, I -told him the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed right here February -2, 1848, and if I remembered correctly the treaty acknowledged that he -got licked, and we could lick him again and tie one hand behind our -backs. I did not want to trouble the Virgin to bring this gate-keeper -back to life, so I gave him my camera.</p> - -<p>Among the Indians of our country one can hardly ever get an Indian’s -picture; they think you can “hoodoo” them if you once get their picture. -Perhaps they think the same here, for<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_135">{135}</a></span> I have never found a Campo Santo -unguarded, and they all draw the line between me and my camera.</p> - -<p>I went in and saw that Santa Anna was still dead, and his grave was -covered with the same wonderful roses that the Virgin ordered here four -hundred years ago. Then I began to figure out what right that old -brigand had to be buried here on this holy hill.</p> - -<p>He was five times president of Mexico, four times Military Dictator, and -was twice banished to the West Indies, “For his own and for his -country’s good.” “Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, February 21, 1798.” So -his birth-day just lacked one day of making him Father of his Country, -but seven times with the reins of government in his hands, nearly -qualified him to be step-father anyway. He ought to have come to the -United States and entered politics.</p> - -<p>When the War of Independence began in 1821, he joined the Mexican forces -under Iturbide, but quarreled with him the next year and put himself at -the head of a new party, and seeing which was the winning side, he -joined Guerrera and soon became Commander-in-chief of the army. He then -overthrew Guerrera in favor of Bustamente, then overthrew Bustamente in -favor of Pedraza, and in 1833 he sat down on Pedraza and modestly made -himself president.</p> - -<p>Then he told the dear people that it was time to elect a new president, -and that there was only one candidate, and the first two letters of his -name were Santa Anna. Incidentally, he reminded the people that he had -the army to back him.</p> - -<p>They say he was elected by a large majority, (so was Cromwell.) Having -settled that little<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_136">{136}</a></span> matter, he went over in Texas and chased the Texas -army all over the state for two years, till he got it corraled in a bend -of the San Jacinto River, and then sat down to supper, but during the -night the Texans broke out and to their great surprise captured Santa -Anna himself. He never forgave the Texans for that.</p> - -<p>The Texans wanted to barbecue him just as he had done the Texans at the -fall of the Alamo in San Antonio, and the massacre at Galiad, but -General Sam Houston saved his neck. He went back home in disgrace and -was banished, but he would not stay banished. He came back and made -himself president in 1846.</p> - -<p>When Texas entered the Union he started over to chase Texans again, but -at the battle of Cerro Gordo, General Scott got his wooden leg and he -had to give up the chase. When the French put Maximilian on the Mexican -throne in 1861, Santa Anna was an exile in the West Indies. He wrote a -letter of congratulation to Maximilian, and said, “If you want a man to -wipe up the earth with General Juarez’ army I am the man to do it.” -Maximilian declined with thanks. Then he wrote a letter to Juarez and -said, “If you want a man to wipe up the earth with that French army, I -am the man.” Juarez declined with thanks. Santa Anna had his feelings -hurt, so he came home, raised an army and licked both Maximilian and -Juarez for snubbing him. In 1867, Mexico got too small for him, so he -was asked to consider himself banished for an indefinite period.</p> - -<p>In 1874 he asked his country to let him come home to die, and the -country graciously granted him the privilege and welcome, if he would<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_137">{137}</a></span> -promise to die. So he came home and met all the agreement and died, and -here he is.</p> - -<p>His grave-stone had R. I. P. and the boy said it was, “Let her rip,” but -a few had “perpituidad” which meant that they had paid their rent till -the final resurrection. The others were, “Rest in Peace,” for five -years, and if the rent is not paid, the resurrection takes place -immediately.</p> - -<p>At Saltillo, the cemetery has two heaps of grinning skulls and bones -that will measure 25,000 cubic feet of dead people who did not pay rent -and were evicted.</p> - -<p>A hundred dollars will buy the little word “perpituidad” on your -tombstone, which will protect you till Gabriel sounds the final -reveille.</p> - -<p>I went back to my gate-keeper and said: “Now my good fellow, laying -aside all jokes, what has Santa Anna done so noble as to give him a -grave on this hill?”</p> - -<p>He said this hill was a regular boom in real estate and that all his -renters paid gilt-edge prices for beds, and as S. A. had the shekels, he -got the bed. “And sir, if you have got the rocks, you can get lodging -here.”</p> - -<p>I declined with thanks, and told him I always carried a Coffin with me.</p> - -<p>The road from Mexico to Guadalupe is three miles long, and has twelve -stone shrines to commemorate the stations of the cross. All the pilgrims -venerate these shrines on the march to Guadalupe. When Maximilian was -meeting with such cool reception by the Mexicans, he walked the whole -distance barefooted, in December, to win the good will of the Mexicans -by apparent conformity to their customs. The Mexicans took him down to -Queretaro and shot him.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_138">{138}</a></span></p> - -<p>I have gone thus minutely, and perhaps tediously, into the details of -this legend to “find a moral and adorn the tale;” to expose the -fraudulent practices and glaring deceit which the priest-hood has -foisted upon the ignorant people. Whenever their hold upon the people -seems to weaken, a cock-and-bull story like the one just told will awe -the superstitious people by thousands to the rescue. Think of that -humbug when the water was four years falling, and then the image getting -the credit for it!</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, Mexico City was built upon an island only two feet -higher than Lake Texcoco, a salt lake with no outlet, and both lake and -city are in a crater, and all the water that falls in that forty mile -valley must remain until evaporated, even though it takes four years to -lower the height of a broken cloud-burst. After the water has evaporated -to its usual level, why, the “Virgin lowered the water.”</p> - -<p>Every priest in Mexico knows the geography of the valley and why the -lake is salt, and why inundations take place even today in the principal -streets of the city. In the light of this knowledge, their duping -practices seem more reprehensible. Such is their hold, however, that -since the church and state have been separated by law, several -revolutions have been threatened because the state has attempted to -interdict some of the senseless customs of the fiestas. Even within the -last six years, the state proposed to put restrictions upon some of the -ceremonies of Guadalupe, and had to recall the proposition to prevent a -revolution.</p> - -<p>It is encouraging to know that you never see an intelligent Mexican -making a door-mat of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_139">{139}</a></span> himself before these shrines. He knows it is not -worship as well as the priest, but there are thousands who are yet in -the dark and the only hope of the priest-hood is continual ignorance of -the masses, but education is weakening that every year. It is said that -when an Indian earns two dollars, he gives one to the priest, forty-five -cents for pulque, and supports his family with the remainder. As bad as -that may look in print, I can say it is not far from an actual fact. -Stand in front of that four million dollar church with all its useless -finery, and then gaze at the thousands of beggars that crowd its steps -and overflow to the street, who have to sit down to hide their nakedness -and to better support their weak stomachs, and draw your own conclusion. -And who ever heard of a Mexican church supporting a charity or raising a -poor fund? Not I, and I have seen all of it. If these people had one -tenth of the intelligence of the French Communes, they would walk into -those churches and have a grand lottery drawing with no blanks.</p> - -<p>As I have seen it, the whole thing is a whited sepulcher. I mingled with -ten thousand French on July 14 when they celebrated the fall of the -Bastile, and sang with them the Marseillaise, not because I was French, -but because it was an effort and a successful one of establishing -individual freedom; and it pleased me, and I wondered when I might join -with Mexico and help them sing La Golondrina and celebrate the Fall of -Guadalupe.</p> - -<p>Old Cato’s climax in his Roman speech-making could well be paraphrased -for the nineteenth century, and when thinking of the incubus of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_140">{140}</a></span> Mexican -progress, would fit well with a change of one word when we say:</p> - -<p class="c">“<i>Carthago delenda est.</i>”</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 344px;"> -<a href="images/i_146.png"> -<img src="images/i_146.png" width="344" height="450" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_141">{141}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /><br /> -PUBLIC BUILDINGS.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">W</span>HERE once stood the Palace of Montezuma, now stands the national -Palace. It occupies the entire eastern side of the Plaza Mayor, with a -frontage of 675 feet, and was built in 1692. It is open to the public -all day long.</p> - -<p>On the ground floor of the plaza front are the barracks. On the second -are the President’s chambers and those occupied by the Spanish Viceroys -and the Austrian usurper, Maximilian.</p> - -<p>At the extreme front is the Ambassadors’ Hall, so long that the -President at one end in his chair of state seems but a pigmy, and so -narrow that three persons with outstretched hands can touch either wall. -The idea of spacious halls seems never to have entered the Mexican’s -head. Huge buildings they have, but they are only a succession of rooms -whose dimensions depend upon the usual length of building timbers, which -is never over twenty feet. It seems easy to connect the joists on -supporting pillars and enlarge the room, but, “We have always done this -way.” So the Ambassadors’ Hall has a probable length of 300 feet, and an -actual width of about twenty.</p> - -<p>At the Southern end is a raised dais where the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_142">{142}</a></span> President presides; at -the other, under a canopy are two magnificent state chairs. One was the -property of Cortez, and has his name on the back in pure gold, and the -date 1531. It is in excellent repair, since its construction was -entirely of metal covered with brocade, and one might doubt its -antiquity were not the ear marks of old Spain everywhere visible in all -its workmanship, even in its coat-of-arms. The other is covered entirely -with pure gold and is the chair of state of the President, and must be -worth $20,000 if appearances comport with the actual value of gold. Just -opposite this chair is a painting fifteen by thirty feet, depicting the -great battle of Puebla when President Diaz first won his spurs in -defeating the French army. An old grizzled veteran who fought in the -battle will point out the notables in the picture, not omitting his own -which stands to the left of the President.</p> - -<p>On the same wall hang the pictures of George Washington and the leaders -of Mexican Independence, Iturbide, Hidalgo and Morelos. There is no room -closed to the visitor, so we visit the President’s barber shop, -reception room, library and the Hydrographic office where maps and -charts are being made. All these rooms are furnished differently, and -are as elegant and comfortable as even a president could wish. Nearby is -the treasurer’s office, and how my feet clogged when I tried to go by! I -just want to change money all the time; I know of no better way to get -rich than to change money. Hand over one of Uncle Samuel’s ten-dollar -bills, and get eighteen dollars and sixty cents back, is just doubling -your money as fast as you can<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_143">{143}</a></span> stow it away. It beats the lottery -business all to pieces. So when I passed by the treasurer’s office I -wanted to change money, but I was loaded down at that moment and could -not. When you step into a restaurant and give a U.S. dollar for your -dinner and get your dinner and another dollar in change, you want to eat -some more.</p> - -<p>In the courtyard is a curious plant that has a flower exactly in -imitation of the human hand with all its fingers. It is the -<i>cheirostemon plaxanifolium</i> or hand tree. Only three specimens exist in -Mexico. As all the public buildings are under one roof, we soon find -ourselves at the Post Office with its seven days wonders. No one goes to -the window and inflicts upon the unoffending young lady that much abused -old legend, “Is there a letter here for me?” O no, that is not the -style. When the mail arrives, the letters are arranged alphabetically -and numbered consecutively, then the list is typewritten and posted on -the bulletin board, where he who runs may read. Beginning with No. 1 on -the first day of the month, the numbers run to the end of the month and -start over. The foreign list is published separate from the native. If -you find your name on the bulletin you pass to the window and call for -date and number only, and a book inside has a duplicate list. The letter -is handed you, and you sign your name opposite the number of the letter, -giving street, number and hotel. At the same time a policeman stands at -your elbow, scrutinizing all persons and their handwriting, and -qualifying himself to find you again if necessary in case of forgery. To -an American the system may seem<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_144">{144}</a></span> cumbersome, but he must remember that -he is in a country where letters to the United States cost five cents, -and I have seen domestic letters from one state to the other cost ten -cents, as much as many people earn, so there is not much letter writing.</p> - -<p>Then it has its advantage. Every time a clerk is called to the window, -she knows there is a letter needed, and it saves the endless “yes, no, -yes, no” all day long, and the sorting of hundreds of letters to look -for the name of a person who is not expecting a letter at all, “but just -thought I would ask you.” The system is infinitely better than that in -Texas towns with a Mexican population. No Mexican signs his name without -a flourish which obscures the name entirely sometimes, and besides, the -Mexican names have a way of spelling themselves different from the -pronunciation.</p> - -<p>The Texas post-mistress lumps all Mexican mail in one box, and when a -Mexican shows his head at the window she hands him all the Spanish -literature on hand, and he takes what he wishes. If he is dishonest, he -can purloin any mail he sees fit. The Mexican officials are very kind, -and always try to keep a clerk who knows English. Of course she is -always out when you need her most, but that does not detract from their -good intentions; but the Spanish language is so easy a person can learn -a hundred words a day, and if he knows Latin he has nearly half the -language to start with.</p> - -<p>Next door to the Post Office is the National Museum, the most wonderful -repository in America, where ancient Mayan, Aztec and Toltec relics lie -side by side with the civiliza<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_145">{145}</a></span>tion of today. Here are gods without -number and idols by the thousand.</p> - -<p>Strangest among these symbols is the ever-present serpent, that subtile -being that has left its stamp in the mythology of the old world. -Wherever native religions have had their sway, this symbol is certain to -appear. It appears in Egypt, Greece, Assyria and among the superstitions -of the Celts, Hindoos and Chinese, and here upon these ancient idols he -is carved upon porphyry and granite in natural size and heroic -dimensions, but always in coil, with the rattlesnake fangs and tail -conspicuous.</p> - -<p>Here is also the Aztec sacrificial stone of basalt, nine feet in -diameter and three feet thick, within whose bloody arms, from Spanish -authority, twenty-thousand victims were annually offered up. All of the -Spanish under Cortez would have been killed upon that awful retreat of -Noche Triste, were it not for the zeal of the Mexicans to capture them -alive to offer as sacrifice rather than kill them in battle. The central -figure of all this interesting collection is the calendar stone upon -whose mysterious records the scholars of Europe and America have labored -with only partial success. The stone is circular, is hewn from a solid -piece of porphyry, and weighs fifty tons. How it ever reached this -island is a mystery, when the people had no beasts of burden; how it was -carved is a mystery as the people did not know iron. The greatest wonder -is the inscription which accurately records the length of the solar, -lunar and siderial year, calculated eclipses, and is a more perfect -calendar than any European country possesses.</p> - -<p>From this stone we learn that the Aztecs di<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_146">{146}</a></span>vided the year into 365 -days; these were divided into 18 months of 20 days each, and, like the -ancient Egyptians, they had 5 complementary days to make out 365. But -the year is composed of six hours more than 365 days, and in America we -add the six hours every four years and make leap-year. The Aztecs waited -52 years, and then interposed 13 days, or rather 12½, which brought the -length of their tropical year to within the smallest fraction of the -figures of our most skillful astronomers. Like the Persians and -Egyptians, a cycle of 52 years was represented by a serpent, so -prominent in mythology.</p> - -<p>This interpolation of 25 days in every 104 years showed a nicer -adjustment of civil to solar time than that presented by any European -calendar, since more than five centuries must elapse before the loss of -an entire day. Their astrological year was divided into months of 13 -days each, and there were 13 years in their indications which contained -each 365 periods of 18 days each. It is also curious that their number -of lunar months of 13 days each were contained in a cycle of 52 years -with the interpolation of 13 days (12½) should correspond exactly with -the Great Sothic period of the Egyptians, viz: 1461. By means of this -calendar, the priests kept their own records, regulated the festivals -and sacrifices, and made all their astronomical calculations. They had -the means of setting the hours with precision; the periods of the -solstices and equinoxes and the transit of the sun across the zenith of -Mexico. This stone was dug up in the great square in 1790 where it had -lain buried since the Conquest in 1520, but<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_147">{147}</a></span> its high scientific -deductions are out of all proportion to the advance of the Aztec in -other branches of learning, since the stone is more exact today than any -European calendar in existence, therefore it must have been made by -another race. The characters are in the Toltec language, but there are -many points of it which the Toltecs copied from the Mayas of Yucatan, -and the Mayas seem to have copied from the Egyptians, of which we shall -speak in another chapter.</p> - -<p>There are other relies more ancient than the Calendar Stone, and others -more recent. There is the ideographic picture-writing, through which we -learn the history of the race previous to the Conquest. Here is -Montezuma’s shield, the armor worn by Cortez in the Conquest, his -battle-flag, the statue of the war god Huitzilopochtle, Tula monoliths, -the Goddess of Water, Palenque cross, Chacmol, and the finest carriage -in the world, built by Maximilian for his Mexican capital. The body is -painted red, the wheels are gilded, and the interior is lined with white -silk brocade, heavily trimmed with silver and gold thread.</p> - -<p>In Ethnology and Zoology the exhibits would require days to see. The -museum is open every day but Saturday, and is thronged ever. The Indians -never tire gazing on the scenes which recall the times when they were -masters. In the midst of the quadrangle is a beautiful garden of rare -plants and tall palms.</p> - -<p>Soldiers guard the entrance and police welcome you and ask for your -camera and umbrellas, and as your party starts, a uniformed lad will -fall in at your heel, attach himself to your<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_148">{148}</a></span> shadow and never leave you -till you descend the steps to the exit. He does not seek your -companionship necessarily for publication, “but as an evidence of good -faith.” He is not intrusive nor garrulous; his duty is simply to be ever -present. With tens of thousands of valuable relics in easy reach, -probably they are acting wisely upon past experience.</p> - -<p>The next door leads to San Carlos, the National Art Gallery. Here are -the famous paintings of “Padre Los Casas,” “The Deluge,” and Murillo’s -“San Juan de Dios” and “The Lost Sheep.” In the fourth and fifth salons -are the works of native Mexicans, and their love to old Spain is shown -by their paintings; whole sides of the salons are given to the cruel -tale of the Conquest and the Inquisition: Spanish Cavaliers, holding up -the cross in one hand and the drawn sword in the other, and cutting down -the ignorant natives who would not confess the Virgin; the death of -Montezuma, surrounded by heaps of gold so gluttonously hoarded by the -Spaniards; the fate of his brother, Guatemotzin, the last of the Aztec -chieftains, whose feet are held in the fire by his Christian torturers, -to disclose his hidden treasures, and the haughty chieftain still kept -his heroic mien without a murmur.</p> - -<p>One of his generals who was similarly tortured appealed to him. Turning -a look of scorn upon him Guatemotzin replied: “And say, am I on a bed of -roses?” There is a weird fascination about the paintings that makes you -feel that the paintings have just stepped from the pages of Prescott’s -Conquest of Mexico. It is the Chamber of Horrors where the Spanish -Inquisition is<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_149">{149}</a></span> depicted by men who knew. Overhead are scores of -medallions of famous men of Mexican birth, and beneath each a famous -picture. Leaving this salon we come to a well lighted hall with several -hundred easels and folding stools. This is the instruction room, and is -filled with students and models and casts and charts, where lessons are -given to all who apply without regard to creed or race or color. The -Color Line has no place in Mexico. Beneath the salon are halls filled -with statuary, where clay modeling and sculpture is taught, and as you -leave with weary limb you are convinced that it is in truth a National -Academy.</p> - -<p>Then there is the Mineria, the School of Engineering and Mines, on San -Andres and Betlemita streets. It cost a million and a half of dollars, -and was the work of the sculptor and architect, Tolsa. It contains rich -collections of geological and minerological specimens, and a -meteorological observatory, also a fossil of the Pleiocene horse of -three toes. The mint on Apartado Street struck its first coin in 1535, -and since then the coins of republics, empires and dictatorships have -run from it in a constant stream of gold and silver to the enormous sum -of $2,200,000,000.</p> - -<p>Then there is the National Library and the Preparatory School on San -Ildefonso Street, with a thousand students and fine equipment and -botanical garden. Public instruction is free and gratuitous in every -respect, without regard to race or religion.</p> - -<p>Just beyond the Cathedral is a National Pawnshop, Monte de Piedad, -“Mountain of Mercy.” It was founded more than a hundred<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_150">{150}</a></span> years ago by -Count Regla, the owner of the famous silver-mine of Real de Monte, who -gave three hundred thousand dollars for the purpose, so that the poor -and needy could get money on their belongings at reasonable interest. -Any article deposited is valued by two disinterested parties, and -three-fourths of its value is promptly advanced. If the party ceases to -pay interest on the loan, the article is kept six months longer, and -then exposed for sale. If not sold in the next six months, it is sold at -public auction, and all that is realized from the sale above the -original pawn, is placed to the borrower’s credit. If this money is not -called for in a specified time, it reverts to the bank of the -institution. This is a government institution, and has entirely broken -up the small pawn-shops that charge unreasonable interest. The rate of -interest is never raised, and it lends a million dollars a year, and has -fifty thousand customers. One dollar is the smallest sum loaned, and ten -thousand the largest, and the loans are about three hundred daily. About -one-third of the articles pawned are never redeemed, and tourists can -find some wonderful bargains here. The Diamond snuff-box presented Santa -Anna when he was Dictator is here. $25,000 will buy the little trifle.</p> - -<p>In all the wars and revolutions this old city has seen, all parties have -respected this grand institution, with one exception: When Gonzales was -president in 1884, he ran so short of money, that to keep the National -credit, he levied upon its treasury. An English syndicate with a capital -of $25,000,000 has recently bought the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_151">{151}</a></span> institution for one million, and -will still carry on the banking business.</p> - -<p>Chapultepec, “The hill of the Grass-hopper,” is the president’s White -House and the West Point of Mexico. It is three miles from the city, and -is situated upon a perpendicular rock, two hundred feet high, and was a -veritable Gibraltar in war times when cannon were unknown. This castle -was the pride and ambition of Carlotta, the wife of Maximilian, and she -spent half a million dollars on the interior furnishings. The interior -is remodeled on the Pompeiian style. The castle is reached by a winding -road around the hill, and also by a secret cavern through the hill. On -the rock in front are the engraved pictures of Montezuma I. and his -successor. In the rear is the immense park of <i>ahuehuete</i> or cypress -trees, next in size to the redwoods of California. One of these -venerable monarchs is fifty feet in circumference and one hundred and -seventy feet high, under which was Montezuma’s favorite seat. This park -measures two miles in length, and reaches to Molino del Rey, “The King’s -Mill,” which figured in the war with the United States. It is now the -National Arsenal.</p> - -<p>The Military Academy is at Chapultepec, and the whole hill is a military -camp. From the citadel a view can be had of the whole valley of Mexico, -forty miles long and thirty wide. To the left of the road leading up to -the castle is a cave, closed with an iron gate. This is said to have -been the treasure house of both Montezuma and Cortez. A stairway leads -up through the hill to the castle. A large collection of animals are in -the park and a beautiful flower garden.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_152">{152}</a></span> From here leads an aqueduct -that supplies the city with water, just as it did before the Conquest. -Here was made the last stand against the American army under General -Pillow, and U. S. Grant was one of the first to mount the hill, and the -flower of the cadet army was slain here, and they were only boys. The -occasion has been remembered by the government, and at the foot of the -hill stands a large monument with the names of all the boys who fell. On -one side is this inscription:</p> - -<p class="c"><small> -“DEDICATED TO THE STUDENTS<br /> -WHO FELL<br /> -IN DEFENDING THEIR COUNTRY AGAINST<br /> -THE AMERICAN INVASION.”<br /></small> -</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 283px;"> -<a href="images/i_158.png"> -<img src="images/i_158.png" width="283" height="239" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_153">{153}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /><br /> -THE PASEO AND BULL-FIGHT.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HE City of Mexico with its 350,000 inhabitants is a disappointment to -the foreigner. The business portion looks just like an American city. -All the Mexican cities are paved with cobble stones, with the street -lowest in the center, which is the gutter. Here the streets are broad, -cross at right angles, high in the middle with gutters next the -sidewalk, and are paved with asphalt. The houses are four story, and the -shops have glass show windows, very unusual in Mexico. The reason is, -this is not a Mexican city. It was built by foreigners and is now run by -foreigners.</p> - -<p>On July 14, when the French celebrated the Fall of the Bastile, -four-fifths of the business houses were draped in the tri-color of -France. With twenty-five foreign consuls, six vice consuls, and fourteen -foreign ministers, each with its attaches and dependencies, it is no -wonder the city’s local ear-mark is lost in this assembly of foreigners; -and, were it not for the languages of Spanish and French which fall so -musically on the ear, the scene would not be very different from a -street in Chicago, if we eliminate the vehicles. It is due the foreign -element that the city has the finest boulevard in America.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_154">{154}</a></span></p> - -<p>LA PASEO DE LA REFORMA.</p> - -<p>The Latin American races are very fond of carriage-driving, and one of -the first signs of wealth is the laying out of the promenade where the -“four hundred” may drive at the fashionable hour. Before the present -Paseo was built, the fashionable drives were Paseo de La Viga and Paseo -de Bucareli. Every afternoon, then as now, were to be seen two long rows -of carriages with crowds of gentlemen on horse-back and multitudes of -foot passengers.</p> - -<p>The Paseo de Bucareli, or Paseo Nuevo, is in the southwestern part of -the city. It was opened Nov. 4, 1778, by Don Antonio Maria de Bucareli, -the viceroy. It has the same starting point as La Reforma, the circular -plazuela in which stands the statue of Charles IV. and extends half a -mile almost due south to the Garita de Belem. In the glorieta near the -city gate, is what was once a handsome fountain, surmounted by a statue -of Victory, erected in 1829 in honor of Guerrero, and which was -originally gilded. For promenading, the Paseo is now practically -deserted, but is becoming a fashionable residence section.</p> - -<p>The glories of Paseo de La Viga have indeed departed. The once famous -and fashionable drive is almost deserted, save during Lent when an old -custom prescribes that fashion shall air itself there. It traverses the -bank of La Viga canal for many miles, past the <i>chinampas</i> or floating -gardens, through a double avenue of shade trees, where continual -processions of Indians are seen from the Lake country, paddling to -market with canoes laden to the guards with vegetables, fruits and -flowers.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_155">{155}</a></span></p> - -<p>But Fashion is a tyrannical mistress, and she decrees that Paseo de La -Reforma be the only place to see and be seen. It leads from the statue -of Charles IV. to the gate of Chapultepec, two miles and a half. It is -laid with smooth asphalt, and has a uniform width of two hundred feet.</p> - -<p>It has double avenues of shade trees on each side, with broad foot ways -on the side, lined with seats for the weary. At certain intervals, the -street widens into glorietas, or circles, four hundred feet in diameter. -The street passes on each side of these glorietas and leaves them as -green islands with beautiful flowers and statuary. There are six of -these glorietas and more are to be added.</p> - -<p>All along the curbing of the Paseo, are statues of men famous in Mexican -history, and are contributed by different states. At the entrance to the -Paseo is the equestrian statue of Charles IV. of colossal size.</p> - -<p>Thirty tons of metal were used in the casting, and it is the largest -single casting in the world. Humboldt says it has but one superior, that -of Marcus Aurelius.</p> - -<p>A royal order issued Nov. 30, 1795, granted to the Viceroy Marquis de -Branceforte to erect this statue in the Plaza Mayor. The commission was -given to the sculptor Don Manuel Tosta, and the casting in bronze to Don -Salvador de la Vega. The mold and furnaces were made ready in the garden -of San Gregorio, and after two days spent in fusing the mass, the cast -was made at 6 a.m. Aug. 4, 1802. The casting, remarkable alike for being -in a single piece, and for being the first important piece of bronze<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_156">{156}</a></span> -executed in America, came out of the mold complete and without defect. -In 1803, it was erected in front of the cathedral where now is the -bandstand of the Zocalo. Here it remained till 1822 when the Mexicans -had achieved their independence, and the feeling against Spain was so -bitter it was encased in a wooden globe and painted blue, but was -finally placed for safety from the mob in the patio of the university, a -comparatively out-of-the-way place. Here it remained in obscurity till -1852 when it was set up in the commanding position it now occupies. The -height of horse and rider is fifteen feet nine inches. The king is -dressed in classic style, wearing a laurel wreath and raising aloft a -scepter.</p> - -<p>On both sides of the Paseo at its entrance, are colossal figures on high -granite pedestals said to represent Aztec warriors. The work must have -been done by Spaniards, in ridicule, for a more hideous pair of warriors -never went to battle.</p> - -<p>The first glorieta contains Cordier’s Columbus, one of the most -admirable and artistic modern statues to be found in the world. This was -the work of the French sculptor, Cordier, and was erected at the cost of -Don Antonio Escandon. The base is a platform of basalt, surrounded by an -iron railing, above which are five lanterns. From the base arises a -square mass of red marble with four basso-relievos; the arms of Columbus -with garlands of laurel; the rebuilding the monastery of La Rabida; the -discovery of San Salvador; a fragment of a letter from Columbus to his -patron Raphadi Sauris; beneath which is the dedication by Señor -Escandon.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_157">{157}</a></span></p> - -<p>Above the basso-relievos and surrounding the pedestal, are four -life-size figures in bronze, of monks and missionaries, and crowning the -whole upon the top of a pedestal of red marble is the figure of -Columbus, drawing aside the veil which hides the new world.</p> - -<p>In the next glorieta is Cuauhtemoc, a worthy companion of Columbus, and -is the work of Don Francisco Jiminez. The statue of the great warrior -king is magnificent, as he appears hurling defiance at his country’s -enemies. The base contains some fine basso-relievos, one representing -the torture of Cuauhtemoc (also spelled Guatemotzin) by the cruel -Spaniards. The fretting around the structure is all after the old Aztec -pattern, and the trophies of Indian arms and insignia are all intensely -appropriate to the warrior who preferred death of his whole people to -the surrender of his city to the Spaniards. Facing the Paseo is the -following inscription: “<i>A la memoria de Cuauhtemoc y de los Guerreras -que Combatieron Heroicamente en Defensa de su Patria M. D. XXI.</i>”</p> - -<p>Mexico is indebted to Maximilian and his wife Carlotta for this Paseo. -She had set her heart upon a “Paseo Imperaliz,” and Maximilian entered -heartily into the scheme, but he did not live to complete it. His idea -was to establish a court that should rival any in Europe, and he had -already introduced titles of nobility.</p> - -<p>He planned to create a handsome park of Chapultepec, with lakes and -streams and drives, with deer and swans and all the other nice things. -What was done he paid for out of his own civil lists, and he intended to -pay for it all and present it to the city. The Mexican peo<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_158">{158}</a></span>ple could not -brook a European Emperor, but they all loved “Poor Carlotta,” and as she -planned the Paseo, every year they add some new improvement until it has -now become the glory of the republic. Every addition is an evidence of -good taste, and Carlotta’s park idea is already planned. From the last -glorieta two roads branching to Tacubaya and Tlaxpana are being -prepared, and the park grounds will then extend from Molino del Rey to -the Exposition building, three miles.</p> - -<p>One never tires of sitting on this boulevard and viewing the motley -throng as it passes in review, driving, riding or promenading. Ladies in -Parisian bonnets and Spanish mantillas; the dashing equestrian rigged in -the paraphernalia of Mexican horsemanship, or breeched and booted after -the manner of Rotten Row itself. Stately vehicles drawn by snow-white -mules; four-in-hands tooled along in the most approved European style; -youthful aristocrats astride Lilliputian ponies, followed by liveried -servants; here and there mounted police with drawn sabres, giving an air -of old world formality to the whole proceeding. In and out among them -flash the bicycles ridden by men, women and children from all civilized -countries; the kaleidoscope of the pedestrians, dressed in their -peculiar garb with red and gray and black <i>rebosas</i>, raven black hair -exposed to view, and the Indians from the mountains in their severe -simplicity. The procession passes up the right, with here and there a -light American buggy, or a heavy-wheeled English mail phaeton with a -real live dude at the front holding the reins, and a liveried flunkey -facing behind and holding a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_159">{159}</a></span> flaring bouquet, and, after reaching -Chapultepec, it comes back on the other side, leaving the center to the -horsemen, and to the latter’s disgust, the bicycles.</p> - -<p>And we must not forget the centaurs, the Mexican horsemen; rigged out in -all the silver ornaments of bridle and saddle worth more than the -spirited horse, and ten thousand people to admire them, they never -appear to better advantage than when exhibiting on the Paseo. Spanish -and Mexican ladies rarely ride, and when they do, they are so very -exclusive they ride in closed carriages. At the glorietas are stationed -military bands with from forty to eighty pieces in each, and the -procession always exhibits to “slow music.”</p> - -<p>Poor Maximilian, at heart a great man, but the dupe of Europe, planned -this city as a king and died as a king. Could he return now, what might -be his feelings to see his plans carried out? And poor Carlotta! the -idol of Mexico, a victim of circumstances, has never forgotten that -fatal day when Maximilian was shot at Queretaro and the flash of the -rifles left her a queen without a throne and a wife without a husband. -To this day she drags out a miserable existence at the Austrian capital, -a maniac that has spent thirty years murmuring and jibbering his name. -There is in America a miserable lack of respect to kings, be they never -so good and kind and great, and Mexico was only true to the free air of -the mountains when she refused Maximilian. Mountain-born men will always -be free.</p> - -<h3>BULL-FIGHTING.</h3> - -<p>The Aztec in his palmy day offered human<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_160">{160}</a></span> sacrifice. He daily made war -upon his neighbors to secure the victims, and washing his hands in gore -has been his profession for six hundred years; this is why bull-fighting -with its fascination and danger and death is to him so dear.</p> - -<p>Every Sunday afternoon and every feast-day is given up to this bloody -pastime and everybody goes. The foreigner goes once, sometimes twice, -but rarely three times, but he never forgets what he sees. Four dead -bulls, three dead horses, from one to three maimed or dead men is the -possible result of a Sunday’s sport. Each city has its <i>plaza de torus</i> -or bull-ring, just as we have theaters, and the bull-fighters go from -town to town as our opera companies. The stars of the company are the -swordsmen. The bull-ring is a circular amphitheater, after the manner of -the Roman Coliseum, and will seat from four to twenty thousand. The -government takes a strong hand in lotteries and bull-fights, and in the -latter, receives twenty-one per cent. of the gate receipts. In the -federal district, the secretary of the republic presides at the fight.</p> - -<p>Four different haciendas are licensed by the government to breed bulls -for fighting purposes, Durango and Cazadero being the most noted. -Poncama Diaz, a nephew of the president, is called the star matador of -the world, and owns the Bucarelli bull-ring in the city, which is -capable of seating 20,000 people. The arena is a circle 200 feet in -diameter, and open to the sky. Around this is an eight foot wall to -protect the people, and at intervals along this wall are “escapes” for -the fighters<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_161">{161}</a></span> when the bulls decide there is not enough room in the -ring. Receding from the ring are the tiers of seats arranged in the -manner of a circus. Those on the shady side usually selling for a -dollar, while the “bleachers” sell for 25 or 37 cents. Over these seats -are the private boxes, and above all the gallery for the <i>olla podrida</i>.</p> - -<p>An ordinary troupe consists of two matadores or swordsmen, four -banderilleros or dart stickers, two or four picadores or lancers, and -the lazadores who lasso and drag the dead animals from the ring. The -program usually consists of the killing of four bulls in an hour, with -sometimes an extra. The president of the function, (every thing here is -a function) may reject any part of the performance or fine any member -who commits a breach of ring etiquette. The performance is set for four -o’clock and is always the same. The crowd waits, grows impatient, the -band plays. The crowd grows more impatient, the band plays again—plays -all the time. Finally the judge appears, (every function must have a -mediator between the people and the event) and is seated in his -decorated box, and the band plays again.</p> - -<p>The judge makes a sign to the bugler who blows the opening of the gates, -through which comes a snow-white horse bearing a rider dressed in green -and gold, with knee pants and silver buckles, flowing cape, cocked hat -and waving plume. This is the president of the company, and he begs the -permission and approval of the fight. The judge assents and throws him -the keys of the bull-ring, (what else is he there for?) and the rider -retires. Again the bugler blows and the company enter in full force, and -the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_162">{162}</a></span> costume of each is worth a thousand dollars in gold. No two are -dressed alike as to color. Silk jackets that reach the waist, knee pants -and silk stockings and a cockade hat, all present the prismatic colors -of the rainbow. Around each is a Spanish cloak, held around the waist -with the left hand. As they make their bow to the audience, the cloak is -let loose with the left hand and swings around gracefully pendant from -the left shoulder.</p> - -<p>Again the bugle blows, and through the open gate a fierce bull from the -mountain is ushered in. As he passes the gate a man overhead thrusts a -steel dart into his shoulder, and on the dart is a rosette and a silk -ribbon bearing the name of the hacienda whence he came. Maddened by the -wound and frightened by the noise and people, he seeks the cause, and -sees two horsemen in the arena. The horse is blindfolded to prevent his -shying, and has a piece of sole-leather covering his side for -protection. The horseman has a lance and endeavors to thrust it into his -shoulder to ward him off. The lance point is short and is not meant to -do serious harm, but to wound and irritate the bull and make him furious -for the final battle. Sometimes the lance fails to score, sometimes it -holds in his tough hide and the handle breaks and the bull buries his -horns in the horse’s belly, and hurls both horse and rider in the air.</p> - -<p>The horse was intended for the sacrifice from the beginning, and this -was a part of the program. When the bull has killed one or two horses, -he is encouraged to fight, and that is just what the whole thing is for. -A man with a red flag draws the bull’s attention to the other<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_163">{163}</a></span> side -while the dead horse is dragged out, and sometimes a dead man. Again the -bugle blows and the ring is cleared, and two banderilleros enter. With a -red flag one gets the bull’s attention, and a banderillero runs to the -center. In each hand he holds a banderilla, a sharp steel dart about a -foot long, and ornamented with rosettes and streamers. When the bull -charges, he must reach over his horns and plant both of his banderillas -in a shoulder at the same time. Sometimes the spread of horns is four -feet, and the banderillero must make the pass and escape in a flash. As -the bull makes the charge in a frenzied run, you find yourself -unconsciously rising from your seat in anticipation of the almost -certain death of the man, and women who see it for the first time -usually faint and are promptly carried out.