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THE AUTHOR.
OUR SISTER REPUBLIC :
A GALA TRIP
THROUGH
TEOPICAL MEXICO
IN 1869-TO.
ADVENTURE AND SIGHT-SEEING IN THE LAND OF THE AZTECS,
WITH PICTURESQUE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE
COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE,
AND
REMINISCENCES OF THE EMPIRE AND ITS DOWNFALL
BY (
COL. ALBERT S. EYAJ^S.
WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
PUBLISHED BY SUBSCRIPTION 0NL7.
HARTFORD, CONK:
COLUMBIAN BOOK COMPANY.
W. E. BLISS, TOLEDO, OHIO.
A. L. BANCROFT & COMPANY, San Francisco, Cal.
1870.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by
ALBERT S. EVANS,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
Entered also at Stationer's Hall, London, England.
^HO
TO HEK
THROUGH ALL MY WANDERINGS HAS EVEP y BEEN
PRESENT IN MY MIND, AND WHOSE LOVE HAS
BEEN THE GUIDING STAP^ OF MY LIFE,
to Wit
Y<
P
THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED, IN TESTIMONY OF
Unchanging Affection.
INTRODUCTORY LETTER
FROM HONORABLE WILLIAM II. SEWARD.
Auburn, August 6th, 1870.
My Deak Colonel Evans : —
Your book on Mexico contains the observations which
you made while a member of the party with which I traveled
through that magnificent and interesting Country. Received
and entertained there as a guest of the Republic, I have prac-
ticed in regard to Mexico, since my return to the United States,
the same delicacy which I expect a friend whom I have been
entertaining to practice when he has left my house. For this
reason I cannot sanction either your observations or your
deductions.
I am at liberty, however, to say that your details of our
travels are full and accurate ; your accoimt of the resources and
capacities of the country is not exaggerated ; your pictures of
Mexican society will be thought by the public too highly colored :
I think that your error lies on the other side. The Statesmen
of the country deserve all the praise you have bestowed upon
them. Your style is attractive, the book is spirited, and I think
it calculated to be useful.
Sincerely,
your friend and well-wisher,
WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
Colonel Albert S. Evans,
San Francisco, Cal.
PREFATORY.
This work embodies the observations of the Author on
Mexico and her people, made while traveling as one of the
party of the Hon. Wm. H. Seward, in 1869-70.
Through the kind partiality of Mr. Seward and the liber-
ality of the Government and Citizens of Mexico, the Author
undoubtedly enjoyed greater facilities for seeing the country
and its inhabitants, than have been accorded to any other traveler
for many years.
I have endeavored to give an impartial description of what
I saw and heard in that land of wonder and romance, avoiding
neither the lights nor the shadows of the picture.
I had been familiar with the people ol Mexico, a portion of
their country, and much of their history, for many years ; had
sympathized with them in their noble struggle against invasion,
and the infamous attempt of European rulers to subvert free
government and plant despotic institutions on the soil of
America ; against the bigoted, superstitious and intolerant party
of conservatism, which steadfastly opposed the education of the
masses and all progress; against slavery, and the remnants of
monarchical institutions handed down to them as a part of the
curse of Old Spain, and was prepared to make many allow-
ances for errors and short-comings, in view of the obstacles in
the way of the country's progress, and the trials through which
the nation had been called upon to pass.
The journey was in many respects the most remarkable one
on record. No private citizen — whatever might have been his
former station in life — ever received such an ovation as was
given to Mr. Seward, by the people and Government of Mex-
ico. From the Pacific to the Atlantic, — over a journey of
some twelve hundred miles, — it was one grand triumphal march 3
and all classes and parties joined in the demonstration.
8 PREFATORY.
Seeing much to praise, something to blame, and much to
excuse as the inevitable result of the acts of those who admin-
inistered the Government and shaped the destinies of Mexico
before the present generation came upon the field of action, I
can safely say that the balance was decidedly on the right side
and that I came away with more respect for the people, more
sympathy for a nationality struggling — sometimes blindly, but
always earnestly and persistently — along the path of progress,
and more hope for the future of that much misunderstood and
much misrepresented Republic, than I had when I entered it.
The journey was one of the most pleasing episodes of my
life, and the memory of the friendships established, and the
unceasing kindness and consideration received at the hands of
Mr. Seward and the other members of his party, and the peo-
ple of the country through which we traveled, will be a source
of heartfelt enjoyment through all coming years.
I have not aimed at writing a comprehensive, statistical, and
historical work on Mexico, but have left that task to other and
abler pens, giving only what came under our personal observa-
tion, and endeavoring to show the reader, the country and the
people as we saw them.
In a land where nature has lavished all her wealth with
tropical prodigality, where the scenery is grand and beautiful
beyond description, and every step is over historic ground, and
amid scenes around which the romance of centuries has accu-
mulated, I could not fail to see much to interest the reader and
make the story of such a journey worthy of perusal, whatever
my abilities as a writer might be.
The relations between Mexico and the United States must
become more intimate as years elapse. The interests of the
two Republics are growing, every day, more nearly identical.
Nature and republican institutions have made us allies, and an
injury inflicted upon one must be felt by the other, as well, in
the end. If what I have written shall assist my countrymen in
forming a more just and favorable idea of Mexico than they
have hitherto entertained, I shall have every reason to be more
than satisfied with the result of my labors.
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ILLUSTRATIONS
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^^ 105 NASSAU ST NX -^
Page.
Portrait of the Author, — Frontispiece,
Hon. William H. Seward Traveling in Mexico, - - - 19
The Golden Gate, - - - - - - • 20
Beach and Houses at Manzanillo, - - - - -27
Portrait of Senor Luis Rendon, ----- 35
Senor Huarte's House at Colima, - - - - - 48
A Tortilla Maker, ------- 79
Portrait of Col. Sabas Lomeli of the Jalisco Guard, - - 80
The Barranca De Beltran, 84
Indians from Michoacan going up to Guadalajara, - - - 87
Bride and Groom entering the Church, - ... 90
Hacienda in the Mountains of Jalisco, - - - - 97
Effects of Taking a Drink, - - - - - 113
The Grand Cathedral of Guadalajara, - 118
Blind Girl in the Hospicio, ------ 125
The Great Cemetery of Bethlem, - 133
A Mexican Cart, ....... 134
Indian Embroiderers and their Work, .... 137
Indian Statuary Makers of Tonilla, - 139
A Sunday Bull-Fight at Guadalajara, ----- 145
Gutierrez, the Terror of Jalisco, - - - - . ' 160
The Grateful Guava Merchant, - - - - - 161
Venta de los Pagarros, ... - - 164
Church of San Juan de los Lagos, - 166
The Reservoirs and Promenade at Guanajuato, - - 183
Portrait of Florencio Antillon, Governor of Guanajuato, - 187
The Ancient Castle of Grenaditas, - - - 190 •
10 ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page.
The Tarantula of the Mikes, ...... 210
The Execution op Maximilian, . 236
What is left op the Empire, ...... 238
The Mexican Girl and her Blind Father, - - - 243
Maneuvering for a Pig-Skin, .... . 245
Family Resemblance — A Reminiscence of White Pine, - - 247
Interior op Mr. Seward's House in Mexico, - 251
Portrait of Senorita Dona Rosa Manclllas, - - - 252
Portrait of Senorita Dolores Mora, • - ... 252
Portrait of Senorita Luz Acosta, ..... 252
Portrait of Senorita Soledo Juarez, ----- 252
Portrait of Senorita Maclovia Hill, - 252
Termination o f the San Cosme Aqueduct, - - - 259
The Policemen op Mexico — A Street Scene, - - 262
Portrait of Matias Romero, Minister of Hacienda, - - 269
Chapultepec, .----.-. 271
Portrait of Don Sebastian LerdoDe Tejada, Minister of For-
eign Relations, ------- 274
Portrait of Ignacio M. Altamerano, the Indian Orator, - - 287
The Pueblo at Taos, ------- 305
Portrait of Don Benito Juarez, President of Mexico, - - 306
Portrait of Maximilian, ...... 310
Portrait of Carlotta, .... - - 311
Broken Plate from Chapultepec, - - - 312
The Great Cathedral of Mexico, - ... 341
Flagellantes entering the Chapel twenty years ago, - 345
A Mexican Beggar — " Tengo Nada Senor," - 370
The Earthenware Seller, - - - - - 371
The Mexican Water Carrier, - .... 370
The Orange Seller, -.--.-. 373
The Poultry Seller, - - 374
The Vegetable Seller, ...... 375
Cholula, and the Aztec Pyramid, - ... 428
Our Aztec Musicians at Cholula, - 434
The Needle Palm or Spanish Bayonet, .... 443
Sunday Amusement at Vera Cruz; — Bull and Bear Fight, - 490
The Ranchero and his Pig, ------ 504
The Horse and the Zaptlotes, ----- 506
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Page.
Good-Bye to San Francisco — Chinese Sailors — Voyage down the Coast —
Verdureless Mountains — Sunday Service at Sea — Wreck of the Golden
City — Signal Rockets — The Montana — Meeting of Steamers at Night —
Cape St. Lucas — Within the Tropics — A Desolate Region — Castor-Oil
Whales — A Tropical Sunset at Sea — El Mar de Cortez — Arrival at
Manzanillo — The Guest of Mexico — Washed up by the Sea — Sights and
Scenes on Shore — Battle of Sharks and Alligators — Visitors from Coli-
ma — Gov, Cueva — Productions of Manzanillo — Tropical Fruits — Em-
barkation and Passage of the Flotilla up the Laguna de Cayutlan —
A Charmed Circle— The Wealth of the Tropics— Wild-Flowers, Parrots
and Alligators — Our Indian Rowers — Scene on the Beach — Dejected
Mules — Crossing the Rio de Santa Maria — Indian Population — Battle-
Ground of San Bartolo — The great Hacienda of La Calera — Life in the
Tropics — Senor Huarte — Rural Mass and Sunday Scenes — Pigeon-Eng-
lish — Departiire from La Calera. — Our Coach and Six — The Custom-
House Guard — Water Bearers of Mexico — Colima the Beautiful, - - 49
CHAPTER II.
Colima — Night Entrance to the Ancient City — The Music of Cortez —
Is it a Revolution ? — In Grenada or Damascus — View from the Balcony —
The Valley of Colima — Picturesque Scenes on the Streets — The Plaza
and Markets — The Gardens of the Tropics — Their Flowers and Fruits —
The People and Resources of Colima — Productions of the Country — The
Cocoa-nut — Agua de Cocoa — Coffee and Chocolate — Linoloe — Honors to
Mr. Seward — Invitation to the Palace — A Brilliant and Beautiful Scene —
The Ball and Banquet — Eloquent Address of Gov. Cueva — Mr. Seward's
first Speech in Mexico — A Grand Fandango — The Cotton Factories and
the Operatives — Ravages of War — Visit to the Public Schools — The
State-Prison and Prisoners— Curious Christening Ceremonies — The Guard
of Jalisco and their Commander, ... .... 69
CHAPTER III.
Farewell to Colima — Painful Scene at the U. S. Consulate — Departure of
the Grand Cavalcade — The Country and the People — The Barranca
12
CONTENTS.
Country — Mr. Seward's Palanquin — Magnificent Scenery — Dinner with
Gov. Vega at Tornila — The great Volcano of Colima — The Foot-Hills of
the Sierra Madre— Tortilla Makers— Our Escort— The Guard of Jalisco
on the March — Hacienda de San Marcos — Wild Night Scene — The Cav-
alcade by Torch Light — Great Barranca de Beltran — Fate of Gen. Ar-
teaga — Historic Ground — Passage of the last of the Barrancas — Aten-
quiqui — An Indian Runner — Commerce of the Road — Crossing the Sier-
ra Madre— Zapotlan— Soap-Factories — "Going the whole Hog" — A
Mexican Wedding Party — Floral Decorations — Anecdote of Rojas — A
Monopoly of Crime — How Local Revolutions are Managed — Victims of
the Pronunciamentos, .-94
CHAP TE R IV.
Under a Cloud — Saints, Festivities and Bull-Fights — Wayside Crosses — A
Land of Brigands, Plagiaros and Blood — Wholesale Shooting of Out-
laws — A Magnificent Valley — Our Welcome at Seyula — Visit to the Pub-
lic Schools — Interesting School Exhibition — Sunday Evening Ball — Mex-
ican Beauties — The Birds of the Tropics — Indian Villages — Reception at
Zacoalco — Battle Field of La Coronea — Defeat of the Imperialists — Gen-
eral Martinez — A terrible Pun — A Mexican Fonda and Mexican Cook-
ing — Great Sugar Hacienda del Plan — Strange Sights on the Road —
Kneeling Men and Women — The Century Plant — Tequila and its Ef-
fects — A Swell-Head — First View of Guadalajara — Reception and En-
trance into the City — Guadalajara by Moonlight — The Old, Old Song, - 116
CHAPTER V.
Churches of Guadalajara — A Retreat from the World — The Music of
Bells — The Great Cathedral — A Magnificent Altar — Paintings and Stat-
uary — Strange Superstitions — Well-preserved Bishops — Great Hospital
of San Miguel de Belan — Sisters of Charity — The Hospicio of Guadala-
jara and its Sixteen Hundred Inmates — The Chapel of the Hospicio—
Public Schools of Jalisco — Girl's and Boy's High School — Library of
Thirty Thousand old Books — School of Useful Arts — Musical Talent —
Primary Schools — Beautiful Embroidery — The great Cemeterio de
Bethlem — The Paseo de San Pedro — " A Pleasant Place to Visit " — Inse-
curity of Life and Property — A strange State of Society — Iudian Em-
broiderers — Indian Statuary Makers of Tonila — Cotton Factories — The
Theatre and Opera House — Sunday Bull-Fight — The Programme — The
Amphitheatre — A Quiet Bull and his Fate — A Cowardly Bull — Enraged
Audience — A Game-fellow — Lively Times — The Bull-Riders — The Bones
of the Dead Past — Farewell Banquet to Mr. Seward — Eloquent Ad-
dreses — The Belles of Guadalajara, ...---. 155
CONTENTS. 13
CHAPTER VI.
Departure from Guadalajara — Killing Bandits — Ancient Bridge — Falls of
the Rio Grande — Zapotlanejo — Results of Revolutions and Invasions —
The Bridge of Calderon, where Hidalgo was Defeated — How the Indian
Patriots Fought — Scene of one of Rojas' Butcheries — The Terror of Ja-
lisco — Buying out an Establishment — The Grateful Merchant — Tepotit-
lan — Jalos — Great Disproportion of the Sexes — Venta de Los Pagarros
and how they Kill Robbers There — Great Central Plateau of Mexico —
St John of the Lakes — Its great Church, and What I Saw in It — A
Scene of Bewildering Beauty — Lagos and Its Churches — A Well-pre-
served Roman, and My Conclusions — Scenes in the Market Place — Pig-
headed Mules — Arrival at Leon — The City and the People — Discoimting
a Miracle — The Feast of All-Saints— Pockets Picked and Charity Mis-
construed — Narrow Escape from Bandits — '"Tis Distance Lends En-
chantment" — The Mines of La Luz — A Touching and Characteristic
Scene — The Foot-Hills of Guanajuato, - 180
CHAPTER VII.
Guanajuato — First View of the Triple City — Marfil — The Reservoirs — Se-
nor Rocha and His Works — La Presa — El Buffa — The Silver District of
Guanaj uato — Statistics of the State — Improvements — Schools and Col-
leges — Gov. Antillon — The Mint and What is Done There — Castle of
Grenaditas and its History — The Fate of Hidalgo — Street Peddlers and
Their Wares — How the Poor People Live — Curious Scenes at the Mark-
ets — Heavy Stealings — Severe on the Clergy — College Examination —
Beneficiating Silver Ores — The Great Mine of San Jose de Valenciano
which has Produced Eight Hundred Million Dollars — Ruin and Desola-
tion — A Deserted Mining Town — Immense Subterranean Works — The
Great Shaft — A Game Padre — Fearful Murder — The Gentlemen of the
Road — Generous Brigands — A Foreign Innovation — Mine of the Ser-
rano — In the Tunnel — Pyrotechnical Display of Indescribable Grand-
eur — The Lower Depths — Sights Under Ground — How People Live and
Die There — A Speechless Auctioneer, 211
CHAPTER VIII.
Departure from Guanajuato — A Sand-River— A Beautiful and Fertile Coun-
try — Feudal Castles in the Nineteenth Century — Salamanca — The Late
General Doblado — The Game of the Country — Celaya — Interesting Rel-
ics—A Mexican Woolen Factory— Artesian Well— Fountains— Salva-
tierra — A Chance for Railway Builders — Hacienda of Fifty Thousand
Acres — A Poverty Stricken Population in the Richest Land on Earth —
Abundance of Old Churches — Great Need of a Continental Railway — A
Better Time Coming — Approach to the Historic* City of Queretaro, - 220
14 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
Arrival at Queretaro — All Quiet — How the Aqueduct was Built — The
" Hercules " Cotton Factory and its Surroundings — First Class Opera-
tives — The Procession of the Host — The Englishman's Mistake — That
same old Mule Story — Welcome to Mr. Seward — Scene of the Downfall
of the Empire of Mexico — Popular Opinion of Maximilian and Car-
lotta — The Siege of Queretaro — Position of the Contending Armies —
Desperation of Maximilian's Situation — His Offer to Abandon His Army
to Secure His Own Personal Safety — An Immediate Assault at all Points
ordered by Escobedo — Was Lopez a Traitor ? — Last Scene in the Con-
flict — How Maximilian Was Taken — His Hopes for Pardon — Converse
tion between Maximilian and Miramon — The Scene at the Cerro De Las
Campanas — Execution of Maximilian, Miramon and Mejia — Was It
Right, or Was It Not ? — Visit to the last Scene in the Tragedy of the
Empire of Mexico — All that Is Left of the Empire, .... 238
CHAPTER X.
From Queretaro to Mexico — A Magnificent Agricultural Country — San
Juan del Rio — Old Lava Fields — The Land of the Maguey — The Century
Plant and what it Produces — Arroyo Zarco — The Rural Guard — Tepeji
Del Rio — First View of the Valley of Mexico — The Blind Man and His
Daughter — Lake Zupango — Pulque and the Pulqueries — Pig-Skins and
How Procured — A Startling Resemblance — Reminiscence of White
Pine — The Story of Downton and Gerry — A Family Resemblance — Sad
Results of Business Reverses — The Valley of Mexico — Reception of Mr.
Seward by the Cabinet of the President — Welcome to the Capital as the
Nation's Guest by the Citizen President, Benito Juarez — In the City of
Montezuma, 351
CHAF TER XI.
Mexico and Its Surrounaings — Insecurity of the Roads — Excursion to La
Canada — Visit to Tacubaya — The House of Gen. Urega, and Who I
Found There — The American Cemetery — A Startling Inscription — The
Gate of the Beam — The Grand Canal and Floating Gardens of Mexico —
Scene of Guatamozin's Defeat — Church and Tree of the Noche Triste —
The San Cosme Aqueduct — An Aztec Idol — How Police Matters are
Managed — A Polite Thief — Popocatapetl and the Woman in White —
The Survey by General Ochoa — Interior of the Crater — How Cortez Pro-
cured Powder — Dinner with Matias Romero — Dinner with the Family
of President Juarez at Chapultepec — The Palace and Its Surroundings —
Souvenirs of Maximilian. — Poor Carlotta — The Feast of Belshazzar—
CONTENTS. 15
View from the Verandah of Chapultepec — Molina del Rey, Contreras
and Churubusco — The Alameda of Mexico, .... - 274
CHAPTER XII.
Revelings in the Halls of the Montezumas — Dinner at the House of Senor
Lerdo — Toasts in Honor of President Grant — Address by Mr. Seward —
Grand Banquet at the Palacio Nacional — What Was Said and Done
There — An Era of Good Feeling — Speech by President Juarez — Speech
by U. S. Minister Nelson — Mr. Lerdo's Response — Mr. Seward's Ad-
dress — Altamerano the Indian Orator and His Eloquence — The Great
Speech of the Occasion — Other Speeches and Toasts — Improvisional
Poetry, 294
CHAPTER XIII.
Excursion up the Grand Canal — A Small Water Party — A Jolly Time All
Around — Picnic at an Indian Village — An Exciting Scene on the Re-
turn Trip — Free Baths and no End of Fun — Circus in an Old Convent —
Opera and Theatre — Grand Closing Ball and Banquet — The Most Bril-
liant Scene Witnessed in America — Toasts and Speeches — The Darien
Ship-Canal — Don Benito Juarez — His Personal Appearance and Charac-
teristics — Curious Tradition and Coincidences — View of the Valley from
Tacubaya, 308
CHAPTER XIV.
Amid the Ruins of Empires — Behind the Scenes after the Play — Plunder
from the Palace of Chapultepec — The " Theatrical Effects " Imported by
Maximilian — His Carriages, Pictures, Plate, and Household Wardrobe —
The Farce He Played in — Court Costumes and Imperial Decorations —
His Gold and Silver Plate — His State Carriage and Billiard Tables —
Maximilian's Court and Empire — His Fatal Mistake — The Archives of
Mexico — Maximilian's Arrival in Mexico — The Mask Removed — The
Black Flag Decree — The Apologists of Maximilian — The Records of the
Empire and What They Prove — The Victims of the Black Flag Decree —
Letters written by Generals Arteaga and Salazar just before Their Exe-
cution — Remonstrance of the Belgians — Aztec Relics — The Great Sacri-
fical Stone, etc. — A City Under a City — American Origin of the Aztecs —
The House of Hernando Cortez — National Monte de Piedad of Mexico—
The Model Pawnbroker's Shop of the World — Five Millions Dollars
Worth of Jewels and Plate in one Room — The Sword of General Valen-
cia and Jewels of Isabella the Catholic, on Pawn — A Commentary on
Human Pride and Ambition, 341
16 CONTENTS
CHAPTER XV.
Religion and the Arts — Our Lady of Guadaloupe — How the Virgin Ap-
peared as an Indian Woman to Juan Diego — Story of the Apparition
and the Erection of the Church and Chapel — Our Lady of the Reme-
dios — The Shrine of Guadaloupe, and the great Annual Pilgrimage to
it — A Visit to the Church — Scenes Outside and Inside — Sale of Books
and Charms — The old Bell-Makers — The Offering of a Spanish Rover —
The Miraculous Fountain — Boring for Oil — A Religious Picnic — Home
of the Inquisition and Plaza c^e San Domingo — The Protestant Missions
in Mexico — Protestantism — Statement of Rev. H. Chauncey Riley and
His Appeal for Funds in Aid of the Work — The National School of Art
and Design — Pictures Old and New — The Art Galleries — Department of
Coins and Medals — The College of Mines — Rare Collection of Minerals, 364
CHAPTER XVI.
Social Condition and Customs — The Women of Mexico— Their Character
and Social Condition — Curious Phases of Social Life — The Children of
Mexico — Trade of the City — The Beggars — The Ancient Customs and
Superstitions of Southern Europe — The Evil Eye — Hospitable Treat-
ment of Guests — Courtesy Misconstrued — The Story of Uncle Freddy,
alias Washington the Second — Norton the First — The Chinese Prin-
cess — How Uncle Freddy Became the Guest of Mexico — Foreigners in
Mexico — Sharp Business Transactions — Devotion of the Women and
Their Sympathy for the Unfortunate — How Mr. Fitch was Swindled —
Honoring the Uniform — Mr. Seward's Fossil Elephant and what became
of it — Politeness of the Servants — Census Taking in Mexico, - - 391
CHAPTER XVII.
The Soldiers of Mexico — The Invalid Corps — The Press — Literary and
Musical Attainments — A Persevering Printer — Immigration — Public
Improvements — The Great Need of Mexico — The Political Situation —
Its Hopeful and its Discouraging Aspects — Moral Responsibility of the
United States — Advocates of Annexation — A Plea for Mexico, - - 405
CHAPTER XVIII.
Departure from the Capital — By Rail to Puebla — The Pulque Country —
The Pyramids of Tehuacan — Battle Field of Otumba — The Grandest
Mountains of the Continent — Orizaba, Popocatapetl, La Muger En
Blanco and the Malinchi — The City of Puebla by Daylight and Moon-
light — War's Desolation — Siege and Capture of Puebla — Cinco De
CONTEXTS. 17
Mayo — The Pronuneiamento of the Sierra — Excursion to the Ancient
City of Tlaxcala — The Castles of the Four great Chiefs of the Tlaxcalan
Republic — The Banner of Cortez and Ancient Archives — The Secret
of the Gold Placers— The Virgin of Tlaxcala— The Oldest Church on
the Continent — The Miracle of Tlaxcala — Carrying Dead-Heads — An
Excursion to Cholula — Xovel and Enthusiastic Reception — The Music of
Other Days — Mr. Seward 's Address to the Cholulans — Time's Reveng-
es — Strange Commingling of the Past and Present — The Great Pyra-
mid — A New Theory Concerning It — The Cathedral of Puebla — Its
Wonderful Wealth and Beauty — Other Objects of Interest — Buried
Treasure — An Imposition — Guatamozin's Last Will — Protestantism in
Puebla, 440
CHAPTER XIX.
From Puebla to Orizaba — Last Diligence Ride in Mexico — Amazoc and Its
Iron-Workers — Eccentricities of the People — Bargaining for Spurs — A
Mexican Bridge-Builder — An Aztec Tower and Sun-Dial — Daring Feat
of a Guerrilla— The Home of the Palm and the Maguey— A Colored
Gentleman in Mexico — Buying Cigars — The Rural Guard — A Change of
- ne — Las Cumbres — Wonderful Scenery — Descent into the Tierra Ca-
liente — Orizaba, 453
CHAPTER XX.
A City with a Past and Future but Xo Present — Grass-Grown Streets —
The Indian Packers and How They Take in Ballast — Battle-Scarred
Churches — Outrages Committed by Maximilian's Troops — The French
Colonel — A Woman's Revenge — Curious Christmas Festivities — Playing
the Devil — A Whole Community Gambling — Stoicism of the Losers —
The Falls of the Rincon Grande — A Tropical Paradise — Hacienda de San
Antonio and How They Make Sugar — Coffee Plantations — Resources of
Mexico — The Great Conducta — Its Encampment at Orizaba and March to
Vera Cruz — How Silver is Carried and Handled in Mexico — The Indian
Specie-Counters at Vera Cruz — Reminiscence of the Mexican War,
CHAPTER XXI.
Resting at Orizaba — Ascent of the Sierra Borregas — Visit to an Indian Vil.
lage — Departure for Vera Cruz — Magnificent Scenery of the Chiquihuite
Pass The Great Railway Bridge — Reception at Vera Cruz — The Spe-
cialities of the City— Souvenirs of Past Conflicts — The Zapilotes— A
Livelv Hotel— Lotteries— The Chain-Gang— A Private Quarrel— Curious
2
18 CONTENTS. .
Statistics — An Unpopular Institution — Steamer Arrival — A Mixed Cargo
— Sunday Amusements in Vera Cruz — Bear and For Bear — How the
California Bear Sampson Entertained the Mexican Bull — Amateur Bull-
Fighting — The Amateur's Story of His Experiences — The Castle of San
Juan de Ulloa — What it was and What it is — A Great Work "in Ruins —
The Dungeons and Political Prisoners — The Fate of General Castillo —
" Who Enters Here Leaves Hope Behind — Mementoes of the Last French
Invasion — The Perplexities of the Author — The Ranchero and His Pig
— The Horse and the Zapilotes — Which Whipped ? 508
CHAPTER XXII.
