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ADVENTURES 
 
 IN 
 
 MEXICO; 
 
 EXPERIENCED DURING A CAPTIVITY OF 
 SEVEN MONTHS. 
 
 BY c/dONNAVAN. 
 
 u r 
 
 
 TWELFTH EDITION. 
 
 WITH AN APPENDIX. 
 
 Ki 
 
 ^ BOSTON: ^t- 
 PUBLISHED BY GEORGE R. HOLBROOK & CO. 
 
 1848. 
 
.Ml 
 
 Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1847, 
 
 BY C. DONNAVAN, 
 
 In the Clerk'3 Office for the District Court of Ohio, 
 
 Press of G. C. RAND & CO., No. 3, ComhiU. 
 
TABLE OF COJNTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Departure jjpr Mexico. Arrival at Brazos. Description of Country. Naviga- 
 tion of the Rio Grande. Trip up the River. Reynosa. Camargo. Mier 
 and its Natural Advantages. Stock. Description of Country, Timber, and 
 Productions. Guerrero. Scenery. Curiosity of the Natives. Hospitality 
 of the Authorities. Springs. Dwelling Houses. Coal Mines. Silver Ore, 
 &c. A Crooked River. Geological Specimens. Departure for Matamoras . 
 —Page 13. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Return to Matamoras. Creole Fever. Treatment. Recovery. Barry and 
 Cunningham. Visit to Palo Alto. Burial of a Soldier. Impressions. Ar- 
 rival of Volunteers. Speculations. Gambling. Gen. Taylor's Orders. His 
 Personal Appearance. Anecdote of a Dutchman. Great Thirst for Glory. 
 Travelling on the Rio Grande. Mexican Women. Anecdote of Lieutenant 
 Deans. Costume of the Women. Rancheros. Their Appearance and 
 Dress. — Page 18. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A Hunting Excursion. Capture. Journey to Mier. Picking Pockets. Ap- 
 pearance and Character of Canalles. The First Night of Captivity. Novel 
 Interview with one of the Rancheros. Sentence of Death. Mexican Char- 
 acter. Interference in our behalf. Sentence Reversed. Our Fate Revealed. 
 —Page 25. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 March for Ceralvo. Diet. Pinto Indians. Insults. New Jewelry. Sympa- 
 thy Among the Dutch. Road to Carmillo. Scenery. Haciendaof San Mfl- 
 tero. Ancient Ruins. Slavery in Mexico. Arrival at Carmillo. Beauty 
 and Amusements. A Robber Pursuing an Indian. A Mountain Pass. Dealh- 
 among the Mustangs. Desolation of a Rancho. Arrival at Monclova. Fail- 
 ure to Sell Prisoners. Confinement in Prison. Appearance of the Pri'aem- 
 and Inmates. A Mier Prisoner. Reflections, &c. — Page 28. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Release from Prison at Monclova. Punishment of Criminals. Advance of 
 Gen. Wool's Army. Our Departure for Zacatecas. Mexican Expresses. 
 Parras. Novel Funeral Procession. Burial of a Muchacha. Lake of Farraa.. 
 
 5 
 
6 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Rio Grande de Parras. Diet. Mosquitos. Degradation of Females. Im- 
 plements of Husbandry. An Indian City. Indian Fortifications. Indian 
 Women. Captured by the Indians. Crossing a River. Attempt to Escape. 
 Drowning of a Ranchero. Towns and Cities. Fresnillo. Catholic Proces- 
 sion. Arrival at Zacatecas.— Page 39. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Zacatecas. Peace Party. American Citizens. Their Hospitality. Our Re- 
 lease. Contemplated Return. A Mexican Editor. — Page 50. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. *■ 
 
 Mexican Opinion of Yankees. Buildings at Zacatecaa. Customs. Merchants* 
 Shops. Business. Auction Sales. Petty Thieves and their Punishment. 
 Gambling. Lotteries. Sunday Entertainments. Churches. Cathedral and 
 its Ornaments. Praying for a Husband. Bull Fights. Death of a Picadore. 
 Cock Fighting. Extent of Silver Mines. Gold Dust. Natural Cave. Geo- 
 logical Specimens. Iron, Copper, and Coal Mines. Garden of Don Alonzo 
 Gomeres. Huaco Plant, its Appearance and Discovery. Manufactures in 
 the City. Politics. Jose Maria Latragua. Government. Cruelties of 
 Santa Anna. Barbarous Execution of a Young Female. — Page 52. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Impending Difficulties. Santa Anna at San Luis Potosi. Priests Heading 
 Guerilla Parties. Arrival of a Detachment from Santa Anna's Army. Re- 
 captured by the Mexicans. Arrest of Citizens of Zacatecas. March to San 
 Luis Potosi. Mexican Soldiers and their Manner of Enlisting. City and 
 Prison of San Luis Potosi. Execution. Mode of Inflicting Capital Punish- 
 ment. Invitation to join the Mexican Army. Our Indignant Refusal. De-r 
 parture for Acapulco. Estate of Jorol. Dolores. City and Churches of. 
 Guanajuato. — Page 64. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Arrival at Valladolid. Curiosity of the Citizens. A French Publisher. His 
 History. Another Sentence of Death. Negotiation for our Release. "Bar- 
 gain and Intrigue." Sold into Slavery. Mexican Character. Our Price. 
 Dr. Barry. A Mexican Printing Office. Spanish Printers. El Republicaoo. 
 Support and Character of M exican Newspapers. — Page 69. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 City of Valladolid. Climate and Productions. Volcano of Jorullo. New 
 Theory of the Gulf Stream. Christmas. Buildings in the City. Customs 
 of the Inhabitants. Matrimonial Intrigues. Music. Governor of Mechoa- 
 can, and his Plan of Warfare. Ignorance of a Mexican Editor in regard to 
 the United States. Corwin's Speech. News of the Battle of Buena Vista. 
 Great Rejoicing. Sentiments of the Masses. — Page 74. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. t 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Easter and its Amusements, Visit to the Cathedral. Description of the Edi- 
 fice. Our Employment. The Spanish Alphabet. Change in Discipline, 
 Improvement in Diet. Masticating Monkeys. The Ladies. Their Hospi- 
 tality and Accomplishments. Love and its Doings. — Page 79. 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 News of the Investment of Vera Cruz. Battle of Cerro Gordo. Character of 
 Cunningham. Influence of Love. Unfavorable Change in Treatment- Es- 
 cape from Valladolid. Passing the Gates. Departure for Queretaro. To- 
 matoes. ARancho. Hospitality of the Women. Baking Tortillas. As- 
 sumption of a New Character. Rio Grande de Santiago. Banyan Trees. 
 Mountain Scenery. An American Physician, his Character and Kindness. 
 Education of Lizards. City of Queretaro. A Mexican Diligence. Arrival 
 at the City of Mexico. — Page S3. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 City of Mexico. Public Grounds. Public Buildings. The Mint. Coining 
 Gold. Hotels Theatres. Newspaper Press of the City. Literature. So- 
 ciety. Manners and Customs. Dress. Suburbs. Cemetery. Population. 
 —Page 89. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Major Borland. Public Sentiment in the City. Departure for Puebla. Pass 
 at Rio Frio. Temple of the Sun. City of Puebla. Manufactories. Public 
 Buildings. Cathedral. Investment of the City. Gen. Worth. Disaffection 
 among the Soldiers. Assassinations. Perote. Army under Gen. Scott 
 Jalapa. Battle Ground of Cerro Gordo. National Road and Bridge. Col. 
 Sowers. Vera Cruz. Castle of Sun Juan. Passage Across the Gulf. Island 
 of Lobos. Arrival in the United States. Barry and Cunningham. — P. 97. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Mexico. Extent of Territory. Soil. Climate. Maguey Plant. Cochineal. 
 Vanilla. Cotton and Sugar. Potatoes. Chili. Timber. Water. Tobacco. 
 Commerce. Conquest. Revolution. Independence. Influence and Wealth 
 of the Priesthood. Santa Anna. Gen. Almonte. Gomez Farias. Gen. 
 Herrera. Senor Aleman. Education. The War. Manner of Conducting 
 it. Destiny. — Page 104. 
 
 Appendix, -------_-- 118 
 
 Description of the Panorama, - - - - 128 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 TO THE TWELFTH EDITION, 
 
 The author cannot forego the pleasure it affords him in expressing 
 his grateful acknowledgments to the public, for the partiality mani- 
 fested towards his unpretending production. To say that his highest 
 anticipations have been more than realized, would be but the tame 
 repetition of a stereotyped phrase — they have been completely sub- 
 merged in the current of popular favor. More than sixteen thou- 
 sand copies of the work, in the English language, have been dis- 
 posed of by his publishers, during the past year ; while its translation 
 into the German has been attended with comparatively flattering re- 
 gard. 
 
 The work was first stereotyped and issued at Cincinnati, in Sep- 
 tember, 1847, by Messrs. Robinson & Jones, who had the sole super- 
 intendence of its sale. The contract with those publishers having 
 expired, by limitation, at the close of the first year, the copy-right 
 now reverts exclusively to the author ; and the repeated applications 
 for it at his Exhibition Room, have induced the issue of the present 
 revised edition, including an Appendix descriptive of the Panorama, 
 which may, to some extent, be regarded as an illustration of his 
 " Adventures." 
 
 Boston, Oct. 15, 1848. 
 
 8 
 
ADVENTURES 
 
 IN MEXICO. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Departure for Mexico — Arrival at Brazos — Description of Countrj/ — JS/avi- 
 gation of the Rio Grande — Trip up the River — Reijnosa — Camnriro — Mier 
 and its natural advantages — Stock — Description of Country, Timber, and 
 Productions — Guerrero — Sceneri/ — Curiosity of the J^atives — Hospitality 
 of the Authorities — Springs — Dwelling Houses — Coal Mines — Silver Ore 
 
 • — A a-ooked River — Geological Specimens — Departure for Matamoras. 
 
 The excited state of feeling which followed the first authentic 
 intelligence announcing the existence of actual hostilities on the 
 Rio Grande, was only equalled by the promptitude and alacrity 
 which characterized the conduct of our people, in offering to the 
 country their services, and hastening to the scene of action. At the 
 period when the first requisition for troops was made (in the spring 
 of 1846) the author was engaged as clerk on the steamboat Ontario 
 — then in the Louisville and Nashville trade. The im:nediate de- 
 mand for vessels of small or light draft, by the government, to trans- 
 port troops and munitions of war, from the Brazos to Matamoras, 
 induced the proprietors to transfer her to the seat of war ; and 
 more as an indispensable appendage to the crew, than from any in- 
 herent belligerent disposition, he consented to continue the super- 
 vision of her finances, and accompany her to the enemy's domin- 
 ions. Leaving New Orleans on the 2lst of May, 1846, the 
 Ontario, with a portion of the Louisiana volunteers, was towed 
 across the Gulf by the brig Everett, and landed among the first 
 boats at the Brazos, on the 28lh of the same month. 
 
 Succeeding our arrival, numerous incidents continued to occur, 
 almost daily, many of which possessing some degree of interest and 
 coming under my observation, have already appeared in the public 
 prints, in the form of " Letters from an Occasional Correspondent." 
 
 A recapitulation of so m.uch of those letters as relates to the Rio 
 Grande and its resources, may hardly be deemed out of place here, 
 inasmuch as it will impart to the reader a more definite idea of that 
 2 13 
 
14 donnavan's adventuues 
 
 country than he has been able to attain, unless having visited it in 
 person. 
 
 Ahiiough the reading public has been recently overtaxed with al- 
 most every variety of statements, purporting to be authentic de- 
 scriptions of that interesting region, and accurate accounts of its 
 resources, yet few, if any, of the many adventurers, have suc- 
 ceeded in arriving at conclusions at all satisfactory to those who 
 are familiar with the country, as it exists under ordinary circum- 
 stances. The great variety of opinion entertained of the country, 
 is mainly the result of the variety of circumstance under which it 
 is visited. The tyranny of first impressions is difficult to eradi- 
 cate, and is ever liable to exert its influence over our better judg- 
 ments. It is, therefore, matter of litde surprise, that a large num- 
 ber of our volunteers, who, on their first arrival at Point Isabel and 
 Matamoras, under the most untoward circumstances, and encoun- 
 tering trials at which their ideas of domestic comfort revolted, 
 should arrive at original and diversified conclusions. Nor is it at 
 all strange that much of the dark and gloomy should be niingled 
 in the creations of those whose bright hopes of speedy conquest 
 have been supplanted by the more melancholy feeling incident to 
 disaopointment and disease. 
 
 The principal objection to the country of the Rio Grande, and 
 indeed, the larger portion of the Mexican provinces, arises from the 
 scarcity of timber and water. The ebony, musquite, rosewood, 
 and a variety of other short, stunted, and thorny growths, almost 
 insulated with vines of different species, and some of whose flow- 
 ers bloom perennially, constitute the only woodlands — if they de- 
 serve to be so denominated — in the vicinity of that river. Oc- 
 casionally the willo.v and white cypress are to be found approach- 
 ing the banks, but not in sufficient abundance to aflbrd fuel, at 
 (what in boating parlance we consider) a fair compensation. 
 The ebony and rosewood are the " tallest timber," but it is sel- 
 dom that either reaches an altitude of over forty feet. Both are 
 well adapted to the manufacture of light cabinet ware, and would 
 doubtless be appropriated by the " Yankees " to that purpose. 
 
 The rumor that extensive beds of coal abounded in the vicinity 
 of Guerrero, a town on the Rio Grande, about three hundred and 
 fifty miles from Matamoras was sufficient inducement to visit that 
 place, on a kind of exploring expedition. Although the practica- 
 bility of navigating the river, above the mouth of the San Juan, had 
 been doubted, yet it was easily accomplished ; indeed, it has since 
 been ascended to Laredo, a distance of some seven hundred 
 and thirty miles from the Brazos. Tiie chief obstructions to navi- 
 gation consist in the rapidity of the current, and the narrow passa- 
 ges between the reefs — the latter of which might be easily 
 removed, at a trifling expense. The most remarkable of these are 
 
IN MEKICO. 15 
 
 said to occur above the mouth of the R-io Salado — one of which 
 is represented to be more than a mile in length. They consist of 
 a spongy composition of coral rock, and bear a close resemblance 
 to some of the specimens found in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. 
 
 After having made three trips from the Brazos to Matamoras, the 
 Ontario left the latter place on the 14th of June (1846) and ascend- 
 ed to Guerrero, touching at the principal points between the two 
 cities, all of which are on the Mexican side. 
 
 Reynosa, some forty miles below Caaiargo, is an inconsiderable 
 place, but eligibly situated. It contains some fine brick buildings, 
 and a population of perhaps one thousand. 
 
 Camargo, on the bank of the river San Juan, a short distance 
 above its confluence with the Rio Grande, has, since the existence 
 of the war, become a place of some note, though previously it was 
 rather obscure and unimportant, save as a point pursued to Monte- 
 rey, the capital of the province of New Leon, and one of the prin- 
 cipal scenes of the triumph of our arms. 
 
 The town of Mier, known as the place where Col. Fisherand his 
 men were captured during the Texan war, contains over five thou- 
 sand inhabitants. It is located on the Rio Alcantro, three miles 
 above its confluence with the Rio Grande, and forty-five miles above 
 Camargo. Under a different form of government, and with an in- 
 dustrious and enterprising population, such as is generally found in 
 the towns of the United States, Mier would soon command exten- 
 sive manufactures, and a flourishing trade. Its water power, which 
 is now unemployed and unnoticed, would afford superior facilities 
 for the manufacture of woollen and cotton fabrics, the raw material 
 for either of which, may be produced in the immediate vicinity with 
 little labor. Indeed, its natural resources are almost unsurpassed, 
 but are destined to remain undeveloped, until American genius shall 
 have been directed to that quarter. So soon as the navigation of 
 the Rio Grande shall be opened to the commercial world, if that 
 period find its manufacturing facilities in their present state of na- 
 ture, the great variety of domestic manufactures of the United States 
 will find a ready and profitable market along the whole line of that 
 great thoroughfare. The inhabitants, at present, produce little else 
 than stock, which requires no food but inusquite grass and fodder; 
 with Indian corn sufficient to supply themselves with tortillas. 
 Single herds of cattle, numbering from five to ten thousand, and 
 double that number of sheep and goals, are not unfrequently to be 
 seen. 
 
 Ascending the river from Mier, a very material change for the bet- 
 ter is observable in the character of the country. On either side, 
 rich and extensive valleys stretch out to what is called the " table 
 lands," presenting a strong and deep soil, in some places judiciously 
 cultivated. Occasionally in the prairies, extensive cotton farms, 
 
16 donnavan's adventures 
 
 containing from ten to three hundred thousand acres, are to be seen. 
 Beans, potatoes, wheat, and corn are here grown in greater abun- 
 dance, perhaps, than in any other part of Mexico, a fact which taken 
 in consideration with its commercial and manufacturing advantages, 
 must ultimately render the valley of the Rio Grande, one of the 
 most important regions of the South. 
 
 Ninety-six miles above Mier, on the Rio Salado, is located the 
 flourishing city of Guerrero. This embryo city is approached by 
 ascending the Salado to its rapids, one mile and a half below the 
 town, and ten miles from its confluence with the Rio Grande. The 
 rapids and adjacent scenery present a peculiarly picturesque and 
 romantic view. The river here is small and the current exceedingly 
 rapid ; and as its dark turbid waters leap and tumble over the black, 
 dingy rocks, they seem endeavoring to imitate Niagara itself. Per- 
 haps the effect produced is equal, but the grandeur is incomparably 
 insignificant, when viewed in connection with that great and won- 
 derful water-fall of the world ! The scenery about Guerrero is 
 neither insipid uor monotonous. Gigantic hills rise abruptly from 
 the banks, which are covered with pine, magnolia, and various 
 growths of evergreen, yet there seems to be a contention between 
 the rocks and shrubs for the supremacy of the soil. Some leagues 
 from the town, and as the sources of the Salado are approached, 
 forest timber of large dimensions is said to abound. 
 
 The Ontario being the second boat to approach Guerrero, and the 
 largest ever seen by the natives, great curiosity was manifested, and 
 she was thronged by visiters. Their astonishment and interrogato- 
 ries relative to the boat and its machinery, afforded a fund of amuse- 
 ment to the officers. The Alcalde remarked in Spanish, which 
 when translated gave us to understand that, like " Capt. Scott's 
 coon, he was in favor of coming down." He said he had been~" 
 told that the Americans could send their letters by thunder and 
 lightning, but he never believed it — yet since he had seen, with his 
 own eyes, that they could twist iron into so many fantastic shapes, 
 and make it float against the current, he began to think they could 
 accomplish any thing they chose to undertake, and it was of no use 
 to fight against them. The Alcalde came on board soon after the 
 boat landed, stating that one of his rancheros had informed him 
 that the Americans were coming in a " sea-wagon " that split the 
 waves and rocks in two, forcing its own passage. It seemed as if 
 about half the inhabitants expected to be annihilated at once, so 
 alarming was the commotion, until they were assured by the Al- 
 calde that the boat, although breathing and snorting, did not pos- 
 sess animal life, and was perfectly docile. Whethej through fear 
 or atTection, great friendship was manifested by the authorities, and 
 the priests were highly delighted to find that the American Bible 
 so closely resembled their own. Fandangoes were gotten up in the 
 
IN MEXICO. 17 
 
 city, and invitations extended to many of our company. Of course 
 we attended, and were highly pleased with the beauty and enthu- 
 siasm of the women, but disgusted at the ignorance and incivilities 
 of the men. I must descril)e a fandango. When a large rancho 
 is not convenient, an area of a hundred yards is swept off, and in 
 the soft, silvery moonlight, young and old congregate around a dim 
 lamp. Agitated by the discordant notes from some rude instrument, 
 
 " Those dance and waltz who never waltzed before, 
 And those who always waltzed now waltz the more." 
 
 Guerrero contains a population of near 10,000, and is a popular 
 place of resort among the better classes, on account of its sulphur 
 springs. These springs are located above the city some twelve 
 miles, and are said to possess the same medicinal virtues as the cel- 
 ebrated Blue Lick springs, of Kentucky. The first settlement was 
 made at Guerrero, in the form of a missionary station, more than 
 one hundred years ago. It is the largest and decidedly the most 
 pleasant place on the Rio Grande. Owing, perhaps, to the materials 
 used for construction, together with the rude notions of architecture 
 entertained by the natives, most of the towns in Mexico present an 
 appearance of antiquity which does not in justice belong to many 
 of them. The style of building is rather tasteful in eflect, but mea- 
 gre and insignificant in detail. Most of the dwellings in Guerrero 
 have their gardens and yards ; and the entire place, in the absence 
 of every thing like gaudy display, presents an appearance of ease 
 and comfort, if not of wealth. 
 
 It was soon found that bituminous coal of excellent quality, could 
 be obtained here in abundance. There exists several varieties, 
 among which is one containing little or no sulphur, and which burns 
 readily as it falls into water. This is a superior article for the use 
 of blacksmiths, as was ascertained by actual experiment. Active 
 preparations were making by a company of Americans to work 
 these mines, which when opened, must become invaluable in a 
 country where timber is so scarce and expensive. 
 
 Silver ore is found in the vicinity, and gold dust is said to exist in 
 the alluvial deposits above the mouth of the Rio Salado. Red chalk, 
 red and yellow ochre, brimstone and nitre, likewise abound within 
 a circumference often miles of the town. 
 
 The Mississippi, which has long enjoyed the undisputed reputa- 
 tion of being the crookedest river on our continent, is hardly an 
 index to the Rio Grande. It must have required an accomplished 
 surveyor to ascertain the general course of the latter stream, flowing 
 as it does to every point of the compass, and torturing itself to find 
 some new direction. Boats frequently get fast in turning the bends, 
 and were it not for the velocity of the current, pilots would surely 
 2* 
 
18 donnavan's adventures 
 
 get lost in its mazy labyrinths. The " oldest inhabitants " contend 
 that birds seldom succeed in flying across — but almost invariably 
 light on the same side from whence they take their flight. In width 
 it varies from 100 to 300 yards. 'J'he complexion of its waters re- 
 sembles those of the Missouri, while the rapidity of its current is 
 even greater. In extent of volume it may perhaps compare with 
 the Cormecticut river at Hartford. It is navigable for steamboats of 
 light draught, during the freshet seasons, to Laredo, seven hundred 
 miles above the mouth. 
 
 To the scientific geologist, the upper Rio Grande could not fail 
 to present a field of peculiar interest. There exist many novel spe- 
 cimens, and the earth is rich in mineral treasures. A large portion 
 of the rock formation is of sand-stone, which is constantly increas- 
 ing. The intense heat of the sun, succeeding the heavy rains, soon 
 converts the alluvial deposits into rock. Islands frequently rise from 
 twenty to fifty feet above the surface of the water, composed of what 
 might be termed calcareous conglomerates. They appear to be col- 
 lections of large sea shells, with a great many fibrous petrifactions 
 of roots, bark, and grasses, and in some are found considerable 
 quantities of carbonate of iron. Many of the bluffs exhibit, near 
 their bases, strata of the finest quality of clay, adapted to the man- 
 ufacture of a superior article of delf. In short, this region affords 
 every natural resource to attract the attention of capitalists and spec- 
 ulators, while there is little to allure the hardy pioneer of the West, 
 who paves the path of civilization by hewing out his own home and 
 fortune in the forest. 
 
 After lying at Guerrero three days, and taking on board over fifty 
 tons of coal, the Ontario left on her return to Matamoras, on the 
 morning of June 22d, her departure apparently regretted by a large 
 numbt r of the inhabitants, of all ages, sexes, colors, and conditions, 
 who had assembled to witness her departure, and who continued to 
 wave their scarfs, handkerchiefs, blankets, and reboses, till the boat 
 had receded beyond their sight. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Return to Matamoras — Creole Fever— Treatment — Recovery — Bany and 
 Cunningham — Visit to Palo Mo — Burial of a Soldier — Impressions — 
 Arrival of Volunteers — Speculators — Gamhling — Gen. Taylor's Orders — 
 His personal Appearance — Anecdote of a Dutchman — Great thirst for Glory 
 — Travelling on the Rio Grande — Mexican Women — Anecdote of Lieuten- 
 ant Deans — Costume of the Women — Rancheros — their appearance and Dress. 
 
 Suffering from a severe and violent attack of '•' Creole fever," 
 which confined me to my room for four consecutive weeks, I 
 
IN MEXICO. 19 
 
 arrived at Matamoras on the 2r)th of June, (1846.) Leaving the 
 boat, I look lodgings at the "United States Hotel," of which Mr. 
 Howard, a warm-hearted and genilenianly Kenuickian, was pro- 
 prietor. Those who were so unfortunate as to be in Matamoras 
 at this period, knew well how to appreciate a kind or generous 
 action ; for it was with some difficulty, among the vast crowd 
 which then thronged the city, that those in perfect health could 
 procure the ordinary necessaries of life ; much less could an in- 
 valid, prostrated by disease, look for those attentions called for in 
 his suffering condition. 
 
 It was during this illness that I became acquainted with the two 
 gentlemen who were afterwards my unfortunate associates in cap- 
 tivity — Dr. Barry, of Mississippi, and Mr. Cunningham, of Louis- 
 ville, Kentucky. The assiduity which characterized their disin- 
 terested attentions, can never be forgotten, nor can I ever hope to 
 extinguish the obligations under which their repeated acts of kind- 
 ness placed me. Ceasing to cherish the memory of those who 
 could turn aside from their occupations of dealing death and de- 
 struction, to alleviate, with a gentler hand, the afflictions of an in- 
 valid stranger, I should, indeed be ungrateful. To their unre- 
 mitting attention and kind ministrations, I perhaps owe my recov- 
 ery from a disease which is there seldom eluded, during the pro- 
 cess of acclimation ; and in four weeks from the period of my 
 attack, was sufficiently restored to health and strength, as to be 
 able to accompany them on a visit to the battle fields of Palo Alto 
 and Reseca de la Palma. The excursion was one of deep and 
 mournful interest. It was on the occasion of the funeral of young 
 Danforth, a regular in the American Army, who had received his 
 death-wound at Palo Alio, and who, after lingering two nonihs, 
 died in the same hotel and in the same room I occupied. He had 
 been taken to the hospital, but could not endure the idea of dying 
 there, and was brought to the hotel on his own earnest and re- 
 peated solicitations. His last wish was to be buried on the battle 
 field. He had been but a private soldier — yet, in the absence 
 of the " pomp and circumstance " which usually attend the last 
 rites of those superior to him in station, the scene was a melan- 
 choly and impressive one. Pecuniary reverses and domestic mis- 
 fortune had driven him to join the regular service, about a year 
 before the present war. He was a native of Tennessee, and had 
 been quite a favorite with his regiment, as well as in the social 
 circle that he had once adorned. His comrades were all ready 
 to sound his praises — and although his private history was com- 
 paratively unknown, his intelligence and unassuming manners, 
 with his brave and manly bearing, had particularly attracted the 
 notice and warm regard of his officers. His last day upon the 
 earth was peculiarly appropriate to the closing scene, even of a 
 
20 donnavan's adventures 
 
 warrior's career. It was calm and clear, as the soul is, after the 
 storm and struggle of ambition have passed away. It was one of 
 those mellow, golden days, experienced alone under a tropical 
 sun, and the stars and stripes hung in motionless solemnity over 
 the subdued city of Matamoras. Soldiers were collected together 
 in small groups, whispering among themselves — and even the 
 sergeant, when uttering his orders, seemed to dispense with half 
 his authority. Soon the muffled roll of the drum was heard, and 
 silent and dejected, with their eyes fixed upon the ground, and 
 their arms reversed, the soldiers formed in procession. With 
 measured pace they approached the battle field. Arriving at the 
 grave, the black f)all, which covered a plain coffin, was removed, 
 and tlie remains of the deceased were silently lowered into the 
 earth, by his old associates. The troops encircling the grave, 
 the word of command was given, and the simultaneous discharge 
 of musketry announced that a soldier had been deposited in his 
 last, quiet resting place, beyond the din of batile and the strife 
 for gl >ry. But the roaring requiems from the arms of those who 
 had survived him were proof that he had died as a soldier ought 
 to die — full of honor — though not upon the battle field. 
 
 His old comrades retired, and as they walked mournfully away, 
 casting bnck a lingering look upon the newly heaped up mound, 
 T asked myself if these were the heroes who were carrying the 
 fame of the American arms to the remotest regions of the earth, 
 and unfurling the flag of the free over half a continent — if men 
 who could not witness, without the deepest emotion, the burial of 
 a comrade, could ever have rushed so impetuously to the charge I 
 Yet I knew that they had, and rejoiced to see that those who 
 could fight valiantly, could also feel sensitively, and weep bitterly. 
 But such have always been the character and sentiments of the 
 American soldier — such must ever remain distinguishing features 
 in the conduct of a people nurtured in the school of social refine- 
 ment and constitutional liberty. 
 
 Resuming my situation of clerk on the Ontario, in July, I had 
 the pleasure of meeting a number of old friends among the vol- 
 unteers from the States of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, 
 who were then arriving at Brazos Island. An almost innumerable 
 swarm of speculators followed in their train, across the Gulf, an- 
 ticipating a rich harvest, and a realization of speedy fortune. The 
 vulture-like avidity with which this class of people flocked around 
 our army, was alike discreditable to themselves and to the charac- 
 ter of our government. Disappointed in attaining their object, 
 they were often found to be the perpetrators of outrages upon the 
 persons and property of the enemy in cold blood ; and for which 
 acts of violence the volunteers were not unfrequently held respon 
 sible. Men were to be seen here from every known quarter of 
 
IN MEXICO. 21 
 
 the globe, without visible means of support, and no resource but 
 that of peculation and open robbery : in fact, the variety f)f " gen- 
 tlemen of leisure" vi'as complete, from the well-clad gambler to 
 the common vagabond, with his dilapidated habiliments, descant- 
 ing upon his "unfortunate" condition, and omitting no opportu- 
 nity to impress the belief that he "had been better raised." 
 Games of monte, " white or red," faro, and even " old sledge," 
 were extensively indulged in, while every other stratagem was put 
 in requisition to relieve the unsuspecting of their extra change. 
 It was not long, however, before Gen. Taylor issued peremptory 
 orders of ejectment to this class of adventurers. And old " Rough 
 and Ready " is the man to be obeyed. Plain yet prepossessing 
 in his manners, he combines the firmness and decision of Gen. 
 Jackson, with much of the iron nature of that old patriot-hero. 
 In his person, Gen. Taylor is rather above the middle stature, and 
 somewhat deficient in elegance of figure, yet in his regimentals 
 he possesses a striking and manly appearance. In his tent, where he 
 usually appears in his citizen's dress, a superficial observer might 
 regard him as no more than a common individual ; but upon close 
 examination, his head will be found large, and formed on the 
 finest model. His forehead is spacious and elevated — his nose 
 a most prominent feature, and decidedly aquiline. His eyes grey, 
 keen, and piercing — his mouth large, and chin well-proportioned. 
 He is remarkable for a deep depression between his nose and 
 forehead, and a contraction of his brow, which gives to the upper 
 part of his countenance an air of sternness, while the lower part 
 is an emblem of mildness and benevolence. 
 
 Among other ludicrous incidents which occurred on the day of 
 general dispersion, was one serving forcibly to illustrate the shrewd- 
 ness of Yankee character. A certain " Mynheer," of New Or- 
 leans, rather fresh from the other side of the water, had been re- 
 tailing "hard cider" quite extensively among the soldiers, at ten 
 cents a glass. The dimensions of his temporary domicil being 
 rather prescribed, he had arranged the barrel from which he drew 
 the refreshing beverage, so that one end extended beyond the 
 constitutional limits of his territory. On. the last day of grace, 
 notwithstanding his anxiety to sell out and close business, he 
 found his patronage alarmingly diminished. His old customers 
 came up to the bar as usual, to inquire the price of cider ; but 
 when he responded " ten cents a glass," they gravely informed 
 him that his next neighbor was selling " the same article " at lialf 
 a dime! Finally, the Dutchman, on walking round to the rear of 
 his tent, found that a Yankee soldier had lapped the other end of 
 the barrel, and actually sold out, at half price ! 
 
 About this period, the army was congregating at Camargo, pre- 
 paratory to marching against Monterey, where Gen. Arista had 
 
22 donnavan's adventures 
 
 concentrated a large force ; and the boat, on her upward trips, was 
 crowded with volunteers. Officers and privates who had escaped 
 the epidemic consequent upon acclimation, were all eager to " meet 
 the enemy." Many of the young (Captains, who had perhaps never 
 before unsheathed a sword, seemed particularly anxious to immor- 
 talize themselves. How they should " distinguish" themselves was 
 the all-engrossing subject of conversation, and with their backs 
 against a chair, their feet planted, in true American style, against the 
 railing, they would sit smoking their sigaretto, or masticating James 
 River, with no care to perple.x them but ihe vain hope of glory. 
 
 Travelling on the Rio Grande is unlike travelling on the Ohio. 
 Here, if a man's genius have a philosophical bend, he can give 
 himself up to consolatory contemplations. He can look out upon 
 the proud hills, and the well-cultivated valleys, as he passes swiftly 
 over the glittering waters, and enjoy the homes of his thriving 
 countrymen. He can read some favorite author, or chat with 
 some old gentleman on the follies and vanities of the world in 
 general — or he may while away the hours with an innocent flirta- 
 tion with some witch of a girl, to whom he has been introduced, 
 and wreathe the fairy footsteps of old Time with the flowers of 
 poesy and passion. It is not so easy to find amusement on the 
 dark and restless waters of the Rio Grande. There you must talk 
 of battles, of surprises, heroes, and forced marches ; and there is 
 little to relieve this belligerent monotony except the occasional ap- 
 pearance of the laundresses of some neighboring rancho or haci- 
 enda, rolhng up their gowns, and wading into the water with a 
 bundle of '• duds," on washing day. Tubs seldom stand on their 
 own bottoms in this part of Mexico, for such articles of domestic 
 convenience have scarcely penetrated that half-civilized region. 
 As a cons'^quence, their women perform this very necessary part- 
 of household labor, in the river, and from which novel custom 
 they seem to have imbibed a sort of amphibious nature. It is by 
 no means an uncommon occurrence, especially on the San Juan 
 and Sahido rivers, to see droves of joyous young girls disporting 
 like mermaids among the waves, with their long, black, dishevelled 
 locks, playing confusedly on the surface. Bathing seems to be a 
 passion among Mexican females, and it is one mark of their supe- 
 rior knowledge in the science of promoting the health and vigor 
 of the body. 
 
 Much has been recently said and written of the Mexican wo- 
 men, of whose personal appearance and peculiarities of character, 
 we have been comparatively ignorant. The writer may, therefore, 
 be permitted to hazard his own opinion among others, so far as the 
 extent of his obversation will warrant him in forming one. Those 
 about the Rio Grande can scarcely be regarded as a fair specimen 
 of the SOX in the interior ; yet even they, many of them in a half- 
 
IN MEXICO. 33 
 
 barbarous State, with all their faults, possess many redeeming quali- 
 ties. They are remarkable for their cleanliness, good behavior, 
 and hospitality: and they look upon drunkenness and like vces 
 with no degree of toleration. In the north-eastern provinces par- 
 ticularly, they are a mixed and mongrel race, generally the ilhcit 
 descendants of Mexican, Indian, and Spaniard, penciled occasion- 
 ally with a faint outline of Anglo-Saxon ancestry. Their almost 
 universally small feet and ankles are just cause for regarding the 
 understandings of our people with a degree of astonishment, and 
 I have often seen them in ecstacies of laughter, while ridiculing 
 the extensive feet of some of our volunteers. Asa general thing they 
 possess great symmetry of form, and their black, silken hair, pearly 
 teeth, and full, dark eyes, modestly beaming with the most intense, 
 and expressive emotion, are well-calculated to bring vividly to 
 mind Byron's picture of the "Dark-eyed Girl of Cadiz : " — 
 
 " The Spanish g^irl is no coquette, 
 
 Nor joys to see her lover tremble; 
 And if she love, or if she hate. 
 
 Alike she knows not to dissemble." 
 
 It was a bewitching beauty, of this description, that so suddenly 
 besieged the heart of Lieutenant Deans, and led him into double 
 captivity. Before the army had crossed to Matamoras, and while 
 occupying Fort Brown, it was custotnary for the American band 
 to perform some national air, evening and morning. On such an 
 occasion the " concert of sweet sounds," in the music of the Star 
 Spangled banner," attracted the attention of crowds of Mexicans 
 on the o[)posite shore, among whom appeared a number of ladies. 
 Our " native American." became suddenly enamored with one of 
 these, and after mutual signs and tokens were passed, he plunged 
 into the Mexican Hellespont, and landed in the enemy's domin- 
 ions. But in endeavoring to capture his heroine, he was himself 
 made a captive. It is creditable, however, to the Lieutenant's 
 constancy, that after the bombardment of Matamoras, and his 
 trial and acquittal for desertion, he married the object of his violent 
 passion. 
 
 The style of dress adopted by the ladies is by no means prepos- 
 sessing. Among the more common classes, it usually consists of 
 light slippers without stockings, a flannel petticoat, and a cheniise 
 that leaves a much larger share of the neck, shoulders, and that 
 entire neighborhood, bare, than our sense of modesty would dic- 
 tate. The rehoso, or bonnet, when worn, not only covers this 
 nakedness, but leaves one in doubt whether the head is a part of 
 the body, or the body a part of the head. 
 
 The females are transcendantly superior to the males, not only 
 in personal appearance, but in every essential requisite that con- 
 
24 donnavan's adventuhes 
 
 tributes to moral refinement. The great mass of the men are 
 ignorant, indolent, inefficient creatures, distinguished by but one 
 leading trait of character — that trait is treachery, and a studied 
 effort how they shall obtain a living without work. The rancheros, 
 or farmers, who compose the great body of the Mexican cavalry, 
 constitute about the best portion of their native population, so far 
 as energy of character and intelligence are concerned. They are 
 half Spanish and half Indian in their extraction ; gaunt, shrivelled, 
 though nmscular in their frames ; dark, swarthy visaged, and 
 below the ordinary stature. They live more than half their time 
 in the saddle, and are unrivalled horsemen. They are ever on the 
 alert, and seldom surprised. VV^hen not in pursuit of plunder, 
 they roam over the vast plains, and employ their time in lassoing 
 buffalo and wild horses, which are to be found there in countless 
 numbers. Killing these animals and preparing their hides for the 
 market, is their means of livelihood. Their costume generally 
 consists of a pair of tough raw-hide leggings, with sandals of the 
 same material, bound together with leathern thongs, over which is 
 a blanket, with a hole in the centre, large enough to allow the 
 head to be thrust out, and which falls rather gracefully over their 
 shoulders, leaving ample room for the play of their arms — the 
 head covered with a broad straw sombrero, and a lasso in his 
 girdle, ready for use. Such is the appearance of the ranchero, in 
 time of peace, or when engaged in his ordinary occupation. Add 
 to this a long lance with a sharp spear-head, ornamented with a 
 strip of red bunting, on a horse as savage and unmanageable as 
 himself, his belt amply supplied with pistols and knives, and you 
 see him as a member of a troop of banditti, or as a soldier in the 
 body of cavalry. Cowardly as they universally are in the^ 
 open field, yet in a conflict among the chapara! of their own 
 country, or in an ambuscade, they are indeed a formidable foe. 
 Their power of enduring fatigue is almost incredible, and a scanty 
 meal per diem, of jeiked beef and plantain, will suffice them for 
 months, under ordinary circumstances. Such was the personal 
 appearance and character of the men composing the guerrilla 
 band, into whose hands we had the misfortune to fall. 
 
