A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
A PEEP AT MEXICO: 
 
 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 
 ACROSS THE REPUBLIC FROM THE PACIFIC 
 TO THE GULF 
 
 IN DECEMBER 1873 AND JANUARY 1874 . 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
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 1874. 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 Mexico, the first European colony on the North 
 American Continent, has for the last three centuries, 
 and especially in modern times, been a favourite 
 resort of travellers and naturalists, and its capital, 
 as well as the country between it and the eastern 
 coast, have been frequently and ably described. 
 
 The portion westward of the metropolis, however, 
 has not been so often visited, and information con¬ 
 cerning it is comparatively scarce. 
 
 I have therefore ventured to offer the following 
 pages t,o the reader, in the hope that some novel 
 facts may be gleaned from them, especially as my 
 journey afforded me an insight into the country 
 under exceptionally favourable circumstances. 
 
 The photographs accompanying this volume will, 
 I trust, prove acceptable as an aid towards the better 
 appreciation of scenes of which my imperfect de¬ 
 scription may have failed to convey a correct 
 idea. 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE . 
 
 Twenty-three of their number are reductions 
 from negatives taken by me on the route (many 
 representing views probably never previously photo¬ 
 graphed) ; the others are copies from photographs 
 either prepared specially for me, or personally 
 selected on the spot. 
 
 The short time spent by me in the Republic 
 necessarily precludes .. the remotest claim to com- 
 pleteness for these pages: they simply contain the 
 record of such facts as came under my notice, nor 
 have. I. entertained a more ambitious aim than 
 to connect the isolated links of travel and enjoy¬ 
 ment. J. L. G. 
 
 London, August 29, 1874. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO MANZANILLO. 
 
 Departure from San Francisco—A misnomer — San Diego— Its bay 
 and its condition—The Lower Californian coast — Dolphins and 
 flying-fishes—Cape St Lucas—American cousins of the Needles 
 — Within the'tropics — Mazatlan — Distance lends enchantment to 
 the view — A dangerous pier—Dull streets — A sea of fire—Arrival 
 at Manzanillo—Strange scenes—An airy bed—A chilly soldier— 
 
 The Laguna de Cuyutlan—Short streets and small houses— 
 
 The plaza,—Agua fresca—A. picturesque view — The harbour — 
 German merchants— Calentura —Water-carriers, . . 1-19 
 
 /V, 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FROM MANZANILLO TO COLIMA. 
 
 Early departures — A changeable lake — A curious steamer—Departure 
 from Manzanillo — Uncomfortable thoughts — -The Laguna de 
 Cuyutlancillo — Cuyutlancillo — A straggling party — Mozos and 
 their attire — Tropical forest —Organo cactus — Magnificent birds— 
 
 An Indian village — The Rio de la Armeria — Frijoles — Tortillas —- 
 A small bill — Saddle-mules versus waggons — Hacienda de la 
 Calera —Agua de Coco —A dark walk—The Yia de Colima— 
 Entrance into Colima —Fonda Hidalgo, .... 20-40 
 
 CHAPTER II h 
 
 COLIMA. 
 
 A pleasant 'change—Situation of Colima—Climate—Fever—Streets 
 and houses — The plaza —Its four sides—The Plaza Nueva — The 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 viii 
 
 Rio de Colima—Baths—Wonderful gardens—A vuelta on the 
 plaza —Appearance of the people—Their dress— Charro — Modes 
 de Colima —The theatre—The market—Cotton factories—Clever 
 artisans—Position and productions of the State of Colima— 
 Produce for home consumption and export — Import trade— 
 Mexican promotion—Respectable Governors, .... 41-64 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 COLIMA TO SAYULA. 
 
 Preparations for departure—Cheerful intelligence—Start from Colima 
 — Ranchos and their crops—Small-pox— Barrancas —Barranca de 
 Tonila—Tonila—Abundance of food—The standard menu —The 
 Volcan de Colima — The Pico Helado— Pedregales — Enter the 
 State of Jalisco—Hacienda San Marcos—A fine view—Barranca 
 de Beltran—Luxuriant plants and magnificent birds— Mulas de 
 cargo— Barranca de Yueltas—The pueblo of the hacienda labourers 
 —Hacienda del Platanar—Strange scene—The escort—A dangerous 
 forest—Evil and remedy united—Indulgent authorities—Barranca 
 de Atenquique — A country restaurant— Nopales—Maguey —Its 
 uses— Pulque — Mezcal and Tequile — Arrival at Zapotlan— Its 
 inhabitants—Corrupt priests—The hotel—The plaza —Fighting- 
 cocks—A comfortable priest—Situation of Zapotlan—-Its climate 
 —Its manufactures and products—Mineral wealth—Departure 
 from Zapotlan—A brigand punished—Graves by the roadside— 
 Brigands and brigandage—The summit of the pass—A magnifi¬ 
 cent view—Arrival at Sayula, 65-99 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 SAYULA TO GUADALAJAKA. 
 
 A family likeness — Sayula—Its climate — An extensive vista—An 
 attempt at swindling — First experience of a diligencia — Departure 
 from Sayula — Closely packed — Cavalry escort — Lago de Sayula — 
 
 La Cofradia — Carbonate of soda or tequesquite — A cotton-tree — 
 Cebollas — Mexican diligencias — Cocheros and their assistants— 
 Laguna de Zacoalco — A horrible road — Mismanagement of public 
 works—Pozos — An extensive plateau — Santa Ana Acatlan—Santa 
 Cruz and Christmas processions—The valley of Guadalajara— 
 Mexican waggons and carts — Travelling Indios —A small but 
 dangerous barranca —An agreeable change — Arrival at Guadalajara 
 — Comfortable quarters, . .. 100-120 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 IX 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 GUADALAJAKA. 
 
 The State of Jalisco—Situation of its capital — Its climate—Streets and 
 houses—Architecture — Wretched outlying quarters — The plaza — 
 
 The cathedral—The palacio — The portales — Dulces — Native toys — 
 
 Clay images — Cajones — Composition of the population — Cotton 
 factories and paper-mill — The Salto factory — Brigands and plagia- 
 rios — A picnic interrupted—Brave men—Insecurity of the city — 
 
 Juan Panadero — A happy editor — Voz de Jalisco, the priest’s paper 
 —A violent pamphlet — Hospital de San Miguel de Belen — A mor¬ 
 bid taste—The department for the lunatics — The schools—The 
 Cimenterio de Belen— Gavetas — The burial-place of the poor — 
 
 The Hospicio de Guadalajara — A town of charities — The cuna — 
 Customs encouraging immorality' — The schools — Superior em¬ 
 broidery — Trades for youths — The church and a doll-show — Girl’s 
 school of San Diego — The teatro, a Roman ruin — Fine interior — 
 
 A Mexican Italian-opera troupe—Bull-fights, and the bull-arena — 
 
 An enthusiastic audience—The paseo — The alameda — A Guadala- 
 jaran Rotten Row — Walks in the portales — Evening vueltas on 
 the plaza—A practical arrangement—Female seclusion—Serenades 
 without music—A simple pulley — Middle-age habits retained— 
 Strange contrasts,. . . . . . . . 121-163 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 
 
 Departure from Guadalajara—San Pedro — A poor district — Beggars — 
 
 The valley of the Lerma—Lago de Chapala—Puente de Tololotlan 
 — Zapotlanejo — A joke — Puente de Calderon—Tepatitlan—Sterile 
 country—La Venta de Pegueros — A forced halt'—San Juan de los 
 Lagos—Its saint and its fair — Organo fences — Lagos—A clean 
 diputado — Arboles del Peru or Peruvian pepper-trees—Enter the 
 State of Guanajuato—Leon—Silao—Rugged country—Marfil— 
 Arrival at Guanajuato, . 164-188 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 GUANAJUATO. 
 
 From bad to good—Site of Guanajuato —Jardin de la Union —New 
 theatre—Superior administration—Foreign residents—Fine coun¬ 
 try houses— Loza —The presas—El Cantador—A Sunday afternoon 
 there—Riders—Mineral wealth— La Valenciana mine—A pestilen- 
 
X 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 tial road — A valuable village—A monster shaft—Mining opera¬ 
 tions — Other mines—Yield of precious metals— Conductas —The 
 Castillo de Granaditas—Trajes del pais — Silver figures—Situation 
 of Guanajuato, .. 189212 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 
 
 Departure from Guanajuato—Irapuato—Improvement in the country 
 — Salamanca—Celaya—Artificial irrigation—The Plaza — BaHos — 
 
 Apaseo—Indian village-—Enter the State of Queretaro—Arrival 
 at the State capital—Superior hotel—Aspect of the town—Its 
 manufactures-—Situation and population—A hard day— Questa 
 China —An oasis in the desert—San Juan del Rio—Enter the 
 State of Mexico—The watershed—Arrival at Tula—Our clerical 
 fellow-passenger—Yenta del Refugio—A sermon—Traffic on the 
 road—Huehuetoca—A finely balanced coach—Cuautitlan—Wide 
 and shady roads—Tlalnepantla—The valley of Mexico—Irriga¬ 
 tion—Modem Aztecs—Approach the capital—Arrival in the city 
 of Mexico, 213-24,5 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 Hotel Iturbide — Arrived in the tierra fria — Plaza mayor — The 
 Cathedral — The Sagrario — The Palacio del Gobierno — -Portales de 
 Mercaderes — Casa de Cabildo — Lonja—Portales de las flores — 
 
 View from Cathedral tower — The Alameda — Statue of Charles IV. 
 
 — The Paseo de Bucareli — The Tacubaya tramway — Tacubaya — 
 Plagiarios — The plagio of Senor Cervantes — The Tlalpam Rail¬ 
 way — Chapultepec — A hueliuetes — Spanish moss — Puente de 
 Alvarado — Aqueduct of San Cosme—Fuente de Tlaxpana — Tree 
 of the noche triste — Tacuba — The teocalli —Trivoli de San Cosme _ 
 
 — Guadalupe — A stone frigate — Paseo de la Viga —The canal— 
 
 Indios — Guatemozin’s bust — Garita de la Viga-— Floating gardens 
 —The Roldan market — Santo Anita — Ixtacalco—A strange 
 burial-ground — The calendar stone — -Aztec war-god — Sacrificial 
 stone — The Museum — The Academy of San Carlos—Cimenterio de 
 San Fernando—The Cinco de Mayo — Theatres—Situation of the 
 city of Mexico—Its buildings and streets — Climate—The people 
 —Foreigners, . 246-294 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 General ignorance about Mexico — Causes of the civil wars — Laws of 
 Reform—The Intervention—Maximilian’s death — Measures against 
 the priests and religious societies — Custom-house malpractices — 
 Inheritance from the Spaniards—Population of the Republic — 
 Creoles— Mestizos — Indians — Climate and productiveness of the 
 country—The future, . 295-322 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 Departure from the capital— Buena vista station—The Mexico and Vera 
 Cruz Railway—A cold night—Apizaco and the branch line to 
 Puebla—Pico de Orizaba—Boca del Monte—Maltrata—Escorts— 
 Barranca del Infiernillo—Arrival at Orizaba—Fertility around the 
 town—Cotton factory—Resume journey—Barranca de Metlac— 
 Cdrdoba—Atoydc—Chiquihuite Falls—Luxuriant vegetation of 
 tierra caliente —Barrenness of the country near the coast—Arrival 
 at Vera Cruz—Hotel de las Diligencias—Peculiar hotel arrange¬ 
 ments—The norte— Baths—Embarkation on board the Floride 
 and departure, ... 323-353 
 
LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS 
 
 negatives, partly from photographic prints by Messrs Spencer, Sawyer, 
 Bird & Co., Ealing Dean, Middlesex. They are printed by the mechanical 
 autotype process in permanent pigments. 
 
 MEXICAN EAGLE, PHOTOGRAPHED FROM A SILK EMBROIDERY WORKED IN 
 
 COLOURS BY AN INMATE OF THE HOSPICIO DE GUADALAJARA, Frontispiece. 
 
 TO FACE PAGE 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO AND THE GOLDEN GATE, ..... 3 
 
 MAZATLAN ; THE BEACH, . . ■ • • ® 
 
 CHIEF STREET IN MAZATLAN, ...••■ 
 MANZANILLO ; THE BAY, ...•••• 
 MANZANILLO; LAGUNA DE CUYUTLAN IN BACKGROUND, . . • 1^ 
 
 SHORE OF LAGUNA DE CUYUTLAN, MANZANILLO, . . - .19 
 
 STREET IN COLIMA, . • • • • • .43 
 
 RUINED CATHEDRAL AND STATE PRISON ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE PLAZA 
 
 DE ARMAS, COLIMA, ^5 
 
 PLAZA DE ARMAS, COLIMA ; NORTH SIDE, ..... 46 
 
 BO. DO. SOUTH SIDE, ..... 47 
 
 BO. BO. WEST SIDE, .... 47 
 
 THE RIO DE COLIMA AFTER THE RAINY SEASON, .... 48 
 
 STREET IN THE SUBURBS OF COLIMA, ..... 50 
 
 VIEW TAKEN FROM AN AZOTEA, COLIMA, ..... 64 
 
 STREET IN SAYULA, 1°° 
 
 DO. DO. ....•••■ 162 
 
 PART OF ESCORT IN THE PATIO OF THE FONDA, SAYULA, . • 104 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL, GUADALAJARA, ...•■• 
 INTERIOR OF CATHEDRAL, GUADALAJARA, .... 126 
 
 STREET IN GUADALAJARA, LEADING TO THE HOSPICIO, . .142 
 
 BULL-ARENA, HOSPICIO IN BACKGROUND, GUADALAJARA, . • • 151 
 
XIV 
 
 LIST OF PHOWGRAPHS AND MAPS. 
 v 
 
 BULL-ARENA, GUADALAJARA, . . • 
 
 FOUNTAIN IN THE ALAMEDA, GUADALAJARA, 
 
 WALK IN THE ALAMEDA, GUADALAJARA, . 
 
 THE PASEO, GUADALAJARA, .... 
 
 VIEW TAKEN FROM AN AZOTEA, GUADALAJARA, 
 
 GUANAJUATO ; NORTH-WEST PART, 
 
 CHIEF STREET IN GUANAJUATO, WITH CATHEDRAL, 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL, CITY OF MEXICO, 
 
 THE PALACIO, CITY OF MEXICO, .... 
 
 PORTALES MERCADERES, MEXICO, .... 
 
 PLAZA MAYOR, MEXICO, ..... 
 
 ENTRANCE TO CHAPULTEPEC, .... 
 
 CASTLE OF CHAPULTEPEC, NEAR MEXICO, . 
 
 TREE OF THE “ NOCHE TRISTE ” AT POPOTLA, NEAR MEXICO, 
 
 CHURCH OF GUADALUPE, NEAR CITY OF MEXICO, . 
 
 TOLTEC CALENDAR STONE, CITY OF MEXICO, 
 
 VIEW ON THE MEXICAN RAILWAY : THE VALLEY OF MALTRATA AND 1 
 PICO DE ORIZABA, ...... 
 
 VIEW OF THE RAILWAY SKIRTING THE SIDE OF THE BARRANCA 
 INFIERNILLO, ...... 
 
 VIEW NEAR ORIZABA, ...... 
 
 ORIZABA, ........ 
 
 CURVED RAILWAY BRIDGE OVER THE BARRANCA DE METLAC, 
 
 THE ATOY.Sc RAILWAY BRIDGE, ..... 
 
 THE ALAMEDA, VERA CRUZ, ..... 
 
 TO FACE PAGE 
 
 
 152 
 
 
 156 
 
 
 157 
 
 
 158 
 
 
 161 
 
 
 191 
 
 
 194 
 
 
 248 
 
 
 249 
 
 
 250 
 
 
 251 
 
 
 260 
 
 . 
 
 262 
 
 
 268 
 
 
 272 
 
 
 281 
 
 THE 
 
 330 
 
 DEL 
 
 333 
 
 
 334 
 
 
 336 
 
 
 342 
 
 
 345 
 
 
 353 
 
 LIST OF MAPS. 
 
 hypsometrical map of the republic of Mexico, . . After preface. 
 
 MAP OF PORTION OF MEXICO, FROM THE PACIFIC TO GUADALAJARA, To face p. 20 
 MAP OF PORTION OF MEXICO, FROM GUADALAJARA TO CITY OF MEXICO, . 164 
 
 MAP OF PORTION OF MEXICO, SHOWING RAILWAY TO VERA CRUZ, . 323 
 
A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO MANZANILLO. 
 
 Departure from San Francisco—A misnomer—San Diego—Its bay 
 and its condition—The Lower Californian coast—Dolphins and 
 flying-fishes—Cape St Lucas—American cousins of the Needles 
 Within the tropics Mazatlan—Distance lends enchantment to 
 . the view—A dangerous pier—Dull streets—A sea of fire— 
 Arrival at Manzanillo—Strange scenes—An airy bed—A chilly 
 soldier The Laguna de Cuyutlan—Short streets and small 
 
 houses The •plaza—Agua fresco ,—A picturesque view_The 
 
 harbour German merchants— Galentura —Water-carriers 
 
 It was on Thursday, December the 4th, 1873 , 
 that I quitted 'San Francisco, and embarked on 
 board the Pacific mail-steamer Montana , bound 
 for the Mexican coast and Panama. 
 
 The glorious weather I had enjoyed during my 
 stay in California had given way for the last two 
 days to gusts of wind and drizzling rain; the 
 hitherto splendidly clear sky was now covered with 
 
 A 
 
2 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 black, heavy clouds, and the streets of San Fran¬ 
 cisco had for the moment lost their cheerfulness 
 and fascination. 
 
 I looked upon wind and weather, however, 
 without any feeling of discomfort, for was I not 
 on my way to the tropics, where the rains were 
 over ? and what cared I for Scotch mist, leaden 
 sky, and muddy streets, when a few days would 
 bring me to palms and brilliant sunshine ? 
 
 At twelve o’clock, the time appointed for starting, 
 the steamer is unmoored, her huge paddle-wheels 
 revolve astern, and the heavy ship gently backs 
 towards the centre of the bay; the signal-gun is 
 fired; and now good-bye to San Francisco, young 
 and prosperous metropolis of-the Pacific,—good-bye 
 to the beautiful Golden State, and its warm-hearted, 
 hospitable people. 
 
 The Montana proceeds slowly down the spa¬ 
 cious bay, past numerous wharves crowded with 
 craft of all shapes and sizes, and flying the flags 
 of all nations. We gradually begin to lose sight 
 of the city’s tall buildings, and gliding by the 
 isolated houses and villas along the shore, we are 
 soon abreast of Alcatraz Island, which occupies the 
 
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO MANZANILLO. 3 
 
 very centre of the channel, and is entirely covered 
 by its red-brick fort. After passing the bare 
 brown hills of Angel Island, a mile away on our 
 right, the shores of the bay rapidly approach one 
 another, and we steam briskly through the gap left 
 by two rocky promontories—the celebrated Golden 
 Gate, that threshold to the wonderland of twenty 
 years ago, that goal on which the hopes of all adven¬ 
 turers and treasure-seekers were then centered. 
 
 We had scarcely left Fort Point, with its graceful 
 lighthouse and extensive fortifications, and were just 
 nearing Point Bonita on the other side, when for 
 awhile the rain ceased and through a break in the 
 clouds the sun sent forth his piercing rays over 
 the troubled waters, seeming to transform the surf 
 that dashed against the craggy coast into showers 
 of diamonds, and casting a magic lustre over the 
 grand and impressive scene. 
 
 On the outlying rocks huge seals and thousands 
 of sea-fowl, by their barking and -screeching, seemed 
 most thoroughly to enjoy the tumult of the waves, 
 whilst black-fish and porpoises appeared near the 
 sides of the steamer, and flocks of gulls were 
 following in her wake. 
 
4 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 Two miles to our left, we caught sight of the 
 Cliff House and Seal Rocks, bright with many a 
 pleasant reminiscence of happy hours, and before 
 us lay for thousands of miles the broad expanse 
 of the Pacific. 
 
 Yet what a sad misnomer this proved to-day! 
 Half a gale blowing from the south caused the 
 waters to be anything but 'peaceful, and recalled 
 to memory the normal condition of the Bay of 
 Biscay rather than that of an ocean which owes its 
 name to a reputation for tranquillity. 
 
 After crossing the bar, the steamer’s head was 
 turned southward, and away we went against sea 
 and wind, the Montana pitching and rolling to 
 such a degree as to compel the majority of the 
 passengers to seek the privacy of their cabins. 
 
 For the next fifty-two hours we sailed along the 
 Californian coast, at a distance of about fifteen 
 miles; and at five o’clock in the afternoon of 
 December 6th reached San Diego, the southern¬ 
 most town belonging to the United States on the 
 Pacific, and within a few miles of the Mexican 
 frontier. 
 
 San Diego Bay is full of shoals and sandbanks, 
 
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO MANZANILLO. 5 
 
 and the channel leading to the harbour most 
 tortuous and intricate. The steamer was moored 
 to the head of a pier which traverses the shallow 
 approach to the land for about half a mile. The 
 town itself, situate in a barren, desert - like 
 
 country, is almost entirely composed of wooden 
 houses, and is the exact type of what Americans 
 would call a new Western town. Unlike most of 
 these, however, San Diego is not in a very 
 
 flourishing condition, and is said to be losing in 
 importance and population. There are, notwith¬ 
 standing, some who have faith in the future of 
 the place, who still believe in a speedy completion 
 of the Texas Pacific Railway, which intends making 
 its terminus here, and regard matters in a more 
 cheerful light. 
 
 Next morning, at eight o’clock, we resumed 
 our voyage, and for the following three days 
 coasted along Lower California, at times out of 
 sight of land, but mostly at distances from 
 
 eight to fifteen miles from the shore. It is 
 
 difficult to imagine anything more desolate than 
 the appearance of this coast. It presents a 
 continuous line of rugged mountains of a reddish- 
 
6 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 brown colour, without a tree or a shrub, or in¬ 
 deed any green thing; more forbidding in its awful, 
 arid solitude than any wilderness, more dreary and 
 monotonous than the prairie or the ocean. It was 
 quite a relief to turn the eye away from shore 
 towards the sea, which, in this latitude, is by 
 no means inanimate, Dolphins were seen blowing 
 jets of water high up into the air, black-fish and 
 porpoises gambolled in all directions, whilst from 
 the bows of the steamer we watched the grace¬ 
 ful flying-fishes rising in crowds out of the water, 
 and in long, sweeping circles endeavouring to 
 escape from the mysterious monster, which, although 
 harmless, frightened them doubtless more than the 
 largest whale. 
 
 In the morning of December the 10th we arrived 
 at Cape St Lucas, where we remained for a short 
 time in order to send a boat ashore with a pas¬ 
 senger and the mail-bags. This cape, the southern¬ 
 most part of the Lower Californian peninsula, is a 
 series of detached rocks, precipitous masses of 
 various sizes and grotesque shapes, hollowed into 
 countless small bays and caves, where hundreds 
 of seals and sea-fowl have taken up their abode. 
 
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO MANZANILLO. 7 
 
 The so-called town consists of but three houses 
 and a few huts standing on a decline that, between 
 cliffs and hills, slopes gently down to the beach. 
 The only vegetation apparent is huge cacti, which 
 densely cover the surrounding hills, and here and 
 there a palm near the houses; but, despite the 
 seeming barrenness of the land, there is much in this 
 cosy, isolated little place that imparts to it that 
 peculiar charm inseparable from a tropical land¬ 
 scape. 
 
 Proceeding on our voyage, we observed three 
 large rocks rising in succession from the sea, and 
 vividly suggestive of the Isle of Wight Needles; 
 and then rounding another headland, the steamer 
 changed her course to almost due east, on her way 
 across the entrance of the Gulf of California in the 
 direction of Mazatlan. 
 
 We were now within the tropics, a circumstance 
 of which every turn reminded us. It was 
 not only the increased temperature that told of 
 our progress south; the very air seemed changed, 
 and appeared as if tinged with a purple hue, giving 
 exquisite softness to the jagged outlines of the 
 copper-coloured rocks on the sterile coast, and a 
 
8 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 deeper, clearer blue to the waters of the sea. The 
 gulls that had followed the ship in crowds ever since 
 w e left San Francisco were now growing scarcer and 
 scarcer, and where hundreds had two days ago 
 gathered, amidst their shrill notes, the smallest 
 trifle that fell from the steamer, only three or 
 four might now be seen flapping their wings lazily 
 in the hot air, and refreshing themselves by an 
 occasional bath, for the fatigues of this their foreign 
 trip. 
 
 Shortly after our departure from Cape St Lucas, 
 we lost sight of land until early next morning, 
 when Mazatlan became visible, snugly situate 
 at the foot of rocks and hills, and on the 
 shore of a small circular bay. Yiewed from the 
 sea, the town is most picturesque in its aspect. 
 The low, white, flat-roofed houses, overshadowed by 
 tall palms, and surrounded by giant-leaved bananas, 
 impart to it a truly tropical character, and awaken 
 a longing to go ashore, in order to examine more 
 closely a scene to which distance can lend such 
 enchantment. The experiment of course proved 
 disappointing. 
 
 After the Montana had anchored, a quarter of an 
 
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO MANZANILLO. 9 
 
 hour’s row brought me to the pier, which juts out 
 about a hundred feet from the land. 
 
 This was the first time that I had set foot on 
 Mexican soil, and I silently asked myself if the 
 ground I trod was, in its nature, emblematic of 
 the whole country. This pier did not possess a 
 single entire plank; it was rotten and decayed 
 from beginning to end, and unless the eye could 
 be riveted on the ground, an immersion in the 
 sea would have been the unavoidable consequence. 
 
 The pier was formerly provided with rails, on 
 which horse-cars transported goods from the landing- 
 stage to the opposite custom-house, but for some 
 unknown reason they had been removed; another 
 step, as my informant expressed himself, in the 
 retrogression so potent in this part of the country. 
 
 Mazatlan may be described as a collection of 
 straight, narrow streets, paved with pebbles, and 
 lined with low, whitewashed houses. The latter 
 are solidly built of stone or adobe* and, with few 
 exceptions, contain a ground-floor alone. A few 
 
 * Adobe is sun-dried brick, and the most common building material 
 all over Mexico. It is formed in shapes measuring about fifteen by eight 
 inches in length and width, and about three inches in thickness. 
 
10 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 more imposing buildings, belonging to the wealthy 
 merchants of the town, are constructed on a plan 
 (as I afterwards discovered) universally adopted in 
 Mexico, viz., round the sides of an interior square 
 yard, on to which all the rooms open. There is 
 great comfort in such an arrangement in a climate 
 where shade in the open air is absolutely indis¬ 
 pensable. 
 
 There is a small public square {plaza) in Mazatlan, 
 lined with orange-trees, and provided with benches, 
 but otherwise unattractive. I also saw a number 
 of spacious gardens, adorned with cocoa-palms, 
 bananas, zapotes, and a great variety of other tro¬ 
 pical plants ; but little care seems to be bestowed on 
 their cultivation, and they appeared wild and 
 slovenly. 
 
 The streets of the town are dull in the extreme. 
 There are no vehicles of any kind, and but few 
 pedestrians; a mule-driver beating his heavily- 
 packed animal, or a hawker seated on a doorstep 
 with his few goods spread out on a cloth before 
 him on the pavement, form almost the only occu¬ 
 pants. Besides this, the shops lack show-windows, 
 and the houses, with their big iron-barred win- 
 
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO MANZANILLO. 11 
 
 dows, are one the image of the other; so that a 
 more tame or colourless effect can be scarcely 
 conceived. 
 
 The population, numbering about 20,000, is 
 chiefly due to Mestizos * whose features betoken 
 peculiarities of both component races,—the com¬ 
 plexion being a yellow brown, and not unlike that 
 of the Arabs. In the best quarters there reside 
 many descendants of true Spanish blood, whilst 
 in the outskirts, composed of thatched huts, the 
 pure Indians prevail. 
 
 In the evening, the Montana proceeded on her 
 voyage. The heat was becoming so intense, that 
 people hesitated to retire to their cabins, and the 
 deck was full and gay until a late hour. On 
 that night the sea was illuminated by the most 
 magnificent phosphorescence; the slightest ruffle on 
 its calm surface flashed into a splendid sheet of fire, 
 and where the steamer came in contact with the 
 water, it would glitter with a million sparks, which 
 lingered until a wide and brilliant trail marked 
 the wake of the speeding ship. 
 
 The distance between Mazatlan and Manzanillo is 
 * Half-castes of Spanish and Indian blood. 
 
12 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 about three hundred miles, which took the Montana 
 thirty hours to accomplish, and at nine o’clock in the 
 
 a*- 
 
 evening of Friday, December 12th, I arrived at the 
 latter port. The sky was overcast, and the night 
 gloomy, when I disembarked and was rowed 
 ashore. The hot, heavy air was thick with insects, 
 and appeared almost too dense to breathe; the 
 waters gleamed like liquid fire, as each plash of 
 the oars scintillated with waves of rising light; 
 while from the shore, as yet undiscernible, the breeze 
 wafted notes of music, soft and harmonious. Was 
 this real, or the delusion of a dream, the mockery 
 of inventive imagination ? 
 
 I had not time to doubt; the boat was steered 
 to a low pier, a plank of which yielded to my 
 tread, and I stood before a wooden shed—the 
 custom-house—which I was invited to enter by 
 dark-complexioned officials with enormous hats. 
 
 After the examination of luggage, which proved 
 less severe than-I anticipated, a number of porters 
 shouldered boxes and portmanteaus, and we walked 
 towards the only fonda (inn) in the place. 
 
 Across an open space, where dark women and 
 children were squatting before huts dimly lit 
 
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO MANZANILLO. 13 
 
 by tiny lamps of palm-oil, I came to a narrow street, 
 through which, on account of the crowds that 
 
 4 
 
 thronged it, it was difficult to advance. 
 
 All Manzanillo, it seemed, had turned out to 
 enjoy the comparative coolness of the evening after 
 the scorching heat of the day. There were the tall, 
 mysterious figures of the men, dressed in white, 
 with their wide-brimmed sombreros, and knife, 
 sword, or pistol strapped round their waists; the 
 dark-skinned women, whose most substantial gar¬ 
 ment was the cloth wrapped around their heads, 
 their offspring in their arms; children of every age 
 playing amidst a crowd of dogs and pigs, — all 
 mingling and moving. 
 
 At the corner of the street, the company was 
 grouped on doorsteps or squatting on the ground, 
 listening to the melancholy strains of two musicians, 
 who, on a fiddle and a contrabasso, performed a 
 strange and plaintive air, that sounded like a tradi¬ 
 tion of bygone generations. 
 
 What a weird, bewildering scene! It was as if 
 I had entered another world; as if what I heard 
 and saw were scarcely real; as if the towering 
 palm in the background were an optical illusion; 
 
14 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 as if the chirping of a million insects, and the 
 hissing of the surf, were the phantoms of a fevered 
 brain, or the visions of a trance. 
 
 I was, however, soon convinced of the reality of 
 the situation when the fonda was reached, and a 
 low barn-like structure of adobe, roofed with straw, 
 pointed out as the sleeping accommodation. I was 
 allotted a small square space partitioned by boards, 
 possessing no window, but provided with a small 
 bed and a rough table. The former consisted of 
 an iron frame, a canvas covering over a network 
 of wire, and a mosquito-curtain, which meagre 
 arrangement I found fully adequate to the require¬ 
 ments of the climate. 
 
 The heat of Manzanillo is proverbial, and a story 
 which I heard related about it is too characteristic 
 to be omitted. The legend runs that a soldier 
 stationed here, who had not led the most exem¬ 
 plary of lives, was, when he died, condemned to 
 a region not usually named by polite society. 
 Shortly, however, after his burial, his wife was not 
 a little astonished to see her husband return, and 
 beg her to give him his blanket, as he was afraid 
 of catching cold in his new quarters. 
 

 
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO MANZANILLO. 15 
 
 Manzanillo is situate in 19° 6' 45" north lati¬ 
 tude, and 104° 32' 10" longitude west of Green¬ 
 wich, on a fine circular hay, surrounded on all 
 sides, excepting the narrow entrance from the sea, 
 by a range of hills, clothed from head to foot 
 with the richest and most varied vegetation. On 
 the other side of these hills, and not two hundred 
 yards from the ocean, lies an extensive lake of 
 brackish water, the Laguna de Cuyutlan. The 
 town is built partly along the narrow strip of 
 land between the mountains and the bay, partly 
 on a small open space formed by a gap in the 
 heights, and bordered on one side by the sea, and 
 on the other by the lake. It comprises three or 
 four short, narrow streets, intersecting at right 
 angles the principal thoroughfare, which runs 
 parallel to the shore, and all are neatly paved 
 with small round pebbles. The houses are, with 
 few exceptions, one-storied, and either substan¬ 
 tially constructed of adobe, or lightly built of 
 wood; all are protected by tiled, sloping roofs, 
 on account of the heavy rains so frequent here in 
 the wet season. There are a goodly collection of 
 neatly - constructed huts, with thickly - thatched 
 
1G 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 roofs, distributed around the town on the slopes, 
 belonging to a community of Indians. 
 
 There is an attempt at a plaza, if a few benches 
 placed on a small open space planted with half-a- 
 dozen trees, may so be called, but the centre of 
 the square is disfigured by hovels and stalls, where 
 Indian women expose for sale the various fruits of 
 the country, and sugar-cane in pieces. Here can 
 be also purchased, for a very moderate sum, the 
 cooling drinks, termed collectively agua fresca, and 
 containing, besides water and sugar, the juice and 
 seed of different fruits. 
 
 Ascending one of the hills at the southern end 
 of the beach, a lovely panorama of the little town 
 and all its surroundings may be obtained. To 
 the left stretch the blue waters of the tranquil 
 sea, a portion of which, imprisoned by a huge 
 ring of verdant hills, forms the prettiest bay ima¬ 
 ginable. Two large sailing vessels, anchored a short 
 distance from the shore, were discharging cargo 
 into small lighters, and on the beach the sturdy 
 little mules were receiving bales and cases, to be 
 carried into the interior. The streets and 
 houses, viewed from here, add a charming quaint- 
 
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO MANZANILLO. 17 
 
 ness to the view; their white walls and red-tiled 
 roofs contrasted pleasantly with the deep green of 
 the slopes, while the Indian huts, nestling irregu¬ 
 larly amid the luxuriant herbage, imparted a 
 wild individuality to the scene. From the peaks 
 to the right, giant cacti stretch their perpendicular 
 arms far above the trees and shrubs ; and beyond, 
 the waters of the Laguna, fringed in the distance 
 by the faint lines of the opposite shore, add a 
 dreamy background to the picture. 
 
 The absence of the palm deprives this remarkable 
 view of the element perhaps most conspicuous in a 
 tropical landscape. But for this, a scene more 
 perfect in the richness of its vegetation, more 
 detailed in the harmonious gradations of its 
 perspective, or more delicate with exquisite colour¬ 
 ing and alternate lights and shadows, is scarcely 
 conceivable. 
 
 The Bay of Manzanillo forms a. superior natural 
 harbour. It is almost circular, and about six miles 
 in diameter; its depth allows vessels of whatever 
 tonnage to anchor within a short distance of the 
 shore, while its entrance, about two miles in width, 
 is free from bars or shallows. The town owes its 
 
18 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 existence entirely to the harbour, and is nothing else 
 but the port for Colima and a few smaller inland 
 cities. Nothing, if we except the rickety pier 
 before mentioned, has been attempted to improve 
 the harbour, or facilitate the process of embarking 
 and disembarking. The consequence is, that mer¬ 
 chandise must be transferred to lighters, and 
 finally brought ashore through the surf on the 
 backs of porters. 
 
 Three mercantile firms, all composed of Germans 
 (natives of Hamburg), transact the entire trade of 
 the port. They possess tastefully-built houses, with 
 airy rooms and shady verandahs, situate on the 
 beach near the landing-place. Substantial fences 
 enclose yards, warehouses, and stables, the ap¬ 
 proaches to which are all day thronged with 
 mozos* arrierosj saddle-horses, and pack-mules, 
 imparting to the locality the only appearance of life 
 and prosperity it possesses. 
 
 Manzanillo is an unhealthy place, especially at 
 the end of the dry season (March and April), when 
 the lake is almost devoid of moisture, and its bed 
 
 * Mozo, literally, youth, lad, is the name given to all men-servants, 
 t Arriero, muleteer. 
 

SHORE OF LACUNA DE CUYUTLAN, MANZANILLO. 
 
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO MANZANILLO. 19 
 
 cloaked with putrifying matter. Fever of an in¬ 
 termittent type, termed calentura, is then very 
 prevalent, and spares few of the inhabitants. 
 Although rarely fatal it is weakening to a great 
 degree, and its enfeebling effects are only too plainly 
 observable in the emaciated and worn-out appearance 
 of the resident Europeans and the majority of 
 Mexicans. Even now (December), when the rains 
 have ended, the healthiest month commenced, and 
 the Laguna quite full of water, I saw several poor 
 fellows in agonies, and shivering terrifically under 
 their thick blankets, though the thermometer 
 showed 100° in the shade. 
 
 Owing to the proximity of the brackish contents of 
 the lake, the water obtained at Manzanillo is most 
 unwholesome, and unfit for drinking purposes. It 
 is, however, procured in tolerably good quality from 
 a small stream at a short distance up-country, 
 whilst the troops of mules and donkeys which carry 
 the liquid into the town, in large earthenware jars 
 set in wooden frames, are associations inalienable 
 from the place. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 FKOM MANZANILLO TO COLIMA. 
 
 Early departures—A changeable lake—A curious steamer—Departure 
 from Manzanillo — Uncomfortable thoughts — The Laguna de 
 Cuyutlancillo—Cuyutlancillo—A straggling party —Mozos and their 
 attire—Tropical forest— Organo cactus — Magnificent birds—An 
 Indian village—The Eio de la Armeria —Frijoles — Tortillas —A 
 small hill—Saddle-mules versus waggons—Hacienda de la Calera 
 —Agua de Coco—A dark walk—The Via de Colima—Entrance into 
 Colima —Fonda Hidalgo. 
 
 All departures in Mexico, curiously ^enough, take 
 place at unearthly hours. During my entire stay in 
 the country, I never set forth on my journeys 
 at what one could call a convenient time. When 
 on horseback, your servants would impress you with 
 the necessity of starting at five or six o’clock in 
 the morning, in order, as they said, to avoid the 
 heat of the midday sun; but we proceeded on 
 our route, as the result showed, as expeditiously 
 during that time as any other, often reaching 
 our destination at two or three in the afternoon,— 
 a practical comment on the needlessness of their 
 
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FROM MANZANILLO TO COLIMA. 
 
 21 
 
 warnings. When travelling in the diligence, no 
 matter what the distance or the time occupied 
 in traversing it, the start was invariably fixed 
 between two and five a.m. 
 
 The reason for this I was unable to discover, 
 but having been prepared beforehand for this idio¬ 
 syncrasy, as common to Mexican travelling agents, 
 I was not surprised to learn that the hour 
 appointed for quitting Manzanillo was half-past 
 three in the morning. This time, however, there 
 did exist good reason, for without departing at 
 that early hour, it would be impossible to reach 
 Colima on the same day. 
 
 The distance from the coast to the capital of the 
 state is eighty miles, to accomplish which three dif¬ 
 ferent modes of locomotion were to be employed. 
 
 A steamer was to convey us thirty-five miles along 
 the Laguna de Cuyutlan, mules the next eight 
 miles, and the rest was to be performed in a waggon. 
 These arrangements were made for us by one 
 of the resident merchants, and, as far as speed 
 was concerned, proved excellent. 
 
 Had I arrived here a month earlier, I should 
 have found the little steamer wedged powerlessly 
 
22 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 in the mud of the lake, instead of afloat as at 
 present, and a ride of forty miles on mulehack, 
 or a drive of equal length over horrible roads, 
 instead of an enchanting passage across the 
 Laguna, would have awaited me. Owing to the 
 rapid evaporation of the lake, it is only during 
 about four months of the year that it possesses 
 sufficient water to float the steamer; during the 
 remaining months the Laguna is reduced to a 
 conglomeration of large pools, which are often 
 separated by miles of intervening bed. 
 
 It is entirely due to the energy and enterprise of 
 
 Mr M-, the United States Consul at Colima, 
 
 that this improved means of communication has 
 been called into being. Two years ago nobody 
 dreamt of it; now, during the few months the 
 steamer runs, it is crowded on every trip with as 
 many bales and cases as the tiny craft will hold. 
 A canal, as the owner of the steamer suggested 
 to me, of about three hundred yards in length 
 at Manzanillo, would not only connect the sea 
 with the lake, and allow merchandise to be taken 
 off the ocean-vessels in boats, which could tran¬ 
 sport it almost half the distance towards Colima, 
 
FROM MANZANILLO TO COLIMA. 
 
 23 
 
 but would also keep tlie Laguna constantly full, 
 thus ensuring means of navigation throughout 
 the year, and removing the chief source of 
 fever and other maladies with which Manzanillo 
 is now afflicted; “but,” he added with a signifi¬ 
 cant look, “we are in Mexico, and not in the 
 States.” 
 
 I examined the little steamer on the day before 
 we were to use it, and though paying a full 
 tribute of admiration to the energy that prompted 
 its establishment, and grateful for the good 
 fortune which afforded me such advantages, yet I 
 could not suppress a smile at the first glimpse 
 of a craft, which resembles anything else in the 
 world father than the purpose for which it is 
 intended. Imagine a small Thames lighter, 
 about thirty-five feet long and ten wide, with a 
 square protuberance on either side, an upper deck 
 supported by slight pillars, about ten feet above 
 the water, with a small cabin and a wheelhouse 
 on the top, and you have a faint idea of the sym¬ 
 metrical proportions of the steamer on the Laguna 
 de Cuyutlan. The engine is, perhaps, the great¬ 
 est curiosity of all. It was, I believe, formerly 
 
24 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 employed in driving a small saw-mill at Colima, 
 and has for years boasted the possession of a 
 huge boiler, and tiny cylinders, whilst it still 
 retains its old leather bands to transmit the 
 motion to the paddle-wheels. 
 
 In the early morning of December the 14 th, 
 all was prepared, and the little engine was fum¬ 
 ing and fussing as if about to propel a five- 
 thousand-ton packet across the ocean. 
 
 I am uncertain whether it was the hissing noise 
 which gave rise to the thought of a possible ex¬ 
 plosion, -or whether suspicious movements in the 
 water reminded me of its slimy inhabitants, but I 
 must confess that, as in the darkness of night 
 I embarked, and groped blindly over bales, cases, 
 and bundles, I could not repress a shudder when 
 the idea flashed across my mind that it was just 
 in the range of possibility that the funny box 
 might smash, or explode in the middle of the 
 lake, and we, ourselves, provide a dainty break¬ 
 fast for the thousands of alligators with which 
 it swarms. 
 
 The Laguna de Cuyutlan runs north-west and 
 south-east, parallel with the sea-shore, and is only 
 
FROM MANZANILLO TO COLIMA. 
 
 25 
 
 divided from the ocean by a narrow strip of 
 land. Its entire length is about forty miles, and 
 its width varies between four and ten. It is 
 almost completely enclosed by mangrove jungle, 
 which overruns the banks, and creates numerous 
 islets by its growth where the water is shallowest. 
 It is not the large species, with giant stem and 
 monster roots, but a small, shrub-like kind, so 
 closely tangled as almost to form a solid mass; 
 while its sinuous roots by their mutual coils and 
 circles, surpass the strongest wickerwork in con¬ 
 sistency. 
 
 This jungle .extends for miles,—an unbroken wall 
 of sombre foliage; nor is the Laguna often 
 visible to the traveller for the long islands, 
 that by their parallel position enclose narrow 
 and river-like channels. A peculiarity of this 
 jungle is its uniform shape, both in height and 
 width, which recalls our own neat hedgerows so 
 vividly that the English spectator is almost 
 tempted to believe that an army of gardeners 
 have clipped and trimmed it with their careful 
 shears. 
 
 There is no variety in the vegetation; mangroves 
 
26 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 jealously monopolise all available space. The 
 stagnant waters are covered with a brownish- 
 green slime, which, where intermixed with the 
 fallen branches of a tree, or a collection of withered 
 leaves, forms small floating islands ; and the little 
 craft, as she steamed along, cleaved through the 
 thick viscous surface, and disclosed the dark, 
 turbid liquid below. 
 
 At intervals, a black uneven line, glimmering 
 above the ooze, would betray the presence of an 
 ugly alligator, whilst a hundred divers, conscious 
 of their agility, and careless of the neighbouring 
 monster, bobbed merrily up and down, as if 
 playing hide and seek with the rest of the 
 world. 
 
 Some spots were literally crowded with nume¬ 
 rous varieties of ducks and teal, which, though 
 little used to disturbances of this kind, allowed 
 the steamer to approach within a few yards 
 before they sought to escape. Their cackling, 
 too, would often alarm a company of huge white 
 cranes, quietly congregated on a sandbank, and 
 compel them, with one accord, to spread their lazy 
 wings and seek some other fishing-ground. 
 
FROM MANZANILLO TO COLIMA. 
 
 27 
 
 On the floating islands, proud storks and sedate 
 melancholy herons were engaged in catching and 
 consuming their breakfast, whilst every nook of 
 the mangrove thickets, every shallow in the lake, 
 every log of wood on the water, was tenanted by 
 all manner of birds, including alike the busy wagtail, 
 the grandfatherly pelican, and the stately flamingo. 
 As we cut the placid waters, a brace of neat 
 sand-pipers or a swift kingfisher, scared by the 
 snort of the engine, would suddenly emerge from 
 the margin of the channel, and, darting ahead, 
 be again frightened into the air almost before they 
 had settled. 
 
 Soaring in graceful circles far overhead, a variety 
 of hawks view the scene from aloft, ready to 
 pounce upon whatever appears an easy prey, 
 whilst thousands of dark-blue glittering swallows 
 hurry from island to island, feeding plenteously 
 on the myriads of insects that hover above the 
 water. 
 
 As the south-east end of the Laguna is approached, 
 the mangrove jungle ceases, and the entire expanse 
 of the lake is seen disclosing the hills that border 
 the waters to the northward, with their robe of 
 
28 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 clustering oil-palms; while to the rear, range after 
 range of rising mountains are at length crowned 
 by the snow-capped peak of the majestic Vol- 
 can de Colima in the far distance. 
 
 At 10 a.m. we arrived at Cuyutlancillo, as the 
 landing-place at the extremity of the Laguna is 
 called, representing a large wooden shed on the 
 beach, used as a storehouse for the goods tran¬ 
 sported by the steamer, and half-a-dozen native 
 huts sparsely distributed over the ground in the 
 vicinity. Here we found mozos as well as riding 
 and pack mules in attendance, ready to convey us 
 and our luggage to the Rio de la Armeria. 
 Without much delay, bags and portmanteaus were 
 transferred from the steamer to the pack-saddles, 
 and as the place was intensely hot, without one 
 object of interest to prompt a longer stay, we were 
 ourselves on the saddle and the road before an 
 hour had elapsed. As four mules were required 
 for the luggage, and as our five mozos were all 
 mounted, the little caravan comprised twelve 
 animals guarded by eight riders ; and as it is a 
 most difficult matter, where no danger is appre¬ 
 hended, to make Mexican servants understand 
 
FROM MANZANILLO TO COLIMA. 
 
 29 
 
 that they are to keep together, our party was 
 scattered over half-a-mile of the road before we had 
 been ten minutes on the move. 
 
 The mozos were dressed in the usual costume 
 of their order—white or pale pink cotton jacket 
 and drawers, the latter supplemented by leather 
 trousers slit open on the outside from the knee to 
 the ground; on their heads was the capacious 
 sombrero, or wide-brimmed hat, manufactured of 
 palm-leaf straw or felt. Both the latter and the 
 leather trousers are garments admirably adapted 
 to the requirements of the country and climate. 
 
 In a land where to ride is almost as usual as 
 to walk, and where at the same time the heat is 
 intense, this open, leather habiliment combines cool¬ 
 ness with substantial protection against the hard¬ 
 ness of the Mexican saddle, whilst the sombrero, 
 although heavy, is a capital guard against the 
 fierce rays of a tropical sun, and renders the use 
 of a sun-shade superfluous. 
 
 Boots or shoes are rarely worn by Indians and 
 half-castes; they use compact sandals of strong 
 leather. 
 
 From Cuyutlancillo to the Paso del Bio de la 
 
30 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 Armeria is about eight miles in distance, and when 
 the river is low enough to permit vehicles to ford 
 over, the entire road from the lake to Colima 
 (fifty-five miles in all) can be traversed on wheels; 
 but at present the Rio is still too high to allow 
 of this. This proved eventually a most fortunate 
 circumstance, as the ride to the river was enjoy¬ 
 able in the extreme, whilst the drive thence to 
 Colima was anything but agreeable. 
 
 From the lake a wide path of soft sandy 
 soil winds through forests of impenetrable and 
 most fruitful undergrowth. The trees are not 
 large, but are so interwoven as to form impassable 
 barriers, even apart from the bushes and shrubs 
 that spring from every spot of vacant ground. 
 Hundreds of creepers cling to every trunk, and 
 twine round every branch, connecting by a thou¬ 
 sand wiry threads thickets, shrubs, and cacti, 
 a massive bulwark of profuse vegetation, through 
 which the axe alone can hew a way. The huge 
 organo cactus, with its tree-like stem, often two 
 feet in diameter, and ten to fifteen feet high, sends 
 up its stiff, straight branches to a height of 
 thirty or forty feet from the ground, whilst the 
 
FROM MANZANILLO TO COLIMA. 
 
 31 
 
 smaller species mingle in thousands with the 
 shrubs and bushes nearer the earth. Wherever 
 the creepers may have neglected trunk or bough, 
 prolific parasites, gay alike with taper leaf and 
 gorgeous blossom, hasten to perform their part 
 in this fairy work of nature. The flowers have 
 little scent, but their profusion of white, yellow, 
 and red blended with the countless shades of 
 green, charm the eye with tints as various as 
 they are magnificent. 
 
 This teeming region of vegetable life is the haunt 
 of birds, which, for brightness of plumage, equal, 
 if not surpass, those on the Laguna. Parrots, re¬ 
 splendent with red and green, flew away screeching 
 as we approached, whilst tiny humming-birds with 
 their golden hues were darting hither and thither, 
 till they disappeared in the bushes. Graceful birds, 
 with glistening feathers of a bluish-black and 
 pointed beak, seemed here as common as our 
 crows, and like them divided their attention 
 between ravenous hunger and timid flight. 
 
 This portion of the tierra caliente and the La¬ 
 guna de Cuyutlan is a most fertile field for orni¬ 
 thological research, and I have no hesitation in 
 
32 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 saying that there exists here many a species as 
 yet undescribed. 
 
 As we approached the Rio, the country gradu¬ 
 ally became more open ; we traversed sunny plots 
 of green sward, more similar to a garden or 
 park than to land almost untouched by human 
 hand. Here we saw wild turkeys, a kind of 
 partridge, numbers of buzzards, the now familiar 
 swallows, vultures perched calmly on the very 
 top of the tallest trees, and sentinel hawks which 
 
 watched the scene from far aloft. 
 