</p> - -<p>Should the man succeed in planting the banderillas, the crowd shower -cigars and flowers and fans upon him and shout <i>bravo! bravo!</i> Should -the bull succeed in thrusting his horns through the man’s equatorial -region and toss him in the air, the crowd shout <i>bravo torus!</i> just the -same and cheer and whistle. They paid their money to see blood and what -does it matter if it be man or bull’s? At this point it is proper for -the American ladies to faint and come to and hurry out, while the -Mexicans laugh at people who leave before the fun begins. The idea of -fainting for such a small thing! The dead man is carried out and the -other banderillero takes his place, and as the bull charges he must -plant his banderillas in the other shoulder. Sometimes the experts vary -the program by sitting in a chair until the bull is within six feet of -him, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_164">{164}</a></span> then rises and makes his thrust in time to escape, and the -bull goes off writhing in pain and trying to shake the cruel darts from -his shoulder.</p> - -<p>Sometimes a detachable rosette is thrust between his eyes as he charges, -and the stream of blood that follows betrays the steel point behind the -beautiful rosette. Then men with red flags will tantalize him. They -stand behind the flag, and as the bull charges the men step aside, -holding the flag at arm’s length in the same place, and the bull passes -under the flag into empty air, where the man was. Quick as a cat he -detects the fraud and turns upon the man, who makes a two-forty sprint -to one of the escapes, where the bull tries to batter down the planks to -get to him. The bull is now mad enough to fight a circular saw, and -again the bugle blows. The ring is cleared and now enters the matador. -The judge hands him a red flag and a sword. He must now challenge the -bull to single combat, and to the victor belong the congratulations, and -the man knows full well that if he gets killed the crowd will cheer the -bull just as heartily as they would if it were the other way.</p> - -<p>All the preliminaries of the fight were to aggravate the bull to his -highest fighting power, then turn him over to the matador, the “star of -the evening.” Rules as rigid as the Marquis of Queenbury prevail, and -woe to the man who should violate a rule or take advantage of the bull! -The judge would instantly order him from the ring and fine him. The -ethics of the fight require that the man shall stand in the middle of -the ring, wave the red flag as a challenge, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_165">{165}</a></span> as the bull starts -toward him put the flag behind him. As the bull charges, he must reach -over his horns, thrust the sword through his shoulder, pierce the heart, -and the point of the sword must appear between the bull’s fore legs, and -it must all be done in a single stroke.</p> - -<p>The hand and the eye must be as quick as lightning to do that when the -bull is on the run. If the stroke is successful, the sword flashes a -moment in the air and the next its hilt is resting against the shoulder -blades, and the bull falls as if struck by lightning. Then the air is -rent with shouts and dollars and fans and handkerchiefs, and with one -foot upon the dead animal, the matador bows his appreciation. The bugle -blows, the two lazadores gallop in, throw their lariats over the two -hind legs of the bull, and without checking their gallop, drag him out -and prepare for another. A bull is killed every fifteen minutes as -regular as the clock.</p> - -<p>Sometimes the sword misses the heart, and the bull walks off with a -stream of blood and an ugly sword wound, and then the hisses and remarks -that fall upon the matador sometimes drive him to suicide. I saw a -matador driven to desperation by the hisses, and seizing another sword -he made the stroke just behind the ear, severing the medulla oblongata, -a more difficult stroke than the other, thereby redeeming himself. -Sometimes a bull with wide stretch of horns will disconcert a matador -and he will attempt to retreat at the last moment, but then it is as -often death as escape.</p> - -<p>One Sunday a company had unusually bad luck. Three horses and two men -had already<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_166">{166}</a></span> been killed, and only two bulls, and the troupe had no more -matadors. One man was apologizing to the audience that the sport could -not proceed as he had already lost two men, when the bull suddenly made -a charge upon him and caught him between the shoulders. The “sport” -closed for the day, and the people pronounced it a great success.</p> - -<p>The next Sunday there was hardly standing room from the crowd that came -back hoping for a similar show. I met the crowd returning, and asked how -was the fight? Several shook their heads and looked dejected. “<i>No -bueno</i>, nobody was killed and the whole thing was a fiasco.” If a bull -refuses to fight after the lance has been thrust into him, the bugler at -a sign from the judge blows him out. It must be a bloody, thoroughbred -fight or none at all. It requires a long education to harden people to -suffering and blood as these people practice daily. I saw two soldiers -walk out of the barrack to fight a duel with pocket-knives, and a -hundred people stood by and saw them kill each other and not a hand was -raised to stay them. The <i>modo duello</i> among the cow-boys is very -effective. When two cow-boys have a difficulty that cannot be settled, -their friends take them off and tie their left hands together and stick -two bowie knives in the ground for their right hands, and leave them. -The one that is left alive can cut himself loose and come back to camp. -If neither comes back by the next day, the friends go over and bury -them. There is also a woman bull-fighter in Mexico; her name is La -Charita. Arizona Charley, an American cowboy has also endeared<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_167">{167}</a></span> himself -to the Mexican heart by proving himself a first-class matador. -Bull-fighting is as much a national sport as our base-ball. At one time -it was interdicted in the federal district, and the people would go to -Puebla every Sunday, seventy-five miles away, to see the “sport.” To the -lovers of the sport it matters little whether the bull or horse or the -man gets killed, or all three. What they want is their money’s worth.</p> - -<p>The meat is sold to the butchers after the fight, and Monday morning -when the waiter asks the <i>Americano</i> how is his steak, the answer -generally comes, “It’s bully.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 189px;"> -<a href="images/i_173.png"> -<img src="images/i_173.png" width="189" height="332" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_168">{168}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /><br /> -LA VIGA CANAL.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">O</span>N the side-walk adjacent to the western entrance to the cathedral is an -iron and glass Kiosk. This is Mexico’s flower market. Every morning in -the year from daybreak until eight o’clock, the sidewalk and the -adjoining street is one mass of fragrance and color. Every flower you -know and as many as you do not know are spread in the greatest profusion -possible, which fact suggests an inexhaustible supply-house somewhere. -Here are roses, jassamines, pansies, violets, heliotropes, sweetpeas, -gardenias, camelias, lilies, honeysuckles, forget-me-nots, verbenas, -lark-spurs, poppies, morning-glories, tulips, geraniums, and orchids of -untold variety and color. And there were purchasers. Priests from all -the churches, milliners and café proprietors, dry-goods’ merchants, -hotel keepers, the señora in her private carriage, señoritas with holy -shrines and patron saints to honor, devotees whose special saint day is -to be celebrated by a fiesta—everybody buys flowers, and they come by -the ton as fast as other tons are sold. And they are arranged by master -hands into cornucopias, crosses for the church altar, wreaths for the -funeral car, decorations for the cemetery, and into any design the -purchaser may indicate.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/i_176.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_176.jpg" width="600" height="357" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>GROUP EL ABRA.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_169">{169}</a></span></p> - -<p>I ask where such a world of flowers can come from in such an unbroken -stream. “From Las Chinampas,” the floating gardens. Floating Gardens! -that sounded like the tales I had read, and here are people just from -them! I anxiously ask where are they: “<i>En Canal La Viga</i>;” and so the -search began. A street-car takes us to La Embarcadero where a hundred -eager boatmen leave the wharf and come running to see us. I always -thought I was popular, but here was an ovation I had not looked for. -Then I learned something new. Each of my hundred friends had the best -boat on La Viga, and each of my hundred friends was the best pilot from -the canal to the lakes. Here was absolute perfection in ship building -and nautical knowledge that would make Diogenes put up his lamp and say: -“Eureka!” After each had extolled the virtues of his particular scow, or -flatboat, or raft, whichever it approached nearest in appearance, we -chose one.</p> - -<p>If Canal La Viga was ever dug by man, history is silent about it. It was -here when the conquerors came. It serves the same purpose as Niagara -River, and brings the water of Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco down to Lake -Texcoco. It has a uniform width and depth, and its banks are lined with -stately avenues of trees the entire length. To the great middle-class -and Indians, this is the great highway of commerce and resort for -pleasure. Sundays and feast days it is a mass of moving color. In the -dim past this city was the Venice of the New World, so boating is an -inheritance. The boats are from ten to fifteen feet long; from four to -eight wide and are generally poled along. There is<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_170">{170}</a></span> an awning and -comfortable seats where the passenger may enjoy the scenery protected -from the sun. You make any arrangement you can as to price, and your -boatman spits on his hands and pushes off, and if it is early in the -morning you meet hundreds of crafts coming to market loaded down with -fruits, grain and vegetables, pigs, lambs and chickens, and charcoal and -baskets and everything else that the Lake country produces. The -vegetables, by irrigation, surpass anything you have over met in that -line; heads of lettuce larger than cabbage, and radishes as large as an -ear of corn. A diminutive steam tug is met, trailing twelve or fifteen -barges loaded with grain and cordwood from the upper lakes. Under a -shade tree by the water, is a laundry after the fashion of the country, -and a man and woman are washing clothes. The man’s part consists in -sitting down and looking tired while the woman scrubs.</p> - -<p>If it is Sunday the boats are laden with garlanded merry-makers with -tinkling guitars and singing and dancing and having a “large time.” On -the right is the once famous Paseo de La Viga, whose glory has long -since departed to the Paseo de La Reforma. In spite of its neglect, La -Viga is one of the most delightful drives in the city, especially in -early morn, when canal traffic is at its best, and during Holy Week when -the great middle-class take their holiday. Almost immediately after -starting, we reach the old puebla of Jamaica, which, like the Paseo, has -the look of having seen better times. On the opposite bank and by the -Paseo, stands a melancholy bust of Guatemotzin, the last of the Aztec -chieftains, whom the Mexicans delight to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_171">{171}</a></span> honor—another testimonial of -ancient aristocratic grandeur. The next point of interest is the old -Garita de la Viga, the custom-house building, dating back to Spanish -times.</p> - -<p>Until a month prior to this writing, all boats paid custom duties on -whatever merchandise they brought to the city. When the duties were paid -the smaller boats were admitted through a small gate-way, which -necessitated the lowering of the awnings, while the large ones had to -discharge their cargoes.</p> - -<p>On the up-stream side of the romantic old bridge is always a blockade of -boats of every description, from mud scows to steamboats, waiting for a -transfer. The first town beyond the Garita is the quaint little town of -Santa Anita, the Coney Island of the Canal. It is essentially a Mexican -town of thatched reed houses, nearly every one a restaurant for the sale -of those unnamable dishes one meets with so often, which have a far-off -smell, but fill a long-felt want. After hearing their names called, you -are no wiser, but feel better. There are also liquid and semi-liquid -refreshments to suit the taste, provided your sense of taste has been -destroyed before coming here. The insidious and seductive pulque mixed -with the firey tequila and mescal are all loaded with malice <i>præpens</i>, -and are better left to the lava-scarred throats that have met them -before. All the fruit drinks are excellent, but the drink par excellence -is the pina. It is made from grated pine-apple, sweetened with sugar and -cooled with the snow just brought from Popocatapetl that morning.</p> - -<p>When Horace sang of the wine of Brundusium cooled with the snows of -Hymettus, he had not<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_172">{172}</a></span> heard of the pina of Santa Anita backed up by -Popocatapetl. Here are games, and all manner of games peculiar to the -people, and flower-booths where the people buy flowers and garland each -other, where even the humblest may wear a crown woven of fragrant -flowers woven by the hand of Romeo or Juliet, only they call each other -Ramon and Inez. Here is a fine old church with a beautiful tower and a -diminutive plaza with restful seats and entrancing music.</p> - -<p>Be sure to stop at the hacienda of Don Juan Corona. He was a retired -bull-fighter, and in his old age became antiquarian, and his house is a -vast museum of costly and rare antiquities. When he died he left a -legacy to found a school for the poor, and if you have any pennies to -bestow upon the señora who shows you around, they will be well spent.</p> - -<p>We leave the merry-makers and proceed on our search for <i>las chinampas</i>, -after our boatman has mulcted us for coppers enough to tank up at a -pulque joint. The thick ropy liquid has loosened his tongue in a -marvelous manner, and the flood gates of his information bureau are -raised, and for an hour he gives us chapters of unwritten history and -legends of the country. That which I knew, he gave in Spanish, and that -which neither of us knew he gave in Aztec, and he justified his claim of -being the best informed guide on La Viga. Henceforth I call him Ananias. -The two snow-clad volcanoes were close by on our left and I asked him -which was Ixtaccihuatl and which Popocatepetl. “This is Esclaéwa and -that is Popocaltepay,” he promptly answered. I said: “Man, your -pronounciation is bent a little bit to starboard;<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_173">{173}</a></span> everybody else says -Popocatepetl.” “Of course they do,” he said, “which only proves that -everybody else is wrong. I say it is Popocaltepay.” That scored one more -for that designing pulque, and added to the title of Ananias, that of -Geographer with a pedigree only three removes by blood from some people -Baron Munchausen once knew.</p> - -<p>The next town reached was Ixtacalco, where the people seem to have -sobered down, and the burg showed less bent for pleasure and more for -business. Here a fine old stone bridge crosses La Viga, and a -discouraged old chapel with its portals wandering down to the water’s -edge, where, in the good old days gone by, the boatman muttered an <i>ave</i> -and deposited his offering to the saint in whose honor it was -consecrated, in the hope that good luck might attend his market voyage. -In front of the church, dedicated to Saint Matias, and which is a -Franciscan foundation of more than three hundred years ago, is a little -plaza with a fountain of running water. Along the lane from this plaza -and marked by a palm-tree, is the ruin of what was once the chapel of -Santiago, which is used as a dwelling.</p> - -<p>In the midst of these inhabitants is the remnant of what was once a most -gallant image of Santiago himself, now galloping to defend the faith on -a headless horse, another relic of the romantic past, the work possibly -of some cavalier of Spain, under the leadership of that prince of brave -men, Hernan Cortez—for cruel as he was, we cannot withhold from him the -meed he justly earned in bearding the lion in his den, though The New -World Venice was buried in his blood-reeking canals. Who knows whose -work it was,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_174">{174}</a></span> least of all the inhabitants of Ixtacalco, or the -mutilated image itself, or if it knows, it discloses not its secret. We -told Ananias to drive on, but that worthy assumed an electrocuted -countenance that was wonderful to behold. The long distance had already -paralyzed one side, and “He barely had strength enough to take him back -to the city, and the Lake is fifteen kilometers. You will have to hire -another boatman from here, and señor, by all the saints I could not pass -that bridge, it is beyond my territory, and besides, señor, how much -more will you give me to carry you to the next town?”</p> - -<p>There! at last we see him in his true light, a pirate! Three well-earned -titles in one day and it was not a very good day for titles either, and -he had no appearance of aristocracy either. Certainly he did not belong -to the Order of the Bath. “Here,” said I, “I will give you three cents -to get drunk and drown yourself.” Off came his sombrero and down came a -salaam almost to the prow of his boat. “Señor, I think I heard you say -you wanted to see the chinampas.” “Chinampas! why of course, that is -what I left the city to see, where are they?” “Well señor, we passed the -floating garden a mile back at Santa Anita.” Caramba! Here was the title -of knave to add to his already long list. With the hope of “holding me -up” at the bridge for a raise in wages, he had silently passed the -chinampas for fear I would stop.</p> - -<p>My admiration began to grow for this Captain Kidd, and I was anxious to -know how many cards he yet held up his sleeve, but it was expensive, so -telling him to soak his head, I crossed the bridge and struck out upon -the causeway, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_175">{175}</a></span> for miles and miles there was nothing but chinampas! -They could have been seen from Ananias’ boat had it not been for the -bank of the canal. This then was the mint where the flowers and -vegetables were coined for the great city. Floating garden is now a -misnomer. In years gone by they really floated on rafts, but as the -French say “<i>Nous avons change tout cela.</i>” Since the lake was drained -they are all stationary and are likely to remain so unless -“Popocaltepay” resumes business again.</p> - -<p>The Chinampas are a net-work of islands—Venice moved from the city to -the lakes. The land-owner simply taps the canal with a ditch, leads it -around three sides of a square and brings it into the canal again, -making a rectangular island of any dimension he chooses. His neighbor -beyond taps to his canal, and the system is extended for miles and miles -just like the streets of a city, the business blocks answering for the -islands. Through these canal streets dart thousands of boats that -harvest the crops that grow here forever. Surrounded and saturated with -water the chinampas are always moist and fertile and as there is no -winter it is one perpetual seed time and harvest. The accumulated humus -and vegetable matter make it unnecessary to even fertilize.</p> - -<p>Broad streets cross these areas at intervals and among these islands and -along the causeways the Indians live. No mosquito is ever billed for an -evening’s entertainment, and the voice of the mud-turtle is not heard in -the land. Malaria? perhaps, but what of that? A few dollars to the -priest, a few masses for the soul in Purgatory, and the general average -in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_176">{176}</a></span> end is about the same. Your average Indian, like the Hindoo, is -a fatalist, and “Kismet!” what is to be will be. There is something of -beauty in these humble homes, and where flower-growing is a profession, -it would be strange if their beauty had left no impression upon the -lives and homes, and so all the people of La Viga decorate with flowers. -The thatched house of reeds will be hidden under its wealth of vine and -flower of the <i>copra del oro</i> with its immense golden cups approaching -in size a squash blossom. Within these huts are specimens of dark beauty -and features and wealth of hair that many a fairer maiden might envy. -Seated under her own vine and pomegranate tree, wrapped in thought and a -scant petticoat, she weaves a mat of rushes or knits a hammock that will -find its way to the home of some who read these lines.</p> - -<p>Are they happy? “Where ignorance is bliss,” etc. They were born here, -their parents before them were born here, this beautiful valley has all -the charms to them that your home has for you. And is not Antonio here? -and is he not the best gardener on La Viga, and are they not going to -the little chapel next fiesta to be joined by the priest? Surely -happiness in this world is measured by the contentment of our lot.</p> - -<p>Not all the people of the Chinampas have boats. The great highway along -the bank carries more passengers than the placid waters. An Indian woman -with a hundred and thirty pounds on her head will trot her thirty miles -to market and return next day. I say trot because no other word will do. -All people of the burden-bearing class have a swing trot that they keep<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_177">{177}</a></span> -up all day. And the income! what glowing picture of opulence does the -Indian not feel when he spends two days in the mountains burning -charcoal, then loads himself and burro with his wealth, and trots his -twenty miles to market? A dollar and a half for both loads would drive -him speechless, but let us confine ourselves to actual facts, and grant -him a whole dollar. He counts himself well paid, and the five days labor -and forty mile journey count for nothing. He is not selling his time, -but his <i>carbon</i> which he patiently peddles till sold, only keeping -enough to feed his burro with. I suppose he feeds him with it, for I am -sure I have never seen him carry along anything else that looked like -feed. For dessert a few banana peels around the market place and broken -pottery is about his only chance unless good luck blows some old straw -hat his way; then he feasts. Time! What is time to the Indian? Has he -not a whole year?</p> - -<p>The next town on La Viga is Mexicalcingo, seven miles from the city. -Before the Conquest it was of some importance, but now only a straggling -village with dirty streets, which shelter possibly three hundred people. -The ruins of the monastery and church of San Marco, built by the -Franciscans, are here. The old causeway and military road, seven miles -long, that once crossed the lake from Mexico to Ixtapalapan, crosses La -Viga at this point. This was a dependency of the Aztec City. A very -picturesque view of the high old bridge of Aztec time is had, and the -bright green maize on one hand, and the old ecclesiastical building on -the other, bowered in masses of dark green foliage, are very pleasing. -Past the ancient old<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_178">{178}</a></span> bridge the scene changes but little except there -are less signs of habitation, and finally the last town of La Viga is -reached, Culhuacan. This is a picturesque old town, half of it built on -the hill, and here are the ruins of a fine old church and monastery. -Here La Viga begins to broaden out into a lake, and everywhere, both -parallel with it and at right angles to it, are many branches of the -canal, which in wet weather are small lakes themselves.</p> - -<p>The journey might be continued out into Lake Xochimilco “The Field of -Flowers,” and the quaint and beautiful town of the same name would be -well worth the time; but we started out to see where all those beautiful -flowers came from, and <i>veni, vide</i>, I returned.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 296px;"> -<a href="images/i_186.png"> -<img src="images/i_186.png" width="296" height="277" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_179">{179}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /><br /> -THE SUBURBS.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HERE are twenty suburban towns around the capital that can be visited -by horse-cars, or as the natives say, “tram-vias.” They are -Atzcapotzalco, Tacuba, Tacubaya, Jamaica, Santa Anita, Chapultepec, -Molino Del Rey, Churubusco, San Angel, Castaneda, Tlalpam, Cepoyacan, -Popotla, San Joaquin, Contreras, Azteca, Nueva Tenochtitlan, Guadalupe, -Tlaxpano, Tlalnepantla and Mixcoac. You will notice that most of them -bear Aztec and not Spanish names, which means that they are older than -the Conquest, and are worth seeing, even though you do not get out of -the cars.</p> - -<p>The farthest away is old Tlalpam, about 20 kilometers, and most of the -journey is made by steam. Seven or eight cars leave the city, drawn by -mules to the gate of the city where they are coupled together, and a -locomotive pulls the train through the beautiful valley at the rate of -fifteen miles an hour. It makes one feel a little bit creepy to know -that he is thus hurried along in a train of street cars, but they are -made by a reliable New York firm and that gives confidence. We pass -through a valley overlain with volcanic tufa, and herein lies the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_180">{180}</a></span> -secret of the wonderful productiveness of this farming land. It is -easily pulverized and makes a fertilizer as potent as the commercial -ones. Old Tlalpan is on the rim of the valley and the foot hills of the -plateau, and is a residence suburb of the wealthy who do business in the -city. The walls of the private residences are as forbidding as a -penitentiary. Solid masonry from ten to twenty feet high, capped with -broken glass fastened in cement.</p> - -<p>A Mexican’s home is indeed his castle, to which he enters through stone -walls and iron gates. You are not wanted there and are never invited. I -knew an American professor who taught five years in Mexico, and had seen -the inside of only three homes, and then he went on business, and saw -none of the female members. Such is the custom and seclusiveness of the -people.</p> - -<p>Tlalpan reminds me of a citizen of New York who went into a <i>fin du -siecle</i> saloon to get a drink, and when he paid his reckoning it was one -dollar. He naturally protested against the exorbitance, and the clerk -called his attention to his surroundings. “My dear sir, look about you; -this is no dive, these paintings cost a hundred thousand dollars.” The -victim paid the dollar, and thought long and deeply. The next day he -returned by way of a harness shop, and got a pair of blind bridles that -draymen use on their horses, and thus equipped he entered that -aristocratic saloon and walked up to the counter. “Gimme a drink -straight without any scenery today.” That is old Tlalpam. Every street -has its blind bridles up and no scenery, but it is not peculiar to -Tlalpam. I have never seen a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_181">{181}</a></span> Mexican’s home with a front yard. At the -edge of the sidewalk up goes his stone house or his stone wall, pierced -with an opening and closed by a heavy iron gate fastened always on the -inside. Members of the family have to give the password or its -equivalent before it is ever opened, and tramps are unknown. Life would -have no pleasures for a tramp who could not open the back-gate and creep -up to the kitchen and frighten a woman to death by a flash of his living -picture.</p> - -<p>In Tlalpam you walk a block between high walls to the cross street, and -do the same to the next and the next, and you can imagine how delightful -it is, “Straight without scenery.” You must not forget that none of the -streets have shade trees. So after I had admired all the beautiful stone -walls and stone pavements, a wicket was suddenly opened to pass someone -in, and I got a flashing glance of languid señoras and señoritas taking -their siesta in hammocks swung between lime trees redolent with -fragrance and—some one shut the gate. If that sleepy old town thought -that I had come all the way there to look at the stone walls, little did -it know me. I pounded on that gate till the startled inhabitants thought -I was trying to break into jail, but I got in, and found myself in one -of the most beautiful and fascinating places I had yet seen. The -spraying fountains and flowers and song birds, and the Moorish setting -of the surroundings, took me back to the wonderful stories of the -Alhambra. Meanwhile that astonished household was all agape at the -unheard of intrusion, but great is the power of flattery. I frankly told -them that I had been sent all the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_182">{182}</a></span> way from the United States by a -committee of one, to hunt out the most beautiful places in Mexico and -secure their photographs at all hazard to display and strike dead with -envy the people who live in the stuffy cities of America. That on that -very morning I had left the City of Mexico for the express purpose of -getting a picture of the finest place and the most beautiful ladies in -Tlalpam, and with that end in view I was here.——“Enough Señor, enough! -Take us; we are all yours, the house, the fountains, the trees, the -girls—they are all yours, take them.”</p> - -<p>Here was eloquence and victory combined and I did not know what to do -with all the victory. I had solemnly promised not to accept any more -costly presents from these good people, but this bunch of girls seemed -to be different from hotels and other real estate, so I resolved to make -the old gentleman a present of his house and lot, and keep the girls: so -I very gladly embraced—er—the opportunity of posing them for their -pictures. Why these good people should hide so much loveliness and -beauty behind impassable stone walls is beyond my ken.</p> - -<p>How old is Tlalpam? I don’t know, but it began at a time when the memory -of man runneth not to the contrary. Upon the walls, the crop of glass -planted in the cement did not seem to flourish very much. It was a very -glassy looking glass and seemed to need irrigating, but time is long -with these people, and if it does not pan out a crop in the next fifty -years, they will wait patiently for <i>manana</i>, that scape-goat of all -incompleted enterprises—to-morrow. I don’t know whatever gave these -people an idea that they could grow glass anyway, unless it was the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_183">{183}</a></span> -Spanish moss. This moss is a parasite that grows upon all kinds of -trees, but in old Tlalpam it grows upon the wires stretched across the -street to hold the street lamps, and it is aristocratic moss that grows -with its head up instead of trailing, and I call that making headway -against adverse conditions. The weeds and cacti upon the wall seemed to -make their way better than the broken glass, and when I last saw them, -they were green and were getting up in the world.</p> - -<p>“But it is a long lane,” etc., as the proverb says, so at last the -supply of aristocracy gave out at the rise of the hill, and we reached -the realm of the great unwashed, who had neither walls nor rags to hide -their nakedness. The happy children were clothed with innocence which -needed no other protection than the blue sky and the Republic of Mexico.</p> - -<p>Higher and higher we go up the hill. The avenue we started in led into -the main street, this street finally led into a path, and the path -terminated in a cow trail and this trail merged into a squirrel path -which ran up a tree; so, like the King of France, “We marched up the -hill, and then marched down again.” But before starting down we stopped -to rest at the tree where the squirrel trail disappeared, and looked -over the valley, and could realize the emotions of Cortez when he stood -at the same place and viewed a similar scene. Across the silver lake lay -the City of Mexico, twenty kilometers away, with its thousands of spires -and pulse-throbs that supplied the veins and arteries and capillaries to -the fortunes and hopes of its tens of thousands of dependencies. No -wonder Cortez said it was<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_184">{184}</a></span> the fairest city man ever looked upon. The -one thing a stranger never quite masters here is the rarified atmosphere -which destroys all ideas of distance and nullifies all laws of optics. -You have traveled the road and know it is twenty kilometers, but the -city is brought so like a mirage that you seem almost able to hear the -clock strike. We leave our squirrel path and find ourselves in the city -of the dead, a beautiful place shaded with eucalyptus trees and -furnished with restful seats.</p> - -<p>Soon there enters a figure heavily veiled and places a wreath of -amaranth upon a new-made grave, marked with a wooden cross, and R. I. P. -We leave her to her sorrow and follow a limpid stream from the mountain -back to the city below. Beyond is the parched chaparral and the thorny -cactus now laden with its harvest of purple tunas, surely the manna of -the desert for these discouraged-looking peons. Beside the stream were -green trees of limes and oranges and English walnuts and agua caties and -an air of restfulness.</p> - -<p>We follow the stream into the little plaza with its spraying fountain -and fragrant <i>Datura suaveolens</i>, which grows into quite a bush. The -pleasant seats invite us to sit and listen to the notes of the noisy -purple grackle and the discordant tropical jay as they take their -morning bath. Rip Van Winkle is still asleep and Mrs. Xantippe R. V. W. -has not yet come from the market, and so for fear of disturbing the -serenity of that Elysian Field, we tip-toe back to the station where the -car is waiting, and that sleepy old town does not know to this day that -a band of camera fiends invaded its sacred precincts,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_185">{185}</a></span> even unto its -highest citadel and returned without the loss of a single man. Happy Old -Tlalpam. R.I.P.</p> - -<p>Back across the ancient bed of the lake we fly, and where once was -Montezuma’s fleet are herds of sleek cattle, knee-deep in rich alfalfa, -awaiting their turn to contribute to the material welfare of the mammoth -city. We reach a junction, Churubusco! Immediately we think of that -history class of twenty years ago, when we had to “stay in” after school -because those battles would not fight themselves in the right places; -when Chancellorsville and Crown Point and Saratoga and Churubusco could -not agree as to time, place and manner. Here was a chance to settle one -point, even if the teacher had long since died of worry, and we -anxiously get out and look.</p> - -<p>“Where <i>is</i> Churubusco?” “This is Churubusco.” “But,” I said, “I don’t -see anything but a street-car stable with come mules in it.” “All the -same this is Churubusco.” “Well,” I enquired, “where does this mule car -go from this junction?” “It goes to San Angel, a summer residence town.” -I determined to go out there and come back when my mind was settled to -take a look at Churubusco, but when I got back, there it was, just an -adobe mule stable. I sat on a bench opposite and tried to think what did -General Scott want with the stable, and why they put it in the history. -I suppose it was put there to punish unoffending little boys who liked -to play base-ball. I took out my camera and prepared to shoot the -harmless stable, and changed my mind. I was not on a warlike expedition, -but was in pursuit of know<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_186">{186}</a></span>ledge, and I did not want to add another blot -on the sanguinary page of America’s Dr. Ledger. No, not for a brevet. I -put up my magazine.</p> - -<p>A general vegetable merchant, who had three cabbages and four turnips on -a board, seeing my troubled countenance, very kindly came over and said: -“<i>Que pense, Señor?</i>” I said: “I am thinking about General Scott -bringing his army up here after that car stable and then did not take it -away after you gave it to him. Now don’t you think he was off his base?” -He shrugged both shoulders, took his cigarette from his mouth and -thought a minute, and then he uttered these words of wisdom: “<i>Quien -sabe?</i>”</p> - -<p>I said, “Well if you live here and do not know, how am I expected to -know, and what are the histories to do about it? And my good fellow, -just between you and me and the gatepost, don’t you think if General -Scott had come here and taken a good look at that stable first, he would -have gone on to town and had a good night’s rest, and saved me all this -unrest and pang of conscience about that history lesson, and that poor -dead teacher?”</p> - -<p>With his eyes full of pity he said: “Señor, are you hungry?” “Yes I am, -and I am disgusted with your old street-car stable.” “Señor, here’s your -car if you are going to town.” I turned my face to the city and my back -on Churubusco.</p> - -<p>We soon reached the city gate, where the locomotive was unhitched and -the mules were re-hitched, and we were soon on the street, where we met -a funeral car with its black canopy flying behind, as the mules, under -whip and lash, hurried to the city of the dead, and I went to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_187">{187}</a></span> drown my -thoughts in a glass of pina. Others may have this drowning mania -sometimes, so I give this recipe free gratis for nothing, as I got it -from the señora on the Zocalo. The pine-apple is first pared and sliced -as we do apples. Then on her knees the señora takes her stone rolling -pin and stone vessel like a wash board and reduces the slices to pulp, -which is strained and sweetened and iced, and is sent to you by the -señorita, who guarantees to drown all your troubles for just six cents, -and she innocently prattles away until the glass is empty, and “of -course the caballero will have another.” Under ordinary circumstances -you would not, but many a man has taken his second glass there just -because he did not know how to say no. The next car is bound for -Atzcapotzalco, so we jump aboard and pass out upon that terrible -causeway where the Spanish army were almost annihilated on that -memorable night of <i>Noche Triste</i>, July 1, 1520.</p> - -<p>At the bridge you pass through the Riverra de San Cosme and are shown El -Salto de Alvarado. Alvarado was the most trusted lieutenant of Cortez, -and on the retreat that night the Aztecs cut the causeway and the waters -rushed in, separating the army of Cortez into two parts. Alvarado was -fighting in the rear, and when he attempted to join Cortez he found the -dike cut. His men were all killed or taken prisoners, and he gathered -all his strength and made the leap from the end of his lance that made -him famous. Authorities do not give the distance, but say it was -impossible for any other man. Aztecs and Tlaxcalans alike looked on in -amaze<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_188">{188}</a></span>ment and cried: “Surely this is Tonatiuh, the child of the Sun!”</p> - -<p>Here the Aztecs stopped to gather up the rich booty which Cortez had -taken from their treasure-house and was forced to leave behind in the -breach, and the circumstance alone enabled the invaders to reach the -village of Popotla, a mile further, where Cortez sat down to weep over -the destruction of his army. The tree under which he sat is by the side -of the street and is known as the tree of <i>Noche Triste</i>—Melancholy -Night. It is a cypress and is called by the Aztecs, Ahuehuete. Some -years ago a religious fanatic set fire to it and disfigured it, but it -still shows a trunk forty feet high and the same in circumference. The -American tourists were about to take it all away as relics, so the city -was compelled to enclose it in a lofty iron fence, which is fully able -to enforce the ordinance, “Keep off the grass.” The natives very -naturally expected me to attempt to scale the fence and get a branch, -and to let them know that all Americans could live up to their -reputation. I vigorously shook one or two of the iron posts which -stubbornly refused to leave the enclosure. All the same I felt proud; I -had proved to them that I was an Americano, who would rob the dead, if -the dead had any keep-sakes about him that would do to exhibit at home.</p> - -<p>Having thus patriotically saved our national reputation, I boarded the -car for Atzcapotzalco, which was once an independent kingdom and the -capital of the Tepanecs. Atzcapotzalco, only seven miles from -Tenochtitlan, held the Aztecs in subjection. Once when the Aztec King -sent a present, Maxatla, the tyrant, in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_189">{189}</a></span> derision returned to the king a -woman’s dress. Later he allured to his court the wife of the Aztec king -and violated her. For this insult, the Aztec king Itzacoatl, “Serpent of -stone,” made an alliance with the Acolhuans, and in a two days’ battle -the city of Atzcapotzalco was taken, 1448, and reduced to a slave market -and never again rose to power. I think they were still talking about -that battle when I was there. Old age seemed to have settled down upon -everything, and the task to arouse them was so great I refused the -contract and left it just as Cortez found it in 1520. The valley -surrounding it is very fertile and alfalfa and vegetables were as green -as ivy.</p> - -<p>Tacubaya is the Monte Carlo of Mexico and the most aristocratic suburb -around the city, with fine residences and beautiful gardens and the most -handsome villas in the country. From the gate of Chapultepec a causeway -leads through a most beautifully shaded avenue to the city, and then I -lost interest in it. I was riding a bicycle and when I reached those -cobble-stone pavements I gave them my undivided attention. A tall fellow -from Texas did the swearing for the crowd, and he was so fluent there -was no need for reinforcement, so my whole mind was given to -calculations as to whether I could mount that next stone or climb out of -the next hole. I saw a policeman and I thought he was coming to read the -law, which says no team shall go faster than a walk, so I stopped to -give him my impression of the inquisition and the rack, but I was -disappointed. He had simply used up all the shade on his corner and was -hunting for more. A frog once lived<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_190">{190}</a></span> in Kiota, so the Japanese story -runs, and he started out to see the world. When he reached the top of a -hill he reared on his hind feet to view the world. As everybody knows, a -frog’s eyes are on the back of his head, and as he reared up, his eyes -pointed right back to Kioto, so he returned and said: “All the world is -like Kioto.” So all of Tacubaya is like the main street, just -cobble-stones. I am sorry I missed all the beauties they say are there, -but all I saw was the front wheel of that bicycle and the cobble-stones. -Bicycling is best done in that town on foot.</p> - -<p>With Penon it is different. Penon was once an island in Lake Texcoco, -but since the draining of the lake it is high and dry and is noted for -the hot baths and its beautiful bath house. The whole establishment is -paved in glazed tiles laid in mosaics, and the pillars are all painted -after the ancient Egyptian style. I never was an Egyptian, but if I was -I think I would mistake this excellent imitation for one of the old -establishments that Anthony and Cleopatra used to patronize so -liberally. The ride to Penon on bicycle across the ancient bed of the -lake cannot be excelled.</p> - -<p>On the road we passed the new penitentiary and the boys wanted to stop -and see it, but I was perfectly satisfied to “pass by on the other -side.” Not that I was likely to meet any old acquaintance among its -officials, but on general principles I argue that a penitentiary is a -good place to stay away from. You might get lost in there and not get -out, and besides, we had been interviewed by the greatest newspaper in -the city, and as most fellows’ wood-cuts always look like somebody you -never heard of, I thought those<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_191">{191}</a></span> officials might have seen those -pictures and would arrest us—I mean the other fellows—for some jail -bird that escaped long ago; but they were bound to go so I told them -<i>somebody</i> had to attend to those bicycles, and if they would not I felt -it my bounden duty to stay there and guard them. So I went to the pen by -proxy. They say it was grand and had cages and other attractive -furniture all from the United States. I always mean to go to the -penitentiary by proxy.