IN MEXICO. 25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A Hunting Excursion — Capture — Journey to Mier — Pickiv^; Pockets — 
 Appearance and Character of Cnnales— The Jiirst night of our Captivity — JVovel 
 Interview with one of the Ranchvros — Sentence oj Death — Mexican Character 
 — Interference in our behalf — Sentence reversed'— Our fate revealed. 
 
 On the thirteenth of October (that most unlucky day of all 
 months,) preparatory to departing on her downward trip, the 
 Ontario entered the mouth of the San Juan river a short distance 
 below Camargo, " to wood." A number of passengers destined 
 for Matanioras and the Brazos, were already on board, among 
 whom, were Dr. Barry and Mr. Cunningham, alluded to in the 
 preceding chapter. While the boat was " lying to," those gentle- 
 men and myself, desiring a little recreation and amusement, went 
 ashore for the purpose of shooting deer, amardilloes, or any other 
 game which so abounds in the cliaparel about Camargo. We had 
 advanced perhaps a hundred yards in the thickets, when we saw 
 a herd of deer, slowly and lazily receding from us, as if conscious 
 they were alluring us into difficulty. Forgetting", for the moment, 
 that straggling panics of armed Mexicans were frequently seen 
 prowling about in that vicinity, robbing and murdering indiscrimi- 
 nately, we continued the chase and ventured above half a mile 
 from the boat, when a simultaneous discharge of pieces brought 
 down two fine stags. With that degree of enthusiasm which sel- 
 dom fails to attend the first conquest in the career of amateur 
 sportsmen, we eagerly rushed upon our fallen victims to apply the 
 knife. Exulting in our success, and engrossed in contemplating 
 the rich and sumptuous feast we should enjoy ; and having settled 
 the preliminaries, as to how the " saddles " should be servtd, the 
 reader may imagine our surprise at finding ourselves surrounded 
 by over thirty armed and savage looking Mexicans ! Our car- 
 niverous contemplations were quickly succeeded by a very different 
 sensation about the stomach. Prompted by the same feeling, our 
 first impulse was to ofiTer a desperate resistance, and sell our lives 
 as dearly as possible ; but on attempting to re-load our guns, the 
 banditti, with their glittering spears, rushed in upon us, and we 
 were immediately captured and disarmed. 
 
 In such a crisis, it is difficult either to describe or imagine one's 
 feelings. From the notoriously desperate character of those into 
 whose hands we had fallen, nothing better than an unceremonious 
 and cruel butchery could be reasonably anticipated. The situa- 
 tion of Herr Driesbach, in his cage of lions and tigers, would have 
 been an enviable one, compared to ours. But they gave us no 
 time for reflection or condolence, even had the time or occasioB 
 3 
 
DONNAVAN S ADVENTURES 
 
 provoked such a train of thought. Tying our hands behind us, 
 they lashed us upon the backs of their own mustangs, and thus 
 conveyed us some thirty miles, before sunset. Our eniire party 
 halted for the night in the woods, within a few miles of the town 
 of Mier, whither a deputation was immediately despatched to pur- 
 chase a supply of muscal. Adhering strictly to the motto, that 
 " to the victors belong the spoils," they now proceeded to search 
 our pockets, when to their evident mortification, they found on 
 our persons onlyi about ^10. Of this amount, together with 
 our pen-knives, pencils, watches, &,c., we were relieved, with that 
 peculiar nonchalance, so characteristic of the Spanish brigand. 
 Our fate was yet a mystery, and after binding us securely, hand 
 and foot, and separating us at a distance of about fifty feet from 
 each other, they commenced drinking muscal and playing at monte. 
 The night was made hideous by the howling of half starved wolves, 
 and the unceasing altercations and jangling of those who were 
 unlucky at cards. Sleep, under such circumstances, was an 
 " obsolete idea," and the morning, instead of bringing repose to 
 our sore and jellied flesh, found us involved in dire regrets, and 
 cogitating on tlie certain uncertainty of human events. Those 
 few of our captors who had been permitted to fall into a broken 
 and troubled slumber, were aroused with the sun, and the crowd 
 gathered menacingly around us. From their gestures, it was obvi- 
 ous they had been disappointed in not finding more booty, and 
 were grumbling over their ill luck. 
 
 A thought here struck me, which I doubt not was the means of 
 rescuing us all from a sadder fate. With a very indefinite idea 
 of the Spanish language, I endeavored to make them understand 
 that two of us were practical printers — an announcement which I 
 well knew would shield a man from robbery in the United States-^ 
 and supposed it might be a satisfactory apology, even there, for the 
 exhausted condition of our finances. They failed to interpret my 
 Spanish, when a young man, rejoicing in the sobriquet of Poco Lla- 
 ma (little flame.) accosted me in broken English, and demanded 
 an explanation. To him I made an appeal, in all the eloquence 
 such an occasion might inspire, and soon succeeded in eliciting 
 his interest in our behalf. But he possessed no authority, save that 
 which sprang from the respect and influence he had gained as an 
 interpreter. The most prominent figure — the moving spirit and 
 leader of the band, was Canalles — brother of the celebrated Mex- 
 ican General and guerrilla chief of that name — and the same who 
 was recently shot at Ceralvo. He was an old man, and sat on a 
 log, at some distance, leaning lazily forward, with his elbows on 
 his knees, while he extracted with his jack-knife, the rich marrow 
 from the thigh bones of one of the stags we had killed on thepre- 
 yious day — they having taken peaceable possession of the two 
 
IN MEXICO. 27 
 
 dead carcasses, and brought with them the veritable "saddles" of 
 venison which had excited such a yearning sympathy in our own 
 bosoms. This old reprobate was eager for gain ; he possessed a 
 keen and insatiable desire for plunder. Ostentatious of display, 
 he seemed desirous to impress us with some evidence of his supe- 
 riority over his comrades in crime. With an antique and dilapi- 
 dated sombrero Stuck jauntingly on one side of his grey, bri^stly 
 head — his leathery countenance expressing a Kind of reckless 
 good humor, shadowed out from his austerity, and which his pres- 
 ent discontent could not wholly banish — he sat venting his wrath 
 and disappointment through his old, toothless jaws, and sinful lips, 
 in a succession of oaths and imprecations, and in a reckless and dis- 
 dainful manner, that had long survived his youth. Assuming an 
 air of anger and ferocity, he drew around him the entire party, 
 whose exact number we had now ascertained to be thirty-three, 
 and announcing that we should all be dispatched at once, he or- 
 dered his men to perform the work of death ! Although this in- 
 telligence was not unexpected, we could not suppress the deep 
 drawn sigh which ever accompanies that stern and solemn verdict. 
 How rapidly one will glance over the reminiscences of past life, to 
 dwell upon the bright spots in his pilgrimage, when conscious that 
 his career is about to close forever ! Saints, in perfect health and 
 ser-iirily, may channt their choruses, reliiously asseverating that 
 " they would not live always," yet when they come to give up the 
 ghost, and find their last tracks on time's territory suddenly sliding 
 into the dark and unexplored regions of eternity, they are apt to 
 manifest a desire to renew their lease upon life — and to hope, 
 even in the darkest hour of despair. Such at least has been 
 our experience. Entertaining, as we all did, the utmost con- 
 tempt for our " chivalrous captors" — knowing that they, as well 
 as the whole Mexican army, were a people, who in point of treach- 
 ery, degradation, and cruelty, stood pre-eminent among all nations 
 under the canopy of heaven — yet we continued, even under their 
 sentence, to hope that through some unrevealed intervnteion, our 
 lives might be spared. The fact need not be concealed, that from 
 their meanest soldier to their best general, they are a nation of 
 liars and plunderers. There are a few honorable exceptions, it is 
 true, but more modest epithets will not serve truly to portray their 
 general character. — The gratification of their sensual desires 
 seems to be the sole object of life, and money is their god. The 
 eternal chink of change is their national music. It seems to burn 
 in their pockets, and they shake it to keep it cool. Boasting of 
 their freedom, they buy and sell their own free citizens ! There 
 is scarcely an officer in the army, from Santa Anna down to Gen. 
 Requina, who has not been publicly bought and sold. Every man 
 has his price, and such are their mercenary natures, that many of 
 
28 donnavan's adventures 
 
 them consent 1o sell their souls, and stalk about in the miserable 
 shell of mortality, moving libels on the human race, plundering and 
 murdering those whose more virtuous deeds they have not the moral 
 courage to imitate. 
 
 Our knowledge of this "ruling passion," considered in connec- 
 tion with the fact that our pockets had signally failed to meet their 
 anticipations of gain, gave us little to hope foi*, till Poco l^lama 
 conveyed to us the welcome intelligence, that through his "special 
 pleading," Canalles had reversed his former sentence. We at once 
 felt a weighty debt of gratitude to the interpreter, and began to 
 regard him as our deliverer ; when we found that his seeming disin- 
 terested interference had been prompted by the same love of gain 
 which is the propelling lever to every Mexican heart. He had pre- 
 vailed on Canalles to spare our lives, on condition that he himself 
 would sell us and divide the proceeds. We could enter no protest 
 against this novel proceeding, although in our former capacity of 
 political editor, we had been in the habit of preaching " give me 
 liberty or give me death," and subn)itted to our fate with apparent 
 good grace. Unarmed, and out-numbered as we were, ten to one, 
 sophistry was our only available resource — so feigning the highest 
 regard for the people and institutions, which at heart we abhorred, 
 we submitted to the humiliating spectacle of being placed " under 
 the hammer," and marched off to be employed in some unknown 
 Mexican printing office, upon a comparatively unknown language. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 March for Cernlvo — Diet — Pinto Indians — Insults — JVeiv Jewelry — Si/mpa- 
 thy anions; the Dutch — Road to Carmillo — Scenen/ — Hacienda of San Ma- 
 tero — Ancient Ruins — Slavery in Mexico — Arrival at Carmillo — Beauty 
 and Jlmusemevls — A Robber pursuing an Indian — A Mountain Pai>s — 
 Death among the Mustangs — Desolation of a Rancho — Arrival at Monclova — 
 Failure to sell I*risoners — Confinement in Prison — Appearance of the Prison 
 and Inmates — A Mier Prisoner — Reflections, ifc. 
 
 After an hour's consultation, in which each seemed entitled to 
 a hearing, twelve of the party, with Poco Llama at their head, 
 were deputed to guard us for the future. To convey us as speed- 
 ily as possible beyond the reach of the American forces, each was 
 again lashed upon a mustang, and we took up the line of march 
 for Ceralvo, a distance of thirty-six miles. Inured to a degree of 
 abstemiousness themselves, that would do credit to our " Graham- 
 ites," they had not furnished us with a particle of food during the 
 twenty-four hours of our captivity, and with a promise of provid- 
 
IN MEXICO. 29 
 
 ing breakfast for us at the first rancho, some three leagues distant, 
 we were galloped off at a rate which exercised our physical func- 
 tions in a manner eminently calculated to sharpen the appetite. 
 But sadly had we realized the melancholy fact that both rancho 
 and repast existed only in the imagination of our inhuman mast- 
 ers, long before we obtained a mouthful of refreshment. Over 
 hill and ravine, through plain and chaparel — the thorns of which 
 had completely riddled our clothes, and even introduced them- 
 selves, in the most abrupt manner, to the " inner man," — we were 
 dragged and driven, till the night brought us up to a miserable 
 meson (tavern) in the outskirts of Ceralvo. There we were 
 feasted on tough beef, boiled in pepper sauce, seasoned with gar- 
 lic, tortillas highly spiced, and milk which tasted like water thick- 
 ened with chalk. Uninviting as would have been a collation, con- 
 sisting of such arcotics, at any other time, the aristocracy of our 
 epicurianism had now so resolved itself into democratic vora- 
 city, as to completely dispel all thoughts of luxury ; and we 
 continued to gormandize until a number of Pintos gathered 
 around us, who, as if apprehensive that we were about to make a 
 "clean sweep," sat down on the floor beside us, to help them- 
 selves. The tragic manner in which they went to work, justified 
 the conclusion that they had starved as long as ourselves ; so we 
 quietly resigned the premises to our new adversaries. We after- 
 wards ascertained that these fellows had composed a part of the 
 Mexican army, and were engaged in the defence of Monterey, on 
 the 2lst of the preceding month. For the period of the aimistice 
 they had been discharged, to shift for themselves, and were wan- 
 dering through the towns, sponging a miserable sustenance. They 
 belonged to one of the numerous Indian tribes, and are called Pin- 
 tos from the fact that, after arriving at manhood, their faces, from 
 some cause or other, which I did not hear explained, become spot- 
 ted-^ — yellow and red, I presumed these variegated colors to be 
 the result of some mode of tattooing, though at the tin)e felt quite 
 indifferent as to their cause. They are utterly worthless as sol- 
 diers, for if fired upon once, they never stop for the second round. 
 For some time we were compelled to sit and endure the taunts and 
 insults of these barbarous bravadoes, who were soon joined by a 
 new recruit of swarthy, ill-visaged citizens, to rejoice at our condi- 
 tion. In this predicament, our ignorance of their language was 
 rather blissful, as we failed to translate their personal insinuations. 
 It was not until after we had made an earnest appeal to Poco Llama 
 that we were conducted to our lodgings for the night, where we 
 were locked up in a damp, dismal room, without a window, and 
 left to select the softest place on a brick floor, upon which to re- 
 cline our agitated frames — while the guard slept before the door, 
 
 stretched out upon filthy mats. At sunrise, next morning, we 
 3# 
 
30 donnavan's adventures 
 
 were aroused to a breakfast of boiled rice and chili ; or that which 
 might be more appropriately termed, pepper soup — to be swal- 
 lowed hasty enough for the appetite of an initiated ranchero. 
 
 Breakfast despatched, we were introduced to iron hand cuffs, 
 procured for us in Ceralvo. These were an article of jewelry Dr. 
 Barry peremptorily refused to wear, and it was not until they were 
 forced upon his wrists that he consented they should ornament his 
 person. The company being ready to start, a dispute arose be- 
 tween the landlord and our leader about the bill, when Poco 
 Llama, giving us to understand we were destined to Monclova, 
 told the landlord he had an unprofitable set of customers, and 
 pushed oil through the town, leaving the bill to " settle itself." 
 The next town of any importance on our route to Monclova, was 
 Marin ; but esteeming an approach to that place not entirely pru- 
 dent, in consequence of its proximity to the American army, then 
 at Monterey — twenty-six miles distant — we pursued a mountain 
 pass 136 miles, across to Cartnillo. Meandering along this narrow 
 path over thirty miles, we halted on the third night at a small 
 Dutch settlement, where the vrows gave us some excellent butter- 
 milk — the first article of the kind we had drank in the country, 
 that was not liberally christened with water. The "grub" at this 
 place was also quite palatable, and served by the women, whose 
 gestures seemed to express a lively interest in rendering us com- 
 fortable, with sad regrets for our misfortunes. They could " nix- 
 for-stay " the cause of our confinement in chains, until they ex- 
 torted a lie from Poco Llama, who told them we had been detected 
 and captured as spies. The doors had neither locks, bolts, nor bars 
 — and so observing the signs of sympathy manifested for us among 
 the Dutch, a guard was placed over us for the night. 
 
 Our route to Carmillo continued through a country sparsely pop- 
 ulated, yet rich in rugged and romantic scenery. Alternately de- 
 scending abruptly into, and rising from deep ravines, then passing 
 over immense plains, containing little vegetation, except prickly 
 pear, among a thin and dwarfish musquite orchaparel, we travelled 
 some thirty miles per day. Reaching the hacienda of San Ma- 
 tero on the 18th, we stopped for the night. This place presented 
 one of the most interesting and novel pictures we had yet encoun- 
 tered. The hacienda is situated twenty-six miles from Monclova, 
 on the bank of a small, clear mountain stream, called Agua Pensa- 
 tivo, (pure water,) atjd near the centre of a lovely basin, some 
 thirty miles in circumference. The spot bears every appearance 
 of having once been a populous city. Stone foundations are to 
 be seen, covering many acres. Innumerable columns and walls 
 rise up in every direction, composed of both limestone and sand- 
 stone. The columns are built in a variety of shapes, some round, 
 others square, and bear every imprint of the work of human 
 
IN MEXICO. 31 
 
 hands. In many of them, the particles are so closely cemented 
 as to leave scarcely a trace of their connection, while others are 
 crumbling and disjf)inted at their base, as if once innndated in 
 some mighty current that had swept all else away, leaving bare and 
 bleached these isolated monuments of its power. For miles in 
 the vicinity, the basin is covered with broken pottery of burnt clay, 
 fantastically painted and ornamented with a variety of inexplicable 
 designs, which, to some extent, serves to reveal the advancement 
 of a fallen race in the mechanic arts. 
 
 Whether these ruins have any connection with those of South 
 America, is not known. But be this as it may, at some future day, 
 when a civilized and enlightened peoi)le shall succeed the present 
 population, some geologist or antiquarian may reveal the secret of 
 their existence. The Indians pretend to preserve an imperfect 
 tradition of the remains, while tlie Mexicans believe them to be 
 the ruins of some ancient city of the Aztecs. 
 
 The hacienda of San Matero is a most magnificent and exten- 
 sive Stat, enclosing about ten miles square. The principal edi- 
 fice is a large, two story, stone building, in the usual style of that 
 country. In the cultivation and supervision of his ground, he em- 
 ploys over three thousand men, many of whom have wives and 
 children ; so that the population must amount to at least six thou- 
 sand, who reside in rude huts, scattered over the premises. Here, 
 as on the haciendas of Mexico generally, the laborers are slaves — 
 inconceivably more abject and servile in their condition than those 
 of the United States. By a law of that boasted rejnibUc (?) the 
 poorer classes are allowed the privilege of borrowing small amounts 
 of money from the wealthy, who, to secure the payment of the in- 
 considerable sums, take a mortgage on their persons. The con- 
 summation of the marriage contract, in many of the provinces, is 
 also an essential source of servitude. The fee of the priest on such 
 occasions amounts to from twenty to thirty dollars ; a sum quite 
 beyond the command of the great mass, unless they meet with the 
 good fortune to steal it. The priest will seldom refuse to " tie the 
 knot," however; and if the amount be no' paid, a mortgage is exe- 
 cuted upon the persons of those who voluntarily become indebted, 
 and they are slaves to all intents and purposes — liable to be trans- 
 ferred, indefinitely. It is true, the law does not openly recognize 
 unconditional slavery, yet it justifies the mortgagee, in such cases, 
 in charging those who are thus placed subject to his control, more 
 for their boarding and clothing than their wages amount to; so 
 that each succeeding year, instead of discharging any part of the 
 original obligation, the laborer but increases his indebtedness, and 
 is thus held in perpetual bondage. Their release depends upon 
 one single condition : if from disease, or accident, or through any 
 misfortune, they are rendered unable to perform labor, and thus 
 
07S DONNAVAN S ADVENTURES 
 
 become unprofitable subjects, they are at once set at liberty, and 
 generally denied even a shelter, where they have perhaps toiled 
 for years in servitude. To fathers is also delegated the privilege 
 of subjecting their daughters to the provisions of this law, and for 
 a trifling offence, handsome young women are often placed in ab- 
 ject slavery for the period of their natural lives, by their unnatural 
 sires. 
 
 The evening of the following day brought us to Carmillo, a 
 fairy-like village, whose beauties can scarcely be surpassed in all 
 the expansiveness of the wide world. It is such an Eden as our 
 young romantic dreams are apt to picture; where Flora is forever 
 building up her bowers — where willow groves and fruit trees or- 
 nament the green fields — where the orange blooms while the 
 golden fruit yet hangs upon its boughs. This village reposes at 
 the foot of a majestic hill, whose one brow frowns upon the sil- 
 very curenls of the Agua Pensativo, as they toss their white and 
 foamy waves against the rocks, and whose other casts a delightful 
 shade over the valley at noontide, as if to shield the pure and in- 
 nocent flowers from the envious sunbeams that would rob them 
 of their rainbow hues. We entered it through a beautiful grove 
 of palmetto trees, nearly a mile in length, stretched along the nar- 
 row valley of the small stream, where the Mexicans were ac- 
 tively engaged in horse-racing, as a kind of farce, after the more 
 tragic spectacle of their favorite amusement — a bull-fight, had 
 just been concluded. A more delightful spot could not have been 
 selected, and it was literally thronged with people of all ages, 
 classes, and sexes — Mexican women selling pulque, beer, milk, 
 fruit, cakes, candies, and other nicknacks — and every thing con- 
 spiring to remind one of a grand gala-day in the United States.- 
 With the exception of several groups of ferocious looking men, 
 enveloped in thick, heavy blankets, and who were the living pic- 
 tures of Mexican bravos, every body seemed just as happy, gay, 
 and contented as if their unfortunate country was not overrun by 
 the "hairy barbarians of the North — the degenerate sons of 
 Washington," as they politely term us. These men could not 
 restrain their feelings of exultatioti, and as we passed on through 
 Carmillo, ihey followed us, uttering their hideous yells of triumph 
 over our helpless situation. 
 
 Stopping at a miserable rancho near Carmillo overnight, in the 
 fore part of the next day we approached a Uiirrow mountain pass, 
 when suddenly the deep solitude was broken by an Indian, who 
 made the woods resound with the echo of shrieks from his stento- 
 rian lungs. He was pursued by a Mexican robber, who held his 
 musket poised for a shot. Hurriedly and unexpectedly they dashed 
 past us, from the woods upon a broad surface of rocks and sand 
 interspersed with stunted bushes, at a pace which that starved and 
 
IN MEXICO. 33 
 
 tangled chaparel will hardly ever live to again witness. The rob- 
 ber sometimes tripped and fell. The thorns and branches had 
 torn away fragments of his clothing, and bared his grey head, but 
 intent upon his victim, he cared for none of these things. All 
 around towered high hills, half clothed with shaggy forests, while 
 their precipitous crags and scars of avalanches gave them an ap- 
 pearance of savage desolation. These nills, in the province of 
 Coahuila, are the terminating ridge of that chain of the great Cor- 
 dillera, called the Sierra Madre, and are channeled with ravines, 
 often extending from top to bottom, presenting the appearance of 
 deep gashes cut in their sides. Many of them expand and grow shal- 
 low as they approach the base, where the torrent of earth and stone 
 spreads itself over the valley. Up such an ascent, the unarmed 
 Indian made his way, pursued by his furious antagonist. Our 
 party all paused to witness the struggle. A little stream, whose 
 waters at this season trickled down the narrow chasm spreading 
 over the rocks, afforded a precarious foothold ; but the frightened 
 savage groped his way, the sides of the ravine towering above his 
 head, and leaving only a strip of the blue sky visible between their 
 verging edges. A " fire in his rear" was suddenly heard, and 
 the mountains bellowed back the report ; but the Indian climbed 
 unhurt, gaining rapiplly on his pursuer. At length a smooth rock, 
 nparly perpf^nHicular. arrested for the moment, the progress of the 
 robber. He looked, and saw nothing of his prey. Ai the re- 
 newed activity of the savage, his anger and disappointment seemed 
 to generate new fury, and he pressed on. His sole desire seemed 
 to be that of overtaking and slaying the Indian. With every 
 physical faculty strained to its utmost tension, he worked his way 
 up the precipice, over the steep wet face of the rock ; but here 
 he was compelled to pause, and while his blood cooled, he became 
 conscious of his danger. Above him he could find no crevices 
 large enough in which lo thrust his finger, nor a projection that 
 his foot could rest against — beneath he saw the sharp angles of 
 the rocks protruding from the sides of the ravine, and below which 
 all lay in deep blackness, like a bottomless gulf. He tried to 
 descend, but his feet found nothing to support them, and while 
 dangling thus, over the awful chasm, his gun fell from his grasp, 
 dashing from side to side, and splintered into a thousand pieces. 
 The thought that he must perhaps soon fijllow, appeared to urge 
 him almost to desperation. The grey bristles upon his old head 
 began to take a perpendicular position, and perilous as was the 
 task, he ascended to the top. Hi.s success was almost miracu- 
 lous ; and his limbs, aching from the long continued strain of 
 every muscle — the ends of his fingers worn to the bone — the 
 flesh rubbed from his bare knees — and his heart throbbmg with 
 a violence unfelt while he was cliujbing, his energies relaxed, and 
 
34 donnavan's adventures 
 
 he sank down under the effort. In the heat of the exr-.itement, 
 our party had witnessed the scene, unobserved ; and when we came 
 up to the exhausted and prostrate robber, in an instant he bounded 
 upon his feet, and assumed a belligerent attitude, as if expecting to 
 meet the object of his pursuit. The stern rigor of his features 
 soon changed to suppliancy, and he immediately began to warn 
 our "brave captors" of the imminent danger of the pass, upon 
 whose very threshold we then stood. We had approached the 
 edge of the pass, and dismounted, preparatory to crossing, when 
 a fierce shriek called one of our party back to the robber. But 
 he had disappeared, and near the spot where we had left him, 
 stood the Indian peering down upon his adversary from behind a 
 stunted pine that projected over the gulf. He had turned upon 
 his pursuer, and hurled him headlong into eternity, over the 
 frightful cliff! 
 
 This pass is within seventeen miles of Monclova, and is re- 
 garded as the most perilous in the hills of Coahuila. Droves of 
 mules and mustangs are seldom taken over it without serious loss. 
 So narrow is the passage, that if an animal make a single mis-step, 
 he is precipitateii down a precipice some six hundred feet, and if 
 not dashed to pieces, is drowned in the water, unless rescued with 
 the lasso. Two of the rancheros were accordingly stationed 
 below, on the bank of the small, deep stream, with lassos, while 
 two remained behind to drive the mustangs. Amid their shouts 
 and a shower of stones, the animals commenced their perilous 
 journey, with their noses down to the ground, literally smelling 
 their way They walked carefully along, till the leader had nearly 
 crossed the most hazardous place, when he stumbled, and his 
 hind legs were precipitated over the precipice. With his fore 
 feet and nose he continued to hold on to the narrow path. Hts 
 successor came up, and, '' following in the footsteps of his prede- 
 cessor," was soon placed in the same perilous position. The 
 third mustang knocked the noses of those two off the path, and 
 losing his own gravity by the act, heels over head, they all rolled 
 down the steep slope together, and bounding in the air from a per- 
 pendicular off-set, they were plunged into the torrent below. We 
 thought, of course, they were all killed, but they presently rose 
 up from the surface, looking astonished at so unceremonious an 
 immersion, and commenced stemming the current. During this 
 time, all eyes were turned to the scene below, and the other mus- 
 tangs had slopped, evidently unwilling to proceed after witness- 
 ing the fate of the animals so suddenly launched into the " undis- 
 covered country." They were again started, however, and all 
 accomplished the pass without apparent difficulty. Only one of 
 the number that had taken a telegraphic jaunt down the precipice, 
 was rescued from the stream alive, and he was left on the ground 
 in a dying condition. 
 
IN MEXICO. 35 
 
 This was a sad misfortune to us, as the loss of three muslangs 
 left us without a conveyance. A ranchero is constituiionally 
 opposod to pedestrianism, and our ponies were at once taken to 
 supply the places of those that had been lost. The prospect of 
 being near the end of our journey was some consolation ; so we 
 set off, descending the mountain on foot. an)ong the sharp stones, 
 thorny shrubs, and wild maguey, which pierced us at almost every 
 step. We soon arived at a small, dingy looking rancho, where we 
 expected to procure refreshments, but were sadly disappointed. 
 The place was in a worse state of confusion than the people about 
 Babylon ever dreamed of; and we learned that a party of Cainan- 
 cha Indians, twenty or thirty in number, had pounced down upon 
 the unsuspecting denizens on the previous day, killing several of 
 the men — plundered the houses — and carried off', in triumph, 
 the women and children — leaving the survivors in a slate of sor- 
 row bordering on phrenzy. We could afford to feel but little 
 sympathy for them, as that article was nearly exhausted from home 
 consumption, and we knew that they only wanted the opportunity, 
 to be guilty of a similar outrage themselves. 
 
 Observing several mules about the premises, we suggested to 
 Poco Llama, that he should furnish us with the luxury of such a con- 
 veyancebut he disdainfully refused to do so, stating that we were 
 now quite beyond the reach of the " Americanos," and that a little 
 exercise might serve to remind us of our obligations to him for 
 having pertniited us to ride as far as we had, in the interior of 
 their republic. 
 
 Just as the last glimpses of departing sunlight were fading in the 
 far-off west, we entered the city of Monclova, the capital of the 
 province of Coahuila. We found our quarters here quite com- 
 fortable, and our fare consisted of delicacies to which we had long 
 been unused. We had now been over a week without a change 
 of clothes, and the consequence was, we were more ragged and 
 dirty, than the rancheros themselves. Worn down by the fatigues 
 we had encountered, we were ready for almost any change which 
 would place us beyond the control of our present masters. Mon- 
 clova was the first place where we were permitted to enjoy the 
 luxury of a decent bed, since our departure from Camargo, and 
 after a night of uninterrupted repose, we were aroused by our 
 " magnanimous leader," who had brought a purchaser to examine 
 us. Slave dealers in our own country, like other merchants, gen- 
 erally bestow some pains in showing off to the best advantage their 
 articles of traffic, preparatory to a sale ; but we experienced no 
 such evidences of refinement, and presented, by no means, an im- 
 posing appearance. The individual to whom we were offered for 
 sale was the printer of a small eight by ten sheet, called the 
 " Espanol " He surveyed us in a good humored manner, and 
 
«©• DONNAVAN S ADVENTURES. 
 
 confessed, — as we learned, that he should be really pleased to 
 have a tnortga^^e on us, but doubted his ability to raise the antiount 
 demanded. We never ascertained what that amount was ; and 
 with the underijtanding that he would make an effort to raise the 
 necessary funds, he departed, promising that in the event of his 
 success, he would return in tlie course of a few days, to renew the 
 negociation. After breakfast, we were somewhat surprised upon 
 learning we were to be conveyed to the common prison, to take 
 up our abode in the mean lime. Without the least ceremony, 
 we were at once marched off and confined in this common 
 receptacle for all sorts of criminals. The edifice stands in the 
 immediate vicinity of the city, within a large court yard, the 
 entrance to which is secured by several iron gates, which it had 
 not seemed necessary to close. The approach to the prison forms 
 a succession of horrors, the gradual increase of which prepare the 
 mind for those which are to ensue, and are a fit prologue to the 
 unrevealed miseries yet behind. The massive doors, with their 
 huge fastenings — the chains, of forms and sizes as various as the 
 crifnes whicli fill the heart of man, an*d hanging upon the walls, 
 as if ill mockery of the ornaments which usually adorn ordinary 
 dwellings ; the thick stone walls, through which the passages 
 seem rather to be cut than built, cast a chill upon the blood when 
 entering — and the heavy weight which fdls upon one's animal 
 spirits, serves more to check respiration, than even the damp floor 
 of the prison itself. This oppression is heightened, too, by the 
 scarcely human appearance of the keepers, who swarm about the 
 threshold ; and who, if their features expressed the feelings of 
 better men, a continued commerce with the most abandoned, and 
 their familiarity with crime, have changed them to stoicism, and 
 blighted every purer impulse. But painful as is the approach to 
 this scene of horror, eacli succeeding step becomes infinitely more 
 so. We were ushered into a long, whitewashed chamber, lighted 
 by small windows, secured by iron bars. At one end lay the mat- 
 trasses and bedding of the inmates, rolled up in as small a com- 
 pass as possible, and at the other a Itaden sink, furnished with 
 water for the use of the prisoners, but to which, from every appear- 
 ance, the premises had not been recently introduced, for the place 
 was filthy, almost to suffocation. At the same time so bare and deso- 
 late an appearance prevailed throughout the room, that if all other 
 circumstances of horror had been absent, there was enough in the 
 mere look of the place to njake one shudder. But the people — 
 the human beings who were to be our companions — formed a 
 spectacle the most revolting. 
 
 During the day, after failing in repeated attempts to engage in 
 conversation with those whom we found could speak only the 
 French and Spanish languages, we at length came up to a pale, 
 
IN MEXICO. 37 
 
 emaciated young man, who seemed to be in the last stage of con- 
 sumption, and who, to our utter astonishment, we soon found to be 
 one of the Mier prisoners ! He had been kept in confinement 
 since 1836. His name was Preston Oakley, and he was among 
 those who were supposed to have perished in the hills of Coahuila, 
 after the escape of himself and party from Salado. He had been 
 picked up by a ranchero, in an unconscious state, produced from 
 thirst and hunger, and after recovering was placed in the mines at 
 Lake Cayman, where he had remained in the bowels of the earth 
 until last February, at which time, suffering the almost dying ag- 
 onies incident to a broken constitution, he was brought to this 
 den of vice and misery, for the purpose of recovering health and 
 strength, to enable him to resume his labors. His sight, which 
 he had entirely lost, in the deep, dark caverns, had not yet been 
 wholly restored, and his pale features looked as if they had robbed 
 the spirit-land of half its ghastliness. Ten years without a sylla- 
 ble of intelligence in regard to the fate of his comrades, or from 
 his home, his joy at meetkig us may be appreciated only by those 
 who have passed through like adventures. The circumstances by 
 which we ourselves were surrounded, and the unknown future that 
 had yet to reveal our destiny, awoke at once our sympathy, and 
 inspired us with a deep interest in the history of his sufferings, 
 which, as he recounted, his lean, skinny hand would wipe an oc- 
 casional tear from his cadaverous cheek. It was long before he 
 had concluded his succession of inquiries. Sunk in the deep de- 
 pression of despondency, he had no hope of ever returning to his 
 native land ; and he earnestly implored us, in the event of our re- 
 lease, to inform his friends where and in what condition we had 
 met him, and that he should soon be beyond the reach of oppression. 
 
 On the succeeding day, after breakfast, which was served on a 
 long deal table, stretched across the room, with rude benches on 
 either sii'e, we began to tax our philosophy to invent some means 
 of occupying the time. We endeavored to bury the realities of 
 the present, by imagining ourselves in the "halls of the Montezu- 
 mas ;" but the groups of the haggard shadows of humanity, which 
 gathered around us, forbade such a conclusion, and we finally sat 
 down in our tattered and unfashionable garbs, while young Oakley 
 pointed out some of the prominent characters, and gave us such 
 information relative to them as had come to his own knowledge. 
 
 Near the chimney was a miserable, dwarfish-looking old man, 
 wrapped in a blanket as venerable as himself, reading, or rather 
 spelling, a hymn book, which had been given him by one of the 
 priests, who are always about the prisons of Mexico. He had been 
 arrested for stealing g^oats from a neighbor, and was awaiting his 
 trial. On the opposite side, three men, each of whom was heavily 
 ironed, were walking to and fro. At every step their fetters rung 
 4 
 
38 donnavan's adventures 
 
 on each other, and the regularity of their paces, produced a dull, 
 monotonous sound, as sad as the groans which may be imagined 
 to proceed from the prison caverns of the damned. They had 
 been condemned for burglary, a crime, although entirely fashiona- 
 ble, punishable with death, when committed on the property of 
 the rich and influential. They seemed wholly unconscious of the 
 presence of any other persons in the room. In their actions might 
 be traced a bitter feeling of remorse — not repentance of their 
 crimes — but regret that ihey had been reduced to this helpless 
 and hopeless condition. A rather superior character to these crim- 
 inals was a Frenchman, who sat near us. His mind had, to a cer- 
 tain degree, been refined by education and travel, and he conversed 
 fluently in the English and Spanish, as well as French. His 
 crime consisted in a refusal or neglect to observe a due degree of 
 deference to the requisitions of the church ordinances. In a state 
 of feverish anxiety, he was expostulating with himself, upon the 
 injustice of his detention, and the impossibility of further punish- 
 ment. • 
 
 While engaged in curious speculations, and thinking what strange 
 lessons of the human heart were to be learned in a school like this, 
 we saw a woman enter the prison, dressed in a splendid, but some- 
 what awkward manner. She was.approaching a handsome featured 
 young man, who was engaged in writing a letter at the further end 
 of the table. She hung over him, as if whispering words of conso- 
 lation and deliverance, and when she looked up, I recognized that 
 " dangerous gift of beauty " wliich had lured so many of her sex to 
 the most fatal destruction. The appearance of these two persons, 
 in this place of unmixed wretchej^ness, and among people on whom 
 privations and confinement had fixed their hard and degrading 
 stamp, formed a distressing contrast. The young man was of pure" 
 Spanish blood, and had been an artist — respectable in his profes- 
 sion. He had long been pursuing a dishonest course, and being 
 finally detected in counterfeiting, was condemned to deaih. The 
 female had shared his short-lived prosperity, and now with a rare 
 fidelity, clave to him in his lost and fallen fortunes, when all the 
 world beside had abandoned him. This instance of the power of 
 that passion which rules the world, struck me as being infinitely 
 more remarkable than many of those proofs of female aflection 
 which are cited as heroic. 
 
 Here were two persons whose lives had been base and profligate 
 to the last degree — that of the woman too vile to think upon — 
 and yet that holy and purifying passion, which neither vice, nor 
 crime, nor misery could extinguish, now seemed, as it were, to 
 triumph over all. And in the very hour, when it was the turn of 
 the most hateful qualities to have uncontrolled sway — when every 
 inducement, even the opinion of the world — of that world by 
 
 i 
 
I r 
 
 IN MEXlieO. * 39 
 
 I i 
 
 which both had been abandoned — was in favor of her deserting 
 the man, she was impelled, by the unaided, irresistible power of 
 her affections, to comfort his hapless wretchedness ; to stfip herself 
 of all she possessed to lighten the burdens of a wicked soul that 
 was about to be denied a frail habitatior| upon the earth — and 
 this, too, for a man whose claims upon h^ affection, if they could 
 have been estimated, were probably, as such men's claims mostly 
 are, less than that which he would have had upon a brute, destitute 
 of reason ! That intelligent and virtuous fenjales know no limits 
 in their exertions for men whom they love,''e;]^ites no wonder, for 
 it is the result of sincere, ardent, and pure afechment ; but that a 
 woman, divested of the most estimable attri||utes of her sex, de- 
 graded in mind and in person, regarded by the l^etter part of society 
 as an anomaly — a monster, belonging to neilHer sex, but the re- 
 proach of both — that she should, in the depth '^bf hfer debasement, 
 practice, and in one instance, at least, feel the same devoted virtue 
 which would have added dignity to the most exalted of women — 
 that she should do this, jvith a disinterestedness which admits of 
 no doubt ; for the object of her love was a wrenched criminal, 
 whose days were numbered, and whose name was Vwedded to dis- 
 grace and contempt — this is what excited my astonishment, and the 
 highest veneration for the passion which can work such wonders. 
 
 " The treasures of the deep are not so precious 
 As are the concealed comforts of a man, 
 Locked up in woman's love !" 
 
 CHAPTER V- 
 
 
 
 Release from Prison at Monclova — Punishment of Criminals — ^dv<in<^pf 
 Gtn. ffool's Arm,}i — Our departure for Zacatecas — Mexican Expre^es^— 
 Pnrras — JVovel Funeral procession — Burial of a Muchacha — Lake of 
 Parras — Rio Grande de Parras — Diet — Musquitos — Degradation: vf -^j* 
 Females — Implemfnts of Husbandry — Jin Indian City — Indian Fortifi.m-' * ?' 
 tions — Indian Women — Captured by the Indians — Crossing a River i— 
 Attempt to Escape — Drowning of a Ranchero — Towns and Cities — Fres- 
 nillo — Catholic Procession — Arrival at Zacatecas. 
 
