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THE AZTEC CALENDAR STONE.
MEXICO AS IT IS
BEING
NOTES OF A RECENT TOUR IN THAT COUNTRY
WITH SOME PRACTICAL INFORMATION FOR TRAVELLERS
IN THAT DIRECTION, AS ALSO SOME STUDY OF
THE CHURCH QUESTION
BY
ALBERT ZABRISKIE GRAY
AUTHOR OF "THE LAND AND THE LIFE, OR SKETCHES AND STUDIES IN PALES-
TINE " I
New York
E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY .-^^
713 Broadway ^^'\3-^''^'"'^Ar6i
1878 \S'^^'
Copyright,
By albert ZABRISKIE GRAY,
1877.
Stereotyped at the Church Charity Foundation^
L.I.
TO ONE
IN WHOSE CHARACTER AND CULTURE
I RECOGNIZE THE VINDICATION
OF INTELLIGENT AND CONSCIENTIOUS TRAVEL
THIS LITTLE VOLUME
IS. MOST FILIALLY
INSCRIBED
*' A good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths,
that spring out of valleys and hills ; a land of wheat and barley, and
vines and fig-trees, and pomegranates ; a land of oil olive, and honey ;
a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not
lack anything in it ; a land, whose stones are iron, and out of whose
hills thou mayest dig brass." — Deut. viii. 7, 8, 9.
CONTENTS.
I. — Prefatory Chapter ..... 9
II. — New York to Vera Cruz . . . .17
III. — Vera Cruz to Orizaba . . . . 27
IV. — Orizaba to the City of Mexico . . '35
V. — The City of Mexico ..... 44
VI. — The Environs of the City of Mexico . . 56
VII. — The Environs of the City of Mexico (continued) 65
VIII. — The Environs of the City of Mexico (continued) 71
IX. — The Environs of the City of Mexico (concluded) 81
x. — Puebla and Cholula . . . . '91
XI. — Cholula (continued) 103
XII. — How we tried to get to Xalapa . . .113
XIII. — The Church in Mexico , . . , 127
"One circumstance must be observed by all who travel in Mexican
territory. There is not one human being or passing object to be seen
that is not in itself a picture, or which would not form a good subject
for the pencil. The Indian women, with their plaited hair, and little
children slung to their backs, their large straw hats, and petticoats of
two colors — the long strings of arrieros with their loaded mules, and
swarthy, wild-looking faces — the chance horseman who passes with his
sarape of many colors, his high ornamented saddle, Mexican hat,
silver stirrups, and leathern boots, this is picturesque. Salvator Rosa
and Hogarth might have travelled here to advantage, hand-in-hand ;
Salvator for the sublime, and Hogarth taking him up where the sub-
lime became the ridiculous."
From " Life in Mexico ^^^ by Madame C — de la B .
PREFACE.
APART of this little volume first appeared as
letters in the Hartford " CHURCHMAN." The
completion of the series, and their presentation
in book-form, was urged upon the writer by kind
.friends. He complies with their wishes the more
readily when he reflects that possibly some service
may be rendered to those intending to visit our fair
" Sister Republic. '*
This service may be increased by embodying in
these prefatory remarks some practical information
and hints with regard to the character of the country
and the pre-requisites of travel and residence therein.
Mexico is a republic, modeled very much upon
the Constitution of the United States. It consists of
twenty-seven states, one territory, and what is called
the Federal District, which includes the capital.
lO PREFACE.
The total area is more than twelve hundred thousand
square miles, and contains a population of about
nine millions, of which a large proportion is aborigi-
nal Aztec blood.
The principal exports are gold and silver, in
which the country possesses inexhaustible wealth.
It also produces coffee, tobacco, sugar, indigo,
vanilla, hides, dye-woods, fruits, etc. etc. There is
no richer region in the world ; very few lands are as
rich in all that constitutes material prosperity and
promise ; and this, of course, is largely due to the
fact of its comprising, in its comparatively limited
area, almost every soil and every temperature. The
great range of the Sierra Madre runs through the
whole country, and thus affords a wonderful variety
of vegetation.
In the Tierra Caliente of the coast you have the
fecund and feverish tropics. On the mountain
slopes and plateaux you can enjoy a climate of per-
fect salubrity and refreshment, and find growing,
side by side, the corn and the banana, the palm and
the tobacco ; and in the still higher regions — of the
capital and elsewhere — you will sleep all the year
PREFACE. . 1 1
under a blanket, while feasting every day on the
lusciousness, brought by a few hours of rail from
the burning plains seven thousand feet below. And
finally, to complete the charm, you have, rising
above all and ever refreshing, the majestic peaks of
Orizava, Popocatepetl and Istacyhuatl — with their
eternal snows — more than fifteen thousand feet
above the sea. You must consequently take with
you some variety of clothing, in preparation for all
these temperatures, never forgetting the overcoat
and rug for evening and night, always remembering
that it is better to have too much than too little.
The history of the country is soon sketched,
though do not forget to take with you a small
edition of Prescott's charming narrative, as also a
copy of Madame Calderon's fascinating letters, if you
can procure it Any one of the diaries of Cortes,
Bernal Diaz, or of the histories of Clavigero and
Herrera would add immensely to the interest of a
visit to Mexico, while violating, of course, a canon
of travel in incumbrance.
We all know something about the earliest histori-
cal inhabitants — the Toltecs and the Aztecs. What
12 PREFACE.
New Yorker has quite forgotten the thrill of interest
with which he inspected "the Aztec children,"
exhibited many years ago by the indefatigable show-
man, and classed in memory somewhat promiscu-
ously with the mysterious " What is it," the uncom-
fortable twins of Siam, and innumerable other lusi
naturcE of the age ?
Prescott tells us, in his romantic style, of how
these semi-civilized Aztecs, under their gorgeous king,
were cruelly conquered and completely subjugated
by the ruthless valor of Cortes and his Httle band of
braves, and then we learn how at once decrepid
Spain began to feast and fatten on the exuberant
land, enriching her Court, her Church, her com-
merce in the life-blood of a noble race, whose souls'
salvation she ever professed as her first aim !
The Spaniards retained full possession of the
country until the beginning of this century, when
already a large, mixed, so-called Mexican popula-
tion existed, essentially Spanish in character, but
imbued with many of the revolutionary ideas of
tliat day, which were soon precipitated by the
reckless policy of tlie mother country into revolt.
PREFACE. 13
Its first leader was a priest named Hidalgo, who
soon sealed his patriotism with his blood.
The country was declared independent in 1813,
and has continued in a pitiable state of unrest and
warfare — both internal and external — ever since.
The internecine struggles have been principally due
to the unprincipled ambition of such men as Iturbide
and Santa Anna, and alas, Mexico has been blessed
with but few rulers, who, like Juarez, seem to have
comprehended the great principles of their blood-
bought Constitution ! The Spaniards were not
finally expelled till- 1829, the same year in which
slavery was abolished.
The unhappy country has suffered from several
invasions. The first of any importance was the war
with the United States, which ended with the indem-
nified cession by Mexico of Texas, Upper California,
etc., in 1848. In 1862 the allied powers of England,
France and Spain attempted to obtain financial
satisfaction from the republic, and later, under the
armed 'auspices of France, Maximilian was declared
Emperor. His short but brilHant reign — three
years of tragic struggle — set in clouds and blood.
14 PREFACE.
He was captured and executed in June, 1867. The
country resumed its republican Constitution, and
enjoyed a period of comparative peace and prosperity
under the presidential rule of Juarez. It is only of
late that a complete revolution has again been
attempted; and to-day we have the unedifying
spectacle of the recent and able President Lerdo de
Tejada a powerless exile, the brave but revolutionary
General Diaz occupying his seat, while a third as-
pirant, the ex- Chief- Justice Iglesias is also among
" the outs," and engaged in issuing pronunciamentos
at a safe distance.
It is estimated that the poor, groaning country
has suffered a change of rule, on an average, once
a year since its independent existence.
With regard, again, to a few practical hints
"for those intending to visit the country, let us
briefly say : The best time for a tour in Mexico is
the winter — the safest from fevers — though at any
season it is best not to linger any longer than abso-
lutely necessary upon the coast. You can go by
way of New Orleans — ^making a shorter sea-trip —
or from New York via Havana, in which case a
PREFACE. 1 5
passport is required. American, English, or French
gold will take you anywhere, and give a comfortable
premium besides, leaving you under the pleasant
impression that you are making money all the time.
But of course you will take a letter of credit, which,
following the above premium rule, will load your
pockets and trunks with Mexican bullion, and keep
you somewhat nervous in brigand neighborhoods.
Which leads to one final and friendly advice:
take no nervousness with you. Take patience,
good-temper, charitable judgment, considerate kind-
ness — take, in short, your Christianity with you, and
you cannot fail to have a most delightful time.
All travellers may be classified under two heads :
the men who have been everywhere, passed their
best years in genteel wanderings, and yet have
never really seen anything, and can only be aroused'
to enthusiasm by the discussion of such a question
as the comparative merits of table d'hotes ; and
again, those who cannot take a turn down the street
without a fruitful harvest of observation, and to
whom one stroll amid the stimulating scenes of a
foreign land is almost an education
i6
PREFACE.
To the former a trip to Mexico would be simply
adding another — perhaps a somewhat stranger feather
to the cap of voyager conquest and conceit — to
the latter it would prove a feast forever.
II.
NEW YORK TO VERA CRUZ.
IT may be said to require a winter trip southward
to appreciate the extent and advantages of our
own country. To leave New York in a winter
storm, and in sixty-five hours to glide into a sister
city revelling in spring sunshine and flowers — in
other words, to travel 1,500 miles in order to take a
steamer from New Orleans — makes one realize what
a wonderful land we live in ! A five miles walk in
the Mammoth Cave shows us again that even *' under
the earth," American nature keeps up her grand
scale ; and a visit to the motley Louisiana Legislature
convinces one that in radical changes American
humanity is resolved not to be below the mark.
New Orleans is a fair city, and deserves a better
lot than she has found in these latter days ; but we
rejoiced to remark a hopeful spirit in her better peo-
1 8 MEXICO AS IT IS.
pie, and a conviction that the era of " carpet-bag "
misrule is nearly past. ^
Certainly no one can stroll through the streets and
squares of her old French quarter without yielding
to a charm, that carries one dreamily over land and
sea to many a distant scene and delightful hour of
wandering in regions so little known to the rushing
American — the south of France. The old cathedral
and the buildings about it — formerly occupied by
the French authorities — are alone worth a visit from
any distance. We have nothing like them elsewhere
in " the States." The square around which they
stand is kept in that -precise French style which in
a land like ours, has at least the striking attraction
of contrast.
And the people themselves — I mean of course the
Creole part of them — seem to cling to their formef
nationality. We were informed that many of them
are never seen out of the French quarter, where in-
deed French names and French signs meet you at
every step.
And, before leaving the old city, we would speak a
word of almost unqualified commendation with regard
NEW YORK TO VERA CRUZ. 1 9
to its principal hotel. We were told that the St.
Charles is " run " with but little profit to its propri-
etors and managers, and they certainly deserve great
credit for the excellence of everything connected with
it To one seeking a mild winter climate, and who
ha-s suffered from the discomforts of Florida and other
parts of the South, this word may be of service. We
speak of Florida as we knew some parts of it two or
three years ago.
The steamers from New Orleans to Vera Cruz are
of the well-known " Alexandre " line, starting from
New York. Compared with our trans- Atlantic
steamers, they are small and only tolerably comfort-
able. The great drawback to the voyage is their
stopping at intermediate ports, and thus giving the
nauseated traveller two unnecessary days. There is
nothing to see or to do at these ports. You lie off in
the open roadstead, two or three miles from shore,
and of course roll most unhappily at the slightest
suggestion of Boreas. You have hardly time to go
ashore, and indeed are tantalized by the distant and
inviting verdure of the Mexican tropics. What is
most urgently demanded for the tourist in that direc-
20 MEXICO AS IT IS/
tion is a first-class line of steamers running directly
from New Orleans, or from New York to New Or-
leans, and return, stopping only at Havana and Vera
Cruz.
There is not a decent harbor in the Gulf of Mexico.
As our good captain remarked, * If your vessel does
come to any grief, you would hardly know what
port to make for.'
The city of Vera Cruz — the main port of the re-
public on the Atlantic side — lies on the open coast,
only protected from the " wild waves," by some mer-
ciless reefs and the picturesque island fort of San
Juan d'Ulloa, where the Spaniards under Cortes
first landed. As is the fashion at this season of
the Mexican year, we arrived in " a Norther."
But fortune, as we know, ever " favors the brave,"
and a brave man did we have in our captain. He
is said to be the only man of the Line who can do
what he did that rough morning. Being a pilot as
well, he took his vesssl right in between the reefs and
through the gale, and brought her to her anchorage
without a scratch. It was a beautiful and thrilling
thing to see. There were but four vessels in the
NEW YORK TO VERA CRUZ. 21
anchorage; among them, as we were informed,
lay half of the Mexican navy, viz., two small,
neat-looking vessels, about the size of our revenue
cutters.
Once landed — not without a surf-drenching, how-
ever — at the Customs quay, you are met and sur-
rounded at once with the sights and scenes, the
novelties and oddities of a widely- differing civiliza-
tion.
The old town of " the Conquerors," fondly named
by them Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, has been much
abused by many disgusted travellers, arriving and
departing from its sea-beaten and sand-girt walls,
and we must admit that, with its glaring white-
wash, and open street- drains, and clouds of scavenger
buzzards, its thousand smells, and sickliest repu-
tation, it may be not inaptly compared to a " whited
sepulchre;" but withal we have rarely seen a
town more picturesque — well and compactly built —
one of the few cities left in North America that have
retained their walls; its many domes and glaring
colors giving a semi- Oriental aspect to its architec-
ture, and its patioed houses, the tropical vegetation
22 MEXICO AS IT IS.
of its squares and alameda, adding a charm to the
whole, only to be experienced in those fair and fatal
southern lands.
But we would hasten to qualify the last alarming
adjective by remarking, that during the winter
months, or in other words, the prevalence of " Nor-
thers," the terrible scourge of the " Vomito " is
comparatively little felt, and scarcely to be dreaded.
Wherefore remember, impatient and irritated trav-
eller, tossed and tumbled and literally thrown ashore
by the force of whistling wind and regardless surf,
that this very discomfort is thy salvation ! Without
these forcible reminders of northern inclemency,
Vera Cruz would be all but uninhabitable, and thy
curious visit utterly out of the. question.
As it was, we were obliged to remain in the quaint
old city about a week altogether, and were assured we
ran no risk in doing so, though we beHeve it is es-
sential to exercise the greatest caution at all seasons.
Nothing can be more interesting than a stroll through
the straight and narrow streets, for the Spaniards seem
to have learned at least one good lesson from the na-
tives, in laying out their towns with great regularity.
NEW YORK TO VERA CRUZ. 23
Looking into dark, and we must add, rather
dirty rooms, you will see the native women on their
knees most industriously kneading their tortillas,
using the same curious low, inclined stone stand, on
which their mothers worked long before the historic
era of the Montezumas. Indeed, in features, dress,
and customs, the several millions of native Indians
seem to have undergone as little change as the desert
Arabs. The modifications are all seen in the two or
three millions of mixed blood, which are in fact the
restless, revolutionary and governing race of the
country.