Mr. Seward's Farewell Letters to the Members of the Juarez Government
and Others — Voyage from Vera Cruz to Yucatan — Sisal — Its People,
Trade and Specialities — The Highest J^oofed Theatre on Earth — Visitors
from Merida — Letter from the Governor of Yucatan — Our Last View of
Mexico — Adws ! 520
A GALA TRIP THROUGH MEXICO.
CHAPTER I.
FKOM SAN FKANCISCO TO COLLMA.
/^ LORIOUSLY beautiful was that bright morning
of the 30th day of September, 1869, when I reluc-
tantly left the darkened chamber in which lay the -mor-
tal remains of a brave man, and true champion of free-
dom, my friend of many years, Senor Don Jose A. Godoy.
the Consul of Mexico, who had fallen dead while
attending the last reception of Mr. Seward on the even-
ing previous, and bidding farewell to his stricken
family, hurried on board the Pacific Mail Steamship
Co's magnificent steamer Golden City, which was lying
at her berth in San Francisco, with steam up, ready to
bear us away to the tropics.
Blue and clear was the sky above us, calm and mir-
ror like the surface of the broad Bay of San Francisco,
soft as velvet in all their outlines, the brown, grey, and
mauve-tinted mountains which surround it, when seen
through the purple haze of Autumn which enveloped
city and village, hill, mountain, island, fortress, and
inland sea, alike in its tender and loving embrace.
When I come again from beyond the snowy mountains,
and the shores of another ocean, a change will have
come over all the fair scene, and hill and valley, inoun-
20
GOOD-BYE TO SAN FKANCISCO.
tain and plain, will rejoice in the verdure and flowers
of the spring-time. " Good-Bye !" " Good-Bye !" " Good-
Bye ! " The last friendly hand is shaken, the last
affectionate embrace is given, and the plank hauled in,
the crash of the great gun on the forward deck star-
tles the echoes of all the hills around the bay, the
great steamer moves slowly away from the wharf,
swings around with the tide in the harbor, and gliding
swiftly past the city front, the shipping from many
THE GOLDEN GATE.
ports, Alcatraz, Point San Jose, Fort Point, and the
Presidio de San Francisco, passes through the Golden
Gate, and heads out into the blue, illimitable Pacific.
The sea is calm, and the sky is clear, and everything
promises a quiet, pleasant voyage. Capt. Lapidge, is
an old and thorough seaman, Purser Mattoon under-
stands making everybody comfortable, and is disposed
to do it in an off-hand, unobtrusive way, and Dr. Mil-
ler, U. S. A. is on hand to attend to all who need his
professional services; so that all our wants, and all
contingencies are provided for. From one end of the
steamer to the other, everything goes on like clock-
VOYAGE DOWN THE COASff OF CALIFORNIA. 21
work, — no noise, no loud talking, no confusion ; Chinese
sailors spread the awnings which are to shelter the
passengers from the sun of the tropics, and Chinese
waiters, clean, quiet, and orderly, with their list-soled
slippers, move quietly about the cabin and state-rooms,
keeping everything in order, and seeing that no wants
of the passengers are left unattended to. On the
whole, I think it must be conceded that John is the
" coming man," and take him all in all, he is a pretty
good fellow ; it is well for us that no worse man is to
come in his place.
On the afternoon of the second day — Friday — we
were passing the islands off the Santa Barbara Coast,
having made two hundred and thirty-five miles during
the first twenty-four hours. On Saturday we were
out of sight of land all day, and the register showed
a progress of two hundred and twenty-two miles for
the last twenty-four hours. On Sunday afternoon we
came in sight of the large barren island of Cerros, and
its outlying rocks and lesser islands, and the whole of
the afternoon and evening skirted along the treeless,
red mountain shores of Mexican Lower California. No
living thing was to be seen on these verdureless moun-
tains. Sitting back far enough from the rail to hide the
blue stretch of water, you might fancy yourself upon the
Colorado or Mojave Desert, without any serious stretch
of the imagination; the same saffron-hued horizon y
pale blue sky, red, brown, and yellow, jagged, naked
mountains ; the same eternal silence of utter desolation.
" Mother," said a little prattling child upon the steam-
er, " mother, do anybody live in that land ? " " No
my darling, I hope not," was the earnest reply. God
is merciful, and I trust she was right.
22 MEETING OF STEAMEES AT NIGHT.
Sunday service at sea, of the Episcopal Church,
was read by Capt. Lapidge, the few cabin passengers
all joining in the responses, and then we went out on
deck to watch the changes in the dreary, barren shore.
A single little sail came in sight, and passed near
enough for us to see that the craft was a sloop, of per-
haps, twenty tons burthen, flying no flag, and carrying
some half dozen dark-kued men — Italians, or other
southern Europeans — who made no signals, and evi-
dently did not care to court attention to the business
in which they were engaged, whatever that might be ;
there is a little smuggling carried on, even upon this
barren coast.
Monday morning found us plowing through a glassy
sea, with no land, no sail, no bud in sight ; only the
great, glaring sun in the unclouded sky, and the deep,
blue, glittering sea below. At 2 p. m. we were in sight
of land once more — as desolate and uninhabited as the
last. Had any one told us that day, that the noble
steamer which was bearing us so safely and swiftly
over the sea, would in less than six months more be ly-
ing an utter wreck on that terrible shore, with what
increased interest would we have gazed on both!
Passing Santa Margarita Island and Magdalena Bay,
at sunset we were well toward Cape St. Lucas, or
within one hundred miles thereof. At 5 p. m. we were
a thousand miles from home.
At 8 p. m. a light was seen before us ; then blue and
red signal lights were sent up, and answered, and soon,
out of the darkness emerged the great hull of the
steamship Montana. Both steamers stopped, boats
were sent off to exchange the latest papers from either
side of the continent and carry letters and messages
A DESOLATE REGION. 23
for the dear ones far away. Then a stream of flame
shot far out across the waters from either steamer's
deck, the loud roar of the signal guns filled the star-
tled air, and the two great black masses moved away
swiftly into the darkness again, and each was lost to
the sight of those on board the other.
I know of no scene which one may witness in all
one's life, more full of unwritten poetry, unenacted
romance, more dreamily suggestive of " what might
have been," than this meeting and parting of two
great steamers on the pathless sea. Who were they
who crowded the decks and wonderingly watched us
as we watched them ? In what mysterious way were
their lives linked with ours? Were there any there
who might have loved us, any we might have loved ?
What stories of love and hatred, and all the thousand
emotions which distract the human mind, and affect
for good or ill a human life, were spoiled, when the
thousand souls which those two steamers bore, came
thus near together, almost within touching distance, as
it were, and then parted again, and for the most part
forever? Had we met and mingled, how the whole
story of this life, or that, might have been affected, and
changed it may be for all time. There is food for con-
jecture and speculation without end in all this, but it
is only vague unsatisfying speculation after all, and the
questions suggested to each of us, must remain unan-
swered to all, forever.
Daybreak on Tuesday, October 5th, found us passing
Cape St. Lucas, and within the tropics. Still the same
dreary, barren, mountain shore ; not a sign of human
life have we seen while skirting along the Lower Cali-
fornia coast for nearly a thousand miles ; not a tree, not
24 CASTOR- OIL WHALES.
a flower, not a blade of grass, no living thing of any
kind — only rocks and sand and loneliness, eternal
silence and utter desolation. All the settlements — and
they, are few at best — are on the inner or Gulf side of
the peninsula, and completely hidden from the passing
vessel. The sun poured down all day from an un-
clouded sky, and no breeze ruffled the face of the ocean,
which was smooth as a mirror, save where, at regular
intervals, the long, heavy ground swells came rolling in
from the south-westward, and pitched and tossed about
the great steamer like an egg-shell.
The poet says :
" There is no crowd however slight
But one cockney is there."
We had ours. He stood looking over the rail, eye-glass
in place, watching the tumbling of two great monster
blackfish, which rose and disappeared like porpoises.
"Aw! what kind of a whale might that be?" he
demanded. The venerable looking McElroy, who repre-
sents the U. S. Custom-House Department on board,
promptly replied, " That, my dear friend, is the Castor
oil whale, " a broad, genial smile of true benevolence
spreading far and wide over his fine open countenance.
" Haw, yes ; that's what I thought. We 'ave hoceans
on 'em in the Hinglish Channel!" was the prompt
return of the true son of old Albion.
As the day died out and the sun went down in a
blaze of glory, all hands assembled on deck to witness
a sunset in the tropics. We often hear the remark,
" That sky is unnatural ; it is far too gaudy !" as we
stand in some art gallery in the cold North before a
picture in which the artist has faithfully labored to
A TEOPICAL SUNSET AT SEA. 25
depict the glories of a tropical sunset. The paint suffi-
ciently brilliant to do justice to the scene before us that
evening has yet to be made. A smooth blue sea for a
base, a soft blue sky above ; along the western horizon
a row of solid purple clouds standing up like jagged
volcanic rocks from the bosom of the ocean, for which,
indeed, they would have been unhesitatingly taken but
for the constant alteration in their outlines. Every
moment they
"Suffered a sea change
Into something new and strange."
A sea-lion, a land-lion, a sphynx, a castle, a walled city,
a mighty volcano, an Orizaba or a Shasta, grew each in
turn, before our wondering eyes. Soon the whole long
line was cut off from its base, as if by a knife, and
lifted high into air, and from the bosom of the sea rose
up another, almost a duplicate of the first. Then the
intervening sky, from brilliant orange, took on the hue
of the inner surface of the sea-shell, deepened into the
brightest vermilion, which glowed like a flame, and
seemed to give off light and heat of its own, filling all
the air. As the shadow of evening fell, the horizon
grew by contrast brighter and brighter, the clouds
became inky black, while the vermilion sky spread out
like a valley between the two great Sierras — mountains
of iron in a land of fire. We stood like the wondering
denizens of another planet in the hour of this earth's
last agony, and saw " the elements dissolve with fervent
heat," and mountains undermined go crashing down
into the hungry sea of flame. Then the black curtain
of night fell over all, and, almost in the twinkling of
an eye, that strange, wild, weird, enchanting scene,
passed like a dream away.
26 MAXZAXILLO. THE GUEST OF MEXICO.
Wednesday morning found us crossing the mouth of
the Gulf of California, or the Mar de Cortez, as the
Spaniards termed it, rain pouring down, the sea rough,
and many on board sick, the writer among the number.
Accursed be the memory of the man who found the
ocean first! At 2 p. it, we passed Cape Corrientes.
and when night came down with an almost impenetra-
ble pall of darkness on the heaving waste of waters, we
were within seventy-five miles of the entrance of the
Bay of Manzanillo.
Slowly the great steamer crept along the rock-bound,
dangerous coast, feeling her way cautiously as she went,
and at 2 o'clock on Thursday morning, almost a week
from our leaving San Francisco, we felt that we were
once more in smooth water, and the loud report of the
steamer's gun conveyed to us the glad tidings that we
had entered the harbor of Manzanillo, and finished that
portion of our journey comprised in the voyage down
the Pacific. The Custom-House officials, Governor Cu-
erva and staff, and other officers and citizens, came on
board at once to receive Mr. Seward, congratulated him
on his arrival, and tendered him in behalf of the Re-
public and its citizens, the hospitalities of the country.
At day-break our baggage was sent ashore and passed
at once, unopened, through the Custom House, and the
party were then conveyed to the beach in boats carried
through the surf to the shore on men's backs to the
solid land. We stood at last on the soil of Mexico,
saw the steamer sail away through the storm and disap-
pear in the distance, then turned our faces eastward and
looked about upon the strange land to which we had
come, and the strange scenes and strange faces which
surrounded us.
VIEW FROM THE HARBOR.
27
Nothing can be more thoroughly tropical and attract-
ive in its appearance than Manzanillo as seen from the
harbor at this season of the year. A bay, five miles
across and nearly round with an entrance half as wide
BEACH AND HOUSES AT MANZANILLO.
as the bay on the southern side, surrounded by high
conical hills, covered with dense foliaged trees, and bright
and flowering shrubs, forms the harbor, one of the
finest in the world for its size. The town itself is not
much to speak of. Half-a-dozen long one-story houses
with thick adobe walls, white- washed, with large court-
yards, and surrounded by outhouses, all with broad
verandahs, are used as general store-houses, offices and
dwellings, by the proprietors of the American and Eu-
28 SIGHTS AND SCENES ON SHORE.
ropean importing houses, while they have their princi-
pal places of business at Colinia, Guadalajara, and other
cities in the interior. A dozen or two tule thatched
huts or jacals inhabited by natives, and scattered irreg-
ularly along the beach and on the hills above, constitute,
with the barn-like Custom-House, or " aduana mari-
tima" the remainder of the town, the whole being a
mere embarcadero or depot, for the trade of the interior.
The Americans and Europeans, dress and live much
as they do at home in their own countries, and appear
to enjoy life pretty well, " considering." Society must
of course be limited and select. The natives live a la
Mejicana, wear a costume consisting of a white cotton
shirt and drawers, and broad-brimmed sombrero. Those
in good circumstances add a poncho, or Mexican woolen
blanket of fine texture, and those who are out of luck
content themselves with a shirt or pair of drawers
alone: if particularly unblessed by fortune they con-
trive to get along without either, a sombrero and breech-
clout of coarse cotton answering every purpose tolerably
well. They are excellent boatmen, and generally will-
ing to work, if employment is offered, at very moderate
wages. The women dress as lightly as the men, and
are in nowise charry of their personal charms. The
people greeted our party with cordiality, but manifested
little curiosity.
The Governor and his friends were all dressed in
European costume, and though generally ignorant of
our language contrived to anticipate every want, and
show all possible hospitality. The merchants took pos-
session of our party, furnished us with beds, and spread
hospitable tables for us. Capital cigars and cigarritos
we found here in abundance, and extremely cheap.
CHEAP LUXURIES. 29
Thirty-two Lunches of cigarritos, each containing thir-
ty-six, are sold for one dollar, or about two per cent, of
their retail price in New York or San Francisco. Let
it rain ! Matches, and all similar trifles made in the
country, sell at correspondingly low prices, and im-
ported goods are generally lower than in the United
States, the duty "being about the same, and rates
nominal.
From Manzanillo to Colima, about ninety miles, there
is no wagon-road though one could be easily built.
Just back of the first range of hills, behind the town,
there is a fresh- water lake, thirty miles in length, which
would float a small steamer. By this lake, people are
carried by native canoes toward Colima for its entire
length, and from its farther end there is a tolerable
wagon-road most of the way to that city.
The Government some time ago commenced to cut a
canal, a fourth of a mile in length, through the hill
back of the town, to connect the lake with the harbor,
and make it possible for small steamers to pass through,
thus opening up the country to commerce. The work
was about half finished and then suspended for want
of funds, about thirty thousand dollars having been
expended. One hundred Chinamen working at one
dollar per day, would finish the work in sixty days at
most. The merchants seem to be doing well. They
say that the duties are collected regularly and fairly
now, the old custom of knocking off half or two-thirds
of the amount on a full cargo, to the ruin of the small-
er importers, having been abolished by the Juarez
administration. They have not been subjected to
" forced loans " since the mushroom " Empire " collapsed,
the last squeeze having been made in January, 1860, by
30 BATTLE OF THE SHAKES AND ALLIGATORS.
the French, when they levied $300,000 on the City of
Colima, a town of 20,000 to 30,000 people, but were
forced to decamp by the arrival of the Liberal army
under Gen. Ramon Corona, when only $100,000 had
been collected. There are still many French families
residing in the country, and considering the provoca-
tions which the Mexicans have suffered, they are re-
markably well treated everywhere.
The verdure on the hills is magnificent, and wonder-
fully soothing to the eye grown wearied with the sight
of the bare, red hills of Lower California, and blinking
under the rays of the fierce sun of the tropics. All the
freighting between vessels and the shore, is done by
lighters; there is only one miserable old rickety dis-
used wharf, and everything has to be carried through
the surf to the dry land on men's backs. The bay
swarms with sharks, and the lake with alligators. Two
years ago a sudden freshet drove the alligators out of
the lake into the bay, and a fight, long, bloody, and ter-
rible to witness, took place between them and the
sharks. The inhabitants looked on with calm indiffer-
ence — it was none of their funeral anyhow — and finally
saw the alligators " cleaned out bag and baggage " by
the sharks. This fact is well attested by numerous eye-
witnesses still living here. On the beach is found the
machinery for a large sugar-mill, imported six years ago
at a cost of $30,000, and now lying rusting away in the
sand. The want of a wagon-road, and the then dis-
turbed condition of the country, prevented its reaching
the plantation for which it was intended, near Guada-
lajara, and may now be left there for as many years to
come, before the owners will take a new start and get
it up into the interior, and put it in operation.
TROPICAL FRUITS, SUGAR AND COFFEE. 31
The forests all around abound with game, quail, deer,
wild turkeys, pheasants, partridges of two varieties,
&c, &c. It is a paradise for a hunter, and the waters
of the bay abound with fish of all kinds.
The rain came pouring down in torrents for two days
in succession, so that leaving for Colima was out of the
question. Meantime we had nothing to do but go
around and see the sights, such as they are. The beau-
tiful white coffee of Colima, which is superior to the
best Mocha, and sells here for a little less than thirty-
three cents per pound, was carefully examined. Then
the delicate-flavored and almost pure white sugar of
Jalisco, which sells at ten cents per pound, was duly
sampled and pronounced excellent and cheap. Tropical
fruits, oranges, lemons, limes, sweet lemons, pomegran-
ates, melons, bananas, and various others, nuts, etc., are
abundant and cheaj). In the court-yard of one of our
hosts, Mr. Dieckman, we found trees loaded with or-
anges and zapotes, and at the lower end of the town, a
cocoa palm tree, covered with nuts of all sizes.
We found cigars equal to a fair Havana, made at
Tepic, selling for two dollars per one hundred, neatly
put up in boxes. The temptation to smuggle a few of
them into San Francisco, if we had been going that way,
would have been almost irresistible. Half a million of
silver dollars came down here from Guadalajara, in Sep-
tember, by one train or conducta, and were sent to San
Francisco by the Golden City, which steamer brought
them immediately back, on the way to New York or
Europe, via Panama. They were on board when we
came down the coast. Even the poorest people appear to
have some small change, and there is far more money
in the country, apjmrently, than our people, who form
32 LOST TREASURE.
their opinion from letters written for publication abroad
by Euroj^ean correspondents residing here, generally
suppose.
A few years ago a vessel was loading Mexican dol-
lars in the harbor of ManzanillOj when a box or two
fell overboard, and the divers failed to recover them.
The boxes at last rotted and went to pieces, and since
that, from time to time, the waves during great storms
wash the dollars ashore. When we arrived the waves
had been immense, and the shore all along the front of
the town, was lined with the poorer natives, hunting
for the precious pesos. As these men earn their living
by hunting, and loading and unloading vessels, having
perhaps two or three days work in a month, a dollar is
quite a fortune to them, and the finding of two or three
is an event of their lives. The dollars are stained to
an inky blackness by long immersion in the sea-water,
but are still w orth their face, and no discount is charged
on them by the merchants, who get them all in the end.
The people are small eaters in this hot climate, and
beef is ten cents per pound, and beans fifteen cents,
while fish can be obtained for the taking from the wa-
ter, and fruit costs next to nothing ; so that every time
a native finds one of these dollars, he has secured the
means of a comfortable living for a month, and may
consider himself a gentleman for that time if he is of
economical habits, and not given to gambling.
We heard much apparently well grounded complaint
about the management of postal matters in this part of
the Republic. The Government charges twenty-five
cents on each letter, but, singularly enough, while there
are no Government mails between here and the interior,
there is a Post-Office, and the postage is rigidly exacted.
A PROFITABLE POSTAL SYSTEM. 33
Thus a merchant makes up his correspondence and takes
his letters to the Post-Office, where he pays twenty-five
cents on each. There are stamps provided for by law,
but none are for sale here, and the letters receive no
mark from the Postmaster to show that the postage has
been paid. Then the merchant dispatches a mail car-
rier to Colima, and pays him ten dollars for carrying the
same batch of letters on which he has just paid the
Government twenty-five cents each. At Colima the
letters are delivered to the Post-Office, and twenty-five
cents each collected again for simply passing them out
over the counter, as there is nothing to show that
they have paid the legal dues. Letters come from Maz-
atlan by steamers, prepaid, and twenty-five cents each
is collected on them on their arrival here. Then they
are sent to Colima as stated, and pay again before start-
ing, and also on their arrival there, or three times in
all. Letters from San Francisco, by steamer, for per-
sons here, must be delivered to the Postmaster by the
purser on his arrival, and twenty-five cents each is
charged at once before they can go into the hands of
the persons to whom they are directed. If the entire
postal system of the country was thus managed, the
Post-Office Department ought to be a paying institution,
but I was told that the abuses complained of are excep-
tional and local, and that the Federal Government does
not reap the benefit of the imposition. However, the
tax is a heavy one on the merchants. I was told that
one house having a depot here and a large store at Co-
lima, paid last year $6,000 in postage and courier
charges.
Despite the incessant rains, our time in Manzanillo
passed not unpleasantly away, we were elegantly lodged,
34 VISITOES FROM COLIMA.
and fed, and cared for kindly every way. Gov. Cueva,
Senor Rendon, the Administrador of Customs, and Mr.
Morrill, the American Consul from Colima, all of whom
had come down from Colima to meet Mr. Seward, staid
with us until the storm at last cleared away on the
night of the 8th of October, and we made ready for
departure.
Gov. Cueva is a tall, dark, finely-formed, and intelli-
gent young man. He is a physician by profession, but
has been " acting Governor " for some years, and appears
to be quite popular. He has taken a great interest in
the establishment of free schools in Colima and other
towns in the State, and a decided advance has been
made within the last two years in general education.
He appears to be fully aware of the importance of pub-
lic improvements and the development of the great nat-
ural resources of the country. This little State of
Colima — The smallest, or one of the smallest in the
Union — contains a population of sixty thousand, of
which three-fifths are pure Indian blood, and two-thirds
of the remainder have but little European blood, a few
only being of pure Castilian descent. Singularly
enough, this Indian element appears to be the most
liberty-loving and progressive portion of the popula-
tion, and foreigners generally concede that it is less
corruptible and changeable than the pure European.
Whatever may be its faults, bull-dog tenacity, courage,
and love of country are among its virtues and most
hopeful characteristics. It has capacities which, devel-
oped by education, may yet prove the salvation of this
beautiful country.
Senor Luis Rendon, a small, spare, sharp-featured,
dark-hued man, appears to be a thorough gentleman.
PRODUCTIONS OF MANZANILLO.
35
SENOR LUIS RENDOU.
He has effected great reforms in the Custom House
and is called a " a square man " by the importing mer-
chants who, however, dis-
like him because he exacts
full and complete obedi-
ence to the law, which has
put a stop to the old sys-
tem of reductions on im-
ports, in favor of the great
merchants, to the ruin of
the small ones. Under
his administration, Manza-
nillo, from yielding live
hundred thousand dollars
per annum in revenue to the Federal Government,
has come to yield $1,500,000. and all without a sin-
gle wagon-road into the interior in any direction. When
roads already commenced are finished, a wharf built, and
some other improvements made, this place will grow into
a thriving port, and have a grand commerce.
Give Mexico ten years of uninterrupted peace, and
Manzanillo, with its natural advantages and the exj)edi-
ture of a small sum for improvements, would become an
important seaport. The town is somewhat unhealthy
because the lake gets low and breeds fever and ague
during the dry season, but the Europeans and Ameri-
cans appear to suffer but little, while the natives, being
poorly housed and exposed to all sorts of weather,
are sick half of the time. We saw many of them lying
around under the verandah, apparently half dead with
ague. Everything here comes down from the interior
on mule-back, and it takes six days for a train to make
the ninety miles from Colima to Manzanillo. Some
36 EMBARKATION AND DEPARTURE.
time this will be all different. Already, a telegraph
line is in operation from the City of Mexico to this
place, and Mr. Seward was met by congratulatory dis-
patches direct from President Juarez and Cabinet.
Stage-coaches and steamboats will come next, and then
railroads and a higher civilization.
After two days' waiting at Manzanillo the rain sud-
denly ceased, and a clear sunset gave promise of fine
weather to follow. At day-break on the 9th of Octo-
ber, all Manzanillo was astir, and our party prepared
to leave for Colinia. By arrangement, the entire com-
pany, " bag and baggage, " was to be transported by
boats up the Laguna de Cayutlan thirty miles, then
across the divide of three leagues, between the end of
the lake and the Rio Maria, in Concord coaches sent
down by Don Juan Firmin Huarte, the hospitable pro-
prietor of the immense estate formerly known as " Los
Chinos, " now as " La Calera, " and thence over the river
and the succeeding three leagues to that place, as could
be best arranged under the circumstances.
As the party left the house and walked out through
the straggling, crooked street, lined with low, thatched
huts half of which were flooded from the rains and
vacated by the owners, the people stood hats in
hands all along the way, to give Mr. Seward a kindly
parting salutation. All was bustle and confusion at the
landing. Men were wading back and forth in the
muddy water, carrying packages, or altering and arrang-
ing the boats. Five light, strong boats, each painted
white, red and green — the national colors of Mexico —
had been provided. Two boats carried the "Seward
Party, " Gov. Cueva and Seiior Re ndon ; a third the pro-
miscuous escort, and the fourth and fifth were loaded
down with our luggage, provisions, etc., etc.
PASSAGE UP THE LAGUNA DE CAYUTLAN. 37
Despite the many delays all the party was safely on
board the boats just after sunrise. The air was still
and the sky clear, and in a short time the heat became
almost insupportable. Then, little black-eyed Mexican
boys, spry and agile as cats, crept around each boat
hanging out gaily striped awnings, and rich colored blan-
kets, to shield us from the blazing rays of the tropic sun,
and we lay down in the boats, at full length, and watch-
ed with a wondering interest, the shifting of the glori-
ous panorama before us. The great mountain chain,
which forms a semi-circle around the inland side of the
Laguna de Cayutlan, is clothed in magnificent vegeta-
tion, from the waters edge to its summit ; all the wealth
of the tropics is lavished on the picture. The long lines
of palm trees on the heights, cutting sharply against the
blue sky, seem to have been set there by some cunning
hand, to make it perfect in all its artistic details.
The Laguna de Cayutlan runs nearly east and west
for thirty miles, parallel with and but a short distance
from the sea, and at this season is from four to ten feet
in depth, and one to six miles wide. It would float a
steamer the year round.
Within the charmed circle in which we floated, all
was peaceful and still ; there was hardly breeze enough
to puff out the sails which our boatmen spread to light-
en their labors, and the surface of the Lasmna was like
glass, while at the same time we could hear the hollow
booming of the ocean waves, and the dull incessant roar
of the surf, breaking on the beach just beyond the line
of palm- trees, which bounded the view upon the south.