 There are tragedies in real life, which, but for their every-day 
 occurrence, would penetrate men's souls deeper than all the fabled 
 woes that poets ever yet imagined. They consist of that war i/'A 
 which crime is ever waging upon the dark sou! of its victim; and 1 3 
 it is revolting to be compelled to gaze upon sorrows one has not-" | 
 the means to alleviate — still more humiliating to endure privations . -| 
 he has no power to avenge. During the brief term of five days' • 
 
40 donnavan's adventures 
 
 confinement within the gloomy walls of the prison at Monclova, 
 among criminals condemned to die, I received impressions which 
 years will not suffice to obliterate. It is impossible to contem- 
 plate, without the deepest pain, spectacles of degradation, which 
 there became " familiar as household words." Laying aside the 
 enormity of their crimes and the justice of their punishment, the 
 discipline of a Mexican prison and the tortured agony of its in- 
 mates are enough to paralyze the cold and rigid sensibilities of a 
 Siberian serf. As I would sit and contemplate this mass of con- 
 scious helplessness and misery, my mind would naturally translate 
 itself to my own country, and indulge in comparisons. I thought 
 what a glorious field here presented itself for the benevolent pur- 
 poses of Miss Dix, whose disinterested efforts to restrain the rig- 
 orous discipline of the prisons of the United States, have made 
 many a penitent heart glad. But the melancholy history of un- 
 fortunate Mexico, records rare examples of pure and elevated vir- 
 tue, combined with accomplishments like hers. Indeed, had 
 " Solomon, in all his glory." lived out his days there, his remark — 
 " who can find a virtuous woman ? — her price is far above ru- 
 bies !" — would doubtless have been esteemed as profound as in 
 his own Oriental land. 
 
 The establishment of no penitentiary system is authorized by 
 the penal code of Mexico. Capital punishment is frequently in- 
 flicted " by authority," for the most trivial ofTences ; but when the 
 crime of the transgressor does not merit such severity, the laws 
 condemn him to serve in the army, for a certain period of time, 
 stipulated in accordance with the enormity of his offence. Thus, 
 the position of a soldier in the defence of his own soil, which is 
 every where else an honor, is there rendered a disgrace. The 
 law's delay is often more annoying to the criminal than satisfying' 
 the ends of justice. In the capital of each province is a prison 
 resembling that at Monclova, in all of which men are frequently 
 confined twenty years, without trial, conviction, or sentence. 
 
 No sooner had the rumor of Gen. Wool's approach towards 
 Monclova reached the ears of our captors, than we were imme- 
 diately released from our inhospitable abode, with a hope that we 
 should not only find better quarters, but more agreeable compan- 
 ions. We soon learned, however, that owing to the rapid ad- 
 vance of the American army, we had the high prerogative of ad- 
 vancing before them, and were compelled, at once, to take up the 
 line of march towards Parras, with a fair prospect of a pedestrian 
 excursion to Zacatccas, four hundred and forty-five miles further 
 into the interior. The authorities at Monclova received intelli- 
 gence of the advance of Gen. Wool, three days before his arrival ; 
 and it is a remarkable fact that, although their facilities seem to 
 be inferior, they always manage to compete with us in despatch- 
 
IN MEXICO. 41 
 
 ing an express. This may be attributed to the fact that the law 
 authorizes the rider to supply himself with a fresh mule or mus- 
 tang, at every rancho, if necessary, and to always take the fleetest. 
 
 In less than four days after our departure, we reached Parras, a 
 distance of one hundred and forty-three miles from Monclova. 
 This was " walking Spanish," with a degree of expedition which 
 would do credit to the efforts of Gildersleive, or any other pedes- 
 trian. On the night preceding our arrival in town, we remained 
 at the rancho of Don Manuel Ibarra. The Don, with his brother, 
 and several other citizens of the town, had been educated at Bards- 
 town, Ky., and conversed remarkably well in English. Besides 
 being quite civilized himself, he entertained us in a civilized man- 
 ner ; and his wine came near raising our independence so far 
 above zero, as to burst our chains, and declare in favor of the 
 " largest liberty." He asked many questions about Bardstown, 
 and seemed to revert, with peculiar relish, to the place of his 
 schoolboy haunts ; and while he made no effort to restrain his indig- 
 nation at seeing us hand-cuffed, he offered no substantial relief. 
 
 Parras is a perfect paradise of a place. It is celebrated for the 
 extensive vineyards, which spread out in every direction from its 
 vicinity, and for its manufacture of wines, pulque, muscal, and ar- 
 diente. The streets were all clean and in good repair, while in 
 every door, and at every window, beautiful senoras and senoritas 
 made their appearance, who did not suppress their feelings of 
 deep commiseration, as we passed. It was some high-church day 
 among the natives, and observed as a fete. The streets were 
 thronged with Mexicans — men, women, and children, all of whom 
 appeared to have been washed and dressed up for once in their 
 natural lives, at least. In the morning, before we arrived, there 
 had been a grand and im.posing procession, and during the remain- 
 ing portion of the day, there was a general cavorting or vamosing 
 through the streets. Those of their soldiers who had participated 
 in the battle of Monterey, had returned, under the weight of the 
 laurels they had won in that bloody conflict, and were warmly ap- 
 plauded by the priests and ignorant officials, who seem to regard 
 every engagement as a victory, however fatal to them the fortunes 
 of the day. 
 
 All nations have their different customs, just as all individuals 
 have their distinguishing characteristics ; and in a strange country, 
 to a stranger, both are often interesting. In the evening, we wit- 
 nessed a most novel ceremony. It was the occasion of the burial 
 of a muchacha, a small female child. The excitement created by 
 the fete, had been the means of collecting together a large assem- 
 blage ; so that the public places were all filled to overflowing, 
 and our caravan, " horse, foot, and dragoons," experienced much 
 
 difficulty in finding a place of entertainment. While sauntering 
 4* 
 
42 DONNAVAn's ADVENTUiiES 
 
 through the streets, under the vigilant eyes of our haughty masters, 
 our attention was first arrested by the sight of a priest, clad in a 
 white robe ornamented with various emblems pertaining to the Cath- 
 olic church, coming out of the cathedral, preceded by four small 
 boys, in their scarlet under-robes, and white mantles, each bearing 
 a candle branch ; while the dolefully discordant ringing of the 
 bells apprised us that something unusual was on the tapis. They 
 had not proceeded far till the priest entered a small house, around 
 which had assembled a number of males and females. Our ears 
 were soon saluted by an unearthly sound, which the natives dig- 
 nify with the name of music, but which if Shakspeare meant 
 should move all who were fit for nought but " treasons, stratagems, 
 and spoils," he was quite mistaken. The sound was produced by 
 three fiddles, and a venerable-looking individual with a large vio- 
 loncello, each playing a distinct and separate tune, if tunes they 
 might be called, and accompanied by several voices, in an unintel- 
 ligible chant. While this novel performance was going on within, 
 three men without were engaged in throwing small rockets, which 
 exploded, making a report as loud as that of a pistol. It was not 
 long till the padre and altar boys came out, preceded by the mu- 
 sicians, and followed by the corpse, borne on the shoulders of four 
 men. The bier was composed of a short, rough box, having an 
 upright cross at the head, shrouded with white muslin, and cov- 
 ered with a profusion of artificial flowers, and other ornaments, 
 tastefully arranged. At the top of the bier was a dingy brown 
 figure, about two feet in length, enveloped in a velvet robe, deco- 
 rated with gold and silver tinsel, and upon its head a bright brass 
 crown, confining a mass of long, raven hair. The hands of the 
 figure were clasped closely over the breast, and presented, as did 
 the features, the appearance of wax. From the house, the funeral- 
 procession, which was small, proceeded to the church, where 
 we presume the service was performed by the priest. At least the 
 fiddling and chanting soon ceased, and the procession came out. 
 The body was then conveyed about half a mile, to a consecrated 
 burial ground, unaccompanied by the priest, but still preceded by 
 the fiddlers, and men with the rockets. Our captors, whether in 
 respect to the deceased, or from a sense of religious duty, all 
 joined in the procession, and we were also required to accompany 
 them. Before arriving at the graveyard, it was necessary to 
 ascend a hill, at the base of which all the paraphernalia was left. 
 Here, to our surprise, that which we had all considered a wax 
 figure, sacred to the memory of the Virgin of Gaudaloupe, and 
 which I have described, was the body of the poor little infant it- 
 self, whose soul had been transported to heaven, there to join its 
 purer kindred spirits. 
 
 A strange tradition is connected with the history of the imagi- 
 
IN MEXICO. 43 
 
 nary Virgin of Gaudaloupe, and the annual festivals which are held 
 in honor of her first appearance. The natives contend that she 
 first introduced herself to an Indian shepherd, in the early con- 
 quest of Mexico by the Spaniards, and commanded him, " in the 
 name of Mary, the mother of God," to summon the bishop to her 
 presence. The bishop refused to attend until satisfactory evidence 
 was produced that the shepherd had not conjured up an imaginary 
 vision to deceive him — after which he erected a magnificent 
 church on the spot where she had first appeared to the Indian — 
 and the anniversary of the day is yet observed as one of their 
 holiest holidays. A wax figure of full size, representing the vir- 
 gin, is often used on funeral occasions, which led us to an erro- 
 neous conclusion on this. The funeral obsequies of the child 
 were brief, and I could not help remarking that there was no 
 apparent expression of sorrow or regret among the friends, but it 
 seemed to be more an occasion for rejoicing. A number of the 
 Mexicans who mingled in the procession, perhaps from motives 
 of curiosity, appeared highly pleased at seeing American s|3ecta- 
 tors present, and one of them asked me if I did not think it mucho 
 bueno — meaning, very beautiful ! 
 
 Parras contains about fifteen thousand inhabitants; it is located 
 near the line, but within the limits of the province of Coahuila. 
 Some distance from the city, on the west, is a beautiful lake bear- 
 ing the same name, and the waters of which strve to irrigate the 
 grounds for miles in circumference. We had remained in the 
 city till the afternoon of the day succeeding our arrival, and after 
 our departure, encamped for the njght upon the banks of this 
 lake, which is over thirty miles in length, and varying in width 
 from five to twelve miles. It was sunset when we sat down at 
 the end of our day's journey, and the dark blue hills in the neigh- 
 borhood looked like chains of amethysts in a golden setting. The 
 placid waters faithfully mirrored back the beautiful vision, only as 
 with a light gauzy veil breathed over it. There were orange 
 groves of no ideal kind ; and the perfumes of odoriferous gums 
 filled the atmosphere. Acacia shrubs, interwoven with wild lilac 
 and blue-colored parasite, flourished on the banks, whose refresh- 
 ing fragrance seemed infinitely richer than the breath of spring 
 in our own fields and woods, during the fairest season of the year. 
 The delusion was enough to make us forget the gloom which 
 gathered round our own destiny, till the wild doves upon the palm 
 branches, in all their native liberty set up their mournful, melan- 
 choly notes. Montezuma hens were gathered in clusters upon the 
 banks, and a variety of water-fowl, some marble white, others 
 raven black, were chirping out their monotonous evening songs. 
 Large flocks of pelicans were floating over the lake, and occa- 
 sionally the heron with his heavy-flapping wings, would agitate 
 
44 donnavan's adventures 
 
 the bosom of the clear blue waters — for the birds in Mexico, like 
 every thing else, animate or inanimate, are supplied with horns 
 After the sun had entirely sunk behind the Pacific, on his diuinal 
 course to enlighten the opium eaters of the Celestial Empire, the 
 evening glow faded away, but a still softer radiance came to clothe 
 the pale mountains with rosy tints. The shining stars had risen, 
 looking out like angel's eyes upon the lake, with none of that 
 glimmering, as if they trembled with cold, which is seen in our 
 clear winter nights. Their bright shadows were mirrored in the 
 lovely lake, across whose silvery flood pueblas floated in their 
 rude gondolas, as if between two heavens. Along the banks life 
 was stirring. Fires were burning at the hearths, before the doors 
 of the huts of the rancheros ; flocks of bleating sheep and goats 
 were moving homeward ; and the barking of smooth, hairless 
 dogs, the singing of men, and shouting of children, swelled the 
 concert, and served to beguile- the hours of a sleepless night. 
 
 For several consecutive days, our route continued along the 
 bank of the Rio Grande de Parras, (Grand river of Parras,) the 
 waters of which flow into this lake ; son)e nights stopping at ran- 
 cheros and haciendas, others in the woods, with no shelter but 
 the dark blue roof of the world. At the rancheros we found an 
 addition to the usual diet in the shape of wild fowls, often well 
 cooked, and whose carcasses we demolished with a decided relish. 
 An improvement was also perceptible in the appearance of many 
 of the women, whose pretty faces we could not well avoid look- 
 ing at, and who, although they were rather shy and inclined to 
 shun us at first, would generally approach us without much sign 
 of fear, before we left. The picturesque grouping of the man- 
 grove and banana, to say nothing of the palm so abundant on 
 the banks of this river, could not but excite our admiration. But^ 
 it is seldom we experience a pleasing sensation unalloyed with 
 something of the portentous or opposite ; and while enjoying the 
 incofnparable beauty of this Mexican river, we were not only 
 annoyed with an oft returning sense of wrongs inflicted by human 
 hands, but by swarms of sand flies, and broods of musquitos, of 
 the largest size, and keenest bills, the loudest singers, and sharp- 
 est biters in the universe. Their's is no guerilla warfare, but a 
 bold, manly attack in front. The fatigues of a hard day's jour- 
 ney was no security against one of their charges, and even the 
 tough-skinned Mexicans were not impervious to their assualts — 
 notwithstanding Poco Llama had proved himself constitutionally 
 opposed to settling bills. We may talk as we will about the 
 beautiful skies of Mexico, her balmy gales, and the gaiety of land- 
 scape, which can hardly be conceived in less sunny climes — it 
 will fascinate the imagination, but will not shield us from the bar- 
 barous cruelty of her musquitos — they are the reality of the 
 
IN MEXICO. 45 
 
 romance, and dispel the brightest illusions by their sanguinary 
 onslaughts. 
 
 Near a viUage or hacienda, called Punta Velascos, in the prov- 
 ince of Zacatecas, we witnessed a spectacle which, to the credit 
 of the Mexican people, is by no means a common one. Repulsive 
 as some of their customs are, we were not prepared for a scene 
 of barbarism like this. We actually saw a number of females, 
 harnessed like cattle, to the plough, dragging it through the soil, 
 while men were lounging in the furrows, lazily swinging at the 
 handles. Women were here emphatically degraded to the drudge 
 of life, and it was enough to make the heart i)leed to look upon 
 the burdens they were compelled to bear. There is no affecta- 
 tion or sentimentality in this — it is a plain, but lamentable fact, 
 which we were happy to find staring us in the face at only this one 
 place during our progress through the provinces. 
 
 The ploughs and other instruments of husbandry, used by the 
 natives, were such as to excite our curiosity. They are all con- 
 structed of wood, with the bare exceptions of the pick and crow- 
 bar, which are pointed with iron. A Mexican plough is nothing 
 more nor less than the fork of a small tree, the one prong of 
 which, being sharpened, serves for the share, while the other is 
 extended as a beam — with a pole or handle attached to the 
 crotch, and you have completed the celebrated implement which 
 furrowed out the fame of Cincinnatus himself. We learned that 
 the " peacock," and other patterns of the improved plough, had 
 at different times been introduced there, but rejected as " Yankee 
 notions." 
 
 Between Parras and St. Catharina, we encountered several dif- 
 ferent Indian tribes, the first of which was the Yaquis, a small 
 tribe, all of whom reside in a city called Yaqui, the population 
 of which amounts to perhaps four or five thousand. The features 
 and general appearance of these people bear a closer resemljlance 
 to the European or Anglo-Saxon race, than do those of the Mex- 
 icans. Docile and timid in their habits, they support themselves 
 by agriculture, and cultivate extensive fields of Indian corn and 
 potatoes in the neighborhood of their city. Their buildings are 
 all one story high, constructed of unburnt brick; and those of 
 each square consist of one solid block, all the rooms being in 
 direct communication with each other. There are four streets 
 diverging from the centre, where stands, upon a high eminence, 
 a teniple dedicated to the sun. These streets divide the city into 
 four distinct squares, or districts, each of which has its own muni- 
 cipal regulations. The whole presents a rather commanding ap- 
 pearance, and is certainly creditable to the taste and ingenuity of 
 its aboriginal projectors. This tribe long since absolved all alle- 
 
-46 donnavan's adventures 
 
 giance to Mexican authority — rejecting not only their govern- 
 ment, but religion, and will permit neither their priests nor civil 
 dignitaries to come among them. Their manner of worship con- 
 sists of the same forms and ceremonies as did that of the ancient 
 Aztecs, with the exception of the sacrifices. They have ceased 
 to immolate themselves upon the altar, probably from the fact that 
 their race is nearly extinct. The history of this tribe is marked 
 by repeated acts of the most cruel oppression. About thirty years 
 ago they were all driven from their homes, and fled to the extreme 
 north of the province of Sinoloa, where they founded a more ex- 
 tensive colony, and where a great portion of the tribe yet remains. 
 Those who now compose the population of Yaqui, are such as 
 were impelled to return, through the influence of that yearning, 
 instinctive love for their native land, which is, to some extent, in- 
 herent in the breast of the whole human family; and which so 
 attaches them to their early homes, that neither outrage nor op- 
 pression can drive them hence. Not only have they been assailed, 
 plundered, and murdered by the Mexicans, but their honest labors 
 are taxed to support another more barbarous and savage tribe, 
 called the Tarenechas, w[io annually rob them of a great portion 
 of their substance. 
 
 The Tarenechas are a hostile and heathen tribe, a number of 
 whom are to be found among the soldiers of the Mexican army, 
 and particularly in the guerrilla parties ; which entitles them to 
 some favorable consideration from the government. Our route 
 lay directly through their town or fort, which is on the bank of 
 the Rio Grande de Parras, not far from the source of that river. 
 The fort extends from the river bank to the top of a high hill, 
 the country behind which is inaccessible, and altogether, com- 
 mands a grand and enchanting prospect. The fortifications en- 
 circled the summit of the hill, and consisted of an enclosure of 
 high palisadoes, firmly and closely secured ; within this there was 
 a thick, broad hedge, rendered impenetrable by the matting of 
 ivy, junipers, briars, and other sorts of copse. These circular bar- 
 riers had but two entrances, and within them stood the wigwams, 
 forming another circle, with an intervening space of a most beau- 
 tiful, verdant lawn, between them and the fortification. 'J'hey 
 appeared like a circle of arbors, constructed of young trees, 
 twisted together and bent to unite in the form of a cone or dome, 
 at the top, and so ingeniously covered with bark, and often in 
 more elegant style with mats made of reeds, as to be dry and 
 comfortable. An orifice at the top emitted the smoke of the fire, 
 in the centre of each, presenting a life-like and domestic, specta- 
 cle. A grand circular area within the whole, was used as exigence 
 required. In the evenings, the young met in it, and joined in the 
 festive dance. During the day, it was a gymnasinm, for athletic 
 
IN MEXICO. 47 
 
 feats of activity and strength, and exercises in arms and combat. 
 On more important occasions, it was the forum of counsellors, 
 who met to dispense justice, and regulate the affairs of the tribe. 
 An elevated mound in the centre of all, seemed to be a kind of 
 observatory, from which arose a tall, straight pole, surmounted by 
 a bull's head. 
 
 But we found the prospective far more charming than the place 
 itself. The nearer we approached, the encliantment of its rural 
 elegance was dispelled. The filth cast out before the doors of 
 the wigwams, rose up in putrifying heaps. These corrupting olTals 
 disgusted alike the eyes and olfactories of all but the Indians. In 
 the sunny space, the young Indians, like groups of grumphing 
 quadrupeds, had crawled together in a state of primitive naked- 
 ness. Not yet able to walk, they sprawled and sported together, 
 with that degree of careless indolence a voluptuous clime inspires. 
 Their hair, which in riper years is jet black, was blanched ; and 
 the red color of their plump physiognomies was considerably 
 heightent d by exposure to the influence of a tropical sun. A rup- 
 ture finally ensued among these little varlets, which soon called the 
 squaws from their wigwams, and who came dashing like furies into 
 the group. Each plucked her particular charge from the uproari- 
 ous heap, and tossing it over her brawny shoulders, screamed in 
 concert with the shriller pipes, raised to the highest key, of the 
 outrage! and inquiring urchin. The squaws, whom we learned 
 were seldom on the most amicable footing with each other, kindling 
 with the supposed injuries sustained by their respective pappooses, 
 now turned the strife actively towards each other ; and the juve- 
 niles clung to their mothers' backs, grinning, and spitting wrath, 
 as their guardians pulled each other's hair, and fought with nails 
 and fists, till a number lay routed on the ground. Such clamor 
 in the camp, seemed to be no usual thing, and called for the inter- 
 ference of several warriors, who soon calmed the tempest. The 
 shafts of their lances flourished about the dislievelled heads of the 
 insurgents like forked lightening ; and battered and routed, the 
 whole female force find, growling and whining under their wounds, 
 to the interior of their hovels. This insurrection brought to the 
 doors of their wigwams, several feeble, infirm, and superannuated 
 old fellows, who looked like candidates for " the hunting grounds 
 above." Their heads were hoary and bald. Though emaciated 
 and withered, they were not bowed and bent like our veteran 
 mechanics and laborers, but straight as rushes ; and through their 
 furrowed, wrinkled, smoke-bleared features, much of the Indian 
 manly expression might be discerned. 
 
 While all these things were transpiring, a crowd, headed by the 
 sachems, had assembled around us, and to our surprise, taken our 
 captors captive ; while they stared at us, with as much amazement 
 
48 donnavan's adventures 
 
 as if we had just dropped from the moon, or Le Verrier's riew 
 planet. After learning the character of. our captors, and the na- 
 ture of their mission, a brief deliberation at the council-fires, resulted 
 in permitting us all to pass on, unmolested ; not, however, till after 
 we had dined with the Indians, who feasted us on bean soup, and 
 the meat of a venerable mustang, that, had a coroner's inquest been 
 held over his defunct carcass, the verdict would have been, " came 
 to his death from abstemious habits," While engaged in discussing 
 the soup, for we did not feel inclined to disturb the dry bones of a 
 " dead horse," our attention was drawn to a scene of another de- 
 scription. It was the youth of the tribe, just returning from a 
 pillaging excursion, with three other ill-fated prisoners. The con- 
 querors of Parthia, on their triumphal entry, could not have felt or 
 expressed higher exultation. They had burned and destroyed three 
 families of Zamboos, whose scalps they had brought on long poles, 
 to grace their pageantry. The prisoners which they brought with 
 them, after promising to become initiated into the tribe, had been 
 permitted to survive. This was a youthful feat, worthy the fame 
 of their choicest warriors, and in which they exulted with the en- 
 thusiastic warmth of youth. Though their features were of a 
 hsavy symmetry -^— all of a dark bronze color, some shades lighter 
 than their jet, bushy hair, yet the fire of the soul animated the 
 dark, round countenance with the highest marks of expression. 
 Their large eyes seemed kindled ; and the compressed lips, dis- 
 tended nostrils, and glistening ray that radiated and burst from 
 their visages, exhibited the native energy of Indian character, which 
 indolence and want of cultivation had combined to suppress. A 
 shout burst from the midst of them. It was responded to by the 
 young Indian females hastening to meet them. The warriors joined 
 in the deafening acclamation, and the fort rung with praise and 
 triumph. As we retreated from the enclosure, they commenced a 
 kind of fandango, or war dance, and it was long before their shouts 
 of revelry died upon our ears. 
 
 Passing on through the old military and missionary station of St. 
 Catharina, we crossed the Rio Grande de Parras, near Sombrerete, 
 in a novel looking ferry-boat, made something after the fashion of 
 an " Ohio broadhorn." Our passage was purposely delayed till the 
 ferry-boat made her last trip, while six of the company were left to 
 guard us. This was the first stream of any importance we had 
 encountered during our journey, and apprised that we were to cross 
 it, we had already concerted an attempt to escape. Being good 
 swimmers, although our arms were confined behind us, we resolved 
 to j'lmp overheard, which resolution was carried into effect soon 
 after the boat was pushed into the current. Q,uite unexpectedly, 
 three of the Mexicans plunged in after us, one of whom went to 
 the bottom to rise no more. Througli the excitement, and by the 
 unlooked for rapidity of the current, I was carried a half mile be- 
 
IN MEXICO. 49 
 
 low, to the opposite shore, where those of the party who had pre- 
 viously crossed, were awaiting my arrival. As they threw a lasso 
 over my head, they laughed heartily at the futility of any effort we 
 might make to escape. My companions, (Mr. Cunningham and 
 Dr. Barry,) swam to the other shore, but were pursued by the 
 guerillas on mustangs, and soon retaken. They made no effort to 
 rescue the body of the drowned Mexican, but passed on to Som- 
 brerete with the utmost indifTerence in regard to his fate. Consid- 
 erably refreshed by this immersion, we set ofi' on the ensuing 
 morning for Fresnillo, over the best road and through the best cul- 
 tivated region we had yet looked upon in Mexico. 
 
 A most striking difference exists between the manner of their 
 population and that of the United States. From a variety of causes, 
 — such as scarcity of water and timber as a means of defence 
 against the banditti, and the existence of mineral resources, which 
 constitute the chief wealth of the country, Mexico sustains nearly 
 her entire population in the towns and cities, all of which will be 
 found much larger than an American would be apt to anticipate. 
 While in the country, instead of encountering farms or villages at 
 almost every turn in the road, one will not unfrequenily travel three 
 days without seeing even a temporary habitation. Few of the 
 towns in the interior and mining districts, contain a population of 
 less than ten thousand, some as high as sixty thousand ; and all 
 having a number of churches, which are universally constructed in 
 the Gothic style of architecture. 
 
 Fresnillo, within thirty miles of Zacatecas, contains a population 
 of twelve thousand. Its neighboring scenery is rich and diversi- 
 fied ; and its numerous gardens, luxuriant herbage, and fertile 
 fields, serve to render it one of those paradises, on a small scale, 
 which so abound in Mexico. Our arrival in the place was just a 
 time to witness the closing scene of another grand Catholic proces- 
 sion, in honor of some of the saints — we did not inquire who. 
 Many of the streets through which the procession had passed, were 
 yet green with pine leaves, while across them, overhead, were 
 arches of evergreens, variegated with flowers of different hues. 
 As is usual on such occasions, all the church ornaments were con- 
 spicuously displayed at different parts of the city, and the windows 
 of the wealthiest portion of the inhabitants richly decorated with 
 crimson curtains and silk flags of the most costly materials. 
 
 On the following day we had a comparatively easy march, over a 
 broad, well-constructed road, to Zacatecas. Added to this favora- 
 ble circumstance, the prospect of approaching the end of our long 
 journey, a very perceptible change for the better began to manifest 
 itself in our feelings. Our condition was melancholy enough, and 
 although we had little reason to hope for improvement, we knew 
 that new cruelties could not well be inflicted — for we were almost 
 5 
 
50 donnavan's adventures 
 
 ready to welcome death itself, as a relief from an existence offering 
 so little charm f«)r the future. Our clothes were so tattered and 
 torn into shreds and strings, as to expose the bare skin to the burn- 
 ing sun ; while at every ventilation, a blister of the same dimensions 
 obtruded itself into the very face of the sun's rays — so the ele- 
 ments themselves appeared to conspire io draw us into fresh afflic- 
 tions. As for boots or shoes, they had long since been dispensed 
 with — their term of service having expired, not by virtue of limi- 
 tation, but the performance of extra service. With bare feet and 
 legs, lacerated and bleeding, and our physical energies almost ex- 
 hausted after a jaunt of nearly five hundred miles, we entered the 
 gates of Zacatecas on the evening of the 7th of November, de- 
 pressed even more from anxiety to learn our final fate, than from 
 what we had already endured. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Zacatecas — Peace Parly — Amtrican Cilizens — Their HospilalUy — Our Re- 
 lease — Contemplated Rttum — A Mexican JLditor. 
 
 Aroused from our slumbers early on the morning after our arri- 
 val in Zacatecas, we looked out upon its broad streets with new 
 impulses. Situated in the beautiful valley of the Santander river, 
 the towermg peaks of Siena Madre, with their rich and hidden 
 treasures, seem to look down upon the city with a kind of paternal 
 significance. As if limning on her largest scale, nature has here 
 made all her figures bold and colossal — all her features prominent 
 and strongly marked. 
 
 Zacatecas, the capital of the province of the same name, was by 
 far the largest place we had yet entered, during our progress 
 through the country. It contains twenty thousand inhal)itants, with 
 well paved streets, and tasteful buildings. Its population is com- 
 posed, not alone of the Spanish and Mexican races, but is mixed 
 with a number of French, English, and Americans, and whose im- 
 provements, instead of being confined to chemical developments 
 and the pursuits of trade, are convulsing the moral and political 
 state of the country. A more enlightened feeling here pervaded, 
 than in any other portion we had visited. The inert mass of the 
 province had advanced at least one step beyond their neighbors, in 
 feeling and asserting their importance. Perhaps it was the influ- 
 ence of example — this schooling of their dormant spirits — yet 
 ^lere seemed really to exist half an inclination to enter the palace 
 of the Belshazzars, and write admonitions on the walls. The still 
 
IN MEXICO. 51 
 
 small voice of popular rights which found utterance at the corn- 
 menceinent of the Texan revolution, had not died away, but was 
 yet audible, and almost ready to burst in thundering intonations. 
 It will be recollected that in the struggle between the Centralists 
 and Federalists, when Texas boldly led off, the province of Zaca- 
 tecas joined in what was denounced as a rebellion. Her people 
 were soon overwhelmed, however, by Santa Anna and his army, 
 and subdued. Since that period, the most inveterate hatred of 
 Santa Anna has existed among all the population, except perhaps, 
 the priests and officers of the Central government. A peace party, 
 numbering among its mem.bers many native citizens of influence 
 and wealth, Americans and other foreigners, residing there, existed 
 at the time of our arrival. This party was awaiting with much 
 anxiety the appearance of Gen. Taylor and his army, whose ad- 
 vance upon the place was then daily anticipated. This gave to 
 the Americans a degree of confidence and assurance, which, under 
 other circumstances, they would not have dared to avow. Having 
 heard of our arrival and almost perishing condition, a deputation of 
 them, led by Dr. Hetzel, formerly a resident of Missouri, came to 
 oui quarters, and demanded an interview with us in private. This 
 was at first peremptorily refused. Confined and guarded, as we 
 were, within a room on the second floor of the meson, we looked 
 down upon the mob, which was fast accumulating, with peculiar 
 sensations — with thatminglingof hope and fear which so strangely 
 thrills the breast, at the evident approach of a crisis in one's des- 
 tiny. We could not be mistaken in distinguishing among the crowd 
 the faces of some of our own countrymen — for the Yankee never 
 fails to betray his identity — yet we knew nothing of their strength 
 or sjMrit, and could not even wish them to make a demonstration 
 in our behalf, engaged as the two countries were, in hostilities. 
 They would thus forfeit their own claims to protection, and render 
 their own persons andproperty liable to seizure. Their purpose 
 was soon accomplished, however, without any manifestation of 
 violence. The mob growing stronger, momentarily, our captors, 
 at first at a loss what course to pursue, soon settled upon the more 
 prudent policy of admitting them ; and upon witnessing the feeling 
 displayed in our favor, with all the semblance of magnanimity, they 
 offered to relinquish their claims upon our persons ! 
 
 After briefly relating to our deliverers the manner in which we 
 had been captured, and the history of the wrongs to which we had 
 been subjected, indisputable evidences of which were deeply en- 
 graven upon our persons, we were conducted to the private and 
 comfortable apartments of Dr. Hetzel. To the kind hospitality of 
 our countryman we were not only indebted for all the means by 
 which to recruit our physical energies, and revive our jaded spirits, 
 but for a complete revolution in our wardrobe. 
 
52 donnavan's adventures 
 
 All again comfortably clad, and decidedly improved, both in 
 appearance and habits, we began to feel a strong inclination to 
 return to our homes and country. But our proposition to depart 
 for Saltillo, a distance of nearly two hundred miles, and where the 
 American army under Gen. Taylor was then stationed, received 
 nocountenance among those to whom we owed our release and lib- 
 erty. Indeed, the new dangers to which we should have been ex- 
 posed, in the absence of an escort, rendered the contemplated 
 expedition a most perilous one, and it required no effort of elo- 
 quence on the part of our new, but sincere friends, to induce us to 
 remain and partake of their tendered hospitalities, until the 
 advance of the American army should open a line of safe commu- 
 nication to the Rio Grande. 
 
 And we were by no means troubled with ennui at Zaca- 
 tecas. The severe lessons of adversity we had learned in captivity, 
 taught us, more than ever, how to appreciate the blessings of liberty. 
 Besides this, every attention calculated to make our sojourn agree- 
 able was bountifully bestowed. We were introduced to a number 
 of the citizens, male and female, many of whom we found both 
 intelligent and agreeable. Among them was Leandro Cabos, editor 
 of the " Heraldo," the only newspaper printed in the city, and 
 that a most decided advocate for peace. The editor expressed his 
 sentiments in a manly and independent manner, and did not hesi- 
 tate to avow, both publicly and privately, his predilection for 
 " Yankee institutions." He not only refused to insert in his paper 
 any thing favorable to Santa Anna and his parly, but would pub- 
 lish conspicuously, all Gen. Taylor's orders which appeared in the 
 least favorable to the Mexican people. We visited the mines, 
 gardens, public buildings, besides several natural curiosities — 
 observed the peculiar characteristics of the people, and altogether, 
 saw and learned much that was to us new and novel. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Mexican opinion of Yankees — Buildings in Zncatecas — Customs — Merchants' 
 Shops — Business — Auction Sales — Petty Thieves and their Punishment — 
 Gambling; — Lotteries — Sunday Enlertainments — Churches — Cathedral and 
 its Ornaments — Praying for a Husband — Bull Fights — Death of a Pica- 
 dore — Cock Fighting — Fxtent of Silver Mines — Gold Dust — A'atural 
 Cave — Geological Specimnis — Iron, Copper, and Coal Mines — Garden of 
 Don Alonzo Gomeres — Huaco Plant, its appearance and discovery — Manu- 
 factures in the City — Politics — Jose Maria Lafragua — Government — 
 Cruelties of Santa Anna — Barbarous Execution of a Young Female. 
 
 That mankind generally, and the Mexicans in particular, are 
 strange and incomprehensible animals, is among the " fixed facts." 
 
IN MEXICO. 53 
 
 From the highly cullivated Anglo-Saxon, down through the whole 
 grade of anitnate naluro, to the blind and bigoted heathen of Hin- 
 dostan, every one appears to be dissatisfied with his lot, and claims 
 a better one ; while, at the same time, every one is apt to consider 
 himself better, if not wiser, than any one else — at least, he obsti- 
 nately prefers his own manners, diet, dress, and religion, to all 
 others, and will laugh at or pity those who differ with him. 
 Among all nations, as well as individuals, (except the Fiat-head 
 Indians,) the organ of self-esteem is unchecked in its develop- 
 ment — "in testimony whereof," the great mass of the Mexican 
 people regard the sovereigns of the United States, just as the 
 sovereigns of the United States regard them. We are free to de- 
 nounce them as half-civilized cut-throais, and they retort by calling 
 us adventurous barbarians ; while in either case, perhaps the epi- 
 thets deserve to be modified. True, the people of the two nations 
 differ as widely as the poles, in their habits, pursuits, and concep- 
 tions of what constitutes refinement, yet many of tiiese differences, 
 unimportant in the abstract, are the result of the prejudice of 
 education. Unalteral)le as were my prepossessions — strong as 
 my antipathies — [ have seldom been more favorably impressed 
 with the appearance of any city, than I was after strolling through 
 the l)road streets of Zacatecas. In many respects it will compare 
 favorably with some of the large cities of the United States. The 
 buildings are of all sizes, fashions, and colors, from one to three 
 stories high, the greater portion of which are construc-ted in the 
 old Spanish style, wiih a court-yard in the centre, which is often 
 used as a stable. This makes a close neighborhood, and estab- 
 lishes a familiarity between the inmates of the house and stable, 
 on many accounts disagreeable, but neither the one class nor the 
 other seem to mind it, for they appear to entertain the utmost 
 respect for each other. There is one appendage about their bet- 
 ter class of houses deserving praise above all others — the delight- 
 ful balconies that almost universally grace them. To these is often 
 added, on a level vith the first floor, a corridor or gallery, in which 
 more airy situation the families spend the greater portion of their 
 time, breakfasting, dining, or torturing some musical instrument, 
 among which the guitar comes in for its full share of punishment. 
 The doors and windows are on an extensive scale, the latter hav- 
 ing neither sash nor glass, are filled with iron bars, through the 
 broad interstices of which nothing but one's own sense of good 
 breeding prevents liim from seeing what the family are about 
 within. It is the fashion to arrange some half dozen chairs within, 
 near the window, facing each other, where the company will sit 
 gazing at, and talking to, each other with great vivacity. In pass- 
 ing through the streets, innumerable groups of this kind may be 
 seen, while elsewhere he may find them seated at a table playing 
 5* 
 
54 donnavan's adventures 
 
 monte, and often dancing, as if their salvation, like that of the 
 shakers, depended on the exercise of their heels. 
 
 The stores and shops of the city, which are for the most part 
 under the supervision and control of females, appeared to be well 
 supplied with every variety of foreign goods that had found their 
 way in through the ports on the Pacific, previous to the blockade. 
 Business was said to be dull, owing to the fact that stealing had 
 greatly improved since the war ; and a number of the merchants 
 were selling off at auction. At their auction sales a large forum 
 is erected on the public square or plaza, in which a spear is fixed, 
 surmounted by the Mexican colors. This is after the original 
 Roman fashion, and the bidding is signified by holding up the fin- 
 gers. The alcalde's permission is always necessary before the 
 sale is confirmed. The forum is generally crowded with silver- 
 smiths, or rather bankers' sliops, where the articles sold are regis- 
 tered and sealed. By them the names of the buyers are noted, 
 and the goods delivered under the authority of the alcalde. In 
 this manner a semblance of the supremacy of law and order is 
 kept up, while the small retail thieves seldom fail to come in 
 for their share. Occasionally, one of them is detected and pun- 
 ished. If the value of the stolen property amounts to six reals, 
 (75 cents,) the thief is condemned to serve in the army — 
 if under that amount, he is taken to the market place, un- 
 dressed, and publicly whipped, with a thick, raw-hide lash, on 
 his naked back ; just as if eternal disgrace would arouse his sense 
 of honor. One can get accuston:ed to every thing but such bru- 
 tality, and a Mexican often gets accustomed to that, for [ saw one 
 laugh after he had been beaten till he bled. 
 
 The laws seem to impose no restraint upon gambling, every 
 species of which is indulged in publicly. Women, with their 
 montebanks, are to be seen at every turn and corner of the 
 streets. A legalized system of lotteries, also, serves not only to 
 lure the population from the ordinary pursuits of industry, but 
 sinks their whole lives in the vortex of uncertain chance. This 
 is owing chiefly to the cheapness of tickets, which puts it in the 
 power of the very poorest to become adventurers. The most 
 fascinating feature in a Mexican lottery is the worst. Tickets 
 can be purchased for one real, (12 1-2 cents,) which in half an 
 hour may gain fifteen hundred dollars. This induces all the poor 
 people to take lottery stock, and servants sometimes rob their mas- 
 ters to procure the means. The doors of the numerous offices 
 are always thronged, for the drawing does not cease. These offi- 
 ces are filso kept by the women, to whom the government dele- 
 gates the privilege, and it is not uncommon to hear an old hag 
 cry out, " Who will buy my dream ? I dreamt of three numbers." 
 The ugly women depend on their dreams to efliect sales, while the 
 
IN MEXICO. 55 
 
 young and beautiful attract customers by their bewitcliing smiles, 
 which on Sundays are accompanied by some wild chant on the 
 guitar. 
 