But to pass down the sun-baked street a little far-
ther, let us pause for a moment to examine the work-
ings of this cigar-factory. Here are half a dozen or
more of men and boys diligently and deftly selecting,
rolling, pointing, etc., from not very tempting heaps of
tobacco rags, finishing off those neat ends with some
very doubtful-looking grease, and one of these indivi-
duals, (only one, I am happy to say) using occasionally
his tongue in the operation. A little farther on we
come upon the washing-square, and, as usual in
Southern lands, we find a very picturesque scene.
24 MEXICO AS IT IS.
A well-arranged and clean-looking series of troughs,
under cover, and filled with pure looking water, and
the whole enlivened by the merry laugh and jest of
the many brown and bright-eyed and busy lavan-
deras.
And, speaking of water, we cannot omit allusion
to an establishment of baths we visited, one of the
most luxurious places we ever saw, almost fulfilling
the ideal of " marble halls " and tropic glory. It is
near the impressive old monastic building and credit-
able collection of the Public Library.
There is one thing in which Vera Cruz is not
deficient, and indeed, it is about the only article of
which IVtexico seems to enjoy an embarras de
richesses, viz., churches. The disestablishment of the
Church and the confiscation of ecclesiastical property
has, of course, rendered it impossible to sustain the
extraordinary number of churches and convents
with which the generation of Cortes and their
successors have covered the land. It is a com-
mon thing to find of several in an urban or
rural neighborhood, the half abandoned. How they
still maintain so many is a mystery, and yet not
NEW YORK TO VERA CRUZ. 25
much of one, after all, to him who understands some-
what the workings of Rome.
The cathedral of Vera Cruz is an imposing edifice,
both externally and internally. The external effect is
rendered not a little bizarre by the black mass of car-
rion birds, to which we have before alluded, and which,
especially toward nightfall, are seen to settle on domes
and pinnacles, and indeed on every salient summit ;
and weirdly significant, several of the stronger ones
pushing their way to a perch on the highest point of
the cross itself.
Internally the church is large, and generally plain,
but about its principal altars rich in precious metals.
Here will we begin to realize a little of that fabulous
wealth, with which the conqtdstadores sought, for
their souls' sake, tarnished by so many crimes, to
buy a churchly indulgence ; but a large part of
which the too willing Church has been unable to
preserve from the necessities of later and less scrupu-
lous criminality.
Before leaving Vera Cruz, and for the sake of
common charity, let me warn brother tourists against
a hotel, into which they may, by accident, stray, viz.,
26 MEXICO AS IT IS.
the " Hotel des Diligencias." It seems to be man-
aged a good deal upon the principle of the " golden
^gg " story. Its rooms are among the best in town,
and its situation one of the finest, but there is an
evident and painful intention on the part of the
female proprietor to make the most of the disadvan-
tages under which you labor in claiming her hospi-
tality.
And this leads us to remark more seriously that
the drainage arrangements of this hotel, as indeed of
almost every house and every place we saw in
Mexico, are simply execrable and deadly. If no
other malarious reason existed, this horror of filth
would be enough of itself to breed a pestilence. De-
cency would forbid further details of the nuisance,
but decency makes it a duty to protest and to warn
against an evil which must be impairing so widely and
so deeply the health and prospects of the nation.
III.
VERA CRUZ TO ORIZABA.
THE city of Vera Cruz lies on a sandy and for-
bidding stretch of coast, but with nothing in
its apparent character to indicate the causes of its
great unhealthiness. The original town of Villa Rica
was built a little to the north of the present site, and
we believe the fatal vomito was not known till some
time after the conquest. There seems to be no
topographical or other reason why the city — the
main seaport of the Republic, and indeed the key to
its whole Atlantic coast — should have been erected
where it is. There are several other points more
sheltered, and in every way favorable ; but such se-
lections, as the student of history soon learns, are
more often made from superstitious or traditional
than from physical reasons. It is distant about
28 MEXICO AS IT IS.
two hundred and eighty miles from the City of
Mexico.
Modern and mainly English enterprise has con-
structed a railway over that distance, which may be
called one of the wonders and delights of the world ;
its eighteen hours of transit, however, being less
wonderful than the story told of Montezuma, that
his table was regularly supplied with fish caught in
the Gulf the day before ! This railway to the capital
may be said to traverse almost every clime, showing
the unparalleled advantages of the country. From
the tropical exuberance of the Tierre Caliente to the
temperate slopes of Orizaba, and the fertility of the
Mexican plateau ^ the traveller passes with amazing
facility and impression, the only drawback to the
journey being found in the fact that the spirit of
the Mexican age has seen fit to import for the
benefit of the above-mentioned traveller the most un-
comfortable of old-fashioned American cars.
As to the hour of starting, we fancy there will be
but one voice among all respectable readers of this
chapter. It was simply heathenish. The one passen-
ger-train from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico
VERA CRUZ TO ORIZABA. 29
leaves about midnight,* the sole advantage to the
tourist being that it makes his passage over the
torrid plains more comfortable ; but of course he
must lose his first fascinating impression of their
luxuriant beauty.
And here comes the first startling reminder as to
the insecurity of the country. One entire car is
devoted to the escort of fifty troops, whose duty it
is to see you safely through the regions of lawless-
ness and rebellion — either term doing as well as the
other !
Your fellow-passengers consist of a few adventu-
rous spirits like yourself, who, tired of ordinary
humdrum travel, would willingly incur a little risk to
visit " the halls of the Montezumas," and, besides
them, a not very prepossessing number of the pre-
sent native occupants of those so-called halls. With
their dusky faces, their gorgeous somhreroSy and
other caballero dress, and their incessant cigarettes,
we must observe they do not form the most agreea-
ble addition to the company, and we could not but
* Or rather, left, at the time of our visit.
30 MEXICO AS IT IS.
regret to observe how soon some of our American
compatriots, who would feel most aggrieved to be
denied the designation of gentlemen, adopted the
rude and vulgar custom of smoking in cars and
dining-rooms, regardless of the presence of ladies.
In such a motley company we rode through the
long, dark hours of the tropic night, solaced indeed
by the spicy breaths and breezes that came through
the open windows to our dreamy sense.
It was six hours to Orizaba, and from the glare
of Vera Cruz, from the gloom of our night's ride, we
found ourselves in the early morn amid a scene of
such marvellous beauty as was itself much more
than worth our thousands of miles of journeying
over land and sea. It was a revelation of natural
glory. It was Switzerland beside Andalusia, Norway
by the Delta, England and Italy side by side. Above
us towered grand mountains, bold-peaked, yet clad
in living green, until their loftiest summit, known as
Orizaba, eternally white with snow, reached an ele-
vation far beyond the highest point of Europe.
The city itself is situated about four thousand feet
above the sea, and thus enjoys a perfect climate all
VERA CRUZ TO ORIZABA. 3 1
the year round, neither sultry, as it is lower down at
Cordova and Vera Cruz, nor almost exhaustingly
rarefied as it is on the higher plateau of Mexico.
On the surrounding plains and slopes grow luxuriantly
the products of almost every clime — truly " a land of
corn and wine and oil, wherein thou mayest eat
bread without scarceness, and out of whose hills thou
mayest dig brass." It was everywhere like a garden
of beauty and fertility, with the quaint old city nes-
tled most picturesquely and invitingly in the midst.
We soon found ourselves in an exceedingly com-
fortable hotel, and were thus enabled to recommend
Orizaba as one of the most attractive winter resorts
we have ever had the delight of visiting. Certainly,
when considering the climate, the scenery, the com-
fort and reasonableness of living, we can hardly recall
any spot in either the East or West so advantageous.
A walk through the clean and regular streets re-
veals all the charming characteristics of Spanish life —
the large, low, iron-grated windows, with dark-hued
seftoras idly looking out, and glimpses beyond of
sunny patios, luxuriant with flowers and plashing
fountains. And then the old churches, glaring and
32 MEXICO AS IT IS.
crumbling without, tawdry within, a brace of not un-
happy-looking cripples at the door, and inside the
usual assortment of mantillaed dames and mumbling
beggars, a drowsiness and a dreaminess of both faith
and climate investing the whole with a charm which
no soul, with any music, can resist.
Stop with me a moment in this old lane leading
out from the suburbs. It is narrow, neglected, grass-
grown. On each side stands a half-ruined church
or monastery, nearly overrun with tropic growth.
And so all along, as far as the eye can reach, ex-
tends this most exuberant and radiant vegetation — a
vista of natural glory, animated with the continual
passing to and fro of the natives in their picturesque
national costumes. The vanity displayed by some
of the young cahalleros is so genuine, and, we
may say, unaffected, as to be simply amusing. Both
their horses and themselves are tricked out in the
gayest style from head to foot ; their sombreros like
a parasol in size, and glittering with gold or silver, a
man being known in Mexico very much by ihefagoTt
of his hat. They are all more or less armed, and
the richer ones followed by mounted servants, who
VERA CRUZ TO ORIZABA. 33
are the fainter reproductions of themselves. Their
fiery little horses seeni the perfection of docility, speed,
endurance, and fidelity. We saw one whose rider
was hopelessly drunk, and we hardly knew which
more to admire, the wonderful way the poor sot
kept his seat, or the gentle forbearance with which
the nobler brute accommodated himself to his mas-
ter's condition.
But amidst all this animation of scene and charac-
ter, we could not be blind to the sad evidences of
national instability and decay. The dilapidations are
from intestine feud ; the neglected churches show the
lapse of faith, the lounging senoras and the dandy
caballeros mark the lack of higher aim and ambition,
which is confirmed by the abject appearance of
the Indian peasantry ; and altogether, our afternoon's
walk in Orizaba leaves us with impressions as sad of
its humanity as they are fascinating of its site and
scenery.
MOUNTAIN SCENERY ON THE TABLE-LAND IN MEXICO.
IV.
ORIZABA TO THE CITY OF MEXICO.
IT was on a perfect Spring morning that we reluc-
tantly left Orizaba for the City of Mexico — a sky
of glorious intensity, setting off the snowy diadem of
Orizaba's ** breathless peak," the air an elixir of
health and exhilaration, and every tropic blade and
leaf shimmering in the early dawn and dew.
We were ever ascending — by gradually steeper
grades, till, on the mountain side, it became 212 feet
to the mile — passing through fertile valleys and by
sparkling streams, near high-walled haciendas^ by
meek-looking herds of cattle, and quite as meek-
looking Indian peasants, interspersed with much
fiercer-looking Mexican rancheros or other pictu-
resque horsemen.
Soon began for us the enjoyment of magnificent
views. We were literally climbing up a mountain
S6 MEXICO AS IT IS.
more than 8,000 feet high, by a zigzag way, that we
would call wonderful for a diligence road in the Alps
of Europe, but which by rail, becomes a stupendous
feat of engineering. Hewn out of the mountain side,
spanning terrible ravines by iron bridges, over which
you look into an almost sheer thousand feet or more,
the propulsion by a double-engine locomotive of
marvellous power, and everything conducted with
that perfect order and precision, which gives such
confidence everywhere in English management, this
railway can certainly be considered one of the won-
ders of the world ; and the many millions of its cost
do not seem very much after you have seen the dif-
ficulties, and the way in which they have been sur-
mounted. The importance and value of its construc-
tion is shown in the fact, as stated by an official, that its
earnings for one month — ^January of this year — were
$560,000.
But we began to speak of the glorious views as we
ascended, of fertile valleys, cultivated plains, a chang-
ing, yet ever luxuriant vegetation, here and there a
town or hamlet with its characteristic variegation of
color, and conspicuous church-towers and campaniles
ORIZABA TO THE CITY OF MEXICO. 37
and all around the beautiful mountain peaks, and all
and everything rejoicing in the ceaseless summer sun !
Then we would creep through narrow defiles,
with crystal streams brawling happily beside us, and
the rich mountain flora glistening in the morning
dew. •
The air was bracingly keen. It was difficult to
believe we had just left the sultry tropics. It com-
pleted the revival of Orizaba ; when we reached the
station at the summit of the pass, called Boca del
Monte, we were in a condition that boded ill for the
breakfast larder.
But be it said, to the credit of whomsoever it con-
cerns, that we found here, as everywhere at the eat-
ing-places on this road and its branches, a most
abundant and satisfactory provision, and at reason-
able charges — a provision that should shame nearly
all the American part of the way from New York to
the Mexican capital.
Such coffee, we fancy, never entered the wildest
dreams of a railroad caterer in the United States ;
and, indeed, throughout Mexico we may say, the
coffee is a beverage of elysian delight We felt we
38 MEXICO AS IT IS.
never could get enough of it, but were obliged to
content ourselves with three times a day ; and such
are its properties, as perhaps also of the climate, that
it does not seem to affect you in the least beyond sat-
isfactory stimulation.
, And while speaking of the railway travel in Mexico,
it would be more than remiss not to allude to the
perfect courtesy and attention of all connected with
it. The principal employes of the road are English
and American, and it seemed a delight to them to do
anything in their power to faciUtate our plans and
pleasure — thereby furnishing an example, and per-
haps also affording a warning to railway officials else-
where, the world over.
And we cannot forbear, also, in this connection, very
pardonably we trust, mentioning the case of one, with
whom at this mountain station we became very pleas-
antly acquainted, which shows indeed how honest
industry can make its way anywhere, even in such a
disordered country as Mexico.
A man of humble origin, an Irish Roman Catholic,
but of strong, sturdy character, he came to Mexico
as a poor laborer, and is now, only a few years
ORIZABA TO THE CITY OF MEXICO. 39
later, in an important and confidential position of
inspection, and in receipt of a salary of several
thousand dollars. Truly the world is wide, and
" there is always room in the front ranks !"
After leaving Boca del Monte, the exact elevation
of which is said to be 8,326 feet above the sea, there
is a slight descent until you come to the level of the
great plateau or valley of Mexico. The elevation of
the capital itself is stated as about 7,500 feet.
The cliange is very marked from the bold moun-
tain region — so rich in vegetation from its greater
moisture — to the immense and almost monotonous
plain, looking at this dry season of the year painfully
parched.
But its fertility, notv/ithstanding, seems unbounded,
producing frequent and vast crops of barley, corn,
etc., and as you near the City of Mexico, being given
up almost entirely to the cultivation of the pulque
plant, the commercial value of which may be esti-
mated from the fact that it pays in freightage to the
railway company $1,000 a day.
There are mysteries of all kinds in this world of
ours, and not among the least of them is this
40 MEXICO AS IT IS.
national Mexican beverage of pulque — to the natives
what claret is to the Frenchman, beer to the German,
ale to the Englishman, and we might remark, what
whiskey sadly is to the American.
But all these liquids are, to say the least, not
repulsive in taste ; whereas pulque, to the uninitiated,
is of all sour things the most disgusting.
We are ready to admit that it may be, in modera-
tion, innocuous and even wholesome ; indeed, we
saw but very few men improperly under its influence,
and they were only stupidly helpless, never violent.
We can believe also that, prepared specially for the
richer classes, it may taste no worse than an ordinary
condition of " spoiledness " — all this we can readily
suppose, and we may conclude its consideration with
the charitable supposition that, being cast, with a
pig-skin full of it, upon a desert rock in the Pacific,
might perhaps lead to a more grateful appreciation
of one of the possibilities of nature !
It was most interesting, as we rode along, to
notice the haciendas and towns near our line of
travel, or far away upon the mountain slopes.
The former were like villages in themselves, each
ORIZABA TO THE CITY OF MEXICO. 4I
containing a church and quite a population of
servants and retainers. The aristocratic owners
rarely visit them, and more rarely reside in them.