Our rowers, five in each boat, nearly naked, or en-
tirely so, worked well. I never saw better rowers.
They appeared to be all of pure Indian blood — the
38 WILD FLO WEES, PARROTS AND ALLIGATORS.
working element of the country. Their oars all struck
the water at once, and they sent the boats through the
water at a high speed. Had they been selected instead
of the Harvard crew, to row against the Oxfords, I
would have staked my money on the American side,
if I chanced to have any to risk.
On our arrival at Manzanillo from the steamer, at the
house of Mr. Bartling, who most hospitably entertained
our party during our stay, we were provided with six
excellent camp bedsteads, with beautiful gilded frames
and canopies, lace mosquito bars, and lace-covered pil-
lows, rich crimson counterpanes, and tine soft matresses
complete in every detail. While going up the lake we
noticed, among the baggage, six neatly wrapped pack-
ages covered with matting and securely corded, and
learned with surprise that each contained one of these
beds packed for transportation, and that they had been
purchased expressly for us at Colima, and were to be
transported for our especial use froni one side of Mexico
to the other.
At one point we landed on the rocky shore of the
Laguna, and gathered beautiful wild flowers, but the
chaparral was so matted together with tangled vines
and parasitic and climbing plants, that we could not
travel ten rods in any direction, and after vainly en-
deavoring to get a shot at the flocks of gaudy parrots
which filled the larger trees, we returned to the Laguna
and were carried pick-a-back, to the boats again. The
alligators, who fill the Laguna, are very cautious and
shy, and it was only now and then that one would show
the point of his dark snout above the surface. A vol-
ley of ill-directed pistol balls would send him down in
an instant every time. On the whole I don't think the
SCENE ON THE BEACH DEJECTED MULES. 39
alligator crop of Cayiitlan, will be to any serious extent
the smaller next season, on account of our visit.
When we had gone about twelve miles up the lake,
the flotilla came to a halt opposite a beautiful rocky
island covered with giant cacti. All the boats came
together, and in a few minutes the entire party was en-
gaged in discussing, with keen relish, a bountiful lunch.
When the repast was finished, Gov. Cueva proposed, as
a sentiment, "Welcome to our distinguished guest;
peace, and a better understanding, and more perfect
friendly relation between the people and Government
of the great Republic of the United States, and the
people and Government of the Republic of Mexico."
The toast was drank with the honors, and duly re-
sponded to, and the flotilla again moved up the Laguna.
At 2 p. m., we reached the landing at the eastern end
of the lake, and found two light, Concord spring coaches,
sent down from the interior for our use, and a multi-
tude of attendants waiting to receive us. They had a
full pack-train of mules ready to carry the baggage up
to Colima, but the piles on piles of plunder which came
on shore from our boats until the whole beach was
strewn with it, startled them not a little, and made some
of the mules drop their ears in utter dejection. The
mules in common use all over the country are the small-
est I have ever seen. Some of them do not wei^h
more than two hundred pounds, and it is a large sized
one which will weigh three hundred and fifty or four
hundred pounds : but like the little horses of the coun-
try, they are "lightning" when it comes to traveling or
pulling.
Three leagues — about seven and a half or at most eight-
English miles — across a flat sandy country, entirely cov-
40 CROSSING THE RIO DE SANTA MARIA.
ered with impenetrable thickets of small thorny shrubs,
trees of the acacia species, cacti, creeping plants, and
climbing vines, over a road heavy with the rains, and
poor at best, brought us to the Rio de Santa Maria, a
small stream in ordinary times, but now a tremendous
torrent, thick with mud. It looked wholly impassable.
On the opposite shore there is a village of palm-thatched
bamboo huts, inhabited, with one exception, by families
of the civilized and Christian Indians of the country —
once peons, but now all enfranchised. The rocky banks
were lined with dark-skinned men in loose, white cotton
drawers and shirts, immense broad-brimmed hats, and
with rawhide sandals on their feet. We signaled the
boats on the opposite shore, and a party of the natives
immediately put off into the raging torrent, some
wading as far as possible and pulling the boat by main
strength, others handling the paddles.
It looked like certain death, to attempt the passage
of the torrent in those little boats, but we could not
stay there for it to fall, and cross we must, or drown in
the attempt. I essayed the passage first, and though
we went bounding up and down like an india rubber
ball, and took water several times, we made the riffle
in safety, and soon after, Mr. Seward and the entire
party were across, and proceeded to the house of the
great landholder of the vicinity, Don Ignacio Largos.
His house is of bamboo or cane, like the others, and
has a mud floor, but everything is as clean and neat as
the parlor of the most thrifty New England housewife,
and his young wife — a comely woman of the Spanish
blood and type — niade us at home at once.
Don Ignacio, a man of about seventy years, but stout,
and well preserved, with hardly a gray hair in his" head,
A CHANCE FOR SPECULATION. 41
came in to inform Mr. Seward, that the stream was too
high to allow of the passage of the stages, but that
during the night it would subside. They would then
put the wheels of one side of the stage in one boat,
and those of the other side in a second, and so row the
cumbersome vehicles across. Meantime, he and all he
had was " at His Excellency's service." He had two
coaches in tolerable repair, which he was ready to hitch
tip to convey us on three leagues more to the " Hacienda
Calera," the residence of Don Juan Firmin Huarte,
where we were to pass the night. The old gentleman
told us that he had about four thousand five hundred
acres of the best sugar, cotton, and Indian corn land in
America, and, he did not know exactly how many,
though quite a number of square miles of good j)asture
lands in this rancho, which he would sell me [some one
had wickedly represented me as the rich man of the
party] for $8,000 in gold. He had a few thousand cat-
tle, all good stock, though diminutive, which he would
also dispose of cheap. There might be 2,000 or 10,000,
but he would not be particular about a few hundred
head any way. He wanted to move upon a larger
rancho somewhere up in the interior. I agreed to think
it over until I came back, and give him my answer
then. I trust that he will not get tired out, and die
waiting to hear from me.
Dinner, consisting of a variety of meats, vegetables,
fruits, sweetmeats, and wines, was placed on the table,
and I take occasion to say that a cleaner, better cooked,
and better served dinner could not be obtained at any
hotel in the United States, though there was not a sign
of a stove, carpet, or even floor about the premises.
At sunset, we saw our baggage train of pack mules
42 OLD BATTLE GROUND OF SAN BARTOLO.
arrive on the other shore, and the boats commence to
take it over. We started at niodit-fall for La Calera,
O 7
three leagues further on, and were whirled along over
the heavy road at good speed, by the smart little mules
furnished us by Don Ignacio. Up to this point the
country, except for the densely wooded mountains in
the background, might have been mistaken for the
Bayou Teche country in Louisiana, though the vegeta-
tion was more abundant, and the soil richer and softer —
a fine country for cultivation. Now, we crossed the
Llano de San Bartolo, a more open country, with occa-
sional Indian villages. On this plain, the Spaniards
were defeated with great loss, and driven back to their
ships, in the time of the conquest by Cortez ; but a sec-
ond battle resulted in their favor, and the Indian power
in Colima was forever broken. Passing in the moon-
light an immense hacienda, with solid stone walls on
all sides, now partially deserted, we arrived at La Ca-
lera at 10 o'clock, and were warmly welcomed.
When we arose at day-break on Sunday and walked
out upon the broad verandah, which surrounds the
great house at the hacienda of Don Juan Firmin
Huarte, the scene before us was entrancingly beautiful.
The estate occupies a broad valley, through which runs
a small river, and is surrounded on all sides by moun-
tains as high as the highest peaks of the Coast Range
of California These mountains are covered from base
to summit with low timber, as thick as it can stand on
the ground, and all covered with a brilliant green
foliage, save where the beautiful primavera, which bears
great loads of white, red, pink, and blue blossoms, gives
variety to the scene. This wood is all crooked, and
mainly worthless for building purposes, though the
THE GREAT HACIENDA DE LA C ALEE A. 43
amount of fuel on an acre is enormous The valley
itself is one grand garden, run to wild. In one place,
rows of tall graceful cocoa palm-trees, loaded with fruit
in all stages of growth, lift their feathery heads in air,
and call up visions of the gardens of Damascus. Then
wide fields of sugar-cane, ripe, and ready for cutting,
then corn-fields, where the corn is equal in size to that
of Illinois, rice-fields, and great patches of banana
plants, fifteen or twenty feet in height, each leaf being
of the size of a counterpane on a double bed at home.
Turning our eyes from this scene to that more imme-
diately at hand, we saw life in the tropics in all its lazy
luxuriousness. Upon this grand hacienda, which is
exactly as large as the District of Columbia, reside
three hundred to four hundred natives of pure, or
nearly pure, Indian blood, who are employed as labor-
ers in the fields and around the mills. The men receive
thirty-seven and-a-half cents per day, and board them-
selves. They are not very cheap laborers even at that
price. For their accommodation, a meat-market is kept
under a large open shed in front of the " casa grcmde?
This market is supplied with beef from cattle killed
during the night — we had been disturbed in our sleep
by the bellowing of the poor beasts — and the market
was in fall operation when we saw it at day-break.
The women by dozens, tall, slender, and dark, dressed
in light-colored cotton gowns, without hoops, and bare-
footed, with black rebosas wrapped around their shoul-
ders and heads, half hiding their faces, were buying the
day's supply of meat for the family, while the men
lounged about in every variety of dilapidated garments,
smoking cigarritos. A few wore brilliant-hued serapes
closely wrapped around them, or thrown with negligent
44 AN IMMENSE SUGAE-HOUSE.
grace over one shoulder. This hacienda has the name
of being very unhealthy, and many of the men appeared
ill from malarious diseases. The meat was cut in irreg-
ular pieces with rude knives and axes, and sold at from
six and a half, to ten cents per pound. Each purchaser
took but a small piece, about enough for a " square
meal " for three persons in a cold climate. The fat was
being tried out for candles in a large kettle in front of
the market, and the offal was lying in a corner. Swarms
of long-nosed wolfish-looking dogs hung around, snap-
ping up every scrap of meat left within reach, or thrown
to them.
Beyond the market stands an immense half-finished
sugar-house, and all around the place was scattered ma-
chinery therefor, hardly two pieces, belonging together,
being within hearing distance of each other. The walls
were of brick made on the place and poorly laid in
cement. The roof is to be of tiles, but it is not yet
finished. A vat for water, intended to hold at least
two million gallons, built of brick and cemented, is
built along-side. The three great boilers for this mill
were being towed through the Laguna of Cayutlan —
having been closed and cemented water-tight to insure
their floating — as we came up on the previous day.
The mill cannot be finished in less than six months, and
meantime a superb crop of cane goes to waste. Oppo-
site the sugar-mill is a huge building containing a rice
mill, saw-mill, <fec. The sugar machinery and distilling
apparatus are from Hamburg, the steam-engines and
boilers from England, and the rice and saw-mills from
Boston and San Francisco. Everything consumed on
the place is raised on it, Between the two mills is an
enormous ditch or race for carrying the water to a great
DON JUAN FIEMIN HUARTE. 45
turbine wheel which is to run some of the machinery
and assist in irrigation. The grounds all around afe
filled with carts and other agricultural implements, ex-
posed to sun and rain, and a great part of the work
done on the buildings and ditch, &c, has been wasted,
because not half done,— a set of incompetent theoretical
European engineers, having botched everything from
the start. The proprietor, Senor Huarte, now sees how
he has been imposed upon, and when we were there,
was endeavoring to secure the services of a clear-headed
practical American, then at Colima, to take charge of
the work and carry it on to completion. He has al-
ready expended $200,000 on improvements on his estate
and from appearances, it will cost fully half as much
more before he will derive an income from it. The
fields are rudely fenced with round poles, and cultiva-
ted in a very primitive manner with clumsy agricultural
implements. When in full operation with proper man-
agement, the estate ought to pay interest on a million
dollars?.
Sen or Huarte is a native of old Spain, short, dark,
rotund, polished in manner, courteous and hospitable,
and fond of doing everything on a princely scale. His
grand house is at Colima, where his children reside — he
is a widower — and this is only his country residence.
During our stay, he entertained us on a scale of mag-
nificence which puts the hospitalities showered on our
visitors to California completely to shame. His kitchen
swarms with domestics, male and female, and at his
table, course after course of meats, fowls, vegetables and
fruits follow each other with rapidity, for hours at a
time, and are washed down with wines from every grape
growing country from Ay and Malaga, to Sonoma.
46 EU'EAL MASS AND SUNDAY SCENES.
, When we arose on Sunday morning we, found a fat,
round-bellied, jolly-looking priest, in black, sitting in
the door-way, while his assistants were hanging a bright,
large-patterned chintz curtain up along the wall under
the lower verandah, and preparing for mass. Donning
his rich embroidered white satin robes, he opened the
service. The native women and children came stealing
quietly ' in, and knelt on the pavement, in the great
walled area by themselves, while the men in lesser
numbers came in, and knelt or sat carelessly about in
the verandah. The priest read his prayers in an inaud-
ible voice in Latin, then, seated in a chair, read indiffer-
ently a very good, sound, practical, moral sermon in
Spanish, then concluded the services "with bell and
candle," and then proceeded to pack up his traps. I
observed that Seiior Huarte stood by as " patron " dur-
ing the services, but the congregation, consisting of per-
haps one hundred, all told, contained no other men of
intelligence or education. Gov. Cueva, Seiior Kendon,
and the other educated men who were with the Seward
party, regarded the priest and his proceedings with ap-
parent indifference. When the service was over the
priest packed up his things, mounted his little mule,
took his umbrella in his hand, and galloped away to
hold service somewhere else. His figure as he galloped
off was so strikingly Spanish and picturesque that it
might answer for an illustration of Gil Bias or one of
Cervantes works.
All that morning mounted men were galloping back
and forth, receiving orders from Seuor Huarte, hat in
hand, or detailing the latest news from the river. At
2 p. m. the stages arrived, and the baggage, which had
come up meantime, was packed and started off. Having
A MEXICAN COACH AND SIX. 47
done the honors of his country house to the party
Seiior Huarte announced his intention of accompanying
us to Colinia, and acting the host there. As we left La
Calera, the party consisted of Mr. Seward, Fred Seward
and wife, Abijah Fitch, Seiior Don Francisco, Javier
Cueva, Governor of Colinia, Sehor Francisco Gomez
Palencia, his Secretary, who is also " Diputado Suplente
al Congreso de la Union" from Colinia, Sehor Darniar
Garcia, " Capitan de buque y Director Politico de Man-
zaniUo ,'" Seiior don Luis Rendon. " Administrator del
Aduana Maritima del Departamento de Golima /" Seiior
Jacinto Cauedo, "Oficial 2*- de la Aduana Maritima del
Manzanillo;" Dr. Augustus Morrill, Consul of the
United Sates at Colima, the writer, and about fifty fol-
lowers of all classes, not forgetting to mention Mr.
Seward's colored servant, John Butler, who condescend-
ingly taught our language to the Mexican servitors
down stairs, while Mr. Fitch did the same to our host
above. If "Pigeon-English" did not break out as an
epidemic at La Calera immediately after our departure.
I can only account for the fact by assigning it to a
special interposition of an All-Merciful Providence, in
behalf of an afflicted people.
To each coach, four little mules were harnessed abreast
at the lead, and two a trifle larger at the wheel. Half
a dozen men held the six mules until ready to run, then
we "cast off;" the u cocker o yelled," the "postillion" cursed,
and cracked his whip, and we went off like a railroad
train. When we came to a particularly heavy place in
the road the cochero hissed," ist, i-s-a-h, i-i-i-s-s-s-t-a-a-a !"
and shouted, "Aha, ha-ha-ha-ha, ha, h-a-a-a-a!" inces-
santly, while the postillion lashed the poor little panting
mules furiously, and occasionally jumped off and varied
48
WATER-BEAltERS OF MEXICO.
the performance by stoning them, then jumping back to
the seat while the coach was in full motion. These
postillions carry matting sacks holding about half a
peck, which they fill with stones about the size of a
hen's egg, and keep in reserve for emergencies. If the
team balks, or is stalled for a moment, they will send a
steady stream of these stones through the air, hitting
each mule on the head in turn, with the accuracy of a
Western sharp-shooter.
Some places which those little mules took our heavy
coaches through, hardly seemed passable, but they did
it. The old simile of the " rat running off with a hay-
stack" loses all point when applied to these little
Colima mules, but it is death on the rats, nevertheless.
Four "police of the road," mounted on little agile
horses, with costly saddles and rich trappings, each man
carrying a
machete, or
st r a i g h t ,
short sword,
Henry rifle,
and a Colt's
revolver of
the finest
p attern.
rode in ad-
vance, and
fou r fine,
tall, intelli-
gent- look-
ing men of
the Custom-House Guard, still more splendidly equipped
and armed, rode behind us. One of these last men was
SENOK HUAKTE 8 HOUSE AT COLIMA.
COMMA THE BEAUTIFUL. 49
about twenty-five years of age, of olive complexion,
classic features, six feet three inches in height, and slim
and straight as a young palm tree. I never saw a finer
rider — all these men ride like Centaurs — or a hand-
somer man. His belt buckle was of finely wrought
silver, and his pistol holster and pistol, marvels of rich
ornamentation in the same metal.
At Tecolapa, twelve miles from La Calera, we saw long
rows of Indian women going to the well with water-jars
poised on their shoulders, exactly as has been done in
Palestine from the days of Jacob and Rebecca to our
own day.
It is thirty-six miles from La Calera to Colima. The
Government is spending a large sum in grading a wagon-
road over the mountains from Colima to the sea, and
the thirty miles nearest Colima are finished. But the
storm had torn it up fearfully, and in many places it was
almost impassable. Rain came on, and when the moon
went down behind the mountains, the darkness added
to the difficulty of the trip, and we went on at a snail's
pace. We changed teams three times in the thirty-
six miles, but it was 2 o'clock in the morning before we
emerged from the long " Via de Colima " upon the well-
paved streets of that fine old city, and our coach, with a
rattle and uproar which awakened all the sleeping watch-
men, rolled up to the door of the truly palatial inan-
ition of Senor Huarte.
CHAPTER II.
COLIMA.
IT was 2 o'clock in the morning,on Monday, October
11th when we entered Colima. We swallowed a
hasty lunch, and retired to bed just as the watchmen,
whom we had noticed sitting along the sidewalk, with
muskets in their hands, and great oil-fed lanterns by
their sides blew all their whistles, and, as with one
voice, drawled out the hour, "3 o'clock in the morning,
and all quiet," (in Spanish,) a proceeding totally unnec-
essary, as the Cathedral and different church bells all
strike the hours, and in fact give the cue to the watch-
men, none of whom have anything like a time-piece of
their own. It seemed as if we had just closed our eyes
in welcome sleep, when the air was filled with shrill
and piercing music, the sharp rattle of the kettle-drum,
and the blare of trumpets.
Awake in an instant, I listened in doubt, and for
some minutes I tried vainly, to decide where I was and
to what I listened. The music was such as enlivened
the march of Cortez and Pizarro, and their companions,
when they came to spread desolation and the religion
of the cross, through peaceful and unoffending lands,
but the air must have been centuries older : if it resem-
bled anything originating since the flood, it was "The
White Cockade."
I looked down at the bed, with its crimson and fringed
THE MUSIC OF COHTEZ. 51
counterpane and gilt canopy, and from that to the walls,
painted in pale blue, and frescoed, and the cream-colored
ceiling, with cross-beams of a soft, chocolate color, and
then went to the iron-latticed window and looked down on
a neatly-paved court, around which the house was built,
and the great staircase with its wealth of brill iant-hued
tropical flowers and climbing delicate-foliaged plants,
and its Moorish dome painted in fresco. Where was I \
Opening the door of my bedroom, I looked into the
grand saloon, about sixty or seventy feet square, with
its walls and ceiling painted like those just described,
its glazed tile floor, double rows of Moorish arches and
pillars supporting the roof, and chandeliers suspended
with iron chains from the ceiling, and the long table
with its crimson damask covering, and at last the truth
of the situation flashed upon me. I was not in the
Alhambra at Grenada, in 1469 — I might have been, for
everything was as thoroughly Moorish — but in Colima,
in October, 1869.
" Is it a revolution ?" I asked of the obsequious servant
in white, who came at once to attend upon me. "Oh
no,Seuor; only the troops changing guard at the State
Prison on the Plaza !"
Going out on the balcony, I looked across the way,
and saw the band in front of the prison and the white-
clad soldiers — all of Indian blood — with red plumes in
their hats, and Springfield muskets of the year 1862 in
their hands, going through the form of guard mounting.
I saw those muskets in San Francisco, during the late
war with France, if I mistake not. The ruinous old
cathedral, dating far back into the 1600 and something,
adjoins the prison, and all around the Plaza runs a row
of shops, for the most part but one story high. All
52 VIEW FEOM THE BALCONY.
the buildings are of brick, with immensely thick walls,
iron-latticed windows, and heavy wooden doors with
curious antique iron locks, and flat, red-tiled roofs.
Beyond the buildings, in all directions, towered the
feathery cocoa palms and giant-leaved banana trees — or
plants — of the rich gardens of Colima. Still back of
them were the green, wooded mountains which surround
this lovely Valley of Colima, with the great "Volcan
de Colima," with a crown of dark smoke hanging over
its crater, towering above all else, in the north-east. It
was a scene worth half .a life to look upon but once.
On the street the scene was less beautiful, but very
picturesque and peculiar; not a carriage in sight.
Little asses, loaded with green corn fodder, or carrying
frames, in which were set on either side two large red
earthen water jars, trotted along the long, straight, nar.
row streets. Men in broad hats and light Summer cos-
tume of white cotton or linen, trotted along on small,
but spirited and richly saddled horses, and the common
men and women of the country, on foot, filled the streets
and sidewalks. All the marketing, except on Sunday
when the great market is held, is done at an early hour,
before the heat becomes annoying, and at sunrise the
scene on the streets of Colima and all other Mexican
towns, is most interesting. In the middle of the day
the streets are almost deserted, and toward evening the
visiting and fashionable promenading commences.
The principle dry goods and fancy stores are situated
in the large buildings, with the portals fronting on the
plazas, and the sidewalks are, during a considerably
portion of the day, given up to small traders, who
spread their little stock of cheap jewelry, slippers,
watches, cigaritos, knives, swords, and a thousand
THE STREET AND MARKETS. 53
minor articles such as are -usually found in a "notion
store" at " Cheap John's " in the United States, on mats,
and squat beside them on the pavement. The main
market is held in an oj)en square, where the more com-
mon articles of coarse food, green corn, fruit, etc., and
the light, strong, red earthen ware of the country are
exposed for sale in the morning. Colima has 35,000 or
40,000 inhabitants, and at morning or evening they are
all on the streets. As our party passed along, people
always civilly made room, and the better class gen-
erally bowed politely. In passing the prison, the guard
invariably presented arms to me, and I found after a
time, this was all owing to the fact that I wore a vest
of blue cloth,' with brass buttons bearing the coat of
arms of the State of California, and for my own con-
venience I was forced to change it, and by donning a
plain white vest retire to private life.
They make the change here, when you buy anything
at a store, down to the smallest fraction of a cent ; there
is nothing like the Californian contempt for the odd bit
in Mexico. Being in want of a pair of light panta-
loons, I learned to my surprise that there was no ready-
made clothing store in Colima, and a tailor was sent for
at once to wait upon me. My order and measure taken
down, the "artist" departed, and at night returned with
the garment finished. " How much ?" He at once ren-
dered me a bill for cloth, buttons, thread, labor, etc.,
amounting to seven dollars and twelve and one-half
cents, and he would neither take seven dollars, nor seven
dollars and twenty-five cents, but must have the exact
change. The barber, boot-maker, shoemaker, and other
tradesmen wait on you in the same manner, and exact
the same minute change.
54 THE GAKDENS OF COLIMA.
The servants receive $5 to $8 per month, in extreme
cases $10, and are exceedingly respectful and attentive.
They come at the clapping of the hands instead of the
bell-call, as with us, and always stand bare-headed
when addressed, even though the rain be pouring, or
the sun scorching hot.
At the invitation of Senor Huarte, the party one eve-
ning rode out to the suburbs, and went through his
private garden, one of many such in the vicinity. The
grounds, enclosed with a high stone wall in front, and
a stake and pole fence elsewhere, probably comprise, all
told, about ten acres. Trees and plants fill the whole
inclosure, the paths only excepted, and the variety and
richness of the fruit and foliage are beyond description.
Tall cocoa palms, covered with fruit, tower high in air
in all parts of the grounds, and the bananas, of which
there are four varieties, fill in beneath as an under-
growth, though fifteen to twenty feet in height. Then
there are red-berried coffee trees, with bright green
leaves ; aguacates, or alligator pears ; zapotes ; cacao, or
the chocolate tree; oranges, lemons, peaches, sweet
lemons, limes, mangoes, cheremoyas, pineapples, citrons,
and an almost endless variety of minor tropical fruits.
It would require the space of a full page to name them
all. Of flowers, there are many, large and brilliant-
hued, but generally devoid of pleasant odor. It was
curious to see the common " lady's-slipper " of the
North, here cultivated beside the gaudy flowers of the
tropics, and regarded as something very rare and choice.
Of creeping plants, there are hundreds. One of these
has foliage like the cypress tree, as delicate as lace, and
beautiful red blossoms.
In the corner of the garden stands a large brick house
AGUA DE COCOA. 55
with a wide brick-paved verandah : this is the lounging
place. Adjoining is a brick- walled tank, thirty-five feet
long and fifteen broad, filled with water kept fresh by
constant running ; this is the proprietor's bathing place.
It is shaded by the palm trees and banana plants, and
the coolness makes it a delightful resort at morning and
evening in this fervid climate. There is no " fruit sea-
son " here ; it is fruit all the year around. The cocoa-
nut is never eaten here as with us. The nuts are
picked when just two-thirds grown and while the fluid
inside is as clear and limpid as the finest spring water.
This is called " Agua de Cocoa" and is a favorite and
very healthy and palatable beverage. The Indian ser-
vants who attend to the garden, had many of the cocoa-
nuts already prepared with one end chipped off with a
machete, to allow the water to be turned out as from a
jug, and as we took seats in the verandah they served
it around in large glasses. When the water is turned
out there remains a white mucilaginous substance like
thin custard, which is scraped out and eaten with a slip
of the green husk for a spoon. It is highly flavored
but not agreeable to the uninitiated.
From these gardens, fruit is sold to all who desire it.
Cocoanuts are sold for twenty-five cents per dozen at
retail, bananas for twelve and a half to fifteen cents a
bunch of one hundred or more, and other fruit in pro-
portion. One hundred square yards of ground in ba-
nanas, will afford sustenance for an entire family the
year round; why then should people kill themselves
with hard work? Senor Huarte paid $2,000 for the
garden, and expended $2,000 more in building the
house and bath, or $4,000 in all. He thinks that the
income from this garden may be two per cent per month
56 PRODUCTIONS OF THE COUNTRY.
on the money invested, but as he has no guard upon
the Indian servants he cannot tell how much they re-
ceive, and is probably cheated out of four-fifths of the
actual proceeds of the sales.
