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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Bhelf-Slk...- 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
IXTACCIIIUATL*-) 
 
 ■■■ Pronounced : Is-sta-sea-watile. 
 
-HK White Woman. 
 
THE KINGDOM OF THE 
 "WHITE WOMAN" 
 
 A SKETCH 
 
 •'^;^t,^'-^^t^^-%^^Cti-<^-'^'^'-''^^ 
 
 CINCINNATI 
 ROBERT CLARK?: & CO 
 
 1S94 
 
Copyright, 1894, 
 By M M. shoemaker. 
 
 
 cr 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 These notes are the record of a winter in Mexico, 
 at a time when the first waves of a second and greater 
 conquest were beginning to break on her shores. 
 When we in the North were awakening to the fact 
 that just to the southward slept in an enchanted king- 
 dom, not one maiden but a whole nation, and that 
 the time had come to awaken them from a sleep of 
 300 years — so we turned our faces southward, not in 
 battle array, not in glittering hosts, and carrying 
 neither cross nor crescent, but in small groups at first, 
 who, as we entered the kingdom, felt that the place 
 was haunted, and stole wonderingly on in silence. 
 Then more and more followed, pushing wider and 
 wider the long-forgotten portals, until now through each 
 and all rolls a "flood tide"" that in the name of peace 
 and progress will rush onward until its mighty waters 
 will submerge the sea of Mexico into the ocean of 
 
 a "greater America." 
 
 (3) 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter I. page 
 Singers and Sharks 9 
 
 Chapter II. 
 " Off the Coast of Yucatan " 13 
 
 Chapter III. 
 Riding Out a "Norther" 17 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 The Mexican " Bastile " 21 
 
 Chapter V. 
 The Citv of the " True Cross " 23 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 Our First View of the Descendants of Montezuma 2q 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 An Introduction to the " Danza " 31 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 From tlie "Hot Sands" to the "Table Lands" 35 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 Staging through the Land of Brigandage 38 
 
 Chapter X. 
 The Great L^pper Table Land 43 
 
6 Coiitoib 
 
 ClIAI'TKR XI. 
 
 Daiing Robbers and Delicious Fruits 46 
 
 Chapter XII. 
 The Making of Pulque 49 
 
 Chapter XIII. 
 Pueblo de los Angelos and the Legend of the " White 
 
 Woman " 153 
 
 Chapter XIV. 
 Storms on the Pyramid of Cholula 59 
 
 Chapter XV. 
 Entrance to the Capital 62 
 
 Chapter X\'I. 
 A Deserted Palace 66 
 
 Chapter X\'II. 
 Life in the City of Montezuma 70 
 
 Chapter XVIII. 
 The Panorama of the Valley 75 
 
 Chapter XIX. 
 High Life and Dog Life Si 
 
 Chapter XX. 
 Thieving and Religion go Hand in Hand 83 j^^ 
 
 Ch.vpter XXI. 
 The Climate and People 91 
 
 Chapter XXII. 
 The Gilded Coach and the Tree of the "Bloody Hand". 95 
 
Contents. 7 
 
 Chapter XXIII. 
 The Grand Avenue to Chapultepec 99 
 
 Chapter XX I \'. 
 Ghosts on the "Hill of the Grasshopper" loS 
 
 Chapter XXW 
 " Mr. Guppj '" amongst the Aztecs 113 
 
 Chapter XXVI. 
 The Tomb of Juarez 117 
 
 Chapter XX\'II. 
 Bloodhounds as Guardians i:;o 
 
 Chapter XX\'III. 
 Reception at the Legation 132 
 
 Chapter XX IX. 
 Maximilian 134 
 
 Ch.vpter XXX. 
 "Crazy Joan " 13S 
 
 Chapter XXXI. 
 Feather Work of the Aztecs 141 
 
 Chapter XXXIl. 
 Mrs. Hooper's Orphanage 144 
 
 Chapter XXXIII. 
 Dead— "Only a Girl" 148 )/' 
 
 Chapter XXXIV. 
 Burial of the Poor in Havana 154 
 
8 Contents. 
 
 ClIM'TF.R XXW. 
 
 Tlie Tribes, of the Past 156 
 
 ClIAl'TER \X\\'I. 
 
 Cortez and the Inquisition 160 
 
 ClIAPTKR XXW'II. 
 
 The Ways In and Out 164 
 
 Chapter XXX VII I. 
 A Picnic in Tivoli Gardens 168 
 
 Chapter XXXIX. 
 En Route Northward 171 
 
 Chapter XL. 
 Beggars b}' the Way 174 
 
 Chapter XLI. 
 Pilgrims to the Virgin's Shrine 177 
 
 Chapter XLII. 
 The Tomb of Torquemada 189 
 
 Chapter XLII I. 
 America versus Mexico 197 
 
 Chapter XLI\'. 
 Ancient Juarez 200 
 
 Chapter XLV. 
 ' Adios " J03 
 
THE 
 
 KINGDOM OF THE " WHITE WOMAN." 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 On board the S. S. "City of Vera Cruz." In roadstead 
 off the port of Pergresso, Yucatan; the season, midwinter. 
 
 A TROPICAL sun sends its rays down- 
 ward so strong and so direct that 
 an awning is necessary, and one's dispo- 
 sition to do any thing is at its lowest ebb. 
 Around about us are scattered the members 
 of a French opera troupe, en route to charm 
 the inhabitants of the one-time kingdom of 
 Montezuma. Here is the prima donna, tall 
 and stately, with glorious dark eyes. She 
 seems really a lady. The rest are, to say 
 the least, an odd lot. We have been 
 
 (9) 
 
lo The Kingdom of the 
 
 almost a week on board with them, and 
 have not as yet been able to establish the 
 different relationships. However, we proba- 
 bly know as much about it as they do 
 themselves, and it is needless to say, do 
 not tell all we know. Here comes the con- 
 tralto, a big, heavy woman, who evidently 
 believes that variety is life's spice, as one 
 never sees her with the same man twice, 
 except it be that cadaverous priest, with 
 whom she is now walking and whom she 
 persists in tormenting. The poor man tries 
 to ignore her and bury his nose in his 
 breviary, but she is not of the sort to be 
 ignored. As they cross that patch of sun- 
 light near the funnel, I see her give his old 
 greasy soutane such a jerk that his breviary 
 nearly flies into the sea, and he crosses 
 himself devoutly. Now she snatches his 
 arm, and church and opera pass around 
 the ship in stately procession, much to the 
 
''White Woman y ii 
 
 amusement of the latter, as well as the 
 rest of us. 
 
 Our attention is suddenly diverted from 
 the life of the ship to the life of the 
 ocean that spreads around us in oily waves. 
 Those engaged in the business of shark 
 fishing find that they have succeeded at 
 last, and are tugging hand over hand, en- 
 deavoring to handle their prize. Leaning 
 over the rail, I recoil with a shudder as I 
 find myself looking straight down the throat 
 of one of those monsters of the deep — a 
 mouth nearly half a yard across holds row 
 after row of savaoe lookincr teeth, back 
 of which cold, cruel, and most malignant 
 looking eyes stare straight into mine. To 
 my mind Nature holds nothing so horri- 
 bly cruel in expression as the eye of a 
 shark. This is a monster some fourteen 
 feet longf. The men have almost g-otten 
 him over on the deck when the chain parts 
 
1 2 The Kingdom of the 
 
 and he vanishes, carrying as a memento 
 of his curiosity an iron hook in his jaws 
 about a foot lono-. It will soon turn him 
 into food for the hundreds of others that 
 fill the sea around us. It really would seem 
 to be a fact they do not attack negroes. 
 At least here, where we see that the waters 
 abound with the monsters, the blacks do 
 not hesitate to plunge in, appearing to be 
 utterly devoid of fear. Just over yonder, 
 man and monster actually appear to be 
 engageci in a game of water polo. 
 
' ' White Woman . " 13 
 
 CHAPTER ir. 
 
 WE have been anchored for two days 
 off this port of Merida waitino- for 
 the winds and waves to subside. These 
 steamships being subsidized by the Mexican 
 government to carry the mails, do not 
 dare leave without them, so we roll at 
 anchor for forty-eight hours waiting the 
 pleasure of that apparently dead town. 
 The sun shines from a cloudless sky, but 
 the wind and waves keep up a dolorous 
 moaning. Captain Van Sice (poor man, 
 he went down with this same ship some 
 two years later) says that it is the "tail 
 of a norther" and will end soon. It 
 does so {after tzvo days), then the natives 
 come off in clumsy lighters and in a few 
 
14 The Kingdom of tJie 
 
 hours we are again under full steam west- 
 ward. Frontrara is passed in like manner, 
 and to-morrow should find us landed at 
 Vera Cruz. To-night the ocean sleeps 
 peacefully and the moon will rise toward 
 eleven o'clock (over quiet waters). We 
 have gathered on deck to hear the opera 
 troupe rehearse " Mignon," and when they 
 finish the purser produces his accordion 
 and we assist him in returning the com- 
 pliment. It is needless to say that "The 
 Blue Bahamas," and one or two other 
 familiar airs are rendered more or less 
 perfectly. Rarely have we heard an ac- 
 cordion played so well. There is music 
 in it as he swings it around his head — 
 music so inspiring that French, English, 
 and Americans, officers and crew, are soon 
 tripping the light fantastic, with the ex- 
 ception of the priest who has locked 
 
'^ White Woman.'' 15 
 
 himself in his state-room to escape the 
 embraces of the contraho. Heavens ! he 
 lauofhs best who laughs last. Havino- 
 
 o o fc» 
 
 missed the holy father, she insists upon 
 dancing with me. What a waltz it is ! 
 I have had many dances in many climes 
 but never any thing equal to this. Re- 
 leased at last I lean panting against the 
 wheel-house, and gaze eastward to where 
 the reddening of the sky tells of the com- 
 ing moon. The waters of the gulf spread 
 darkly around us like a vast black mirror, 
 over which the queen of night casts a long 
 river of light, and which ever and anon 
 heaves slowly as though the giant spirit of 
 the ocean were deep in slumber — but the 
 coming of the moon disturbs him. The 
 waters are deeply troubled, and rise and 
 fall uneasily in swirls and whirlpools. Now 
 the wind begins its moaning, grows stronger 
 
1 6 The Kijigdoni of the 
 
 and stronger, swifter and swifter, until it 
 howls throuoh the riesino: like mad. In 
 less than twenty minutes the norther is 
 upon us, and all night long we pitch and 
 toss upon a tempestuous ocean. 
 
' ' White Woman . " 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GOOD FRIDAY, 1879. 
 
 THE hours of the night are filled with 
 the sound of moaning winds and dash- 
 ing waves. Morning brings us no comfort. 
 I find on reaching the deck that the storm 
 still rages and every thing is shrouded in 
 mist. We are at anchor between the castle 
 of San Juan d' Ulloa and the city of the 
 True Cross, so they say, but we seem to 
 be anchored in cloudland. 
 
 Suddenly the mist separates, and through 
 the rift, against the blue sky, comes the first 
 glimpse of the peak of Orizaba,* a perfect 
 cone of snow, sparkling twenty thousand 
 feet above us. The rift grows wider as 
 
 *" Mountain of the Star." 
 
1 8 The Kingdovi of the 
 
 the rising sun sends more power into its 
 rays. Shortly there appear the gray rocks ; 
 then the Hght green tops of the higher 
 mountain trees, followed by the dark, glis- 
 tening foliage of the tropics on the lower 
 hills; then, as with a last effort, the mist 
 is banished completely, like the falling of 
 a curtain, the entire panorama spreads 
 before us. Long dunes stretch from the 
 base of the mountains in waves of sand, 
 until they seem about to overwhelm the 
 sleeping city of Vera Cruz, lying over there 
 all pink and green and white in the early 
 sunlight. Silence most intense, save for 
 the sound of the dancingr waters of the 
 o^ulf, reigriis over all. The view is most 
 beautiful, yet it is intensely melancholy, 
 for all is so white and hot and desolate, 
 while the moaning of the wind seems with 
 the waves to be chanting a solemn requiem 
 over this city of the True Cross, — this spot 
 
<: 
 
" White Woman y 19 
 
 where Cortez first set foot in the ancient 
 kingdom of Montezuma. 
 
 There is no harbor here nor anywhere 
 else on this coast, only an open roadstead, 
 on one side of which rises the fortress of 
 San Juan d' Ulloa, while on the other 
 stretches the low-lying Terra Caliente, with 
 the city of Vera Cruz encircled by its per- 
 fect .walls in the middle foreground. The 
 houses are truly Spanish with their flat 
 roofs and gayly-colored walls. Up one 
 street we catch a glimpse of the plaza and 
 cathedral, around which, the only signs of 
 life are the vultures. To the very gates 
 of the city the sand has blown in great 
 hills, and we do not see what is to prevent 
 a fate like that of Pompeii overwhelming 
 all. 
 
 It is hard work enjoying all this when 
 
20 The Kmgdoin of the 
 
 we are forced to clincr to the railingf and 
 rigging, the ship rocking constantly beneath 
 us, while the wind never ceases. A howling 
 storm, with clouds and darkness, thunder 
 and lightning, has something awe inspiring 
 about it, but to me nothing is more lonely 
 than a brilliant sunny day, with the wind 
 blowing steadily and moaning as only such 
 winds can moan ; and when is added to 
 this a silent fortress, a sleeping or appar- 
 ently deserted city, over which great clouds 
 of sand are drifting, and beyond which the 
 desert stretches away to the mountains — 
 one has reached the acme of desolation. 
 Nature would be lonely here under all 
 circumstances, but she is never at any time 
 or place desolate, unless man has left his 
 track across her face, and when these tracks 
 are in the form of a 'city and fortress, whose 
 life and usefulness are long over past, the 
 desolation is intense. 
 
White Woman y 21 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SAX JUAX d' ULLOA, 
 
 '•* ^ I ^WENTY years in the dungeons of 
 
 i- San Juan d' Ulloa." Such was the 
 sentence pronounced not long since upon 
 a murderer in northern Mexico. Twenty 
 years ! He will not live three. The dun- 
 geons of this old fortress are in the solid 
 rock, much lower than the waters of the 
 ocean, whose risino- tides drive the rats and 
 
 o 
 
 vermin in upon those buried alive there. 
 Ooze and slime trickle down walls that are 
 foul with disease. Yellow fever and small- 
 pox are forever rampant. Escape from the 
 fortress is impossible. You are literally 
 "between the devil and the deep sea." The 
 former in the shape of the pestilence, and 
 
2 2 The Kingdom of the 
 
 the latter in the great depths of the water 
 and the myriads of sharks ; — so abandon your 
 hopes if once you enter this castle of San 
 Juan d' UUoa. Russia holds no prison more 
 terrible. As we stand on our deck reg-ard- 
 ing its storm-washed walls we are startled 
 by a wailing cry and the sight of two poor 
 white hands extended toward us from one 
 of the iron-barred casemates, behind which 
 a half-starved face looks out imploringly. 
 It is too much, and we rush across the 
 deck, down the companion-way, and into 
 the first boat that is to venture shoreward, 
 leaving San Juan d' Ulloa to her silence 
 and her waves. 
 
White Woman y 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 VERA CRUZ. 
 
 AS the landing- is dangerous we decide 
 to drift for half an hour, when finally 
 it appears safe to venture. Even then 
 "Madam," the contralto, gets soaked by a 
 high breaker just as she makes a rush for 
 the portal, and the last we see of her she is 
 vanishing down a long street in any thing 
 but a good humor, while she carries her 
 pet parrot by the tail. With it all, she was 
 a jolly soul, and whether she meets priest 
 or pagan will go singing through life's 
 pathway. Sunshine be with her, for she 
 has afforded us many a hearty laugh. 
 
 Are these black-robed priests, with 
 shovel-shaped hats, who advance to meet 
 
24 The Kingdom of the 
 
 us, from the Barber of Seville, or is that 
 biof-noscd one a demon from Hendrick 
 Httdson" s ereiu ? They bow their heads in 
 solemn silence, as though they were one 
 or both, and the one of the big nose offers 
 us a drink of somethinQ^ white and ill- 
 smelling. We know it is only pulque, 
 but they seem to watch us with a sinister 
 sidelong glance, wondering whether we will 
 drink. If we did would we hear the ghostly 
 *' ha, ha," "ha, ha," as we sink into 
 slumber, like those silent figures down that 
 long quiet street yonder ? Each and all of 
 us decline to try the experiment, and 
 moving onward enter the portals of this 
 first city of the Conquest. 
 
" White Woman y 25 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ''TS this all you have for dinner ? " "Si, 
 JL Senor." " Then serve it over aeain." 
 The waiter stares for a moment and, de- 
 parting, soon returns with the first course 
 of the dinner which we have already tried 
 and found wanting in quantity, hence our 
 party seated in the cool, dark dining 
 room have decided, with much laughter, 
 to go through the menu again, which they 
 do and are not over fed with the double 
 dinner. 
 
 The brilliant tropical sun streams in 
 at the open door and through the Vene- 
 tian blinds in long rays of slanting light, 
 which penetrating into the cracks and cor- 
 ners, drive the roaches and spiders deeper 
 
26 The Kingdo7ii of the 
 
 into their dens of dirt. There is never 
 any thing clean in Vera Cruz, and you 
 soon cease to wonder that yellow fever 
 has an eternal abiding place here. Out 
 in the square the dogs and vultures 
 quarrel unceasingly over the accumulated 
 piles of filth. Ever and anon the vultures 
 arising in countless numbers, slowly circle 
 above you, settling at last all over the domes 
 of the old cathedral, only to be driven 
 away by the discordant clangor of her 
 cracked bells. Througrh the still air comes 
 the musical gurgling note of the " Clarine." 
 Here and there and every-where sleeping 
 beggars lie around in sunshine and 
 shadow, looking more like bundles of 
 filthy rags than any thing human. In- 
 deed, you would take them for such until 
 you become aware of a pair of sinister 
 eyes closely regarding you from one end 
 of said bundle, and which tell you plainly. 
 
' ' White Woman . " 27 
 
 that were it night they would take all you 
 have, even to your life, provided they could 
 stab you from behind ; but as it is day 
 they will try to filch or beg your purse. 
 Down on the ground floor of the house 
 the beggars and animals are stalled to- 
 o-ether, while from the center of the court 
 Stench from the dung heap fairly stifles 
 one as he climbs the greasy stone stair- 
 way,' past the second floor, the abode of 
 the proprietor and his help, to the grand 
 etap-e. where as in all Mexican houses, the 
 better livincr rooms are to be found. 
 