 We soon entered a small Indian village, perched 
 on the height that bounds the river, and con¬ 
 sisting of a few well-built and neatly-thatched 
 huts ranged on either side of the road. 
 
 Before each of these homesteads bananas, oranges, 
 water-melons, and other fruits, were exhibited for 
 sale on a little stand, whilst the inmates, men, 
 women, and children, were grouped under the open 
 verandah, and busied in the sympathetic task of 
 removing another genus of prolific parasite, an 
 occupation not rare among the lower classes of all 
 tropical and semi-tropical countries. Their costume 
 is of the lightest possible description; the 
 
FROM MANZANILLO TO COLIMA. 33 
 
 upper part of the body is left almost bare, 
 though the immense sombrero is never omitted. 
 We passed the village without a halt, and 
 descending the high bank, followed one of the 
 mozos through the river, which, however, was so 
 high and rapid that we were thoroughly drenched 
 before the opposite shore was gained. 
 
 The Eio cle la Armeria, during the dry season, 
 dwindles to a shallow stream hardly more than fifty 
 yards in width, though at this time a large 
 volume of water, filling the entire bed (which was 
 about a hundred and fifty yards wide), came 
 thundering down its rocky course with a seeth¬ 
 ing and impetuous current. 
 
 Arrived on the other side, we dismounted at 
 a hacienda, where a rude and rickety waggon 
 was waiting to take us on to Colima. Before 
 we proceeded, however, we sat down to a 
 tempting meal of several courses, the last of which 
 was the usual termination to every Mexican repast, 
 the dish of frijoles. I had already made their -ac¬ 
 quaintance at Manzanillo, and until I quitted Mexi¬ 
 can soil on the shores of the Atlantic, they 
 continued my tried and trusty companions. 
 
 c 
 
34 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 Frijoles are small brown beans, stewed in lard, 
 and palatably seasoned, resembling, in outward 
 appearance more than in taste, the “fool" of the 
 Arabs, a mess prepared in a similar manner minus 
 the lard. Unlike the majority of national Mexican 
 dishes, the savoury flavour of frijoles is appreciated 
 by the foreigner, who soon accustoms himself to 
 them, either plain or with the addition of grated 
 cheese or chile , which latter (pod as well as seeds) 
 is a favourite adjunct to every course served on a 
 Mexican table. 
 
 Frijoles are invariably accompanied by tortillas , 
 the peculiar native substitute for bread. During my 
 progress across the country, I had frequent oppor¬ 
 tunities of seeing them prepared. Half-boiled 
 maize, mixed with the requisite quantity of water, 
 is ground between a small sloping slab of stone 
 and a stone-roller (both metate and roller are gene¬ 
 rally made of lava), until the paste has attained the 
 consistency of tough, leathery dough, when it is 
 patted between the hands into thin cakes equal in 
 size to our small plate, and in thickness to ordinary 
 card-board. They are next quickly baked between 
 heated stones, and are then eaten while still hot. 
 
FROM MANZANILLO TO COLIMA. 
 
 35 
 
 As the Indians, and indeed all the poorer natives, 
 are unacquainted with forks and spoons, a piece of 
 tortilla serves them as a substitute, and it is amusing 
 to see the dexterity with which these people eat their 
 frijoles with the aid of a spoon, which itself disappears 
 with the last mouthful of beans. Novices, as a 
 rule, find the warm, damp, flabby tortilla, insipid and 
 unpalatable, but the veterans are as fond of them as 
 the Indians themselves. 
 
 Whilst we were at table, the pack-mules and the 
 attending mozos walked into the quadrangle, there 
 to rest awhile, and follow us at their leisure whilst 
 we preceded them in the waggon. 
 
 Five dollars was all we paid for dinner supplied 
 to ourselves and the mozos, eight persons in all, 
 besides fodder for twelve mules—amazingly cheap 
 when compared with Californian charges. 
 
 At two o’clock in the afternoon we resumed our 
 journey, and were soon bumping and jolting over a 
 villainous road, along which the two wretched 
 mules could hardly drag the rumbling vehicle. 
 We much regretted the change. The elastic 
 tread of the nimble saddle-mules had hith¬ 
 erto carried us pleasantly over the execrable 
 
36 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 paths, and the Mexican saddles, though awkward 
 at first, proved easy in long rides; now, however, 
 we had to endure shocks and shakes, the effects of 
 stones and ruts, which were far from being 
 palliated by the waggon’s worn-out springs. If the 
 miserable mules halted for a second, where a bad 
 place had over-taxed their powers, the cockero would 
 unmercifully whip the poor little brutes, or throw 
 stones at them, accompanying his active demonstra¬ 
 tions with shouts and exclamations flavoured with 
 a selection of expletives, which, although uttered in 
 Spanish, it would be impossible to mention here. 
 The strength and endurance of these little mulcts is 
 really wonderful. Their outward appearance is so 
 very unfavourable that it seemed impossible for 
 them to draw the waggon over the first mile ; but 
 they warmed to their work to such a degree, that, 
 at the conclusion of their twenty miles’ stage, they 
 appeared fresher than at starting. 
 
 The country through which we travelled was 
 similar to that on the other side of the river. 
 As we progressed the sandy soil vanished, and 
 gravel and rock took its place, whilst the vegetation 
 became more sparse, and Indian villages frequent. 
 
FROM MANZANILLO TO COLIMA. 
 
 37 
 
 A little further on, the country grew more exposed 
 and cultivated; fields appeared here and there, 
 dotted over with huts, and pleasingly relieved 
 by picturesque plantations of cocoa-palms and 
 bananas. 
 
 At five o’clock we came to a hacienda 
 called La Calera, where we stopped to procure a 
 change of mules. This hacienda is a large building 
 encircled by wooden palings gaudily painted, and 
 surrounded by numerous huts cosily sheltered by 
 shady trees. Whilst a man on horseback was en¬ 
 gaged in catching the animals with a lazo in the 
 spacious corral adjacent to the house, we entered 
 the broad verandah, and were treated to some 
 delicious agaa cle coco by the hospitable manager 
 of the estate. Of all refreshing drinks, none can 
 compare with the milk, or rather water, of the 
 green, unripe cocoa-nut; and parched as we were by 
 heat and dust, the cool, clear liquid, with its slight 
 admixture of carbonic acid, was thoroughly relished. 
 
 In the meantime the two mules had been caught 
 and sent forward on the road to be changed a few 
 miles ahead, and resuming our seats in the waggon, 
 we continued on our rough path. 
 
38 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 Ever since leaving the Rio de la Armeria we 
 had been gently and gradually ascending, and we now 
 perceived more distinctly the rising nature of the 
 ground. When evening came, we were toiling up 
 hills, overgrown with the richest verdure, and 
 jolting over a tedious road furrowed with ruts 
 and strewn with rock. One height passed, and 
 a steep descent, over a small river or a gulch, 
 would lead us to a renewed incline loftier than 
 that preceding, and as this was repeated for hours, 
 we at last stepped out to lighten the load, and 
 followed the waggon on foot over stones, holes, 
 and waterpools. 
 
 Although assured by every one that the road 
 was perfectly safe the whole way from the coast 
 to Colima, we could not forget the many stories 
 we had heard about robbers and kidnappers in 
 Mexico generally. 
 
 From the lake to the Rio, we were accompanied 
 by five mozos armed with the straight sword 
 of the country, called the macheta, and constantly 
 on the look-out; but we were now alone, and 
 were travelling not in the confidence-inspiring 
 daylight, but through a hilly forest in the pitchiest 
 
FROM MANZANILLO TO COLIMA. 
 
 39 
 
 of nights. I confess I could not repress some 
 anxiety as we followed the waggon in utter 
 darkness, and often through narrow defiles of rock ; 
 
 and even Mr L-, who has passed thirty years 
 
 of his life in the country, was not wholly at his ease. 
 On we tramped, however, patiently and silently, 
 revolver in hand, until all the hills and streams 
 were safely passed, and we were once more seated 
 in the waggon. 
 
 We now entered a spacious road, the Via de 
 Colima, which leads for five miles through the 
 splendid valley of Colima up to the town itself. 
 
 Whenever we were on higher ground, a few 
 dim lights in the distance would indicate the 
 direction of the city. Again and again the 
 lights disappeared as we descended into hollows, 
 hut only to shine out more distinctly as we 
 attained the summit of the next hillock. At length 
 we were past the huts that line both sides of 
 the road, past the long stone fences that encircle 
 plantations and haciendas, and finally entered the 
 narrow streets of Colima, whose pebbly pave¬ 
 ment caused the waggon to shake and shiver 
 as if it were going to fall to bits. The cochero 
 
40 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 f 
 
 exerted himself to end "the' day’s work with a 
 flourish, and cracked his whip with a vehemence 
 that set the poor mules galloping over the cruel 
 stones as if it were the commencement, and not 
 the close, of their journey. So we threaded 
 street after street, and turned many a sharp 
 corner, where watchmen with large lanterns were 
 keeping guard, as in Europe centuries ago; and 
 finally at ten o’clock halted before the modest 
 house of the Fonda Hidalgo, the best inn of the 
 town. 
 
 The remarkably stout landlady, after pointing 
 out to us our primitive bedrooms in the immediate 
 vicinity of the stable, prepared a speedy supper, 
 and we sat down to a substantial meal of 
 frijoles, and other dishes in which garlic distinctly 
 predominated. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 COLIMA. 
 
 A pleasant change—Situation of Colima—Climate—Fever—Streets and 
 houses—The •plaza —Its four sides—The Plaza Nueva —The Rio de 
 Colima Baths — Wonderful gardens — A vuelta on the plaza — 
 Appearance of the people—Their dress— Charro — Modes de Colima 
 —The theatre—The market—Cotton factories—Clever artisans— 
 Position and productions of the State of Colima-^-Produce for 
 home consumption and export—Import trade—Mexican promo¬ 
 tion—Respectable Governors. 
 
 The morning after our arrival ( 15 th of December) 
 we were most kindly invited to exchange the indif¬ 
 ferent quarters in the fonda for others in the 
 luxurious house of some German merchants— 
 an invitation which we were only too glad to accept, 
 and we soon found ourselves in the enjoyment of 
 the most perfect accommodation imaginable in this 
 part of the globe. 
 
 My stay in Colima extended over five days, and 
 as this time was assiduously employed in exploring 
 the town and its vicinity, very little was, I think, 
 left unseen. 
 
 Colima marks the site of an Indian town 
 
42 
 
 A PEEP A T MEXICO. 
 
 before the conquest, in north lat. 19° 11/ and long. 
 103° 46' 30" west of Greenwich, on the river 
 of the same name, and in a fine valley of great 
 extent, entirely surrounded by mountains, amongst 
 which the lofty Yolcan de Colima towers royally 
 above all others on the northern horizon. 
 
 The town numbers 25,000 inhabitants, the 
 great majority of whom are Indians and mestizos, 
 whose claim to an admixture of Spanish blood seems 
 very remote. Situate as it is at an elevation 
 of about 1500 feet above the level of the sea, its 
 climate is superior to that of the coast, and the tem¬ 
 perature somewhat lower. The heat, however, in the 
 middle of the day, is such as to render a walk 
 no painless task; and the streets are generally 
 deserted from an hour after sunrise until towards 
 sunset. 
 
 Calentura, although much less prevalent than in 
 Manzanillo, is not uncommon, and a prolonged 
 residence in the city acts in a most detrimental 
 manner on the health of Europeans and North 
 Americans, as, I am sorry to say, I found ample 
 means of judging. 
 
 The town is laid out in long, straight streets, 
 
COLIMA. 
 
 43 
 
 about thirty feet wide, paved with large round 
 pebbles ( cobble-stones, as they say in the States), 
 and lined with solidly-built brick or adobe houses. 
 In the better quarters the latter are plastered over, 
 whitewashed, and often ornamented with a few 
 lines or arabesques of motley patterns, not 
 dissimilar from the coloured walls of Southern 
 Italy. The buildings generally contain the ground- 
 floor alone, and are flat-roofed. The better class 
 possess lofty and spacious rooms, all opening on 
 to a verandah which runs round the four sides 
 of an interior square yard, the plan already 
 noticed at Mazatlan. 
 
 This open verandah serves as sitting-room, and 
 the table is frequently laid there in preference to 
 the inner apartments; at night a portion of it 
 forms the sleeping-place for the servants, and it is 
 altogether the most important part of the edifice, 
 especially in the tierra caliente. Banana plants, 
 coffee and orange trees, as well as shrubs and 
 flowers, convert the inner yard into a fragrant 
 garden, and often a plashing fountain imparts 
 coolness and freshness to the air. Towards the 
 street the buildings, however beautiful within, 
 
44 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 present a dull and monotonous appearance, the 
 exterior including hut a large gateway with 
 heavy, antique locks, and a row of iron-barred 
 windows, whilst from the flat roofs jut forth 
 horizontally a number of iron pipes, sometimes 
 grotesquely ornamented, and intended to drain 
 the water from the azotea * 
 
 As the style of architecture is usually the same, 
 the streets for the most part resemble one another; 
 and as they are all of one width, with no shop- 
 windows to act as sign-posts, it is a difficult 
 matter for the stranger to find his way. 
 
 The almost total absence of carriages and wag¬ 
 gons renders Colima peculiarly quiet; and when 
 once the sun has fairly risen above the horizon, 
 the streets would be entirely deserted, were it not 
 for a few mules marching on under their heavy 
 loads of long alfalfa grass, maize-straw, pottery 
 or water-jars, or an occasional train of mulas de 
 cargo conveying merchandise into the town, and 
 escorted by arrieros on horseback. 
 
 In the early morning the streets are lively, 
 and crowded with natives on their way to or 
 
 * Azotea, literally platform, is the name given to the flat roofs in Mexico. 
 
COLIMA. 
 
 45 
 
 from market, mozos carrying loads from one 
 house to another, water-carriers laden with the 
 day’s supply, and a hundred more incidentals of 
 domestic life. In the evening, a great portion 
 of the population walk out, mostly towards the 
 public square or garden, where they enjoy the 
 customary vuelta. 
 
 The public square, or Plaza de Annas, or s im ply 
 the Plaza, is here, as in every other Mexican town, 
 the centre of out-door life. It is an open space 
 of about eighty yards square. On the eastern side 
 stand the remains of an old cathedral, which could 
 never, even previous to the ravages of ruin, have 
 been a comely structure; and next to it rises a 
 long, two-storied pile, which, far advanced on 
 the road to destruction, retains but few remnants 
 of its original plaster and whitewash, and with its 
 gaping patches of brick and stone looks as if it 
 had never been completed. Some of the windows 
 are entirely or partly blocked with rough masonry, 
 whilst the others are mere apertures in the wall, 
 alike destitute of glass or iron. 
 
 This is at once the chief guard-house, the 
 State prison, and the office of the Mayoria de 
 
46 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 Plaza. In the large square gateway a number 
 of soldiers, whose dark complexions denote them 
 to be Indians, clad in uniforms of white canvas, are 
 always loitering, whilst all through the day a 
 couple of buglers will issue forth; and shock the 
 ear with terribly discordant blasts from instruments 
 which evidently never were attuned to one another. 
 
 The northern side of the Plaza displays the 
 finest buildings in Colima; a row of houses in 
 the Moorish style, two-storied, with the upper 
 floor erected over the pavement so as to form a 
 covered pathway, gracefully arched, from one end 
 of the square to the other. The upper part of 
 these houses is used for private residences, whilst 
 the ground-floor is employed as shops, the best in 
 the town. The two remaining sides of the Plaza 
 are lined with buildings of an inferior type, 
 strangely contrasting with those just mentioned. In 
 the centre of the square a large circular fountain 
 furnishes the neighbourhood with a plentiful 
 supply of water, whilst at the edges of the 
 quadrangle runs a broad walk planted with orange 
 and lime trees, and provided at short intervals 
 with clumsy benches of adobe, stuccoed and 
 
PI A 7 A n P A R M A C. . r n LI M A . 
 
PLAZA DE ARMAS, COLIMA, SOUTH SIDE, 
 
COLIMA. 
 
 47 
 
 painted pink. These benches, however, are so high 
 that only giants can sit on them if they would rest 
 both their bodies and their feet at the same time. 
 
 The Alameda on the Plaza Nueva is a small but 
 shady and pleasant public garden. It covers scarcely 
 more ground than the plaza, is surrounded by high 
 walls, furnished with iron gates. The interior is 
 richly wooded with different trees, among which 
 palms, oleander, orange, and lemon are the most 
 conspicuous, whilst bananas with their enormous 
 leaves, and loads of fruit hanging in thick, heavy 
 clusters, render the scene truly tropical. 
 
 Walks tastefully laid out, and well kept, meet 
 at a pretty fountain, whose ample basin harbours 
 two giant cranes, and many other waterbirds. A 
 portion of the Alameda is reserved and apportioned, 
 in small square plots, to private-*,people as sepa¬ 
 rate gardens for themselves. A number of these 
 are most daintily arranged, fenced round with a neat 
 paling of wood, and possessing besides many curious 
 plants, little jets of water, decorations of figures and 
 shells, and snug seats under branching trees. 
 
 Through the city runs the Kio de Colima, a 
 small stream at this time of year, divided into 
 
48 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 several shallow and narrow arms flowing over a 
 wide bed. In the middle of the rainy season 
 this becomes brimful; at the time of my visit, 
 however (December), there was only sufficient water 
 to supply the numerous baths erected along its 
 course, and the temporary laundry establishments. 
 
 The baths embrace numbers of small square 
 basins through which the stream is led. They are 
 partitioned by solid stone walls, and left open at 
 the top. 
 
 The views along the river bed are extremely 
 picturesque. Gardens and plantations on either side 
 brighten the landscape with palms and bananas, 
 whilst huts, baths, and thickets of green in the very 
 watercourse, diversify its outlines. 
 
 Owing to the attention and kindness of my amiable 
 hosts, my sojourn in Colima passed most pleasantly. 
 Excursions into the neighbourhood, as well as rides 
 through the suburbs, were undertaken every morn¬ 
 ing at sunrise, when the coolness of the atmosphere 
 and the freshness of the surroundings enhanced a 
 hundred times the natural beauties of this favoured 
 spot. A plunge into a spacious swimming bath, 
 specially reserved for the use of the foreign residents, 
 
HE RIO DE COLIMA AFTER THE RAINY SEASON. 
 

COLIMA. 
 
 49 
 
 inaugurated the day; and before long a visit was 
 generally paid to one of the magnificent fruit-gardens 
 in the immediate vicinity of the town. 
 
 Pen and fancy are alike baffled by the prodigal 
 wealth of vegetable life that greets the eye on 
 its first glance at these gardens; impenetrable tracts 
 of trees and shrubs, uncurbed in their lavish 
 freedom, vast fortresses of vegetation through which 
 the sun’s rays fail to pierce, seem as wild as 
 they are wonderful; a closer inspection, however, 
 finds these forests crossed and recrossed by narrow 
 paths and small ditches, and reveals a method amid 
 all this apparent confusion. Blossoms of splendid 
 hue on one tree, fruit in extravagant abundance on 
 another, leaves of every sort and shape, verdure in 
 all its grotesquely curved forms, cacti and creepers 
 trailing like serpents on the ground—what a 
 strange epitome of tropical luxuriance ! 
 
 The mere endeavour to enumerate all the various 
 plants and fruits cultivated in these gardens would 
 be presumptuous; a few, however, I noted down 
 at the time. 
 
 Besides the familiar cocoa-palm, the different 
 kinds of plantains or bananas, and the 
 
 many 
 
50 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 varieties of orange, lemon, and lime trees, there are 
 cacao-trees, which rejoice in the native name of 
 Cacahoaquahuitl ( Theobromct cacao), with their 
 fruit, the main substance of chocolate, growing 
 out of the trunk, the colfee-shrub ( Coffea Arabica), 
 the zapote ( Casimiroa edulis), the guava or gua- 
 yava ( Psidium gaaiava), the mango (Maw gif era In- 
 dica), the mamey (Lucuma wiamwiosa), the granadita 
 or granadilla de China (Passiflora quadrangularis), 
 the cliirimoya or chirimolla (Anona clierimolia) , the 
 pine-apple or pina ( Ananassa sativa), the aguacate 
 (Persea gratissima). , 
 
 These gardens belong to wealthy citizens, and are 
 under the charge of managers, who sell their produce 
 for the owners, or are rather supposed to do so. 
 The contents of a green cocoa-nut opened at the 
 lodge, was the usual and invigorating conclusion of 
 a walk round these marvellous plantations. 
 
 In the evening, after dinner, it is the custom 
 to take the air on the plaza. Every other day a 
 military band stations itself in the centre of the 
 square near the fountain, and performs there between 
 the hours of seven and nine, whilst all the world 
 and his wife are engaged in mild exercise or 
 
STREET IN THE SUBURBS OF COLIMA. 
 
COLIMA. 
 
 51 
 
 cool repose on the stone benches. The plaza 
 thus affords a favourable opportunity for observing 
 its visitors in the silvery light of the evening 
 moon. 
 
 I had heard much when in the United States, 
 and especially in California, about the beauty of 
 Mexican women; but this praise proved the exag¬ 
 geration not unfrequently bestowed on strange and 
 unknown objects, the mere remoteness of which, both 
 as regards distance and knowledge, endows them 
 with qualities they in nowise possess. As far as 
 Colima is concerned, I did not meet with a single 
 face that could be called beautiful, or even pretty; 
 and my subsequent experience of the Eepublic offered 
 no inducement to improve my original opinion. 
 Nine-tenths of the population are Indians, either 
 pure-blooded or with an admixture, more or less 
 remote, of European blood, their colour ranging 
 between a dark coppery-brown and a pale yellow. 
 Whilst the men are generally well-made, some¬ 
 what tall and muscular, the women, as a rule, 
 are small and slight. They almost always possess 
 large black eyes, remarkably white, regular teeth, 
 and luxuriant, straight, jet-black hair. But here all 
 
52 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 their beauty ends, and ill-shaped noses, large 
 mouths, and often prominent cheek-bones, destroy 
 all the advantages derived from their other per¬ 
 fections. I do not, of course, here include the 
 descendants of pure Spanish blood, who naturally 
 rank in this respect with their European kins¬ 
 men. 
 
 The climate of Colima, and the tierra caliente 
 generally, renders very light clothing a neces¬ 
 sity. 
 
 The white or pink cotton trousers and jacket of 
 the men of the lower orders have already been 
 mentioned ; the women of the same class wear an 
 ordinary gown of light texture, as a rule gaudy 
 in its colour, whilst from the waist upwards they 
 confine themselves to the camisa of thin white 
 cotton, which exjDoses as much as it conceals. It 
 is only when going away from home for some 
 distance that they wear the rebozo folded round 
 head and shoulders, a large head-cloth, often of a 
 dark blue material with very thin white stripes. 
 
 The men of the better classes, which in proportion 
 to the entire population are inconsiderable, dress 
 either in the European style, or in charro, as the 
 
COLIMA. 
 
 35 
 
 natives designate the old Mexican costume. The 
 latter, for ordinary wear, is gradually becoming 
 obsolete, but is generally used for riding. It con¬ 
 sists of leather trousers, slit open from the knee 
 downwards on the outside of both legs, and disclosing 
 the white drawers worn underneath, and a short 
 jacket of cloth or leather faced with braiding. 
 Mexican beaux delight in a gorgeous display of 
 silver buttons, buckles, and lacing both on trousers 
 and jacket, which, with the silver plating of the 
 heavy Mexican saddle, appear pompous and showy. 
 As all their horses, however, are small, rider, saddle, 
 and steed seem sadly out of proportion. 
 
 For riding, large sixteenth-century boots of light 
 brown leather are often preferred to the chaparer- 
 ras, as the leather trousers are denominated; and 
 huge spurs, such as belong to the stage in the 
 performance of a Sliakesperian play, are rarely 
 omitted. The sombrero, blazing at times with rich 
 gold or silver trimmings, heads every description 
 of Mexican costume. 
 
 The ladies of Colima are not distinguished for the 
 good taste exhibited in their dress, and although 
 the newest Paris fashions can hardly be expected 
 
54 
 
 A PEEP A T MEXICO. 
 
 to penetrate into this out-of-the-way corner of the 
 world, yet, where nature has created such perfect 
 combinations of colour and form, one might hope 
 to see more perception on their part with regard to 
 personal attire. They use the most decided and 
 conspicuous colours, sometimes in the most atrocious 
 mixtures. Thus the dress of bright scarlet is often 
 relieved by a sash of glaring yellow, or a gown 
 as green as grass will be set off by deep-blue 
 trimmings. A lady in a dress of intermediate hue 
 is a rarity; it is sure to be either a very pronounced 
 blue, or a very pronounced green, or a very pro¬ 
 nounced red; and there are few who, disdaining 
 show, adopt a suit of modest black. 
 
 But it must be remembered that I have only 
 been speaking of extraordinary and holiday cos¬ 
 tumes ; at ordinary times, printed muslin or 
 cotton dresses, out of which, as a rule, all colour 
 has been washed, lend to the belles of Colima 
 an almost menial appearance. Gloves are almost 
 entirely dispensed with, and instead of hat or 
 bonnet, the rebozo, or the more refined Spanish 
 mantilla, droops over head and shoulders. Dresses, 
 as well as other items of ladies’ attire, appear to 
 
COLIMA. 
 
 55 
 
 be ill-made, and render tlieir otherwise shapely 
 figures unsightly; add to this a naturally awkward 
 and rather waddling gait, and the exterior of 
 Colima’s daughters cannot be called graceful. 
 
 One evening we visited the theatre. A troupe 
 that had been previously performing in the South 
 and Central American coast towns was to act some 
 Spanish piece ; and as the performances take place 
 only twice a week, all Colima was astir not to 
 miss the fun. 
 
 Shape and purpose are the sole points in which 
 this theatre resembles a civilised playhouse, other¬ 
 wise it is the most singular building of its kind. 
 Its construction is of the rudest possible description, 
 and the interior, with its rough poles and planks, 
 is ludicrously suggestive of a builder’s scaffolding. 
 Two common poles, coupled half-way with coarse 
 ropes, form the pillars supporting the tiers, which 
 latter, as indeed everything else, are rudely con¬ 
 structed of rough deal boards. Beyond a little 
 whitewash, no attempt is made to disguise the 
 matidre premiere, and the wood is often left as the 
 tree grew it. 
 
 The ceiling is of canvas tightly fastened to the 
 
56 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 sides, and tlie chandelier a wooden frame of two 
 squares, lined with small tin pots filled with palm- 
 oil. 
 
 The whole arrangement savoured of a large booth 
 at a fair or race-meeting at home; indeed, I have 
 seen better structures of a temporary kind than the 
 teatro in Colima, which is of the same capacity as 
 the St James’s in London, and adapted for as many 
 people. There are two tiers above the ground-floor ; 
 on the latter (the bare earth), rude benches arranged 
 in rows, with a gangway down the middle, occupy 
 the portion generally allotted to stalls and pit. The 
 box-tiers on the ground and first floors are open 
 galleries, separated by wooden railings, about a foot 
 high, into partitions, presenting towards the front 
 a rude wooden balustrade, so low that the 
 spectators seemed in constant danger of an airy 
 passage into the pit. The tier on the second floor 
 forms the gallery. The planks which compose the 
 floor of the latter are not even uniformly 
 adjusted, and there is no railing of any kind. 
 The audience comprehended all the various 
 elements of this odd population, from the foreign 
 merchants with their families down to the yellow 
 
COLIMA. 
 
 57 
 
 mestizo and brown Indian. The gods, nearly all 
 Indians, were seated on the edge of the boards, 
 their white-trousered legs dangling in the air, and 
 all but touching the heads of the people in the 
 boxes beneath, whilst the women were standing 
 or squatting about in all directions. The box-tiers 
 were filled with ladies attired in the most gairisli 
 of colours, and looking like so many parrots; 
 whilst the pit was occupied by men dressed in 
 charro, or the more sober costume of Europe. It 
 was indeed a remarkable medley of motley garbs 
 and quaint figures. 
 
 The acting, considering the house, was tolerably 
 fair; but it was impossible, on account of the intense 
 heat, to see it out, and I was thankful when the 
 rag of a white canvas curtain, with a paper angel 
 pasted on the middle, closed upon the first act, and 
 allowed me to escape into the cool night air. 
 
 Near the plaza is the market, which is held in 
 a small place furnished with a number of stalls. 
 The principal dealers occupy the latter, whilst a 
 large proportion of produce is displayed on the 
 ground in the neighbouring streets, under the shade 
 of large square pieces of matting suspended on 
 
58 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 centre poles, like huge umbrellas. The articles offered 
 for sale are of the most varied nature. 
 
 Besides the butcher’s assortment of fresh and dried 
 meats, and the baker’s stock of small flat rolls and 
 multifarious pan dulce (sweet biscuits or small 
 cakes), there are all the numberless fruits of this 
 prolific region — sugar-cane entire or in pieces, 
 water-melons, yams, and countless other vegeta¬ 
 bles, amongst which chile and three or four species 
 of beans are the most plentifully represented. 
 Maize, rice, coffee, and tobacco are displayed in 
 great abundance; whilst in another direction the 
 brown earthenware of the country, large sombreros 
 made of coarse straw, and an odd mixture of 
 common German and Birmingham knick-knacks, are 
 exhibited. Some half-dozen stalls are reserved for 
 saddlery and other leather goods of native work¬ 
 manship, as well as sarapes, fajas* and rebozos. 
 These goods are hawked all day on the square and 
 adjacent streets by itinerant dealers, who, as a 
 rule, select a bench in the plaza for the deposi¬ 
 tory of their wares when tired. 
 
 * Fajas are long narrow cloths used to secure the trousers round the waist; 
 they are generally of a red colour. 
 
COLIMA. 
 
 59 
 
 Maize and rice straw, alfalfa grass, small lots 
 of cotton, as well as of charcoal, take np a con¬ 
 siderable space of the market, whilst every vacant 
 corner is devoted to a vendor of dulces (sweetmeats) 
 or aguci fresca. Sunday is the chief market- 
 day, and from sunrise to about eight o’clock no 
 more animated and picturesque scene than is here 
 presented can be conceived. The people from the 
 surrounding country, pure Indians for the most 
 part, come to town for the occasion, bringing their 
 produce for sale, and buying supplies with the pro¬ 
 ceeds. Nor can the chattering, laughing, and eager 
 bargaining of the whole assemblage be equalled 
 by any but negroes under similar circumstances, 
 as notorious in the markets of Havana and other 
 cities in the West Indies. The diversity of phy¬ 
 siognomies, however, as well as of costume and 
 colour, renders the market in Colima, and those of 
 Mexico generally, superior in interest, both human 
 and artistic. 
 
 There are three cotton factories near Colima, the 
 owners and managers of which are all foreigners. 
 The largest of these establishments is the San 
 Cuyatano mill, which, at the time of my visit, 
 
60 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 was not working on account of financial diffi¬ 
 culties with which its administrators were ham¬ 
 pered. The Atrevida and the Armonia are 
 smaller factories. I only visited the latter, a well- 
 arranged and neatly-kept place, possessing fine 
 English machinery of quite modern date. These 
 manufactories produce coarse yarns, and a common 
 kind of grey shirting known as manta. The 
 cotton consumed is nearly all grown in the State 
 of Colima, and the hands employed are Indian and 
 half-caste women and girls, who, I am told, are most 
 efficient at their work. 
 
 The native population are clever at every sort of 
 handiwork. I had occasion to admire the expe¬ 
 ditious skill of a native tailor, bootmaker, and sad¬ 
 dler. A day and a half before my departure I 
 had ordered a charro jacket, a pair of high riding- 
 boots, and a revolver-belt; and true to the minute 
 I received each article, well finished and fitting 
 admirably. As a stranger I was charged full Cali¬ 
 fornian prices, but a resident would doubtless have 
 been supplied cheaply. 
 
 The State of Colima is one of the smallest in the 
 Republic, and originally was included in the State 
 
COLIMA. 
 
 61 
 
 of Jalisco. It covers an area of about 2500 square 
 miles, and numbers about 60,000 inhabitants. 
 
 Its geographical position, north and south of the 
 19th degree of north latitude, and its gradual 
 ascent from the sea-shore towards the great cen¬ 
 tral plateau of Mexico to an altitude of about 
 3000 feet, together with its rich soil and plenti¬ 
 ful supplies of water, adapt it for every kind of 
 tropical and semi-tropical produce. Rice, sugar¬ 
 cane, indigo, maize, and cotton are cultivated in 
 splendid quality, not to mention the great quanti¬ 
 ties of fruits and vegetables. The coffee indigenous 
 to Colima is noted throughout Mexico for its 
 excellence, and I am assured on good authority that 
 it rivals the best Mocha. 
 
 Owing to a deplorable absence of enterprise and 
 energy among its inhabitants, the state still remains 
 in a most primitive, and, as far as the rural parts 
 are affected, most uncivilised condition. This 
 indolent indifference is due, in great measure, to 
 the existing insecurity created by the never- 
 ending pronunciamientos, the chronic disease of 
 Old Spain, and of all nations impregnated with her 
 blood. Pronunciamientos imply guerrilla bands, 
 
62 
 
 A PEEP A 7 MEXICO. 
 
 which, under the plea of fighting for one party or 
 the other, infest the roads, and appropriate what¬ 
 ever they can purloin; and even when the 
 
 revolutions are quelled, the nature of the coun¬ 
 try encourages not a few guerrilleros to persevere 
 in their misdeeds with impunity. The uncer¬ 
 tainty both of life and property hitherto has, as 
 might be anticipated, rendered any real progress 
 impossible, and it is not surprising that, under 
 the circumstances, no proprietor is forthcoming 
 to cultivate the ground on a large scale, and 
 
 derive those benefits from the land and climate 
 which their peculiarities undoubtedly warrant. If 
 the country were once intersected by good roads, 
 the evil would in a great measure be alleviated, 
 since the authorities (such as they are) could be 
 enabled to maintain a stricter supervision on the 
 one hand, and, on the other, the transport of 
 
 produce and wares would be rendered less expen¬ 
 sive and difficult; but good or even tolerable 
 
 highways are perfectly unknown, not only in the 
 State of Colima, but in Mexico generally ; and the 
 construction of railways, although repeatedly pro¬ 
 posed and agitated, is for various reasons a matter 
 
COLIMA. 
 
 63 
 
 reserved for the future. It thus happens that the 
 crops raised are hardly more than is required for 
 the consumption of the state itself, and in some-de¬ 
 gree for that of its neighbours. As for exportation, 
 it is limited almost entirely to produce requiring 
 no cultivation, and what is grown in the vicinity 
 of the coast, such as fine woods and cocoa-nut-oil. 
 Other products—such as sugar, cotton, and indigo—• 
 on account of the small quantities shipped, scarcely 
 deserve as yet the name of exports. 
 
 If ever the present evils, the offshoots of defi¬ 
 cient communication, brigandage, and mal-adminis- 
 tration, be removed, it would be an easy matter to 
 increase the productivity of the State of Colima 
 to more than ten times its present yield. 
 
 The import trade is entirely in the hands of 
 German merchants, and they supply both the 
 state and its capital with all the foreign goods 
 required. The latter, to the extent of two-thirds 
 of the entire importation, are manufactured in 
 England. 
 
 Owing to the absence for the last year or so of 
 any serious revolution, this part of the country is 
 at present considered fairly safe, but its internal 
 
64 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 condition has as yet derived no benefit from the 
 temporary tranquillity. The inhabitants are so 
 used to pronunciamientos and civil strife, that a 
 year’s quiet simply leads them to apprehend a 
 new outbreak the sooner, and it will require a 
 prolonged period of peace before the public mind 
 can be thoroughly reassured. This will appear the 
 more comprehensible when it is known that success 
 as a leader of guerrilleros, a term which is here 
 always synonymous with brigands, is, as a rule, 
 rewarded by elevation to office of high rank, either 
 civil or military; and many a general or judge could, 
 in company with the present Governor of the State 
 of Colima, recall a not distant period replete with 
 reminiscences of a wild and lawless life. 
 
VIEW TAKEN FROM AN A20TEA . COLIMA 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 COLIMA TO SAYULA. 
 
 Preparations for departure—Cheerful intelligence—Start from Colima— 
 Ranchos and their crops—Smallpox— Barrancas —Barranca de 
 Tonila—Tonila—Abundance of food—The standard menu —The 
 Volcan de Colima—The Pico Helado— Pedregales —Enter the 
 State of Jalisco—Hacienda San Marcos—A fine view—Barranca de 
 Beltran—Luxuriant plants and magnificent birds— Midas de cargo 
 —Barranca de Vueltas—The pueblo of the hacienda labourers—■ 
 Hacienda del Platanar—Strange scene—The escort—A dangerous 
 forest—Evil and remedy united—Indulgent authorities—Barranca 
 de Atenquique—A country restaurant— Nopales — Maguey —Its uses 
 -— Pulque—Mezcal and Tequile— Arrival at Zapotlan—Its inhabit¬ 
 ants—Corrupt priests—The hotel—The plaza —Fighting-cocks— 
 A comfortable priest—Situation of Zapotlan—Its climate—Its 
 manufactures and products—Mineral wealth—Departure from 
 Zapotlan—A brigand punished—Graves by the roadside—Brigands 
 and brigandage—The summit of the pass—A magnificent view— 
 Arrival at Sayula. 
 
 Whilst a journey of less than a hundred miles in 
 Europe or the United States requires nothing more 
 than a portmanteau, a railway ticket, and a few 
 hours’ travel, such an undertaking in Mexico is 
 connected with precautions much more formidable, 
 and the time employed in reaching your destination 
 is counted by days instead of hours. For two days 
 
 E 
 
 4 ) 
 
66 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 previous to the departure of my two travelling com¬ 
 panions and myself from Colima, the preparations for 
 the journey, the state of the roads, what escorts we 
 should require, and a number of minor details con¬ 
 nected with mozos, saddles, and pack-mules, mono¬ 
 polised all our attention, and engrossed our con¬ 
 versation. The evening before we left, after having 
 selected from numerous saddle-mules those that 
 were suitable, and the final instructions being given, 
 our arrangements were somewhat upset by a com¬ 
 munication received from the German Consul (on 
 account of the temporary absence of the United 
 States Consul, the only foreign representative in the 
 place) to the effect that great caution was necessary 
 on our second day’s march, owing to the presence 
 of a band of thirty brigands in that part of the 
 route. The letter closed with the cheering news 
 that this band had in the last few days despatched 
 several travellers into the “ better land beyond,” as 
 the Consul expressed himself. As I had no wish to 
 make the acquaintance of that “ better land,” at 
 least until I had completed my travels through 
 that worse land Mexico, and as my travelling 
 companions shared that opinion, messages were 
 
COLIMA TO SAYULA. 
 
 67 
 
 at once despatched requesting a strong escort to be 
 sent from Zapotlan to meet us. 
 
 At length, at seven o’clock in the morning of Satur¬ 
 day, December 20th, after having lost two cool hours 
 of daylight through every species of delay, we bid 
 farewell to the hospitable house of the Messrs A. 0. 
 & Co., accompanied for two miles by two kind friends, 
 who had been unceasing in their attentions during 
 our stay in their city. Our small caravan consisted, 
 besides ourselves, of six mounted mozos (partly 
 armed with revolvers, partly with machetas ) and four 
 pack-mules—an inclusive total of nine men and 
 thirteen animals. The choice of our friends assured 
 us of the trustworthiness of the men, and inspired us 
 with some confidence 
 
 As soon as we had ridden through the straight 
 narrow streets of the city, we emerged into a wide 
 road hedged off on both sides by low stone walls 
 from the adjoining ranchos. Even from its remnant 
 it is evident that this road must once have been 
 well constructed, but, like every other public work 
 in the country, it has since its completion, years 
 and years ago, been left much worn and never 
 repaired; it may be thus easily imagined what con- 
 
68 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 stant use and heavy rains have now spared of the 
 original smooth surface and partial stone paving. 
 As we proceeded northward the country gradually 
 and gently ascended, and before we had advanced 
 many miles, we missed the familiar cocoa-palms— 
 unable as they are to flourish at this increased 
 elevation—not to meet with them again until the 
 shores of the Gulf were reached; but the hardier 
 bananas still followed us in our wanderings through 
 village and plantation. Through the low walls, 
 constructed of large stones, boulders, and pieces of 
 lava, with which the neighbourhood abounds, we 
 caught glimpses of rich rice-fields as well as acres 
 of maize, sugar-cane, cotton, and tobacco; but 
 only a small proportion of the enclosed land was 
 cultivated, and large tracts of ground, covered with 
 rank vegetation, separated the comparatively small 
 plots under cultivation. 
 
 We now and then swerved from the road to avoid 
 a bend; our way then led over tolerably even paths, 
 through wild country overgrown with trees, shrubs, 
 creepers, and cacti, inhabited by hundreds of pretty 
 birds, and apparently unchanged by the touch of 
 
 man. 
 
COLIMA TO SAYULA. 
 
 69 
 
 I had heard at Colima that smallpox was alarm¬ 
 ingly prevalent among the Indian population in 
 the suburbs and vicinity of the city. As we passed 
 their hamlets at a distance of from eight to ten 
 miles away from the town, evidences of the dis¬ 
 ease were perceptible before many a hut along the 
 road, where dead children were laid out in rough 
 coffins decked with poor and scanty drapery, while 
 their sorrowing relations were huddled round crucifix 
 and lighted candle. About twelve miles out of 
 Colima the road crosses numerous streamlets and 
 valleys, which increased in size and depth as we 
 proceeded and approached the hills. About six 
 miles before Tonila (our first halting-place, and 
 eighteen miles distant from Colima) we came to 
 the Barranca del Arenal, the first of many pre¬ 
 cipitous ravines to be traversed by us in the next 
 fifty miles of our journey. Barranca is the 
 name given in Mexico to all deep valleys, ravines, 
 or gulches with steep sides, or as people in the 
 United States would say, to all “ canons ” of any 
 importance. The word is intended more especially 
 to denominate chasms formed by the action, during 
 ages, of a strong flow of water on soft and gravelly 
 
70 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 soil. Where the ground is fertile, and water abun¬ 
 dant, the multifarious foliage spread over the steeps 
 of the barrancas, and along the margin of the stream, 
 is most luxuriant; whilst in higher altitudes, where 
 the nature of the soil is unfavourable to vegetation, 
 and the country sterile, barrancas with bare, sandy 
 sides are not uncommon. Before reaching the 
 Barranca de Tonila, on the edge of which is the 
 picturesque little town of the same name, we passed 
 over not a few small gulches, the babbling brooks of 
 which threaded through beautiful and bushy thickets, 
 and gushed in miniature cascades, when some chance 
 rock in their course endeavoured, though in vain, to 
 check the flow of their restless, limpid waters. This 
 barranca region is one of surpassing loveliness, and 
 although lacking grandeur of formation, it is rich in 
 every attribute required to render a landscape fas¬ 
 cinating : hill and dale, gaunt rock and rugged 
 watercourse, and all the reciprocal charms of torrent, 
 leafage, and mountain in the back ground, under the 
 transparent splendours of a tropical sky. 
 
 We arrived at Tonila shortly after noon, and 
 were quickly served with a meal of many courses. 
 Even in the smallest Mexican village, and where 
 
COLIMA TO SA YULA. 
 
 71 
 
 the fonda is sometimes nothing but a native hut, 
 good food is to be found in abundance; and 
 those who do not object to a copious use of 
 garlic, and an application at times of slightly 
 rancid oil instead of butter, will do remarkably 
 well, in spite of a somewhat stereotyped bill of fare. 
 They will be able to enjoy thick rice-soup, eggs 
 cooked in various ways, ragouts and stews of chicken, 
 mutton, veal, and pork, as well as round slices of 
 beef resembling an Albert biscuit in size, and a 
 wafer in consistency, served almost raw, and intended 
 for beef-steak. 
 
 As we still had a long journey before us, we did 
 not stop any longer in the tumble-down fonda than 
 was absolutely necessary, and at two o’clock the little 
 caravan was again on the move. 
 
 From Colima to Tonila our route lay almost 
 due north, only bearing a little to the eastward 
 to avoid collision with the grand Yolcan de Colima, 
 at whose foot, at a distance of barely ten miles, 
 Tonila is situate. The majestic mountain crest, with 
 its veil of thin, white, misty smoke, had fronted 
 us all through the day—a magnificent background 
 to all the exquisite landscapes that were succeed- 
 
72 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 ing each other like dissolving views. The vapour 
 arises from a small crater, not at the top, 
 hut about half-way up the eastern side of the 
 mountain. This crater was formed about five years 
 ago, when a violent eruption of short duration 
 completely caked the neighbouring land with lava 
 and scoriae, but it now continues in the quietest 
 manner to limit its influence to its own immediate 
 vicinity. About five miles due north of the Yolcan de 
 Colima another grand peak rears its giant head to¬ 
 wards the sky; this is an extinct volcano, and named 
 Pico Helado, or Frozen Peak, from the fact that more 
 snow is to be found on its summit than on that of 
 the Pico de Fuego (as the active volcano is often 
 called), owing to the absence of subterranean heat. 
 The height of these mountains is about 11,000 feet 
 above the level of the sea, and about 8000 above 
 the country from which they rise. 
 
 On leaving Tonila, our route continued in a due 
 northerly direction along the eastern side of these 
 giants, and so near to them that we were able to 
 distinguish the numerous ravines and gulches on 
 their slopes. They are densely wooded, and shrubs 
 and trees venture within a few hundred feet of their 
 
COLIMA TO SAYULA. 
 
 73 
 
 summits. The path over which we rode was hard 
 and terribly broken, being composed of lava in layers 
 vomited forth in the far ages by the volcanoes, 
 and the road was one hopeless mass of ruts, holes, 
 and loose stones. These lava formations are fre¬ 
 quent on Mexican roads, and travellers, arrieros, 
 and diligence - drivers alike cordially abominate 
 the horrible pedregales, as they are termed. 
 
 We were now in the State of Jalisco, having 
 passed the boundary of the State of Colima a 
 little to the southward of Tonila, and had thus 
 arrived in a part of the Republic noted for its 
 numerous bands of brigands. We gave orders that 
 our party, straggling as it did over a quarter of a 
 mile, should now close together, and unpacked 
 the Winchester rifle and shot gun (the latter pro¬ 
 vided with buck-shot cartridges) to be ready for 
 whatever emergency might occur. 
 
 After a ride of about five miles through country 
 partially cultivated, there appeared to our left the 
 stately Hacienda de San Marcos, a large and palatial 
 building, charmingly situate on the slope of a 
 small hill. This hacienda is one of the most 
 important sugar-factories in this part of the Republic, 
 
74 
 
 A PEEP A T MEXICO. 
 
 and. an enormous reach of country belongs to the 
 estate. 
 
 The view from this place and its neighbourhood 
 is proverbial in Colima, and although it was too late 
 to ride up to the hacienda, I stopped awhile on 
 the road to enjoy the remarkable panorama. The 
 two volcanoes on the left, with numerous spurs 
 projecting from their giant sides, gradually fading 
 into the valley; a long winding range of moun¬ 
 tains on the right, with their mantle of forests, 
 and, mysteriously undulating along the central 
 horizon, a broad fringe of netted vegetation hiding 
 from view the chasm of the great barranca, all com¬ 
 bined to awe us with their sublime beauty. 
 
 Another two miles, partly along a steep path, 
 partly over a wide road which skirts the sugar-cane 
 plantations of San Marcos, brought us to the 
 edge of the celebrated Barranca de Beltran, which 
 according to popular belief is the largest in this part 
 of Mexico. The most erroneous ideas seem to prevail 
 concerning the actual depth of this chasm, which 
 with respect to dimensions must certainly disappoint 
 him who has the marvels of the Yo-semite fresh 
 in his memory. Whatever may be wanting, however, 
 
COLIMA TO SAYULA. 
 
 75 
 
 in grandeur of formation, is fully atoned for by the 
 magnificence of the herbage and the variety of 
 charming views which the barranca’s course reveals 
 with each of its many bends and curves. 
 
 I made careful aneroid measurements of difference 
 of altitude between the plateau and the bed of 
 the stream at the bottom, both in descending on 
 one side and ascending on the other, and ascertained 
 the depth to be no more than 525 feet, whilst people 
 in Colima and Zapotlan estimate it variously at 1000, 
 1500, and even 2000 feet. 
 
 The walls of the barranca are almost perpendicular, 
 and the construction of the zigzag road which 
 descends one side and ascends the other must have 
 involved enormous labour. All the larger barrancas 
 possess these roads, built more than a hundred 
 years ago by the Spaniards. They are wide, and a 
 great portion of the original stone paving still exists, 
 as well as the solid breastwork of masonry erected 
 at all dangerous parts. The zigzags are composed of 
 slopes about 200 yards long, with a grade of about 
 one in four. 
 
 Our handy mules carefully and slowly com¬ 
 menced the downward path, and our small caravan 
 
76 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 soon presented a not nnpicturesque appearance, as 
 it twinkled along the densely-overshadowed road. 
 Flowers of the most variegated tints relieved the 
 numerous shades of green around us ; splendid trees 
 —some remarkable for the brownish-purple colour 
 of their bark, some for their curious foliage, and 
 others for huge thorns that studded trunk and branch 
 —rose in profusion from the vast undergrowth, while 
 bright, slender creepers clung affectionately to their 
 sides; magnificent parrots, gold-winged humming¬ 
 birds, and crowds of others hardly less beautiful, 
 seemed with their voice and movement to be, as it 
 were, the soul of this superb body. The splendour of 
 the scene was matchless when the stream at the 
 bottom of the barranca was reached, and the view 
 extended not only up its green and precipitous sides, 
 but also along the serpentine and sandy course of the 
 rivulet. 
 
 We forded a narrow branch of the latter, after 
 partaking with the mules of its delicious contents, 
 and pursuing the opposite bank for a few yards, 
 crossed the chief stream on an old but solid 
 stone bridge. We now entered upon the zigzag 
 road on the further side, and commenced the 
 
COLIMA TO SAY C/LA. 
 
 77 
 
 ascent. The steep incline severely taxed the powers 
 of our poor animals. The riders all dismounted 
 in order to walk, and with many a halt, to give 
 breathing-time to the mulcts de cargo, we reached 
 the plateau just before sunset. The distance in 
 direct line from edge to edge of the Barranca de 
 Beltran is about a third of a mile; the length of 
 the road down one side, across the valley, and up 
 the other, is hardly more than a mile and a half, but 
 it took us an hour and a half to surmount. 
 
 These barrancas are great difficulties in the line 
 of communication between Colima and Zapotlan, and 
 render transport on wheels impossible. All goods 
 must be carried by mules, of which we met hun¬ 
 dreds and hundreds with heavy loads on their backs, 
 plodding slowly along. Many a poor beast was 
 groaning beneath its burden as it toiled up the steep 
 roads, and not a few were seen to lie, or even fall 
 down exhausted, so perfectly unable were they to 
 continue the journey. 
 