 Moralizers in our own country complain because the mail is 
 conveyed, and steamboats are permitted to run on Sunday. They 
 ought to go to Mexico. There it is the gayest, noisiest, and most 
 business-like day in all the week, and there their doctrines of re- 
 form might be preached to some purpose. The streets of Zaca- 
 tecas are kept in one continual uproar, and the noise of omni- 
 buses, diligences, wagt)ns, cluirch-goers, water-carriers, grocers, 
 and pedlars, seldom dies away before midnight. In the morning, 
 at six o'clock, the bells of over sixty churches summon the people 
 to mass. The performances are then slightly varied during the 
 day. In the forenoon, the regular service comes off, and the 
 churches are surrounded by a host of carriages and wagons — 
 men and women selling to the visitors fruits, cakes, pulque, and 
 play-things. A crowd of lasaroni, half-naked, occupy the en- 
 trance, demanding charity. In strange contrast with this fdihy, 
 indolent crowd, is tl^ Mexican priest, who, in his long flowing 
 garments, covered with gold and silver, as a true and humble dis- 
 ciple of Jesus, passes majestically by them, as if a soid could 
 never tabernacle in such an humble looking tenement. 
 
 Desiring to make the most of our time, we visited the cathe- 
 dral, in cotnpany with Dr. Hetzel, who not only knew all the 
 crooks and turns of the city, but the history of almost every im- 
 portant event connected with it. The cathedral is situated on 
 Calle de Patria, (Patriot street,) and we soon came in front of 
 its vast sculptured figures that have frowned or smiled down upon 
 the street below for a hundred years. On or near the spot where 
 it stands, the first church in the province was erected about three 
 hundred years ago. More than two centuries after this, the edi- 
 fice was entirely destroyed by fire, and was rebuilt by the munifi- 
 cence of Hidalgo, a celebrated priest-general, who flourished his 
 brief hour in the days of the revolution. It is an enormous pile, 
 the construction of which occupied over twenty years. It would 
 be idle to enter into an architectural criticism upon tliis church, 
 but I may be allowed to say that were it not for its jumble of or- 
 naments, by which all the effect of simplicity — one of the highest 
 elements of beauty — is lost, it would be regarded with the most 
 profound admiration by every beholder. The entrance is by three 
 marble porches. It has tvfo towers resting on the walls, one of 
 which is remarkable for having been built with money paid for 
 indulgences to eat meat in Lent. The spire at the junction of 
 the nave and transepts, is built of cast iron bars, with a geometri- 
 cal staircase winding its way to. the top, some 400 feet. It looks 
 much like the frame of a steeple, but very little like a steeple 
 
56 donnavan's adventures 
 
 itself. The interior is about 420 feet in length, and the height of 
 the vaulting of the nave is S"^ feet. The effect of the interior is 
 exceedingly imposing, and is greatly heightened by the fine rose, 
 and other windows of beautifully stained glass. It was not so 
 much, however, on account of the beauty of Gothic arches and 
 pictured windows, through which a flood of richly-colored light 
 was shed over the delicate tracery and sculptured saints, or poured 
 along the extended aisles, that I lingered in this cathedral. It 
 was to dwell upon the lineaments of the proud priest's counte- 
 nance. He was the son of Hidalgo himself, and was officiating 
 in the funeral ceremonies of his distinguished father, whose re- 
 mains had been exhumed from their narrow home at Dolores, to 
 be deposited in the chapel at the cathedral in Zacatecas. He 
 possesjses the religious, but not the military qualities of his father. 
 
 The churches of Mexico are not furnished with seats or pews, 
 ns in the United States ; and on entering, one is struck, not only 
 with the uneasy and uncomfortable pf)sition of a large congrega- 
 tion on their knees, on a hard brick floor, but by ihe gold and sil- 
 ver pillars and balustrades, whicli surround the altar, the rich 
 gold altar itself, and the countless images of saints and angels, 
 with expanded wings, looking down from their eminent positions, 
 as if to guard and bless the groups of half-clad and penitent men 
 and WDiiien, kneeling around the altar beneath them. 
 
 Tiie most implicit confidence is placed in the power of the 
 saints, and the variety of distinct offices they have to perform, 
 makes their catalogue so extensive, that he who is not particularly 
 interested in soliciting their favors, will seldom become familiar 
 with their names. One of these saints, it does not matter about 
 his name, is said to preside over Hymenial affairs, and the young 
 ladies frequently pray to him for husbands till the drops of perspi- 
 ration r(jll down their bare necks like the sources of a young 
 river. This is really " getting into a sweat" for a husband, but 
 it serves to show that they are free from the sin of coquetry. If 
 they become favorably impressed with the appearance of a young 
 man, they are unremitting in their devotional exercises, and, 
 throu Ji their petitions to the saint, almost invariably succeed in 
 gaining his affections. The saint enjoys the moral reputation of 
 never having directly interfered in granting a prayer which would 
 deprive a married woman of her husband, but has frequently 
 broken off engagements, at the earnest request of a pretty girl — 
 a decided mark of gallantry, notwithstanding his absolute power 
 over the affections of the young. 
 
 In connection with this subject, a most amusing circumstance 
 occurred on the morning of the fifth day after our arrival at the 
 city. Mr. Cunningham, (one of my companions,) being a man 
 of fine personal appearance, was called up at four o'clock by a 
 
IN MEXICO. 57 
 
 man, who delivered a note from a lady to whom he had been in- 
 troduced a day or two previous, and with whom he had a very 
 sliglit acquaintance, stating that her husband had died on the pre- 
 vious evening, and begged he would hasten to her assistance, as 
 she had been most devoutly praying for him. He called upon 
 the disconsolate widow, agreeable to her request, and has since 
 often wished that the saint had granted her prayer, and thrown 
 him into the arras of this Delila, instead of a prison-printing 
 office. 
 
 But I have not completed an enumeration of the amusements 
 that occupy a Mexican Sunday. Among the most interesting to 
 the citizens was a bull-fight, which came oft' in the public plaza, 
 at 2 o'clock in the evening. So infatuating to the natives is this 
 speclacle, that they would leave their prayers or meals half-finished, 
 to witness it ; though one sight will generally satisfy the curiosity 
 of an American. The price of admission to the seats within the 
 plaza was one dollar, where a promiscuous crowd of some ten 
 thousand persons had assembled, composed of men, women, and 
 children, of every rank and station. Two bands of music, the in- 
 struments consisting of drums, violins, violoncellos, guitars, flage- 
 olets, and French horns, besides the horns of five bulls, were en- 
 gaged for the occasion. A man on horseback and three picadores, 
 or footmen, were to fight the bulls, one at a time. The animals 
 are confined in a small enclosure, adjoining the amphitheatre, 
 and after tcTrturing each one about half an hour, with sharp iron- 
 pointed poles, ornamented with ribbons, the gate is hoisted and 
 he rushes into the plaza, with long strips of crimson silk depend- 
 ing from his horns and tail, and roaring like a full grown lion. 
 His sonorous bellowings are soon drowned, however, by the deaf- 
 ening acclamations of the crowd, and the horseman dressed in a 
 cloak of rich and variegated colors rushes upon the brute with his 
 lancje. it was the bull's turn next, and being a strong, healthy 
 looking fellow, foaming with rage, he thrust his horns into the 
 horse, and gored him to death in an instant. The rider and pica- 
 doi'es vamosed, or vanished, as speedily as possible ; but soon re- 
 turned to renew the attack upon their adversary, who stood 
 twisting his tail in conscious triumph. In making his second 
 charge the horseman caught the bull by the tail, and passing it 
 under his leg, wheeled his horse and brought his adversary to his 
 knees, when ho again wheeled and inflicted a severe incision in 
 the bull's neck with his lance. At this, the bull became rather 
 " cowed," and was hissed off" the stage. The second bull was 
 then let in, and pitched into the horseman in the same unceremo- 
 nious manner, but not with the success of his predecessor. A lick 
 in the short ribs, by one of the picadores' pike poles, felled him to 
 the ground, when they proceeded to pin a number of lighted 
 
58 donnavan's adventures. 
 
 rockets to his neck, the explosion of which, instead of frightening 
 the poor brute, as I presumed it would, caused him to stare in a 
 most sarcastic and contemptuous manner at his persecutors. He 
 then approached in a most menacing mood within a few feet of 
 one of the footmen, but the skill of the latter in wielding his 
 stick, enabled him to stand his ground, and pierce the enraged 
 animal till the blood gushed profusely from his nostrils, and he fell 
 amid a shower of applause from the spectators. But the triumph 
 was reserved for the last bull, who turned the after-piece into a 
 thrilling tragedy, somewhat in violation of the general programme. 
 He was a lean, guant-looUing quadruped, but blessed with the 
 nerve of a Hercules. Owing, perhaps, to his cadaverous appear- 
 ance, they had not deemed it necessary to saw off the points of 
 his horns, as they had those of the other animals, and upon the 
 very first assault, he despatched one of the picadores by thrusting 
 his horns through his body, and as if proud of his victory, thus 
 carried him half a dozen times around the ring, when he tossed 
 his lifeless body into a crowd of children, breaking the arm of a 
 machucha. This, however, although not in the b\Us, was a part 
 of the sport, and was as loudly cheered as any other portion of 
 the performance. Indeed, there vyas some show of justice in giv- 
 ing the bull a round of applause, as the animal seemed to have 
 no friends there ; and as it was next to be his turn, it was perhaps 
 gratifying to die full of honors. 
 
 The entertainment continued till the bull was vicliniized, when 
 the company dispersed, all shouting at the top of their voices, " Ave 
 Maria purisime los gallos viennen," which translated, signifies, hail 
 purest Mary, the chicken-cocks are coming ! And proceeding to 
 the cock-pit on the opposite side of the plaza, a great variety of 
 the best specimens of that bird, so intimately associated with the 
 party politics of our own country, were found ready to indulge their 
 war-like propensities for the gratification of those whom it is well 
 ascertained would much rather "look on " than do any fighting 
 themselves. There is no limit to the belting, or to the amounts 
 staked, and I have seen, more than once, fifty thousand dollars lost 
 and won on a single cock-fight. 
 
 Here the world is seen tossing around in all its splendor, and 
 the innumerable vices that splendor generates, by a base perversion 
 of all the elements of happiness. Drunken Indians congregate at 
 every corner to curse police officers, and laugh at the women in 
 their stiff Sunday petticoats ; while others scarcely clad at all, with 
 half a dozen new editions at their heels, and one tied to their 
 brown backs, promenade the thoroughfares, the very daguerreo- 
 types of misery and shame. At niglit all this loose population as- 
 semble at different places of amusement — coffee-houses, dancing 
 saloons, etc., until the hour of midnight mass, when the churches 
 are again thronged. 
 
IN MEXICO. 59 
 
 But amidst all the confusion of tongues, the hum of a foreign 
 language, the reclless poverty and unbridled vice, there are many 
 redeeming associations connected with our brief sojoin-n in Zaca- 
 tecas. Of all places in the world, Mexico is the last, where a 
 foreigner should undertake to preach morals, or instruct in man- 
 ners, if he wish to avoid being considered a decided bore. It is 
 quite certain that much of their treachery and distrust are the re- 
 sult of an officious interference by foreigners, who have endeavored 
 to instruct them in their social and domestic relations. We were 
 not there as missionaries, and our only prayers were, in the lan- 
 guage of Florida's motto, " to be let alone." We visited the silver 
 mines, in the adjacent mountains, which are among the richest in 
 Mexico. Although not so extensively worked as they were some 
 years ago, over twelve thousand men are employed in the mines, 
 and more than three thousand persons in the mint, which is second 
 in importance to that in the city of Mexico, and has frequently 
 coined ,^'75,000 in tne short space of twenty-four hours. The 
 mines are entered by deep caverns cut in the sides of the moun- 
 tains, through solid quartz, sometimes gradually descending, and 
 at others ascending, a parallel distance of two miles, always fol- 
 lowing the vein. The ore is contained in the stone, which, when 
 quarried, is ground into powder ; the dust is then thrown into 
 great reservoirs of water, where the precious metals are detached 
 through a chemical process. It is asserted upon good authority, 
 that the richest gold mines in the world exist in the vicinity of 
 Zacatecas, but the instability and unsettled state of the government 
 has offered no inducement to ca|)italists to engage in working them. 
 We were shown the spot, at the confluence of two small streams, 
 which wound through the steep and crooked ravines, were gold 
 dust, vahied at one million of dollars, was scraped up from tlie sur- 
 face with the hand, only a few years ago, by a French geologist. 
 
 Among the greatest natural curiosities of the country is a cave 
 in one of these towering mountains ; which, although of no very 
 great dimensions, exceeds in beauty and sublimity any thing of the 
 kind I have ever visited. The principal entrance is from the west, 
 on the bank of the Santander river, where a passage has been ex- 
 cavated by the hand of nature, sufficiently large to admit several 
 persons abreast, and which is about sixty feel in length. At the 
 extremity there is a sudden bend, or rather projection of the lateral 
 rock, which, when passed, gives an unexpected and magnificent 
 view of the interior cavern, presenting a circular chamber some 
 hundred feet in diameter. Stalactites, ever varying in form and 
 color, lend their magic effect to the scene, and reflect the light 
 beams from the entrance to every nook of the subterranean apart- 
 ment. Near the centre is a calcareous spring, which imparts a 
 coolness to the atmosphere, grateful in the extreme to those who 
 
60 
 
 DONNAVAN S ADVENTURES 
 
 have just escaped the heat of a tropical sun. A tufa is deposited * 
 from the waters, which has risen in a circular mound more than 
 twelve feet from the surface of the place. Over this, on every side, 
 the water pours, producing a singular and picturesque fountain, and 
 making it a favorable resort at all seasons of the year. Beleninites 
 are to be found in the interior, and occasionally masses of siliceous 
 matter, and crystallizations of salt. This shows a rather remark- 
 able geological family connection, for while the stalactites are indi- 
 genous to a moist climate, saline matter is usually confined to one 
 inclined to dryness. Throughout these mountains marbles abound, 
 and present a great variety. The Kaolin clays, the alumine earths, 
 and other minerals necessary to the arts, such as iron, copper, and 
 lead, are found in innumerable places. Bituminous and anthracite 
 coal are found in inexhaustible quantities, existing in mountain mas- 
 ses. The anthracite beds are directly accessible, requiring no sink- 
 ing of shafts, and there are no choke damps or gaseous explosions 
 to be encountered in reaching it. 
 
 But the most desirable resort about the city is the garden of 
 Andalusia, owned by Don Alonzo Gomeres. A view of the city 
 from this point presents a peculiar attraction ; and having been 
 in the frequent habit of making sketches, my friend Cunningham 
 here importuned me to present him a view of it, only a small por- 
 tion of the buildings of which were visible. The garden contains 
 an enclosure of some three thousand acres, and every thing is 
 upon the most magnificent and instructive plan. The plants are 
 set at a convenient distance in rows, like a nursery, and grouped 
 together in classes and families, according to the natural system 
 of Jussieu. By each specimen, elevated on a small rod, is placed 
 a silver label, on which is inscribed its botanical name and the 
 country to which it belongs, with a ch;iracter distinguishing^ 
 whether it is annual, biennial, or perennial ; as also a black, red, 
 yellow, or blue stripe across the top, denoting the plant to be poi- 
 sonous, medicinal, ornamental, or edible. Besides these smaller 
 labels for each species, there were larger ones at the head of each 
 class or tribe. Thus, commencing with the mushrooms, mosses, 
 and other cryptogamous plants, at the extremity of the enclosure, 
 one can inspect row after row, gradually ascending to the proud- 
 est tree of the forest ; including in all, some fifteen thousand 
 specimens of the vegetable kingdom. Here trees may be seen 
 growing within trees, and in every wild, fantastic shape, which 
 the ingenuity of both man and nature combined, could invent. 
 Orange trees are stripped of their branches, then perforated 
 through their whole length, and through the roots to the ground 
 beneath ; then young plants of the jtssamine, fig tree, rose and 
 myrtle, are selected and arranged in tvvos or threes, according to 
 fancy, and the size of the aperture in the trunk of the orange 
 
IN MEXICO. 61 
 
 '^ree, and passed tlirough so as to reach a short distance above the 
 top of the latter — the roots are then covered with earth, watered 
 and cultivated as if just planted. The tree and young plants 
 then grow together, and will live and flourish for ten or fifteen 
 years, presenting a nnost beautiful and novel appearance. 
 
 In this garden I became acquainted with the celebrated huaco, 
 an herb much distinguished for its medicinal virtues, and which is a 
 certain antidote for poison. It belongs to the Gordonia genus ; 
 and is a pretty shrub, growing from one to two feet high, with 
 leaves peiiolate, oblong, and toothed, shining above and pubescent 
 beneath. The flower resembles that of the orange in both ap- 
 pearance and smell. The calyx has five unequal leaves, and the 
 carolla has five spreading white petals like the rose. The first 
 discovery of the medicinal qualities of the huaco is attributed to 
 a large bird that feeds upon snakes and reptiles in the savannas 
 of the South. Many years ago the natives observed that this 
 bird, called the Guayaquil, after a combat with a snake, would 
 search for the herb and eat it; hence they supposed it to be an 
 antidote for poison, which experience has proved to be correct. 
 An internal affection may be speedily cured by chewing the herb 
 and swallowing the extract, while the extract is applied external- 
 ly to remedy the bite of the snake. The herb is also said to be 
 an effectual cure in cases of hydrophobia ; and so highly appre- 
 ciated are its virtues, that a Mexican is seldom found travelling 
 without it. 
 
 The manufactures of Zacatecas are inferior, to those even of 
 its neighboring cities. A (ew coarse cotton and woolen cloths 
 are made, but the chief interest of the people is attracted to min- 
 ing and merchandising. There are a number of potteries in the 
 city, where a variety of wares are manufactured. The potters 
 work in the open air, and shape their work with remarkable dex- 
 terity,, on a simple wheel, horizontally arranged, and revolving 
 close upon the ground, so as to permit them to sit, according to 
 the custom of all lazy people. These wares are burned in large 
 open ovens. They make tiles, and water and cooking pots ; but 
 the finer wares, manufactured in other countries, are unknown to 
 them. Their most curious article is a large vessel for holding 
 grain, much the shape of a Chinese jar, and capable of containing 
 several bushels. 
 
 Among the better and more intelligent classes in the province 
 of Zacatecas, may be numbered more enthusiastic admirers of 
 our own institutions, than in any other state of Mexico. The 
 federal or state rights party have ever been in the ascendency 
 there, and cast the vote of the province, at the last presidential 
 election, for Jose Maria Lafragua, the acting Governor, who was 
 prompt in denouncing the measures of Santa Anna, as far back 
 6 
 
62 donnavan's adventures 
 
 as the Texan revolution. He is a man of some experience in 
 government and poliiical philosophy ; and although seduced by 
 the rapid advancement and complete freedom of the United States, 
 he would not countenance the dismemberment of the Mexican 
 provinces ; while he frankly confesses that a want of intelligence 
 and energy among his own countrymen renders them incompetent 
 to sustain a compact similar in construction. There is a great 
 difTerence between the condition of the United States, founded 
 and established under the shelter of institutions approaching re- 
 publicanism, and that of the Mexican provinces, which have for 
 three hundred years depended on a monarchical and despotic 
 government. In the latter, democratic forms were new, and 
 many of them opposed to the customs, habits, and inveterate preju- 
 dices of the people. In the former, little else was necessary but 
 to vary the appointment of officers. Even the constitutional 
 charters and laws of some of the former provinces of the United 
 States, answered for the same when transformed into republican 
 States. In Mexico it was necessary to change almost every thing 
 which existed. There is nothing wonderful, therefore, in the an- 
 archy which has characterized their existence — the laws were 
 not adapted to the people. Mexicans who pf)ssess a knowledge 
 of the world and of men, are fully apprised of these things ; and 
 it was a sense of the utter helplessness of their position, under a 
 government without character or stability, that induced the Zaca- 
 tecans to join Texas, in throwing off the yoke of a central and 
 military despotism,, to form an independent government. Less 
 fortunate than their new neighbors, they then received a reproof, 
 the details of which, for the credit of civilization, have never 
 come to the ear of the world. With the bloody butcheries of 
 Santa Anna and his forces in Texas, most of us have beconre 
 somewhat familiar ; but of the dark and disgraceful cruelties 
 which marked his advance through Zacatecas, we shall have no 
 complete record. It was a most unhappy period, and If the sins 
 of Sodom and Gomorrah were enough to sink those cities, 1 could 
 not imagine a punishment the severity of which would be com- 
 paratively appropriate in Santa Anna's case. At the head of 
 military and civil authority, he marched an army among his own 
 people, not only to murder, but to outrage their hearths and altars. 
 A father had no security that his daughter or wife would not be 
 corrupted by the officers of his own country, by means of the 
 terror which they inspired, and the influence which their situa- 
 tion imparted. Any officer, who wished to free himself from the 
 importunate presence of a father or a husband, or who desired to 
 get possession of his property, instituted a process against him as 
 an insurgent, and was sure that his superiors would applaud his 
 zeal in the service of Santa Anna. No case of this kind made a 
 
IN MEXICO. 63 
 
 more profound and lasting impression upon the inhabitants of Za- 
 calecas, nor manifested more clearly the extent to which cruelty 
 was carried, than that of Leonor Rovira. She was a young any 
 handsome female, enthusiastically attached to liberty, favoring and 
 giving aid to the oppressed patriots, and to those who, in the dark- 
 est hour had resolved to fly to the plains of Texas, from whence 
 they hoped that freedom might yet come to their own province. 
 She loved and was beloved by a youth who had been an officer 
 of the province, and was now compelled to serve as a common 
 soldier, in the desolating army of Santa Anna. Through the in- 
 fluence she possessed over him, he was induced to desert, and fly 
 to Texas. Leonor made arrangements for the flight of a number 
 of other persons, of whom several were of the army. She pro- 
 cured exact statements of Santa Anna's forces, with lists of the 
 names of patriots and other persons who could be trusted, all of 
 which she transmitted to Gen. Houston. Her lover and his com- 
 panions were discovered and apprehended in their flight. The 
 letters and other papers betrayed Leonor, who was with them 
 thrown into prison. The cause was tried by martial law, and dur- 
 ing its progress this young female is said to have manifested much 
 presence of mind and the most unshaken courage. She would 
 compromise no one by her declarations, and the judges could not 
 elicit from her any confession of the means by which she procur- 
 ed the statements sent to Texas. Finally, she and forty others 
 were condemned by a council of war to the punishment of death, 
 and to be shot in the back. She is said to have heard the sen- 
 tence with the utmost composure and tranquility, preparing herself 
 for death like a Christian and a heroine — and walking to the 
 place of execution with a firm step, she bitterly reproached her 
 murderers for their barbarous cruelty. And exhorting her com- 
 panions to die with the character and firmness of freemen, she an- 
 nounced, in a clear and audible voice, that her blood would soon 
 be avenged by the deliverers of her oppressed and degraded 
 country. She was shot in the principal plaza. Her constancy 
 and courage astounded even the iron hearts of a rapacious sol- 
 diery, and the memory of her premature sacrifice has doubtless 
 served to keep alive the burning embers of revolt in Zacatecas, to 
 the present day. 
 
64 DOSS AT ax's ADrEXTCaES 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Impemdtns Difiadtits — Smia .Ittna cd San Luis Potosi — Priests heading 
 GuariUa Portia — Arvnd of a Ddadumad from Stnta .inna's .Imiy — Re- 
 eaptwred hy <4e Mtxicams — .■hrest of Ciiizeas of ZaadfOtt — .\farcA to San 
 Zmis Potosi — Mexiean Soldiers, and Uuir MzHner of UnlistiBsr — City and 
 Prison of San Luis Potosi — Erecidion — Mode a/" in^idin^ Capital Pmn- 
 ishmnd — buiUHon to join the ^Icxioin .imii — Our indisrnant Refusal — 
 Departwre for Act^tdeo — Estate of JoraL — Dolores — City and Ckmreies 
 of Guamtguato. 
 
 The endearments of home and friends, the love one bears 
 for his native land, and the partiality he feels ft>r its institutions, 
 can never be fully realized lill placed beyond their reach and influ- 
 ence. Then it is that the natural yearning of the heart will viv- 
 idly recall endearing associations ; and burying all the little ani- 
 mosities and faults he may find with our government when at 
 home, he will be sensible only to its virtues and its blessings. It 
 is a reuiarkable. though a very inconsistent trait, in the character 
 of an American, that however much he may dissent, dispuie. de- 
 plore, in the heat of party conflict at home, and even prophesy 
 the impending ruins which are to be the inevitable result of each 
 succeeding presidential election, let him hear the very same senti- 
 ments uttered in a foreign land, or the eternal permanency of his 
 country's institutions for a moment doubted, and his indignation 
 will have no bounds. In the true Yankee spirit, he will ever be 
 found ready to •• argue the question," by contrasts, which are 
 always sure to redound to his own advantage. 
 
 We had been one week in Zacaiecas. Although in the full en? 
 joyment of personal freedom, the circu nstance of uur release had 
 lo some extent exasperated the authorities, and with no assurance 
 of safety for any definite period, the approach of the American 
 army was daily looked for with a great degree of solicitude. 
 
 Santa Anna was at this time concentraiing his forces at San 
 Luis Potosi, only 190 miles distant, where he had arrived on the 
 8th of October. Our former captors had not been seen after 
 holding a consultation with the priests and authorities, on the 
 memorable morning of our release. Companies of soldiers and 
 rancheros were to be seen in the streets, however, at almost any 
 hour : and Santa Anna having issued his most eloquent appeals 
 to the clergy, many of them were induced to dofi" their sacerdo- 
 tal robes, for the time, and join in the last desperate struggle to 
 retain their supremacy. The priests, ever jealous of their power 
 and influence, even became so fanatical as to place thernselves at 
 the head of guerilla parties, raised in the neighboring mountains. 
 
IN MEXICO. 65 
 
 Weak and apparently inactive as these bands at first were, they 
 daily gathered new strength, till they began to assume a more in- 
 timidating character. Although formidable \n point of numbers, 
 the peace party liad issued no promtnciamento, which is the first 
 act preparatory to a revolution. They gave unreserved expres- 
 sion to their opinions, yet they assumed no attitude of open hos- 
 tility towards the authorities of the central government. Revolt 
 was not surmised either by the friends or enemies of Santa Anna, 
 and the avowed object of the guerilla bands was to join a division 
 of his forces to be sent from San Luis Potosi in the event of Gen. 
 Taylor's expected arrival. 
 
 Those accustomed to a well-regulated government, seldom feel 
 secure in Mexico, either in iheir persons or property ; and at this 
 crisis many of those who had figured rather conspicuously in the 
 peace party, would have evacuated the place, had not retreat been 
 more hazardous than to remain. Their only hope, as well as our 
 own, was in the advance of " Old Kough and Ready," who at 
 that time would have been welcotned in a much more hospitable 
 manner than he was at Monterey. 
 
 On the 13th of November, (he thunder of artillery announced 
 the approach of an army, and it is impossible to portray the con- 
 fusion and out-bursis of enthusiastic rejoicing it created among 
 all classes. The peace party hailed it as Gen. Taylor's anticipa- 
 ted advent, the authorities and clergy knew it to be a detachment 
 from San Luis Poiosi, while others, enveloped in total ignorance, 
 shouted because the crowd did. 
 
 The mystery was soon revealed, however, when the green 
 roundabouts of the Mexicans became vi.-ible, and the army, over 
 three thousand strong, under the command of Gen. Requina, 
 marched into the city, and quartered on the principal plaza. It 
 was soon ascertained that this force had been despatched by Santa 
 Anna, to quell certain indications of revolt in the city of Zacaiecas, 
 of Ai hich the clergy had promptly given him inforn)ation. 
 
 The night which followed was one of consternation and horror. 
 It was just one month from the date of our captivity atCamargo, 
 and one week after our release from the hands of cruel and un- 
 feeling tyrants at Zacatecas. With Dr. Hetzel, John Allman, 
 Lucius Enfield, and George B. Gentry, all Americans, we were 
 the first to be arrested. After the arrests commenced, many es- 
 caped through the gates, and took refuge in the neighboring moun- 
 tains, while hundreds of citizens were dragged from their homes, 
 and placed under guard, to be tried as rebels, their property con- 
 fiscated and destroyed, and their sanctuaries entered and desecra- 
 ted by the mob. The citizens, unarmed, could make no resist- 
 ance against a force which, including the guerilla bands, amounted 
 
 to more than seven thousand men, had they been disposed to do 
 5# 
 
66 donnavan's adventures 
 
 so, and they submitted to trial. Many were discharged, others 
 were condemned to serve in the army ; while we, with six other 
 Americans, were sent to San Luis Polosi, and again incarcerated 
 in the common prison, with the most abandoned felons. 
 
 If we had before held our lives by a precarious tenure, what 
 could we now expect, after inciting almost a rebellion, and arous- 
 ing the indignation of Santa Anna himself. We had never en- 
 tertained a very flattering opinion of his humane disposition, and 
 his former persecution of the Zacatecans, with a knowledge of 
 his cruelty to the Texans, was poorly calculated to elevate him in 
 ihe esteem of any one. 
 
 Approaching San Luis Potosi, from Zacatecas, we passed 
 through the flourishing towns of Pinos, Ojocaliente, and Aguas- 
 caliente, each containing some ISjOOO or 15,000 inhabitants. 
 
 Under a strong guard, we entered the city of San Luis Potosi, 
 on the evening of November 19th, preceded by a large company 
 of new recruits for the Mexican army. These recruits consisted 
 of Indians, who had been forced from their homes — and re- 
 quired to serve during the campaign. Their hands were bound 
 to their backs, and they were paired off, and tied together. This 
 is the manner in which the ranks of their army are filled, so that 
 it is little wonder they express great surprise at our system of vol- 
 unteering. 
 
 San Luis Potosi is situated in the valley of the Panuco, a river 
 falling into the Gulf near Tampico, and which might be made nav- 
 igable for steamboats as far up as Tula, over one hundred miles 
 from the mouth, and seventy miles below the city. In importance 
 it is the second city in the republic — in population the third — 
 containing 60,000 inhabitants. It is located in a rich mining region [ 
 but from some causes these sources of wealth have been greatly 
 neglected within the past ten years, and the attention of the citi- 
 zens directed more to manufacturing. The Panuco river affords 
 excellent facilities for manufacturing, which are to some extent 
 improved. Woolen and cotton cloths, hats, boots and shoes, and 
 other articles, are here made for exportation to all the sunounding 
 provinces. Some attention is also paid to education, and they have 
 a magnificent college. The buildings of this institution, together 
 with those of the mint, Governor's palace, and cathedral, presenta 
 commanding view. The buildings generally are inferior in size, 
 and mostly constructed of stucco. 
 
 The prison at San Luis Potosi is on a more extensive scale tRan 
 that at Monclova, and includes within its walls a much larger fam- 
 ily. On the morning of the 20th of November, after remaining in 
 the prison over night, we were all conducted to the gate, passing 
 by the place of execution, in one corner of the large walled square, 
 where the officers were fulfilling the end.° of justice, by executing 
 
IN MEXICO. 
 
 67 
 
 a lot of condemned criminals. There was so little ceremony at- 
 tending their operations, and such a carelessness about their man- 
 ner, that we did not dream they were performing the work of death. 
 As our guard delayed lo open the ponderous gate, however, and 
 we saw them toss two dead bodies into rough looking boxes, placed 
 on equally rough wagons with wooden wheels, we were apprised 
 of the nature of their employment, and, indeed, began to think we 
 might probably be the next victims. Their manner of inflicting 
 capital punishment is more refined than in the United States. In 
 the first place, they do not make a public spectacle of an execu- 
 tion. Within the walls of the prison enclosure, the condemned 
 culprit is seated in a chair, when an iron collar is placed around 
 his neck, made to expand or contract, as may be necessary. In 
 the back part of this is inserted a sharp pointed spike, moved at 
 pleasure by the executioner by means of a screw, and on turning 
 which the spinal marrow is penetrated by the point, causing instant 
 death. This ingenious machine, for the perpetration of legalized 
 murder, is called the garotte. 
 
 As we beheld this scene of dissolution between body and soul, 
 we felt that the last ray was quivering upon the dial-plate of our 
 own destiny. To be forcibly driven into the presence of Santa 
 Anna — into the very grasp of his insatiate soldiery, was enough 
 to make us think seriously of preparing our last will and testament. 
 But we had not yet suffered enough to glut their cruel propensi- 
 ties, and marching us to the barracks, they gave us to understand 
 that we were to serve in the republican army of Mexico ! We all 
 joined in thanking them for this ti ark of proffered promotion, but 
 declined, stating that if they would gpare our lives till the Ameri- 
 can forces commenced knocking at their gates, and they had any 
 curiosity in seeing us fight, we might give them a specimen, by 
 exercising our organs of combativeness under other colors. It was 
 an insult that our sense of patriotism could not brook, and we felt 
 it more keenly than all the outrages we had endured. 
 
 Santa Anna did not make his appearance in person, but finding 
 our resolution to place at defiance such a demand, irrevocably 
 fixed, he sent his kitchen general (Requina) to inform us that we 
 were to be immediately marched off to Acapulco. What object 
 he could have had in view in sending us to that miserable place, 
 has never revealed itself to me. Acapulco is a port of some im- 
 portance on the coast of the Pacific, nearly eight hundred miles 
 from San Luis Potosi, and owing to the malignity of the climate, 
 and the still more malignant character of the inhabitants, few who 
 go there ever return alive. 
 
 Through our new associates, who had been brought from Zaca- 
 tecas, and who were to accompany us to Acapulco, we learned 
 that Santa Anna had been informed by the clergy of the former 
 
68 • donnavan's adventures 
 
 place, that we had been captured as spies. In no other way could 
 we account for the apparent lenity by which our lives were pro- 
 longed, than to attribute it to their desire that the catalogue of our 
 sufferings should be complete in this world, before being despatched 
 on a mission to eternity. 
 
 Accordingly, under new masters, commissioned by Santa Anna 
 to guard us, we commenced our journey to the Pacific, on the 20th 
 of November. Including the new accession from Zacatecas, our 
 own party was now swelled to nine in number, while our guard, 
 increasing in a greater ratio, consisted of forty-six, well-armed, 
 able-bodied, and mounted men. We could not but think of the 
 disappointment of poor Poco Llama and his rancheros, and although 
 treated with more humanity, we almost regretted the transfer ; for 
 we had abandoned all former hope of returning to our own country, 
 and iiistend of expecting to be sold into slavery, with a prospect of 
 being released at the termination of hostilities, we felt, as we plodded 
 on towards the setting sun, that 
 
 " Our hearts, like muffled drums, were beating 
 Funeral marches to tlie grave." 
 
 Thirty miles from San Luis Potosi we entered the dominions of 
 the almost unlimited estate originally owned and occupied by the 
 house of Jorol, of the Spanish nobility. This is represented to be 
 the largest and most magnificent estate in Mexico. At the com- 
 mencement of the revolution, the amount of stock was reputed to 
 number 350,000 head, and the tenantry engaged in cultivating the 
 grounds to over 30,000 men. In extent of territory these posses-, 
 sions will equal about four of our ordinary counties, and the single 
 farm is larger than the State of Delaware. The unsettled policy 
 of the country has driven the proprietor from his possessions, and 
 the estate now bears evident marks of decay and t'ilapidation. 
 Another immense hacienda is Dolores, the original seat of Hidalgo, 
 the leader of the first revolutionary movement in Mexico. Near 
 the centre of this estate, comprising some 20,000 square miles, is 
 the town of Dolores, with a population of 7,000. 
 
 Four days travel brought us to Guanajuato, on the Sierre Santa, 
 the capital of the province of the same name, situated in the richest 
 mining region of all Mexico, and containing 40,000 inhabitants. 
 I have never seen a more quaint and singular city than Guanajuato. 
 The street by which we entered the place is broad and straight 
 enough for a Philadelphian, but the moment we left it and turned 
 off into the narrow, hilly avenues, we were in a perfect labyrinth. 
 They are so narrow and crooked that carriages can scarcely pass 
 each other in the most of them. Our guard here took the precau- 
 
IN MEXICO. 69 
 
 tion to dismount, in order to convey us throug'h the city in a hollow 
 square sort of procession. In these narrow streets there are no 
 side-walks, and but for the commanding appearance of our crowd, 
 upon which all eyes were turned, we should have been crushed 
 against the buildings by some lumbering diligence. Threading the 
 tortuous and crowded lanes, we frequently came out upon some 
 magnificent church, which if it could be made to stand apart from 
 the world of small buildings, tumbled in together as if about knee- 
 deep around it, would be regarded as almost a wonder of archi- 
 tecture ; and which even now, with the imperfect view which can be 
 obtained, between unmannerly dwellings and ware-houses, charms 
 the beholderl ike the glimpses of a fairy scene. Hurried through the 
 city as we were, there was Utile opportunity to acquire much 
 knowledge of its character or extent ; but I could not help notic- 
 ing the antique buildings, the unusually active and energetic pop- 
 ulation, and the strange dresses that were perhaps in. the height of 
 style about a century ago. Passing through the city to the sub- 
 urbs, we stopped for the night in a convent building, not exactly 
 among the nuns, but with ihe padre of the place, whom we found 
 remarkably hospitable and inquisitive. The heavy rains which 
 commenced falling, detained us here till the middle of the follow- 
 ing day, when we left for Valladolid. 
 
 CHAPTER IX, 
 
 Arrival at Valladolid — Curiosih/ of ihe Cilizens — .4 French Piiblisher — His 
 History — Another Sentence of Death — JVe^otiation for our release — " Bar- 
 gain and Intrigue" — Sold into Slavery — Mexican Charac'er — Our Price — 
 Dr. Bumj — A Mexican Printing Office— Spanish Printers — El Republi- 
 cano — Support and Character of Mexican JVeivspapers. 
 
 In ten days we performed a journey of 310 miles, and arrived 
 in the city of Valladolid on the evening of December 1st. 1846. 
 The day had been the occasion of some religious festival, and the 
 streets and public houses were so thronged that our guard deter- 
 mined to confine us during the night in the city prison, that they 
 might, unembarrassed, participate in the concluding ceremonies, 
 which we understood were to consist o( a fandango and mas- 
 querade. 
 
 After a delegation had been despatched for the keeper of the 
 prison, and to make the necessary arrangements for our security, 
 many of the citizens crowded in the meson to get a sight at us. 
 Had our guard been gifted with a little of that Yankee tact which 
 
70 donnavan's adventurks 
 
 turns everything to count in the way of a " shilling," they might 
 have made a handsome " speculation " by exhibiting us. The mar- 
 vellousnessof the natives was excited to a greater extent than is' 
 usually manifested by the boys of our own villages in the United 
 States, when the " show-men come to town." Indeed, we were 
 great lions, in our way, for few of the citizens of Valladolid had 
 ever seen a Yankee, and they opened their eyes, as if determined 
 this opportunity should not be unimproved. From among the 
 crowd an elderly looking man emerged, and advancing, accosted 
 us in unbroken English — " Are you American citizens ? I had 
 thought that that announcement was a free passport the world 
 over." There was more meaning expressed in his countenance 
 than in his words, and although his bearing was rather scornful, 
 his English surprised us ; but as it was the first sentence we had 
 heard uttered in our language beyond our own immediate circle, 
 since we left Zacatecas, we did not attempt to evade his presence 
 or his interrogatories. We replied, that had our memory ever 
 been at all treacherous in regard to the place of our nativity, the 
 contrast we had experienced in treatment since passing beyond 
 its borders, was calculated forcibly to remind us that we had once 
 been citizens of the United States. 
 