</p> - -<p>Across the lake is the city of Texcoco, that was once the Athens of the -valley as Tenochtitlan was the Rome. Here are many ancient remains of -buildings built when this was the most bitter rival the Aztec capital -had. Were it not for the help of the Texcocoans, Cortez never would have -conquered the Island City. Beyond here are the Arcos de Zempoala, an -aqueduct 37 miles long, supported by arches nearly a hundred feet high. -Two leagues from Texcoco is the Malino de Flores, “The Mill of the -Flowers,” which is not a mill at all, but the entrancing home and estate -of an old Spanish family, Cervantes by name, and one of the oldest and -noblest of the Grandees from old Spain.</p> - -<p>In this fairy land of a hermitage you marvel as you never did before at -the possibilities of beautiful surroundings and Moorish architecture. I -wish I might describe this beautiful place, but no one can unless he be -artist, florist and architect, and as I am neither I will not mar its -beauty by a parody of an attempt. For a description of the towns I did -not visit, consult any good cyclopedia.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_192">{192}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /><br /> -WITHIN THE GATES.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HE city contains nearly six hundred miles of streets well-paved but not -supplied with shade trees. In nomenclature they area puzzle. The -principal street is San Francisco; the first block of it is called first -San Francisco; the second block, second San Francisco, etc., and often a -street changes its name every now and then, and the names include -everything: La Nina Perdita, or Lost Child Street, Crown of Thorns -Street, Holy Ghost Street, Mother of Sorrows Street, Blood of Christ -Street, Jesus of Nazarus Street, The Immaculate Host of Jesus Street.</p> - -<p>And the shop signs are a law unto themselves. No sign indicates the kind -of business done in the shops. Thus, “El Congresso Americano” may be a -blacksmith shop or a milliner’s establishment; “El Sueno de Amor” is the -Dream of Love, but is likely over a shoe store; “La Perla Del Orient” -was a lottery ticket office; “El Amor Cantivo,” Captive Love, was a dry -goods’ store; and so on with “El Mar,” The Sea; “La Coquetta,” “El -Triumfo de Diablo” and “The Port of New York.” Sometimes they hit a -meaning which was not meant; “The Gate of Heaven” was all right, as it -was placed over a drug store.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_193">{193}</a></span></p> - -<p>Other signs ending in “ria” indicate the goods sold. “Sombrereria” is a -hat store, “sombrerero” is the hatter and “sombrero,” the hat. -“Zapateria,” shoe store; “zapatero,” shoe dealer; “zapato,” a shoe. -“Sasastaria,” a tailor shop; “plataria,” silversmith, etc., but these -signs are used only where articles are made, all others being fanciful. -The stores are nearly all kept by Frenchmen and styles are the same as -in Paris. The ladies of the “400” do their shopping in their carriages, -and have the goods brought to the carriage for inspection.</p> - -<p>The metric system prevails. Railroad tickets are sold by the kilometer, -land by the hectare, cloth by the meter and sugar by the kilogram. -Silver money is coined in the same denomination as ours, and the coppers -are as large as a silver quarter. The law for counting money by dollars -and cents was passed in 1890, but the people still count by the old way, -though they know both. The old way is a copper tlaco, a cent and a half, -a cuartillo, three cents. For silver, medio, 6¼ cents; real, 12½ cents, -which is equivalent to our “bit.” A quarter, or “two bits” is two reals, -in Spanish <i>dos reales</i> but always pronounced “do reals.” The real is -the unit of calculation, the people rarely using the term pesos, or -dollars, in small amount, If you ask the hotel <i>prietor</i> what are his -terms, instead of saying two dollars, he will say sixteen reals, and -will use that term for any amount less than five dollars. An actual real -of 6¼ cents is no longer coined, and its value leads to serious -complications.</p> - -<p>Your street car fare is twelve cents for two tickets. You offer the -conductor a quarter and he<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_194">{194}</a></span> will give you twelve cents, and will try to -argue that he is right, but when you enter the number of his badge on -your note-book he promptly gives up the other cent, but he never fails -to try to claim it. I have known fruit vendors to lose a trade in trying -to keep the odd cent in a quarter, arguing that a real is 6¼ cents in -theory but only 6 in practice. Counterfeiting is the greatest industry -in the republic outside of the lottery business. Paper money is rarely -seen, and that makes the volume of silver enormous, and requires -everybody to carry bags of it. If you paid a man a hundred dollars in -quarters, he would test each one separately hunting for counterfeits, -before he would accept payment, and the “ring” of money testing in the -market is a regular Babel. No man or woman trusts another in making -change, and if there is no hard surface near to throw it upon, into the -mouth it goes, and if the teeth make the least indenture, back to you it -is flung.</p> - -<p>The street car system is excellent. All the street cars are horse cars -drawn by mules. They are hitched tandem and go always at a gallop. The -cars go from one to fifteen miles and have regular schedule time. They -all meet and start from the Zocalo on the Plaza Mayor by the Cathedral, -where there is a general conductor with a time-card who starts them off. -They always go in trains of from three to six or nine cars in first, -second and third class, and with short distances the fare is three, six -and nine cents. When there are only two classes, the fare of the first -is double the second. The first class car is painted yellow, and bears -the legend, “For 20 passengers,” and must never carry more.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_195">{195}</a></span> The theory -is that if a passenger is willing to pay for comfort he shall have it. -Second class cars are painted green, with the legend, “For 35 -passengers.” For long distances the fare may reach as high as thirty -cents. The conductor sells you a numbered ticket, and the collector -takes it up, and in your presence must tear off one corner to prevent -the possibility of using it a second time. Gentlemen always offer seats -to ladies, and salute the passengers on entering and leaving the car. As -the car is reaching a crossing or turning a corner the driver blows a -tin horn, the same that makes life a burden for us on Christmas day. If -the car is going to a bath-house or other public place where charges are -made, the conductor will sell you a coupon ticket with admittance to the -place, the price being always printed on it, thus saving you much -trouble in a rush.</p> - -<p>Courtesy is the price of position here, and no better officials can be -found than the street car conductors, and, the least infraction or -discourtesy reported to headquarters receives prompt attention. The -railroads also run three separate classes of cars with prices -accordingly, but not quite in the proportion as street cars. Thus, from -Celaya to Guadalajara, the distance is 161 miles, and a return ticket, -first class, is $9.86, second $6.56, and third $4.90.</p> - -<p>Of carriages there are four classes. Carriages painted yellow and flying -a yellow flag are third class and cannot charge more than twenty-five -cents for a half hour or less, nor more than fifty cents for a whole -hour. Those painted red and carrying a red flag cannot charge more than -thirty-seven cents, and for an hour seventy-five<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_196">{196}</a></span> cents. Blue, fifty -cents for half hour, $1 for one hour. Green, special rates at option of -driver and passenger. When a passenger enters a carriage, the flag must -be taken down immediately so that everybody may know it is engaged and -will not hail the driver, and he cannot make other engagements until the -carriage is empty. All carriages and horses are inspected by a -commission who pass upon the respectability of carriage and team and -order the proper color painted across the doors, and the printed rates -pasted inside so that no intelligent traveler need be imposed upon. And -every hotel must post in its rooms the rates “con comida,” or “sin -comida”—with or without board. No one need pay in advance; no matter -how dilapidated you look or how scant your baggage, you may hire the -most costly apartment in the hotel and no questions asked about -security.</p> - -<p>This is because the law protects the people, and if you defrauded a poor -market woman out of a copper the law would follow you to the confines of -the republic and imprison you for debt. That settles the bum question. -The hotel proprietor assigns you to your room and cares not a straw -about you until you are ready to leave. If you pay, very well, come -again. If not, by clapping the hands at the door brings a policeman -immediately. The policeman hears the landlord’s story, and gives you -your option—either pay or go with him, and the prisoner becomes the -property of the creditor until he is paid.</p> - -<p>The police system is excellent, from the reason I am told that they are -not appointed by political favor, but are soldiers from the barracks -and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_197">{197}</a></span> can be always found. Every street-crossing has a policeman all day -and another all night, so during the twenty-four hours there is not a -moment when he cannot be found. When the night squad comes on at 6 p. m. -each man brings a lighted lantern and sets it in the middle of the -crossing, and it is possible to stand at a crossing and count forty -lanterns down the four intersecting streets. As soon as the houses are -closed the policeman tries the doors and windows of each house to see if -they are fastened, and returns to his lantern. Every half hour during -the night each man must blow his whistle to show that he is awake and on -duty. If you are a stranger and ask for direction, the <i>politico</i> will -take you to the next crossing and deliver you to another and you may -thus be passed to a dozen <i>politicos</i>, and they will take every -precaution to deliver you safely. If you are a prisoner, the process is -the same, and no man knows what you are arrested for but the first. The -man who delivers the prisoner simply tells from whom he got him, and so -to the next until the first is reached who makes the charge. This makes -bribery and escape impossible, for when a prisoner is delivered to the -next man, the deliverer must report. It is exactly after the manner of -the registry department of our post office. Should the person making the -arrest receive a bribe and permit an escape, no one would know, but when -once started down the line no <i>politico</i> would take the chances.</p> - -<p>Every gambling house or assignation house or cock-pit or any other -institution that the government licenses, is also furnished with -policemen. All day long he stands guard at<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_198">{198}</a></span> your door, and all night -long his lantern sits at your steps, and, like the old man of the sea, -he is always there to prevent disturbance. In the gambling house, he -sits like a statue till the business is closed and sees all that passes. -You give a ball in your private house, the <i>politico</i> takes a chair by -the door and sits quietly till your guests have departed. You get up a -little picnic or an excursion a few miles from the city, a special coach -is fastened to the train carrying a company of infantry to keep you -company all day. A foreign consul gives a reception to other consuls, a -squad of mounted police sit their horses like statues in front of the -consulate until it is all over. The American colony gives a 4th of July -celebration, all day long they follow the procession or look at the -dancing but never a word say they. They are neither meddlesome nor -prying, they are just omnipresent.</p> - -<p>Your society gives a parade. Your line of march must be made known to -the prefect of police and every rod of that distance will be guarded by -cavalry. You enter a theater and every tier of seats has a silent man in -uniform. You enter a hotel and any complaint from guest or proprietor is -made to the <i>politico</i>. You sit at a public table or other place, and -the proprietor refuses to serve you on account of color, the <i>politico</i> -locks the door and takes the proprietor before the tribunal. He is -absolutely everywhere, but he is neither garrulous nor loquacious, and -he answers all questions with a courtesy that is refreshing. Beyond the -city limits he is no longer a <i>politico</i> but a rurale, a horseman -dressed in buckskin and “booted and spurred<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_199">{199}</a></span> and ready to ride.” He -patrols the outlying country as a policeman, judge or soldier. On the -western division of the railroad, whenever the train stops, two rurales -armed with rifles and sabres inspect the train. When the train leaves -the station, a rurale stands on each platform and looks through the -glass door at the passengers till the train gets to the next station, -where he gets off and another takes his place, and so on to the end of -the road. The next train going the next way, each squad is carried back -to their homes, only to repeat the program to-morrow. When the train -stops for dinner you leave your wraps and luggage in the seat and pass -into the dining room, while a rurale locks the car door and stands guard -till your return.</p> - -<p>Never a word do these silent men say. For hours they stand looking -through the car door to see that no harm comes to anything or anybody. -No one ever hears of train robbers in Mexico, but there is a reason for -all this. A country that has been accustomed to its annual revolution -and whose whole list of presidents and emperors nearly have died a -violent death, must needs be ruled by an iron hand.</p> - -<p>And it has not been more than fifteen years since bandits ruled the -country and dictated terms to the government. As late as February 15, -1885, a commission of officers was sent from Zacatecas by the government -to make a treaty with the bandit chief, Eraclio Bernal, and they -returned unsuccessful. The bandit said he would disband his men under -these conditions: “Pardon for himself and band, a bonus of thirty -thousand dollars for himself, and to keep an armed escort of twenty-five -men, or to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_200">{200}</a></span> be put in command of the army in the district of Sinaloa.” -That is the answer the chief sent to the government; and I have seen an -express wagon leave the train with the mail and express, with enough -armed men to fill the wagon, to escort it through the streets of a city -of seventy-five thousand inhabitants. This condition remained until -President Porfirio Diaz hit upon a plan that it took a thief to catch a -thief, so he sent word to the bandits that if they would quit robbing -and come in, he would make them all officers with a salary, and they -could still patrol their old haunts and keep the other fellows down, and -they accepted. Now these men are guarding the very trains they used to -rob. They are born horsemen and can ride a horse ninety miles a day on -the trail. They are the best horsemen in the world, and can throw the -lasso and shoot as well as ride. On a wager you can put a rurale in -chase after a steer and he will throw the riato over either foot you -name, and never check the speed of his horse.</p> - -<p>They are a law unto themselves, and independent of municipal authority. -The rurales may find a man breaking open a freight car, and they take -him behind the depot, try him, dig his grave and shoot him into it, and -the case is settled. No court or civil law will ever go behind their -acts, and that stroke of President Diaz has given the country its -prosperity. The wrong-doers know that the rurales are everywhere, and -that their vengeance or justice is swift and sure. There is a tacit -understanding that jails and criminals are expensive, and dead prisoners -are inexpensive; therefore, if a man’s crime is worthy of death, he is -shot immediately,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_201">{201}</a></span> and all convicts are turned into the army to do the -dirty work of the camp. Should he try to escape, a hundred men know that -they will be commended who shoot him first, so there is no wasted -sentimentality with crime, it is simply an option, be good or be dead.</p> - -<p>Ten years ago a man dared not travel without an armed escort, and now -the same men he feared are his armed escort. When a great celebration is -on hand and the military is wanted to parade, nine-tenths of the -admiration is bestowed upon the rurales. Centaurs they are, with their -caparisoned horses with every piece of metal about saddle and bridle of -solid silver. His own dress is characteristic. With his yellow buckskin -clothes with silver buttons, silver spur and tall sombrero with silver -spangles and monogram, he is an object to win your admiration. Go where -you will, in mountain and valley, hillside and plain, you will meet the -rurales (they always go in pairs) with their ever ready rifle and -lariat, looking for evil doers. Neither money nor time nor patience is -wasted on criminals, and you never hear of mistrials, or appeals, or -“deferred till next session.” Their court dockets are never crowded. The -official shooter with his Winchester goes from court to court and shoots -the prisoners as fast as they are condemned.</p> - -<p>The republic supports an army of forty-five thousand men, and every town -and city is a garrison, and has its military bands. Since the people -support the army, they think the army is theirs, and they make claims -upon what they claim as theirs. Every town has its military band, and -many of them have three or four,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_202">{202}</a></span> and three evenings of each week and -all of Sunday afternoon and evening the bands must play for the people. -This is a rule without exception, and they are good bands and play fine -music. The bands number from forty to eighty performers each, and in -large cities there is no evening without music, alternating with -different parks, but on Sunday they are all on duty, and with the band -comes the social feature of the people. Around the band stand is a -circular asphalt walk, possibly an acre in circumference. While the band -is playing, the parents and duennas and chaperones are seated.</p> - -<p>The young men four or five deep are promenading on the outer -circumference of the circle and the young ladies on the inner, but going -in the opposite direction. Here are possibly a thousand young people -thus enjoying themselves, the young men talking to each other and the -young ladies to each other, but never opposite sexes to each other. -Their social customs are as unchanging as the laws of the Medes and -Persians, and for a young man to speak to a young lady in public would -be a breach of etiquette never forgiven, and a young lady would not dare -walk two squares on a public street unattended by a duenna, unless she -was going to prayers. She would run the risk of her social standing. -There is no doubt that they do throw “sheep-eyes” at each other in the -promenades, but speak, never. At 10 P.M. the band plays its last number, -and the duennas gather up the young ladies and the young men gather up -themselves and they all go home and talk about the glorious time they -had.</p> - -<p>The young and unmarried never mingle.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_203">{203}</a></span> Should a young man have seen his -fate among these promenaders he may not say so to her. He finds out -where she lives and “plays the bear”—that is he passes along the street -on the opposite side and gazes longingly at her balcony. This he does -many times and many days. Of course she pretends that she does not see -him, but at the same time she is earnestly looking for him every day. If -she goes to the window he may stop. Further encouragement is given by -her disappearing from the window and returning with a smile <i>a la -Juliet</i>, and the young man goes home and pats himself on the back and -throws bouquets at himself for his great success. Perhaps he will keep -up this bear business for a year, perhaps two, and has never spoken to -the little angel. Sometimes he will get under her window with his guitar -with twelve strings and burden the night-wind with his made-to-order -songs, and if she does not pour a pitcher of water on his head he has -made so much headway that he would be justified in thrashing any other -fellow who should hang around the premises playing bear, “<i>haciendo del -orso</i>.”</p> - -<p>He is supposed now to have made enough headway to be allowed to call and -get an introduction and he must find a mutual friend who can do it for -him. He arranges the matter, and at last is admitted and introduced to -the señorita in the presence of the mother and father and duenna, and he -never, no never sees her alone. He invites her to the theater, and when -the carriage calls the whole family is dressed and ready to go, and he -never sees her except in their presence. If there is no objection on the -part of the parents, and if Barkis is <span class="pagenum"><a id="page_204">{204}</a></span>willing—and she generally -is—the marriage takes place, and “they live together happy ever -afterwards” as the story books say. Their courtship seems to be in -accumulating all the imaginable difficulties possible, and <i>always</i> -presumes that the parents will be unwilling and must be outwitted, and -this invents plots and counter plots <i>ad infinitum</i>. Of course the -parents know, and the young folks know they know, but it is the custom -to invent difficulties and they can not depart from custom. A married -woman’s sphere is but little different from the unmarried; she can -accompany her husband on the street is one advantage. She is pretty as -paint can make her and as ignorant as hermits usually are. A woman’s -world here has two hemispheres—the home and the church, and she lives -and dies knowing no more.</p> - -<p>A woman who makes claims to aristocracy must not under any circumstances -earn a penny or she loses caste immediately. If she teaches or -embroiders for the church or for charity she is excused, but for -herself, never. Sometimes poverty clips the wings of these high-flyers, -and it becomes a serious struggle between starving and losing caste. In -such cases they will sometimes ostensibly give music lessons for -charity, but collect for it on the sly and still preserve their social -standing.</p> - -<p>With the great middle class, all this is different—they live in another -world. They make no pretense to tinsel aristocracy, and have their -living to make and they make it with no limitations whatever beyond -their capacity, and for intelligence and business, a wife from this -class of Mexican women is worth seventy-nine<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_205">{205}</a></span> of the bluest blood -aristocracy I have seen in Mexico. They have a fair education in -Spanish, and both French and English are taught in the schools now, and -I have found them able to converse in all three, and could buy and sell -with as good a margin for profit as men.</p> - -<p>Of course there are three classes here, and the third class will be -treated of in a separate chapter. The only bearing they have here is -that they are servants to the other two, but their social standing does -not count for much, Very few girls in this class are unmarried at -thirteen or fourteen years of age, and twelve year old girls as mothers -is as common a sight as pig-tracks, Maturity comes early in the tropics, -and a woman is a wrinkled back-number at thirty.</p> - -<p>The marriage ceremony does not trouble these people much. They have not -the money to buy the license, and so they omit the legal ceremony. On a -hacienda near San Luis Potosi, a peon lost his wife. He came to the boss -and asked for a mule to take the body to the cemetery, and also asked -for two dollars. He explained that he might bring back another wife with -him, so he wanted to be prepared for emergencies. After three hours he -brought back another wife, and his household machinery never missed a -cog.</p> - -<p>Feast days without number give this happy people the opportunity of -enjoying themselves and resting. Not resting because they are weary or -overworked, but resting on general principles. The Ethics of Rest is a -science they have appropriated unto themselves. They do say that men who -love music and flowers will never make cowards or traitors. “<i>La Fiesta<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_206">{206}</a></span> -de las Flores</i>”—the feast of flowers, is held on Friday before Holy -Week; “<i>Viernes de Dolores</i>” or Sad Friday. This <i>fiesta</i> was once held -on La Viga when every boat on the lakes took part in the decoration of -everything and everybody, but Fashion has now decreed that it be held in -the Alameda. The Alameda is the Charing Cross of Mexico. It is a park of -forty acres that was once the site of the Inquisition, where Indians -were barbecued because they did not accept the Catholic religion. The -Inquisition held its last <i>auto-da-fe</i> and burned its last conspicuous -victim, Gen. José Morelos, in the Plaza as late as November, 1815!</p> - -<p>The Alameda has been the birthplace of gunpowder plots, and St. -Bartholomew’s days and revolutions all and sundry for many, many years, -but now it is a peaceful pleasure park, beautiful with fountains, and -aviaries of rare birds and redolent with orange blossoms and whatever -the ingenuity of man can add in the list of charming flowers and shaded -walks and shrubs that never know the sere and yellow leaf, and here on -<i>Viernes de Dolores</i>, before daybreak the throngs pour in a steady -stream of Indians from across the mountains and the dwellers from the -plains and the lake dwellers are there and everybody has flowers. The -patient burros have come laden with flowers till only their ears are -seen. From away down on the coast, Jalapa has sent two carloads of -<i>flores</i>, and everybody buys flowers and decorates and makes himself -pleasant. No one must fail to do homage to Flora, the goddess of -<i>flores</i>, and so garlands and wreaths and merry-makers make possible for -the first time the extravagant dis<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_207">{207}</a></span>plays I have so often seen on the -drop-curtains of the opera house and thought were so impossible. The -fountains were festooned and draped with the rarest of fragrant flowers, -and rarer orchids, and every available place on person or thing was -adorned, and two bands played alternately, and from early morn till late -at night was one vast holiday.</p> - -<p>Then there is another <i>Fiesta de los Flores</i>, a <i>fiesta</i>, but not a -feast. This is the “<i>Combate de Flores</i>.” This is designed especially -for the aristocracy and is held on Paseo de La Reforma. It is a custom -borrowed from Cannes or Nice, and is exactly what the name implies, a -combat of flowers. The line of battle extends from the statue of Charles -IV to the gates of the castle of Chapultepec, over two miles. The -carriages are all decorated with flowers, and as they pass and repass -each other the occupants pelt each other with flowers. The ladies in the -balconies along the Paseo also take part. The hour for assembly is 4 p. -m. A double line of cavalry extends clear to Chapultepec. At each -glorieta is a military band. The sidewalks are jammed by an admiring -multitude who watch the carriages pass with their occupants resting -literally on a bed of roses with which to pelt each other, to finally -stop at the statue of Cuauhtemoc, where the prizes are to be given to -the best decorated carriages. The prizes were escritoires in ebony, -bronze vases, statuettes and diplomas of honorable mention. The -carriages were transformed into crystallized dreams.</p> - -<p>One lady, whose name was Concha, had a carriage body of an immense white -shell of eglantines and white and cream roses. Another<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_208">{208}</a></span> was a cornucopia -of sea-weed and palms interlocked with flowers of every hue. President -Diaz and his wife appeared in an undecorated carriage, possibly to save -the embarrassment of the jury in distributing prizes. And what more -esthetic and harmless recreations could we have than the utter abandon -with which these people enjoy the blessings of life and nature? Our -lives have little enough of sunshine sifted into them, and we might -learn some valuable lessons from these tropic people how to get our -quota of real joy out of three hundred and sixty-five days. The fountain -of youth which Ponce de Leon sought in vain is here discovered, -happiness.</p> - -<p>The drainage of the city is not good, and were it not for the altitude, -the death rate here would be terrible. Imagine yourself in New Orleans, -and find yourself suddenly lifted a mile and a half in mid air, and you -are in the City of Mexico. The air is rare and pure. A corpse could be -left out of ground any length of time and would not decompose, but would -only dry up. Fresh meat never spoils, and vegetables simply grow old and -refrigerators are unknown. There is no winter, no summer, but the rainy -season from May till September is followed by the dry season. During the -rainy season you may expect a shower once a day, lasting perhaps an -hour, perhaps ten minutes, and then the sun shines again. The nights are -glorious with southern constellations, and Polaris and the Southern -Cross are both seen, but the handle of the great dipper is broken off -below the horizon.</p> - -<p>You wear the same clothes the year round, as<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_209">{209}</a></span> the climate is the same. -After four o’clock you must put on wraps, for the nights are always cool -enough to require blankets every night in the year. The Mexican made -shoe is an instrument of torture which nobody would endure but a -Mexican, because he has never seen a better. High heel and tooth-pick -toe, throws all the weight in a pointed toe which must hold twice its -normal capacity. The unsightly gait the women make with this -uncomfortable shoe is distressing, and to add to the torture they do not -wear stockings—so I am told. My own shoes wore out and I tried in four -cities, without success, to buy a pair of low-cut shoes. We wear them -for the comfort they bring in hot weather, but they have none, so they -do not make low-quarter shoes. You never see perspiration on a person’s -face here, no matter how violent the exercise.</p> - -<p>The Mexican chews tobacco—never. He smokes tobacco, always, men, women -and children, on the street, in the theater, at the table—everywhere is -the deadly cigarette, and they inhale the smoke and emit it from the -nostrils. The Pullman car is the only place where it is necessary to -display the sign “<i>No se permitir fumar</i>.” The matches are wax tapers -and double enders. When a person asks for a match, he lights one end and -puts it out, and always returns you the unused end. Such a match will -hold a blaze a minute. High caste ladies do not smoke in public. The -floors of the cars and other public places are pitted as though they -have had the small-pox where smokers have thrown their half-burned -matches which burn long enough to scorch the floor.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_210">{210}</a></span></p> - -<p>The theaters are built after our style except that every tier of seats -is divided into boxes holding six chairs. Everything goes well until the -last act, when a porter calls upon you politely for six cents for the -use of the chair, and then you learn that the price of the ticket does -not include a seat, and that a seat concession goes with every theater. -You may stand if you prefer, but a Spanish play is no shorter than an -English one. In the front center of the stage is the prompters stand. -Through a trap-door in the stage near the foot-lights his head projects -above the floor and is concealed from the audience by a tin cornucopia -opening toward the stage, so he can be seen as well as heard by the -actors, but he can also be heard by the audience as he prompts their -half-learned lines.</p> - -<p>Kerosene at fifty cents a gallon is the universal public illuminator, -and the empty five-gallon cans with the U. S. brand are met with -everywhere.</p> - -<p>Sept. 16 is Independence Day in Mexico, and its observance is worthy of -note. Its birth was similar to our own, and the child of oppression from -the mother country. Spain prohibited the Mexicans any trade whatever -with any other country but Spain under penalty of death. No schools -whatever were allowed except in charge of the priests, who suppressed -every branch of useful knowledge. No manufactures of any kind were -allowed if Spain could produce and sell the article, and nothing was -allowed to be planted in the rich soil that Spanish farmers in Spain -could sell in Mexico. In 1810, a patriotic Catholic priest, Maguel -Hidalgo y Castella (Hidalgo his father’s name, Castella his mother’s) -with a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_211">{211}</a></span> desire to benefit his starving countrymen, introduced the -silkworm and planted vineyards. These industries were promptly destroyed -by the Spanish officials, and thus were the seeds of rebellion and -liberty planted.</p> - -<p>Hidalgo had been among his countrymen and organized a rebellion. On the -night of Sept. 15, 1810, it was whispered to Hidalgo that his plans were -discovered and the government forces were marching on him. With swift -decision he had the church bells of Dolores to sound the danger signal, -and when the alarmed population reached the plaza, they found their -priest with torch and musket. With burning words he told them of their -wrongs and discovered plans, and at that strange hour and in the -darkness where one could not distinguish friend or foe he gave the -famous <i>grito</i>, Mexico’s Declaration of Independence: “Long live our -Mother, most holy Guadalupe! Long Live America! Death to bad -Government!”</p> - -<p>Thus, in that modest hamlet, now known as Dolores Hidalgo, was set on -foot the revolution which eleven years later gave Mexico her -independence, after three hundred years of oppression and cruelty never -equalled before in any other country. And now, on the night of Sept. 15, -you may witness the most remarkable celebration among liberty-loving -people. Before night the tri-color is displayed from every building, and -across the streets are hung innumerable Chinese lanterns ready for -lighting.</p> - -<p>As night advances, the ten acres of the Plaza Mayor becomes a seething -mass, just as it was that memorable night of Noche Triste three hundred -and seventy-six years ago when the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_212">{212}</a></span> Aztecs drove the Conquistadors from -this very plaza beyond the city gates. As the hands of the great clock -in the cathedral slowly move, those ten acres of faces are turned upon -its illuminated dial and all voices are hushed. As the hands come -together, a magic wand is touched somewhere, and ten thousand lights -flash on the scene from a thousand beacons. The string of Chinese -lanterns sway across the streets. Immediately that sea of faces is -turned to the opposite end of the Plaza facing the national palace. Like -a scene from “Dore’s Last Judgment,” those silent faces, in the lights -and shadows of the illumination, point southward, waiting Hidalgo’s -hour. Exactly at eleven o’clock, appears the soldier-president, Porfirio -Diaz, bearing above his head the banner of red, white and green, and -from under its folds launches forth again the <i>grito</i> that for -eighty-seven years has been their war-cry: “<i>Mexicanos! Viva -Independencia! Viva La Republica!</i>” Instanter the trumpets blare, the -cannons boom, martial music is set free, the bells from the towers give -tone and the heavens are lit with the glare of fireworks that rival the -halcyon days of Popocatapetl. Ten thousand resound the glorious call. -“<i>Viva Mexico! Viva Independencia!</i>” until the very soul of every -freeman instinctively cries in its own language, “<i>Viva Independencia!</i>”</p> - -<p>The next day the grand review of the army takes place, and promptly at -ten o’clock the regulars of the infantry and cavalry pass by in new -uniform, but their glory is eclipsed when two thousand rurales, the -finest horsemen in the world, flash by in their buckskin uniforms, the -silver sheen of their trappings glinting in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_213">{213}</a></span> the sunlight on horses that -know every water hole and aroya from the Rio Grande to Tehuantepec. For -a whole week these light-hearted people celebrate with balls and -banquets and fireworks and <i>fiestas</i> and the poor are remembered with -gifts from the president’s wife.</p> - -<p>Hidalgo was a martyr to his cause, and within eight months his head hung -from the castle walls of Chihauhua, but now rests in the Cathedral under -The Altar of Kings. Iturbide took up his fallen sword and in 1821 -entered the capital at the head of his victorious troops and was hailed -as “El Libertador,” and was crowned as the first Emperor of Mexico. -Santa Anna headed the revolution that banished him, and on his return in -1824 was shot as is the custom with Mexico’s rulers.</p> - -<p>But there is another day as dear to Mexico as September 16, and that is -July 18, the day when Juarez died. Benito Pablo Juarez (Whareth) was a -full blood Indian, born in Ixtlan in the state of Oajaca, in 1806. From -1847 to 1852 he was governor of Oajaca and was banished by Santa Anna. -He returned in 1855 and joined the revolution of Alvarez which deposed -Santa Anna, and after continual fighting, was declared president in -1861. Immediately he issued a decree suspending for two years all -payments on the public debt. Forthwith England, Spain and France sent a -combined army to seek redress. England and Spain soon withdrew, but -Louis Napoleon, taking advantage of the civil war in the United States, -and presuming that the disrupted union could never enforce the Monroe -Doctrine, declared war against Mexico and offered the throne to -Arch<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_214">{214}</a></span>duke Maximilian, of Austria, as Emperor. For seven years were the -contending armies in the field, but in 1867 Maximilian was taken -prisoner and shot at Quétaro, and Juarez ruled supreme. And then that -Aztec Indian by one fell stroke lifted the pall from his much warred -people and did an act which astonished the world. For three hundred and -fifty years had the Catholic Church misruled and despoiled Mexico. The -people were taxed to the starving point to enrich the priests. It was -the Catholic Church of France that had placed Maximilian on the throne, -and the Catholic Church of Mexico that kept him there and fought his -battles against the liberty-loving Indians.</p> - -<p>Three-fourths of all the lands and property of Mexico were deeded to the -church free of taxation, and when the “Procession of the Host” passed -along the streets, every foreigner or skeptic who did not at once kneel -was in danger of the Inquisition. This was the state of affairs in 1867, -but Juarez faltered not. All the vindictiveness of his race was kindled -when he thought of the tale of bricks that had been required of them -under Spanish rule and in that supreme moment he divorced church and -state, and confiscated all the church property to the state. No -thunderbolt could have been more swift or more obedient than his decree. -Every convent, monastic or religious institution was closed and devoted -to secular purposes. Every religious society of Jesuits and Sisters of -Charity was banished from the country. So thorough was his work, that -now no convent or monastery can openly exist in Mexico, and no priest or -nun or Sister of Charity can now walk the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_215">{215}</a></span> streets of Mexico in any -distinctive article of dress to distinguish them from any other -citizens.</p> - -<p>Catholic worship is still permitted in the cathedral, but the Mexican -flag floats from the tower to show that it is a state institution and -can at any time be closed or sold or converted into any use the -government sees fit, and that the clergy and priests are “tenants at -will.” All those rites which once supported the claims of the Catholic -Church to omnipotence are now performed by the state. The civil -authority performs the marriage ceremony, registers births and provides -for the burial of the dead. Marriage ceremony by the priests is not -prohibited, and they are legally superfluous, but those who cling to the -old, first secure the state rite and afterwards seek the church service. -The church controlled all educational institutions, all public opinion -and the keys of heaven and hell.</p> - -<p>When the soldiers of Juarez pulled down the fetishes of the Indians, the -Indians stood speechless expecting fire from heaven to consume them for -sacrilege, for thus they were taught by the priests. The exiled monks -cursed them for <i>anathema maranatha</i> and prophesied that the earth would -open and destroy the despoiled, but the soldiers laid paved streets -across the yards of convents that had witnessed crimes and debauchery in -the guise of holiness in the “Retreats” that would smell to heaven, and -not a soldier was engulfed. For the first time the ignorant people -learned that the priesthood was not infallible, that the fear of the -church had no terrors to this Indian president, and the old Aztec spirit -returned, and for the first time the ve<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_216">{216}</a></span>neer christianity of the -Catholic faith showed its shallow depths, and the disappointed adherents -lifted not a finger against this dark-skinned iconoclast. The church at -that time owned eight hundred and sixty-one large country estates valued -at $71,000,000. Twenty-two thousand lots of city property valued at -$113,000,000 and other property not listed, making a total of -$300,000,000, and the revenue of the clergy from the people direct was -$22,000,000 annually, which was more than the income of the government -from all its customs and internal taxes. By the irony of fate, -Protestants who before this were not allowed in the country, now bought -from the state this very property.</p> - -<p>Thus, the former spacious headquarters of the Franciscans with one of -the most beautiful chapels in the world, fronting Calle de San -Francisco, the most fashionable street in Mexico, was sold to Bishop -Riley, acting for the American Episcopal mission, at the price of -$35,000, and is now valued at over $200,000. Likewise in Puebla the -American Baptists have bought the old palace of the Inquisition, and a -similar palace in the City of Mexico is now a medical college. The -national library occupies an old convent, and a large share of its -treasures were confiscated from the Roman churches. Since 1867 -Protestant churches are springing up everywhere, where it was worth a -man’s life to propose such a thing before. Previous to this so -persistent was the church that the national seal bore the legend: -“Religion, Union and Liberty,” placing the church first, and even after -Mexico secured independence the seal remained the same.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_217">{217}</a></span></p> - -<p>Juarez was both a Washington and a Lincoln to Mexico, and so when July -18th comes around to mark the day of his death, from Dan to Beersheba is -one vast blast of bunting and fireworks. I was in the capital on that -memorable day when the city put on its holiday dress to do honor to the -name of Juarez and to strew flowers on his grave.</p> - -<p>All lovers of liberty were given an opportunity to hear the eagle -scream. President Diaz was the chief figure in the procession and was -the first to lay his offering on the tomb, followed by the members of -congress, the diplomatic corps and the military bodies. The stars and -stripes were there of course, end the Spaniards were there in numbers. -Two hundred and fifty Cubans had a place in the procession, each with a -miniature flag of Cuba on his coat and “Cuba Libre” on his badge. They -objected to the Spaniards on the ground that the celebration was in -honor of liberty and a patriot, to neither of which virtues could Spain -lay claim while Cuba was breathing her life out in a death struggle, and -the police had to intervene to prevent blood-shed over the patriot’s -grave.</p> - -<p>By the decree of Juarez, there came to Mexico freedom from a worse -slavery than that which darkened our shores; the slavery of the Romish -Church. The Catholic religion still prevails, but it is a Juggernaut -with pneumatic tires, and it runs a course lined with bayonets. There -are millions of benighted adherents yet under the spell of the -priesthood, but Protestant churches are springing up everywhere with the -free bible. After the wonderful achievements of the Juarez -administration, it seems remarkable<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_218">{218}</a></span> how conspicuous by its absence is -the Indian face from public affairs in Mexico. She has a standing army -of over 45,000 men, but all its officers are white, and the same is true -of the police force, and the military bands whose rank and file are of -Indian blood have the leaders white. The students of the military -academy are white, so are all members of congress, the superintendent of -public works and all places of trust, although legally, every man of age -is privileged to vote and hold office.