 Dinner being over, we adjourn to the 
 house-top for a view of this ancient town 
 stretching beneath us, and surrounded by 
 the original walls still as perfect as when 
 the builders left them three centuries ago. 
 Across the bay rises the fortress of San 
 Juan d'Ulloa. How can such an ulcer 
 
2 8 The Kingdom of the 
 
 seem so beautiful ? Around it and away 
 into the hazy distance stretches the spark- 
 Hng ocean — asleep now after the terrible 
 norther that has kept all ships from land- 
 ing passengers or cargo for two days 
 past. During such storms the waves break 
 clear over the walls of the city, and if 
 you are unfortunate enough to anchor as 
 one commences, there you must abide 
 until it is over, though but a few hundred 
 yards from the pier and the gate of the 
 city. Not a sign of life will be visible 
 though the wind blows for a month, un- 
 til you begin to believe that what the 
 fever has spared the winds have buried 
 deep in the shifting sands. Sometimes 
 the sun pours its flood of golden light 
 downward during the entire storm ; then 
 the sight of those great green waves 
 breaking 'over the brilliantly painted town 
 is beautiful in the extreme. Away on the 
 
' ' White Woman . " 29 
 
 other side stretch the low dunes of the 
 coast, while the dark foliage of the Terra 
 Caliente rises gradually, terrace on terrace, 
 until in the distance the gigantic walls of 
 the great table-land of Mexico appear to 
 bar the way to all further progress ; while 
 over all the snowy cone of Orizaba glitters 
 like a diadem. Only when the winds have 
 moaned themselves to sleep will the gates 
 of the town open and the drowsy gens- 
 d'armes appear yawning on the quay. I 
 have no doubt that they are forced to 
 awaken even then and are indignant that 
 these American ships will not permit them 
 to postpone all things until the arrival 
 of that Spaniards' day of reckoning — 
 " Mafiana " (to-morrow). 
 
 At least, judging by the sullen looks 
 with which they greeted us this morning, I 
 think they would willingly have consigned 
 us to a fate like unto that which was 
 
30 The Kingdom of the 
 
 meted out to three Enorlishmen. With the 
 usual daring- recklessness of their race, 
 they entered into a wag-er (not long since) 
 that they could swim from the castle to 
 the pier. Only one accomplished it. Noth- 
 ing save shrieks, wildly tossing arms, and 
 a shadow of blood on the water, told of 
 the fate of the others. 
 
 Before leaving the ship we were shown 
 the jawbones of a shark that had been cap- 
 tured in these waters by the sailors during 
 the last voyage. They were so enormous, 
 that when opened they could be passed 
 over a man's shoulders. 
 
White Woman y 31 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WAS yellow fever known to the In- 
 dians, or is it only a result of the 
 *' hiorher civilization" introduced with the 
 advent of Spain and the bearers of the 
 " One, True Cross?" We are blessed with 
 a consul here who seems proof against it. 
 Some time since, on hearing that his suc- 
 cessor had arrived on one of the ships, he 
 went out to gfreet him, and assured him that 
 he would not be able to live in the place — 
 would die of yellow fever before the year 
 was out. The new-comer was so terribly 
 frightened that he did die of the disease 
 before he had time to land ; so Mr. G. 
 staid on and on, until old age, not fever, 
 called the time on him. A lazier man I 
 never saw. Going in one morning, at about 
 
2,2 The Kingdom of the 
 
 eleven o'clock, I find himself, wife, and some 
 of his family playing on violins and violon- 
 cellos, and dressed in as little as possible. 
 What there is of it has certainly been slept 
 in. At any rate, it is of a description more 
 suited for bed than the reception room. 
 
 We are favored with a call from him 
 later, and pressed to attend a ball that is to 
 come off that night. " But we are not in- 
 vited, and you say it is private; then, again, 
 we leave at midnight, and are in our travel- 
 ing" clothes." 
 
 " None of these reasons will hold good 
 here," was the answer. " They will be glad 
 to see you, and your clothes are all right for 
 Vera Cruz." 
 
 So we go, and at the very entrance, 
 under a bower of palms, are greeted by the 
 host and hostess faultlessly appareled in full 
 evening dress. However, we can not run 
 
" White Woman y 33 
 
 away now, so we sail boldly forward. I 
 hitch at my collar in a vain endeavor to hide 
 its soaked appearance, consequent on the 
 sea bath received in landing, while the ladies 
 with one shake put themselves in perfect 
 condition for any thing. It takes an Amer- 
 ican woman to do that. The ball is beau- 
 tiful. These Mexican houses are all built 
 around open courts, and here the moon 
 shines down where the magnolia leaves glis- 
 ten and stately palms wave softly, keeping 
 time to the music of the fountains, while the 
 band of musicians in the marble arcade 
 above are playing a national melody on soft- 
 toned mandolins. As we enter, there ap- 
 pears to be a grand promenade in progress, 
 but shortly the couples interchange and pass 
 through some of the figures of our lanciers, 
 varied now and then by a slowly drifting 
 waltz. It is the famous "Danza," and is 
 charming. We have to thank these people 
 
34 The Kiitgdom of the 
 
 of Vera Cruz for a delicjhtful entrance into 
 their country. The ball is a bit of the pro- 
 verbial hospitality of old Spain ; and where 
 will you meet with its equal ? We find it 
 hard to leave, and it is close on to midnight 
 before our party descend and walk through 
 the silent streets to where the train awaits 
 to carry us to the capital. 
 
White Woman y 35 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MEXICO possesses but one railroad 
 (1879), and therefore its managers 
 do very much as they please, and travelers 
 suffer in consequence. Each end of the 
 train carries a van full of soldiers, who to 
 me appear much more disposed to rob than 
 to protect. Still, as they are well paid, for 
 Mexico, and we are armed, we shall proba- 
 ably get through in safety, though this part 
 of the world is more celebrated for its brig- 
 andage than all the rest put together. It 
 was a common thing, in the old days of the 
 stage, to be stopped fifteen or twenty times. 
 Even after you had entered the gates of the 
 City of Mexico you were not safe, and were 
 sure to arrive with nothing save what nature 
 gave you. So certain was this to be the case 
 
2,6 The Kiiigdoni of the 
 
 that your friends in the town always sent 
 word that they would meet you at the Bar- 
 rier with papers, wherewith you might, in a 
 measure, clothe yourself. But we hope for 
 better luck, as we roll out of the Vera Cruz 
 station and settle down for a few hours 
 sleep while crossing the Terra Caliente 
 (Hot-land). The cars are of the common 
 English type, and we snatch a few hours of 
 wretched sleep as best we may, half sitting, 
 half lying, and wholly uncomfortable. It 
 does not seem an hour since starting, when 
 we are awakened by a clap of thunder and 
 a dash of rain against the windows. What 
 a changed world is before us ! Gone is the 
 sleepy ocean, the yellow, desolate sand 
 dunes, and the hot, enervating air of the 
 torrid zone. Now all is fresh and strong, 
 full of life and vigor, and the towering 
 mountains are around us every-where. Our 
 train rushes through gorges and over bridges 
 
" White Woman,'' 37 
 
 spanning roaring torrents. At Cordova we 
 alight in the midst of coffee plantations, 
 beds of flaming tropical flowers, and hosts 
 of flying parrots. The Cordilleras have 
 closed in around us, and white-headed Ori- 
 zaba seems a near neip^hbor. 
 
TJie Kingdom of the 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING our knowledge 
 of the character of these people, we 
 decided (two of us) to take the stage over- 
 land from Cordova to Orizaba, some sixteen 
 miles, and there board the train for the cap- 
 ital. I think our safe transit was due to the 
 lact that no one had dared attempt this 
 route for years ; hence we were not ex- 
 pected. 
 
 Cordova is more tropical than Orizaba, 
 being some hundreds of feet further down 
 the mountains. As we sit in her little hotel, 
 eating our breakfast and waiting for the 
 stage to start, long avenues of the coffee 
 plant stretch away before us. Resembling 
 the willow, with the berry growing close to 
 the stem and under the leaves, it forms a 
 
" White Woman r 39 
 
 thick hedge on either side of the way. 
 Flaming Hibiscus and poppies are every- 
 where, while overhead the orange blossoms 
 fill the air with their dreamy fi-agrance, and 
 fall now and then in snowy showers. At 
 the far end of a tropical street, silent and 
 deserted as are all tropical streets the mo- 
 ment the sun touches them, rise the o-reen 
 ridges of the lower mountains, while high 
 above soars the grand cone of Orizaba. 
 That old mountain is the oruardian of this 
 section ot the land. You never lose sioht 
 ol it until you enter the valley of the capital. 
 As we drive away, parrots chatter at us 
 from the house-tops and trees. That we do 
 not run over some of these sleeping figures 
 in the streets is a miracle. They do not 
 move an inch. Look out there ! A fraction 
 more and that man's head would have been 
 gone. He shows no consciousness of his 
 danger, but simply hugs tighter his ragged 
 
40 The Kingdom of the 
 
 serape, and draws down more closely the 
 greasy sombrero, composing himself to a 
 sleep that will last all day, broken only by 
 his animal sense of huno-er; even that will 
 not keep him awake long. But, when night 
 comes he will rise, and with the swift, silent 
 movement of our northern Indian, skulk 
 around for hours. Then it will behoove 
 you, if you meet him in the moonlight or 
 darkness, to be well on your guard, for he 
 does not love you. He would take great 
 delight in runnino- that long- murderous- 
 looking stiletto between your ribs — that 
 would be a pleasure not to be deferred, 
 even until mafiana. 
 
 This ride is one long to be remem- 
 bered, for many reasons. The wagon has 
 no springs, and if there has ever been a 
 road it has been abandoned. I think our 
 driver makes it a point to drive over every 
 
" White Woman r 41 
 
 enormous bowlder on the mountains. The 
 horses can cHmb Hke cats, and as lone as 
 the harness and wa^on hold together, and 
 we manage to stay in the latter, we are 
 bound to get on ; but there is no chance for 
 conversation, nor can we admire much of 
 the scenery. When the horses halt at noon, 
 we are Surrounded by a lot of as villainous- 
 looking rascals as the world holds, and it 
 dawns upon us that perhaps we may be 
 robbed, if not murdered. However, I think 
 either the "professionals" in these hills are 
 away, or they are too much astounded at 
 our impudence in coming to act in the mat- 
 ter. In the end we rush onward, leaving 
 them still gaping and scarcely sufficiently 
 awake to realize what had happened. 
 
 After an hour's more torture, we roll 
 into Orizaba, just as the train which con- 
 tains a woman from Hoosierdom draws up. 
 
42 The Kingdom of the 
 
 Her face expresses strong disappointment 
 at our safe arrival, as she has confidently 
 predicted both robbery and murder. 
 
 Of the scenery on the ride we have not 
 the smallest recollection, and we would not 
 take it a^ain to see the mountains of Eden. 
 
" White Woman!' 43 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WHILE in Cordova some very amus- 
 ing things happened. If you know 
 who the ladies were that accompanied me 
 on my last tour, you have my full permis- 
 sion to question them thereon. 
 
 At Orizaba, climate, foliage, and flowers 
 are all as in our own latitude in May. 
 From there onward we mount, and twist, 
 and turn, until with an extra snort the 
 great double-ended engine, having accom- 
 plished its task, pauses at Boca del Monte, 
 the end of as daring a piece of railway 
 engineering as the world holds except, 
 perhaps, the " Meigs R'y'" ii^ Chili. 
 During the ascent the traveler feasts his 
 
44 The Kingdom of the 
 
 eyes upon a most marvelous panorama. 
 Leaving Orizaba he might fancy that the 
 train is rushing through the o-orPfes of our 
 Alleghenies — the same fresh air and rushing 
 waters, the same foliage. Only now and 
 then, by a glimpse of the snow masses of 
 the upper mountains, he sees that here 
 nature is cast in a grander mold. The 
 quaint town of "Maltrata" is passed, and 
 at Esperanze on the great upper Table- 
 Land we are served with fruits and coffee 
 for breakfast, all the while submitting to 
 a close inspection from a wretched, thiev- 
 ing looking lot of people, who are only 
 prevented by the soldiers from laying vio- 
 lent hands on the " heretics." One does 
 not feel entirely safe until the guard locks 
 the train doors, and it draws slowly out 
 on what proves to be a long, dusty ride 
 to Pueblo. Still the sights and sounds 
 are so strange and foreign that it is not 
 
''White Wonia7iy 45 
 
 an uninteresting day. Behind us rises the 
 wall of mountains sweeping away in digni- 
 fied magnificence east and west, and 
 forming the rim of this great flat basin 
 over which we are moving. As level and 
 limitless as our own western plains, it 
 stretches away to the northward, desolate 
 and devoid of life or movement, save for 
 some majestic moving pillars of dust and 
 some millions of cacti, with here and there 
 a skulking dog and slouching Mexican, 
 moving off with gaits so near alike that 
 were it not for the upright position of the 
 latter it would be difficult to distinofuish 
 between them. It is indeed impossible 
 to do so at a distance, and as you ap- 
 proach, both man and beast settle into 
 watchful silence ; the sombrero of the 
 former is slouched more and more over 
 his evil face, while the wolf-like head of 
 the latter is buried in his shaggy hair. 
 
4-6 The Kingdom of tJie 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THIS people have certainly reduced 
 highway robbery to a science. Not 
 long since there pulled out of the station 
 of the capital a train loaded with silver 
 for exportation. It was carefully inspected 
 before starting and carefully guarded dur- 
 ing the journey; yet on the arrival at 
 Vera Cruz, one car had been completely 
 emptied of its valuable cargo, leaving no 
 trace of where it occurred, though the 
 " how" was plainly to be seen. One of the 
 rogues had attached himself to the bottom 
 of the car, and with the aid of a small saw 
 effected an entrance. You must understand 
 that these trains at that time (1879) moved 
 slowly — three hundred and forty miles in 
 eighteen hours— to believe that this could 
 
' ' White Woman ." 47 
 
 be done, as done it was. Once inside, the 
 rest was simple enough. He had only to 
 drop the bags through the hole at certain 
 previously agreed upon points, where they 
 were quickly spirited away, and not one 
 dollar ever recovered. All of which illus- 
 trates the old adaoe, " li a thino- is worth 
 doing at all, it is worth doing well." As 
 the millions of "the people" are a great 
 band of thieves, even the expert Adams 
 Express Company could not have recov- 
 ered the vanished silver. 
 
 "Well, old man, never mind the robbers. 
 Just look at this." And the speaker holds 
 up a superb pineapple, whose fragrance fills 
 the air. It is so perfectly ripe that we pull 
 it to pieces by sections, finding even the 
 core tender and juicy', and is so different 
 from the leathery stuff offered us under the 
 name at home that no one would know it as 
 
48 The Kingdom of the 
 
 the same fruit. With it is sold that strancre 
 production of nature called "cherry moya," 
 about the size of an orangfe, with a rouoh, 
 dark green rind, which, on being cut open, 
 displays a soft, white paste, tasting like va- 
 nilla cream. They say that nothing save 
 water must be taken with it ; wine or liquor 
 of any kind producing distress and some- 
 times serious illness. Here is also the 
 granadita, a yellow gourd, whose contents 
 look like tapioca ; the sappodilla, potato- 
 like on the outside, pink inside, and tasting 
 like a rotten apple. On the whole, aside 
 from the pines and oranges, I do not care 
 for Mexican fruits. Most ol them are an 
 acquired taste, and I hear a man's voice 
 outside, saying, "Well, I would give all of 
 these for one northern pear. Just live here 
 as long as I have, and you will become thor- 
 oughly nauseated with the very smell of a sap- 
 podilla." All of which I can readily believe. 
 
' ' White Wo7nan . " 49 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OUR train rolls onward, and the glare 
 and the heat are oppressive. This 
 plateau must, at some period in the world's 
 history, have been the basin of a vast lake. 
 Now it is used for the cultivation of the 
 cactus plant, from which comes the na- 
 tional drink, " pulque," a liquid looking like 
 skimmed milk and intoxicating in its effects. 
 Yet it is simply the fermented juice of the 
 cactus, and is drawn from that plant by 
 means of a long copper tube, shaped like 
 a gourd, one end of which is driven into 
 the stalk of the plant, while a native, hold- 
 ing the other between his lips, sucks the 
 liquid into the tube. Here, there, and 
 every-where you see these serape-draped 
 
50 The Kingdoiii of the 
 
 and sombrero-crowned figures standino- si- 
 iently at this work. The hquor is carried 
 in pig-skins all over the land, and I know 
 of no stranofer si^ht than a lone train of 
 fiat cars loaded with these skins full to 
 bursting. Every movement makes them 
 quiver with apparent life.* As the train 
 pauses now and then, natives come up, and 
 untying a leg or neck, take long draughts 
 therefrom. All through the towns and cities 
 pulque shops take the place of the bar- 
 rooms of our country, and the sour smell 
 coming from them is most disgusting. 
 
 Our train moves at a jog trot, and every 
 now and then pulls up alongside of one 
 pulque-ladened, the smell from which forces 
 us to close the carriage windows. After many 
 hours of heat and dust, we finally halt at Ap- 
 pizaccio, the junction for Pueblo de los Ange- 
 los, whither we are bound, for Pueblo is three 
 
''White Wofiiany - 51 
 
 centuries old, and possesses the most beau- 
 tiful cathedral in all the land. As we await 
 the startino^ of the train, we are treated to 
 a sight of one of the most superb specimens 
 of mankind that it has ever been our good 
 fortune to look upon. Fully six and one- 
 half feet in height, and splendidly propor- 
 tioned, he is garbed in closely-fitting black ; 
 down the seams of his trousers run broad 
 bands of silver embroidery, while his feet 
 are incased in English riding shoes, with 
 spurs attached. The short jacket is heavily 
 embroidered with silver, and from beneath 
 a jeweled and embroidered sombrero gaze 
 a pair of wondrous black eyes, giving life 
 to a face perfect in every line, and set off 
 by waving curls. He knows he is hand- 
 some, and I am obliged to hustle the ladies 
 into the car or run the risk of being utterly 
 deserted. I am strongly under the impres- 
 
52 The Kijiodoiu of tJie 
 
 sion that he is the ^reat inatadore, Manzan- 
 tin, who has been brought over from Spain, 
 and will receive $15,000 for three perform- 
 ances in the ring at Pueblo and the City of 
 Mexico, 
 
White Woman y 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE quaint old town of "Pueblo de los 
 Angelos" went to sleep centuries ago. 
 Quiet reigns in her streets and squares, 
 under her shady arcades, and within the 
 solemn silence of her beautiful cathedral, 
 whose walls are built of precious marbles 
 and onyx, and adorned with many jewels. 
 As they catch the light of the sun through 
 the painted windows they glow and quiver 
 with renewed life, and then go to sleep once 
 more, as though it were useless to rebel 
 against the established order of things; 
 The great orange trees in the square are 
 laden with fruit and snowy with blossoms, 
 whose fragrance fairly overpowers one. Per- 
 haps it is the cause of the general sleepy 
 
54 The Kingdom of the 
 
 condition of place and people. At any rate, 
 between sunshine and perfume, we find our- 
 selves soon seated where the shadows are 
 thickest, where the quiet is most intense, 
 and where we are lulled ere long into slum- 
 ber by the splashing fountains. This is 
 what we came for, so why go any farther. 
 We will awaken later, and stroll out by that 
 jaloused window, behind which a fan and 
 dark eyes have been beckoning to and 
 watching us for an hour. We are told that 
 the view is superb from the roof of the 
 church, but sunset is a better time for that ; 
 so let us slumber on until then, lulled by 
 the falling waters, soothed by the gurgling 
 music of the clarines. 
 
 The altitude of this city is over seven 
 thousand feet, and when one tries to climb 
 to the cathedral towers one fully realizes 
 the fact. Still the panorama unfolded be- 
 
' ' White Woman . " 55 
 
 fore them repays all fatigue and shortness 
 of breath. 
 