Indeed, this would increase the chances of at-
tack from the ubiquitous brigands, who have an
uncomfortable way in this republican country of
carrying off a rich man to their dens and keeping
him there until a good, fat ransom has been paid ;
and happy the Dives who returns in full possession of
all his members !
These haciendas are all, therefore, well walled and
fortified, and carry on at times very respectable
battles and sieges. They are usually situated on
immense estates, and even under all these adverse
circumstances, yield great revenues to their owners.
The larger hamlets and towns are very picturesque
and attractive, at a distance ; but are said to be, or
until recently to have been, very nests of robbery
and crime.
In fact, at every station of our road, we observed
a body of volunteer cavalry drawn up in brilliant
array to protect us from the possible raids of neigh-
boring banditti.
42 MEXICO AS IT IS.
The moralizing reader may be interested to learn
the sequel, if not the conclusion, to this formidable
display of friendliness to the government and our-
selves.
As we returned over this way a few weeks later,
all these brave and patriotic protectors had become
banditti themselves, or had "pronounced," which is
about the same thing !
The tropic day was waning towards its glowing
close as we neared "the city of the Montezumas."
As if to welcome us befittingly, great, gorgeous
banks of clouds, relieved by every delicateness of
celestial hue, stretched their regal canopy from
mountain-top to mountain-top again.
Twin queens of tropic peaks, Popocatepetl and
Iztacihuatl, flushed a roseate greeting to our stranger
footsteps ! Glorious in elevation, (being some 3,000
feet higher than the monarch of all Europe's moun-
tains,) crowned with everlasting snows, a perpetual feast
of refreshment to tropic eyes, standing as serenely
proud and pure as when, in the centuries past, filed
between them the war-worn band of Cortes, and
ORIZABA TO THE CITY OF MEXICO. 43
later, passed beneath them the invincible army of
Scott, and the veteran troops of Maximihan — ma-
jestic ptaks indeed, which the reverent eye can
never, and would never lose while in this fair and
fertile valley of the Aztecs!
Between them and ourselves, as we approached, lay
the quiet waters of Tezcuco, set in the peaceful plain,
and recalling so much of thrilling interest in the
romantic annals of Anahuac.
The city itself came upon us almost suddenly,
protected as it is by nearer hills, and shaded by a
rich and grateful foliage in parks, j^aseos, and suburbs.
It was already the dusk of evening, and in a gentle
" April shower," that we alighted from our railway
carriages to seek hospitality and rest in this once
imperial city of an ever mysterious race, a city and
a race vested with the glamor of a history stranger
than the strangest romance.
" Thou art beautiful,
Queen of the Valley ! thou art beautiful !
Thy walls, like silver, sparkle to the sun ;
Melodious wave thy groves ; thy garden sweets
Enrich the pleasant air ; upon the lake
Lie the long shadows of thy towers."
Southey^s Madoc.
V.
THE CITY OF MEXICO.
VIEW IN THE SQUARE IN THE CITY OF MEXICO,
THE first impression of the City of Mexico is
somewhat disappointing to the mind fresh from
the romantic pages of Prescott, but a more deli-
THE CITY OF MEXICO. 45
berate observation will appreciate its unsurpassed
picturesqueness and advantages of site, and confirm
the general verdict, that it is the best-built Spanish
city on the American continent.
There are people, indeed, who are always disap-
pointed; who visit Venice, Rome and Naples, and
grumble over continual disenchantment. Their ideas
of history seem mostly a compound of popular novels,
flavored with "the Arabian Nights," and who,
therefore, feel quite lost in the present sombre silence
of the Grand Canal, in the dilapidations of the
Seven-hilled City, and in the ineffaceable odors of
what was so recently the Bomba Bourbon capital.
And thus with Mexico — the city of Montezuma and
of Cortes, and gilded forever by the genius of one of
America's greatest historians. It is, perhaps, a dis-
appointnient to find so few vestiges of an empire,
which appears to have vied in luxury and pomp, in
all the appliances and arts of living, with any con-
temporaneous nation of the older world.
The selfish, ruthless greed of the conquerors seems
to have swept almost everything away. The very-
worst thing that can be said against the Aztecs — to
46 MEXICO AS IT IS.
wit, their human sacrifices — ^pales beside the subse-
quent atrocities, both of Church and State, committed
against these heathen Indians under the name of
Christianity !
We say, therefore, that, considering the generally
unprincipled and reckless character of these Spanish
adventurers, the intelligent traveller must be agree-
ably surprised to see what a city they founded, and
how wisely in rebuilding they followed some of the
best ideas of their victim converts.
The new city was built upon the lines of the old,
destroyed in the last furious battles of the almost
exterminating war. The streets are laid out with
remarkable width and regularity, but they do
not <- extend to the dimensions of the Aztec capital.
Prosperous as is the present city, it is smaller than
the old by very many thousands of population,*^ and
long ancient avenues are seen stretching away from
it in every direction, which formerly were teeming
with life and industry.
Undoubtedly the great charm of the city has been
* The present population is about 200,000, we believe.
THE CITY OF MEXICO. 47
lost in the subsidence of the lake, which once
extended into the street- canals, and formed the
gorgeous floating gardens of Aztec weahh and ro-
mance. At present the lake is a league distant from
the capital, and, unruffled by any commerce, must
present a depressing contrast with tlie day when it
was alive with Indian crafts of every kind and pur-
pose.
The centre of all interest in the capital is, of
course, its great square, a large part of which is laid
out as a beautiful park. On one side stands the
cathedral, one of the largest, if not the largest place
of worship on this continent, and occupying the site
of the great Teocalii of the Aztecs. With regard
to this Teocalii or temple, we are told " that within
its enclosure were fiye hundred dwellings. That its
hall was built of stone and lime, and ornamented with
stone serpents. We hear of its four great gates,
fronting the four cardinal points ; of its stone-paved
court; great stone stairs, and sanctuaries dedicated
to the gods of war ; of the square destined for reli-
gious dances, and the colleges for the priests, and
seminaries for the priestesses ; of the horrible temple.
48 MEXICO AS IT IS.
whose door was an enormous serpent's mouth ; of
the temple of mirrors and that of shells ; of the
house set apart for the emperor's prayers ; of the
consecrated fountains, the birds kept for sacrifice, the
gardens for the holy flowers, and of the terrible tow-
ers composed of the skulls of the victims — strange
mixture of the beautiful and the horrible ! We are
told that five thousand priests chanted night and day
in the Great Temple, to the honor and in the service
of the monstrous idols, who were anointed thrice a
day with the most precious perfumes ; and that of
these priests the most austere were clothed in black,
their long hair dyed with ink, and their bodies anoint-
ed with the ashes of burnt scorpions and spiders ;
their chiefs were the sons of kings."
The present cathedral is an exceedingly impres-
sive building, and fixed upon one side is the huge,
mysterious "calendar stone," weighing many tons,
and transported from its distant quarry by appliances
which have equally bafHed the best antiquarian schol-
ars of our day.
The interior presents nothing very remarkable
beyond its immensity. The choir stands singularly
THE CITY OF MEXICO. 49
near the opposite end from the high altar and apse,
and is connected with the former by a railed pas-
sage-way, which rails were once, as we are told,
of solid silver — long since, however, devoted to
political necessities ! There is some fine woodwork
in the choir, and there are a few tolerable paintings.
The sacristy is a noble room, and the marble ar-
rangements for priestly ablution are remarkably
handsome and complete. In one of the several visits
we paid to this cathedral, upon a Lenten Sunday,
we found a large and devout congregation.
Another side of the square is taken up with the
palace, now occupied by the President with as much
enjoyment, doubtless, as by any of his Imperial pre-
decessors. It is a long, low, white building, plain even
to shabbiness, but good enough, we suppose, for a
bachelor chief !^ The hall of ambassadors, or of State
receptions, is interesting from its life-size portraits of
Mexican rulers, from the Independence. A remarka-
ble fact of these men is that several were priests, and
nearly all educated under Jesuit influence. Undoubt-
* Lerdo was still President at the time of our visit.
4
50 MEXICO AS IT IS.
edly the most of them were men of lofty patriotism.
Hidalgo, one of the first to lead the revolted Mexi-
cans, was a village curate, whose soul was fired by
the injustice and oppression of Spain. Juarez, one
of the noblest of them all, was a pure-blooded
Indian, who, with all his "opportunities," died a
poor man — one good lesson of little, despised
Mexico to her great, Pharisaic sister in the North !
Lerdo, the present ruler, is an educated, shrewd,
and somewhat unscrupulous man, resorting, perhaps
from political necessity, to some means of govern-
ment, which make the name of republic a farce.
During our stay in the capital, he recruited his army
by sending a column of troops to sweep through
the streets, impressing the poor and respecting the
rich. The present revolution is partly due, we
fear, to this arbitrariness, though we must recognize
that the embers of such disorder seem ever smoul-
dering in this unhappy land, and can only be
extinguished by the consistency of a purer faith and
a wider, truer education.
To return again to the palace. It was sadly sig-
nificant to observe upon many magnificent vases
THE CITY OF MEXICO. 5 1
and other ornaments the cipher of Maximilian,
which the republican succession could not remove
without damage, and which therefore has been very
sensibly allowed to remain. In the armory of the
palace we were shocked to see the stand of arms
with which the poor, well-meaning, but misguided
monarch was shot ; and our feelings were not
much relieved by observing in the same hall a
number of tattered American flags, captured in the
Mexican war.
On the opposite side of the square from the
palace stands one of the most interesting buildings
remaining of the older city. It is the palace built
and occupied for a time by Cortes. It is a plain,
substantial edifice, built, as customary, about a
large court, and now used as the government
" Monte Pio " or pawn-broking establishment.
Here, if your eyes are open and your pocket able,
you can often pick up objects of interest and value,
bric-a-brac y in short, " for a song." There is every-
thing, indeed, from a coach to a ring, displayed in
the spacious halls and rooms, and so with little effort
or expense, you may succeed some day in purchas-
52 MEXICO AS IT IS.
ing a bauble of the conquerors. In fact the whole
country is a mine of interest for the antiquary and
the scholar, for collectors of all kinds and travellers
of all aims.
The interest of sight-seeing is enhanced by the
fact that you must be your own " Murray " and
"Baedeker." No slavish absorption in a printed
page — so often at the expense of the object itself; no
servile following in the footsteps of an illiterate valet
de place. There is no such thing as a guide-
book known in the whole free land of Mexico !
By dint of much search and persuasion we suc-
ceeded in securing the services of an elderly colored
manj who had gone to Mexico as a body-servant to
one of Scott^s officers, and who, through much tribu-
lation, had been able to settle there. He gave us
cheerfully the benefit of his linguistic and other ad-
vantages, but I verily believe we taught him much
more than he had ever begun to suspect about the
city and environs, before we were through with him.
And thus we found out that there was a picture
gallery, with * some very poor pictures in it. The
finest paintings we saw in the country were two little
THE CITY OF MEXICO. 53
gems of Murillo, in the private chamber of a resident
gentleman, whose princely hospitality added one of
the greatest charms to our visit. We unearthed also
a museum of Aztec antiquities — ^pitched and piled
helter-skelter in two or three mean rooms, with a
carelessness reflecting great discredit upon the Mex-
ican Government. Here is the miraculous banner
once borne before the victorious Cortes; and few
sweeter faces have I seen than the pictured Virgin
upon it. Here also js the feather shield of the great
Montezuma, and near them all sorts of curious old
Aztec and Spanish weapons, any number of hideous
Indian idols, quaint jars and vases, primitive musical
instruments, etc., etc. One of the strangest relics of
all was a sacrificial yoke of stone, which gives a
very striking idea of what Aztec heathenism was — an
impression intensified to the last degree when one*
has seen in the court below the immense sacri-
ficial stone, round, weirdly sculptured and channelled
for the victim's blood — when, with knives of flint, the
heart was dug from the still living body, and cast at
the idol's feet !
It were much to be desired that the Mexi-
54 MEXICO AS IT IS.
can people should devote a little of that super-
fluous energy, which they are ever expending in
revolutions, and with which they sent such a re-
spectable display to "the Centennial," toward the
collection and formation of a worthy museum of
antiquities.
There are few other public buildings of particular
interest in the city. The college is a noble, spacious,
substantial edifice, and apparently well-appointed.
The collections of natural history are remarkably
creditable to the country. There are also some good
hospitals, of old foundation, one of them — that of
"Jesus" — containing a veritable portrait of Cortes,
and once having held his ashes. The place of
their final deposit is not known.
One of the most interesting and attractive resorts
in the capital is the old market-place, where you may
see to-day the very people, costumes, habits and
food, which the Conquistadores found and marvelled
at more than three centuries ago — a chattering, chaf-
fering, half-clad crowd of Indians, under booths,
and with a variety of tropical vegetables and fruits,
from which you obtain a good idea of the marvellous
THE CITY OF MEXICO. 55
capabilities and advantages of the Mexican soil and
climate. But as regards these fruits, we cannot but
express our preference for a good peach or apple to
all their luxuriant insipidity. And so it is with
almost all things tropical ; for character and strength
you must go to the sterner, severer North — and thus
we have much of the moral of history !
A word about the private residences in the city of
Mexico. Many of them are of palatial proportions,
and most inviting to the passer-by, with their court-
yards and galleries and flowers. One of them, near
our hotel, is most gorgeously tiled over its whole ex-
terior, and several, indeed, would vie with any
palaces in Europe. The Iturbide Hotel was the
palace of that rash and unfortunate monarch, and is
strikingly grand. The accommodations there, as
elsewhere, are excellent, the restaurant separate from
the lodging ; and one can live in the best travelling
style and comfort for two or three dollars a day in
gold. With every convenience of living, and every
fascination of interest, what can the tourist ask more
or better than a visit to the city of Mexico ?
VI.
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO.
BUILDINGS NEAR THE SQUARE OF THE CATHEDRAL.
THE environs of the city of Mexico may be said to
equal, if not to exceed in interest, tlie city itself.
There is an almost monotonous regularity about the
latter, much relieved, however, by the beautiful parks,
the markets, and such delightful old squares as, e. g.y
that of the Inquisition, where the flavor of the cruel
yet creamy past becomes absolutely intense ; where
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 57
one finds all sorts of antique odds and ends ex-
posed for sale under the arcades, and you enter
the picturesque church and find idolatry to your
heart's content, (we speak to those zealous souls who
are so easily made happy by the detection of undue-
ness in their neighbor's worship !). We must with
sadness admit that what we witnessed in the dim old
church of the Inquisition was very gross — grosser
than anything we renaember to have seen in the
older world.
Life-size representations of the Saviour, seated, and
revoltingly wounded, and also as dead from the Cross,
met one in the nave ; and all about the walls there
was a profusion of the tawdriest decoration.
But enough of this, in all pity ! Let us start out
on this lovely Spring afternoon, (in February !) for
a drive to Chapultepec, and pray do not be so in-
tensely patriotic as to think at once of Gen. Scott
and his yesterday victories over a half-caste and de-
generate people ; but lift your soul to the romantic
level of Montezuma and his barbaric glory.