</p> - -<p>But behind the law are the <i>leges non scriptæ</i>, the spirit of social -caste, as broad as the leagues of territory, and as powerful as a -Corliss engine. The Indian’s face is no debar from good society nor a -residence in any part of the city where he may buy, but the old regime -of Spaniard and Indian, master and servant, has taken deep root and is -still as powerfully in evidence as in the slave states of America. Of -the twelve million inhabitants, one-third are pure Indians, speaking a -hundred and twenty different languages. Onehalf are Mestizos or mixed -races, and the remaining one-sixth are foreigners, the Spaniards -predominating, and the remnant is the governing power.</p> - -<p>Public opinion in Mexico has been defined as “the opinion entertained by -the president;” and this is almost absolutely true, if you may also add -a few thousand land owners, professional men, professors and students. -The rest do not count. No such thing as a public mass meeting to discuss -public questions has ever taken place in Mexico. A presidential canvass -simply means that the candidate who first gets control of the army gets -elected, but a campaign, never.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_219">{219}</a></span></p> - -<p>While every adult male citizen has a right to vote, less than thirty -thousand votes are cast in a presidential election, and the great mass -of the people never know there is a change unless there is a revolution.</p> - -<p>One day before the election I saw a two-line announcement in an American -paper published in the city which said: “Tomorrow the citizens of Mexico -will elect a president.” Early the next morning I was on the street -expecting a great excitement or patriotic demonstration, but not a cog -of that great wheel of industry missed a revolution. About ten o’clock I -began to ask people about the election, but no one could give me a word -of information. I went to the National Palace and everything was going -on as usual. I asked a number of people where could I find the voting -places, but got no information whatever, and I began to think the -announcement was a canard. Two days afterwards I was in the state of -Vera Cruz and saw in another paper the following election news: -“Porfirio Diaz was unanimously elected president of Mexico for the fifth -time.” That was all. I had been on the streets the whole of election day -and could not find a single person who could tell me of the election.</p> - -<p>To differ in speech or newspaper from the policy of the party in power -is to prepare your own grave for treason, or for banishment, so those -who have a grievance against the government have no recourse by electing -a better governing power, so they simply wait till they feel strong -enough and find a man to issue a “<i>Pronunciamento</i>,” and a revolution is -born, and sad but true, there is no other way. Free<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_220">{220}</a></span> speech and -mass-meetings and opposition candidates are unknown except at the point -of a bayonet. Excepting Juarez, the Indian, Porfirio Diaz—who is part -Indian of the same tribe as Juarez—is the most progressive president -the country has ever had, and the constitution was changed so he might -succeed himself and thus complete the good work he inaugurated, but -Diaz’s first term was gained at the head of a revolution. He was a -candidate in 1871, and in the election only 12,661 votes were cast, of -which Juarez received 5,837, Diaz 3,555, and Lerdo 2,874. Diaz refused -to abide by the decision and issued a manifesto and entered the capital -at the head of an army, assumed the presidency, had the people ratify -his proceedings, and then proceded to build railroads and encourage -foreign capital to come in and rehabilitate the wasted country, and, -regardless of fear or favor, has created the modern Mexico. So -successful was he that the people decided it was better to keep him than -have the annual revolution, so the constitution which Juarez had framed -was changed to permit him to succeed himself, which he has done so well -that he is serving his fifth term, but not all consecutively.</p> - -<p>Cardinal Newman once said: “To be perfect, one must have changed often.” -If that be true, the government of Mexico ought to be pluperfect by now. -Since her Independence in 1821, she has had fifty-seven presidents, two -emperors and one regency, and with possibly four exceptions, each change -of administration was attended by violence.</p> - -<p>In 1848 occurred the first change without violence, but Arista was -banished in the next two<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_221">{221}</a></span> years, and in the next three months there were -four presidents, which brings the average up to normal. What a bonanza -for the Salt River candidates of the United States!</p> - -<p>When you visit the picture gallery of the National Palace, the guide -will say: “This is president so-and-so, elected at such a date, and who -was shot at such a time. And this is president so-and-so, who was shot -at such a date.”</p> - -<p>All the leaders of the war of Independence were shot, so were both the -emperors, and nearly all the presidents were shot or banished. These -presidential shooting matches have made the country a land of experts in -teaching the young idea how to shoot. Whenever the winning man has -secured the army and re-entered the capital, the other fellows, in the -language of General Crook, “rise like a flock of quail and light -running.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 402px;"> -<a href="images/i_229.png"> -<img src="images/i_229.png" width="402" height="164" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_222">{222}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br /><br /> -THE TRAIL OF THE TANGLE-FOOT.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">O</span>N the plains of Tlaxcala, Apam and Puebla, in the rich lava beds, and -on the desert which is so poor one can hardly raise a disturbance on it, -are millions of acres of land devoted to the culture of the maguey and -the preparation of one of the vilest drinks known to man.</p> - -<p>The century plant, the agave, the aloe and the maguey are one and the -same. It is called century plant, because outside of the tropics it -might live a hundred years and never bloom, like our Louisiana -sugar-cane; but here in Mexico from six to fourteen years are sufficient -for its maturity, as it requires that much time to accumulate enough -vitality for its crowning effort in life—the propagation of seed. When -it has reached this stage it shoots up a central stalk a foot in -diameter and twenty feet high, crowned by a panicle of beautiful -greenish-yellow flowers, and then the plant dies down as completely as -any annual.</p> - -<p>But the pulque farmer does not permit the plant to blossom. When it -shows indication of shooting up its central bud as large as a cabbage, -the same is cut out, leaving a cavity capable of holding four or five -quarts. Into this cavity<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_223">{223}</a></span> the sap collects and is sold as <i>agua miel</i> or -honey water. After twenty-four hours fermentation it becomes pulque, the -national drink of Mexico, for, of the 350,000 inhabitants of the -capital, 250,000 are pulque drinkers. A single plant can be milked five -months and in that time will produce one hundred and sixty gallons of -pulque. Each morning a small army of pulque gatherers will enter the -field with long calabashes or gourds, through which they suck up the -pulque on the siphon principle, and inject it into the pig-skin bottle -held on the back by a band around the forehead. This skin-bottle is the -same that is mentioned in the New Testament and is secured entire from -the animal, and with the ends at the hoof tied and loaded with pulque, -has the exact semblance of a hog on a man’s shoulder. The pulque must -reach market the same day it is gathered, as it becomes vinegar within -twenty-four hours, so special pulque trains run on all roads entering -the city.</p> - -<p>Seventy five thousand gallons is the daily consumption in the City of -Mexico, and the railroads make a thousand dollars a day for carriage, -and the custom houses collect on each gallon as it enters the <i>garitas</i> -or city gates. When the sap first appears it is greenish in color and -sweet, hence its name of <i>agua miel</i>, or honey water. Carbonic acid soon -collects as fermentation advances, and then it is called pulque. Pulque -has the color of soapsuds, almost the consistency of molasses and a -compound taste not found in the dictionary nor listed in <i>Materia -Medica</i>. As to smell, it is a cross between a slaughter house and a -compost heap of decaying vegetables. Fermentation is<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_224">{224}</a></span> so rapid it would -explode a cask in a few minutes, so the gatherers empty it from the -pigskins into tinnacals or ox hides strapped to a wooden frame. To -retard fermentation, it is poured into vats and a little milk and rennet -are added, which do not quite coagulate it, but give it the aromatic -odor of Limburger cheese. From these vats it is loaded on the trains and -hurried to the city where it is again transferred in pigskin to wagons -loaded with hogsheads with the bung open. In front of the retail -pulqueria, the wagon stops and the final unloading begins. A hogshead is -turned on its side at the rear of the wagon and the spigot is pulled, -and the ropy liquid is passed through a large funnel into a pigskin on -the ground, by passing through a leg. This pigskin holds as much as a -beer keg, and when full, the huge porter replaces the spigot, wraps a -string around the leg and shoulders the pig which looks natural enough -to squeal. The porter empties this into five or six huge casks which are -setting on the counter, where the dealers dole it out at a cent a glass -to the hundreds who push and fight for standing room until the last cask -is empty, and a similar scene will take place every day in the year.</p> - -<p>Just opposite my window I watched a crowd for hours that had overflowed -the sidewalk struggling to get inside and they did not thin out till ten -barrels had been emptied, which means five hundred gallons. And the same -is true for every pulqueria in the city from the time the first train -load arrives till every cask is empty. Pulquerias have no written sign, -but over each door is a plaited awning of green maguey leaves which has -all the power that an<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_225">{225}</a></span> electric lamp has to swarms of night insects. At -one cent a drink, even the paupers can get gloriously inflated, and it -takes half the police force to drag off those who find the streets too -narrow for their new style of perambulating.</p> - -<p>The ordinary simon pure pulque is just liquid filth, no more, no less. -Private families remove the Limburger essence by means of a harmless -chemical and add sugar and orange juice, but the dealer at the pulque -joint knows better; he adds a quantity of marihuana to the cask, and -presto! he has the regulation Kentucky tangle-foot, warranted to kill at -forty rods. With one or two drinks of this, the Mexican’s eyes look two -ways at once, and he just spoils for a fight, and at once hunts some one -to disagree with him. He will walk up to a stranger and look him over in -a zigzag way and say: “<i>Viva Mejico</i>.” The other fellow was just out -hunting ducks himself, so he replies: “<i>Viva Espania</i>,” or “<i>Viva Cuba -Libre</i>,” and then their heads and feet change places, and when they come -to their senses they are lying on the soft side of a stone floor in the -“<i>husga</i>” and wondering “<i>Who struck Billy Patterson</i>.” After witnessing -the surging, seething mass of frenzied men and women with their savage -Indian nature all ablaze with pulque, no one longer wonders at the large -number of police he meets. The government is absolutely powerless to -stop the sale of drugged pulque, and the number of deaths annually from -pulque fights is incredible. In one year, the number of fights with -knives alone was over six thousand in the capital. I know of no more -dangerous animal than a Mexican loaded with pulque and marihuana,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_226">{226}</a></span> face -distorted and blood-shot eyes aflame, and a knife in his belt. Blood is -his glory and he loves a long knife which he can throw thirty feet with -the accuracy of a pistol bullet.</p> - -<p>Outside the cities the duello is the code of honor and the long knife -the peacemaker. Among the cow boys and miners the friends of each tie -their left hands together and stick a bowie-knife in the ground by each -and walk off. The one that lives longest may cut the cords and come back -to camp. If neither returns the boys know that they crossed the Styx -together. Pulque is not the only drink made from the maguey, it is only -the swill of the great unwashed. For the more epicurean tastes the root -of the plant is roasted and distilled and from the product is a fiery -liquid, which for courtesy is called mescal, but in reality is molten -lava, and its nearest kin is another distillation called tequila, which -is almost pure alcohol. They are sold in saloons at three cents a drink, -and the American who attempts to wrestle with the monster takes a glass -of mescal and a glass of water and tries to swallow them both at the -same moment in order to keep the lining of his throat from scalding off -as the lava goes down. The native, to show his contempt for the method, -will look you in the eye and drink the fiery liquid without water. It -brings water to his eyes, and the clotted blood-shot spots appear almost -as rapidly as the shades of a chameleon on a rose bush. I saw a maniac -suffering with delirium tremens from mescal, and a more pitiable object -I have never seen. How he pleaded and begged for three cents, offering -his soul in exchange just for one more drink before he died.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_227">{227}</a></span> I went to -a restaurant and got him some soup and it had the effect of water upon a -hydrophobia victim and I can only liken him to a caged hyena.</p> - -<p>The maguey must not be called a profligate because it gives birth to -five different intoxicating drinks; it serves other purposes as well. -From the leaves the natives thatch their houses, and the spines make -needles and pins. The fibre of the leaf is used in making rope, -wrapping-twine, hammocks, sisal, mats, carpets, hairbrushes, brooms, -baskets, paper and thread, firewood, and from the roots a very palatable -food is made, and upon its bountiful leaves there feeds an army of green -caterpillars about the size of your middle finger, and epicures do say -that when they are properly stewed and set before you that you forget -all about clam-bakes and gumbo soup and shrimp-pies and edible birds’ -nests and just concentrate your mind upon the <i>gusanos de la maguey</i>, to -all of which I say amen. I had to concentrate all of my attention and -other things, too, to prevent a violent volcanic eruption just looking -at the tempting morsel. I do not doubt the epicures in the least; on the -contrary, I had so much faith in their judgment that I was willing to -take their word without the caterpillars. But I did eat one dozen—by -proxy, that is paying for them and enjoying that consumptive Mexican’s -appetite as the whole dozen followed each other down the chute, but I -might add, I had to put a weight on my stomach to avoid—well a -catastrophe.</p> - -<p>The maguey is absolutely independent of rain or moisture. It grows on -the mesa that does<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_228">{228}</a></span> not get a rain in six years. It is a bulbous plant -and multiplies by suckers set in holes. The usual method is to take a -crow-bar and dig a hole among the rocks and give it just enough earth to -hold the roots and it will do the rest. There is nothing more beautiful -than a maguey farm on the plains of Tlaxcala, with the plants set ten -feet each way and spread over the plain for forty or fifty miles. The -plants are so green they seem to have a blue tint, and the rows are so -symmetrical, no matter which way you look, your vision will focus to a -point in the distance where all rows converge to the vanishing point -like the rails of a railroad on level ground. For a hundred miles south -of the capital, every available rod of ground is planted in maguey which -grows without any cultivation whatever, and will yield to the farmer ten -dollars to the stalk during the single five months of its productive -period. No field gets ripe at once. An acre with several hundred stalks -may not have two dozen to come to maturity this year, and as soon as -they are exhausted new bulbs are set in their stead, which makes a -perpetual orchard. A plant that is to mature this year is easily known -by the bleaching of the leaves as it yields its last vitality to the -central bud.</p> - -<p>Whenever the train stops, hordes of women gather around to sell to the -passengers from earthen-ware vessels at a cent a drink. As the passenger -lifts the putrid liquid, the dripping vessel leaves a trail of viscid -streamers, like the gossamers of the bridging spider, or the saliva from -an ox under the yoke, and especially if the wind is blowing, the network -of sticky pulque streamers from car windows is just about as<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_229">{229}</a></span> pleasant -as the opening chorus of a candy-pulling, or the closing scene at a -turpentine still.</p> - -<p>In the families of the Spanish and French, pulque is never taken, but -wines, champagne and sherry, are the household drinks, and the great -national drink of America, lager beer, is slowly adding the dignified -William goat and the overflowing schooner to the pictorial decorations -of the Mexican house-fronts. The amount of liquid refreshments these -people, especially the women, can embrace within their anatomy is -astonishing. The dinner hour is prolonged from one to two hours in -conversation and guzzling, and when a gentleman sees a lady’s glass -empty at any part of the table, it is customary for him to walk around -to her chair and fill the glass from his bottle; and these opportunities -are eagerly sought by the watchful men, as it indicates a lack of -attention to permit a lady’s glass to become empty. But I have never -seen this class of people drunk or tipsy. The liquor must be very weak -to permit so many bottles being emptied without a knockout.</p> - -<p>A young Mexican at Guadalupe attempted to make his national drink -aristocratic by giving it a lofty name. He asked me if I would not seal -our good friendship by joining him in a glass of <i>vino blanco</i>. I told -him I did not know what white wine was, as red was the only fast color -the Americans patronized, but I would seal the friendship all right and -let him drink for both of us. To this he raised not a particle of -objection. I doubt if any such magnanimous windfall had ever come his -way before when he could drink for two. He landed me in a pulque<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_230">{230}</a></span> joint -and this was my awakening to the <i>vino blanco</i>.</p> - -<p>I had come in search of knowledge, and found it by means of my nose, -which I had to hold while I grandiloquently told him to “tank up.” The -proprietor brought him a half gallon rancid soapsuds, which he first -offered me. I backed off and told him I had not done a thing to him to -deserve such punishment, and besides, soapsuds more than a week old -always went against my constitution and by-laws, and that I was subject -to heart-failure anyway, and had to guard against undue exertion, such -as vomiting, etc. He said it was not soapsuds, but “<i>vino blanco</i>,” -(pulque nueva), and if I did not believe it was new pulque, just smell. -I told him that was exactly what ailed me now, I had smelled and was -leaning against the counter on account of it, and if he would just let -me off I would burn a candle to his choice saint. After my friend had -“tanked up” and swallowed most of the fragrance, I was able to stand up -once more, and then I very kindly asked that proprietor if he did not -think that stuff was ripe enough to bury. I said, “Sir, in my country -when a corpse is kept till the flies swarm in the house, it is a sure -sign that it is time for the funeral. Now sir, just look at the flies.” -“O yes,” said he, “<i>los muscos</i> love <i>vino blanco</i> also, and they come -because they know a good thing when they se—smell it.” Now what was the -use of wasting logic on this logician? So my friend and I entered the -street. It was a warm day, and while we had argued, I think the heat had -contracted the street. At any rate it was much too narrow for my friend -and his <i>vino<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_231">{231}</a></span> blanco</i>, and he and a lamp-post had quite an argument -about who had the right of way.</p> - -<p>I think the post must have hit him below the belt from the way he fell -out, and with the guilt of the act resting so heavy on my conscience I -fled from the scene and vowed I would never buy soapsuds any more for my -poor, martyred Guadalupe guide.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 415px;"> -<a href="images/i_239.png"> -<img src="images/i_239.png" width="415" height="127" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_232">{232}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br /><br /> -THE CITY OF THE ANGELS.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">L</span>A PUEBLA DE LOS ANGELOS is the authorized version of the sacred city, -but “Puebla” serves for all ordinary uses. This city is seventy-five -miles southeast of the capital. It is not on account of its transcendent -beauty or rare virtue that it is called the City of the Angels, but from -its wonderful history, woven into mystic legends by the zealous priests. -And for the story:</p> - -<p>“Once upon a time,” as all good stories should begin, the Indians saw -angels hovering over the place when it was an Indian village, before the -Conquest, and hence its name. Another version is that one of the good -bishops was looking for a site on which to build a town, and in his -dream saw a vision of two angels measuring town lots on the border hills -of a beautiful plain, and went right out and found the place where -Puebla now stands to agree with his dream, and forthwith founded the -city. Still a more recent explanation is given, that when they were -building the church, angels built as much wall by night as the workmen -built by day; and if you are disposed to doubt the statement, why, they -show you the church itself, which ought to convince the most skeptical.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_233">{233}</a></span></p> - -<p>The cathedral is built of massive basalt, and is thought by many to be -much finer than the cathedral of the capital. It fronts the Plaza Mayor, -and is built upon a platform of porphyry with Doric and Ionic -superstructure. The inside is bedizened with glitter and tawdry -jimcracks as usual, entirely out of keeping with the beauty and -magnificence of the building. The main altar is gilded with gold to the -value of a hundred thousand dollars, and before Maximilian’s time there -hung from the ceiling a famous chandelier of pure gold, also valued at a -hundred thousand dollars. The church party was backing Maximilian, so -the lamp was melted into coin to pay the army. In the towers are -eighteen bells, the largest weighing ten tons. Why these churches have -so many bells that are not rung, and have no chimes is another of the -unanswered questions, and must remain so until the last call. The pulpit -is of pure onyx, and the floor of glistening marble, and over the -door-way is the insignia of the Golden Fleece. The two grand organs are -encased and decorated with as fine work of sculpture as can be found -anywhere, and the walls are lined with costly paintings. Of course here -is shown a piece of the original crown of thorns.</p> - -<p>In the church of San Francisco is a doll brought over by Cortez and -carried by him through all his campaigns. It is an image of the Virgin, -and the benighted natives venerate it as though it were a god, and this -is but an index to the christianity of the country. The name of Christ -is rarely heard, and the name of Jesus is so secular that you may go -into a hotel corridor and say$1‘Jesus!’ and a half dozen men will an<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_234">{234}</a></span>swer -and come to you. Go into any crowd and say the same word, and there will -always be some one named Jesus, and possibly several. It is rather -painful to your piety to have some bandit try to pass a pewter quarter -on you or to keep the odd cents in a trade, and then to know the rascal -is named Jesus Maria Magdalene. There is not a Christ Church to be found -in all this land of churches, and as a means of saving grace, Christ is -not counted. In the Mexican Catholic Church, the people pray to the -powers in the order of their importance; first to the Mother of God, -“Most Holy Mother,” second, to the saints, and lastly they mention the -name of the Infant Jesus as being the son of Mary. In the prayers and in -the sermons and in the paintings he is always figured as an infant in -the arms of the Virgin, or the Man of Sorrows with his heart on the -outside of his anatomy. After looking at a thousand such pictures one is -tempted to believe that the X-ray is not such a modern innovation after -all. In the case of the twelve stations on the march to Calvary, with -the aid of red paint all the horrors and mental anguish that the human -frame can endure are displayed in life-size as a scourge to the laggard -believer.</p> - -<p>I do not fancy the poetry of Burns, but these grewsome images of wax and -papier mache with the real thorns on his head and the red paint gore -dripping everywhere, always recall the lines:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“The fear o’ hell’s the hangman’s whip,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To haud the wretch in order.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>The impression it always makes on me is that the threat is always -implied: “If you do not<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_235">{235}</a></span> repent, you will be treated in the same -manner,” and I honestly believe the Indians so interpret it. In the nave -of these churches are hung the twelve apostles, in all stages of ancient -martyrdom and modern dilapidation. Statues with broken or missing legs -and streams of red paint gore pouring in congealed rivulets from Roman -scourges and spear-points savor more of the bull-ring than of a -sanctuary. On the altar is a copy of the Holy Bible containing the Old -and New Testaments, translated out of the original tongues, and with the -former translations diligently compared and revised; but out of its lids -of solid silver bedecked with ribbons and symbols, they hear not a word -of christian living, nor of the beautiful life of Christ, nor of their -duty to their fellow man, but prostrate before these gory statues the -worshipers go round and round, counting their beads and crossing -themselves and gazing upon the ghastly anatomies before them, and this -is their worship. If they are oppressed with the weight of earthly sins -they are told to pray to the Holy Mother of God to intercede with St. -Peter in behalf of the afflicted one, and in addition to burn candles -upon the altar of Saint Francis or Saint Xavier, who have the contract -to use their good offices in behalf of the sinner, said sinner -guaranteeing to burn so many candles in acknowledgement, which candles -can be had from the church commissary two doors to the rear on the -right. And this is the substitute the Aztecs got by renouncing their -idolatry. They asked bread and received a stone.</p> - -<p>Puebla is called the City of the Angels, but it ought to be called the -City of Churches. This<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_236">{236}</a></span> was always the bulwark of the Church of Rome in -the New World and was the last to succumb to the new order of things -under Juarez. This is the city that backed Maximilian in his fight -against the patriots and quartered the French army for seven years, and -where the <i>auto-de-fe</i> of the Inquisition was pushed with all the zeal -of Torquemada. When Juarez destroyed the church party, Pueblo had a -dozen nunneries and as many monasteries, with all their concomitant -cess-pools of vice, as Maria Monk so vividly describes in her Montreal -experience. Under the liberal educational crusade of President Diaz, the -people are becoming too enlightened to ever revert to the old regime.</p> - -<p>Puebla is a city of a hundred thousand inhabitants and ranks as the -fourth city in importance. It is the market for the beautiful onyx which -is mined near the city. It is in a fertile valley, and for miles and -miles to the rim of the mesa lies one of the most beautiful scenes -within the Republic. Three volcanoes and three other snow-capped peaks -overlook the city. From Mount Malinche the city I think gets its pure -water brought by aqueducts. Puebla is the key to the country in time of -war as it commands the approach to the sea. It was captured by Iturbide, -Aug. 2, 1821; by Scott, May 25, 1847; occupied by the French, May 5, -1862; captured by the French, May 17, 1863; Recaptured by the Mexicans, -Apr. 3, 1867. The old fort on the Hill of Guadalupe must be visited. -Here the Mexicans under Porfirio Diaz defeated a veteran French army May -5, 1862, and earned their right to the national holiday of “Cinco de -Mayo.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_237">{237}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Though the city is over seven thousand feet above the sea, the valley -produces everything, wheat, rye, cochincal, maize, cotton, sugar, rice, -tobacco, coal and iron, stone quarries, and lime and kaolin for -porcelain, dye woods, and all kinds of tropical fruit in luxuriance, and -the valleys of alfala feed the finest beef steers it has ever been my -good fortune to see. The city was built in 1532 and is a model of -neatness, and as no animal matter decomposes at this altitude the -presence of disagreeable odors is unknown. Six railroads enter the town -and the tramvias lead to many interesting suburbs. Twenty-five miles -away is Popocatapetl, but with no forest or hill between the city and -the volcanoes to proportionate the distance, it hardly appears five -miles. If you wish to ascend the volcanoes, the Inter-Oceanic train -stops at the small station of Amecameca at the foot, where guides and a -two days’ supply of provisions are furnished.</p> - -<p>Here upon the second highest mountain in America, and the third highest -in the world, you may sit in the snow and cool yourself off after the -exertion of the climb. I cooled off at the bottom and climbed it by -proxy. My proxy said the view from the crater was magnificent and I felt -satisfied. The street-car line that leads to Cholula passes over the -Atoyac near the city across a very quaint, old arched bridge, built when -the city was born. About five hundred yards to the right of the track is -the natural wonder of Coxcomate. From the car window it looks like a -pile of white stones or a well bleached haystack, but on a nearer -approach it proves to be a tumulus of white calcareous stone, evidently -of water formation,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_238">{238}</a></span> about fifty feet in height and a hundred in -diameter at the base, and the form is that of a truncated cone. At the -apex is an elliptical opening, twenty-five feet along its minor and -fifty along its major axis. It is a bell-shaped cavity and lined with -ferns of various descriptions. The depth is about a hundred feet, and -its width along the bottom about sixty. On one side of the bottom is a -mass of gorgeous ferns, and on the other a pool of water.</p> - -<p>Of course Coxcomate has it legends. One is that the Aztecs were wont to -worship the genius of this spot, and occasionally to throw in human -victims to appease his subterranean majesty. It is also said that the -Spanish Inquisition used to cast in heretics and leave them where they -could calmly meditate upon the controverted points of doctrine. Whatever -its former use, it is a curious freak of nature, situated in the midst -of a level plain. It seems to have been a volcanic bubble, of which -there are many in this country.</p> - -<p>From Puebla a branch road takes us to Santa Ana, and a tram-way from -there to ancient Tlaxcala, the capital of Tlaxcala. Tlaxcala was a -republic in ancient times, as were also Cholula and Huexotzinco, and -these were life-long enemies of the Aztecs; and it was by fanning this -blaze that Cortez united them to conquer the Aztecs, and to the -Tlaxcalans is due the credit of the Conquest. They were faithful to the -uttermost to the Spaniards, and in the first defeat gave Cortez a home -and haven until he could collect another army, and again followed him, -this time to victory. Cortez always appreciated this kindness, and it is -here in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_239">{239}</a></span> squalid little Tlaxcala, degenerated into a village of five -thousand diminutive people, that more relics of Cortez are found than at -any other place.</p> - -<p>The municipal palace contains four oil paintings bearing the date of the -Conquest, and the banner of Spain which Cortez carried throughout his -conquering career. The material is of heavy brocaded silk which sadly -shows its age. It is nine by six feet, cut swallow-tail and is nearly -perfect, though approaching four hundred years old. The iron spear-head -bears the monogram of the rulers of Spain, and the original staff, now -broken, is kept with it. Immense sums have been offered for it from -Spain, but the Tlaxcalans refuse all offers. Here are also the arms of -Tlaxcala, illuminated on parchment, and bearing the signature of Charles -V., and the standards presented to the chiefs by Cortez, as well as the -robes in which the chiefs were baptized. Here also are a collection of -Tlaxcalan idols and the treasure-chest of Cortez, which was locked by -four different keys and could be opened only when all four guardians -were present together. Here is to be seen the oldest church in Mexico, -San Francisco, built three hundred and eighty years ago, under plans -furnished by Cortez himself. The roof is supported by carved cedar beams -brought from Spain, and in a little chapel is the original pulpit from -which the Christian religion was first preached in the new world.</p> - -<p>Here of course you see the crude figures of bleeding saints and -sublimated martyrs and harrowing crucifixions, painted in all their -mangled horrors to hold in awe the superstitious<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_240">{240}</a></span> native. As the Greek -boasts forever of Marathon and Thermopylæ, so with the Tlaxcalans in -their departed glory. A more squalid lot cannot be found than upon the -sun baked mesa of Tlaxcala. Living in adobe huts and filth and rags, it -requires the light of history to convince you that these were once -warriors second to none in the valley, who boldly met the Spaniards in -open battle when first they saw each other.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 252px;"> -<a href="images/i_248.png"> -<img src="images/i_248.png" width="252" height="235" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_241">{241}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br /><br /> -THE PYRAMID OF CHOLULA.</h2> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i15">“Nations melt<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From Power’s high pinnacle, when they have felt<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The sunlight for a while and downward go.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>Eight miles from Puebla in the midst of the vale of Atoyac stands the -sphinx of Cholula, a pyramid covering forty-four acres of ground, whose -base is one thousand four hundred and twenty-three feet and whose -altitude is one hundred and seventy-seven feet, with a truncated apex -two hundred feet square. This was once crowned by a temple, but now by a -church called Nuestro Señora de los Remedios. The City of Cholula was -the sacred city of the Aztecs, but the pyramid antedates their -tradition. When it was built, by whom and for what purpose will not be -known till the sea yields up its dead, but there it stands built of -brick, twice larger than Cheops, and so overgrown with trees that it -looks like a natural hill. A winding road with steps leads to the top, -whence a view of the whole valley is to be had.</p> - -<p>With his usual exaggeration, Cortez said that from its summit four -hundred heathen temples could be seen. At present the town of Cholula -contains about six thousand inhabitants, and I counted only fifty-four -church steeples seen from<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_242">{242}</a></span> its summit, of course omitting those visible -in Puebla. Naturally Cholula has its legends, and what ancient edifice -has not? The Aztecs knew nothing of the history of the pyramid. -According to Toltecan tradition, it was built by the followers of -Quetzacoatl. Among all nations of Anahuac, the god of air was -Quetzacoatl, “Feather-decked-serpent,” the great, good and fair god. He -had been a high priest in old Tollan, and according to all the statues -representing him, was bearded and had a white skin. He was a god of -peace and discouraged war and animal sacrifice, and introduced the -culture of maize and cotton and the smelting of metals and the working -of stone. When he wished to promulgate a law, he sent a hero whose word -could be heard a hundred leagues away to proclaim it from the summit of -Tzatzitepetl, “The mountain of clamors.” Under his tutelary care, maize -grew to such a size that a single ear was all a man could carry, and -cotton grew with all the colors already in it. In a word, the Aztecs -believed that the reign of Quetzacoatl was the golden age of the -country.</p> - -<p>Tezcatlipoca (shining mirror) was the principal god next to Teotl, -having descended to earth by means of a spider’s web. He fought with the -high-priest Quetzacoatl, and then told him it was the will of the gods -that he journey to the ancient kingdom of Tlapallan. Quetzacoatl was -escorted out by a number of people singing hymns, and finally reached -Tolula. His gentle manners and integrity won the hearts of the -Cholulans, so he dwelt with them and taught them the arts of -civilization, the smelting of metals, the weaving of cloth and the -making<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_243">{243}</a></span> of delicate pottery. After a sojourn of twenty years at Cholula, -Quetzacoatl decided to continue his journey to Tlapallan and departed -toward the sea, saying he would return. Gradually the report spread that -he was dead; he was then proclaimed a god by the Toltecs of Cholula, and -was afterwards proclaimed protector of the city, in the center of which -they reared the pyramid to his honor and crowned the top with a temple. -In this temple was an image of the “god of the air,” wearing a mitre on -his head waving with plumes of fire, and around his neck a resplendent -collar of gold, in his ears pendants of mosaic turquoise, in one hand a -jeweled sceptre, and in the other a shield, curiously painted, the -emblem of his rule over the winds. The sanctity of the place and the -magnificence of the temple spread, until the worship of Quetzacoatl was -shared by all the nations of Anahuac, and Cholula became a Mecca, the -Holy City of the Valley.</p> - -<p>Quetzacoatl created a new religion based on fasting, penitence and -virtue, and he belonged to another race than the one he civilized, but -what was his country? In all the Aztec writings and on all his statues -he is called “the fair god,” and when Cortez landed in Mexico, Montezuma -refused to make war upon him, saying, “It is the return of Quetzacoatl.” -The Cholulans forgot the art of war in the pursuit of the arts of peace -as taught by Quetzacoatl, and Cholula became the great emporium of the -plateau. Cholula became a dependency of the Aztecs, and this gave -offence to the Tlaxcalans, the bold Swiss mountaineers of Anahuac, who -were the enemies of the Aztecs. So when<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_244">{244}</a></span> Cortez arrived and conquered -the Tlaxcalans, they were only too willing to join him against the -Cholulans. It was in 1519 that Cortez selected six thousand Tlaxcalans -and a large number of Cempoallans and marched against the city of -Cholula. Cortez had been invited by the ruler to visit the city and was -the guest of the nobility, but here is shown one of the blackest spots -in his entirely perfidious character. Cortez left the main part of his -army outside the city with instructions to rush in when the signal gun -should be fired, and to weave sedges around their heads so as to be -distinguished from the Cholulans in the slaughter. The next morning he -had his men to conceal their arms and assemble around the great square. -He then sent word to the princes and all persons of distinction in the -city that he desired a conference with them in the square, and they came -to do honor to their invited guest, followed by the thousands, curious -to look upon the strange horses and fair-skinned strangers. Then Cortez, -to make a pretext for his deed, accused the chiefs of plotting treachery -against him, and at the signal, his army closed in the three sides of -the square and began the slaughter of the unarmed inhabitants. All the -accumulated hatred of the Indian allies was let loose in this hour of -vengeance. All within the square were slaughtered, including all the -persons of distinction of the republic, and then the butchers with fire -and sword spread through the streets of the city, and to the summit of -the pyramid.</p> - -<p>The statue of Quetzacoatl was thrown down and robbed of its treasures. -The temple was fired, and in the blaze of its destruction the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_245">{245}</a></span> savages, -both Spanish and Indians loaded themselves with booty from the thrifty -Cholulans, and with his sword in one hand and the crucifix in the other, -the missionary bandit, Cortez, offered the remaining inhabitants a -respite if they would accept baptism and acknowledge the King of Spain -as their sovereign! Under the guise of friendship, and while accepting -the hospitality of his host, this Christian savage stooped to a perfidy -which the natives scorned.</p> - -<p>This sacred city whose court magnificence rivaled the pomp of -Montezuma’s capital became a Golgotha. Upon the top of the pyramid where -was the temple, stands a catholic church, and in front an ancient cross -which the priest told me was almost as old as the Conquest. At the -northeast of the plaza where the massacre occurred stands the Church of -Seven Naves, which was built by the special order of Cortez from models -of the Cathedral Mosque of Cordova in Spain. The chapel has sixty-four -supporting columns, and the small mullioned windows and Moorish frescoes -give it a repose of perfect harmony with its peaceful environments. I -sat in the plaza that had once flowed in blood. It was July 18, and the -populace was celebrating the anniversary of the death of the patriot -Juarez, and as the glare of fire-works cast unnatural shadows among the -stately trees, I was reminded that Cholula once furnished the toys and -fire-works for the whole valley. This industrious people was called in -derision “the race of traders;” and even as I sat, the keen-eyed boys -detected the presence of strangers and scented a trade in “antiquias.” -After throw<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_246">{246}</a></span>ing a few stones at a tree, they leisurely drifted by me, -and finally returned, and mysteriously drew from their pockets curious -toys and fragments of pottery in a pattern different from any now made, -and declared them to be “antiquias viejas de Cholula.” These people are -up to date and can make you a relic to order if they only know what you -want, and will date it back as far as you wish; but these were the -simon-pure article of Cholula as she was in her halcyon days.</p> - -<p>Near Cholula are smaller pyramids very similar to those of the Mound -Builders of the Mississippi Valley. Stretching across the fertile valley -the shadows point to Popocatapetl, only six leagues away, but the -diaphanous atmosphere would make you believe it only one. The ancient -capital is now a compact village of six thousand people, as silent and -bereft of enterprise as though it dwelt under the spell of the Enchanted -City in the Arabian Nights. The young men were discussing the -independence of “Cuba Libre;” the women were at church, and the Indian -women from the hills with their babies strapped to their backs and their -bare feet upon the pavement, glided more like phantoms of a vanished -race than realities of the present. Though 380 years have passed since -that awful remembrance, its every aspect seems to accent its -Bartholomew’s day. The silence is oppressive, so we climb the pyramid to -view the valley, and such a view! To the north six leagues is Tlaxcala; -to the south and reaching the horizon an endless valley; to the east, -Puebla and the gateway to the gulf; and to the west the two snow-capped -volcanoes, and within these boun<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_247">{247}</a></span>daries a garden spot that equals the -valley of Mexico.