 In the center of a green valley, full of 
 running streams and glistening lakes, stands 
 this City of the Angels, while off in the dis- 
 tance rises the pyramid of Cholula. In the 
 days of the iVztecs it was crowned by a 
 temple to the God of the Air, while around 
 the base spread a city old before the days 
 of Montezuma, and as sacred to her people 
 as is Mecca or Benares to the millions of 
 the old world. There occurred that terrible 
 retribution taken by Cortez for the butch- 
 ering of his soldiers ; and now, even from 
 here, one can see the white arms of the 
 cross gleaming from the spot where once 
 stood the shrine of the heathens. Beyond 
 it rises the great mountain of Popocatapetl 
 like a vast cone of sugar against the deep 
 blue of the sky, while in the encircling 
 chain the peaks of Ixtaccihuatl and Molenki 
 
56 The Kingdom of the 
 
 stand forth most prominently. It is said 
 that in the days of old, when in the North 
 Gitche Manito, the mighty, descended and 
 called the nations together, here in this 
 peaceful land Popocatapetl and his wife 
 Ixtaccihuatl lived harmoniously, he smok- 
 ing occasionally a pipe of peace and so- 
 ciability with their neighbor, Bachelor Mo- 
 lenki. But Ixtaccihuatl could not forego 
 the desire of her sex, and one day, when 
 Popocatapetl was slumbering, carried on a 
 flirtation with Molenki. Popocatapetl awak- 
 ening suddenly, saw the entire perform- 
 ance, and great was his indignation. 
 Fiercely waxed the battle. Each belched 
 forth great volumes of flame and smoke, 
 while Ixtaccihuatl looked placidly on as 
 though entirely innocent. Hoary headed 
 Orizaba watched the state of affairs from 
 afar with great disapproval, yet the etiquette 
 of the mountains would not permit him to 
 
''White Womany 57 
 
 interfere until things reached such a point 
 that the world was threatened with destruc- 
 tion. Then he quietly sent "Ahousca " 
 (that purple mountain yonder, shaped like 
 a hog's back, which, by the way, is the 
 meaning of the name) to inform the powers 
 that control even such things as volcanos. 
 (I should like to say just here that I have 
 spelled the names of these mountains as 
 they are pronounced.) 
 
 At any rate, it was noticed that a sudden 
 calm came over each and all ; that Ixtacci- 
 huatl retired unto herself, and drawino- a 
 vast winding sheet over her recumbent form 
 sank into a slumber uninterrupted to this 
 day, that Popocatapetl grumbled no more, 
 and Molinki became forever silent, and thus 
 they stand. You can plainly see the sleep- 
 ing form of the wife under her mantle of snow, 
 while husband and' lover having drawn on 
 their night-caps slumber on forever. The * 
 
58 The Kiuodojji of tJic 
 
 moon is rising' .slowly and grandly over the 
 sleeping" "White Woman" as we descend 
 from the tower, and one can alniost fancy 
 that one sees her move; but if so it is only 
 to compose herself to a more profound 
 slumber. Others believe that Ixtaccihuatl is 
 the sleeping Montezuma, and that some 
 day he will arise, and driving- the strangers 
 from his kingdom, seize his own once more. 
 To this day you W'ill see on many house- 
 tops strange groups of figures intently gaz- 
 ing toward his sleeping form, watching and 
 waiting for his coming. 
 
White Wo7na7iy 59 
 
 T 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HE Pyramid of Choliila, which rises 
 from the plain some three miles from 
 Pueblo, at first sight, might be taken for 
 one of those Indian .mounds so often to be 
 found in our own land. Though the sides 
 of its base are twice the lenorth of those of 
 the Great Pyramid of Cheops, it is only 
 about one-third as high as the .Egyptian 
 structure. The centuries that have rolled 
 by since Cortez looked first upon it have 
 clothed all with a thick jungle of tropical 
 foliage, and it is only here and there the 
 traveler can discern the original brick- work 
 used in the construction. The ancient road- 
 way still winds around to its summit, where 
 now the little white church holds aloft the 
 emblem of Christianity (and from which the 
 
6o The Kingdoui of tJie 
 
 altar to the God of the Air has vanished 
 long ago). One could almost wish that the 
 ruins of the heathen temple had been al- 
 lowed to remain ; but not a bit of the 
 sacrificial stone, and no capital or pillar can 
 be found either here or in the valley where 
 once stood the city with its streets and 
 squares — nothing here, save the little white 
 chapel ; nothing below, save a few wretched 
 huts and a handful of more wretched peo- 
 ple, whose only occupation seems to be 
 sleeping and the drawing of pulque. No 
 thoughts of daring deeds or human sacri- 
 fice with them ; no high festivals to either 
 the Nazarene or to the God of the Air, 
 and I ^doubt if you questioned them whether 
 they would know the difference between 
 the two. 
 
 As we gaze upon the land spread out 
 before us, one of those sudden tropical 
 
' ' White Woman . " 6 1 
 
 storms comes on, preceded by a most 
 fantastic chasing of light and shade across 
 the valley and by the formation and stately 
 progress of three gigantic "dust spouts" 
 that move swiftly from place to place. 
 They are dangerous looking things, and I 
 notice men and beasts fleeincr from their 
 pathway. A sudden darkening of the 
 heavens, followed by a down-pour of rain 
 wipes them out, and for awhile seems to 
 have wnped out every thing else. From 
 our shelter we can not see a yard, so 
 tremendous is the deluge. It passes as 
 suddenly as it came and the sun shines forth 
 brilliantl)'. Then we go down the sides 
 of the ancient and blood-stained Pyramid 
 of Cholula and return to Pueblo de los 
 Aneelos in — a street car. 
 
62 The Kingdom of the 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CITY OF MEXICO. 
 
 *' ^ I DRAINS down here are so very po- 
 -A. lite," that this one takes at least 
 half an hour backing and blowing, snorting 
 and puffing, apologizing, so to speak, for 
 the enforced intrusion on the depot grounds, 
 ere it finally comes to a standstill. We 
 know by seeing every one connected with 
 it suddenly roll themselves in their serapes 
 and go to sleep, that we have reached 
 our destination, or at least that it will be 
 some hours before any of that gang can 
 be induced to move further. Bestirring 
 ourselves and collecting our belongings — 
 such as have survived the day — we emerge 
 dust-laden and smoke-begrimed into the 
 silence of this old city. Profoundly asleep. 
 
" White Woma7iy 63 
 
 even as though an enchanter had waved 
 his wand over all, casting man and beast 
 into slumber only to awaken at the com- 
 ing of the king. Can this be on the 
 same continent with New York and 
 Chicaofo ? or are we indeed in the heart 
 of old Spain ? Long, wide streets stretch 
 away in every direct-ion before us, on each 
 side of which rise the square-topped houses 
 with their heavily barred windows, while 
 through the doorways we catch a glimpse 
 now and then of palm and flower em- 
 bowered Patios. To our right against the 
 crumbling arches of an old stone aque- 
 duct rise the grotesque and moss-grown 
 fiorures of a gr-reat fountain, over whose 
 stone basins the water has fallen for two 
 hundred years. That seems a bit of an- 
 cient Rome. Before us the dark woods 
 of the Alameda spread away until they 
 meet the groves of Chapultepec, where 
 
64 TJie Kingdom of the 
 
 stands the tree under which Montezuma 
 wept for his lost kintrdom ; while before 
 and above us faintly gleam the cones of 
 Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl in the shim- 
 mering moonlight. Nothing human in 
 sight ; nothing to denote that the place is 
 peopled otherwise than with ghosts, un- 
 less it be those bundles under the shadow 
 of that door-way, or that form, half ani- 
 mal, with the slouched sombrero and closely 
 wrapped serape that skulks across the 
 deserted square from one bit of shadow 
 to another. Silently we regard it all for 
 a few moments, scarcely daring to venture 
 further into this city of the long ago, un- 
 til we are reminded by a citizen of the 
 old town, whom we have chanced to meet 
 on the way up, that it would be well to 
 seek an hotel and the protection afforded 
 thereby, as " these people are not friendly." 
 With great difficulty two crazy old cabs 
 
''White Woman r 65 
 
 are secured; on one of which we load our 
 luggage, while we crawl with great misgiv- 
 ings into the other. Creaking and bang- 
 ing along over the uneven pavements they 
 make noise enough to awaken the dead, 
 but do not in any way disturb the pro- 
 found repose of the denizens of these 
 houses. Indeed, I' fancy when Gabriel 
 blows his trumpet he will here at least 
 be answered by a shrug and the murmur- 
 ino- word " maiiana," while the people 
 compose themselves for another nap. Per- 
 haps this eternal sleeping is part of their 
 relio-ion which they must maintain until 
 Montezuma yonder on the mountain comes 
 down unto them, and so long as he sleeps 
 they will sleep, the better to be able to 
 meet him in proper form. At least, one 
 would fancy so here, for not even a bark- 
 ino- doe answers the clatter of the worn- 
 out cabs. 
 
66 The Ki7igdom of the 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A SHOWER of blows on the heavily- 
 barred doorway of the Hotel Itur- 
 bide finally secures us an entrance, but 
 nothing more. Then the drowsy porter, 
 appearing to regard people who are out 
 at such an uncanny hour as a pack of 
 harmless idiots about whom he need not 
 bother himself, vanishes. We mount, un- 
 attended, a vast marble staircase, pass 
 down lono^ silent corridors, o-aze througrh 
 doorways opening into echoing chambers 
 deserted save by a stray moonbeam here 
 and there, or by the many frescoes of 
 forgotten faces on walls and ceilings- 
 faces invisible to us at first, as the dark- 
 ness in there is palpable. But, throwing 
 aside a casement, floods of moonlight pour 
 
" White Wo7nanr 67 
 
 over all, giving seeming life to these peo- 
 ple of the past, and much comfort to we 
 of the present. Now that we are in here, 
 we mean to remain, so we help ourselves 
 to rooms and do it well, takinor an entire 
 suite on the grand floor overlooking the 
 street. Vast rooms, all of them, with a 
 small bed in one corner and a large square 
 mat in the center, around which five or 
 six rocking chairs (the only other furniture 
 in the room) are in quiet motion as though 
 our entrance had caused a sudden flight 
 of their occupants. (You have seen the 
 same actions on the part ot chairs in 
 many a front hall where you have 
 appeared suddenly.) The one candle al- 
 lowed for each room simply makes the 
 darkness visible, therefore we combine 
 forces and concentrate all from the dif- 
 ferent rooms on one table. Then we sit 
 down and look at each other. Not being 
 
68 TJic Kingdom of tJiP. 
 
 accustomed to these rockers one or two 
 of us roll over backward. Said action at 
 least makes us feel more at home, and 
 the silence is broken by our shouts of 
 laughter. 
 
 "It's somewhere near two a. m. Let 
 us form a solid phalanx and lock up a half 
 a mile of this and go to bed." 
 
 No sooner said than acted upon, and 
 the procession moves, each person carrying 
 a candle. As they pass down the long 
 vista, it resembles a procession of the 
 " Holy Church." Each room is examined 
 separately, and then securely locked and 
 barricaded. All g'oes well with the invad- 
 ing force whose bravery is something un- 
 excelled. The fate of any enemy would 
 have been appalling just then. I doubt 
 if the palace has been occupied since 
 Iturbide moved out. The silence, which is 
 certainly overwhelming, is broken only by 
 
Emperor Iturbide's House. 
 
" White Wo77ian.'' 69 
 
 the snarl of some prowling- cats. And we 
 thank God there is something alive in this 
 place, though why any first class cats that 
 can move north remain here, is more than 
 we can understand. 
 
 So we settle ourselves for what is left 
 of the niofht, but even as I sink into 
 slumber I hear a distant voice murmur : 
 "Oh, brother, I don't believe papa would 
 ever find us if we were to die here." 
 
yo The Kinodoiu of the 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 IF it was quiet last night it is noisy 
 enough this morning. Before daylight 
 the rattle of moving wheels and cries of 
 the market vendors render sleep almost 
 impossible, especially as we have insisted 
 upon sleeping with open windows. A 
 Mexican closes both windows of glass and 
 shutters of iron, the night air being dreaded 
 as much as robbery or murder. The 
 street of the "San Francisco" is a moving 
 mass of people, many carrying huge water 
 jugs or trays of strange looking fruits on 
 their heads. Here comes a dray drawn 
 by four mules abreast. There go a party 
 evidently English, out for an early canter. 
 They are gravely saluted by a splendid 
 figure clothed in the national riding cos- 
 
' ' White Woman . " 71 
 
 tume, all of fine leather, heavily embroid- 
 ered in beads and silk, the broad sombrero 
 glistening with silver lace and a jewel or 
 two, while saddle and bridle are richly 
 ornamented — the horse, a fine black an- 
 imal, seeming thoroughly aware of his 
 splendid appearance. Over the way stands 
 a sleeping donkey who knows too well 
 that his only chance for rest is to take it 
 standing. Across his back his master has 
 thrown two pig-skins that appear to quiver 
 and palpitate with life. i\round about are 
 grouped a lot of wretched people waiting 
 their turn to be served. The old man 
 seizes the neck ot a skin, and untieine a 
 cord wrapped around it, allows the bluish- 
 white and sour-smelling pulque to run into 
 the gourds extended to receive it. In all 
 my stay in the country I have never been 
 able to bring myself to taste this liquid. 
 The sour-smell pervading people and shops 
 
72 The Kingdoiu of the 
 
 has many a time driven me from places I 
 desired to see. But the natives drink it 
 down with great ousto. How thoroughly 
 foreign every thing is, and how ancient, 
 yet this is on the same continent with our 
 own busthng modern nation. 
 
 I am recalled from the window by a 
 clatter on our doors, and open to find our 
 luggage bearers. Thank goodness ! To 
 have donned ao-ain those dust ladened, 
 sea-soaked clothes would have been any- 
 thing save pleasant. By numerous signs 
 we make it understood that baths are 
 wanted, and are conducted down many 
 stairways into the bowels of the earth, 
 where we find a row of rooms, each with 
 a tub so enormously deep that we seize 
 convulsively the edge, thinking that there 
 can be no bottom at all. The water was 
 cool and clear when we entered, but not 
 
White Woman.'' 
 
 7: 
 
 so when we came out. If cleanliness is 
 one of the items upon which man is 
 judged, I am most happy in that said 
 judgment was deferred in our cases until 
 after these baths, or none of us would 
 have ranked near unto "godliness." We 
 have not looked respectable for so long 
 that our rejuvenation is a cause of deep 
 satisfaction. Out in the sunny court-yard, 
 in little huts of bark, covered with trail- 
 ing vines, breakfast is served. Baskets ot 
 fruit, the green cherry moya, the yellow 
 granaditta, the luscious pine and golden 
 orange, followed by an omelet a fillet 
 and good coffee, though generally I do 
 not like either the Mexican coffee or 
 chocolate. After all we conclude that 
 Mexico is a land of the living, else 
 whence come these good things to eat 
 and who cooks them ? What a small 
 world it is after all — as just here I raise 
 
74 The Kingdovi of tJie 
 
 my eyes and standing in the doorway 
 see two ladies, friends whom I have not 
 seen since I left them at the foot of 
 Mount Tabor in the Holy Land years 
 ago. The meeting is most pleasant, and 
 we cease to feel so entirely as "strangers 
 in a stranee land." After all, it is the 
 people, not the place, that make the 
 home, and to one who wanders the wide 
 world over, making friends in all quarters, 
 the world at large soon becomes "home." 
 
' ' White Woman . " 75 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THIS visit to Mexico occurs at a time 
 when people from the "States" are few 
 and far between. It is just after an expedition 
 from our land which did not leave the best 
 impression upon the minds of the Mexicans. 
 Our first walk is much like a procession, 
 especially does one of the ladies attract 
 attention. Her deep mourning seemingly 
 upsets the populace. Later we learn 
 that the Mexican women never leave the 
 house during the period of mourning, and 
 rarely, if ever, walk. We are in search of 
 better quarters. The hotel is cold and bar- 
 ren and would not be pleasant for a pro- 
 longed stay, and we must remain in the city 
 until the next ship from Vera Cruz, three 
 weeks hence. In our quest we are most 
 
"J^ The Kingdom of the 
 
 fortunate, and from our entrance into the 
 house of Mrs. Gadsden, No. 7 Seminario, 
 dates one of the most deHghtful periods of 
 our lives. It is on the great square next to 
 the Palace, across from the parish church 
 and the great cathedral, and occupies the 
 entire "grand" or upper floor. Beneath it 
 live a senator with his family, a big yellow- 
 cat and a large green parrot. Below them 
 on the ground floor and around the Patio 
 the concierge and sundry families of profes- 
 sional beggars hold sway, the latter always 
 giving the inhabitants of " their upper 
 floors " the preference in the matter of do- 
 nating alms, and with an air which assures 
 us that they consider that we are all of one 
 family, — " God forbid ! " 
 
 From the balcony of our rooms we over- 
 look the entire city, and away on all sides 
 to the erand wall of encirclino- mountains, 
 over which, like two hoary-headed sentinels 
 
 ( 
 
" White Woinmz." jj 
 
 on guard, tower Popocatapetl and Ixtacci- 
 huatl. Many an evening we assemble on 
 the house-top to watch the sun go down^ 
 and witness the sudden falHng of the night 
 on this wondrous panorama. On all sides 
 spread the fiat-roofed gaily-colored Spanish 
 city, through whose midst broad avenues 
 stretch away in all directions, and above 
 which the campaniles of the many churches 
 mount high in air. Just before us those of 
 the great cathedral are most conspicu- 
 ous. That dark circle near the base of the 
 one on the left is the famous calendar stone 
 of the Aztecs. In the court of the museum 
 beneath one can faintly see the outlines 
 of the sacrificial stone, which, in the clays 
 of Montezuma, crowned the Teocalli, that 
 stood where is now the public square. It 
 is only three hundred years since the cries 
 of agony from human victims rang out over 
 this fair valley, since the blood of their sac- 
 
78 The Kingdom of the 
 
 rifices fiovved in torrents down the steps of 
 stone. The cross has banished all that, but 
 just behind us rise the towers of the church 
 of Santo Domineo, in whose walls were 
 found the withered remains (now in the 
 museum) of two poor human beings, — the 
 one a little eirl — who had been immured, 
 and who had starved and smothered to 
 death in slow agony. Surely the Aztecs 
 could teach the priests of the cross nothing 
 in the matter of cruelty. But, thank God, 
 that was long ago. Now you may walk the 
 streets of this fair city and be in danger 
 from no religion ; but it would not be safe 
 to go out after dark. These people are 
 assassins and thieves of the worst order. 
 They will not attack a party, but do not go 
 alone. The shadows are already thick in 
 the arcades below us, but the lakes which 
 surround the capital gleam brightly in the 
 reddening light as the sun sinks. Off 
 
" White Woirtany 79 
 
 beyond the green Alameda stretches the 
 avenue to Chapultepec, whose towers crown 
 the summit ol a distant hill ; beyond 
 which one can just discern the spot where 
 the terrible battle of " Molino del Rey" 
 occurred in 1847. Off to the right the 
 cemetery and shrine of Guadalupe crowns 
 the summit of one of the foot hills. It 
 was there that the Virgin showed her- 
 self to Indian John. The sun is going 
 down like a great )'ellow ball. A sudden 
 pause seems to have fallen over the life of 
 the city. Vast flocks of vultures are slowly 
 settling on the domes of the churches — 
 all things appear as though waiting for 
 some change. It comes, suddenly and 
 swiftly — the curtain of the night — wrap- 
 ping all things in darkness, while it casts 
 over man and beast a mantle of pro- 
 found slumber, to which many of them 
 having no homes yield instantly, and sink 
 
8o TJie Kingdom of the 
 
 on the pavements, where they will re- 
 main until morning. Only the tips of the 
 higher mountains flame out like great light- 
 houses, but even they soon desert their 
 posts, and a mantle of darkness most pro- 
 found wraps the Kingdom of Montezuma in 
 its folds. 
 