It is not a long drive — some four or five miles —
but far enough to make it very unsafe at certain
58 MEXICO AS IT IS.
times. The avenues are very fine in every direction
from the city, well-paved, and planted with trees, the
newest and handsomest towards Chapultepec being
called after the unhappy Empress Carlotta, to whom,
as to her imperial husband, so many of the improve-
ments in and about the city are due. But, we repeat,
upon no one of them is it considered safe to drive
after dark. The very boulevard which on Mardigras
afternoon was thronged with vehicles, cavaliers, and
populace, in the gayest and most festive appearance,
(such a scene of costumes and characteristics as you
must now go to Mexico to behold) at dusk becomes
absolutely deserted — and woe to the unlucky and
belated one !
Not long before our visit to the city, a wealthy
proprietor was caught and carried off, and after a
persistent search, his friends found him in a secluded
hovel, buried up to his neck and gagged, while his
inhuman captors were awaiting the exorbitant ransom.
Another instance : we were so fortunate as to
breakfast at the princely villa in the pretty village of
Tacubaya, near Chapultepec, of one of Mexico's most
distinguished millionaires. The plate upon the hos-
p
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 59
pitable board was worth a fortune ; but when a little
later we were looking into the dining-room, the
9^. domestics were hastily packing it up to be taken
back to the city before night.
And this genial gentleman himself would scarcely
dare to pass a night in his own elegant retreat — O,
the Sister Republic /
Near the foot of the hill of Chapultepec stands an
interesting relic of Montezuma's glory, in the shape
of what. is called his ''swimming baths," in a most
inviting spot, with large and deep tanks of cool, clear
water, and with a surrounding structure recently
decorated in Pompeian style. It is a favorite resort for
the city people. A swarthy son of the Aztecs was
induced, for a consideration, to disport himself in the
pellucid depths for our amusement.
But the crowning glory of Chapultepec- is found
in its venerable and majestic trees, which are worthy
to stand beside the cedars of Lebanon and the
pines of Mariposa. They are of the cypress fam-
ily, and many in number. It would be safe to
say that some of them are forty or fifty feet in
Their umbrageous summits tower into
^dA^^pf^f^^ CLi^--'i^-t'JiL<>^^)
60 MEXICO AS IT IS.
the blue summer sky, and it is easy to understand
how Montezuma was accustomed to seek their rest-
ful shelter. The grounds wherein they stand sur-
round extensively the castled hill, and even in their
comparative neglect are most delightsome.
The palace of Chapultepec is now undergoing ex-
tensive repairs, and but little remains of its earlier
character. Yet it is not without a thrill that one
stands on foundations reared by a Montezuma, and
gazes on a prospect that must often have rejoiced his
eyes, as well as those of his conqueror Cortes, and
of their strange successors, Maximilian and Juarez.
The view from the tower is unsurpassed — fair as
the Vega of Granada, and in the season of moisture,
doubtless as fascinating as the plain of Damascus.
Almost at our feet lies the great city, beautifully
emboweled in its perennial green, and surrounded
with its imperial avenues, its charming villages, and
gleaming lakes, and towering above all in the glitter-
ing distance, the twin snow-crowned guardians of
the majestic valley.
Another delightful excursion from the city is to
"the floating gardens." We started early, to avoid
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 6 1
the heat of the day, and took a covered boat in the
canal, which leads to Lake Chalco. Near to our
point of departure stands the striking monument to
the last and one of the worthiest of the Aztec Em-
perors — Gautemozin — who did all that patriotism and
valor could to save his already doomed and divided
country. The canal is only about twenty- five feet
wide, and very shallow, but is a thoroughfare for
country produce. It was an animated and pic-
turesque scene, as we were *' poled " along, often
through crowds of scows and canoes, laden to the
water's edge with vegetables, firewood, grain, bags
of sugar, etc., etc., and skilfully propelled by dusky
Indians, very scantily clad, but cheerful and con-
tented-looking — as who could fail to be beneath
such a genial sun ?
Soon we were gliding between low,* verdant
banks, bordered principally with willows, and at in-
tervals passing little Indian villages of wigwams,
surrounded with pleasant gardens and refreshing
shade.
You turn from the main canal into smaller cut-
tings, just wide enough for your boat, and intersecting
62 MEXICO AS IT IS.
in every direction, and find yourself among the so-
called "floating gardens." Formerly, as we read,
a great deal of the watery environs of the city were
thus occupied, and magical must have been the
effect of these rich and variegated patches of terra
firma^ being moved from place to place, or anchored,
and swaying gently to the ripples and the breeze.
First formed by vegetable accumulations, and added
to by careful art, they soon became, under the
Aztecs, a leading means of industry and wealth.
What remains of them to-day is mostly stationary,
and irrigated by a sort of deep shovel, reminding
one of the primitive Nile methods. These gardens
are very brilliant and beautiful, rejoicing this day of
early March in a profusion of vegetables, fruit and
flowers.
About three miles from the capital we came to
the old village of Sta. Anita, as primitive looking and
picturesque a place as one could desire to visit.
The Indian huts take you back to the fellaheen
hovels of Egypt, though, we are glad to add, not as
squalidly wretched. The more pretentious buildings
have the same Spanish character as elsewhere.
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 63
There is the same old Foitda, and the same sleepy,
dilapidated public square — suggestive of everything
but progress, and hence so refreshing to eyes fresh
from "the States."
Hearing a loud, confused hum of voices, we en-
tered a building on the square, and found a public
school, though how they could learn anything under
such Babel-like circumstances it was difficult to
imagine. It sounded as if every one were reciting
something different at once !
Just beyond was the village church, and entirely
characteristic — an old, rude structure, with tawdry
interior, and an odd-looking wooden representation
of Cortes on horseback. In the yard we observed
the singular custom of skulls and bones placed and
piled above the graves or on the stones — a revolting
sight, certainly indicating a low state of civilization
and religion. The considerable number of disused
and decaying chapels in the neighborhood was like-
wise a sad evidence of the latter : but what else can
we expect from a country where the worst elements
of Spanish ignorance, bigotry, and intolerance have
taken root and thriven ?
64 MEXICO AS IT IS..
Surely with all our missions to the ends of the
earth, we might find means and energies for convey-
ing to this fair and favoring land some portion of
those spiritual benefits and advantages, for which we
have just been thanking our fathers' God in the hun-
dredth year of our national existence.
VII.
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO.
(Continued.)
"OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE."
WHAT Loretto is to Italy, Einsideln to Swit-
zerland, the Atocha to Spain, and Lourdes
just now to France, is Guadalupe to Mexico — the
holy city of patriotic pilgrimage ! Human nature
demands such things, and will have them in some
shape or other. Nations, like individuals, in times
of need ask a sign from Heaven, and apotheosize
their own interpretation. Only woe to the nation
and woe to the Church, when the former, asking
bread, receives from the latter a stone !
The Spanish conquerors of Mexico were not
troubled with scruples. The conscience of their
Church was as elastic then as it is to-day. Let me
tell you the story of Guadalupe, premising that it is
5
66 MEXICO AS IT IS.
but a change of scene; the main elements have
been the same in every age since Hilde-
brand.
The facts are taken from a sermon of a Cardinal
of " the Holy Roman Church." The hero this time
is — as might be expected — a converted Indian, who
" on his way to study the Christian doctrine," passed
by a mountain near to the city of Mexico. To him
appeared the Blessed Virgin, and told him to seek
the then Bishop, and to say to him in her name that
she desired him to come and worship her on that
very spot. On his return to the mountain the Vir-
gin reappeared to receive his report. Our friend
replied that he had not succeeded in obtaining an
interview with the Bishop. " Return, and tell him
that I, Mary, the mother of God, have sent you,"
was her answer.
The second time the Indian was admitted to the
Episcopal presence, but his Right Reverence very
naturally declined belief until he received some sat-
isfactory evidence of the apparition. The patient
Aztec returns to the holy spot with the message for
" our Lady," who appears to him the third time.
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 6/
She simply commands him to ascend the mountain,
and to " cut roses " for her.
Now Juan Diego knew perfectly well the moun-
tain was entirely destitute of vegetation ; but with
exemplary faith he makes the attempt, fi7ids the
JlowerSy and brings them happily to the Virgin. She
throws them in his tilma^ (a part of his loose Indian
dress,) and says, " Return once more to the Bishop,
and tell him that these flowers are the credentials of
your mission." The honored native departs, and
admitted to the Bishop's presence, unfolds his robe
to present the roses, " when lo ! there appeared on
the rude garment that blessed picture of the Virgin,
which now, after three centuries, still exists, without
having suffered the slightest injury !" The Virgin
once more appears to our favored friend, the Indian,
restores his uncle to health, and tells him "the
image on thy tilma I wish called the Virgin of
Guadalupe !"
The image itself passed from the oratory of the
Bishop to the shrine of the great collegiate Church —
one of the wealthiest in the world. You will find a
copy of the picture, as a household god, literally
68 MEXICO AS IT IS.
speaking, in every orthodox Mexican home. The
name of " Maria de Guadalupe " designates a large
proportion of Mexico's fair daughters. She is, in-
deed, the Patron Saint of Mexico, in accordance
with the proud motto beneath, "Non fecit taliter
omni nationi !"
So much for the fanciful legend, and now for an
excursion to the shrine itself. It is only two or three
miles from the capital, and is reached by frequent
and rapid horse cars. And what is better, you may,
by paying a little more, travel in first-class and very
neat carriages, . with plenty of room — a refinement of
civilization which we unprejudiced Americans have
not yet reached.
It is a very pleasant road, one of the old Aztec
avenues, refreshingly bordered with tropical green ;
but the village of Guadalupe, which is the terminus,
is decidedly unprepossessing — very religiously mean
and dirty ! The church itself is not large, but bar-
barously rich within. There is the same peculiar
arrangement of choir and altar as in the Cathedral
of Mexico. Above the altar, gorgeously encased in
precious metals and gems, is the poor Indian's pictured
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 69
tilma — the wonder-working Madonna of Guadalupe.
The long, large rail- work of choir, altar, aisle, etc., is
all of silver, as are also candelabra, lecterns, etc., etc. —
such an overwhelming effect of wealth as we believe
to be unique.
There is nothing in Europe more exquisite than
the choir wood-carvings. They are in high relief, of
scenes from the life of our Lord — every one a study
of delight. There are, of course, a number of pic-
tures, but few of much merit. Among the worst are
the native attempts to represent the miraculous sto-
ry ; and, as is universally the case, the most unfortu-
nate are the ex voto offerings and efforts of art, and
yet each one of them, as we must reverently remem-
ber, representing a world of tragic reality and faith
ful sentiment.
Everywhere, indeed, within the consecrated inte-
rior, is a blaze of gold and silver, rich gems and mar-
bles, while just without, at the very door, lies the
usual assortment of crouching, crippled beggary ; and
to crown the whole, in the porch of this most sacred
and suggestive shrine, you are invited to purchase a
lottery ticket !
L
70 MEXICO AS IT IS.
Passing from the church up a winding street, you
come shortly to the miraculous well, its waters hav-
ing been blessed by the Virgin to the cure of all
manner of fleshly ills. It is protected by a small
chapel, which is constantly thronged with the faithful.
We found the water disagreeable to the taste, which
however may indicate the presence of some effective
mineral agent.
From this chapel a steep, stone stairway ascends to
the summit of the hill, where stands another and
smaller church, marking the actual site of the miracu-
lous gift. This temple is devoid of any aesthetic in-
terest ; but from the pavement in front is a charming
view of plain and mountain, lake and city, cer-
tainly none the less refreshing as you turn from the
sad desecration of faith around you.
And as we rode homeward, in the cool, quiet even-
tide, we could not but reflect again upon the unchang-
ing and unchangeable aspects of human nature, which
enwrap the fabled mount of Guadalupe with the same
fatal gloom overshadowing the seven hills of fallen
Rome!
VIII.
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO.
(Continued.)
THE PYRAMIDS OF SAN JUAN TEOTIHUACAN.
"The City of the gods."
OF all the excursions in the Mexica^i valley, that
to the pyramids of San Juan Teotihuacan is by
far the most interesting to the student of the past
There hangs about them a mystery not even pos-
sessed by the much greater antiquity of the Egyptian
monuments. Scholars have examined, excavated,
studied and searched, but cannot well decide as to
which of those great tribes and nations, that swept
down successively from the sterner North to occupy
these rich table-lands, the origin of these pyramids
is due ; and yet, if we assign them, as is common, to
the Toltec race, we cannot go further back than the
sixth century of our era. It is a mystery almost
72 MEXICO AS IT IS.
unparalleled in the annals of history. There they
stand, and not alone, for similar erections are found
at Cholula and elsewhere, pyramids reaching even to
the grandeur of Egypt's, of which we now have en-
tirely satisfactory explanations — monuments of a
regal past, which has churlishly left us no sign nor
story — a mystery like that of the vast mounds and
massive ruins found in our own far West, which we
believe the best studies would assign, as a prior
construction, to the same lost and buried people.
It is more than idle to doubt their artificial cha-
racter. They bear every evidence of careful labor
in form, material, color, arrangement, relics, etc., as
we shall proceed to show. Indeed we may now say
that our own unprejudiced examination convinced
us of the probable truth of the generally received
theory on the subject, that these pyramids of San
Juan Teotihuacan, with their many neighboring
mounds, were erected with immediate reference to
sacrificial and sepulchral purposes.
"But you certainly will not visit them in this un-
settled state of the country — a revolution going on,
with rebel raids, and even rebel watch-fires pointed
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. Tl
out on the distant hill-sides. You must not think of
it. It is not safe — " etc. etc., were the kind and encour-
aging remarks of American and Mexican friends alike.
We were a trifle staggered at first, but an experience
of similar warnings in southern Italy, Sicily, Spain,
and the East, had long since convinced us that if you
want to do or see a thing very much, you had better
try it, unless you are personally and absolutely sure
of harm ; and then, if it is only the matter of a few
dollars' loss, why, put them in your pocket before
you start, that your brigand brethren may not be in-
duced to harshness by their disappointment. " Never
turn back on a mere rumor or report," ought to be a
maxim graven on the back or at the head of
every guide-book. We have known friends to lose
the best things of all foreign travel by ^^hat we cannot
but consider an over-prudence in such matters ; and
we ourselves have been more than once rewarded by
the infinite satisfaction, almost equal to that of the
actual visit, of not having allowed ourselves to be
stopped by idle, fear-begotten tales.
So behold us, very early on a fresh Spring morn-
ing, in the train for San Juan — very early, indeed, for
I
74 MEXICO AS IT IS.
we were well on our way before " old Sol " conde-
scended to rise and beam rubicundly on the sleeping
snows of Popocatepetl. It was glorious to see her, and
her fair sister Istacyhuatl flush with queenly joy at
his return, and open a way for his kingly light over
their trackless slopes to the sweet smiling plains be-
low.
San Juan is a few stations from Mexico on the way
to Vera Cruz. We were there by 7 A. M., and found
at the little station, what is to be found, indeed, every-
where, as we believe to have before remarked, an
excellent cup of coffee, good bread, and a civil station-
master, not omitting to mention a more than willing
Indian to guide us. This Indian was not alone, it is
unnecessary to remark. His friends and neighbors
were with him on speculative errand. These natives
were of all ages, and all equally anxious to dispose of
the many little image relics, which, we incline to think,
are as yet too abundantly found, and the place, more-
over, too little visited, to require manufacture. Doubt-
less when the supply is exhausted, and ** Brown, Jones,
and Robinson" have finally reached here, under the
fatherly guidance of Mr. Cook, we will see that the
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 75
genius of this aspiring age, which has sent scarabei
to Egypt, " antiques" to Italy, and idols to Africa,
will not be wanting to the Mexican emergency.