Sefior Canedo, who has traveled in the United States,
and has some excellent practical ideas, coupled with a
degree of patriotism which led him to fight valiantly
against the French, coming out of the war with numer-
ous honorable wounds, accompanied us, and gave us
much valuable information in regard to the country and
its products. He told us that the coffee we saw was of
the finest variety grown in Colima. This coffee readily
finds sale at home, and except as a curiosity, is seldom sent
abroad. The choicest berries picked out by hand, sell at
the fancy price of one dollar and twenty-five cents in coin,
and the ordinary berries, really quite as good for family
use, at twenty-five cents. If he could be sure of getting
even twenty cents per pound net, in San Francisco, he
would undertake to furnish any amount in a few years.
The berry is round and white, and the flavor equal if
not actually superior to that of Mocha. Only about
40,000 or 50,000 pounds are produced in Colima annu-
ally, but the amount could be increased indefinitely.
Cocoa-nut oil, produced from the small round cocoa-nut,
called " Cockita" about the size of a hickory-nut, not
the ordinary cocoa-nut, is also produced in considerable
quantity. At Manzanillo it is worth about seventeen
dollars, coin, per barrel.
Of tropical fruit, Colima — the State at large — is able
to raise unlimited amounts, and with good roads to
Manzanillo, and a foreign market, an immense trade
might soon be built up. Cacao — pronounced ka-kow,
not cocoa — or the chocolate bean is produced all over
PRODUCTIONS OF THE COUNTRY. 57
the Tierra Caliente of Mexico, and its product could be
increased indefinitely. The chocolate made from this, in
Mexican style, is the most delicious warm drink I have
ever tasted. It is no more like the coarse compound
made and sold under that name in the United States
and Europe, than champagne is like lager-beer. If our
people knew how to prepare it in the manner in which
it come upon the table in Mexico, I think that it would
supersede coffee and tea to a very great extent.
There is a bright yellow wood called " linoloe " grow-
ing all over these mountains, which, for cabinet- work,
the lining of bureau-drawers, etc., would be invaluable.
It is similar in color to the California laurel, but some-
what softer, and exceedingly fragrant, the odor being
like that of the nutmeg and moss-rose combined, and
where it is desired to keep furs or other articles free
from moths, it has no equal. A delightfully fragrant
oil for toilet purposes, superior to sandal-wood oil, is
obtained from the berry which the tree produces.
Samples of this were shown me at the extensive drug
store of Mr. Augustus Morrill, the American Consul in
the city. This article ought to become of commercial
importance. There are other equally valuable woods in
abundance here. Nature has done more for Colima,
and man less, than for any other country on earth I
think.
The people of Colima had heard of the hospitalities
showered upon Mr. Seward in California, and the other
Pacific States and Territories of the " United States of the
North," and they were determined not to be behind hand
for a moment ; to do them justice I must here admit, in
spite of my pride as a Californian, that they were very
far ahead. Upon Mr. Seward's arrival, the officials
58 INVITATION TO THE PALACE.
called at once and offered the hospitalities of the city
and State, as Sefior Huarte did those of his house.
We had hardly time to finish breakfast on the morn-
ing after our arrival, when two elegantly-dressed gen-
tlemen, Seiiors Firmin Gonzalez Castro, and Francisco
Santa Cruz, were introduced ; they informed Mr. Sew-
ard that they came in behalf of the officers Aduana
Maritima and the Governor and people of Colima, to
invite the party to attend a ball and banquet at the
palace, on the evening of the 12th of October, to be
given in honor of his visit. The address being duly
translated, Mr. Seward replied as follows :
" Gentlemen : I have received only hospitalities, unde-
served, since I landed in Mexico. I thank you sincerely for
the hospitalities you have now tendered me. Desirous of
extending my acquaintance with the citizens of this ancient and
respected city of Colima, I will attend the entertainment you
tender me this evening with much pleasure."
When evening came, the party entered the carriages
in attendance at 10 o'clock, and were driven to the pal-
ace. Arriving there, all were surprised beyond measure
at the oriental magnificence of the decorations and
preparations for the occasion. Outside, the building,
which is of pure Moorish style, was one blaze of light
A crowd of the common people standing in respectful
silence blocked the way, and were kept back from the
portal by the bayonets of a company of regular troops,
under command of Capt. Reyes. The sidewalks on
either side were lined with rows of feathery palm-leaves
fastened upright and decorated with lamps, and the
whole front of the building was similarly decorated.
Entering the portal, the soldiers presenting arms as we
A BRILLIANT AND BEAUTIFUL SCENE. 59
passed, we found a numerous and brilliant company in
attendance, and arranged near the door to allow the
party to pass through into the main saloon.
The scene presented as the party entered was bril-
liant, and wonderfully beautiful. The main hall is in
the form of a square, surrounded by wide corridors, sep-
arated by pillars and Moorish arches, with wide galler-
ies corresponding above. The floors were covered with
cloth, and sprinkled with gilt paper-clippings. The
pillars, the arches, the walls, and the ceilings were loaded
with the richest vegetation of the tropics ; palm-leaves
in all their varieties ; the rich, cream-colored blossoms
of the cocoa, looking like gigantic heads of wheat done
in wax- work, the green fruit and flowers of the banana,
and all the indescribable wealth of the tropical flora,
in variety and brilliance beyond description. Mr. Sew-
ard exclaimed, " It is a tropical forest', with an oriental
illumination." Eich Chinese lamps and glasses, tilled
with perfume and brilliant colored cocoa oil, with burn-
ing tapers, were on all sides.
The roof was hidden by a canopy of green, white
and red gauze, and all around the hall were the flags
of Mexico and the United States side by side. At one
end of the hall, " Don Benito Juarez, Salvator de la
Patria," looked down in grim silence from the canvas,
and at the other, a handsome portrait of Mr. Seward,
painted within two days by a native artist, was en-
wreathed with laurel and the flags of the two Repub-
lics. Around the corridor hung the portraits of Gen.
Ramon Corona, commander of the Army of the West,
and his compatriots, and the heroes of the Mexican
War of Independence. On one side of the gallery
was the illuminated legend " Al. H. W. H. Seward,"
60 THE BALL AND BANQUET.
formed from glasses of red, green, and blue cocoa-nut
oil, with tapers hanging against a bank of tropical ver-
dure. The committee of arrangements must have ex-
pended a very large sum in the preparations, and all to
the best advantage. Better taste was never exhibited in
any ball-room in America.
Introductions, over, the band seated in an alcove
struck up a lively air and the dance commenced, Gov.
Cueva leading off with Mrs. Frederick Seward, and Mr.
F. Seward with the beautiful and accomplished wife of
Mr. Oetlins:, the Consul of the North German Confed-
eration, the most perfect type of the pure Spanish
beauty I had seen thus far in Mexico. The ladies,
wore little jewelry, but were dressed richly and in ex
cellent taste, and the gentlemen were ail in black, with
white vests and white kid gloves.
After midnight the banquet was served in the gallery ;
the tables which were loaded with every fruit, fowl and
vegetable of this wonderfully prolific tropical clime,
and with flowers and wines ad libitum, extended entirely
around the gallery. After the substantials of the feast
were disposed of, Acting Gov. Cueva arose and ad-
dressed the assembled guests and Mr. Seward in the fol-
lowing language, as nearly as I am able to translate it :
Senoees : The State of Colima, of which I have the honor
to be the representative, in order to celebrate the brief visit to
this city, of this illustrious guest, who humbled the proud dip-
lomats of the Cabinet of Napoleon III., desires through me
to manifest its appreciation of his friendship and admiration of
his conduct. Undoubtedly thou (apostrophetic) art the Genius
of that Democracy who marked the line " Thus far ! " to the
aggressions of Monarchy ! The wrinkled forehead, and wintry
hair of Europe, cannot marry with the tropical ardor of Young
ADDRESSES IN HONOR OF MR. SEWARD. 61
America. The world has contemplated with awe-struck aston-
ishment this struggle of giants ; the darkness of the Past wrest-
ling furiously with the light of the Future, whose lesson has
been taught us by Progress, and once more the crowned heads
have trembled before the irresistible power of Fraternity, which,
invoked by all people must become universal. Mexico, whose
misfortunes have been such as to place her within the reach of
French intervention, has, before all free and independent na-
tions, demonstrated that she is worthy to be ranked in their
catalogues, and now, feeling the proud consciousness of sove-
reign power, celebrates, full of joy, and the enthusiasm inspired
by patriotic sentiments, the fact of the presence among us, of
the eminent statesman, who from the Casa Blanca at Washing-
ton, presented a barrier to the irruption of the barbarians who
presumed to sow in our fertile fields the noxious and rotten
weeds which have paralyzed the sons of the Old Continent.
The prouder world of Colon, which was imprudently attacked
and wounded, answered unanimously with defiance to the pi-
ratical threat promulgated to her, and then shone with redoubled
effulgence the sun of the Cinco de Mayo, and blinded with its
radiance the eyes of the enemies of Republican institutions.
Senor : The glories of my country fraternized with yours in the
struggle of the past. I salute thee in the name of the Mexican
people, and offer you its friendship as sincerely as thou hast
been a true and sincere friend to the Government and people
of this nation, who applaud and bless thee !
When he concluded his address, the company ap-
plauded loudly, by the clapping of hands and a " hur-
rah" a la Americano, in special compliment to the
guests. Don Firmin Gonzales Castro, and Don Fran-
cisco E Trejo, followed in short but fervent addresses,
in similar spirit, and Mr. Seward then arose and ad-
dressed the audience, amid profound silence, as follows :
Senor Governor and Gentlemen : I thank you with a full
heart for these most undeserved hospitalities and honors. The
62 mr. seward's first speech in Mexico.
experience of the eighteenth century indicated to mankind two
important changes of society and government on the Continent
of America. First, that all American States must thereafter
be not dependent European colonies, but independent Ameri-
can nations. Second, that all independent American nations
must thereafter have, not imperial or monarchical governments,
but republican governments, constituted and carried on by the
voluntary agency of the people themselves. During a large
part of my own political life, these great changes of society and
government have been, more or less, in logical debate contested
in Europe, and on the battle-field throughout America. While
they have often involved the American States in civil and inter-
national wars, they have more than once provoked European
intervention. A third improvement was easily found necessary
to guarantee full success to the two principal changes which I
have already mentioned. This third improvement consists in
the continuation of the many, or several contiguous nations or
States, which are weak of themselves, into United States dis-
tinct nations. My own country, the United States, has taken
the lead in these changes, so essential in the American hemi-
sphere. The Mexican Republic has early, and bravely and per-
sistently, adopted a similar system. Central America, and
nearly all the South American States, have followed the exam-
ple thus set by the United States and the Mexican Republic.
One additional principle remains to be adopted, to secure the
success of the republican system throughout the continent. If
it shall become universal on the American continent, we have
reason to expect that the same great system may be accepted by
other nations throughout the world. That additional principle
is simply this : That the several American Republics, just as
they constitute themselves, while mutually abstaining from in-
tervention with each other, shall become more, than ever here-
tofore, political friends through the force of moral alliance.
This, in short is the policy which I have inculcated at home,
and which, with your leave, and the leave of others interested,
I shall commend, as far as possible, to the Republics of Mexico,
Central America and South America. I sincerely trust that
GKAND FANDANGO. 63
the severest trials of tlie republican system are already passed
in Mexico, and I shall never cease to pray God for her contin-
ued independence, unity, prosperity, and happiness.
When Mr. Seward ceased speaking, the applause was
hearty and enthusiastic, and the last shade of doubt and
distrust that seemed to have been lingering in the pub-
lic mind as to the motives of his visit, appeared to have
vanished. The banquet over, the party again re.
turned to the ball-room, and the dancing re-commenced.
The German merchants of Colima mingled with the
dark-eyed beauties of the country, side by side with the
American guests, and an era of good feeling and broth-
erly regard seemed to have been inaugurated. At 4 a.
m., a grand " fandango," by dancers and musicians spe-
cially sent for, was given. The dance is not unlike the
can-can in its voluptuous abandon, and though curious,
I do not recommend its adoption by the sons and
daughters of my native land. At day-break the first
grand party given in Mexico in honor of the distin-
guished American visitor broke up. It was a magnifi-
cent success.
On the following morning, at 7 o'clock, a few friends,
and myself — kindly accompanied by W. H. Broadbent
and Mr. John Bulkley, late Superintendent of the San
Cuyatano Cotton Mills — started off on horses sent for
our use by Senor Luis Rendon and Consul Morrill, to
visit the cotton mills of Colima. A two mile ride
through the narrow, straight streets of Colima, and out
along the woods overhung with the garden verdure of
this land of fruit and flowers, along the banks of the
Rio de Colima, brouglit us to the San Cuyatano mill.
This establishment, like everything here, surrounds a
64 VISIT TO THE COTTON FACTORIES.-
wide court-yard, each building being but one story in
height, of brick, and tile-roofed. The motive power is
furnished by a huge overshot wheel, forty-two feet in di-
ameter, which runs two thousand spindles, and the mill
employs two hundred and fifty men and women when in
operation.
It is now idle, owing to the overstock of domestic
cottons, and the high price of the raw material. It has
large quarters, consisting of long rows of tenements,
each with a front and rear room, and a verandah and
small back yard, which, when the mills are running, are
rented to the families of the operatives at one dollar
and fifty cents per month ; not a high rent. The women,
all young and clean, and some quite pretty, were sitting
around in the verandahs doing some small work, and on
our passing, all arose and greeted us with a pleasant
smile, and " Buenas dias, Senors !"
We went on to the Armonia Mill, which is of similar
character, and now running. It has one thousand spin-
dles, and employs eighty operatives. Then we went to
the Atrevida Mill, which has twenty-five looms and
eight hundred spindles, and employs eighty people.
The machinery of the Atrevida and San Cuyatano is
from Fall River — " Estados Unidos Del Norte " — and
that of the Armonia from England. The Armonia was
built in 1845, and paid from thirty thousand to forty
thousand dollars per annum dividends until 1864, when
the business fell off in consequence of the civil war.
The cloth is all of coarse sheetings or muslin, known
here as manta, and sells at six dollars and twenty-five
cents per piece of thirty-two varas (a vara is two and
three-fourths feet, English) for the best, which weighs
eleven pounds per piece. The second quality, weighing
THE RAVAGES OF WAR. 65
nine pounds, sells for five dollars and twenty-five cents
per piece. The women get two and one-half rials —
thirty-one and one-fourth cents — per piece for weaving
the cloth, and- the other operatives thirty-seven and
a half cents per day, they boarding themselves. The
cotton costs thirty-four cents per pound cleaned, at pres-
ent, and two dollars and twenty-five cents per arroba
of twenty-five pounds unginned.
The present cotton product of the State of Colima is
two million, five hundred thousand pounds, and there
are many thousands of acres of uncultivated land avail-
able for cotton raising if required. The women work
faithfully and quietly, but with downcast and generally
hopeless look. They are of all colors from red to white,
a mild lemon color being the leading and fashionable
hue. I have been told that a number of these girls re-
cently went to California to better their condition, and.
that their letters from San Francisco, to their friends in
Colima, have created a general desire among their sister
operatives to follow in their footsteps, and seek a home
in the Golden State.
From the roofs of the mills we looked down on gar-
dens filled with tropical fruits, oranges, bananas, cocoa-
nuts, coffee, vanilla, and a thousand, to us, rare things,
growing in rank and neglected luxuriance, then mounted
our animals, and galloped back along ruined bridges
and shattered walls, in part the effect of the cannon-balls
rained upon Miramon's forces by the Liberal artillery
under Col. George M. Green, when Juarez was advanc-
ing on Guadalajara from the West ; in part to the con-
test between the French and Liberals, when the latter
were defeated and the city taken, and in part the effect
of a great flood in 1864, and were soon at the door of
Senor Huarte's hospitable casa.
5
66 THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF COLIMA.
At the invitation of Gov. Cueva, who is acting Gov-
ernor in place of Gov. Kamon de la Vega, the latter
having been absent for a long time on leave from Pres-
ident Juarez, I visited the public schools in Colima, in
which he takes a very commendable interest. I found
them well attended, and the pupils exceedingly well-be-
haved and intelligent. The schools are free to all, and
seem to be appreciated. This is an evidence of actual
progress in Mexico, very pleasant to witness, and must
convince the most skeptical that the world does move,
even here.
From the schools we went to the State Prison, the
Prefect of the State or municipality, Don Sebastian
Fajerdo, kindly accompanying us and showing us all
the points of interest. The prison is guarded by the
garrison of Colima, comprising one hundred regular
troops, and is used in part as a jail or calaboose, as well
as a State Prison. It is of great age, and exceedingly
defective in construction, so far as ventilation is con-
cerned. Each ward is separated by an open-work iron
door, of great strength, from the next, and one is locked
before the second is unlocked on every occasion. I
found one hundred and fifty-seven prisoners all told.
Of these, half were common drunkards, or perpetrators
of light offenses, sentenced to chain-gang duty for a brief
time. Many of the others have the word "perpetua "
entered opposite their names ; and one poor, cowering
wretch in irons, was pointed out as under sentence of
death for a horrible and cruel murder. Gov. Cueva,
who seems to be a thoroughly mild, kind-hearted, and
merciful man, explained to me that he had not yet signed
the death-warrant, and he disliked to do so always, put-
ting it off as long as possible, and then ordering the
THE STATE PRISON AND PRISONERS. 67
shooting to take place at day-break as quietly and pri-
vately as possible, it being his opinion that such exhibi-
tions had no good effect on the public mind.
After a conviction for a capital offense, the transcript
of the records of the trial, evidence, etc., must be sent
to Mexico to be reviewed by the Supreme Court. If
that tribunal decides that the trial has been fair, and
the finding is according to law and the evidence, then
an order for the execution of the sentence is sent back,
the Governor must sign the death-warrant within a
given number of days, and the shooting must take
place within twenty-four hours thereafter.
Pardons can only be issued by the Legislature (Con-
gresso) of the State. The records appeared regularly
and neatly kept, and the prisoners as well and humanely
treated as possible with the present prison accommoda-
tions. Each prisoner had a mat to sleep and sit upon,
but other furniture there was none, and in some of the
wards the air, for the want of proper ventilation, was
very oppressive. All were naked to the waist, or
nearly all, and with the single exception of one demor-
alized Swiss — probably one of Maximilian's mercena-
ries — in for stealing, of native birth and Indian blood.
The precautions against revolt or escape would be con-
sidered extraordinary in any other country. Nearly all
are engaged in braiding fine palm-leaf hats, worth about
two dollars each, or making fancy worsted work-
baskets, etc., which they are allowed to have sold for
their private account. As we entered each room the
prisoners arose and bowed respectfully, at a nod from
the turnkey, and remained standing until we left. If
Gov. Vega, or acting Gov. Cueva, had the means at com-
mand, they would soon have a better prison erected,
68 CURIOUS CHRISTENING CEREMONIES.
and change the entire system to that of New- York,
which they highly approve.
At 2 p. m., of our last day in Colhna, the party re
paired to an old Spanish church to assist at the chris
tening of the two youngest children of Consul Morrill
Mr. Seward, the elder, acted with Mr. Buckley as god
fathers for one, and Mr. Fred Seward, wife, and Mr
Buckley, as godfathers and godmother for the other
The ceremony was soon over, and as we reached the
portal, there came a rush of men, woman and children
of the poorer class to receive bright, clean rials
called " bolos" as mementoes of the christening. The
term comes from the response of the godfather during
the ceremony " Yo "bolo !" (I consent !) It is the custom
for each of the godfathers and godmothers to give every
person present a hoh } and it took about a quart to go
around. Then, at the residence of Sefior Huarte, trays
filled with these pieces — twelve and a-half cents each —
punched and adorned with red, green and white rib-
bons, were brought out, and were presented by the
" Compadres," to each of the army of servants and
children in the place. It is an odd and peculiar custom.
Having been left out in the cold, as it were, personally
at the christening, I got even by distributing some dol-
lars worth of American dimes among the highly appre-
ciative audience, on behalf of the next candidate for
ordinance, whether it should be a girl or boy, Mr.
Buckley kindly promising to act as my proxy at the
ceremony, as a few thousand miles, more or less, would
be pretty certain to intervene between us before that
interesting event could take place.
On the afternon of Wednesday the 13th of October
Colonel Sabas Lomeli, commander of the State Guard
FAREWELL TO COLIMA. 69
of Jalisco, a richly dressed, and fine, soldierly-looking
officer, with one hundred cavalry, detailed by the Gov-
ernor of Jalisco to act as an escort to Mr. Seward and
party, as far as Guadalajara,arrived from that city, and
immediately presented himself, with his aids, for orders.
Colima, the beloved of the Sun, had won all our hearts,
and it was with not a little regret, that we made prepa-
rations for departure next morning, at day-break. Co-
lima ! Colima! shall I ever look upon you again?
CHAPTER III.
FKOM COLIMA TO ZAPOTLAK
/^VN the evening of Oct. 13th, we made our final prep-
^^ arations for departing from Colima, and at 4 o'clock
next morning all was bustle and excitement in the
grand house of Sen or Huarte, and in the streets and
Plaza in front. The long roll of the drum, and the
shrill notes of the trumpet, announced the assembling
of the military guard before day-break, and when the
dawn came, the scene as viewed from the balcony was
magnificent. The squadron of the Guard of Jalisco,
one hundred strong, lined one side of the Plaza, with
their horses saddled and caparisoned for the road. In
front of our house, a long train of pack-mules was be-
ing loaded for the journey by a swarm of servants ;
two coaches, each with six mules, four in the lead and
two at the wheel, stood ready for the party, and the
police of Colima, finely mounted, with Sefior Canedo,
Don Luis Rendon, Gov. Cueva, our worthy Consul
Dr. Augustus Morrill, and other officials and private
citizens, were galloping about on horseback, all hand-
somely mounted, and each with servants, spare horses,
and camp equipage, ready for the road.
At last all was ready, the trumpets of the advance-
guard sounded " to the saddle," and they filed away at
a gallop down the streets. The crowd in front was
forced back by the police, and Mr. Seward entered his
PAINFUL SCENE AT THE CONSULATE. 71
coach with the members of his party, the other coach
was filled by our friends, and the people bared their
heads and bowed respectfully as a last salutation,
as the coaches rattled away over the cobble-paved
streets.
The rear-guard and the long pack-train fell in behind,
and the police and other officials and friends galloped
alongside. Vamos ! ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-h-a-a-a ! yelled the
cocheros ; the postilions cracked their whips, and so,
with clatter and uproar, and strange music indescriba-
ble, we dashed past the Plaza Nuevo, with its tri-
umphal arches, its orange groves and seats for summer-
evening loungers, out through the long, straight, narrow
streets, into the garden-lined roads of the suburbs, and
Colima the Beautiful was behind us.
In the last chapter, mention was made of a prisoner
in irons in the State Prison awaiting death for a brutal
murder. The order for his execution had been signed
by Gov. Cueva on the day previous to our departure,
and he was to be shot at day-break on that morning.
While standing in Consul Morrill's office on the eve-
ning before our departure, I heard a terrible outcry in
the corridor, and saw the poor old mother of the con-
demned criminal on her knees before the Consul, beg-
ging him in the name of God and all the saints to inter-
fere in her son's behalf. "You represent the great
Estados Unidos del Norte, and are all-powerful. Save
him, Serior, and all the saints of heaven will bless you !"
He told her as mildly as possible, that he had no power
to interfere, and that the young man — a bad youth, who
had committed murder before, and on this occasion
butchered, in cold blood, a merchant's clerk, who had ?
under orders from his employer refused him credit for
72 THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE.
four dollars — deserved his fate. Then she fell insensl
ble to the pavement.
When the sympathizing women had restored her to
consciousness, she rushed to the house of Senor Huarte,
and fell on her knees before one of our party, mistaking
him for Mr. Seward. She was taken away by the po-
lice before she could see him, and so he was saved the
useless pain of meeting her. Gov. Cueva, being told that
the prisoner was apparently insane, sent two physicians
to examine him, but they reported him thoroughly
sound in mind ; and as he had no power to pardon him,
that being reserved to the State Legislature and the
President, while a reprieve would be no mercy, he or-
dered, as a mark of respect to Mr. Seward, that the
execution be delayed until we were out of the city.
Our coaches had hardly rolled off the last pavement of
Colima, before there was a sharp rattle of musketry from
the river's bank, a puff of blue smoke curled up above
the house-tops, and drifted away in the clear morning
air, and the story of a life was told.
A few miles out of Colima the character of the coun-
try begins to change from ultra-tropical to semi-tropical.
We drove over execrable roads, between wide fields of
rice, now half-grown and richly green, beautiful castor-
beans, and Indian corn. The cocoa-palms decreased in
number, and finally, at twenty miles north-east of Coli-
ma, entirely disappeared, while the bananas grew less
thriftily and abundant. The land, where not cultiva-
ted, was everywhere covered with rich, nutritious
grasses, and cattle and sheep abounded. We have no
grass, properly speaking, in California, the wild oat out
there taking its place, and these green, grassy fields ap-
peared more beautiful to me from the fact that I had not
GEEAT BAEEANCA. DE BELTEAN. 73
looked upon their like for many years. The country is
well populated, and though the people — mostly of In-
dian descent — live in poor huts of cane, with rice straw-
thatched roofs, open all around the sides to wind and
rain, and are miserably clad, they appear to have abun-
dance to eat, and are quite well behaved, and apparently
contented with their lot.
Twenty-five miles from Colima, we reached the first
" Barranca," a branch of the great "Barranca de Beltran,"
the insurmountable obstacle to the construction of a
passable wagon road from the coast to Guadalajara.
These Barrancas, some five or six in number, three very
large, are minor Yosemites in appearance, having been
formed by the action of water in a stratum of sand,
bowlders, and loose gravel. They are many miles in
length, uniting finally like the various branches of a
great river as they approach the sea-coast, and are from
five hundred to fifteen hundred feet in depth, with steep
precipitous sides.
The amount of labor required to construct even passa-
ble mule roads up and down their sides, is almost in-
credible. The road has been laid out — it was done a
century ago — with great engineering skill, and the zig-
zags, with acute angles, are beautifully constructed.
The road-bed is from eight to thirty feet in width, the
sides inclining to the center, and neatly paved with
cobble-stones, the large and small stones being arranged
in lines in regular order. Each year, the water cuts the
bed of the Barranca deeper and deeper, and the work
must be extended, while the heavy rains gullying out
the pavement, make constant repairs necessary. The
lower side of the road is usually fenced in, or lined with
a substantial stone wall neatly plastered, and in one of
74 THE palanquin;
the smaller Barrancas a solid stone bridge with a single
arch, evidently of great age, spans the stream.
Seiior Huarte had provided a large palanquin to con-
vey Mr. Seward through the Barranca country, as his
injuries, received some years ago, rendered it impossible
for him to guide a horse, or hold on to a saddle for a
long time. The palanquin, or litter, consisted of two
stout poles, three feet apart, bolted together with cross
beams, supporting in the center a platform on which
was fastened a large, cushioned arm-chair, above which
was a canopy of brilliant green merino stuff with cur-
tains of the same material. When going up and down
the Barrancas, and in particularly dangerous places, the
palanquin was borne on the shoulders of four stalwart
men in white cotton pantaloons, and broad plain-leaf hats,
with rough sandals on their feet. When the procession
came to a good place on the road, the palanquin was
transferred to the backs of two mules, who carried it
along at a swinging trot. The men were relieved at
intervals of a few minutes, and despite the heat and
bad roads, they would get along nearly as fast as a man
on horseback, riding at an ordinary gait.