</p> - -<p>Throughout this broad expanse are hamlets and orchards and pastures and -fields of evergreen maguey and cochineal, cactus and tropical fruits. -The scene is like a picture or the mirage of some unseen habitation. The -animals and men in the distance creep like insects in a pantomime. Not a -column of smoke to denote the presence of a factory nor the revolution -of a single wheel of commerce. A blast of a tin horn from the horse-car -tells us this is the last car to Puebla tonight, and we leave the -beautiful sunset glistening from the snow-clad peak of Popocatapetl, and -leave the unsolved riddle of the pyramid to the ages.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 307px;"> -<a href="images/i_255.png"> -<img src="images/i_255.png" width="307" height="150" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_248">{248}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br /><br /> -LAS TIERRAS CALIENTAS.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>O the “Hot Lands,” we leave Puebla by the Inter-Oceanic railroad and -make the wild ride to the city of Vera Cruz. The first part of the -journey is across the mesa of burning sand and bare rocks. Soon after -leaving the city we pass the mount of Malinche, which supplies the city -with water. Malinche is the name given to Cortez soon after he reached -Mexico, For miles and miles not a tree graces the landscape. Now and -then a brilliant cluster of morning glories appear, but they are shrubs -and not vines. The geranium also appears, and no longer a shrub, but -almost a tree twenty feet high. Flocks of discouraged sheep and very -earnest cattle seem to be devoting all their attention to eating sand -and rocks. Of course it is contrary to custom for these animals to make -a steady diet off this kind of fodder, but with my most earnest -investigation it was all I saw for them to eat. A sparrow could be seen -anywhere on any given acre of ground.</p> - -<p>A few shepherds wrapped in <i>serapes</i> were constantly on the watch to -keep the gaunt and restless wanderers within their imaginary boundaries, -for it was contrary to custom to allow one flock to eat the sand that -belongs to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_249">{249}</a></span> another. The miserable huts of the natives are measured by -the length of the discarded cross-ties of the railroad. A quadrangle of -these stuck a foot in the ground and thatched with maguey leaves and the -citizen is “at home.” So is the donkey or whatever other animal he -possesses. Sometimes he has several razorback pigs tethered by a foot to -the end of a rope and they root in the ground and hone their backs -against the cross-tie that answers for a door-post and are happy. As the -train approaches a station, scores of women and girls press around the -car windows beseeching the passengers to buy fruits at the first class -cars, and cooked provisions at the second and third. The most of the -first class passengers are Americans, and as a rule they do not invest -heavily in Mexican provisions. They say it requires too much faith to -eat them.</p> - -<p>And pulque. How could we get along without the fragrant pulque? With a -large earthen jar in her left hand, and a small one without handle in -her right, she anxiously seeks purchasers. When a purchaser is found, -down goes that right hand, fingers and all to the bottom of the jar, and -as it comes up full, the white, ropy fluid frescoes with its sticky -streamers everything in reach. In their anxiety to out-sell each other, -the anxious eyes are scanning every window for engagements while the -right hand mechanically is immersed to the wrist in the larger vessel. -At one cent a drink, and often as many vendors as purchasers, two or -three cents is the average revenue these people make from a train that -passes only twice a day. It is sad to see the hungry pleading eyes of -these half-naked women<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_250">{250}</a></span> as they in vain offer their scanty wares to -people who do not buy. I have bought food from one of these beggars and -given it to another just to see them eat, and no starved beast could -have shown greater hunger and zeal with which they picked up every crumb -from the ground.</p> - -<p>In the cities beggars are kept scarce by the police, but on these -plateaux they swarm, and grown men and women will crowd around the -train, and their clothing would not average two yards to the person. -Only twice did I see beggars attempting to offer an equivalent for the -alms they begged—at La Barca on the Mexican Central Road where two -blind beggars with cracked voices and rheumatic guitars inflicted the -painful combination upon the unoffending passengers. I think the -grimaces were given without charge, and only the music was expected to -be paid for, but I am sure my coppers were given for the heroic efforts -of that face to reach the sublimity of the music. The face was always -about three and a half flat keys below the instrument, and the much -abused instrument made no attempt to catch up with that wonderful voice, -but plodded along with her “reglar steady” for all pieces. Those three -organizations covered the whole baseball diamond in their progress, but -they all got together at the home base, and while the worthy Mrs. Beggar -collected the pennies, the crowd cheered the first warbler and called -for the second. Each one had the pitch that belonged to the other -fellow’s songs, but the crowd got it all anyway so what was the -difference? Anyway they were the only beggars that offered a <i>quid pro -quo</i> and the crowd forgave them much, even as<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_251">{251}</a></span> they had sinned much -against the musical profession in traveling on the high C’s without any -chart.</p> - -<p>Out of pure charity I took one of the Mrs. Beggar aside and very softly -asked her if she did not think an ordinary three-cornered file would -help her husband’s voice and also his throat. The word “throat” was my -Waterloo. Lifting her coal black eyes to mine she looked the thanks she -uttered as she said: “Lord, señor, a thousand thanks, that is the very -thing, he has not had a square meal today.” When will people learn that -everything intended for the throat is not to be eaten? Such gross -ignorance discourages my good Samaritan impulse and seriously interferes -with my work as a reformer. The same thing happened at a restaurant -where the same dish of butter had kept guard on the table so long that -it was being consumed by its own inactivity, and was making itself felt -further and further from its base of operations. Out of pure charity for -my fellow boarders, I heroically made a martyr of myself and relieved -the old guard which “died but never surrendered,” so the other fellows -might have a fresh dish, and what was the result? <i>Bismillah!</i> that -eagle-eyed waiter reported that I just actually made my living off that -brand of butter, and next meal the old guard had been replaced by a -whole pound of the same vintage but more vigorous and loud. Such -ignorance leads people to misinterpret my noble motives. Now, here I was -trying to make good music for coming generations, by offering that old -lady a file to rasp down the nightingale’s fog horn, and she thinks I am -so entranced<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_252">{252}</a></span> with the unearthly music that I want to show my -appreciation by giving them a cubic meal. Alas this thankless world! It -was ever thus.</p> - -<p>I said they were the only beggars that paid for their alms, but I make -one exception. Between Guadalajara and San Pedro a beggar has a gold -mine. Not what you would call a gold mine, but it is one for him. He has -a fortune in his knees, which got on the wrong side of his legs, and as -the street-car stops to change mules he painfully hobbles on crutches to -the car, makes his exhibit, collects the coppers and hobbles back to his -seat to wait for the next car, and he never utters a word. He has what -ordinary people call “a sure thing.” He always made me think of the -tramp and the dog. The dog found the tramp in the hay-mow and growled. -The tramp said: “Good doggie, good doggie,” and the dog wagged his tail -but kept growling. The tramp said: “It may be all right, but I don’t -know which end to believe.” So every time my beggar friend turned his -face away from the car, his knees and feet seemed to try to come back, -and I did not know which end to believe. This beggar question is too -large and has made me wander away from my subject. I was talking about -the women sousing their dirty hands into the pulque, but small matters -like that do not count. The old saw is still in vogue, that we must all -eat our peck of dirt before we die, and so we in Mexico just eat our -peck and get the dreaded duty from our minds.</p> - -<p>There are many more miles of desert and pastures where the cattle still -feed upon sand, and then we come to the fortress of San Juan de Los -Llanos. In the midst of the desert where it<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_253">{253}</a></span> never rains, and where -there is no green thing in sight, lies this huge fortress of St. John of -the Plains. For four hundred years this has been the King’s highway from -the gulf to the capital, and all the treasures of gold and silver to -Europe, and of merchandise from Europe have had to pass along here in -caravans of pack-animals and armed escorts. This road was a veritable -Captain Kidd’s treasure-house to the hundreds of bandits that have -swarmed through this country, so it is no more of a policy than -necessity that the soldiers are here.</p> - -<p>We are now nearing the rim of the plateau and pass through miles of rich -mining country until we leave the state of Puebla and enter the state of -Vera Cruz. We are a hundred miles from the sea and eight thousand feet -above it on the backbone of the Cordilleras. Around us is white frost, -and in four hours we shall be in perpetual summer. We are above the -clouds and everything is invisible. The clouds envelop the train like a -pall, and we are conscious of only one thing; we are plunging down the -mountain with breaks down, and with the descent of one hundred and -thirty-three feet to the mile. A rift in the clouds discloses a -semi-tropical forest, and upon every tree are myriads of beautiful -orchids of blue, red, scarlet, orange—every color and in the greatest -profusion. A thousand feet below is a little town we are trying to -reach. The train approaches it first on this side and then on that, and -winds down the mountain in a kind of spiral, and at last stops at the -station. Above us is the track we have just left, and if a rock was -loosed from it, it would fall upon the roof of the train at the station. -There is one<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_254">{254}</a></span> place on the road where a stone dropped from a car window -would hit the track at two separate levels. It is a journey one never -wants to take twice by daylight. If you pass the dangers at night you -save the nervous speculation as to what would happen if a wheel should -break on the brink of a chasm a thousand feet deep, and a floating cloud -conceals the nature of the rocks you would land upon in the awful depths -below.</p> - -<p>Every few hundred yards by the track are wooden crosses and stone -cairns. I ask my neighbor: “<i>Porque las cruces?</i>” He devotedly crosses -himself and mentions them as unfortunate meeting places of travelers and -bandits, and after the meeting the traveler still remained. Every one -who passes considers it his duty to add a stone to the cairn.</p> - -<p>At the stations the half-clad natives, shivering in the chill mountain -air, offer food and beautiful flowers for sale. Orange blossoms from the -valley and a dozen other rare blossoms the foreigner has never seen, and -the beautiful orchids with the roots done up in leaves are offered for a -real, (12½ cents) which would cost five or six dollars at an American -florist’s.</p> - -<p>Down, down we go, through dark canons and over spider bridges and below -the clouds. Now our wraps are uncomfortably warm and we lay them aside -and open the windows. From every where comes the odors of rare tropical -flowers and the iridescent rays of beautiful butterflies, and we are -half down the mountain at Jalapa (Halapa). Jalapa is a city of fifteen -thousand population, and was once the capital of Vera Cruz and has much -to endear it to the tourist. As the train stops you enter a street-car -drawn<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_255">{255}</a></span> by six mules which will carry you to town on the hillside of -Meniltepec. When you wish to come back to the train, the brakes are set -and the car will bring you back itself, and the mules will be down after -a while to draw it back. It is a regular toboggan affair, and you feel -as if you were shooting the chutes, were it not for the heavy bumpers -that would stop you were the brakes to give way. I think the Mexican -style of carrying the babies slung over the back must have originated in -Jalapa. If a nurse should undertake to roll a baby carriage, and while -talking to a policeman should let the buggy get a start down any street, -it would shoot the chute for Vera Cruz on an incline of thirty degrees.</p> - -<p>Before the Inter-Oceanic Rail Road was completed the street-cars ran to -Vera Cruz, seventy miles away, and all the company had to do was to mass -their mules in Vera Cruz and their cars in Jalapa and start the cars on -schedule time with enough brakemen to prevent a hot box. The streets are -not quite as crooked as a corkscrew, and not quite as straight as a -cow-trail when she is grazing, and starting from the top, each first -floor window looks out upon its neighbor’s house-top. It rains here -about eight days in the week. The town is four thousand feet above sea -level, and just behind it is the Copre de Perote peak, thirteen thousand -four hundred and three feet high, and plenty high to catch the rain -clouds from the gulf. When they strike the jagged edge of this toboggan -slide which holds Jalapa, they simply disgorge and go back for another -load. They seem to be a very faithful, conscientious set of clouds that<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_256">{256}</a></span> -put in a good day’s work and never grumble about working over-time or -the agitation of an eight hour system. I got tired carrying my umbrella. -It would rain half an hour and sunshine half an hour till the next cloud -got snagged on that mountain, and so between them there was no rest for -my umbrella. I am always full of good motives and advice, and the same -work a lawyer wants ten dollars for, I distribute with a lavish -ha—mouth. Armed with my good intentions and my dripping umbrella, I -called upon a member of the city council and suggested the idea of -filing off the rough edges of the mountain so it would not snag the -clouds and drench the people so often, but my words and good intentions -were all wasted. Those citizens have been sliding down hill so long and -been drawn up again by mules, they have no energy whatever, and would -never climb that mountain till they got street-cars up there. And -besides, if the cloud system was altered they would have to establish a -different sewer-system, and that means work, and of course they would -not.</p> - -<p>These clouds have done one thing though, they have banished the thatch -roof, and every house is built of stone and roofed with half-cylindrical -brick tiles which project a full yard over the eaves. This constant -drizzle has killed the usefulness of the old and tried friend—the -almanac. You don’t have to ask when it will rain for you know it will -rain in half an hour. Then it is no pleasure looking in the almanac to -see when the first frost will fall so we can gather chestnuts or pecans, -because frost never comes, and fall never comes, and winter never<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_257">{257}</a></span> -comes, but it just stays one eternal spring. The trees are always green -and if a leaf falls another grows in its place, and if you pluck an -orange another blossom springs out immediately, and if you cut a bunch -of bananas, a new shoot starts up for another stem, and as fast as you -pick the coffee berry, a perfect shower of snow white blossoms appear.</p> - -<p>There is absolutely no season. Four crops of corn can be grown, allowing -ninety days to each crop. Sugar and coffee and tobacco are the main -crops. The state of Vera Cruz borders the gulf for five hundred miles -with an average width of seventy-five, and in all that territory, the -soil does nothing but push things out. The Indian takes a sharp stick -and makes a hole in the ground and drops a grain of corn, covering it -with his foot, and ninety days afterwards he gathers his crop, and that -is absolutely all he does in the way of labor. A banana stem will spring -up eight or ten inches in diameter with several bunches of bananas and -eighty to the bunch. He gathers them and knocks the stalk down and -presto! another springs from the roots, and this he does perpetually.</p> - -<p>The coffee plant is the most beautiful plant in this region, and bears -till the slender branches touch the ground. The fruit is like our -cherries or plums, and the natives eat it as we do cherries, and only -the seed is sold for drinking. All around Jalapa in the forest grows the -vanilla vine so dear to the cake and ice-cream fraternity. The vine -grows all over the forest like grape vines, and is not cultivated. The -flowers are greenish yellow with spots of white, and the pods grow in -pairs like snap-beans, six<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_258">{258}</a></span> inches long and as large as your finger. -They are first green and then yellow, and when fully ripe are brown. The -pods are dried in the sun and then touched up with palm oil to make them -shine. The Indians make a good living by gathering the pods and selling -them in Jalapa, which is the chief market for vanilla. They also gather -from these woods sarsaparilla, which has its home here. All druggists -keep on their shelves a drug called Jalap, which grows here and gets its -name from the old town of Jalapa. With pine-apples and plantains and -limes and apricots and pomegranates and bread fruit and sugar and coffee -and tobacco all growing at their doors, what wonder is it that the -people all say, “Jalapa is a bit of heaven dropped down to earth.” All -they need is a tree to grow hammocks ready-made and swinging, and the -millennium has come. It is situated near the foot of the volcano of -Orizaba, the second highest mountain in America outside of Alaska, and -the rich hills and valleys are covered with vast heaps of volcanic tufa -and ashes which are natural fertilizers.</p> - -<p>The American army on its march from Vera Cruz stopped here to shoot the -chutes—and the natives—and exchange hospitality with them. The natives -have a very vivid recollection of that visit, and on the principal -street stands a tall granite monument with this inscription:</p> - -<p class="c"><small> -“SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF THE NATION’S HEROES<br /> -WHO DIED IN DEFENSE OF THEIR COUNTRY<br /> -AGAINST THE AMERICAN INVASION IN 1847.”<br /></small> -</p> - -<p>The thing is so absolutely true and incisive that most Americans who -read it like to quietly slip off to another street where there is no -grim<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_259">{259}</a></span> accuser. Every time he looks dispassionately back at that war he -feels like the big bully who slugged the little boy in the street just -because the boy had spunk enough to fight back, and then took all his -apples. California, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona must always feel like -blood money to the American people, as they were taken from Mexico to -extend slave territory.</p> - -<p>Santa Anna was born in this town, and the reckless traveling up and down -these toboggan streets must have given him his dare-devil spirit which -marked every stage of his eventful life.</p> - -<p>Jalapa is the summer resort of the moneyed people of Vera Cruz. Every -May when the Yellow Fever awakes from his sleep in Vera Cruz, the brave -citizens in a body back up the hill to Jalapa and shake their fists at -him and dare him to cross the line, and the fever does not dare. They -would simply pull a plug out of one of their special clouds and flood -him back to the sea. There must have always been a city here: behind the -present city are stone pyramids fifty feet high, and countless -foundations of stone walls laid in cement. There are oak trees four feet -in diameter growing through pavements laid in hewn stone and cement. The -architecture is different from that of the Aztec, and there is neither -language nor tradition as to who built these ancient ruins. They lie -towards the coast between Jalapa and Orizaba.</p> - -<p>Tell it not in Gath, but they do say that the most beautiful women in -Mexico live in Jalapa. “Bewitching, alluring are the women of Jalapa,” -is what the natives mean when they say: “<i>Las Jalapenas son -halaguenas.</i>” Per<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_260">{260}</a></span>haps this accounts for the saying that Jalapa is a -part of paradise let down to earth. The prevailing type of beauty here -is the blonde with blue eyes and brown hair, while elsewhere it is the -brunette with black eyes and hair. After one has seen <i>las Jalapenas -halaguenas</i>, the old churches and the musty paintings lose their -interest. The old town shows its age probably more than any other in -Mexico, and if these old stones could speak they might tell us of the -building of Cholula. Whatever is old in Mexico is still older in Jalapa. -Excursions to Coatepec and Jelotepec, about six miles away, may be made -on horse-cars through tropical forests and coffee groves, and then we -continue our tobogganing to Vera Cruz. On the down slide we pass Cerro -Gordo, where General Scott defeated Santa Anna, April 18, 1847. He must -have defeated the town too, for it is not there. A few mud huts are -patriotic enough to remain and continue the name, for which they deserve -much credit. Perhaps they are guarding the place to preserve Santa -Anna’s wooden leg which was lost here in battle. They have not yet -learned that it is in Washington City.</p> - -<p>We finally stow away our thermometer to prevent its melting and running -away. They say that straight down in the ground underneath Vera Cruz to -an indefinite depth it is really hotter than Vera Cruz. Perhaps. Vera -Cruz is a good place to stay away from. From May to October it is the -summer residence of his majesty <i>El Vomito Negro</i>, a black vomit, -familiarly known as Yellow Fever. This is not only his summer residence, -but his permanent home, but during<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_261">{261}</a></span> the winter months he is “not at -home;” but May 1st., on house-cleaning day, his residence is open to all -comers, be they light-weight, middle-class or sluggers. He gives all -odds and guarantees a knockout in the first round or forfeit the -championship.</p> - -<p>During 1868-4 the French army planted four thousand soldiers in a little -cemetery which they facetiously called “<i>Le Jardin d’Acclimation.</i>” The -Mexicans call it “<i>La Ciudad de los Muertos</i>,” the City of the Dead. The -population of Vera Cruz in 1869 was 13,492 and the number of deaths for -the ten years ending in 1879 was 12,219. The average duration of life by -these figures was eleven years! The annual deathrate is ninety per -thousand population, while in the United States it is 22.28 per -thousand. The safest way to see the city in the summer is to go in on -the train, go out to the old castle of San Juan d’Ulloa about a mile out -in the harbor, climb to the light house and take a good look, then get -on the same train and get up and out, or rather out and up. The town -covers about sixty acres and has no suburbs but sand and water. An -avenue of palms on the main street is the principal feature. If you stay -till night you will see the raven hair of the Mexican ladies sparkling -with gems, but they are only fireflies or “lighting bugs.” Three or four -of these tropical fireflies placed under a tumbler will give light -enough to read by. They have a natural hook on their bodies, so they are -fastened in the hair by this hook without pain to themselves. Our -American cities are troubled about their street-cleaning department; but -Vera Cruz has a street-cleaning commission<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_262">{262}</a></span> that is a commission. Here -they work without salary and only ask bed and board. The only other -bonus they ask is that the city fine any person five dollars for killing -any member of the commission; which seemed only reasonable, so the city -gladly consented, and now the agreement is entirely satisfactory to -employer and employee.</p> - -<p>The city council, on the city records, calls these commissioners -Zopilotes, but ordinary people just call them turkey-buzzards.$1‘Their -contract calls for bed and board—or tree. They find their board in the -garbage piles and refuse heaps of the streets, and their bed on the -church steeples and on the city hall and on your gate post or any other -soft place where it is comfortable to rest after a hard day’s work. The -city has not yet appointed a commission to clean up behind the -commissioners, and if I should suggest the thing to them they would -misunderstand my ideas of reform, so I will leave them to their fate and -the heavy death roll which they will still charge to <i>El Vomito</i> and -exonerate the Zopilotes. Owing to an oversight in drawing up the -contract, no mention was made of nesting-places for the commissioners, -and so they had to make other arrangements elsewhere, but where it is -the deponent sayeth not.</p> - -<p>Their day’s work was done and we saw that all the resorters had resorted -to their resorts, so we resorted to the train, unpacked our thermometer -and hied us away. Vera Cruz has had a monopoly of the shipping business, -but has a rival now in Tampico. When you go to Tampico, you must tar and -grease your hands, face and neck, then wear a pair of leather gloves<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_263">{263}</a></span> -and muzzle your face with wire netting. You may keep the insects off but -you will smell like a barrel of train oil. The entomologists must have -got tired classifying insects and dumped all the remnants at Tampico. -One sociable little fellow has a habit of crawling under your toe-nail -while you sleep and digging a hole till he is out of sight and then -going to sleep. He has no special reason for this except to make you cut -off your toe to get him out or to make you sleep in your boots. The -monkeys and parrots are very sociable too, but familiarity breeds -contempt. If I must associate with monkeys I prefer those with two legs -so when I abuse them they can understand my wrath.</p> - -<p>For description of Tampico see Encyclopædia Britannica. Besides the -Inter-Oceanic, there is another railroad entering Vera Cruz, the British -road that was thirty-five years in building and cost forty million -dollars. This road leaves the plateau at Boca del Monte (mouth of the -mountain) eight thousand feet above the sea, and falls four thousand -feet in passing over the first twenty-five miles of circuitous track, -and it falls twenty-five hundred perpendicular feet in the first twelve -miles, or two hundred and eighty feet to the mile. That tired, sinking -feeling is very, very present when you start down. A double engine -called the “Farlie,” having two sets of driving machinery and the boiler -in the center, pulls this train, and when it starts up hill it has to -stop every ten miles to rest. The Britishers who built that road had -faith and plenty of it. Below Orizaba, the road crosses a gorge a -thousand feet deep, and was blasted from the solid rock. To do so, -workmen were<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_264">{264}</a></span> suspended by ropes over the cliff, and worked for hours -with hammer and chisel. One piece of track clinging to the wall is not -over ten rods long and required seven years to build. So costly was this -road that when it was first opened in 1873 first class freight rates -from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico, two hundred and sixty-three miles -away, were $76 a ton on freight trains and $97.77 on passenger trains.</p> - -<p>Since Tampico is now a rival port freight is only $45 a ton and still -the road hardly pays for its outlay. We soon enter the beautiful valley -of La Joya (the Gem) and down, down below the clouds we pass through -evergreen foliage of ferns and flowers that surpass anything in beauty -ever attempted by brush and canvas; mammoth ferns and tangled vanilla -vines and other parasitic vines that coil around the giant trees and -strangle them to death, and then feed upon the remains. Tropical birds -of all colors and migratory birds from other lands are here without -number. It is here the Indian hunter pursues his vocation of killing to -make the wonderful featherwork, so salable in the capital, and just here -we enter the beautiful city of Orizaba, the capital of Vera Cruz.</p> - -<p>Behind the city is the snow-capped volcano of Orizaba, eighteen thousand -three hundred and fourteen feet above the sea, three miles and a half -high. Violent eruptions took place here in 1545-6 but it has been on a -strike ever since. Being the second highest mountain in North America, -perhaps it is putting on airs. At any rate it is chilly enough now and -the melting snows form innumerable cascades and waterfalls; and so the -Chicmec Indians called the volcano<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_265">{265}</a></span> “Ahauializapan” or “Joy in the -waters,” but the Spaniards had neglected their pronunciation in their -early youth and this was their Shibboleth, so they called it Orizaba and -let it go at that. Earthquakes have always been a specialty with -Orizaba, and the largest church has had its steeples thrown down three -times, and many others have a rakish, corkscrew perpendicular, which -gives the impression that they have been on a jag or are trying to -imitate the leaning tower of Pisa. A river runs through the town, and -runs cotton and sugar and flour mills. Orizaba is exactly of the same -altitude as Jalapa and what was said of the richness and fertility of -that burg is true of Orizaba. Volcanic ash is the fertilizer which needs -only moisture, which is abundant. The streets are paved with lava, and -there are three schools for girls and two for boys. If you like mountain -climbing, plenty of blankets, two days’ provisions—and some -silver—will take you to the crater of Orizaba, if your lungs can stand -the rarified air.</p> - -<p>I also ascended Orizaba, and my proxy said he could almost see into the -land of the almighty dollar, the vision was so grand. I felt happy. -Delightful excursions through the pretty gardens to Yngenio, the lakes -and mills of Nogales, to the innumerable cascades of Rincon Grande, -Tuxpango, El Bario Nuevo and Santa Ana. On the way to these, the orchids -and other floral beauties just beg of you to pluck them and thus make -room for their companions. Down the mountain we glide with brakes set -and enter the steel laces of the spider bridge across the Metlac and -hold our breath to lighten our<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_266">{266}</a></span> weight to the other side. We feel much -better after we are over, and just beyond in the tropical vale of Seco -is Cordova, on the border of the <i>tierra caliente</i> and <i>tierra -templada</i>. We are in the same belt as Jalapa and Orizaba, therefore in -the heart of the coffee plantations. The principal food of the -lower-class is bananas. The banana is an annual that grows about ten -feet high and about a foot in diameter before the bud appears, and then -from the top springs a purple bud eight or nine inches long, shaped like -a large acorn. This cone hangs from a long stem upon which a leaf -unfolds, displaying a large cluster of young fruit. As soon as these -have set, the leaf drops off and another unfolds, exposing another young -brood of buds. When these set, the process is repeated until there are -nine or ten circles of young bananas, and when complete the bunch has -nearly a hundred bananas, and the stalk never has to be replanted. It -requires less attention and produces more than any plant known.</p> - -<p>If the coffee plant was allowed to grow with its own sweet will, it -would become a tree thirty feet high, but then the berry would be hard -to gather, so it is topped and pruned so as to spread laterally. The -leaf is a shining evergreen, the flower is a snowy white star with the -odor of jassamines, and the fruit is a bright red, turning to purple -when ripe. The fruit looks much like a cherry and tastes as well, but -this is not for what it is cultivated. Within the berry are two kernels -or seeds with their flat sides adjoining, and enclosed in a thin -pericarp. The fruit is spread in the sun to dry, and the outer surface -is shriveled to a pulp, when it is re<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_267">{267}</a></span>moved by the hand. The pericarp or -thin husk still remains, and this is removed by being broken between -rollers and winnowed, and the coffee berry is ready for market. It must -be shipped alone as it will absorb any and all odors with which it comes -in contact, and a cup of coffee with a Limburger aroma is not a desired -innovation. The Mexican prides himself on the superiority of his coffee -bean, and all travelers praise the article as drunk <i>a la Mexicana</i>.</p> - -<p>A president of France once visited a village hostelry, and asked the -woman in charge to bring him all the chicory she had in the house. After -she had proudly delivered all her chicory to him he said: “And now -madam, I will thank you for a cup of good coffee.” The Mexican is not -above deception, however. Parrots grow here by the million and paroquets -by the billion, and in nearly all colors of the rainbow, but only the -ones with the yellow head will ever learn to talk, and no color of -paroquets will do more than chatter. But what is that small thing to a -Mexican? He simply gets a number of parrots and a pot of yellow ochre, -and in three shakes of a sheep’s tail he has a cage full of yellow-head -parrots worth five dollars each before they learn to talk. They next -spot the American “greenies” with money to burn, and the rest, is it not -written in the book of a retributive Nemesis who recorded those blue -streaks of profanity when that parrot got its first bath? Yea, verily.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“In ways that are dark and tricks that are vain,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The heathen Chinee is peculiar.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>Bret Harte may come down here with his mandolin and pick that same tune -in Spanish and he will receive an encore.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_268">{268}</a></span></p> - -<p>The Mexican will sell you “antiquias” from a pyramid that he made last -month, and he will sell you a coffee-wood walking stick that was made -from an old railroad crosstie and loaded with lead, and he will sell you -a blanket he stole from you last night, but when you call for coffee you -get the real article, and it is not prepared in either iron or tinned -vessels, but unglazed pottery. They fill your cup half full of coffee -and half full of milk and pass you the sugar, and when you have done, -like Oliver Twist, you call for more.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 322px;"> -<a href="images/i_276.png"> -<img src="images/i_276.png" width="322" height="314" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 422px;"> -<a href="images/i_278.jpg"> -<img src="images/i_278.jpg" width="422" height="694" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>CATHEDRAL GUADALAJARA.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_269">{269}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br /><br /> -GUADALAJARA IN THE VALE OF LERMA.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">G</span>UADALAJARA, which is reached by the Mexican Central R. R. from -Irapuata, was built in 1541 and in importance ranks next to the city of -Mexico. It is the capital of Jalisco, situated near the River Lerma, -which here changes its name to Santiago, in the midst of a plain hemmed -in on three sides by mountains, and on the fourth side is the Canon of -Santiago and the jumping-off place to the Pacific Ocean.</p> - -<p>Being the only city of importance near the Pacific and never having had -a railroad till 1888, it is strictly a Mexican city without foreign -tendency. The city is exceedingly beautiful, with streets crossing at -right angles and lined with orange trees for shade, the rarest of -innovations in this country. There are a score of public parks with -music stands, fourteen portales or arcades covering the sidewalks for -many squares, and fourteen bridges spanning the San Juan River.</p> - -<p>The Degollado Theatre is the largest on the continent, with the possible -exception of the Metropolitan in New York. The only academy of fine arts -in the country outside the capital is here. It is a great manufacturing -city, but not<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_270">{270}</a></span> a column of smoke or the noise of a wheel breaks the -Sunday quiet. It is entirely what the word means—manufactures, -hand-made. Pass across the little river among the humble adobe dwellings -and every house is a work-shop for cotton and silk and wool and leather -and musical instruments. Seated upon the dirt floor with a distaff in -her hand, I saw Penelope weaving rebosas after the manner of the ancient -Greeks. Two doors further I saw young girls with foot-power looms -weaving cotton goods, and hard by were a score of young women weaving -hosiery with small hand-worked machines. Leather and straw hats and -baskets were all done by hand, and what a busy city! For squares and -squares, every doorway revealed a hive of busy workers, for Guadalajara -must supply the country a hundred miles around, and forever, and -forever, the pack-trains from the Pacific country and the mountains come -and go with the exchange of commerce. It is the busiest city I have yet -found here and the people are happy. Saddles and hats and hammocks and -baskets and pottery and shoes are made by the thousand tons and all by -hand or the crudest of foot-power machinery. It is wonderful to see the -skill of mere boys, who seem to inherit the trades of their ancestors, -like the watch-makers of Switzerland or the wood-carvers of Germany.</p> - -<p>Of necessity, hand-made articles come high in price, and that forces -other thousands into the trade to make rather than to buy. A manilla hat -will sell for four dollars right in the shop where it is made, and -woolen sombreros without ornament are from four to ten dollars, and a -pair of French suspenders costs a dollar<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_271">{271}</a></span> and a half. A curious custom -is the grouping together of all similar industries. In seeking a pair of -shoes I was sent to a quarter of the town where for an hour every open -door gave forth its leather odor, and the wall outside was lined with -leather articles. There is no mooted question about shop-made shoes. -Every workman sits in front of his door with his kit of tools on the -sidewalk and works and waits for custom, and if he does shoddy work it -is done under your gaze. All the rope and hemp dealers and workers in -sisal are grouped in like manner, and the far-famed Guadalajara pottery -can be found all in one square. Guadalajara is the home of the chocolate -industry. The botanical name of the chocolate tree is <i>Theobroma cacao</i>, -and on account of the theobromine the seeds contain, it is one of the -most nourishing foods in the country. The cacao tree grows about 20 feet -high. The leaves are large and the flowers small, and the fruit is a -long purple pod similar to the yellow locust pods of our forests. The -pod contains from twenty to forty beans, each very similar in size and -color to the shelled almond. Butter made from these beans has an -agreeable taste and odor, and rarely becomes rancid. The principal -constituents are stearin and olein, and is much used in surgery, and in -France is used in pomade. The chocolate of commerce is prepared by -roasting the seeds, which establishes the aroma and changes the starch -into dextrin. The seeds are then crushed, winnowed and molded, and are -ready for export. For instructions in the art of preparing the steaming -beverage, consult your cook. I do not know.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_272">{272}</a></span></p> - -<p>The most noted point in the city is the Hospicio de Guadalajara. This -building covers eight acres of ground, and within its walls are -twenty-three patios or open courts where fountains play and flowers -bloom in the open air, and mangoes, oranges and bananas grow in the very -doors. This is a public institution for foundlings and orphans and the -deaf, dumb and blind. Girls and boys occupy opposite sides of the -building, and are grouped according to age. A matron in white cap led me -through the entire establishment, beginning with the nursery with its -long rows of cribs with infants of all ages and in all stages of humor. -Some are orphans by necessity and some by desertion, but they have a -better home than thousands with healthy parents. Life here is not a -sinecure and the children are all taught valuable trades. Crippled and -deformed little girls were embroidering and embossing laces and silks -upon patterns so intricate it looked impossible to follow without -machinery. I shall never again believe that the Irish and Venetian -lace-workers have a monopoly of this wonderful and painfully intricate -knowledge. There is a bazaar in the front where these finished articles -are offered for sale, and that is the main channel through which they -receive gratuities. A direct gratuity would be respectfully declined as -it is a state institution and well supported, but you would be told that -to purchase these articles would be directly helpful to the poor -unfortunates who were weaving their lives into those wonderful patterns.</p> - -<p>I asked the matron as to their final disposition. She said that the -afflicted ones would<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_273">{273}</a></span> of course stay still death. The healthy girls -would be helped to places of self-support, and the boys would all go to -the army, if they had not mastered some trade. The children have a -beautiful chapel in an open court and decorated in the most pleasing -manner. I learned more of the nobler side of the Mexican people by a day -spent here than in all my wanderings elsewhere. Sorrow and affliction -are like to bring us in a more sympathetic union, and the hundreds of -patient and afflicted children trying to solve the problems of life -under difficulties, force home the truth that all human nature is the -same. Except for the Spanish language, these neatly dressed attendants -and wards could not be told from any similar institution in our own -land, and they will compare as favorably in any line of conduct or -results achieved, and the moral tone and timbre of the institution is a -paragon of excellence. The Hospicio San Miguel de Belen is a similar -institution for afflicted adults with hospital, lunatic asylum and -school attached.</p> - -<p>I suppose penitentiary life is never pleasant, but prison life here is -the most pleasant I have seen. The outer walls look grim enough, but -within there must be two acres of flower plots all under care of the -prisoners. The guards are all upon the walls and can see all that goes -on below. The penitentiary is arranged like a turbine wheel, or rather -like a wagon wheel, with avenues from all parts of the ground converging -to a central arena without roof, and where the prisoners may be all -assembled under inspection if need be. There is here also a reformatory -for boys with dungeons for refrac<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_274">{274}</a></span>tory ones and books and lessons for -the ignorant ones. While it is called a penitentiary, there are no long -term men there; they are all in the army, where they do all the drudgery -work of the barracks. They wear a distinctive uniform and would be -instantly shot if they attempted to escape. It is very easy to gain -admission here, because the visitor is on the wall forty feet above -ground and every part of the wall is traversed by narrow bridges across -the amphitheatre over which the guards constantly travel. The prisoners -are allowed to come to the office and sell anything they manufacture, -and their friends may bring them the raw material, so a man may be a -prisoner and yet support his family. The building contains a court of -justice and prisoners from the patrol wagon are brought directly here -and tried and turned into their wards.</p> - -<p>Monopolies have no chance here; the government controls everything. The -slaughter house is a model of cleanliness and water is freely used. A -hundred or more animals are slaughtered daily and the butchers buy as -the animals are quartered. Prices go according to the grade of meat and -as it is a state affair there is no swindling and no bidding on prices. -The animals are slaughtered without cruelty. One is drawn up a gangway -by a windlass and fastened so it cannot struggle, and a knife is driven -behind the horns, severing the medulla oblongata, and another into the -heart, and the blood drawn off by a conduit while the carcass falls into -a car and is drawn to the skinning room and in six minutes is quartered -and sold. The city market is a wonder all by itself. It covers an<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_275">{275}</a></span> -entire square and the roof is supported by 196 arched portales on the -outside, and the number within the mazy interior are too many to count. -Underneath is sold everything that is common to the country.