 The old man seemed inclined to continue the conversation, and 
 soon revealed the most important facts connected with his individ- 
 ual and somewhat eveniful history. He stated that his father's 
 name, which was all he had inherited, was Mons. Buffam — that 
 he himself was a native of France, but had in early life emigrated 
 to England. In 1835, he left England for the United States, and 
 on landing at New York was so dissatisfied with its appearance, 
 and the intense coldness of the climate, that he immediately sailed 
 with a cargo of goods for San Bias, on the Pacific coast. Cruis-'~ 
 ing around to the small English colony of Balize, he changed his 
 destination to Acapulco, and anchoring in that harbor, at the time 
 of the difficulties between Mexico and Texas, he found it an easy 
 matter to purchase from the Mexican authorities a permit to im- 
 port goods free of duty. On returning with his second cargo, he 
 learned at the custom house that his permit was worthless, as the 
 former authorities had been deposed, after the battle of San 
 Jacinto, and the new government was not responsible for {he pri- 
 vate contracts of the old custom house officers. He sold out his 
 cargo at a sacrifice, and abandoning the mercantile business in 
 1839, he had settled down in the city of Valladolid, where he 
 was engaged as one of the publishers of " El Republicano " news- 
 paper. 
 
 In listening to him we manifested a degree of interest always 
 gratifying to the narrator of events in which he is the master spirit ; 
 and when, in turn, we came to tell him that we had for several 
 
IN MEXICO. I^fr 
 
 years been connected with the newspaper press of the United 
 States, and that two of us were practical printers by profession, he 
 evinced symptoms of confusion and surprise for which we were 
 at a loss to account. Our interview was abruptly closed, however, 
 by the command of the guard, who gave us to understand that they 
 awaited our company to prison. 
 
 Daring the night and on the day following, our guard indulged 
 freely in pulque, and had become so " gloriously drunk " as to 
 apparently lose all their distinguished consideration of us. To- 
 wards evening, however, our new acquaintance of " El Republi- 
 cano," accompanied by his associate, Senor Gomez Peyrelades, a 
 native Spaniard, and editor of the paper, visited and informed us, 
 that the commander of our guard (Gen. Requina.) too beastly 
 drunk to navigate himself, had ordered his men to conduct us 
 from the prison one at a time, and dehberalely shoot us down in 
 the public plaza. They then consulted us in regard to our willing- 
 ness to serve them in the capacity of compositors, should they in- 
 tercede and procure our release as prisoners. We did not long 
 hesitate in choosing between being shot, going to Acapulco, or 
 taking '' situations " in a printing office. In clinging to the latter 
 " horn of the dilemma," we might possibly avail ourselves of an 
 opportunity to escape, at least after the close of the war. 
 
 After an absence of about an hour, during which time they held 
 an interview with Gen. Requina, they returned and stated they 
 had "come to terms " — that they had paid $'1,900 in considera- 
 tion of securing our services, for an indefinite period, and that if 
 disposed to ratify the negotiation, we might signify our intentions 
 by being conducted to the printing office. 
 
 Here was a scene for philosophical reflection. We had often 
 accused our brother editors of being " bought and sold." In the 
 heat of party warfare we had been somewhat lavish in the use of 
 such reproachful and disgusting epithets as " British Whigs " and 
 " Bank-bought federalists." We had stigmatized our own coun- 
 trymen as being sold into the servile slavery of party ; and had 
 reprobated the idea of '• white slavery,'''' in the most earnest man- 
 ner. But this was only the enthusiastic romancing incident to 
 youth, led away by the tyranny of party discipline, in the excite- 
 ment of a heated pohtical contest. We had now come to experi- 
 ence some of the realities of a purchased editor, and humiliating 
 as was the "bargain and intrigue" to our native sense of justice, 
 we found ourselves transferred into unlimited bondage. 
 
 It was useless that we should demand the authority by which 
 such an outrage upon our own feelings, as well as all rules of civ- 
 ilization, was perpetrated. Power is the only authority recognized 
 in Mexico, and if, as I have before remarked, men will sell their 
 own souls, they will hardly hesitate to sell the bodies of their 
 enemies. 
 
72 donnavan's adventures 
 
 The character of the great mass of that people may be assimi- 
 lated to that of a spaniel dog. Give them uncontrolled sway and 
 they are cruel and inhuman — but " the more you whip them the 
 better they will like you " — and when subdued, they are far more 
 servile and humble than the negro slaves of our Southern states. 
 
 Under all the circumstances, we had some reason to congratu- 
 late ourselves upon this change of masters. We had escaped from 
 a second sentence to be shot down as common food for the more 
 common buzzards, while we had substantial evidence of the esteem 
 in which we were held by our new owners, from the round sum 
 they had paid for us. It is quite natural, that, when a price is set 
 upon a man's head, he is ambitious to bring as much as possible : 
 and we consoled ourselves by a knowledge that we had sold for a 
 greater amount than we could possibly have brought in our own 
 country, even with a few dips in Etheopian die. 
 
 [And here, although somewhat out of place, the author must be 
 permitted to correct an erroneous statement which has appeared in 
 the New York " Spirit of the Times," and the New Orleans 
 " Delta," since his return to the United States. He has been 
 <' undervalued " by an article which appeared in those papers, 
 and copied into various other respectable prints, asserting that he 
 had been sold for the contemptible sum of ij^'350 ! The mistake 
 is no doubt an innocent one, yet it is calculated to detract from the 
 value of a printer — and for the credit of the craft, it should be 
 understood that he not only sold for ^950, but that his associate 
 brought the same price.] 
 
 Our mutual friend, Dr. Barry, being now left in confinement 
 with the Zacatecan prisoners, suggested that he should consider it 
 an especial favor if a similar disposition could be made of his per- 
 son to an apothecary, if " hereabouts he dwelt." In fact he pos- 
 sessed every requisite qualification for that place, according to the 
 idea of the poet, for 
 
 " Sharp misery had worn him to the bones ; " 
 
 and there is but little doubt but that Gen. Requina would have 
 gladly dispensed with all the prisoners on similar conditions, but 
 it seemed we had supplied the demand. In a few days, after be- 
 coming sober, the entire company departed for Acapulco with the 
 other prisoners, leaving Mr. Cunningham and myself to enter upon 
 our life-apprenticeship in a Mexican printing office. 
 
 The office, which occupied the third story of a large stone build- 
 ing, and is entered through a pylon, a court, and then a massive 
 gate, was a perfect museum of curioslies to an American printer. 
 The room was large and commodious, but filthy almost beyond 
 description. In printing, as well as other arts, mechanics, and 
 
IN MEXICO. 73 
 
 agriculture, the Mexican people are at least two centuries behind 
 the age. Their type and presses, like their muskets, are generally 
 the worn out and cast-off materials from Spain. The old Ram- 
 age presses were so venerable they could scarcely stand alone,and 
 at each successive revolution of the rounce their shrieks would grate 
 upon the ear, as if exercise was as painful to them as to the Span- 
 ish printers who were torturing their poor old joints. There were 
 two of these machines, each having a stone bed, and a ponderous 
 weight, like a Dutch cheese press. The face of the type was 
 barely visible, and it was with some difficulty one letter could be 
 distinguished from another, while the body was worn as round as 
 a rusty nail. Such an improvement as a roller had never been 
 dreamed of, and the balls, long since banished from our western 
 borders, there retain supremacy. An imposing stone has never 
 invaded the original prerogative of the press bed, and an iron 
 chase would be regarded as a retrograde movement in " the 
 art preservative of all arts." The chases, sticks, and galleys, were 
 all composed of wood, though being made of mahogany, they 
 serve nearly as well as metal. The cases, instead of being mounted 
 on stands, are spread out on the floor, as the Spaniard, being too 
 lazy to take a perpendicular position, prefers to sit down, to set 
 up type ; and on a filthy mat, thrown out upon the floor, he 
 sprawls himself at his occupation, where he will sometimes succeed 
 in setting three thousand ems per day. In making up a news- 
 paper /onn, the annuncios, or advertisements, are inserted promis- 
 cuously with the reading matter, without any such encumbrances 
 as brass rule. 
 
 The Mexicans are by no means a literary people, and they have 
 few newspapers. " El Republicano " is a super-royal sheet, is- 
 sued daily, resembling in mechanical appearance, Ann Royal's 
 " Huntress,^^ more than any other sheet to which I can compare 
 it. It is sustained by contributions from individuals and the gov- 
 ernment, and contains very little intelligence besides official an- 
 nouncements. Occasionally a horrible murder will adorn its col- 
 umns ; and it is a prevailing epidemic among the young people of 
 the " upper ten," to give publicity to their amorous verses, gener- 
 ally stupid and prosy, but sometimes possessing the fire of poetry. 
 
T-C donnavan's advektures 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 City of Valladolid — Climate and Productions — Volcano of Jorullo — .Veir 
 Theory of the Gulf Stream — Christmas — Buildings in the City — Customs 
 of the inhabitants — Matrimonial Liti-igues — Music — Governor of Mechoacan, 
 and his Plan of Warfare — Ignorance of a Mexican Editor in regard to the 
 United States — Corwin''s Speech — A'eu's of the Battle of Buena Vista — 
 Great Rejoicing — Seiitiinents of the Masses. 
 
 Valladolid, the capital of the province of Mechoacan, is situ- 
 ated on the western declivity of the Cordillera of Auhuac. It 
 contains a population of 27.000, and is noted as being the scene 
 of the first revolutionary movement in 1810, and the birth place 
 of Iturbide, the first and only emperor, after the conquest by Cor- 
 tez. It is about eleven hundred miles south from Camargo, one 
 hundred and seventy west from the city of Mexico, and nearly 
 two hundred east from Zacatula, the nearest port on the Pacific 
 coast, at the mouth of the Balsas river. The valley of Auhuac is 
 the Italy of America, where spring reigns unbroken. The mean 
 temperature of the climate is 70 degrees, Fahrenheit, never vary- 
 ing more than ten degrees. The productions of this immense 
 valley consist of sugar, cotton, rice, cocoa, indigo, cochineal, oran- 
 ges, lemons, pine-apples, grapes, palms, plantains, bananas, yams, 
 figs, tamarinds, pomegranates, mangostans, almonds, and every va- 
 riety of tropical fruits. 
 
 Among the majestic, in the natural way, Mechoacan his within 
 her territorial limits, the stupendous volcano of Jorullo, of nearly 
 one hundred years, and 16.500 feet standing. In the fall of 1759, 
 from a subterranean eruption, which covered with a sea of la\^ 
 the broad plains of Malpais, rose the towering peak of Jorullo, 
 which, although constantly burning, seldom emits lava. At an el- 
 evation of 14,500 feet above the base, it is covered with perpetual 
 snow. The only eruption, within the memory of the inhabitants, 
 occurred about twenty-eight years ago, when it is said that the 
 streets of Valladolid were covered with cinders and ashes to the 
 depth of twenty inches. 
 
 Recently a new and very plausible theory has been suggested, 
 accounting not only for the high temperature of the waters of the 
 Gulf of Mexico, but for the existence of the Gulf stream itself. 
 It is surmised that a subterranean current, connecting the waters 
 of the Pacific with those of the Gulf, passes through a cavity or 
 excavation, caused by the eruptions of the five volcanoes — Colima, 
 Jorullo, Popocatapetl, Orizaba, and Tuxtla, which are situated in 
 nearly a direct line between the Pacific and the Gulf. Indeed, 
 there is much evidence in support of this theory, the waters of the 
 
IN MEXICO. 75 
 
 Pacific being at a considerable elevation above those of the Gulf, 
 would afford sufficient fall, and the great heat so increases their 
 impetus, as to compel the current to the shores of Asia. Besides, 
 I learned that in an attempt to sink an artesian well a few years 
 since at Patzcuro, near Jorullo, and on a parallel line with the 
 volcanoes, the blue waters, resembling those of the Pacific, 
 gushed up, nlready healed to a sufficient temperature to boil an 
 
 When Christmas arrived, the whole city vvas in commotion. 
 All shops and business operations were closed for one week, to 
 give full swing to religious ceremonies. Left to take care of our 
 own souls, we could only amuse ourselves by looking out frotn our 
 prison house upon the Catholic processions in their strange cavort- 
 ings and unaccountable gyrations through the sireets ; and watch 
 the various intrigues and stolen glances among the belles and 
 beaux. 
 
 The warmth and geniality of the climate renders the use of 
 glass in the windows entirely unnecessary, and to keep out intrud- 
 ers the windows are grated with iron bars, about an inch in diam- 
 eter, with shutters on the inside, to be closed when occasion may 
 require it. These windows are very large, and open from the 
 floor to the ceiling, and being the most pleasant part of the house 
 during the heat of the day, are almost always occupied by the 
 ladies of the family. As the great majority of the houses are 
 only one story high, and built close upon the streets, this custom of 
 sitting in the windows affords fine opportunities for lovers to steal 
 an occasional interview. The ladies being thus constantly exposed 
 to the gaze of the public, become accustomed to it, and do 
 not deem it rudeness for entire strangers to stare at them, or even 
 stop and ask them questions. But it was not long before we 
 learned to distinguish when a favorite came along, as the lady 
 would then manage to get her lips through the interstices, to greet 
 him with a hearty kiss. And they are not to be blamed for such 
 advances, by any means ; for paternal tyranny is carried to excess 
 in most of the cities of Mexico — a gentleman being permitted 
 to visit a lady but three or four times (and then only in the pres- 
 ence of her mother, aunt, or duenna,) before declaring his inten- 
 tions. If his proposals are acceptable, the preliminaries of the 
 marriage are forthwith arranged, without consulting the feelings 
 of the one most interested. This being the case, it is not to be 
 wondered at that matrimonial infidelity and intrigue are so com- 
 mon among all classes, and that husbands and fathers should re- 
 sort to bolts and bars to secure that virtue for their wives and 
 daughters which should have been instilled into their minds from 
 infancy. 
 
 But notwithstanding all the vigilance of fathers and guardians, 
 
76 donnavan's adventures. 
 
 " love laughs at locksmiths," and lovers can invent a thousand 
 ways to hold converse with each other ; so that elopements are as 
 common there as births in the " log cabin " of a Hoosier. 
 Among all classes, parents usually sell their daughters when they 
 become marriageable, for ^100 — sometimes for less, and often 
 for a " mess of pottage." 
 
 We were at times the unperceived witnesses to matrimonial in- 
 trigues, and although removed beyond the voices of the lovers, 
 could not fail to anticipate their emotions from their earnest ges- 
 tures ; which, if we interpreted aright, always signified that they 
 would take great pleasure in dying for each other. In the even- 
 ings we could sit upon the windows, and listen to the " poor 
 man's opera," which, unlike the animated instruments by which 
 he is regaled in our own country, consists of a band of musicians, 
 who play on the plaza every night, from eight till ten o'clock, for 
 the benefit of all who are susceptible of being " moved by the 
 concord of sweet sounds." 
 
 During the first two months of our confinement, we were em- 
 ployed in the composition of a " Reprint of the Ordinances of 
 the city of Valladolid," which entitled us to an occasional visit 
 from the Governor of the province, (Melchor Ocampo,) who su- 
 perintended the publication. He is among, if not at the very- 
 head of, the gj'eat men of Mexico, and was a candidate for presi- 
 dent at the last election. Ocampo is about thirty-eight years of 
 age, rather below the middlmg size, but well built. His fine olive 
 complexion looks darker than it really is, from the jetty blackness 
 of his hair, which hangs in ringlets about his face, and from his 
 extensive mustachios and sparkling black eyes. In his manners 
 he is perfectly easy and gentlemanlike, and though the first im- 
 pressions would be, from his extreme politeness, and continual 
 smiles, that he was a good natured and silly fop, yet one could 
 see from his keen, inquisitive glances, which involuntarily escaped 
 him, that he' concealed under an almost childish lightness of man- 
 ner, a close and accurate study of mankind. He speaks fluently 
 five languages ; and having been an accurate observer of human 
 nature, he had the power to make his conversation extremely in- 
 structive, though he seldom took the pains to gratify us by doing 
 so. His political talents are of the first order, and his mental 
 resources great. He seems to have every confidence in his own 
 power, but has not that personal firmness and hardihood of pur- 
 pose to lead in a revolutionary n}ovement. Nor can he be called 
 cowardly, for he has on many occasions resolutely placed himself 
 in situations he knew to be dangerous ; yet when danger arrives, 
 he unfortunately loses his coolness and presence of mind, and 
 imbibes that impetuosity of Spanish nature so fatal to all prudence. 
 He openly denounces Santa Anna as a tyrant and usurper, but is 
 
IN MEXICO. 77 
 
 the warm friend of Anaya, at that time the Substitute President. 
 He is a most strenuous advocate of the war, and his plan of con- 
 ducting it seems to show his sagacity and his perfect appreciation 
 of the character of the Mexican soldiery. He would have the 
 people join the guerillas, abandon the towns and cities, and carry 
 their property oft' to the mountains. We heard him assert, with 
 decided emphasis and decision, that "should Mexico consent to 
 make peace with the Yankees, he would fight the inhabitants of 
 the other provinces as soon as a foreign foe." Such is his aver- 
 sion to a treaty that would ** tarnish their integrity or infringe 
 upon their nationality, that before he would sanction it — even 
 were his own Mechoacan to do it — he would rather expatriate 
 himself than yield to it and live in a dishonored country." But 
 with all his patriotism, he suffers his personal feelings and individ- 
 ual enmities to get the better of him ; and I believe he would 
 sooner subject his country to the Turks than have Santa Anna 
 get the credit of saving her — for '• his own Mechoacan " did not 
 contribute a soldier to the army, nor did the contributions in funds 
 by the clergy of Valladolid, at all correspond with the demands 
 and expectations of the government. While other bishoprics 
 were highly commended for their liberality, his was strongly con- 
 demned as niggardly in its appropriations, and even threatened 
 with official and popular displeasure. 
 
 Creditable as is the intellectual character of Melchor Ocampo to 
 himself and state; it would seem that he had made a monopoly, at 
 least of geographical knowledge. It is true, our opportunities for 
 judging of the intelligence and capacities of the people were lim- 
 ited ; but the interrogatories of Senor Gomez Peyrelades, the 
 editor of " El Republicano," who, from his position, ought to 
 know something of tlie world beyond the limits of the Chinese 
 shoe, in which his faculties seemed to be cooped up, and which 
 may be regarded as an iiidex to the acquirements of the educated 
 portion of the population, we could arrive at no very favorable 
 estimate of their sprighiliness. Among other equally silly ques- 
 tions, he asked us in a most grave and apparently candid man- 
 ner through his associate, '•' If all the United Slates embraced as 
 much territory as the province of Mechoacan, and if the popula- 
 tion exceeded three millions." He remarked that he had " recently 
 had a dispute with the bishop, who contended that the United 
 States was larger, both in extent of territory and population, than 
 the whole of the republic of Mexico, but he had imputed such an 
 extravagant idea to the priest's ignorance." The fellow's sym- 
 pathy for the bishop's ignorance vastly exceeded his own knowl- 
 edge ; and when we assured him that our country was much 
 more than double as large as all the Mexican provinces, that it 
 
 contained a population of twenty millions, and could at any time 
 
 7* 
 
78 donnavan's adventures 
 
 send out an army of three million men, he began to think we wished 
 to intimidate him by an exaggerated statement. He was event- 
 ually induced to " swallow the truth," however, our assertions 
 being supported by the evidence of his partner, Mons. Buffam, 
 who had heard something of the power and resources of the Uni- 
 ted States, in England, during the war of 1812, and had himself 
 touched at New York, at a later period. 
 
 But the most difficult matter of coniprehension to the editor 
 was, how " whig generals " should be placed at the head of the 
 American army, while the administration was opposed to the 
 whigs — and when Corwin's speech against the war was received 
 through "El Monitor," from the city of Mexico, we were asked 
 if Senor Corwin would not immediately raise a company of volvn- 
 teers, issue a pronu7iciarnento and attack the president! The 
 editor was delighted with the speech, and republished it, by in- 
 serting some two columns daily. He esteemed Senor Corwin as 
 far superior to Senor Polk, in political sagacity and eloquence of 
 language. But poor fellow, he knows but little of the enlightened 
 state of parties in this country, where officials can abuse each 
 other with impunity, and where greater revolutions have been con- 
 summated by the pen than were ever accomplished by the sword. 
 
 On the 12th of March, intelligence of the battle of Buena Vis- 
 ta was received at the office of " El Republicano." The official 
 despatches of Santa Anna, representing the total defeat of the 
 American forces, were hailed by manifestations of unbounded 
 joy, by the people, though the governor did not participate in the 
 demonstrations of respect paid to Santa Anna, by a few of the 
 more fanatical adherents of the war party. At night, rockets 
 were sent heavenward, till the very stars had to " hide their dimin- 
 ished heads," and the bells of more than forty churches pealed" 
 the notes of the triumph of the cross. We began to think that 
 father Miller was not so far wrong after all, in his elucidation of 
 Daniel's Vision, for if a Mexican army could defeat Gen. Taylor 
 and his volunteers with half a chance, there was evidently some- 
 thing wrong in the elements. For some days we were compelled 
 to credit the reports, till the arrival of a bundle of New Orleans 
 papers, which they always graciously permitted us to peruse, 
 brought a reliable statement; and caused a very perceptible elon- 
 gation in the swarthy visages of the more intelligent Mexicans, 
 V ho found they had shouted long " before they were out of the 
 woods," but they sufl'ered the great mass to enjoy the bliss of ig- 
 norance, and encouraged the conclusion that they were invincible. 
 
 It sihould not be inferred from this premature manifestation of 
 joy at the supposed success of their arms, that the people of the 
 province of Mechoacan are decidedly hostile to the Unittd States. 
 The truth is, they know nothing of our people, country, oi insii- 
 
IN MEXICO. 79 
 
 tutions ; and the ignorant dupes of a kw blind leaders — the 
 victims of passion and impulse, they prefer to rejoice on any occa- 
 sion. In the last presidential canvass tlieir legislature voted unan- 
 imously for Herrara, the peace candidate. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Easter, and its Amusements — Visit to the Cathedral — Description of the Edifice 
 — Our Employment — The Spanish Alphabet — Change in Discipline — Im- 
 provement in Diet — Masticaiinsr Monlieijs — The Ladies — Their Hospitality 
 and Accomplishments — Love and its Doings. 
 
 Easter came. Again all the markets, shops, and stores were 
 closed ; though the holidays, (and Easter is the greatest of them 
 all,) instead of being a relief to us, were oppressive. Imme- 
 diately after morning mass, there was a general run, ride, and 
 drive out of the city to a neighboring palmetto and cocoa, where 
 tents were erected, plays established, and joy and pleasure reigned 
 supreme. This continued for eight days, and at the end of the 
 amusements, all went to the church-yard, where every grave bears 
 its name and particular sign. Here wine, pulque, bread and 
 steak, and whatsoever else will gratify the stomach, is brought, 
 and they eat and drink over the graves — drink complimentary 
 toasts to the dead, and amuse themselves rurally and morally. In 
 this manner, they recompense themselves for the long forty days' 
 fast, in which their religion prevents them from eating meat, eggs, 
 butter, milk, and cheese, and during which period we lost a good 
 deal more flesh than Shylock demanded of the Merchant of 
 Venice. 
 
 More out of " familiar impertinence," than any other motive, 
 we solicited the privilege of going to church on Easter Sunday. 
 Our request was promptly and unexpectedly granted, and we went 
 more to gratify our curiosity, than from any hope of being seriously 
 benefited. Our masters employing an escort of twelve men, we 
 were for the first time since our confinement, permitted to enter 
 the streets of the city. There are over forty churches in Valla- 
 dolid, but we had signified our desire to see the cathedral. Pass- 
 ing by the church of San Francisco, whose triple portals might 
 be considered fine specimens of the florid Gothic of the fifteenth 
 century, and whose wooden doors, elaborately and beautifully 
 carved, are certainly well worthy the attention of the curious; we 
 
80 donnavan's adventures 
 
 hastened on to see the finest building in the city ; a church that, 
 in size, purity of style, and excellent workmanship, far surpasses 
 the cathedral in Cincinnati, and would vie with Trinity church in 
 New York. Indeed, it is regarded as among the finest Gothic 
 edifices in the world, and certainly its effect is fine beyond de- 
 scription. In twenty-five years the building was commenced and 
 completed, and was dedicated at the beginning of the 19th century. 
 Being built before the revolution, when the country enjoyed repose, 
 the same plan was pursued from beginning to end, and there was a 
 simplicity attained — a certain kind of judicious finish and orna- 
 ment, that gives to this mass of " stone and mortar " such an air 
 of completeness — of being done — that, as we looked upon the 
 work, we involuntarily uttered, "Amen." The central tower is 
 250 feet in height, and is composed wholly of open arches and 
 tracery, crowned by an octangular band of flower-de-luce. It is 
 certainly the most graceful and beautiful tower I ever beheld. 
 But the interior is, if possible, more imposing than the exterior. 
 The extreme length is 440 feet, and the height 100. The finest 
 specimens of Spanish oil paintings adorn the walls, while the 
 altar is of beautiful niarble, and the railing, balustrades, and images 
 are of pure gold. I do not know how to describe the elegant, quiet 
 simplicity of the interior, that, in spite of prejudices, charmed me 
 more and more, till I forcibly tore myself away from gazing. 
 The light is peculiarly strong, owing to the immense size of the 
 clerestory windows, and yet the rich coloring of the stained glass 
 softens it down to the most agreeable mellowness. 
 
 While we stared at the church, we were stared at in turn by 
 the congregation, and fearing the priest would become jealous of 
 the attention the comparative lightness of our complexions elicited, 
 as soon as the last thundering notes of the organ concluded the 
 vespers, we returned, passing through the public plaza, and taking 
 a view of the Governor's palace. 
 
 We were fast growing in the favor and esteem of our new 
 masters. True to the policy we adopted on the first night of our 
 captivity, we omitted no opportunity to flatter their vanity, and 
 had not only succeeded in inducing the belief that our respect for 
 them was unbounded, but that we had become so allied to their 
 customs, as to have little desire to return home. These declara- 
 tions were received in better faith than they were made, so far as 
 the author is concerned, yet they were not relied on with the most 
 implicit confidence. The trifling annoyances we had at first 
 encountered in becoming familiar with the case, the alphabet, and 
 the accented letters, were now avoided, and we could com[)Ose in 
 Spanish with ahnost as much facility as in English type. Indeed, 
 the alphabets of the two languages are almost identical — the 
 former dispensing with our w, and adopting three double letters 
 
IN MEXICO. iM 
 
 — ch,ll, and rr — increasing the number of characters to twenty- 
 eight. At our suggestion, the cases had been placed upon stands, 
 the type completely cleansed, and we had introduced rollers, 
 which were as great an innovation upon balls, as our steamboats 
 were upon " broadhorns " — we had renovated '• El Republicano," 
 so that even its most familiar acquaintances could scarcely recog- 
 nize it. In fact, we had produced a revolution in the appearance 
 of things generally, quite creditable to our ingenuity. And our 
 enterprise redounded greatly to our advantage. These little acts 
 of kindness, which cost nothing, resulted in alTecting a complete 
 change in our prison discipline. We were fitted out in new linen 
 gear — each adopting the French blouse, in imitation of the " bet- 
 ter classes." The hours of labor were curtailed from twelve to 
 eight per day, and instead of bringing our tortillas, chili, and bean 
 soup to our prison room, the entrance to which was always 
 secured, and feeding us like caged animals, we were permitted to 
 take our meals with the families, on the second floor of the com- 
 modious building. These were courtesies that our most sanguine 
 anticipations had not reached ; and we had been so long accus- 
 tomed to dining like Turks, that we felt really awkward and 
 embarrassed in resuming such weapons as a knife and fork at the 
 table ! But the excellence of the diet surprised us more than all. 
 Aside from the immoderate use of pepper and garlic, which com- 
 pletely usurps the original flavor of every dish — it was such as 
 to excite the admiration of an epicure. Added to the usual lux- 
 uries to be found on the tables of hotels in the United States, we 
 here found every variety of tropical fruits — oranges, figs, bana- 
 nas, yams, etc., besides monkeys and parrots. At first, we con- 
 fess we felt some compunctions of conscience in devouring such a 
 delicacy as the carcass of a dead monkey — alarmed at such an 
 advance towards cannibalism. But the force of example soon 
 reconciled our misgivings, and the very idea, at first revolting, 
 became a luxury. Monkey stock is not to say plenty in the prov- 
 ince of Mechoacan ; yet they abound in Yucatan, and being 
 taken when very young, they are fattened like pigs, and sold in 
 the markets. They are an excellent dish, possessing a flavor far 
 superior to that of our squirrel, and highly prized by the Mexi- 
 cans. The parrot, when fat and served in the same manner, 
 could not be distinguished from the American pheasant. Choco- 
 late is a favorite beverage, and is manufactured, though not to 
 any great extent, in Valladolid. 
 
 But the ladies — it would be ungallant to leave them unnoticed. 
 In our new relation, we were ushered into the society of no less 
 than six — the wife and daughter of Mons. Buffam, and the wife 
 and three daughters of Senor Gomez Peyrelades — the latter, all 
 of pure Castilian blood. In age the young ladies varied from 14 
 
82 donnavan's adventures 
 
 up to 26, only one of whom could be called really handsome. 
 But they soon became the most famihar and inquisitive creatures 
 I had ever seen in any country. I would recommend all limid 
 bachelors to go to Mexico at once. They spoke the Spanish and 
 French languages fluently, and had a slight smattering of English. 
 It was not long before they commenced paying us some very hand- 
 some compliments, and apprised us of the important fact that they 
 — having understood we were both entirely white — had been 
 in ecstacies ever since our arrival, to have us introduced into the 
 family, and that they had at last succeeded in accomplishing their 
 wishes. To us there was something rather mysterious connected 
 with all these new tokens of hospitality, but we " bore our blush- 
 ing honors meekly." We had fallen upon strange times, and the 
 dark shadows which had hung gloomily over our destiny, were fast 
 receding before a brighter future. 
 
 For who is impervious to the dark eyes and soft smiles of wo- 
 man ? Our names and awkward manners afforded them curiosity 
 and amusement — for the Spanish ladies are excessively polite, in 
 their own way. My name commencing with Don, I was regarded 
 as a descendant from the Spanish nobility — but it was difficult for 
 me to reconcile such a conclusion under existing circumstances. 
 For aside from my humble position as a slave, I was mortified by 
 being frequently reminded of the fact that I was not so buena as 
 Senor Cunningham. This partiality, however just, I attributed in 
 some measure to having imprudently revealed my connubial respon- 
 sibility in the United States. My friend Cunningham had yet no 
 such desirable encumbrances, though his prospects were becoming 
 flattering. The large black eye, the dark expressive glance, the 
 soft blood-tinged, olive glowing complexion of Policarpa Peyrelades, 
 the belle of the establishment, made him unwillingly confess the" 
 majesty of Spanish beauty. And though he readily acknowledged 
 that the soft, blue eyes, and delicate loveliness of his own country- 
 women, could awaken more tender feelings of interest, he would 
 not deny or dispute the commanding superiority of this dark- 
 eyed and finely formed damsel. And she was sensible, too. She 
 had even learned, what precocious children in our own " best cir- 
 cles " often do, that her father was a fool. Without discussing 
 the justness of her conclusion, we will present some evidence of her 
 accomplishments. Cervantes was her Shakspeare, most of whose 
 productions she had committed to memory. Besides singing " di- 
 vinely," and playing on the guitar and piano, she was a poetess! 
 Her eifusions frequently graced the columns of " El Republicano," 
 and some of which, in our uninitiated judgment, possessed decided 
 merit. The passion of love inspires a passion for poetry ; and be- 
 ing beyond the influence of either, I will be pardoned for intro- 
 ducing a specimen of her production. The lines were addressed 
 
IN MEXICO. 83 
 
 to my friend Cunningham, after he had so far advanced as to 
 assure her that she was his. 
 
 FIRST LOVE. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM EL REPUBLICAN©. 
 
 *' Guard well within thy memory the love of early days, 
 Nor seek in winter's snowy breast affection's flame to raise ; 
 For the loves which fill the guileless heart, while from suspicion free, 
 Are dearer far than after ones, how true soe'er they be. 
 
 "The cherished loves of life's young morn, when every thought glows warm, 
 And fills the clouds with sapphire towers and many a fairy form ; 
 Oh, lose them not by cold neglect, or hope not to regain. 
 The plant of love once chilled with frost will never spring again. 
 
 "The dream of passion's spring-time hour — the full heart's overflow. 
 Chilled by the world's cold frown are hushed, and quenched their genial glow, 
 And life's dull, dread realities, in all their bitter truth. 
 Impart to us the lesson learned — ' We have no second youth.' 
 
 " Go wander through the labyrinths of fashion's giddy throng. 
 And view gay pleasure's masquerade, or list her syren song ; 
 Taste every cup of bliss, and roam where fancy's voice may call. 
 Yet shall the thought of ' love's young dream ' be dearer than them all. 
 
 "Cherish thy first young love, then, as a principle — a part 
 Of that pure bliss which heaven itself enshrines within the heart ; 
 It is the clear untainted fount of undefined desire. 
 The substance and the essence pure of the Promethean fire." 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 JVews of the Investment of Vera Cruz — Battle of Cerro Gordo — Character of 
 Cunningham — Influence of Love — Unfavorable Change in Treatment — 
 Escape from Valladolid — Passing the Gates — Departure for Qiieretaro — 
 Tomatoes — A Rancho — Hospitality of the Women — Baking Tortillas — 
 Assumption of anew Character — Rio Grande de Santiago — Banyan Trees — 
 Moun lain Scenery — An American Physician — His Character and Kindness 
 — Education of Lizards — City of Queretaro — A Mexican Diligence — Ar- 
 rival at the City of Mexico. 
 
 Intelligence communicating the defeat of the Mexican forces 
 at Cerro Gordo, following the receipt of the official statement which 
 announced the investment of Vera Cruz, by the army under Gen. 
 Scott, did not fail to produce sensations of alarm among the ranks 
 of the war party at Valladolid, and it was even conceded by the 
 
84 donnavan's adventures 
 
 editor of " El Republicano " that the capital was speedily destined 
 to fall into the hands of the invading army. Although our situa- 
 tion had become comparatively agreeable, save the close confine- 
 ment to which we were subjected, we could not anticipate the 
 consequences that might ensue to us, either in the event of a sub- 
 jugation of the country, or a cessation of hostilities. Isolated and 
 remote as we were from the capital, our condition could not be 
 made known there. During the period of seven months we had 
 been prisoners within the power and at the mercy of the enemy, 
 we had never been permitted to communicate a syllable to our 
 friends. We did not ask to transmit our confidential thoughts, but 
 merely to apprise our friends of our fate and confinement. This 
 privilege, however, they would grant us under no considerations. 
 Nor were we allowed to see or communicate with our own coun- 
 trymen, several of whom we had learned were residing in the city ; 
 but who, had they known and been disposed to reveal our situa- 
 tion, would have been detected, as no communication can leave 
 the city without first having passed through the hands of an in- 
 spector, clothed with authority to suppress whatever his judgment 
 may dictate. 
 
 It is certainly mortifying enough to have one's genius eternally 
 cramped within the narrow limits of our best printing offices in the 
 United States, but in Mexico he will find its expansions most 
 rigidly prescribed. After four months' labor, without any com- 
 pensation but the bare supply of " food and raiment," we had 
 grown not only weary of our situation, irksome and monotonous 
 as was the routine of our duties, but daily experienced an increas- 
 ing desire to return to our own country. Added to all this, a 
 partiality for my friend Cunningham, which could not be concealed, 
 had in a measure alienated him from n)e. He was one of those" 
 .frank, ardent, high-minded companions, to whom a soul might be 
 entrusted ; and his ready fund of wit and sentiment, as occasion 
 required, had served to beguile many a weary hour, in the long 
 night of our mutual perils. From the nature of our position, we 
 had formed a kind of alliance, offensive and defensive ; and amid 
 the hum of the foreign language, for a time incomprehensible, had 
 indulged in the sweet sounds of our mother tongue. Fellow- 
 sufferers, engaged in kindred pursuits, linked in the same uncer- 
 tain destiny, we had shared each other's joys and sorrows, and 
 studied each other's domestic habits, somewhat after the amiable 
 manner of the Siamese twins. But the man was now " in love," 
 and his character had undergone a total change. Mankind are 
 too apt to conclude that others can feel the same interest in their 
 idividual affairs, as they do themselves — especially is it so with 
 lovers, who suppose the world is as completely convulsed as their 
 own overflowing hearts ; and who, when they fairly surrender, the 
 
IN MEXICO. 85 
 
 victims of that passion, are about as fit for society as a Mexican is 
 for the enjoyment of enUghtened liberty. They are " company" 
 for no one but themselves, creatini^ as they do, a kind of world 
 within themselves. I could not censure or reprove my friend, for 
 I had been a victim to the same influence — nor did I wonder that 
 the citadel of his heart was no more successful in resisting an 
 attack from the fortress of the fair Policarpa, than were her coun- 
 trymen from the well poised charges of the " army of occupation." 
 Yet I was the sufferer. While he was cared for and caressed, I 
 became neglected. Mine was a most unenviable lot — shut up 
 in prison, and shut out from the last claini I had upon human 
 sympathy — I stood "solitary and alone, amid the jeers of an in- 
 constant world." While at night I was securely locked in the 
 narrow room in the garret, which we had jointly occupied, to sleep 
 upon a rude bed made of strips of cowhide interlaced, he was con- 
 ducted to better apartments, to sleep with I know not whom, for 
 travelling through this world " makes strange bed-fellows," and in 
 Mexico I have known " broad hints " to be given even by fathers. 
 
 Under such an unfavorable combination of circumstances, it is 
 not to be wondered at, that if from no higher motives than to 
 avoid the constant evidences of the inferiority of my position, I 
 should eagerly embrace the first opportunity to escape. On the 
 night of the 3(1 of May (1847,) from some cause, which will 
 probably never be satisfactorily explained even to myself, I awoke 
 abou! the hour of midnight, and found the door of my room un- 
 locked and open. This room, which had no window, and but the 
 one door, comtnunicated with the printing office, where, after 
 drawing on my new Spanish habiliments, I procured the small 
 cords from several bundles of printing paper, and tying them 
 together, carefully secured one end near a window in the hall of 
 the office, and taking the other, through that aperture, I let myself 
 quietly down into the street. It was the first time I had ever 
 found myself dangling in the air at tlie end of a rope, and I trust 
 may be the last — though I confess it was " pulling hemp " to 
 some purpose. It was an undignified, unenviable, and indelicate 
 position, and describing it I must have the licence of undi'^'^nified 
 terms. The truth is, what little of dignity I ever possessed was 
 pretty well compromised while in a state of menial servitude. 
 
 Free in the city, I yet had to pass the gates, which I managed 
 v^'ithout difficulty, through the knowledge I had acquired of the 
 Spanish language. During our confinement, I had carelessly made 
 enquiry about the roads to the city of Mexico, Qneretaro, and 
 various other places. Of the gate keeper 1 enquired the road to 
 the city of Mexic ), but instead of following it, to avoid pursuit, I 
 took the road to Q,ueretaro, and with a peculiar mingling of hooe 
 and fear, bid adieu to the city of Valladolid. I did not experi- 
 8 
 
86 donnavan's adventures 
 
 ence the confusion which characterizes the conduct of a culprijt, 
 for I felt conscious of my rights, if ever I should have the good 
 fortune to recover them ; and this stratagem may have prevenied 
 my being overtaken and re-captured. Being an accompHshed 
 pedestrian, with an extensive practice, I must have travelled some 
 twenty miles before daylight ; when leaving the road, I secured 
 myself for the day among the chaperal, where I had the company 
 of a family of lizards as numerous as the John Smiths. Whether 
 pursued or not, I neither learned nor cared, after escaping. 
 