 The sun was just beginning to disappear behind 
 the hills to our right when we commenced the ride 
 over the two miles of tableland that separates the 
 Barranca de Beltran from the wide and shallow 
 
78 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 Barranca de Vueltas, in the valley of which is 
 situated the large Hacienda del Platanar, where we 
 intended to make our halt for the night. The few 
 minutes of twilight quickly elapsed, and we were 
 advancing in utter darkness, when we gained the 
 edge of the barranca, and the path began to descend. 
 Along an uneven stony way, between rocks and hills, 
 and through dense vegetation, we at length saw 
 the glimmer of lights before us. We were at the 
 village of the plantation labourers, and had still a 
 couple of miles before the hacienda building could 
 be reached. 
 
 Marvellously strange was the appearance of this 
 village as we rode through it in the darkness of 
 night. The little plots of ground before the huts, 
 contained groups of men, women, and children, 
 chattering, eating and drinking, romping and sing¬ 
 ing, or engaged in some game that seemed to create 
 the utmost hilarity among them, while the flickering 
 pitch-pine on the earth shed an unearthly light over 
 all. The scenes thus produced by these dark-skinned 
 individuals, with their white clothing and huge hats, 
 viewed in the uncertain light of their primitive illu¬ 
 mination, are almost too weird to allow of adequate 
 
COLIMA TO SAYULA. 
 
 79 
 
 description. They appeared to be thoroughly happy, 
 and so intent on their evening recreation as to take 
 no notice whatever of our cavalcade. 
 
 It was past seven o’clock when we reached the 
 hacienda, and after our forty-nine miles’ ride over 
 the wretched roads, we were not sorry to be able 
 to dismount. 
 
 We found the interior square of the old, stone- 
 built house full of bustle and animation. Two 
 other travelling parties had arrived from Zapotlan 
 only a short time before ourselves, and their men 
 and escort were busy unpacking and unsaddling the 
 mules and horses, and preparing for the night. 
 
 The room into which we three were shown was any¬ 
 thing but comfortable. It was flush with the ground, 
 without a window, nor could the door be made to 
 close. On the stony floor we found the most primeval 
 bedsteads of rough boards, unprovided with anything 
 wherewith to soften the hard wood ; other furniture 
 there was none. We were so tired, however, that 
 after partaking of supper served in the yard, and 
 stumbling over the bodies of mozos and soldiers who 
 were lying asleep in all directions, we wrapped 
 ourselves in our blankets, and regardless of the 
 
80 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 music, both instrumental and vocal, in which some of 
 the men indulged, had soon forgotten bad roads, hard 
 fare and harder beds. 
 
 At four o’clock next morning our chief mozo 
 knocked at the door with the announcement that 
 the coffee was ready, and we were soon sitting 
 down to our early breakfast in the verandah, and 
 watching the animated sight before us in the yard. 
 Horses and mules were being driven in from the 
 adjacent corral amidst the shouts and yells of the 
 attendants, whilst others busied themselves with 
 kindling fires of pitch-pine, by the light of which 
 mules were packed, horses saddled, and arms secured. 
 There was something of martial wildness about the 
 whole scene that reminded me vividly of a painting 
 that I had lately seen, representing a guerrilla-band 
 preparing for a night-attack. 
 
 After the lapse of half an hour all w T as ready for 
 the start, and the escort having formed in two lines 
 outside the hacienda, we rode past them with the 
 mozos and the mulas de cargo. 
 
 The contingent from Colima had duly arrived ; 
 they were twelve men armed with carbines and 
 revolvers of various patterns, some breechloaders. 
 
COLIMA TO SAYULA. 
 
 81 
 
 Besides these, there were eight cavalry soldiers who 
 had convoyed a party from Zapotlan the previous 
 evening, and who now joined us on their way back. 
 These men carried Remington breechloading carbines 
 and Colt’s revolvers. With our six mozos and ourselves, 
 we thus amounted to the number of twenty-nine. 
 
 We rode across the bottom land of the wide 
 barranca in complete darkness, but by the time we 
 had climbed its northern side, daylight commenced 
 to dawn. After a mile or so over the mesa the 
 country began to get hilly, and we soon entered a 
 pine forest, which, but for the smallness of the 
 timber, seemed almost a reflection of some parts of 
 the Sierra Nevada. The growth of pines and firs 
 indicated a considerable elevation, and on reference 
 I found that we were nearly 4000 feet above the 
 level of the sea. 
 
 The track through this wood is fearfully rough, 
 and the nature of the country most favourable to 
 robbers, who can easily avail themselves of the 
 numerous breaks in the ground, clumps of trees, and 
 hillocks, to rush upon the traveller so suddenly that 
 resistance would be an absurdity. This locality is 
 at all times most insecure, and it was against it 
 
 F 
 
82 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 in particular that the German Consul at Colima 
 had warned us. Our escort here separated into three 
 divisions—one formed a vanguard, the second re¬ 
 mained with us and the pack-mules, whilst the third 
 protected our rear. 
 
 This, our mounted escoltct, proved, on a nearer 
 examination, to be the most ruffianly half-castes I 
 had yet seen; and their appearance corresponded 
 so closely with the picture of a band of brigands, 
 as description had painted it in my imagination, 
 that the truth of my information in Colima concern¬ 
 ing them required no further confirmation. These 
 armed mozos serve as escort, if hired for the pur¬ 
 pose, and as long as you pay them are tolerably 
 honest; but should you venture to travel unprotected, 
 these versatile gentlemen will resume the brigand 
 part of their business, attack, and rob you. They 
 are determined to live on the traveller one way or 
 the other, and alike constitute the evil and supply 
 the remedy. There exists in the State of Jalisco, 
 and in many other states, an important class of 
 these people, who, ever ready to favour disturbance, 
 welcome heartily any revolution, when they side 
 with the faction which pays them best. 
 
COLIMA TO SAYULA, 
 
 83 
 
 The state authorities, who have often, to thank 
 this clique for their advent to power, do not throw 
 many obstacles into the way of their predatory 
 proceedings; and even if murder be committed, the 
 perpetrators are rarely brought to justice. The 
 population has become so hardened to news of robbery 
 and murder, and so disused to the thought of punish¬ 
 ment for crime, that they have grown perfectly 
 callous. It is usual for Mexicans in the State of 
 Jalisco, after hearing some sad story of murder on 
 the road, to simply shrug their shoulders, and with 
 the expression, “ Pobrecito, que desgracia!”* at once 
 dismiss the whole story. On expressing your 
 indignation, you will hear them say, “ What good 
 can be done by talking? the authorities won’t 
 bother themselves about it, why should we ? ” 
 
 Soon after the forest had been left behind, we 
 came to the edge of the large Barranca de Atenqui- 
 que, the main features of which closely resemble those 
 of the Barranca de Beltran. Atenquique is deeper 
 than Beltran by at least a hundred feet, but as the 
 former is about double as wide, its depth is less 
 apparent; the rich vegetation, enchanting scenery, 
 
 * “ Poor fellow, what a mishap ! ” 
 
84 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 and dense population of splendid birds, are however 
 the same. 
 
 Arrived on the northern mesa of the barranca, a 
 ride of a few miles brought us within sight of a small 
 Indian village, consisting of about half-a-dozen low 
 huts, and being told that one of them was a “ restaur¬ 
 ant,” we dismounted before a wretched structure, con¬ 
 sisting of a square of adobe walls about eighteen inches 
 high, on which rested fragile walls of matting supported 
 by sticks, and overlapped by a roof of rice-straw. 
 We had to stoop low to enter, and soon found our¬ 
 selves seated round a rough table on rougher stools; 
 but the meal that was brought in almost immediately 
 was surprisingly good, considering the “ coffee-room 
 in which it was served. We had what Americans 
 call “scrambled eggs,” fried pieces of langaneza 
 (a very long, thin sausage of smoked pork, 
 highly seasoned with garlic), frijoles, and tortillas, 
 besides some excellent chocolate, which, I believe, 
 is better in this part of Mexico than anywhere else 
 in the world. Through the open door which afforded 
 a peep into an adjacent hut, a girl was seen 
 kneeling on the ground preparing tortillas, whilst 
 another was busied in taking them out of the primi- 
 
COLIMA TO SAYULA. 
 
 85 
 
 tive oven and bringing them to our table, keep¬ 
 ing us well provided with a constant supply of hot 
 ones, and removing those that had become cold, as 
 is usual at native repasts. 
 
 Continuing our journey for several miles, the road 
 led over another pedregal formed of huge layers 
 of ancient lava. The volcanic composition of this 
 part of the country is very apparent, though it is 
 difficult to understand the cause of its presence, 
 the distance from the Volcan de Colima being too 
 considerable to allow of the supposition that an 
 eruption from that source could have been the 
 origin. 
 
 About three miles before reaching Zapotlan we 
 entered a wide road, entirely out of repair, and 
 harrowed by the last rains into ruts, pools, and 
 microscopic barrancas. The adjacent fields under 
 cultivation were carefully fenced off from the road by 
 rows of the nopal or priekly-pear cactus ( Opuntia 
 vulgaris and 0 . tuna), and we noticed ditches nearer 
 the town. 
 
 The fields are extensively planted with the maguey 
 or metl (Agave Mexicana), a large species of the 
 American aloe or century plant of the United States, 
 
86 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 of which I never lost sight as long as I remained 
 in the tierra templada. 
 
 The different uses of the maguey in Mexico are 
 manifold. About five years after it has been planted, 
 a long shoot that springs from its centre rises to a 
 height of ten to fifteen feet and carries the blossom. 
 This is cut off at about a foot from the ground, and 
 the sap that oozes from it is collected and al¬ 
 lowed slightly to ferment. This liquid is the 
 native Mexican beer, and among Indians and mestizos 
 greatly appreciated. It has the colour and consistency 
 of milk-and-water, and smells and tastes like yeast. 
 Zapotlan is famous for its pulque, as this beverage 
 is called; and before our entrance into the town 
 we passed many a hut and low fonda where pigskins 
 were suspended full of the liquor, and hollowed 
 gourds arranged on shelves as its receptacles. 
 
 Mezcal and tequile, two kinds of spirits, are like¬ 
 wise manufactured from the maguey. They are 
 exceedingly strong, and the latter ( tequile) much 
 renowned for its purity.* Besides this, the fibre 
 
 * There are various kinds of maguey, and besides those mentioned 
 above, three other sorts of spirituous liquors, called respectively sotal, 
 tusca, quesca, and pinus, are distilled from other genera of the 
 plant. 
 
COLIMA TO SAYULA. 
 
 87 
 
 of its thick leaves is utilised for strong rope, 
 excellent matting, and horse-girths. 
 
 At eleven o’clock a.m., after a ride of seventeen 
 miles, we reached Zapotlan, and our long caravan 
 entered the monotonous, straight streets, lined with 
 the customary low and solid houses, amidst an 
 assemblage of the natives, who from their doors 
 curiously surveyed our entry. 
 
 The inhabitants of Zapotlan do not enjoy the best 
 of reputations. They are said to be more or less 
 connected with brigandage; and whenever a revolu¬ 
 tion gives them the opportunity, the male population 
 turn out on the roads in great numbers, to lighten 
 travellers of money, luggage, and clothing. Even in 
 quiet times like the present the vicinity of Zapotlan 
 is considered most dangerous. 
 
 The priests retain a powerful hold on these people, 
 and if their influence were properly employed, much 
 might be done to better them. But I have heard 
 of ecclesiastics themselves as the chieftains of 
 robber-bands ; and even the best of their order are 
 only too ready to ignore the evil, so long as the 
 people attend confession, burn candles before multi¬ 
 tudinous shrines, and last, but not least, pay the 
 
88 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 money demanded for absolution and the like. In 
 this manner even murder is condoned by the clergy. 
 No wonder that the poor Indians and low mestizos 
 remain in the most degraded condition of moral 
 and mental darkness. Eiding through the wretched 
 streets of the outskirts, tenanted by these tribes, I 
 noticed small placards of pink paper fastened to the 
 wall or door of almost every house, and on exami¬ 
 nation found them to contain some printed lines in¬ 
 voking the protection and blessing of some saint or 
 other on the dwelling and inhabitants in question! 
 
 We soon reached the fonda on the large jplaza, a 
 house most uncomfortable in all its arrangements. A 
 room was apportioned to us, blest with little but two 
 antediluvian bedsteads, and destitute alike of light 
 and window. It was closed by massive folding- 
 doors, and fastened by means of a lock a foot 
 square, with a gigantic key weighing several pounds. 
 
 This inviting chamber opened on the filthy and 
 fragrant yard. As it is considered unsafe to entrust 
 the key of a room to a stranger when its occupant is 
 absent, it may be imagined what a struggle there was 
 between us as to the individual on whom the charge 
 of that ponderous instrument was to devolve. 
 
COLIMA TO SAY C/LA. 
 
 89 
 
 The rest of the day was spent in exploring the 
 town, which is one of the oldest in Mexico. The 
 'plaza is much larger and brighter than that of 
 Colima. The same stone or adobe benches are 
 ranged all round, and trees render the walks plea¬ 
 sant to sight and sense. The streets are wider than 
 at Colima, but the pavement is inferior, and the low 
 one-storied houses have an older and meaner air. 
 In fine, there is not so much “style” about 
 Zapotlan as Colima, and the inhabitants appear less 
 favoured by fortune. 
 
 While strolling through the streets we perceived 
 a number of houses in which fighting-cocks were 
 exposed for sale. Small square stalls were disposed 
 round the walls of the rooms, in which the warriors 
 were displayed. Cock-fighting is a favourite sport 
 with the Zapotlanians, and enjoys with them a greater 
 popularity than bull-fighting, as it offers a greater 
 scope for betting. 
 
 Near the plaza are the ruins of what has once 
 been a fine cathedral, destroyed, I believe, about 
 sixty years ago, by an earthquake, and to this 
 hour as uncared for as if the catastrophe had 
 happened yesterday. 
 
go A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 Although this town can boast churches sufficient 
 to accommodate a population ten times as numer¬ 
 ous, a new cathedral has been commenced near 
 the remains of the old one; but the structure has not 
 advanced much above the foundations, although 
 years have elapsed since they were laid. The day 
 we spent in Zapotlan happened to be Sunday, 
 and we were much amused by a fat and ancient 
 priest, who, himself comfortably seated in a light 
 waggon with some friends, directed with the most 
 pious energy the poor of his congregation, who were 
 now pouring out of church, to proceed to a quarry 
 some three miles off, there to collect stones and 
 carry them to the site of the cathedral, in order 
 to assist in the work of building. A great number, 
 principally of the fairer sex, followed his bidding, and 
 were seen late in the evening returning with heavy 
 loads of stone and sand on their heads, whilst their 
 bloated “ medicine-man ” was calmly driving his 
 mules. 
 
 Zapotlan (which on maps and official documents 
 is often called Ciudad Guzman) contains a popula¬ 
 tion of about 20,000, and is situate in a most 
 fertile country, at an elevation of 4300 feet above 
 
COLIMA TO SAYULA. 
 
 91 
 
 the level of the sea, in north latitude 19° 41'. Its 
 climate has the reputation of being all but perfect. 
 Possessed of all the advantages of the tropics, whilst 
 exempt from excessive heat, and in the permanent 
 enjoyment of a moderately warm summer, Zapotlan 
 is one of the most delightful localities in the tierra 
 templada, or temperate zone of the Mexican 
 plateau. Of course the mid - day sun aims his 
 rays with tolerable vigour, but the mornings and 
 evenings are charming, and the atmosphere deli¬ 
 ciously clear, pure, and light. I am assured that 
 the town is most healthy, and that epidemics are 
 wholly unknown. 
 
 Zapotlan is noted for its soap-factories, and pro¬ 
 vides all the neighbouring states with this commodity. 
 Besides this, it produces a large supply of pulque, 
 a fair quantity of mezcal, while the haciendas in the 
 vicinity manufacture sugar, molasses, and a kind of 
 rum called aquardiente de cana. The country 
 around the town will bear almost every¬ 
 thing except plants which require tropical heat, 
 but is only partially tilled. The same causes 
 as elsewhere in Mexico — insecurity of life and 
 property, as well as lack of means for transport and 
 
92 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 communication—have hitherto prevented the de¬ 
 velopment of its natural advantages. The hills 
 and mountains surrounding the town are reported 
 to be rich in minerals of various kinds. During my 
 Stay I was shown specimens of stone brought from 
 the immediate vicinity, apparently containing a large 
 percentage of cinnabar, and of this ore I was told 
 that enormous quantities exist. At present consider¬ 
 able cargoes of quicksilver, extensively used in the 
 “ beneficiating haciendas ” of the silver-mining dis¬ 
 tricts, are imported at large cost from abroad, 
 whereas if sufficient enterprise were forthcoming, 
 there is little doubt that a large supply could be 
 obtained here at a much smaller outlay. 
 
 At seven o’clock next morning we departed from 
 Zapotlan on our way to Sayula, eighteen miles to the 
 northward. The road being considered safer than 
 that traversed the previous day, we reduced our escort 
 to six men, which were engaged for us by a mer¬ 
 chant of Zapotlan. With our six mozos we accord¬ 
 ingly numbered fifteen in all. Immediately after 
 leaving the town the road leads through a broad 
 valley and along the marshy shore of a small lake. 
 This spot simply swarmed with birds. The 
 
COLIMA TO SAYULA. 
 
 93 
 
 water was hidden by duck and teal, whilst 
 large cranes, herons, and other waders were strut¬ 
 ting and lounging on the banks. In the trees and 
 bushes small cardinales entirely red, tiny glitter¬ 
 ing humming-birds, and many others were flying 
 from branch to branch, whilst the mute-like 
 zopilotes, quietly perched in a commanding posi¬ 
 tion, were calmly expecting some morsel which 
 might gratify their not oyer-fastidious palates. 
 
 About three miles out of Zapotlan the road 
 passes over a pedregal of the worst description, 
 where attacks from brigands are said to be very 
 frequent 2 especially on the diligences which pass 
 here regularly. The nature of the ground ne¬ 
 cessitates a funereal jog, and effectually debars 
 escape. 
 
 About a fortnight before we passed, the coach 
 which left Zapotlan at two o’clock A.M., and had 
 consequently arrived at this spot in utter darkness, 
 was assailed by a band of ten men. In accordance 
 with their tactics, one of them jumped from 
 his ambush before the door of the diligence to 
 open it, and with cocked revolver force the 
 travellers to descend. But the passengers, three 
 
94 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 only in number, appeared this time to be well 
 prepared, and unlike the generality of Mexican 
 travellers, who prefer robbery to resistance, they 
 shot the brigand dead the instant he approached 
 the door. The others seeing their comrade 
 
 fall, and the passengers ready for defence, im¬ 
 
 mediately took to their heels. The dead brigand 
 was tied to the top of a pole, and left there as 
 a scarecrow for others. At Zapotlan we were 
 promised the treat of this interesting spectacle, 
 but on reaching the spot one of our men in¬ 
 
 formed us that the gentleman had been released 
 the previous evening and buried by his friends. 
 We were thus happily spared this disgusting 
 
 sight, and only beheld the blood-stained pole and 
 the new grave by its side. 
 
 Along all Mexican roads rude graves of this 
 kind are numerous. The majority have a primi¬ 
 tive cross erected over them, and often bear a 
 rustic inscription, recording the familiar tale of 
 attack by bandits and interment on the spot 
 where the victim fell. The few heaps which lack 
 a cross cover the remains of those brigands who 
 
COLIMA TO SA YULA. 
 
 95 
 
 themselves perished in their attempt upon the life 
 and property of others. 
 
 The flourishing trade of brigandage in Mexico 
 is for the greater part sustained without combat 
 or bloodshed, and it is only in exceptional cases 
 that travellers use force in trying to prevent their 
 despoliation. It seems to be perfectly understood 
 that your life is safe if you quietly submit to 
 be plundered of all that you carry. If you 
 quit the coach willingly when your masked assail¬ 
 ant asks you, and comply with the request of 
 “ car a en tierr a," which means to lie down 
 with your face towards the ground, there is no 
 further inconvenience attached to the operation 
 than the loss of money, portmanteau, and clothes; 
 and if it does not happen to be particularly cold, 
 the journey to the next town in a semi-naked 
 state, with a newspaper in lieu of your usual gar¬ 
 ments, may not prove too thrilling an adventure. 
 
 Those Mexicans who prefer travelling by dili¬ 
 gence to riding on horseback, generally restrict 
 their luggage to a very small handbag, take no 
 valuables, and often no arms. They yield uncon¬ 
 ditionally when attacked, and besides their clothes 
 
96 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 are only mulcted of the few dollars which they 
 take care to carry in their pockets so as to escape 
 the heating invariably bestowed by the brigands on 
 the traveller impertinent enough to be without coin. 
 At times, when objects of value are at stake, con¬ 
 flict is preferred to concession; and I am assured 
 that the majority of cases terminate in the retreat 
 of the brigands, who, as a rule, are cowards, and 
 ever mindful of the old Spanish proverb, “La 
 pintura y la pelea desde lejos las ojea * 
 
 It is evident that they do not sally forth with 
 the intention of fighting, which, in the result, would 
 only imperil their own precious persons, a contin¬ 
 gency to which these gentlemen seem to entertain 
 the strongest objections, and might possibly in¬ 
 volve them in difficulties with the authorities; their 
 object is to rob, and they do all they can to attain 
 that object, if only the use of arms on the part 
 of their prey be rendered impossible. 
 
 Brigandage has greatly decreased in Mexico within 
 the last year. The absence of civil disturbances 
 has enabled the state governments, despite the 
 
 * A picture and a battle are best seen at a distance. 
 
COLIMA TO SAYULA. 
 
 97 
 
 inefficiency of many, to supply the roads with 
 escorts and police to a moderate extent; and 
 although the latter very frequently make common 
 cause with the robbers, yet on the whole the mea¬ 
 sures taken appear to have caused some amendment. 
 AYherever I went, however, tales were plentiful about 
 the events of only a month, a week, or a few 
 days ago, and on arriving after the day’s journey, 
 the first question put to us invariably was, “ Did 
 you meet with any novedad ? ”—novedad (novelty 
 or news) being in this case the periphrastic and 
 vulgar term for brigandage. 
 
 After leaving the small lake, the road begins 
 to ascend, and for some miles leads over succes¬ 
 sive hills, continually increasing in height until 
 the summit of the pass over this spur of the 
 Sierra Madre range is attained. The country here 
 is wild and uninviting, the narrow road winding 
 its way through undergrowth composed of cacti 
 and a variety of shrubs, overtopped at times by 
 a deformed and sickly tree. The path seems 
 until quite recently to have been much nar¬ 
 rower, for the shrubs and cacti felled to effect the 
 clearing are still cumbering the ground. This im- 
 
 G 
 
98 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 provement was carried out mainly to render the 
 road less liable to surprises. Arrived at the highest 
 point of the pass, at an elevation of about 5500 
 feet above the level of the sea, a magnificent view 
 was revealed to us. Before us, and stretching from 
 the foot of the mountain on which we stood, lay 
 an extensive plain, bordered miles away to the 
 northward by another range of emerald hills, and 
 dotted with villages and haciendas. On the margin 
 of a lake we descried the town of Sayula with 
 numerous steeples and towers, covering a large ex¬ 
 panse of ground. The land appeared carefully tilled, 
 and an air of thriftiness and wealth seemed to belong 
 to this locality such as I had not before observed 
 in Mexico. The fields were waving with corn of 
 various kinds (and this in the month of December), 
 whilst acre upon acre was sprinkled with rows of 
 graceful magueys, interspersed at short intervals by 
 trees of numerous descriptions. 
 
 The remarkable clearness of the atmosphere, as 
 well as our commanding position, caused us to 
 believe that the end of the day’s journey was very 
 near, but to descend the heights and to traverse 
 the plain proved a ride of many miles ; and when 
 
COLIMA TO SA YULA. 99 
 
 we reached the end of the wide road lined with 
 nopales, and separated by a broad ditch from the 
 adjacent fields, which leads into Sayula, one of the 
 ancient church bells was just proclaiming the hour 
 of noon. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 SAYULA TO GUADALAJARA. 
 
 A family likeness—Sayula —Its climate—An extensive vista—An 
 attempt at swindling—First experience of a diligencia —Departure 
 from Sayula—Closely packed—Cavalry escort—Lago de Sayula— 
 La Cofradia—Carbonate of soda or tequesquite —A cotton-tree— 
 Cebollas—Mexican diligencias — Cocheros and their assistants— 
 Laguna de Zacoalco—A horrible road—Mismanagement of public 
 works — Pozos—An extensive plateau — Santa Ana Acatlan — 
 Santa Cruz, and Christmas processions—The valley of Guadalajara 
 —Mexican waggons and carts—Travelling Indios —A small but 
 dangerous barranca —An agreeable change—Arrival at Guadalajara 
 —Comfortable quarters. 
 
 There is such a sameness about small Mexican 
 towns, that the stranger at first sight can hardly 
 discern any difference between them. Sayula in 
 its general features is so much like Zapotlan, that 
 I almost thought we had been led in a circle, and 
 returned to our starting-point. There were the 
 same streets, the same badly-paved roadways, and 
 the same low adobe, whitewashed houses. The 
 similarity extended to the inn accommodation ; our 
 room, although larger than the one we occupied 
 at Zapotlan, was furnished in the same primitive 
 
SAYULA TO GUADALAJARA. 
 
 101 
 
 manner, and the meals were composed of the same 
 dishes. 
 
 Sayula is as old a town as Zapotlan, and Spaniards 
 settled there immediately after the Conquest. It 
 has a population of about 10,000, mostly engaged in 
 agriculture, preparing pulque, and the manufacture 
 of salt. 
 
 Its climate is very salubrious, being situated in 
 about the same elevation as Zapotlan (4400 feet 
 above sea-level). It is not visited by any epide¬ 
 mics, and without the annoyance of excessive heat 
 basks in a perpetual summer. 
 
 A merchant of Sayula, to whom we brought letters, 
 conducted us after dinner to the top of a hill outside 
 the town, from which we enjoyed a splendid view 
 of the neighbourhood. 
 
 From our position, the town and surrounding 
 country was spread out before us as on a map. There 
 were the straight streets, the flat-roofed houses with 
 thickets of green in the patios, the never-missing paseo 
 lined with shady trees, the cosy alcimeda, and the 
 eternal plaza with a church as one of its sides. 
 In front, at the foot of the eminence on which we 
 were, an ancient cathedral was shown, said to have 
 
102 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 been erected by Cortez himself {all ancient churches 
 in this country enjoy this reputation), and its pecu¬ 
 liar old-Spanish architecture, its pillars, fretwork, 
 and images, together with the mysterious arcades 
 which communicate with the stately palace of the 
 bishop, were certainly most quaint and remarkable. 
 To our left stretched the waters of the Lago de 
 Sayula, with numerous houses nestling near its 
 shores, and hundreds of birds skimming its mir¬ 
 ror-like surface. To our right were the verdant 
 fields of the fertile plain, bordered at no great 
 distance by the wooded mountains with which our 
 morning’s ride had acquainted us. 
 
 The scene breathed so much of peace and calm 
 that the mere mention of war and revolution seemed 
 a profanity in connection with it; and we gazed at 
 it from a rocky seat till the sun had disappeared 
 behind the domes and tower of the town, when we 
 returned in darkness. 
 
 As we had arranged to complete our journey to 
 Guadalajara in the diligence, we here paid our men 
 and discharged the animals. After the principal of 
 the escort had received the money for all his subor¬ 
 dinates, some altercation ensued between them, and 
 
STREET IN SAYULA. 
 
SAYULA TO GUADALAJARA. 
 
 103 
 
 two of tlie men repeatedly appealed to us, asseverat¬ 
 ing that they had been cheated out of their portion, 
 whilst their villainous chief insisted that we had paid 
 him too little. Seeing, however, that we remained 
 impervious to all their demands, they mounted their 
 horses and galloped away about an hour after our 
 arrival, as they proposed a return to Zapotlan the same 
 day. Late in the evening, a telegraphic message* ar¬ 
 rived from our friends in Zapotlan, inquiring whether 
 the escort’s story of our refusal to pay them was true, 
 as they had that instant arrived declaring they had 
 not received a cent. They had evidently forgotten 
 the power of the—here rarely used—electric wire, 
 which speedily frustrated their designs. 
 
 We were unpleasantly surprised to find that the 
 coach, instead of starting at six a.m. as we had been 
 led to believe, was to arrive at half-past three A.M. 
 from Zapotlan, and leave immediately afterwards. 
 According to regulation our luggage had to be 
 taken to the diligence office the previous evening, 
 where we were charged outrageous sums for the 
 
 * A single telegraphic wire, supported by rough poles, has for 
 some years connected the principal towns of the Republic. When not 
 interrupted by joronunciados it works fairly well, but is chiefly used for 
 Government purposes. 
 
104 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 extra weight, only an arroba (twenty-five pounds) 
 being allowed free. 
 
 At half-past three next morning, we were waiting 
 in the draughty yard of the despachio de las 
 diligencias for the coach, which soon made its 
 appearance. There is something unearthly in the 
 thought of experiencing a Mexican stage-coach for 
 the first time in the utter darkness of night, 
 and being obliged to step into the close and repul¬ 
 sive conveyance, without a chance of reconnoiter- 
 ing the interior or the compagnons de route. 
 
 We delayed entering, whilst the mules were un¬ 
 harnessed, and the eight fresh ones got ready; 
 but after this and the packing had been completed, 
 by the blaze of the pitch-pine burning on the 
 ground, the decided vamos of the cochero urged 
 us to push our way into the vehicle and find our 
 places as best we could. 
 
 i 
 
 We were hardly seated when the driver cracked his 
 whip, as if he were firing pistols, and with shouts 
 of Vamanos mulas ahah ha-a-a-h! we rumbled 
 at a sharp pace over the awful pavement of the 
 good old town of Sayula. The moon was in- 
 visible, and a large torch, held over the side by the 
 
PART OF ESCORT IN THE ..PATIO.. OF THE FONDA AT SAYULA. 
 
SAYULA TO GUADALAJARA. 
 
 105 
 
 drivers assistant, was the only light by which the 
 cochero conld steer, but both he and the mules 
 were evidently initiated into the secrets of the 
 road. 
 
 When my eyes had become accustomed to the 
 darkness, I found the diligence closely packed, for 
 besides ourselves there were six other passengers, 
 and thus all nine seats were occupied. This, on the 
 whole, is rather an advantage in this country ; like 
 an addition of sawdust or straw in a packing-case, 
 it prevents the contents of the coach from the 
 painful friction with another, which would occur, 
 through the horrible incongruities of the roads, 
 were there ampler room for movement. 
 
 After a couple of miles, we left the wide 
 cactus-lined road leading out of Sayula behind us, 
 and entered a narrower way bordered on both 
 sides by trees and bushes. Here we were joined 
 by three fearfully shabby cavalry soldiers, whose 
 duty it was to escort us. They may be very useful 
 to frighten intending robbers by their presence, as 
 indeed a scarecrow generally is in the case of 
 intruding birds ; but in event of attack, I presume, 
 they would have modelled their conduct on that 
 
106 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 of the same scarecrows, when the seeds are filched 
 in spite of them. 
 
 Like their comrades at Colima, and those that 
 had formed part of our escort from Platanar to 
 Zapotlan, they were the most disorderly sol¬ 
 diers possible. Their filthy canvas uniforms were 
 in this instance hidden by a sarape wrapped 
 round their shoulders and half their faces; their 
 mcichetas were fastened to the saddles, and passed 
 under the leg of the rider and the girths, whilst 
 their carabines were secured lengthways along the 
 body of the horse. 
 
 They kept up with the coach for some time, and 
 were then suddenly lost to view. 
 
 We soon reached the margin of the Lago de 
 Sayula, the shores of which we followed for a con¬ 
 siderable distance. 
 
 After a rough drive of fourteen miles, we reached 
 the first halting-place for change of mules, a miser¬ 
 able village called La Cofradia, where we arrived at 
 about six o’clock, when the first rays of the rising 
 sun peered over the mountains. The wretched houses 
 built of undisguised adobe, and a few thatched 
 huts, were all discernible, and the tout ensemble was 
 
SAYULA TO GUADALAJARA. 
 
 107 
 
 so repulsive that we did not feel inclined to leave 
 the coach. 
 
 Starting again, we continued along the banks of 
 the lake, over ground thickly crusted with a white 
 alkaline salt (carbonate of soda) which is deposited 
 by the lake when subsiding after the rainy season. 
 This substance, which Mexicans call tequesquite, is a 
 source of wealth to the population of this district, 
 although its presence deprives the country of agri¬ 
 cultural fertility. From the Lago de Sayula north¬ 
 ward, the land is much inferior for producing 
 purposes to that between the coast and Zapotlan, 
 with the exception of that part of the plain of Sayula 
 which lies between the hills to the south and the lake. 
 The tequesquite is transported to all parts of the 
 Republic, and especially to Zapotlan, for the manu¬ 
 facture of soap. 
 
 On the waters of the lago we observed the same 
 variety of “ rarce aves ” noticeable before in similar 
 localities. 
 
 At this time we were travelling on a wide 
 road, bordered on the right by the lake, and on the 
 left fenced off from the ranchos by the usual stone 
 walls. The fields on the undulating ground compos- 
 
108 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 ing these ranchos were partially cultivated, whilst 
 on the portions left fallow two or three kinds of 
 trees, as well as an assortment of cacti, were worthy 
 of remark. Amongst the trees, one carrying pods 
 filled with a substance closely resembling cotton, 
 
 was most conspicuous. Mr L-, who is a cotton 
 
 manufacturer at Guadalajara, has repeatedly tried 
 to use this tree-cotton as a substitute for the or¬ 
 dinary material, but all his experiments have been 
 futile owing to the shortness of staple in the tree 
 produce, and its want of strength. 
 
 Towards nine o’clock the second stage was reached 
 at a wretched village called Cebollas, where, how¬ 
 ever, we were pleased to find breakfast in readiness 
 for us. The fonda looked miserable enough; its 
 cracked tumble-down walls, and general squalor, 
 did not certainly excite an undue expectation 
 within us, but we found the table neatly laid, and 
 the meal plentiful, well cooked, and remarkably 
 cheap. After three-quarters of an hour’s stoppage, 
 eight fresh mules were harnessed to the coach, and 
 the usual “vamos senores" of the cochero was the 
 signal of departure. 
 
 The diligencias in use in Mexico are the Concord 
 
SAYULA TO GUADALAJARA. 
 
 109 
 
 coaches of the United States, and considering the 
 labour they have to perform, are undoubtedly 
 the best that can be found for the purpose. They 
 are run by a company styling themselves “ Im- 
 ])? esa de diligencias generates,” and are employed 
 in carrying the mails. The coaches are in 
 two different sizes, the smaller to hold nine, the 
 larger twelve passengers inside. The seats are 
 arranged in three rows, at right angles with the 
 pole, the middle bench being provided with a 
 movable back, and running from door to door. 
 The carriage rests on stout leather bands, which 
 are themselves suspended from strong old-fashioned 
 springs, and thus the jerking and jolting occasioned 
 by the execrable roads is to a great degree alle¬ 
 viated. If it were not for this contrivance, to travel 
 by diligence in Mexico would be next to impossible ; 
 even with these Concord coaches it is one of the 
 most awful ordeals to which any one can be sub¬ 
 jected, and people are tossed in the stage-coach like 
 dice in a cup. The diligences are drawn by eight 
 mules, or small horses; two are harnessed to the 
 wheel, then four abreast, and finally two in the 
 lead, and are driven by the cocheros in the most 
 
110 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 skilful manner. The driver works a powerful break 
 with his right leg, by placing his foot into a hook 
 at the end of a lever, by his side. An assistant 
 performs much of the shouting, as well as the whip¬ 
 ping and stoning of the animals. The latter opera¬ 
 tion is resorted to when the whip proves ineffectual, 
 stones of the size of an egg, are thrown at the 
 lazy animal, and with such precision that they 
 never miss their aim, and always produce the 
 desired effect. This muchacho of the driver is a 
 hard-worked individual; besides the duties above 
 mentioned, he must attend to the luggage, and 
 when occasion requires urge on the animals 
 by running beside them, or by his own 
 weight balance the coach, when, owing to the 
 uneven ground, there is danger of tilting over 
 on one side or the other. The poor man is always 
 on the move by the side of the diligence, now 
 jumping upon the right step, now r changing to 
 the left, then rushing forward to whip or stone 
 a mule, then tightening a strap or a chain, 
 and finally mounting the box perfectly breathless, 
 only to undergo the same torture a few minutes 
 later. Both the cochero and his muchacho gener- 
 
SAYULA TO GUADALAJARA. ill 
 
 ally wear chapareras made of goatskin with the 
 long hair on the outside, which gives them a 
 savage aspect. 
 
 After leaving Cebollas, we soon came to the margin 
 of the Laguna de Zacoalco, which for a considerable 
 time formed our view on the left; whilst on our 
 right, some distance off, and to which, on account 
 of the higher ground, the waters of the lake do 
 not extend, the land was fenced in and partially 
 cultivated. 
 
 We drove over another tract of alkaline deposit, 
 and as we proceeded the roads grew worse and worse. 
 We had frequently to abandon the coach, when¬ 
 ever it was jammed in the mire, and find our 
 way on foot as well as we could over deep pools 
 of reeking mud; and when the impetuous gallop of 
 the mules happened to pull us through these quag¬ 
 mires, we received our full share of the ooze as 
 it splashed over the coach. Mexican roads baffle 
 all description : it is utterly impossible to convey 
 a correct idea of them, and only he who has suffered 
 can know what they really are. 
 
 A journey under these circumstances is naturally 
 very slow : including stoppages for changing mules 
 
112 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 and taking meals, we proceeded at the rate of about 
 five miles an hour. 
 
 The importance of a good road from the Pacific to 
 Guadalajara, by way of Colima, is as patent to the 
 Mexican as it is to the visitor. But the sluggish 
 indifference of the people, the bungling which 
 distinguishes native operations, and the corruption 
 that pervades the monetary administration, have 
 hitherto effectually thwarted the desired end. More 
 than five years since, a road was projected from 
 Colima northwards, but owing to the combined causes 
 of war, mismanagement, and continual want of 
 funds, the work is still in its infancy. On the way 
 from Colima to Tonila I observed some signs of 
 the intended improvement, and at one point even 
 labourers actually engaged; though another portion, 
 completed as it was, and waiting for a juncture 
 with the former, was rapidly falling into decay 
 from constant neglect and the summer rains. At a 
 barranca near Tonila the supports for a bridge 
 intended to span the stream at a small height from 
 the bottom, and solidly constructed of stone, are 
 all but perfected, and a number of men were busily 
 employed when I passed. The supports will perhaps 
 
SAYULA TO GUADALAJARA. 
 
 113 
 
 be finished shortly,- but according to every precedent 
 in this country, it will probably take years and 
 years until the bridge (apparently an iron one) is 
 transported to the spot, and the structure finally 
 completed. What the object can be of building the 
 road piecemeal, instead of continuously, and allow¬ 
 ing the rains of years to destroy one part before 
 the others are placed in connection with it, is I 
 presume a matter only comprehensible to Mexican 
 minds. 
 
 At Pozos, a village composed like the others of low 
 adobe houses neither plastered nor whitewashed, 
 and inhabited almost exclusively by Indians, we 
 again changed mules, and striking away to the north¬ 
 ward, left the lakes behind. Our road had hitherto 
 conducted us through broad valleys surrounded by 
 mountains about fifteen miles apart, and now after 
 slightly ascending for some miles we found ourselves 
 on a more extensive plateau. Cultivation became 
 somewhat more general, and we now and then 
 passed extensive hacienda buildings. Some portions 
 of the road were fenced off from the estates by wide 
 ditches, with an adobe or mud-wall on the further 
 side, and an additional hedge of nopales, a double 
 
 H 
 
114 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 and most powerful protection, prompted probably 
 by fear of brigands. 
 
 At about three o’clock we reached the town of 
 Santa Ana Acatlan, famed for its population of rob¬ 
 bers, and notorious for miserable low houses, and 
 excruciatingly paved streets.* A church with lofty 
 towers, added to many less stately companions, is 
 sufficiently large to accommodate the inhabitants of 
 half-a-dozen Santa Anas; and it is evident that 
 each of these edifices must have cost at least twice 
 as much as the remainder of the town put together. 
 
 * A few weeks after I had passed this locality in safety, a terrible 
 disaster happened there to a German family of Guadalajara, whose hos¬ 
 pitality I had the privilege of enjoying when at the latter place. Mr 
 
 B-- was returning home from Colima, accompanied by his wife, 
 
 child, and a, recently-arrived German physician. When within three 
 miles of Santa Ana Acatlan the coach was stopped by eight or ten men. 
 
 The passengers descended, and Mr B-and his friend opened fire 
 
 on the brigands, who, however, at the first shot were reinforced by from 
 twenty to thirty ladrones, who had been hiding in the vicinity. In the 
 ridiculously unequal fight that now ensued the doctor was immediately 
 
 killed, whilst Mr B-, unsupported by any of the other passengers, 
 
 fought gallantly until a robber, riding up behind, split his skull with a 
 maclieta. Not content with this, the fiends subjected the surviving pas¬ 
 sengers to the most brutal treatment, before they allowed the ransacked 
 diligence to proceed. The soldiers stat^ned on the road had been seen 
 shortly before the appearance of the band, but they did not arrive at the 
 spot until the fight was nearly over, and even then decamped immedi¬ 
 ately they were fired at. It was not until several weeks afterwards that 
 some of the band were said to have been caught and brought to justice, 
 but the truth of this remains very doubtful. 
 
SAYULA TO GUADALAJARA. 
 
 115 
 
 Leaving Santa Ana Acatlan, the fearful road 
 leads up a hill, from the top of which an extensive 
 view is obtained of the surrounding country. In 
 spite of the infamous reputation of the people, 
 there were traces of a less scanty agriculture 
 than in the country we had just left behind; and 
 beyond the stone walls and fences we descried 
 rippling fields of sugar-cane and various cereals. 
 
 As we neared the village of Santa Cruz, we met 
 several processions of Indians dressed in all the 
 finery of holiday accoutrement, and bearing aloft a 
 cradle of straw, surrounded with coloured paper and 
 tinsel, and containing a waxen image of the Infant 
 Christ, embedded in paper shavings and gold leaf. 
 
 The crowds were headed by children with burning 
 tapers, and the rear was composed of a motley 
 throng that let off crackers, and shot up rockets in 
 the broad daylight. This being the 23 rd of Decem¬ 
 ber, these were the preparations of the hacienda 
 labourers for the celebration of Christmas at one of 
 the churches in Santa* Crux. 
 
 Ever since Santa Ana Acatlan we had been 
 gradually ascending a low ridge of mountains, 
 and now as we passed San Augustin, the 
 
116 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 last stage before Guadalajara, the road led 
 down from the hills, into a large plain with 
 many villages, hamlets, and haciendas, and a seem¬ 
 ingly numerous population. The nearer we ap¬ 
 proached the capital of Jalisco, the more we observed 
 its influence on the surrounding country, and the 
 traffic on the road swelled palpably the further we 
 proceeded. 
 
 On account of barrancas and other difficulties, 
 almost the only means of transport employed between 
 the coast and Zapotlan are mules; we rarely 
 met a cart or a waggon. From the latter place, 
 however, towards Guadalajara and other inland 
 towns, the porterage of goods is divided between 
 mulas de cargo and rude heavy waggons and carts. 
 In order to afford mutual protection, they always 
 travel together, and we were now meeting great 
 numbers, which often blocked the way and kept 
 the diligence waiting until they had moved aside. 
 These waggons and carts are in the shape of an 
 oblong box, clumsily constructed of a framework 
 of logs of wood, and mounted on large wheels, 
 connected by weighty bars of rough timber for axles. 
 The wheels are peculiar; they rarely form a true 
 
SAYULA TO GUADALAJARA. 
 
 117 
 
 circle, the felloes being formed of several pieces 
 of wood rounded to an arc on one side, and fas¬ 
 tened to a solid square block on the other, which 
 latter forms the inside of the wheel, as there are 
 no spokes. 
 
 The waggons, which sometimes convey tremendous 
 loads piled up to a great height, are mostly drawn 
 by mules, from four to sixteen or more to the team. 
 
 The carts, whose two wheels are of enormous size, 
 are, as a rule, drawn by oxen—two, four, or more, 
 yoked by the head, somewhat in the South German 
 and Italian fashion. The teamsters guide them 
 cleverly, but employ the cruel method of pricking 
 the poor brutes with a sharp spike mounted at the 
 end of a long, slender pole. 
 
 Besides trains of pack-mules, and caravans of 
 waggons, we frequently met families of Indians and 
 low mestizos tramping on foot, or with one mule 
 among half a dozen of them, carrying in huge 
 frames of wickerwork a quantity of brown earthen¬ 
 ware vessels, baskets, or maguey matting. The 
 loads borne by these people along the dusty roads 
 under a hot sun were quite enormous, and we could 
 not help compassionating them, whilst admiring 
 
118 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 such apparent industry and endurance. An occa¬ 
 sional party of well-armed horsemen would next 
 pass us, or a family-carriage jogging along slowly, 
 though far from surely, surrounded by servants 
 and escort. 
 
 About fifteen miles before we reached the city, the 
 road winds through the all but dry bed of a 
 
 stream, forming a small barranca, the result of con¬ 
 tinued action of the water on the sandy soil. During 
 the few rainy months the coach has to make 
 a long detour, the stream being too high to allow of 
 a passage. This small barranca, with numerous 
 caves and crevices in its steep walls, is a 
 
 favourite resort of brigands, and a few soldiers are 
 always stationed there. These six or eight men and 
 the three cavalry soldiers that accompanied us out 
 of , Sayula, were the only indications I observed of 
 the much-vaunted escorts that the authorities are 
 said to have now distributed all over the roads. It 
 was certainly only owing to our good luck, and 
 not to the care taken by the Government, that we 
 escaped unmolested. 
 
 Our Mexican fellow-passengers became more and 
 more anxious as we approached Guadalajara, for it 
 
SAYULA TO GUADALAJARA. 
 
 119 
 
 is in the immediate vicinity of large towns that 
 attacks occur most frequently, and of all the queer 
 places in the Republic, the capital of Jalisco is the 
 worst. 
 
 The wide road that for the last ten miles leads 
 towards the city, was torn up into numberless 
 miniature barrancas by the rains; and it required 
 all the dexterity of the driver to steer the coach 
 safely over the winding path. 
 
 A league outside the town, we were met by two 
 
 horsemen, relatives of Mr L-, who had come to 
 
 welcome him back to Guadalajara; and a little 
 further on, several carriages were drawn up con¬ 
 taining more of his friends. I accepted the invita¬ 
 tion to complete the journey with them, and was 
 heartily glad to be able to quit the stuffy coach. 
 An abundance of Winchester rifles and revolvers 
 were secured in every corner of the carriages, and 
 on my expressing some surprise, I was assured that 
 robbery and murder in the city and its neighbour¬ 
 hood were at present as rife as ever. The steeples 
 and towers of the town gradually dawned upon our 
 view, and the graceful twin-spires of the cathedral 
 stood out proudly above the rest. The number 
 
120 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 of domes and lofty buildings created an impression 
 far beyond my preconceived ideas. 
 
 The fast horses of my friends soon trotted over 
 the remaining couple of miles, and having passed 
 a few tumble-down fondas and rancho buildings 
 by the wayside, we entered the execrably 
 paved, straight streets of the capital of Jalisco. 
 Low, wretched houses form the outlying quar¬ 
 ters of the town, and the people appeared miser¬ 
 able and poor; but when we drove into the better 
 districts, the two-storied mansions, and fine 
 churches, soon convinced me that I had as 
 yet seen nothing in Mexico to compare with the 
 city of Guadalajara. 
 
 At seven p.m. we halted before Mr L-’s house, 
 
 where the greatest kindness and warmest hospitality 
 awaited me; and the society of his relatives, and 
 their agreeable conversation, soon made me forget 
 the discomforts of my first day of diligence- 
 travel in Mexico. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 GUADALAJARA. 
 
 The state of Jalisco—Situation of its capital—Its climate—Streets and 
 houses—Architecture—Wretched outlying quarters—The plaza— 
 The cathedral—The palacio —The pdrtales—Unices —Native toys— 
 Clay . images— Cajones —Composition of the population—Cotton 
 factories and paper-mill—The Salto factory—Brigands and plagia¬ 
 ries A pic-nic interrupted—Brave men—Insecurity of the city— 
 Juan Panadero A happy editor—Yoz de Jalisco, the priest’s paper 
 —A violent pamphlet—Hospital de San Miguel de Belen—A mor¬ 
 bid taste—The department for the lunatics—The schools —The 
 Cimenterio de Belen— Gavetas —The burial-place of the poor— 
 The Hospicio de Guadalajara—A town of charities—The cuna — 
 Customs encouraging immorality—The schools—Superior em¬ 
 broidery—Trades for youths—The church and a doll-show— 
 Girl s school of San Diego—The teatro, a Roman ruin—Fine interior 
 A Mexican Italian-opera troupe—Bull fights, and the bull-arena— 
 An enthusiastic audience—The paseo— The alameda— A Guadala- 
 jaran Rotten Row—Walks in the portales —Evening vueltas on 
 the plaza A practical arrangement — Female seclusion — Sere¬ 
 nades without music—A simple pulley—Middle-age habits 
 retained—Strange contrasts. 
 
 The State of Jalisco,' which, comprises the greater part 
 of the territory which, under the Spanish regime, 
 was called the kingdom of La Nueva Galicia, is one 
 of the largest and most renowned in the Republic. 
 It covers an area of 50,120 square miles, and its 
 
122 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 population is estimated to number about 900,000. 
 Guadalajara,* its capital, is next to tbe city of Mexico 
 and Puebla tlie most important town in tbe country, 
 although in point of population it is surpassed by Leon, 
 a city which will claim a subsequent comment. It 
 possesses about 75,000 inhabitants, and is situated in 
 20° 41' 10" north latitude, and 103° 21' 15" longi¬ 
 tude west of Greenwich, at an elevation of 5200 
 feet above the level of the sea. This altitude in the 
 tropics has the advantage of a climate very little 
 short of perfection. Guadalajara forms no exception 
 to the rule. Its inhabitants are in the enjoyment of 
 perpetual summer, a light clear atmosphere, and a 
 sky as bright and blue as sapphire itself. 
 
 Despite a total absence of any system of drain¬ 
 age, or other sanitary measures, and the habitual 
 filthiness of the people, it is free from epidemics 
 of all kinds, and sickness, as a rule, is easily and 
 quickly cured, f 
 
 * The word is taken from the Spanish town of the same name, the 
 birthplace of Nuno de Guzman, the conqueror of the old kingdom of 
 Tonala, the present Jalisco. 
 
 + An exception to this rule occurred in 1833, when a terrible visita¬ 
 tion of Asiatic cholera carried off 3200 people in the months 
 of August and September, the population then numbering about 
 40,000. 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 123 
 
 The straight streets of the town are from thirty 
 to fifty feet in width, indifferently paved, and at 
 night very sparsely illuminated by oil-lamps. 
 