Where these Indians all lived was at first a mys-
tery, for which indeed we were prepared on such an
expedition. Nothing in the way of buildings was
visible but the station, and an independent looking
old church near by ; but we soon discovered a col-
lection of hovels almost concealed by hedges of gigan-
tic cacti. We had never seen such immense plants of
the kind — frequently so large that we could sit in their
shade, and constituting with the pepper tree the prin-
cipal vegetation of the fields and mounds.
The pyramids are several miles distant from the
hamlet, and to tell the whole warning truth, the way
is through ploughed fields and under a burning sun.
But we doubt that the eagerness of the gold or
diamond seeker is greater, and certainly it is not as
wholesome, as that with which we explored the
furrows for pottery relics, and to our frequent success.
The peasants, in their rude, primitive ploughing, turn
up quantities of these little heads, and most remark-
able to relate, we found no two alike. They are
']6 MEXICO AS IT IS.
almost all extremely grotesque ; sometimes with
crowns or other emblematic covering. Occasionally
they possess a neck ; some even rejoice in shoulders,
and may vie with the conventional cherub ; but few,
very few indeed, are ever found of a complete figure.
For some mysterious reason the Aztec artificer could
only reproduce the master part of the human frame ;
and when we accept the theory that these countless
fragihties were given by the Aztec priests connected
with these sacrificial pyramids, as idols or image
souvenirs to the myriads of pilgrim worshippers, we
can perhaps better conjecture about the secret of
their form. And not only do you pick up these
curious heads, but also a double-socket piece of
pottery, apparently intended for purposes of light,
and greatest rarity of all, we found in a furrow, a
small rude calendar, also of pottery, and circular,
with singular hieroglyphics.
The first pyramid we ascended was that called the
Pyramid of the Sun. Its base line measures over
seven hundred feet, and its perpendicular height is
more than two hundred feet, (we find that measure-
n'.ents differ.) The ascent is arduous — a broiling sun
i
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. JJ
would suffice to make it so ; but when is added a
surface of sharp lava stones, one is forcibly reminded
of Vesuvius-climbing. There are frequent traces of
a former coating of cement, and very marked signs
of terracing. The interior, as far as excavated,
seems to be of layers of stones, tufa, mud, etc. The
summit area is level, and measures about sixty feet
by ninety, witli an almost perfect orientation.
Clavigero states that there were formerly temples
on these pyramids, and within them immense idols
of stone, covered with gold. The Pyramid of the
Sun had in its grooved breast a large golden image
of the planet, which was soon added to the treasures
of the Spanish conquerors, and the idol was over-
thrown by the orders of the Bishop — some of the
huge fragments in the neighborhood probably formed
a part of it.
There can be little doubt that these ancient struc-
tures were models of the later Aztec Teocallis — those
curious temple mounds, which were the centre of
worship in all Aztec communities. It is conjectured
that their ruinous, and now almost natural surface of
earth and vegetation is due to the effort made by
y^ MEXICO AS IT IS.
the more civilized founders to cover and conceal
them from future savage invasions. And, at the
risk of repetition, we must add that their remarkable
correspondence to similar Egyptian constructions
adds, if anything, to the piquancy of mystery en-
veloping them.
We found the summit strewn with various debris^
and among them many evidently wrought pieces of
obsidian, which was the flinty material of the knives
used in Aztec sacrifice.
The view from this elevation is very striking, not
only of the surrounding country with its grand
features and peculiar vegetation, but also of the many
mounds or tumuli, arranged with more or less of
regularity in groups and squares, and most remark-
ably in one long avenue extending between the two
great pyramids. If, from the vast amount of ruinous
remains by the river-bed and elsewhere near, anti-
quarian conjecture be true that a mighty city once
occupied their site, have we not here a wonderful
sacrificial and sepulchral suburb, like unto those of
Egypt, Greece, and Rome in their proudest days ?
What has been said of the Sun Pyramid will apply
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 79
to the Pyramid of the Moon, except that the latter
is smaller, and that within it have been discovered
some passages and chambers, but nothing to indi-
cate their character.
The avenue of tumuli between, called by native
tradition " the path of the dead," is one of the most
interesting and mysterious features of the whole ar-
rangement These mounds reach to thirty feet in
height, and are entirely overgrown with vegetation,
though in some of them are remains of masonry and
stucco, and even of color. The avenue is two
hundred and fifty feet wide, and we found the well-
preserved remains of terrace steps descending from
the mounds to the roadway.
Much of the solid material used in their construc-
tion, as also of the idol statues, has been destroyed
or carried away from that same vandal instinct which
is robbing everywhere the monumental past ; or, at
the best, transferring to museums that which only
has its proper value amid the associations of its his-
tory. But still we found, as before remarked, some
massive fragments, and especially one immense
monolithic idol, almost perfect in preservation, stand-
So MEXICO AS IT IS.
ing in a helpless, half-disinterred condition, most
wonderfully suggestive, may we add, of that poor
Pagan past, which an aping materialism would seek
presently to revive.
Besides these pyramids and mounds there are
other curious formations, one called the " Citadel," a
large and regularly embanked square, and also seve-
ral smaller enclosures, the natural floor of which was
as level and smooth as though it had been rolled but
yesterday. It is probable that a huge idol stood on
a central mound of these sepulchral squares.
Altogether, the quantity and vastness of these re-
mains, and the doubt concerning them — their purposes
and history, makes San Juan Teotihuacan one of the
most interesting of modern problems, and most
delightful of excursions. As we returned to the
capital in the early evening, fatigued indeed from
the heat and effort, but laden with Indian relics, and
safe as regards our skins and ducats, we could not
but feel that here again was much more than enough
to repay a trip to Mexico.
TERRA COTTA HEAD.
Found near the Pyramids of San Jnan Teotihuacan.
IX.
THE CITY OF MEXICO AND ITS ENVIRONS.
(Concluded.)
ONE of the most interesting excursions in the
neighborhood of the Capital is to the famous
old tree of the Noche Trista. The story is, that dur-
ing the terrible retreat of Cortes from the city, when
his little veteran army was beset by myriads of out-
raged and relentless foes, until the very canals ran
blood, and the broken bridges were replaced by piles
of dead and dying warriors, the great captain rallied
and rested his shattered and dispirited forces near this
enormous tree, making it his own shelter, if we re-
member rightly the tradition. It is situated about a
couple of miles from the city, and reached by conve-
nient horse-cars, on a beautiful and shaded avenue.
On the way you pass that saddest and most suggest-
ive spot in every foreign city — the Protestant cem-
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 83
etery. Nothing could be more retired and delight-
fully laid out than this last resting-place for wanderers
in restless Mexico.
We found the historical tree to be of the same fam-
ily as the Chapultepec giants, and of almost equal
proportions, but sadly decayed, and apparently
much mutilated by fuel and relic hunters ; now pro-
tected, however, by a substantial railing.
Could such trees to their actual and patriarchal
life only add the gift of speech, what tales could they
not tell ? Who would not more than delight to
listen to the mystic and majestic eloquence of Le-
banon's lofty cedars, or better still, to thrill beneath
the whisper of Gethsemane's sacred olives ? So this
old tree of the Noche Trista could doubtless reveal
such a scene of bitter tears and utter agony as hardly
to be believed, in that bood-stained drama of ruth-
less greed, called " the Conquest of Mexico."
And, speaking of military achievements leads us to
the relation of a brief interview we had with the once
famous Santa Anna, whose decease we have noticed
in the public journals since our return home. The
old man was then very infirm, being in his eightieth
84 MEXICO AS IT IS.
year, and requiring support as he stood. He
received us in his plain dwelling with exceeding cour-
tesy, as gallant to the ladies of our party as though
he were welcoming them from the heyday of his
dictatorial throne. It was not very difficult to read
in the wreck of that strong countenance and vigor-
ous frame the secret of a turbulent and vicissitudinous
career — a career that might have led to anything
'and everything, perhaps, had it been based on the
incorruptibility of a Juarez, had it combined with
native force the magnanimity of a Maximilian.
There is, indeed, no doubt about the brains of
Mexico. With such men, as she possesses, at her
helm, she may hope for any grandeur of the future.
Faith, honesty, patience are her special need of the
present ; and may we always do our political part
and fraternal duty as well, in sending to represent us
at " our sister republic," such high-toned Christian
gentlemen as he who now honors us by his diplomatic
service — it is with pleasure and gratitude we men-
tion his name — Mr. Foster, of Indiana.
And so we must say good-bye to the grand old
city! We feel we have not half done it justice.
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 85
There is so much of pleasing and varied interest
coming up in every street, at every corner. The
light, the air, the costumes and characteristics form
a continual feast of luxuriant and stimulating beauty.
We wished much to visit the silver mines of the in-
terior, and the fair city of Cuernavaca, once the
princely home of Cortes. We were even tempted to
try a passage across the country to the Pacific coast
— Acapulco or Manzanilla; but lack of time,
wretched accommodations for ladies, and last but
not least, the increasing revolution, made it seem the
sheerest folly, as was indeed proven by the unsuc-
cessful attempt of a more daring friend.
The military condition of the atmosphere became
really exciting before we left the capital. The streets
were full of soldiers, and everything looked as if the
nervousness of our good Mexican friends had attained
some foundation of fact. We found the guards
doubled on all the trains, which did not in the least,
however, diminish our enjoyment of the ride to
Puebla. We returned by the railway to Vera Cruz
as far as Apizaco, which is four or five hours from
the city of Mexico ; and here occurred an incident,
I
86 MEXICO AS IT IS.
which, fortunately, we can relate with entire equa-
nimity, and which will give the uninitiated a good
idea of how some matters are managed in a southern
republic.
Thanks to the exceeding courtesy of the managing
director of the road, a special car was placed at our
disposition, and a special servant was assigned to
take charge of it. At Apizaco we breakfasted very
comfortably, and started off on the branch line to
Puebla. One of our party, taking up his wallet soon
after, discovered that the lock had been tampered
with, and a roll of silver dollars extracted. The
writer of this was not long in examining his own bag,
and found himself the only other tourist thus dis-
tinguished.
What is now to be done ? Of course the silver is
lost, but there is some satisfaction in complaint, and
most happily a station where we can telegraph is close
at hand — only about an hour from Puebla, (mark this
fact!) Hardly have we stopped before one of our
friends — ever kindly, cool, and considerate — has
jumped out and sent a despatch back to Apizaco.
We sink back in our seats, sigh again over our
THE ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 8/
vanished dollars, and only wish they had gone to
one of the many good works of the Reforming
Church in the Capital — to the excellent orphanage,
e. g.y or anywhere rather than to the rascal who got
them!
"An hour passed on." We whistle up to the
platform of Puebla. As we alight a uniformed
official approaches and courteously begs the gentle-
man who has telegraphed to step' to the office of the
superintendent
Visions of legal difficulties and detentions float
across our anxious minds. We enter the little
room, and find another gentlemanly agent, who
with scarcely any preliminaries, inquires the amount
we have lost, and to our exact reply hands us back
all our dear, lost dollars, save one. Surely this is
" presto magic !" And how could it all so quickly
have been accomplished? It seems our dispatch
had aroused the whole responsible force at Apizaco.
Mutual conference failed to disclose any suspicion of
the employes there ; but distrust was expressed re-
specting the special servant of our car, and orders
were immediately telegraphed to Puebla to have him
88 MEXICO AS IT IS.
arrested on the arrival of our train. This was
promptly done. The money was fo|ind on him, and
he was lodged in jail before we reached our own
hotel ! No deposition, no trial, no inconvenience to
any one but the criminal, who was sent on to the
army the next day, his punishment being to fight
the battles of his country ! " Duke est,'' etc.
For promptitude, precision, and entire absence of
unnecessary formalities, we challenge the nineteenth
century to produce anything more satisfactory !
.■4
VIEW IN THE PLAZA IN THE CITY OF PUEBLA.
X.
PUEBLA AND CHOLULA.
THE city of Puebla ranks next to the Capital in
size and importance, and first in religious esti-
mation. It lies at about the same elevation as the
City of Mexico, with picturesque environs, culminat-
ing on the one side in solitary and sombre Malin-
che — a name of interest from its having been applied
by the natives to both Cortes and his fair and faithful
Indian companion — and on the other side, in our old
volcanic friends Popocatepetl and Istacyhuatl. You
will remember that the march of the Spanish con-
querors, after the occupation and massacre of Cholula,
was over the lofty ridge connecting the two great
mountains, whence first dawned upon their wayworn
vision the bewildering fascinations of the valley of
Mexico.
Puebla is well-built, well-preserved, clean, and
92 MEXICO AS IT IS.
contains about seventy thousand inhabitants ; but to
the enlightened American, all these advantages will
be almost annulled by the fact that it has not one
daily newspaper !
Our hotel was ideal. Fancy a picturesque old
convent, toned by age into all softness of color and
shade, built around a court half-filled with old-
fashioned coaches — fancy stepping from your bal-
conied room out into a glorious cloister, where
bordered and bloomed tropical flowers and warbled
an aviary of tropical birds !
Fancy this by a Mexican sunlight ; fancy it by a
Mexican moonlight, and you have the Hotel des
Diligences in Puebla. And when we add that the
beds are good and the table fair, you will see
that a few days in Puebla are not at all to be
dreaded.
Though threatened by revolution without and
within, yet the town seemed quiet and orderly, and
we soon set forth to become better acquainted with
it. We found many nice-looking shops, and a num-
ber of attractive churches. The Cathedral stands on
one side of the grand square, which is handsomely
PUEBLA AND CHOLULA. 93
laid out, and surrounded on the other sides with
business arcades.
In considering this Cathedral, we are brought to
explain our allusion above to the sacred primacy of
the Pueblan city. It is honored by the name of
*' Puebla de los Angeles," because in the building
of its great church, these holy co-workers were said
to have done as much by night as the people did
by day. " Each morning's light displayed the miracu-
lous additixDn !
Though smaller than the Cathedral of Mexico, it
is more magnificent in almost every respect. It may
readily be called one of the finest churches in the
world. It is of basaltic material, supported by mas-
sive buttresses, and surmounted by lofty towers.
As is usual in Latin countries, it stands on an
immense platform, reached by steps at several points,
and adding much to the grandness of eflfect.
Its interior arrangement is similar to that of the
Cathedral of Mexico, with its mass of altars and choir
taking up the middle of the nave, and sadly modify-
ing the impression. But its gorgeous decorations —
of gilding everywhere — over altars and baldacchino,
94 MEXICO AS IT IS.
columns and walls, its splendid paintings and carvings
and marbles — all this makes a tout ensemble of be-
wildering majesty and beauty. The inlaid wood-
work of the choir cannot be surpassed in all Europe.
The old missals would honor any shelf of the Vatican,
and beneath the grand altar is a vault chamber of
precious marbles and metals for the interment of
Puebla's bishops. No princely pope could prepare
for himself a prouder sepulchre. "•
The sacristy is a gem of interest. Masterly paint-
ings and most sumptuous appointments give it a
regal air ; and again we were struck by the magnifi-
cence of a marble lavatory. Italy can produce
nothing to compare with it in our memory.
But perhaps the unique wonder of all is the chap-
ter-room — an oblong, lofty apartment, hung with
tapestries, which were presented to the Cathedral by
Charles V., having been worked by the ladies of his
court. The subjects are mostly allegorical; concern-
ing the newly discovered and conquered Ame-
ricas,
There hang also on the walls most interesting por-
traits of the great Emperor and of the Pueblan
PUEBLA AND CHOLULA. 95
Bishops. The old furniture of the room would make
an antiquary's mouth fairly to water.