Wh ite Woman . ' ' 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE flat below us, occupied by the sen- 
 ator, is €71 fete to-night, which, for 
 some reason, strangely excites our dog, 
 " Palomo." He has been crazy to get down 
 there, and has been impatiently waiting for 
 some one to open our stair doorway, which 
 I do on the sly. The result is disastrous. 
 With a bark and a rush he descends like 
 greased lightning. I see him enter their 
 kitchen door and hear a most tremendous 
 powwow, followed by a clattering and much 
 noise. Has he bitten the cook, I wonder ? 
 The commotion is not stationary, nor con- 
 fined to the kitchen, but progresses from 
 room to room. At last I see a yellow 
 streak closely pursued by a black and white 
 streak flying round and round the banquet 
 
82 The Kingdom of the 
 
 hall, under the table, over the feet of the 
 excited guests, until with a final bark of 
 triumph, Palomo drives the cat up one of 
 the pillars of the patio and rushes himself 
 up our staircase to safety and me, whom he 
 finds convulsed with laughter in a dark 
 corner. I never saw any thing more ex- 
 pressive or human than the actions of that 
 dog on his return, Such delighted eyes, 
 such tail-waggings. Forever after it was 
 only necessary to call once, and he would 
 rush for the stairs and never return until he 
 had found that cat, no matter what he broke 
 in the finding. Many a time I have seen 
 the "senatorial dignitary" sitting cross- 
 legged on the table for safety's sake. Poor 
 Palomo, he has long since gone to the " Isle 
 of Dogs," which must surely be the canine 
 heaven, where I hope he may renew his 
 youth now and then by meeting a yellow 
 cat. 
 
* * White Woman . " 83 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE next morning en route to our 
 legation we pass through the great 
 square before the cathedral, and are at 
 once reminded of poor Carlotta, as she it 
 was who caused the planting of all these 
 trees, making the spot one of beauty. 
 But beautiful though it is noiu, it was 
 in the ancient days one of horror, for 
 here stood the great Teocalli. At the 
 portals of the cathedral we pause a mo- 
 ment to inspect the bird market. No 
 end of chattering, singing parrots. But 
 to my ear the most beautiful notes in 
 the world are produced by the little gray 
 clarine, a bird somewhat larger than our 
 pestiferous sparrow and of a slate color. 
 
84 The Kingdom of the 
 
 But, oh the music of its voice ! I remem- 
 ber one Hue of an old sone that well de- 
 scribes it : 
 
 '"Tis the voice of the mermaid as she sings 'neath the 
 sea." 
 
 If mortals could descend to old ocean's 
 caverns they would expect to hear just 
 such gurgling music. 
 
 Entering this great church, towering 
 so grandly above me, I am again con- 
 vinced that Mexico holds the only "cathe- 
 drals " on our continent. We have many 
 beautiful " churches " at home, but they 
 are not worthy to be called cathedrals. 
 But in the sanctuaries of Pueblo and this 
 city one finds cathedrals that equal most 
 in the old world and are surpassed by 
 but few. Vast in size, most stately in 
 appearance, and decorated in the richest 
 marbles — you can not but wonder how 
 
''White Woman r 85 
 
 such structures could have been erected 
 on our new continent at such a period. 
 The interior of this one is dotted with 
 the usual motley congregation, gathered 
 here and there before some altar or shrine. 
 Before me there kneels an old man deeply 
 engaged in his devotions, which are inter- 
 rupted by the woman next to him trying 
 to steal his handkerchief. I suppose she 
 thinks that as he is fool enough to allow 
 it to stick out he deserves to have it 
 stolen. However, some one, his wife at 
 home probably, has provided for just some 
 such an emergency by pinning it in. The 
 remarks exchano-ed between the two in no 
 way upset the service and draw little or 
 no attention from the other worshipers, 
 while the droning voice of the priest keeps 
 evenly onward ; though I doubt not he* 
 has spotted the would-be thief and will 
 make her do penance, probably pay for 
 
86 The Kingdom of the 
 
 a mass or two. The great altar glitters 
 with rnarble, gold and silver, and high 
 overhead on the blue vault of the dome 
 hosts of painted priests, angels and chil- 
 dren tumble around in the most surpris- 
 ing confusion. I suppose the whole is 
 typical of the painter's idea of Heaven, 
 but I hope he is wrong. Those positions 
 are absurd, no matter what the pleasure 
 may be. 
 
 As we gaze aloft the bells in the tower 
 commence to wheeze and groan and jangle. 
 All the Mexican bells are cracked and their 
 melody, if it ever existed, is all gone long 
 ago. Perhaps the wrangle and jangle 
 which they have been forced to keep up 
 during the numerous revolutions is the 
 cause thereof; as the alarm is always 
 given on them, and the party that secures 
 the tower where they hang generally car- 
 

 fv^ih^^^jM^him^ 
 
 '-,->^.y>^^ 
 
 Calendar Stone. 
 
 (Since removed to the Museum.) 
 
' ' White Wommi . " 87 
 
 ries the day. Many a revolt has been 
 prevented by a word to the custodian, 
 who securely bars the entrance. Nothing 
 rouses these Mexicans save the sound of 
 these particular bells. We do not won- 
 der; just now the discord would arouse 
 the devil, and yet they are more in ac- 
 cord with the general condition of thingfs 
 here. Sweet bells would sound out of 
 place and soon be jangled out of tune. 
 
 Low on the outer walls of one of the 
 towers hangs the huge stone calendar of 
 the Aztecs, or rather it is imbedded in the 
 wall. Its cabalistic signs and figures are 
 as sharp in outline as when first it left 
 the hands of its makers. When and where 
 was that I wonder? Perhaps it is as old 
 as the ruins of Egypt. No one knows 
 surely. When you cross the court-yard 
 of the museum near by and stand by the 
 
S8 The Kingdojn of the 
 
 great sacrificial stone, surrounded by the 
 gods of the past, it is not hard to imagine 
 the scenes of the sacrifices. On top of a 
 great square pyramid of steps stood this 
 altar. On top of it was placed a small 
 block over which the victim was stretched, 
 throwing the region of the heart well up. 
 With one stroke of a sharp pointed stone 
 the priest cut open the body, tore out the 
 living heart and held it aloft to the peo- 
 ple, while over the steps gushed the 
 crimson life blood of him who a moment 
 before had mounted the Teocalli — a per- 
 fect specimen of manhood, for none other 
 was acceptable to their gods. For weeks 
 he had lived on the fat of the land and 
 been housed in the Holy of Holies, while 
 the most beautiful maidens of the city 
 were brought unto him. At last, gar- 
 landed with flowers, decked in a rich 
 dress of feathers, he slowly mounted the 
 
" WJiite Woman^ 89 
 
 Teocalli to the sound of many gongs and 
 much barbaric music. He knew what was 
 coming ; he knew that each step brought 
 him nearer to that awful stone ; that ere lono- 
 the sunshine would be shut forever from 
 his sight ; that his splendid body through 
 which the life blood was bounding so 
 freely would be feasted on by the priests 
 around him. Mountino- higher and higher 
 he cast aside as he moved his rich robes, 
 broke his musical instruments, and tore his 
 garlands to pieces. All the while grim 
 and ghastly gods stared upon him in seem- 
 ingly malignant mirth, and the discordant 
 voice of the high priest expounded the 
 example of his life to the people. 
 
 "Though begun in glory, it is ending in gloom." 
 
 But ijiat end came quickly and with 
 no torture. A sudden, swift movement 
 threw him backward across the stone, the 
 
90 The King d 01 n of th^. 
 
 flint orlittered for an instant in the hands 
 of the high priest, and then the crimson 
 Hfe blood a-ushed in torrents down the 
 steps of the Teocahi, over the broken 
 musical instruments and soaked the gar- 
 ments of by-gone splendor, while his still 
 quivering heart was held aloft before the 
 worshiping multitudes as they bathed hands 
 and faces in his blood. Yet all this, and 
 all that follows does not fill one with half 
 such shuddering horror as one glimpse at 
 that poor little distorted figure, so lately 
 found in the walls of the Santo Domingo. 
 
" White Woman y 91 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THOUGH some seven thousand feet 
 above the sea, Mexico is far from 
 healthy. Low fevers prevail in summer, 
 and the waters are poisonous. At least 
 one attributes the bowel troubles that are 
 apt to attack strangers to that source. To 
 sit in a draft is also dangerous, nor is it 
 safe to be out after dark. The weather 
 was simply superb, and we had excellent 
 health while there, but when I returned 
 some years later, all the people whom I had 
 known on my former visit had either gone 
 north or were in the graveyard — the latter 
 a large miajority. You must dress warmly 
 always, and it is not safe to change from 
 heavy to light clothing or vice versa. In 
 fact the climate seemed to me like that of 
 
92 The Kingdom of the 
 
 Rome. The altitude always affects one at 
 first, and came near driving- us home. 
 
 The fevers of the place are easily ac- 
 counted for. The city lies lower than the 
 lakes which surround it, and during the 
 rainy season the water rises several feet in 
 the streets and courts, and on this floats the 
 scum of the sewasfe. So don't come here 
 during- the rains (the summer). It is feared 
 that, when the great system of drainage 
 now in hand is completed, much of the 
 town will dry up and collapse. But no im- 
 provements were even contemplated when 
 I first visited the place. It was as it had 
 been for centuries, and I know did not 
 relish the awakening which came shortly 
 after. Those at home who shout so con- 
 stantly for annexation should come down 
 and see these people, when they might in 
 some degree appreciate the hopelessness 
 
" White Woman y 95 
 
 of a union of any sort. We have not a 
 thought or feeling in common. Their ways 
 are not and never will be as ours. Possess- 
 ing as they do strong traits of their savage 
 ancestry, we never can be in touch with 
 them. We must wipe them out utterly and 
 begin with a new race. They are not in 
 the least like the few Spaniards who enter 
 our ports at the North, but resemble more 
 the hordes of Egypt and Syria, and I do 
 not believe it would be any more possible 
 to dwell together in unity with them, than 
 with the Indians of the North. They hate 
 us quite as heartily, and this hatred is fos- 
 tered and kept alive by an ignorant priest- 
 hood, who possess absolute power over the 
 masses, and knowing that with the advent 
 of northern ideas would come an end to 
 all that, they oppose us bitterly, even to the 
 advising of these poor wretches to fire into 
 the trains from the North. This happened 
 
94 ^^Ji^c Ki7igdo7n of the 
 
 as I came from El Paso, in 1887, and the 
 conductor informed me that it was of con- 
 stant occurrence, and that he had several 
 times stopped the trains and caught the 
 miscreants. • Of course the government is 
 against such a state of affairs and does 
 what it can to stop it, but these ignorant 
 minds are only governed by their priests. 
 However, annexation is not an immediate 
 danger, so let us leave it. 
 
3 > 
 
White Woman y 95 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 INTO the gloomy vaults of the Capu- 
 chins in Vienna we entered one sum- 
 mer day, leaving all brightness behind us. 
 Descending the long flights of stone stairs, 
 guided by a monk, who murmured softly 
 the names of the illustrious dead, we paused 
 for a moment before the magnificent sar- 
 cophagus of Maria Theresa ; then by that 
 of the little King of Rome, and, finally, 
 in a dark corner, where a long ray of sun- 
 light fell full upon it by a lonely sarcopha- 
 gus, on which lay a wreath of immortelles. 
 Stooping to see who had remembered 
 the royal dead, we read on a card the 
 name " Carlotta," and on the bronze be- 
 neath it " Maximilian." Instantly my 
 
96 The Kmgdom of the 
 
 thoughts flew westward over ocean and 
 mountains to the court-yard of the old 
 palace of Mexico, where stood the gor- 
 geous gilded coach, given to the ill-fated 
 Empress by the Emperor of Austria, and 
 in which, drawn by four white mules, she 
 used to make her progress to Chapul- 
 tepec. Its cushions are not soiled, nor 
 the gilding tarnished, while she for whom 
 it was built beats her hands against the 
 bars of a mad-house in Brussels, as she 
 murmurs forever the name of her dead 
 one. Above it waved the tree, "La 
 Manieta," while it cast in showers over 
 the coach its blossoms, shaped like a 
 human hand of a blood- red color, making 
 you shudder and draw back as though 
 the hand of Juarez was still casting the 
 gauntlet of hatred and defiance at those 
 poor victims of Napoleon III. 
 
' ' White Woman . " 97 
 
 They say in Mexico that Carlotta taunted 
 Maximilian with the loss of his kingdom 
 and drove him back to his certain death 
 — for Juarez had warned him that such 
 would be his fate if he returned. She 
 entered her ship at Vera Cruz, but before 
 he sank a hfeless corpse on the sands 
 of Oueretaro she was a raving maniac, 
 made so, as it is beheved, by poison ad- 
 ministered by one of her attendants — a 
 jealous woman. The people in Mexico 
 loved them both, for they worked con- 
 stantly, doing nothing save good. But 
 that would weigh little with Juarez and 
 the class he represented, as you have 
 only to look at his portrait — Indian in 
 every line — to fully understand. It would 
 have made no difference if Maximilian 
 and Carlotta had both been natives, that 
 face would never have spared any thing 
 that stood in its way. It is an immense 
 
98 The Kmgdoiu of the 
 
 satisfaction to Americans to know that, 
 though we would not permit a monarchy 
 to exist on our continent, or rather the 
 estabhshment of one by a foreign power, 
 we did our best to save this unfortunate 
 emperor, and but for the fact that the 
 "attractions" of New Orleans overpowered 
 our envoy, who, therefore, never reached 
 Mexico, Juarez would have listened to 
 Seward's remonstrance against that useless 
 
 mu 
 
 rder. 
 
White Woman.'' 99 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE sun has just thrown its first 
 searching rays over the rim of the 
 mountains as we start on horseback to 
 visit Chapultepec. The city is not yet 
 awake and bundles of people lie here and 
 there and every-where. In the cathedral 
 square the venders of birds have simply 
 thrown old rebosas (shawls) over the 
 cages and, doubling up on the ground 
 underneath, have gone to sleep. As we 
 pass one parrot's cage Polly is vainly 
 endeavoring to awaken her owner, as she 
 tries to catch sight of him over the rim 
 of her cage, pausing anon to scratch her 
 head and croak at us. We can scarcely 
 distinguish between the gurgling of the 
 
lOO TJie Kmgdoju of the 
 
 fountains and the sweet notes of the 
 clarines. The orange trees are in bloom 
 and the air is full of the odor of over 
 ripened fruit from the market near by. 
 As we pass down the street of the San 
 Francisco we note the strange outlines 
 of the houses. Here is the massive- 
 barred front of the palace, sacred to the 
 memory of the Emperor Iturbide — hal- 
 lowed also by the memory of our first 
 night's stay in the capital. There, is a 
 fantastic house all of blue porcelain tiles, 
 and yonder is a patio gleaming in many 
 colors of marble ; while the next is of 
 pure white, over which flaming Hibiscus 
 and the dainty Passion vine tumble in 
 wild profusion. Now the street widens 
 out, even as the day is widening. Long 
 lines of stately mansions to our left, while 
 to the right stretch away the woods 
 of the Alameda, and before us miles in 
 
" White Woman y loi 
 
 extent and maanificent in width is the 
 grand avenue to Chapuhepec, the "Paseo." 
 With its double rows of trees, its 
 fountains, and its royal monuments, it 
 forms an avenue unique and almost un- 
 rivaled in the world. In fact I know 
 of none with which to compare it save 
 that leading up to the arch of the Star, 
 and this after it leaves the city far sur- 
 passes the great avenue of Paris — in that 
 it has a superb view of most stupendous 
 mountains (18,000 feet in height). It is, 
 of course, the grand drive of the city. I 
 have exhibited myself on it several times, 
 but never with such perfect success as upon 
 one Easter Sunday. Having ordered my 
 horse several days before, and commanded 
 that he be strictly English in his get- 
 up, banged tail, saddle, etc., etc., I retired 
 to array myself and came out looking 
 magnificently — as to clothes ; one of Pooles' 
 
I02 TJic Kingdom of tJip. 
 
 latest productions in fact. Trowsers of 
 the deepest blue with a broad, black band, 
 patent leather riding shoes with shining 
 spurs, a high hat, and an enormous bou- 
 tonniere of violets. I meant to annihilate 
 that town. Starting the ladies away in 
 a landau (thank God, I did) I awaited 
 my steed. Instead of a thoroughly cor- 
 rect " Park Hack," I found before me 
 one of those brown and white splotched 
 circus animals, so old that his head hung 
 limp before him and his tail was hairless ; 
 and such a saddle! Words were useless. 
 It would do no oood to swear, as neither 
 man nor beast understood a word of any 
 thing save their own vile patois. Even 
 the cats do not know that they are so 
 called in a civilized land. However, I 
 ordered another horse and retreated to 
 tone down my costume, Started at last, 
 all went well, comparatively speaking, until 
 
o 
 
" White Woman y 103 
 
 I reached the circle where the band was 
 discoursing sweet music, then my beast 
 quietly backed around and alongside of 
 the rest of the hack horses, all in a 
 circle around the Pao^oda, and thouo-h I 
 spurred, pounded and whipped, and I 
 confess, swore, he would not move a 
 muscle until that piece of music was 
 over. Beino; accustomed to the hug-e 
 Mexican spurs, my little English ones 
 produced no effect. However, I perse- 
 vered until I forced the brute in time 
 to move on, only to go through the 
 same performance as I returned. There 
 was not much pleasure in that ride, and 
 to this day I am treated to side remarks 
 concerning it. However, that occurred 
 many years after our first ride to Cha- 
 pultepec, on which occasion we met with 
 several parties of English and Americans, 
 and also with Mexican gentlemen — the 
 
I04 The Kingdom of the 
 
 women do not ride — but I notice that all 
 are in parties, none alone or in couples ; 
 and am informed that it would not be 
 safe to come here at this hour save in 
 parties. One has only to glance at those 
 skulking forms behind that hedge to fully 
 believe it. 
 