 In the central quarters the houses are solidly built 
 either of stone, brick or adobe, the latter preponderat¬ 
 ing, are all plastered and white-washed, and display, 
 some of them, tasteful frescoes on the outside. 
 The majority are built in the peculiar fashion of 
 the country, following no recognised style of archi¬ 
 tecture, and are provided with an archway, closed by 
 heavy wooden doors with enormous antique locks, 
 and large square windows secured by a grating of 
 iron bars. A few are more artistic in their design, 
 and follow the Moorish or Arabesque style. They 
 are all nearly two-storied, the windows of the upper 
 floor being mostly furnished with narrow balconies, 
 which in their turn are often tastefully ornamented 
 with iron railings. The roofs are flat, and provided 
 with the peculiar horizontal waterspouts (gurgoyles, 
 as architects would say) emptying the rain on the 
 pavement, and upon the very heads of the passers-by. 
 The interior arrangements are the same as elsewhere in 
 Mexico ; every house has its square inner yard, round 
 which the building is constructed, and according to 
 
124 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 the use that is made of the house, it is either em¬ 
 ployed as a garden with trees, shrubs, and flowers, or 
 as a store-room for cases, bales and boxes. All the 
 rooms open into this patio, and where there are 
 storeys above the ground-floor, a gallery runs all 
 round the interior of the quadrangle. 
 
 About half-a-dozen houses in Guadalajara are three¬ 
 storied ; the most conspicuous of these is the Hotel 
 Hidalgo, the rendezvous of the diligences, and a 
 building of rather imposing an appearance. The 
 accommodation, however, is said to be very in¬ 
 different. 
 
 The outlying quarters of the town are composed 
 of very inferior buildings: one-storied, low, adobe 
 houses, mostly with sloping tiled roofs, dirty and 
 cheerless in the extreme. The inhabitants are in 
 keeping with their domiciles, and struck me as being 
 poorer and lower than even the wretched denizens 
 of the small villages passed on our road. 
 
 The plaza, as in all Mexican towns, forms, in Guada¬ 
 lajara, the centre of all out-door life. It is a square 
 of about a hundred yards each way, with broad 
 walks round the four sides, lined with orange 
 trees, and provided with seats. In the middle 
 
GUADALAJARA 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 125 
 
 there is a fountain from which paved paths radiate to 
 the sides. As in Colima, lamp-posts of the ordinary 
 type are profusely distributed over the plaza, but as 
 the manufacture of gas is still an enterprise of the 
 future, and the oil-lamps seldom lighted, they are 
 evidently intended for ornament more than for use ; 
 though, as it happens, unfit for either purpose. 
 
 The cathedral entirely occupies one length of the 
 plaza, an extensive and imposing edifice, with 
 two tapering steeples, and a fine dome covered with 
 tiles of various colours, laid down in figures resem¬ 
 bling mosaic. The effect of its beautiful proportions 
 is marred by the tasteless application of the colours 
 with which the outside is painted. The interior of 
 the cathedral is noble and chaste, and the altar boasts 
 four life-size statues of saints of rather superior 
 execution—one at each corner. Owing to the pre¬ 
 vailing darkness, the accompanying photograph of the 
 interior is unfortunately wanting in detail, but will 
 nevertheless give a better idea of the building than 
 any necessarily meagre description can convey.* 
 
 * The ground-stone of this cathedral was laid in 1571, forty-one 
 years after the conquest of this part of the country, and the edifice com¬ 
 pleted in 1618. 
 
126 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 On the opposite side of the 'plaza, and also occupy¬ 
 ing an entire length of the square, stands the palacio, 
 as an inscription over the large window in the 
 centre indicates, the Casa de Gobierno del Estado, 
 the house of the State Government. It is a tasteful, 
 two-storied, comparatively modern structure, but 
 nevertheless commencing to succumb to the inroads 
 of time. 
 
 The two other sides of the plaza are occupied 
 by the portales, as Guadalajarans call the covered 
 way formed by pillar-supported arches over the 
 pavement. Under the portales are the best shops 
 of the city. The spaces between the massive pillars 
 are the resort of stall-keepers, who exhibit for sale 
 a variety of articles, the principal being dulces 
 (sweetmeats), for which Guadalajara enjoys no in¬ 
 considerable reputation. Mexicans, generally, have 
 an amiable weakness for sweet things, and dulces 
 are manufactured throughout the Eepublic; but none, 
 I am told, can compare with those of this city. 
 Under the portales, stall after stall exhibits scores of 
 these preparations, as also huge cakes covered with 
 preserves and sold in slices, as well as refreshing drinks 
 made from the juice and seeds of various fruits. 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 127 
 
 Dulces are such necessaries of life, and regular articles 
 of consumption, that the different kinds have all their 
 distinctive names. Thus the clulce prepared from 
 lemons is called limonate, that from pine-apples pinate, 
 from chirimoyas (or chirrimollas) chirimoyate, and 
 so on. All the numerous kinds of tropical and 
 semi-tropical fruits, grown either on the plateau 
 or in the tierra caliente , are preserved or candied, 
 or otherwise prepared, to add to the number 
 of these Mexican delicacies. 
 
 Other stalls are gay with toys, the manufacture 
 of which is purely Mexican. Some of the pieces 
 are most singular and original, whilst others are 
 simple imitations of imported goods, but they are 
 all cleverly made, and cost next to nothing. 
 
 The most curious production sold under the por- 
 tales, however, are the clay figures, manufactured by 
 Indians near the city. In some cases they are almost 
 worthy to rank with works of sculpture, a fact which 
 excites the more astonishment when it is known that 
 they are the handiwork of a people possessing no 
 artistic training whatever, or even ordinary educa¬ 
 tion. It is an indigenous craft, handed down from 
 generation to generation, and was practised, doubt- 
 
128 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 less, long before Cortez introduced Spanish blood 
 and customs. The images represent work-people, 
 arrieros, beggars, water-carriers, charcoal-vendors, 
 soldiers and the like, in their peculiar costumes, 
 and are finished with the utmost accuracy and 
 fidelity to nature. I am informed that these 
 Indians produce life-like portraits of any one who 
 will give them a sitting, or will work by the aid 
 of photographs or paintings. 
 
 A large number of the stalls are provided with 
 a locker, in which the, wares are kept over night. 
 These bear the name of cajones (boxes), and hence 
 the name for all “ portales ” stalls. They are owned 
 by Indians, or half-castes of a deep dye, who reside 
 in the portales, where they also ply their traffic; 
 at night they sleep either in front of their cajones, 
 or on one of the neighbouring doorsteps. 
 
 There are fewer pure Indians in Guadalajara than 
 in the towns so far visited by me, the great bulk of 
 the population being mestizos. The foreign inha¬ 
 bitants, though as regards wealth important, are 
 numerically few. There are about fifty Spaniards, 
 as many Germans, about twenty Americans, per¬ 
 haps a dozen Frenchmen, and but very few English. 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 129 
 
 The Germans rank first commercially; of the entire 
 trade of Guadalajara, about two-thirds is in their 
 hands, though the imported goods are mostly of 
 English manufacture.* 
 
 Four cotton-factories, and a large paper-mill, are 
 in operation not far from the city. The latter is 
 owned by the richest family in the State of 
 Jalisco, and supplies a great part of the Eepublic 
 with cigarette - wrappers (of which the consumption 
 is enormous), and with various descriptions of 
 common paper. Of the cotton-factories, the one 
 called “Salto” is the property of my kind hosts, 
 
 the five brothers L-, who were alone at the 
 
 time able to work their mill profitably. The other 
 manufactories were at work, though on a reduced 
 scale, with the sole view of preventing their entire 
 suspension. The articles of produce, as at Colima, 
 are mantas and coarse yarns; whilst there are 
 a large number of minor establishments where con¬ 
 siderable quantities of rebozos, sarapes, and fajas 
 are woven. 
 
 * The chief home industry of the Guadalajarans consists in tanning 
 leather, the manufacture of sombreros , and in the spinmng and weaving of 
 wool and cotton. 
 
 I 
 
130 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 The “.Salto ” factory is about three miles from 
 the city, where a small but deep stream leaps 
 into a lovely cascade over rocks of lava forma¬ 
 tion, and causes the motive-power through the 
 medium of a turbine-wheel. The buildings are 
 surrounded by fields, gardens, and orchards of some 
 extent. In the former a small quantity of 
 
 cotton is grown, which at the time of my visit 
 was just ripening, whilst in the latter vegetables 
 and delicious fruits loaded ground and tree ; 
 here I gathered magnificent strawberries in abund¬ 
 ance on Christmas-day. 
 
 Many are the stories of brigands and plagiarios 
 (kidnappers) in connection with this factory. 
 Nothing short of confirmed habit and thorough 
 acclimatisation can induce the owners of this pro¬ 
 perty to remain in a country that offers but few 
 material advantages, whilst it involves dangers 
 and discomforts of a serious character. 
 
 About two years ago, the eldest Mr L- 
 
 was kidnapped whilst on his way from the fac¬ 
 tory to his town residence, carried off to the moun¬ 
 tains, and there detained for more than a week, 
 until ransomed for 4000 dollars. The miscreants 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 131 
 
 were never punished, nor even tracked by the 
 authorities. 
 
 The reader must pardon these repeated allusions 
 to brigandage, but, as it forms one of the chief 
 topics of conversation throughout Mexico, its con¬ 
 stant introduction into my journal is explained. 
 
 At the time of my arrival in Guadalajara, an 
 event that had happened some weeks previously 
 was still in every mind and on every tongue. I 
 refer to an accident that befel a picnic party of 
 about twenty ladies and gentlemen belonging to the 
 best families of Guadalajara. They had gone in 
 carriages and on horseback to a retired spot, three 
 miles from the town, to enjoy an afternoon in the 
 country. No sooner had they arrived at their des¬ 
 tination, and scarcely had they commenced arrange¬ 
 ments for the intended meal, when they noticed 
 the approach of twelve men, whose designs were 
 not to be mistaken. 
 
 As usual in this country the gentlemen of the 
 party were well armed, but apprehending an attack 
 they relinquished all thoughts of protecting those 
 under their charge; and with the exception of 
 one plucky father and his son, the whole gallant 
 
132 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 company hastily mounted their horses, and de¬ 
 camped as fast as they could, leaving wives, 
 children, and sisters, to the mercy of the ladrones, 
 who at once proceeded to strip them of all they 
 possessed. The ruffians, as it turned out, were with¬ 
 out fire-arms of any sort, and were only equipped 
 with machetas and sticks; no one was wounded, 
 but the ladies had the intense mortification of 
 returning considerably lighter both in purse and 
 apparel than when they set out. 
 
 Although cowardice in everyday-life is the rule, 
 and not the exception, in Mexico, yet the behaviour 
 of these runaways was so contemptible and ridicu¬ 
 lous, that they became the butts of satire and 
 opprobrium throughout the city. The papers com¬ 
 mented upon their conduct, and the affair was 
 made the subject of a farce at one of the small 
 theatres. In spite of all this, however, there are 
 many good citizens who loudly approve of the act, 
 as the only means by which bloodshed could be 
 averted. 
 
 During my stay at Guadalajara, similar attacks 
 on houses and individuals were of daily occur¬ 
 rence, and it was considered hazardous to walk 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 133 
 
 through the streets after sunset. In returning 
 home of a night we invariably walked in the 
 middle of the road, to avoid a surprise at the 
 corners, and never dreamed of venturing out 
 after dark without loaded revolvers. Several times 
 between nine and ten o’clock in the evening, 
 the report of heavy firing was heard only a few 
 streets off, proceeding, as we learnt next morning, 
 from systematic attacks by large bands on the 
 house of some individual citizen. One of these 
 gangs was dispersed by the garrison, and some of 
 the robbers taken prisoners, when it was found 
 that the Chief of the Police was not only one 
 of their band, but actually at the head of the 
 lawless crew. 
 
 One of the numerous and singular newspapers 
 published twice a week in Guadalajara, a tiny sheet 
 composed of eight pages, each measuring six inches 
 by four, called Juan Panadero (John the Baker), was 
 literally crammed with nothing else but accounts of 
 misdeeds by brigands and comments thereon. This 
 Liliputian journal is the most popular of all Jalisco 
 publications, and enjoys by far the most extended 
 circulation. It serves no party, but fearlessly 
 
134 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO 
 
 exposes as many crimes and defects of administra¬ 
 tion as its limited space will allow. 
 
 Happy editor! He is never in want of news, 
 and could, without the slightest effort, fill a daily 
 sheet as voluminous as the Times, instead of his 
 dwarf-issue. 
 
 Another newspaper, of slightly larger size, and 
 also published twice a week, is the Voz de 
 Jalisco. It is owned and edited by the priests, 
 and its contents are in accordance with their 
 aims and opinions. The number seen by me was 
 almost entirely absorbed by an article fiercely attack¬ 
 ing Protestants and Protestantism, and containing 
 the most sophistical arguments ever advanced. 
 
 There are no daily papers in Guadalajara, but 
 from eight to ten bi-weekly and weekly chronicles, 
 which are, however, for the most part short-lived. 
 Almost every week witnesses the demise of one 
 publication, and the birth of another; so that 
 at the end of the year one or two alone have 
 survived the vicissitudes of existence. 
 
 A pamphlet published by a well-known priest, 
 and directed against the American missionaries, 
 who are beginning in small numbers to work all 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 135 
 
 over the Republic, was the subject of some con¬ 
 versation. The utterly ludicrous arguments of the 
 writer, his clumsy flatteries when speaking of the 
 citizens of Guadalajara, and the vehement language 
 in which he inveighed against the missionaries, 
 gave rise to pity rather than to indignation, and to 
 feelings of mirth rather than of anger. He repeatedly 
 remarks on the high degree of civilisation to which 
 Mexico, and the Guadalajarans especially, have 
 attained, owing to their fidelity to the Roman 
 Catholic Church, stigmatises all that emanates 
 from the United States as barbarous, and pro¬ 
 nounces the English language to be fit for dogs 
 alone.* Surely, this man cannot himself believe 
 
 * On March 1st, 1874, the Rev. Mr Stephens, an American Protestant 
 missionary at Ahualulco, in the district of Guadalajara, was attacked 
 by three hundred individuals armed with daggers, sticks, and stones, 
 who amid furious cries burst open the door of his house. Mr Stephens 
 took refuge in the yard, but was soon reached by the fanatics, who 
 speedily murdered him, afterwards quartering and otherwise fearfirlly 
 mutilating the poor man’s body. The local authorities rather aided 
 than resisted the wretches, who finally pillaged the house and destroyed 
 everything they could not carry off. It was after the termination 
 of the Roman Catholic sendee that this barbarous act was committed, 
 and that in consequence of a vehement sermon delivered by the priest 
 of Ahualulco against the Protestants. He concluded his address with 
 the words : “ A tree bearing bad fruit ought to be cut at the root; my 
 friends, interpret these words as best you understand them,” and out 
 rushed the ignorant, bestial crowd, like so many wolves, to interpret 
 their instructor’s utterings in the only way conceivable to them. 
 
136 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 what he writes; but he evidently understands his 
 readers; and there is unfortunately no doubt that 
 nine-tenths of them accept his every word as truth, 
 and unhesitatingly adopt his view. 
 
 During the week of my stay in Guadalajara, 
 I had ample opportunity for seeing all the “lions” 
 of the place; for there are but few. 
 
 In company with one of the first physicians of 
 the town, I visited the two great benevolent institu¬ 
 tions, of which the citizens are justly proud. In 
 the midst of such numerous abuses, and among 
 a population as corrupt as they are bigoted and 
 superstitious, these charities shine out as bright 
 stars in a dark and clouded sky. 
 
 We commenced by the Hospital de San Miguel 
 de Belen, a series of one-storied buildings, very 
 plainly but substantially constructed of stone and 
 adobe, all in communication with one another, and 
 standing on an extensive piece of ground. On 
 entering, I at once came to a circular hall, the 
 meeting point of six long chambers, which radiate 
 from the centre in the same manner as the corridors 
 of modern prisons. The three chambers on the left 
 are sick wards for men, the three on the right destined 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 137 
 
 for women. One ward in each division is set apart 
 for contagions diseases, another for ailments of a non- 
 infectious kind, and the third for patients sent in 
 from the prisons. These latter wards are guarded 
 by soldiers. The men’s wards are open towards 
 the central hall, whilst those of the women are 
 shut off by large folding-doors. I inspected one 
 of the former, and though almost each bed was 
 occupied, the atmosphere was perfectly pure, and 
 the utmost cleanliness prevailed. The wards are 
 very lofty, and the ventilation and arrangements 
 generally admirable. The women are attended by 
 Sisters of Charity, whilst the men have male 
 nurses. 
 
 The rooms on a corridor near the wards are set 
 apart for medical students, of whom there are 
 always a large number at the hospital. One of them 
 was most pressing in his desire to show me the 
 dissecting-room, which contained the mutilated body 
 of a young half-caste. 
 
 This room was full of siglit-seers, who apparently 
 devoted as much or more time to this melancholy 
 spectacle as to viewing the rest of the building. 
 Such is the taste of the people! 
 
138 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 The buildings of the Hospital de Belen proved 
 to contain not only an hospital, as we understand 
 the term, but also an asylum for the insane, a school 
 for little children, and finally (and this struck me 
 as the strangest of all), a large burial-ground, the 
 principal cemetery in Gaudalajara. The different 
 departments of the institution are kept entirely 
 distinct, and are separated by tastefully planted 
 parterres. The portion devoted to the lunatics 
 comprises a suite of spacious rooms, and a yard 
 surrounded by cells. The latter are intended for 
 the raging mad, of whom there were about half- 
 a-dozen at the time of my visit, whilst a large 
 number of harmless individuals were moving about 
 without restraint. A few miserable beings clad in 
 rags, and unspeakably ugly, were squatting about 
 the walls, or seeking a cowering concealment 
 in corners as we approached: these were cases 
 of hopeless idiocy; and the poor creatures were 
 left in their tattered state, as new clothes would 
 be reduced to the same condition almost as soon as 
 received. There are’ several rooms set apart for the 
 insane of rich families, who pay for the superior 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 139 
 
 accommodation, which accounts for the absence of 
 white patients in the public wards. 
 
 After visiting the dispensary, kitchen, and store¬ 
 rooms, all managed by Sisters of Charity, we came 
 to the school-rooms, where children from two to six 
 years of age obtain rudimentary instruction gratui¬ 
 tously. Sisters also superintend this department, 
 but although much of the work is in their hands, 
 they have no share in the supreme direction. A 
 committee of citizens conduct the latter. 
 
 Before leaving the hospital we examined the burial- 
 ground, known by the name of Cimenterio de Belen, 
 which covers a space of about six acres within its 
 walls. It is entirely different from all similar places 
 in the United States and the greater part of Europe.* 
 The square ground is bounded on three sides by broad 
 colonnades, each of about 120 yards in length. 
 The inner sides of these arcades contain six tiers 
 of gavetas — i.e., niches in the wall intended to 
 receive the coffins. These gavetas are two feet 
 square, and have eight feet horizontal depth; 
 when filled, the open square in front is closed, and 
 receives the stone with the inscription. A hundred 
 
 * Similar arrangements exist in some parts of Spain and Southern Italy. 
 
140 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 dollars is the price of the freehold of a gaveta, but 
 they may be rented for twenty-five dollars for a 
 period of five years. If, at the end of the term, 
 however, the lease is not renewed, the coffin is 
 removed, and the gaveta is at the disposal of the 
 next applicant. To judge from the number of 
 empty niches distributed over the walls, it would 
 appear that five or ten years have a most soothing 
 influence on the hearts and memories of the pious 
 people of Guadalajara. 
 
 There are a number of graves and vaults in the 
 open space, where interments, according to our own 
 custom, have been made; and in the centre of the 
 cemetery stands a well-designed, but now time¬ 
 worn chapel-like edifice, underneath which lies a 
 vault containing the remains of countless ecclesi¬ 
 astical dignitaries. 
 
 Very little care seems to be bestowed on the 
 gardens of the cemetery; there are no memorial 
 garlands on the graves, no trees planted, except 
 several rows of orange trees, leading up to the 
 chapel, and which, when I saw them, were heavy 
 with the golden fruit. 
 
 Next to this part of the cemetery, and separated 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 141 
 
 from it by a substantial wall, is the burial-place 
 of the poor. It is a dismal, desolate place. There 
 are no gavetas here, nor, as far as I could see, indi¬ 
 vidual graves; the moneyless dead seem to command 
 even less respect here than the moneyless living, 
 and have apparently to share a common tomb. 
 
 Our next visit was to the Ilospicio. This is a 
 grand institution, not only in regard to size and 
 building, but chiefly as concerns its truly benevolent 
 purposes, and the objects- it so efficiently realises. 
 
 What with us is divided among a large number 
 of charities is here united in one vast organisation; 
 and whilst, on the one hand, its aim is to rear and 
 educate for the battle of life those who through cir¬ 
 cumstances lack the assistance of parents and friends, 
 it forms on the other an asylum for those avIio, in 
 their old age, find themselves deprived of the means 
 of sustenance.* 
 
 * According to the “ Constituciones ” of this institution, drawn up 
 in 1802, and approved by the King of Spain by decree of September 5th, 
 1803, the following are entitled to admittance in the Ilospicio: —1st. 
 Children of both sexes “exposed” in the same (foundlings). 2nd. The 
 aged of both sexes, who owing to advanced years are unable to work 
 for their sustenance. 3rd. The blind, the deaf and dumb, the crippled 
 and infirm, and incurables of all ages. 4th. Boys and girls of tender 
 age, who are either orphans or have been deserted by their parents, and 
 sons of fathers who, on account of poverty, are unable to keep and educate 
 
142 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 The Hospicio is situate on the eastern side of 
 the small stream which runs through the town, and 
 divides it into two unequal parts, and is approached 
 by a wide street lined with orange trees. Walking 
 up this street, the fagade of the building forming 
 its termination affords an imposing view, with its 
 pillared portico and graceful dome. Right and left 
 from the entrance run out high, substantial walls, 
 enclosing the entire establishment, which covers an 
 area of upwards of eight acres. 
 
 The institution includes solidly - constructed 
 buildings, mostly one-storied, and closely resembling 
 those in the Hospital de Belen. Each block is 
 constructed round the sides of a patio. There are 
 
 them. 5th. Daughters and young sons of married men belonging to the 
 second and third classes, no matter whether the girls are suffering or in 
 good, robust health. 6th. Boys and girls not exceeding ten years of age, 
 whose fathers wish to place them in the establishment for purposes of 
 correction, and who are willing to pay for their maintenance and cloth¬ 
 ing. As appears from the same document the following are the subjects 
 to be taught to boys : Beading, writing, arithmetic, the principles of 
 geometry, and drawing. To girls, reading, sewing, embroidering, wash¬ 
 ing, ironing, spinning, making stockings, ribbons, fajas (see page 58) and 
 buttons ; cooking, and other occupations fitted to their sex. Youths are 
 to be instructed in the combing and spinning of cotton and wool, in the 
 manufacture of stockings and other hosiery, caps, gloves, ribbons, fajas , 
 and buttons, and other work suited to their age and respective circum¬ 
 stances ; and to all generally is to be given instruction in the articles of 
 the faith. 
 
STREET IN GUADALAJARA LEADI NG TO TH E HOSPICl0 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 143 
 
 no less than twenty-four such blocks, and conse¬ 
 quently as many interior squares, with bananas, 
 orange, lemon and coffee trees. The different de¬ 
 partments are all mutually connected, and over the 
 entrance to each its name is inscribed in large 
 letters. The entire establishment is under the 
 management of Sisters of Charity, assisted by 
 some members of the priesthood. As far as 
 outward appearances can testify, their duties are 
 performed to perfection. 
 
 One of the Sisters conducted us over the whole 
 institution, to see which employed an entire after¬ 
 noon. 
 
 That which at home would be termed the 
 “ Foundling Hospital ” is one of the most inter¬ 
 esting. It is a large and lofty hall lined with 
 cradles, in which poor innocents are commencing 
 an existence—doomed perhaps to be the less 
 smooth and happy from the peculiar circumstances 
 of their birth. Here we saw white infants nursed 
 by dark Indian women with a cheerfulness and 
 loving care quite pleasant to behold, equalling, if 
 not surpassing, the attention that the little 
 
144 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 unfortunates could have received from their white 
 mothers. 
 
 Noticing that some of the cradles were much 
 superior to others, and furnished in a rich and 
 luxurious manner, I inquired the cause, and was l 
 informed of a curious fact in connection with thiS 
 department. 
 
 The great majority of infants deposited at the 
 Hospicio are born of mothers belonging to the 
 better classes; and a few days after the reception 
 of a foundling, money, clothing, and other necessaries 
 are not unfrequently sent to be devoted to the 
 child. In most cases the names of one or even 
 of both the parents are disclosed, and regular 
 payment is made until the child leaves the 
 home. This can hardly be considered real charity, 
 and the continuance of the practice will doubtless 
 operate against the interests of morality. 
 
 What we should term an Orphan Asylum is 
 represented in the Hospicio by a number of lar^^^^t 
 airy saloons, used partly as dormitories, partly as 
 schoolrooms. Up to the age of three the children 
 remain in the “ Cuna ” (the department above 
 mentioned, the word signifying cradle), when thelft 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 145 
 
 
 are promoted to their first school. We found the 
 schoolroom alive with little learners, who politely 
 rose as we entered, and treated us to a half-song, 
 half-chant, amid regularly performed motions of 
 hands and arms. In this school they remain 
 ' till the age of six, when the sexes are separated, 
 jknd what has hitherto been classed under the col¬ 
 lective term of infantes , is now divided into schools 
 for ninos and schools for ninas, which are two 
 departments complete and distinct in themselves. 
 
 the age of twelve the boys enter another 
 section directed by masters (mostly priests), instead 
 of the Sisters of Charity, who up to that point 
 are entrusted with the entire government, whilst 
 the girls enter a superior class, still under the 
 guidance of Sisters. In these grades both boys and 
 girls receive instruction in music, which, favoured 
 by the natural talent of Mexicans for this art, at¬ 
 tains a degree of great excellence; in drawing, 
 painting, and in the study of foreign languages. 
 We visited a number of rooms belonging both 
 to ninos and ninas , the walls of which were 
 hung with capital specimens of drawings, paintings, 
 and geographical maps. 
 
146 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 Progressing further, we found the girls whc 
 had outgrown the schools, employed in sewing, 
 knitting, and embroidering, or assisting in tli&J 
 culinary department, according to their different 
 tastes and abilities. The embroidery worked 
 the Hospicio is celebrated throughout Mexico, ai 
 I for one was much struck with its delicacy. 
 The brightest silks are by this accomplishment 
 developed into landscapes and portraits, and I 
 invested in a Mexican eagle of many hues wrought 
 on both sides, and a marvel of the art.* 
 
 The boys after leaving school are received into 
 workshops of various descriptions. I saw them 
 apprenticed as bakers, tailors, bootmakers, carpen¬ 
 ters, locksmiths, printers, weavers, and other trades. 
 Almost every requisite for the Hospiciq is made 
 by the adults of both sexes in the establishment! 
 itself. 
 
 The young men, at the age of about twenty-1 
 one, generally quit the institution, and easily fine 
 employment in their various trades and profesJ 
 sions, as pupils of the Hospicio are engaged ir 
 preference to any other applicants. The girls aH 
 
 . * See frontispiece. 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 147 
 
 sought after as governesses and superior servants, 
 or remain in their early home until their marriage. 
 
 It must not he inferred from this, that the insti¬ 
 tution occupies itself with foundlings and orphans 
 alone. On the contrary, the great bulk of its inmates 
 is composed of children recruited from all classes of 
 society, who for the greater part reside with their 
 parents, and frequent the Hospicio daily for tuition. 
 The poor are provided with clothes besides 
 gratuitous instruction, whilst those who have the 
 means pay for all they receive. There is also a High 
 School in the establishment, where the rising gene¬ 
 ration may profit by the erudition and talent of 
 the city. 
 
 We next proceeded to the quarters of the aged 
 men and women—the infirmary, the dispensary, the 
 kitchen, store-rooms and other departments; and, be¬ 
 fore leaving, visited the church within the precincts 
 of the institution. It is an elegant building, with 
 fine dome, shapely pillars, and walls profusely orna¬ 
 mented with paintings. This being Christmas-time, 
 an extraordinary doll-show was, as it were, the reredos 
 of the altar, representing the birth of Christ in the 
 manger, with cows, and asses, and the seven wise men. 
 
148 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 So far it resembled similar arrangements in Italian and 
 Spanish churches at this period of the year, but the 
 shepherds and shepherdesses who surrounded the 
 chief figures were unmistakably of Tyrolese nation¬ 
 ality—the men with breeches and alpenstock, and the 
 women with short petticoats and pointed hats. Some 
 German trader had no doubt received a cheap cargo 
 of these Alpine figures, and the ignorance of the 
 purchasers added to the already puerile performance 
 another ludicrous feature. 
 
 The Hospicio contains upwards of a thousand 
 inmates, including the Sisters of Charity, masters and 
 attendants. Of this number seven hundred are 
 children, and about two hundred aged men and women. 
 The establishment possesses a certain income of its 
 own, but the city of Guadalajara has to contribute 
 yearly to its funds. 
 
 On another day we visited the girls’ school of San 
 Diego, which, as far as I could see, appeared to be 
 excellently conducted. Until about seven years ago 
 the building which it occupies was a convent; it 
 is a substantial two-storied edifice, enclosing a fine 
 square. The school is entirely under lay manage¬ 
 ment, and rejoices in perfect immunity from the 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 149 
 
 priests. The system of tuition is based on the same 
 plan as that of the upper forms in the Hospicio, 
 and the arrangements generally appear very similar 
 to those of the latter, but I found the girls brighter 
 and more cheerful, and one seemed to breathe 
 a freer atmosphere. The embroidery worked at 
 San Diego equals, if it does not surpass, that at 
 the Hospicio. 
 
 I had no opportunity of visiting more schools, but 
 was told that a fair number of them for both sexes 
 have been established during the last few years; 
 that they are well conducted, and receive due 
 attention from the authorities. 
 
 Guadalajara possesses two places of public entertain¬ 
 ment : the theatre and the bull-arena. The former, 
 when first indicated to me, appeared like an old 
 Eoman ruin, and I could hardly believe that this pile 
 of apparently antique walls, columns, and loose, strag¬ 
 gling stones, could show a capacious, symmetrical, 
 and tolerably decorated playhouse as its interior. But 
 such is the case. Here is another instance of that 
 neglect so ordinary in Mexico: an imposing structure, 
 well planned, commenced in grand style, but after 
 a time left unfinished to crumble to ruin. The 
 
150 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 building covers a large area, and if perfected would 
 doubtless have been magnificent; at present there 
 seems to be no hope of its final completion. 
 
 The inside is almost as large as that of Covent 
 Garden Theatre, and is six storeys high. Five of the 
 tiers are devoted to boxes, and the sixth forms the 
 gallery. On account of the climate, the furniture in 
 the theatres is not encumbered with superfluous and 
 stuffy draperies, as with us, which at first sight 
 lends them a cold and almost comfortless aspect; 
 but the briefest experience will attest the advantages 
 derived from the use of the most simple accessories. 
 Thus the box-tiers are built exclusively of white- 
 washed masonry, thin iron railings about two feet 
 high serving as partitions, the breastwork in front 
 being of the same fabric but a foot higher. There 
 is no division on the ground-floor for pit and stalls, 
 but the space is filled with rough chairs, and 
 all seats rank alike. The house is lighted by oil- 
 lamps fixed in all its parts; they are, however, 
 wholly insufficient for the brilliance so essential to 
 theatrical effect. 
 
 “ II Barbiere ” was the opera I heard in this house, 
 performed in Italian. Besides the irnpressario, 
 
BULL-ARENA, HOSPICIO IN BACKGROUND, GUADALAJARA. 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 151 
 
 however, who was also the baritone, there was 
 not one other Italhm amongst the company. The 
 rest came from South and Central America, and 
 “ Rosina ” was impersonated by a Mexican, and a 
 native, I believe, of Guadalajara. Opera performances 
 take place twice a week, and are well attended; the 
 large house was almost full when I was there, though 
 it can accommodate over three thousand people. The 
 singing was fair, and the whole entertainment much 
 better than I was led to anticipate. 
 
 Bull-fights are prohibited in most states of the 
 Mexican Bepublic, but in Jalisco they continue to 
 flourish. Whatever may justly be urged against the 
 cruelty of the practice, and its demoralising effects 
 on the population, it is, certainly, when considered 
 from a physiological point of view, one of the most 
 extraordinary sights imaginable. 
 
 A performance had been announced for Christmas- 
 day, but as, contrary to all old-established rules of 
 the dry season, it then poured with rain, it had to 
 be deferred, and I witnessed one of the regular 
 Sunday-afternoon entertainments. 
 
 The bull-arena is close by the Hospicio, and 
 the entrance to it is in the same broad street that 
 
152 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 fronts the latter. It is a solid stone building, simi¬ 
 lar in shape and arrangement to the ancient Roman 
 amphitheatres, and much resembling the Spanish 
 arenas of the present day. It consists of a circus 
 about 150 feet in diameter, open towards the sky, 
 and enclosed by seven tiers of sittings, of which the 
 uppermost alone is roofed over. The latter is broader 
 than the rest, and provided on the shady side of the 
 ring with chairs, for the accommodation of those 
 who wish to pay for that luxury. The great majority 
 of the audience, however, are seated on small cushions 
 placed on the stone benches, whilst the common 
 people crowd into the sunny portion of the arena, 
 where seats or standing-room cost a mere trifle. 
 The flat narrow roof of the top tier is generally 
 occupied by a detachment of soldiers, under the com¬ 
 mand of an officer, to act in case of disturbance. 
 
 In the morning the performers paraded the town 
 on foot and on horseback, attired in gaudy cos¬ 
 tumes, and accompanied by drummers and trum¬ 
 peters, who succeeded between them in evoking a 
 hideous din. At two o’clock in the afternoon, 
 the band took its post in the street, outside 
 the Plazo de Progreso (as the place in which the 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 153 
 
 arena stands is appropriately called), and played 
 their choicest pieces, until, at four o’clock, the 
 commencement of the fight was announced. The 
 musicians then proceeded to their allotted space 
 within the circle, and throughout the performance 
 prolonged their inspiriting strains. 
 
 Bull-fights have been described a thousand 
 times, and the feats of matadores, banderilleros, and 
 picadores, are almost as familiar to the general 
 reader as the tours de force of acrobats on the tight¬ 
 rope or the trapeze. It is, therefore, unnecessary 
 to repeat the details of a performance, the main 
 features of w T hich are the same in all latitudes; but 
 I cannot refrain from a record of the en¬ 
 thusiasm and vigour with which the entertainment 
 was watched by the applauding audience, who 
 followed every movement of man and beast with 
 an extraordinary eagerness. 
 
 This savage Spanish custom could have cast its 
 seed into no more fertile soil than that of Mexico; 
 and it has so acclimatised itself, that the pure-blooded 
 Indian now enters into the practice with the same 
 keen interest as the true descendant of old Spain, 
 or the half-bred mestizo. Corridas de Toros (bull- 
 
154 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 races, as they are politely termed) have attended the 
 Spaniards in all their wanderings, and have become 
 the chief national sport of their colonies, whatever 
 may have been the aboriginal element. But it 
 is doubtful whether there is any place where the 
 custom is more ardently sustained and the popular 
 spirit more thoroughly enlisted in its favour than 
 in Guadalajara. 
 
 Bull-fighting appears especially suited to the 
 Mexican character: there is enough of bloodshed 
 to gratify their cruel tendencies ; enough of 
 seeming danger to stimulate a morbid craving 
 for excitement, and an abundance of opportunity 
 for the disgusting display of swagger and mock- 
 heroism. The risk incurred by the combatants is 
 in reality exceedingly small, and the whole per¬ 
 formance an exhibition of execrable cowardice. 
 
 The “play-bill,” printed on red paper, announced 
 in conspicuous type that cuatro arrogantes toros 
 would be “fought to death,” but the poor brutes 
 looked anything but arrogant when they entered the 
 ring, with an iron spike driven into their loins to 
 goad them to fury. The young and ill-fed bulls were 
 startled rather than infuriated by the unwonted 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 155 
 
 appearance of the audience, and it required the 
 combined efforts of music, shouts, red cloths, and 
 various instruments of torture, to nerve them to 
 self-defence. The wretched animals, however, are 
 hopelessly confronted by swarms of men, armed 
 not only with deadly weapons, but with a variety of 
 appliances calculated to divert the animal’s attention, 
 when in the act of charging any individual opponent. 
 The latter have likewise the advantage of shelter¬ 
 ing screens, if too closely pressed, whilst his horns, 
 the only weapon of the bull, have been previously 
 shortened by several inches, in order to reduce 
 the danger of his adversaries to a minimum. 
 They are thus teased, worried, and tortured, and 
 when at length their various discomforts have 
 sufficiently gratified the spectators, a sword-thrust 
 in the region of the heart brings them to the 
 ground, and a stab between the head and the 
 spine ends their agonies. 
 
 The spectators side with the bull, and cheer 
 him wildly if he shows pluck and succeeds in 
 unseating a rider, or upsetting or wounding one 
 of the horses. The latter, as a rule, are the only 
 victims on the side of the attacking party. If 
 
156 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 a horse should fall, and the assailants think dis¬ 
 cretion the better part of valour, the bull will some¬ 
 times pierce the body with his horns, and nothing 
 excites the enthusiasm of the audience in a greater 
 degree, than to see a horse removed from the 
 arena, with his protruding entrails draggling on 
 the ground. 
 
 A timid bull is vociferously hissed, and the frantic 
 occupants of the lower tiers endeavour to rouse 
 him, by throwing at him whatever missile is within 
 their grasp from the cushions on which they sit 
 to their own sombreros and sarapes. If this also 
 prove unsuccessful, shouts of “ fuera ” are raised 
 until the bull is lazoed, dragged from the ring, 
 and another of more mettle substituted. 
 
 The audiences of bull-fights are composed of all 
 the various elements of the population. Neither 
 rank, race, sex, or age, interferes with its attrac¬ 
 tions ; and whites, mestizos and Indios, men, women, 
 and children, are all numerously represented. 
 
 The women take the same interest in the spectacle 
 as the men, and if they are less demonstrative than 
 the latter, their fiery eyes and flushed cheeks betray 
 an eagerness and passion equally keen. 
 
FOUNTAIN IN THE ALAM EDA. OUADALAJA^T 
 
WALK IN THE ALAMEDA, GUADALAJARA. 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 157 
 
 In the evenings of Sundays and feast-days, the 
 beauty and fashion of Guadalajara assemble in the 
 paseo. This is a wide road lined on both sides 
 by fine old trees, whose overhanging branches meet 
 half-way. It runs nearly parallel with the small 
 river, and along almost the entire length of the 
 western part of the city—a distance of about a mile 
 and a quarter. At its northern termination is 
 situated the alameda or public garden, prettily 
 arranged and covering about five acres, surrounded 
 by a high wall with quaint old iron gates, and 
 a wide ditch on the outside. It is laid out in broad 
 walks, centred on a circular space, where a fountain 
 trickles into a marble basin. Trees, shrubs, and 
 flowers are worthy of the city and its climate. 
 
 The paseo is the Eotten Row of Guadalajara. The 
 ladies appear in carriages, tricked out in their best, 
 whilst the men in all the glory of the charro prance 
 about on their small horses with their huge saddles. 
 The carriages that congregate here form the oddest 
 mixture of vehicles; they are of all denominations, 
 sizes, and patterns; some profusely painted and 
 embellished, others plain ; some imported from the 
 
 
158 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 United States, others from France and England, but 
 nearly all sliakey and shabby. 
 
 Their inmates are either arrayed in plain and 
 becoming black, or in less sober colours, their bare 
 heads veiled with the mantilla, and may be seen 
 exchanging smiles and greetings with the cavalleros, 
 who are in the habit of forming line at the corner 
 of the paseo and the alameda (on the left hand side 
 in the accompanying photograph), allowing the 
 carriages to pass before them —tout comme chez nous 
 in Hyde Park. 
 
 During the day, when the sun is too powerful to 
 allow of walks being taken in the open, the portales 
 are the fashionable promenade. There young ladies 
 accompanied by their mothers, or attended by an 
 old servant, indulge in the interesting occupation of 
 shopping, or strolling up and down the shady walk; 
 young men, who contrive to absent themselves from 
 their occupations, will be waiting to catch a glimpse of 
 a charming senorita; officers of the Jalisco guard, 
 or the gensdarmes, may be admired as they strut 
 jauntily in their high top-boots and clattering spurs, 
 whilst knots of beggars line the c 1 ' » 
 
THE PASEO, GUADALAJARA. 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 159 
 
 stall-owners and their friends assist in effectually 
 crowding the thoroughfare. 
 
 After dinner in the evenings, the plaza is the 
 favourite place of assemblage. Every other day 
 military bands perform there between the hours 
 of seven and nine, and all the town turn out to 
 enjoy the music and to perambulate the square. 
 This is managed in a most regular and sys¬ 
 
 tematic manner, which, under similar circum¬ 
 stances, might elsewhere be imitated with advan¬ 
 tage. The ladies keep strictly to one side of the 
 avenue, and the gentlemen to the other, whilst they 
 move round in opposite directions, thus* continually 
 confronting one another. This tacit arrangement is, I 
 am told, never violated, and forms the main attrac¬ 
 tion of the vuelta after dinner. 
 
 It is only on these and similar occasions 
 
 that the youth of Guadalajara have an oppor¬ 
 tunity of meeting. Social intercourse of the 
 better classes, is placed on a perfectly different 
 footing from our own; and if French, Italian, and 
 Spanish seclusion with regard to young girls is a 
 matter of surprise to us, the customs observed in 
 Mexico are still more so. Unless their re- 
 
160 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 spectivc families are very intimate, no young man 
 is admitted into the houses of people who have 
 grown-up daughters, and such a phenomenon as 
 wooing and winning, as we understand it, is 
 perfectly unheard of. Dinner-parties and halls are 
 almost unknown among thorough Mexicans, and 
 even in the capital, more European in many of its 
 customs than the rest of the Eepublic, where a 
 large number of foreign residents may be said to be 
 acting as educators, social gatherings of any kind 
 are quite exceptional. 
 
 Such being the case, young people look upon the 
 portales, the plaza, the theatre, the bull-ring, and 
 the paseo as the only places of legitimate meet¬ 
 ing; and if, by the eloquent language of the 
 eyes, and the subsequent instrumentality of mutual 
 friends, a couple have decided to unite for life, the 
 lovers’ path is still strewn with thorns, and their 
 meeting most jealously prohibited. Even if the 
 parents approve of their children’s wishes the suitor 
 is not admitted to his fiancees house; and until the 
 wedding-day their companionship is restricted to mid¬ 
 night conversations whispered from the balcony 
 of the lady’s room into the street below. Such scenes 
 

GUADALAJARA. 
 
 161 
 
 were by no means scarce in Guadalajara, and every 
 night I saw many a fair maiden draped with the 
 mantilla, softly signalling to her lover beneath, who, 
 with poncho thrown over his shoulder, reminded me 
 not a little of operatic serenades, the absence of the 
 guitar forming the only difference. If the old adage 
 —“necessity is the mother of invention”—required 
 any additional illustration to establish its truth, it 
 might be found in the handy appliance, invented 
 by the fair sex for the purpose of exchanging 
 correspondence, and consisting in nothing more 
 romantic than a pulley of string reaching from the 
 balcony to the ground. These, to us, ridiculous 
 practices, are here the acknowledged form of court¬ 
 ship, and although reserved for the quiet of night, 
 and apparently cultivated in a clandestine manner, 
 are well known to and approved of by the parents. 
 
 All provincial towns of Mexico, and especially 
 those of the State of Jalisco, reproduce in a hun¬ 
 dred ways all the life, manners, and customs of the 
 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; and whilst in the 
 Old World they now exist in books and tradition 
 only, a walk through the streets of a Mexican town, 
 or a peep into its houses, or a visit to its churches, 
 
 L 
 
162 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 supply an unquestionable proof that in this part 
 of the New World they still endure and flourish. 
 
 Coming from the United States, as I did, the 
 thorough contrast between the two portions of the 
 North American Continent afforded matter for per¬ 
 petual comment. In the States, activity, energy and 
 enterprise, on every side; in Mexico, lassitude, in¬ 
 difference and stagnation : there, customs and society 
 on a level with the highest European civilisation; 
 here, habits and usages, handed down unchanged from 
 the barbarism of the Middle Ages : there, prosperous 
 towns rapidly increasing in size and population; 
 here, cities and edifices almost untouched since the 
 first Spanish colonists built them, now dilapidated and 
 crumbling to ruin: there, new inventions, modern 
 machinery and railways; here, the clumsy remnants 
 of mediaeval appliances—no steam engine,* no loco¬ 
 motive, but roads whose fiendish unevenness can 
 be only appreciated by those who have experi¬ 
 enced them: there, a hardy race constantly re¬ 
 cruited from the best material of the Old World, 
 to whose power and energy the aborigines have 
 
 * There is not a single steam-engine of any kind in the entire State 
 of Jalisco. 
 
GUADALAJARA. 
 
 163 
 
 been forced to succumb; here, the degenerate de¬ 
 scendants of a people, originally too weak to avoid 
 admixture with the indigenous tribes, and now 
 but an isolated half-caste breed, endowed with all 
 the conceit, but none of the chivalry of the con¬ 
 querors, nor any of the virtues of the natives ; there, 
 the enlightened ideas of reformed religion, tolerance, 
 philosophy and education; here, the dark, super¬ 
 stitious, idolatrous creed, which a corrupt and crafty 
 priesthood has for generations ingrafted on the 
 hearts of a feeble and yielding people—in a word, 
 the fanatical intolerance and ignorance, fostered and 
 encouraged by all the arts and perseverance of 
 Roman Catholicism. 
 
 _ /Lml/v-w -/bM W- 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 
 
 Departure from Guadalajara—San Pedro—A poor district—Beggars— 
 The valley of the Lerma—Lago de Chapala—Puente de Tololotlan 
 —Zapotlanejo—A joke—Puente de Calderon—Tepatitlan—Sterile 
 country—La Yenta de Pegueros—A forced halt—San Juan de los 
 Lagos — Its saint and its fair— Organo fences—Lagos—A clean 
 diputado—Arboles del Peru or Peruvian Pepper trees—Enter^the 
 State of Guanajuato — Leon—Silao—Rugged country—Marfil— 
 Arrival at Guanajuato. 
 
 At five o’clock in the morning of the last day of the 
 year 1873, I quitted Guadalajara on my way east¬ 
 ward across the Republic. 
 
 A vehicle similar to that which had brought me 
 here was now about to take me further; and 
 both cochero and cattle were, to judge from 
 externals, the twins of their predecessors. The 
 passengers’ luggage, according to regulations, 
 had been weighed on the previous evening, and, 
 as far as I was concerned, tremendously charged 
 for, so that no time was wasted in setting off at 
 the hour appointed. 
 
 My ticket had been taken as if for 
 
 one 
 
> Pabn& 
 
 ■^SaZiire I 
 
 At/uadAt 
 
 dc Gi Janie 'JA'e ; 
 ^S..4n Sf/ ^0 tdnta, ° 
 a,o ’<SS.JiawH\^ 
 ^VSTZ&3CAJIMT0 
 
 Utliilan. 
 
 'Naulia, 
 
 Carrdlejb 
 
 0 Jizncim- 
 
 Arwpapo 
 
 3uitzeo 
 
 icarabaxo 
 
 iLa6. de, Cuitziw 
 
 T/tnmwo' 
 
 HatpujaTruaL 1 ' 
 
 Almalnya^ 
 
 l£o del Vane 
 
 (TreeJuP 
 
 iJoruIlo 
 
 Jondlo 
 
 S. Tiucas 
 
 AmqfdatL 
 
 S?Pedro 
 

FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 165 
 
 Senor Mendoza, since it was feared .-that the name 
 of a foreigner might stimulate the ever-watchful 
 plagiarios to a stroke of business in the way of kid¬ 
 napping, and I rejoiced in that distinguished cog¬ 
 nomen until my diligence troubles had ended. 
 
 There were seven passengers inside the coach 
 besides myself; consequently only a single vacant seat 
 remained, for which, as it happened to be between an 
 Austrian gentleman and myself, w& agreed to pay, 
 so as mutually to enjoy a little more space; 
 
 Away we rattled through the dark streets of 
 Guadalajara, and over the indescribable pavement, 
 the cochero cracking his whip, and encouraging 
 his eight mules with shouts and exclamations. 
 
 Among the passengers there were four sons of 
 one of the richest men not only of Jalisco but of 
 all Mexico, and in order to protect them the 
 coach was accompanied by an escort of ten cavalry 
 soldiers, wrapped in their ragged savages. They 
 were, however, so forlorn in their appearance that I 
 reposed more confidence in our own arms, should 
 occasion call for defence, than in the doubtful services 
 which these men seemed capable of rendering. 
 
 After leaving the city, the gardens and had- 
 
166 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 endas of the suburbs, we traversed a flat country, 
 here and there varied by slight undulations, 
 and bordered on all sides by distant hills and 
 mountains. Cacti, dwarf trees, and stubbly 
 
 grass appeared to form the only vegetation. 
 Five miles out of Guadalajara we reached 
 the miserable town of San Pedro, composed 
 mostly of rough adobe houses with thatched 
 roofs, and during the ten miles following we 
 passed through several wretched villages inhabited 
 principally by Indians. There appeared to be 
 little cultivation in this district, but herds of 
 cattle were frequent. It is difficult to imagine 
 on what the people of this locality rely for their 
 subsistence; the country seems so poor that it is 
 a matter of surprise that the inhabitants do not 
 remove to some more favoured spot. Yet in spite 
 of all this apparent poverty a really downcast face 
 is rarely discovered: the people are not used to 
 luxuries, and frijoles and tortillas are everywhere 
 amazingly cheap i 
 
 Whenever the coach halted in a town or village 
 the passengers were regularly besieged by an army 
 of beggars, chiefly old women, and a crowd 
 
FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 1C7 
 
 of cripples defying imagination. A more hideous 
 and utterly disgusting sight is incredible, and each 
 fresh parade of their infirmities, each grip of the 
 listener’s coat, excited a corresponding shudder. 
 It is, I am told, inclination rather than necessity 
 that prompts these unfortunate wretches thus to 
 beleaguer diligence travellers. 
 
 For the next fifteen miles the country was 
 unaltered in its features, and after crossing a small 
 stream we entered upon a strip of rich land. Here 
 the soil seemed favourable, partly stocked with crops 
 of maize and other cereals, partly prepared for the 
 reception of new seed. Fine tall trees of various 
 growths, and an occasional plot of rich pastur¬ 
 age, gave the locality a most pleasing appearance, 
 and contrasted agreeably with the tame scenery 
 through which we had just travelled. Brakes and 
 bushes densely overarched the road, with out¬ 
 stretched branches; and whenever the cochero, 
 to avoid some obstacle, steered near its edge, 
 the coach would brush by them, causing a rattle 
 as of volley-firing, and rendering a look-out a 
 most hazardous proceeding. 
 