 Taking up the line of march, early on the second night I came 
 in sight of the town of Charo, which I avoided by a kind of semi- 
 circle zigzag manoeuvre through the mountain paths of the Cordil- 
 leras. Here I met with the good fortune to encounter a tomato 
 patch, a vegetable of spontaneous growth, and on which I gratified 
 my appetite and subsisted for the first three days. On the morn- 
 ing of the third day after my escape, arriving in the delightful val- 
 ley of the Rio Grande de Santiago, I ventured to make a call at a 
 rancho. Here I found the miserable looking excuses for men 
 stretched out upon their floors in a state of profound somnolency. 
 Permitting them to enjoy their repose, the ladies most generously 
 and hospitably prepared an excellent breakfast, consisting of veni- 
 son, fregoles, chili, chocolate, and tortillas. The latter is a kind 
 of corn cake, which is the only bread found among the inhabitants 
 of Mexico, out of the towns and cities. The process of making 
 them I had never before witnessed, and the Senoritas, although 
 they did not know me from Adam, seemed to take great pleasure 
 in initiating me into the mysteries of their manufacture. The 
 common Indian corn is, in the first place, put into an earthen vessel 
 containing lime-water, where it is soaked to remove the husk — it 
 is afterwards crushed between two stones, shaped for the purpose, 
 into a thick paste, n)ade into flat cakes and baked on a clay grid- 
 dle. A very liberal sprinkling of pulverized chili (a small red pep- 
 per from which cayenne is manufactured,) is usually introduced 
 to the dough, making it " go off like hot cakes" in reality. 
 
 The ladies were as inquisitive as the veriest Yankee from Ver- 
 mont; but I had prepared a tale for them. Robberies being of com- 
 mon and almost every day occurrence there, I represented myself 
 as an English merchant from Guanajuato, returning from Zacatula, 
 on the Pacific, and as having been attacked by banditti, who stripped 
 me of not only my money, but the mustang on which I had been 
 mounted, and came within a *' squiirel's jump," of taking my life, 
 in the bargain. Englishmen stand high in the estimation of both 
 the people and government, and their sympathies for me were un- 
 bounded. I made an apology for being unable to remunerate them, 
 when they gave me to understand that it was an insult to Mexi- 
 can character to offer such a thing, even were I loaded down with 
 jewels. 
 
IN MEXICO. 87 
 
 l^eaving the rancho, as I proceeded down the valley of the San- 
 tiago river, I passed through a large grove of banyan trees. This 
 tree has been regarded as one of the wonders of the world, and is 
 certainly among nature's most admirable productions. It is a 
 growth only of those climes where she has lavished her bounties in 
 the greatest profusion and variety. The main trunk throws forth 
 its branches in long, hanging, and at first, tender fibres, which on 
 reaching the earth root, and become in their turn parent trunks, 
 sending forth tiieir own branches. A grove thus formed, presents 
 one of the most beautiful and luxuriant views that can be imagined. 
 The leaves are large, soft, and of a lively green ; the fruit is a 
 small fig, when ripe of a bright scarlet, affording sustenance to 
 monkeys, squirrels, peacocks, parrots, and birds of various kinds 
 which dwell among their branches, and were indulging in their 
 peculiar antics, as I passed. 
 
 Upon crossing the Santiago, and entering the province of Quer- 
 etaro, I again approached the mountains, the defiles of which, at 
 first open, soon became so contracted as scarcely to leave a pas- 
 sage, while the hills on either side became wilder and more lofty.. 
 On their surface was a low brushwood of oak and holly, scarcely 
 hiding the dark rocks that were piled loosely above one another,, 
 and ready to crush down at the slightest impulse. Within these- 
 narrow ravines, mountain rivulets were collected in strong currents, 
 which rattled among masses of huge rock, and often swept, in 
 broad flakes of foam, across the narrow road which wound through 
 the valleys. 
 
 In approaching the city of Queretaro, through the province of the 
 same name, I found the country more thickly populated than any 
 other portion of Mexico I had visited. After receiving such tokens- 
 of regard at the first rancho at which I had visited, I did not hesi- 
 tate to call at others, and on relating the same plausible story, 
 received similar demonstrations of kindness. Within two miles of 
 the city I was overtaken by a gentleman on horseback. He was 
 riding the noblest looking animal I had seen in the country, and 
 from his complexion I was at once convinced that he was not a 
 native, although he addressed me in Spanish. We had proceeded 
 but a short distance, till, arriving at his residence, he invited me in. 
 Fearing to enter the city of Queretaro, and hailing this as the only 
 source through which to receive the necessary information by which 
 my course might be regulated, I availed myself of his politeness. 
 Upon a mutual interchange of the ordinary inquiries, I found him 
 to be a native of Maryland, and a practising physician, who had. 
 amassed immense wealth by his profession during his residence in^ 
 Mexico, where he was living in princely style. I had found another 
 bright spot, an oasis, in the great desert of my perilous pilgrimage. 
 To him I revealed my true character, and the history of my adven- 
 
88 donnavan's adventures 
 
 tures. Bein^^ an American, a man of generous sympathies, and 
 more than ordinary sagacity, he readily proposed to assist me, with- 
 out at all compromising his own safely. After my journey of 1 12 
 miles, I remained with the doctor, (Stevenson,) during the follow- 
 ing day to refresh myself. When we had despatched an unpep- 
 pered dinner, and were enjoying our cigars under a broad spread- 
 ing tamarind tree, his lizards came down to repel the attacks of the 
 mosquitos. It is astonishing what education will accomplish. The 
 doctor's kindness for animals has developed instincts and awakened 
 affections that would not discredit a race of intellectual beings. 
 When he returns from the city, his beautiful fan-tailed pigeons 
 come with their familiar greetings to his carriage and perch upon 
 his shoulders, and his lizards ju tip from the trees into his hands. 
 He related an incident which occurred several years since, while 
 he resided near Vera Cruz, showing the remarkable instinct of 
 these reptiles. A huge lizard that had the misfortune to lose his 
 tail by some accident, marched into his office with the dismembered 
 limb in his mouih, and approached him as if seeking relief! This 
 looks like rather a remarkable " snake story," but is nevertheless 
 asserted by him as a fact, and he regards the circumstance as a 
 tribute to his surgical skill. 
 
 The succeeding morning found us driving to the city of Quere- 
 taro. Instructing me to retain the assumed character of an Eng- 
 lish merchant, on our arrival at the city I was introduced as such, 
 though my ignorance of the niceties of trade and commerce, poorly 
 qualified me for sustaining the position. I played the somewhat 
 difficult part, however, without suspicion, so far as I know, and 
 through the influence of Dr. Stevenson, I was tendered a seat in a 
 diligence, which was to leave in a few days for the city of Mexico, ~ 
 in company with a real English merchant. This arrangement per- 
 fected, after furnishing me with means, and a note of introduction 
 to Mr. Black, the American consul, he left me enjoying high hopes 
 and spirits, and a heart overflowing with gratitude ; as it was then 
 regarded as certain that Gen. Scott and his army were " revelling 
 in the halls of the Montezumas." 
 
 During the evening we took a stroll through the city, which sur- 
 passes in point of beauty, cleanliness, and laziness, all others in 
 Mexico. The buildings are handsome and commodious, and ex- 
 hibit a refinement of taste in their construction seldom met with 
 in that country ; while the streets are wide, well paved, with spa- 
 cious sidewalks. Included within its walls are three large public 
 plazns, beautifully adorned with shrubbery and a rich variety of 
 flowers. The population is supposed to reach 50,000 ; and the 
 magnificence of its public buildings almost challenge competition. 
 Among iis most splendid and extensive public works, is a stone 
 aqueduct, by which the city is supplied with water, and which is 
 
IN MEXICO. 89 
 
 some ten or twelve miles in length ; and the great convent of Santa 
 Clara, said to occupy a circumference of twelve thousand feet. 
 
 On the morning of the 14th, we took our seats in a Mexican 
 diligence, which resembles more than anything else, a common 
 bedstead inclosed with green painted canvass, on wheels, with four 
 mules hitched abreast ; and passing through the unimportant 
 towns of San Juan, Huitoke, Tula, and Guatitlan, we arrived safely 
 in the city of Mexico on the iCth of May. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Citri of Mexico — Puhlic Grounds — Public Buildings — The Mint — Coining 
 Gold — Hotels — Theatres — JVeil'spaper Press of the City — Literature — 
 Society — Manners and Customs — Dress — Suburbs — Cemetery — Population. 
 
 I WAS disappointed in my ideal picture of the city of Mexico. 
 Like many others, I had imagined it to be a counterpart of the 
 great Venice across the waters, only with the additional attraclions 
 of fl(jating paradises, in the shape of flower gardens, instead of 
 gondolas, upon the bosom of its watery streets. But the city has 
 been cruelly modernized in this particular, and there is little of 
 that romance we read of, justly belonging to it now. It 
 occupies only part of the seat of the ancient Tenochtitlan — the 
 city of the Montezumas — and instead of being built on a cluster 
 of islands, is at least two miles east of the lake of Tezcuco. The 
 valley or table land on which it is located, is 7,500 feet above the 
 level of the sea, and about one hundred and fifty miles in circum- 
 ference. This valley is surrounded by mountains, ranging in height 
 from three to nine thousand feet. In geniality of climate, and 
 fertility of soil, it is almost unequalled in the wide world. Portions 
 of it is covered with the most luxuriant herbage, and timber of 
 almost every size and species. The cypress here reaches enor- 
 mous dimensions, sometimes measuring twenty feet in diameter. 
 The city has been represented as being the finest on the American 
 continent, and in some respects certainly is so. It occupies a vast 
 area — the walls by which it is surrounded, enclosing a square 
 about five miles in extent eitfier way. I have seen as handsome 
 buildings, and as beautiful trees, but, altogether, the gently undu^ 
 lating, yet nearly level plain, the uniformity in the height of the 
 buildings, the long straight streets, crossing at right angles ; and 
 above all, the magnificent public grounds, artificial lakes and canals, 
 I niust say that, in these respects, it presents attractions far beyond 
 any of the cities of the United States, The architecture is of the 
 
90 donnavan's adventures 
 
 most fascinating style. The buildings generally, are constructed 
 of porphyritic and basaltic stone, from the neighboring mountains, 
 rather roughly hewn, and are from two to three stories in height, 
 with flat roofs and terraces. Some of the fronts are of porcelain, 
 laid off in large squares, in which are painted pictures representing 
 " Christ crucified," " the ascension," the " Virgin of Guadaloupe," 
 &c. But as a general thing, the fronts are of smooth stone, painted 
 some ornamental color. The gates, balustrades, and railing, are 
 of iron beautifully bronzed — while the fronts are adorned with 
 corridors and balconies — constructed of the same material, and 
 richly ornamented with fruit and flower trees. The floors of the 
 houses are universally of tile or brick. The principal streets are 
 from two to three miles in length, somewhat roughly paved. They 
 are not constructed on the same plan of ours, with side walks and 
 gutters, but gradually descend from each side to the centre, where 
 there is a drain, covered by broad flag stones, which may be re- 
 moved at pleasure. These gutters are drained by a large sewer, 
 some twelve miles in length, cut through the mountains, and 
 emptying into the river Tula ; which also serves to carry off the 
 water when the lakes overflow, during the rainy season, and which 
 prevents inundation — the surface of the water in the lakes being 
 higher than the streets of the city. This outlet also affords a 
 waste-way for the canal of the lake of Chalco, which in part sup- 
 plies the city with water. After the European style, each street 
 presents its particular class of shops — the jewellers are confined 
 to one street, the dry-goods men to another, grocers to still another, 
 &c., while fruits and flowers of every variety and hue, are to be 
 found in nearly all. 
 
 But the public grounds ot the city constitute a great "attraction. 
 They will compare with those of Boston, New York, Philadelphia,- 
 and New Orleans, just about as the " Eighth street space " in the 
 "Queen city " will compare to the "New York Battery." The chief 
 plaza in the centre of the city, is one of the finest business squares 
 to be seen in any city in the world. It contains some twelve or 
 fifteen acres, and is beautifully paved with large hewn stone. It is 
 surrounded by public buildings — the cathedral occupying the east 
 side, built upon the spot where stood the ancient temple of the sun. 
 On the west is the bazaar, and a long row of public offices, adorned 
 with piazzas which project over the side-walk — the national pal- 
 ace on the north, formerly occupied by the viceroys of Spain, ^but 
 more recently by the presidents ; and on the south the public 
 market and museum. But the rural retreats about the city furnish 
 a far greater source of admiration. Groves are liberally inter- 
 spersed, at appropriate distances, containing from fifteen to seventy- 
 five acres, planted with every variety of trees, shrubbery, and flow- 
 ers, and in some of which artificial lakes are seen, abounding in 
 
IN MEXICO. 91 
 
 gold fish, that wildly sport in their pure, native element. Among 
 these enclosures, the Alamenda, near the western limits of the city, 
 is the most beautiful, and whose gravelled walks, odoriferous 
 flowers, and marble fountains, dispel all thoughts of the indolent 
 and half-starved occupants without. It is a kind of Eden scene ; 
 and while I gazed upon it, I did not wonder that poor, persecuted 
 Eve should have been tempted, for where every thing was clad in 
 the rich profusion of beauty, who could think of sin and misery ! 
 Besides these, there are numerous private gardens, of magnificent 
 beauty, handsomely laid out, with their flagged walks, bordered 
 with hundreds of luxuriant pots of flowers whose bloom never dies. 
 The public buildings are very numerous, and more than two 
 hundred spires proudly peer above the city. Perhaps the most 
 striking of all the characteristics of their architecture, are the 
 pyramidal masses of masonry, far exceeding in height every other 
 part of the edifice, between which the portals, not only those that' 
 form the main entrance, but the passage between its courts, are 
 placed. In these apparently useless masses, the architect seems 
 to have sought to imitate the hewn face of the lofty rocks in 
 which the entrance of the excavations are usually formed. Es- 
 pecially is this the case in regard to the building called the Pala- 
 cio, but which resembles more a penitentiary than the abode of a 
 sovereign. It has but three doors, opening on the first floor — its 
 windows are small and barbarously arranged — and altogether, it 
 is the most tasteless and ill-shaped building in the city. The 
 halls of the Senate and House of Deputies, are also on the second 
 floor of this uncomely edifice, besides the offices of the ministers 
 of finance, foreign relations, heads of departments, etc. It may 
 be, however, that the cathedral, so far eclipsing this building in 
 point of beauty and splendor, causes one to view it with severer 
 criticism than he otherwise would. From the descriptions I had 
 read of this cathedral, and from the magnificence of similar build- 
 ings in the inferior cities of Mexico, which I had seen, I was in- 
 ducted to form opinions of its splendor on too extensive a scale 
 to be realized. In proportions only, it excels the cathedral at 
 Valladolid — in beauty of architecture and grace, it cannot com- 
 pare with the latter. It occupies an area of five hundred feel in 
 depth, by four hundred and fifty in width, with a tower that com- 
 mands a view of the entire city, and its suburbs for miles in cir- 
 cumference, including the lakes of Tezcuco, Zumpango, San 
 Christoval, and Chalco. The walls are of immense thickness, 
 and constructed of solid stone, while the deep, tall windows, with 
 their finely painted glass, impart to it rather an inviting appear- 
 ance. Yet one's admiration scarcely commences till he has en- 
 tered within the walls. Here it is that he is awed by the enor- 
 mous wealth and splendor of the interior. In richness of deco- 
 
92 donnavan's adventures 
 
 rations, it must surpass any similar edifice on the continent — at 
 least any tliat I have visited. The main altar, near the centre, is 
 of polished marble, ornamented with solid gold and silver, sur- 
 mounted by numerous images manufactured of the same njaterial, 
 and which, notwitlistanding the costliness of their composition, 
 have to perform the menial service of candle-sticks. Extensive 
 lines oi' balustrades also surround the choir, and images of golden 
 saints and angels are stuck against the walls with a prodigality 
 that would induce the beholder to believe the wealth of empires 
 had here been lavished to gratify the gods. Three costly images 
 of full grown and handsome virgins, clad in petticoats and short 
 aprons, strung with emeralds, pearls, and diamonds, occupy con- 
 spicuous positions, where they receive the addresses and adora- 
 tions of the high and the low, the rich and the poor, notwithstand- 
 ing their countless wealth and aristocratic attire — religion making 
 no distinctions ; they are to be approached by alL 
 
 Among the other pubhc buildings are the Hospital, instituted 
 by Cortez, immediately after the conquest, and which yet stands 
 an admirable monument to the munificence of the great con- 
 queror, the Franciscan Convent, the Public Library, and the Mint. 
 The latter is the most extensive establishment of the kind in the 
 world. It employs 3000 hands, and has coined ^100,000 in a 
 single day. There are to be found among its superintendents 
 several Yankees,, from one of whom I learned the interesting 
 process of coining gold. Most of the gold found in Mexico is 
 brought to this mint to be coined, as silver only is coined at the 
 mines of Valenciana (near Guanajuato,) and Zacatecas. 1 he 
 gold dust is usually melted into bullion before it is brought to the 
 mint ; to find the value, each parcel has to be assayed. The assay- 
 ing is the most curious and scientific business connected with the^ 
 mint. The gold dust being cast into bars, the bars are weighed 
 accurately, and a piece cut off for the assayer, who melts it with 
 double its weight in silver, and three times its weight in lead. It 
 is melted in small, cups made of bone ashes^ which absorb all the 
 lead, while a large portion of silver is extracted by anoihev 
 process, and the sample is then rolled out to a thin shaving, placed 
 in a small vial, called a mattrass, containing nitric acid. The 
 mattrasses are then placed on a furnace, boiled for some time,, 
 when the liquid is renewed, and the process repeated, till the acid 
 has extracted all the silver and other mineral substance,, leaving 
 the sample pure gold. By the difference in the weight before,, 
 and after assaying, the value is estimated. After this the bars 
 are melted, refined, and being mixed with a due proportion of 
 alloy, (equal portions of silver and copper,^ they are drawn inta 
 long strips, cut into round pieces with a sort of punch, and milled,, 
 or the edge slightly raised, when they are placed in a stamping 
 
IN MEXICO. 93 
 
 • 
 
 press, and come forth perfect coins. The mint in the city, as well 
 as other similar establishments, belongs to the government, to 
 which, altogether, they are a great source of revenue. 
 
 The hotels in the city are numerous, and some of them very 
 extensive and well-regulated. I have seldom partaken of more 
 elegant or sumptuous entertainments than at the public house at 
 which I there stopped. The table was loaded with a profusion 
 of meats, fruits, confectionaries, and wines. The services of 
 china were rich and beautiful, and the courses followed each 
 other in succession, perhaps to the amount of ten or fifteen in 
 number. Such of the private dwelling houses as I entered, which 
 were few, although of splendid exterior and spacious apartments, 
 did not seem to be as well furnished as those of the United States 
 usually are in our cities. 
 
 There are three theatres in the city, all of which are nightly 
 thronged. The " Principal," which is visited by the military offi- 
 cers and aristocracy generally, is an edifice of some credit to the 
 drama, but the other two, the " Puente Quebrada," and " Nuevo 
 Mexico," are anything else. I did not visit either, but was in- 
 formed that the representations were, if any thing, in a more 
 deplorable state than the buildings. They constitute, however, 
 the chief source of amusement for a certain class, as bull fights in 
 the city have been almost entirely abandoned. 
 
 The newspaper press of the city might be considered respecta- 
 ble, especially as compared with that of other portions of the re- 
 public. In mechanical execution, some three or four of their 
 journals many be regarded as approaching neatness and lasle. 
 There were seven daily papers published in May, and a new one, 
 the '• El Sol Central," has since been established. Their news- 
 papers, however, do not contain the same variety, nor are they 
 conducted with the ability of ours. Among the first acts of Santa 
 Anna, when he resumed the power of the government, was to 
 annul the law restricting the liberty of the press ; and although 
 nominally free, it was yet held in check by Gomez Farias and 
 Anaya. 
 
 El Repuhlicano, is the oldest, and perhaps the most influential 
 of the newspapers, though none of them exercise anything like 
 the influence over society that papers do in the United States. Its 
 politics are not very remarkable for consistency, yet it has sustained 
 the war party from the commencement with energy and ability. 
 It is supported chiefly by the high functionaries and large propri- 
 etors, and its principal ami seems to be to uphold the existing 
 slate of things. It is the champion of the present, cares little for 
 the past, and less for the future. Instead of rushing into plans 
 of reform, and theories of social melioration, it follows closely ihe 
 progress of events, and shapes its course accordingly. The sub- 
 scription price of El Republicano is ^'15 a year. 
 
9^1* DONNA van's adventures 
 
 Le Courier Francais, printed in the French language, is perhaps 
 the best newspaper in the city. The editor does not indulge much 
 in the political controversies, and official squabbles, which eter- 
 nally agitate the population, but, devotes his sheet almost exclu-- 
 sively to news and Mterature, and has the reputation of giving the 
 *' earliest intelligence." 
 
 J5/ Mo/ii^o?" is conducted with more ability and independence 
 than any of its contemporaries. The editor is always ready to 
 discuss any subject, and he writes with a degree of freedom and 
 ease, peculiar to himself — yet he is full of malice and deception, 
 and plays with his phrases as a juggler does with his balls. He 
 denounces Santa Anna in the most violent and bitter terms. 
 
 Buletin de la Democracia, a new paper by Senor Jimeney,and 
 the especial organ of Gomez Farias, is ably conducted, and has 
 acquired some character both for wit and keen sarcasm, by its 
 frequent collisions with the organ of the peace party. 
 
 El Razonador, the peace paper, presents not only profound and 
 unanswerable arguments, but at times infuses in its politics a 
 degree of railery and cutting criticism, decidedly amusing. It op- 
 poses, and sometimes ridicules, every project or idea advanced by 
 the ministry or provisional government, being careful at all times 
 not to assume a factious attitude, or render itself liable to the re- 
 strictions hanging over it. 
 
 There are other papers, the Diario Gibierno, the Iris Ispanol, 
 &.C., but their characters are of little interest or importance. The 
 sentences of the editor of the former seem to run out of his pen 
 like thread unwinding from a spool — with about as much care, 
 and perhaps as little effect on the public. 
 
 Their literature, like the poor and unpitied lazaroni, who 
 swarm the streets in countless hordes, is in a state of beggary. 
 The inestimable advantages of education have been extended to 
 an inconsiderable portion of the population. The great mass 
 have been doomed to grope through life in the Cimmerian dark- 
 ness of absolute ignorance. Few books are printed — still less 
 are read — as the tendency of society is more to sensual than 
 intellectual enjoyment. 
 
 A transient visitor to this great metropolis is certain to form an 
 exaggerated opinion of its morals, or rather its immorality. The 
 deplorable ignorance of the population — the loose opinions that 
 prevail — the infidelity which totally disregards all obligations of 
 the marriage vow, naturally shock the feelings of those reared 
 under happier influences. There seem to be no kindly and eleva- 
 ted affections to preserve the young from the contaminations of 
 the world into which they are precipitately launched, without a 
 home. There is no sanctuary for virtue like a home — and even 
 in our own land of happy hearths, how many would be lost in the 
 
IN MEXICO. 95 
 
 hour of trial, but for the thoughts of wounding and disgracing 
 those they have there learned to love. Most of the Mexicans, in 
 our sense of the word, have no home. They lodge in hired 
 apartments, and spend their days at the cafes, billiard rooms, lot- 
 teries, and places of public amusement, yet the criminal calendar 
 is not so dark as one would be induced to anticipate from their 
 habits of ignorance and indolence. They are much addicted to 
 gambling and its kindred vices. We are apt to imagine that they 
 have no affinity to us. Such a conclusion is erroneous. 
 
 Man, from his earliest authentic history, and perhaps long be- 
 fore, of whatever grade, clime, or color, has been th» instrument 
 of passion. His chief pursuit is the greatest amount of happi- 
 ness, employing every energy and straining every nerve to reach 
 the fountain from whence he is to be blissfully wafted down the 
 stream of time, or like the drunkard with his bed, taking a longi- 
 tudinal position, and quietly awaiting the revolution of events, 
 which is to bring him ease, and luxury, and repose, as the case 
 may be. However we may differ in habits and the minor rela- 
 tions which serve as teguments to bind up the social compact — 
 the object, aim, and end are the same. The Mexicans eat, sleep, 
 and talk, much as we do, yet their routine of duties and pleasures 
 is quite dissimilar. Indeed, they seem to have no duty but that 
 of pleasure, and while the poorer classes seek it in those hells 
 which abound to a greater or less extent in every city, the streets 
 and roads in the vicinity, at all times, are thronged with the splen- 
 did carriages of the wealthy. 
 
 Among the most pleasant drives in the vicinity, are those to the 
 village of Tacubaya, the country seat of the Presidents, three 
 miles distant, and the Catholic burying ground, two miles beyond 
 the city gates. I visited the latter, according to my universal 
 practice in entering a strange place, as I consider it a matter of 
 some importance to ascertain the extent to which grave yards are 
 patronised. I found it to be a most lovely rural spot, though not 
 to be compared to Mount Auburn, or Greenwood. Yet there is 
 something so striking and peculiar in the construction of a large 
 number of Catholic tombs as at once to challenge our admiration. 
 Instead of monuments or stones, there is erected over each vault, 
 a little chapel, some three or four feet wide, six or eight iil length, 
 and five in height, surmounted by a cross. A neatly grated door 
 in front, and a little stained-glass window in the rear, enables one 
 to see the inscriptions, busts, wreaths of flowers, and other objects 
 within, which usually consist of a chair, a prayer-book, a crucifix, 
 or small image of the Virgin, wax candles, and other conveniences 
 for their forms of devotion and intercession for the departed. 
 Emerging suddenly from the noise and bustle of the city of the 
 living, and catching a first view of these little funeral temples, 
 
9§> donnavan's adventuues 
 
 thickly strewed and dotted over the level plait), the thought irre- 
 sistibly forces itself upon one, that he is traversing the city of the 
 dead. Here are epitaphs in almost every language ; and here, 
 side by side, friends and foes, and the natives of far distant climes, 
 quietly repose in their last long sleep together. 
 
 As a people, the citizens seem more to be actuated by impulse 
 than judgment. There are few conventional forms and enlightened 
 restrictions observed in society ; so that, whatever is said or done, 
 comes from the heart. In their habits and manners, the French 
 forms prevail over all others ; but there is a degree of unaffected 
 politeness peculiarly their own. The ladies are seen only in the 
 streets in the evening, or on holidays, in carriages. Black is the 
 universal color of the dress worn by the Spanish and Mexican 
 lady, and while among the higher classes it is remarkably elegant, 
 generally adorns a very perfect shape, without any of that assis- 
 tance which nature so often receives in our own country. The 
 robe is usually of black velvet, tastefully worked and vandyked. 
 The mantilla, or I'ehoso, is here seen in its highest state of perfec- 
 tion. It is' a kind of veil, of black silk or lace, thrown over the 
 head, and leaving the face uncovered, falls gracefully over the 
 neck and shoulders, and is confined at the waist by the arms of 
 the wearer. Thus clad and standing in her neat, close-fitting, 
 satin shppers, with her face at times half-concealed by a gaudily 
 pictured paper fan, the scientific gyrations of which convey a Ian. 
 guage more eloquent than words, the Mexican lady may be seen 
 at almost any hour of the day among the bright flowers of her bal- 
 cony, often enjoying the luxury of her sigaretto. Every body 
 smokes in the city — man, woman, girl, and boy, almost down to 
 the baby just escaped from the cradle. The men belonging to 
 the higher classes dress in long Spanish cloaks, laced and tasselled, 
 a low crown, broad brimmed white hat when in the streets ; but 
 the greater portion of the males I saw were military officers ; who 
 at that time almost overrun the city, and who were even proof 
 against the appeals made by " El Republicano" to the govern- 
 ment, suggesting the propriety of starling them out to fight the 
 Yankees. 
 
 Upon the whole, the city of Mexico, with a population of at least 
 160,000, presents a motley grouping, with no distinguishing na- 
 tional characteristic, save, perhaps, its 10,000 filthy-looking water 
 carriers, who supply the city with water from the canal ; and its 
 30,000 leperos, wiih that awkward display of pride in rags, which 
 prompts them to resist labor as an indignity, while they regard 
 alms-taking or light-fingering, as praiseworthy accompiisiiments. 
 
IN MEXICO. 97 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Major Borland — Public Sentiment in the City — Departure for Puebla — Pass 
 at Rio Frio — Temple of the Sun — C% of Puebla — Manufactories — Public 
 Buildinscs — Cathedral — Investment of the Citif — Gen. Worth — Disaffection 
 amons; tlie Soldiers — Assassinations — Perote — Army under Gen. Scott — Ja- 
 lapa — Battle-ground of Ccrro Gordo — JVational Road and Bridge — Col. 
 Soivers — Vera Cruz — Castle of San Juan — Passage across the Gulf — 
 Island of Lobos — Arrival in the United Slates — Barry and Cunningham. 
 
 During my brief sojourn in the city of Mexico, I had the pleasure 
 of meeting with Major Borland, one of the Encarnacion prisoners, 
 who was captured with Cassius M. Clay, Major Gaines, and others, 
 and who was then on parole, entitled to the privileges of the city. 
 His was the first familiar face I had encountered for more than 
 seven months, although I had received repeated manifestations of 
 kindness among strangers, upon whose generosity I had no claim. 
 With Major Borland I had been intimately acquainted in 1839, 
 and was employed at that time in his office, when he presided 
 over the editorial columns of the "Western World" newspaper, 
 at Memphis, Tenn. To him I am indebted for numerous courte- 
 sies, and I doubt not that it was through his kind solicitude in my 
 behalf, that a safe conveyance was provided for me to Vera Cruz. 
 Through American citizens and our Consul, he had acquired much 
 information in regard to the condition of parties, and the agitated 
 state of feeling then convulsing the political circles in the capital. 
 
 On the day previous to my arrival, the legislature had cast the 
 vote of the province for Angel Trias (former Governor of Chihua- 
 hua) for President. Santa Anna had arrived from Puebla, and 
 been driven from, the city by the mob. The news of Gen. Worth's 
 occupation of Puebla, of which he had taken possession two days 
 before, had just been received, and the advance of the army under 
 Gen. Scott, upon the city, was confidently anticipated ; though no 
 measure of public defence had yet been considered, and it was 
 asserted that there were only five pieces of artillery there at the 
 command of the authorities. The peace party, and I believe a 
 majority of the better citizens, were looking forward to the occu- 
 pation of the city by the American forces, as their only hope of 
 security against the thieving propensities of the Mexican soldiery, 
 who infested it, without paying that strict regard to the rights of 
 property so desirable to the owners. 
 
 A number of American citizens, who had been engaged in dif- 
 ferent business pursuits, together with the American Consul, were 
 preparing to leave ; and availing myself of the protection aflbrded 
 by the Mexican authorities to this company, as well as the kind 
 
98 donnavan's adventures 
 
 attentions of Mr. Black, I left with them on the morning of the 
 ISth May for Puebla, seventy-six miles east of the capital, on the 
 National Road. 
 
 After passing the gates of the city, the road for several miles is 
 thrown up over the bed originally occupied by the water of the 
 Lake of Tezcuco, and which is now only a flat marsh. For a 
 number of years the waters of the lake have been gradually reced- 
 ing, and only in the rainy seasons is this marsh inundated. The 
 lake itself is ill-sliaped and shallow, containing many islands, and 
 covered with myriads of wih' ducks and other water-fowl ; the 
 delightful illusion of Chinampas, or floating gardens, having totally 
 vanished. 
 
 The road is abroad, smooth, unobstructed thoroughfare, passing 
 between parallel canals and beautiful rows of luxuriant Lombardy 
 poplars. It was not till we had reached the deep ravine of the 
 Cordova Mountain that we passed beyond a view of the towering 
 peaks of Popocatapetl, and Iztaccihuatl, on the south of the city, 
 whose colossal summits are elevated over 17,000 feet above the 
 level of the sea, and are covered with perpetual snow. 
 
 At a distance of thirty-six miles from the capital, we arrived at 
 the small walled garrison of Cordova, in the celebrated pass of 
 Rio Frio. This pass is perhaps a mile and a half in length, being 
 a steep, rugged descent through the mountain of Cordova to the 
 garrison, and at the foot of which winds the small stream of Rio 
 Frio, or Cold River. The place is inhabited by a suspicious look- 
 ing race of beings, whose only occupation is to plunder and assas- 
 sinate. It is situated about midway between the cities of Puebla 
 and Mexico, and is generally made a point or stopping place for 
 the niglit ; but our organs of caution and love of order, prompted 
 *us to seek a shelter at a rancho, some five miles this side. 
 
 On the following day we passed through the ancient city of 
 Cholula, whose ruins have so long been an object of interest to 
 antiquarians. This city, before the conquest, is said to have con- 
 tained a population nearly equal to that of Mexico, but is now 
 reduced to some 5,000. Here may be seen the remains of the 
 temple of the sun, so sacred to the early inhabitants. It is a 
 huge pyramid, 1400 feet square, and 203 feet in height. Its 
 base would, perhaps, cover Washington square in New York, 
 while its summit would rise above the pinnacles of the Univer- 
 sity. It is surrounded by many smaller pyramids, which are said 
 to have been devoted to the worship of the stars. 
 
 On the evening of the second day after our departure, we 
 arrived safely in the city of Puebla, decidedly the most American 
 looking town in all Mexico. It contains a population of 80,000, 
 with broad elegantly paved streets, and handsome stone buildings. 
 The streets are much more cleanly than those of the city of Mex- 
 
IN MEXICO. 99 
 
 ico, and are built up more densely, presenting none of the ragged 
 suburbs which so detract from the beauty of many of the cities in 
 that country. There is also a greater degree of industry among 
 the inhabitants, who wear better clothes, and a more civilized ap- 
 pearance than most of their neighbors, although entitled to less 
 confidence. It is the only city in Mexico where cotton fabrics 
 are manufactured to any extent ; being located on a branch of 
 the Nasca river, affording abundant water privileges. The num- 
 ber of churches and convents is almost innumerable, and the 
 priests constitute about half the population, all of whom are un- 
 scrupulous in their denunciations of Santa Anna, for having taken 
 the liberty to appropriate to his own use a large portion of their 
 golden church ornaments, on his precipitous retreat from the city. 
 Puebla is the capital of the province of the same name, and is a 
 purely Spanish town, having been built since the conquest. Among 
 its most conspicuous public buildings are the Governor's palace, 
 and the great Cathedral, the latter of which is represented to be 
 the richest in the world. Whether this be true or not, it would be 
 a task to undertake to compute the wealth treasured up within its 
 walls. The building, like all the churches there, is of the Gothic 
 style. In looking at these splendid edifices, what most astonishes 
 an American is the beautiful and substantial masonry by which 
 the parts are firmly knit together. The material used in the con- 
 struction of this cathedral is different from that of any other — 
 being a species of pale blue stone, hewn in heavy blocks, supported 
 by huge pillars, which terminate in towers filled with bells. These 
 towers are differently shaped, uniformity seeming to be by no means 
 essential to good looks. But on entering, one is apt to be in- 
 spired with feelings of awe at seeing so much splendor, and so 
 many things the purposes of which he is unable to divine, and 
 which can be regarded only as the relics of a by-gone age — the 
 images of virgins, dressed in rich embroidered satin, with strings 
 of pearls and diamonds dangling down about their knees, and 
 crowns of gold, inlaid with emeralds, around their brOws. But 
 the eye is only arrested by their brilliancy, and confused by the mul- 
 tiplicity of these figures ; and we are led to contrast the strange 
 encounter of splendor and misery by which we are surrounded — 
 the massive marble -altars, surmounted by gold and silver candela- 
 bras, occupied by the numerous priesthood, and the niches filled 
 with statues of golden saints, while the people stand, kneel, or use 
 hired chairs from persons in attendance, and look as if even their 
 hopes of heaven were not their own. In the interior of this im- 
 mense edifice, is another species of ornament which commands 
 attention. It is the profusion of carving in wood, which is to be 
 seen about the choir in the greatest perfection. A large figure of 
 St. Peter is represented in this style most admirably. Depending 
 
100 donnavan's advkntures 
 
 from the centre of the great dome, is a gigantic chandelier of solid 
 gold and silver, exceeding ten tons in weight, and for merely clean- 
 inw which, the -'lamp-lighter" charges the round sum of $4,000. 
 A strange tradition, representing the Angels to have assisted in 
 the erection of this building, at night, imparts to it a degree of 
 veneration, to which, perhaps, no other in the world has ever set 
 up a claim, and which has given to the city the name of " Puebla 
 de los Angelas.'^ 
 
 On the I4ih of May, six days previous to our arrival, Gen. Worth, 
 with about 6,000 men, had taken possession of the city without 
 firing a gun, though there had been repeated assassinations by the 
 Mexicans after the army had taken up its quarters within the walls, 
 and great dissati:!;faction prevailed among the Americans, on ac- 
 count of the lenity which was extended to the perpetrators. In 
 point of personal appearance and military capacity, Gen. Worth 
 is esteemed among the first officers of our army. He is indeed a 
 noble looking specimen of the Anglo-Saxon. Bat he failed to re- 
 concile his men to a policy subjecting them to severe punishment 
 for offences which, committed by their enemies, would have been 
 "winked at." There w^ere open and repeated murmurings among 
 our soldiery, who were compelled to lie in the open air at night, 
 without tents, while they might, by the right of conquest, have 
 occupied at least the public buildings of the city. Besides, some 
 of them were stabbed, or poisoned, almost daily, with impunity; 
 and it became a by-word in the army, that a Mexican was re- 
 warded for what an American would be punished. 
 
 In company with a train under Capt. Varney, I left Puebla on 
 the 23d of May, for Vera Cruz. At Perote we met the army 
 under Gen. Scott, to whom I communicated briefly my own a"d- 
 ventures, and gave him a statement in regard to Mr. Cunningham, 
 whom 1 had left confined at Valladolid. 
 
 The town of Perote is a small place, some distance from the 
 castle of the same name. The sight of this castle brought forci- 
 bly to mind the sufferings endured for years by many of our coun- 
 trymen, who, like myself, had been within the power of a cruel 
 and unfeeling people, and was therefore an object of interest and 
 curiosity. I had always been accustomed to associate with my 
 ideas of this place, a towering castle on a high hill, but was quite 
 disappointed. It is situated upon a broad, sandy plain, several 
 miles in extent, covered with the wreck of volcanic matter. The 
 castle is of stone, strongly built, and commanding ihe country for 
 miles around. The main entrance is tlnough a high wall, which 
 is succeeded by a deep ditch, then another wall, then the castle, 
 mounting a large number of guns of every size. The enclosure 
 is over an acre in extent, and surrounded by two-stoiy buildings, 
 the upper rooms of which had been occupied by officers of the 
 
IN MEXICO. 101 
 
 Mexican army, and the lower ones used as barracks. In the 
 lower part of the castle are the prison cells, which look far more 
 gloomy and uninviting than did the Valladolid printing office, and 
 afforded me the consolation of realizing the fact that I had not 
 been an inhabitant of the worst place on the top of the earth — 
 for men are apt to reason by comparison. No defence was made 
 by the enemy at Perote, notwithstanding the strength of the 
 place, and the army under Gen. Scott were enjoying peaceable 
 possession of the fortress, and preparing to take up the line of 
 march for Puebia, on the 25th of May. 
 
 Between Perote and Jalapa, we passed a splendid hacienda, 
 said to belong to Santa Anna, situated a short distance from, but 
 within plain view of the road. The estate is a very extensive 
 one, delightfully situated, and is said to have been at one time a 
 favorite retreat of the dictator. 
 
 The distance from Perote to Jalapa is thirty-three miles. After 
 passing over five miles of smooth road, handsomely paved or 
 flagged, we reached this picturesque city on the evening of the 
 24th. Jalapa is justly celebrated for the beauty of its women, 
 and its profusion of fruits and flowers. It is located on the back- 
 bone of a ridge, receding to the east and west, and so steep and 
 tortuous are the streets, that a carriage can only pass along the 
 main road. The houses are built of stone, and are of the most 
 tasteful architecture — the only public building of importance is 
 the convent of San Francisco, from the tower of which is a splen- 
 did view of the city of Vera Cruz and the Gulf of Mexico, sixty- 
 six miles distant. It contains 12,000 inhabitants, and is among 
 the most pleasant, healthy, and beautiful cities in Mexico. After 
 the battle of Cerro Gordo, the authorities received the victorious 
 conquerors in a most hospitable manner. 
 