</p> - -<p>Across the San Juan River, five kilometers away, is the suburban town of -San Pedro. The tramcar passes through the city gate under a huge arch -and enters a beautiful avenue of giant elms and camphor trees, and -finally stops at a shaded plazuela in the midst of the little town. The -town for the most part consists of mud-colored adobe huts with no -comfort or convenience, but you soon discover that this is a residence -town of the merchants of Guadalajara. You discover this by the lofty -stone walls shutting out the eyes of the vulgar. One of the first -indications of wealth is a desire to be seclusive, and to wall the great -world out from one’s own little selfish world. Even the church is walled -in and the cemented coping stuck with jagged glass, and the entrance -guarded by heavy iron gates.</p> - -<p>But San Pedro is known by one thing alone worth notice—pottery. -Guadalajara pottery is known all over the world. Here is found a -peculiar clay that gives it <i>a priori</i> advantage, and for generations -the making of pottery has been the business of the town, and the knack -of the thing is inherited. The delicate and artistic painting is done by -people who never had a lesson in art or pigments. Everything in the -shape of a vessel is made in San Pedro, from the huge urns that hold -your largest lawn plants to the minute toy that may be covered with a -button. Not only vessels, but every thing the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_276">{276}</a></span> Mexican has ever seen he -can reproduce in clay, be it horse or man or procession or bull-fight or -building, and he will make it as true to life and color and purpose as a -photograph. But in San Pedro they do more than that. You can sit for a -statue or a bust, six feet or six inches, and the workman will take his -clay and produce a likeness your own mother would know. They are -absolutely true to life in every respect, and will be colored as to eyes -and clothes to the fractional part of a division of a tint, and I refuse -to abate one jot or tittle of the statement.</p> - -<p>But everybody in San Pedro can do that, so we have not yet reached the -celebrity. To find <i>the</i> artist of Mexico, of Guadalajara, of San Pedro, -you must walk two squares east on the street that leads from the -southeast corner of the plaza, turn down to the right half a square till -you come to a little tumble-down adobe house on the left. The -latchstring is on the outside and you are always welcome. Within is Juan -Pandero, the Indian sculptor, a genius if there is one. To be exact -there are two, father and son. If you want a statuette of your beautiful -self it is made while you wait, or will be built and sent to your hotel, -or he will go to your room and do it. But more than that, send him your -photograph and he will do the same, and herein lies his genius. Only -these two can produce statues from photographs, and they will be as true -to life as though he made them from models. And the tools. Such tools! -Seated on the floor with a lump of clay and an old case knife, and the -outfit is complete.</p> - -<p>From the hill of San Pedro, the City of Guadalajara and the Vale of the -Lerma lie before<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_277">{277}</a></span> you, and you notice what you have noticed a hundred -times before, how like the hills of Palestine are the landscape. Take -any series of pictures of the Holy Land and of Mexico, and no person who -had not traveled in one or the other could tell the difference. The -houses low, flat-roofed and painted white, the absence of trees and the -naked plain force the resemblance every time a vista is opened.</p> - -<p>Back to the city among those magnificent elms and to the Paseo. The -Paseo! what would any Mexican city be without its Paseo, where -fashionable people take their outing with such system and abandon? This -Paseo extends for a mile along both sides of the Rio San Juan de Dios. -There are also the Botanical gardens, and the Alameda, and the mint and -state buildings with the finest of architecture, so unlooked for in this -far-away place. Churches! ah yes, same old thing, even to the earthquake -brand, and they are costly and beautiful. The cathedral was begun in -1561 and completed in 1618. Both towers were thrown down by an -earthquake in 1818. Paintings without number adorn the wall. The -Assumption, by Murillo, is a genuine master-piece. All the saints in -this part of the vineyard have been remembered in the christening. There -are El Sagraria, San Francisco, San Augustin, San Felipe, La Campania, -Guadalupe, Mexicalt-zingo, Jesus Maria, Capuchinas, Santa Monica, El -Carmen, San José de Analco, San Sebastian de Analco, La Parroqua de -Jesus, San Juan de Dios, Aranzazu, La Soledad, San Diego, Belen, La -Concepcion, La Trinidad y la Parroqua del Pilar, and I am tired of -naming them; but if you will get an almanac and call off all<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_278">{278}</a></span> the saints -in the calendar, I will agree to find their churches christened and -waiting for them in Guadalajara.</p> - -<p>Nothing but a conscientious duty makes me go around among these old -paintings, and what do I know about them? I stood in an art gallery once -before a picture called “The Transfiguration;” my companion asked me how -much was it worth. I sized up the gilt frame and measured the space it -covered and said it must have cost ten dollars. He pointed to the name -in one corner and said in disgust: “Don’t you see Raphael’s name on -there? that picture is worth forty thousand dollars!” I dropped my -catalogue to hold my palpitating heart in place and told him I knew -better. Why, there were not ten yards of canvas in the whole thing, and -the molding was not much over eight inches wide and there was not fifty -feet of it, and I knew the price of molding and canvas too. Forty -thousand dollars! who ever heard the like? “But it is not the frame, -goosie, look at the picture!” I looked at it, and then I told him to -look at the picture on the other side, at that Stag Fight, or at that -fellow on the beech-log fishing, and “there’s a picture to look at.”</p> - -<p>He cast a withering glance at me and said some words which sounded like -this: “——!—--!!—--!!! natural born fool.” I stayed an hour trying -to get educated enough to see the forty thousand dollars. Hundreds of -people came, looked in the catalogue at the price and then showed their -superior education. “Now, that’s what I call art.” “Just look at the -expression.” “What an ensemble!” “Note the radiance of that halo!” I -merely asked<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_279">{279}</a></span> them what was it anyway. Some said it was the price, some -said it was an original old master, and some said it was both. I saw -hundreds of pictures I liked better, but I was out of style. I saw a -beech forest with silver bark and purple and brown leaves that I thought -was a gem, and some one turned up his nose in disgust and pointed to the -price; only $25! bah! And then I wept because my art education had been -so sadly neglected, and so I never miss an opportunity now to improve -it. Now, when the guide strikes an attitude and proudly points to a -painting and says: “<i>Murillo!</i>” I throw up both hands and step back a -pace or two and say: “<i>Murillo! Murillo!</i> Ah, <i>Murillo!</i> Just look at -that expression! What an ensemble!” Then I look at the guide’s face to -see how I am getting along, and he looks happy, and then we pass on. -Then he stops. “The Entombment, by Titian, $50,000.” Then I go into -ecstacies and strike another attitude: “The Entombment! $50,000! Titian! -$50,000! Ah, Titian! $50,000! That’s art!” When we stopped again I was -just about to raise my hands again, and looked to him for my cue, but he -said: “By a Mexican, $25.” “Oh!” I said in contempt. “Just a daub! Why -in the name of Saint Peter doesn’t that man learn to paint!” That guide -said I ought to make art my calling, and I do not know till this day -what he meant.</p> - -<p>Of course excursions outside of the city are in order. The cars lead to -Tlacotalpan, about five kilometers away, a quaint old town that looks -like Rip Van Winkle’s summer residence. The Falls of Juanacatlan are -farther. You go by rail twelve miles to Castillo, and go by<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_280">{280}</a></span> horse-car -one league farther to the River Lerma. The river is over a hundred yards -wide and the cascade is seventy-one feet high. In high water the falls -are beautiful, but a huge flour-mill has been erected which draws most -of the water through a flume when the river is low, at which time it is -possible to walk across the rocks the entire distance above the falls. -The mill was not completed when I was there, but judging by the name it -bears, it will be a very correct and moral mill. The part of the name as -completed reads: “The Mill of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary -Magdalene;” and when the annex is added to the mill, I was assured that -the rest of the name would be added, as at present there was not enough -room. Between Castillo and the falls is a rich valley covered with fine -beef cattle for the city market, and here can be witnessed some of the -finest work of roping cattle to be found among cowboys. While in full -gallop they can rope any foot of the animal that may be desired.</p> - -<p>Above here the river Lerma passes through Lake Chapala, and as it -emerges from the other side it bears the name of Rio Grande de Santiago. -Surely baptism is a wonderful alembic that can make a saint of a muddy -little river by one emersion only. But its good works follow it, and -where it empties into the Pacific, behold the Bay of San Blas! It was -from Lake Chapala that the Aztec migration began, 648 A. D., for the -valley of Mexico, and on this march their name was changed from Aztecs -to Mexicatls, in honor of their war-god, Mexitli. Soon after the river -leaves the lake, and just beyond Guadalajara, it forms a wonderful -canon, which for<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_281">{281}</a></span> grandeur is not surpassed on this continent. The chasm -is a narrow barranca two thousand feet down its perpendicular walls.</p> - -<p>You stand on the brink in the <i>tierra templada</i> and behold the tiny, -silver stream a full half mile below you in the <i>tierra caliente</i>, the -hot lands of the Pacific. You will never see elsewhere such a work of -nature as the canon de Rio Santiago. No, not even in the Colorado Canon. -It seems as though the great Titans in play had spaded this great block -of the continent from those perpendicular walls, and hurled it at the -Cyclops in the sea.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 284px;"> -<a href="images/i_291.png"> -<img src="images/i_291.png" width="284" height="250" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_282">{282}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br /><br /> -THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">E</span>NTERING Mexico from El Paso on the Mexican Central R. R., we traverse -the plateau that is continuous from Santa Fe to the City of Mexico; and -dreary enough, too, is the journey, with a perpetual landscape of -mesquite brush, cactus and chaparral. The first place of interest is -Chihuahua, two hundred and twenty-four miles from the Rio Grande, with -its famous silver mines of Santa Eulalia. The city laid a tax of -twenty-five cents on every pound of silver taken from the mine, and with -its share of the revenue, built the famous church of San Francisco at a -cost of eight hundred thousand dollars.</p> - -<p>This is the home of the Chihuahua dog, a beautiful nervous little -creature that is smaller than a squirrel and can easily be carried in -the pocket. It somewhat resembles a marmoset, and is bought by people -who are inclined toward pets. I have heard it darkly hinted that the -Mexican hot tamale was largely made up of Chihuahua dogs, but after -seeing the animal I do not believe it, as it would not pay dividends. -Judging by the size, a person with an ordinary appetite could easily -misplace two of them, and as tamales sell for a cent a piece<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_283">{283}</a></span> or twelve -cents for a square meal, the dearest principle of speculation would be -sacrificed with a dollar dog cooked up with a plebeian mongrel. It is -true I have never known what was in the scores of tamales with which I -have made a personal acquaintance, but I will never believe that a -Chihuahua dog was actually <i>killed</i> for that purpose. With the armadilla -it is different. His market value is only rated by the number of steaks -or tamales he will make up, and of him I can believe anything.</p> - -<p>All of this country for almost a thousand miles is devoted to mining, -which forms almost the only industry. At Lerdo, near the Nazas River is -the choicest cotton-growing section of the country. This is the Laguna -region and is very similar to the Nile. It rarely rains, but with -irrigation, wheat and corn grow all the time, and cotton has to be -planted only once in seven years, as it grows that long from one -planting. Eight hundred miles from the Rio Grande and four hundred and -forty miles from the city is Zacatecas, a city of eighty-five thousand -and the capital of Zacatecas. Nothing grows here but rocks and silver, -and I believe they do not grow any more, but they have a great deal of -the old stock still on hand. In the heart of the Sierra Madres, this old -town is built upon a silver mine which was discovered in 1546 and since -then has disgorged a billion dollars.</p> - -<p>The sight of the town from the north is startling. You have climbed to a -height of 8,000 feet and see no indication of a city until the train -crosses the crest. At night when the city is a blaze of light it -surpasses anything seen outside of Fairyland, as the train winds in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_284">{284}</a></span> a -spiral down into town, dropping 136 feet to the mile. At the station the -mules have pulled up the street cars and gone back to town, and as you -get aboard the driver loosens the brake and lets the car roll into town -by gravity. Like the nests of swallows clinging to the cliffs are the -houses of Zacatecas, perched far up where it seems only a goat could -climb.</p> - -<p>And Zacatecas also has its Guadalupe, upon whose summit is the church of -Los Remedios, and up the road, as narrow as the one which leads to -righteousness and as rocky as the one up from Jordan, lined with sharp -stones and crull cactus, crawl devotees on bleeding knees to do penance -for their souls’ salvation, at the behests of priests who grow rich from -their savings. Of course all the saints have churches named for them, -and here is probably the oldest Presbyterian Church in the world. It was -once dedicated to San Augustin, but has now become the property of the -Presbyterians. In the old church of Guadalupe is probably more to -interest the stranger than in any other church in this land of churches. -In the main altar are life-size figures of the crucifixion, and behind -these is a painting of Calvary with the Jews and Roman soldiers, drawn -to affiliate with the statues in front with startling effect. The church -is filled with people kneeling at the altars and whispering in the -confessionals. The old art gallery is filled with pictures of the saints -in all gradations of trials and temptations which prepared them for -immortality. The new chapel is the gift of a maiden lady of great -wealth, and is the finest chapel in Mexico. The floor is inlaid with -hard woods in different colors, and the altar<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_285">{285}</a></span> is rich with silver and -gold and gilding and wax figures, and silk and satin hangings. The altar -rail is of onyx and solid silver. The walls are finely frescoed, and -arched to a dome fifty feet above the floor. Everywhere are mines, -mines, and from their yawning mouths the Mexican laborers climb ladders -all day, bearing on their back canvas sacks holding two hundred pounds -of ore, and receive the princely sum of thirty-five cents a day. The -richest churches and the poorest people in Mexico are always found in -the same town and are correlative. The very fact that the people are -poor, is because they have made the church rich. A million dollar church -whose portals are filled with a hundred ragged paupers begging alms is -an every day occurrence.</p> - -<p>As the train leaves Zacatecas going south, it climbs a grade one hundred -and seventy-five feet to the mile, and ere long reaches Aguas Calientes, -“Hot Waters,” and the town runs riot in smoking, steaming, hot waters -that burst from the mountain side and offer free baths and prepared -laundry facilities free gratis for nothing to all who wish them, and -they are thoroughly appreciated. Men, women and children paddle in the -water and bathe and dress and undress with no worry at all about the -small conventionalities of privacy, etc. Now and then you will see a -baby tied to a string, who paddles to the length of his tether while his -mother is busy with her laundering. The town was built in 1520 and is -worthy of a visit at any time, but to see it in its glory you must come -to La fiesta de San Marcos. Saint Mark is the patron saint of the city, -and from April 23<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_286">{286}</a></span> to May 10, all the turkeys in reach are slaughtered -to grace the festal board and the business houses close for a holiday. -There is a fine old bell in the great church by the plaza, and whenever -it is heard the peons uncover their heads, cross their hands and engage -in prayer. People from all over the country come here to bathe in the -hot waters and take life easy. It is better than heating water at home. -Fruit is abundant and cheap, oranges selling two for a cent in Mexican -money, or four for a cent in Uncle Samuel’s coin. Flowers grow so -luxuriously in this warm moist atmosphere, that geraniums and oleanders -grow to the height of trees.</p> - -<p>Below Aguas Calientes is the city of Leon, on the river Turbois, in the -state of Guanajuata. It contains a hundred thousand population and is -the third city in importance in Mexico. It has five hundred and seven -streets, two hundred and thirty-six manzanas and ten plazas. Nearly -everything in use by the citizen is made here, but the leather industry -prevails. There is no machinery whatever, but everywhere are handlooms -for weaving <i>rebosas</i>, shops for the making of bridles and the cruel -spade-like bridle-bits, saddles, leather clothing and sombreros, so much -prized by cow-boys and haciendados.</p> - -<p>Guanajuata is the capital of the state and is pronounced -“Wah-nah-water.” The original name of the town was Guanashuata, “The -Hill of the Frogs” in the Tarascan tongue, on account of the fanciful -shape of the overhanging mountain. For three hundred years mining has -been the business of this city which contains sixty crushing mills to -reduce the quartz. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_287">{287}</a></span> richest silver mine in the country is here, the -Veta Madre, which has already produced $800,000,000 by the crude methods -in vogue here, which never secure over sixty percent of the real value. -Owing to the scarcity of fuel and water, machinery is impractical, so -the usual method of extraction is as follows: the rock is ground into a -fine powder and made into a paste with water, and spread upon the floor -of a large court a hundred feet square, after the manner of a brick-yard -mortar-pit; then certain preparations of salt, sulphate of iron and -quicksilver are added, and for three weeks a drove of broken-down -donkeys and men tramp leg-deep in this huge mud-pie. When the -amalgamation is complete and the quicksilver has collected all the -silver, it is taken in wheel-barrows to washing tanks, where half-naked -men and boys puddle it till the metal falls to the bottom and the refuse -washes away. It is barbarous treatment for men and animals, and a slow -method, but the only practical one where coal sells for $20 a ton and -wood $11 a cord. Wading naked in quicksilver and vitriol is not -calculated to lengthen life, and the life of mules in this business is -generally four years and of the drivers eight, and yet they never lack -for drivers. The mines average $33 to every ton of raw material handled, -and the silver is so plentiful and the profits so satisfactory that the -forty percent. loss does not trouble the owners. The 85,000 people all -get a living and are happy and what more is needful.</p> - -<p>Queretaro with its fifty thousand population is especially noted for -opals. It is a remarkable fact that every industry in Mexico is -distri<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_288">{288}</a></span>buted by towns. Irapuato for strawberries, Celaya for dulces, -Lerdo for cotton goods, Leon for leather, Puebla for onyx, Orizaba for -fruits, Saltillo for Zerapes, Guadalajara for pottery, Jalapa for -beautiful women, and so on from Dan to Beersheba. And so Queretaro -contains the mines which produce the fiery opal which brings so much ill -luck to the owners, according to the reigning superstition. This was an -Aztec town, captured by the Spaniards in 1531. It was here the treaty of -peace with the United States was finally ratified in 1848, and where Mr. -Seward was met with so much honor in 1869. The Hercules Cotton Mill is -the greatest attraction of Queretaro and one of the greatest in the -country. It has an over-shot waterwheel forty-six and a half feet in -diameter, and also a Corliss steam engine which burns wood costing -sixteen dollars a cord. One thousand eight hundred employees work here -twelve hours a day with wages from thirty-seven and a half to fifty -cents a day, and weavers get six or seven dollars a week. The premises -are walled in by a fort, and in front is stationed a company of -thirty-seven men with Winchester rifles. All large establishments have -to do this, as the large amount of money changing hands on payday is but -an invitation to desperate men of the Jesse James persuasion to make an -informal call. This mill has twenty-one thousand spindles and seven -hundred looms, and manufactures the unbleached cotton which the common -people wear. In the midst of a profusion of flowers stands a statue of -Hercules which cost fourteen thousand dollars before it left Italy. -Protective tariff in favor of this mill<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_289">{289}</a></span> against imports is nine and -three quarter cents per square metre, which enables it to sell its cloth -at thirteen cents per square yard wholesale. A better grade of goods is -sold in the United States for five cents. Free Trade is yet a long ways -off in Mexico.</p> - -<p>Maximilian and his two generals were shot here, and the saddest thing -connected with the history is the fate of poor Carlotta, his wife. She -was very dear to the people of Mexico, and when Maximilian was taken -prisoner many people pleaded for his life. The governments of Europe -protested against his execution, and the United States asked a stay of -his sentence. The princess Salm-Salm rode a hundred and sixty miles on -horseback and on bended knee prayed Juarez to spare his life. The next -day after his capture, Carlotta hurried to Vera Cruz and set sail for -France and begged Napoleon III to keep his word and uphold the treaty of -Miramar, and Napoleon insulted her for her trouble. She then went to -Rome and prayed to Pope Pius IX., but fared no better and distracted by -her failures she became a raving maniac, and for these thirty years no -light of reason has ever returned, but in the Austrian capital she sits -in gross darkness, babbling the name of Maximilian. As for the Indian -president, Juarez, he listened to all petitions but gave but one answer; -that war was war, and as for sickly sentimentalism, he had gone out of -the posing business, and they who lived by the sword should die by the -sword.</p> - -<p>While Maximilian was in power, he issued a decree that every officer -taken in arms against the government should be shot without trial,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_290">{290}</a></span> and -he executed that decree with every Mexican officer he captured. Now -Juarez was in power and the law had never been repealed, and he decided -it would work as well with Juarez as with Maximilian. Aside from all -this he decided that one dead Austrian Emperor on Mexican soil was worth -a hundred live ones, and Juarez always lived up to his convictions.</p> - -<p>P. S. Maximilian was shot.</p> - -<p>Pachuca is the capital of Hidalgo, eight thousand feet above the sea, -and overcoats are needed the whole year. There are three hundred mines -here and the business has been carried on four hundred years, and the -quantity of silver taken out will never be known. The Trinidad alone in -ten years yielded fifty million dollars. The other principal mines are -the Rosario, Caridado, Xacal, Santa Gertrudis, Caxyetana and Dolores. At -Acambaro we change cars for the Lake Region, through the beautiful towns -of Morelia, the capital of Michoacan and the residence of the Bishop. In -olden times when the Tarascan Kings got tired acting King, they took -their boats, and leaving Tzintzuntzan, their capital, paddled over to -Patzcuaro, “Place of Pleasure.”</p> - -<p>The town is very old and the streets are very crooked, with shrines and -saints set in the walls at every corner, but the old settlers were right -when they called it a place of pleasure. After a good night’s rest it is -the proper thing to see the sunrise, that will leave its impression with -you forever. Up the street to the Hill of Calvary you pass fourteen -stations of the Cross where the faithful pray. You hurry on to Los -Balcones, a stone parapet in front of the church of Calvary and what a -sight meets your eye!<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_291">{291}</a></span> From your elevation of a mile and a half above -the sea, the world is spread before you like a panorama. Spread at your -feet is Laguna Patzcuaro, “Lake Beautiful,” with its green islands and -giant trees, and as the sun comes up out of the Sierras he discloses to -your enchanted gaze a level plain with forty-three towns with a setting -of mountains and valleys worth a journey to see. Lake Patzcuaro is the -highest navigable water on the globe, being over seven thousand feet -high. It is a thousand feet below you on Los Balcones, but its thirty -miles of length and twelve of width are before you as a mirror. On its -bosom is the quaintest little steamboat that ever paddled a wheel, the -Mariano Jiminez, and it will take you among all the beautiful islands, -and to the old town of Tzintzuntzan. This was once the capital of the -ancient Kingdom of Tarasco that resisted to the last the sovereignty of -Montezuma, and after the Conquest was the seat of the Bishopric of -Tarasco. This Bishopric was held in such high esteem by Philip II of -Spain that he presented the cathedral with the finest creation from the -brush of Titian, “The Entombment.” The old church is crumbling down, but -the Indians venerate the painting so much the Bishop has forbidden its -removal. Art lovers have offered immense sums for it, but the church -authorities refuse to entertain offers in any sum, and so it hangs where -it was hung over three hundred years ago.</p> - -<p>The lake is dotted with innumerable fisher boats and timber rafts and -large flat-bottom boats hewn from giant trees. The fishermen simply dip -their nets in the water at random and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_292">{292}</a></span> catch the fish, which here form -one of the chief articles of food; but we started out to study art, and -not fish, so we land on the opposite side to see the famous painting -which is so zealously guarded. You are admitted through the outer wall -into the patio where sit a number of Indian women braiding mats, and the -padre said they were doing penance. With a lighted candle the padre -leads you through a dark corridor to a grim door, barred, chained and -padlocked. This door leads into a chamber dark as night. The padre opens -a grated window and lets in a flood of light and the picture lies -revealed with its life-size figures. You know you are in the presence of -the great master, because everybody says so.</p> - -<p>Artists from every part of the world have come to see this painting and -they all say it is a genuine Titian, and I knew this was the proper -place and time to expiate on art as I had heard those learned critics do -before the Transfiguration. I had finished nearly all the phrases they -said when the padre closed the window and the flood-gate of my -eloquence. Ah, but it was grand! After the padre had blown out the -light, barred, chained and pad-locked the door, a new idea came to me. -The bishop of Mexico has offered these Indians fifty thousand dollars -for the picture and they laughed at him, and ten times that figure -cannot buy it. All the figures are life-size and it is large enough, but -fifty thousand dollars will plaster both sides. My idea is to go down -there to Tzintzuntzan and get a job of doing penance in that old church -and finally get myself elected guardian of the keys to that room, and -then I will write this<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_293">{293}</a></span> letter to the bishop of Mexico: “Dear Bishop: I -hear that you have money to burn; also that you have fifty thousand -dollars to invest in old canvas, especially the brand that adorns the -dark alcove in the old cathedral at Tzintzuntzan. If you mean b-i-z, -meet me at the Rialto on Lake Beautiful this P. M., just as the moon is -rising in China, and we will give that old canvas the first fresh air -bath it has had in three hundred years.</p> - -<p>“P. S.—Come prepared to move in light marching order, because the state -of Michoacan will hardly be large enough for you and the picture after -morning mass.</p> - -<p>“N. B., P. S. No. 2.—Don’t forget the fifty thousand dollars, for</p> - -<p class="r"> -“Yours Truly.”<br /> -</p> - -<p>If ever I get to be doorkeeper down there I shall certainly vote to use -that fresh air fund to the best advantage, and there will still be -profit enough to give all those enthusiastic art lovers a square meal -after I have started to Canada, and I certainly would do that much for -them. In coming years when the Tzintzuntzan poets shall say, “What are -the wild waves saying?” they will answer, that they saw the only -hustling doorkeeper that old church ever had, cross that lake between -two days once, and before Aurora, child of the morn, had awakened from -her sleep, he had reached the other side of the mountains and lit -running.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_294">{294}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.<br /><br /> -DIVES AND LAZARUS.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HERE is probably no other country where the gulf between the rich and -poor is so wide. Six thousand people own all the land in Mexico, and -eleven million people have to live upon terms made directly or -indirectly by those six thousand. The same six thousand are also the -governing class, and make all laws to favor their own interest. For -instance, all the land of the rich is exempt from taxation, and this -compels the poor laborer to pay the tax for the support of the -government. It is hard for a man to acquire land here, as the holders -will not sell, and the laws against foreigners are very strict. Mexico -has never forgotten 1848, when California, Arizona and New Mexico were -seized by the United States, and she now sees to it that Americans get -no more. Thus, no American, without consent of the president, can -acquire land within twenty leagues of the border. This precaution is -based upon the experience of Texas. Mexicans allowed the Americans to -settle in Texas, and so soon as they felt strong enough they struck out -for independence and got it. If Americans were allowed to buy along the -Rio Grande, it would be but a few years till the Rio Grande country<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_295">{295}</a></span> -would declare independence and join Texas, just as Texas joined the -union.</p> - -<p>The rich have also made a law that a man may become a slave for debt, -and the property of the creditor. As a legal enactment the law has been -repealed, but as a matter of fact, the law is as operative today as it -ever was, and this class of slave labor is known as peons. The peon may -owe the creditor a hundred dollars. He is paid such low wages he never -cancels his debt, but continues till it is doubled. Should he become -dissatisfied with his master, he can get some one else to buy him by -paying the debt, and he thus becomes the slave of the second, but this -is always done legally. The original owner must write out a statement of -the amount of debt, and allow the peon three days for each hundred -dollars to seek a new master. Once in debt, always in debt, so the poor -peon is never free, and his wife is included in his contract, and the -haciendas will have no other kind of labor. The Mexican by nature is -averse to work, and where land is so fertile and fruit is so plenty, it -is hard to get a free Mexican to work, and harder to hold him. The peon, -on the other hand, has both a moral and legal compulsion to work, and -the fear of the law compels him to work every day but Sundays and feast -days. So this is the kind of labor the haciendados seek.</p> - -<p>In opening a new plantation, instead of hiring men, the owner spends six -or eight thousand dollars in buying peons from other farms, before his -new place has earned him a dollar. When he becomes the property of his -new master, a contract must be made as to time and wages.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_296">{296}</a></span> The peon -agrees to work on all days except feast days, and to receive in wages -two dollars and a half a month, plus a ration of corn, beans and salt, -or four dollars a month without rations. The rations consist of six -almuds (6½ quarts each) of corn, half an almud of frijoles (beans) and -one pound of salt. If a peon refuses to pay his debts in money or work, -the law places him in close confinement. Life on these haciendas is -peculiar to itself. The buildings are in the form of a huge rectangle -surrounded by high walls and entered by massive gates which are closed -at night. The walls are mounted by towers and pierced by loop-holes for -muskets, and generally surrounded by a moat. All these precautions have -been necessary in a land infested by bandits and subject to the annual -raids of the revolutionists who could get horses and supplies to furnish -a regiment.</p> - -<p>The hacienda of Jaral once controlled 20,000 peons and furnished a full -regiment for the Spanish army in the war of independence. Within this -enclosure on one side is the residence of the bosses, as the owners -nearly all live in Europe. On the other sides, in adobe huts with dirt -floors, live the peons with their families and dogs, while in the center -or in a separate enclosure are the animals. It reminds one of the feudal -days to hear the signal bell rung and see the hundreds of people -hurrying to the hacienda and closing the ponderous gates and preparing -for a siege. Revolutions and bandits are not as frequent now as -formerly, but the haciendas have no faith in Utopia, so they still build -in accordance with past experience. The universal work animal is the ox, -and he is<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_297">{297}</a></span> worked just as he was on the Nile four thousand years ago. -The plow is a sharp stick with an iron point that does not turn the soil -but only opens a furrow. The beam is fastened to the yoke, and the yoke -is fastened to the animal’s horns by means of raw-hide thongs, the -universal hammer and nails of the country. The people mend, repair and -make everything by means of raw-hide. The plowman holds the single -handle with his left hand, and in his right he carries a goad with a -steel point on the end with which he persuades his team. The driver -never speaks to his team, but if he wants the team to go to the left he -silently prods the right hand ox, and vice versa. The cruel method of -fastening the yoke to the horns compels the oxen to pull by their necks -instead of by their shoulders, and with a heavy two-wheeled cart loaded -with a ton of stone, their necks soon become so stiff they cannot bend -them, and cannot graze nor drink water unless they stand in it leg deep.</p> - -<p>Innovations? O no, the Mexican wants no innovation. An enterprising -Yankee shipped some plows down, and the natives sawed off one handle of -every one. He had always plowed with one handle and always will. In -making excavations for building, no wheel-barrow is seen. A piece of -raw-hide stretched between two poles and carried by two men is the only -wheel-barrow they will ever use. The only ladder in the country is an -upright pole with cross-pieces tied on by ropes. To saw lumber a pit is -dug and the log laid across the top, then with one man in the pit and -one on the log, it is sawed into lumber. For wagons they use only -two-wheel carts, and in loading, sometimes three<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_298">{298}</a></span> or four hundred pounds -will overbalance on the forward side and crush the mule to the ground, -but with whip and lash he is made to get up and move.</p> - -<p>I have seen these two-wheel carts come from the mines loaded with over -two tons of silver, and drawn by eight mules, and only one mule in the -shafts, and his back would be bent into the segment of a circle and his -legs spread like a cotton toy.</p> - -<p>To thresh their grain, it is spread in the yard and the oxen and donkeys -are driven over it two or three days to tramp it out, just as they did -in Egypt in Pharaoh’s time. After ten yoke of oxen had tramped over the -wheat for two days, I fear there are fastidious people who would refuse -to eat it, but we can get accustomed to many things when we have to. -Even the green scum on the stagnant water of the canal makes a fine dish -when you cannot do any better.</p> - -<p>There came a Yankee to this country once who saw a Mexican threshing -machine, which consisted of about thirty sheep, goats and burros, that -were wading knee-deep in grain and threshing it out; so when he got -home, he sent that farmer a Yankee threshing machine almost as a -present, and it was put to work. The grain was threshed clean and it -performed the work of a dozen men and twice that number of animals, and -seemed a great success, but it got bruited to the priests. They came and -saw the machine and stood in amazement. From their standpoint it was too -great an innovation, and what might it not lead to? They declared that -the devil was in the machine, and positively<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_299">{299}</a></span> forbade the peons to use -it! The threats and warnings frightened the poor ignorant peons out of -their wits, and that machine was sent back across the Rio Grande.</p> - -<p>When railroads were first introduced, the priests had the tracks torn -up, and for a long time the rubber hose of the air-brake was continually -cut open, because it was said to be the work of the devil. Wise priests -they are in Mexico. Well do they know that where intelligence and -invention find their way among those Indians, the power of the -priesthood is gone, so it is not a matter of ignorance with them. They -are well-educated—too well to permit innovations that will lessen their -influence and shekels. I have met these priests outside of their -official capacity, and found that many of them were educated in Europe -and America and were well posted in the affairs of today, all of which -proves that their teaching what they know to be false is the most -transparent humbug.</p> - -<p>The tools and manner of working is shiftless to the last degree. I have -seen plantations planted in corn, and it was done by men digging holes -with short handled grubbing-hoes, in which to plant, and when it was -large enough to cultivate, take a short paddle or a board, and on their -knees rake the dirt to each stalk.</p> - -<p>The corn has been inbred until it is of the most stunted growth, when a -few bushels of Texas corn would give new life to it. It is a rare thing -to see a stalk on the plateau over five feet high, while the conditions -of the soil ought to produce a height of twelve feet. For irrigation -they still use the old well-sweep, a long pole balanced in a fork, and -as the weighted end<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_300">{300}</a></span> goes down, the laden bucket rises at the other, and -all day the laborer draws this water to slake his thirsty field. A -suction pump would do the work of six men, but I have not seen such an -innovation as a pump in all this land. In making a cart the native will -take his ax and hew him out one complete, and there will be no particle -of iron about it.</p> - -<p>With the woman, life is a continual tread-mill until she dies. From -girlhood to old age her business is grinding corn, and it takes her -entire time. In the entire country I have seen no other corn mill. The -usual method is to put the corn to soak in lime water to soften the -grains, and then they are laid upon a stone a dozen at a time and -crushed by another stone roller made exactly like our kitchen rolling -pins; and when it comes to grinding corn for a large family, a dozen -grains at a time, it means a day’s work. In large cities of over a -hundred thousand population, the public mill is the same. I visited a -number where meal was ground for sale, and on the floor were thirty or -forty women down on their knees grinding corn; the metata, or nether -stone is held against the stomach like a washboard, and the rolling-pin -stone is worked up and down to crush the corn, but always she is on her -knees. This constant labor gives the peon woman a stolid look of -resignation that never departs from her features. For use, the grated -meal is dampened and made into thin cakes the size and thickness of a -saucer, and cooked by placing on a hot stone or piece of sheet-iron.</p> - -<p>Neither knives, forks, dishes or spoons enter into their household -equipment. The tortilla<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_301">{301}</a></span> is about the color and toughness of leather, -and is baked and stacked away for future use. The frijoles are cooked in -a small burnt clay vessel, then poured into or upon a frijola, which is -then rolled into a cylinder and eaten. If by good fortune they have -anything else to eat, the tortilla is used as a plate for this dainty -and then the plate is eaten. Their adobe houses have dirt floors and no -windows or chimneys. They never use fire except for cooking and that is -done on the outside. Within are neither bed, table nor chairs. Sometimes -there is a straw mat for a bed, and they sleep in the clothes they have -worn all day, the men rolling in their zerapes and the women in rebosas. -Shame and modesty in the usual amenities of life are entirely absent, -and no privacy whatever is sought or needed. The men dress in white -cotton and wear sandals on their feet, and each man is his own -shoemaker. The women wear, often, simply a coarse chemise or at most a -short petticoat reaching to the bare knees. Sometimes they wear coarse -shoes, but never stockings. Their faces have a perpetual look of -sadness. They are slaves for debt, and have nothing else in life to hope -for. Marriage laws are almost unknown. They have not the money to secure -a legal marriage, so the formality is dispensed with. In some of the -largest cities in the country you may take a seat in a public park, and -when no policeman is near some cadaverous looking woman will approach -leading a daughter, and will offer to sell her for two or three -dollars—to such stress are they driven by their condition.</p> - -<p>Do not think for a moment that all this suffer<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_302">{302}</a></span>ing and depravity will -awaken sympathy from the rich. The rich are Spaniards, and being such, -have neither sympathy nor charity for Mexicans and Indians. In trading -with these poor people I have purposely paid them more than the price -asked, when some Spaniard, thinking I had been cheated, would rush up -and abuse the seller and attempt to restore my money.</p> - -<p>Caste distinctions are drawn as tight as steel wires, and a peon would -no more resent an insult from a Spaniard than if he were a superior -being. They are fatalists, and accept their lot as their portion. Before -the law they are all equal, but if the aristocracy should appropriate a -particular park or street or sidewalk, the rabble would cower and huddle -near the edge but would no more trespass than if it were an enchanted -spot. The laws are made by the aristocracy, and in a lawsuit for damages -the poor would have no show at all, and in most cases the <i>leges non -scriptæ</i> are more powerful than the written. By common consent (of the -aristocracy) the people have divided themselves into classes and they -never transgress their acknowledged boundaries. No peon would think of -asking a well-dressed gentleman for a cigarette light, and said -gentleman would not use said peon for a door-mat.