At the first Barranca we left Seiior Huarte's excellent
coaches, and took to mule and horseback. Descending
the first Barranca and climbing its precipitous sides
again, we crossed a small plateau, and came to the first
arm of the great Barranca de Beltran, probably eight
hundred feet deep. Looking up this Barranca we saw,
on the opposite side, the old red-tile-roofed town of
Tornila, embowered in tropical foliage and flowers, with
banana fields and trees, each bearing a profusion of bril-
liant flowers, on either side, and the great Volcano of
Colima towering into the heavens in awful majesty, his
MAGNIFICENT SCENEKY. 75
head crowned with a turban of sulphurous smoke, in
the background. Surely, I mused, I must have been
here before, the scene is so wonderfully familiar.
At last it occurred to me, this is the perfect counter-
part of " the Heart of the Andes," as Church painted it.
Even the trees covered with parrots, and the rushing
waters, were all there. On that day, and again the next
day, we saw the picture repeated in a thousand varied
forms, and each more beautiful and wonderful than the
last.
At noon, we reached Tornila, and were warmly re-
ceived at the hospitable residence of Sefior Don Ramon
de la Vega, the elected Governor of Colima. Tornila
is just over the line, in the State of Jalisco, and Sefior
Vega is residing there by permission of President
Juarez, while Gov. Cueva acts in his place. He was
driven out by the French, and was compelled to flee to
San Francisco, but immediately returned on the restor-
ation of the republic. He has served several years, and
will decline another re-election, as he is old, and desires
to devote himself to his private affairs. His mansion
overlooks on one side, a broad and beautifully irregular
valley, with ranges of low hills, and the Sierra del
Tigre, rising to the clouds in the southern background.
Nearer, are gardens filled with fruits and flowers in end-
less profusion.
From the northern front of Gov. Vega's residence a
magnificent view of the great Volcano of Colima may
be obtained. The western peak of this great mountain
is a perfect truncated cone, very beautiful, and majestic
in proportions. It is estimated to be from twelve thou-
sand to fourteen thousand feet above the sea — no two
estimates agree by hundreds of feet — and is wooded
76 THE VOLCANO OF COLIMA.
to the very summit. This peak, though formerly in
eruption, had been silent for forty years. Now, we can
see small jets of smoke or steam issuing from crevices
near the summit, but in no considerable quantity, and
there is no rumbling or other indications of an erup-
tion. Back of this first peak to the eastward some
miles, is a second peak, called the Snowy (Nevada)
Peak, or Old Crater. This is now wholly silent.
Between these, but further to the northward than
either, and lower down, is the crater formed in August,
1869, from which the smoke now pours in dense vol-
ume, but not a sound of any kind nor any trembling
accompanies the eruption. In fact, this whole affair is
an unexplainable mystery. The former eruptions sent
forth immense rivers of lava, and were accompanied by
frightful earthquakes and rumblings. This, commenced
in the night, with a shock so slight that it was hardly
noticed in the City of Colima, and continued in the
same manner froni the 12th of July 1869 up to the time
of our visit. No lava is poured out, but there is a con-
stant discharge .of red-hot rocks, some of which weigh
hundreds of tons, which are merely vomited out and
rolled down the side of the mountain : not hurled into
the air.
The engineer who was sent up to examine it, made a
full report, and through the kindness of Gov. Cueva,
I was furnished with a copy. I am inclined to the
opinion that the present demonstration is only prelim-
inary, and that the actual eruption, attended with lava
discharges and wide-spread devastation, is yet to come.
At present, the Volcano of Colima is the best-behaved
volcano in the world — mild-mannered, but wonderfully
beautiful and awe-inspiring to the beholder.
DINNER AT TORNILA. 77
The dinner-table was spread in the corridor overlook-
ing all the scene, and the party sat down to a sump-
tuous entertainment prepared on the shortest notice.
Senor Huarte had provided an unlimited supply of
wines and liquors of every description, and poured
them out like water all the way to Zapotlan, to which
place he accompanied us. He is a perfect prince of
hosts, and his kindness and unceasing care for the com-
fort of our party will not soon be forgotten. These
Mexican people "beat the world" in the number and
excellence of the dishes they prepare for the table at
short notice. Chicken, turkey, and beef may be had at
every little hamlet in abundance, and they serve them
up in a variety of styles, always well-cooked and pala-
table. They also contrive to produce dulces — liter,
ally " sweets " — from almost every conceivable fruit and
vegetable, and also pastes and jams in endless variety.
On this occasion the dulces were prepared by the hand
of Senora de la Vega herself. Their three bright-eyed
daughters, handsome young ladies, with light olive
complexions, their cheeks tinged with a rosy hue, sat at
the table with the party.
When the dinner was dispatched and wines brought
on, Gov. Cueva arose, and in feeling terms thanked Mr.
Seward for his visit, and for the good services he had
rendered to Mexico. On behalf of the State of Colima
he desired to bid him good-bye, wish him God-speed,
and a safe return to his home in the far North, and give
him a hearty embrace. The Governor then embraced
him with great fervor, bade each of the party an affec-
tionate adieu, and started on his return to Colima.
The rainy season in this country commences in June,
and according to the almanac, ought to conclude in Sep-
78 THE FOOT-HILLS OF THE SIEREA MADEE.
tember, but this year it did not. It was now the mid-
dle of October, and still the clouds poured down
showers every evening and during most of the night
making traveling, which ought to have been better than
at any other season, almost impossible and slow at best.
It was raining when we left Tornila, and we hardly
saw the sun that day. The country from Colima to
Zapotlan is quite populous, and in the middle part nearly
all the arable land is cultivated.
The road is very wide, but poor, and inclosed be-
tween very high and substantial stone walls. The
crops are corn, beans, pumpkins, rice, sugar-cane, &c,
&c, and all are very good. From Tornila we ascended
rapidly, and were soon among the foot-hills of the
Sierra Madre of Mexico. The country is not unlike
Central Arizona in formation, but the vegetation is
rank and luxuriant to a degree beyond comparison.
At all the houses along the road there are little open
windows, in which are exposed for sale fruit and bread
cakes, tortillas and cheese. For a medio — half a rial,
or six and one-fourth cents — you can buy a milk-pan
full of bananas or other fruit, and bread, etc., is very
cheap.
Women, lightly dressed in loose cotton camesas and
skirts, are seen in every house, squatted before the hol-
lowed block of lava, on which they grind to a paste
the half-boiled hulled corn, from which they make tor-
tillas. Placing a handful of the corn on the stone, they
take hold, with both hands, of a stone about a foot in
length and three inches square, which they rub back
and forth over the corn until it is reduced to a pulp,
then taking up a little mass, pat it with both hands
TOETILLA MAKERS.
V9
until they have spread it out to the thickness of com-
mon paste-board, and bake it on a hot stone. This is
the tortilla, which with the dark red beans known as
frijoles, form the leading articles of diet of the humbler
class. The tortilla
is also used as a
spoon, when t h e y
eat beans or soup,
and the spoon is
eaten up at the close
of the feast.
Our military
guard was an object
of no little curiosity
and admiration
They belong to a
force of eight hun-
dred picked men,
armed, equipped,
and put into the field
by the State of Jalis-
co, to free the roads
from robbers and maintain public order. Col. Sabas Lo-
meli, their commander, is a splendid-looking man, tall,
stout built, quite fair complexioned, with long whiskers
and mustaches, a la Americano, and is not only remarka-
bly good looking, but has the air and carriage of a soldier.
He is said to be a very brave and accomplished officer,
and the fact that within a few months his command has
practically cleared the roads of the great State of Ja-
lisco of robbers, and captured or killed nearly two hun-
dred of the banditti, who had made traveling very dan-
gerous, speaks well for his energy. He is accompanied
A MEXICAN COOK.
80
OUR MILITARY ESCORT.
by a major, captain, and the company lieutenants, all of
whom are uniformed with dark-blue jackets, trimmed
with broad silver bull-
ion and large silver
buttons, bright scarlet
pantaloons, with silver
lace, and top-boots of
enameled leat her.
Their caps are nearly
the same in form as the
regular United States
fatigue cap, but with
green trimmings, and
with a white linen
cover having a cape,
which when let down,
protects the shoulders
from sun and rain.
The soldiers have
COL. SABAS LOMELI.
caps, blue coats and
pantaloons with green trimmings, and the pantaloons
are foxed with dark leather. They carry swords, Colt's
revolvers, and Springfield muskets, and are mounted on
small, but very spirited and quick-traveling horses, of
which they take excellent care. The officers carry
swords and Colt's revolvers, and wear broad, red sashes
thrown carelessly over their shoulders. Their uniform
is very brilliant and picturesque. The force of one
hundred men have only three pack-mules to carry all
their baggage. They take no tents or cooking utensils,
and can get over the ground with twice or thrice the
speed attained by our troops in the United States.
One hundred miles within thirty hours is no great
THE GUARD OF JALISCO ON THE MARCH. 81
march for them, and the infantry can keep up with
them. The common soldiers are all of Indian blood,
small in size, but active, and admirably fitted for rapid
marches and the guerilla style of warfare. I never
saw so well-behaved, quiet, and orderly men. They
receive thirty-seven and one-half cents per day in coin.
Of this twelve and one-half cents is paid them daily,
and the remainder at, or near, the end of the month.
They get no rations, but live easily on the twelve and
one-half cents. They will gallop up to a road-side
shop, and with three cents purchase a dozen tortillas,
and a piece of the sour-milk cheese of the country,
which serves them for lunch. For breakfast, an ear of
soft-boiled corn will serve them admirably, and for sup-
per a few frijoles and tortillas are sufficient. In camp
or at garrison duty, they get rations, and are charged
for them. Col. Lomeli wears a magnificent diamond
ring and gold watch, and is splendidly mounted, a
silver-ornamented saddle setting off to great advantage
the fine black horse which he rides.
Leaving the party just before night-fall, I galloped
on alone to the great hacienda of San Marcos, where
we were to pass the night, meeting by the way the pro-
prietor who had started out to meet Mr. Seward and
welcome him to his house.
This great hacienda cost a million dollars, and for
many years prior to the French invasion paid $60,000
net profits annually. The war ruined its old proprie-
tor, and its present one bought it for $200,000. The
buildings surround a large square, in the center of
which there is a fountain constantly playing, to which
all the workmen and women resort for water. On one
side of the square are the workshops where the casks,
6
82 HACIENDA DE SAN MAECOS.
boxes, etc., are made. On the opposite, is the inmiense
sugar-mill, with splendid machinery of the best pattern.
At the entrance, on one side, is the office and counting-
room ; on the other, the pyre or altar-like pile of ma-
son-work, on which a fire is kindled with pitch-pine
wood at night, to light up the entire place. At the op-
posite end is the extensive distillery in which the cane,
(after the greater part of the juice has been expressed,)
is permeated with the molasses, to make a villainous
kind of rum called aguardiente del cana, which is as
much like boiled lightning as can be imagined, and the
very smell of which will cause a very fair sample of the
Christian gentleman to commit murder. Above this,
rises a small hill of solid rock about seventy feet in
height, surmounted by the casa grande, or great house
of the estate. This house is one story in height, with
a vast corridor all around it, and a hollow square in the
center. It is painted white outside, and inside it is like
all the better houses in this country, elaborately fres-
coed in blue and chocolate colors.
The view, from the corridor, of the great volcano —
the base of which is but ten miles distant — and of the
Sierra Madre in the east, the Sierra del Tigre, and inter-
vening plains on the other side, is wonderfully beau-
tiful. The business of the hacienda is now but mod-
erately profitable, since the fine, almost pure, and richly
flavored sugar is worth but two dollars and fifty cents
per arroba of twenty-five pounds, and the aguardiente
only realizes three dollars per barrel of eighteen gal-
lons, after being packed on mules to Zapotlan and Guad-
alajara, the barrel itself being returned.
Night came on while I was sitting on the broad veran-
dah waiting for the arrival of the party, and drinking in
WILD NIGHT SCENE. 83
the glory of the scene before me. The darkness was
almost palpable to the touch, and I began to fear that
the party must encamp on the mountains for the night.
Suddenly, the notes of the bugle came floating through
the air, and a long line of brilliant lights, moving with
a steady motion which showed that they were carried
by marching men, came out upon the hill-side some
miles away.
Like a great fiery serpent the column, with its hun-
dred torches unfolded itself, and crept steadily toward
the hacienda. On it came, winding and turning with
the sinuosities of the road, until I could discern the
outlines of the horsemen who bore the flaming torches,
and see the great-leaved trees come in and out of the
panorama of ever-shifting lights and shadows, as the
column moved along. It was a scene of enchantment
which seems too much like the work of imagination to
be real, even now, as I look back upon it through mem-
ory's gateway.
At last the procession entered the patio, and all was
bustle and confusion for an hour or more before the
troops were finally quartered for the night, the baggage
disposed of, and the party quietly provided for in the
various rooms of the great house. The family of the
proprietor, Mauricio Gomez, reside most of the time at
Zapotlan, and were not at the hacienda when we were
there. We supped royally, slept soundly — there are
no musquitoes, and very few flies in all this country —
and at 6 a. m., on the 15th were off for Zapotlan, our
road leading for miles between the rice-fields, sugar-cane
and corn-fields which covered the whole country.
Soon after leaving San Marcos we came to the main
branch of the great Barranca de Beltran, which is about
84
BEAUTIFUL VIEWS.
two thousand feet wide and fifteen hundred feet deep,
with almost perpendicular sides, down which the road
has been cut with infinite labor and paved at an im-
mense e x-
p e n s e .
The de-
scent into
t hi s Bar-
ranca o n
horseba c k
is no tri-
fling feat,
and the
beauty of
the views
at e v ery
turn is
really
wo n der-
ful. At
EAREANCA DE BELTEAN.
places, the
whole road is over-arched with trees and climbing vines,
and on every hill- side the wealth of flowers is beyond im-
agination. Parrots in great flocks yelled at us from the
trees, and little parroquets and other brilliantrhued
birds, swarmed in the thickets all around. Mules,
loaded with the produce of the country, met us at every
angle of the road.
The scene, as the procession wound down the defiles
into the bed of the Barranca and up the other side, the
green palanquin swaying back and forth at the head,
the brilliant uniforms of the officers and soldiers of the
guard coming in and out among the trees in vivid con-
GENERAL ARTE AG A. HISTORIC GROUND. 85
trast to the deep green of the vegetation, and the scarlet
and blue and orange of the flowers, the sabres and
muskets flashing in the sun, with the hundred minor but
still rncturesque details of the march was one, once
witnessed, not soon to be forgotten.
It was high noon when we reached the Mesa on the
eastern side, and crossed over to the Barranca Atenqui-
qui, beyond which we exj:>ected to meet the stages from
Zapotlan. Looking back, I noticed two projections or
points between divided branches of the Barranca ; these
might serve for points on which to erect piers for a sus-
pension bridge, which might be constructed so that each
span would not exceed eight hundred feet in length.
On the highest point, Gen. Arteaga, at the commence-
ment of the French invasion, erected earth-works de-
fended by artillery, but finding his troops, who were
poorly armed and thoroughly demoralized, could not
hold, the position, he pitched his cannon down the Bar-
ranca, and retreated to the interior. He was subse-
quently taken by surprise, and murdered in cold blood
by the French, under the orders of Maximilian. Gen.
Arteaga's remains, with those of Gen. Salazar, who met
a like fate, have recently been removed to the Pantheon,
at the city of Mexico, and interred in great state.
Take the Yosemite Valley, diminished in depth one-
half and narrowed in like manner, cover all its sides
and bottom with the luxuriant vegetation of the trop-
ics, and you have the great Barranca de Beltran as we
looked back into it for the last time.
At 1 o'clock p. m., we paused for a rest in the last of
the Barrancas, that of Atenquiqui, in which the forces
of Miramon were bush- whacked and completely routed,
with almost total loss, by the Liberals under Gen.
86 AN INDIAN RUNNER.
Cheeseman, immediately commanded by Col. Geo. M.
Green, if I remember correctly, toward the close of the
war.
The stages were not forth-coming, and people who
came over the road told us that it was impassable for
vehicles for the greater part of the way from Zapotlan
to the Barranca owing to the damage done by the re-
cent storm.
An Indian messenger was sent off, on foot, with a
promise that if he returned before 4 p. m., with news
of the stage-coach, he should have two dollars. It was
then 2 p. m., and we laid down to rest. At five minutes
before 4 p. m., the barefooted messenger returned with
the news that the coach would meet us nine miles down
the road, at a point where a great gully had made it
impossible to get the vehicle farther. He had made
eighteen miles at a run, within the two hours, as was
subsequently demonstrated, and well earned his two
dollars.
We mounted at once and pushed on, Mr. Seward on
a mule led by a half-naked native and holding on by
both hands, and met at last the fine, large stage, made
by the American pattern in Mexico, sent out from Za-
potlan for our accommodation. Here, we were near
the summit of the pass through the Sierra Madre, and
the country looked not unlike the foot-hills of the Sierra
Nevada about Grass Valley and Colfax, in California.
The chaparral had mostly disappeared, and the coun-
try was sparsely covered with stumpy, yellow pines,
with long leaves hanging down, so as to give them a
weeping-willow aspect. The air at this elevation was
quite comfortably cool, and we discarded the thin ap-
parel in* which we had sweltered in the Terra Caliente,
TRANSPORTATION TRAINS.
87
which we were now passing out of, and put on such as
is worn in San Francisco.
At every turn on the road we met trains of pack-
mules laden with the produce of the country, going
down to the coast, or were, for hours, mixed up with
similar trains going up from the coast to the interior.
INDIANS FROM MICHOACAN GOING UP TO GUADALAJARA.
The down trains were loaded with the hard soap of
Zapotlan, coarse earthen ware, fruit, sugar, etc., but
principally, soap. The up trains were loaded with
sugar, rice, and aguardiente, of which there seemed to
be no end. One train must have numbered at least
two hundred and fifty mules, each loaded with two
barrels of the accursed aguardiente, eighteen or twenty
gallons in each cask. The poor little mules were ut-
terly exhausted with climbing and descending the bar-
rancas, and were dropping down at intervals of a few
rods all along the road. It is estimated that not less
88 ZAPOTLAN AN ANCIENT CITY.
than twenty thousand mules are constantly employed
transporting goods over the road between Colima and
Guadalajara and intermediate points, and as each car-
ries at least two hundred and fifty or three hundred
pounds, the aggregate amount must be enormous.
Many of the smaller trains which we met were loaded
with coarse rush matting, used for covering floors, or
earthern jars, and were driven by Indian families, men,
women, and children, on foot, who appeared to be do-
ing business on their own account. In many cases a
mule would have goods worth not more than three dol-
lars on his back, and the family must be poor indeed
to go so far for so little money. We must have met or
passed at least fifteen hundred or two thousand mules
during the day.
We passed also several Mexican families of the bet-
ter class, traveling on horseback and attended by nu-
merous servants, all well armed. The women, inva-
riably, had their heads covered with rebosas, or large
handkerchiefs under their broad-brimmed hats, hiding
all their hair and most of their faces, so fearful do they
seem to be of any exposure to the air when traveling,
though when at home, they go, bare headed, in the hot-
test sun, or coldest breeze to church, theater or prom-
enade, all the year around.
Passing at a distance the magnificent hacienda of
Huescalapa, which appeared like an immense white
palace, we saw soon after night-fall, the long rows of
paper lanterns which adorned every house, and were
strung across every street in Zapotlan, giving to the
tumble-down old city an ah* of enchantment. The
illumination was in honor of the feast of San Jose of
which saint this was the anniversary.
"going the whole hog. 1 ' 89
Driving up to the door of the residence of Don Trin-
idad Viszcayno, we alighted, and were soon provided
for, for the night. The City Conncil of Zapotlan called
immediately to pay their respects, and a band com-
menced playing in front of the house. The crowd was
dense, but well-behaved and respectful, and during our
stay, nothing but kind treatment was experienced.
Among those who paid us most attention was Senor
Don Manuel F. Alatorre of Guadalajara, cousin of Gen.
Alatorre, a popular republican commander, then in the
City of Mexico.
Zapotlan contains from eighteen thousand to twenty
thousand people. There are more Indians in propor-
tion to the whole population than at Colima, and fewer
well-dressed people on the streets. This is one of the
oldest cities in America, and is situated in one of the
richest regions of Mexico ; but, two hundred and fifty
years' experience have only brought the people up to
manufacturing soap and sugar. There are ten or
twelve large soap factories in Zapotlan, and the trade
is enormous. One of them we visited. There are no
iron kettles or utensils in it, and all the heating is done
in vats made of brick, while the ladling is done with
immense calabashes fastened to long poles. And yet,
the work is well done, and the soap much superior to
the common brown soap in general use in the United
States. The alkali is obtained from soda-earth in im-
mense quantities on the margin of a lake ten leagues
from Zapotlan, and the hogs are thrown into the vats
whole, bristles and all, as we had an opportunity to
see. This is emphatically " going the whole hog," In
some parts of Mexico cakes of soap are used as small
change, and hence the expression so common in the
90
A MEXICAN WEDDING PARTY.
United States, " How are you off for soap ?" I charge
nothing extra for this explanation.
The town is full of churches of ancient date, and
there are the ruins of an immense cathedral which was
thrown down in 1806, when many people were killed.
They are just erecting a new one, from lava taken from
a field of great extent near the town, and which flowed
from the great volcano centuries ago. It will probably
be finished in another century.
Above the door of one of the churches, we noticed
an inscription, announcing that there were thirteen sta-
tions in the church at which one could deposit money,
and have any friend
he might name, prayed
out of purgatory, or
helped along on his
way. Willing to lend
a helping hand, I de-
posited twenty-five
cents on behalf of a
friend in San Francis-
co. I forgot to men-
tion the fact that he
is not yet dead, but
presume that will
make no difference,
as he is sure to need
it sooner or later, and
the longer he waits
the greater call he
will have for all the assistance his friends can give him.
"While at Zapotlan we saw a wedding party enter
the church. Bride and bridegroom were of pure HeX-
lS RIDE AND GROOM ENTERING THE CHURCH.
ANECDOTE OF GENEKAL KOJAS. 91
ican blood, tlie common people of the country, and the
whole party were of the same class. The costumes of
the bride and bridegroom, and their floral decorations,
were of such a remarkable character, that nothing but
the engraving can give a good idea of them.
The city, though dull, is growing and slowly improv-
ing. It contains a number of beautiful residences, and
about twelve first-class families.
When the infamous robber and patriotic cut-throat
" General Rojas " took Zapotlan on one occasion, his
men reported that the bell-tower of one of the churches
was full of the enemy, who had surrendered, and were
ready to come down and deliver up their arms. " What
shall we do with them, your Excellency?" Rojas con-
sidered a moment, and then replied, " Oh, these poor
men are not to blame ; they must not be killed, but sent
home, as they only acted under orders." His men
could not understand such unusual clemency, as it was
his custom to kill all who, by any misfortune fell into
his hands. Seeing the officer who had made the inquiry
standing irresolute, as if in doubt of understanding
correctly what Rojas had said, the latter added, "I say
sent home; of course you will not take any extra
trouble with them, but send them home by the shortest
road. The officer understood the infernal monster's hint,
and returning to his command, gave such orders that in
a few moments a well-directed fire from below forced
all the soldiers in the tower to jump to the street, and
of course they perished to a man. This anecdote was
related to me by a gentleman who knew Rojas well,
and belonged to the political party with which he was
acting at the time. As we advanced into the interior
we heard many similar anecdotes of this atrocious
92 A MONOPOLY OF CRIME.
criminal. It is a satisfaction to know that the brute
got his deserts, and was killed like a wild beast at Sey-
ula, at last.
Rojas came from the district of Tepic, where he was
employed for many years by one foreign importing
house, to oppose by fraud, violence, and blood-shed,
Manuel Lozada, who was in the pay of a rival house.
Lozada finally triumphed, and has for years carried on
a sort of independent monarchy, with Tepic for its capi-
tal, in the Northern corner of the State of Jalisco. He
styles himself " Manuel Lozada, Natural Chief of the
district of Tepic," permitting no one to share the cares and
responsibilities of office with him. San Bias serves as
an importing or smuggling port for his kingdom, and as
he has a mountain district which is impenetrable to an
opposing force if defended at all, his army, of devoted
followers like those of Lopez in Paraguay, which can
be swelled to eight thousand or ten thousand in a few
days, enables him to bid defiance to the Federal Gov-
ernment, and carry things all in his own way. He was
originally a muleteer, and is too ignorant to write his
own name, but has much capacity for governing, with
an energetic, cruel, and unforgiving nature. Skinning
the feet of his enemies and forcing them to walk over
live coals, is one of the mildest of the practical jokes
in which he sometimes indulges. To do him justice,
he keeps excellent order in the district of Tepic, allowing
no one else to murder or rob within his jurisdiction.
The republic has been forced to tolerate him for many
years, because unable at any time to send a sufficient
force against him to crush him at a blow. Should a
period of entire peace in all other parts of the Repub-
lic come within his time, the Government would make
HOW LOCAL REVOLUTIONS ARE MANAGED. 93
short work of him at any cost; but how soon such an
opportunity may occur, is a question for unreliable
speculation only.
In 1868-9, an expedition against him,' to be under
the command of General Ramon Corona, was planned
and nearly ready to start, but never got marching or-
ders, disturbances requiring the presence of the troops
arising elsewhere.
It is a noticeable fact, that nearly all the local revolu-
tions or pronunciamentos in Mexico, — especially in the
states bordering onthe sea-coast — are fomented and sus-
tained for the moment by foreign houses, who desire to
profit, pecuniarily, by the misfortunes of the country
and its inhabitants. When several cargoes of goods
from Europe, on which duties ranging from fifty
to one hundred and fifty per cent ad valorum are paya-
ble by law, are about due at some port, the parties in in-
terest look up some ambitious chief, who will consent
to be used by them, provide him with the means to
raise the first body of troops at hand in a pronuncia-
mento. He then seizes the Custom-House, and if pos-
sible, the nearest mint, lets in the cargoes for twenty
or twenty-five per cent, of the legal duties, and levies
a forced loan or two, on the merchants within his reach.
Of course, he takes good care to give receipts for the
amount of the prestimo due from the houses in whose
interest he is acting. By the time the Government
troops arrive to attack him, he is ready to decamp with
what funds he has raised, and seek an asylum in the
United States, or some other country. The legitimate
Government authorities, on being restored to power,
find it always difficult, and generally impossible, to col-
lect the duties on the goods which have thus been
94 THE VICTIMS OF THE PRONUNCIADOS.
smuggled into the country, and so the Republic is not
only swindled out of hundreds of thousands of dollars
in the time of its most urgent necessity generally, but
is put to a heavy expense to suppress the rebellion.