The view from the belfry is superb. The city lies
mapped out before you, and you read much of the
history of this most romantic country in the sur-
rounding beauty and grandeur of configuration.
Our native guide, however, as well as several
irrepressible youths, who had followed him, took
much more interest in pointing out to us the scenes
of recent revolutionary conflict, an engagement with
the " Pronunciamentos " having taken place only the
day before.
Indeed our evening was mostly spent in discussing
our own relations to the exciting state of affairs, our
chances of further sight-seeing, and of escape to the
sea coast. An ultimatum had been sent to the rail-
way company by the rebels, with the threat that if
the amount of money demanded were not forth-
coming, the road would be cut It was understood
that the allotted period had about expired, and that
the Company had refused the outrageous demand.
The prospect of a compulsory sojourn in Puebla,
under the circumstances, was not altogether one of
96 MEXICO AS IT IS.
charms ! But we could not give up Cholula, and
— ^thanks very much to the kind encouragement and
assistance of a resident American missionary — we
were not obliged to do so. Not but that we re-
ceived warnings enough on all hands, and were con-
sidered, indeed, as running our heads unnecessarily
into the lion's mouth.
We called on a government official, who said he
would give us an escort, if possible ; but when the
hour of departure arrived, no soldiers had appeared,
and so our little party set out, as true tourists should
ever do, *'sans peur et sans reproche."
Cholula is about three leagues distant from Puebla.
The road is tolerable, and we found comfortable and
cheap conveyances. It was a very quiet drive ; the
engagement of a day or two previous would account
for the absence of vehicles, but allow for the frequent
passing of poor, pedestrian peasants — principally
women — wearily returning from market, and occa-
sionally an armed and savage- looking horseman,
whose weapons, however, were probably only for
self-defence in tliis Ishmaelitish country.
The land looked fertile, and was green with
PUEBLA AND CHOLULA. 97
promising crops, especially as we approached
Cholula, which must have been a garden spot of love-
liness and wealth.
The world-famed Pyramid rises conspicuously
out of the plain, but appearing less definitely marked
as you approach it. In fact, as compared with that
of San Juan, it is a disappointment — its pyramidal
character being almost destroyed by the ravages of
time. Its edges are very much broken, and its sides
are entirely overgrown. But it is of much easier
ascent. Indeed you could drive to the summit over
a broad road constructed by the Spaniards, and
leading to the commanding Church, dedicated to
the Virgin of Remedios. This chapel was a substi-
tution by the Spaniards for the worship of Quetzal-
coatl, the great, good and fair god of the Aztecs.
Having been destroyed, (by fire, we believe,) the
church has been recently reconstructed, and decorated
with that cheap tawdriness of taste, which, we regret
to say, has become characteristic of Romatf Church
interiors.
The central object of worship upon the grand
altar is one of those doll- images, in which the
7
98 MEXICO AS IT IS.
invincible conquerors placed such credulous reli-
ance.
The original image of the celebrated Virgin de los
Remedies is said to have been carried to Mexico
by a soldier of Cortes' army. After the terrible
Noche Trista, it was concealed, and indeed, altogether
disappeared for a time; it was reserved for a lucky
Indian to discover it in a maguey plant on the sum-
mit of a barren mountain. It was a day of jubilee
for the Spaniards. A church was built on the spot,
which soon became a frequented shrine, with attend-
ant priests, treasurer, camarista, etc., etc. She be-
came the rich object of endowments, votive offerings,
legacies, etc., was carried about in time of drought,
and adored by the passers by, the Viceroy himself
leading her train. She became the great rival of
our Indian Lady of Guadalupe. On one occasion of
victory she was brought to the City of Mexico
dressed as a general ; on another of defeat, her pass-
port wa5 signed to leave the country, which sentence!
was not, however, carried out. Well may we pray — |
* God save such a State !'
From the tower of this church you have a mostj
PUEBLA AND CHOLULA. 99
comprehensive and satisfactory view, as also, we
should remark, from the extensive summit area on
which the church is built. The effect of looking
over the parapet wall upon the artificially precipitous
sides to the rich level plain below, is very striking.
The vast site of the ancient city is perfectly evi-
dent from the marked lines of its regular streets,
stretching far beyond the now insignificant town into
its surrounding fields and plantations. From this
observation we should judge the pyramid or Teocalli
to have occupied the centre of the old Cholula, which
was in its glory before the tenth century of our era.
But tradition would seem to indicate that this
pyramid was built even earlier, probably as early as
the sixth or seventh century — the Olmec period of
Mexican history.
Its base — about 1440 feet square, and covering
forty acres — is thus more than twice as large as
Cheops. The Mexican pyramid is about two hun-
dred feet high, which is a little more than the eleva-
tion of Egyptian Mycerinus. Its summit platform is
about two hundred feet square. Its sides face the
cardinal points, and show marked traces of four
100 MEXICO AS IT IS.
terraced stories. It seems to have been built of
adobe, with alternate layers of clay or rubble.
Humboldt's remarks respecting it are most interest-
ing. "The construction of the teocalli recalls the
oldest monuments to which the history of our race
reaches." ..." Imagine a square four
times greater than that of the Place Vendome in
Paris, covered with layers of bricks, rising to twice
the elevation of the Louvre !"
As regards the object and use of this great monu-
ment, it is but a repetition of the wonder and mystery
of San Juan. No thorough excavation or examina-
tion has ever been made of the interior.
A tomb chamber has been found, which contained
two skeletons, some idols and pottery ; but from the
relative position and character of this tomb, it can
hardly be supposed that sepulture was the main,
original object of the pyramid.
Within known times there has always been a
temple of worship upon the summit. Frequently
destroyed by internecine wars, the magnificent struc-
ture suffered its final demolition by the invading Span-
iards — to be replaced by idol worship in another form !
I
A MEXICAN IDOL.
n
XI.
CHOLULA — Continued.
" Mexitli, woman-bom, who, from the womb,
Child of no mortal sire, leap'd terrible,
The armed avenger of his mother's fame ;
And he whose will the subject winds obey,
Quetzalcoatl ; and Tlaloc, water-god.
And all the hosts of deities, whose power
Requites with bounty Aztlan's pious zeal,
Health and rich increase giving to her sons,
And withering in the war her enemies."
Southey^s Madoc.
OUR brief study of the pyramid of Cholula
would lead us very appropriately to consider
for a moment the subject of Mexican mythology,
which, essentially linked as it is with Mexican history,
must form a prime element of interest to the intelli-
gent traveller.
All national and tribal histories begin with myths,
out of whose mistiness tower grand deified forms and
fancies of vice and virtue. Such are the histories of
104 MEXICO AS IT IS.
Egypt, Greece and Rome — and such no less is the
history of Anahuac.
There, as elsewhere, may we find to our Christian
comfort, that the great central object of faith and
adoration is a good and omnipotent GOD, whose
worship — however perverted and corrupted — shows
distinct traces of earliest and purest revelation.
It is this very perversion and corruption, which so
soon makes other and meaner gods, and peoples the
wilds of nature with creations of fear and favor.
Such was the terrible Huitzilopochtli — "the Mex-
ican Mars " — a sanguinary monster, his shrine ever
reeking with human sacrifices. And such, in lesser
and varied degree, were many others — even to the
least of all — " the Penates or household gods,"
whose images — according to a superstitious custom
far from extinct even in Christian lands — were found
in every dwelling.
Indeed, according to Prescott, who, with a histo-
rian's license, may possibly have exaggerated a little,
it is more than astonishing to notice the ritual
resemblances between the heathenism of the Aztecs
and the religion introduced by the '^ most Catholic "
CHOLULA. 105
conquerors — a resemblance extending even into the
realm of sacraments.
It is a more than curious fact, that the symbol of
the cross was known to the Indians before the ar-
rival of Cortes. It is stated that a stone cross was
found in Yucatan, and that a native prophet pro-
claimed the near arrival of a stranger race, bearing
the cross as their symbol.
More wonderful still, in this very city of Cholula
there is said to have been a temple of the Holy
Cross in the Toltec era.
In Oajaca there was a cross regarded by the na-
tives with the utmost veneration. By order of an
early Spanish Bishop, it was sumptuously enshrined.
An account of it, with a portion of its wood, in cross
shape, was sent to Paul V., who welcomed it on his
knees, to the hymn, " Vexilla Regis," etc.
How far all these statements and stories found root
in the fertile and fashioning faith of the early Mexican
Church, we will not attempt to determine. It is no
more unlikely, however, that the simple, but sublime
symbol should have been found amid the relics of
the mysterious Mexican races, than that it should be
I06 MEXICO AS IT IS.
seen to-day indelibly graven on the stone of Egypt's
earliest temples.
But to return to our more immediate theme. By
far the most interesting personage in Aztec mytho-
logy was he, whom we have previously mentioned
— Quetzalcoatl — the grand, mysterious god of the
earth and air — a character of real grace and glory
— invested with an ideality and sublimity, to which
it would be difficult to find an equal in the polluted
Pantheon of Greece and Rome.
The traditions of Anahuac speak of an early
inundation or " Deluge," from which escaped seven
giants — one of whom v/ent to Cholula and built a
memorial hill, in the shape of a pyramid. The gods
were wrathful at this presumptuous attempt to reach
the clouds of their habitation, and hurled fire from
heaven, which destroyed and dispersed the workmen,
and the work ceased. It is unnecessary to point the
resemblance of this tradition to the narrative of
Genesis.
This monument was afterwards dedicated to
Quetzalcoatl. He was the benefactor — the Saturn —
of the early Mexicans. He was noble of figure,
CHOLULA. . 107
wise and pure of character. He introduced law
and order. He promoted industry and art In his
reign agriculture flourished, and wealth prevailed.
" The corn grew so strong that a single ear was a
load for a man." Luscious fruits perfumed the air
and satisfied the sense, and countless birds of song
and beauty charmed the soul.
It was a time too fair to last. The gods were
jealous, perhaps. They desired to drive him from
Tula, where sat his throne. He was offered a
beverage of immortality, which he readily drank —
(as who would not ? ) He was then tempted to wan-
der vaguely away from his kingdom. He came to
Cholula, where they compelled him to become their
king, and where he sustained his lofty character of
wisdom, justice and humanity.
But the spell was upon him ; his fair, visionary
kingdom of Tlapalla beckoned him ever on. At last
he arrives at the borders of the bright, mysterious
sea. He dismisses his noble and virtuous attendants,
bidding them to comfort his subject Cholulans, and
to assure them of his happy and hopeful return.
And so he disappears from human view — like our
I
I08 MEXICO AS IT IS.
own Indian Hiawatha — vanishing into the dimness
of the undiscovered waters, or better still, shall we not
reverently say, like unto some Son of Man and God,
who hath ascended from the race He hath taught and
redeemed, that He may return one day to comfort
and compensate all righteousness ! For the Cholulans
were disconsolate over Quetzalcoatl's departure.
They made him their tutelary god, and this great
pyramid we have just visited — crowned with a
majestic temple — became the principal seat of his
worship. He was " the god of the air." His sym-
bol was a feathered serpent, with what particular
reference is not known. His festivals became the
great days of Mexico, his priesthood those of
greatest influence. Their austerities were remark-
able. " Every fourth or divine year these festivals
were preceded by a rigid fast of eighty days !"
And the Mexicans never gave up looking for his
blessed return. Its hope filled the faith and heart
of their religion. When Cortes and his invincible
band of adventurers landed on their coast, and the
story flew on fleetest wings to the grand capital that
the fair-haired and mighty strangers had arrived,
CHOLULA, 109
speaking an unknown tongue, using unknown weap-
ons, mounting on unknown beasts, leaving behind
them in the obedient waters unknown and bird-like
vessels, it brought a thrill of mingled and mysterious
emotion to every heart in faithful and favored
Anahuac — from the rude fisher on Tezcoco to the
magnificent Montezuma on his throne.
And it was only when the sordid, grasping, cruel
prowess of the Spaniards had overturned all hope
and hospitality before it, and utterly precluded the
possibility of peacefully winning these far from
unsusceptible peoples to the gentle and genial
religion of the Christ, that we see these mixed
emotions all turned into bitterest — nay, let us call it
patriotic hate — yet not before they had undermined
the courage of the Aztec King, and prepared the
way for the divided councils and desperate decisions,
which themselves sealed the doom of the mightiest
heathen empire the American continent has known !
Reluctantly leaving this fascinating subject, so
intimately connected with the grand monument we
have been studying, let us now descend to see what
no MEXICO AS IT IS.
else of interest the modern Cholula presents to the
tourist traveller.
Near the base of the Pyramid we entered a rude
shop to ask for a drink of water, and were surprised
to find behind the counter a woman of the people —
a full-blooded Indian — presenting one of the most
perfect types of beauty it was ever our plea-
sure to behold. The natives are usually too toil-
worn to be fine-looking; the men appear strong,
patient, and docile, the women seem to fade early
beneath the exha-usting influences of climate and
care; but here was a young creature of a love-
liness that any land would be proud to possess,
and a Raphael would be privileged to paint. The
curious old Aztec vase, purchased from her graceful
poverty, and now upon a book-case in my study, re-
mains a souvenir of admiring homage to God's fairest
handiwork.
On one side of the large public square of the
dilapidated old town stands one of the most remark-
able churches in the whole country. We have not
met with any written description of it, but so far as
we could learn, it was built by Cortes, and would seem
I
CHOLULA. Ill
to have been suggested to him or to his companions
by the Mosque Cathedral of Cordova.
The exterior effect is very striking, with its many
small domes, and heavy blank walls, to which the
appearance of a fortress is added by medieval bat-
tlements, as also by the bare surrounding and
strongly walled enclosure. The church, by rough
measurement, is about one hundred and fifty feet
square, with comparatively low ceiling, which is re-
lieved by forty-nine small domes, decorated with
such singular devices as eyes, -crescents, etc., etc.
This interior is broken up by nearly fifty short col-
umns. At one side is a platform chancel, and the
high altar. There are a few small side-chapels, a
rare old font and pulpit, and some interesting odds
and ends of church furniture — the whole forming an
ecclesiastical relic and picture of the past altogether
unique, that cannot be matched, we venture to say,
in all America.
The sad feature of the scene, was the apparent de-
sertion and neglect of what, to our thinking, should
form one of the proudest historical monuments in
Mexico.
112 MEXICO AS IT IS.
Our examination of this church completed what
was of special interest in Cholula, though the faithful
Cholulans themselves seemed to be having a good
time that day, in the observance of one of the in-
numerable Church Festas — principally expressed to
our ears by the discharge of artillery, but much more
detrimental to the peace of mind of sundry faithless
curs, who at each salvo beat an absurdly precipitate
retreat.
As we drove home in the declining day, and sav/
the gorgeous sunset investing majestic Popocatepetl,
and more gently lingering on the white brow of
nearer Malinche, and then the crescent moon emerg-
ing to lend her slender, silver radiance to the eternal
snows, with a gleam of mystic sentiment far down
into the ever verdant valleys — we could not but feel
that our day of tourist explorations had been only
piquant in its peril and perfect in its satisfaction.
XII.
HOW WE TRIED TO GET TO XALAPA.