</p> - -<p>The most remarkable feature is the zeal with which the police enforce -caste rules. The railroads and street-cars are all divided into classes -and the police are always present to see that the <i>pilagua</i> or poor -class always go third-class. Even should one have a first-class ticket, -the policeman would promptly eject him. At the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_303">{303}</a></span> bull-ring or theater the -police assort them by their clothes, and I have yet to hear of a protest -by the ejected. In the alamedas and promenades, if the aristocracy -appropriate the inner circle next the band stand, the people immediately -fall back to the outer circle, and a string of police will see that they -stay there. But to all Americans, however dressed, barriers fall away -like cobwebs, and with a tip of the hat the official bids you “<i>Passe -señor</i>.” Ordinary servants are chosen from the great middle class, and -employers require such exact obedience and homage that no servant of the -United States would remain a day. No matter how often a servant is -called, she must always answer with some deprecating remark denoting her -position, such as: “Yes, your humble servant,” or “At your service, -Señora,” and this formula must never be omitted. In nine cases out of -ten no beds are furnished servants, and I have seen men and women spread -themselves over the bare floor night after night and sleep in the same -clothing they wore all day. For this faithful service women get five -dollars a month, in a country where the cheapest cotton cloth is -thirteen cents a yard. But Mexican servants are the best in the world. -They know nothing of the comforts of life as we know them, so they do -not grumble at their lot. Obedience and hardship are their inheritance, -and like the caged bird that has never known freedom, they never chafe. -It is this submission that makes the priesthood anxious to keep American -innovation out; but let intelligence be once awakened to superior -conditions,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_304">{304}</a></span> and automatic obedience to church and master will suffer a -compound fracture.</p> - -<p>The life of the great middle class woman is the happiest of the lot. Not -being ground by poverty nor bound by the laws of aristocratic society, -she enjoys life. The blue blood deserves our greatest sympathy. She must -never appear without <i>duenna</i> or escort. If she engage in any occupation -whereby she earns money or is drawn from her seclusiveness, she -immediately loses caste. An educated lady may do missionary work or -perform in music for some <i>funcion</i>; very well, but if it be known that -she received pay for so doing, it would mean her Waterloo. In -consequence most such places in the country are filled by foreigners who -have no such restrictions to face. Sometimes gentility frazzels out to a -very name with no income, and then the poor lady is in the strait -whether she shall go hungry or lose caste, so she works by stealth. To -the public she gives music lessons or art lessons for the love of it but -on the quiet she collects tuition, and thus is able to live and still -hold her own with the four hundred.</p> - -<p>A Mexican lady has her world in two hemispheres, the church and the -home. When she is not in one she is in the other. They neither visit nor -receive calls. A Mexican’s home is for himself and he does not invite -his dearest friends to it. This is not indicative of selfishness but the -custom. If you want to see anyone you never go to their home, but to the -plaza at eight when the band begins to play, and see your friends. That -is what the band is for, to play while you visit. And so her life is -spent.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_305">{305}</a></span> In her home all day peeping through iron bars, and on Sunday -going to the bull fight, and three evenings a week going to the plaza to -chat. Her home is furnished with elegance, but she has a peculiar -custom. If her best room will hold forty chairs, then forty will be -there. In nearly every home I have seen the walls held as many chairs as -would set around the four sides, but their use was never revealed to me. -Great is custom.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 376px;"> -<a href="images/i_315.png"> -<img src="images/i_315.png" width="376" height="255" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_306">{306}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.<br /><br /> -POLITICAL ECONOMY.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">L</span>IFE is extremely hard in Mexico. The absence of fuel and water places -her industries at a great disadvantage, and to foster her crude -industries she is compelled to put a prohibitory tariff on imports, -which falls heavily upon the consumer. A reciprocity treaty with the -United States would solve the problem, but who ever heard of the -American Congress agreeing upon subjects of great importance. When I -first went to Mexico each state collected its own custom duties -independent of the national government, and custom officials met the -train at every state line. I knew a lady who moved from Kansas to Nueva -Leon, the second state across the border, and on a silver water-pitcher -valued at $35, she paid an <i>ad valorem</i> duty of $17.15. The custom -regulations have changed now, and duty is no longer collected by -individual states, but it is bad enough as it is. American ham in Mexico -costs fifty cents a pound, cheese seventy-five cents, canned salmon one -dollar a can, and mackerel twenty-five cents each.</p> - -<p>Through the kindness of D. Appleton & Co., I am permitted to use some -figures below, taken from that very excellent work by David A. Welles, -“A Study of Mexico.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_307">{307}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“In 1885, an American living in the City of Mexico induced the landlady -to order an American cooking-stove. In due time the stove arrived, and -this is a copy of the bill presented and paid upon delivery:</p> - -<p class="c">ORIGINAL INVOICE:</p> - -<table class="tbsml"> -<tr><td>1 stove</td><td>weight</td><td class="rt">282</td><td class="c">pounds</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td>1 box pipe</td><td class="c">“</td><td class="rt">69</td><td class="c">“</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td>1 box stove furniture</td><td class="c">“</td><td class="rt">86</td><td class="c">“</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="c">Total</td><td> </td><td style="border-top:1px solid black;">437</td><td>pounds</td><td> or 199.3 kilos.</td></tr> -</table> - -<table class="tbsml"> -<tr><td>Cost in St. Louis, U.S. currency    </td><td class="rt">$26 50</td></tr> -<tr><td>Exchange at 20 per cent</td><td class="rt">5 30</td></tr> -<tr><td class="c">Total</td><td class="rt" style="border-top:1px solid black;">$31 80</td></tr> -</table> - -<table class="tbsml"> -<tr><td class="pdd">Freight from St. Louis to City of Mexico (rail) at $3 15 per 100 pounds      </td><td>$15 75</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Mexican consular fee at El Paso</td><td class="rt">4 85</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Stamps at El Paso</td><td class="rt">45</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> </td><td class="rt" style="border-top:1px solid black;">$52 85</td></tr> -</table> - -<table class="tbsml"> -<tr><td class="pdd">Cartage and labor on boxes examined by customhouse at El Paso</td> -<td class="rt">$    50</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Forwarding commission, El Paso</td><td class="rt">2 00</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Exchange 16⅔ per cent. on $7 64 freight advanced by Mexican Central Railroad</td><td class="rt">1 25</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"> </td><td> </td><td class="rt" style="border-top:1px solid black;">$56 60</td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="c">IMPORT DUTIES:</p> - -<table class="tbsml"> -<tr><td class="pdd">1 box, 128 kilos (stove) iron without brass or copper ornaments, at 19 cents per kilo    </td><td class="rt">$24 42</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">1 box, 31.3 kilos. iron pipe, at 24 cents per kilo</td><td class="rt">7 51</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">1 box iron pots, with brass handles, at 24 cents per kilo</td><td class="rt">9 48</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"> </td><td class="rt" style="border-top:1px solid black;">$41 41</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Add 4 per cent. as per tariff</td><td class="rt">1 65</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"> </td><td class="rt" style="border-top:1px solid black;">$43 06</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Package duty, 50 cents per 100 kilos</td><td class="rt">1 00</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"> </td><td class="rt" style="border-top:1px solid black;">$44 06</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Add 5 per cent. as per tariff</td><td class="rt">2 20</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"> </td><td class="rt" style="border-top:1px solid black;">$46 26</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Add 2 per cent. municipal duty</td><td class="rt">93</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"> </td><td class="rt" style="border-top:1px solid black;">$47 19</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Add 5 per cent. consumption duty</td><td class="rt">2 36</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"> </td><td class="rt" style="border-top:1px solid black;">$49 55</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Dispatch of goods at Buena Vista station, City of Mexico</td><td class="rt">38</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Stamps for permit</td><td class="rt">50</td><td class="rt" style="border-top:1px solid black;">50 43</td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"> </td><td>  </td><td class="rt" style="border-top:1px solid black;">$107 03</td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Cartage in City of Mexico</td><td>  </td><td class="rt">75</td></tr> -<tr><td class="c">Total</td><td>  </td><td class="rt" style="border-top:1px solid black;">$107 78</td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="c">RESUME:</p> - -<table class="tbsml"> -<tr><td>Original cost of stove with exchange</td><td class="rt">$31 80</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td>Freight, consular fees and forwarding</td><td class="rt">24 80</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td>Import duties</td><td class="rt">50 43</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td>Cartage</td><td class="rt">75</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="c">Total</td><td> </td><td class="rt" style="border-top:1px solid black;">$107 78</td></tr> -</table> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="tbsml">[<span class="smcap">Note.</span>—This stove was shipped from El Paso in a lot of goods for -Messrs. —— & Co., the largest importing house in Mexico, thereby -saving the expense of two-thirds the consular fees—$14-56—which, -if paid on the invoice alone, would have added $9 71 to charges and -raised the total to $117 49.]</p></div> - -<p>In 1878 Hon. John W. Foster, then United States Minister to Mexico, in a -communication to the Manufacturers’ Association of the Northwest, -(Chicago) thus analyzed the items of cost, in the City of Mexico, of a -tierce weighing gross 328 pounds, containing 300 pounds (net) of sugar -cured hams:</p> - -<table class="tbsml"> -<tr><td class="pdd">New York cost, 300 pounds at 11 cents</td><td class="rt">$33 00</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">New York expense, such as cartage, consular invoice, ($4 gold), manifest, etc., average 5 per cent. on large shipments</td><td class="rt">1 65</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Freight from New York to Vera Cruz at 1 cent per pound, payable in New York</td><td class="rt">3 25</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"> </td><td> </td><td style="border-top:1px solid black;">$37 90</td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Exchange on New York, $37 90 at 18 per cent.</td><td class="rt">$6 82</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Import duties in Vera Cruz, 138 kilos at 24 cents per kilo</td><td class="rt">33 12</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Municipal duties in Vera Cruz, $1 03 for every 400 pounds</td><td class="rt">84</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Lighterage and handling from steamer to warehouse ($1 to $1 50 per every 200 pounds)</td><td class="rt">1 63</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Maritime brokerage, 2 per cent. on freight ($3 25)</td><td class="rt">07</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Opening and closing barrel</td><td class="rt">50</td><td>  </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Additional charges in Vera Cruz for stamps and cartage to railroad station</td><td class="rt">1 50</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Commission in Vera Cruz, 2 per cent. on $70 66</td><td class="rt">1 41</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Exchange on Vera Cruz, 1 per cent. on $39 06</td><td class="rt">39</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Railroad freight from Vera Cruz to City of Mexico, 140 kilos at $54 32 per ton</td><td class="rt">7 60</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Local duties in City of Mexico, 2 per cent. on Federal duty, $33 12</td><td class="rt">66</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Local expense in City of Mexico, cartage in depot, expense in custom house, etc.</td><td class="rt">75</td><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="c">Total</td><td> </td><td style="border-top:1px solid black;">$93 19</td></tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_309">{309}</a></span></p> - -<p>Therefore, $1 in hams in New York was worth $2.82 in Mexico, or 31 cents -per pound! A similar analysis showed that an invoice of ten kegs of cut -nails, which cost in New York $22.50, when imported into the City of -Mexico cost $141.64, or $1 value in nails in New York was equal to $6.29 -in Mexico, and salt that cost $2 a barrel in New York, cost $20.40 in -Mexico. These are simply specimens of tariff duty, but the internal -revenue system is no less remarkable.</p> - -<p>Every inhabitant of the republic who sells goods to the value of $20 -must give the buyer an invoice of same, and affix and cancel a stamp of -corresponding value. Retail sales are exempt from this law so long as -they are less than $20. Retail sellers in the market, or others whose -capital does not exceed $300, are exempt. Tickets of all descriptions, -railroad, theatre, etc., must have a stamp, also each page of the report -of meetings; each leaf of a merchant’s ledger, cash or day book, and -every cigar sold separately must be delivered to the buyer in a stamped -wrapper. Sales of spirits pay 3 per cent; gross receipts of railroads -(city) 4 per cent; public amusements, 2 per cent of entrance fees; -playing cards 50 per cent, and mercantile drafts pay a dollar on the -hundred. Each beef animal on leaving a town pays 50 cents; each fat pig, -25 cents; each sheep, 12 cents; and everything else you can mention.</p> - -<p>A miller in Mexico has to pay thirty-two separate taxes on his wheat, -from the time it leaves his field till he can offer it to his customers -as flour. The country swarms with officials who collect taxes from every -conceiva<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_310">{310}</a></span>ble source, fandangos, christenings, marriages, funerals, -buryings, etc., while you live, and then collect taxes on your grave -after you are dead. It is very much like a case I knew in Texas when a -man was sentenced to prison for life, and the judge found that he had -overlooked one indictment, so he promptly added ten years. I am puzzled -to know if this taxation gave rise to the belief in the transmigration -of souls, or whether the belief in transmigration gave the cue to the -officials to collect from the shades. Perhaps this delinquent tax is -charged to the estate of Purgatory et al. Every man between the ages of -18 and 66 is taxed for the privilege of living, and the only way to -escape this tax is to live in Vera Cruz and die young. Poor old Mexico.</p> - -<p>I might devote ten pages to this subject, but what is the use? A country -with such a prohibitive tariff shuts out her only source of revenue on -imports, and exports nothing of importance but money, so how can she -survive except by robbing the people? The country is very poor, the -State of South Carolina producing two and a half times as much as the -entire northern half of Mexico, and if you compare them by proportionate -areas, twenty-five times as much. The interminable system of taxation is -the most despicable system on American soil.</p> - -<p>I have at last discovered why so many beggars go naked in Mexico. They -go naked and beg in order to escape the tax gatherer, since a man is -taxed on clothes and material and upon all incomes greater than $150. -History tells of a certain people that brought on a revolution and a -republic, just on account of such harmless<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_311">{311}</a></span> pastime as licking stamps. -The time will come in Mexico when the people will lick just one stamp -too many, then they will rise in their might and stamp the industry in -the ground. (Joke not intended).</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 267px;"> -<a href="images/i_321.png"> -<img src="images/i_321.png" width="267" height="325" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_312">{312}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.<br /><br /> -PREHISTORIC RUINS.</h2> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Thou unrelenting Past!<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And fetters strong and fast,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Hold all within thy unbreathing reign.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Far in thy realm withdrawn,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Old empires sit in sullenness and gloom;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And glorious ages gone,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Lie deep within the shadow of thy womb.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Full many a mighty name<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Lurks in thy depths, unuttered, unrevealed;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With thee are silent fame,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Forgotten arts, and wisdom disappeared.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">W</span>HAT strange people first entered this land? Who built these stupendous -monuments? Whence did they come and whither did they go? And what -characters are these engraved on walls which no man can read? And what -catastrophe removed from the continent every single inhabitant of a -gifted race? And why do we strive so hard to lift the veil which for so -long has guarded these strange portals?</p> - -<p>Every man who has looked upon these speechless but eloquent landmarks of -these vanished<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_313">{313}</a></span> races feels a burning desire to know more of them. To -the curious and inquisitive, Mexico offers an endless field, and a few -of these most noted ruins will be mentioned here.</p> - -<p>The pyramid of Cholula, covering forty-four acres of ground, has already -been mentioned. On Lake Texcoco stood the ancient city of Texcoco, and -here have been found the foundations of three great pyramids, built of -adobe and burnt brick. Sculptured blocks with finely chiseled bas -reliefs have also been found. Three miles from Texcoco is a group of -ruins called the Hill of Tezcocingo. The hill is very regular in outline -and rises to the height of six hundred feet. The most noted part of this -hill is the aqueduct which supplied it with water. The embankment which -leads the aqueduct from the mountain is from sixty to two hundred feet -high. The canals which brought the water are cemented with mortar mixed -with pounded brick. Thirty miles from the capital are the ruins of -Teotihuacan, “The City of the Gods.” Here are two immense pyramids -dedicated to the Sun and Moon. The one to the Sun is seven hundred and -sixty feet square and two hundred and sixteen feet high, with three -terraces, the one to the Moon is one hundred and fifty feet high. -Between them is a paved road one hundred and thirty feet wide. There are -a number of smaller pyramids dedicated to the stars and the whole valley -for six miles is strewn with relics.</p> - -<p>On the Mexican Central Railroad, sixty miles from the city, is the town -of Tula, or Tollan as it was called by the Toltecs. This was their -ancient capital and is covered with ruins. There are two pyramids, -probably dedicated to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_314">{314}</a></span> Sun and Moon. One is one hundred and ninety -six feet square and forty-six feet high, and the other one hundred and -thirty one feet square and thirty-one feet high, and both rest upon -raised foundations. The hillside for a mile has evidences of buildings -made from adobe, brick and cut stone. At Queretaro, it was found that -all the projecting points were made strong by ditches, walls and -embankments. Bancroft in his “Native Races” says that at Canoas there is -a fortified hill with forty-five defensive works, including a wall forty -feet high, and a rectangular platform with an area of five thousand -square feet.</p> - -<p>At Quemada in the state of Zacatecas is said to be a hill whose every -approach is guarded by walls of stone, with paved roads for many miles -surrounding it. On top of the hill was a citadel, guarded by a wall -twenty feet high and nine feet thick. To the south of Cholula are the -ruins of Xochicalco, the “Hill of Flowers,” said to be the finest ruins -in Mexico. The hill is a natural one rising nearly four hundred feet and -having a circumference of nearly three miles. The hill was surrounded by -a wide ditch and terraced to the top. Five of these terraces wind around -the hill, and are paved with stone laid in mortar, and supported by -perpendicular walls of stone. The top of the hill was leveled to an area -of two hundred and eighty-five by three hundred and twenty-eight feet, -upon which was a pyramid five stories high. The neighboring farmers have -been using it as a stone-quarry, but there yet remain some fine -specimens of chiseled bas-relief. These huge masses of porphyry were cut -by people unacquainted with the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_315">{315}</a></span> use of iron, and as one sculptured -block is eight feet long and three feet broad, and was carried nearly -four hundred feet up the mound, we can appreciate the labor involved. -There is no stone in this neighborhood, and yet the whole of this hill, -three miles in circumference, is cased in stone. What a warlike -neighborhood this must have been to require such fortification!</p> - -<p>At Monte Alban is another group of a similar kind. At the summit of the -hill is a platform half a mile wide, literally covered with sculptured -stone. Mr. Bandelier considers this the most precious remains of -aboriginal work on the continent. In the state of Oaxaca are the -celebrated ruins of Mitla, built by a different people from the others. -Besides the two mounds, Mr. Bandelier found the remains of thirty-nine -buildings, most of which were built of stone. Huge blocks of stone were -used and covered with a facing in which were traced peculiar geometrical -designs. The columns are huge stone pillars without chapter or base. -Mitla is an isolated spot with the pall of the tomb around it, except -for the Zapotec Indians who live near. At Guingola in the same state is -a fortified hill and a ruined settlement. In the state of Vera Cruz on -the Panuco river Mr. Norman found twenty mounds and the ruins of a great -city now covered by a forest. Cortez found this place inhabited by -Totonac Indians whose traditions knew nothing of the ruins. The largest -mound covers two acres, and was faced with stone 18 inches square. From -the sculptures and inscriptions it was probably the work of the Mayas.</p> - -<p>The Smithsonian Report of 1873, page 373,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_316">{316}</a></span> says: “There is hardly a foot -of ground in the state of Vera Cruz, in which, by excavation, either a -broken obsidian knife or a piece of pottery is not found.” The Mayas -here probably made their last stand against the invading Nahuas, who -also had to retreat before the advancing Totonacs. The ruins around -Orizaba and Jalapa belong to this class. At Papantla is a pyramid ninety -feet square and seven stories high, built solid, with a stairway leading -to the top. Also at Tuscapam is another pyramid and the remains of many -other buildings. When the country is fully explored, there will probably -be as many more found as are already known.</p> - -<p>One of the latest discoveries happened while I was in Mexico in 1896, -and was by a Cuban, Mr. G. M. Moliner, who lives in the city of Mexico. -He spent four years in Egypt, and for ten years has studied archæology -in America. He has a sword which he found in Mexico and which he claims -is coeval with the time of the Phoenicians. It is of copper and weighed -eight pounds when discovered, and the scabbard four. The characters on -one side he describes as Persian, and on the other as Phoenician. The -inscription “<i>Tai Abracadabra</i>” was pointed out to a representative of -the Mexican Herald, and the symbols of the gnostic beasts, the man, the -eagle and the dragon, and the blade represents the bull’s tongue. He has -also discovered a curio of copper, representing episodes in the history -of the mound-builders as he claims, showing the city of the sun, figures -of warriors, the conquering race armed with swords and oval shields, and -bearing the insignia of the wolf’s head, while the conquered race is -armed with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_317">{317}</a></span> battle axes and fire poles, and have the insignia of a -bird’s claw. When he discovered this piece of copper, he also discovered -what he calls the missing link between the past and present. It is a -piece of jet black marble about ten inches square and polished as smooth -as glass.</p> - -<p>Mr. Moliner claims that this stone contains an epitome of the -prehistoric race and the link that connects them to Asia. This missing -link is the imprint of the head of Hermes, found in one corner of the -lustrous black marble. This design is about two inches square, and -though the marble is half an inch thick, the impression is on both -sides. He claims that the design was painted and imbedded by discoloring -acids. He has had the stone photographed and the study of the photograph -is most interesting. The room must be darkened and only a little light -must reach it. He explained that the ancient priests did this painting -in the dark, through green obsidian glasses, and it must be viewed under -similar conditions. Looking at the photograph in full light, it -presented an enlarged representation of the alleged head of Hermes as -found on the marble. When the room was darkened and the full glare of -the light shone on it through green glasses, the photograph had the -appearance of burnished silver. By shifting the photograph, caves and -rocks would appear, and by another shifting appeared the outlines of a -building with towers and turrets on the crest of a rock, showing a -building of archaic architecture such as is seen in ancient biblical -illustrations. Mr. Moliner declares this to be the ancient Chapultepec. -By another shifting of the light, the head of Hermes appeared with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_318">{318}</a></span> five -component parts, to wit: the sacred Maya stone, the sacrificial knife, -the imperial diadem, and the mask and artificial snout found in Mexico -by the conquerors, the last three being in use by the Aztecs from time -immemorial. From the upper part of this head of Hermes rose a trinity of -faces, more or less distinct, one looking straight ahead, and the other -two right and left.</p> - -<p>One of the oldest of religious trinities is that of Hermes, and Mr. -Moliner claims that his discovery is similar to the symbol in the Louvre -in Paris. The head of Hermes as found in the Louvre is on white marble, -a slab eight feet high, and underneath it the inscription “Hermes from -the Pelagic Times.”</p> - -<p>The foregoing descriptions have been of ruins of the Nahuatl tribes; we -will now turn to those of the Mayas where</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Antiquity appears to have begun<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Long after their primeval race was run.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="nind">The city of Copan, in Honduras near the Guatemala line, claims to be the -oldest city in America. What must be the feelings of the traveler as he -gropes through a tropical forest and comes face to face with this huge -structure? First there is a terrace eight hundred and nine feet one way -and six hundred and twenty-four feet the other way, seventy-six feet -high and containing twenty-six million cubic feet of stone, brought from -a quarry two miles away. On the terrace were four pyramids, the largest -rising one hundred and seventy-two feet, and surmounted by two huge -trees rooted in its mold. Within these ruins were found fourteen -statues,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_319">{319}</a></span> the largest thirteen feet four inches tall, and all covered -with bas reliefs and hieroglyphics whose workmanship was equal to that -on the Egyptian pyramids. In front of the statues stand huge altars six -feet square, divided into thirty-six tablets of hieroglyphics which tell -to the world their history, but they speak in an unknown tongue, and we -do not know whether these are the emblems of a Mayan pantheon or the -relics from the palace of pre-Adamic man. Everywhere is a dark mystery -which has baffled the scholars of the world for these three hundred -years. The curtain falls, the traveler returns, and the æons begin again -their cycles around mysterious Copan.</p> - -<p>North of Copan is the hamlet of Quiriga, with ruins similar to those of -Copan, made of cut sandstone. Mr. Catherton found eight standing -statues, one fallen, and the fragments of thirteen more. The -hieroglyphics are similar to those of Copan, but the statues are two or -three times as tall. No people have ever been found with any tradition -whatever concerning these mysterious ruins. Throughout Yucatan and -Guatemala are ruins and inscriptions, but the people and their -traditions have been swallowed up by oblivion. Northward out of -Guatemala in the state of Chiapas in Mexico is Palenque, the sphinx and -Mecca of Central America. This is a fertile, productive country, which -was deserted and covered with ruins when Cortez landed. This old -deserted city covers more than a mile. The pyramid, according to Mr. -Stephens’ measurement at the base was 310 by 260 feet, and was cased in -stone, now thrown down by the growth of trees. In one room of the -temple<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_320">{320}</a></span> was found a stone tablet four feet long and three feet broad, -and sculptured in bas relief. It is set in the wall and around it is a -stucco border, but its significance is unknown. The principal figure is -carved with a necklace of pearls around the neck, and suspended from the -pearls is a medallion containing a face. Rising from the center of the -ruins is a tower thirty feet square with a staircase. Southwest of the -palace is the pyramid called the “Temple of Inscriptions,” whose slope -was 110 feet of solid masonry. Each of the corner pieces contained on -its surface hieroglyphics, each of which contained 96 squares.</p> - -<p>In Uxmal are ruins that rival Palenque and are the most interesting of -any in Yucatan. There are so many, we will mention only one, and give -the dimensions on the authority of Bancroft. The pyramid is 350 feet -square at the base and surmounts a quadrangle of buildings. The building -on the south is 279 feet long, 28 feet wide and 18 feet high. The one on -the north is 264 feet long, 28 feet wide and 25 feet high. The eastern -one is 158 feet long, 35 feet wide and 22 feet high and the western one -173 feet long, 35 feet wide and 20 feet high. These buildings contained -76 rooms all facing an open court 214 by 258 feet. The walls are -massive, of solid rock and 9 feet thick, and the floors were cemented. -The most attractive part of the whole building is the beautiful facades -which cover 24,000 feet of surface and are pronounced the finest of -native American art. The major trend of the facade is diamond lattice -work, with the turtle, serpent and elephant’s trunk alternating. The -terrace which supported<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_321">{321}</a></span> this building contained 60,000 cubic yards of -material. The walls were of massive masonry, and the sculpture is truly -artistic, and yet these people knew not the use of metallic tools.</p> - -<p>Here was enacted the greatest tragedy that history has ever recorded. At -these altars unnumbered priests waved their censers in the worship of -Quetzacoatl, the nature god of the Mayas, and now their cities are -overgrown by a tropical forest and are lost to the world, which knows -neither their name nor location, and it was by the merest accident that -we know of their very existence. Nepenthe rules here supreme. A tropical -forest has overgrown their pyramids and trees nine feet in diameter now -close the entrance to their temples, and nine feet of vegetable mold now -cover the altars where sacerdotal processions performed their mysterious -rites probably while Cheops was building.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 179px;"> -<a href="images/i_331.png"> -<img src="images/i_331.png" width="179" height="239" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_322">{322}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.<br /><br /> -AZTEC COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY.</h2> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“By midnight moons o’er moistening dews,<br /></span> -<span class="i4">In vestments for the chase arrayed,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The hunter still the deer pursues,<br /></span> -<span class="i4">The hunter and the deer a shade.”<br /></span> -<span class="i13"><span class="smcap">Philip Freneau.</span><br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">F</span>ROM the foregoing chapter we see that the ancient Aztec civilization -had nothing in common with the red Indian. Buildings, customs and -religion linked him to a higher civilization, or else prove that he -possessed the germs of self-evolution, enabled him to cope with the -great unknown, and single-handed to civilize himself. The latter process -will be hard to believe, the former will be hard to prove; but for -argument we will take a hasty glance at other nations whose history -corresponds most closely with the ancient inhabitants of Mexico.</p> - -<p>The Chaldeans, according to Berosus, held that the world is periodically -destroyed by deluges and conflagrations. They believed that the deluges -were caused by the conjunction of the planets in Capricorn, and the -conflagrations by conjunction in Cancer. The Chaldean philosophers had -also their <i>Annus Magnus</i> or great year, at the end of which the present -terrestrial and cosmical order would terminate by fire and afterwards be -renewed.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_323">{323}</a></span></p> - -<p>The ancient Scythians believed that the world undergoes revolution both -by fire and by water. The Egyptians believed that the earth would -flourish through the interval expressed by the <i>Annus Magnus</i> or great -year, a cycle, as with the Chaldeans, composed of revolutions of the sun -and moon, and terminating when they returned together to the same sign -whence they set out. At the end of each cycle the earth was supposed to -be destroyed by fire or water, and to be renovated for the abode of man. -The Hindoo cosmogony taught the doctrine of secular catastrophes and -renovations. Water is then introduced, over which moves Brahma, the -creator. Brahma then causes dry land to appear and vivifies the earth in -succession with plants, animals and man, then he sleeps 4320 millions of -years—a day for Brahma, and then the earth is destroyed by fire. The -fire is finally quenched by rain which falls a hundred years and -inundates heaven and earth. The breath of Vishnu next becomes a strong -wind by which the clouds are dispersed, and Deity in the form of Brahma -awakes from his serpent couch on the deep and renews the world, and -sleeps again another day. The power of Brahma is thus outlined by -Emerson:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“If the red slayer thinks he slays,<br /></span> -<span class="i4">Or if the slain thinks he is slain,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">They know not well the subtle ways<br /></span> -<span class="i4">I keep, and pass, and turn again.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Far or forgot, to me is near,<br /></span> -<span class="i4">Shadow and sunshine are the same;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The vanished gods to me appear,<br /></span> -<span class="i4">And one to me are shame and fame.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_324">{324}</a></span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“They reckon ill who leave me out.<br /></span> -<span class="i4">When me they fly I am the wings;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I am the doubter and the doubt,<br /></span> -<span class="i4">And I the hymn the Brahman sings.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“The strong god pines for my abode,<br /></span> -<span class="i4">And pine in vain the sacred seven;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But thou, meek lover of the good,<br /></span> -<span class="i4">Find me and turn thy back on heaven.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>The Jews also hold a prophecy that the world was to endure 2000 years -before the flood, 2000 under the law and 2000 under the Messiah, and -then to be destroyed by water, and a large part of the Christian world -accepts the same today.</p> - -<p>Orpheus and Menander, early Greek poets who lived in the twilight of -Greek civilization, reproduce the myth of the <i>Annus Magnus</i>, and teach -that the earth is to be destroyed at the completion of the cycle. In the -Sybilline books, 1300 years before our era, this faith is shadowed and -the world is destined to endure ten ages, the first of which is the -Golden Age. After a renovation by fire the Golden Age will return, when, -according to Virgil, the serpent will perish; the earth will produce her -crops spontaneously; the kid will no longer fear the lion; the grape -will be borne upon the thorn-bush, and scarlet and yellow and royal -purple will become the native colors of the woolly fleece:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0"><i>“Ipsæ lacte domum referent distenta capellæ</i><br /></span> -<span class="i0"><i>Ubera; nec magnos netuent armenta leones.</i><br /></span> -<span class="i0"><i>Ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores;</i><br /></span> -<span class="i0"><i>Occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni</i><br /></span> -<span class="i0"><i>Occidet; Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum.</i><br /></span> - -<span class="i0spc">* * * * *<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_325">{325}</a></span> -<span class="i0"><i>Molli paulatim flavescet campus arista,</i><br /></span> -<span class="i0"><i>Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva,</i><br /></span> -<span class="i0"><i>Et duræ quercus sudabunt roscida mella.”</i><br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>According to Winchell, the Stoics got the same doctrine from the -Phoenicians, and in speaking of the restoration after the conflagration, -use the same term we find in the Scriptures, though written many hundred -years earlier. Chrysippus calls it “Apocatastasis”—restitution—as St. -Peter does in the Acts. Marcus Antoninus several times calls it -“Palingenesia”—regeneration—as our Savior does in Matthew, and Paul in -his epistle to Titus. The Pythagoreans, who taught the transmigration of -souls, had the same ideas regarding the revolutions as had the Stoics. -Plato taught the same, and Aristotle alone of all the ancient -philosophers, taught the immortality of the soul and a continuance of -the present order of things.</p> - -<p>Among the Arabians, the story of the Phœnix is an allegory of the earth. -This bird of fable no sooner crumbles to ashes than she rises again in -more than pristine beauty. They have a similar story of the eagle which -goes to the sun to renew its strength, and David alludes to the myth in -the Psalms where he says: “Thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s,”—a -passage which in the Chaldee language reads: “Thou shalt renew thy youth -like the eagle in the world to come.” The Persians represent their god, -Fire, as the final avenger of the earth. The Aztecs, according to -Humboldt, felt the curiosity common to man in every stage of -civilization, to lift the veil which covers the mysterious past and the -awful future. They sought relief like<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_326">{326}</a></span> the nations of the old world, -from the oppressive idea of eternity, by breaking it up into distinct -periods or cycles of time, each of several thousand years. There were -four of these cycles, and at the end of each, by the agency of one of -the elements, the human family was swept from the earth, and the sun -blotted from the heavens, to be rekindled again by sacred fire.</p> - -<p>The great feast of the “renewal of fire” began on the last day of the -Sothic period of fifty-two years, when the last fragment of time lost by -leap year had been made up. In the evening the fire was extinguished -throughout the valley, and all the earthen vessels were broken in -preparation for the end of the world. At this time every one was in -terrible suspense, fearing he had seen the sun for the last time. The -whole empire was a prey to anxiety, and the people stood on the temples -watching the mountain tops, where bonfires would be lighted if the gods -showed themselves merciful. Then processions of priests marched to the -mountain so as to arrive at midnight, when they solemnly awaited the -turn of the night which would assure them that the sun would rise once -more and continue fifty-two years to the end of the next cycle. When the -critical hour had passed, a priest with two sticks and a rotary motion -of the hands produced the sacred fire. Then a funeral pyre was raised -and the victims sacrificed. Then an extraordinary activity followed the -despondency, and every one lighted his torch from the funeral pile and -hastened to his dwelling, and couriers with the sacred fire spread -through all the empire and the new blaze was kindled in every hearth and -on every temple<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_327">{327}</a></span> top, and they were happy for they had fifty-two years -more to live. The thirteen days complementary to the cycle—intended to -make the solar and civil years agree—were spent in whitewashing and -renewing their furniture for the new cycle.</p> - -<p>The Aztecs believed in the periodical destruction of the world and had a -tradition of the flood, and their idea of the re-peopling of the earth -very nearly coincides with Jewish scriptures. The following is a -translation of the Popol Vuh, or National Book of the Quiches of -Guatemala; “There was not yet a single man; not an animal; neither -birds, nor fishes, nor crabs, nor wood, nor stones, nor ravines, nor -forests; only the sky existed. The face of the land was not seen; there -was only the silent sea and the sky. There was not yet a body, naught to -attach itself to another; naught that balanced itself; naught that made -a sound in the sky. There was nothing that stood upright; naught there -was but the peaceful sea—the sea, silent and solitary in its limits; -for there was nothing that was. * * * Those who fecundated, those who -give life, are upon the waters like a growing light. * * * While they -consulted, the day broke, and at the moment of dawn, man appeared. While -they consulted, the earth grew. Thus verily, took place the creation as -the earth came into being.$1‘Earth’ said they; and the earth existed. -Like a fog, like a cloud, was the formation; as huge fishes rise in the -water, so rose the mountains; and in a moment the high mountains -existed.”</p> - -<p>This is the account of the first creation, and what follows, refers to -the fourth and last crea<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_328">{328}</a></span>tion.—“Hear, now, when it was first thought of -man, and of what man should be formed. At that time spake he who gives -life, and he who gives form, the Maker and Moulder, named Tepen, -Gucumatz;$1‘The day draws near; the work is done; the supporter, the -servant is ennobled; he is the sun of light, the child of whiteness; man -is honored; the race of man is upon the earth.’ So they spake.” * * * -Immediately they began to speak of making our first mother and our -father. Only of yellow corn and white corn were they flesh, and the -substance of the arms end legs of man. They were called simply <i>beings</i>, -formed and fashioned; they had neither mother nor father; we call them -simply <i>men</i>.