 From the village of Las Viegas, a few miles east from Perote, 
 to Vera Cruz, the road descends more than 7,000 feet. Leaving 
 Jalapa early in the morning, and after alternately climbing over 
 hills and sinking into ravines, we soon came upon the battle-ground 
 of Cerro Gordo, situated nearly midway between that city and 
 the National Bridge. The scene of this great triumph of Amer- 
 ican arms is a sort of double ridge, on the summit of the west- 
 ern elevation of which the enemy was fortified. So that to make 
 a successful attack, our army had first to rush down a precipice, 
 then climb to the brow of a succeeding one, in the very mouth of 
 the cannon of the enemy. The history of this fierce and desper- 
 ate conflict, and the amusing manner in which Santa Anna de- 
 camped, leaving his carriage, preserved meats, and flavored Ha- 
 vanas, like Joseph's, at Vittoria, to the spoil of the victors, is well 
 known to the country ; yet the unspeakable horrors wiiich sur- 
 ro unded the scene even a month after the engagement, can scarcely 
 9 
 
102 DONNA van's adventures 
 
 be conceived. The gorge of the ravine was clogged up with the 
 half-naked bones of the dead bodies of the flower of the Mexi- 
 can army, over which black clouds of buzzards were hovering, 
 eager for the banquet. The enemy had no time to halt to per- 
 form the last sad duty for their fallen comrades, and while some 
 were left as food for the vulture, others who had been so wounded 
 as to be unable to escape, had been taken to the hospitals, where 
 their agonizing groans fell upon the ear like low, hollow sounds 
 from the charnel-house. The Mexican cannot face danger and 
 meet death like the Yankee. He may possess that impetuosity 
 which is sufficient only to impel him to a single and desperate 
 charge, but he has not the lasting courage to meet the fatigues 
 and dangers of a tedious conflict, where men are required to over- 
 come natural obstacles, and rush onward while death is raining 
 among their ranks. And even after the excitement of the battle, 
 when the blood becomes cool, and the energies relaxed — a time 
 when the sick and wounded are expected to murmur and com- 
 plain — while the American bears his sufferings with a manly for- 
 titude, the poor Mexican, in his misery, will be found raving like 
 a maniac. 
 
 The Puente Nacional, or National Bridge, across the Antigua 
 river, some thirty miles from Vera Cruz, is a massive work of 
 stone. This was once a strong fortification, the ruins of which 
 may yet be seen on the adjoining hills. About two miles on the 
 other side of the bridge we saw the broken diligence of Col. 
 Sowers, who was killed with seven of his escort, by a guerrilla 
 party, on the day previous to our passing the bridge. Col. Sow- 
 ers was bearer of despatches from Washington to Gen. Scott. 
 
 The National road, leading from Vera Cruz to the city of Mex- 
 ico, is a thoroughfare which would be creditable to the enterprise 
 of any country ; it is broad, in places well graded, and McAdam- 
 ized. Passing through Santa Fe, a small village on a stream 
 about ten miles from Vera Cruz, we arrived at the latter place 
 early in the evening of May 26. The train with which I came 
 from Puebla consisted of fifty-six men. 
 
 As no vessel was to leave Vera Cruz for some days, I awaited 
 the arrival of the James L. Day, Capt. Wood. The vomito was 
 raging among several companies of volunteers. The war-worn 
 veterans from Illinois were there, straggling back in squads from 
 Cerro Gordo, and they presented a most sad appearance. They 
 looked like any thing else than " revellers in the halls of the Mon- 
 tezumas," and worn down by sickness and fatigue, were the mere 
 shadows of men. Among their trophies, was a splendid brass 
 six-pounder, to be sent to the State of Illinois as a present in 
 token of the gallantry of her sons. 
 
 Vera Cruz extends more than two miles along the sandy coast 
 
"7;TTF/- 
 
 IN MEXICO. 103 
 
 of the Gulf. It was once the greatest commercial city on the 
 American continent, but is now left far in the rear of many rivals, 
 having declined since the revolution with Spain. Its streets are 
 well paved, and seemed quite cleanly. The walls of the city are 
 constructed of coral rock, and are very thick, with a fort at each 
 extremity of the water front, where parapet guns have been placed. 
 The city contains a population of 8,000, and is supplied with 
 water from cisterns. The Governor's Palace in Vera Cruz is a 
 fine public building, but the plaza on which it is situated is the 
 most diminutive I saw in any of the towns of Mexico. The city 
 presented a sad and ragged picture, a large number of the build- 
 ings having been demolished during the bombardment. The dis- 
 tance from Vera Cruz to Mexico is 280 miles. 
 
 The castle of San Juan de Ulloa is built on an island of rock, 
 more than half a mile from the shore, fronting the city. The 
 depth of the water between the island and the shore is many 
 fathoms, so that vessels lie there in perfect safety. Boats are con- 
 tinually passing and repassing between the island and the shore. 
 The castle occupies the entire island, forming an enclosure of 
 about twelve acres, almost square. Massive walls of masonry 
 compose the outer works, which are so high that inclined planes- 
 are constructed within, so as to facilitate the ascent of oxen with' 
 their heavy ordnance. There are, within this enclosure, more than 
 twenty fortresses, each independent of the other, and elevated' 
 above the outer wall. These fortresses are mounted with batter- 
 ies, and arranged so as not to interfere with each other when ewi^ 
 ployed in the defence of the castle. The basements are occupied! 
 as stores, and in time of peace a lively trade is carried on. Thus 
 the appearance of a small walled city is imparted to the interior, 
 with its paved sidewalks, and stores. Should the enemy gain the 
 outer wall, these store rooms can be converted into batteries, by 
 letting the guns down from above. Within the walls there are 
 cisterns, sufficiently commodious to contain a year's supply of 
 water, besides wells for the powder magazines, where that article 
 is placed beyond the reach of bombs. The castle is said to have 
 cost forty thousand dollars, and when built by Spain, was consid- 
 ered impregnable. 
 
 On the morning of June 3d, comfortably situated on the James 
 L. Day, we pushed out into the Gulf, leaving the numerous spires 
 of Vera Cruz to fade away in the horizon — and on the succeed- 
 ing morning, upon going on deck, I found the " Day " anchored 
 off the fairy-like island of Lobos, where ^she had been driven in 
 the night by a slight gale. This island, about two miles in cir- 
 cumference, ten from the shore, and one hundred and forty miles 
 from Vera Cruz, is formed entirely of coral, studded with banyan 
 trees, and vines of luxuriant growth, covered with flowers of the 
 
104 DONNAVAPr'S ADVENTURES. 
 
 most mellifluj|us odors. Taking an easterly direction from Lobos, 
 the vessel arrived at New Orleans on the 10th of June, where 
 after an absence of fourteen months, and after travelling sixteen 
 hundred miles through the interior of Mexico, I again found my- 
 self /ree, and on my native shores, quite satisfied with what 1 had 
 seen of the elephant. 
 
 I here learned that my friend Dr. Barry, with the Zacatecan 
 prisoners, had made his escape from Acapulco — that he had 
 arrived in New Orleans some two months before me, where by 
 letter he communicated to my friends the first information they 
 received of our fate. It is presumed that Mr. Cunningham is 
 yet where I left him, in Valladolid, amusing himself with the 
 Spanish type, and the fair Policarpa : at least I have had no in- 
 telligence from him, since the memorable night of my unceremo- 
 nious elopement. * 
 
 It may be thought strange that I did not attempt to facilitate 
 'his escape, at the time of my own departure. But the reader 
 -must recollect that I have already stated the fact of our occupy- 
 ing separate rooms, and in such an adventure 1 might myself have 
 been detected. Besides, it was a question in mind, whether he 
 would be wilhng to resign his dear senorita, for nothing so domes- 
 riicates a man as love. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ..Mexico — Extentof Territory — Soil — Climate — Maguey Plant — Cochineal 
 
 — Vanilla — Cotton and Sugar — Potatoes — Chili — Timber — Walef — 
 I Tobacco — Commerce — Conquest — Revolution — Independence — Influence 
 
 and Wealth of the Priesthood — Santa Anna — Gen. Almonte — Gomez Farias 
 
 — Gen. Herrera — Senor Aleman — Education — The War — Manner of Con- 
 ducting it — Destiny. 
 
 The Republic of Mexico is composed of twenty provinces, or 
 states — Tamaulipas, New Leon, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Sonora 
 and Sinaloa, Durango, Jalisco, Aguescalientes, Zacatecas, San Luis 
 Potosi, Q-ueretaro, Guanajuato, Mechoacan, Colima, Mexico, Pue- 
 bla, Vera Cruz, Oajaca, Tobasco, and Chiapas. Besides these 
 might be included the dependencies of New Mexico and Califor- 
 nia. In extent of territory, they may be compared to the states of 
 our union, yet they are generally larger ; the whole extending from 
 latitude 16 to 33 1-2, and forming a line of coast on the Pacific 
 and Gulf of California, 3000 miles in length, bounded on the east 
 and north by the Gulf of Mexico, and the Rio Grande. The dis- 
 tance from the shores of the Gulf to those, of the Pacific varies 
 
IN MEXICO. 105 
 
 from 1000 to 1200 miles, including an area of some 1,600,000 
 square miles, and a population, according to their own estimate, of 
 twelve millions. 
 
 During his involuntary tour through the country, the author 
 visited twelve of these provinces — Tamaulipas, New Leon, Coa- 
 huila, Zacatecas, Aguescalientes, San Luis Potosi, Guanajuato, 
 Mechoacan, Queretaro, Mexico, Puebla, and Vera Cruz, situated 
 in the very heart, and richest region of the republic, and present- 
 ing every variety of surface, soil, and climate. The two great 
 chains of the Cordillera mountains, the Sierra Madre and Sierre 
 Santa, being a continuation of the Andes of South America, 
 diverging from the isthmus, stretch across the country near its 
 eastern and western borders, the former gradually diminishing in 
 the hills of Coahuila, while the latter continues and connects it- 
 self with the Rocky Mountains of Oregon. Between these two 
 great ranges, is included what is termed the table lands of Mexi- 
 co, at an elevation of from 4000 to 8000 feet above the level of 
 the sea. These table lands comprise over three-fifths of the whole 
 territory, and although varying in altitude, frequently stretch out 
 in broad plains and prairies, unsurpassed in fertility of soil. 
 
 There has been so much said and written in regard to the cli- 
 mate of Mexico, that little can be added which will not assume 
 the appearance of repetition. Yet those who have been beneath 
 its sunny skies and inhaled its balmy atmosphere, receive impres- 
 sions differing immaterially in the abstract, and degrees of admi- 
 ration ; while few can repress a disposition to record the emotions 
 to which any warm and genial clime intuitively gives birth. 
 
 In the construction of their dwellings, such an appendage as a 
 chimney, or fire-place, is not thought of, and the very necessary 
 and essential domestic duty of cooking is performed out of doors, 
 in the yard or streets. In the streets of all the cities, the eye 
 meets the daily spectacle of the poorer, houseless and homeless 
 part of the population, cooking their scanty fare, on small furna- 
 ces erected for the purpose. This, more than anything else, will 
 serve to explain the nature of the temperature. 
 
 The climate seems to be influenced more by altitude than lati- 
 tude, the three grand divisions of elevation above the level of the 
 sea, presenting in all parts of the country about the same degree 
 of temperature, and producing the same species of vegetation. 
 Between Vera Cruz and Perote, a distance of one hundred miles, 
 almost the same variety and gradation of climate will be observed 
 as in travelling from the equator to the arctic circle, that is, if one 
 have the curiosity to ascend to the snowy peak of Oriziba, near 
 the latter place, the summit of which is covered with perpetual 
 snow. 
 
 Tierras Calientes includes the low lands on the coast, where 
 
106 donnavan's adventures 
 
 the climate is excessively hot, and adapted to the production of 
 sugar, coffee, indigo, cotton, rice, cocoa, cochineal, oranges, ban- 
 anas, olives, and every variety of tropical fruits. To the decom- 
 position of the rank vegetable substances of this region is attrib- 
 uted the cause of the epidemic called vomito, so fatal to the 
 health and life of both natives and visitors. 
 
 Tierras Templadas includes the vast table lands, in which the 
 climate seldom varies more than ten degrees during the entire 
 round of the seasons, and where one eternal spring reigns unbro- 
 ken. In less elevated portions of this region, most of the tropical 
 fruits are produced, though it is better adapted to such growths as 
 corn, maguey, tobacco, chili, peaches, cherries, melons, strawber- 
 ries, &c. Three and four crops of corn are here produced in 
 one year, and as a consequence, it is cultivated to a greater extent 
 than any other grain, affording the chief article of food for the 
 population. Green corn is to be seen as well in December, Janu- 
 ary, and February, as in June, July and August. 
 
 Tierras Frias is the still higher region, or mountain slopes, and 
 subject to greater variations of temperature. Wheat, rye, oats, 
 barley, potatoes, &c., constitute the chief productions of this di-" 
 vision, which is usually covered with large oak and pine timber, as 
 high as twelve thousand feet above the level of the sea. 
 
 Among the most remarkable productions of Mexico, with which 
 we are unfamiliar in the United States, may be mentioned the 
 maguey plant and cochineal. The maguey is produced in every 
 degree of temperature, and is uninjured by heat, cold, or drought. 
 In the best soil, it grows to an enormous size, from twenty to 
 thirty feet high, and will often measure around the trunk as much 
 as three feet in circumference. It generally arrives to maturityin 
 five years, in the tierras calientes, but in the tierras frias it sel- 
 dom ripens short of twenty years. After flowering, the top is cut 
 off, the soft substance or pulp removed from the interior, so as to 
 form a kind of bowl, in which daily accumulates some two gallons 
 of mucilaginous acid, during a period of five or six months. Upon 
 fermentation, this becomes what is termed by the natives pulque, 
 and which, by a process of distillation, is made into whisky. The 
 population in many districts, where there is no water, use this 
 only, as a beverage. At first, it has a most disgusting taste, and 
 still worse smell, but one will soon become accustomed to it. From 
 the fibrous substance contained in the bark and leaves of the ma- 
 guey, paper, ropes, and even clothing are sometimes manufactured. 
 The root when properly prepared, is a most palatable and nutri- 
 tious diet ; while the thorns of its leaves serve as pins for the 
 ladies' garments. The maguey is regarded as the most profitable 
 growth in the country ; and where alone cultivated, on extensive 
 haciendas, often yields a yearly income to the proprietors of fifty 
 thousand dollars. 
 
IN MEXICO. 107 
 
 Cochineal is a production of the nopal, a plant of the cactus 
 species, which is cultivated in rows, like Indian corn. On every 
 leaf of the nopal is pinned a short piece of hollow cane, in which 
 a number of the insects are confined, where, as they multiply, the 
 young ones crawl out and take up a permanent residence on the 
 leaf of their nativity, upon which they feed. At the close of the 
 dry season, these insects are brushed from the dead leaves, and 
 dried. The cochineal is an insect little larger than a common 
 tick, and in early times was supposed to be the seed of the plant 
 — it is used in dyeing silks, for which the female is alone valuable, 
 and is in some of the provinces of Mexico extensively raised for 
 exportation. Vanilla, which is used in the manufacture of choco- 
 late, and various luxuries, grows spontaneonsly. 
 
 The table lands of Mexico will produce almost every species of 
 vegetation, in a higher state of perfection and greater abundance 
 than any other portion of the North American continent ; yet se- 
 duced by the great wealth of her mineral resources, the population 
 bestow little attention upon agriculture. Cotton and sugar will, 
 doubtless, at some future day, form the staple productions of these 
 lands, which, with the exception of an occasional sandy desert, 
 under proper cultivation, might be made to yield abundant har- 
 vests. As yet, neither of these articles have been grown to a suf- 
 ficient extent to supply the home demand — the cotton crop 
 never exceeding 90,000 bales. The low lands are well adapted 
 to the production of rice, and if ever cultivated extensively, will 
 perhaps be appropriated to that purpose. 
 
 What is usually called the Irish potatoe, is a native of Mexico, 
 and was first found there after the discovery of America. It has 
 a prolific yield, but the varieties are not so numerous as in this 
 country, where attention has been given to its improvement and 
 culture. 
 
 Chili, the small red pepper, grows spontaneously, and is also 
 cultivated as an indispensable article of diet. An almost incon- 
 ceivable amount of it is consumed by the inhabitants, who devour 
 the pods by the dozen, in their primitive state, besides using it 
 in nearly every dish they eat. 
 
 In most regions the timber is of a low, shaggy growth, though 
 groves of pine, cedar, cypress, and oak, are often to be found grow- 
 ing as large as in any country. Such a spectacle as a rail fence 
 never meets the eye — the inclosures all being made of hedge, for 
 which most of the stunted, thorny growth, and maguey, seems pur- 
 posely adapted, the contrast between the long lines of deep tangled 
 shrubbery and vines, decked with wild flowers, and the dull, lifeless- 
 looking rail fences of the United States, deeply impresses one with 
 admiration for the former. 
 
 I was not prepared to find water so plentiful as it really is, from 
 
108 donnavan's adventures 
 
 the accounts I had previously read of the country ; and in only one 
 instance, during our entire journey, did I suffer from thirst. 
 This was in a sandy desert in Coahuila, where we found no water 
 in three days' travel. Rain seldom falls in Mexico except in July, 
 August, and September ; these months are called the rainy season, 
 during which time a large amount of water falls in showers, or 
 steady rains, of almost daily occurrence. As a consequence, arti- 
 ficial irrigation becomes necessary, but there are few districts of any 
 considerable extent which could not, by the construction of simple 
 hydraulic works, be sufficiently supplied with water, the only ma- 
 nure required, to produce at least one hundred and fifty bushels of 
 corn to the single acre, annually. 
 
 Tobacco is produced in large quantities, in many of the provinces, 
 but this is a governnient monopoly, the leaf, when cured and baled, 
 being purchased of the growers at a price fixed by the government. 
 It is collected in warehouses in the different districts, and conveyed 
 to the capital, where a segar manufactory, sufficiently extensive to 
 supply that article to the whole population, is carried on under the 
 supervision of the government. 
 
 Notwithstanding the immense wealth of the country, its com- 
 merce is limited and diminutive. Its chief exports are confined to 
 the precious metals, furnished from some twenty or thirty mining 
 districts, and which have produced annually from ^20,000,000 to 
 ^'25,000,000 in gold and silver. A n inconsiderable trade has been 
 carried on in the article of cochineal, indigo, logwood, jalap, and 
 vanilla, but including all, the annual exports have never risen above 
 ^20,000,000, while the imports have never exceeded ^15,000,000. 
 Owing to the vascillating character of the government, and the in- 
 ordinate thirst for gold, which has always characterized its officers 
 and people, and which still exists, an immense contraband trade, 
 so fatal to legitimate commerce, is kept up, under every change of 
 rulers. Large amounts of bullion from Zacatecas and other mining 
 districts, are smuggled out of ports on the Pacific, while various 
 articles of merchandise from foreign countries are received with 
 unblushing impunity, through the bribery and the infidelity of cus- 
 tom-house officers, whose ideas of " tariff" and " free trade " are 
 of such convenience as generally to conform to their own interests. 
 
 The precise amount of the population of Mexico is difficult to 
 determine. At present the inliabiiants estimate it at from ten to 
 twelve millions, though no census has been taken for a number of 
 years. The population is made up of almost every color. The 
 pale face maintains its aristocracy among all, although the negroes 
 are allowed to vote. Few of the male population are to be found 
 without the tinge of a fair mulatto, though his blood be pure, which 
 is attributed to the influence of the climate and atmosphere. The 
 ladies of pure blood are often very nearly as fair as our own. The 
 
IN MEXICO. 109 
 
 white population is not numerous, and will not amount to over one 
 million in the whole country. Descending one degree below the 
 white is the Mestizoe, made up of a great variety, white, Indian, 
 and negro. Of this class there is over three millions. Next is the 
 Zamboo, a progeny of the Indian and negro, which class, with the 
 Indians, negroes, and quarteroons, make up the balance of the pop- 
 ulation. Of the negro race there is not over one hundred thousand, 
 while the Indians, who are often the best citizens of the country, 
 number five millions. The difference in the dialects of the people 
 in the different provinces, is about the same as that in the shires of 
 England — and it is sometimes with difficulty that they can under- 
 stand each other. 
 
 It has been no part of the author's object to enter into the early 
 history of Mexico. To those who desire such a work, reliable in 
 fact and detail, he would recommend that of the great historian, 
 Prescott. The early conquest of Mexico by Cortez is a dreamy 
 story even of school-boy days. The city of golden idols, hu- 
 man hecatombs, a populous empire, and the overthrow of the un- 
 fortunate Montezuma, has often risen up to our vision like the 
 incredible and enchanted scenes of the Arabian Knights. The 
 country was then inhabited by the aborigines, who had so far ad- 
 vanced in civilization as to build a greater and more splendid city 
 than now occupies its place — the work of their conquerors. In 
 1521, when Spain in her turn, enjoyed fier proud supererogative of 
 power, the banners of her cross floated in triumph from the heathen 
 temples of the natives, who, knowing nothing better or sublimer 
 to adore, worshipped the sun, as their more enlightened but heart- 
 less invaders did the living God. For three hundred years her 
 power thus attained, vfas acknowledged and respected in the colony 
 by a people, who, accustomed only to the tyranny of rulers, and 
 living in an enervating climate — occupying a country whose 
 wealth was beyond computation — were lured into ease and luxury 
 — who, with no impetus to stimulate their energies, and mingling 
 promiscuously with the aborigines, gradually retrograded in the 
 scale of intelligence, till they began more to represent the natives 
 they had vanquished, than the conquerors from whom they were 
 descended. That there were exceptions — men who thought and 
 felt that their country was retrograding, rather than advancing with 
 the spirit of the age and times, is doubtless true — but they were 
 allied more to the slavery of the church, than to civil liberty. Stim- 
 ulated by some motive, for the purity of which his own soul is 
 perhaps Responsible, in 1810, the slight murmurs of insurrection 
 which were kindling to a flame, burst into open revolt through 
 Don Minguel Hidalgo, a Catholic priest of Dolores ; who, at the 
 head of a large army, raised under the standard of the " Virgin of 
 Guadaloupe," commenced the work which finally resulted in eman- 
 
110 donnavan's adventures 
 
 cipating his country from the thraldom of Spanish rule. He met 
 the fate which all the pioneers in a great cause are almost certain 
 to encounter. After a short career, in which his success was bril- 
 liant, he was betrayed and beheaded. Other Generals arose in his 
 place, among whom may be mentioned Morelos, Guerrero, Victoria, 
 and Matamoras, and for a period of nearly three years a fierce and 
 sanguinary war pervaded the whole land. But from 1813 to 
 1820, peculiar circumstances operated to retard the progress of the 
 country towards independence, to lengthen out their struggle with 
 Spain, and to produce opposite parties, divisions in sentiment, chi- 
 merical or false principled notions, and even the horrors of civil 
 war itself. 
 
 The vast territory was, and is even yet, thinly inhabited, by a 
 population confined principally to the towns and cities, then divided 
 into capitanias, or viceroyalties, having little or no mutual com- 
 munication, or means of concerting combined resistance to Spain. 
 The people themselves, as a body, being deplorably ignorant, and 
 divided into numerous castes, all of whom opposed each other, 
 either from feeling or interest, could not unite in a common cause. 
 Yet they had all contracted a habit of obeying Spanish princes ; 
 for no where had the maxim of passive obedience and the divine 
 right of kings been so earnestly inculcated by all the power of the 
 priesthood. Second only to the clergy, in means of influence, 
 were the Castilians, or European Spaniards, whose power and 
 riches were, of course, actively engaged in sustaining the author- 
 ity of Spain ; and by engrossing all the important offices, they 
 deprived the Creoles, or those of Mexican birth, of any opportunity 
 for obtaining 'the required qualifications for public employments. 
 Such are the gradual encroachments of tyrafiny, tamely submitted 
 to, that were it unrestricted by a mightier power, would steal away 
 both body and soul. Besides, Mexico had so long enjoyed a pro- 
 found peace, that its inhabitants possessed little more military 
 knowledge than did the Aztec race, whom their ancestors had de- 
 throned. They were even destitute of arms and nmnitions of war ; 
 all these being in the arsenals of the government, or in the hands 
 of tlie small body of troops, which it maintained in convenient 
 stations upon the sea-coast. Owing to these unfortunate circum- 
 stances in their condition, they had the whole structure of inde- 
 pendence to begin from its very foundation. Those who are 
 familiar with the history of the revolution in Mexico, and in the 
 several governments of South America, will readily call to mind 
 the untoward events produced by the circumstances here^dverted 
 to. Yet in the dark hours of their adversity, the free world did 
 not fail to sympathize with them, and numbers of our own country- 
 men left their homes and firesides to join them in their struggle 
 for independence. In fact, perhaps no other circumstance exer- 
 
IN MEXICO. 1 1 1 
 
 * 
 
 cised so powerful an influence to prompt the thinking and well 
 informed inhabitants of Mexico to long for liberty, as the example 
 of the United States of North America. It was truly a most bril- 
 liant and alluring spectacle, that of a new people rending asunder 
 the strong ties that had bound them to England, and who had 
 rendered themselves independent — who, organized as a great re- 
 public, enjoyed the most perfect liberty which man can possess in 
 the social state — who, under wise and beneficent institutions,had 
 prospered and augmented with astonishing rapidity — who, in fine, 
 were Americans, more recently settled on the continent than those 
 who held the soil in Mexico, and who seemed destined to the same 
 high career with their brethren of the North, could they but estab- 
 lish their independence of Spain. It was impossible that these 
 ideas should not spread with celerity among intelligent Mexicans, 
 and that they should not prepare the elements of a wide confla- 
 gration. 
 
 After a struggle of eleven years, through the disorganization of 
 the mother country itself, Mexico became independent — inde- 
 pendent of Spain, yet their emancipation brought with it little else 
 than confusion and anarchy. The want of intelligence, of popu- 
 lation, of resources, made several provinces mere dead limbs for a 
 union, even had one been contemplated ; and a Central govern- 
 ment, entitled the " Plan of Iguala," was adopted ; and through 
 dissensions among the demagogical leaders of factions, Iturbide, 
 by his own intrigues, sustained by the influence of the church, as- 
 cended the throne. He had not long worn his " royal robes," 
 however, till in his turn he was compelled not only to abdicate his 
 place, but was banished from his country, and finally executed on 
 his return in 1824. In the same year, what is called the federal 
 constitution was adopted, modelled principally from that of the 
 United States, excluding the provision which recognizes the right 
 of trial by jury, and establishing a provision recognizing the Cath- 
 olic as the only religion of the country. It entitles all citizens of 
 whatever grade or color, to the right of suff'rage — yet this is a 
 mere formality — a mockery to the sovereignty of the mass, where 
 the church wields the supreme power. The priesthood of Mexico, 
 including the monks and nuns, amounts to about ten thousand 
 persons, and the combined wealth of the clergy is estimated at 
 $200,000,000. No chapel dedicated to any other faith is to be 
 found or suffered to exist in the country, and the Catholic priest- 
 hood have unlimited control of both soul and body. Owning more 
 than half of the property and wealth of the country, they are of 
 course entitled to the exercise of the privilege entailed upon their 
 possessions, of giving to the people their manners and morals ; and 
 to their examples in the cities, may be justly attributed many of 
 the vices which prevail among their ignorant followers. To repeat 
 
112 donnavan's adventures 
 
 here the profligate indulgences attributed to the city priesthood, 
 would be too great an infringement upon all rules of modesty ; 
 yet their licentiousness is no more a secret there, than the open 
 and unblushing manner in which they visit the degraded haunts 
 of gaming houses, cafes, and other resorts of infamy, to sanction 
 their corruptions and participate in their amusements. 
 
 It is proper here to remark, that the curas or country clergy, 
 sustain quite the opposite character from their city brethren ; and 
 besides being pious and devotional in their habits, exercise a kind 
 of monitorial supervision over those placed under their pastoral 
 charge, and who regard them with a high degree of veneration — 
 asking and following their advice in all things. Indeed, the con- 
 duct of many of the curas is characterized by a degree of gene- 
 rosity and kindness to the poor, worthy to be imitated in our own 
 enlightened land. 
 
 It is a great mistake in those who have propagated the idea, 
 that the clergy of the city of Mexico court the approach of the 
 American army as a means of security to their church treasures. 
 If there is anything sacred in the eyes of a Mexican, (a problem 
 which has not yet been satisfactorily solved,) be he ranchero, 
 brigand, or lepero,jit is his religion and the property of his church. 
 Whatever may have been the revolutions — whatever may be — 
 the church has been, aud will continue to be, safe from direct 
 spoliation. 
 
 We may talk as we please of Mexico, and sticklers entertaining 
 circumscribed views, may deplore as they will her loss of inde- 
 pendence and nationality — yet what is that independence, what 
 that nationality ? The only independence studied is, how to live 
 independent of labor, while their nationality is in the hands of^ 
 demagogues, entertaining no sympathy for the ignorant mass, and 
 who would sell their country, rather than submit to innovations 
 recognizing an equality of rights. In looking upon the Mexican race 
 as it now exists, knowing nothing of it, one would be tempted to 
 ask, by what accident of birth or circumstance they exhibit so gro- 
 tesque a character in so serious a drama — at first contending for 
 empire and honor, then for independence and nationality ! This 
 apparent inconsistency is all explained, however, upon acquiring a 
 knowledge of their condition. Their government, as it has ever 
 been, since the date of the revolution, is without energy — without 
 stability — destitute of moral honesty and means. Party spirit, 
 unlike the cool and calculating collisions of sentiment which often 
 agitate our own body politic, divides her citizens — discord waves 
 her incendiary torch — anarchy and confusion exist among them- 
 selves, and their soldiery are left unprovided and uncared for ; as 
 the church, being the treasury, can make no disbursements till it 
 ascertains which is the stronger and most likely to succeed of the 
 
IN MEXICO. 113 
 
 factions. The monster, party spirit, so rocked and cherished in 
 the cradle of their revolution, is now grown to full manhood, and 
 convulses all who are at all susceptible to such influences ; and the 
 invasion of their territory, wjiich should brinjsj out all the patriotic 
 energies of man, has best convinced the world of their weakness, 
 egotism, cowardice, and Iruculence, according to the various 
 changes of the scenes. 
 
 Santa Anna has long been the ruling spirit of the land, and 
 with all his cruelty and pomposity, possesses a stronger intellect 
 and a more perfect knowledge of the nature and disposition of his 
 people, than any man in Mexico. His prominent trait of charac- 
 ter has seemed to be to create expectations which he never intend- 
 ed to fulfil ; but possessing the tact to turn every thing to his ad- 
 vantage in the end, has been the secret of his success. He is 
 known to be a deceiver ; yet he knows how to deceive. And 
 where there is a total lack of confidence in all. the choice among 
 rogues generally devolves upon the most accomplished among 
 them. 
 
 Gen. Almonte, who was arrested and confined in prison last 
 May, in his own country, on a pretended charge of having com- 
 promised his position, by making certain disclosures and overtures 
 to the United States, is the first, in point of ability, and perhaps 
 the only honest public man in Mexico. Almonte has spent much 
 of his life in the United Slates, and was long the Minister of 
 Mexico to our government at Washington. He is the illicit son 
 of Morelos, one of the most distinguished of the revolutionary 
 Generals, who fell in the defence of his country. His intellect is 
 highly cultivated, and he possesses all the qualities of a polished 
 gentleman. 
 
 Gomez Farias, the scenes of whose life and career have been 
 chequered with events much after the fashion of Santa Anna, is 
 a man of deep thought. The cause of his being superceded by 
 Anaya, as Provisional President, was owing to his proposition to 
 tax the church property. Had he been sustained in making his 
 proposed levies, the Mexican government would have presented a 
 more vigorous resistance at Vera Cruz — a more numerous and 
 better provided army at Buena Vista — a more effective plan and 
 a more vigorous defence at Cerro Gordo — and altogether a far 
 more serious resistance than has attended the overthrow of Farias 
 and his plans. 
 
 Gen. Herrera, recently a prominent candidate for the Presi- 
 dency, is a great favorite of the church party, and in the absence 
 of Santa Anna, would doubtless exercise a controlling influence. 
 During the canvass, he was represented as the peace candidate, 
 but would in the event of his elevation be subject to the control 
 of the clergy. 
 
Il4 donNavan's adventures 
 
 Senor Aleraan is among the most influential men in the country, 
 especially among the priesthood, over which he exercises almost 
 absolute control. Reports were currently circulated, that Aleman, 
 in behalf of the church, had opened a correspondence with the 
 European powers, in regard to forming an alliance, by which some 
 prince from the other side of the water, was to be elevated to the 
 throne of Mexico. Reports and surmises of this character, are 
 often the creations of political speculators ; though this was suffi- 
 ciently plausible to receive general credence, and seemed to sur- 
 prise no one in Mexico. 
 
 Generals Ampudia, Arista, Ricon, Bravo, &-c., are men of cred- 
 itable capacities, but possess none of those prominent traits of char- 
 acter calculated to distinguish them, with all their opportunities. 
 
 Generals Sallus, Valencia, Requina, and a host of others, con- 
 stitute the third class of the " great men " of the republic, and 
 who have perhaps never imbibed an idea beyond their individual 
 preferment and egotistical self-conceit. 
 
 It should not be supposed that among the private circles of so- 
 ciety in Mexico, there are no men of cultivated manners, refined 
 taste, and profound intellect. This would be an anomaly indeed, 
 in a population of at least 10,000,000. As profound scholars,as 
 accomplished gentlemen, and as hospitable hearts, may here be' 
 found, as in almost any quarter of the globe ; yet their number is 
 comparatively limited, and out of the entire population, perhaps 
 not one hundred thousand, or one of every one hundred, can 
 read. Here lies the great secret of their misfortunes. And it is 
 not an uncommon spectacle in all the cities, to see among the 
 multitudes who crowd the streets, confidential scribes, supplied 
 with a stool and writing apparatus, whose business it is to indite 
 letters to order for the ignorant population, who keep them profit? 
 ably employed. There are no schools for the mass ! 
 
 Under such a state of things what apparent folly it seems 4o be, 
 among our tenacious politicians of any party, to grieve about the 
 dismemberment of a neighboring republic ! However the war 
 may terminate, God has doubtless designed it for the accomplish- 
 ment of his own high purposes. If any part of those purposes be 
 to open a new era upon this China of the new world, it is already 
 accomplished in embryo. That philanthropy which would pre- 
 scribe the blessings of enlightened liberty to certain limits, deserves 
 not the name ; and there is a narrow selfishness far behind the 
 age, in the policy which would justify us in the tame enjoyment 
 of the freest government on earth, while our nearest neighbors are 
 sunk in the very depths of ignorance and vice — not even per- 
 mitted to choose a God to worship ! That the war has cost 
 treasures, perils, and lives, no one will deny — yet it will produce 
 new treasures, happiness, and new life ! 
 
IN MEXICO. ]15 
 
 The justness or the injustice of the war is a fit subject for pol- 
 iticians to quarrel about, and may be decided by those whose 
 knowledge of international law will qualify them to render a satis- 
 factory verdict ; though the propriety of arguing the question, and 
 openly advocating the cause of the enemy during the existence of 
 hostilities, may be doubted. 
 
 The expediency of such a course of conduct is certainly ques- 
 tionable ; for an enemy who knows nothing of our institutions, 
 and who very naturally judges the dispositions of men and 
 governments by comparisons at home, arrives at the very plau- 
 sible conclusion, that serious dissensions exist ; and but for this 
 simple fact, there is little doubt that the war, so much regretted 
 by these very men, would now have been terminated. Like most 
 • foreigners, they misconceive the nature of our institutions. They 
 are not aware that our internal battles consist only of a " war of 
 words," and that an American editor or representative may give 
 free utterance to his individual views, while reason and the fiat of 
 an intelligent constituency are left free to combat and correct them. 
 Very different is the state of things in Mexico ; while dissensions 
 really exist among her people, nothing is to be heard but vapor, 
 boast, aud fume, and to read their manifestos, the natural conclu- 
 sion would be that they are the most warlike and unconquerable 
 people under heaven. Those who really favor peace, and in truth 
 a large portion of the better class would rejoice in the occupation 
 of the country by our people — seldom give audible utterance to 
 their sentiments — fearing that they might be reasoned with in a 
 rather summary manner. Hence, those ignorant of the facts, 
 conclude that there is no peace party in Mexico, and that the voice 
 of all is for open war. Their papers and proclamations are filled 
 with predictions of future victories, to the utter exclusion of present 
 defeats, and while they seem, with one accord and one heart, to 
 proclaim their own invincible determination never to surrender, 
 they seldom face their adversaries, and never without disastrous 
 defeat. 
 
 To one who has been over the battle-grounds, traversed the in- 
 terior country, suffered* with the many who have suffered, and 
 become familial- with all the important circumstances of the 
 present war, the manner in which it has been conducted presents 
 itself without a single mark of sagacity. It would seem that it 
 had been prolonged for no visible object, except to create patron- 
 age for partisans ; though for the credit of humanity such a mo- 
 tive should not be attributed to its prosecutors. It is much easier 
 to prophesy after we have been apprised of events which are to 
 transpire, and one can look back upon his errors with far greater 
 facility than he can distinguish and avoid them in the future. 
 But the policy of sending two small armies into the wild regions 
 
116 donnavan's adventures 
 
 of New Mexico and the Rio Grande, without a sufficient force to 
 retain possession of the country after it was conquered, and for 
 the apparent object of affording only an opportunity for brilliant 
 exploits, in conquering a half-barbarous race, and then leaving 
 them to resume their power and places, is totally inexplicable, 
 both before and after its adoption. 
 
 When hostilities first commenced, the true wisdom of legisla- 
 tion would have suggested the raising of fifty thousand volunteers, 
 who were then offering their services to the government in count- 
 less regiments ; all of whom could have been landed at Vera 
 Cruz in October, (1846.) Such an army, levying contributions 
 on the country for its support, might have marched at once to the 
 capital, and subdued the country at half the cost, both in blood 
 and treasure. Instead of such a vigorous prosecution of the war 
 to a speedy termination, a sort of tampering policy has been pur- 
 sued, and our forces have moved with a degree of tardiness, in- 
 ducing one to forget that Napoleon had so recently instructed the 
 world in the art of warfare. These halting, timid, undetermined 
 movements, inspire the enemy with renewed confidence : and 
 after a continued conflict of nearly twenty months — sufficient 
 time for us to have whipped all Europe — Mexico bids fair to ex- 
 hibit one of those horrible catastrophes which stand out boldly 
 and distinctly in the annals of human calamity. The agitated con- 
 dition of the country since 1810, has bred her public men in the 
 school of turmoil, and they have learned to look upon scenes of 
 blood with comparative complacency. With their last hopes 
 staked, they may not be deterred by any consideration of social 
 consequences ; and with an object akin to that of the desperado, 
 they would cheerfully blow up the strongholds of our army as 
 they enter, and involve in one common ruin the conquerors and 
 the conquered. 
 
 There is much speculation in regard to the result of the present 
 war, and notwithstanding little doubt hangs over the final issue, 
 the proclamation of a guerrilla warfare, giving authority to every 
 score of ruffians to concert their own plans, make their own 
 attacks, and murder without regard to a'ge, sex, or condition, may 
 prolong it to an almost indefinite period, unless a new degree of 
 energy shall be infused into the American forces. 
 