The only parties who profit by the pronunciamento are
those who get up the scheme and the leader of the
forces in rebellion. The men forced into the army of
the jpronunciados, and the regular troops of the Repub-
lic, are the victims who meet death every time these
outbreaks occur. This game has been played over
and over, year after year, at the expense of every
administration, legitimate or otherwise, which has held
power at the time. It is not to be wondered at that
the rich grow richer, and the poor poorer, year by year,
under such a state of things, and that legitimate trade
and industry are finally crushed out and disappear.
CHAPTER IV.
FKOM ZAPOTLAN TO GUADALAJAKA.
~\T7"E were under a cloud, as it were, in Zapotlan,
where we arrived somewhat unexpectedly, in
advance of the time which had been fixed upon by the
population, and the reception of Mr. Seward, though
hospitable, lacked the warmth and enthusiasm we had
noticed elsewhere on our trip. We left Zapotlan on
the 17th of October, therefore, with no feelings of re-
gret, even in view of the fact, that by prolonging our
stay a few days we might have been enabled to " assist "
at the bull-fights, which were to last a full week, and
for which a large amphitheatre was being erected,
and extensive preparations making. The bull-fights
were to be followed by cock-fights, on a grand scale.
It is a little singular that the people of the towns where
the festivals of the Saints are celebrated with the great-
est furore, take the most delight in the cruel and de-
moralizing amusements of the bull-ring and the cock-
pit, but it is true nevertheless. Zapotlan is a good
illustration of the union of piety and brutality. Zaca-
tecas and several other States have by legislative enact-
ment abolished bull-fights, but in Jalisco they are still
the popular amusement.
As we advanced into the interior we continued to
ascend the spurs of the Sierre Madre, until we had
reached a point twenty miles north-eastward from Za-
96 CEOSSES BY THE EOADSIDE.
potlan, when we found ourselves upon the summit of a
range of broken mountains, in a locality famous for its
brigandage. The bandits, who have been so relentlessly-
pursued and are now being exterminated, formerly,
rarely allowed a traveler to pass this point unrobbed.
All along the road from Zapotlan, we had noticed large
wooden crosses by the roadside. Each of these crosses
bore an inscription giving the date of the murder of
some traveler by the brigands, and such facts as might
be known concerning him, with a request for travelers
to pray for the repose of his soul. These crosses were,
in nearly every case, adorned with fresh flowers, though
they were often of great age, judging by their weather-
stained and moss-grown condition.
From passages in Byron's Childe Harold, we learn
that this custom is observed all over Spain, and I know,
from personal observation, that it is common in all Span-
ish America. In the Apache Country of Arizona, I
have many times seen the poor Mexican miners stay for
hours, to erect a rude cross of stone over the remains of
some victim of the relentless savages, although they
were personally unacquainted with him, and knew
naught of his history, only judging by his appearance
that he was a Christian.
These gentlemen of the road are still numerous and
daring. Only quite recently they kidnapped a gentle-
man at night in the streets of Zapotlan, and run him off
to the mountains, where they kept him prisoner until
his friends raised and forwarded to them one thousand
dollars in coin ; and a few days before, they attacked
and routed the guard accompanying the brother of Mr.
Oetling, North German Consul at Colhna, within a few
miles of Seyula, and he only saved himself by the fleetness
A LAND OF BRIGANDS.
97
of his horse. The members of the fraternity who have
been made prisoners and executed, acknowledged their
guilt, and admitted that they were connected with a
band which had ramifications throughout the Central
States of the Republic, and kept regular accounts of
their profits and losses, and made dividends to the
stockholders on the best and most liberal commercial
system. But the Republic and the several States are
HACIENDA IN THE MOUNTAINS OF JALISCO.
now actively at work in conjunction, and it is " short
shrift and a long rope " whenever they catch any of the
precious rascals.
From the summit of the rano-e which we had been
ascending all the morning, we looked down at 11 a. m.,
on a scene of infinite beauty, and almost unlimited ex-
tent. Spreading out. from the base of the hills on which
98 A MAGNIFICENT VALLEY.
we stood, to the very limit of the vision in the east-
ward, was a magnificent valley, divided into farms with
neat hedges and fences, and dotted with mesquite and
other trees, giving it the appearance of one vast or-
chard and garden. Fields of tall corn, now almost ripe
for the harvest, waved through all the valley, and here
and there the white walls and red roofs of large hacien-
das and village churches were seen through the embow-
ering foliage. Far away, in the north-east, were the
mountains which cut off the valley from Lake Chapala,
and northward rose a range of magnificent mountains —
a spur of the great Sierra Madre — green to the summit,
and checkered, here and there, with lighter green fields
of corn. The long Laguna de Seyula stretched through
the valley on its north-eastward side, and villages could
be seen all along its banks. The bright sun shone
down on all this peaceful scene, as it does in June in
the United States, and the dark shadows of the flying
clouds drifted like the moving figures of a panorama
over valley, village, and mountain. But for brigands,
and revolutions, and foreign invasions, this would be an
earthly paradise —
" A right good land to live in,
And a pleasant land to see."
We descended, at a gallop, into the valley of Seyula,
the long line of our military escort, with their dashy
uniforms and glistening muskets, stretching far out in
the rear, and passed through a small village, inhabited
mostly by people of Indian descent, who regarded us
with unrestrained curiosity, but great respect, doffing
their hats and saluting us with the pleasant compli-
ments of the country, as we passed.
OUR WELCOME AT SEYULA. 99
At a second village, we came unexpectedly upon a
collection of eiglit or ten elegant carriages — regular
New York turn-outs — drawn up in a line, and fifty
horsemen, magnificently mounted, their saddles being
of the costliest pattern and glittering all over with sil-
ver, formed in double column. Instantly, the bells of a
little church rang out a joyous peal, unusual on a Sab-
bath-day, and as the coach stopped, the horsemen ad-
vanced and sat with uncovered heads, while their
spokesman informed Mr. Seward, that they came on
behalf of the Government and people of the State of
Jalisco, and the authorities and residents of Seyula, to
welcome him to their State and town, offer him an hum-
ble dinner, and the hospitalities of the place for as long
a time as he chose to abide with them. Mr. Seward
replied as briefly and heartily as possible, and leaving
the stage and entering the carriages, the party started
off with the double escort at full speed for Seyula, five
miles distant.
Arriving at the town, we found all the population
out to meet us, and from every door and window, and
every accessible spot on the sidewalks, respectful salu-
tations greeted the strangers from the North. Dark
eyes and red lips, such as we saw but seldom in the
" Tierra Caliente," smiled welcome upon us, and as the
carriages rolled into the Plaza de Armas, the ringing of
bells, firing of cannon, strains of martial music, and
vivas of the populace, added emphasis to the greeting.
Through a double file of well-dressed and intelligent-
looking citizens, then through the portal lined with
swarthy soldiers presenting arms, the party passed into
the great paved court-yard of the Casa Grande of Sey-
ula, and entering the parlor of the house were made at
home, at once.
100 THE WINES OF MEXICO.
The presentations over, we were invited into the
hall, where breakfast — it was a grand dinner in fact
— was spread, and the tables were speedily filled,
all the places not occupied by our party being taken by
the citizens and accompanying ladies, while a swarm of
servants and citizens waited upon them. It is the
fashion, in Mexico, to change the plates of the guests
with every dish, and plate followed plate in rapid suc-
cession, until we were surfeited. Wines, too, were there
in abundance, and the best of all was the dark, rich,
fruity, and oily product of the grape of Seyula, resem-
bling Malaga of the finest quality, which it fully equals,
if it does not actually excel.
We were now, for the first time, in the grape-produc-
ing region of Mexico, and our first introduction to its
wines was an agreeable one, indeed. Fraternity and
good feeling were the order of the day. What sur-
prised us most, was the fact, that these people had only
heard of the coining of the party six hours previously,
and that this whole demonstration was thoroughly im-
promptu. I doubt if any town in the United States of
the same, or even twice the population, could, or would
do as much in thrice the time, for the President himself;
and all this was for merely a distinguished citizen of the
United States, and friend of Mexico.
When the solid viands had been removed, Enfraus
Carison, Political Prefect of Seyula, arose and read a
warm address of welcome. Jose G. Arroyo, a young
representative of the press of Guadalajara, followed in
an impassioned and truly eloquent and patriotic ad-
dress, and others followed in like manner. Mr. Seward
made a brief reply, in terms similar to those of his
speech at Colima, and his remarks being interpreted to
INTERESTING SCHOOL EXHIBITION. 101
the audience by Seiior Canedo, were enthusiastically
applauded.
It was then announced that the annual conferring; of
rewards in one of the public schools in Seyula, which
was going on when we arrived, had been suspended
for the time, in order that Mr. Seward might be pres-
ent. Repairing to the school-house — there are four in
this old town of eight thousand inhabitants — we found
about one hundred and twenty-five boys and two hun-
dred girls, arranged in the two wings of the building,
the sexes being seated separately. All arose at our en-
trance and bowed politely, remaining standing until re-
quested to be seated. The furniture of the school-room
was scant, and of the plainest kind, and the children,
mostly, very plainly dressed ; but they looked cheerful
and intelligent, and all were perfectly neat and clean.
There were all colors and shades of colors among the
pupils, but there was no distinction of class or condi-
tion, so far as their treatment and conduct toward each
other went.
A bright, manly little fellow, Lorenzo Villalbazo,
aged twelve years, came forward, and read in a loud,
clear voice, an address which had been delivered at
Guadalajara by an eminent friend of education ; and
Amanda Ron, Reymunda Villalbazo, and Geroninia Or-
tega, aged eleven, twelve, and thirteen years respect-
ively, followed with readings of selections copied by
themselves. Their reading was equally faultless, and
could not well be improved. I noticed that in each se-
lection, special reference was made to the public schools
of the " great and powerful Estados Unidos del Norte "
as the source of our strength and glory, but was told
that the selections had not been made with reference to
our being present, as we had not been expected.
102 SUNDAY EVENING BALL A MEXICAN BEAUTY.
The distribution of prizes, silver coins with tri-col-
ored — green, white and red — ribbons, followed. I no-
ticed that a majority of the prizes were carried off by
children of full Indian blood, and one of the highest
was taken by a young Indian woman of seventeen
years, whose scant, but scrupulously neat apparel indi-
cated, unmistakably, that she was the daughter of peo-
ple in very poor circumstances.
I am surprised at the excellence of the public schools
of Mexico, when I remember how recently they were
called into existence, and, even more so, at the bright
intelligence and excellent deportment of the pupils.
On the streets, the children of Mexico are patterns of
good behavior, and the rowdy element, so painfully ap-
parent among the youth of our Northern cities, is
wholly absent here.
Seyula is one of the oldest cities of Mexico, and
boasts of a number of churches quite out of propor-
tion to its population. Some of these we visited. We
found one of them, though plain outside, a magnificent
structure inside, with long rows of pillars and vaulted
ceiling, painted in rich fresco designs beautifully exe-
cuted.
The inhabitants of Seyula, not to be outdone by
those of more pretentious towns, got up a select dan-
cing party in the evening, in honor of their visitors, and
among the dancers I noticed an unusual number of fine-
looking men and beautiful women, of the pure, or
nearly pure, Spanish type. One of these, Dolores Mora,
daughter of the paymaster of the State Guard of Ja-
lisco, then in the field against the bandits, was a perfect
beauty, and would have been a belle in any ball-
room in Christendom. A full, round face, soft, dark-
BIRDS OF THE TEOPICS. 103
brown hair, large, lustrous, black eyes, complexion
just tinged with the hue of the olive, cheeks like the
ripe, red peach, bright red lips, contrasting with the
pearly teeth, and a slender, petite figure, moving with a
willowy grace through the dreamily voluptuous mazes
of the danza ; in all the store-house of my memory
there is not a sweeter picture than that.
At midnight we retired to rest, and all night long,
heard the strains of soft music from harp, and guitar,
and violin, which told us that the festivities still went on.
At day-break, as usual, we were off again on our
journey. Our road all day — about thirty miles — lay
along the margin of the Laguna de Seyula, and be-
tween fields of tall corn, sugar-cane, beans, red pepper,
<fcc., &c, surrounded by high fences of solid^ stone,
mostly of lava formation. The roads were heavy with
mud from the recent rains, and our progress very slow.
The lake, swollen by the storm — was from three to six
miles, wide and thirty long. Geese, and little white
cranes, curlew, plover, ducks, &c, abounded along the
shores, and great flocks of pink-hued birds, resembling
flamingoes, were seen from time to time. We saw two
bright red birds, called "cardinals," perched on the*
tops of the great " pitilla," Cactus, which here forms a
prominent feature in the vegetation; the castor-bean,
which here becomes a permanent and beautiful tree,
was seen all. along the road, and the tree-cotton— a cot-
ton-plant entirely unlike that of our Southern States,
really a tree — abounded. The mountain sides were
everywhere patched with fields of corn and barley — the
first ripe and the latter two-thirds grown — far up
towards their summits.
Villages, inhabited by working-people of Indian de-
101 INDIAN VILLAGES.
scent were frequent. At one of these, called Techa-
luta, we were met by a company with a fine brass-band
— every little hamlet in the country has one — and men
with rockets, who played, and fired rockets as long as
we were in sight. They had no flags, but had stretched
every handkerchief and piece of bright-colored goods
in the town, on lines across the street ; and a horseman,
dashing up to the carriage, threw in an address of the
most progressive republican fraternity type, addressed
to Mr. Seward and signed by the principal men of the
municipality. At another Indian village, Gruamacate,
we obtained a breakfast of tortillas, chicken, and fri-
joles in abundance for fourteen persons, all for one dol-
lar and a half. The same fare would have cost us in
New York two dollars each.
At 2 1-2 o'clock p. m. we reached the end of our day's
journey at the village of Zacoalco, and were met outside
of the town by thirty finely mounted men, as at Seyula,
and escorted to our lodgings in a large, cool, roomy
house, surrounding a square area filled with tropical
trees and flowers. The military guard of the town
were drawn up at the gate-way to receive us, and the
entire population was gathered in the vicinity. We
were now at the head of the Laguna de Seyula, and at
the commencement of the Laguna de Zacoalco. From
the shores of the lake at Seyula, is taken the soda-earth
used in making soap all over this part of Mexico. From
its waters, salt of a fair quality for mining purposes is
manufactured ; and the owner of the lake, Sen or Es-
candon of the city of Mexico, derives from it a revenue
of sixty thousand dollars per annum, though it is but
carelessly administered.
The valley is dotted all over with the bean-bearing
RECEPTION AT ZACOALCO. 105
mesquite trees, and on them grows a variety of
parasites — the misletoe and a similar parasite plant —
bearing bright scarlet blossoms in wonderful profusion.
The variety and beauty of the flowers are so great as
to be beyond the power of description. Even the best
educated residents of the country do not know the
names of half the flowers we saw by the roadside.
Twenty leagues is the distance from Zacoalco to the
great city of Guadalajara, where we were to rest on
our journey for a week or more.
We left Seyula, under the impression that at Zaco-
alco we should rest in peace, with no serious demon-
strations, the place being represented as extremely dull.
We were therefore much surprised to find the town
of some fifteen thousand people, wide-awake, and
determined not to be behind the other little cities of
the State of Jalisco, in its hospitalities. We were in-
vited at 8 p. m. to participate in a dinner, which for
completeness and sumptuousness in all its details, could
not be excelled at the finest hotel in New- York with
every preparation, and found a number of prominent
citizens of the place in attendance, anxious to do the
honors of the table in the most creditable manner.
They did it. After dinner, the company returned to the
parlor, where addresses, fervid, eloquent, and patriotic,
were delivered by the Political Prefect and other lead-
ing citizens. Mr. Seward responded, in terms similar
to those of his previous speeches, and his remarks being
translated by SeSor Caiiedo, were warmly applauded.
Music and singing followed, and it was midnight before
one of the most pleasant reunions we attended in Mex-
ico finally broke up.
At 6 a. m. on Tuesday, the bugles of the military es-
106 BATTLE FIELD OF LA COEOXEA.
cort sounded the advance, and the long train was off for
Guadalajara ; just as the first rays of the warm Autumn
sun of the tropics gilded the tall towers of the grand
old Church of Zacoalco — towers which have looked
down on the gray-walled town unchanged for three
hundred years — kissed the placid waters of the Laguna
de Zacoalco, and crowned with glory the grand, old,
green-clad mountains which surround the ever-beautiful
valley.
Half-a-dozen miles from Zacoalco, we ascended a steep
hill of volcanic origin, and came upon the battle-field
of La Coronea. Here, the Imperialists sent out by Max-
imilian, to prevent the Republican Army of the West
commanded by Gen. Ramon Corona advancing from
Sinaloa, from uniting with those of Escobedo who com.
manded the Army of the North before Queretaro, were
strongly intrenched on the summit of the broken, irreg-
ular hills, with stone walls in front. The position com-
manded the road on both sides and is naturally a strong
one ; but the tide of war had turned ; the ragged Chin-
acos, who at first were demoralized in presence of the
better drilled and better armed French, Belgian and
Austrian mercenaries, had learned from experience how
to fight them, and the foreign invaders were themselves
demoralized and disheartened. Corona's forces carried
the position at the point of the bayonet, and the Impe-
rialists were utterly routed, the entire force being killed
or made prisoners. Escobedo had already routed and
scattered like chaff the Imperialist Army of the North
under Miramon, at Zacatecas, and was laying siege to
Queretaro. Corona arrived before the doomed city just
in time to participate in the most desperate portion of
the contest.
GENERAL ANGEL MARTINEZ. 107
When the last desperate sortie was made by Maximil-
ian with the hope of cutting his way out and escaping to
the Pacific coast, via Morelia, Corona's division caught
the full weight of the blow, and was savagely handled
and cut to pieces ; but the delay was fatal, though the
sortie had become an almost insured success, for it ena-
bled the Republicans to rally to the rescue just in time.
Escobedo's victorious army came up, and, falling upon
the Imperialist forces, rolled them back in utter rout
within their intrenchments, and from that time forth,
the fate of the Empire and of Maximilian was sealed.
Among the most daring, active, and determined of
the officers in General Corona's command, was General
Angel Martinez, a native of Sinaloa, and commander
of a brigade noted for its rough style of fighting and
defective outfit. This dashing officer, with the most
inadequate means, accomplished important results and
contributed much to the overthrow of the Imperial
cause in the North-west. His enemies nicknamed him
" El Machetero," from the machete or short sword — the
favorite weapon of his followers — a weapon which he
himself wielded with terrible effect on more than one
occasion. When Corona was holding the French in
Mazatlan, after the terrible defeats he gave them at the
Presidio of Mazatlan and Palos Prietos, Martinez en-
tered Sonora, and swept it like a whirlwind ; nothing
escaped him in the field, and the hurried evacuation of
Guaymas by the French at his approach, alone saved a
remnant of the force from utter extermination.
In one of the battles, near Hermosillo, the forces of
the Imperialist butcher, General Lanberg, who was the
perpetrator of the wholesale massacre of La Noria, were
cut to pieces, and Lanberg, himself, lassoed and pulled
108 A TEREIBLE PUN.
out of the saddle, with a jerk which broke his neck, by
one of Martinez's subalterns. War to the death had
been proclaimed on both sides, and no quarter was
given or asked.
One day in 1809, the writer was standing on Mont-
gomery street in San Francisco, conversing with General
Martinez and others, when the subject turned on the
languages which each spoke, or did not speak. One
could speak Spanish, English and French ; another Ger-
man, English and French, and so on. One of the party
deprecatingly remarked that his Spanish was deficient,
but added, " I have managed to wade through a good
deal of French in my life-time." " What does he say ? "
asked the General quickly. The remark was translated
to him literally, when he instantly lifted his hat with a
polite bow, and responded, " Yo tambien Sefior!" (I
also Sir !) It was, all things considered, the most ter-
rible pun I ever heard uttered.
For twenty miles, our road led us along the shores
of the Laguna de Zacoalco, a part of the time with the La-
guna de Seyula on the opposite side of the tongue of land
on which we traveled. The soil was for the most part
coarse and gravelly, and the country little cultivated.
The mountains, though covered with dense verdure,
were composed almost wholly of old lava, and all the
fences along the roadside were built of the same mate-
rial, in fact, this entire country is of comparatively re-
cent volcanic origin. At the upper end of the Laguna
de Zacoalco, we passed near the water-side for miles.
Great cane-brakes came up to the road in many places,
and, growing by the edge of the water, we saw thou-
sands of beautiful pink and spotted lilies, richly fra-
grant, and much like the Japanese lily in appearance.
SANTA ANNA ACATLAN. 109
Many species of birds, unlike those of the United
States, were seen all along the shores of the lake.
Among them were flocks of large pink birds, which in
the distance appeared to me like the ibis. I also no-
ticed the "wandering ibis " of Audubon, and the " Great
Whooping Crane," snow white, except two bars of
black on the wings, with black legs, red spots on the
top of the head, and black bill. This crane is occa-
sionally killed in Illinois and other western states,
and was confounded by Audubon with the sand-hill
Crane of the west, he supposing it to be the old bird
of that species. There was also a large crane with snow
white body and jet-black wings, of which I once killed
a single specimen north of the Rio Grande, in Texas,
the small white crane of the west, and swarms of birds
of the curlew and plover species, quite new to me,
though I am familiar with the birds of all parts of the
United States.
At 10 o'clock, we arrived at the village of Santa
Anna Acatlan, where we breakfasted at a Mexican
foncla, or hotel, the first we had visited in Mexico. Our
table was set in the corridor, opening on the square
area, or patio, in the center of the establishment, and
adjoining the kitchen. Everything came upon the ta-
ble in excellent order, clean and well cooked. It is a
singular fact that in Mexico one never sees a badly-
cooked dish. Such a thing as a joint of meat coming
upon the table half-raw, is wholly unknown here.
There are many people who adhere to the belief, that
when modern " improved " cooking-stoves came into use
in the United States, and the old-fashioned bake-ovens
disappeared, good cookery vanished with them, and
I am more than half inclined to admit that they are
110 A MEXICAN FONDA.
right. These Mexicans who have only earthern ovens
and stoves, utterly unlike anything ever seen in our
country, and not a single iron dish, all being of the
light glazed, brown earthernware of the country, con-
trive to cook twenty times as great a variety of dishes
as we are able to compound, and what is more, cook
them all to perfection. On the whole, I don't think we
know anything about cooking in the United States.
The charges at these Mexican " fondas " are quite rea-
sonable ; say twelve and a half to twenty-five cents, at
the outside, for a " square meal," and lodgings, such as
they are, at a nominal cost. They do not usually pro-
vide beds, the travelers carrying blankets, or mattresses,
with them ; and as the beds are not unlikely to be a
little too much crowded for comfort when they are fur-
nished, it is better to carry your own sleeping outfit
with you.
From the hill above Santa Anna Acatlan, we had a
fine view of the immense Hacienda del Plan, the largest
and finest sugar estate in the State of Jalisco. The
house stands upon a hill overlooking the Laguna de
Zacoalco, and is surrounded by the sugar-works and
other buildings, with vast fields of sugar-cane, now two-
thirds grown — it requires from one year to fourteen
months to come to full maturity — in all directions.
The house is like a great square castle in appearance,
with columns and verandah all around, and looks like
a fit place for the residence of a prince.
From this estate, a large part of the great State of
Jalisco, which has nine hundred thousand inhabitants,
or more than any other in Mexico, derives its supply of
sugar, and its products are sent even as far north as the
Rio Grande. It belongs to Senor Ramos, one of the
STRANGE SIGHTS ON THE ROAD. Ill
wealthiest land owners in Mexico. The grand canal,
miles in length, and of solid masonry, through which
the water is carried for irrigating this estate, cost in
itself a colossal fortune, and the sugar-mills and other
improvements must have required an outlay of a million
dollars, at least. As it was a little distance from
our road, we did not visit it.
After leaving Santa Anna Acatlan, we passed
through a better cultivated country for some miles, and
then entered a pass through the mountains to the north-
eastward, which led us into the Valley of Guadalajara.
Passing through one Indian village, we saw a number
of men and women kneeling in groups by the roadside
and looking imploringly at the carriage, but they did
not speak or hold out their hands like beggars, and we
were unable to form any idea of their object. They
remained kneeling and regarding us in silence as long
as we were in sight. There was something unnat-
ural and painful to me in the spectacle of those men
and women thus kneeling on the earth, in silent suppli-
cations, as if they had mistaken the party for visitors
from heaven instead of another country, and I would
be sorry to see it repeated.
We saw another strange sight next day. Indian
men and women, walking by the roadside, carrying
great burthens on their backs, three hundred or four
hundred pounds weight of coarse earthernware or other
articles, in long wicker baskets, and braiding straw
hats, or knitting fine embroidery as they moved along,
bending beneath their loads. Of this embroidery I
shall speak again hereafter.
Our road continued to be fearfully cut up, and heavy
from the recent rains, and our progress slow. We were
112 TEQUILA SOMETHING VERY CHOICE.
now in a country where the freighting business is car-
ried on, mostly, with heavy wagons and heavier ox-carts
with enormous wheels of wood, with wooden axles and
no felloes, the whole middle of the wheel being filled with
a solid block of heavy wood. The oxen are yoked by
the head instead of the neck, and driven, half a dozen
yokes to a single cart, like mules before a wagon. The
wives, and often the children, of the cart-drivers ac-
company them on their long journeys from city to city,
and one of their camps by the roadside is a little vil-
lage in itself. The poor people of the villages along
the route live, to a considerable extent, by supplying
these teamsters and other travelers with articles of
food, cheese, fruit, cigarritos, matches, and ardent spir-
its. A bottle of the fiery liquid distilled from the
mescal plant, otherwise called the " American aloe," or
" century plant," which blossoms in this latitude in five
to seven years from planting, instead of once in a hun-
dred, as is commonly believed at the North — called
" mescal" — is sold at the little wayside stands for six and
one-fourth cents, and will produce as much drunken-
ness as a barrel of North American whisky.
There is a superior variety of the mescal produced
near .Guadalajara, and called after the village in which
it is made "Tequila," (pronounced Tekela.) This
costs more, and is sent to the City of Mexico and else-
where, as something very choice for a present to one's
friends. I took one drink of it under the supposition
that it was annisette, or some other light liquor, swal-
lowing possibly about an ounce, druggist's measure, be-
fore I smelled the burning flesh as the lightning de-
scended my throat. As I sat down the glass my head
began to increase in size so rapidly, that I saw at once,
EFFECTS OF TAKING A DRINK.
113
that unless I got outside irnniediately, the door would
be too small to admit of my passing thiough it. Seiz-
ing my hat which appeared to have become of about
the size of an ordinary umbrella, I turned it up edge-
wise, and succeeded by a tight squeeze in passing it
through the door; the street then appeared funnel-
shaped, and I remember an odd fancy that I was to re-
semble the man who " went in the big and came out at
the little end of the horn." Curiously enough my legs
decreased in size, as my head en-
larged, and my last recollection
of the affair is that my person
resembled a sugar hogshead
walking off on two straws :
body I had none. No more
tequila for me, please !
The teamsters and muleteers
drink this clear, colorless, harm-
less-looking concentrated light-
ning with apparent impunity ;
but a single bottle of it will
cause a rebellion among an en-
tire regiment of soldiers, and
very likely result in a pronim-
ciamento on the spot. Nevertheless, the ox drivers,
like the muleteers, are a quiet, well-behaved, and gen-
erally honest and trustworthy class of men, quite equal
in these particulars to any class in the same walks of
life in any country.