EARLY the next morning we bade a fond adieu
to dear old " Puebla of the Angels," and suc-
ceeded without mishap in getting past the threat-
ened junction of Apizaco ; and not long after, were
gliding down the grand sinuosities and sublime defiles
of the great mountain railway. I think we enjoyed
even more the descent, for the reason of greater
facility in observation. Surety nothing could be
finer than those views into the infinite tropical dis-
tance, and all the more striking, indeed, from the
wonderful transitions, one moment rushing through
a dark and devious defile, then bursting out into a
vision of Paradise — sweet, smiling plains, time-hued
old towers, and everywhere — on city, mount and
valley, the exquisite play of light and shade, a very
dream of beauty — to be awakened the next moment
8
114 MEXICO AS IT IS.
by a cautious creeping over some tremendous, thrill-
ing iron span, making you suddenly to realize that
after all, the path to that earthly paradise might
easily become a "facilis descensus Averni !"
Then came the burning glory of the Tierra Caliente
— glowing with ever summer heat, and only a little
relieved as we neared Vera Cruz by one of the
weirdest thunder storms we had ever witnessed.
The sheet-lightning fairly lit up the darkly-laden
heavens and sympathizing earth into a broad and
burnished vividness that seemed as if it might have
been from the charging cohorts of Heaven.
The heat was intense in Vera CrUz. We had
several days to wait for our steamer. In fact, the
threatening aspect of political affairs had led us to
hasten somewhat to the coast, or at least to get
away from the great central railway, which in all
revolutions is likely to be the main point of attack.
We had heard so much of Xalapa — an old city
about eighty miles in the mountainous interior from
Vera Cruz — of its internal interest, its peerless
environs — so fair and fertile, that some thirty or forty
years ago, it is said, an English traveller arrived
HOW WE TRIED TO GET TO XALAPA. II5
there to pass a night, and became so fascinated that
he never left it afterwards. We had heard so much
of all this, and the weather was so abominably hot,
and our old friend, the French landlady, still so vil-
lanous, that we would not even take a full night's
rest by the sea, but at a fearfully early hour of the
following day, were up and off again — and, let it be
recorded to our credit, all as amiable as ever !
We retraced our way by steam for about fifteen
miles, and then began one of the oddest modes of
travel it has been our fortune to try. Have you ever
heard of a mule- way, or rather of a mule railway ?
The only full opportunity of enjoying one is, we
believe, between Vera Cruz and Xalapa. The track
is laid the whole distance, and the ultimate purpose is
to employ steam throughout ; but meanwhile a sturdy
team of mules do the business with entire satisfaction —
/. ^., if you have no objection to passing most of a
day in one of the loveliest countries God ever made.
Thanks to the never-failing courtesy of the Rail-
way Company, a special car — brand-new and open
all around, thus affording a perfect view of every-
thing — was placed at our disposal ; the manager of
Il6 MEXICO AS IT IS.
the road — a young and genial American — was de-
tailed to escort us, and soon we were rolling smoothly
along behind six mules at full run, which were
changed at intervals ; and so we had old-fashioned
post-chaising, with all the modern improvements.
Words would fail to tell the glory of nature through
which we were passing. We had already seen much
of it, but at a distance, whirled through it by impa-
tient steam ; now we were brought face to face — aye,
hand to hand with Madra Natura in all her wealth
and luxury of grace ; and to say that we fell over head
and ears in love with her would be but mild expres-
sion for our abiding emotions. We were passing
through the Eden of her loveliness, and never was
earthly charm more sweet than that of her caressing
embraces. It was the true Tierra Caliente — the land
of tropic triumph, burning beauty, passionate exhilar-
ations ! — a land which, again we say it, cannot be
described even by poet's pen, because it shows ' the
very hand and heart of Creative Love — it is His age-
less Revelation !
From the commonest growth at our feet to the
arching glory far above — Heaven's brightest carpet-
HOW WE TRIED TO GET TO XALAPA. 11/
ing all around, and springing from it in every form
and hue the unstinted and unstinting life of nature,
great, gorgeous blossoms, rankly richest foliage,
lusciously heavy fruits — a bewildering mixture of all
vegetable mystery and magical exuberance ; for
names were nothing — our intelligent and indefatigable
guide could not begin to keep pace with our
questioning, and it hardly mattered — the strangely
aromatic terms passed dreamily from ear to ear, and
were soon lost again in the scented distance. Only
did we well remember and gladly recognize our most
typical friend the palm — no longer the stunted
apology of poor Atlantic or Italian coast, but a
creature of plentiful and proudest prime.
And everywhere within, throughout this world of
glory, moved an equal wealth and wonder of anima-
tion — birds of paradisaical hue and song, glittering
insects and great palpitating lizards, large as your
arm, basking by the wayside in the moist intensity
of the tropic day — will you wonder, considerate
reader, at our disinclination to attempt description
of such a scene and experience, and will you blame
us for daring to describe thus much ?
Il8 MEXICO AS IT IS.
Contrary to all our preconceived ideas, our
manager-friend informed us that this luxuriant and
often swampy region was not an unhealthy one ; so,
at least, he, in his several years residence and frequent
hunting throughout it, had found. Of course it is not
unwholesome to the natives, and we fancy almost
any one could live there, in temperance, and a will-
ingness to have the acclimating fever.
The country is full of choice game, and very fer-
tile. Our friend told us of one immense hacienda,
many leagues in extent, and stocked with many
thousand brood mares. We passed near to a palatial
mansion which had once been the residence of Santa
Anna in his days of wealth and power, now much
neglected, but still fascinating in its site by the beau-
tiful Antigua river, and amid its tropical groves and
gardens.
The villages through which our journey lay were
few in number and insignificant in appearance, evi-
dently inhabited by a poor, peasant, aboriginal popu-
lation. We arrived at the half-way station (in time,
not in distance, for the ascent begins shortly after
having here) before noon, and found it to consist
HOW WE TRIED TO GET TO XALAPA. II9
of two or three houses, stables, etc., dignified by the
poetical name of Rhiconaro. The temperature was
oppressive ; we were already fatigued and half-^fam-
ished, and expecting little in the way of refreshment,
imagine our surprise and delight at finding a clean,
cool room, spotless table-service and a delicious re-
past, under the cordial superintendence of a stray
Frenchman, who had worthily brought the genius of
his nation to bear upon the perfect profusion of the land.
So far all was well — all was more than well — our
morning dream had been nothing but delight, too
smooth, you will say, to last in such a land and in
such times.
We had fortunately finished our repast, when our
kind manager-friend entered the room, his face
clouded with anxiety, and holding a mysterious dis-
patch in his hand. We should first mention, how-
ever, that he had before remarked upon the
strangeness of the down train from Xalapa not
having arrived — a most unusual occurrence, he said ;
he had hardly ever known it to happen in his years
of managing experience. We could not proceed
until its arrival, and so he had telegraphed on to
120 MEXICO AS IT IS.
know the cause of detention. The reply came
couched in such ambiguous terms, that he feared
mischief was brewing somewhere. We were told by
the dispatch that a bridge was down near Xalapa,
but to proceed at once without apprehension, etc., etc.
" Now," said Mr. T., " in my opinion this is a false
statement. That bridge is not down ; or if down, it
never became so by fair means. Something is
wrong, and with the responsibility of your safety
upon my shoulders, I can only say, I fear it is the
Revolution. I will proceed with you, if you like,
but you must decide for yourselves ; a car is at your
disposal, if you conclude to return to Vera Cruz."
Here was a dilemma for a peaceable party of
travellers, inoffensively longing for another look at
the Mexican hills, another day or two among their
contrasting charms. Shall we go on, with the risk
of robbery and outrage, such as are common to
Mexican Hfe and travel, where one of the worst
possibilities is the being reduced to a primeval
attire — or rather a primeval absence of the same —
under far from primeval conditions, or shall we act
according to the better part of valor ?
HOW WE TRIED TO GET TO XALAPA. 121
Under the circumstances, and finding further dis-
patches only deepened the mystery and increased
the apprehensions of our experienced friend, who
himself, however, after concealing his trusts, deemed
it his duty to continue his route — with much regret
we decided to return to our point of morning
departure.
And now succeeded the anxiety of safe return.
There seemed Httle doubt that the Revolution had
taken possession of Xalapa, was anxious to get
possession of the mails, etc., on our train, and might
telegraph back to some ruffianly crew to stop and
secure us before we could reach Vera Cruz again.
It was an exciting drive. Our native driver was
himself aroused, and had evidently increased his
emotions by internal application. His whip and
voice alike lashed through the sultry tropic air, and
kept our half- wild beasts at a steaming run. A num-
ber of peasant people had entered our car, and no
one inspired us with much confidence but a poor
foreigner, one of the employes of the line, who
seemed equally anxious to reach a place of safety —
so sad had been his experience in previous political
122 MEXICO AS IT IS.
upheavals of this unhappy land. Those of our party
who were armed kept one hand ready, and all
eyes that appreciated our peril were scanning the
wayside swamps and forests, expecting every
minute to see emerging from their covert a band of
operatic-looking individuals, who would relieve us
of all further trouble in present worldly posses-
sions.
But, thank God ! our fears were needless, though
it was not till we reached Vera Cruz that night, and
indeed not fully till a day or two later, that we learned
of our real escape from, at the very least, a consider-
able annoyance. It was all true to the letter — accord-
ing to the apprehensions of our sagacious friend. The
Revolutionists had taken possession that morning of
Xalapa, after a slight struggle ; had sought to mislead
us by false dispatches, but probably had not time to
arrange for our capture — and thus we did not get to
Xalapa. But do not be discouraged, friend reader ;
if you can go no farther, you will be mere than re-
paid by every step of the " Caliente " way to refresh-
ing Rinconaro.
Our Mexican notes are about finished; our few
HOW WE TRIED TO GET TO XALAPA. 1 23
more days in the country are days of waiting —
waiting for the inevitable " Norther " to subside, and
allow our steamer to depart. This waiting was
not altogether uncomfortable, though disagreeable,
from the bad drainage and frequent sand-storms of
the city. Let no one tarry in its precincts longer
than absolutely necessary ; let him rather remain on
the steamer, if possible ; for the fever-fiend, we fancy,
is never entirely idle in Vera Cruz.
At last we were enabled to steam away, and after
the same wearisome stoppages at Mexican ports, set
our prow and faces northward, only to encounter
another terrible " Norther," which struck us one night
like a broadside of bombs, and kept the sea, and our
poor, but staunch little boat in an agony for twelve
hours or more — one of those experiences from which
you emerge with heart of subdued gratitude and
never-ceasing wonder at the fascinated choice of
those brother-beings, whose life is to * go down to the
sea in ships and to do business in great waters.'
If ever there was a motley crowd, of every social hue,
from verge to verge, it was our passenger-list. Our
circumscribed deck was a real stage, and on it at all
124 MEXICO AS IT IS.
hours paced and paraded the players. Not sorry
were some of us to set foot again upon the soil and
scope of larger acting and action, where, to say the
least, there is no need of constant uncongenial jost-
ling.
i
MANUEL AGUAS.
XIII.
THE CHURCH IN MEXICO.
*' Far away
Tuhidthiton led forth the Aztecas,
To spread in other lands Mexitlis' name,
And rear a mightier empire, and set up
Again their foul idolatry ; till Heaven,
Making blind zeal and bloody avarice
Its ministers of vengeance, sent among them
The heroic Spaniards' unrelenting sword."
Southey^s Madoc.
THE Christian traveller in Mexico will very
naturally wish to know something about the
religious life of the country, convinced as he will
very soon become that its only hope lies in the
supremacy of a purer faith and practice.
He observes so much of ignorance and degrada-
tion in the dominant Church of Rome, the sad
inheritance of a semi-barbarous conquest, which in-
deed was only just gilded by a pretense of conversion
to the creed of a Spanish Philip and a Roman Leo.
128 MEXICO AS IT IS.
The faith of " the Conquerors " was little better
than a fetichism, a matter of miraculous madonnas
and superstitious observances, with very little of
Christianity's grace and truth visible in walk and
conversation. Conversion consisted in persuasion or
compulsion to Holy Baptism, often administered to
a multitude of ignorant savages at a time. With
the exception of a few great and godly men, like
Las Casas, there have been very few of the Spanish
Church either capable or willing to instruct and
elevate the long servile and degraded masses of the
people ; and yet, we believe there is no aboriginal
race more susceptible and prepared to receive a pure
and undefiled Christianity.
The Church in Mexico received and inherited
much of the worst elements of what is perhaps the
worst, the least spiritual type of Romanism in
Europe. There has never been anything more
darkly complete than the crushing out of the Refor-
mation in Spain. Its permission by a just, and
merciful God is one of the mysteries of history. The
names of Ponce de la Fuente, Don Carlos de Seso,
and Marina Guevera come to us from the mar-
THE CHURCH IN MEXICO. 1 29
tyr past with a fragrance of sanctity as excel-
lent, as is the memory of Torquemada and Valdes
synonymous with all that is cruelly infamous.
The great crime in inquisitorial eyes was the denial
of "Roman" to the Church's "Holy, Catholic"
name.
A nation, a Church can give no more, no better
than she has and is, and thus we have the clue to
Mexico's misery. The Church of Mexico fattened
upon the land. She became wealthy and overween-
ing — like her great earthly head and centre, the
enemy to all progress and enlightenment. The
State, in self-defence, disestablished her, but perhaps
only making her more subtly dangerous. The crisis
in the religious history of Mexico seems to have
occurred during the troublous times of the French
attempt to seat the unfortunate Maximilian upon an
imperial throne.
There must have been previously a movement of
the Spirit of God in the hearts of the Mexican people,
but the introduction of the Holy Scriptures and other
inciting influences in those all upheaving days, seems
to have first determined a renewing manifestation in
Q
130 MEXICO AS IT IS.
the attempt of a priest named Francisco Aguilar to
establish a reformed congregation. His ideas were
necessarily somewhat crude and vague, but still
strongly shaped in the direction of truly Catholic and
Apostolic faith and service.
To strip the Church of her manifold accretions, to
give her a worship understood of the people, and to
afford her individual members the grace of pure
Sacraments and the comfort of Holy Scripture, seems
to have been the aim of this really remarkable man,
for whom, however, as might be expected, the burden
soon became too heavy ; and when in two short years,
he laid it down, let us trust, to his own eternal rest, it
had already become a cross, cruelly defined, and
awaiting the next hand of faith that should be strong
enough to take it up.
His little flock must not be left to perish, but who
shall be found competent to guide them, by GOD's
grace, amid so many perils ? No one had yet ap-
peared by Aguilar's side. His battle had been fought
single-handed. There is something in the wonderful
discipline, or rather terrorism of Rome, which has
hitherto been the greatest obstacle to anything like
THE CHURCH IN MEXICO. 13 1
national Church reform, and which leaves to-day the
Old Catholic movement in Europe as wonderfully
strong in quality as it is woefully weak in quantity.
Providentially there was at this time in New
York a presbyter of the American Church, min-
istering to a Spanish congregation, to whom
the appeal was made in behalf of this little,
distant flock, and who felt it was a call of GOD too
plain and potent to be disregarded. Taking his life
in his hand. Dr. Henry Chauncey Riley, went in
1869 to Mexico, and set himself zealously to carry
on the work of organizing a Reformed Church in
that '* priest-ridden " country.
His labors were blessed. He succeeded in obtain-
ing possession of one of the principal churches in the
Capital, and soon the influence of the pure cause
which he represented began to make itself everywhere
felt. Its greatest personal triumph was yet to come.