 But it requires no extraordinary gift of prophecy to foretell the 
 consequences that are inevitably to result — they can be none 
 other than the subjugation of the country. Mexico is already by 
 the hand of fate blotted out of the list of nations. The lamp 
 which lit up the brief hour of her independence is burnt down to 
 the socket ; and whether " annexed " to this Union or not, torn 
 and divided by intestine commotions, she can never withstand 
 the shock which will not only depose her military despots, but 
 
IN MEXICO. 117 
 
 arouse her people frdm the Rip Van Winkle slumber of their ig- 
 norance. He who thinks that a lasting an8 beneficial peace can 
 be made with that country, knows little of Mexico, or of her peo- 
 ple — he starts in his belief from false premises — and judges of 
 a race by the ordinary rules which govern mankind — when it is 
 notorious that they have ceased to regard all such rules, and have 
 hurled at them utter defiance. 
 
 The growing greatness and energy of the Anglo-Saxon race, 
 which is destined speedily to overrun the whole of North Amen- 
 ca, will soon occciipy the vast tierre tempalades of Mexico. And 
 they will carry liberty with them — not in name, but in fact — 
 and the influence of their example will impart a tone of vigor to 
 the efforts even of the humblest individual. They will give con- 
 fidence to thought, and energy to action. This is by no means a 
 visionary speculation, but will be realized, as in the natural course 
 of events things assume the shape of realities ; and before ten 
 years shall transpire, steam cars, which would be regarded by the 
 present population with as much wonder as was the thundering 
 artillery of Cortez by the natives, will take the place of their car- 
 avans of pack-mules ; and " Yankee clock pedlars," instead of 
 guerrilla bands, will throng the mountain paths of the Cordilleras. 
 Our people will have seen its resources, and there can be no re- 
 straint placed upon their enterprise. 
 
 Under the control of the United States, or the Anglo-Saxon, 
 and in the full enjoyment of liberty and security, its extended 
 plains, which now repose in peace, would stretch out before the 
 eye like gardens magnified immeasurably. The loneliness of the 
 vast forest, consecrated for ages to solitude and God, would echo 
 the voices of new and more ardent admirers of their never-dying 
 foliage. Its cities would swarm with active and industrious New 
 England mechanics, the music of whose implements would wake 
 the slumbering energies even of the dull and plethoric peon. A 
 canal, connecting the two great oceans, would stretch across the 
 isthmus of Tehuantepec, concentrating within the Northern hem- 
 isphere the commerce of the globe. Through the huge and 
 rugged mountains, that rise up like stepping-stones to heaven, 
 railroad cars would roll with the lightning's speed, the rich treas- 
 ures of the land to the lap of trade. And as the soul of the 
 sunny clime became steeped in sublime thought, which the bound- 
 less and magnified variety of its natural scenery is fitted to call 
 into being — when the heart is entirely imbued with the influence 
 of republican institutions, and when the mind of this land, springing 
 from its new myriad sources, shall grow up from its present night 
 of infancy to manhood, glowing with an ardent perception of the 
 unrivalled beauties of the clime, it will burn on, bright and un- 
 wasting, forever ! 
 10 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 All people, whatever their condition, seem to require amusement and 
 recreation of some kind, and it is too often the case, in the selection of 
 subjects to gratify this natural desire, that the passions, more than the under- 
 standing, are appealed to. Especially in our own land of self-government, 
 where pleasure and public virtue are commensurate with cultivated taste 
 and intelligence, should we seek to combine instruction with amusement, in 
 our public entertainments. And few will undertake to dispute the salutary 
 influence exercised by a familiarity with meritorious works of art, in 
 chastening the understanding and purifying the sentiment. No system of 
 education is commendable that does not combine the development of cor- 
 rect taste — that does not impart a just conception of the true, the beauti- 
 ful and the real, in nature and art, and thereby exalt our perceptions of 
 excellence — fit us for the appreciation of the inexhaustible stores of de- 
 light and enjoyment that creation in her prodigality has thrown around us. 
 Persuaded by this conviction, and that while useful to himself, he might 
 be in strumental inpromoting intelligence, and the consequent happiness of 
 others, the author of the preceding pages, determined to illustrate such 
 events, and delineate such points as have been rendered interesting to 
 the public from the exciting circumstances that transpired during the 
 recent war with Mexico. Of the causes of that war, now happily termr>- 
 nated, its expediency, justice or injustice, he has nothing to remark. 
 Which party was the aggressor, the pedants of diplomacy may decide. 
 Nor ha-i it been so much his object to portray either the glories or horrors 
 of conflict, as to preserve the views of the battle-grounds, delineate the 
 geographical resources of the country, its natural scenery, architecture, 
 and diversified botany. The lines pursued by the two chief divisions of 
 the American Army have been chosen for representation, because the 
 reminiscences connected with those regions impart to them a greater de- 
 gree of interest than other places, known to us, perhaps, only by their 
 almost unpronounceable names, These, however, comprise only about 
 two-thirds of the painting; the other views being located on the route 
 pursued by the author and his companions, an account of whose captivity 
 and adventures is contained in the foregoing pages. 
 
 The natural scenery of Mexico abounds in all the gorgeousness the 
 most poetic imagination could conceive ; which, with the memory of the 
 118 
 
APPENDIX. 119 
 
 many strange deeds of renown, markinfi both her ancient and modnrn 
 history, have thrown around her borders a charm more dreamy and indis- 
 tinct than those which cluster about the classic vales of the olden world. 
 Upon both lands has the Creator lavished the indelible imprints of beauty ; 
 yet while poetry and historic association have consecrated the memory 
 of the one, they have hjft but faint and glimmering traces of light upon 
 the other. There is a strange coincidence in the almost simultaneous 
 opening to the nations of the earth, the China of the old world and that 
 of the new. Until recently our knowledge, not only of the original half- 
 civilized proprietors of the soil, but even of the more modern race of Mex- 
 ico, has been vague and unsatisfactory. Not till the traditions of the for- 
 mer were to be realized by the latter, were our people permitted to tread 
 upon a land, whose whole history abounds in the wildest romance of heroic 
 achievement. Still paler faces have gone from the north and conquered 
 the conquerors of the Montezumas. Almost the same route trod by the 
 Spanish cavalier three centuries since, as a superior being, sent from a 
 better sphere, has been retraced by the Anglo-Saxon ; and whether it 
 ultimately prove for the interest of mankind or not, manifest destiny 
 seems suddenly to have brought us in direct collision and more familiar 
 communication with a people to whom we have been comparative stran- 
 gers. 
 
 These considerations could not fail to suggest the interest with which 
 a painting, presenting the bold and beautiful features of a land so little 
 known, would be received by the public. The proprietor has often re- 
 gretted that he did not commence his sketches before reaching Zacate- 
 cas, as the reader will find described in the foregoing work several 
 points, the representation of which would have added additional interest 
 to the panorama. But in the hopeless capacity of a captive, his thoughts 
 were otherwise occupied, until severe suffering had taught him something 
 of practical philosophy. Besides, any considerable addition to the already 
 extensive painting, would have precluded the possibility of exhibiting the 
 whole during one evening. As a work of art, it does not here become 
 the proprietor to speak of this production. In that respect, he leaves the 
 painting to tell its own story ; yet, lest he should appear ungrateful, he 
 is candid to confess that its flattering reception, both by the press and the 
 public, has been a source of pride to him. 
 
 As the circumstances under which it was produced may not be wholly 
 uninteresting to the reader, the following articles relative to the personal 
 history and adventures of the proprietor are subjoined. Immediately on 
 his return to the United States, after an absence of over fourteen months, 
 seven of which were spent in captivity, the fact was communicated by a 
 friend to the editor of the " New Orleans Delta," in which paper of June 
 12th, 1847, the following editorial article appeared : 
 
120 APPENDIX. 
 
 " AN AMERICAN EDITOR SOLD TO THE MEXICANS." 
 
 " That editors are often bought and sold, in these days of accomplish- 
 ed political profligacy and intrigue, few persons possessing common 
 sagacity, will undertake to dispute. The price we presume varies in 
 accordance with the influence and position of the particular journal sought 
 to be subsidized — from " fifty-two thousand " down to a " mess of pot- 
 ash." Uninitiated as we of course are, in the Free Masonry of politics, 
 the process of negotiation is Greek to us. We feel inclined however to 
 accord to the age sufficient refinement to impart to such transactions 
 an air above the dull commerce of mere business To say, " what's 
 your price .'"' would be a barbarous vulgarism, fit only for the Turk who is 
 permitted to deal in the transparent flesh of the Circassian maiden, or the 
 seiiorita of Mexico. Among the wire pullers of politics there is a nicer 
 perception of politeness assuming relationship to the timid shyness which 
 characterizes the courtship of our early days ; and we infer that advances 
 are made something in this wise : 
 
 " A friend of the Administration, near the expiration of the ' one 
 term,' for which its chief came into power, disinterested in his devotions 
 to the ' principles of the constitution, ' but who rather than behold the 
 republican system subverted, might be induced to accept a foreign mis- 
 sion, more to ' carry out the principles of the government,' than in con- 
 sideration of the nine thousand dollars outfit, calls at the sanctum of the 
 editor of the ' Independent Republican.' After being seated, and the 
 usual compliments are exchanged, ^he special, yet disinterested agent of 
 the administration, should he see his way clear, will perhaps throw out a 
 feeler, before even intimating the slightest disposition to pocket a receipted 
 bill for his last year's subscription. ' Really, my dear sir, you must paii- 
 don me, but I cannot forego an acknowledgment of the exquisite pleasure 
 your Series of Articles entitled the ' Independence of the Press,' have 
 afforded me. My admiration for a bold and untrammelled spirit is un- 
 bounded, especially when developed in those who wield that great lever 
 of liberty, the public press. And your sentiments are so akin to my own — 
 so closely do they approximate the great land-marks of our party, that 
 were I capable of infusing in my composition a tythe of your perspicuity, 
 I should have thought I had written them myself.' 
 
 " The editor replies : — 
 
 "Your favorable consideration of my abilities is certainly gratifying, 
 sir, though believe me, when I assure you that one of my chief studies 
 has been to establish for my paper, a character independent of either and 
 all parties as well as sects." 
 
 " And indeed you have succeeded admirably in your determination, 
 for under your control, the Republican has acquired a reputation enjoyed 
 
APPENDIX. 121 
 
 by few of its cotemporaries. But then in this world of life and business, 
 one's influence fails to be properly appreciated in your apparently iso- 
 lated position. As the acknowledged organ of a powerful party with the 
 most flattering prospect of retaining its ascendancy, your usefulness 
 would be unbounded — your productions would be felt, where they are 
 now only admired. Besides, such an acquisition to our cause, would 
 carry dismay into the ranks of our adversaries, and in consideration of 
 the unimportant sacrifice of what you deem an independent position, but 
 which would really afford you facility in giving force to your views, the 
 patronage of the government would at once be transferred to the ' Re- 
 publican,' as the most desirable channel through which the friends of the 
 administration might be kept advised of the conduct of their public 
 servants.' 
 
 " The last argument proves conclusively irresistible, and the editor of 
 the "Republican" in examining his conscientiousness, finds that he 
 differs with the administration only in non-essentials — in which Jeffer- 
 son himself recommends freedom, so he runs up the banner,and his advent 
 into the Babylon of party strife is hailed as ' another tremendous dem- 
 onstration ' in favor of the principles of the party which has purchased 
 him. 
 
 " Being sold editorially and being sold as an editor, are, however, two 
 different things. A day or two since, a good looking typo who belonged 
 to the 1st Indiana Regiment, related to us the following incident. Some 
 time ago, last summer we believe, Capt. Corydon Donnavan, who lately 
 arrived in New Orleans, the former editor of the Cincinnati Daily Mes- 
 sage, and more recently of the Wabash Standard, published in Lafayette, 
 la., was clerking it on a steamer on the Rio Grande. One day, while 
 the boat was taking in wood, our editor with a couple of friends went on 
 shore for the purpose of shooting armadilloes, or any other Mexican 
 game that they might meet with, when but a short distance from the 
 boat, they were surrounded and captured by some thirty armp^ Mexicans. 
 One of these fellows who could speak a little English, found out that the 
 unfortunate editor was a prititer by profession, and he immediately 
 secured him as a precious prize. Knowing his val^e, he set a price upon 
 his head, and be was finally knocked down •'br the sum of $950.00.' 
 Good heavens ! that an editor should be sold so low. The poor fellow 
 was marched off" to Valladolid, the capiwl of Michoacan, and sent into a 
 Mexican printing office in that love'y city, to set up villainous Mexican 
 type. After working some time, he succeeded in making his escape, and 
 after the battle of Cerro Gordo, he managed to fall in with the army of 
 Gen. Scott, where he was quite at home. Who will have the temerity 
 to say after this, that editors are not bought and sold ? " 
 10* 
 
122 APPENDIX. 
 
 The following brief sketch is copied from the " Yankee Blade," it 
 having been compiled by the editor, and published in a recent number 
 of that paper. ' 
 
 " A new era seems to have arisen in public and popular amusements : 
 or at least an extraordinary revival among panoramic paintings has taken 
 place. Since the exhibition of Catherwood's great work, some fifteen 
 years ago, panoramas had become rather an obsolete idea, until Ban- 
 vard produced his beautiful geographical picture of the Mississippi 
 river. His complete pecuniary success, no doubt, encouraged others to 
 engage in enterprises of a similar nature ; yet few, if any, have realized 
 like rewards, in the accumulation of either fame or fortune. No one 
 will pretend to dispute that exhibitions of this description tend to refine 
 the taste and elevate the intellectual standard — that the study of any 
 work of art, possessing merit, has a happy influence — while the extent 
 of patronage bestowed on pictures like these, in any community, is the 
 best criterion by which to judge of that community's cultivation. There 
 is something about their fascinating illusions, calculated at once to please 
 the eye and captivate the imagination ; and we should not be at all sur- 
 prised did they eventually supercede the present mode of teaching geog- 
 raphy, botany, geology, etc., in our public schools. 
 
 Right glad are we to hear of Capt. Donnavan's complete success, 
 which is attributable not altogether to the merit of his painting, trans- 
 cendently beautiful as it is acknowledged to be, but to the pleasing 
 romance and thrilling interest associated with his Adventures in Mexico. 
 The public's insatiate appetite for the wild and almost incredible ro- 
 mance in which real life so abounds, is to be gratified. The patient, 
 plodding life of an artist, who ekes out a dreamy existence in his lone 
 garret, is too tame to arrest the attention of a people rocked into man- 
 hood and maturity in the cradle of excitement — a people whose earliest 
 memories are associated with stirring scenes, and whose own lives are 
 often a succession of the adventures so strongly marking the character 
 of the American people. To approve, without reserve, this idiosyn- 
 cracy of our countrymen, would be negatively to condemn modest and 
 patient merit. This ^e do not mean to do ; nor can we, at the same 
 time, conceal the gratificntion it affords us to see the indomitable spirit 
 of man struggle into succe&^ over the odds of adversity, and what the 
 more superstitious often call fa*^ itself. It shows that in the very genius 
 of our institutions are garnered up the germs of distinction, which are 
 at the mercy of no hereditary entailnvent — that there is no law of the 
 land to limit the exercise of the tact or talent vouchsafed to the humblest 
 citizen. 
 
 Fifty years ago, what wild enthusiast would have conjectured that the 
 
APPENDIK. 1 23 
 
 great valley of the Mississippi, besides feeding half a world of men, 
 would so soon produce works of art, surpassing in stupendousness of 
 design and originality of conception, the efforts of puritan New England ! 
 Yet it is even so. The " tables are being turned " upon the Yankees, 
 and the very men to whom in other days they sold their wooden clocks 
 and nutmegs, now retort upon us, in speculations which prove both in- 
 structive and amusing. 
 
 The history of Mr. Banvard's struggles and final triumph, is known 
 almost the length and breadth of the land ; and about the time of his 
 departure to seek a wider field in an older world, a work similar in de- 
 sign, but abounding in more grandeur, and in its execution a wilder 
 romance, comes before us as a candidate for popular favor, and is 
 already " winning golden opinions from all sorts of people." Like its 
 predecessor, it hails from the great West — the broad plains of enter- 
 prize and industry beyond the blue ridge, which but yesterday, as it 
 were, was the boundary of an unexplored wilderness. We allude, of 
 course, to Capt. Donnavan's Great Serial Panorama of Mexico. Like 
 the man who has immortalized, in the poetry of painting, the " Great 
 Father of Waters," we find that Capt. Donnavan's career abounds in the 
 charm of romance, yet is filled with far bolder adventure. He is, 
 withal, a practical printer ; and what adventure is too wild or daring for 
 that strange, yet intelligent body of craftsmen, whose very duty is 
 knowledge, and whose daily task it is to make up a map of the busy 
 world ? It is the pride of those connected with the press in our country, 
 to feel, that with all the abuses that assail the tripod, the members of the 
 craft are often found foremost in honorable enterprize. Capt. Donnavan 
 has for several years been associated with the newspaper press of the 
 " Queen City," from the capacity of devil down to editor ; and before 
 writing his " Adventures in Mexico," which introduced him to a wider 
 circle of admirers — a work, too, which has been pronounced by many 
 of the leading journals, the best incited by the Mexican war — his rep- 
 utation as an editor ranked deservedly high. He is truly and literally 
 a " travelled man " — has not only " seen the elephant," but according 
 to " tlie book" become somewhat familiar with the entire Mexican 
 menagerie. His admirable painting, representing as it does, all the 
 points of interest through which himself and companions, ' as well as 
 the American army, passed, being now open in our city, and its exhibi- 
 tion attracting peculiar interest among the public, a brief reference to 
 the personal history of the projector, as well as the circumstances under 
 which the work was produced, cannot fail to be welcomed by our read- 
 ers. For our information in these particulars, we are indebted chiefly 
 to the western press. 
 
124 APPENDIX. 
 
 [Prom the Cincinnati Daily Commercial, July 7, 1847.] 
 
 CAPT. DONNAVAN'S RETURN. 
 
 A FEW days ago, to the gratification of his many friends, we had the 
 pleasure of announcing Capt. Donnavan's safe return to his home and 
 family, after an absence of over a year in Mexico. The fatigues of a 
 long journey, as well as an interchange of social civilties and affections, 
 among friends and relatives, precluded at that time, but the bare state- 
 ment of his arrival, without adverting to his many adventures. But the 
 first welcome greeting, after his long absence, having transpired, we 
 yesterday enjoyed a long conversation with him, relative to his capture, 
 perilous journey, sale, and final escape and return to the United States. 
 
 In times past, when Donnavan was an editorial contemporary of ours, 
 we took some liberties with each other, and occasionally indulged in a 
 good humored joke, frequently at our expense. But these things live 
 only in memory, which serves rather to strengthen our regard, than 
 alienate our friendship. The Captain has many friends, not only in this 
 city, but throughout the entire West, where his ability as a pleasing and 
 graphic writer, has become rather proverbial. He is one of those men 
 that the " boys and girls run after," and we believe we have never in 
 our life known a really bad man to be liked and courted by the juve- 
 niles. He reasons that he was a boy once himself, left fatherless and 
 destitute at an early age, and can consequently appreciate the courtesies 
 of those who smiled upon his adverse pathway, and in all of which 
 there is a great deal of truth as well as genuine poetry. 
 
 The Captain is a native Buckeye, that is, having been first introduced 
 to this sublunary sphere in our own great state of Ohio. We first knew 
 him in 1837, as a practical printer, setting out from this city to seek 
 his fortune in the " sunny South." A few years afterwards, at the age 
 of twenty-one, we found him, at the head of a leading political paper in 
 the neighboring State of Indiana, and shortly afterwards a member of 
 its legislature. Again, about the time we commenced our own editorial 
 career in the Queen city, we met him as a contemporary, he having 
 purchased and assumed the editorial charge of the " Daily Morning 
 Message," an independent paper, established by William D. Gallagher, 
 one of the present editors of the " Gazette." It was here chat his in- 
 dustry and talent soon won him a high reputation as an editor, and in 
 which position he continued till a short time previous to the commence- 
 ment of hostilities with Mexico. He held the commission of Captain in 
 the great " standing army " of Mr. Van Buren, signed, sealed and deliv- 
 ered by Gov. Corwin, Commander-in-chief of the Ohio militia, and still 
 retains his belligerent title, though always peaceably disposed. 
 
APPENDIK. 125 
 
 Like mpst, or at least many men, who embark in newspaper specula- 
 tions, his labors were rewarded more by empty honors, than by those 
 pecuniary realities which are requisite to keep body and soul together ; 
 and being naturally impulsive, and stimulated by a desire to accumulate 
 fortune more speedily, upon the receipt of the news of the first battles, 
 he hastened to the seat of war on the Rio Grande. In the capacity of 
 manager of a steamer, engaged in transporting troops, and munitions of 
 war, from Brazos to Camargg, he was fust realizing his golden anticipa- 
 tions, when an unexpected surprise made himself and two intimate com- 
 panions prisoners, at the mercy of a band of guerillas, ten times their 
 number, headed by the notorious Canalles. Those who have any knowl- 
 edge of the barbarous manner in which American prisoners are dealt 
 with in Mexico, can best depict in imagination the perilous situation of 
 this small and defenceless party. Thi-ice were they condemned to be 
 executed as common felons ; but, as if through some providential inter- 
 vention, they were as often spared a death so cruel. From near Ca- 
 margo, they were hurried across the Sierra Madre to Zacatecas, without 
 any positive knowledge of their fate or destination. Here, through the 
 interposition of a number of American and English citizens, they were 
 temporarily released : but only, as they soon found, to be recaptured, 
 together with those who had so magnanimously endeavored to rescue 
 them. The entire party was then conducted by an efficient guard over 
 the mountains and deserts, through the cities of San Luis, Guanajuato, 
 and Queretaro, to Valladolid, performing the journey chiefly on foot. At 
 the latter place, Capt. Donnavan and one of his associates, Mr. Cunning- 
 ham, who was also a practical printer, were sold like cattle in the mar- 
 ket, and forced into involuntary servitude in a Mexican printing office. 
 
 Of all these wrongs, none of their countrymen could be made cogni- 
 zant. No word of condolence from anxious friends could reach them, 
 for the " secrets of their prison house were unrevealed." Months passed 
 away, and no intelligence came home by which to trace the fate of the 
 captives. A year transpired, and Donnavan was considered as good as 
 dead ; when, all at once, he turned up suddenly, good-looking as ever, 
 but his clothes rather the worse for wear. 
 
 The Captain informs us that he made his escape alone, in the night. 
 After a perilous journey of several days, performed on foot, he reached 
 the city of Mexico, from which point he reached Vera Cruz without dif- 
 ficulty, and sailed for New Orleans about a month ago. In his travels, he 
 has acquired much knowledge of the people, and a region of country 
 little known to any of us, the publicity of which, taken in connectiou 
 with the mcidents of his own captivity and adventures, could not fail to 
 be of thrilling interest to the public. In fact, he owes it not only to 
 
126 APPENDIX. 
 
 himself and friends, but to the world, to publish a detailed narrative of 
 " all of which he saw, and part of which he was." 
 
 The following notice of the Panorama is copied from the " Cincinnati 
 Gazette," as one among many others equally complimentary, but with 
 more of which it is deemed unnecessary to crowd the present work : 
 
 Capt. Donnavan's Panorama. — There are two individuals insepar- 
 ably connected with the history of the Mexican campaign, whose names 
 bear a. striking resemblance, — Col. Doniphan, and Capt. Donnavan. 
 Both have gone through dangers and " hair-breadth escapes," and suf- 
 fered all manner of hardships ; both dearly paid for the privilege of 
 " seeing the elephant," studying his natural history, and getting the run 
 of his tricks ; both have written histories of their adventures ; but there 
 is one thing in which our old typo friend, the Captain, leaves the gallant 
 Colonel completely in shadow ; he has illustrated the brilliant achieve- 
 ments of our army in Mexico, with a magnificent Panorama, and retires 
 from the campaign with his colors still flying. 
 
 Besides his own time, the Captain has employed that of three distin- 
 guished artists, during the past eight months, on this stupendous produc- 
 tion, and he leaves in a few days for the purpose of exhibiting it to the 
 people of the eastern cities. Our friends there will find it eminently 
 worthy of their attention. To the members of the press and the public, 
 we commend Capt. Donnavan as a gentlemanly fellow-craftsman, an 
 eccentric natural genius, and altogether an extraordinary man, who has 
 displayed much energy and enterprise in getting up this work. He de- 
 scribes it in a manner which adds much to the interest of its exhibition. 
 The painting has been very successful here, and, as its accuracy "is 
 vouched by many officers and privates who have returned from service 
 in the lines of both Gen. Taylor and Gen. Scott, we anticipate like suc- 
 cess for it wherever it may be exhibited. 
 
 LETTER FROM MR. CUNNINGHAM. 
 
 The following extracts from a letter received by the author last 
 spring, from his old companion, may not prove unacceptable to the 
 reader. Surely the " perquisites " to which he alludes, a sum amount- 
 ing to about $150,000, could not have been totally so to him. 
 
 New Orleans, March 18, 1848. 
 Capt. Donnavan : You will doubtless be even more suprised on the 
 receipt of this than was I after perusing your " Adventures," a copy of 
 which I obtained here the day after my arrival. " McGreggor 's on his 
 
APPENDIX. 127 
 
 native heath again." But first permit me to congratulate you on your 
 propitious return to family and friends. Not only do I voluntarily hasten 
 to excuse my conduct, previous to your " unceremonious elopement," 
 and to which I observe you have made a significant allusion, but at the 
 same time to crave a thousand pardons. Impotence will cling around 
 our selfish natures, and the truth is, I found my heart too narrow to 
 divide its affections. * * * Various conjectures were indulged, in 
 regard to your probable fate after your precipitous flight, and our mutual 
 friend Buffam was outrageously indignant; though his exaggerated vocif- 
 erations met with little sympathy, and he soon cooled down to his native 
 element of " masterly inactivity." 
 
 I have been over a week in New Orleans. With what a thrill of joy 
 I tread again my native shores, you and those only who have passed 
 through like perils, can appreciate. You are aware that my bondage 
 was virtually broken before your departure, but it was soon cemented 
 in another and far more agreeable one. You can infer my meaning. 
 Mrs. Cunningham and our two little dark-eyed twin daughters are of 
 course with me, affording almost as much curiosity as we did on our 
 debut in Valladolid. * * * 
 
 I wish to hear from you often, and we both join in hoping to see you 
 soon. My residence will be in future near Kosciusko, Miss., fhat is if 
 my tropical flowers will bear transplanting in so ungenial a clime. Mrs. 
 C. is by no means favorably impressed with the peculiarities of the 
 " Americanos " generally, and should she desire to return to her mountain 
 home, it will afford me pleasure, much as I love my native land and its 
 institutions, to sacrifice them for an affection which, without its perqui- 
 sites, combining all the elements of wealth and ease, would make me 
 one of the happiest of men. How immeasurably little do we know of 
 this world's future ! The very spot where misery and degradation 
 seemed ready to spend their fury on our temporal lives, to me has been 
 changed to a paradise, and its associations cling around me, consecrated 
 to the memory of all 1 care to live for. 
 
 F. R. Cunningham. 
 
THE PANOEAMA. 
 
 NOTE. — Wherever cities or points represented on the Panorama have been fully de- 
 scribed in the body of this work, a recapitulative description has been deemed unneces- 
 sary, reference being made to the preceding pages. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 Corpus Christi, an unimportant place with a few buildings, known 
 a number of years as the residence of Col. Kinney, a Texan pioneer 
 — located on Aranzas Bay, a peninsula of flat shell beach, and from 
 which the Army of Occupation took up its line of march for the Rio 
 Grande, March 11th, 1846, as represented on the canvass. 
 
 Arago Colorado, a small river, the banks of which are lined with 
 chaperal, a dwarfish copse of thorny vegetation, matted with vines 
 and prickly pear ; the point Avhere General Taylor's progress was 
 first disputed by the enemy. 
 
 Point Isabel, located on an arm of the Gulf called Brazos Santiago, 
 a distance of twenty-five miles from the city of Matamoras, and where 
 General Taylor took up his encampment on the 24th of March, 1846. 
 
 Battle of Palo Alto, first regular engagement with the Mexicans, 
 after the commencement of the war, on the 8th of May, 1846. The 
 battle-ground is located on a broad prairie, the grass of which is rep- 
 resented on fire, during the evening of the engagement ; one of the 
 most grand and imposing views that can possibly be transferred to 
 canvass. 
 
 Resaca de la Palm a. This view is represented the night after the 
 battle, by moonlight, with the tents, camp-fires, stacks of arms; Gen. 
 Taylor, Maj. Bliss, and Capt. May in the foreground. 
 
 The City OF Matamoras. The view is at sunrise, an hour, the 
 transcendent gorgeousness of which is so well known in Mexico. The 
 city is among the most important in northern Mexico, containing a 
 population of about 10,000. Before approaching Fort Brown, located 
 on the bank of the Rio Grande, nearly opposite the city, is represented 
 a family of the Cacti, the specimens of which grow to a height often 
 of thirty feet, remarkable for the beauty of its flowers. 
 
 Reynosa. This is a small place unknown except as a miUtary point. 
 
 The Rio Grande, as seen between Matamoras and Camargo, is a 
 stream whose general course is exceedingly straight, but whose sud- 
 128 
 
THE PANORAMA. 129 
 
 • 
 
 den turns and windings are still more remarkable. It is among the. 
 longest rivers in the world, from the mouth to the source being over 
 1800 miles. For a full description, the reader is referred to the first 
 part of the preceding work. 
 
 Camargo, about three miles from the confluence of the San Juan 
 with the Rio Grande, and the point near which the author Avas cap- 
 tured, containing a population of about 3000. For a description of 
 which, see Chapter I. 
 
 Marin, on the road leading to Monterey, celebrated as the former 
 residence of Canalles, the great robber chief. The town is located in 
 a gorge of the mountains ; painted from a view by Capt. Whiting, 
 of the United States Army. 
 
 Bishop's Palace, near the city of Monterey, represented as being 
 stormed by the American forces. 
 
 City of Monterey, signifying city of the hills, in the very midst 
 of which it is located, and capital of the province of New Leon, has a 
 population of 7000 — one of the most beautiful cities in northern 
 Mexico, and celebrated as the place where Gen. Santa Anna received 
 his military education. In the suburbs of the city, are represented 
 the residence and gardens of Gen. Arista, the place where Gen. 
 Taylor first consented to become " the candidate of the people," for 
 the Presidency of the United States. 
 
 Valley of San Juan, a delightfully cultivated region, as seen from 
 the heights in the vicinity of Monterey, looking towards Saltillo, 
 where flourish the sugar-cane, cotton, tobacco, the orange, pine-apple, 
 palm, plantain, and all the tropical fruits. 
 
 Mexican Hacienda, containing two hundred thousand acres of 
 ground, with all its characteristics, habitations, cultivated fields, hedge 
 fences, &c. 
 
 City of Saltillo, located on the side hill as the name signifies, form- 
 erly the capital of Coahuila, with a population of 12,000, remarkable 
 for the beauty of its churches and cathedrals. 
 
 Battle of Buena Vista. Six miles from the city of Saltillo, is 
 represented the great battle where Gen. Taylor made the last master- 
 stroke in his successful military campaign. With 4,500 men, chiefly 
 volunteers, it will be remembered, that he here met and defeated 
 about 20,000, the flower of the Mexican army, under Gen. Santa 
 Anna. The position of the two armies is represented on the second 
 day of the engagement, the 23d of February, 1847. The American 
 loss was estimated at 264, that of the enemy 2000. 
 
 City op Zacatecas. A delightful city, occupying a mountain loca- 
 tion, and represented as seen from the garden of Andalusia, in the 
 vicinity. For a full description, see Chap. VII. 
 
 11 
 
130 THE PANORAMA. 
 
 A Mexican Ranch, the kind of residence occupied by much the 
 larger portion of the population. 
 
 San Luis Potosi. This place is fully described on p. 66. In iis 
 vicinity is also represented the manner in which the Mexicans re- 
 cruit their army. 
 
 City of Guanajuato. A magnificent view of the entrance to this 
 wealthy city is represented, painted from a sketch presented to the 
 author by Mr. Kendall, editor of the New Orleans Picayune. A 
 detailed description of the place maybe seen on reference to page 68. 
 
 The Table Lands. That the spectator may obtain a far more ade- 
 quate idea of the table lands, than can possibly be acquired from 
 either books or oral description, extensive plains, both cultivated and 
 arid are represented — fields of corn, wheat, aloe and the nopal, and 
 broad sterile regions, where owing to the etherial state of the atmos- 
 phere, the eye may rest on a perspective more than twice the extent 
 it can in any portion of our own country. 
 
 City of Yaqui. This Indian or Aztec city, a description of which 
 will be found at length in the preceding pages, is remarkable for its 
 antiquity and peculiar architecture. See chap. V. 
 
 City of Queretaro. 'i his city, celebrated for the beauty and 
 uniformity of its architecture, and for the indolence of its inhabitants, 
 is the place to which the Mexican Congress fled upon the subjuga- 
 tion of their capital by the army under General Scott. It is described 
 on page 68. 
 
 Valladolid. This city, so famiUar to the author, is represented 
 by a moonlight view, having paused after his escape to " make a note 
 of it." 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 City OF Tampico, near the mouth of the Paunco river — one 
 of the most important commercial points of Mexico, and numbering 
 a population nearly as large as Vera Cruz. Taken possession of in the 
 early history of the war by Mrs. Chase, lady of the American Consul, 
 who, by her heroic daring, frightened the entire population into an 
 unconditional surrender. 
 
 Island of Lobos, signifying Wolf or Seal Island, a charming spot, 
 formed chiefly of coral, covered with Banyan trees, and the place 
 where Gen. Scott concentrated his forces previous to the attack on 
 Vera Cruz. 
 
 Harbor of Vera Cruz. Approaching the harbor the fleet of Com- 
 modore Connor is to be seen, and the landing of Gen. Scott's forces, 
 consisting of about 11,000 men, near the city, on the 9th of March, 
 1847, in iron surf-boats, constructed for the especial purpose. 
 
THE Panorama. 
 
 131 
 
 City of Vera Cruz, extending along the beach three miles, with 
 the great Castle of San Juan de UUoa. The population of the city 
 is estimated at from 8000 to 10,000 — its streets are wide and spa- 
 cious, some of them well paved with stone shipped from Quincy, 
 Mass. 
 
 National Bridge, usually called " Puente Nacional," built by the 
 old Spanish government, and one of the firmest as well as most durable 
 structures of the kind in America. The bridge is thrown across the 
 Antigua river, a small mountain stream, is nearly half a mile in 
 length, constructed of small stones, cemented together, the masonry 
 covered with a uniform coat of marble cement, and forming altogether 
 the strongest point of defence on the line of the National road, leading 
 from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico. 
 
 ' Cerro Gordo. The abrupt and imposing heights of Cerro Gordo, 
 present a striking contrast to the low lands of the coast, and the spec- 
 tator is again introduced to the mountain regions, in which Mexico 
 so abounds. The storming of this strong defence by the American 
 forces, as represented on the canvass, took place April 18, 1847. 
 The American loss on this occasion was estimated at 250, that of the 
 enemy, 350, while according to his official reports. Gen. Scott took 
 3000 prisoners, forty pieces of artillery, and 5000 stand of small 
 arms. 
 
 City of jALAPA,the most delightful place, in fact the El Dorado of 
 Mexico, its vicinity abounding in all the fruits pecuKar to the tropics. 
 For further description, see p. 101. 
 
 Orizaba. The view of this volcano, called by the ancient popula- 
 tion of Mexico, Citlalteptl, (signifying star-mountain,) is, as seen from 
 Los Viegas, the highest point on the National road, the mountain or 
 volcano being some thirty miles distant. It rises according to the 
 measui-ement of Humboldt, 17,368 feet in height, the summit being 
 covered with perpetual snow, is visible a great distance after leaving 
 Vera Cruz in the Gulf. It is the last point of land to be seen in 
 Mexico, after leaving the harbor of Vera Cruz. 
 
 Perote. The town of Perote, Coffre and Castle of the same name 
 by moonlight. For description, the reader is referred to p. 100. 
 
 City of Pdebla. The view of this beautiful city, capital of the 
 same province, is represented as seen from Fort Loretto, on an emi- 
 nence occupied by the American forces during the war. The great 
 volcanoes of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl with their summits of per 
 ual snow, are to be seen in the distance, towering above the clouds. 
 For a further description of the city, see p. 98. 
 
 Pyramid of Cholula. This pyramid is certainly among the 
 most interesting antiquities of our continent, surrounded as it was, in 
 the days of the Conquest, by the city of the same name, which was 
 
132 THE PANORAMA. 
 
 the religious capital of the Aztec race, and to which the people made 
 pilgrimages as did the Mahomedans to Mecca. 
 
 Rio Frio, a mountain pass and beautiful valley. In the valley of 
 Rio Frio, signifying cold river, is located the village of Cordova, cele- 
 brated as a favorite resort of robbers and guerrillas. 
 
 Castle of Ciiapultepec. The hill of Chapultepec, signifying grass- 
 hopper hill, is located about two miles west of the city of ^Iexico, to a 
 view of which the spectator is transported, before entering the city. It is 
 naturally well fortified, the bluff being steep and formed of porphyritic 
 rock. The Castle, constructed by the young viceroy Galvez, nearly 
 two centuries ago, occupies the summit, is 600 feet in length, and 40 
 feet high. It has been long occupied as a military academy. It is 
 the real sight of the much talked of " Halls of the Montezumas," for 
 it was here that Montezuma had his palace. In its vicinity, were 
 located the beautiful gardens of the aboriginal emperor, and here we 
 may even yet trace the indistinct remnants of the magnificence by 
 which the monarch was surrounded. The Castle is represented dur- 
 ing the siege or bombardment by the American troops, which took 
 place September 12th, 1847. 
 
 City op Mexico, Perhaps no city in the world offers a more 
 striking and beautiful panoramic view, than Mexico. Located in lat- 
 itude 19^* north, where fires are unknown, except for culinary pur- 
 poses, the warm mellowness of a tropical atmosphere, throws over 
 the scene a fairy-like delusion ; while the calm, glassy lakes, encir- 
 cled by the high ridge of mountains which surrounds the valley, 
 groves of the orange and cypress, acqueducts, statuary, and forests 
 of church spires, impart a general gorgeousness, unsurpassed in the 
 wide world. The view of the city, as seen on the Panorama, was 
 taken from the dome of the great cathedral, which occupies the pre- 
 cise spot where stood the ancient temple of the sun, and the specta- 
 tor is supposed to be looking down upon the scene. The public 
 Hospital erected by Cortez, an institution which has continued to 
 dispense blessings amid all the wreck and ruin of revolution ; the 
 Palacio, or palace of the viceroys ; the Cara de Stado, the residence 
 of Cortez ; the Franciscan convent ; the University, founded in 
 1551, as well as all the public buildings, the Alamada or park, the 
 principal streets, etc., are repx-esented, and on the last side of the 
 Grand Plaza, after the spectator enters that magnificent square, is a 
 front view of the great cathedral. For a detailed description of 
 the city, the reader is referred to the foregoing work — page 89. 
 
 Jg@°" A most pleasing feature of the panorama, is its representation 
 of the rich and varied botany of the tropics. Among the numerous 
 specimens, introduced at appropriate places, may be mentioned the 
 palm, cabbage, cypress, cedar, cocoanut, ebony, banyan, calabash, 
 orange and pandanus trees ; the aloe, yucca, cycas, banana, pine- 
 apple, cactus, sugar-cane, cotton, tobacco, nopal, cereus, jalap, va- 
 nilla, ponisettia, drummond phlox, with their fruits, flowers, etc. 
 
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