 As we enter the groves of Chapul- 
 tepec (Grasshopper Hill) we pause in 
 admiration. Huge red cedars, second 
 only to those of California, stand thickly 
 around us, while from their lofty branches 
 the Spanish moss hangs like a silver 
 veil. In this drv air it attains grreat 
 lengths and is white and silvery, as you 
 never see it in Florida. Over all and 
 grander than all rises the great tree of 
 Montezuma. The sun is well up in the 
 heavens now and throws his glorious light 
 down the aisles of this grand natural 
 
" White Woman y 105 
 
 cathedral, at the further end of which 
 rise the walls of the palace which stands 
 on the site of that of the unfortunate 
 monarch. It is on a small hill, I should 
 say two hundred feet high, and in the 
 present building possessing nothing of in- 
 terest or beauty ; but from its ramparts 
 we see one of the great panoramas of 
 the world. To my mind there are five 
 great panoramas which rank on a par : 
 Cairo and the Nile, Constantinople from 
 Galata, Moscow from Sparrow Hill, the 
 Bay of Naples, and this view from Cha- 
 pultepec. To this one might add Benares 
 from the Ganges. This valley is a com- 
 plete circle, encompassed by these gigantic 
 mountains, with Chapultepec as a central 
 point. Before us spreads the white city 
 with its many campaniles and brilliant 
 roofs, the nearer lakes gleam in the sun- 
 shine, while those afar off by the mount- 
 
io6 TJie Kingdom of the 
 
 ains are dark as nioht. The lower rangres 
 of the Cordilleras are deep in shadow, 
 with here and there slashes of brilliant 
 blue and purple, while high over all rise 
 the two great mountains Popocatepetl and 
 Ixtaccihuatl, glistening brilliantly as they 
 reflect the rays of the ever-increasing 
 sunlight. Just behind us is the site of 
 the battle of Molino del Rey, and over 
 there to the left the tree of the Noche 
 Triste. Long aqueducts in stone, cen- 
 turies old, stretch their arches over the 
 plains ; while in the middle distance beyond 
 city and suburbs spread the dusty plains 
 with their long lines of cacti plants, which 
 here throw aside all romantic nonsense 
 concerning the "blossoms of a century," 
 etc., etc., and come forth in flower in 
 from ten to fourteen years time. Then, 
 having accomplished their mission wither 
 away root and branch. In the immediate 
 
" White Woman y 107 
 
 foreeround the avenue of the Paseo leads 
 eastward until it reaches the Alameda; 
 and just where they join and where the 
 trees are so orreen and thick now, arose 
 of old the flames of the aittcy da fes. 
 
io8 The KinodoDi of tJu 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 ALL roads in Mexico seem to lead 
 to Chapultepec, and one comes here 
 again and again to lean over its ramparts 
 and feast the soul with the splendid scene. 
 Its palace has now been fitted up as a 
 residence for the president, gorgeous of 
 course so far as the upholsterer can make 
 it. We see there a very magnificent ser- 
 vice of silver, made for the late emperor, 
 but very little else of interest. Still, this 
 is after all the most historic spot in the 
 land, and here the memories of the past 
 gather thickest around us. It was as dear 
 to the Aztecs as was Granada to the 
 Moors. In that grove below us were 
 buried their monarchs. Where we stand 
 
" White Woman.'' 109 
 
 they dwelt for centuries. The child-hke 
 Montezuma passed the happiest years of 
 his hfe here, and here he first received 
 tidings of the coming of those strangers 
 who were to end all things for him. 
 Dark dreams had disturbed his rest. 
 Earthquakes and eruptions marred the fair 
 valley of his royal city. His greatest 
 temple was destroyed by fire. Then, as 
 he gazed out over the same scene smiling 
 so serenely before us to-day, he beheld his 
 people driven almost mad with supersti- 
 tious terror. In vain were the human 
 sacrifices so freely offered. In vain the 
 relieious feasts and dances. The hour had 
 come and the little fleet of ships stealing so 
 quietly up the coast was bringing the men 
 who were to subdue the millions of the 
 land. They say that at night even now, all 
 up and down that avenue leading to the 
 tree of the Noche Triste yonder, phantom 
 
I lo The Kiiiodoui of the 
 
 hosts battle unceasingly, and in the moon- 
 light Cortez can still be seen weeping 
 over all he has lost— mournino; over the 
 dead and dying around him. While be- 
 low us, beneath the shadow of that o-reat 
 cedar with its veil of silvery moss, the 
 ghostly figure of the Atzec monarch lies 
 prone in agony. His garments of many 
 colored feathers torn and disordered. His 
 crown of plumes crushed into nothingness, 
 while he, like Boabdil-el-Chico, weeps even 
 as a woman over that which he could not 
 defend like a man. Truly these avenues 
 of Chapultepec are ghost haunted. Misty 
 nights bring out the restless spirit of 
 Iturbide, while through the star-lit isles 
 the shadowy figure of Maximilian passes 
 with bowed head, and from his lips again 
 are heard those last w^ords as he sank at 
 Queretaro, "Oh man, man!" When the 
 winds are out the sad voice oi Carlotta 
 
''White IVoman'' iii 
 
 is wafted from terrace to terrace in long- 
 peals of demoniacal laughter. Lightnings 
 flashes over the half savage faces of Santa 
 x'\nna and his merciless crew, while the 
 rattle of thunder brings back the spirits 
 of our own boys in blue over there on 
 the field of Molino del Rey where they 
 fell so bravely. All that, they say, can be 
 seen and heard at night when the moon- 
 liofht and stormlig-hts chase each other 
 round the "Hill of the Grasshopper." But 
 now as the full light of the noon-day sun 
 strikes down upon Chapultepec, she is the 
 center of a realm of peace and beauty, 
 while around the old tree of the Atzec 
 monarch a band ot dark-eyed, scarlet-robed 
 Mexican children have joined hands and 
 are dancinof in and out of its wavinor 
 mosses to the sound of the mandolin. 
 The balmy air is laden with the odor of 
 
1 1 2 TJic Kingdom of the 
 
 the magnolia, so heavy, so sweet, that one's 
 senses are wafted into skmiber, rendered 
 deeper and more profound by the singing- 
 of many birds and the gnrghng sound 
 of falhng waters. 
 
■o 
 
Wh ite Woman . " 113 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 I SHOULD warn all travelers who come 
 to Mexico to bring letters of credit 
 and not drafts, as it is almost impossible 
 to have the latter cashed. No amount of 
 identification seems to satisfy these bank- 
 ers, who appear to imagine that the end and 
 aim of the people from the States is to 
 swindle them. 
 
 It was our fortune, o-ood or bad as 
 you please, to arrive just as an excursion 
 from the north was departing, and we were 
 furnished with much amusement at the 
 many promises left behind, and by the 
 general state of indignation caused by 
 many actions new and strange to the in- 
 habitants of this ancient city. They could 
 
114 ^^^^ Kingdom of the 
 
 not imagine that even in the rush and 
 roar of the vast City of Chicago, not only 
 the promises made to them, but even the 
 visit to their city would soon be forgotten 
 utterly or remembered only as some thing 
 afar off and dream like. On the occasion 
 of that visit the contents of that grreat 
 curiosity shop — the national pawn shop — 
 were opened and dusted. It is amongst 
 the most curious of the many places in 
 the town. There every thing from a sauce- 
 pan to a necklace of diamonds can be 
 found. It is claimed that most of the 
 jewels of the country are here in pawn, 
 and when, on the occasion of the ball 
 given at that time, the ladies of the city 
 wished to appear in all their glory, they 
 drove to the pawn shop on their way to 
 the ball, and, leaving horses and carriages 
 as pledges, were allowed the use of their 
 jewels for that night only. Not having 
 
' ' White Worn an^ 115 
 
 time to clean them, the effect on their 
 fair arms and shoulders was in a short 
 time startling. I do not consider the 
 women of Mexico beautiful, and the man- 
 ner in which they pile on the powder 
 until their faces are deathly, is most un- 
 pleasant to one from the north, while the 
 ghastly effect is increased by the stare ot 
 great black glassy eyes. However, I 
 fancy their men must admire it or it would 
 scarcely be done. I notice also that here 
 the language of old Castile which in the 
 mother country sounded so silvery and 
 beautiful, is harsh and clattering, and when 
 one is at all unwell, utterly unbearable. 
 As you walk about \ou stumble now and 
 then on a figure strangely like the celebrated 
 "Mr. Guppy." Thin to gauntness, with 
 sunken eyes and chsheveled hair, he leans 
 with folded arms against some house cor- 
 ner or cloor-post, while his eyes are fas- 
 
1 1 6 The Kingdom of the 
 
 tened constantly upon some neighboring- 
 window behind which you faintly discern 
 the shadowy form of a woman. This is 
 the Spanish mode of courtship, and is 
 called " bearinof." It ©oes on for some 
 weeks, after which, if he is accepted by 
 the parents, he is admitted to the house 
 and an interview with them, not with the 
 adored one. He never sees her alone 
 until he marries her. I was so deeply 
 interested in one case yesterday that I 
 inadvertently stepped upon a pulque skin, 
 bursting it open and flooding the pavement 
 with the disgusting liquid. Most demon- 
 strative was the sorrow of the owner 
 until I bought his silence, while my own 
 disgust was equally intense as the odor 
 clung to my shoes for days. That was 
 the only time I ever attacked the national 
 drink. 
 
White Womany 117 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 WE went this morning to visit the 
 tomb of Juarez. Under a white 
 marble canopy hes a full length figure of 
 this slayer of Maximilian, and as you gaze 
 upon the face, Indian in every line, you 
 fully understand that having warned the 
 Emperor that return meant death, this was 
 a man to keep his word. The high cheek 
 bones, long straight black hair, and broad 
 nose, all go toward the make up of a 
 face to be found any clay amongst our 
 northern tribes. His daughters, whom we 
 met at the legation, are strangely like 
 him. If I remember rightly, they were 
 educated in our country. One can not 
 blame the Mexicans for resisting foreign 
 
1 1 8 The Kingdom of the 
 
 force and rule, yet it is claimed here that 
 the people were devoted to Maximilian 
 and Carlotta — only those of Juarez' rank 
 causino- all the trouble. We have met 
 several times the tall sorrowful figure of 
 the Empress Iturbide, another victim of 
 the third Napoleon. I could not but re- 
 member her as I watched in '91 an old 
 and bowed figure, clothed in rusty mourn- 
 ing, seated on an iron stool in the garden 
 of the Tuilleries, while the eyes, all that 
 remained of the once glorious beauty of 
 Eugenie, gazed mournfully on the site of 
 her former triumphs. She is not of suffi- 
 cient consequence now for the French 
 government to object to her presence. 
 
 Out beyond the tomb of Juarez we 
 came upon one of the old stone aqueducts 
 that still brinor the blessinors of water to 
 the people. There are several of these 
 
' ' White Woma7z . " 119 
 
 structures all in perfect condition. They 
 are not so lofty as those of Rome, but 
 all terminate in beautiful moss-grown stone 
 fountains, around whose basins you find a 
 constant crowd of people, though I do not 
 think that they can have any capacity for 
 water, after all the pulque they drink — and 
 they certainly never bathe. 
 
1 20 TJic Kingdom of the 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 ASIDE from a drive on the Alameda 
 or to Chapultepec, you rarely use 
 a carriage here. Tram cars of all classes 
 run through most of the streets and far 
 into the suburbs, to Guadalupe, to Tacu- 
 baya, and many other points ; in fact, such 
 is the condition of the streets, that you 
 must use them if you would go at all. 
 
 Starting one morning about nine o'clock, 
 we found in the great square our minister 
 
 and his wife. Monsieur and Madam M 
 
 (now secretary of state), and some others 
 (on invitation), and boarding a car for Tacu- 
 baya, spent a most delightful day under 
 the trees of the Baron and Escandone 
 
* * Wh ite Woman . " 121 
 
 estates. They were truly beautiful places. 
 The house of the former is of two stories,, 
 and stretches at great length along a 
 marble terrace, on whose steps and balus- 
 trades stand urns filled with flowers, while 
 through the vistas of the park the falling 
 waters of many fountains make the air 
 musical. The house itself is filled with 
 all that wealth, possessed for generations, 
 combined with good taste, can purchase. 
 Here, a boudoir with dainty fittings of 
 malachite ; there, a library whose shelves 
 are crammed to the top. On the fly-leaf 
 of the first book I picked up was written, 
 "With the compliments of the author, 
 Henry W. Longfellow." A room in which 
 one might study and dream a life away, 
 the world forgetting, with no regret that 
 they were "by the world forgot." 
 
 Down a long vista of hallway, through 
 
12 2 The Kingdom of the 
 
 a lofty portal, the rays of light struck 
 upon gilded frames and the rich warm 
 tints of the many paintings — old masters 
 and new — and as is usual in most large 
 galleries, good, bad, and indifferent, though 
 as a whole these were good, and were a 
 ■collection always impossible in any land 
 where the law of primogeniture has never 
 existed. (I am not certain that it exists 
 there now, though it did not long since.) 
 We spent several hours wandering over 
 the interesting place, and having little or 
 nothing to do with each other, each fol- 
 lowing the bent of his or her own tastes, 
 information and inclinations. It was all 
 open, the family being in Europe, but as 
 they were personal friends of our minister, 
 we had the freedom of the house. 
 
 I finally wandered into a deep bay of 
 the library, evidently a favorite nook of 
 
' ' White JVouiaji . " 123 
 
 some of the dead and gone owners. A 
 small table and a large easy chair stood 
 in the corner. Throuo-h the stained- 
 glass windows the long rays of sunlight 
 threw the shadows of waving leaves across 
 the thorn-crowned face that Guido Reni 
 painted. Silence and the soothing music 
 of a fountain soon sent me nodding over 
 my book. Do n't be shocked when I tell 
 you it was Ouida's " Puck." I was sud- 
 denly aroused by deep breathing and sniff- 
 ing, and found myself under watch and 
 guard of an immense bloodhound. I had 
 the eood sense not to move, and for some 
 moments man and beast stared straight 
 into each other's eyes. It is claimed the 
 old notion that the human eye can cow 
 and subdue that of a beast is all nonsense, 
 but I fully believe it, though I do not think 
 it would save one's life. Still in this case 
 it was but a moment ere the superb ani- 
 
124 '^^^f-^ Kino;doiii of the 
 
 mal growlingly lowered his eyes and head, 
 and at last settled on the floor near by, 
 ever and anon castincr savao;e o-lances in 
 my direction, but shifting them away at 
 once on meeting mine. I did not, it is 
 useless to say, attempt to escape. For- 
 tunately the strong sunlight which poured 
 into one of the windows, threw us both 
 into bold relief, and caused one of the 
 servants to come to my succor. 
 
 Breakfast had been spread on the 
 terrace. We had evidently drawn from 
 the resources of the house, as the silver 
 and glass, all of the most exquisite quality 
 and workmanship, bore the family arms, 
 and by their beauty added much to the 
 enjoyment of the feast. 
 
 Later, as we were gathered in the bowl- 
 ing alley, we suddenly found that we had 
 
' ' White Woman . " 125 
 
 as companions not one, but three immense 
 bloodtiounds, and then it was explained 
 that the people of these places keep them 
 as guards against kidnappers. Even with 
 such protection they are not always safe 
 (in 1879), as was demonstrated not long 
 since by the sudden disappearance oi one 
 of the rich men of the city. He was al- 
 most given up as dead when a little child 
 asked the searchers if they were "looking 
 for the man under the bed ; " there he 
 was found, not under the bed, but under 
 the floor, bound, gagged, and almost dead 
 with starvation. I doubt if the city under 
 Montezuma was half as dangerous a place 
 of residence as during the late years. 
 Now, 1890, it is far different, thanks to 
 the introduction of northern life, steam, 
 etc., with the many other improvements 
 that always follow in their train. Yet I 
 am o-lad I saw the land before all that 
 
126 The Kingdom of the 
 
 happened. Strangers in those days were 
 few and far between, and welcomed with 
 open arms by the upper classes. Now 
 they are numberless, and in consequence, 
 the people have retired unto themselves. 
 You see nothing of them unless especially 
 presented. But all that has nothing to do 
 with those bloodhounds that appeared 
 at last to realize that we were friends, 
 not foes. Two went to sleep, but my 
 old guardian approached and laid his great 
 head with its horrible fangs on my knee, 
 while his expressive eyes seemed to ask 
 my pardon for his late conduct. I granted 
 it by a gentle caress, and he sealed the 
 compact by an energetic wag of his tail. 
 Is there any thing on earth more expres- 
 sive than a dog's tail ? I certainly can 
 never forget the intense watchfulness of 
 that old o-uard as he stood over me in 
 the library. Its expression was tremen- 
 
' ' Wk ite Woman . " 127 
 
 dous. It was just as expressive in the 
 bowling-alley as it whacked a friendly rata- 
 plan on my thinly clad back. Shortly there- 
 after he caused the very objectionable fat 
 woman from Indiana to almost faint away 
 as he dashed with a roar after the ball that 
 had just left her hands. 
 
 The sun was sinking fast before we 
 moved to leave that abode of peace. As 
 I stood on the long marble terrace and 
 looked my last on its beauty, regret at 
 parting was strong upon me. Surrounded 
 by its high walls, it was so secluded from 
 the world, so shut off from the rush and 
 roar of the country, that I found there 
 that quiet, that restful delight, which only 
 comes now and then in life. I found it 
 once afterward, in the gardens of the 
 Taj, in far away India, and again I would 
 have lingered on forever. 
 
128 The Kingdom of the 
 
 But in the tropics night comes fast, and 
 the way between Tacubaya and the city is 
 not safe under her shadows. So we moved 
 on, leaving this poem in white marble with 
 the evening sunlight glistening on its leaves 
 and fountains and lighting up the windows 
 of its deserted rooms. It was a bit of 
 Italy dropped by mistake on this western 
 continent ; but, unlike Italy, in that we 
 could not remain to enjoy it by moonlight. 
 Indeed, I have no recollections of the beau- 
 ties of Mexico under the light of the moon, 
 unless it be a vista of silent street or de- 
 serted plaza, or perhaps the outlines of the 
 old cathedral just opposite my window. This 
 is because you can not wander off there 
 alone or even in couples after night falls. It 
 is neither healthy nor safe, and I maintain 
 that there is no joy in the moonlight or the 
 silence of the night if one must be sur- 
 
"■White Woinany 129 
 
 rounded by a crowd. I also noticed that 
 amongst the people there was little or no love 
 of music, no strollinor bands of sino-ers, such 
 as one meets with all over Italy, and I 
 thank God no mechanical pianos. Now and 
 then you see the people dancing the fan- 
 dango, and in the middle and upper classes 
 hear the music of the Danza ; but for the 
 masses life seems to hold no music, save 
 such as is furnished them by the band on 
 the Paseo, and across their watchful, mourn- 
 ful faces you never see the shadow^ of a 
 smile. 
 
 I think the absence of a love for music 
 and their ever-silent watchfulness must come 
 from their Indian blood. Spain certainly 
 was full of music. I remember much of it 
 in Cuba ; but these masses do not in the 
 least resemble the people of either of those 
 countries ; but rather, as I have said before, 
 the swarms of Egypt and Syria. Like them 
 
1 30 The Kingdom of the 
 
 in dress, at least among the women, greatly 
 like them in their silent watchfulness, pos- 
 sessinof the same doe-trot movement, which 
 they will keep up all day long, but which 
 does not in the least resemble the stately 
 stalk of the northern Indians. 
 
 Apropos of mechanical pianos. One au- 
 tumn, in Naples, at the Hotel Bristol, we 
 were so tormented by their horrible clatter 
 that in deep despair I endeavored to pur- 
 chase silence. You can imagine the result. 
 The "fraternity" at once formed a joint 
 stock concern. I had no sooner boug-ht off 
 one fiend than another would appear from 
 around the corner. I did not discover their 
 game until silence had been purchased three 
 times. The fourth man looked familiar, and 
 on closer inspection I found that he was the 
 first of the gang, and had merely turned his 
 old hat wrong side out in order to deceive 
 
' ' White Woman . " 131 
 
 me, which he evidently felt sure of doing, 
 as his self-composure was immense. Re- 
 tiring in disgust, I summoned the waiter, 
 and ordered him to bring a half-dozen "bad 
 eggs," He retired, and in a few moments 
 the head waiter appeared, and with vast 
 dignity informed me that "this hotel does 
 not keep that kind." Though convulsed 
 with laughter, I managed to seize a pitcher 
 full of water and to make for the balcony, 
 outside of which the noise and clatter was 
 momentarily growing louder and more tri- 
 umphant. However, piano and man van- 
 ished like the mists of morning as I raised 
 my engine of war aloft. Quiet soon reigned 
 supreme, but I never regained my standing 
 with the head waiter after that order for 
 " bad eggs." 
 