 This change in the nature of the land was due 
 
168 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 to the vicinity of a large river, known in Guada¬ 
 lajara as the Rio Grande , which we were now 
 fast approaching. This river, one of the largest, 
 and perhaps the most important in Mexico, 
 rises from the Lago de Lerma, a small lake 
 about twenty-five miles south-west of the city 
 of Mexico, and flows for 600 miles in a 
 north-westerly direction towards the Pacific, which 
 it reaches . about twenty miles north of San 
 Bias. 
 
 After the first 325 miles of its course, the river 
 falls into the Lago de Chapala, a large sheet of 
 water covering about 520 square miles, and situate 
 thirty-three miles south-south-east from Guadala¬ 
 jara. The river, which from its source to its influx 
 into the lake is called Rio de Lerma, enters 
 it at its north-eastern side, and emerges from it 
 barely fifteen miles to the northward. The lake 
 would thus appear to form a huge backwater of 
 the river, and acts as a never-failing reservoir, 
 supplying the stream with an abundance of water 
 during all seasons. From the Lago de Chapala 
 to the sea, a distance of 270 miles, the river is known 
 by the name of Eio de Santiago, with the exception 
 
FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 1G9 
 
 of tlie district of Guadalajara, where it is simply 
 called Rio Grande* 
 
 The valley of this stream, along the greater part 
 of its course, is composed of bottom lands of the 
 greatest fertility, and adapted for crops of the 
 most varied description. At times the valley is 
 thirty miles wide ; at others, where the river winds 
 its course through hills and mountains, and barran¬ 
 cas, it is necessarily narrow, but on an average it 
 possesses a width of about fifteen miles, which, 
 added to a length of about 600 , forms a very 
 considerable and the most productive area in the 
 tierra templada. The wheat and barleyf grown 
 here are of very superior quality, and said to be 
 the best in the Republic. •' 
 
 The land in this splendid valley, although divided 
 into ranchos, and in the most favourable spots, 
 graced with a fair number of hacienda-buildings, is 
 comparatively little cultivated. If, however, means 
 of transport were at hand to convey the surplus 
 grain either west to the Pacific, or east to the 
 
 * The native name of the river is Esquitlan. 
 
 t Barley is not only grown in Mexico for purposes of brewing, but 
 chiefly for fodder for horses and mules, being much preferred to oats, 
 which latter are scarcely, if ever, cultivated. 
 
170 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 Gulf, it could be made to yield perhaps ten times 
 as much as it does at present, and would be able to 
 compete with similar produce from Cliili, California, 
 and other parts of the United States. 
 
 About an hour after we entered the valley we 
 reached the river, a fine stream with a slow current, 
 and at this spot about 150 yards wide. It is spanned 
 by an old but very substantial bridge, the work of 
 the Spaniards more than a century and a half ago, 
 and called Puente National de Tololotlan after the 
 name of the small town at its eastern end.* This 
 bridge heralds a series of narrow valleys and 
 barrancas through which the river flows after 
 leaving this point for a distance of about 120 miles. 
 Some of these barrancas are described as most 
 beautiful and picturesque, but I was, unfortunately, 
 unable to visit them, as well as the celebrated 
 waterfall of Juanacatlan in the vicinity of the village 
 
 * The Puente de Tololotlan was commenced in 1700, and finished in 
 1717. It is, including the approaches, about two hundred yards long, 
 twenty-six feet wide, and supported by twenty-seven pillars forming 
 twenty-six arches. The bridge possesses a few statues, inscriptions and 
 other ornamentations, now all in a state of utter dilapidation, and on the 
 Tololotlan side it is provided with a gate, which formerly closed the 
 passage at night. 
 
FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 171 
 
 bearing the same name, and ten miles above the 
 Bridge of Tololotlan. 
 
 The Rio Grande, at that point 180 yards wide, 
 thunders over a precipice sixty-five feet deep, in a 
 most magnificent waterfall. 
 
 A short drive from the river brought us to a 
 hacienda, where we breakfasted, and after another 
 four miles we arrived at Zapotlanejo, a tumble- 
 down place of about 6000 inhabitants. The 
 same elements that compose all smaller Mexican 
 towns—low adobe houses in straight, narrow streets, 
 diabolical pavements, and a large, costly cathedral 
 worth a dozen times the value of all its surroundings, 
 were likewise to be found here. Zapotlanejo is 
 situated on the edge of the valley of the Rio 
 Grande, on a small tributary of the latter, and the 
 country in its immediate neighbourhood appeared 
 arable and fertile. 
 
 From here the road slightly ascended, and we soon 
 found ourselves again in the vast undulating land of 
 the Mexican plateau, much less rich than the valley 
 we had now left behind, and at times even arid. 
 
 About three-quarters of an hour after turning our 
 backs on Zapotlanejo, the diligence suddenly stopped, 
 
172 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 and looking out we could perceive two men on 
 horseback speaking to the cochero, and presently 
 approaching the door of the coach. Finding three 
 revolvers pointed at them, however, they immediately 
 became very civil, and smilingly informing us that 
 they simply intended to perpetrate a joke, hurriedly 
 wheeled round, and galloped away at full speed. If 
 it had not been for our pistols we should probably 
 have been relieved of some luggage. 
 
 Another hour brought us to a narrow ravine with 
 a small stream running at its base, spanned by a 
 strong stone bridge called Puente de Calderon* 
 after which the road wound over the same mono¬ 
 tonous country for twenty miles, when we arrived at 
 Tepatitlan, a town of about 8000 inhabitants, and in 
 appearance the exact counterpart of its other and 
 similarly sized brethren. 
 
 A clown clad in red and yellow, with painted 
 face, and large artificial nose, was parading the 
 streets on horseback, accompanied by a trumpeter 
 and followed by a crowd of children. Stopping 
 
 * This bridge, constructed in 1807, is celebrated in the annals of the 
 great revolution, by the battle fought there on January 17th, 1811, 
 between the Spanish General Calleja and the Mexican patriot Hidalgo. 
 
FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 173 
 
 at every corner, he proceeded to proclaim in a 
 loud tone the unparalleled fighting qualities of two 
 bulls, which were to be “Done to the death” on 
 the morrow. He finished his harangue with a little 
 joke, immensely appreciated by his youthful audience, 
 who could not contain themselves for laughter. 
 
 The clown was just commencing a repetition of 
 his story in front of the fonda, where the coach 
 had halted to change mules, when the vamanos of 
 the driver invited us to proceed. Off we went in 
 jumps and jerks, over the murderous stones of 
 the Tepatitlan streets, and ascending a low hill 
 continued our journey over a road which, as usual, 
 was merely a perforated bog, with its inter¬ 
 mediate spaces strewn with rocks. How it came 
 to pass that we did not upset has remained a 
 mystery to this day, for the coach was swaying 
 to and fro like a small boat in a cross sea. 
 
 The twenty-one miles from Tepatitlan to La Venta 
 de Pegueros led over a tract of country more stern 
 and barren than any part of Mexico I had as 
 yet seen. It forms a vast plain, hemmed in the 
 far distance by mountains just peering over the hori¬ 
 zon, now hilly, and now’ rising up abruptly to an 
 
174 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 inconsiderable height. The soil is composed of a 
 yellowish-brown sand, at times thickly strewn with 
 boulders and stones, and seemingly fit for no other 
 produce but a few crippled cacti. Luckily some rain 
 that had fallen a few days previously had hardened 
 the ground, otherwise the dust we should have had 
 to encounter, and of which we had some sad 
 experience subsequently, would have been terrific. 
 
 At last, after thirteen hours’ continuous shaking, I 
 was truly thankful to see the coach stop before the 
 large hacienda-house at La Yenta. We had started 
 at 5 A.M., and arrived at 8.30 p.m., having travelled a 
 distance of seventy-three miles. 
 
 The house at which the diligencias stop, where 
 the stage company have their office, and a few 
 rooms are set apart for the accommodation of tra¬ 
 vellers, is the chief building of the hacienda, La 
 Yenta de Pegueros being really nothing but the 
 village formed by the houses belonging to this 
 extensive estate, and the huts of its workpeople. 
 Besides this large quadrangular building with the 
 usual patio inside, the place is hardly anything 
 but a collection of low adobe houses. 
 
 New-Year’s day, 1874, found me up at half-past 
 
FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 175 
 
 two a.m., and an hour later inside the diligence, 
 and under weigh. 
 
 In lieu of a passenger who remained at La Yenta, 
 a very fat half-caste lady was seated in the coach, 
 who was engaged from morning till night in inces¬ 
 santly smoking cigarettes. This habit, so universal 
 amongst the weaker sex of all stations in Mexico, 
 was developed to perfection in the specimen which 
 faced me, to my lasting advantage, throughout the 
 day. 
 
 We had barely quitted La Venta, when the coach 
 stuck in a mud-pool, and all the passengers, but 
 the corpulent senora, had to descend to lighten 
 the vehicle. In the many violent attempts to 
 extricate the diligence, some of the harness, at all 
 times in a deplorable state of rottenness, was broken, 
 causing altogether a delay of over an hour, during 
 which time we had to wait in this veritable slough 
 of despond, unable to stir to the right or the left. 
 
 Our route, at first over a gentle incline, conducted 
 us for about twelve miles across a flat country of 
 a more fertile nature than that traversed the pre¬ 
 vious day, till at a small town called Jalostotitlan 
 we crossed a tributary of the Rio Verde, a river 
 
176 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 which rises in the State of Zacatacas and flows 
 south into Lake Chapala. From here, for the next 
 two or three miles, we toiled up hill after hill, over 
 loose rocks and pedregales of awful formation, until 
 we arrived at a plateau about 7500 feet above 
 the level of the sea, and fully 1000 feet higher 
 than the surrounding country. After eight miles 
 of comparatively plain sailing the road suddenly 
 commenced to descend, and looking ahead I found 
 the country composed of glens and small bar¬ 
 rancas, all parallel to one another, and at right 
 angles to our route. Each range of hills, forming 
 these gulleys, was lower than the preceding one : their 
 sides were hidden by trees and shrubs, growing 
 denser and taller as the altitude diminished; and the 
 rivulets in the valleys gleamed like silvery serpents 
 as the bright sun shone on their spiral course. We 
 now wound in and out through this labyrinth of 
 obstacles, down steep inclines, up hills and across 
 streamlets, until we reached a tolerably well-paved 
 zig-zag road, that led down the last and steepest 
 hills. One by one the lofty towers and steeples 
 of San Juan de los Lagos came in view: the 
 lower we came, the more their number increased, 
 
FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 177 
 
 % ancl at length passing over two solid stone bridges 
 that span the two arms of the Rio de Lagos (a 
 tributary of the Rio Verde), at 11 o’clock we entered 
 I the town.. 
 
 I 0 _ 
 
 oan Juan numbers about 8000 inhabitants, and is 
 rather a cheerful little place. Its houses (the usual 
 low, whitewashed ones) are here and there tattoed 
 with a few wavering lines of red and green, and its 
 small plam is remarkably well kept, and deliciously 
 inviting. An enormous cathedral, with a magnificent 
 facade, and a long flight of broad stairs as its 
 approach, as well as twin-towers of exquisite taste 
 and considerable height, stands proudly out from the 
 other buildings like a man-of-war in the midst of 
 a crowd of row-boats. The interior is majestic 
 and imposing, and, as far as architecture is con¬ 
 cerned, a masterpiece of the art; but when the 
 spectator reflects that thousands and thousands 
 must have been wrung from the wretched popula¬ 
 tion to construct this edifice, that the people have 
 had to undergo privations, to toil and to suffer, 
 before this priestly stronghold could be called into 
 existence, the philanthropist would, I presume, rather 
 behold superior dwellings, greater comfort, and 
 
 M 
 
 I 
 
178 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 less ignorance amongst the laity, than all this 
 clerical splendour. It was on New-Year’s day that I 
 visited this church; its steps and interior were 
 thronged with worshippers, mostly Indians, who with 
 a burning candle in hand would drop on their knees 
 at the door, and thus crawl up to the image or pic¬ 
 ture of the saint for whom the taper was destined, 
 depositing, each of them, their ill-spared mite in the 
 ever-present offertory. 
 
 San Juan de los Lagos is celebrated for the fair 
 which is held there annually at the commencement 
 of December, and which is the most frequented in¬ 
 stitution of the kind in all Mexico. This fair 
 owes its origin to a most sacred shrine, containing 
 an image of the Virgin known by the name of 
 Nuestra Sehora de San Juan de los Lagos. As 
 early as 1623 this shrine attracted a multitude of 
 pilgrims, chiefly in the first days of December, the 
 eighth of that month being the feast-day of the 
 Virgin. The pilgrims naturally brought a large 
 number of traders to San Juan, and to legalise 
 the annual congregation of so large a body of mer¬ 
 chants, King Charles the Fourth of Spain, in 1797, 
 granted a concession for a yearly fair, which was 
 
FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 179 
 
 afterwards confirmed by the Government of the 
 State of Jalisco. 
 
 After two hours’ halt we proceeded on our jour¬ 
 ney, and, ascending anew, in a few miles arrived 
 on a plateau about 7000 feet above sea-level, and 
 thus 1000 feet above the altitude of San Juan. 
 For the next twenty miles we travelled over this 
 table-land, mostly undulating, and sprinkled all 
 the way with a large number of haciendas, and 
 villages of various sizes. The country appears the 
 reverse of sterile, but is only partially utilised; maize, 
 wheat, barley, and beans are the principal products. 
 
 In all the villages I noticed neatly and peculiarly 
 constructed fences of the organo cactus. Instead 
 of the stone or wooden fences, hitherto prevalent, 
 the long straight arms of the organos are here 
 lopped off from their parent, and driven into the 
 ground so close to one another as to leave no 
 perceptible space between them. These pieces 
 quickly take root and grow to a height of more 
 than twenty feet, and as they are from two to six 
 inches in diameter, it may be imagined that they 
 form a strong and suitable protection. Near the 
 villages and haciendas, and sometimes along the 
 
180 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 roads, various trees were worthy of remark, amongst 
 which mezquites and tamarinds predominated. 
 
 As we approached Lagos, numerous species of 
 cacti became abundant, especially nopales, which 
 extended over acre upon acre, and seemed almost 
 to have been purposely planted. 
 
 The situation of Lagos is much like that of 
 San Juan, in a deep valley traversed by the Rio de 
 Lagos, and at least 800 feet below the plateau which 
 we had just traversed. The town was perfectly con¬ 
 cealed from the view until the circuitous descent 
 was commenced, when it gradually emerged. 
 
 It was five o’clock when we entered the town and 
 halted before the fonda, distinguished for the usual 
 execrable accommodation, where I had to share a 
 small room without a window with two other pas¬ 
 sengers. One of these was a Diputado (Member of 
 Congress), a man of superior intelligence, and to 
 whom I am indebted for much valuable information. 
 My gratitude, however, did not prejudice me so 
 much in his favour, as to prevent me from noticing 
 the alarming fact, that not once since our departure 
 from Guadalajara until we started from Lagos, a 
 space of two days and two nights, did this amiable 
 
FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 181 
 
 legislator think it necessary to apply soap and 
 water, either to hands or face, and that he cherished 
 an additional predilection for sleeping clothed in 
 all his habiliments, excepting only his boots. 
 
 Lagos is a gay and pleasing town, with a 
 pattern plaza, a shady paseo along the Ilio, and 
 a charming alameda with fine orange and lemon 
 trees, and numberless white rose bushes, which were 
 all in full blossom when I walked through. The 
 town has an elevation of 6300 feet above sea-level, 
 and over 15,000 inhabitants, mostly engaged in 
 agriculture. 
 
 There is a very extensive flour- mi l l near the 
 alameda which we visited. The wheat employed 
 is all grown in the immediate vicinity of the 
 town, and the motive-power is supplied by water, 
 tapped from the Eio de Lagos, and led over an enor¬ 
 mous waterwheel said to be sixty feet in diameter. 
 The cathedral at Lagos is rather smaller than that 
 at San Juan, and less costly in its structure and 
 ornaments. It is nevertheless sufficiently large for 
 a town ten times the size of Lagos, especially as 
 there are at least eight other churches to keep it 
 company. The population of this entire district 
 
182 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 have the reputation of being as bigoted and fana¬ 
 tical as they are poor and ignorant. 
 
 Lagos is the junction of the diligence route to 
 Durango and the north generally, with that from 
 Guadalajara to the capital. When we started 
 the morning after our arrival, a coach proceeded 
 northward at the same time as our own started 
 for the east, carrying with it the Diputado just 
 mentioned, who intended paying a visit to his 
 constituency. The diligencias from this place 
 eastward are more roomy than those from Guada¬ 
 lajara to Lagos, accommodating twelve passengers 
 inside instead of nine, although the increase in 
 size is in no way proportionate to the augmented 
 number of sitters. 
 
 At five o’clock A.m. we were off. Crossing 
 the Rio de Lagos on a good stone bridge, we 
 proceeded on a somewhat less barbarous road lined 
 on both sides with splendid specimens of the Arbol 
 del Peru (Scliinus Molle), which here so much 
 resembled weeping willows, that I at first mistook 
 them for the latter. 
 
 The road for some distance followed the course 
 of the river, and then turning off in an easterly 
 
FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 183 
 
 direction, wound its way through a network of 
 small lakes, which appeared right and left, and 
 whose existence may have given its name to the 
 town. The country was highly cultivated, and 
 maize, wheat, barley, beans, filled the fields 
 within three to four miles from the town. Later 
 on less care appeared to be bestowed on the 
 land; haciendas became scarcer, and the ranchos 
 were only under partial cultivation, although the 
 soil seemed to repay the husbandman. 
 
 A journey of twenty miles brought us to the 
 border of Jalisco, and we now entered the State 
 of Guanajuato, reputed to be one of the best 
 governed in the Eepublic. 
 
 Two miles further took us to the top of a low 
 range of hills, outposts of the Sierra de Comanja, 
 whose rugged ridges bordered the north-eastern 
 horizon, and then we descended into the splendid 
 plain for which the city of Leon is celebrated. 
 For the next eight miles we drove through this 
 fertile and well-tilled plateau, over roads compara¬ 
 tively smooth, and past the signs of industry and 
 habitation. 
 
 At ten o’clock we caught our first glimpse of 
 
184 
 
 A PEEP A1 MEXICO. 
 
 the clingy streets of the narrow suburbs, and 
 reaching the town proper soon halted before a 
 spacious building, the hotel (as it is here termed 
 to distinguish it from the usual fondas) of the 
 diligencias. 
 
 I had unfortunately not intended to make a 
 stay at this remarkable place, but from what I 
 could see of it in the brief interval between the 
 arrival and the departure of the coach, it impressed 
 me with the idea of being one of the most thriv¬ 
 ing towns in Mexico. It is laid out in the 
 customary manner: straight streets, meeting at 
 right angles, and paved with round pebbles. Its 
 houses are larger, and of architecture superior to 
 those of Guadalajara. They all appeared old, 
 some ruinous, others repaired, and owe their 
 origin, no doubt, to the energy of the old Span¬ 
 iards. The present occupants confine themselves 
 to painting the outsides and warding off utter 
 decay from their ancestral inheritance, but not a 
 new building or any modern improvement is to 
 be seen. In spite of their thus living on the 
 enterprise of bygone generations, the inhabitants 
 of Leon show more activity than most citizens of 
 
FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 185 
 
 other places, who in the majority of cases will not 
 raise a hand to prevent the annihilation of these 
 old and splendid buildings. Three and four-storied 
 houses are common in Leon, some of which, from 
 their grand proportions, doubtless formed palaces 
 in times gone by, when the city was a centre of 
 the old Spanish colonists. A cathedral, rather 
 insignificant for the size of the town, and a 
 crowd of minor churches, distributed over the 
 place, are, as everywhere else, also to be found 
 here, and a well-tended and spacious plaza, 
 enclosed by an ornamental iron railing with the 
 ordinary accompaniments of seats, fountain, and 
 trees, is not missing. Facing the plaza stands the 
 imposing palacio, and its other sides are graced 
 with portales, crowded with the usual frequenters 
 of these shady walks. Dulce and agua fresca 
 vendors, hawkers of sarapes and rebozos, confec¬ 
 tionary stall-keepers, fruit-sellers, and a motley 
 multitude of vagabonds and beggars, crowded the 
 environs of the hotel, and variegated the curious 
 scene. 
 
 Leon, or Leon de los Aldamas, in regard to 
 population ranks second only to the city of Mexico, 
 
18G 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 being estimated as numbering about 100,000 
 inhabitants, including some outlying villages be¬ 
 longing to the municipality. It is situate in the 
 same altitude as Lagos, about 6300 feet above 
 the level of the sea, and is thus blest with 
 the most agreeable climate of the tierra templada. 
 In spite of its size, it is not the seat of the State 
 Government, that privilege belonging to the city 
 of Guanajuato, owing no doubt to its more central 
 position. To this absence of official life is to be 
 attributed the plebeian character of its population, 
 which is principally composed of artisans and 
 tradesmen. Leon is the supplier of many manu¬ 
 factures, superior in their way to any other in 
 the Republic. Thus it is renowned for the best 
 Mexican saddles, and saddlery in general, the 
 most superior spurs, and other metal-work; also 
 . for its sarapes, and woollen and cotton fabrics. 
 
 Leaving Leon we continued our route in a 
 south-easterly direction towards Silao, distant 
 twenty-eight miles. The country as a whole is 
 flat, and at times only slightly undulating. It 
 appears fertile, while its loneliness is at times 
 mitigated by haciendas, villages, and small towns. 
 
FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO. 187 
 
 The roads excel those of the State of Jalisco, 
 and are frequently bordered by prickly-pear cacti, 
 or neat organo- fences. 
 
 We reached Silao at three o’clock, and after a 
 few minutes’ delay to change mules resumed our 
 journey. As we drove through, I found it to 
 be an old and rather dirty place of the cus¬ 
 tomary type, with nothing to arrest attention. 
 
 About four miles away from Silao (the direction 
 of the road being east by north) the aspect of 
 the country gradually changed, and we entered 
 a mountainous district, of partially rocky forma¬ 
 tion, split into gorges and numerous ravines. We 
 were making straight for the Sierra de Comanja, 
 in a valley of which the city of Guanajuato, 
 our destination, lies. Up laboured the mules, over 
 rocks and stones, to the summit of an eminence, 
 immediately afterwards descending into a deep 
 gully, only to recommence ascending still deeper 
 inclines as we proceeded. This repeated itself over 
 a distance of six miles, when we entered a narrow 
 valley, and drove along the dry portions of the 
 bed of a stream called Canada de Marjil, 
 Crossing and recrossing the turbid waters of 
 
188 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 the sinuous rivulet, we travelled over its sandy 
 bed for about a mile, and arrived at one of the 
 suburbs, Marjil, built on both sides of the banks, 
 which here towered at least fifty feet above the 
 stream. Huge stone walls coated the precipitous 
 sides of the ravine, from the top of which the back 
 portions of the squalid habitations stared in all their 
 hideous filth. The muddy nature of the river was 
 caused by the mining processes for which the 
 water is used higher up, and in these suburbs 
 lived the miners, of whom the greater part of the 
 city’s population is composed. Further up, a part 
 of the dry river-bed was used for the manufacture 
 of adobe, for which the soil seems peculiarly fitted, 
 and when we had arrived within a mile of the 
 town, we already perceived large numbers of work¬ 
 men engaged in constructing a wide road along 
 the valley, by dividing its bed and damming up a 
 portion of the stream. I noticed a number of 
 convicts employed in this work, chained in couples, 
 and guarded by soldiers. Still nearer the city we 
 entered the completed part of this exceptional road, 
 and finally, at five o’clock, halted before the Hotel 
 de las Diligencias. 
 
CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 /•-> 
 
 <^V 
 
 GUANAJUATO. 
 
 From bad to good — Site of Guanajuato— Jardin de la Union —New 
 theatre—Superior administration—Foreign residents—Fine coun¬ 
 try houses— Loza —The presas — El Cantador — A Sunday afternoon 
 there—Riders—Mineral wealth— La Valenciana mine— A pestilen¬ 
 tial road— A valuable village— A monster shaft—Mining opera¬ 
 tions— Other mines—Yield of precious metals— Conductas —The 
 Castillo de Granaditas — Trajes del pais —Silver figures—Situa¬ 
 tion of Guanajuato. 
 
 Appearances frequently prove treacherous, and so 
 it was with this pretentious hotel. A four-storied 
 massive building, with a porte-cochere opening into 
 the inner yard, and galleries running along every 
 floor of the building, much in the style of old- 
 fashioned English inns, led us to expect great things. 
 
 We were, however, woefully disappointed. A room 
 on the third floor, ten feet square, with its only 
 window opening into the narrow yard, was all the 
 accommodation my Austrian travelling companion 
 and myself could obtain, in spite of remonstrances 
 
190 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 and polite entreaties. The stifling atmosphere of this 
 stable was awful, and the table-d’hote too dreadful 
 for description. Our delight may consequently be 
 imagined when next day, on presentation of our 
 introductory letters, Messrs M. and Company, the 
 leading firm in the city, most hospitably asked us 
 to take up our quarters in their large and luxurious 
 house in the 'plaza. And now commenced a time 
 of real enjoyment, an episode of more instructive 
 interest than I experienced anywhere else in the 
 Republic. 
 
 Guanajuato is a wonderful place, and unlike any 
 other city I saw in Mexico. It reminded me vividly 
 of the towns of old Spain, both as regards its archi¬ 
 tecture and the quaint animation in its crooked 
 streets. 
 
 The city marks the spot where three narrow 
 mountain gorges meet and unite. It is built on 
 the steep slopes of these three glens, the chief 
 portion of the town surrounding the confluence of 
 the streams. Its streets are necessarily curved 
 and narrow; those running parallel with the 
 streams are tolerably level, whilst those which are 
 built at right angles to them are naturally hilly, as 
 
GUANAJUATO, NORTH-WEST PART 
 
GUANAJUATO. 
 
 191 
 
 they are but the steeps of the gulches. All parts 
 of the town are thus amphitheatrically constructed, 
 and extensive views of the different quarters are 
 easily obtained, either by looking up from below, 
 or taking a commanding position in one of the 
 uppermost thoroughfares. 
 
 The town itself is due to the remarkable mineral 
 wealth of the mountains in its immediate vicinity, 
 and was erected by the Spaniards very shortly after 
 the conquest. There being a scarcity of good build¬ 
 ing sites, the houses on comparatively level ground 
 were constructed to a height of four and five 
 stories, whilst those placed on the sloping parts 
 were kept within the limits of from two to three 
 floors. Thus the lower and better quarters of Guana¬ 
 juato closely resemble the streets of Spanish towns, 
 whilst the steep alleys up the hills are not 
 unlike the vicoli that run right and left into the 
 Via di Toledo at Naples. To eyes grown weary 
 by the unceasing repetition of straight streets lined 
 with low and monotonous houses, this thorough 
 change was a most delightful surprise. But this 
 was not all. From morning till night the streets 
 were astir with an ever-moving, ever-shifting crowd : 
 
192 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 K 
 
 miners in tlieir white loose costume coming for 
 the purchase of provisions, Indians from the neigh¬ 
 bourhood carrying their produce to market, arrievos 
 driving trains of pack-mules, carboneros with heavy 
 burdens of charcoal strapped on their backs, 
 itinerant hawkers of agua fresca, dulces and con¬ 
 fectionery, were constantly mingling with the usual 
 traffic. At no time during the day, and not even 
 during the greater part of the night, were the 
 streets empty, and nowhere in Mexico did I 
 observe sights more suggestive in colouring and 
 character for the author or the artist, not even in 
 the animated capital itself. 
 
 My host’s house was in the plaza here called 
 Jar din de la Union, and from the balcony I was 
 never tired of watching the tide of life below. 
 
 This plaza is smaller than any other I had as 
 yet seen, owing to the scarcity of level ground, and 
 its shape is triangular. But the citizens had 
 made the most of the limited space, and a more 
 elegantly-arranged park of equal dimensions can¬ 
 not be conceived. The shrubs and flowers are 
 choice, the fountain musical, while the pink-painted 
 benches are more graceful than the seats of other 
 
GUANAJUATO. 
 
 193 
 
 plazas. Here, too, are tall lamp-posts whicli (on the 
 “ lucus a non lucendo ” principle) are destitute of 
 oil appliances; and as gas does not exist, evidently- 
 intended for ornament only. This loss of illumina¬ 
 tion, however, was fully remedied by the glittering- 
 crowd of loiterers who assembled to breathe the 
 evening air, and hear the military hand. 
 
 Two sides of the plaza are taken up by large 
 private houses, tastefully and luxuriously constructed, 
 whilst along the third side is an ancient church, 
 with a most noteworthy fagade, sculptured in 
 the overloaded and florid style of the Eenaissance. 
 Next to the church a new theatre is in course of 
 erection; necessarily small, it promises to be a 
 model of its kind, if the few arches and pillars 
 at present standing may he taken as a criterion, and 
 unlike its sister building at Guadalajara, will be 
 completed within a year, to judge from the manner 
 in which the work was progressing when I saw it. 
 
 It must be evident to the most cursory observer 
 that more public spirit and better administration 
 exist here than in any of the towns or states hitherto 
 mentioned. To this the new road, the activity dis¬ 
 played in the constitution of the theatre, the numbers 
 
 N 
 
194 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 of houses in course of erection to replace the old 
 ones, the neatness of public walks and squares, the 
 cleanliness and martial bearing of the military, and 
 many other characteristics, bore eloquent witness. 
 All this is due, in great measure, to the excellent 
 governor of the State, General Antilion, who for 
 many years has been at the head of affairs, and 
 who, unlike the majority of state officials, does not 
 owe his position to guerilla or brigand exploits. 
 The General is descended from an old Castillian 
 family, and by his wise administration, and rigorous 
 execution of the laws, has not only succeeded better 
 than any other governor in thinning the herds of 
 brigands, but also in establishing a less corrupt 
 system of finance. The roads in the State of Gua¬ 
 najuato are thus almost the safest in all Mexico ; 
 and the public exchequer directed into its proper 
 channels, has effected improvements and introduced 
 a general atmosphere of wealth, all the more gratify¬ 
 ing because absent in other parts of the Republic. 
 
 There is a larger contingent of foreigners in 
 Guanajuato than in the more westward towns. In 
 point of numbers the Germans greatly preponderate, 
 and monopolise the commerce of the town. The 
 
; w 
 
 CHIEF STREET IN GUANAJUATO, WITH CATHEDRAL. 
 
GUANAJUATO. 
 
 195 
 
 largest mercantile firms are owned by Teutons, 
 and they also are the representatives of various 
 trades. An English Mining Company, as well as 
 the English direction of the Mint,* have attracted 
 a fair number of Englishmen to the city ; there is 
 also a goodly array of Frenchmen, mostly devoted 
 to the honourable and useful occupations of hair¬ 
 dressing and conjiserie, whilst of North Americans 
 there are but few. 
 
 One afternoon our kind hosts drove us up the 
 banks of the chief Canada towards the great reser¬ 
 voirs which supply the city with water. After 
 lurching along the exceedingly rough pavement of 
 several winding streets, we entered upon a wide 
 road, which continued the entire distance of the 
 drive (over two miles), along the margin of the gulch. 
 This road, which is one of the favourite drives 
 of the people of Guanajuato, was constructed by the 
 same company which instituted the reservoirs, and 
 is lined the entire distance with stone-benches of 
 the usual type, and plentifully supplied with shady 
 
 * By act of the Mexican Congress the English company were 
 paid an indemnity on the 1st March 1874, and the Government 
 undertook the working of the Mint. 
 
196 
 
 A PEEP A T MEXICO. 
 
 trees. A short distance outside the town there 
 were country houses of a singular kind. They were 
 so far in advance of anything I had seen in the 
 country, that I could scarcely trust my eyes. 
 Following no single style, every individual owner 
 seemed to have employed a different architect to 
 design the plan of his residence, and almost every 
 idea appears to have been artistically conceived 
 and admirably executed. How far foreign or native 
 skill is to be credited with these buildings I know 
 not, but the result, to my mind, is most thoroughly 
 successful and highly attractive. Some of the 
 villas are constructed in the fashion so frequent in 
 Southern Italy—a plain, airy building, with many 
 windows, and a verandah on the ground floor, the 
 outside walls gaily daubed with pink and green, and 
 overgrown with vines and creepers; others are more 
 pretentious, and erected entirely of stone. They 
 are approached by pillared porticoes, finely sculptured 
 and bright with statues arranged in numerous 
 niches. All these houses stand in delightful gar¬ 
 dens, distinguished by the variety and perfection 
 which belong to this splendid climate. 
 
 The stone principally used for these buildings, as 
 
GUANAJUATO. 
 
 197 
 
 well as for many in the town, is a peculiar 
 sandstone called loza, which is found in a moun¬ 
 tain called La Buffa, situated on the right side of 
 the road on which we were driving, and towering 
 above all neighbouring ridges with the bold, per¬ 
 pendicular rock which crowns its summit. This 
 sandstone is of the finest grain, and its customary 
 colour—a delicate pale green—is interlined with thin 
 bands of brown, pale blue, and darker shades of 
 green. The theatre above mentioned is being built 
 of this stone, which imparts a peculiar beauty to 
 the columns which it forms. 
 
 About two miles away from the town the reser¬ 
 voirs, called presas, were reached. They are con¬ 
 structed by two huge dams of masonry placed across 
 the entire Canada, thus forming two extensive 
 basins. The lower of these dams serves the purposes 
 of a bridge, and is wide enough for carriages, whilst 
 the upper only admits of pedestrians. These 
 dams are of pleasing design, and unlike similar 
 arrangements at home, conduce to the enhancement 
 of the landscape. They are, like the road, provided 
 with benches, and are much used by Guanajua- 
 toans as pleasant resting-places in the evening. 
 
198 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 The lower part of the dams contain the flood-gates, 
 which are closed towards the end of the rainy season, 
 to retain the waters of the stream for use during 
 the dry months. The upper presa is like a small 
 natural lake. Enclosed on all sides, hut that of 
 the dam, by precipitous and rocky hills, the placid 
 waters of the gulch in their enforced captivity 
 look most romantic, reflecting rocks and foliage 
 with the distinctness of a mirror. 
 
 The water obtained from these reservoirs is 
 considered very wholesome, though its appearance 
 is prejudicial. It contains a strong admixture 
 of sand and mud, which natives do not seem 
 to mind, but which foreigners easily remove by 
 a filter. The people are either too lazy or 
 too ill - informed to employ the same means. 
 When travelling we had everywhere to drink 
 the grayish-blue liquid, which, in the face of a 
 hundred protestations as to its sanitary qualities, 
 was only drinkable through sheer necessity. This 
 grayish-blue colour is by far more repulsive than 
 the pale brown of the water in the creeks of the 
 North American prairies. 
 
 The Alameda in Guanajuato is a fine public 
 
GUANAJUATO. 
 
 199 
 
 garden, and on afternoons, especially of Sundays 
 and Saints’-days, the rendezvous of all the 
 beauty and fashion of the city. This small park, 
 here called El Cantador, beautifies a densely 
 populated part of the town, and is entirely sur¬ 
 rounded by mediocre houses. It forms a square 
 of about 150 yards each way, is enclosed by a low 
 stone wall and laid out in broad walks, capitally 
 disposed and kept. In addition to the foliage so 
 often before described, rise the tall mimosas, and 
 vases and kiosks vary the horticultural charms. 
 
 On the Sunday afternoon of my visit the 
 Cantador was literally crowded. Carriage succeeded 
 carriage, and after driving round the outside 
 road they would stop at one of the gates, where 
 their proprietors descended to enter the garden. 
 
 A large number of equestrians were engaged 
 either in riding round, or taking their stand in 
 a line near the principal gate, and would watch the 
 senoritas enter and leave the park. 
 
 There was a much more of European colour¬ 
 ing about this scene than I had found further 
 west. The carriages were superior, betraying 
 their recent importation either from the “States," 
 
200 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 or Europe; and although at times huge knobs 
 of decorative brass, and blotches of showy paint¬ 
 ing, would betray a lingering taste for barbarous 
 pomp, they were, on the whole, as good a collection 
 as is the average in interior North American 
 towns. 
 
 Here for the first time in Mexico I saw the big 
 American horses, all the larger because contrasting 
 with their small native cousins. It is considered 
 the height of fashion to be able to harness a 
 pair of these animals to the carriage, and the 
 “belles” which it contains are regarded with 
 no little envy by their sisters who have to sub¬ 
 mit to the less elegant stride of little Mexican 
 steeds, or a pair of plebeian mules. The riders 
 form a mixture of Mexican cavalleros in charro, 
 and horsemen, both foreign and native, in 
 
 i 
 
 breeches and boots. "Without being able to assi¬ 
 milate the qualities of the European, the Mexican 
 delights to ape him in dress. The charro is 
 thus fast disappearing, and the nearer the 
 capital, where European influence is most powerful, 
 the scarcer is the national costume. 
 
 The foreigners on their horses and English 
 
GUANAJUATO. 
 
 201 
 
 saddles, in riding trousers and boots, appeared 
 natural enough, but not so the darker-skinned 
 Mexicans, who, when on English saddles and mounted 
 on American, horses, are the most incongruous 
 spectacles. Used from their youth to the Mexican 
 saddle, on which a firm grip is all but unnecessary, 
 and where a tolerably secure seat is inevitable, 
 the bare, flat English substitute affords them no 
 hold whatever, and their legs dangling to and 
 fro in the most alarming manner, emphatically evi¬ 
 denced the agonies of these “fish out of water.” 
 If they only knew what pitiable figures they pre¬ 
 sent when thus trying to mimic foreign habits, 
 they would remain constant to their own spirited 
 ponies and easy saddles, and be content with look¬ 
 ing picturesque and feeling comfortable. 
 
 Guanajuato owes its existence and its fame to 
 the silver mines. To enumerate the names of all 
 would take several pages, for there are considerably 
 over a hundred, of various sizes and richness. 
 Immediately after the conquest the Spaniards 
 became acquainted with the wealth of this 
 region. The first houses of the city were 
 built in 1554, and in 1560 the great vein of silver 
 
202 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 called Veto, mcidre was discovered. It was not, 
 however, until 1760 that this lode was properly 
 worked, and it was then found that the mine called 
 La Valenciana could yield by far the greatest 
 wealth of all. It has been said—with what claim 
 to truth I do not know—that for a number of 
 years more silver was obtained from this mine 
 than had ever been procured from any other in 
 the world. Of late years, and until about twelve 
 months ago, various circumstances had caused 
 operations in the mine to cease, although it was 
 well known that its stock of ore was by no means 
 exhausted. A few years of idleness had filled 
 the subterranean passages with water, the amount 
 of which can only be calculated when it is 
 known that these shafts and tunnels extend for 
 miles. 
 
 The matter appeared hopeless until a com¬ 
 bination of the most powerful native and foreign 
 merchants, the German Consul at their head, leased 
 the property of Don Miguel Kul, the heir of the 
 Perez Galvez family, its hereditary owners, and 
 commenced work anew. Although the difficulty of 
 removing the water will still occupy a considerable 
 
GUANAJUATO. 
 
 203 
 
 time, this new company is already successful, and 
 its hopes for the future are by no means feeble. 
 
 To spare the valuable horses of our hosts, we 
 hired an old carriage with a pair of mules to drive 
 up to the mine, which is situate to the northward 
 of the city. After a drive through the narrow 
 town, we emerged on the banks of one of the 
 three streams (the one that flows from the north), 
 which directed our course for a short distance. This 
 part of the city is occupied by the dregs of its 
 inhabitants, and the dirt and degradation of their 
 dwellings and surroundings is truly awful. The 
 stream here is converted into a public sewer, and the 
 odour with which the atmosphere was impregnated 
 obliged us to substantially protect the approach to 
 our smelling organs. Crossing the gulch over a high 
 bridge we commenced a fearfully steep road, which 
 led through one of the suburbs. Tired of the 
 superfluous beating and stoning of the poor mules, 
 we accomplished the distance on foot, and 
 seating ourselves again at the top, drove along an 
 almost level road, which skirts one of the heights 
 at the back of the town. From here we obtained 
 an extensive view of the city lying immediately 
 
204 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 beneath, us, and its singular situation appeared as 
 if drawn on a map. Distributed all over the 
 mountains that surround the town, we descried num¬ 
 bers of mining works resembling large ant-heaps 
 in the distance, whilst droves of mules were car¬ 
 rying heavy sacks of ore towards the refining 
 works. A short drive brought us to the Yalen- 
 ciana property, which does not consist of a single 
 shaft and a few buildings, like the majority of 
 the North' American mines, but covers an area of 
 considerable extent, and where there is a large 
 village with an old church, and a number of enclo¬ 
 sures— all possessing separate shafts and buildings of 
 their own. The low houses of the village are mostly 
 built of stones, in which lurk veins of silver that 
 would prove very valuable in England, but which 
 would not here repay abstraction. If in future a 
 reduction of the export tax on silver, and cheaper 
 “ beneficiating ” arrangements should supervene, this 
 village will certainly be demolished to obtain the 
 wealth of its building material. We entered the 
 enclosure that contains the chief shaft, or tiro 
 principal as it is called. Here not a little activity 
 was displayed, in hauling up not ore, but large 
 
GUANAJUATO. 
 
 205 
 
 buckets of water, so as to clear the works for 
 future operations. As this great shaft is thirty 
 feet in diameter, and over 2000 feet in depth, 
 communicating with numberless tunnels of enor¬ 
 mous length, it may be imagined that the task of 
 emptying it is the reverse of easy. The process is 
 an arrangement of half-a-dozen large leathern 
 buckets * which are lowered in succession into 
 the pit, and reach the top in the same order, dis¬ 
 charging their contents over the side. 
 
 The motive power is supplied by a small and 
 very simple steam-engine, constructed in Man¬ 
 chester, after the drawings of the young Mexican 
 engineer who is in charge of the work, and who 
 prefers this method to pumping. For the last ten 
 months operations have been in full force day 
 and night, and it is thought that two years more 
 will be required until the subterranean passages 
 are sufficiently emptied for the miners to extract 
 the ore. An unforeseen difficulty was ex¬ 
 perienced in using the water that was drawn 
 up for the boilers of the engine. This, as indeed 
 
 * The untanned leather is stretched over a framework of strong 
 wire. 
 
20G 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 all water on the property, contains such a per¬ 
 centage of different salts that its use was found 
 detrimental, and thus all the requisite water 
 has, during the dry season, to be fetched in 
 barrels on mules’ backs from a great distance, at 
 a considerable cost. After inspecting the various 
 appliances and workshops in this enclosure, we pro¬ 
 ceeded some way through the straggling village, 
 and arrived at another part of the mine, where 
 numbers of operatives were employed on the ore 
 brought from the depths of a similar shaft. 
 This tiro had for some time past been pumped 
 perfectly dry, and it was hence that all the pro¬ 
 fits of the mine were at present derived. Blind¬ 
 folded mules, harnessed to the end of a long pole 
 and circling round, were winding up quantities 
 of stone—mostly quartz—in which the rich metal 
 is found. In a large open space men and 
 boys were squatting before heaps of this stone, 
 busied in all the various stages of reducing 
 the large blocks into small fragments, and sorting 
 the ore according to its richness. Hard by, 
 in a huge shed, mules were turning a rude crush¬ 
 ing-machine, in which the small pieces of stone 
 
GUANAJUATO. 
 
 207 
 
 were refined to the consistency of sand, and in 
 another part again the smelters were outbidding each 
 other in the purchase of the ore, which is sold by 
 a kind of auction. The scene w T as one of great 
 industry and animation, and several hundreds of 
 workpeople were employed in this enclosure alone. 
 
 On our way homeward the various haciendas de 
 benejicio (works where the silver is extracted from 
 the ore), were pointed out to us, scattered over 
 the bases of the hills containing the mines. The 
 bullion, when separated from the stone, is exceed¬ 
 ingly rich in silver, as only the very best ore is 
 “ beneficiated,” and the mode of dividing the dross 
 from the metal is through amalgamation with mer¬ 
 cury. A great amount of the latter is thus con¬ 
 stantly consumed, and the profits consequently much 
 dependent on the price of quicksilver, which at the 
 time of my visit was exceedingly high. There is 
 also some gold to be found in nearly all the bullions, 
 which is generally extracted by the Mint. 
 
 Besides the Yalenciana a great many other mines 
 are prosperous at present; amongst their number 
 La Luz, La Joyce, Rayas, Mellctdo and La Sirena 
 were specially mentioned. The English Mining 
 
208 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 Company not have been very fortunate. Their pos¬ 
 sessions, the San Cay eta no, Buenos Ayres, and 
 Ovejera mines are scarcely paying their expenses; 
 but their chief mine, the Jesus y Maria, is latterly 
 reported to have much improved. It is to be 
 hoped that they too may share the bonanza which 
 so large a number of the others are enjoying. 
 
 There is a mine called Los Cedros, the ore of 
 which is almost all embedded in limestone. The 
 fragments are stamped by the black imprints of a 
 fern, such as is often found in similar formations. 
 This fern, in its outlines, much resembles a minia¬ 
 ture cedar, and it is uncertain whether the mine 
 took its name from the fossils, or from the cir¬ 
 cumstance that cedars formerly grew on the hill. 
 There are, however, not a few Guanajuatoans who 
 fir ml y believe that the imprints on the stones 
 have been caused by the previous presence of the 
 trees, of which, they say, the fossil ferns are 
 the reduced images. 
 
 The total value of precious metals yearly ex¬ 
 ported from Guanajuato was named to me as 
 amounting to about six millions of dollars. Of this 
 sum five millions is converted into silver pesos 
 
GUANAJUATO. 
 
 209 
 
 (Mexican dollars) by the Mint, half-a-million 
 
 coined into gold by the same establishment, 
 
 and the remaining half-million exported in bars 
 and ore. On minted silver the Mexican Govern¬ 
 ment now exact an export duty of five per 
 
 cent.; it used to be considerably more. 
 
 Owing to the insecurity of the roads, the tran¬ 
 sport of precious metal is attended with some 
 
 ceremony and much precaution. The Government 
 themselves undertake its conveyance for a certain 
 charge or tax, and three times a year (until 
 lately it was four times) they organise so-called 
 conductas ,— a convoy protected by from three 
 to five hundred soldiers, according to the state 
 of the country. In the dry season the coin 
 is conveyed in waggons, and during the rains 
 on mules, on account of the soft state of the 
 ground. They travel in short, easy stages, taking 
 over a week to go from Guanajuato to the capital, 
 a distance which the diligence performs in three 
 days. 
 
 Such a conducta was just preparing to start for 
 the city of Mexico when I happened to be in Guana¬ 
 juato ; all the merchants talked of nothing else, 
 
 o 
 
210 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 and remained working till late in their offices to 
 complete the necessary arrangements. Only once 
 in the history of this institution has it happened 
 that a conducta was robbed. In this instance, it 
 is said that the Government themselves were in 
 such urgent need of funds that they went through 
 the farce of an attack on the convoy so as to 
 secure the treasure. They, however, only consi¬ 
 dered it as a forced loan, for some time afterwards 
 all the owners were fully reimbursed. 
 
 One of the most conspicuous buildings of the 
 city is the AThondiga de Granaditas, a square, 
 massive edifice, with a few small windows securely 
 protected by close iron lattice-work. In spite of 
 its ponderous character, it is pleasing in design, 
 and possesses a finely-executed doorway. AThondiga 
 means granary, and that was the primary pur¬ 
 pose of the building. Later on, however, in the 
 wars of independence, it was employed as a fort, 
 for which use it might seem almost to have been 
 destined; and many a fierce struggle is recorded 
 between the Spaniards and the Nationalists, in the 
 commencement of the present century, for the pos¬ 
 session of this building. For Mexicans it has a 
 
GUANAJUATO. 
 
 211 
 
 great historical significance as the spot where their 
 great patriot Hidalgo met his death in 1811 . After 
 his defeat by General Calleja, he and the three other 
 insurrectionary chiefs, Gimenez, Aldama, and Allende, 
 took refuge in the Alliondiga, but were captured 
 
 and killed; their heads were fixed on the four 
 
 corners of the flat roof, where they remained for 
 
 ten years, till in 1821 , after the final destruc¬ 
 
 tion of Spanish rule, they were removed. The iron 
 hooks on which the heads were suspended exist to 
 this day, and form the chief objects of interest in the 
 Castillo de Granctditas, as it is now generally called. 
 
 The plastic skill of the Indians in and near 
 Guanajuato is exemplified by their traditionary 
 accomplishment of moulding rags into figures illus¬ 
 trative of the different costumes of the country 
 • —trdjes del pais —exactly in the same manner as 
 the clay figures of the Indians near Guadalajara. 
 In spite of the less pliable nature of the rags, these 
 images are fully equal to those of clay, and on 
 account of their less fragile nature much preferable 
 for packing purposes. 
 
 Images and figures of a much superior kind, how¬ 
 ever, are cast in Guanajuato from the soft silver- 
 
212 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 amalgam of the haciendas de benejicio. When the 
 silver ore has been crushed to powder, and the 
 mercury applied to it, the outcome is an amalgam, 
 which is a soft, pliable paste, in Spanish mining 
 phraseology named limadorci, from which statuettes 
 of all kinds are easily shaped. Exposed to heat 
 the mercury soon evaporates, leaving the image in 
 very porous, but perfectly pure silver. Ihe figures, 
 as a rule, are coloured to resemble nature, by a 
 clever process of enamel, and represent every phase 
 of society from an cirriero or a cdrbonero to a 
 complete representation of a bull fight. 
 
 The State of Guanajuato is the most densely 
 populated department of the Mexican Republic. On 
 an area of 12,170 square miles, it numbers 874,000 
 inhabitants, thus possessing about 72 to the square 
 mile, whilst the adjoining State of Queretaro, 
 which ranks next in this respect, has only 52, and 
 Jalisco only 14 to the square mile. The city of 
 Guanajuato, situate in north latitude 21° O' 50 and 
 100° 54' 27" west longitude of Greenwich, at an 
 elevation of 7200 feet above the level of the sea, 
 numbers 63,500 inhabitants, including the population 
 of the outlying villages of the mines. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 
 
 Departure from Guanajuato—Irapuato—Improvement in the country 
 —Salamanca—Celaya—Artificial irrigation—The 'plaza — Banos — 
 Apaseo—Indian village—Enter the state of Queretaro—Arrival 
 at the State capital—Superior hotel—Aspect of the town—Its 
 manufactures—Situation and population—A hard day— Questa 
 China—An oasis in the desert—San Juan del Rio—Enter the 
 State of Mexico—The watershed—Arrival at Tula—Our clerical 
 fellow-passenger—'Venta del Refugio—A sermon—Traffic on the 
 road—Huehuetoca—A finely balanced coach—Cuautitlan—Wide 
 and shady roads—Tlalnepantla—The valley of Mexico—Irriga¬ 
 tion—Modern Aztecs—Approach the capital—Arrival in the city 
 of Mexico. 
 