When we were in the pass through the hills, between
the Valleys of Zacoalco and Guadalajara, our team
went down in a mud-hole of unusual depth and enor-
mity, and stayed there for nearly two hours before it
8
A SWELL-HEAD.
114 FIRST VIEW OF GUADALAJARA.
could be extricated. When, at last, we passed across
to rolling and but sparsely grassed and wooded plains,
resembling those of Southern California in appearance,
with numerous villages, each with its great house and
white-walled church, and came upon the edge of the
table-land overlooking the proud City of Guadalajara,
the sun was just going down in the west, and the full
round moon coming above the eastern horizon. What
a glorious scene ! The city, white- walled and red-
roofed, with its numerous churches, and immense and
magnificent Cathedral overtopping all, stood out
grandly beautiful in the double light, a sight to look
upon and admire, and to exult over in memory hence-
forth through all our lives.
At a little town three or four miles outside the walls
of Guadalajara, we met a line of light carriages, with
an escort of about one hundred citizens, splendidly
mounted, on horseback, with the Municipal Council
and the Secretary of Gov. Cuervo, and others, coming
to offer the hospitalities of the city, and a hearty wel-
come to the Capital of Jalisco.
Entering the carriages, we were driven rapidly toward
the city, the military escort, civil police in uniform, and
mounted citizens forming a magnificent cavalcade nearly
half a mile in length, galloping on either side. As we
neared the walls, the roadside was lined with private
carriages, filled with the beauty and fashion of the city ;
and when we passed through the barrier and dashed
down the narrow, well-paved streets, the sidewalks were
crowded, and every window and house-top occupied.
Beautiful women waved their handkerchiefs, and gave
a smiling welcome on all sides. All Guadalajara
seemed to be abroad in the cool, bright evening, all
THE CITY BY MOONLIGHT. 115
pleased, all happy, and all anxious to welcome the
strangers from the North.
We were driven directly to a house, in elegance of
appointment the counterpart of that of Senor Iluarte
at Colima, but on a much grander scale, and as soon as
we were in doors, the keys were presented to Mr. Sew-
ard, and the whole establishment was placed at his dis-
posal; he was told to consider it his own, and each
member of the party requested to order what he de-
sired, from a drink of water to a carriage, during our
stay. With the exception of the servants, the party
were 'the sole occupants of the entire premises, and we
were most emphatically " at home " for the week. Gov.
Cuervo, with much consideration, sent word that as we
had traveled so far, and must be very weary, he would
postpone his call until morning, and we were left alone
for the night ! And such a night !
Dinner over, I wandered alone out into the streets,
visited the grand plaza, and saw the people of the city,
old and young, rich and poor, proud and lowly, sitting
on the seats beneath the orange trees, conversing and
passing the time happily and innocently away, myself
alone, of all the crowd, unknowing and unknown. I
heard the visit of Mr. Seward and party frequently
mentioned, and some curiosity as to its object and full
purport expressed ; but no unkind sentiments, no harsh
suspicions were uttered in my hearing, and there seemed
to be but one feeling toward the visitors.
In this proud old city, the source of unnumbered rev-
olutions and pronuncialnentos in times gone by, I heard
more whisperings of love than talk of war on that de-
licious evening; and when I retired to rest, the soft,
fragrant air, heavy and sensuous with the breath of
116 THE OLD, OLD SOttG.
flowers, coming in through the open window, was ac-
companied by the music of the light guitar, and the
sweet voice of woman, singing the old, old song, from
the blossom-wreathed balcony on the opposite side of
the street.
CHAPTER Y.
GUADALAJAKA.
r I1HE strange, ancient, aristocratic, and haughty City
of Guadalajara, held us a full week from the pros-
ecution of our journey, and after seeing its sights from
morning till night, during all that time, we were as loth
to leave it as ever. Every morning we went out to see
some one of the dozens of beautiful ancient churches
with which the City is adorned, attend early mass, and
examine the quaint old pictures with which each
abounds. One of the finest of these, perhaps the finest
excepting the great Cathedral, is the Church of Our
Lady of Guadaloupe, which is half convent, as well as
church. There is attached to this church a " Retreat,"
with two hundred cells. To this place the pious citi-
zens of the City, repair to spend nine days of Lent, in
monastic retirement, for the good of their souls. Each
cell has a table, chair, and cot-bed, and meals are served
to the temporary occupants by servants, thus enabling
them to pass their time in absolute seclusion froni
the world. For the nine days' board and lodging,,
and spiritual comfort, those able, pay four or five dol-
lars, the others nothing. More women than men resort
here and the cells are filled every year.
All these churches have beautiful chimes of bells, cast
in the city centuries ago, and the air is at times filled
with their music. By the municipal laws, they are now
118
THE GKAXD CATHEDRAL.
allowed to ring only two or three minutes at any one
time, but they contrive to make the intervals between
the ringing nearly as brief as those between the drinks
in San Francisco. The services are similarly brief and
frequent, and the churches appear to be nearly always
open.
The great Cathedral of Guadalajara is one of the
most beautiful and costly temples of worship on the
Continent ; ranking in Mexico only second to those of
Puebla and the City in point of wealth, and for beauty
far in advance of the latter. I cannot describe a Cath-
THE GREAT CATHEDRAL AT GUADALAJARA.
edral, though I try never so hard. Suffice it to say,
that the roof is supported by ten combined or quadru-
ple columns, of immense size, painted in pure white
A MAGNIFICENT ALTAR. 119
and gold. From above the huge capital of each rises a
beautiful arch, which seems so light and airy, as to
make it impossible to believe that it is built of solid
stone, and weighs hundreds on hundreds of tons. The
grand dome, which without is covered with beautiful
glazed tiles of different colors, laid in mosaic, is painted
within in fresco, in the most florid but highly artistic
style. A narrow gallery of bronze metal richly gilded,
runs around the entire building, on a level with the
capitals of the pillars which support the roof. Under
the great dome is the grand organ, and arranged in a
semi-circle behind the choir, the twenty-four seats for
the Bishop and Canons. The choir is as superb as
gilding and carving can make it.
A few years since, this Cathedral was struck by
lightning, and two of the organists were killed. In a
vault below the pavement of the Cathedral, the dead
Bishops and Priests have been accumulating for centu-
ries. Under the great dome, in front of the choir, they
are now erecting a magnificent altar, some thirty feet in
height, of white marble and metal, gilded and burnished,
which was imported from Rome at a cost of fifty-thou-
sand dollars, and hauled — Heaven knows how — over
the terrible, and, as we found them, almost impassable
roads, all the way from Vera Cruz to Guadalajara.
Several of the blocks are immensely heavy, one I
should judge, weighing from ten to twenty tons, and
the task of transporting them must have been, indeed,
herculean.
Around the walls hang pictures of great age ; and
in one of the rooms back of the altar we saw a collec-
tion of life-sized statues of saints, apostles, and mar-
tyrs, done in wood, and covered with some kind of flesh
120 STRANGE SUPERSTITIONS.
colored lacquer work, by native artists. Physical tor-
ture, mental suffering, unmurmuring and glad obedi-
ence to the behests of an all-powerful faith, or the
beatific delight of the dying martyr, beamed on the
face of each. A more distorted, frightful and painful
collection to look at was never seen together. The
skill of the artists in depicting physical and mental
suffering, with such materials, is beyond praise for its
perfection.
On either side of the altar, next to the wall, are old,
plain, square, wooden boxes, each about six feet in
length, covered with red cloth. In these two boxes, are
enclosed the mummified remains of the first two bishops
of Guadalajara. One of them has been lying there for
three hundred years, and the other some forty years
less. Both are said to be in a good state of preserva-
tion. Above the coffins, on the wall, hang the broad
brimmed hats worn by these worthy men in their lives,
and we were gravely informed by our guide, that when
the coffins are opened for any reason, the hats will
immediately swing from side to side of their own voli-
tion, as if doing reverence to the holy dust below. We
did not see the cofiins opened.
But the charitable institutions and schools of Gua-
dalajara claimed more of our time and attention, and
are worthy of mention, even before the grand cathedral,
which is one of its especial wonders.
The great hospital of San Miguel de Belan, generally
known as " the Belan," is near the center of the city,
and encloses within its walls about eight acres of land.
It was founded, as the inscription over the inner gate-
way shows, in 1787, by Bishoj) Alcalde, whose first
name I do not remember, and with whom, I presume,
GBEAT HOSPITAL OF SAN MIGUEL DE BELAN. 121
the people of the United States of the present day
had no personal acquaintance. Its revenues were once
immense, they say one million dollars per annum ; but
each succeeding revolution has impoverished it, and six
or seven years ago, the late Bishop Portugal found it
almost wholly in ruins and without funds to support
patients. His office was worth a large sum per annum,
and he had a large private property. He set himself
earnestly to work to rebuild and endow this great hos-
pital, and lived to see it once more in the full tide of
prosperity, after having devoted his entire fortune and
all the voluntary contributions he could secure to the
institution.
The amount expended in building and repairing, and
the property bestowed upon the institution, from the
rents of which it is now sustained, was estimated, all
told, at six million dollars. The first thing a revolu-
tionist did in past times, was to enlist all the prisoners
in the Jails and State-Prisons, then seize the moneys
in the custom-houses, mints, and charitable institutions,
then force into his ranks all the able-bodied men in the
community, and levy prestimos on the merchants jmd
wealthy men In this manner, society has regained
from time to time all the thieves, robbers, and vaga-
bonds which had been lost to it through the criminal
laws, and the public funds and charitable institutions
have suffered in proportion. The Liberal Government,
during the [late war, was compelled much against its
will, but from sheer necessity, to use a million dollars
of the property of the Belan Hospital ; what amount
the French and Austrians got I am not informed. The
hospital now has about five hundred thousand dollars
worth of property, from which it receives twenty thou ;
122 SISTERS OF CHARITY BISHOP PORTUGAL.
sand dollars in rents, all of which it expends upon its
patients, and through a commission of citizens it is
most admirably administered.
The Sisters of charity attend upon the patients, but
do not control the management of the institution. The
number of patients now in the hospital is three hun-
dred, and this is about the average in seasons of peace,
but at times during the last war, it was nearly trebled.
Bishop Portugal died poor, but left behind him in the
hospital, a monument which will cause his name to be
honored and revered for centuries.
The building is admirably constructed for the pur-
pose. It is but one story in height, and there are,
of course, no stairs to climb up and down. Then the
rooms are twenty-five feet from floor to ceiling, insuring
perfect ventilation, and all of immense size. The walls,
of brick or adobe, are very thick, and the thick roof,
with red tiles above, keeps out effectually the heat of
the sun, so that there is no very perceptible change in
the temperature in summer or winter, and no artificial
heating is necessary. No dirt, no noise, no blinding
light, no musquitoes, flies, or vermin, are there.
Entering the portal, near the center of the building,
the visitor finds himself in a gallery, from which radi-
ate, in fan form, six wards of immense length, three on
either side. These wards are designated by the inscrip-
tions over the doors, " God the Father," " God the Son,"
and " God the Holy Ghost," on one side, and on the
other, " St, Vincent de Paul," " The Sacred Heart of Je-
sus," and " St. John of God." The patients are allowed
to see their friends as often as they desire, and appear
to be well waited upon and cared for. The kitchen,
dispensary, bath-house, <fec, all appear to be remark-
ably well-arranged and supplied.
THE HOSPICIO DE GUADALAJAEA. 1 23
Passing one of the large rooms I noticed the sign
" Operating Room " over the door, and looking in
through the open grating, saw a party of surgeons and
students busily engaged in dissecting a corpse, so thor-
oughly occupied in fact that they paid no attention to
our presence. This part of the work was carried on
much more openly than with us, and seemed to be re-
garded quite as a matter of course by all present.
Grander in proportions and conception than even the
Belan Hospital, is the great Hospicio de Guadalajara,
the equal of which cannot be found on the American
Continent. This was founded a century ago by Bishop
Juan Cruz Ruis Cabanais, a man of great wealth and
piety, who endowed it magnificently. His full length
portrait, in which he is represented standing, in full
Canonicals, before a table, on which rests a diagram of
the complete structure, just as we see it to-day, and hold-
ing in his hands the purse containing the endowment of
the institution, hangs in the chapel of the establish,
ment now. What it cost to erect a structure covering
six or eight acres of ground, with walls from three to
eight feet in thickness, inclosing no less than twenty-
two court-yards, each surrounded by magnificent corri-
dors or portals, and furnish it throughout, I cannot tell,
but it must have been millions of dollars, even in a
country where labor costs next to nothing.
This establishment was greatly run down a few years
ago, but through the efforts of the late Senor Matute,
and other patriotic and public-spirited citizens, it has
been regenerated, and now holds within its walls six-
teen-hundred human beings, from the foundling just
brought in from the street, to the young woman or man
ready to go forth into the world as a teacher, artizan,
124 THE INMATES OF THE HOSPICIO.
house-servant, husband or wife. It is superintended by
the Sisters of Charity, of whom there are some twenty
in the establishment, and managed with an amount of
economy and skill wonderful to witness. In its six-
teen different departments it is at once, a foundling
hospital, reform school, juvenile school, orphan asylum,
asylum for the aged and indigent, boy's and girl's high
school, school of arts, workshop, college and hospital.
In one department we saw thirty foundlings, two
of which had just been brought in, all white, and most
of them presenting an effeminate delicacy of feature,
indicating "blue blood." The Indians, and people of
part Indian blood, do not throw their children into the
streets, to be eaten by dogs and hogs, whether born in
or out of lawful wedlock. They are neatly dressed,
nursed by Indian women, and well cared for. In another
ward were one hundred and five boys, arrested by the
police, as vagabonds on the streets, and sent here to be
reformed. They were drilling as soldiers when we
came in. The City pays six and one quarter cents each,
per day, for the support of these boys, and they all
have to learn useful trades before leaving the institu-
tion. I noticed among the children many who had lost
one or both eyes, and was told that in the Indian vil-
lages it is not uncommon for the parents to thus muti-
late their children in infancy, to fit them for begging, or
to enable them to avoid military duty.
In another ward we saw the old women, some of
them from eighty to one hundred years of age, and
girls of weak intellect, sitting in the sun and doing some
little plain sewing or knitting, and in an adjoining room
a number of blind girls busily engaged in grinding
half-hulled corn, with the metate into tortillas, a sweet
THE INMATES OF THE HOSPICIO.
125
smile on their faces indicating their knowledge of our
presence. In another, boys were at work making shoes,
tailoring, car pentering,
and setting type in a reg-
ular printing office, and
printing with one of
Hoe's Washington press-
es, just such as I " roll-
ed " upon twenty-four
years ago, in a country
printing office in the then
" Far West. " In another,
girls were sewing, em-
broidering in silk and
bullion, makinglace, knit-
ting, etc. In another,
young ladies of the first
families, who reside with
their parents, were learn-
ing painting and the high-
est styles of embroidery.
In another ward, two hundred children, between two
and five years of age, one hundred boys and one hun-
dred girls, belonging to parents too poor even to dress
them, were being taught orally, as at the school of San
Felipe. All the cloth for the clothing of the pupils, is
made within its walls, and all the clothing, and boots
and shoes required, are made up by the boys and
girls.
The kitchen, as large as an ordinary school-house with
us, is floored with glazed tiles of beautiful pattern, and
the old Spanish ranges have recently been replaced by
English iron ranges, which cost twenty-four hundred
BLIND GIRL IN THE HOSPICIO.
126 THE CHAPEL OF THE HOSPICIO.
dollars, but save fifty dollars per month on the charcoal
bill, and are considered a good investment. Soup, meat,
and beans are cooked here for sixteen hundred persons
at once, and they are now erecting an enormous kitchen
in which the entire cooking for the State-Prison, con-
taining from seven hundred to one thousand prisoners,
is to be done. It now costs the State five cents per
day, to board the State prisoners, and the Sisters expect
to do it better, and make a profit on that figure, for the
benefit of the Hospicio.
The Chapel is really a grand Church, magnificently
decorated with paintings, with a great dome, beautifully
frescoed. The founder gave forty blocks of buildings
in Guadalajara, all under rent, as an endowment for
this establishment; but most of the property is now
gone. It costs only sixty thousand dollars per annum
to support the Hospicio and Belan Hospital together
and their resources being but forty-four thousand dol-
lars, the State and City pay the rest. We spent four
hours wandering through this great establishment,
and, after partaking of a collation, listened to a brass
band of thirty pieces, played by boys instructed in the
place, and operatic music by the young ladies, and then
left because night had come and we could wait no
longer.
The schools of Guadalajara, new as they are — some
of them but a year or two established — astonished us
more than anything else we saw in this ancient City.
The municipality of Guadalajara now supports eighteen
primary day schools, nine for girls, and nine for boys,,
free to all, and five evening schools, beside contributing
to the support of several more advanced schools, accom-
modating in all seven thousand pupils, and all at an
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF JALISCO. 127
expense, as I was informed by Senor Juan Ignacio Ma-
tute, a member of the Municipal Council, whose father
may be called the father of the Common School sys-
tem of Jalisco, of only twenty-five thousand dollars
per annum.
Then, the State provides two High Schools, or " lycees"
one for boys and one for girls, which are free to all
who are unable to pay ten dollars per month for board
and tuition — no scholar who can pass the examination
can be refused, however humble or poor — where the
youth are taught all the higher branches of mathemat.
ics, the languages, vocal and instrumental music, and
many arts by which they can gain an honest livelihood ;
a school of Arts, in which four hundred boys are taught
all the useful arts and trades, such as tailoring, saddlery,
blacksmithing, boot-making, carpentering, etc., etc., and
an Institute or college of higher grade, for the instruc-
tion of boys intended for the learned professions. In
addition to this, the State contributes a comparatively
liberal sum towards the support of the Hospicio and
other institutions of learning.
We first visited the Girl's High School. This is the
school provided by the State of Jalisco for graduates
of her Grammar schools. It is situated in the old Con-
vent of San Diego, which was closed and confiscated to
the Nation by order of President Juarez, and is now
wholly devoted to the purposes of free education. The
building, like nearly all similar structures here, sur-
rounds an entire square, and incloses a large court-yard
filled with orange-trees and tropical flowers. It is two
stories in height, and the rooms are all of great size,
light, clean, and well ventilated. When the nuns were
turned forth, the Government gave the use of the prop-
128 the girl's high school.
erty to the State of Jalisco, for educational purposes.
We found here two hundred and thirty girls from the
age of twelve to twenty years, all bright, intelligent
and happy looking. Those able to do so pay ten dol-
lars per month, or one hundred and twenty dollars per
year, and those who are not, (they comprise a majority
of the pupils) pay nothing. For this they receive in-
struction in all the studies usually pursued in the higher
schools in the United States, vocal and instrumental
music, object drawing, all the fine arts, embroidery, lace-
making, and, better still, cooking, washing, ironing, and
other household duties. Thev all board in the build-
ing — board being included in the ten dollars per
month — and take turns in doing the work in each de-
partment, that all may know how to do such work well.
Brighter and happier faces I never saw around me.
We visited all the departments, from kitchen to fine
art gallery, and found that all of the teachers were
native Mexicans, male and female, mostly young,
and educated in the country. The pupils usually be-
long to the best Republican families of the State ; but
the highest and lowest, richest and poorest, fairest and
darkest, are all admitted on the same terms of equality.
When they graduate they are fitted for teachers in the
public schools, or for housekeeping, or the various
trades.
We saw in the embroidery room, lace-work and em-
broidery in silk, cotton and bullion of the most exqui-
site fineness and delicacy. Some of the linen handker-
chiefs, worked with portraits of Lincoln, Juarez and
Zarragosa, in black silk floss, were equal in delicacy and
accuracy to the best steel engravings, and the copies of
oil paintings in silk embroidery, were perfect fac-simi-
THE BOY'S HIGH SCHOOL. 129
les of the originals. In the Music Hall, the pupils gave
us the opera of Ernani in as grand style as it is usually
given by the regular opera companies of the United
States, the part of Ernani being sung by a little Miss
fourteen years of age, with a wonderfully powerful and
highly cultivated voice.
On leaving this beautiful retreat, once the shade of
darkness and superstition and bigotry, now so justly
the pride and the hope of the State, Mr. Seward re-
marked, " Why, in Heaven's name, do people talk of
' Protectorate ' for a country capable of such things as
these."
Next, we visited the Boy's High School. This estab-
lishment, originally built by Bishop Parades, but now
under civil control, contains nearly four hundred stu-
dents, and will soon have five hundred. It is almost a
counterpart of the girl's High School, the system of tui-
tion, cost to those able to pay — board, <fec, &c. — being
the same. It is admirably conducted, and is as credit-
able to the town as the other. The professors teach
gratuitously, or for very small salaries. One teacher of
four classes gets but eighty dollars per month, and
Seiior Matute and others teach classes gratuitously.
We saw a gymnasium, art gallery,, considerable scien-
tific apparatus, and other adjuncts of a first-class school
of this grade, in the building. One great feature of
this school is its library of thirty thousand volumes,
mainly the spoils of the confiscated monasteries. This,
in New York, Boston, or England would be an immense
feature. There are thousands on thousands of volumes
three centuries old and more, printed or illuminated
by hand, and as perfect in their parchment coverings as
on the day they issued from the press. Most of them
9
130 THE SCHOOL OF USEFUL ARTS.
are in Spanish, but there are many in French and some
in English.
I saw a dictionary in Spanish and Aztec, printed in
Mexico in 1571, and another, equally perfect, printed in
Michoacan in 1559, long enough before we had printing
offices in English America. There are many works
printed years earlier in Spain and France. A large
number of these books are in duplicate, and five thousand
volumes of the most rare, carefully selected and exposed
for sale in New York or Boston, would attract all the
old book-fanciers on the Continent, and bring money
enough to provide this school with what it most needs ;
viz : a large and complete modern library in Spanish,
English and French. An antiquarian book-dealer might
make a fortune, and benefit mankind, by coining to
Guadalajara and purchasing such of these works as the
authorities would be willing to sell.
The last institution of learning which we visited was
the School of Useful Arts. This School is unique, and
deserves more extended notice than I can give it. It is
located in the old monastery of San Augustine, which,
like the other establishments of the kind, now belongs
to the Federal Government. We found four hundred
boys, from eight to eighteen years of age, learning every
trade from shoemaking to blacksmithing, carpentering,
weaving, tailoring, etc., etc. There is a great desire to
enter this school among the youth of Jalisco, and if
there were accommodations and funds provided for
them, there would be one thousand students instead of
four hundred. The boys are first taught to read, write
and keep accounts, and then go into the workshops.
All the clothing and boots and shoes worn in the
establishment are made by the boys, the cloth being
THE SCHOOL BAND OF MUSICIANS. 131
made up froni the raw cotton, spun, woven and colored.
The boys do the cooking and other menial duties in
turn. No work is paid for out of the place. It costs
nine cents per day to board, dress, and educate each boy,
or a total of thirty-six dollars per day for four hun-
dred boys. The Municipality pays six and one quarter
cents per day — when it has the funds — for the support
of each, or twenty-five dollars per day, and the remain-
der is made up from rents of the property belonging to
the School, which bring in two hundred dollars per
month, and from voluntary contributions. All the earn-
ings of each boy at any kind of work are paid over to
him, and he deposits what he can, if his family do not
need it for their support, in a savings box belonging to
himself, kept in a common depository. When he has
grown to manhood and has his trade well learned, he
goes out with the little capital he has laid by, and en-
ters business for himself. Sometimes he has twenty
dollars only, and sometimes two hundred or three hun-
dred dollars.
The wonderful musical talent of this people is shown
in the band of one hundred musicians, all boys in the
school, who have earned their own instruments and
have a fund in advance. A band of fifty played before
us. One bright little fellow, Pedro Gallardo, twelve
years of age, played the key-bugle in a style which
would render him an acquisition to any military band
in the United States. This band, by playing at public
meetings, balls, &c, had earned six hundred dollars
clear that year already. At the end of the year this
fund is fairly divided.
A fine old gentleman, Seiior Dionisio Rodriguez, has
managed this school for twenty years, giving all his time
132 PRIMARY SCHOOLS PROGRESS.
to it, the year round, free of charge, and when revolu-
tion or other causes cut off the sources of supply, has
from his own pocket made good the deficiency, his to-
tal gifts amounting to many thousands of dollars. God
bless and prosper him ; he is a true benefactor of man-
kind.
Some of the work done by these boys is very beau-
tiful. We were shown a reborn or lady's scarf-shawl,
eight feet in length, and twenty-eight inches in breadth,
made from the silk and cotton spun in the establish-
ment, and woven in a common hand-loom of the oldest
and rudest pattern, which was as beautiful in its change-
able colors as the finest product of the looms of Lyons.
It could be drawn through a small sized finger-ring, and
was offered for eight dollars.
The primary schools of the city contain five thousand
pupils, and the schools for the two sexes are separate.
The children are bright, intelligent, and ready to learn,
and the schools absolutely free to all. There are one
hundred and four Municipalities in the State of Jalisco,
outside of the City of Guadalajara, and each of them
supports one or more of these schools. The girls in
addition to the usual lessons with us, are taught sewing,
knitting, and other useful and necessary accomplishments.
Say what you may, this is progress ! Give Mexico
fifteen years of uninterrupted peace, in which to spread
these schools throughout all the States, and she will
astonish the world with her material advance, and make
the dream of establishing a monarchy on the ruins of
Republicanism in the New World, idleness and vanity.
God grant that she may have the opportunity to make
good my prediction.
After visiting the schools we went into the great
THE GREAT CEMETERY OF BETHLEM.
133
cemetery of Betlilem. It is curious that the dead of
the different families, Republican and plebeian, or Im-
perialist and aristocratic, cannot forget their differences
and rest quietly side by side, even in death ; but such
is the case in Guadalajara. Here, in the cemetery of
Bethlem, the Republicans are buried, and in another
sleep the Imperialists. There are but few graves in
the open ground, as we see them in our American and
European cemeteries, and none of them are decorated
with shade trees and flowers, or even marked with tall
monuments and tomb-stones.
The greater number of interments are in niches or
alcoves in the walls, which run in three tiers, one
above another,
all around the
cemetery, which
must cover from
four to six acres.
These alcoves are
each about three
feet square by six
and one-half feet
deep, a n d w hen
a coffin is placed
in one, the en-
trance is closed
with cement, and
the name, date of
birth, death, etc.,
etc., of the deceased, placed over the stone fitted into,
the opening. It costs twenty-five dollars for the use
of one of these alcoves five years, paid in advance. If
at the end of that time another twenty-five dollars is,
THE CEMETEKY OF BETHLEM.
134
THE PASEO DE SAN PEDRO.
not forthcoming, the place is again for rent. In the
open ground you can buy a lot six feet by eight, but
the alcoves are only rented for five years at a time.
In the center of the grounds there is a large chapel
with vault beneath, in which rest many of the early
church dignitaries of the diocese of Guadalajara.