132 TJic Kingdom of tJie 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 EVENING brings a reception at the 
 Legation, a cosmopolitan affair most 
 certainly. As we enter we are greeted by 
 our genial host and hostess, who present us 
 to most of the Mexican 400 ; also to the 
 English, French and American contingent. 
 Those two dark-browed heavy-featured 
 women at the piano are the daughters of 
 the Juarez, next by their side a Spanish 
 matron sits robed in yellow satin and black 
 lace. Yonder are two American ladies, 
 mother and daughter, whom I saw on the 
 sacred Nile ; and with that English officer I 
 passed a pleasant week in the Halls of the 
 Alhambra. The orchestra is playing the 
 waltz, "Auf Wiedersehen," its dreamy music 
 
' ' White Woman . " 133 
 
 has proven too much for that young Ameri- 
 can girl, who, though in the deepest mourn- 
 ing and ahnost shrouded in crepe, is drifting 
 around in the arms of a dark-eyed Spaniard. 
 
 The fat woman from Hoosierdom is com- 
 paring all and every one to those she 
 knows on the banks of the Wabash, much 
 to the credit of the latter. I hear her dis- 
 cussing a church fair in Evansville as I pass 
 her. She has nothing to do with me as she 
 blames me for that affair of the bloodhound 
 and ball. The wife of the Secretary of 
 State, a beautiful blonde, and by the way 
 an American, is gayly chatting with an Eng- 
 lish doctor. Ah ! there are the strains of 
 the " Danza." How quickly its music draws 
 all into the mazes of the dance until the 
 nations of the earth here commingled, forget 
 for the nonce that they have been and may 
 again be enemies. 
 
1 34 TJie Kingdom of the 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 WITH ordinary care Mexico is a safe 
 place to visit. The altitude may 
 trouble you some, but Jalapa and Orizaba 
 on the outer rim of this basin are considered 
 amongst the most healthy places on the 
 globe, and are but a few hours off. I can 
 testify to that of Orizaba. It is most charm- 
 ing. The thermometer remains at about 
 60 degrees the year round, and our roses 
 bloom in great masses, tumbling over 
 houses and walls in boundless profusion, 
 while the air is forever full of that fresh, 
 sweet odor, so prevalent in our spring 
 months. If you like tarantulas they have 
 them there. I was told that on the 
 Sunday previous to our visit, one had 
 
Sacrificial Stone. 
 
 Sacrificial Stone. 
 
 (Side view.) 
 
' ' White Wo7nan . " 135 
 
 jumped onto the keys of the organ. 
 Orizaba is modern enough to be comfort- 
 able. You will find nothing very ancient 
 in the town ; in fact, there are very few 
 relics of the Aztec even in the capital. The 
 calendar is in the wall of the cathedral 
 (since removed to the museum), and in one 
 . court in the palace are to be found the 
 remainder. Amongst the latter the famous 
 Sacrificial Stone, from the Teocalli of the 
 capital, the same upon which, amongst 
 thousands of natives, many of the men of 
 the conquest were otfered up. It is some 
 twenty feet in diameter and four feet thick, 
 with a basin in its center to hold the blood. 
 It is entirely covered with Aztec carvings, 
 and is of a marble hard as flint, and mottled 
 green and black. It is really a work of 
 beauty. Around about stand numerous 
 gods and other images, all in stone. Pass- 
 ing upward into the galleries, the first 
 
136 The Kingdom of thf. 
 
 thing one sees is an immense painting of 
 Maximilian, thrown on its side in a corner, 
 and with several holes through the canvas. 
 He must have been a very handsome man. 
 Here he is pictured in full uniform, mounted 
 on a white chargfer. The brow is hig-h and 
 crowned by a mass of yellow hair, while a 
 long golden beard covers his breast. Eyes 
 of blue give a pleasant effect to the face. 
 It is handsome but weak, not unlike that of 
 "Unser Fritz," and I think that the charac- 
 ters of the two men were much alike. It 
 was certainly necessary that this man should 
 receive the crown of martyrdom to avoid the 
 utter oblivion of time, but I fancy could he 
 have been allowed his choice, he would 
 gladly have exchanged the fleeting glories 
 of his earthly crown and his crown of mar- 
 tyrdom for a peaceful, happy life in his 
 beautiful palace of Miramar, with the blue 
 Adriatic murmuring at its feet. When he 
 
''White Woman." 137 
 
 fell, wounded to death at Oueretaro, the 
 poor Indians who were present wept aloud, 
 and rushing forward, wiped up every drop 
 of blood. Even in his burial I think he was 
 unfortunate, and if he could have spoken, 
 would have preferred remaining here on 
 the beautiful hills of Mexico, where God's 
 sunlight and storm could pass over him, 
 to being taken to the gloomy vaults of 
 the Capuchins, where that sunlight never 
 comes save in stray beams ; where every 
 sarcophagus around is laden with the bronze 
 images of death ; where no sound is ever 
 heard save the droning voice of monks 
 reciting the merits and titles of the royal 
 dead after the names of nearly every one 
 of whom, from Maria Theresa — broken- 
 hearted over the loss of Silesia — to the 
 late Prince Rudolph, you can write the 
 word "unfortunate." 
 
TJie Kinodorn of the 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 MEXICO possesses really a very fine 
 picture gallery. It occupies several 
 large rooms, and is for the most part, 
 made up of good canvases gathered in 
 the suppression of the monasteries. I 
 remember two that particularly impressed 
 me. One contained two figures, " Dante 
 and Virofil " eazino- into the mouth of hell 
 — the reflection therefrom casting a crimson 
 glow over their wondering faces ; in the 
 other, " Crazy Joan " wandering over her 
 kingdom with the encoffined body of 
 her husband Phillip Le Bell. The cortege 
 has paused on some wild plain of old 
 Castile, and the figure of the crazy queen 
 stands over the coffin of her husband, 
 
' ' White Wo7nan . " 139 
 
 while the bleak wind blows her long hair 
 across her vacant, melancholy face ; the 
 courtiers stand about regarding her with 
 awe-stricken glances, but she is oblivious 
 to all save her dead. The picture haunts 
 one. I remember standing once in the 
 vaults of the Cathedral of Grenada when 
 it was hard to realize that my hands were 
 resting- on the coffins of Ferdinand and the 
 gentle Isabella, while just beyond stood 
 the same coffin that is in this picture, and 
 she who here watches it slept by its 
 side. The scene comes back to me as I 
 gaze now. I remember that in the treas- 
 ury above were the crown and jewels that 
 Isabella sold to help Columbus, and near 
 by the sword of Boabdil el Chico, the last 
 of the Moors. In my fancy I still hear 
 the murmuring waters of the brooks of 
 Grenada and the silver tones of the bell 
 hung centuries ago in a tower of the 
 
140 TJic Kinodoin of the 
 
 i\lhambra — hung- there by the Moors to 
 regulate the irrigation of the valley ; but 
 no, this sound is cracked and discordant 
 and comes from those of Santa Domingo, 
 the church of the Jesuits. We have just 
 seen in the museum here the two bodies 
 taken from her walls, the one a man, the 
 other a woman, small and delicate, im- 
 mured by those who worship the memory 
 of Christ, the Compassionate. They had 
 slowly starved to death. The horror of 
 it all makes us shudder as we gaze at the 
 twisted fio'ures and distorted faces, dear 
 both of them to somebody once, and now 
 an eternal reproach to a church guilty of 
 barbarities greater than those of the Az- 
 tecs. 
 
WJiite Woman y 141 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 MEXICO is full of churches — one in 
 almost every square — and all more 
 or less like the great cathedral, which, 
 strange to say, in this one-time province 
 of old Spain, is much more in the Italian 
 style of architecture than the Spanish. It 
 is grand, but it does not approach those 
 of Seville, Toledo, or Burgos, but is very 
 like that of Maria Maggiore in Rome. 
 I fancy the occupation of the masses has 
 chantred but little all these centuries. As 
 we walked through a side street, pausing 
 a moment at a low doorway through 
 which our eyes had been attracted by a 
 sudden gleam of color, we found a lot of 
 men and women eneag-ed on their famous 
 
142 The Kingdom of the 
 
 feather work — an art handed down to 
 them by their Aztec ancestors. 
 
 One of them showed me a small card 
 on which he had worked a peacock perched 
 on the limb of a tree, all made entirely of 
 feathers. It was much more perfect than 
 painting. Card after card was handed up 
 until we were forced to. believe that they 
 must be possessed of a copy of Audubon, 
 as many of the birds were of other climes. 
 Here was also their wonderful figfure work 
 in clay. Groups of people and animals — 
 beautiful all of it ; but, like so much else 
 from other parts of the globe, it will not 
 endure in our climate. I was much amused 
 to notice some Americans haggling among 
 themselves and with the dealer, over some 
 second-hand work from Paris and which 
 we could not convince them was not Mex- 
 ican, all the while utterly ignoring the 
 really beautiful native work. I noticed on 
 
" White Woman y 143 
 
 a later visit that the feather work hacj lost 
 much of its beauty, caused, I fancy, by the 
 influx of strangers and the consequent 
 greater demand. The natives knowing 
 that they could sell all they made, no 
 matter how poor the work, ceased to take 
 any pains therewith. 
 
144 ^-^^^ Kingdom of the 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 ONE morning, passing with Bishop Riley 
 through the sunht square of the great 
 cathedral, we pause a moment to purchase 
 a couple of the clarines, and are surprised 
 to find that a circus has set up its canvas 
 walls right under the doors of the sanctuary. 
 On closer inspection, it is discovered that 
 " Ben," the educated pig, and his friend, the 
 dancing goose, have deserted the shades of 
 Saratoga for brighter fortunes in this south- 
 ern clime. I chanced, some weeks later, to 
 be on a ship with this celebrated pair, when 
 both were gloriously sea-sick. Giving them 
 the go-by now, however, and disregarding 
 the bombardments of the venders of parrots, 
 paroquets, tortillas (cakes), pilgrim flowers. 
 
" White Womaji.'" 145 
 
 gorgeous sombreros and serapes, pictures 
 of the Virgin, wreaths of orange blossoms, 
 etc., we pass onward for a look at the new 
 church lately acquired by the bishop from the 
 Catholics. He had had much to say about 
 it, and seemed very proud of his purchase ; 
 but alack, on arrival we find that his ene- 
 mies have stolen the pipes of the organ. 
 From there we visit Mrs. Hooker and her 
 orphanage. What a time the poor woman 
 has of it, to be sure ! No sooner settled in 
 one place than through the power of the 
 Roman Catholic Church she is bundled on, 
 bag and baggage. Still, nothing discour- 
 aged, she tries again. So it has been for 
 years and will always be, I fancy, until her 
 poor thin hands shall have given up the 
 battle — until her tired ears shall hear the 
 command, "Well done; enter into the joy 
 of thy Lord." She is destined, however, 
 to labor in this vineyard for years to come. 
 
1 46 The Kingdom of the 
 
 I have not heard of her death, and I met 
 her acjain in 1888, when she had much to 
 say concerning the mistaken pohcy of send- 
 ing clothes and other suppUes to this far off 
 city. The cost of transportation being so 
 immense, she is often forced to refuse the 
 cases, their contents being of Httle or no 
 value, and nearly always unsuitable to this 
 climate. A little money goes a long way in 
 her hands, but any thing else is more of a 
 burden than a blessing. Speaking of the 
 cost of transportation, the story is told of 
 an American woman who came here to live 
 shortly after this railway was opened.* De- 
 siring a cooking stove, she ordered one 
 from the north, the original cost being some- 
 thing like $30, and the bill for transporta- 
 tion nearly $180. We paid ^30 for extra 
 luggage between here and El Paso on three 
 
 * The Mexican Central. 
 
''White Woma7iy 147 
 
 moderate sized trunks, though we held three 
 first-class tickets. I have just learned ( 1 893) 
 that Mrs. Hooker has passed away, but not 
 until she had secured that desire of her 
 heart, a building for her " orphan children," 
 a place that the Church of Rome could not 
 turn her out of. Her children are safe at 
 last, and she rests from her labors. 
 
148 The Kingdom of the 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE dead are treated with scant cere- 
 mony among the poor, as we discov- 
 ered this morning. Hearing that a child, 
 a Httle girl, daughter of our concierge, had 
 died during the night, we raised enough 
 money to buy a coffin ; but chancing to 
 look from my window later on, I saw her 
 borne away on a board, with a few paper 
 flowers strewn over her and four common 
 candles casting a sickly glare and much 
 grease over the waxen figure. The father 
 carried the board on his head, and many 
 times stopped to gossip and laugh as he 
 passed away down the street toward the 
 shrine of Guadalupe, there to cast her in a 
 rough pit, and returning, hold high revel 
 
' ' White Woman , " 149 
 
 with his friends on the money we have 
 given for the coffin. Undoubtedly, as we 
 pass out to-night, he will shower blessings 
 on our heads, not for what we have wished 
 to do for the dead — he could never be made 
 to understand that — but for the opportunity 
 we have afforded him for getting drunk on 
 pulque. But let us follow to Guadalupe. 
 Out one of the broad avenues of the city 
 he passes with his strange, sad burden ; 
 now in the deep shadow of some old church, 
 where the semi-darkness causes the candles 
 to faintly illuminate the dead ; now in the 
 broad glare of brilliant sunlight, showing up 
 the tawdry decorations and robbing even 
 death of its majesty ; again he pauses for 
 half an hour before a pulque shop, while he 
 drinks and chatters, his burden on a chair 
 beside him, and toward it neither he nor the 
 dozens near him elance, even for a moment. 
 Meanwhile there has slowly approached 
 
I 50 The Kiiigdiwi of the 
 
 through the crowd an old shaggy dog, 
 which now sits on its haunches l^y the rude 
 bier and closely regards the dead. As we 
 draw near, he raises his eyes to ours, full 
 of sadness, and I should say, if a dog could 
 weep, full of tears. He remembers his 
 frolics through the sunshine and shadows, 
 and many a night's sleep with his head pil- 
 lowed on the little form so silent before him 
 now, and he is the only one who, remember- 
 ing, regrets. The queer procession starts 
 again ere long. The man by this time has 
 an ill-smelling cigar between his teeth and 
 so much pulque down his throat that his 
 movements are unsteady, and I dread lest 
 the burden on his head be cast into the orut- 
 ter. The dog follows, and the stream of 
 human life flows on past them, thinking 
 little, caring less. Now a woman with a 
 tray of greasy tortillas brushes by him ; 
 now he is rudely ordered to halt, while a 
 
' ' White Woman . " 151 
 
 gay cavalcade of horsemen gallops past. 
 At last, leaving the street of the town, 
 he joins in the vast crowd of pilgruns, 
 all journeying toward the sacred shrine of 
 Guadalupe, sacred since the Virgin showed 
 herself there to Indian John. About three 
 miles from the city, on one of the foot hills 
 of the mountains, stands the cathedral, 
 marking the spot, and behind and above 
 it mounts the city of the dead, with its fan- 
 tastic monuments. The church itselt is 
 cathedral in size and richness, and is full 
 of votive offerings like that of Notre Dame 
 de la Garde at Marseilles. Here at all 
 seasons of the year, like as unto Benares, 
 come thousands on thousands of the people, 
 and here they kneel in silent ranks, hours 
 at a time. In the city of the dead rich 
 tombs and monuments mark the sleepmg 
 places of the wealthy — long rows of un- 
 marked graves — those where the poor are 
 
152 The Kingdom of the 
 
 cast in uncoffined. Near one of these the 
 man has paused, and placing his burden on 
 the ground, bends for a moment in — let us 
 hope, if not prayer, at least remembrance. 
 Then he departs swiftly, while the old clog 
 comes slowly forward and lies down beside 
 the dead. The afternoon shadows gfi'ow 
 long-er and longer ; still he lies there. His 
 mournful eyes gaze outward past the shrine 
 and its countless worshipers ; past the long 
 dusty highway, down which was so lately 
 borne his dead companion ; past the city 
 and her lakes and the groves of the Ala- 
 meda, where he has played with the child 
 in her short liie-time, to the point where the 
 setting sun has turned the snowy cones of 
 the great mountains into gold. Amidst all 
 that glory is he looking for the spirit of his 
 dead playmate ? The silent form before 
 him seems almost touched into life by the 
 
o 
 
''White IVoniaji.'' 153 
 
 benediction of departing day. Then the 
 night falls suddenly. 
 
 As we return homeward, sounds of bois- 
 terous merriment greet our ears, and we see 
 through the portals of the house a group of 
 people across whose faces the flickering light 
 of a fire casts grotesque shadows. Amongst 
 them is the father of the dead child. With his 
 companions he holds high carnival, because 
 the Virgin has taken her unto herself. So 
 he untwists the end of the well-filled pulque 
 skin, which is enthroned on a table beside 
 him, and allows each in turn to take long 
 draughts of the nauseous liquid, after every 
 one of which their faces become more and 
 more besotted in expression. To such use 
 is being put the money that we gave for her 
 coffin. 
 
154 J^^^<^ Kingdom of the 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 1 REMEMBER being one day in the 
 cemetery at Havana — not the Camp 
 Santo, but the new cemetery out near tl>e 
 Governor General's Palace, when up drove 
 an elegant hearse, followed by a victoria, 
 in which, behind liveried servants, sat two 
 young men. After some service in the 
 mortuary chapel the coffin was borne into 
 the cemetery and we followed to see what 
 would happen. Passing the portion set 
 off for the rich, which was full of elegant 
 monuments, they approached a long row of 
 empty and newly-filled graves. One of the 
 men taking a ticket from his pocket handed 
 it to the grave diggers — two most repulsive- 
 looking negroes. They nodded and pointed 
 
' ' White Woman . " 155 
 
 to the nearest empty pit. Lifting off the 
 coffin Hd there was exposed to view the form 
 of a young woman beautifully dressed, her 
 features covered by a lace veil. With scant 
 ceremony the diggers seized the body by 
 the head and feet and literally dropped it 
 into the open grave, which not being long 
 enough almost doubled it up. Then in- 
 verting the coffin, they struck it a few 
 blows on the bottom, as one does to 
 empty a basket. One dropped a coarse 
 blanket into the orrave and then the stone 
 and rocks were shoveled on, while the 
 elegantly dressed )Oung men carefully 
 wiping the dust from the coffin, returned 
 it to the hearse and drove off in their 
 own perfectly appointed carriage. Graves 
 there cost ^60.00 — " useless expense — when 
 you are dead you are dead and will not 
 know whether you are coffined or not — so 
 why waste money?" 
 