 On leaving Guanajuato, at three a.m. on January 
 6th, the diligence quitted the city on the same road 
 along the bed of the Canada by which we had 
 entered it, this being the only highway connecting 
 the town with the road-system of the country. By 
 the banks of the muddy stream, in the village 
 Marfil , we were joined by half-a-dozen horsemen, 
 who had been waiting the approach of the coach 
 before their dingy low houses. They were the 
 
 t 
 
214 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 escort of the diligence, and in this instance not 
 soldiers, but a private guard specially picked for 
 the service. Arrived at the junction of the various 
 roads with the Canada, the cochero chose that 
 leading in a southerly direction towards Irapuato. 
 After descending from the heights to the plateau, 
 and leaving the hills behind, the country seemed 
 promising as far as about ten miles from Guana¬ 
 juato, when the usual irregular and partial cultiva¬ 
 tion supervened, and the familiar stone fences and 
 low rancho buildings formed the only features of 
 the landscape. The twenty-six miles, mostly down 
 hill, to Irapuato were accomplished in four hours, 
 and at seven o’clock we halted in the 'plaza of the 
 latter town, a snug place of about 10,000 inhabi¬ 
 tants. The exterior of the houses in the vicinity of 
 the Despachio de las diligencias I found painted 
 with tasteful and rather artistic patterns. Other¬ 
 wise I could distinguish nothing of the town 
 excepting the interior of a humble cafe, where 
 we procured some capital chocolate and pan 
 dulce whilst the team was being changed. 
 
 Irapuato is about 6000 feet above sea-level, and it 
 is here that the two routes from Guadalajara to 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 215 
 
 the city of Mexico converge. The way which we 
 travelled runs, with a few slight deviations, east- 
 north-east from Guadalajara to Guanajuato, and 
 thence south to Irapuato, whilst the other route 
 leaves Guadalajara in a south-easterly direction until 
 the Lctgo de Chapala is reached, traverses that 
 lake in a small steamer started by an American 
 resident at Guadalajara, and from La Barca, at the 
 eastern extremity of the Lago, runs north-east to 
 Irapuato. 
 
 Leaving the town we entered upon an elevated 
 road, and crossed two rivers on stone bridges before 
 we had proceeded two miles. About three miles 
 below the bridges they unite, and ten miles further 
 south fall into the Rio de Lerma. The more we 
 approached Salamanca, our next halting-place, and 
 eleven miles distant from Irapuato, the richer 
 became the soil and the more numerous haciendas, 
 ranchos, and tilled fields. The influence of the Rio 
 on the country was apparent in more than one 
 way. In many places the land was already ripe 
 for the sickle, whilst in others maize, wheat, 
 and barley showed various stages of growth. 
 The numerous villages looked clean and thrifty; 
 
216 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 the small plots of land belonging to each house 
 or hut were neatly hedged with organos, and the 
 roads shaded by mesquites (Prosopsis glandulosa), 
 arboles del Peru, and other trees. 
 
 At half-past nine a.m. we reached Salamanca, a 
 clean, straight-streeted town of the ordinary type. It 
 contains about 8000 inhabitants, mostly engaged in 
 the old-fashioned style of manufacturing mantas, 
 sarapes, and rebozos. Indeed, this is said to be one 
 of the first towns in Mexico which produced suffi¬ 
 cient manta- cloth to supply other places after satis¬ 
 fying its own demand. The large convent de 
 los Agustines, with a fine church attached, forms 
 one of the most conspicuous buildings in the 
 town. Appropriated, like all former possessions 
 of the church, by the State, it has now been 
 converted into a prison for both sexes, instead of, 
 as formerly, for one. 
 
 After partaking of almuerzo, and a walk round 
 the pretty garden at the back of the fonda, we 
 continued our journey. 
 
 Salamanca is situated about five miles to the 
 northward of a sharp bend of the Rio de Lerma, 
 which flowing north to that point, from there 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL, 217 
 
 turns to due west. At that bend it receives the 
 waters of an important tributary, the Kio de la 
 Laja, the course of which we followed for the rest 
 of the day. 
 
 The first few miles led us across a splendid plain, 
 but as we proceeded eastward the soil seemed less 
 fitted for agriculture, and after about eighteen miles 
 became perfectly barren. Shortly afterwards we tra¬ 
 versed a plain white with a thick deposit of teques- 
 quite, which continued until we had approached 
 within two miles of our next halting-place, Celaya, 
 where we arrived at one o’clock. 
 
 Celaya is distant about twenty-five miles from 
 Salamanca, and situated 6200 feet above the level 
 of the sea, in a tolerably fertile but naturally dry 
 portion of the country. In order to render the 
 neighbourhood productive, artificial irrigation has 
 been resorted to, and all around the town the land 
 is intersected by narrow canals and ditches, much 
 like similar arrangements in Holland. These wide 
 channels extend for a mile outside the town, and 
 irrigate smaller ditches, in the adjoining fields. 
 The latter appeared to be used as kitchen gardens, 
 and were rich with every sort of vegetable, whilst 
 
218 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 here and there luscious fruit glistened amid lofty 
 branches. Men, women, and children were busy 
 in these fields, in either gathering, planting, or 
 watering, and there was altogether a charming air 
 of homeliness about the whole scene. 
 
 Celaya is a gay and cheery town, with remark¬ 
 ably trim houses, all clean, and tastefully coloured 
 on the outside. It was founded in 1570, under the 
 name of Concepcion de Celaya, and the original 
 narrow and not very straight streets still remain 
 intact, lending it a rather quaint and venerable 
 appearance. The town swarms with places of wor¬ 
 ship. Besides a large cathedral, there are three 
 other churches of enormous size, and more than 
 half-a-dozen smaller ones—more than sufficient for 
 the entire State of Guanajuato. Its population 
 numbers about 25,000, engaged in the manufacture 
 of harness and saddles and other articles of leather. 
 Soap is made in large quantities, and many hands 
 are employed in a woollen manufactory possessing 
 a small steam-engine. 
 
 Celaya has the prettiest plazd of all the pro¬ 
 vincial towns through which I passed. The 
 walks are quite artistically arranged in beds of 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 219 
 
 eccentric shape and grouping. Indeed the arrange¬ 
 ments of this square would have done credit to 
 any gardener at home. In the centre of the rich 
 plantations, there is a monument erected in remem¬ 
 brance of the Independence of the Republic, 
 formed by a column of white stone, rising from 
 a fountain. 
 
 Opposite the fonda where we stopped there 
 is a bathing establishment, which is supplied with 
 warm water from an Artesian well. The baths are 
 practical as well as practicable. There are a series 
 of private compartments, and a large public basin 
 sufficiently deep for swimming purposes. The 
 white-washed walls are gay with fresco paint¬ 
 ings, more amusing than artistic, and represent 
 two European gentlemen attired in the newest 
 fashion in active conversation with a Mexican 
 cavallero robbed in cliarro. This magnificent 
 specimen of native art is executed in life-size, and 
 covers the entire wall. 
 
 Refreshed by a dip in the baho we resumed our 
 journey, and after passing the gardens and green 
 fields outsidtt the town we crossed the Rio cle la Laja 
 on a compact stone bridge flanked by obelisks 
 
220 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 and columns. Our route led us on an elevated and 
 partially paved road across stubbly land. Scarcity 
 of water prevents a more extensive improvement 
 of the soil, which is here only used for stock¬ 
 farming. Horses, oxen, and pigs are bred in large 
 numbers in this district, whence the States of 
 Guanajuato and Queretaro draw their chief sup¬ 
 plies. Whenever we came near a hacienda or 
 a village, artificial irrigation was observable, and 
 trees and crops were seen in the neighbouring gar¬ 
 dens and fields. As we approached Ajpaseo, a small 
 town ten miles from Celaya, a great portion of 
 the country was planted with the maguey, which in 
 the immediate vicinity of that town is replaced by 
 well-watered fields of vegetables, interspersed with 
 orange, lemon, and other fruit trees. After leaving 
 Apaseo we continued over a loamy plain dotted 
 with numerous haciendas and small villages, sur¬ 
 rounded by well-irrigated fields, clumps of trees 
 and little enclosures separated by organo fences. 
 Fourteen miles further brought us to the border 
 of the State of Queretaro, near which we changed 
 mules for the last time before reaching the State capi¬ 
 tal in a village of Indian huts. The inhabitants of 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 221 
 
 this pueblo were a race of natives perfectly different 
 to any I had previously met. They appeared to be 
 inferior in physique and intelligence to the Indios 
 of the Pacific slope, and their huts were, unlike 
 those of the latter, constructed in a most slovenly 
 and fragile manner. 
 
 Our first acquaintance with the State of Quere- 
 taro was marked by the toils of a steep and for¬ 
 midable pedregal, and the allurements of a terrible 
 road fenced in by walls of broken lava, and nopales. 
 The roads throughout the States of Guanajuato 
 were much superior to any over Avhich I passed in 
 the rest of Mexico. In Queretaro, however, every¬ 
 thing has the reputation of resembling the institutions 
 of Jalisco; thus bad roads and probable attacks 
 from brigands were awaiting us. This fearful road, 
 which was fortunately only three miles long, was 
 literally lined with rude modern crosses, indicating 
 the graves of the victims of ladrones with which 
 this particular locality is said to abound. 
 
 An hour more and we arrived at the top of the 
 hill, from which we descried the city of Queretaro, 
 most picturesquely situate on the summit of an¬ 
 other hill rising from the splendid valley that 
 
222 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 intervened, and commanded by a semicircle of 
 heights in the background. There were still seven 
 miles to the city, which took us an hour and a 
 half to accomplish, although at first sight we 
 imagined the distance to be much less. The road 
 through the rich dell is lined with fine trees 
 —arboles del Peru and mezquites —beyond which 
 extends refreshing strips of cultivation. At last, 
 at six o’clock, we entered the straight streets of 
 Queretaro and halted at the Hotel de las 
 Diligencias, having travelled over 90 miles since 
 the morning. 
 
 The hotel was an agreeable surprise, and by far 
 the best I had as yet visited in Mexico. It is a fine 
 building, well proportioned, and three storeys high, 
 with a large patio, and easy, wide flights of stairs 
 leading to the upper galleries. The rooms are well- 
 appointed and remarkably clean ; this, coupled with 
 good attendance and superior cuisine, reminded me 
 almost of European or North American comforts. 
 
 Queretaro, since the -fall of Maximilian’s empire, 
 and the death of that unfortunate prince on the 
 Cerro de las Campanas, a hill in the immediate 
 vicinity of the city, has acquired a memorial 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 223 
 
 \ 
 
 r 
 
 fame, and the circumstances connected with that 
 event, as well as the general features of the town, 
 have been repeatedly and minutely described. 
 Apart, however, from the melancholy end of the 
 emperor, the Cerro de las Campanas does not 
 deserve the most cursory inspection; and when 
 the fact of Maximilian’s imprisonment in the con¬ 
 vent of Los Capuchinos is disassociated from the 
 building, it is not more interesting to gaze upon 
 than any ordinary edifice of the same kind. 
 
 The narrow streets of the city look gloomy; the 
 comparatively lofty houses, with their quaintly- 
 barred windows, stone balconies, and clumsy wooden 
 doors in the portes-cocheres, possess an ancient and 
 sombre appearance ; which, added to the melancholy 
 and monotonous tolling of the u nb arm on ions bells 
 of twenty-five churches, imparts to Querdtaro more 
 of mediaeval seclusion and strangeness than I had 
 yet noticed. Some of the footpaths are paved with 
 a pink kind of sandstone called loza, like its light- 
 green relative at Guanajuato; but the pink species 
 is not so pretty, and cannot so well resist the on¬ 
 slaught of the weather, changing its colour to an 
 ugly ash-gray after a short exposure. There are 
 
224 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 considerable quantities of this stone in the 
 quarries near the city. 
 
 The town is supplied with water by an aqueduct, 
 which brings it from the surrounding heights, and 
 which forms a conspicuous object in the landscape 
 of the country. 
 
 The inhabitants are largely engaged in the manu¬ 
 facture of soap and cigars, the latter from tobacco 
 grown in the neighbourhood; they also brew a 
 considerable quantity of pulque for home con¬ 
 sumption. But its chief claim to the appellation 
 of manufacturing town is owing to the cotton 
 factories belonging to the Rubbio family. The 
 one called Hercules is by far the most important 
 of the two, and has the reputation of being the 
 largest in the entire Republic. The motive power 
 is supplied partly by water, partly by two steam- 
 engines of English make. The chief articles pro¬ 
 duced are mantas and yarns. 
 
 The State of Queretaro covers an area of 504 
 square miles, and contains a population of 180,000. 
 The metropolis is situate at an elevation of 6600 
 feet above sea-level, and numbers 55,000 inhabi¬ 
 tants. In importance it ranks fourth in the Re- 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 225 
 
 public, only yielding to Mexico, Puebla, and 
 Guadalajara. 
 
 At 3.30 a . m . on January 7th, I was again seated 
 in the diligence, continuing my route to the capital. 
 That day’s journey was described as the longest and 
 hardest of the entire route between Guadalajara and 
 Mexico, and my informants, unfortunately, were not 
 in error. The distance to Tula, our destination 
 that day, is 42 leguas —109 miles—leading over 
 the most horrible roads of any I had yet tra¬ 
 versed, banked half a foot high by yellowish-brown 
 dust, which in dense clouds enveloped the coach 
 the whole w T ay. I have undergone many fatigues, 
 have tramped many a mile over steep and 
 rugged mountains in a broiling sun, and camped 
 many a night on the snow-covered prairies, with 
 only an ineffectual wall of canvas between me 
 and the piercing north wind, but I can recall no 
 hardships comparable with these sixteen hours of 
 almost continual jolting and jostling, in an atmo¬ 
 sphere composed of three parts of dust to one of air. 
 
 As I had frequently done before, I now exchanged 
 my seat in the interior for one behind the cochero 
 on the roof of the diligence to secure a wider 
 
 p 
 
226 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 view. This certainly offered me a purer atmos¬ 
 phere, but the motion was naturally less equable, 
 and forced me to grasp the rails with both hands 
 
 to retain my equilibrium. As I never relin¬ 
 
 quished my gun during the whole time of my stage¬ 
 coach travels, it may be imagined that I was far 
 removed from the temptations of listlessness or 
 indolence. 
 
 Immediately after leaving the city we toiled up 
 a steep hill of rocky formation through a wild 
 and arid country, productive of nothing but 
 nopales. The stony soil, however, seemed to 
 
 suit the prickly pear] cactus, for on both sides 
 
 of the wide road dense forests of it stretched 
 away as far as eye could see. This hill is called La 
 questa China, and is infested with brigands. This 
 had been emphatically mentioned by everybody of 
 whom we had sought information, with a sympa¬ 
 thetic smile and shrug, as much as to say, “If 
 you get through elsewhere you will be sure to 
 catch it there,” but our good fortune continued, 
 and we passed in safety. In spite of the bad 
 reputation of this locality, and the impotence of 
 the authorities to stamp out the robbers that 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL . 227 
 
 ply their trade there, only four tattered cavalry 
 soldiers escorted the diligence. 
 
 After reaching the summit of the hill our 
 route continued over a plateau, on wretched 
 roads across the most forbidding and sterile 
 country imaginable. With the exception of a 
 miserable pueblo of huts, called La Palma, there 
 is no town or village, or even hacienda, the 
 entire way between Queretaro to San Juan del 
 Rio, a distance of thirty-five miles. We changed 
 mules at poor-looking ranchos, consisting merely 
 of palsied and solitary houses, and mostly sur¬ 
 rounded by maguey fields. The latter, and 
 nopales, seem to be the only plants that can 
 feed on the soil. This whole vast plain appears 
 to be of very ancient lava formation, and its 
 thin layer of earth only coats it at intervals. 
 Pieces of lava and grim boulders strew the gloomy 
 waste, which is at times patched with ragged 
 stubble, besides the wild-growing prickly pear cacti, 
 but otherwise utterly nude and dismal. 
 
 At nine o’clock our eyes were gladdened by 
 the view of a green and fertile valley lying in 
 the direction of our route, as an oasis in a desert. 
 
228 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 This defile is formed by one of the head-streams 
 of the large Rio de Montezuma. It is a pretty 
 little river with gently sloping green banks. On 
 the stream and cradled among trees and luxuriant 
 herbage is situate San Juan del Rio, whose steeples 
 and houses gradually rose as we approached. 
 Splendid huertas outside the town were a mass 
 of fruit-trees and magnificent flowers, and the wide 
 road which we followed was sweet with umbrageous 
 mezquites and arboles del Peru . 
 
 Crossing the river over a good stone bridge, we 
 drove up the main street, and halted before a 
 rather modest fonda. This main street is a very 
 wide, tolerably well-paved road, overarched on 
 both sides by rows of beautiful trees, under the 
 shade of which the people were comfortably in¬ 
 stalled in numerous benches. The houses are gaily 
 painted, perhaps to excess in many instancesj but 
 rendering the town peculiarly pleasing. Here for 
 the first time I noticed substantial wooden 
 gratings before the windows instead of the 'usual 
 iron bars, which gave the houses a doubly 
 piquant appearance. 
 
 Continuing our journey we soon left the fra- 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 229 
 
 grant gardens, and the fresh green fields of San 
 Juan behind us, and again plunged into the same 
 barren plain. After four miles we crossed the 
 frontier and entered the State of Mexico, and 
 at eleven o’clock we halted at a hacienda to 
 partake of luncheon. Whilst we were seated 
 the diligencia from Tula, with the passengers 
 bound west, arrived. They, like ourselves, were 
 parched and cloaked with dust, and in the same 
 state of uncleanliness. For more than three hours 
 after resuming our route, the country underwent 
 no change, until at about three o’clock in the 
 afternoon the mountains, which had all day bounded 
 the plain, commenced to dawn on our view 
 and approach one another. The road gradually 
 ascended, and we entered the mountain range 
 called Sierra Arroyada, which in this part 
 forms the watershed between the Atlantic and 
 the Pacific. The scenery became varied and pic¬ 
 turesque ; right and left the country was composed 
 of numerous hills, with dimpled dales between 
 them, carpeted by soft, short velvety grass, and 
 studded with groves of tall trees and matted brush¬ 
 wood. Cotton trees, with full pods, from which the 
 
230 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 fleecy substance was already bursting, were abundant, 
 as were tamarind, and Peruvian pepper-trees, grouped 
 in knolls or growing isolated, and giving to the 
 country tbe appearance of a park. After crossing 
 several small streams and fair vales, both deliciously 
 and delicately fresb, tbe road commenced to ascend 
 more rapidly, and by degrees tbe vegetation became 
 thinner, and presently .ceased. 
 
 Tbe country assumed a bleak aspect, and 
 everything indicated that we bad reached a con¬ 
 siderably higher altitude. At a forlorn-looking 
 rancho, where we changed mules, we had arrived 
 at the summit of the pass, 8300 feet above the 
 level of the sea. Thence w.e gently descended, 
 and a little further followed the margin of a deep, 
 sandy barranca, without a particle of vegetation to 
 warm its cold and yellow sides. As we proceeded 
 the declivities grew exceedingly rocky, and the road 
 led over a succession of loose stones and boulders, 
 that forced the cochero to walk his mules at a snail’s 
 pace. There appeared no end to this wretched 
 stand-still torment. All the occupants of the dili¬ 
 gence, half-suffocated with dust, and sore all over 
 with knocks and bruises, were silent and sulky, 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 231 
 
 and our arrival at the last hill before Tula had no 
 other effect than to add symptoms of anxiety to 
 the many of fatigue hitherto manifested; for this 
 precipitous hill was the hunting-ground of a much- 
 feared gang of ladrones. It was perfectly dark 
 when we descended this height on a steep road 
 that skirts one side of it, whilst a yawning bar¬ 
 ranca spread its chasm beneath the other. 
 
 Twenty minutes more landed us safely before 
 the fonda at Tula, without our having met the 
 dreaded brigands, who that very morning, as the inn- 
 people informed us, had plundered a private party 
 travelling in a carriage of their goods and chattels, 
 mules and all, leaving the bare vehicle on the 
 road and dispatching its occupants back to Tula 
 in a perfectly nude condition. And this took 
 place within 300 yards of the fonda! 
 
 It was eight o’clock before we sat down to dinner 
 that evening, and as we had to start again early next 
 morning, it was impossible to see much of the little 
 town. As far as the hotel was concerned, however, 
 we found the accommodation afforded almost as 
 good as at Quer^taro, and much superior to what 
 we had hitherto been inured. Our approach to 
 
232 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 the capital was thus announced by the presence of 
 additional comforts and luxuries. 
 
 The next day’s stage was comparatively short. 
 The distance from Tula to the city of Mexico is 20 
 leguas, or about 52 miles, less than half the previous 
 day’s journey, and accordingly ought to have been 
 completed in half the time, viz., eight hours. But 
 instead of giving the travellers the benefit of the 
 shorter distance, the Stage Company cleverly profit 
 by it themselves, much preferring the interest of 
 their own pockets to the comfort of the passengers. 
 This is performed by providing fewer changes of 
 mules, thus .reducing the speed; and whilst we 
 had hitherto advanced at the rate of seven miles 
 an hour, including stoppages, we to-day only 
 made a little over five. 
 
 Starting at half-past-six a.m., the sun had risen 
 sufficiently high to allow of an inspection of Tula, as 
 we drove through its streets; but there was nothing 
 to distinguish it from the generality of Mexican 
 towns of equal size. A certain air of freshness, how¬ 
 ever, was connected with the place, owing probably 
 to a profuse distribution of bright trees, that con¬ 
 trasted pleasantly with the gloom and dulness of 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 233 
 
 similar towns. Tula boasts a very fine cathedral 
 famed for the purity of its Gothic architecture, 
 as the cure, who here joined the diligence, in¬ 
 formed us. A few of the inhabitants had assem¬ 
 bled in the doorway of the hotel to bid farewell to 
 this priest, who was about leaving his parish for 
 some time; and it was amusing to see the eager¬ 
 ness of the people (mostly women), to shake 
 hands with their “pastor and master.” In return 
 for their few and quickly delivered speeches, he 
 would simply pronounce the word “felicidad” in 
 a reserved, dignified manner, and appeared rather 
 annoyed at his flock’s importunity. One enthu¬ 
 siastic admirer of the cure was in attendance on 
 horseback, and “ escorted ” the coach for more 
 than two miles along the road. 
 
 Tula is situate in a narrow valley, at an elevation 
 of 7100 feet above the sea-level, and immediately 
 after leaving the town we commenced ascending 
 anew on our way to still increased altitude. For 
 ten miles we drove slowly up hill, over a terribly 
 dusty but not particularly rough road, leading 
 through thinly cultivated fields planted with the 
 
234 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 usual cereals, and at lialf-past-eiglit o’clock arrived 
 at Venta del Refugio.* 
 
 Whilst the team was being changed we visited 
 a most charming little waterfall, formed by the 
 impetuous rush over some gaunt rocks of the waters 
 of a small tributary of the Rio de Tula, which 
 winds its craggy course a few yards from the 
 Venta, and adds a grateful moisture to the luxu¬ 
 riant growth of ferns and trees. 
 
 Refreshed by our little excursion we resumed our 
 journey, and were soon interested in a vehement 
 sermon which the curt, who had improved the 
 interval by becoming more familiar with us, began 
 to fulminate against the present Republican 
 Government, the measures they had adopted to 
 impair the influence of the priesthood, and the 
 iniquitous spoliation, as he called it, of the church 
 
 * Venta (a word which forms part of the name of a great many small 
 places in Mexico), was originally used to designate halting-places in the 
 open country. They were gradually established, in the early years of the 
 colonisation of Mexico, on all the principal roads, and at distances from 
 one another equal to a day’s journey on horseback. In the course of 
 time, and owing to the increase of population, a large number of these 
 Ventas were transformed into towns and villages, or received additional 
 rancho-buildings, while others retain their original shape to this day. A 
 Venta pure and simple, consists of the posada or meson, the hostelry, 
 containing sleeping accommodation and stables, the fonda, where food 
 and drink may be obtained, and often a general store called the tienda. 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPTIAL. 235 
 
 property. As I listened attentively to his elo¬ 
 quent harangue, remained silent when I differed 
 from his views, and now and then ventured a 
 word of assent when he by chance brought forward 
 an argument with which I agreed, he so misunder¬ 
 stood my conduct as to believe me a staunch sup¬ 
 porter of his views, and we became bosom friends. 
 In return for the kindly sentiments for his 
 party with which he credited me, he politely in¬ 
 dulged in a eulogy of European and especially of 
 English institutions, and endeavoured to impress 
 two young Mexican fellow-passengers, who were 
 returning to College after a holiday, with the supe¬ 
 riority of the Old World civilisation. The two stu¬ 
 dents, however, were true Mexicanos, who, like all 
 the rest, are convinced that Mexico is the first 
 country in the world. They incredulously refused to 
 accept such a secondary rank for their native 
 land, and having received an ultra-republican 
 education, treated the cures discourse with some¬ 
 thing very like contempt. Between the two 
 parties in the coach the divine now became much 
 excited, and adding violent gestures to still more 
 violent words, threatened to shout himself hoarse, 
 
236 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 and us deaf. Exertion and dust, especially the 
 latter, soon commenced to produce their effects; 
 the padre gradually diminished in vigour, and 
 finally, subsiding into a corner, wrapped his head 
 in his cloak, and regardless of the severe jolting of 
 the coach dozed peacefully to sleep. 
 
 We had meanwhile passed the summit of the 
 mountain range which we had been ascending 
 all the morning, and were travelling on a gently 
 descending road round the hills and over the 
 glades of the sierra. At one time, the way led 
 along the margin of a long, narrow, but very deep 
 barranca; at others, through sloping woodlands. 
 The road thickly piled with dust, and anything 
 but smooth, became more and more animated as 
 we approached the capital. It was often so 
 crowded that the diligence had to wait several 
 minutes until it could pass, and the clouds of 
 dust generated by the traffic were too awful to 
 be described. Long trains of huge waggons, upon 
 which the goods were stacked to an enormous 
 height, drawn by from eight to sixteen mules, and 
 ox-carts (of a superior description to those. seen 
 further west, and with civilised wheels) were 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 237 
 
 literally blocking tbe way, whilst an enormous 
 number of pack-mules, in defiance of a few useless 
 arrieros, would spread all over tbe road, and often 
 knock their protruding loads against one another 
 or the coach. Meeting an unwieldy train of mulas 
 de cargo when on horseback is quite a perilous 
 affair. The beasts are devoid of the slightest 
 idea of distance, and in spite of your exertions to 
 get out of their way, will often stubbornly face 
 you and bring their loads in collision with your 
 legs and your animal. Many accidents—some very 
 severe—are constantly occurring in this way; the 
 best means to avoid them being to wheel round 
 when the train approaches, and move in the same 
 direction as the mules until a fitting opportunity 
 arises for escape. 
 
 The waggons proceeding towards the city were 
 mostly freighted with large bales of cotton, whilst 
 those tending in the opposite direction principally 
 contained manufactured goods. The mules chiefly 
 transported barrels and building stone. 
 
 Seven miles from the Venta del Refugio there sud¬ 
 denly appeared a rift in the hills, which until then 
 had supplied, as it were, an emerald setting to the 
 
238 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 landscape, and the road led through a gap called the 
 Puerto de Montero into a straight causeway, which 
 in another four miles brought us to Huehuetoca at 
 half-past ten. The small town is situate in a splendid 
 valley girdled by mountains on all sides, excepting 
 towards the south, where the view is bounded by the 
 waters of the Laguna de Zumpango. To our right 
 rose the peak of the Cerro de Sincogue, whilst on 
 the left many a jagged crest towered above the 
 range, the two most conspicuous being the Cerro 
 Blanco and Cerro Colorado. The slopes of the hills 
 and the valley are fruitful, and a perfect patchwork 
 of haciendas. Fields of maze and other cereals 
 succeed large maguey plantations and a number 
 of orchards hedged off by substantial walls. 
 
 After partaking of luncheon and admiring the 
 musical talent of some mocking-birds caged in the 
 patio of the fonda, I took my seat next to the 
 cochero not to miss any feature of the celebrated 
 valley of Mexico we were now nearing. The 
 broad causeway was bordered on both sides by 
 wide ditches which communicated with large 
 canals, of which we crossed several on stone bridges 
 before we reached our destination. The road, 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 239 
 
 lined by tall poplar trees, soon assumed a very 
 European and specifically French appearance. The 
 surface of these chaussees was by no means even, 
 the left wheels of the coach sometimes running 
 several feet above the level of the right. My con¬ 
 versation with the driver elicited the fact that by 
 shifting of luggage or some other trifling accident 
 the equilibrium of the diligence is easily disturbed, 
 and that “spills” are not at all rare occurrences. 
 This intelligence brought to mind the account of 
 an upset recited to me by the driver of a Californian 
 concord coach, when a few months previously I was 
 travelling from Knight’s Ferry to Chinese Camp 
 in Tuolumne County. Pointing out a somewhat 
 nasty piece of road, he exclaimed: 
 
 “ At that spot Bill’s coach was upset the other 
 day.” 
 
 I understood that Bill was his colleague, and pro¬ 
 ceeded to inquire how the accident had happened. 
 
 “ It wasn’t Bill’s fault, it was all owing to that 
 confounded nigger sitting by his side.” 
 
 I ventured to ask what the darky had done. 
 
 “ He was chewing a tremendously big quid, sir; 
 those awful niggers always do.” 
 
240 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 I hinted my inability to comprehend how the 
 quid could have interfered with the safety of the 
 vehicle. 
 
 “ Well, sir,” he replied, “ he selected that very 
 place to turn the tobacco from the right side of his 
 mouth to the left, and over went the coach.” 
 
 A mile from Huehuetoca we crossed the small 
 Rio de Cuautitlan on a stone bridge called Puente 
 de Guadalupe ; two miles further the rancho Los 
 Pdjaros, and after another mile the small pueblo 
 Coyotepec were passed on our right, while con¬ 
 tinued crops of corn and plantations of maguey 
 attested the skill of the agriculturist and the 
 husbandman. Eight miles more, on the straight 
 road, brought us to Cuautitlan, a pleasing little 
 town. From here, that we might avoid a hill 
 over which the main road leads, we turned off to 
 the left, and after a mile arrived at Tultitlan, where 
 our team of mules was exchanged for one of small 
 gray horses. Rejoining the camino real, after a short 
 distance we continued over the wide road, for two 
 miles, with the narrow channels at its side, and the 
 slim poplars, mezquites, and arboles del Peru overhead, 
 when an ascent commenced, and we soon found 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 
 
 241 
 
 ourselves toiling over a neglected causeway. Quit¬ 
 ting the highest point, we began the steep de¬ 
 scent at a rapid pace, and passing the rancho San 
 Pedro Barrientos soon arrived at the dirty 
 little town of Tlalnepdntld, after leaving which 
 we at last entered the long-expected valley of 
 Mexico. 
 
 From Tlalnepantla the road turns off to the left, 
 and as soon as the houses were past, the two giant 
 volcanoes, the chief features of this famed region, with 
 their huge peaks of snow, sparkled in the distance. 
 The sky was marvellously keen and clear—a real, 
 intensely blue Mexican sky—and the atmosphere, 
 when free from dust, deliciously light and invi¬ 
 gorating. Objects far away, and beyond the range of 
 vision in any ordinary climate, here appeared quite 
 near, and the hoary heads of the venerable Popoca- 
 teptl and Ixtaccihudtl stood out as sharply against 
 the sapphire sky as if only two instead of fifty miles 
 intervened between us and them. On the whole, 
 however, the first sight of the valley of Mexico 
 disappointed me. My position was not sufficiently 
 commanding to obtain an extensive coup d’oeil; 
 and finding myself on low ground, surrounded by 
 
242 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 fields and trees, at no time distinguished much of 
 the landscape. 
 
 The road continued consistent to the end of 
 our journey—a wide, straight causeway, in had 
 repair and fearfully dusty, with its wearisome border 
 of dykes and poplars. The ditches communicated 
 with a number of canals, large and small, which 
 frequently intersect the road and over which are 
 solid bridges. The harvest around owes its rich¬ 
 ness to this plentiful irrigation. The plain bristles 
 on all sides with cones and hill-tops, under whose 
 shelter repose drowsy villages and haciendas belted 
 with green glades, and each overshadowed by its 
 huge white church. 
 
 The nearer our approach to the city the greater 
 the animation on the road, and the busier traffic of 
 waggons, carriages, riders, and pack-mules. Indians 
 carrying heavy burdens, and in costumes different 
 from those hitherto seen, added a new feature to 
 the scene. In a frame of wood called huecalito 
 by the natives, strapped on the back by a leather 
 thong passed across the forehead or chest, men 
 and women were carrying heavy loads of char¬ 
 coal, wood, vegetables, and pottery, as well as coops 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 243 
 
 of poultry for market. The lineaments as well as 
 the dress of these Indians were by no means 
 identical with those previously met with. They 
 are the descendants of the old Aztecs, and it is a 
 most curious fact that though their ancestors were 
 in advance of all the aboriginal tribes, and though 
 they dwelt close to the very centre of all Mexican 
 civilisation, they have remained truer to their 
 native instincts than any of the other Indian races. 
 They are said to have altered but very little since 
 the conquest, and their customs and culture, if 
 at all affected, are believed to have deteriorated 
 rather than improved since Cortez first set foot 
 upon their soil. Their clothing is of the simplest 
 description, consisting merely of a large scivcype 
 in which the entire body is swathed, and a pair ' 
 of short white drawers. The women wear a short 
 petticoat, and a square cloth on their heads, 
 closely resembling the head-gear of the Roman 
 peasant girl. 
 
 I am informed that these people manufacture 
 themselves nearly all materials they require, and 
 that by the same primitive process which was in 
 vogue before the Spanish settlement. In the 
 
244 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 Valley of Mexico intermarriages between Europeans 
 and Indians are less general than almost anywhere 
 else in the Republic, and the mestizos who people 
 the capital in great numbers have mostly migrated 
 from other portions of the country. 
 
 Two miles from Tlalnepantla we reached the 
 small village San Bartolo, at the foot of the fine 
 Cerro Tenaya, and turning to the right we entered 
 a causeway six miles long, which runs in an uninter¬ 
 rupted line up to the city gates. 
 
 The road improved as we proceeded through 
 clusters of villages, haciendas, fondas, and pul- 
 querias. There was plenty to occupy eye and 
 mind: before the houses, especially the inns, 
 Indians, arrieros and others, lolled in lazy groups, 
 their animals or vehicles waiting on the road, 
 whilst their various contents tempted me to ask a 
 thousand and one questions. To our left, two 
 miles away, a chain of mountains bounded the 
 view, at the very foot of the Cerro Guerrero, 
 (the last of the range) glittered the village and 
 cathedral of Guadalupe. In the far distance to 
 our right, and founded on a sheer and towering 
 rock, rose the historic stronghold of Chapultepec, 
 
FROM GUANAJUATO TO THE CAPITAL. 
 
 245 
 
 and before ns the towers and domes of Mexico 
 came gradually in view. At a quarter to four 
 o’clock we entered the purlieus of the city—low, 
 straggling, and distinguished alike for size and 
 squalor. Further on we passed through the 
 Garita de Vallejo, one of the city gates, and 
 driving over a level railway (the Mexico and Yera 
 Cruz line), where we just escaped the passing 
 train, entered the suburbs of the City of Mexico. 
 Through dingy streets, and wretched dens, ten¬ 
 anted by the lowest classes, we quickly reached a 
 thoroughfare of nobler appearance. The houses 
 were larger in size and of better architecture, the 
 streets were cleaner, the inhabitants looked more 
 civilised, and the further we advanced the more 
 imposing became the scene. Turning to the left, 
 and rattling through two or three more streets, we 
 finally reached the patio of the stage-coach office, 
 and with it the end of our diligence travel, “ sin 
 novedad .” 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 Hotel Iturbide—Arrived in the tierrafria — Plaza mayor —The Cathedral 
 —The Sagrario —The Palacio del Gobierno — Portales de Mercaderes — 
 Casa de Cabildo — Longa — Portales de las flores —View from Cathe¬ 
 dral tower—The Alameda —Statue of Charles IY.—The Paseo de 
 Bucareli —The Tacubaya tramway—Tacubaya— Plagiarios —The 
 plagio of Senor Cervantes—The Tlalpam Railway—Chapultepec— 
 Ahuehuetes —Spanish moss—Puente de Alvarado—Aqueduct of San 
 Cosme—Puente de Tlaxpana—Tree of the noche triste —Tacuba— 
 The teocalli —Trivoli de San Cosme—Guadalupe—A stone frigate— 
 Paseo de la Viga —The canal— Indios —Guatemozin’s bust— Garita 
 de la Viga —Floating gardens—The Roldan market—Santo Anita 
 —Ixtacalco—A strange burial-ground—The calendar stone— 
 Aztec war-god—Sacrificial stone—The Museum—The Academy 
 of San Carlos—Cimenterio de San Fernando—The Cinco de Mayo 
 —Theatres—Situation of the city of Mexico—Its buildings and 
 streets—Climate—The people—Foreigners. 
 
 The Despachio de las Diligencias adjoins the 
 large Hotel Iturbide, and their patios are connected 
 with each other. Declaring my intention of 
 repairing to the latter, half-a-dozen porters seized 
 my luggage, and forming quite a procession took 
 me to a splendid room on the first floor, com¬ 
 fortably furnished, and opening into a long balcony 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 247 
 
 commanding the busy Calle de San Francisco 
 beneath. The hotel used to be the palace of the 
 Emperor Iturbide, but inhabited by him only for 
 a very short period. It is an immense and mag¬ 
 nificent building, of which any European city 
 might be proud. A large archway leads to the 
 enormous patio, at least fifty yards square, round 
 the side of which rises the elegant though gigantic 
 pile. Balconies are attached to every window both 
 towards the quadrangle and the street, and the 
 rooms are spacious and lofty. My apartments 
 faced the shady side of the street, and I felt quite 
 chilly, and was thus forcibly reminded that I was 
 now in the tierra fria, at an altitude of 7600 
 feet above the level of the sea. The mornings and 
 evenings were so pitilessly cold that I had to take 
 refuge in an overcoat, and it was only in the middle 
 of the day that the temperature was at all com¬ 
 patible with the probabilities of the latitude. 
 
 The hotel proprietor does not furnish any of the 
 meals; they are supplied by a French restaurant 
 established in an inner patio of the building. 
 The tables are arranged in a large saloon, and also 
 in small arbours which brighten the rustic grounds 
 
248 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 of an adjacent garden. After the rough and 
 primitive fondas of the interior, this sudden 
 change was most delightful, and by offering the 
 comforts of New York, London, or Paris, seemed 
 to annihilate the distance from them. 
 
 It is not my intention to repeat in this chapter 
 what has often been described by much abler pens. 
 I shall only touch upon a few of the many objects 
 of interest it has been my good fortune to view 
 under peculiarly advantageous auspices; not that 
 I can hope to reveal any absolute novelty to the 
 reader of the many special books on the subject, 
 but simply to acquit this “Peep” from the im¬ 
 putation of entirely ignoring the capital of the 
 country. 
 
 Quitting the Hotel Iturbide the visitor emerges 
 on the Ccdle de San Francisco, and turning to the 
 right, the straight street called at its further end 
 the Calle de Plater os will bring him to the Plaza 
 mayor, the grand square of the city. It is a 
 large space of oblong shape, measuring 270 yards 
 in length and 200 in width. Its northern side 
 is entirely taken up by the magnificent Cathedral, 
 and the adjoining Sagrano, the chief parish 
 
THE PALACiO, CITY OF MEXICO. 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 249 
 
 church, which is often supposed to belong to the 
 Catedral , but is in reality a distinct edifice con¬ 
 structed in a totally different style. The Cathedral 
 occupies the site of the old Aztec pyramid and 
 its temple ( teocalli ). It is very majestic, crested 
 by a fine dome and two lofty and artistically 
 worked twin-towers, of which the accompanying 
 photograph will convey a much better idea than 
 any description of mine. The fagade of the 
 Sagrario is very singular; it exhibits numerous 
 reliefs of the most “ bizarre ” sculpture that can 
 be imagined—appears too florid, and is as a 
 whole certainly more elaborate than artistic, 
 although some of the detail is admirably con¬ 
 ceived. 
 
 Along the eastern side extends the charming 
 Palacio del Gobierno, and although only two 
 stories high, does not fail to strike the beholder. 
 It flanks the entire side of the plaza , and its 
 interior affords accommodation for not only all the 
 Government offices and the Hall of Congress, but 
 also for the President’s apartments, small bar¬ 
 racks, and a guard-house. The reception rooms 
 are spacious, elegantly but simply furnished, and 
 
250 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 enriched with several valuable objets de vertu, 
 acquired, I am informed, by the late Emperor 
 Maximilian. The palacio was built in 1693, on 
 the spot where Cortez had constructed a palace 
 for himself, and which up to 1692, when it was 
 burnt, served as residence for the Viceroys. 
 
 Opposite the palacio , i.e., on the western side 
 of the plaza, a row of houses supported by a 
 colonnade lines the road ; and the street, similar to 
 that of Guadalajara, is called Los Portales de 
 Mercaderes. Under the Portales some of the 
 very best shops in Mexico are to be found. 
 Tailors, hatters, milliners, jewellers, and one or 
 two restaurants, are the chief occupants, whilst 
 silver spurs, native filigree work, and a variety of 
 knick-knacks, are offered for sale in the booths and 
 cajones. This thoroughfare is all day long literally 
 packed with people, who in their different cos¬ 
 tumes are a wonderful and curious crowd. 
 
 On the south side of the plaza mayor stands 
 the Casa de Cabildo, the seat of the Ayuntamiento 
 or municipal body, containing also within its walls 
 the hall and rooms of the Lonja, or Merchant’s 
 Association. On the same side as this building 
 

PLAZA MAYOR, MEXICO. 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 251 
 
 extend the Portables de las Flores —arcades similar 
 to the other portales. The spacious area of the 
 plaza was an open waste until about seven years 
 ago, when the central part was transformed into 
 a splendid public garden, after the designs, it is 
 said, of the Empress Carlotta. 
 
 In the middle of the square a circular raised 
 platform, surrounded by iron railings, and 
 approached by steps, displays a pretty bed of 
 dowers, round which the musicians group them¬ 
 selves when playing in the evening. This 
 circular platform is encompassed by tastefully 
 arranged walks and flower-beds, whilst fine trees 
 supply spreading shade, and comfortable benches 
 the opportunity for rest. Although this garden is 
 of considerable size (120 yards square), still a very 
 large portion of the plaza on the east and west 
 sides remains empty, affording space for ranks of 
 hackney coaches of an inferior description, and 
 mostly drawn by mules. 
 
 One morning I ascended the west tower of 
 the Cathedral, and, arrived at the top, was able to 
 survey the famous valley in all its loveliness. From 
 my position I could see the wide reach of plain 
 
252 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 wholly girdled by mountains, the sunny lakes, the 
 solitary cones, the prim canals, and straight cause¬ 
 ways, while hamlet, harvest and pasture, each added 
 fresh tints and touches to the exquisite picture. 
 Eastward glimmered the wide expanse of Lake 
 Texcoco as far as the encircling ridges of the 
 background; southward rippled the calm waters 
 of the Lagos de Chaleo and Xochimilco, parted 
 by their tiny barrier of land. In the west Cha- 
 pultepec’s shaggy crag rose from the ground ; 
 whilst to the north the white walls of Guadalupe 
 Cathedral reflected the glaring rays of the sun. 
 In the far distance, towards the south-east, the 
 cowled head of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl’s out¬ 
 stretched shoulder, the “burning mountain” and 
 the “white woman,” scornfully lifting their snowy 
 summits above all their compeers, 'were projected 
 in sharp relief from the intense blue of the sky. 
 My learned cicerone traced the roads by which 
 Cortez and his army had entered Montezuma’s 
 city, the way he fled when defeated on the noche 
 triste, as well as the buildings and localities con¬ 
 nected with the romantic records of the conquest; 
 and forgetting the present in the, contemplation 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 253 
 
 of the past, all the familiar names and deeds of 
 Prescott’s graphic history assumed life and reality 
 as I gazed upon the classic ground. 
 
 Leaving the plaza by the same Calle de Plateros, 
 and continuing through the entire lengths of the 
 Calla de San Francisco, we arrived at the Alameda , 
 a most magnificent specimen of the Mexican public 
 garden. It is a parallelogram of 530 yards length, 
 and 220 yards width, and divided into four similar 
 squares by broad walks. Each of the smaller par¬ 
 allelograms is itself traversed by diagonal paths, 
 which converge in circular plots, each cool and 
 sparkling with the spray of its own fountain. No¬ 
 thing can exceed the overpowering beauty of this 
 park. Ash-trees, elms, and aspens vie with a 
 hundred shrubs and flowers for the supremacy in 
 foliage, and scent the air with delightful fragrance ; 
 nor must we omit the sequestered nooks and 
 crannies so well known and appreciated by the 
 Mexicans. 
 
 Pursuing our walk in the Calle de San Fran¬ 
 cisco, past the Alameda for a quarter of a mile, 
 through one straight street which is named afresh 
 at each succeeding manzana (block of buildings), 
 
254 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 we reach a small open space that forms the set¬ 
 ting to an equestrian statue of Charles IY. of 
 Spain, which until the declaration of independ¬ 
 ence in 1821 stood in the plaza. The republicans 
 removed the monument, and for twenty years it 
 was concealed from view, but in 1852 it was rein¬ 
 stated in this place, to front the wooden and now 
 abandoned Bull-arena. 
 
 Turning to the left we can look along the noble 
 avenue of the Paseo de Bucareli extending in 
 one unbroken line to the Gar it a de Belen, a 
 distance of three-quarters of a mile. Twice at 
 intervals of four hundred yards, the paseo widens 
 into fountained crescents, and at its end plays the 
 fuente de la Liberdad, so named after the statue 
 emblematic of liberty rising from its basin. It is 
 thus a vista of majestic trees and feathery jets of 
 water. The road, which is about fifty yards wide, 
 reminded me not a little of the Champs Ely sees, 
 and in the evenings it is thronged with all the 
 rank, beauty, and fashion of Mexico. My visit 
 happened to coincide with the session of Con¬ 
 gress, when the assemblage in the paseo is most 
 brilliant. The luxury lavished on carriages and 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 255 
 
 horses astonished me, I must confess, and was 
 scarcely to be distinguished from similar scenes 
 in Hyde Park and the JBois de Boulogne. I am 
 informed that Mexicans will stint themselves at 
 home to shine in public. The better Mexican 
 families are, as a rule, not rich, but their vanity 
 and pride are generally in inverse proportion to 
 their means ; and rather than let the outer world 
 suspect their indigence, they will revel in frijoles 
 and tortillas all the year round, and inhabit barely- 
 furnished rooms, allowing the liveried coachman, the 
 well-appointed equipage, and the American horses 
 to absorb their diminished income. I was irre¬ 
 sistibly led to ask myself, on hearing of these char¬ 
 acteristics, if this was an epidemic wholly peculiar 
 to the citizens of Mexico. As no description of 
 social gathering is enjoined by the canons of 
 Mexican fashion, and as visiting generally is re¬ 
 stricted to the most intimate friends, the caprices 
 of vanity can be indulged without an opportunity 
 for the unwelcome cat to leap out of this tin¬ 
 selled bag. 
 
 Among my many excursions to the environs 
 of the city I paid a visit to Tacubaya and 
 
256 
 
 A PEEP A T MEXICO. 
 
 Chapultepec. In order to become acquainted 
 with the customary means of locomotion, we 
 selected the tramway-cars in preference to any 
 saddle-horses or other carriage. The ferro-carril 
 de Tacubaya, which has been in operation several 
 years, is a street railway with large cars, on the 
 American pattern, and drawn by horses. It com¬ 
 mences in the Empedradillo, the street which 
 runs from the plaza mayor along the west side 
 of the cathedral, and turning to the left follows 
 a parallel street of the Calle San Francisco, past 
 the ' north side of the Alameda, the Bull-arena 
 with King Charles’s statue, and leaving the paseo 
 to the left, finally quits the city, on a fine road 
 canopied with spreading trees. 
 
 The Tacubaya railway is four miles in length, 
 although the actual distance from Mexico is only 
 three. The little town is splendidly built on 
 rising ground, and its site is much finer than 
 that of the capital. It is said that shortly 
 after the conquest a mandate arrived in Mexico 
 from the King of Spain to transfer the seat of 
 government from the old Aztec city to the 
 spot where Tacubaya now stands. The order, 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 257 
 
 however, was thwarted by the violent opposition 
 to the Viceroy offered by the generals and nobles, 
 whose landed interest would have severely suffered 
 by the change proposed. 
 
 Tacubaya numbers many beautiful villas and 
 mansions, mostly standing in their own grounds 
 or parks, planted in a princely manner. All the 
 skill of modern gardening is here displayed to 
 perfection; all European improvements and appli¬ 
 ances have been pressed into the service of the 
 proprietors; in short, everything that art can 
 supply has been secured, and thus a faint idea 
 .may be formed of the result in a climate where 
 nature yields so readily to the hand of man. I 
 had the pleasure of inspecting one of these estates. 
 Its many acres abound in long avenues of tall 
 trees, lawns as smooth as billiard-tables, ponds 
 and little streams stocked with water-fowl, 
 mazes and shrubberies, bowers, kiosks, fountains, 
 and beds replete with a choice and cosmopolitan 
 flora. 
 
 The mansion was a miniature palace and the 
 whole establishment the perfection of perfection. 
 Without being actually envious, I could not quite 
 
 R 
 
 / 
 
258 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 overcome the possibility of being so when my 
 round was completed, and I thought for a while 
 that life in Mexico might be made tolerable in 
 the possession of such an Eden. My surprise 
 may be imagined when I learnt that the owner 
 had not resided there for years, and that the 
 gentlemen who were fortunate enough to call these 
 oases their own dared not permanently occupy them 
 for fear of being kidnapped on their way between 
 Tacubaya and the capital. No case of jplagio had, 
 however, now occurred for a long time, and it was 
 hoped that the proprietors might consider it suffi¬ 
 ciently safe to return; on the other hand, it was 
 maintained that the recent absence of these crimes 
 was owing to the w T ant of opportunity for their 
 perpetration, as no one was willing to hazard the 
 slightest risk. The fact, however, that hardly any 
 precaution can exterminate these crafty jplagiarios 
 is illustrated by an incident that occurred about 
 eighteen months before my visit. Senor Cervantes, 
 a Mexican gentleman, in the act of entering his 
 own house in one of the most frequented thorough¬ 
 fares of the capital, was one evening seized by 
 several men, who, huddling his head in a cloth, 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 259 
 
 quickly hustled him into a vehicle at hand for 
 the purpose. Driving off at full speed, the mis¬ 
 creants, after endless detours, halted before one 
 of the wretched houses near the Puente del Molino, 
 where they deposited their victim in a hole under 
 the floor already prepared for his reception. When 
 Senor Cervantes was found missing, all the detective 
 machinery of the Government was brought into 
 requisition to trace him, but no clue to his where¬ 
 abouts was discovered, especially as the plagiarios, 
 intimidated by the vigorous measures taken, failed 
 to make any overtures as to the ransom required. 
 A fortnight wore away in fruitless search, when a 
 relative of the missing gentleman accidentally 
 discovered the house where he was concealed. 
 Informing the authorities, a rapid and sudden raid 
 was made upon the place, Senor Cervantes, more 
 dead than alive, rescued, and four of the crimi¬ 
 nals taken prisoners. After a summary trial, 
 they were shot before their own house, and I 
 myself saw the riddled walls which testified to the 
 
 A walk through a few of the slovenly Tacubaya 
 streets brought us to the railway station of the Tlal- 
 
260 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 pam line, whence a train soon conveyed us to Cha¬ 
 pultepec, a distance of only a mile and a half. 
 