</p> - -<p>Woman did not bring them forth, nor were they born of the Builder and -Moulder, by Him who fecundates, and Him who gives being. “Thought was in -them; they saw; they looked around; their vision took in all things; -they perceived the world; they cast their eye from the sky to the -earth.” “Then they were asked by the Builder and Moulder$1‘What think you -of your being? See ye not? Understand ye not? Your language, your limbs, -are they not good? Look around, beneath the heavens; see ye not the -mountains and the plains?’</p> - -<p>“Then they looked and saw all there was beneath the heavens. And they -gave thanks to the Maker and the Moulder, saying;$1‘Truly, twice, and -three times thanks! We have being; we have been given a mouth, a face; -we speak, we understand, we think, we walk, we feel, and we know that -which is far and that which is near. All great things and small on the -earth<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_329">{329}</a></span> and in the sky do we see. Thanks to thee, O Maker, O Moulder, -that we have been created, that we have our being, O our Grandmother, O -our Grandfather!’<span class="lftspc">”</span><a id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> - -<p>Is there anything more noble in any language than these sentiments of -untutored beings, striving to lift the veil and peer into the beyond? No -philosopher in any land ever gave tongue to more lofty sentiments, nor -approached nearer the real truth of divination, and we must remember, -these sentiments were not borrowed from the Spaniards, but were recorded -in the native writing of Guatemala, ages before the coming of <i>Los -Conquestadors</i>. The Aztec worshipped many gods, but he also believed in -one Great God, the “Causer of Causes.” To him was never an image made. -He was reverenced under the name of Teotl, but being invisible and -infinite, they never attempted to make a likeness of him, either in -idols or in painting. They made sacrifice of human beings, but not to -Teotl.</p> - -<p>I herewith present a prayer, translated from the Aztec language by -Lucien Biart, and addressed to the Unseen God:—“Mighty God, thou who -givest me life, and whose slave I am, grant me the supreme grace of -giving me meat and drink; grant me the enjoyment of thy clemency, that -it may support me in my labors and in my wants. Have pity on me who live -sad, poor and abandoned, and since I serve thee<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_330">{330}</a></span> by sweeping thy temple, -open to me the hand of thy mercy.”</p> - -<p>What this lacks of being the Lord’s Prayer, is hardly worth mentioning.</p> - -<p>All the other ancient nations we have mentioned, had intercourse with -one another. The Greeks studied in Egypt, and had dealings with the -Phœnicians. The Jews were taken captives to the east and the Hindoos -spread to the west, so it is not strange that they should all have an -almost identical cosmogony, but here is a people separated by an ocean, -having the same belief, a knowledge of the art of building, of sculpture -and of writing. Then how shall we account for all this unless we suppose -that they had known contact with each other in some past age? Alfred -Wallace, the great English scientist, says that none but the -unscientific ever resurrect the Atlantis theory, but with the risk of -being declared unscientific, I wish to present some facts of scientific -value, and leave the verdict with the reader.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 412px;"> -<a href="images/i_340.png"> -<img src="images/i_340.png" width="412" height="256" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_331">{331}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.<br /><br /> -THE LOST ATLANTIS.</h2> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Man’s steps are not upon thy paths; thy fields<br /></span> -<span class="i3">Are not a spoil for him; thou dost arise<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And shake him from thee; the vile strength he wields<br /></span> -<span class="i3">For earth’s destruction, thou dost all despise,<br /></span> -<span class="i3">Spurning him from thy bosom to the skies,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And send him, shivering in thy playful spray,<br /></span> -<span class="i3">And howling to his gods, where haply lies<br /></span> -<span class="i0">His petty hope in some near port or bay,<br /></span> -<span class="i3">And dash him again to earth—there let him lie.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">“T</span>HE Story of Atlantis,” recorded by Plato in his Timaeus, as -communicated to Solon by the Egyptian priests, has, in the light of -modern geography, been generally regarded as a myth, but within a few -years has been revived, and there are not wanting investigators of -profound learning who regard it as authentic. The following is the -translation from the Greek of Plato: “Among the great deeds of Athens, -of which the recollection is preserved in our books, there is one which -should be placed above all others. Our books tell that the Athenians -destroyed an army which came across the Atlantic Sea, and insolently -invaded Europe and Asia; for this sea was then navigable, and beyond the -strait where you place the Pillars of Hercules, there was an island -larger than Asia<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_332">{332}</a></span> (Minor) and Lybya combined. From this island one could -pass easily to other islands, and from these to the continent which lies -around the Interior Sea.</p> - -<p>“The sea on this side the strait (Gibraltar) of which we speak, -resembles an harbor with a narrow entrance; but there is a genuine sea, -and the land which surrounds it is a veritable continent. In the Island -of Atlantis lived three kings with great and marvelous power. They had -under their dominion the whole of Atlantis, several other islands and -some parts of the continent.</p> - -<p>“At one time their power extended into Lybya, and into Europe as far as -Tyrrhenia (Italy), and uniting their whole force, they sought to destroy -our whole country at a blow; but their defeat stopped the invasion and -gave entire independence to all the countries this side the Pillars of -Hercules. Afterwards, in one day and one fatal night, there came -earthquakes and inundations which engulfed the warlike people.</p> - -<p>“Atlantis disappeared beneath the sea, and then that sea became -inaccessible so that navigation on it ceased on account of the quantity -of mud the engulfed island left in its place.”</p> - -<p>Plutarch, in his life of Solon, relates that when the law-giver was in -Egypt “he conferred with the priests and learned the story of Atlantis.”</p> - -<p>Diodorus Siculus states that: “Over against Africa lies a very great -island, in the vast ocean many days’ sail from Lybya westward. The soil -there is very fruitful, a great part whereof is mountainous, but much -likewise champaign,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_333">{333}</a></span> which is the most sweet and pleasant part, for it -is watered by several navigable streams, and beautiful with many gardens -of pleasure, planted by divers sorts of trees and an abundance of -orchards. The towns are adorned with stately buildings and banqueting -houses, pleasantly situated in the gardens and orchards.”</p> - -<p>Theopompus who wrote in the fourth century B. C. tells substantially the -same story, which was given by Silenus to the ancient King Midas, -recorded by Aristotle.<a id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> The Gauls possessed traditions on the subject, -which were collected by the Roman historian Timagenes, who lived in the -first century, B. C. This record states that three distinct people dwelt -in Gaul (France). 1, The Aborigines; 2, The invaders from a distant -island, (Atlantis); 8, The Aryan Gauls. Marcellus also, in a book on the -Ethiopians speaks of several islands lying on the Atlantic ocean near -Europe, which we may undoubtedly identify as the Canaries; but he adds: -“The inhabitants of these islands preserve the memory of a much greater -island, Atlantis, which had for a long time exercised dominion over the -smaller ones.”</p> - -<p>Now, all these writers most positively state that an island did exist -west of Africa, and was destroyed by a cataclysm. This island could not -have been very far from the shores of America, for the tribes of Central -America, in Mexico, in Venezuela and in British and Dutch Guiana, -distinctly describe these cataclysms, one by water, one by fire and a -third by winds.</p> - -<p>Catlin, in his “Lifted and Subsided Rocks in America,” describes the -traditions of such a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_334">{334}</a></span> cataclysm. The Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, in his -“Quatre Lettres sur La Mexique,” and his “Sources de l’Histoire -Primitive du Mexique,” has translated the “Teo Amoxtli,” which is the -Toltecan mythological history of the cataclysm of the Antilles. Catlin -found the tradition of such a cataclysm among the Indians of North -America. The Indians farther south state that the water was seen coming -in waves like mountains from the east, and of the tens of thousands who -ran for the high ground of the west, only one man, by one authority, and -two by another, and seven by another, succeeded in reaching high ground, -and from them sprang the present race of Indians. The tribes near the -coast distinctly describe three cataclysms, water, fire, and winds, -while those inland were sensible only of the flood of waters which ran -to the base of the mountains.<a id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a></p> - -<p>“From amidst the thunder and flames which came out of the sea, whilst -mountains were sinking and rising, the terror-stricken inhabitants -sought every expedient of safety. Some fled to the mountains, and some -launched their rafts and canoes upon the turbulent waters, trusting that -a favorable current might land them upon a hospitable shore, and thus in -the elemental strife the ancient civilized people became widely -dispersed.”<a id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a></p> - -<p>“The festival of$1‘Izcalli’ was instituted to commemorate this terrible -calamity, in which princes and people humbled themselves before the -Divinity and besought Him not to renew the frightful convulsions.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_335">{335}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>It is claimed that by this catastrophe, an area larger than the Kingdom -of France became engulfed, including the Lesser Antilles, the extensive -banks at their eastern base, which at that date were vast fertile -plains, the peninsula of Yucatan, Honduras and Guatemala and the great -estuaries of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. With the -peninsula of Yucatan went down the splendid cities of Palenque, whose -sites are now in the ocean bed as well as the bones of the inhabitants, -and the continent has since risen sufficiently to restore the sites of a -number of the ancient cities, but the people were blotted from the face -of the earth. There is nothing more remarkable than the truthfulness of -the traditions of North American Indians. For hundreds of years -tradition has said that the Enchanted Mesa in New Mexico had been once -inhabited, and during the present year, an expedition from the -Smithsonian Institution explored the Mesa and verified the tradition.</p> - -<p>In proof of the Cataclysm and submergence of Central America, our modern -geographies tell us that Old Guatemala was destroyed by a water volcano -in the sixteenth century, and again in the eighteenth by an earthquake. -The sea shells on both sides the Isthmus of Panama are alike, and -according to the law of the geographical distribution of animals, this -could only have come about by the Isthmus having at one time been -submerged, and remaining so long enough for the intermingling of species -and being raised again, and the fossils on both sides support the -hypothesis. The situation of Atlantis, west of Africa in the Atlantic -Ocean, would be so near to Central America that any disturbance, like -the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_336">{336}</a></span> one described by Plato, would be compelled to affect Central -America in the manner described by the traditions of the natives.</p> - -<p>The nearest lands west of Africa, where Plato locates Atlantis, are the -Canary Islands, the nearest being fifty miles from Africa, and the whole -group extending three hundred miles, and are separated from the mainland -by a channel more than five thousand feet deep. Of all the oceanic -islands (not continental) discovered by Europeans, the <i>Canaries alone -were inhabited</i>, Here they found the Guanches, now extinct, who at the -time of their discovery were not aware that a continent existed in their -neighborhood, for, on being asked by the missionaries how they came to -this archipelago, they answered: “God placed us on these islands, and -then forsook and forgot us.”</p> - -<p>Now who were the Guanches? Their islands had never been connected with -Africa, because the channel between them is a mile deep, and Wallace in -his “Island Life” has proved that any island surrounded by water more -than five thousand feet deep is of volcanic origin. If craniometry is a -reliable science the Guanches were not savages, but superior to the -Egyptians. According to Prof. Flower’s measurements, the skull of the -English of low grade contains one thousand five hundred and forty-two -cubic centimeters, the Guanches one thousand four hundred and -ninety-eight, Japanese one thousand four hundred and eighty-six, Chinese -one thousand four hundred and twenty-four, Italians one thousand four -hundred and seventy-five, and the ancient Egyptians one thousand four -hundred and sixty-four. That the remnant of a race<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_337">{337}</a></span> found in mid-ocean -should have a better developed brain than many continental nations, is -significant, and if the Guanches were a part of the inhabitants of -Atlantis, we can easily understand their ability to make war and subdue -their neighbors as related by Plato.</p> - -<p>The late Sir Anders Retzius, of Stockholm, the learned authority on -craniometry says: “The Dolichocephali of America are nearly related to -the Guanches of the Canary Islands, and to the Atlantic population of -Africa,—Moors, Turaricks, Copts, etc.—and the same kind of skull is -found in the Canary Islands in front of the African Coast, and on the -Islands in the Caribbean Sea on the opposite coast which faces Africa. -The color of the skin in the population on both sides of the Atlantic is -reddish brown, resembling tanned leather; the hair is the same; the -features of the face and the build of the frame as I am led to believe, -presenting the same analogy.”<a id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a></p> - -<p>And now as to their dispersion. When Columbus set sail from Palos in -1492, he steered direct for the Canary Islands for repairs, and when he -left the Canaries, without any effort of his own, the trade winds -carried his vessels straight to the West Indies, and these winds blow in -this direction all the time. In December 1731 a ship started from -Teneriffe with a cargo of wine for one of the western Canaries, and -having only six men on board the ship became unmanageable, and the trade -winds carried them straight to Trinidad on the Island of Cuba. While -Atlantis was sinking, some of the inhabitants likely escaped on rafts -and boats, and be<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_338">{338}</a></span>ing exactly in the location whence Columbus and the -Teneriffe ship were, they had nothing to do but to wait, and the trade -winds would take them to the West Indices and Yucatan and Central -America. We can now easily see why the oldest civilization of America is -in Central America. Some of the immigrants stopped in the West Indies, -for the aborigines Columbus found there spoke the same language as the -Mayas and Caribs of Yucatan speak today. Some stopped in South America, -for Dr. Lund, the Swedish naturalist, found in the bone caves of Minas -Geraes, Brazil, human skulls identical with those of Mexico. This may -possibly account for the superior civilization of Peru, where the -ingrafted population would amalgamate with the native races and produce -those wonderful paved roads the Spaniards found there.</p> - -<p>Of course there will be objections to this hypothesis, and we will now -proceed to answer the objections.</p> - -<p>Dr. Waitz, in his “Anthropology of Primitive Peoples” says: “The first -elements of civilization as far as history reaches, always appear as -communicated from one people to another, and of no people can it be -proved how, where and when they have become civilized by their own -inherent power.”</p> - -<p>If this be true, then the ancient Mexican must have learned civilization -from some other people, and we know the red Indian had none to spare. -Winchell in his genealogical charts, represents the entire peopling of -the Pacific Slope from Alaska to Chili by Mongoloid branches. The world -knows that Mongolian civilization has always been fossilized and the -race is absolutely<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_339">{339}</a></span> devoid of civilizing qualities. Their state is -founded upon the worship of their ancestors, and their exalted egotism -has for ages resisted every attempt to force advancement among them. To -say that the Mongols crossed Behring Strait and gave origin to the -Esquimaux is entirely compatible, for the Esquimaux are just about the -calibre a Chinese colony of that date would produce. To say that Mongols -are the source of Aztec civilization and Inca sun-worship is to propound -an anthropological paradox. From Alaska to the ancient confines of -Mexico, there is not one stone left to acknowledge the hundreds of years -of Esquimo and Indian occupancy, so we cannot expect light from that -source.</p> - -<p>Separated from Africa by a channel only fifty miles wide, we may with -justice assume that the civilization of the continent of Atlantis and -that of Egypt was very similar. Egypt is the only land of the ancient -world where pyramids are found, and on a direct line with the trade -winds we find pyramids in Yucatan, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. In -Egypt we find the temples emblazoned with hieroglyphics chiseled in the -solid rock, describing one of the oldest civilizations in the world. In -Uxmal, Mexico, Palenque and Copan are tablets, friezes, bas-reliefs, -facades and hieroglyphics, though inferior to the Egyptian in mimetic -art, still of the highest order, considering this to be the product of -the neolithic age, and the length of time since the separation from the -home roof-tree. The Egyptians were the only ones of the ancient people -who embalmed their dead. According to the French Historian, Lucien -Biart, the Zapo<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_340">{340}</a></span>tecs and Chicimecs of the Mexican Valley embalmed their -chiefs, and if we may believe this same author, the caves of the -Cordilleras are vast museums as full of interest us the catacombs of -Rome. That the Americans mummified their dead is proved by mummies -having been found in Peru and in the northwestern part of Patagonia. Dr. -Aq. Ried, the discoverer, has deposited one in the museum of Ratisbon, -Bavaria, and another was sent to the Smithsonian Institution.<a id="FNanchor_F_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_6" class="fnanchor">[F]</a></p> - -<p>This mummy led to the remark of Professor Alexander Winchell in his -“Pre-Adamites.” “The humid atmosphere, unlike that of Peru, leads to the -inference that the mummification of the dead was practiced under some -controlling motive which must have been inherited from ancestors -dwelling in a more propitious clime, and which even the dripping -meteorology of Patagonia was insufficient to eradicate.”</p> - -<p>The Egyptians were accurate astrologers and astronomers. They accurately -calculated the eclipses and the reappearance of stars whose journey -would require over a thousand years, and the pyramids are set to the -cardinal points in Egypt and in Mexico. In the City of Mexico is the -great calendar stone of solid porphyry weighing fifty tons. It was -brought many leagues across a broken country, without beasts of burden, -and Bustamente states that a thousand men were employed in its -transportation. From it we learn that the Aztecs or Toltecs were -astronomers and astrologers and calculated eclipses and knew the -solstices of the sun. They divided the year into eighteen months of -twenty<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_341">{341}</a></span> days each, and, like the Egyptians, had five complementary days -to make out the three hundred and sixty-five, and every fifty-two years -they added thirteen (twelve and a half) days for a leap year to make the -solar and civil years agree. Like the Persians and Egyptians, a cycle of -fifty-two years or “An Age,” was represented by a serpent, so prominent -in mythology. Their astrological year was divided into months of -thirteen days each, and there were thirteen years in their indications, -which contained each, three hundred and sixty-five periods of thirteen -days.</p> - -<p>It is also worthy of note that their number of lunar months of thirteen -days was contained in a cycle of fifty-two years, with the intercalation -of thirteen days (twelve and a half,) should correspond exactly with the -number of years in a great Sothic Period of the Egyptians, viz. 1461. Is -it reasonable to suppose that this strange affinity with Egyptian -civilization was accidental, or that a Turanian people independently -evolved itself into a counterpart of Hamitic Berbers? The stone is not -modern; it is not written in Aztec characters but in Toltec, a people -whom the Aztecs supplanted, and they claimed that the knowledge was not -original with them, but acquired from the Mayas who had preceded them in -Yucatan. The ideographic paintings of the Aztecs preserve traditions of -the creation of the world, a universal flood, the confusion of tongues -and the dispersion of man; and that a single man and woman saved -themselves in a boat which landed at Mount Colhuacan, and that all their -children were born deaf and remained so until a dove, one day, from the -top<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_342">{342}</a></span> of a tree, taught them each in a different tongue.</p> - -<p>All Aztec traditions, without exception, insist that they came from a -far-off island called “Azatlan” (probably Atlantis.) Dr. Lapham, in his -“Antiquities of Wisconsin,” claims that the Aztecs were identical with -the Mound-builders, and locates Azatlan in Wisconsin, on account of the -large number of effigy mounds there; and Dr. Foster in his “Prehistoric -Races” pictures these mounds called Azatlan; but the Aztec painting -published by Gemelle Carera in his <i>Giro del Mondo</i>, has hieroglyphics -representing their departure from Azatlan in canoes and on rafts, after -their confusion of tongues, and a <i>teocalli</i>, or temple by the side of a -palm tree, of which neither condition can be true of Wisconsin.</p> - -<p>Max Muller, the greatest authority on philology, says that of all -indices to the mysteries of the ancient world, language is the most -satisfactory, and the <i>only</i> evidence worth listening to with regard to -ante-historic periods. If we class the languages of the world into -groups according to cognation, we find the Aryan languages comprising -the Indian, Persian (Sanskrit), Hellenic, Latin group (Italian, -Wallacian, Provencal, French, Portugese and Spanish), Slavonic -(Russian), Teutonic (English), and the Keltic or Welsh, of which the -oldest is the Sanskrit and Zend. The Semitic group comprises the Hebrew, -Phœnician, Assyrian and Arabic, while the Babylonian and Chinese stand -alone. The Aryan and Semitic form a class known as <i>the inflectional</i>, -and are the only languages of the world that are adapted to and possess -a literature, and that have advanced the progress<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_343">{343}</a></span> of the world in -religion, arts or sciences. Though springing from a common center, they -have grammatical structures that prevent the one being derived from the -other. The Semitic branched southward and westward, and was the language -of the Chaldee, Arab, Hebrew and Egyptian, the latter sometimes classed -as Hamitic. The Chinese is an organic language, monosyllabic, and -destitute of all grammar. The nouns have no number, declension or cases, -and the verbs are without conjugation through moods, tenses and persons. -All Mongoloid that reached America must have done so by Behring Strait, -and all such races, or descendants of such races, would undoubtedly have -kept a trace of their parental language. If the Aztecs were derived from -Mongoloids, we should expect a monosyllabic language, but on the -contrary, the Aztec language has more diminutives and augmentatives than -the Italian, and its substantives and verbs are more numerous than in -any other language.</p> - -<p>Another proof of its wealth is, that when missionaries first went among -them, they found no trouble in expressing abstract ideas like religion, -virtue, etc. The consonants most used are l, t, x, z; next the sound of -tl and tz. L is of most frequent occurrence, but is never found at the -beginning of a word. The Aztec language, sweet and harmonious to the -ear, has no sharp or nasal sounds; the penultimate of most of its words -is long. The language is rich, exact and expressive, as is proven in the -“Natural History” by Dr. Hernandez, who describes twelve hundred plants, -two hundred birds, many quadrupeds, reptiles, insects, metals, etc., and -was<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_344">{344}</a></span> able to call each by a separate name, given by the Indians. Poets -and orators there were by the hundred, and their written inaugurals make -as interesting reading as we hear from many of our legislators, many of -which were translated by the French scholar, Lucien Biart, who died -since these pages were begun.</p> - -<p>If Max Muller is correct, then there can be no kinship between the -Mongols and Aztecs, and if they ever had communication with other -people, it must have been from the east. The Sanskrit word for God, is -<i>Devan</i>; the Latin, <i>Deus</i>; the Greek, <i>Oeoo</i>; and the Aztec, <i>Teotl</i>. -This similarity of sound and spelling might be purely accidental, and on -the other hand, it might have something of a long kinship to identify -it. The Pythagorean doctrine of transmigration of souls was a ruling -passion with the Aztec. This may have been the fruition of all -polytheistic religions, or it might have been the retention of -primordial culture, for we know the Egyptian embalmed his dead, lest the -dissolution of the body would destroy the soul also.</p> - -<p>The greatest desecration that could befall the ancient Greeks and Romans -was the refusal of burial, because the soul of him thus uncared for -wandered thenceforth as a disembodied ghost.</p> - -<p>We read in Homer’s Iliad how the dead Patroclus comes to the sleeping -Achilles, and tries in vain to grasp him with loving arms, but the soul, -like smoke, flits away below earth. How Hermotimos the seer used to go -out of his body, till at last, the soul, coming back from a spirit -journey, found that his wife had burnt his body on a funeral pile, and -that he had become a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_345">{345}</a></span> bodyless ghost. How Odysseus visits the bloodless -ghosts in Hades, and the shadows of the dead in Purgatory wondered to -see the body of Dante there, which stopped the sunlight and cast a -shadow.</p> - -<p>How, in Virgil’s Æneid, the love-maddened Queen Dido could wish no -greater curse to befall Æneas, than that his body should lie unburied on -the plain, and even the old boatman, Charon, in Hades, refused to ferry -across the River Styx the shades of any who lacked burial while on -earth.</p> - -<p>This idea of the phantom life of souls as shades and shadows, -constitutes the higher philosophy of the transcendental metaphysics of -the ancient Greeks, whose exponent was Pythagoras. Religious fervor was -strong in the Aztec, and from his devotion to formality, Atlantis must -have been the home of ceremonial religion. The words <i>Atlas</i> and -<i>Atlantic</i> have no satisfactory etymology in any language known to -Europe. These are not Greek and cannot be referred to any European -language, but in the Nahuatl or Toltecan language we find the radical -<i>a</i>, <i>atl</i>, which signifies water, man and top of the head. From these -come a series of words, such as <i>atlan</i>, on the border of, or amid the -water, from which comes the adjective <i>Atlantic</i>. Therefore the Atlantic -Ocean must have received its name from the continent Atlantis before the -cataclysm. We have also <i>Atlaca</i>, to combat, to be in agony. It also -means to hurl, to dart from the water, and in the preterit makes Atlaz. -From the island of Atlantis, the Atlas mountain in northern Africa would -seem to the inhabitants to be hurled out of the water, hence its name<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_346">{346}</a></span> -was probably given by these same people, as the word occurs in no other -language.</p> - -<p>On the map of Mexico today are more than a hundred towns with the same -combination of letters of <i>atl</i> or <i>lan</i> which shows that the -combination is an essential part of the Aztec language. There are many -traditions that are receiving light from the nineteenth century that -crystalizes them into accepted history. For twenty-six centuries has the -siege of Troy stood out in profile as the model epic of the world, but, -on account of its antiquity, of doubted veracity. Now Dr. Schlieman’s -excavations seem destined yet to find the funeral pyre of Patroclus, -surrounded by the remains of Trojan captives. And even later, the French -archaeologist M. Marcel Dieulafay has brought to light the ancient city -of Susa, and we may even now behold the Palace of Artaxerxes Mnemon, -whose foundations were laid by Xerxes I. 485 B. C.; and now after -twenty-three centuries, the student may take his Bible in his hand, turn -to the Book of Esther and read, while the guide in the ancient capital -of Persia points to the spot where Mordecai sat, to that corner where -Haman was hanged, and to this court where the lovely Esther was crowned -queen, and whence the sorrowing Vashti departed, as the unfortunate -Hebe, cup-bearer of Jove, before the victorious Ganymede.</p> - -<p>Plato records the sad fate of Atlantis nearly five hundred years B. C., -and Solom had recorded it in a poem two hundred years earlier. Plato -says the expedition against Egypt took place during the reign of the -Athenian Kings, Cecrops and Erectheus, and, according to the “Marble of -Paros,” these Kings ruled 1582 B. C.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_347">{347}</a></span> and 1409 B. C., which is not a -great deal earlier than the siege of Troy. Though this is very ancient -history, we have as much right to believe Plato’s history as Homer’s, if -it can be well established.</p> - -<p>The Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg is the greatest authority on the -translation of Aztec literature, and he maintains that the oldest -certain date in the Nahuatl or Toltecan language reaches back to 955 B. -C., and as the Toltecs dwelt some time in the country of Zibalba before -they dispossessed the Colhuas, their migration must have begun more than -a thousand years B. C. The Colhuas were the remnant of those who had -escaped the terrible calamity of Atlantis. To those who reject the -theory here offered, I would say the field is large and inviting to any -whose insight into the past can help solve the problems of the origin of -the ancient Mexicans.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 304px;"> -<a href="images/i_357.png"> -<img src="images/i_357.png" width="304" height="275" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_348">{348}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV<br /><br /> -CONCLUSION.</h2> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“And thy request think now fulfilled, that asked<br /></span> -<span class="i0">How first this world and face of things began,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And what before thy memory was done<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From the beginning.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HE existence of the Continent of Atlantis is an hypothesis, but so was -the existence of Lemuria, and there are scientists today of -international repute who firmly believe that a continent once existed in -the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and India, and the proof is not -wanting.</p> - -<p>On the island of Madagascar are found thirty-three species of monkeys -called Lemurs, which are not found in Africa, nor in any other part of -the globe except Ceylon, India, and the Malay Archipelago. Because these -Lemurs are found only in that region, Sclater, the English Zoologist, -has called the sunken continent “Lemuria.” Between Madagascar and India -are a number of submerged banks of less than a thousand fathoms deep, -which a slight elevation would make comparatively easy stages of -communication between Madagascar and India for all animals. An elevation -of three hundred feet would unite Java, Sumatra and Borneo, into one -great peninsula of the Asiatic continent.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_349">{349}</a></span></p> - -<p>The island of Madagascar is two hundred and fifty miles wide and a -thousand miles long, and is separated from Africa by the Mozambique -channel, only two hundred and fifty miles wide. Africa has monkeys, apes -and baboons; also lions, leopards, hyenas, zebras, rhinoceri, elephants, -buffalo, giraffes, and many species of deer and antelope; but strange to -say, not <i>one</i> of these is found in Madagascar, or anything like unto -them, and yet Madagascar is only two hundred and fifty miles away. There -are in Madagascar, according to Wallace’s “Island Life,” and Dr. -Hartlaub’s “Birds of Madagascar,” one hundred species of land birds, and -only four or five have any kindred in Africa; but in Malaysia and India -we find identical species, and on the islands of Mauritius, Rodriguez, -Bourbon and the Seychelles group, we find so many curious birds without -wings with kindred in Madagascar, we know that the islands at some time -have been connected, else how could birds without wings get from one to -the other? There are five species of lizards which are found in -Mauritius, Bourbon, Rodriguez and Ceylon, and even to the Philippine -Islands.</p> - -<p>The Mascarine group contains a thousand and fifty-eight species of -plants, of which sixty-six are found in Africa but not in Asia, and -eighty-six are found in Asia but not in Africa, showing a closer -relationship to Asia than to Africa. Milne-Edwards has even surmised a -Mascarine continent, to include all the outlaying islands around -Madagascar. Beccari, in his work on the distribution of palms, after -noting the difficulty of the dispersion of the fruits, reaches the -conclusion that, when we find two<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_350">{350}</a></span> congeneric species of palms on widely -separated lands, it is reasonable to infer that the lands have once been -united. On the Mascarine Islands, in Ceylon, the Nicobars, at Singapore, -on the Malaccas, New Guinea, in Australia and Polynesia, occur various -species of <i>Phycosperma</i>, all very difficult of dissemination, and hence -could only have reached their present habitat by being connected by -intervening lands now in the ocean bed.</p> - -<p>Winchell in his “Pre-Adamites” states among his principles: 1. The -doctrine of Pre-Adamites is entirely consonant with the fundamental -principles of Biblical christianity; 2. A chain of profound relationship -runs through the constitution of all races, and they may be -genealogically connected; 3. The initial point of the genealogical line -may be located in Lemuria. Peschell in his “Races of Man,” says: “This -continent which would correspond with the Indian Ethiopia of Claudius -Ptolemaus, is required by anthropology, for we can then conceive how the -inferior populations of Australia and India, the Papuans of the East -Indian Islands, and lastly, the Negroes, would thus be enabled to reach -their present abode by dry land. The selection of this spot is far more -orthodox than it might at first glance appear, for we here find -ourselves in the neighborhood of the four enigmatical rivers of the -Scriptural Eden,—in the vicinity of the Nile, Euphrates, Tigris and -Indus. By the gradual submergence of Lemuria, the expulsion from -Paradise would also be inexorably accomplished.” To this he adds the -argument of such ecclesiastical writers as Lactautius, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_351">{351}</a></span> venerable -Bede, Hrabanus Maurus, Cosmos Indiclopleustes, and the anonymous -geographer of Ravenna.</p> - -<p>I go thus into detail to show that men believe in the submerged -continent of Lemuria, though they have never seen it, but cannot explain -the presence of plants and animals on widely separated islands except by -supposing they were once connected. If we could establish a similar -relationship with Atlantis, the matter would explain itself. From the -presence of rock salt, sand and sea-shells on the desert of Sahara, we -know that it was once the bottom of the ocean, and the cause of its -rising might have been the submergence of Lemuria, or vice versa, and -the submergence of Atlantis may have had a counter result elsewhere. -Charles Martins says that: “By the rules of hydrography and botany, the -Azores, the Canaries and Madeira are the remains of a great continent -which formerly united Europe to North America.”<a id="FNanchor_G_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_7" class="fnanchor">[G]</a></p> - -<p>However, Atlantis does not have to stand altogether on theory. The -governments of the world have gone about it in a practical manner, which -is worthy of notice.</p> - -<p>In 1873, Her Majesty’s ship <i>Challenge</i> made soundings in the Atlantic -off the north coast of Africa, and in 1874 the German frigate, -<i>Gazelle</i>, made further soundings in the same regions, and in 1877 -Commodore Gorringe of the U. S. sloop <i>Gettysburg</i>, discovered, about a -hundred miles from the Strait of Gibraltar, an immense bed of pink coral -in thirty-two fathoms of water. Corals never work in water deeper than -two hundred feet, so at last here is proof<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_352">{352}</a></span> positive that there are -sunken islands there. These various soundings, when located on a map, -indicate the existence of an extended bank of comparatively shallow -water, in the midst of which the Canaries and the Madeiras rise to the -surface.</p> - -<p>The location of the newly discovered mountains in the Atlantic, lies -within the fifteen thousand fathom line, and here is probably the stump -of the ancient Atlantis.</p> - -<p>FINIS.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 278px;"> -<a href="images/i_362.png"> -<img src="images/i_362.png" width="278" height="297" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="cb">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Histoire des nations civilises du Mexique et de l’Amerique -centrale, durant les siecles antericurs a Christophe Colomb, ecrite surs -des documents originaux et entierement mediis, purises aux anciennes -archives des indigenes, par M. l’Abbe Brasseuer de Bourbourg. 4 forts. -vol. in-3 raisin avec carte et figures.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> Aristotle <i>Consolatio ad Appollonium</i> § 27, P. 137.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> Catlin P. 145.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> Foster, Prehistoric Races of the U. S.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> Present State of Ethnology in Relation to the Form of the -skull. Smithsonian Report 1860 P. 264 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_F_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_6"><span class="label">[F]</span></a> Vid. Aq. Ried, Smithsonian Annual Report, 1862, pp. 87, -426.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_G_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_7"><span class="label">[G]</span></a> “<i>Revue des Deux Mondes.</i>” March, 1867.</p></div> -</div> - -<table id="transcrib" style="padding:2%; -border:3px dotted gray;font-size:90%;"> - -<tr><th>Typographical errors corrected by -the etext transcriber:</th></tr> - -<tr><td>Nuesta Senora=> -Nuestra Señora -{pg 20}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>little peubla=> -little puebla -{pg 30}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>a los pasajeroes=> -a los pasajeros -{pg 58}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>Si Senor=> -Sí Señor -{pg 60}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>him a stack or=> -him a stack of -{pg 69}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>suffered martydom=> -suffered martyrdom -{pg 76}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>narrow-guage road=> -narrow-gauge road -{pg 82}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>road to Tlacotalpam=> -road to Tlacotalpan -{pg 99}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>altar of the war god=> -altar of the war-god -{pg 100}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>dug up the the roots=> -dug up the roots -{pg 105}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>El Segario Metripolitano=> -El Sagrario Metropolitano -{pg 110}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>Viva Hildalgo!=> -Viva Hidalgo! -{pg 116}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>was soon superceded=> -was soon superseded -{pg 126}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>Biano P.=> -Bianco P. -{pg 126}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>Sacret Heart of San Cosme=> -Sacred Heart of San Cosme -{pg 128}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>Gaudalupe Hidalgo is=> -Guadalupe Hidalgo is -{pg 130}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>the pedestrains, dressed=> -the pedestrians, dressed -{pg 158}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>sport as our base ball=> -sport as our base-ball -{pg 167}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>senoritas=> -señoritas{pg 168}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>Nous avous change tout=> -Nous avons change tout -{pg 175}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>For desert a few banana=> -For dessert a few banana -{pg 177}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>old ecclesiastial building=> -old ecclesiastical building -{pg 177}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>senoras=> -señoras -{pg 181}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>an as they pass=> -and as they pass -{pg 207}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>get our quoto of=> -get our quota of -{pg 208}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>Viva Idependencia!=> -Viva Independencia! -{pg 212}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>gusanas de la maguey=> -gusanos de la maguey -{pg 227}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>pulque neuva=> -pulque nueva -{pg 230}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>believe that the X ray=> -believe that the X-ray -{pg 234}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>northeast of the the plaza=> -northeast of the plaza -{pg 245}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>La Cindad de los=> -La Ciudad de los -{pg 261}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>appointed a commision=> -appointed a commission -{pg 262}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>Bert Harte may come=> -Bret Harte may come -{pg 267}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>San Jose de Analco=> -San José de Analco -{pg 277}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>road to Tlacotalpam=> -road to Tlacotalpan -{pg 279}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>It somewhat resemble a marmoset=> -It somewhat resembles a marmoset -{pg 282}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>Flowers grows so luxuriously=> -Flowers grow so luxuriously -{pg 286}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>prepartions of salt=> -preparations of salt -{pg 287}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>one of the fedual days=> -one of the feudal days -{pg 296}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>I have met these priest=> -I have met these priests -{pg 299}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>The frijolas are cooked=> -The frijoles are cooked -{pg 301}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>ancient philosopers=> -ancient philosophers -{pg 325}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>Phillipine Islands=> -Philippine Islands -{pg 349}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>Senora=> -Señora -{4x}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>Senor=> -Señor -{9x}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>senor=> -señor -{9x}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>senora=> -señora -{4x}</td></tr> - -<tr><td>senorita=> -señorita -{2x}</td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class="full" /> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAND WITHOUT CHIMNEYS; OR THE BYWAYS OF MEXICO ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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