156 T/ic Kino- do in of the 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 AS you gaze out over this busy city, 
 surrounded by its wondrously beau- 
 tiful valley and mountains, your thoughts 
 must turn in retrospection over the cen- 
 turies that have passed, and in their pas- 
 sage brought her such hours of distress and 
 triumph. You will realize that, as the great 
 waves of time and change have rolled over 
 Mexico, those from the northward have 
 brought her prosperity, while those from 
 the south and east, little but sorrow and 
 distress. Do you laugh at such an asser- 
 tion ? If so I think a deeper study of the 
 history of Mexico will cause you to change 
 your mind. From the northward in the 
 forgotten ages came the Toltecs, savages, 
 
' ' WJiite Woman . " 157 
 
 it is true, yet they brought with them 
 many of the arts of the present day, 
 gathered the people together in towns 
 and cities, and taught them a measure of 
 government. To that race we trace all the 
 wonderful carvings to be found through- 
 out the land from Texas to Panama. 
 They were heathens and cannibals, but 
 never the latter in the usual acceptation 
 of that term. Cannibalism with them be- 
 ing a religious function, only those sac- 
 rificed to their gods were so consumed; 
 and if such a term may be here used, 
 it was clone decently and in order — as it 
 were — a sort of Holy Communion. I do 
 not uphold the practice even in heathens, 
 but to me it is not so horrible as the 
 awful tortures of the Inquisition. Indeed, 
 there was rarely any torture about it, 
 and it was a fate welcomed by many as 
 a sure passport to their realms of bliss — 
 
158 The Kingdom of the 
 
 while the Inquisition, not content with 
 torturing the body, condemned the soul 
 to eternal damnation. After the Toltecs 
 came the Aztecs, still a race of savages, 
 but very different savages from those we 
 found in our northern land. Cortez dis- 
 covered them living in well-ordered towns 
 and comparatively well governed, espe- 
 cially was this the case in the great city 
 of Cholula where now the lonely pyramid 
 looks down on a few wretched huts and 
 miserable people. What possible good 
 followed in his train? A small upper 
 class may have become more civilized and 
 enlightened, but the masses are to my 
 mind but little better off now than in 
 the days when the heathen gods claimed 
 thousands for their altars. You may say that 
 Cortez brought the true cross, introduced 
 the religion of Jesus. Granted, and had 
 it rested there, or been carried on in 
 
''White Woman y 159 
 
 the manner ordained by the Nazarene, 
 Mexico would to-day be three hundred 
 years in advance of her present condi- 
 tion, and the nations to the north and 
 south of the Rio Grande would become 
 one with no delay ; but it was not to be. 
 The shadow of Torquemada spread rap- 
 idly over this unhappy land, cursing place 
 and people, and it was not until 18 15 
 that the Inquisition was formally banished 
 from the land, declared a dead institution. 
 
i6o The Kingdom of the 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 HOW different would have been the 
 fate of this city and this land had 
 Cortez, after suppressing the sacrifices, sup- 
 pressed also the advocates of the Inquisi- 
 tion. Of course he would have been 
 burned for his o-ood intentions, and like 
 Napoleon his ambition was centered in 
 himself. He had little love for Church 
 or State, save when they tended to his 
 own advancement. He was followed by 
 a long line of regents, emperors and 
 presidents of the same pattern, until we 
 come to the present incumbent, Porfirio 
 Diaz, who really seems to have the wel- 
 fare of the land at heart. Enter the 
 palace below us there and gaze on their 
 
"■White Wo7na7ty i6i 
 
 portraits — read their histories. Even in 
 our day, what were Hidalgo, Santa Anna, 
 Iturbide and Juarez? Surely, each and all 
 of them, men who loved Mexico some, 
 but themselves infinitely more ; and, there- 
 fore, used their unfortunate country as a 
 means whereby to gratify their own pleas- 
 ures, and further their own personal glory. 
 Maximilian would have done good to all, 
 but he was not allowed even to try it. We 
 have had some curses in our land — such 
 as the burning of the witches and slavery. 
 The former was wiped out very quickly 
 and left no evil effects. The latter, while 
 terrible in its results to the South, only 
 affected a small portion of our land, while 
 we, beine at all times alive to the awful 
 character of the ulcer, were, therefore, on 
 guard against it, and when the time came 
 cut it out. Had it gone on, in the end 
 its shadow would have equaled that of 
 
1 62 The Kingdom of the 
 
 the Inquisition over Mexico; but, thank 
 God, those shadows have vanished from 
 both peoples. As I leaned over the para- 
 pet, taking my farewell view of the an- 
 cient city, the cracked bells of Santa 
 Domingo sent up a jangling, useless re- 
 monstrance aeainst the destruction of its 
 order. The sounds of life were many, 
 and echoed and re-echoed against the 
 towers of the great cathedral opposite. 
 Purple shadows gathered around Chapul- 
 tepec and over lakes and mountains. 
 Toward Guadalupe thousands of pilgrinis 
 were moving, there to remain all niofht, 
 and so be in time for the morrow's feast 
 of the Virgin. Suddenly the golden light 
 of the day went out as though a gust 
 of wind had extinguished a great illumi- 
 nation. Again, Popocatapetl and Ixtacci- 
 huatl gleamed for an instant as a parting 
 unto us; again, the snowy form of the 
 

 CITY AND VALLEY OF M, SICO 
 
'j|:ico FRo^r a balloon. 
 
''White Woman:' i6 
 
 o 
 
 "white woman" blazed forth as though 
 in a golden chamber, then all vanished 
 into darkness — while from the world be- 
 low, our ears were saluted by a wild, 
 shrill whistle telling of the trains incoming 
 from the north, bringing more and more 
 and more each day, month and year the 
 millions of a peaceful conquest, over 
 whose reign, let us hope, the superstitions 
 of the past can cast no shadow. 
 
164 The Kmgdoin of tJie 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 ALL that is very well from the stand- 
 point of progress, etc. ; but from that 
 of the dreamer and traveler I feel very 
 much as I once heard a lady say as she 
 gazed from Sparrow Hill on the oriental 
 splendors of Moscow, " \Vell, I trust all this 
 will soon pass away, but I am glad I have 
 seen it before it was disturbed." So it was 
 with Mexico. One is happy to have seen 
 her picturesqueness before the influence of 
 the north has changed it all, thereby reduc- 
 ing it to the utterly uninteresting and com- 
 mon-place characteristics of our own cities, 
 each and all of them better places in which 
 to live, but certainly possessing very little 
 beauty. So if these notes should induce 
 
' ' Wh ite Woman . " 165 
 
 any one to leave home for a few weeks and 
 journey south to the old city, I shall be 
 amply repaid for the writing thereof, and 
 the traveler for having read them and fol- 
 lowed in my footsteps, for on this same 
 continent he will find a country containing 
 people, towns, and cities almost as interest- 
 ing as old Spain, and holding scenery far 
 superior to any she can show. In fact, I 
 rank it second only to the Himalayas. As 
 regards the journey, if you do not suffer 
 with sea-sickness, I should advise an en- 
 trance at Vera Cruz, thereby saving many 
 miles of useless railway journey. You will 
 have enough, at very least ; but ii you 
 must come by rail, there are several new 
 lines in from Texas. From the City of 
 Mexico you should go seaward as far as 
 Orizaba, that ride being one of the grand- 
 est on the globe. When you finally start 
 northward, you will leave via El Paso, or 
 
1 66 The Kingdom of the 
 
 over Eagle Pass, as your destination will 
 decide. Mexico is chansfino:, it is true, but 
 it will be several generations before she 
 ceases to be of interest. I love personal 
 liberty too much ever to travel on a set 
 plan ; but for those who feel otherwise, 
 those parties of "Raymond" offer a rea- 
 sonable and most comfortable method of 
 seeing Mexico. Traveling with their own 
 train complete, they move when and how 
 they please, and for ladies who must go 
 alone, or not at all, offer excellent oppor- 
 tunities for so doing. I have watched many 
 of them, and I know that the attention and 
 service is excellent. Not knowing any of 
 the managers of the said company — in fact, 
 never having even seen them — I am getting 
 nothing for this advertisement, and only 
 offer it for the benefit of those who wish 
 strange countries for to see, and yet hesi- 
 tate to go because they have none to go 
 
' ' White Woman . " 167 
 
 with them. I think, on trying it, they will 
 find that they receive the best of care, 
 f'-om the moment they enter on the tour 
 until it is over— all save the memories, 
 which can never be "over," which will be 
 a joy forever. 
 
1 68 TJie Kingdom of the 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 WE are having a picnic to-day — it 
 being the 22nd of February. In 
 one of the TivoH Gardens, outside the 
 city, all the Americans, English and so- 
 ciety people of the town have gathered. 
 At the banquet our minister makes all 
 the necessary and proper remarks about 
 the father of his country, and is answered 
 by a Spaniard in the language of old 
 Castile. We are assured this "answer" 
 is all that it should be, but it might be 
 the Book of Genesis or the ten com- 
 mandments for all we know or care. Be- 
 ing short of champagne glasses, I am 
 drinking out of the gourd of a " Grana- 
 dilla," and am not sorry, as it holds much 
 
"■White Womanr 169 
 
 more. However, soon the entrancing music 
 of the Danza brings all to their feet, and 
 we glide through the mazes of that most 
 fascinating dance. As its strains die away 
 we turn from one more day of pleasure 
 in this city of the south, and it is our 
 last, for to-morrow the train will bear us 
 northward, toward enlightenment and pro- 
 gress, toward the rush and roar and un- 
 rest of our own dear land. Dear ? Yes, 
 most certainly, for we would not live else- 
 where, would not hold allegiance to any 
 other banner than our starry one ; but I 
 must acknowledge that the happiest, the 
 most complete days, months and years of 
 my life have been passed in foreign lands. 
 You say that ours will "possess all that 
 the rest of the world does in a thousand 
 years." Perhaps so; but we will not be 
 here to enjoy it, and I doubt whether 
 the view from the battlements of Heaven 
 
1 70 The Kmgdom of the 
 
 will be either interesting or profitable, so 
 I maintain that from a traveler's stand- 
 point, after having once seen our country, 
 there is little to tempt one to cover its 
 vast reaches again. Other lands possess 
 as grand and grander scenery, while the 
 voyager has within easy reach all the in- 
 exhaustible resources of art and music, of 
 history and antiquity. He need never 
 waste a moment of his time, nor wear 
 •his life out in weary, hot journeys. Those 
 who have suffered in the crossing of our 
 continent iii summer will fully understand 
 what I mean. 
 
 There is one of these railway journeys 
 before us now. It will take us three 
 nights and two days to reach El Paso, 
 though but 1 100 miles away. However, 
 one is never in a hurry in the south. 
 
' ' White Woman . " 171 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 THE eating houses on the Mexican Cen- 
 tral are at this time (1889) something 
 fearful. So we lay in a stock of provisions 
 to last until the Rio Grande is passed. The 
 train for the north is crowded, and our car 
 contains the interesting and uninteresting 
 lot usually to he found in traveling. In the 
 drawing-room an English party has settled 
 Itself — two or three bright-faced girls and 
 an elderly man, evidently the father ; his 
 only objection to the journey being the de- 
 privation of his "morning tub." They are 
 pleasant people, and one enjoys talking to 
 them. En route to India, they look forward 
 with great anticipations to California, the 
 Yosemite, etc. One can easily see that 
 
172 The Kingdom of the 
 
 the combined wonders of the world, nat- 
 ural and otherwise, would scarce fulfill 
 these anticipations. The center of the car 
 is occupied by a minister, his wife, and 
 four of the worst children it has ever 
 been my misfortune to meet with. The 
 wife, a pale, little, worn-out women, ex- 
 pends all her energies in keeping them from 
 "torturing father," who sits alone in his sec- 
 tion, deeply engaged in the composition of 
 sermons which shall astonish the world and 
 hand his name down to posterity ; that said 
 world does not already worship at his shrine 
 is evidently the " fault of its own blindness," 
 Thin to cadaverousness, dressed in orthodox 
 black, his sunken eyes expressing all that 
 intense egotism so common to his order — all 
 the utter intoleration of those who dare to 
 differ with him — writing, writing, and mut- 
 tering to himself, while ever and anon his 
 claw-like hands wave in oresticulation as he 
 
"■White Woman. '' 173 
 
 addresses some vast, imaginary audience. 
 Utterly absorbed in self, he never turns 
 thought or glance toward the assistance of 
 his poor worn-out wife, though she appears 
 almost ready to faint in her battle with their 
 children. She never raises her voice in 
 remonstrance, for "Have ye not heard the 
 words of Paul, ' Oh let the women keep si- 
 lence, all.' " And silent she will be until 
 the greater silence comes down upon her — 
 until the greater rest with its "peace, be 
 still" spreads its mantle of quiet over weary 
 heart and brain. There are heroines whose 
 names are never written save on God's roll 
 of honor. There are also men who would 
 still burn witches with delight if they dared 
 to do so. 
 
1 74 The Kingdom of the 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 EN ROUTE. 
 
 WE do not leave the train at Quere- 
 taro. There is nothing of interest 
 there save the hill upon which Maximilian 
 was murdered, and that we see from the 
 train. At Aguas Calientes the people are 
 bathing in thousands in the naturally warm 
 water as it flows through the ditches. It is 
 the first time I have seen them show the 
 slightest disposition to approach water of 
 any sort. How wretched and degraded 
 they appear as they squat in long rows on 
 the banks or paddle around in the stream, 
 and how do they ever manage to get back 
 into those heaps of vermin-ladened rags 
 that lie around ? They seem to be able to 
 
' ' White Woman . " 175 
 
 live on nothing. If happy enough to pos- 
 sess a deformed child, who can be made to 
 beg, the entire family, retiring from work, 
 lives on the alms it receives, which must be 
 little enough, even now with every train 
 bringing hundreds of tourists into the land. 
 To give to all these beggars would impover- 
 ish a Rothschild. A group near, four most 
 wretched, evil-looking beings, is composed 
 of a perfectly healthy and most villainous- 
 looking man, a woman, and a grown son, 
 quite their equal in degradation, while the 
 bread winner is a wretchedly deformed little 
 girl, who stands with outstretched palms 
 before them. She seems to be blind, 
 though her splendid eyes are marred in 
 no way, and she also possesses every other 
 ill that flesh is heir to. One can not help 
 giving her something, though it is evident 
 she will profit nothing while surrounded by 
 such harpies. In all the thousand miles 
 
1 76 The Kin^do7u of tJic 
 
 between the capital and the Rio Grande, the 
 way is almost lined with such sights. There 
 are millions of these wretches, so I would beg 
 of those who favor our annexation of Mexico 
 to come down and see for themselves before 
 this step is taken ; then perhaps they may 
 pause and ask, "What will we do with 
 these?" The land is so incrusted with 
 poverty, vice, and wretchedness, that a hun- 
 dred Niagaras must be turned over it before 
 any sane man would care to annex such an 
 ulcer. The same holds true of Cuba. A 
 grand climate, a rich and beautiful island, 
 a vile people, possessing all the degradation 
 and disease that man has ever heard of. 
 
White Woman." 177 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 ZACATECAS. 
 
 THIS is the highest point in Mexico ; 
 over 8,000 feet. We feel this altitude 
 and the desire to get away is almost 
 unbearable. Nor is it lessened by the 
 kindly advice of a native who sits at 
 breakfast with us. The hotel is an aban- 
 doned monastery, dark and cold. Cold— 
 so penetrating that it seems to chill ones 
 life blood — creeps down the spine with 
 the hand of death. The sun pours bril- 
 liantly down and over all ; but it is a 
 cruel kind of light that holds neither life 
 nor warmth. Seated at breakfast in the 
 semi-gloom of the old refectory we are 
 entertained by said native, who enlarges 
 
1/8 TJie Ki7igdom of the 
 
 with apparent glee upon the ''generally 
 fatal effects of the climate here upon 
 foreigners." He tells us that we may 
 feel apparently well and yet be on the 
 verge of a collapse — that it always strikes 
 suddenly and in the shape of a chill down 
 the spine. (We have each and all had 
 chills down the spine ever since we en- 
 tered the town.) We look at one another 
 with silent requests to "break it gently 
 to those at home and not to bother about 
 taking the body back." Two of us rush 
 off in wild agony, and after seizing a 
 donkey and mounting into the panniers, 
 which hang on either side of his shaggy 
 body, insist upon a visit to the church 
 whose cross gleams high above us. The 
 only one left behind appears on a bal- 
 cony over our heads, and suggests that if 
 the present altitude has scared us into 
 fits that of the church will surely finish 
 
' ' White Woman . " 179 
 
 matters — all of which has no effect, and 
 we start off. The lady of the ride is 
 somewhat heavy while I am light, so the 
 donkey is now and then disconcerted by 
 finding one pannier between his legs while 
 the other has mounted his back. My 
 view is from the latter point superb, while 
 her power of locomotion in the former 
 position materially assists the donkey in 
 the ascent. I think the beast selects 
 every rock of any size and insists upon 
 crossing it with the intention, I fancy, 
 of scraping off his "steerage passenger." 
 He does not mind me in the least, and 
 in fact, I fancy, thinks me, as has 
 often been the case, somewhat ornamental. 
 Ever and anon he pauses over some im- 
 mense chasm and wildly shakes himself. 
 At such moments I can see a pair of 
 " walking shoes " describing geometries, 
 angles and circles beneath me, but the 
 
i8o The Kmgdom of the 
 
 owner thereof, being- of a pugnacious dis- 
 position, holds on tightly, and in such form 
 we are finally deposited before the shrine 
 of the Virgin. I doubt if that saintly per- 
 sonage ever had pilgrims arrive in like 
 fashion before. 
 
 The view is grand but very barren. 
 Vast stretches of arid plains with encir- 
 cling chains of purple mountains ; little 
 or no vegetation of any sort — all seems 
 lurid and desolate. So we hasten down- 
 ward, deserting the donkey for the more 
 comfortable, if not surer, method of walk- 
 ing — constant practice enabling him to get 
 his four leo-s down the rocks better and 
 faster than we can our four. In order, 
 therefore, not to undergo the ignominy of 
 walking into town, I secure the beast, upon 
 which we finally mount again, not as be- 
 fore in the panniers, but far back — near his 
 
* ' White Woman . " 1 8 1 
 
 tail — to which, I am ashamed to say, we 
 do not hesitate, when necessity requires, 
 to chng wildly. As we pass down- 
 ward we come suddenly upon a drove of 
 wretched, dirty men, scarcely clad at all, 
 and driven along like swine. They are 
 prisoners returning from their day's work. 
 There can certainly be no after punish- 
 ment for wretches like these. Hell itself 
 can show no more ghastly-looking faces than 
 theirs as they stumble along. Their bare 
 shoulders receive blow after blow from the 
 keepers, who would not treat their beasts 
 as they treat these men, " made in the 
 image of the Creator." Nearing the 
 prison each and all are searched as they 
 pass within, in order to see that they have 
 stolen none of the precious metal over 
 which they have labored like dogs. What 
 could they do with it ? It would be 
 seized at once and all they would get 
 
1 82 The Kmgdom of the 
 
 would be added blows. A man had much 
 better be dead than cast into a Mexican 
 prison. He rarely comes out alive, and 
 an order of transportation from one prison 
 to another means " death on the way." 
 The cruelties in these places are only 
 equaled in Turkey or Persia. 
 
 It is hard to feel that you are abso- 
 lutely helpless to offer any aid or comfort 
 to so much misery ; but even as we look 
 the keeper turns on us with a snarl like 
 a wolf, and I doubt not we would scarcely 
 fancy what is said could we understand it. 
 