 This line of railway connects Mexico with Tlal- 
 pam, fifteen miles to the south-south-west, and its 
 first section from the capital to San Angel was 
 opened in 1866 ; it was completed in 1869. The 
 work was executed by English engineers, although 
 the rolling stock is of North American manufacture. 
 It was quite a novel sensation to be seated in a 
 railway car and progressing at “locomotive” speed 
 in this country. The change from diligencias and 
 murderous roads to spacious carriages and smooth 
 tracks was as agreeable as it was surprising, and I 
 could scarcely believe my own senses when, looking 
 out of window, I could convince myself that we 
 were flying past maguey fields and hedges of 
 nopales in a veritable railway train. 
 
 The station at Chapultepec is opposite the 
 palace, and proceeding a short distance we came 
 to the entrance, approached by a wide road. 
 Threading the file of soldiers ranked in front of 
 the guardhouse, we entered the celebrated grounds, 
 the beauty of which widely surpasses their fame. 
 Chapultepec is one of the sights of the world, re- 
 
ENTRANCE TO CHAPULTEPEC 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 2G1 
 
 markable as muck for its chequered historical asso¬ 
 ciations as for its rare natural splendour. 
 
 It is in fact, and not in name alone, a royal spot, 
 the residence, during revolutionary and eventful 
 centuries, of the leaders of the country. The 
 fanatical and ignorant priests in the train of the 
 conquerors demolished the ancient palace, and 
 carried their Vandalism so far as to destroy two 
 mammoth statues of Aztec kings hewn into the 
 rock, but fortunately they did not oppose their 
 barbarism to the ancient forest of cypresses 
 where the Aztec monarchs rioted in the luxuries 
 and magnificence of their voluptuous courts. 
 
 The castle of Chapultepec is a long and narrow 
 building, spreading along the summit of the por- 
 phyritic rock, and necessarily following in form the 
 outlines of its foundation. It stands on the exact 
 site of the royal Aztec palace, and received its present 
 shape from the Viceroy Don Bernardo de Galvez in 
 1785. 
 
 It is reported that during the time of its con¬ 
 struction, opinions were divided as to whether it was 
 intended for a fortress or a palace; but however much 
 its architecture points to the former purpose, it was 
 
262 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 certainly tlie country residence of Galvez’ successor, 
 though he himself did not survive its completion. 
 
 Since then the castle’s fortunes have changed with 
 those of the country, and it has passed from the pos¬ 
 session of Viceroys to that of Emperors and Pre¬ 
 sidents. Some years previous to the brief reign of 
 Maximilian it was used as a military school, until 
 the Hapsburg Prince ordered its thorough repair; 
 and besides decorating the interior with fresco 
 paintings and models of classical statuary,* caused 
 a wide carriage-road to be graded up the hill. 
 Since the ill-fated Emperor’s death, Presidents 
 Juarez and Lerdo de Tejada have added another 
 link to its long chain of fitful inheritance. 
 
 But by far the most interesting and beautiful 
 part of Chapultepec is the forest of ahuehuetes or 
 ahoehoetls, by which it is embowered. The two 
 names are the native designation for the Deciduous 
 Cypress (Taxodium distichum), the former being the 
 Spanish corruption of the latter, which is the true 
 
 * The manner in which the Mexicans regard these statues is a matter 
 of great amusement to the foreign residents. Their otherwise certainly 
 not over-fastidious sense of morality has been so much shocked by the 
 nudity of these figures that they have resorted to the almost incredible 
 expedient of covering them with clothes much resembling sarapes. 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 263 
 
 Aztec word. These cypresses are mighty trees of 
 extraordinary age, which can count their years by 
 centuries. The witnesses of Montezuma’s daring 
 and his ancestors’ adventures, they were regarded 
 already by his contemporaries as objects of wonder 
 and reverence, and are at present perhaps the 
 most curious memorials in the world of trees. Cali¬ 
 fornia boasts the most gigantic growths, and main¬ 
 tains that the Calaveras and Mariposa groves 
 contain specimens of Sequoia gigantea which, 
 with trunks of 90 feet in circumference, and 300 
 feet in height, surpass any rival that Australia could 
 furnish. In comparison with the ahueliuetes, the 
 palm in size and height must be conceded to their 
 rivals, for the gnarled trunk of the largest and 
 oldest cypress at Chapultepec, compaonly called 
 “Montezuma’s tree,” measures but 48 feet in circum¬ 
 ference, and its height, when contrasted with the 
 straight towering sequoia, is inconsiderable; but in 
 all other respects the twisted stem of the ahuehuete, 
 with its majestic pavilion of leafy branches and its 
 garlands of Spanish moss hanging down in delicate 
 ribbons from every twig, is by far the most im¬ 
 pressive and beautiful of the two. Connect with 
 
264 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 it filially its glorious traditions, and the Californian 
 usurper is fairly beaten from the field. 
 
 The Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides)—barba 
 Espcinola —is one of the strangest parasites imagin¬ 
 able. It is a tangle of pale-green tendrils, in thick¬ 
 ness like ordinary string, and while one end is 
 closely wound round the branch of the tree, the 
 remainder droops in long straight festoons. Its 
 popular name, heno (hay), conveys the best 
 possible description of the effect it produces on 
 the view, for at first sight an unaccustomed eye 
 might think that enormous quantities of hay 
 had been emptied on to the forest from above, 
 and that it had remained undisturbed on the 
 trees. If it were not for this parasite, much of 
 the grandeur of this bosque would vanish: 
 it is the heno that lends to it that peculiar 
 and indefinable quaintness, which, added to 
 its many other graces, renders it thoroughly 
 unique. The same moss is known in most of 
 the Southern United States, but I doubt whether 
 it can be found in such masses; it certainly 
 does not exist under the spell of similar surround¬ 
 ings. 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 265 
 
 The foliage of the ahuehuetes, with its downy 
 thatch of heno, veils the walks as with a 
 baldachin, on which the fierce rays of the 
 sun beat in vain. The fragrance of the wild 
 shrubs and herbs fills the air with delicious 
 freshness, and the sweet songs of birds betoken 
 that man is not the only living being that can 
 be grateful for the wonders and the peace of 
 this earthly paradise. 
 
 As I walked through the forest, the baths, 
 and the approaches to the palace, my kind com¬ 
 panion would point out to me the spots which 
 tradition associates with the doings of Montezuma, 
 and but a little further perhaps a favourite seat 
 of the unhappy Empress Carlotta: strange simi¬ 
 larity of fate! Three centuries and a half is 
 the chasm which separates the Aztec monarch 
 from the Hapsburg Emperor; both were glad¬ 
 dened by the tranquil charms of Chapultepec, 
 and contributed to its adornment and perfection; 
 both, according to their own light, laboured for 
 the good of the people, and both perished by 
 the act of those whom they desired to benefit. 
 Surely, the rocks and trees of Chapultepec unfold 
 
266 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 a tale of more romantic history, and have outlived 
 greater vicissitudes of fortune, than any other spot 
 in modern times. 
 
 Beturning to Mexico by the Tlalpam railway, I 
 awoke to a ludicrous sense of the present as I 
 heard the hum of the crowds that thronged the 
 trains which reminded me of the neighbourhood 
 of London on Easter or Whit-Mondays. It was 
 a Sunday afternoon, and great numbers had gone 
 short distances into the valley to spend the day. 
 Arrived within the precincts of the city, the loco¬ 
 motive was replaced by horses, and the railway cars 
 were thus drawn right into the centre of the town, 
 till they halted near the plaza. 
 
 Another most interesting excursion was to 
 Popotla and Tacuba. Chartering a hackney 
 carriage near the Portales Mercaderes, we drove 
 through the western part of the city, along a 
 broad road in good repair and terraced with 
 luxurious villas and mansions, standing in 
 large gardens. This is the most aristocratic 
 quarter of Mexico, and the houses certainly ap¬ 
 peared almost equal to those in corresponding 
 parts of the large European capitals. 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 267 
 
 This road also is most fickle in its nomen¬ 
 clature. One of its designations, Puente de 
 Alvarado, marks the locality where, if the story 
 be true, the Spanish hero of that name cleared 
 the wide trench, which then existed, by one 
 tremendous bound of his horse during the 
 hasty flight of the Spaniards ,on the memor¬ 
 able noche triste. Along the centre of this 
 wide road runs the large aqueduct of San 
 Cosme, a line of clumsy low brick arches, with 
 no attempt of any kind to render the structure 
 ornamental. It supplies the city with very good 
 water from Santa-Fe called agua delgada —light 
 water—to distinguish it from the agua gorda — 
 thick water—supplied by the aqueduct of Belen 
 from Chapultepec, and which is highly impreg¬ 
 nated with various salts. Near the city gate— 
 the Garita de San Cosme—which we soon passed, 
 a fountain is built into the arches of the aque¬ 
 duct, called Fuente de Tlax'pana. Situate as it is 
 at a bend of the road, where the arches turn 
 off to the left, it was soon obscure in the dis¬ 
 tance as we continued in our former direction. 
 The fountain itself is constructed in the mixed 
 
268 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 and florid style, which for want of any other appel¬ 
 lation is by Mexicans termed churrigueresco. 
 
 A mile and a half’s drive brought us to Popotla, 
 a small and miserable village, and in front of the 
 celebrated Arbol de la noche triste, the “ Tree of 
 the Sad Night.” It is believed that on the 
 night of the rout of Cortez by the Aztecs, it 
 was here that he stopped in his flight, and with 
 one of his followers hid himself behind the tangled 
 shelter of a huge ahuehuete until the pursuing 
 foe had returned to the city. The venerable 
 cypress fronts a church which was built soon after 
 the conquest to commemorate the disastrous flight, 
 and which like the tree is named Iglesia de la 
 noche triste. The grand trunk of the historical 
 ahuehuete was until a few years ago in a flourish¬ 
 ing condition, and doubtless still nourished some 
 of the very branches that screened the defeated 
 Spanish warrior; but by the fiendish act of some 
 fanatical priests it was set on fire, and there re¬ 
 mains now but the hollowed trunk, torn, wrinkled, 
 and black, with only a few live twigs, as if to prove 
 that no petty malice of man can utterly sap the 
 energies of the time-honoured monarch of the forest. 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 269 
 
 The stories related about the incendiaries are very 
 numerous and differ materially, but I have been 
 assured, on authority which is entitled to consider¬ 
 ation, that it was set on fire by a party of low ruffians 
 hired for the purpose by the cure of the neighbouring 
 church, owing to a dispute which had arisen between 
 him and the municipality regarding the ownership 
 of the ground on which the cypress stands. The 
 actual perpetrators of this act of Vandalism were 
 brought to justice and severely punished, but nothing 
 could be proved against the instigating priest, and 
 he escaped scot free. Since then the tree has 
 been protected by a stone wall, surmounted by an 
 
 ■jp-.r 
 
 iron railing, which was inaugurated by President & 
 Lerdo in person to publish his opinion of the cleric’s 
 sacrilege. 
 
 A short drive brought us to the village of Ta- 
 cuba, near which is situate the remains of an Aztec 
 teocalli, popularly called pyramid, although the 
 ancient structure in no way resembled any of the 
 Egyptian giants. A mound overgrown with grass, 
 and utterly shapeless, is all that survives of the 
 former temple, and appears so much like an ordi¬ 
 nary hillock that it would be passed unnoticed by 
 
270 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 all but the initiated. The narrow-gauge tramway, 
 owned by the Toluca Railway Company—which at 
 present only run their small mule-drawn cars 
 a few miles out of the city—closely skirts the 
 barrow, a small portion of which has been cut 
 off to make room for the “ Station.” We wandered 
 over and all around the vast teocalli; its broken 
 surface bristles with pieces of pottery—red painted 
 with black lines—whilst on its sides traces of adobe 
 layers can be seen, which seem originally to have 
 framed the staple of the entire structure. From 
 the loftiest part of these remains we could survey 
 the long line of road on which the defeated 
 Spaniards fled from the city beneath the twilight 
 of that fateful noche triste. It was, in fact, the 
 same path which we had just traversed, and we 
 now occupied the very point where tradition asserts 
 that Cortez took up his position on the following 
 day to review the attenuated remnants of his flag¬ 
 ging and dispirited legions. 
 
 A magnificent ahuehuete not far from the 
 teocalli , and armed with a perfect panoply of 
 branches, is by some modern historians believed to 
 be the real tree of the noche triste, as dis- 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 271 
 
 tinguished from the charred stump of Popotla; but 
 the existence of the ancient church at the latter 
 place renders it the more probable locality. 
 
 As we drove back we gazed for the last time on 
 the eventful spot; pursuing our old way we soon 
 entered the city, and proceeded to visit the Tivoli 
 de San Cosme, a large pleasure garden and re¬ 
 staurant, the best and most fashionable in Mexico. 
 The grounds are extremely attractive; fine trees 
 alternate with rare shrubs and choice flower beds; 
 ponds and brooks, fountains, bowers, and kiosks 
 only require the presence of languishing swains and 
 shepherdesses to make the scene thoroughly Wat- 
 teauesque, while the presence of melodious and 
 aquatic birds, added to a selection of quadrupeds, 
 seem to bridge over a century, and almost convert 
 it into a zoological establishment. The “ cuisine ” 
 here has the reputation of being most recherchee, 
 and it is the favourite haunt of the President for 
 official or diplomatic dinners, as well as the much 
 frequented resort of the Mexican “upper ten.” 
 
 On another day we drove to Guadalupe Hidalago, 
 which is hallowed by the greatest of all the Mexican 
 shrines, that of Santa Maria de Guadalupe. It lies 
 
272 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 about three miles from the city ; the town, though 
 well-built, is insignificant apart from its churches, 
 and nothing can exceed the dulness of its streets 
 on all but feast-days. On those sacred festivals, 
 however, I am informed, and especially on the 12th 
 of December, the Virgin’s great day, Guadalupe 
 swarms and buzzes with human beings like a 
 beehive, but I had not the advantage of visiting 
 it on one of these special occasions. I have no 
 intention of inflicting upon the reader the well- 
 known legend of the miraculous appearance of 
 the Indio-Y irgin to Juan Diego, of the not less 
 miraculous portrait of herself which she presented 
 to the Archbishop, nor of the many and fabulous 
 wonders which she has worked since her debut 
 in Mexico; nor do I wish to encumber these 
 pages with the measure of her “most holy neck,” 
 although as I purchased on the spot a ribbon 
 embodying the exact circumference, the statistics 
 on the subject are close at hand. I only wish 
 to mention the four objects most conspicuous at 
 Guadalupe: the cathedral erected at the foot of the 
 Cerrito de los Gachupines, the chapel gracing its 
 summit, and commemorating the very spot where 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 273 
 
 the vision was first seen, another chapel on the brink 
 of a sulphur spring said to have burst from the 
 rock at the Virgin s bidding, and lastly, an immense 
 full-rigged ship anchored half-way up the hill, and 
 constructed of stone and adobe. This latter was 
 the votive offering of a gentleman who owed his 
 life to the Virgin’s aid during shipwreck, and is 
 a real “stone frigate,” perhaps the only one in 
 existence beyond that found in “Jack’s” vocabu¬ 
 lary. I refrain from describing both the cathedral 
 and the chapels: this duty has been frequently— 
 perhaps too frequently—performed by others; and, 
 after all, accounts of such edifices are much alike 
 in all but consistent accuracy to fact; suffice it to 
 say, that the large church blazes with “ glittering ” 
 gew-gaws, whether “gold” or not, after the repeated 
 visitations of the Republicans, it is impossible to 
 decide. The sacred portrait of the Virgin, the 
 same that she herself sent to the Bishop, is to be 
 inspected on special days, but I did not have the 
 satisfaction of beholding it. 
 
 One of the most interesting excursions undertaken 
 
 by me in the neighbourhood of Mexico was a ride 
 
 in the most charming company along the old Paseo 
 
 s 
 
274 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 and the chief canal. Leaving the city by the 
 Puente del Molino we entered the Paseo de la 
 Viga, the chief promenade before the Paseo de 
 Bucareli became fashionable. It is a slatternly 
 road with a rim of old trees, and now used as a 
 “ garden of the people.” Parallel with it runs the 
 ancient canal cut by the Aztecs long before the 
 conquest, and which, by intersecting a corner of 
 the city, connects Lake Tescoco with Lakes Xochi- 
 milco and Chaleo. This part of the surroundings of 
 Mexico is perhaps that which has changed least 
 since the days of Montezuma, and at a short dis¬ 
 tance from the town the visitor finds himself 
 bewildered by the utter change, and transported 
 into the midst of sights and sounds which have 
 nothing in common with the half-European life of 
 the capital, but which, in their epic simplicity and 
 strangeness, resuscitate with the breath of reality 
 the “dry bones” of pre-Spanish history. 
 
 The canal was alive with multifarious craft 
 very similar to our fishing-punts, as well as 
 with tiny canoes, all propelled by poles or paddles 
 plied by standing Indios. The frail pinnaces 
 often weighted with two or three sitters, seemed 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 275 
 
 fated to capsize every minute, but would again 
 dart along, skilfully handled, at an enormous pace; 
 the heavy punts, on the other hand, often provided 
 with awnings, and freighted with vegetables or 
 grass, laboured slowly along under the guidance of 
 one or two sturdy figures. There was nothing of 
 Spain in all this, nothing to recall European habits 
 of any kind; and surely the belief that the Indios 
 of to-day, as seen on this canal, closely resemble 
 those of three centuries ago, is not fanciful or 
 untenable. 
 
 In the paseo stands a recently-erected monument 
 to Guatemozin, the last of the Aztec sovereigns. It 
 is a colossal bust, supported by a square pedestal, 
 which on the side facing the city bears an inscription 
 in Spanish, and on the opposite one the translation 
 of it in old Mexican. Arrived at the end of the 
 paseo, we crossed the canal on a stone bridge, the 
 arch of which is barred by a gate called Garita de 
 la Viga. Here is the city boundary, and the 
 toll-house of the tax (or octroi, as the French would 
 say) on all articles of consumption. 
 
 This collection of the customs naturally impedes 
 the traffic, and the canal was here literally chocked 
 
276 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 with punts and canoes laden with all kinds of 
 vegetables, either heaped on the bare floor of the 
 boats, or piled in baskets and sacks. Indios with 
 the baggy white drawers rolled up to the knee, 
 sarapes round their shoulders, and straw sombreros 
 on their heads, were awaiting their turn for paying 
 the dues amid a lively interchange of conversation ; 
 and whenever one of their comrades appeared on 
 the scene, they would salute each other in the most 
 formal manner by doffing their sombreros and 
 lowering them almost to the ground. This is a 
 ceremony contracted from the Spaniards, and is 
 adhered to by the Indios with a ridiculous observ¬ 
 ance of rigid etiquette. 
 
 We followed the canal along the opposite margin, 
 and soon came in view of the chinampas, the 
 Mexican floating gardens, whence the vegetable 
 supplies of the city are derived. These gardens 
 are the embankment of almost the entire canal, and 
 are owned and cultivated by the Indian population. 
 “ Floating ” was certainly a misnomer on the occasion 
 of my visit, for the oblong patches of soft soil, which, 
 about thirty yards in length and five in width, rise 
 a foot or two out of the water, have in process of 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 277 
 
 time taken root in the ooze below, and although 
 anything but real terra firina, the present chinampas 
 have ceased to be moveable, and cannot, like those 
 of ancient days, be towed from one part of the 
 swamp to another. We rode on a narrow path 
 running between the canal on one side, and a ditch 
 on the other. This ditch is fed from the canal, 
 and feeds in its turn the numerous cuts which in¬ 
 tersect it at right angles, and extend along the sides 
 of the fruitful patches. 
 
 These chinampas are spread far and wide on 
 both sides of this canal, and in various other places 
 near Mexico, where the locality is favourable. 
 The space on which they are situate is so evenly 
 divided between water and land, that without a 
 knowledge of their history it would be difficult 
 to say whether the gardens had been hung on the 
 water, or the canals and ditches burrowed out of the 
 land. We remarked large numbers of Indians at 
 work on these plantations, which were simply 
 packed with vegetables, small shrubs, and brilliant 
 flowers. The produce is easily brought to town 
 by the punts moored alongside of the gardens, 
 especially as the canal threads many of the streets 
 
278 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 in the easternmost quarter with an almost Venetian 
 regularity. In one of them called the Ccdle del 
 puente de Roldan, near the point where the canal 
 turns off towards the Garita de San Lazaro, the 
 boats come to a standstill, for here is the real port 
 of the canal, and the most interesting of all the 
 curious markets of Mexico. In the mornings the 
 buyers congregate on the quay that borders the 
 water, and a most lively and noisy scene ensues 
 between vendors and purchasers ; clamorous bargain¬ 
 ing alternates with chaff and compliment, and all 
 the bustle and stir attendant on unloading the 
 boats and transferring the produce, vegetables, 
 flowers, and poultry to pack-mules or waggons. 
 
 Apart from the view, this quarter is one of 
 the most melancholy in all Mexico. The build¬ 
 ings are cracked and discoloured; the canal is 
 turbid with garbage, and the atmosphere horribly 
 redolent. 
 
 But this is a digression from the towing-path 
 outside the city, along which we were riding. 
 Following its course, we soon sighted the gay village 
 of Santa Anita, entirely peopled by Indians. Their 
 low, solid houses reflect their flaunting colours 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 279 
 
 taperingly in the canal, and are shaded by a cool 
 verandah in front, propped by stout pillars of 
 masonry. Numerous pulquerias were to be seen 
 among the habitations, and on the walls under the 
 verandahs rude pictures smeared with doubtful in¬ 
 scriptions furnished more cause for pity than con¬ 
 tempt, and suggested similar productions amongst 
 the ruins of Pompeii. 
 
 The current of the canal, which we continued to 
 follow, runs powerfully towards the city, and is 
 occasioned by the elevation of Lakes Xochimilco 
 and Chaleo above the level of that of Tescoco, the 
 waters of which the canal unites. The flow is said 
 to be equal to three miles an hour. 
 
 A quarter of an hour’s ride brought us to another 
 Indian village, similar to the last, and named Ixta- 
 calco, rendered romantic and mediaeval in aspect by 
 a large church built at the time of the conquest, 
 and now partly in ruins. With evident risk to 
 our limbs we ascended the roof by frail wooden 
 steps and holes in the walls; but were rewarded for 
 our exertions by a splendid view from the top. 
 Villages, haciendas, chinampas, and canals were 
 
280 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 spread out before us, as if drawn on a map, to our 
 right lay the fair city, and above the surrounding 
 buttresses of the mountains the venerable volcano, 
 his “ White Wife,” and the scowling Ajusco seemed 
 to bid defiance to man and his civilisation. 
 Attached to this church is a burial-ground, which 
 horrifies the visitor by its utterly neglected con¬ 
 dition, and the human bones which lie scattered 
 broadcast. In one corner a heap of rubbish indi¬ 
 cated the spot where tiers of gavetas were once 
 arranged, nothing now remaining but fragments of 
 coffins and skeletons. In the centre of the ground 
 is a cross on a pedestal of rough stones and 
 heterogeneous masonry, wholly cloaked by its accre¬ 
 tions of skulls and bones. We were much amused 
 by the manner in which three or four ragged Indios 
 dogged our footsteps, as if afraid that we might 
 appropriate any of the hallowed relics of their 
 ancestors. 
 
 Remounting our horses, we crossed the canal over 
 a tottering wooden bridge, and followed a disused 
 road pleasingly varied by canals and ditches, which 
 we had to ford, until we reached the causeway 
 

 
 rf 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 281 
 
 called Calzada de San Antonio Abad, by which, we 
 returned to the city. 
 
 For the archaeologist Mexico affords a fertile field. 
 Toltec and Aztec remains are exhibited in various 
 parts of the town, the most conspicuous being the 
 Calendar stone imbedded in the wall of the west 
 tower of the Cathedral. The principal collection 
 of relics, however, exists in the Museum, which is 
 a mine of the most curious objects ransacked from 
 all parts of the country. 
 
 The circular Calendar, which is of Toltec origin, 
 and thus of great antiquity, is sculptured on a 
 monolith of basalt so rough and seemingly porous 
 that at first sight it looks like lava. The stone is 
 twelve feet six inches in diameter, and is let into 
 the masonry of the church at a height of five feet 
 and nine inches above the pavement. From this 
 Calendar stone the system of ancient Toltec as¬ 
 tronomy has been preserved to us. It proves the 
 great degree of civilisation to which the Toltecs had 
 attained, a civilisation doubtless much superior to 
 that of their successors, the Aztecs. 
 
 Their year coincided almost exactly with that of 
 the Julian Calendar, which till 1752 was the 
 
282 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 .standard of time in England, and is to this day 
 dominant in Russia.* 
 
 In the museum the most interesting objects are 
 the war-god and the sacrificial stone, which, 
 together with other ponderous antiques, are de¬ 
 posited in the patio of the building. 
 
 The war-god exults in the Azetic name of Huit- 
 zilopochtli, and is as ugly as it is curious. It would 
 be almost futile to convey a correct idea of it by 
 description alone; let it be enough to say that it is 
 carved from a single block of basalt about nine feet 
 in height, and six feet across at its widest part. 
 The idol does not represent any human figure or 
 even any approach to one; it is sculptured on all 
 sides, and shows in the centre, both in front and 
 on the back, a death’s head encircled by human 
 hands placed in all manner of positions. The rest 
 of it is a fantastic combination of snakes, feathers, 
 and other appendages for which names are not 
 forthcoming. 
 
 * In 1793 the Mexican astronomer Antonio de Leon y Gama wrote 
 a most learned and minute description of this stone, as well as of the 
 Aztec war-god, which was republished in Mexico in 1832, and edited by 
 C. M. de Bustamas. The book is named Description historica y crono- 
 logica de las dos piedras, etc. 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 283 
 
 It is said that this most hideous of idols was 
 reared aloft triumphantly on two high poles at the 
 summit of the teocalli (present site of the cathedral) 
 in the Aztec time, and smiled benignly on the 
 altar where the human offerings were sacrificed. 
 
 It is believed that the cylindrical stone, at pre¬ 
 sent termed the “ Sacrificial Stone,” was this very 
 altar, on the polluted surface of which so many 
 thousands of victims were barbarously slaughtered. 
 
 This stone, which stands near the war-god, is 
 three feet high, and nine feet in diameter, is also 
 of basalt, and is chased round its sides with rude 
 figures in bas-relief. In the centre of its top 
 is bored a shallow hole, said to have been the 
 spot where the victim’s head reposed, and thence 
 runs a narrow groove to the edge and down the 
 side, by which, so tradition affirms, the blood 
 was drained off! 
 
 The patio of the museum includes many other 
 antique stones, mostly idols, and in the galleries 
 of the interior is an extensive collection of 
 smaller objects, unearthed either in the valley of 
 Mexico or at Mitla, Palenque, and other parts of 
 the Republic. It has been the custom to compare 
 
 
284 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 these Toltec, Aztec, and Yucatan antiquities with 
 those of the Egyptians, and the theory once started 
 has been repeated with marvellous consistency by 
 the majority of writers, although nearly all 
 authorities on the subject refute the conjecture. 
 For my own part, I cannot comprehend how 
 any similarity between the two could ever have 
 been discovered. In the European Museums, in 
 that at Boolac, at Thebes, and other places of 
 ancient renown in Egypt, I have seen nothing 
 that bears the slightest resemblance to these 
 Mexican relics, excepting, of course, the usual 
 similitude in form where the animal or vegetable 
 creation is imitated. 
 
 There are stored a large number of more modern 
 relics in the Museum, connected with the con¬ 
 querors and viceroys, the war of independence, 
 and the late intervention, but like all such curio¬ 
 sities only worthy of notice because of their 
 historical significance. 
 
 The contents of the Academy of San Carlos em¬ 
 brace saloons of pictures, carefully divided according 
 to their various origins and schools ; but, with the 
 exception of a very few, they possess little claim to 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 285 
 
 merit. The Mexicans themselves have undoubted 
 talent for art, and will in time certainly send 
 forth painters of note ; native efforts already far 
 transcend the second-rate copies of the celebrated 
 European masters, which crowd the walls of the 
 gallery, and which are popularly believed to be 
 genuine. If that were really the case, the Aca¬ 
 demia de San Carlos would possess one of the 
 richest art-collections in the world. 
 
 The principal burial-ground in the capital (now 
 fallen into disuse) is the Cimenterio de San 
 Fernando, a visit to which proved of the highest 
 interest. It is but small, and contains galleries of 
 gavetas round three sides of the square. The 
 central space is a conglomeration of graves and 
 monuments, some of which are of noble and 
 appropriate designs. Here repose the ashes of 
 Mejia and Miramon, the two generals who were 
 shot simultaneously with the Emperor Maximilian 
 on the Cerro de las Campanas, and in two 
 conspicuous gavetas lie the bodies of the repub¬ 
 lican generals Arteaga and Salazar, whose 
 execution by virtue of Maximilian’s so-called black 
 decree was hereafter made the chief argument in 
 
286 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 support of his own sentence. A fine block of sculp¬ 
 tured marble marks the resting-place of the late 
 President Juarez, and near him is buried General 
 Zaragoza, the hero of the battle near Puebla on the 
 fifth of May 1862. The bare facts connected with 
 the exploits of this general in no way justify the 
 veneration in which his name is held ; at all events, 
 the deed which is his sole passport to immortality 
 would in any other country have received the 
 most scanty recognition. In Mexico faute de mieux, 
 the Cinco de Mayo is the festival par excellence; it 
 is the most popular national holiday, and its anni¬ 
 versary is celebrated with the wildest manifestations 
 of rejoicing and triumph. And why? Because the 
 French General Lauregnai, with 5000 men, in his 
 endeavour to storm the Fort of Gaudalupe, (com¬ 
 manding an eminence and strongly fortified), was 
 on that day repulsed by the 12,000 Mexicans which 
 formed its garrison, and temporarily obliged to retreat. 
 
 This cheap victory, which only delayed but did not 
 prevent the subsequent capture of Puebla, is the 
 cause of General Zaragoza’s renown and of his sepul¬ 
 ture in the Cimentario de San Fernando among the 
 nation’s most honoured dead. 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 287 
 
 There is no town in Mexico, however insignificant, 
 that does not own a street or a plaza named after 
 this great day—the Cinco de Mayo. 
 
 Among several theatres, the teatro Nacional and 
 the teatro Iturbide are the two principal playhouses. 
 The latter, during my sojourn, was given up to 
 Congress for their sittings, owing to the repairs 
 which their hall in the Palacio was undergoing. 
 The Nacional is a spacious and imposing house 
 with wide approaches and elegant internal arrange¬ 
 ments. It resembles a European theatre in many 
 ways, and is much superior to those found in the 
 provincial towns. 
 
 A French opera bouffe troupe were perform¬ 
 ing the modern works of their repertoire, and I wit¬ 
 nessed several amusing representations during my 
 stay. 
 
 The capital of Montezuma, the ancient Tenochtit- 
 lan, was built (somewhat similar to Venice), on 
 ground reclaimed from the shallow waters of Lake 
 Toxcoco. Since the conquest the lake has gradu¬ 
 ally retreated, until the modern city of Mexico, 
 although constant to its ancient site, not only 
 stands on terra jirma, but is five miles distant 
 
288 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 from the nearest part of the present lago. Of the 
 old Aztec town not a stone remains; the noble 
 city of the past was utterly razed by the con¬ 
 querors, and the Mexico of to-day, rich as it is 
 with the handiwork of three centuries ago, is essen¬ 
 tially a new town. The streets are straight and 
 rectangular; the buildings are lofty and massive, 
 and although all different in the details of execu¬ 
 tion, are yet pervaded by a harmonious unity of 
 conception, which imparts a sense of perfection and 
 grandeur rarely met with in our own cities. The 
 thoroughfares average fifty feet in width, are toler¬ 
 ably well paved, and fairly illuminated by gas- 
 lamps. The central quarters of the city are by 
 far the best; they present, as it were, a nucleus of 
 palaces with an enveloping shell of hovels; for the 
 outlying districts are squalid and miserable, both 
 as regards tenements and tenants. The fondness 
 for colours, so generally noticeable, prevails consis¬ 
 tently in the capital, and most of the buildings flare 
 with painted coatings of yellow, pink, pale green, or a 
 blended mixture of all three. This custom, strange 
 as it may appear, impressed me as pleasing; but it 
 must not be forgotten that the sparkling rays of an 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 289 
 
 unclouded sun, and the lavish distribution of con¬ 
 trasting foliage, are no mean contributors to the 
 enchancement of the general effect. 
 
 The uniformity of the streets is frequently 
 violated by large and elaborate churches and 
 chapels, of which there are no less than seventy- 
 eight, and about sixty tree-planted squares are, 
 as it were, the oases of the town. Few cities 
 of the same size can rival Mexico as regards 
 magnificence of aspect; there is certainly not 
 one that can boast of an equal situation, both 
 as concerns its rare natural beauty and singularly 
 salubrious climate. The vast oval-shaped valley * 
 in which it stands rises 7600 feet above the 
 level of the sea, an altitude which transforms 
 the usual temperature of its latitude (19° 25' 45" 
 N.) into one as unvarying as it is moderate 
 and pleasant. The mean reading of the thermo¬ 
 meter is 70° Fahrenheit, and there exist no great 
 extremes, winter and summer being much alike. 
 It is only in December and January that the 
 mornings are at times somewhat chilly, and the 
 
 * The greatest diameter of this oval is about forty-five, the lesser 
 about thirty miles. 
 
 T 
 
290 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 houses standing in the shade perhaps not perfectly 
 agreeable; but where the sun has free access no 
 perceptible difference is experienced. The atmos¬ 
 phere is naturally light and of a rare transparency; 
 and the sky, which is seldom streaked with a 
 single cloud, is ever brilliant with the keenest, 
 fullest blue. 
 
 The thoroughfares are always lively. At no 
 time from early morning till late at night does 
 the ever-surging hum of voices and ever-moving 
 tramp of feet abandon them, and the multifarious 
 costumes of the mixed populace invest the streets 
 with a strange atmosphere of outlandish gaiety. 
 
 Military uniforms and the glittering chcirro may 
 be viewed side by side with the sombre European 
 dress; ladies in delicate black with airy mantillas 
 vie with the mestiza women in flaunting hues and 
 rebozos; the poorly clad Indio, bending under his 
 heavy load, pushes his groping path through a 
 crowd of sauntering idlers ; while hard by perhaps 
 copper-skinned flower-girls exhibit their magnificent 
 bouquets, which they offer for a few reales, spread out 
 temptingly on a wide part of the pavement; agua- 
 dores cased in their leather garments with huge 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 201 
 
 water-jars (chochocol) on their backs, suspended by 
 straps from their foreheads, and a smaller jar [ccin- 
 taro) hanging in front, attached to a string round 
 their necks, patiently plod along under their burden; 
 carboneros, men and women, bending under their 
 dingy huacalitos, wander from house to house; 
 whilst countless hawkers of confectionary, dulces, 
 agua fresca, tamales* and a hundred other 
 dainties, carry their wares on their heads, and 
 make the air ring with their motley cries. Ima¬ 
 gine the bustle and the noise of the Neapolitan 
 vicoli a hundred-fold increased, and you have a 
 faint idea of a Mexican street-scene. 
 
 The capital numbers 200,000 inhabitants, more 
 oddly mixed than in any other community in the 
 Republic. Indians and mestizos constitute the 
 bulk of the population, whilst by far the great 
 majority of Mexican creoles reside here. There is 
 also a considerable contingent of foreigners of all 
 nationalities, as large in proportion to the size 
 of the city as that of London or Paris. French¬ 
 men, I believe, are most numerous; next rank 
 Germans, Italians, Spaniards, Americans, English, 
 
 * A species of savoury roll, made of maize-dough and meat. 
 
292 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 Swiss, and Austrians. For many years past 
 Mexico has been popular with the French, and 
 long before the late war they flourished as 
 joerruquiers, chefs de cuisine, barbers, and small 
 shopkeepers. Since their army visited the country 
 their numbers have much increased; but, as may 
 be expected from their antecedents, they have not 
 risen to any prominent position. In their own 
 sphere, however, they are prospering, and the 
 sons of the small French town Barcellonette have 
 lately struck terror among the other traders in 
 calicoes and muslins by their power to undersell 
 their competitors. The latter maliciously ascribe 
 their superior mercantile ability to their low 
 origin, and remark that a man who lives on six 
 reales a week can easily outdo the aristocrats of 
 the trade who spend six pesos. The Mexicans 
 prefer the French to all other nationalities; it is 
 an old liking, which the late war has not de¬ 
 stroyed, and hardly even diminished. The reasons 
 for this are many. There exists a certain simi¬ 
 larity of character between them ; they have been 
 reared in the same religion; and last, but not least, 
 the gushing, ceremonious politeness of the French- 
 
IN THE CAPITAL. 
 
 293 
 
 man fascinates the Mexican, whose vanity is easily 
 tickled by these demonstrative though insincere 
 formalities. When questioned as to their fond¬ 
 ness for the French, Mexicans will tell you 
 repeatedly that un Frances tiene educacion, which 
 by no means implies that a Frenchman is edu¬ 
 cated, for in that respect they and Mexicans rank 
 much alike, but that the Gaul knows how to 
 embrace d la Mexicana, i.e., fall into his friend’s 
 arms as if he were about to wrestle with him, and 
 actively pat his back with the right hand of 
 affectionate acquaintance. 
 
 The Germans in the city of Mexico are the chief 
 merchants, and although they do not monopolise the 
 trade of the capital, as they do that of the ports 
 and interior towns, their firms are notwithstanding 
 among the most important. Besides, almost every 
 watchmaker, tailor, and hatter will be found to be of 
 Teuton or Swiss origin. It is to the Germans like¬ 
 wise that the Mexicans owe the introduction of 
 European beer, and throughout the country the 
 signboards with their placards of cerveceria aleman 
 recall memories of baierisch or lager-bier. The few 
 English residents are nearly all connected with the 
 
294 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 principal banks and the Mexico and Yera Cruz 
 Kailway. They with the Americans (their court¬ 
 eous and hospitable Minister, the Hon. John W. 
 Foster, at their head) and a very few Germans 
 form the elite of foreign society in the capital. 
 
 The Spaniards and Italians are so intermixed with 
 the native population, that it is difficult to disas¬ 
 sociate them from the general mass; but not a few 
 of the Austrians, Belgians, and Swiss, remnants of 
 Maximilian’s heterogeneous army, are frequently 
 encountered among the leperos* and pordioseros f 
 of the portales, the Indian birdseller on the plaza, 
 or the inmates of the prisons. 
 
 * Tlie leperos of the city of Mexico are that peculiar nondescript 
 class which in Europe is only to be found in the lazzaroni of Naples. 
 Clad in rags, with no fixed abode, they earn their livelihood in the 
 most mysterious manner, and ever cheerful in temperament, they 
 combine unusual shrewdness with a remarkable ability for repartee. 
 
 t The pordiosero is the Mexican beggar. His custom to ask alms 
 m the name of God —por Dios —has given him this appellation, which 
 has become a perfectly recognised expression. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 General ignorance about Mexico—Causes of the civil wars—The Laws of 
 Reform—The intervention—Maximilian’s death—Measures against 
 the priests and religious societies—Custom-house malpractices— 
 Inheritance from the Spaniards—Population of the Republic— 
 Creoles— Mestizos —Indians—Climate and productiveness of the 
 country—The future. 
 
 Few countries among those classed within the 
 pale of civilisation are so imperfectly known to 
 the world as the Republic of Mexico. To the 
 historian its name is fraught with little else but 
 the prowess of Cortez; to the journalist it is 
 synonymous with internal struggles and con¬ 
 vulsing 'pronuncicimientos; whilst the financier 
 regards it with contempt as a faithless and 
 obdurate debtor. 
 
 In later years, the unfortunate attempt of the 
 Hapsburg Archduke to transform it into an 
 Empire has added another dark stain to 
 its already tarnished name, and the mere men¬ 
 tion of the country will evoke remarks 
 
296 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 upon the horrible assassination ” of the Emperor 
 Maximilian. 
 
 The public at large learn little more than 
 certain isolated, facts, from which they draw 
 hasty conclusions — nearly always erroneous, be¬ 
 cause based upon utterly imperfect data. The 
 vilest epithets are lavishly showered upon the 
 people, and it is rare that allowances are made 
 for the peculiar condition of the country and 
 its history for the last fifty years. 
 
 Until 1821, Mexico formed part of the Spanish 
 Empire, and from that year dates its first 
 breath of independent life. At that time, the 
 two great parties in the country—the Republicans 
 or Liberals, and the Church party or Conserva¬ 
 tives ■— had already commenced their embryo 
 struggles, which for half a century since have 
 changed the beautiful land into a perpetual 
 battlefield, causing progress and civilisation to 
 halt at its frontiers, and educating the people 
 in strife and crime. Viewed in their entirety, 
 the continued civil wars present a terrible illus¬ 
 tration of the iniquity and influence of the 
 Roman Catholic priesthood, for every ghastly blot 
 
ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 297 
 
 on the chronicle of modern Mexico is associated with 
 the devastating machinations of the clergy. From 
 time immemorial they have been contending for the 
 mastership with the Liberals ; from time immemorial 
 their resources and energies have been husbanded 
 to send armed legions into the field against the men 
 who were struggling to endow their country with 
 the treasures of instruction and knowledge. The 
 Eoman Curia, with all the wealth at their com¬ 
 mand, have fought fiercely to enforce their reign 
 of corruption and ignorance against that of liberty 
 and enlightenment; and now, after half a century 
 of upheaval and awful bloodshed, the Eepublic is 
 commencing to purge itself of this social gangrene, 
 and the country already glimmers with the first 
 dawn of regeneration. 
 
 The task of the Liberals has been gigantic, 
 and whatever may be the faults of the Mexi¬ 
 cans—and they are numerous—this great honour 
 must be conceded them, that they have been in 
 the van of the great contest of modern times— 
 the fight of liberty against Ultramontanism. The 
 curse of Spain was left indelibly branded 
 upon her colony even when its independence was 
 
298 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 accomplished: the population were thoroughly 
 priest-ridden, fanatic, ignorant, and ever ready 
 to rise against the power in authority; the 
 clergy corrupt, debased, and utterly criminal, 
 shrinking from no deed, however vile, when an 
 iota of their power was endangered. What won¬ 
 der that revolutions were easily fomented, and 
 that hordes could be rallied by the thousand, 
 eager to rush madly, with crucifix in hand, against 
 any champion of emancipation from the priest. 
 In the general confusion, small chiefs, often 
 neutrals, would gather adherents, and prowl about 
 the country for the sake of plunder, and a state 
 of hopeless tumult was the inevitable result. 
 
 This reign of terror continued until, in 1855, 
 Comonfort became President and inaugurated 
 reforms, which were improved and completed 
 by his successor, Juarez, who in July 1859 
 at Yera Cruz (where he resided, owing to the 
 occupation of the metropolis by the clerical 
 counter-president Zuloaga) promulgated his cele¬ 
 brated Laws of Reform, which enacted the 
 suppression of monastic orders, the nationalisa¬ 
 tion of all church property, and civil as well 
 
ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 299 
 
 as religious liberty throughout the Republic. 
 Against this Magna Charta the clergy opposed 
 the most violent intrigues, which, failing in 
 Mexico, spread to Europe, where they ulti¬ 
 mately succeeded in organising the interven¬ 
 tion of 1861 , which commenced with the landing 
 of the combined forces of France, England, and 
 Spain, and ended in the execution of the Arch¬ 
 duke Maximilian. France alone (for luckily 
 England and Spain withdrew when the real state 
 of affairs became apparent) is responsible for this 
 iniquitous intervention, which has been more 
 baneful to Mexico than all those internal dis¬ 
 sensions which it professed to terminate. The 
 Napoleonic interference not only protracted 
 the most bloody civil war that the country 
 had ever experienced, but brought a third and 
 foreign power on to the field, which, although 
 siding with one party, was in reality opposed to 
 both, and ultimately forsook its partisans in an 
 ignoble and treacherous manner. 
 
 The French had no sooner quitted the country 
 when Juarez easily overcame Maximilian’s army, 
 and the latter expiated by his death, not his own 
 
300 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 faults, but those of his advisers committed under 
 his name. The so-called Black Decree signed 
 by him two years previously, and by which 
 many Liberal officers of rank were shot without 
 trial, was the main reason why mercy was refused 
 to a prince who was suspected by the Republicans 
 (not without some cause from their standpoint) as 
 an impostor and an usurper. 
 
 A regular trial was accorded to Maximilian, 
 and his cause was advocated by able and inde¬ 
 fatigable defenders; and although it would 
 perhaps have been a more politic and certainly 
 a more humane act on the part of the Mexicans 
 to have allowed him to return to Austria, yet it 
 is only utter ignorance or prejudice that can 
 stigmatise his execution as a “ murder ” or an 
 “ assassination. ” * 
 
 Since the termination of Maximilian’s Empire, 
 the country has continued comparatively undis¬ 
 turbed under the rule of Liberal Presidents. There 
 have been pronunciamientos, it is true, but they 
 have been confined to isolated localities ; and the 
 
 * Compare the official documents on this subject contained in 
 “The Fall of Maximilian,” by W. H. Chynoweth. London, 1872. 
 Trubner & Co. 
 
ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 301 
 
 priests, though still immensely powerful, have not 
 ventured to coalesce, or, if they have, have not 
 succeeded in organising any formidable opposition 
 to the Government. The ecclesiastical source of 
 the intervention, and the consequent anomaly of 
 a foreign prince on the throne of the Republic, 
 opened the eyes of many who had hitherto been 
 their adherents, and made them cognisant of their 
 real object. This increase to the strength of 
 their party prompted the Government to propose 
 to Congress the incorporation with the Constitution 
 of the Laws of Reform above mentioned, and that 
 measure was duly passed in December 1873. 
 
 For the last eight years the Government has 
 been vigorous in executing these laws to the 
 very letter. No monk, no nun, no Jesuit as such, 
 is permitted to reside in the Republic; no priest 
 is allowed to range the streets in the garb of 
 his order; cloisters and monasteries have been 
 converted into reformatories and schools; and 
 the levying of taxes for clerical purposes is pro¬ 
 hibited. The masses are being afforded the 
 means of instruction, and the aim of the Govern¬ 
 ment is to rescue the youth of the land from 
 
302 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 the hands of the priest, and entrust him to those 
 of the schoolmaster. The clergy are naturally 
 bitter and violent in their sermons and news¬ 
 papers, complain of oppression, and endeavour to 
 ridicule the principle of liberty which the Govern¬ 
 ment claims to embody. 
 
 There are not a few in our own country who, 
 although thoroughly opposed to the principles of 
 Roman Catholicism, yet consider interference with 
 its malpractices, such as has been the policy of 
 Mexico for years, and has recently become that 
 of Prussia, as an infringement on the liberty of 
 the citizen or the subject. They thus hold the 
 same opinions in this matter as the Mexican clergy. 
 But would these lovers of unconditional freedom 
 wish to repeal the various enactments against 
 license in betting, gambling, prize-fighting, and 
 duelling ? And what else are these various pro¬ 
 hibitions but so many curbs on the free will of 
 the individual, enacted for the good of the com¬ 
 munity ? They are, one and all, restrictions 
 against a class, intended to preserve the people 
 at large from immorality, which in its develop¬ 
 ment might become dangerous to the State; 
 
ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 303 
 
 they are precautions taken to prevent a subtle 
 poison from being instilled into the minds of weak 
 individuals, who, too ignorant to keep aloof of 
 their own accord, would without the supervision 
 of the State cause the ruin of themselves and 
 others. What but this mean the laws directed 
 against scheming priests ? What else is com¬ 
 passed by the expulsion of monks, nuns, and 
 Jesuits ? Nothing more far-reaching than to deliver 
 the community from a class of parasites, who, 
 while monopolising the wealth of the people, 
 extinguish every spark of independent thought, 
 and under the disguise of religion make mind 
 and body servile to their interests. What is 
 there more dangerous to the welfare of the com¬ 
 monwealth ? what more blighting to the growth 
 of true morality ? 
 
 A nation aroused from such spiritual stag¬ 
 nation is apt to relapse into apathy or to be 
 frenzied into atheism. 
 
 But it may be urged that his religion is the 
 birthright of each individual, and that to meddle 
 with it is not the part of any but a “ paternal ” 
 government. This is an important truth, but reli- 
 
304 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 gious conviction does not embrace the abuse of 
 religious ritual. 
 
 The life of the soul, as of the mind, cannot be 
 healthy under a despotism, though, too, it can 
 rarely thrive without guidance. It is surely better 
 that the earnest laity should lop off the moulder¬ 
 ing branch than that a degenerate priesthood 
 should sap the vital roots. 
 
 There is no sway more disastrous than that of 
 an effete and heartless Pharisaism. If to restrain 
 the encroachments of the clergy be intolerant, to 
 be enslaved by them is intolerable. 
 
 The few countries that, since the time of the 
 Eeformation, have cast off the yoke of Rome can 
 hardly appreciate the monstrous aggressions of the 
 priesthood of Roman Catholic countries ; and it thus 
 happens that while the latter are one by one taking 
 measures against the clergy, and ridding themselves 
 of religious societies, the Protestant countries, such 
 as England and the United States, are quietly 
 harbouring the refugees, who in time will doubtless 
 illustrate afresh the fable of the husbandman and 
 the viper. Mexicans who wish to join the Jesuits 
 or become monks, or Mexican women who desire 
 
ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 305 
 
 to enter a convent, cannot now do so in their 
 own country, and they are strangely enough com¬ 
 pelled to go to the United States or Europe if 
 they would enroll themselves in a religious order. 
 
 But whatever the exertions of the Liberals in 
 this direction, they can progress hut slowly. 
 That which has taken more than three centuries to 
 construct cannot be demolished or counterbalanced 
 in a decade; and however vigorous the present ad¬ 
 ministration in Mexico, and the feeling of the 
 minority that constitutes the educated classes, the 
 mass of the population is still entirely in the 
 grasp of the priests, and the confessional can still 
 muster more adherents than the schools. The 
 lower ranks, say three - fourths of the entire 
 population, are still partisans of the clergy; and 
 although interest may at times induce or force, 
 urge them to join the standing army, yet 
 they would more readily obey the priest than the 
 officer if circumstances were to place the former 
 at their head. 
 