The story of Manuel Aguas' conversion from Roman-
ism to true Catholicism, forms one of the romantic
and immortal episodes, which illumine the pages
of Church History. He had been the champion of
Mexican Ultramontanism, against what he had deemed
132 MEXICO AS IT IS.
a mere heretical, Protestant aggression ; but a candid
examination of the adversary's position led to his en-
lightenment, and the morning of the great field-day,
on which he was to demolish, before the assembled
elite of the Capital, the " pestilent " enemy's assump-
tions, found him instead, like his prototype, Saul of
Tarsus, a most zealous preacher of the pure and
undefiled Gospel and Church of Jesus Christ.
And in this new, all modifying attitude, he never
wavered. He had counted the cost, and never for
one moment relinquished his hold of the terrible plow,
whose "share" was already — for him and for his
few faithful adherents — being re-beaten into a sword
of social and every martyrdom.
He became, of course, an invaluable reinforcement
to the new Church, and was very soon elected its
Bishop, and during the brief remainder of his life he
was indefatigable in preaching, writing, teaching in
every way, the truths of his utter conviction. He
died, like his predecessor, Aguilar, a martyr to this
all-consuming zeal; but happier than Aguilar, in
leaving behind him a small but competent band of
fellow- workers, who, following in his self-denying
THE CHURCH IN MEXICO. 133
footsteps, have been blessed in the present established
and most promising condition of the Reformed Church
in Mexico.
The organized Synod of this Church sent a peti-
tion to the House of Bishops of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in the United States, in 1874,
praying for Episcopal consecration, and asserting
their readiness to give all proper guarantees of Catho-
licity on their part. This petition was answered by
the appointment of a Commission of seven Bishops,
one of whom. Bishop Lee, of Delaware, went to
Mexico, in 1875, and ordained several of the native
candidates to the priesthood and diaconate, besides
confirming a large number.
The Commission is still in sympathetic and
systematizing relations with the Mexican Church,
and there can be little doubt that before very long
there will exist in Mexico an independent national
Church, in full communion with the Reformed
Catholic Church throughout the world.
In concluding this brief sketch of the religious
elements in the Mexican question, almost as im-
portant and vexed a subject to the United States as
134 MEXICO AS IT IS.
is the Ultramontane problem to Europe, we feel we
can do no better in pertinent, practical information and
appeal, than to repeat some portions of addresses,
delivered since our return home in several principal
cities, in aid of our struggling sister Church.
More than two thousand miles away — beyond our
own most Southern lands and seas — there lies a
country, whose very name brings to the mind visions
of peerless splendor and romance — a country than
which Italia, with all her gift of beauty, hath no fairer
bloom, and Greece, with all her song, no prouder
story — a country like indeed unto that of which
the prophet speaks, " a land of wheat and barley and
vines and fig-trees and pomegranates^ — a land of oil
olive and honey — a land wherein thou shalt eat
bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything
in it."
Or — to speak with more particularity — it is a
country of every capability a bountiful GOD can give,
its borders laved by tropic seas, its lower regions
laughing in perpetual summer, and then by grand
THE CHURCH IN MEXICO. 1 35
degrees of beauty and fertility ascending into moun-
tain summits, crowned with the glory of perpetual
snows.
Within this land so gifted, lie many towns, each
one of which has been the seat of independent power,
as well as of marvellous advance in all the arts ot
life, until within the more recent centuries compelled
to own the sway of mighty Anahuac, and somewhat
later to exchange the feathery diadem of Montezuma
for the Vice- regal crown of Cortes. This was a land,
in short, of which all Europe's chivalry was dreaming,
and out of which that chivalry — with its blade of
many stains — carved a golden empire !
There is no need for us to inquire how much the
Aztecs lost, or how little they gained by the historic
exchange. We must set on the one side the bloody
sacrifices of heathenism, and on the other a ruthless
slavery and a cruel Inquisition. We may compare
the Mexico of to-day, forever tossing on a political
volcano, with the rude and rival powers of Cholula,
Tlascala and Tezcuco in the days of old.
But for this we may indeed be thankful, that
whether in pretence or in truth, Christ was preached
136 MEXICO AS IT IS.
by the Castilian conquerors of Mexico, and through
the heavy haze of their errors and shortcomings upon
the chronicHng past, we may at least be thankful for
the bright, immortal name of a Las Casas !
Within these latter days the light of all-reforming
truth has dawned on Mexico. Out of religious despot-
ism and social anarchy has come forth the good that
the God of history and the Christ of liberty alone
can bring !
The universal upheaval of the age — call it progress
or reaction, as we will — has brought to our so-called
" sister Republic " the same results, which meet the
observant traveller's eye in the awakening countries
of the older world — the men of the higher, educated
classes, largely infidel, the women generally bigoted,
the middle and lower classes somewhat indifferent,
but still in the main attached to the Church from
various reasons of fear or favor, while doubtless, very
many even among them all have a true and lively
faith in the eternal verities of Salvation, which even a
papal curia cannot altogether conceal !
From these lower classes, then, to whom indeed it
may be said of every land, that life brings only and
THE CHURCH IN MEXICO. 1 37
ever the sternest and saddest realities — from and
among the lower classes of the Mexican people has
the Reformation sprung and spread.
Dissatisfied with husks, they cried for bread, and
finding no response from the shepherds set over
them, they appealed to GOD Himself — they have
turned to us, their former " heretic " brethren and
neighbors ; and thus it is, Christian friends and readers,
that we have the Reforming Church of Christ in
Mexico asking for our sympathy and aid to-day.
••Zid
I went to Mexico as a tourist, with rather indefinite
ideas as to what was going on there in the way
of Church revival, but with the hearty intention of
finding out all I could about it in the short time of
my visit.
What did I find, then, on arriving in the City of
Mexico, and inquiring for the native reforming
church ?
I found a grand cathedral, situated in the most
valuable and attractive part of the city, the very
church in which the dead conqueror Cortes was laid
in state, its situation a means of influence in itself.
138 MEXICO AS IT IS.
with an inviting entrance between beds of blooming
flowers and tropic shrubbery, and an interior worthy
of any of our own metropolitan congregations. In
fine, we may say that the possession of this old
historic church of San Francisco alone would give
character to any movement.
Notwithstanding the cruel conscription going on
at the time of our visit, which kept many of the peo-
ple at home, we found a congregation fairly filling the
church, and worshipping with an attention and ardor
most beautiful and edifying to behold. They were
the poor and the lowly of earth — those to whom and
among whom the Redeemer first came, who first
indeed constituted the rank and file of the Christian
Church — and those, whom it is one of the saddest
reflections of our Christian day, that the Church of
Christ is only half able to retain. But to these
devoted hearts it all seemed a tremendous and
glorious reality. Their singing — the use of our own
sweet hymns, such as " Jerusalem the Golden," and
*' Sun of my Soul," translated into most mellifluous
Castilian — was one of the most impressive and touch-
ing features of worship I have ever met with in any land.
THE CHURCH IN MEXICO. 1 39
And now a word as to their clergy, with
several of whom we had the great pleasure of be-
' coming intimately acquainted. My heart glows as it
recalls them one by one ! Simple-hearted, lowly-
minded, fervent- spirited — their demeanor and charac-
ter was full of Christian sweetness and gentleness and
charity. Their Bishop elect is the type of what is
needed in that peculiar and exacting field — a pure-
blooded Indian ; this would seem an indispensable
qualification of ministration to the millions of native
peasant population, in whom indeed the hope of the
country largely • lies — a man whose every look
and word of humility and faith and zeal mark him as
a worthy successor to the poor, yet princely apostles
of Galilee.
And his small band of clergy appeared to
be generally of the same tone ; one of them has been
himself a Bishop-elect of the Church of Rome ; another
has served as an army officer, which should in itself
suffice to answer for his honor, sincerity and loyalty,
confirmed as it is by his venerable appearance and
frank devotion. Others of them are young men,
almost too young, it might seem, for such thrilling
I40 MEXICO AS IT IS.
responsibilities, but apparently with an enthusiasm
tempered by discretion and discipline; one or two
especially struck me as men for whom, under God's
provident grace, the most glowing expectations could
be formed.
Going among these stranger brethren, with no claim
indeed but as a presbyter of the American Church, I
could not but humbly and happily feel that my Church
was honored in me ; and when they fell upon my neck
at parting, your Christian hearts will readily under-
stand how my own, too full for utterance, could not
but most reverently though most distantly revert
to that pathetic scene in early Ephesus, when the
great Apostle, parting from the brethren of his love,
prayed and wept with them all — '* Sorrowing most
of all for the words which he spake, that they should
see his face no more !"
And what more shall we say of them or of their
holy work ? Shall we speak of their schools, which
still small, on account of adverse social influences,
yet proclaim the right principles and intentions of
education and training ? Shall we tell of the orphan-
age, where in a distant and secluded part of the city,
THE CHURCH IN MEXICO. 141
alone amid inimical surroundings, a devoted Christian
woman is cherishing and elevating a small band of
orphans — poor little social waifs, with no one to care
for them until this Church in her Master's spirit took
them by the hand, clothed their bodies and warmed
their hearts, and is leading them gently into and
along the way of life ? . . .
Of course funds are vitally needed for the
relief of this Church. The clergy are poor men,
who have sacrificed what little they had of tem-
poral means and vocation, as well as of social
influence and interest, in the cause of the Master
Christ. Brought up as we are, with everything to
favor pure and undefiled Christianity, it is almost im-
possible here to realize how in that benighted land a
profession of Protestant or truly Catholic faith amounts
to a complete ostracism — makes a social pariah of a
man. Besides, their congregations, to their glory, as
was said above, as also to their claim upon our
Christian hearts, are the poor and lowly of earth, who,
if they can keep bread in their children's mouths,
the wolf from their own door, are doing well ;
and who can, therefore, do littie for the support
142 MEXICO AS IT IS.
of those whom God has set spiritually over
them.
But what we wished particularly to remark as a
drawback and qualification, which should enlist our
earnest sympathy and efforts, is the general ignorance
and need of instruction. Belonging, as we do, to a
Church which bases much of its claim upon hu-
man • faith in the Catholicity of its Creeds, and
the decency and order of its worship, and committed
as we are to our young Mexican sister, as by the
grace of God her guide and guardian in the truth, it
behoves us most essentially to see that she be tho-
roughly instructed in the whole "truth as it is in
Jesus," and in His " One, Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church ;" that when, by the blessing of
God, she be arrived at maturity and independence of
estate, we be not ashame4 to point to her, and say,
" Behold the sister beloved and fair, whom God gave
into our fraternal hands, who is now the delight of
her Divine Spouse, and a joy and comfort to the
hearts of men !"
Wherefore, let our first efforts be directed towards
the establishment of theological, of seminary instruc-
THE CHURCH IN MEXICO. 143
tion and training. We must send them translated
and truly Catholic publications, those standard de-
fenses of our Reformed faith, than which nothing can
form a better and brighter weapon for their present
and future need, but only such weapons of course as
could be beaten into ploughshares at any moment,
knowing, as we must, that the only sword which can
carve its way unto the throne of the God of Love,
is that forged by His Holy Spirit.
And while speaking of this essential element of
love and peace in the Christian Church, we cannot
forbear allusion to the humble and holy spirit of our
Mexican brethren, not only towards those who with
a sadly mistaken zeal have seen fit to persecute them,
even *' for righteousness' sake," as also towards those
of their brethren of much nearer kinship, who, we
deeply grieve to think, have, some of them, lost sight
ot the Apostolic spirit, and would apparently resolve
the Apostolic work into a rival contest for spiritual
supremacy. God give them soon a better mind !
Surely a labor of Christian life and love such as we
are fraternally interested in, which first appealed for
our own immediate sympathy and succor, should be
144 MEXICO AS IT IS.
very far from suffering any let or hindrance from
brethren of the same Christian home and hope,
should never forcibly be made the means of present-
ing a divided front to the wiles and warfare of the
enemy of mankind.
We have spoken of the pressing demands of this
great mission work — a work so vast that in sur-
veying its glorious possibilities, if not probabilities,
the Christian eye must pass through central and
southern and tropic zones, till only arrested by the
silent seas that lave the furthest shores of millions
lying fast bound in visible darkness — following a
light once grudgingly bestowed — a light of Heaven
indeed, but long hidden in such dim sanctuaries of
earth that these same semi-heathen millions have
only learned to groan in its glimmer !
Of such an infinite work we have sought thus
imperfectly to speak, believing that, under God, this
Church is called to one of the grandest tasks and
responsibilities ever committed to any Communion.
And we beg you to note this singular, we may, per-
haps, call it unique fact in the history of Christian
effort. Every cent raised, every dollar given.
THE CHURCH IN MEXICO. I45
goes directly to the Mexican Church — goes straight
to native need, to native workers in the vineyard of
the Lord. We are not supporting foreign laborers,
who with all their faith and zeal, must still and ever
find an almost impassable gulf of national and linguis-
tic genius between them and their infinite object.
All thanks, we may add, to the signal devo-
tion of one, who in these self-seeking days, has
done so much to remind us of Apostolic example ;
who laying his all at the Master's feet, has gone forth
to labor in a land of need, for which, indeed, by
Providence of birth, and grace of gift, he seems to
have been specially designated — need I say that I
am most admiringly and affectionately alluding to
my Right Reverend Brother elect, destined, I be-
lieve, to be known in reverent history as, under the
renewing and reviving grace of Christ, one of the
founders and fathers of the Reformed Church of
Christ in Mexico.
01
APPENDIX,
SKETCH OF RECENT MEXICAN HISTORY.
The following brief summary of recent Mexican history
may be of interest to the reader :
In 182 1 the Independence of the country was declared.
In 1825 the first Congress assembled.
In 1836 Santa Anna was made President, and deprived of
office in the same year.
In 1838, another Revolution ; blockade of Vera Cruz by
the French, who are driven off by the energetic
Santa Anna. After one or two revolutions he is
declared Dictator, in 1841.
In 1S43, ^ft^r another revolution, a new and entirely
intolerant Constitution is adopted.
In 1846, after several years' turbulent history, in which
Santa Anna plays the principal part, a war is begun
with the United States.
In 1848, the war closes with Santa Anna's defeat, and
peace is concluded with the United States.
In 1853, after several more revolutions, Santa Anna turns
up again as Dictator, but is obliged to resign the
next year.
In 1856 begins a strong movement against the Church,
under Comonfort, who becomes President, and
effects the sequestration of church property. He
is not long in power.
m8 MEXICO AS IT IS.
In 1859, the famous Miramon appears for a brief period
as President, and reappears at the head of the
Church party, in i86p, to make way the next year
for the liberal President, and afterwards Dictator Ju-
arez.
Then came the French invasion, terminated in 1867
by the execution of Maximilian and the undis-
puted sway of Juarez, who at his death is succeeded
by Lerdo, the present occupant of this most un-
steady seat of power being Diaz.
EXPENSE OF A TRIP TO MEXICO.
Ihere are excursion tickets issued by the Alexandre
Steamier line in New York, to Vera Cruz and back, for
I150 ; or you take rail to New Orleans and purchase an
excursion ticket there, the latter costing |ioo in gold.
Or again, one can take a steamer to Havana, and thence
proceed by a French Messagerie boat, or an English mail-
steamer to Vera Cruz. First class fare from Vera Cruz to
the City of Mexico, $16. Comfortable lodgings and board
can be obtained in the capital for $2 or I3 a day, from which
few data an estimate for the whole trip can easily be made.
For further valuable practical information, see "Fer-
guson's Anecdotical Guide to Mexico," recently published.
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