 Our dreams at night are cursed by 
 visions of all this wretchedness, inter- 
 mingled with sudden attacks on our own 
 health by ghastly, skeleton -like figures, 
 named fever and chills. So it is with 
 no regret that we start for the station 
 
' ' Wh ite Woman . " 183 
 
 the following morning. As we do not 
 stop at Chihuahua, this is our last point 
 in Old Mexico. We do not get off with- 
 out one more example of man's cruelty — 
 not to fellowmen this time, but to dumb 
 beasts. The great silver mines of the 
 Rothschilds are here, and when the ore 
 is ofotten out and well covered with chemi- 
 cals they turn old broken down animals 
 thereon to tramp out the metal. The 
 chemicals in the end eat away their hoofs 
 and the poor beasts are turned into the 
 desert to starve. 
 
 As you travel from end to end of this 
 land so richly endowed by the hand of 
 a bounteous nature or a great Creator, 
 you are constantly struck with its inex- 
 haustible resources, and dream often of 
 what its future under an honest rule and 
 different religion might be. The moment 
 
184 TJic Kingdom of the 
 
 we leave the Terra Calientes, which, so 
 far as I can judge, produce magnificent 
 crops of yellow fever on their barren 
 sands — that and nothing but that — and 
 enter the provinces of Cordova and Ori- 
 zaba — we have around us vast sugar 
 and coffee plantations, equal, if not su- 
 perior, to those of Cuba, and a climate 
 unsurpassed in all the world. Here alone 
 an immense population could be supported 
 where is now but sparse settlements. The 
 water powers are fine, the fruits are de- 
 licious, the flowers beautiful. The air at 
 Orizaba is like wine, and one could almost 
 desire to live on there forever. Passinor 
 upward to the great tableland you may 
 travel for fifteen hundred miles to the 
 northward and a thousand miles to the 
 southward and be at all times within 
 sight of mountains, beautiful to look upon, 
 and rich with untold and inexhastible 
 
' ' White Woman . " 185 
 
 wealth — filling the soul of the painter 
 
 with deep satisfaction that they are so 
 
 beautiful and with envy that his brush 
 
 can do that beauty no justice ; while 
 
 to him who searches for the treasures 
 
 of these hills dreams equal to i\laddin's 
 
 may be fulfilled. There are enough of 
 
 riches here to run the world, and there 
 
 is misery and poverty enough around one 
 
 to damn those who are the cause thereof 
 
 forever. The government of Mexico is 
 
 struggling hard and with much success 
 
 to counteract the effect of three hundred 
 
 years of misrule, by a power that has 
 
 not yet thrown up the game. That the 
 
 victory must in the end perch on the 
 
 banners of freedom, progress and justice 
 
 none can doubt — this being the 19th and 
 
 not the 1 6th century. All along the route 
 
 to the north from the capital, hordes of 
 
 miners throng each station, and a more 
 
1 86 The Kmgdom of the 
 
 terrible lookinsf lot it would be hard to 
 find — clothed in tattered and filthy sack- 
 ing, flesh scarred, seamed and calloused 
 with eternal exposure to violent changes 
 of temperature, faces sodden by a life- 
 time of hunofer, hard work and wretched- 
 ness. They look more animal than human, 
 and their lack-luster eyes gaze upon the 
 traveler from another land with absolutely 
 no expression ; nor can he bring a gleam of 
 lipfht into their faces unless he shows a little 
 money. Then the swift, lurking, stealthy 
 side orlance of these half savages convinces 
 him that it is well the sun shines and 
 he is not alone with them. Aside from 
 that glance they pay no attention to one 
 who is so far apart from their lives that 
 he can have absolutely nothing in com- 
 mon with them. If they could rob him 
 — well and good. They would thank the 
 blessed Virgin for the privilege. As they 
 
''IVhite Woman.'''' 187 
 
 can not, he may go his way. I doubt 
 if they could be convinced that their 
 condition could be bettered. Look at that 
 lot yonder — thirty or more — ^just in from 
 some mine in the distant mountains, fifty 
 miles away. Are they human ? All down 
 in' the dirt of the road together, like so 
 many swine, most of them asleep. They 
 will be driven back shortly, only to come 
 again with ore for those who already 
 have millions. How different from the 
 hardy, healthy faces we meet with amongst 
 our mining population, where clear eyes and 
 cheerful voices greet us so pleasantly. And 
 yet we as a nation are, in the estimation of 
 these poor wretches, " heretics, and there- 
 fore damned;" whilst they have lived for 
 centuries under the benio^n and enlio-hten- 
 ing influences of " Holy Church ! " If I 
 have spoken too strongly about that same 
 " Holy Church," it is for the very reason 
 
1 88 The Kingdom of ^ the 
 
 that I know how grand she can be and 
 could have been ; so I find less excuse for 
 her, in that by her intoleration of all other 
 sects, and by her inquisition, she has kept 
 poor Mexico and many other lands and peo- 
 ples so long in the blackness of midnight ! 
 

White Woman r 189 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 ONE bright, sunny day in old Spain, 
 I passed in rambling with my guide, 
 one Leonard by name — if you go to Ma- 
 drid, ask for him — over the ancient city 
 of Avila ; it stands on the barren plains 
 of the province of that name to the north 
 of the capital, and is a perfect specimen 
 of a feudal city. Great walls, broken in 
 many places by high towers, encircle the 
 narrow, shady streets, where I paused, ever 
 and anon, to gaze up at some richly 
 carved portal — telling of the grandeur, now 
 long since passed away — or stood in the 
 shadow of some doorway as a procession, 
 in the still unforgotten glory of the middle 
 ages, wound its way from the great 
 
I go The Kifigdom of the 
 
 cathedral to some church or shrine be- 
 yond the walls. There were crosses of 
 gold held high in air, which caught the 
 gleam of the sun and flashed bright spots 
 of liorht over the dark walls of the old 
 palaces. Black-robed priests and white- 
 robed acolytes, bearing painted banners 
 and shaking out clouds of incense, fol- 
 lowed reverently the holy symbols. At 
 the head of all walked one holdingr hieh 
 aloft the "blessed sacrament." Then I 
 knew that some soul was passing to its 
 maker — that the priests of the " Holy 
 Church " were on their way to administer 
 her last rites. As they moved along the 
 people knelt in reverence, and the noise 
 and bustle of the old town sank into 
 silence. Following in their wake I passed 
 under one of the great gates, its loop- 
 holes frowning, its portcullis still in place, 
 out onto the desolate plains beyond, which 
 
' ' White Woman ." 191 
 
 stretched away in all directions, barren 
 and treeless, with nothing to break their 
 dead level save long lines of stone walls, 
 flat-roofed villages or ruined towers. The 
 "procession of the dying" turned to the 
 right, but my guide kept straight onward 
 down the dusty highway, until finally in 
 the shaded court of an old monastery I 
 found myself gazing upon an unpreten- 
 tious tomb, while at the name inscribed 
 thereon, " Torquemada," I started as 
 though a cobra had suddenly reared its 
 head. Here then rested — if his body can 
 ever rest — he who has cursed so many 
 millions and been the direct cause of the 
 downfall of so many nations ; for, just so 
 certainly as they, listening to his teach- 
 ings, followed them, their day of glory and 
 progress passed away. Look at Spain in 
 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella had at last 
 conquered the Moors, and soon the land 
 
192 The Kiiiodoni of the 
 
 would have, been rid of the Infidels. All 
 the future was golden with glorious prom- 
 ise, when into the royal tent at Grenada 
 crept the black-robed figure of a monk 
 — and from that hour the glory of Spain 
 steadily but surely declined. Look at the 
 panorama of decay as it slowly unrolls 
 itself athwart the pages of the centuries. 
 See the greatness and the glitter of the 
 armies of the nation as they pass under 
 the "Puerto del Sol" and enter the court 
 of the myrtles ; how triumphant and full 
 of promise sounds the music of the many 
 trumpets. Long is the reign of Ferdi- 
 nand and Isabella, but even upon it the 
 smirches of decay appear. Then comes the 
 reign of crazy Joan and Philip the Handsome. 
 The realm is priest-ridden. Where in the 
 days of the Moors all the arts and sciences 
 prevailed, now is sloth and silence and 
 decay, while the auto da fe blackens the 
 
''White Wo77iany 193 
 
 land with its cinders. Charles the Fifth 
 meets with defeat in the lowlands and 
 abdicates his crown from very weariness. 
 Then an evil face, thin and ghastly, with 
 narrow forehead and sinister eyes, sur- 
 mounting a crooked figure — clothed in 
 rusty black, comes stalking by, and you 
 know you are in the presence of the 
 terrible Philip. He has lost his German 
 Empire— Mary of England is dead, and the 
 Armada scattered. He has murdered his 
 innocent son and heir, Don Carlos, but 
 he has builded the Escorial to the memory 
 of Holy St. Lawrence, which act of piety 
 his priests assure him will surely save his 
 soul, if he will offer up the souls and 
 bodies of the countless heretics, which so 
 infest the land, and which even the terrors 
 of the Inquisition can not conquer. There 
 is a picture in Madrid which shows him so 
 
1 94 The Kingdom of tJie 
 
 engaged — it is a terrible thing. Now the 
 scene changes to those small, dark rooms 
 just off the high altar in the Escorial. 
 The great church glitters with gold and 
 precious stones. Over all, the light of 
 thousands of candles sheds its mellow 
 rays ; but nothing can bring light or hope 
 to the mind of the dying king. Here, 
 where he has "ruled the world with three 
 inches of paper," he is paying his debt to 
 nature and an outraged God, and here he 
 passes away, tortured with fear and doubt, 
 shuddering at his past, with no hope as 
 to his future, and all through the work 
 started by the monk, who sleeps so 
 quietly in the old convent at Avila. To- 
 day Spain is just starting onward once 
 more; for, as she suffered the most, so 
 she is the last to recover. So it was in 
 France, in Germany, in Italy, in Mexico. 
 In fact, wherever the Inquisition held 
 
' ' While WojJiaji . " 195 
 
 sway, and not until her yoke was broken 
 forever did the angel of peace and pro- 
 gress turn its face toward them. Look at 
 the difference in England and our own 
 land where the Inquisition never obtained 
 a footinof. The tortures in England were 
 fearful, but the Inquisition never obtained 
 a footing there. As I stood by Torque- 
 mada's grave that day, in Avila, I hor- 
 rified a Frenchman by the assertion that 
 this monk had influenced to a much 
 greater degree than Napoleon the history 
 and the peoples of the world. The latter 
 was a orreat general, but, like all whose 
 ambition is centered in and for themselves, 
 his work was not far reaching nor en- 
 during ; and I can not see that the world 
 is any better or worse for his having 
 lived. But Torquemada has stretched his 
 skeleton hands until their shadow has 
 covered most of the known world, and 
 
196 The Kingdom of the 
 
 lasted undiminished through centuries, 
 changing the fate of nations, ahnost al- 
 terinor the face of nature — cursingr ever 
 and always. And what, I wonder, was 
 his greeting when he came face to face 
 with Him whose message to saint and 
 sinner was "Peace be unto you?" 
 
White Wo7nan." ic^^j 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 ^^TILL, when you consider the vast 
 ^^ good done by the Church of Rome, 
 you are ready to forgive much in it that 
 is bad. No other denomination has sent 
 forth such hosts of missionaries, such ar- 
 mies of nurses for the sick and dying, 
 as that of Rome ; and the good that has 
 been done can not be estimated by the 
 gold of the earth. So where a govern- 
 ment, hke ours or that of England, forces 
 that church to confine herself to matters 
 spiritual, great good and nothing but 
 good is the result. It is only when she 
 is possessed of temporal power that such 
 abuses as have cursed Mexico have crept 
 in. Opposed by the government the In- 
 
198 The Kingdom of the 
 
 quisition itself could not have existed. 
 Even now when it has lone since sfiven 
 up the ghost, it has left a heritage of 
 ignorant priesthood to curse these people. 
 Mexico had more than a century the 
 start of the north, yet where is she to- 
 day in comparison ? And who has cowed 
 her people down, and kept them down, 
 save a priesthood, knowing that an en- 
 lightenment of the masses meant an end 
 to their power? Therefore they threw 
 the weight of that power against poor 
 Maximilian and Carlotta ranged on the 
 side of progress. If there were any signs 
 of such progress for the people in 1879, 
 I failed to see it. The upper classes 
 were rich and cultivated, but the middle 
 and lower were like the masses in Sicily, 
 but of a lower grade ; for not even in 
 that most degraded portion of Italy does 
 one see thousands on thousands clothed 
 
" White Wo77ta7ty 199 
 
 in nothing save wretched rags of coffee 
 sacking, while in some of the sugar 
 plantations they are not clothed at all. 
 Every vestige of thought and feeling 
 seems to have vanished long ago from 
 their faces, so that it is almost impos- 
 sible as one looks at them to imapfine 
 that they are human like ourselves. Is 
 it so, indeed? Are they men or animals? 
 Could they ever love any one or ever 
 long for the absent ? Can their besotted, 
 brutish faces ever show gleams of reason? 
 Are they one whit more enlightened or 
 advanced than the Aztecs? Those were 
 cannibals, these are murderers and thieves. 
 Our own land holds none such; yet we 
 are on the same continent. Who then is 
 to blame? 
 
200 TJie Kingdom of the 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 CHIHUAHUA is passed at sunset, 
 but with no desire on our part to 
 stop over. As the mornino- breaks, look- 
 ing from my window I see a great gulch 
 at the bottom of which flows a sluo-aish 
 stream, the Rio Grande, almost empty, 
 as this is the dry season. We are still 
 in Mexico, but across the gully with its 
 willows and its mud, a wild-looking figure 
 in leather clothing and broad-brimmed hat 
 dashes shoutingly along. It is a cow-boy. 
 That is our own dear land. The air seems 
 to grow clearer and purer with the knowl- 
 edge. We have reached the borders of 
 a promised land, where each and all are 
 as they make themselves. 
 
' ' J4'7i ite Woman . " 201 
 
 The very vegetation of the earth seems 
 changed. Gone are the cacti plants and 
 the ghstening magnoHas, while vast masses 
 of feathery chaparral spread away like an 
 ocean of delicate green, until their waves 
 break at the base of Sierra Blanca, glowing 
 pink in the morning light to the east- 
 ward. The distant air has that intensely 
 clear, quivering appearance that one al- 
 ways associates with the wide freedom of 
 our western plains, and seems full of life 
 and health, not ladened with sickness and 
 death, while the skies are of a brip-ht. 
 rain-washed cheerfulness. Over ihere, all 
 is life, all is progress. While here around 
 us, in this old town of Juarez, life and 
 hope have long since passed away. Down 
 her narrow, dusty streets you see the 
 slumbering forms of her people in many 
 doorways and corners. Will they ever 
 awaken, or will they not rather slumber 
 
202 TJie Kingdom of the 
 
 on and on until they gradually sink into 
 and become part of the very earth itself; 
 while above them, burying them deeper 
 and deeper as the ages pass, sweeps the 
 tide of a new life — the manners and cus- 
 toms of a new people? Then these will 
 be forgotten utterly, or faintly remem- 
 bered as some shadowy tradition of the 
 long ago. Then will the curse of super- 
 stition be removed forever from our fair 
 western continent. Then Mexico will be 
 ours, heart and soul. Now, you might 
 as well endeavor to mate the wild, free 
 broncho of our northern plains with some 
 skulking jackal of these yellow mountains, 
 as to form a union between our people 
 and these hordes to the southward. 
 
White Woman y 203 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 AS much as we have enjoyed the tour, 
 it is with a feeHng of intense rehef that 
 we leave the train at Juarez, and smihngly 
 submit to the cusiioms inspection. We 
 would certainly not have grumbled at any 
 tax placed upon us so long as it came 
 from an American. It is strange that a 
 narrow river can separate two such differ- 
 ent peoples, wide apart as the poles in 
 manners, with centuries between them as 
 to customs, yet within rifle shot of each 
 other. As we start across the stream, the 
 town of Juarez is spread out around us, 
 white, hot and silent. A few wretched 
 dogs, skulking wolf-like along, a poor 
 donkey, pulque ladened, whose owner 
 gives us our last touch of Spanish in a 
 
204 TJic Kinodom oj thr 
 
 cataract of oaths, as he showers blows 
 upon the patient Httle beast. We are 
 strongly tempted to get out, and, seizing 
 the latter, turn him loose on the other 
 side, where he can forever kick up his 
 heels and roll in freedom with no end 
 of " elbow room." 
 
 Yonder, into the gates of the prison 
 pass some wretched beings, who shrink 
 away as they near the brutal-looking 
 keeper, knowing that his word means 
 life or death to them ; though I doubt 
 not the latter would be preferred, were 
 it to come quickly, to the lingering tor- 
 tures of the former in a Mexican jail. 
 A priest in greasy-black soutane and 
 long, shovel-shaped hat, has just come 
 from that house of m.ourning and now^ 
 stands in close conversation with — surely 
 — yes — 
 
 " RUMPLESTILTSKIN," 
 
" White Woman y 205 
 
 a dwarf, saffron-colored, with evil eyes, 
 dressed in rusty-black velveteen embroid- 
 ered in much tawdry gilt and many beads. 
 From his belt protrude the handles of 
 three or four pistols and knives, while 
 on his head a sombrero, gorgeous with 
 cords and a feather and enormous in size, 
 tilts over his leering, hypocritical face. 
 With one last glance we pass onward, 
 receiving a parting salute from the sen- 
 tinel at the bridore as he murmurs "adios," 
 and, landine on the other side, have our 
 ears split asunder by a voice whose 
 equal I have never heard. It comes 
 from a mouth of gigantic proportions, 
 behind which roll in a black face, two 
 laughing eyes, "Grand Central Hotel! 
 Dis way for de omnibus ; plenty of time 
 for dinner. I don car whar you's going." 
 You have no notion unless you have 
 taken such a tour what a relief that •nicr- 
 
2o6 The Kingdom of the 
 
 ger was to us, for we had, without be- 
 ing fully conscious thereof, been upon a 
 constant strain of mind and body. I have 
 experienced the same feeling in Russia, 
 but never elsewhere. 
 
 Behind us all is asleep and has been 
 asleep these centuries, while El Paso is 
 a wide-awake, cow-boy town, with a boom 
 on, where one must move quickly or get 
 shot. 
 
 Having some hours to spare before 
 the trains separate our party, we spend 
 it in loafing around this western "city," 
 gazing in at saloon doors and barber 
 shops with as much interest as we did 
 into the cathedral of the capital, and eat- 
 ing with great relish the tough steak and 
 soda biscuits of the hotel, washed down 
 
''White Woman y 207 
 
 by the vilest coffee imaginable ; but every 
 thing pleased. 
 
 Here we part, after many weeks of 
 pure delight, all the ills forgotten, all the 
 joys remembered. Some go to the west- 
 ward, while I turn eastward toward the point 
 where Sierra Blanca seems to block the way. 
 As my train moves onward it approaches 
 the river. ''In the purple mists of even- 
 in Sf " I see across its willows and sluo-- 
 gish current low, square houses, on whose 
 flat roofs stand some figures with hands 
 shading their eyes from the sunlight as 
 they gaze intently westward, "toward 
 the region of the sunset — toward the land 
 of the hereafter" — watching, hoping and 
 praying for the 
 
 "Coming of MontezUxMA." 
 
017 505 346 3