 Notwithstanding the most strenuous efforts of 
 
 the Central Government, the influence of the 
 
 capital cannot affect the remote provinces very 
 
 u 
 
306 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 rapidly, in a country so devoid of ready means 
 of communication. In the distant States, despite 
 the suspension of church taxes, and the other 
 reforms, the church is the only building that is 
 in repair amid misery, filth, and ignorance; the 
 church alone flourishes in the wretched pueblo, 
 and deriving nourishment from the surrounding 
 poverty, is like the gigantic maguey which grows 
 fat and succulent upon the arid sand. Of all the 
 States through which my route lay, I found 
 this fact most striking in Jalisco. There, energetic 
 as have been the labours of the federal administra¬ 
 tion, the priests are still too much in the ascendant 
 to admit of a rapid or wide-spread amendment; 
 and though they conform outwardly to the regu¬ 
 lations of Government, they work their silent way 
 secretly and surely into the homes and hearts of 
 the people, like the canker that gnaws the core 
 of the outwardly spotless fruit. Their attentions 
 are directed towards the poor on the one hand, 
 and the wealthy on the other: they care less com¬ 
 paratively about the bourgoisie, who are sufficiently 
 rich to dispense with their alms, and intelligent 
 enough to discover their plans. They thus secure 
 
ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 307 
 
 the support of the masses and the money of the 
 opulent—the most valuable machinery for their 
 designs. The war that was formerly waged every¬ 
 where with steel and powder, is now a battle of 
 words in private dwellings; and instead of pro¬ 
 vinces and capitals, it is the control of the rising 
 generation for which Liberals and Ultramontanes 
 are contending. There can be no doubt as to 
 the ultimate result, but who can tell what time 
 must first transpire ? 
 
 I could scarcely believe all that bad been told 
 me with regard to the power exercised by the clergy 
 in the most aristocratic society, until I had 
 some conversation with a scion of one of the best 
 and richest families in Guadalajara. 
 
 I had spoken to him about railways, and what 
 a national blessing it would prove if they were 
 generally introduced ; he answered me very earnestly 
 that, although he would have no objection to the 
 construction of a line between the capital and 
 Guanajuato, he should be sorry to see his own 
 native town Guadalajara connected by rail with 
 the rest of the Republic. It would, he said, “ dis¬ 
 turb the quiet of our city, and by bringing us in 
 
308 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 contact with the outer world, introduce modern 
 customs and destroy our holy religion! ” 
 
 Too much praise cannot he bestowed upon the 
 present Government for their activity and sagacity 
 in grappling with this momentous question of the 
 priesthood; and their tactics, so far thoroughly suc¬ 
 cessful, promise to be of the greatest benefit to the 
 country. Other internal evils, however, of equal 
 importance and difficulty, are not so ener¬ 
 getically tackled; but this is not so much owing 
 to indolence on the part of the federal adminis¬ 
 tration, as to a deficiency in the governments of 
 the several States. It is only in certain matters 
 that the central authorities can interfere in the 
 different sovereign departments; in most dilemmas 
 the latter are their own masters, and as their gover¬ 
 nors are elected by the citizens of the State, they 
 are often not exactly qualified for the high posi¬ 
 tion which they occupy. 
 
 In quelling rebellions, and especially during the 
 war of the intervention, the Republicans have been 
 forced to employ chiefs of guerrilleros, whose an¬ 
 terior career fitted them rather for the treadmill 
 than for the important commands they not un- 
 
ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 309 
 
 frequently obtained. This was an act of sheer 
 necessity on the part of the Liberal leaders. These 
 bands existed, and had to be dealt with. The 
 alternative lay between recruiting the ranks from 
 their numbers, and thus strengthening the con¬ 
 stitutional cause, or allowing them to enlist in the 
 service of the enemy, which would have proved 
 a double disadvantage. A class of officers thus 
 sprang up who, criminals in their antecedents, were 
 nevertheless most useful to the Republicans, and 
 were thus, after the wished-for object had been 
 attained, entitled to the gratitude of the victorious 
 Government. These “ Bohemians,” dangerous and 
 turbulent in themselves, were, and still are, em¬ 
 ployed of necessity, partly to reward them for 
 past services, but mainly to make them forget in¬ 
 surrection and pronunciamientos. All the privileges 
 of the Central Government in a time of State elec¬ 
 tion are therefore frequently applied to the benefit 
 of such nominees, and it thus often happens that 
 State Governors are the offshoots of a somewhat 
 dubious society. 
 
 It is impossible to form a correct idea of Mexican 
 affairs by a mere stay in the capital and the ad¬ 
 joining towns. 
 
310 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 There, all is modelled to a higher standard, and 
 the vigilance of the reformers is observable in every 
 particular. It is most probable that, with a pro¬ 
 longed period of tranquillity, this lofty tone will 
 permeate the Republic, but the distant States 
 are at present far from imitating the example of 
 the capital. The reins of office are there mostly held 
 by unprincipled adventurers who, during their brief 
 period of sunshine, do their utmost to make hay 
 at the expense of the State. This, too, is the result 
 of favouring parvenus solely because they have 
 assisted in the time of rebellion, and are too 
 formidable to be ignored. As there are many more 
 of this clique than there are offices at the dis¬ 
 posal of the administration, the limit to emolument 
 is fixed at between six and twelve months, when 
 the possessor is recalled without any reason being 
 assigned, only to make room for another of the 
 same stamp. As this is well known, their pillage, 
 during their ephemeral tenure, of the public revenues 
 is easily explained. 
 
 This is especially the case with the Custom¬ 
 house officials, and more particularly with those 
 stationed on the Pacific coast, who enter into 
 
ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 311 
 
 regular contracts with the merchants in order to 
 defraud the Government and enrich themselves. 
 It is customary for captains of merchantmen, 
 when arrived off the port, to send a boat ashore 
 with the manifest to the merchant, so as to 
 enable him to negotiate with the Custom-house 
 officer about the terms on which the goods are 
 to be admitted. Until an arrangement has been 
 effected, the vessel cruises in the vicinity; and 
 should a satisfactory settlement not be granted, 
 the captain proceeds to the next port, and 
 so on until a sufficiently compliant official is 
 discovered. As a rule, the first harbour essayed is 
 found to answer the purpose! 
 
 This practice is fostered by the very severe 
 tariff (almost as high as that of the United 
 States), which in some instances imposes an ad 
 valorem duty of 150 per cent., and I have heard 
 merchants in Manzanillo, Colima, and Guadalajara, 
 openly declare that if it were not for the habitual 
 “ arrangement ” with the Custom-house officer, it 
 would not pay them to import goods. The usual 
 “ contract ” stipulates for payment of half the legal 
 duty into the Government coffers, whilst the 
 
312 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 other half is equally apportioned between the 
 official and the merchants. By this transaction, 
 the latter gain a quarter of the lawful tax, 
 which, if their own statement is to be trusted, 
 constitutes all their profit on the importation. 
 
 I do not recount these circumstances for the 
 sake of gossip, or to cast a slur on either the 
 authorities or the merchants, but because I con¬ 
 sider the knowledge of these facts essential to a 
 thorough comprehension of Mexican commerce. 
 There is not the slightest doubt that only a 
 comparatively short period of quiet is needed to 
 enable the country to shake off abuses, the 
 most detrimental effect of which is not the 
 pecuniary loss which they occasion to the treasury, 
 but the demoralising effect they exercise on the 
 population. 
 
 The finances^ of the Republic, as may be 
 imagined, have for a long time been in a deplor¬ 
 able state, principally owing to the enormous sums 
 which the Government have constantly been forced 
 to expend upon the maintenance of the army. 
 Half, and at times more than half, the entire 
 revenue has for years been consigned to the War 
 
ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 313 
 
 Department, and until the entire country has 
 attained that degree of stability at which the 
 present administration are aiming, the exchequer 
 must continue to languish. 
 
 The constant fiscal embarrassments have at 
 times forced the Government to measures which 
 nothing short of the utmost pressure can palliate. 
 Thus, for instance, the most urgent considerations 
 only could have compelled the authorities to sanc¬ 
 tion a direct breach of the Constitution such as 
 is perpetually committed by the exaction of duty 
 on goods passing from one State of the federation 
 to another. Such duties are specially prohibited 
 by the Constitution, but they are nevertheless 
 levied in almost all States, special custom-houses 
 and officials existing for the purpose. In this 
 instance the Central Government not only does not 
 interfere, but legalises as it were the unlawful 
 practice, by themselves receiving 25 per cent, of 
 all the duties so levied. This suicidal policy will 
 also, doubtless, very soon be a bugbear of the past. 
 
 The Mexicans, although generally very different 
 from the Spaniards, have yet retained many 
 qualities of their former masters. Thus the incom- 
 
314 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 prehensible and absurd pride of Castillians clings 
 to the Mexican in a lamentable degree. He is 
 proud beyond anything, though he may be a 
 criminal, or a pauper; he is proud for pride’s sake, 
 without any other" justification for his pet vice. 
 With this extraordinary temperament he combines 
 the most tender susceptibility, and is as easily 
 offended as pleased. 
 
 These peculiarities characterise alike individuals 
 and the national Government, and however efficient 
 they may be in dealing with their internal affairs, 
 these qualities seriously impede their relations with 
 other countries. They are of opinion that their 
 friendship ought to be solicited by others, 
 little regarding the fact that foreign alliance 
 is by far more important to themselves than it 
 can ever be to other nations. Discoursing on 
 this topic Mexicans will assume a haughty attitude, 
 and tell you that their country is sufficiently rich 
 and productive to dispense with all foreign aid, 
 and that if other nations did not seek for relations 
 with Mexico, Mexico would certainly not trouble 
 about it herself. This feeling is doubtless one of 
 the causes which have prevented the country from 
 
ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 315 
 
 keeping pace with other nations on the path of 
 progress. 
 
 The Republic numbers over nine millions of in¬ 
 habitants., Of these, over two-thirds are pure 
 Indians, the descendants of the tribes found by- 
 Cortez in the country. Of the remaining three 
 millions, two and a half are mestizos, whilst the 
 pure creoles hardly amount to 500,000. There are 
 no official statistics upon which to rely for these 
 figures. It is impossible to draw the line between 
 half-castes and descendants of pure Spanish blood, 
 but this much is certain, that there are by far fewer 
 genuine creoles than the Mexicans themselves believe, 
 and if the truth were known, the above estimate 
 of half a million would still considerably dwindle. 
 
 The whites are the aristocrats of the land; so 
 far, they have represented the intelligence of the 
 nation, and the majority of its leaders, both political 
 and scientific, belong to their ranks; they con¬ 
 sider themselves, and are generally considered, 
 the natural superiors of their fellow-citizens. Thus 
 there exists a craving to be classed as belonging 
 to the undoubted Spanish race, and when the 
 mestizo is not conspicuously marked with a brown 
 
316 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 or yellow skin, lie will repudiate affinity with other 
 blood, and in spite of his physiognomy endeavour 
 to pass for a creole. 
 
 The mestizos naturally comprise a class of various 
 elements, owing to the multifarious grades of inter¬ 
 mixture between the white and indigenous races. 
 Thus a portion would, in their characteristics, rank 
 with the whites, whilst another and a more con¬ 
 siderable class border on the pale of Indian society. 
 As a race, however, the mestizos are unmistakeable; 
 they, although numerically much less important than 
 the Indians, are the Mexicans par excellence, com¬ 
 bining, as they do, the character of the Spaniards 
 with that of the aborigines. Unfortunately they 
 possess neither the best traits of the whites, nor 
 the loftiest instincts of the Indios; they have 
 inherited much of the arrogance and unmeaning 
 pride of the one, as well as a considerable mea¬ 
 sure of the indolence and callousness of the 
 other. As is natural in a mongrel race, there 
 are numerous exceptions to this rule, which must 
 be taken more as a verdict on most than a 
 sweeping judgment on all. The severity of this 
 definition, however, is justified in a certain measure 
 
ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 317 
 
 by the fact that most of the disturbances for the 
 last half century, and much of the misery caused 
 by the civil wars, is due to mestizos. Whites, 
 as a rule, were the instigators and ringleaders, 
 but in the majority of cases the combatants were 
 of the half-caste breed, for the Indians rarely 
 joined any party of their own free will. The 
 mestizos, although in times of quiet industrious 
 and orderly, are easily inflamed to revolt, and 
 it is they that form the turbulent element in 
 Mexican society. Individually they are affable and 
 amiable, like most people of easy-going habits ; 
 and, ever prone to a love of amusement, they 
 will abandon any occupation for a dance or dis¬ 
 sipation. 
 
 The Indians are the bulk of the population, and 
 that class on which the future of the country chiefly 
 depends. There were at the time of the conquest, 
 and there are now, more than thirty different races, 
 speaking as many different languages, and stamped by 
 distinctive peculiarities. They are all, however, 
 infinitely superior to the other aboriginal races on 
 the North American continent. They had ac¬ 
 quired a by no means trivial civilisation before 
 
318 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 the Spaniards conquered them, and the great 
 majority have, in spite of the awful oppression 
 and ill-treatment experienced at the hands of 
 the white discoverers, preserved their sterling 
 virtues to this day. Three centuries of slavery 
 have certainly not conduced to an amelioration of 
 their condition, and as regards the Aztecs and their 
 neighbours whom history has painted in such 
 heroic proportions, this protracted period of servi¬ 
 tude has obliterated the energy and enterprise they 
 could once undoubtedly claim. Since the inde¬ 
 pendence of Mexico the former peones • of the 
 Spaniards have been free citizens of the Repub¬ 
 lic, but the unsettled state of the country has 
 not, until quite lately, allowed the Government 
 to take measures for their instruction and eleva¬ 
 tion from the ignorance and darkness into which 
 slavery and the priesthood have plunged them. Con¬ 
 sidering the capricious treatment they have received, 
 the Indios must be admired for the way in which 
 they have preserved a certain cheerfulness of spirit, 
 and constant willingness to work if only en¬ 
 couraged. The genial climate and their sub¬ 
 ordinate position have rendered them indolent 
 
ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 319 
 
 when left to their own devices, hut when super¬ 
 intended they are excellent artisans, operatives, 
 and servants ; and, indeed, it is they that perform 
 all the labour in the country. The ignorance and 
 degradation in which they have been nurtured have 
 naturally deadened in them the very idea of a 
 luxurious affluence—an idea which, if history is to 
 be believed, they certainly possessed in the olden 
 time ; their wants are exceedingly few, and thoughts 
 of accumulating property or bettering their condi¬ 
 tion are as yet entirely foreign to them. To judge, 
 however, from isolated examples, it appears fairly 
 established that education will awake the nation 
 from their sloth and torpor, and that although long 
 years will be needed to redeem the stupefaction of 
 the past, yet there seems no cause to doubt that ulti¬ 
 mately this Indian population of Mexico will prove 
 an illustrous family in the community of nations. 
 
 Those who stigmatise the population of the 
 Republic as beyond hope of improvement, and 
 who deem its future a hopeless blank, cannot have 
 seriotlsly weighed the wonderful career of Juarez, 
 one of Mexico’s noblest presidents, who was 
 a pure Indian, as well as the services of many 
 
320 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 others, who, like him, have sprung from the 
 unadulterated and indigenous race. 
 
 It is well known that Mexico is a surpassingly 
 rich country, and it has been repeatedly said, that 
 there is no product that the land cannot be made 
 to yield. This is no exaggeration. Its geographical 
 position and topographical configuration combine 
 to render it unique in its climate. The tropical 
 temperature belonging to its latitude is mode¬ 
 rated by the elevation of the ground, and all 
 the climates of the globe, from intense heat to 
 eternal snow, are found on its surface. 
 
 From the Pacific coast the country slopes gently 
 to an altitude of 8000 feet, whilst on the 
 Atlantic side the acclivity is more abrupt 
 and the decline precipitous. The central district 
 
 forms a vast table-land, undulating in its general 
 
 % 
 
 features; it enjoys the most perfect climate imagin¬ 
 able, and is for the greater part composed of 
 arable soil. The mountains conceal minerals of 
 all descriptions, amongst which silver ore is by 
 no means the rarest, and competent authorities 
 assert that coal is not unknown in different parts 
 of the Eepublic. 
 
ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS. 
 
 321 
 
 The tierra caliente admits of all tropical pro¬ 
 ducts ; the tierra templada furnishes cereals of 
 all kinds in unsurpassed quality; whilst the tierra 
 fria abounds in timber and much indigenous 
 produce. 
 
 When it is possible to speak in such general 
 terms, it is unnecessary to particularise: the land 
 only requires the requisite labour to be bestowed 
 upon it, and there exists but little that cannot be 
 grown in one part of the Republic or the other. 
 
 From these premises it is not difficult to infer 
 that Mexico has a great future before her; but 
 that future is entirely dependent on the action 
 of the Government, and the support that the 
 population will lend them to uproot Ultramon- 
 tanism, di ff use instruction, and improve the means 
 of communication. With regard to the two former 
 measures, the administration are as assiduous as 
 could be desired; but although the importance 
 of the latter question is thoroughly acknowledged, 
 there does not exist the same energy in solving 
 it. If the means of easy transport were once 
 established, the capacity of the country would 
 increase in enormous proportions; and if, finally, 
 
322 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 
 by adopting a just and conciliatory policy, the 
 Government should induce foreign capital to 
 seek employment in Mexico, an era of unparal¬ 
 leled commercial prosperity and national greatness 
 would open before her. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 • 
 
 Departure from the capital —Buena vista station—The Mexico and 
 Vera Cruz Railway—A cold night—Apizaco and the branch line 
 to Puebla—Pico de Orizaba—Boca del Monte—Maltrata—Escorts— 
 Barranca del Infiernillo—Arrival at Orizaba—Fertility around the 
 town—Cotton factory—Resume journey—Barranca de Metlac— 
 Cdrdoba — Atoyac—Chiquihuite Falls—Luxuriant vegetation of 
 tierra caliente —Barrenness of the country near the coast—Arrival 
 at Vera Cruz—Hotel de las Diligencias—Peculiar hotel arrangements 
 —The norte —Baths—Embarkation on board the Floride and 
 departure. 
 
 On the evening of Wednesday, 14th January 1874, 
 I witnessed the assemblage of a numerous party in 
 
 the hospitable house of Dr S-; but whilst in 
 
 the full swing of enjoyment, I was reminded that 
 the train which was to take me away from the 
 capital was appointed to leave at midnight. 
 Hurrying from the brilliant ball-room and charm¬ 
 ing partners, I repaired to the Hotel Iturbide, 
 where two rickety hackney-coaches and at least 
 half-a-dozen busybodies were waiting to transport 
 my own person and luggage to the Buena vista 
 
324 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 railway station. The latter is hut a large 
 wooden shed, and whatever the ultimate intentions 
 of the Railway Company may be, both build¬ 
 ing and arrangements are as yet most primitive. 
 Mexicans, whose experience of these matters can 
 be but quite recent, are employed in the various 
 duties of the station, and the confusion in the 
 luggage department I have rarely seen equalled. 
 In spite of all these minor discomforts, however, 
 my spirits were at their highest; for it was 
 a railway train in which I was about to travel, 
 and not a diligence, and that fact proved in 
 itself sufficient to dispel all predispositions for 
 discontent. I was fortunate enough to journey in 
 company with an American gentleman, by whose 
 thorough acquaintance with the country I had 
 already benefited during my sojourn in Mexico, 
 and who, until I embarked at Vera Cruz, most 
 considerately acted as my informant and guide. 
 
 y[ r p_ and myself were soon ensconced in the 
 
 old-fashioned English carriages here employed for 
 first-class accommodation, and punctually at twelve 
 o’clock the locomotive’s shrill signal whistled adieu 
 to the city of Montezuma. 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GOLF. 
 
 325 
 
 The Mexico ancl Vera Cruz Railway is, as 
 regards the time occupied and the various diffi¬ 
 culties encountered in its construction, perhaps the 
 most remarkable of all similar enterprises. 
 
 It was commenced in 1852, but the company 
 had to battle with the chimerical ideas of one 
 of the then directors, who, among other whims, 
 cherished that of constructing a line from the 
 capital towards the coast, simultaneously with 
 that from the sea up-country. This measure 
 necessitated the carriage of rails and other 
 materials from Vera Cruz to Mexico over a 
 track of country presenting the greatest possible 
 obstacles to transport, thus, at least, doubling 
 the expense. Want of funds, revolutions, and 
 the like, prevented the progress of the under¬ 
 taking ; and when the French invaded the 
 Republic in 1861, the line was only completed a 
 few miles inland from the coast, and a short dis¬ 
 tance from the capital on the plateau. The French 
 generals, and subsequently the Emperor Maximilian, 
 materially aided the company with funds, and 
 the works advanced fairly, when the overthrow 
 of the Empire again put a stop to their exertions. 
 
326 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 This time, however, their idleness was not of long 
 duration, for the Liberals took up the railway ques¬ 
 tion with vigour. Congress considerably increased 
 the subsidy, and finally, on the 1st of January 1873, 
 the line from Mexico to Vera Cruz, 263 miles, 
 was inaugurated by President Lerdo and his 
 ministers. 
 
 The line may be divided into three sections : the 
 first from Mexico over the plateau of the tierra 
 fria to Boca del Monte, a distance of 156 miles; 
 thence down the steep descent of the cumbres, to 
 Paso del Maclio, 60 miles; and finally thence along 
 the gently sloping tierra caliente to Vera Cruz, 47 
 miles. The two end sections presented no difficul¬ 
 ties of note, but the centre portion is one of the 
 greatest feats of engineering skill; and it is doubt¬ 
 ful whether the marvellous line between Callao and 
 Oroya in Peru, which is to scale an altitude of 
 more than 15,000 feet, will present much greater 
 obstacles than did the short portion of this Mexi¬ 
 can enterprise that lies between Boca del Monte 
 and Orizaba, where, in a distance of only 25 miles, 
 the road descends almost 4000 feet, where curves 
 of 300 feet radius, and gradients of three and four 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 327 
 
 per cent, often over loose and yielding ground, follow 
 one another in quick succession. 
 
 For more than a hundred and fifty miles after 
 leaving the city, we travelled over the undulating 
 plateau of the tierra fria, an appellation which coin-' 
 cided entirely with the temperature that prevailed. 
 The elevation of nigh 8000 feet is disagreeably per¬ 
 ceptible when the sun is not shining, and in respect 
 of the cold, it might have been Siberia that we were 
 traversing instead of the tropics. This part of 
 the country is described as one continuous maguey 
 plantation, slightly varied by crops and meadows 
 where the soil permits. Large quantities of 
 pulque are the staple of this mesa, and espe¬ 
 cially of the seventy miles nearest the capital. 
 This industry has greatly augmented since the 
 construction of the railway, as its transport has 
 been so much accelerated. Formerly, the city’s 
 supply came solely from places distant ten or 
 fifteen miles; now, a considerable portion is re¬ 
 ceived from Soltepec and the seven intermediate 
 stations, and the company run a train daily called 
 the “ pulque train,” which brings up the day’s 
 provision in the early morning. 
 
328 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 At Apizaco, where we arrived at five a.m., the 
 branch line to Puebla joins the main line. This 
 part has been completed for several years, and is 
 twenty-nine miles in length. 
 
 When daylight appeared, we were still spinning 
 along the wavy table-land thickly overgrown with 
 its prickly mat of cacti, stubbly trees, and magueys 
 of enormous dimensions—many with their slim 
 blossom-stem springing from the centre. 
 
 This indeed seems to be the home of the aloe; 
 it thrives nowhere else so well. At times rancho 
 buildings would seem to flit past us, and cattle 
 might be seen browsing on the scanty pasture; 
 above all, as if conscious of his eternal sovereignty, 
 Orizaba reared unabashed his snowy front to meet 
 the piercing blue of the cloudless heavens. 
 
 This majestic cone, 17,400 feet in height, is an 
 extinct volcano, and the characteristic landmark of 
 a wide range of country. Until we reached the 
 coast, the white, tapering colossus was never lost to 
 view. 
 
 At eight o’clock the train stopped at Boca del 
 Monte the Mouth of the Mount—a station, or, 
 more truly speaking, half-a-dozen wooden sheds, on 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 329 
 
 one of which we descried the welcome words, Hotel 
 Restaurant del Ferro Carril; and wondering why 
 a mere long “lumber hut,” as they say in the 
 States, was dignified with so pretentious a name, 
 we sat down to a very tolerable potage au viz and 
 poulet saute, for “mine host” happened to be a 
 Gaul. 
 
 At this spot, 7800 feet above sea-level, the pla¬ 
 teau suddenly terminates, and the steep decline of 
 the cumbres begins. The train was piloted by a 
 double-headed monster engine—a Fairlie locomo¬ 
 tive ; and immediately after leaving the station, 
 we entered on our downward path. From here, for 
 the next twenty-five miles, the train makes tardy 
 progress—about eight miles an hour—and twines 
 like some serpent down its wavering course, skirt¬ 
 ing mountain steeps on passes cut into the rock 
 or earth, turning sharp curves that caused the 
 carriages to lean perceptibly to one side, crossing 
 giddy ravines and clefts over slender bridges, and 
 penetrating into the heart of hills and rocks 
 through many tunnels. It was difficult to trust 
 the eye when a survey was made; on one side a 
 perpendicular mass of massive stone, on the other 
 
330 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 a yawning abyss, and ahead a glistening line that 
 marks the track as it clings to the battlements of a 
 chasmed height. 
 
 After whizzing through the first tunnel, the 
 charming valley of Maltrata appeared in sight, 
 a soft and glossy sward separating the giant 
 mountains 2000 feet below us, with its chessboard 
 of trim fields, its fruitful gardens and white houses, 
 which seemed, from our altitude, like so many 
 specks; whilst the monarch of the region, the 
 glacier-capped Orizaba, lowered over the many 
 ranges of the Sierra in distant and paramount 
 grandeur. 
 
 As we proceeded down the slanting line, field and 
 fell, gardens and houses grew larger, the waving crops 
 clearer, and the inhabitants of this snug retreat were 
 descried plying their rustic avocations. Although 
 only thirteen miles of railway lie between Boca 
 del Monte and Maltrata (a distance much in excess 
 of the straight line), the climate is totally different; 
 and cacti, maguey, and dwarf trees are super¬ 
 seded by all the fruitage of the tierra templada, 
 for the altitude of Maltrata is but 5500 feet. Thus 
 a descent of 2300 feet is accomplished in thirteen 
 
/ 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 331 
 
 ■ 
 
 miles, establishing an average gradient of three 
 and a half per cent. The engineering works along 
 this portion of the line, and indeed the whole way 
 to Paso del Macho, are stupendous; and the traveller 
 along this wonderful country divides his attention 
 and admiration almost equally between nature’s 
 awe-inspiring creation and man’s skilful work. 
 Chasms and precipices are gracefully spanned by 
 viaducts and bridges, indestructibly founded of iron, 
 on massive supports of solid masonry ; and though 
 apparently slender and almost hazardous, are never¬ 
 theless more than efficient for the requisite purpose.* 
 Six tunnels in quick succession are passed before 
 arrival at Maltrata, which is at length reached by 
 an enormous detour, necessitated by a steep moun¬ 
 tain interposing between it and the direct route. 
 The track winds here along tire uncertain tracery 
 of the mountain ridges like a stream through a ser¬ 
 pentine valley: now it will run due north, then a 
 sharp curve turns it due south, and at length, on the 
 
 * On the entire railway, including the branch line to Puebla, there 
 are ten viaducts, fifty-five iron bridges, and ninety-three wooden bridges • 
 the latter are being gradually replaced by works of iron. There are in 
 all fifteen tunnels, the longest of which is about 350 feet. The longest 
 bridge is the Puente de Soledad, measuring 742 feet. 
 
332 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 opposite side of a ravine, the road-bed over which 
 we have just glided is discerned slanting down 
 the incline, which towers far above our heads. 
 
 At a little before eleven o’clock we stopped at the 
 station, and looked up the rugged cumbres behind 
 us, wondering how we had passed their perpen¬ 
 dicular and seemingly insurmountable barriers. 
 At Maltrata, the up and down trains pass one 
 another. The train from Yera Cruz happened to 
 be behind time that morning, and the delay afforded 
 us an opportunity to inspect the station, and the 
 convoy by which we had come. 
 
 The small station is erected on an artificial 
 plateau levelled out of the continuous declivity, 
 and through which the line runs in a curve. The 
 descent on leaving Maltrata is even steeper than 
 the gradient immediately before, being fully four 
 per cent. The carriages of our train were well 
 filled, especially those of the second and third class, 
 and attached to it there was a large American car 
 tenanted by a company of soldiers. A similar escort 
 is provided for every train. The ladrones of this 
 region (especially between Boca del Monte and 
 Paso del Macho), were wont, in the times of the 
 
TP’r . v**- , 
 
 _ Wy* \ 
 
 rjs \ T~ ' 
 
 %V^! 
 
 ■J 
 
 • '' ] 
 ' 
 
 
VIEW OF THE RAILWAY S K I RTIN G TH E SI DE OF TH E BARRANCA DEL INFIERNILLO. 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 333 
 
 diligences, to be the most successful of all their 
 confreres in the Republic. When the railway first 
 commenced to travel, these worthies, unwilling to 
 relinquish a profitable and hereditary profession, 
 endeavoured to attack the trains as they slackened 
 speed up or down the cumbres, but their depreda¬ 
 tions were nipped in the bud by the Governmental 
 provision of regular escorts. 
 
 At length the expected train came puffing up 
 the incline, and we were again en route. The 
 powerful Fairlie locomotive, in addition to the 
 efficacious Westinghouse break, restrained the string 
 of carriages from undue speed down the dangerous 
 declivities, as we followed the wayward configura¬ 
 tion of the glorious mountains into whose encircling- 
 parapets the road has been hewn with astounding 
 skill. Immediately after quitting Maltrata, the line 
 enters the Barranca del Infiey'nillo, a chasm that 
 divides two craggy steeps, and whose dizzy depths 
 the eye can scarcely measure. Bridges across gulfs 
 follow tunnels through rocky promontories; views 
 majestically pencilled succeed one another with 
 surprising rapidity, as we carefully and slowly 
 descend : the mammoth engine hugs its iron path 
 
334 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 and guides us in safety over the seeming peril. 
 As we progress the vegetation gradually changes, 
 and the signs of lower altitude are observable in 
 bush and brake. Calm weald and wold below 
 us were rich with their dewy green, so different 
 from the dusty growth of the arid plateau, and 
 so gladdening to an eye wearied by cacti and 
 maguey. 
 
 After passing the Infiernillo precipice, ever 
 memorable for its awful beauty, the gradient 
 became less severe, but curves and countercurves 
 caused the train to twist and twirl in an almost 
 incredible manner, until, a few miles before Orizaba, 
 the ground appeared more even and the line less 
 complicated. The twelve miles from Maltrata to 
 the latter station occupied an hour more, and we 
 arrived at noon. 
 
 Mr P- and I had arranged to spend a day 
 
 at Orizaba, and therefore quitted the train, and 
 repaired to the Hotel de las Diligencias (in this 
 case happily a solecism), where we found the usual 
 provincial accommodation. 
 
 Orizaba is 181 miles distant from the capital, 
 and rises 4000 feet above the level of the sea, 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 335 
 
 thus being 3600 feet lower than the valley of 
 Mexico. This difference, and its comparative proxi¬ 
 mity to the sea-shore, have of course a marked 
 influence on the climate and vegetation. It is em¬ 
 bosomed in a lovely valley wreathed with mountains, 
 whose summits were enshrouded by curling mists, 
 the leaden blackness of which called to memory 
 the normal state of the west coast of Ireland. 
 Unlike the plateau, where the wet and dry seasons 
 are strictly divided, this part of the Atlantic slope 
 is in its climate exceedingly damp. Whenever the 
 wind blows from the north on the coast (and 
 we were informed that such was the case at the 
 time of our stay), clouds and moisture are wafted 
 across to the cumbres, which, too lofty to allow 
 of their passage, arrest and absorb them. This 
 naturally renders the soil extraordinarily fertile, and 
 although the altitude precludes the possibility of 
 ultra-tropical plants, yet we saw flourishing ban¬ 
 anas and billowy fields of sugar-cane, cotton plan¬ 
 tations, and gardens of glowing fruit. 
 
 The town itself is an old, noiseless place, with 
 straight but rather irregular streets, and simple 
 houses, tiled, with sloping and overhanging roofs. 
 
336 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 
 The roadways are badly and unevenly paved, and 
 wide gutters, almost like open sewers, run down 
 their centre. The buildings are mostly low and 
 one-storied, and innocent of any attempt at 
 decoration. Gardens are numerous, especially in, 
 the neighbourhood, where the houses are curtained 
 with mellow foliage—bananas, orange, oleander, and 
 coffee trees—which lends to that portion of the 
 town a tangled and straggling appearance. A 
 fine cathedral graces the plaza, and the lofty 
 towers and domes of many other churches rise 
 from the low streets. A rivulet waters Orizaba in a 
 deep and rocky valley, and is spanned in several 
 places by curious ancient bridges, one of which is 
 in ruins, and now obsolete. The steep banks of this 
 stream are partially dammed by old walls, from 
 whose cracks and crevices creepers and parasites 
 spring in fantastic luxuriance, draping the masonry 
 with a magnificent carpet of verdure. From the 
 margin of the stream large-leaved weeds and huge 
 ferns shoot up in lavish profusion, and show the 
 thousand different gradations of green; at the 
 brink of this rivulet men and women, scantily clad, 
 were performing the mysterious rites of the laun- 
 
OR! ZA BA 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 337 
 
 dry for the town—rites not too conscientiously 
 cultivated. "When the washing and rubbing were 
 accomplished, the linen would be spread on the dry 
 patches of stone or sand which the stream had 
 left untouched in its course, or be suspended from 
 a rock or the twigs of a neighbouring shrub, for 
 the purpose of drying. 
 
 This Homeric scene was exceeded in interest 
 by that which awaited us in the market-place, 
 thronged, as it was, with Indians and dark mestizos, 
 who had mustered in great numbers, for it was the 
 principal market-day of the week. The anima¬ 
 tion and bustle reminded me instantly of similar 
 occasions at Colima, and when the difference in 
 the physiognomy of the natives is excepted, 
 there is little to distinguish the one from the 
 
 other. The market is held in a large open 
 
 space, and the multifarious products were mostly 
 exhibited on the ground, under fragile stands 
 of sticks and matting, or the characteristic 
 umbrella-shaped tendajes or sombrajos, suspended 
 on centre-poles, and constantly shifted to shut 
 out the sun. It would be but useless repeti¬ 
 tion to enumerate the various articles which 
 
 Y 
 
338 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 crowded every stall; suffice it to say, that all 
 conceivable fruits and vegetables of the tierra 
 caliente and tierra templada were represented, 
 as well as the butcher’s supply of flesh and 
 dried meats, and the confectioner’s numberless 
 choice of pan dulce. Salt and various spices, 
 as well as cold tortillas and sausages, were there 
 to attract the hungry, while their vendors sub¬ 
 stituted large tough leaves for paper, and strips 
 of the fibry palmetto leaf for string, to wrap 
 their delicacies in their neat parcels. The 
 solemn Indians were droning their strange 
 musical language as they sold their own produce 
 and bought supplies, whilst the cheerful and 
 frolicsome mestizos were sustaining a loud and 
 lively palaver, accompanied by merry peals of 
 laughter. The Indios, whom they pleased to 
 treat as children, would at one time offer scope 
 for their sportive raillery; at another their banter 
 would be directed against one of their own 
 number, or the scrutinising estranjeros whose eyes 
 examined them and their wares. 
 
 We were much amused by the frequent 
 bartering transactions between the neighbouring 
 
/ROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 339 
 
 stall-keepers; thus we saw two hands-full of salt 
 exchanged for half the quantity of chile, and 
 a huge water-melon given in payment for a 
 couple of sausages; but a tortilla and a radish 
 vendor could not come to terms. They were 
 both young mestizos of sturdy build, and whilst 
 the owner of the radishes, on the principle of 
 “ measure for measure,” demanded a tortilla for 
 every root, the lady who sold the former would 
 only part with four maize cakes for five of the 
 pungent vegetables, and the bargain was unhap¬ 
 pily left uncompleted. 
 
 Orizaba numbers about 20,000 inhabitants, and 
 since the railway has made it its principal 
 station for stores and repairs, it has gained in 
 importance. In spite of the clammy atmosphere, 
 its climate is very salubrious, for its altitude 
 ensures it against the spread of epidemics; and 
 although a few cases of yellow fever are annually 
 carried into the town by fugitives from Vera 
 Cruz, that terrible malady has never yet assumed 
 alarming proportions. 
 
 We visited the Cocoalapan cotton factory, a 
 large and admirably-arranged establishment. It 
 
340 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 is under English management, but owned by a 
 wealthy Mexican. A paper-mill and some 
 smaller manufactories are in the vicinity, where 
 water power is to be found in abundance. We 
 also minutely inspected the railway workshops, 
 where we saw a number of engines of various 
 mechanisms and nationalities. The Fairlie, as 
 the engineer in charge informed us, is as yet 
 the only one that can be used with safety over 
 the cumbres, but experiments were just then being 
 undertaken with a very powerful locomotive of 
 American manufacture. 
 
 The clouds that had been gathering in the 
 evening dissolved the next morning in a 
 gentle but obstinate drizzle; the icy minaret of 
 Orizaba was perfectly invisible, and its pinnacles 
 thickly veiled in scud and mist. Towards noon 
 the sun began to burst its shroud of moisture, 
 and the fields and orchards were deliciously 
 fragrant when we proceeded to the station to 
 continue our route. The train from Mexico 
 happened to be two hours behind time, and 
 it was not before two p.m. that we were again 
 seated in the train. 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 341 
 
 The line quits Orizaba, as it enters it, on a 
 gradient of about two per cent. ; this is main¬ 
 tained for the next seven miles without any re¬ 
 markable curves or other difficulties, the railway 
 running almost parallel with the old waggon high¬ 
 road. The country through which we travelled was 
 an absolute hothouse of fertility; haciendas, huertas, 
 and wild patches of delicate leafage succeeded 
 one another, and the more we advanced the more 
 tropical became plants and climate. In half-an-liour 
 we reached the Barranca de Metlac, a chasm 
 very similar to those of Beltran and Atenquique 
 on the Pacific side, but considerably smaller in 
 its dimensions. The depth of Metlac is about 
 200 feet (its eastern side is considerably higher 
 than the western), and not more than about 130 
 yards across, measurements, however, which proved 
 immense obstacles to the construction of the rail¬ 
 way. It was at first contemplated to span the 
 depth by a bridge across the top, but supports of 
 200 feet in height proved impracticable. The 
 roadway, which, when it strikes the barranca, turns 
 to the northward, is cut into its perpendicular 
 wall, sloping at a gradient of three per cent., 
 
342 
 
 A PEEP A T MEXICO. 
 
 until it descends half-way, when it crosses to 
 the other side on a bridge, and scales the opposite 
 steep in a similar manner, the two slopes running 
 for some distance parallel to one another. The 
 descent in the severe decline takes the train 
 through no fewer than five tunnels, which perforate 
 as many rocky promontories; and when the level 
 of the bridge is attained, another tunnel into 
 the mountain-side winds in a considerable curve 
 to enable the train to enter the bridge, which 
 stands at right angles to the previous direction 
 of the line. This bridge, which is 445 feet long 
 and 92 high, is one of the most remarkable 
 structures of its kind. It is shaped in a curve 
 from one side to the other, and is certainly one 
 of the most extraordinary works on this railway, so 
 replete with the triumphs of engineering art. 
 When the opposite end of the bridge is gained, a 
 tunnel similar to the one just quitted is entered, 
 so as to allow the train to resume the direction 
 of the barranca's course, and the ascent is at 
 once commenced.* The scenery throughout this 
 
 * I am informed that these skilful engineering operations are due 
 to the ability of Mr William Cross Buchanan, now consulting engineer 
 to the Mexican Railway Company. 
 
CURVED RAILWAY BRIDGE OVER THE BARRANCA DE METLAC. 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 343 
 
 barranca is exquisite. The vegetation closely re¬ 
 sembles that described on the Pacific side, giant 
 labyrinths of leafy luxuriance, with here and 
 there a bold rock glaring from its prison-bars of 
 green, and the Rio de Metlac, clear as crystal, 
 speeding over its pebbly bed at the base. It 
 is worth a sea-voyage of thousands of miles, if 
 only to see this ravine and the line that 
 traverses it. 
 
 Arrived at the eastern mesa, a few miles over 
 almost level ground brought us to Fortin, a small 
 place, which, till the end of 1872, was the terminal 
 station of the Yera Cruz section of the railway. 
 
 Five miles more over a regular gradient of more 
 than two per cent., and through the most enchant¬ 
 ing country, brought us to Cordoba, the Colima 
 of the east. Although Cordoba is 2690 feet 
 above sea-level, and thus more than a thousand 
 feet higher than the western town, its climate is 
 very similar to that of the latter, and what 
 flourishes in Colima may also be found there, 
 with the sole exception of the cocoa-palm, which 
 never grows at a higher altitude than 1500 
 feet. The huertas and plantations of Cordoba 
 
344 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 enjoy no mean reputation, and had I not been 
 forced to hurry on board the steamer, I should not 
 have passed this spot as hastily as I did. 
 
 Cordoba is especially famed for its coffee, which 
 is said to equal that of Colima and Mocha; extensive 
 haciendas are exclusively employed with its growth, 
 and through the instrumentality of the railway a 
 considerable export trade in this product to the 
 United States has been inaugurated, as well as in 
 many others. Foreigners have bought estates here, 
 and the place promises to increase in size and 
 importance. 
 
 From here, for the next seventeen miles, our 
 route traversed a continuous track of tropical 
 forest, which seems, by its deep shade and shining 
 flowers, to unite the charms of night and morning ; 
 and this wood might well realise the most fanciful 
 ideal. My experience of the Pacific coast was 
 entirely eclipsed by the indescribable splendour 
 of this region. It seemed as if we were gliding 
 over an ocean of teeming herbage, in which 
 the shadowy hills formed the waves and the 
 millions of brilliant blossoms the foam and spray. 
 Both sides of the line are securely embanked by 
 
THE ATOYAC RAILWAY BRIDGE. 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 345 
 
 this impregnable fastness of interlaced vegetation, 
 and it is rarely that a small clearing affords room 
 for an Indian hut (little else but a high and 
 steep gable-roof of heavy thatch), or a stream, 
 embowered among matted arches of brushwood, 
 ferns, and creepers, bubbles up from the prolific 
 soil. 
 
 Three-quarters of an hour after leaving C6r- 
 cloba, we crossed the Atoyhc river on a fine iron 
 bridge, and reached the little town of the same 
 name, sleeping softly in its narrow valley, amid 
 the whispers of bananas and orange-trees, with an 
 air of such ethereal and suggestive laziness that it 
 might prompt the beholder to assign it as the 
 very birthplace of “ dolce far wienie .” Proceeding, 
 we arrived at the last barriers that intervene 
 between the interior and the coast, the Cliiquihuite 
 mountains, famed for the most enchanting and 
 superb scenery. The line for two miles follows 
 the winding course of the Atoy4c river, until it 
 quits its valley and plunges into a tunnel through 
 a gigantic rock. Emerging from the latter, a sharp 
 curve suddenly discloses the remarkable Rio de 
 Chiquihuite, where it bounds in a lovely cascade 
 
346 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 from a rift in the sheer cliff, sixty feet into the 
 gorge below. 
 
 The vesture of greenery which drapes every inch 
 of this wonderful region thoroughly screens the 
 fissure whence the water springs. It rushes forth 
 between beaded leaves and quivering branches, and 
 precipitates its volume unobstructed into thin spray 
 and irised mist beneath. It was but a glance 
 that I caught of this sublime picture; for as the 
 remorseless train moved on, an obtrusive rock 
 cruelly interposed between it and the longing eye, 
 and it was seen no more. 
 
 The next station was Paso del Macho, where 
 we arrived at a quarter past four. From there 
 (1550 feet above sea-level) the ground slopes 
 gently down to the coast, a distance of forty- 
 seven miles, and there is nothing to distinguish 
 the railway from any ordinary work of the same 
 kind. A great change now takes place in the 
 country. The hitherto superabundant vegetation 
 gradually becomes thinner, the soil becomes thirsty 
 and gritty, and is at times sprinkled with gaunt 
 shapes of rock. Stumpy trees and stunted bushes 
 take the place of the netted undergrowth on the 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 347 
 
 mountains, and it is only where a river refreshes 
 the cracking soil that the monotony is relieved 
 by coverts of succulent green. Such spots are 
 invariably chosen as the sites of small towns or 
 Indian villages, whose unsymmetrical cabins, with 
 their downy roofs, impart a whimsical beauty to the 
 lawn-like banks. 
 
 It is said that this track of country is too low 
 to come in contact with the vapours wafted 
 inland from the sea, which, attracted by the 
 heights, float over the coast-land without fer¬ 
 tilising it. 
 
 We crossed the Rio Jamapa over the longest 
 iron bridge on the line, and arrived at La Sole- 
 dad situate on its eastern bank, and memorable 
 as the spot where the Convention between the in¬ 
 vading powers and Mexico was signed on the 19th 
 of February 1862. 
 
 The perfectly flat country shows, now and then, 
 a strip of swamp, but it is mostly a cheerless 
 waste of sand, with only the scantiest of vegetation. 
 Palms and bananas, so luscious on the Pacific coast, 
 are here conspicuous only for their absence ; there 
 is nothing but low jungle on the patches of marsh, 
 
348 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 and a few deformed cacti peering between the 
 rough masses of rock and shingle. 
 
 We stopped at two stations, La Purga and 
 Tejeria, and finally at seven o’clock passed through 
 a break in the crumbling walls of the ancient 
 fortifications of Vera Cruz, and entered the wooden 
 shed which at present forms the terminus. 
 
 As a matter of course, the house to which we 
 repaired was the Hotel de las Diligencias —an 
 establishment bearing this appellation being as 
 material a part of every Mexican town as its plaza 
 or its catedral. This hotel was the reverse of 
 agreeable. The narrow yard at its entrance was 
 redolent of more than the orthodox “ two and 
 seventy” odours attributed by the poet to Cologne, 
 and the slatternly French hostess ushered us into 
 the only room vacant, to reach which we were 
 obliged to pass through the apartment of a 
 Havanese family, consisting of husband, wife, 
 infant, and nurse 1 With evident risk to the 
 comfort of this happy quartette we ventured upon 
 an evening excursion, after partaking of comida, 
 in the gallery overlooking the above-mentioned 
 delightful court. The sky was overcast, whilst 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 349 
 
 a “ norther ” or norte was howling melancholily, 
 and on arrival at the Custom-house gate, we saw 
 the waves dashing over the stone landing-stage 
 and into the streets. Of the proverbial heat of 
 Vera Cruz I could discover nothing; indeed, the 
 prevailing gale rendered the atmosphere cool and 
 pleasant. 
 
 The next morning broke with a clear blue sky, 
 a blazing sun, and not a breath of wind, illustra¬ 
 tive of the sudden changes in the weather, more 
 frequent here than even pronunciamientos. The 
 “ knowing ones,” however, prognosticated a 
 speedy return of the hurricane, for this was the 
 season for nortes. Although inconvenient to the 
 shipping, and obstructive to the landing of mer¬ 
 chandise, they are welcome guests, as they tem¬ 
 porarily free the town from the scourge of vomito 
 —that most malignant type of yellow fever, for 
 which Vera Cruz enjoys an unenviable reputa¬ 
 tion. 
 
 The town is the chief port of the Eepublic, 
 and the receipts of its customs amount to more 
 than half the national revenue from this 
 source. It thus seems hardly credible that 
 
350 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 Vera Cruz should lack a harbour, or, with the 
 exception of a short stone pier, any other 
 arrangement to facilitate the shipping traffic. 
 But such is the case. Its topography is most 
 unfavourable to the construction of a harbour, 
 but the English Bail way Company intend to 
 erect a mole, which promises to be a great im¬ 
 provement. At present, vessels must anchor 
 between the shore and a small island about half 
 a mile to seaward, on which is built the fort of 
 San Juan de Uloa. At the back of this island, 
 and parallel with the coast, coral reefs extend 
 for a considerable distance, so that the town 
 can only be approached from the north or south. 
 When a norte is blowing, communication between 
 vessels in the roadstead and the shore is im¬ 
 possible ; and when the wind becomes very 
 violent, as is frequently the case in January and 
 February, ships often make their way towards 
 the sea to prevent inevitable destruction, in the 
 event of dragging their anchors. 
 
 Vera Cruz was founded by the Viceroy Count 
 Monterey at the end of the sixteenth century, 
 and until the declaration of independence its port 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 351 
 
 had the privilege of alone being open to foreign 
 commerce on the Atlantic seaboard of Mexico. 
 
 This of course was a source of great wealth 
 to the town, which, as far as its buildings are 
 concerned, retains ample tokens of past grandeur. 
 Originally a fortress, it is still entirely sur¬ 
 rounded by massive walls and ramparts; and as 
 the neighbouring country is nothing but a desert, 
 and offers little temptation to use it for building 
 sites, the habitations are mainly confined to the 
 limited space within the walls. 
 
 The latter stretch about a quarter of a mile 
 along the sea-shore, and are flanked on both 
 sides by ancient forts, whilst on the land side the 
 ramparts are curved in the form of an arc, and 
 entered by a number of quaint gateways, on 
 which other enemies besides time and tempest 
 have left their ineffaceable marks. The countless 
 ancient cupolas and towers look hoar and 
 venerable, whilst the houses generally are kept 
 in good repair, and notwithstanding their age are 
 carefully coated with paint to conceal their de¬ 
 ficiencies. 
 
 The streets, though ill-paved, appeared neat 
 
352 
 
 A PEEP AT MEXICO. 
 
 and cjean, and made me wonder how the 
 notorious scavengers of the town—the sombre 
 zopilotes —could manage to thrive, especially as they 
 seemed to be in the reverse of a starving con¬ 
 dition. The open sewer running along the centre 
 of the thoroughfare resembled a clear stream; 
 and with the exception of the hotel-yard, I 
 encountered none of the balmy fragrance for 
 which Vera Cruz is widely famed. x 
 
 But it must not be forgotten that my visit was 
 in January, perhaps the coolest and healthiest 
 month in the year. 
 
 Our first errand on Saturday, January 17th, 
 1874 (my last day in Mexico), was to ''patronise 
 the bathing establishment, which I mention on 
 account of its comfort and excellence. Successive 
 compartments, furnished with every necessary 
 appliance, run round three sides of a large 
 patio, which is a complete nursery of beautiful 
 plants bedewed by the ever-trickling fountain in 
 the centre. 
 
 Facing the hotel is the plaza, a capital 
 specimen of this national institution, tesselated 
 with v most curious and artistic pavement 
 
1VT~ i 
 
 / 
 
 THE ALAMEDA, VERA CRUZ. 
 
FROM MEXICO TO THE GULF. 
 
 353 
 
 of marble. Here and in the alameda, which is 
 outside the walls, I spied the only palms in 
 Vera Cruz. 
 
 But the time for embarkation had arrived. The 
 Societe Transatlantiques steamer Floride had 
 hoisted the “ Blue Peter,” and a short row through 
 the rolling surf soon brought me on board. At 
 three o’clock the good ship quietly moved from 
 her anchorage near San Juan de Uloa, and an 
 hour later the faint outlines of Montezuma’s 
 receding shores had mingled with the hazy 
 
 horizon. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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