The roads are so unsafe all around Guadalajara, that
the inhabitants never ride many miles beyond its walls
without a strong, armed escort. The great, and almost
only, place of public resort beyond the Plaza, is the
Paseo de San Pedro, a broad, double, tree-lined avenue
or alameda, with carriage-drives on either side, and
A MEXICAN CAUT.
banks of green turf-covered earth, or plain stone be-
tween, for seats. This is about a mile in length, and
just outside the gates on the road to Mexico. Thither,
all the carriages in the city repair every pleasant eve-
"a pleasant place to visit." 135
ning, just before night-fall. Some of the fair occupants
drive up and down in carriages, while others dismount,
and, seated on the banquettes, pass their time in chatting
with their friends, male and female, saluting each ac-
quaintance who passes.
The young men ride around upon gaily caparisoned
horses, and the young ladies frequently exhibit their love
of odd adventure, by hiring one of the clumsy ox-carts
of the country, and, a dozen of them together, riding up
and down the paseo, singing light songs and j)laying on
the guitar, their gallants riding near them on horse-
back and keeping up a running fire of chaffing and
pleasant conversation, or bending from their saddles to
whisper the story we have all heard and told, into will-
ing ears as occasion offers. This is one of the oddest
customs of the country.
Leaving my seat in the carriage in which we visited
the paseo, to take one beside a fair young country-wo-
man of mine, to ride back to the city, I noticed a full-
loaded Colt's revolver lying on the cushion by her side.
" Oh ! that is nothing ; I always bring one out here when
I come, as this is a noted place for robbers, who some-
times jump out of the cane-brake, and rob a car-
riage before assistance can arrive," she said noncha-
lantly in reply to my look of inquiry. " Pleasant place
to visit and enjoy one's self in ! I think I hear you say.
Well, all that may be, but when you have nowhere else
to go, what can you do ; one must have some recreation
you know !" I said " Please pass me," and we rode home.
Notwithstanding the slaughter of brigands by the
State troops acting under the authority of the civil tri-
bunals, the business of kidnapping citizens and car-
rying them off into the mountains to be held for ran-
136 INSECURITY OF LIFE AND PROPERTY.
som, is carried on with astonishing audacity in various
parts of the country, and even in the immediate vicinity
of the city of Guadalajara. Some pretty tough stories
concerning the standing and social position of the par-
ties engaged in the business, are related by the victims.
These stories are, perhaps, not always reliable, but I
gathered enough from people who had been plagiared,
to satisfy me that an organization, as strict and effect-
ive as that of the Thugs of India, has for some time
existed, and still exists, though more limited in number
than formerly, in Guadalajara, and numbers among its
members some of the most prominent men and women
of the old Imperial regime. Men, who have been rich,
but who are now absolutely without legitimate income
and unable to earn an honest livelihood, direct the
movements of the bands, and map out the work for the
lower order of cut-throats to carry out. Sometimes
revelations made were of a startling character. I
was one day conversing with a gentleman of high
standing in Guadalajara, who had been carried off
from the immediate vicinity of the city, and only re-
leased upon the payment of five thousand dollars, in
coin. I asked him if he could not identify the men
who kidnapped him, and received a ransom. u I know
every one of them !" was the reply. Then why do you
not prosecute them and have them shot % I asked. " I
will tell you why : Every member of the gang has
friends who would be apprised at once of the facts, and
instructed to avenge .their deaths in case I lived until the
trial was ended. Governor Cuervo and his subordi-
nates would do their duty without fear or favor, and
the men would be shot ; but I should be assassinated
within a week thereafter, or possibly, kidnapped again
A STRANGE STATE OF SOCIETY.
137
and carried off, to be tortured with every atrocity
which Apaches are capable of, and die a lingering
death ; even my family would be persecuted, and per-
haps meet a fate as terrible as my own."
" But are the leaders of the band so highly connected
as I have been told ?" I asked.
"You may be your own judge in that matter. 1
saw you introduced to one of them yesterday, and hold-
ing a long conversation with him/"
" But you did not put me on my guard," I said.
" Not I ; I have even visited at his house and dined with
his family since my release, and his daughter is a warm
friend of my own. That man received the money from
my brother, and he
knows that I k n o w,
him to be the regular
financial agent and
broker for the band /"
It is hardly possible
for a stranger to un-
derstand how such a
state of affairs can
exist without the di-
rect connivance of
the authorities; but
it does so exist, nev-
ertheless ; and the
rigor with which
Gov. Cuervo and his
associates execute the
laws, leaves no room
for doubting that they are in earnest in the work.
Guadalajara boasts of two Indian specialties, viz : the
wonderfully elaborate embroidery in cotton and linen,
INDIAN EMBROIDERERS AND THEIR WORK
138 INDIAN EMBROIDERERS.
on lace formed by the drawing out of part of the
threads in fine white goods, of which, you can buy
enough for a lady's skirt, six inches wide, for five to ten
dollars ; worth from fifty to one hundred dollars in the
United States ; and statuettes, vases, and similar goods
in earthenware, molded from common clay, with the
hands alone, by men and women who cannot read or
write, and have, in fact, no education whatever. This
work is executed in a small village called Tonila, the
seat of the Aztec Kings of Jalisco in the days of Cor-
tez, fifteen miles distant, and sold around the streets.
There is a place on the Plaza de Toros where they have
cart-loads of every description of this earthenware,
from a toy-cup to a flower-vase three feet high, for sale.
They ask more for it than they do at the village
where it is made, but still sell it astonishingly cheap.
They have statuettes of every noted man in the country
and of the world, ancient and modern, from an inch in
height to two feet, all elaborately worked and colored,
and many of them handsomely gilded. They will
make you a statuette, a perfect fac-simile of yourself in
miniature, on two day's notice. Of burlesque statuary
they have hundreds of specimens, and their figures rep-
resenting local characters, once the celebrities of the
country, are wonderful. During our civil war, an
American artist produced in clay, groups representing
scenes in the war, the dying sentinel, wounded to the
death, the attack, etc., all of which were fine ; and he
gained great credit thereby ; but these poor illiterate
Indians can show thousands of such statuettes and
groups, all fully equal or superior in execution and
vivid expression. A noted and infamous character is
generally represented as being carried off, bodily, by
INDIAN STATUARY MAKERS OF TONILA.
139
the devil. Gen. Rojas, the bandit, formerly of Tepic,
one of the most bloodthirsty cut-throats and murderers
who ever cursed the earth with his presence, and who
was shot some years ago at Seyula, is a common sub-
ject for this style of art. I purchased a group repre-
senting him, in full costume, being thus earned off on a
grotesque devil's shoulders, the figures being each
twelve inches in height, for one dollar and a quarter,
and I was told, that I paid more than double the usual
price. For a pair of black enameled and artistically
gilded water jugs of
Japanese pa 1 1 e r n ,
holding two quarts
each, very handsome,
seventy-five cents.
Statuettes of water-
carriers, peddlers, etc.,
one foot in height,
twenty- five cents
each, and smaller fig-
ures from a half cent
to six and one-quarter
cents each. My pur-
chases filled a box
containing about four
cubic feet, and the
whole, cost only three
dollars and a half.
There are four cotton-factories near the City of
Guadalajara, viz : El Escoba, thirty-three hundred spin-
dles; Atamepac, five thousand; Salto, five hundred,
and Experience, one thousand. The last belongs to the
five brothers Lowery, who, though they have 'resided
INDIAN STATUARY MAKERS.
140 COTTON-FACTORIES AND PAPER-MILLS.
there twenty-five years, are still Americans. All were
in operation on the same plan as those at Colirna, and
none making much more than expenses, owing to the
high price of cotton, and the excess of manufactured
goods in the market. Atamepac, we found to be, in
appearance, a great college building, of cut stone, stand-
ing back about thirty rods from the road, with a double
row of orange-trees, in full bearing, on either side of
the wide, grassy lawn leading up to it. The others are
on a similar plan, but on a smaller scale. Two more
cotton-mills are being erected in the vicinity.
The paper mill, the only one in the State, belonging
to Sefior Palama, is an immense structure with fourteen
grinding or pulp engines ; a Foudrinier machine, which
makes fair, white printing and telegraph paper six feet
in width, and a smaller one which makes manilla pa-
per. The process followed is the same as with us.
They have an opera-house and theater in Guadalajara
on the Plaza fronting the Palace ; it was erected by the
city, but is not yet finished. It has already cost three
hundred and fifty thousand dollars in coin, and will
require fifty thousand dollars more to finish it. It is
now occupied, but has very little scenery — only a white
cloth drop-curtain, and white-washed walls. The pro-
portions are magnificent, and when finished it will seat
four thousand persons, comfortably, and become one of
the finest on the continent. It has five tiers of boxes,
each with twenty-five separate apartments running
around the entire wall. Each box, or apartment, is
divided from the next by a low iron railing, and has
its own distinct entrance and dressing and re-
freshment rooms. There are seats for eight persons in
each box. Below, the parquette covers the whole floor
THE OPERA HOUSE AND THEATER. 141
of the building, and is provided with cheap arm-chairs.
Admission to the boxes is one dollar, and to the par-
quette seventy-five cents each.
We attended one evening by invitation, and found a
well-dressed and elegant, but not large audience. A
company from Cuba gave the " Domino Azul," in good
style, and as effectively as the circumstances would ad-
mit. The singing and dialogue was in Spanish, and the
music of a national character. The audience, men and
women, left the boxes and lounged in the galleries,
chatting, and smoking cigarritos and sipping fruit-syrup
flavored drinks between the acts. The old — always
treated with great respect here — and the middle aged
and young;, occupied seats in the same boxes, and there
seemed to be no distinction on account of wealth and
dress. The opera house is badly lighted with oil
lamps suspended over each box, and the general effect
is much marred in consequence. The house yields but
six thousand dollars per annum to the city, and of
course when money is loaned at five per cent per
month, does not pay as a pecuniary investment.
On another evening we attended again, by special
invitation, the " Valley of Andorra," being given in
honor of Mr. Seward. The boxes, which are usually
occupied by the wealthy classes who lean toward Im-
perialism, were only partially filled, but there was a
large array of beauty, and the galleries were crowded
with the Republican element. The " Mochos," evi-
dently hate the men of the North, while the common
people welcome them. There are no low melodeons in
Guadalajara as with us, and with the exception of the
bull arena, there are no other places of in-door public
amusement in the city.
142 PROGRAMME FOR A SUNDAY BULL-EIGHT.
Tlie cruel and thoroughly demoralizing amusement
of bull-fighting, once the national sport of Mexico, has
been prohibited in the capital and various States, but
is still maintained in Guadalajara. Determined to see
all that was to be seen of the manners and customs of
the people at this out-of-the-way corner of the world,
we naturally inquired after the bull-fight, and were grat-
ified.^) On Saturday, a long bill, magnificently printed
in gold, on blue satin with a lace border, was sent to
our house. As a curiosity, and a memento of a custom
now, thank Heaven, fast passing away, I translated the
bill as nearly literally as possible :
BULLS 0'. e., hull-fight) IE THE PLAZA OF PROGRESS.
GRAND PERFORMANCE ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1869.
The company have arranged for this afternoon a selected and
varied performance, which will proceed in the following order :
PROGRAMME.
1. The music of the First Light Battalion, wisely directed
by Prof. Santos Hernandez, will begin to play from 3 p. m., the
best airs of his repertoire.
2. Five valiant bulls will be fought, from the well-known ha-
cienda of Cuisillos, four of which will be done to the death.
3. After the death of the fourth bull, a young bull will un-
dergo the iNovillo de Cola, which exercise will be performed by
the intelligent and agile coleador", Francisco Rodriguez.
4. Immediately thereafter another Novillo de Cola will be
performed, and the bull be ridden by the celebrated bull-rider,
Francisco Moya, and both the other coleadors. These exercises
will be done at the fullest speed, and the coleador will throw
down a bull and mount him with rapidity.
5. Other bulls will be fought by the company if the time
will permit.
Prices. — A box with six chairs, four dollars ; seats in the
AN IMMENSE AMPHITHEATER. 143
shade, fifty cents ; seats in the sun, twelve and a half cents ;
seats in chairs, twelve and a half cents extra.
Performance begins at 4 p. m., precisely.
Rules. — It is not allowed to pay money at the inner doors,
and patrons of the performance will carry their own tickets to
avoid confusion and crowding at the entrance, which would cre-
ate annoyance. The soldiers at the garrison of Guadalajara
will pay six and a quarter cents each, and will occupy the roof.
Whenever the judge shall graciously grant the bull to the
fighters, the company shall be allowed the usual gratuity in
place of the animal.
All the niorning, a party of matador 'es, picador '&s, and
their assistants, on horseback and on foot, with a band
of ninsic at their head, were parading the streets, the
clowns in grotesque costumes yelling at the top of their
voices, the praises of the " gran funcion" which was
to come off at the Plaza cle Progresso, in the after-
noon. Two of the mounted men carried a pole, on
which was arranged the banderillas, or light frame-
works of wire, in the form of palm-trees, Chinese lan-
terns, lyres, cornucopias, and other objects, each about
three feet in length, covered with long, waving strips
of gilt and tissue paper, which were to be attached to
the bulls by sharp iron barbs to drive them to mad-
ness. At the hour announced we drove to the Plaza
of Progress, and found an immense amphitheater of
stone, not less than live hundred feet in diameter, open
toward the sky, and provided with seats arranged in
five tiers, running around the entire structure, reced-
ing toward the top, until they reached the corridor
beneath which were the boxes of the aristocratic and
wealthy portion of the audience. Soldiers guard every
public place in Guadalajara, and we saw their bayo-
144 THE AKENA AND THE AUDIENCE.
nets everywhere among the crowd which surged around
the entrance and within the gates.
The roof above the grand corridor was covered with
the soldiers of the garrison, and the State Guards
in their picturesque uniforms, and the tiers of seats " in
the sun and in the shade " presented a sea of heads, the
common and poorer people fairly packing them. The
corridor was fairly filled — many ladies being present —
but I noticed that the more refined and educated por-
tion of the community did not appear, generally, to be
there. There were, at a rough estimate, at least three
thousand people in the amphitheatre. The band, of
about fifty pieces, struck up a grand march, and at the
sound of the trumpet, the company came into the arena.
They were twelve or fourteen in number. The two
matadors, men of advanced age, stout and agile, were
in ordinary vaqueros costume, with broad hats, mount-
ed on poor horses, and carried their spears, with short,
blunt ends, in their hands. The two matadores and
their assistants were all dressed in the fall; old Spanish
costumes, brilliant with gold and scarlet, knee breeches
and shoes, short jackets, and black jaunty caps.
Halting before the judges' box, the party sent two of
their number up over the barriers and tiers of seats —
as agile as cats they seemed — to exhibit to them the
banclerillas, and ask their high permission for the fight-
ing to commence, which was of course given.
In rushed from a side door, a tawny brown bull, with
wide spreading horns, the points of which had already
been sawed off about four inches, and, throwing his
head high in the air, he gave one glance around the arena
within, like a dog in play, and dashed at the nearest
man with a red mantle. The mantle was whirled quick-
A QUIET EULL AND IIIS FATE.
145
ly over the head of the wearer as the bull just reached
him, and, with a bound to one side, the youth was out of
his reach.
This bull was too young and quiet for the sport, (?)
and the handerillas were fixed in either side of his
neck by a very clever and active assistant, who bound.
ed out of the way as he threw them, just in time to
THE SUNDAY BULL-FIGIIT.
escape the horns of the animal. Still, the bull, though
throwing his head from side to side, whirling the han-
derillas around as if in sport, did not half fight, and
the red mantles flaunted in his face, and thrown at
times over his horns, only provoked him to momentary
madness. So a matadore advanced with a sharp, straight
sword, and as the bull dashed at him, made a thrust
10
146 A COWARDLY LULL ENRAGED AUDIENCE.
just forward of the shoulder to pierce his heart, the
crowd yelling to him to kill him at the first "blow.
The sword bent almost double by striking a bone, and
went wide of the mark. The matadore stopped to bend
it straight again, and meantime the now bleeding bull
dashed at one of the picadores on horseback. The pic-
adore dropped his lance so as to catch the bull on the
shoulder, and the moment the barb pierced the skin
the poor animal, as is his wont, wheeled away. This
was repeated again and again, and then the matadore
gave him half a dozen thrusts, finally reaching a vital
spot, and bowed to the judges ; the mob in the galleries
on the opposite side, rewarding his courage and skill- (?)
by hurling banana-peel, oranges, and stale vegetables
at his head whenever he came within their reach. An
assistant now struck the dying bull in the neck with a
double-edged knife, and the creature dropped dead as if
stricken by lightning. Then, three old horses, harnessed
abreast, w T ere driven in and hitched to the bleeding car-
cass, but it required the united strength of the whole
company of " artists " to assist in pulling it out.
The band played, and the second bull came dashing
in. The fight, if such it could be called, was simply a
repetition of the first. The third bull ran away from
the horses, and would only fight in self-defence, running
around the arena with his head raised as if appealing
for mercy, and the now enraged audience shouted loud
and long to " Turn him out," which was finally done by
order of the judges,
The fourth bull was a game fellow, and made things
lively. He dashed at everything within reach, and
drove the assistants ao-ain and asrain behind the bar-
riers. The populace, excited to the highest pitch of
A GAME FELLOW LIVELY TIMES. 147
enthusiasm, reached over the wall, and yelled, and
shook their great hats and ragged blankets in his face
to madden him to the utmost. He dashed at one of
the picadores, got the horse under the belly, and shook
him on his horns as he would toss a blanket. The
crowd were frantic with delight. Then he made another
dash at the same horse, and despite the vigorous prod-
ing of the picado re, caught the poor, wretched animal
in the same place, and held him on his horns until one
of them penetrated his abdomen and fatally injured
him. Notwithstanding this, the wounded horse was
ridden until the entire performance was ended. The
populace were happy. Then the bull " went for " the
other horse, caught him, and rolled horse and rider over
and over in the dirt — and the crowd roared with delight.
To tell the truth, I felt a little satisfaction myself, until
I saw the dismounted picadore unroll himself and spring
to his feet uninjured. The horse was stricken to the
death and taken away to die.
The picadores have their right legs incased in a shield
made of leather with bars of steel inside, similar to
those worn on the arms by the Chinese short-swords-
men. They invariably present that side to the bull,
and so escape injury, except in very rare cases. The
matadore gave this bull a thrust to the very heart at the
first pass of his sword, and the stricken animal stagger-
ing half around the ring, fell to his knees, and was dis-
patched in an instant. This ended the killing, though
the crowd furiously demanded another bull in place of
the third, who had proven unfit for fighting.
Then the coleadores, mounted on fine spirited horses,
dashed in, and a young bull was let out at them. They
rode at full speed along side of him, and endeavored to
148 THE BULL-RIDERS.
spring from their horses upon his back, but failed on
every occasion. Once, one of the coleadores (i. e. tail-
pullers) went down between horse and bull, and was
trampled upon by both, but not killed. This bull was
turned out and a second and more lively one let in.
He was run around and around the arena, and finally
caught by the tail and thrown to the earth by one of
the coleadores, and tied by the assistants, who held him
until a cord — or, as a Californian would say, " a cinch " —
was tied around him. Francisco Mayo then sprang
upon his back, and he was allowed to regain his feet.
The bull dashed around and around the arena, bucking
and jumping, to rid himself of his rider, but in vain ;
and so the performance ended, just as night set in.
And all this time delicate, beautiful women and little
children had been sitting in the corridors, sipping cool
drinks and looking placidly on, while they chatted on
familiar subjects with their Mends around them.
Worse than that, as I looked up at the walls of the
great Hospicio, that wonder of practical charity and be-
nevolence, I saw several of the pious Sisters of Charity,
whose holy work and holy lives we had so much admired
when we visited the institution, standing on the battle-
ments and looking down upon us. They could not see
the slaughter, but could hear and enjoy the shouts of
the populace, the music, and the moans of the tortured
animals.
This was the first bull-fight I had ever witnessed ; it
will be my last. I believe I can say, that I never
flinched from duty, however painful, and in the course
of my journalistic life, I have been called on to witness
many things of a cruel and horrible character ; but I
have never yet been guilty of wantonly torturing any
THE BONES OF THE DEAD PAST. 149
living creature, and I should loathe and despise myself
beyond measure if I felt that I could be guilty of again
witnessing such a scene. The entertainment was given
in good faith as a compliment, and accepted as such ;
but such scenes can but brutalize and demoralize a com-
munity which tolerates them, and I thank God that
enlightened public sentiment is now setting so strongly
against them, that the day is not far distant when they
will be prohibited by law in this State, as well as in
all other parts of Mexico. I have had just enough of
bull-fights for the measure of my life, be it large or
small.
Every day I staid in Guadalajara, I saw something
more to remind me of the fact that I stood among the dry
bones of the past — that the world around me was a
strange mixture and confusion of the fifteenth and nine-
teenth centuries, the ideas of each struggling for the
mastery. Utopian dreams of the future, and the savage
faith and despotism of the past, jostle and crowd each
other, day by day, and the end of the conflict is not
yet. One day, I went out to see the Indian recruits for
the Army of the Republic of Mexico, drilling on the
plaza, and, returning, saw in the distance the tower of
the ancient place of worship in the Indian village of
Tonila, in which the curious earthen structures of which
I have spoken are made. This Tonila was the capital
of the Kingdom of Jalisco, when Cortez landed in
Mexico, and there, the descendants of the fierce Aztec
warriors still reside — making clay images, while their
sons and brothers fight for the maintenance of Repub-
licanism, side by side with the descendants of the con-
quistadors.
Reaching our sumptuous quarters I found on the
I u' V \M I vKI \\ Ml li VI I
':' ' . . ' | ;■' Ml Sow M.I, ,1 I MM.- \ .'!1.M\ .'.I .1.'. U
Ml.-" w UlOU Ml MMaMM ohl Sp.MM^Il, vl M.-.l M Ml.ltwl Ml
iml -.I^IU'J Ml .1 bokl, lOltM.1 ll.Ml.l, Willi Mlk w!
•in h i\ a boon made but .i v\ v.-iv .i-.>, •• v ;
v - 1, the k-.-. ) Tins is a royal proclamation erf
rluuU-., kmo. ol" Spain, ooiuiuamliuo, iliai, thereafter, I ho
otli. d u in \ ami oi\ il administration shoulo! ab
. j- ;..,. .'(' OOlUpollino; tllO llhllMM- Ml I llO
S|Mnish Vnn-iuni rolonio .-, \ their bay nul
turuish thorn wuli pio\ on their jonrmw Without
oh i ul Ordering regular pawnonts ai t'air ratos to
I',- iM.i.K- tor thoir son u^s ihonoot'oith.
\-. -. nho.l 10 itns is a decree ot' [*0p^ rloinout \(h,
,! to In-. ■• Beloved Son in Christ, Carlo-., Caih
king ot' tho Spams" commanding ami ordering (ho
. atioi .. --.a. -mi of llu- decree b\ the aid Ml' tho clei \
This document was ti K«.l in the Custom-house of Qua
dnlajara, mi w hull, al litis day, the officers are sit'.
Collecting tho CU&tomS iluiios vMi o\or\ artiolo of goods
.1 from one hey in the ropnbli.
they Jul iu h- \ •■ imo liino oamo a oorfiti.
ot'hon.- \ tuontborship in the AoaJonu of Sciences ot'
Cmnlalajara, in w huh Ml S,» n\l is st\ led " IVtbmlor
ot' the liborts ot" the Annan
The oitoons of Cmnlalajara, without vlist "mot umi ot"
\ unitod on Saiuulav night in a grand tarowoll
ball, at tin- % * [nstitutio Jo Cionoias," in honor ot' Ml
S. w vl's \ isit, it being understood that (ho part\ w oiv
to leave on the following Tuesday for Guanajuato, Tin"
building, ot' oiu- stor\ , surrounding a tino large smoothly
navcd court yard, was boautit'ullv ami \ . \ tastefully
decorated tor tin- .-. -a, ami tho illumination v\
\ orv brilliant. The tables v\ v - m tho corridors, ami
«
I 111. i:i I I I "I ..l ADAI.A.IAI ! > J
the dancing took place in ili«- beautiful hall of the Stat*
( longress of Jalisco a Legislature, bj ili«' by, compo
<>f Ixii eleven members, a dangerously convenient num-
ber tor the formation of a "ring" which is hung with
ih<- j»<<j-iiaiis of all the early patriots of Mexico, and
paintings and < ngravings of rare merit.
'J'Ijc hall and corridors were filled \^. 1 1 1 j as line a com-
pan? as con M I/.- gathered on the Continent, and with all
due reaped to my fair countrywomen, 1 musl admit, thai
1 never saw so many beautiful ladies at a ball of the
same size in the I faited States, Tin- Ja<Ji<-> here usually
make their own dresses there is but one French mil-
liner in liiin city of ninety thousand people and exhibit
a taste in the selection of materials and <-oloi - yery rare
with us. Light gauzes, green and white, blue and
white, or rc<l, green and white, contrasted, appear to be
the fevorite,and the dresses are cut Jowat the neck ajj<l
with shori sleeves. The temptation to bring out their
brilliant black hair and lustrous eyes in Btrong contrast
l.y the use of pearl powder and rouge, i« often too
strong foi- resistance with 1 i i « - belles of Guadalajara, but
this feature is not more noticeable in one of their ball
rooms than in one of our own. They aJJ dance w<-JI,
but their parties on public occasions are less enjoyable
from the feei that introductions off-hand, are noi in
/< as with as, and a stranger may roam around all
the evening without making an acquaintance, save by
cJiaii' <
When the guests had cleared the tables of the well-
arranged collation, ai i a, m,, Setior Don Antonio G<
mez Cuervo, Governor of Jalisco, a plain, hoi out
spoken, and energetic man, who porous and una
monious shooting of brigands la^t wiukr got him
152 ELOQUENT ADDRESSES.
" impeached " before tlie National Congress, (though he
came out triumphant in the end, and returned to the
work with more vim than ever,) arose and introduced
Senor Don Juan Ignacio Matute, who read a brief ad-
dress of welcome which I translate as follows :
Hon. Wm. H. Seward : He who has given his blood, and
after forty years continued effort succeeded in abolishing Slavery
in his country, deserves well of humanity. He who aided Mexico
to conquer her independence a second time, deserves our most
cordial thanks ! He, who, full of a spirit of conciliation, after a
Titanic war, contributed to his utmost ability to the recom-
mendation of the humbled South, deserves well of his country !
The people of Jalisco, filled with the love of liberty, salute
with the greatest respect and honor, the distinguished American
citizen, William H. Seward ! May Mexico, my adored country,
following his noble example, yield a frank and prudent amnesty,
and so conserve her future prosperity and welfare. On that day
Hidalgo and Washington, rising above the shadows of the
tomb, shall join hands together, and joy shall fill the hearts of
a free people. Honor to the abolitionist of Slavery !
Alfonso Lancaster Jones, a Mexican citizen, grandson
of the founder of the Lancasterian school system, next
addressed the audience in Spanish, very eloquently and
in a scholarly manner.
Mr. Seward then spoke as follows :
Senors t Senoras : "We all are well aware, that the occupa-
tion and settlement of the southern part of the American con-
tinent anticipated, by a period of more than a century, the
occupation and settlement of the northern portion of the con-
tinent — that the former fell to the lot chiefly of the Latin
nations of Europe, and was conducted upon the priciple of an
implicit faith and confidence in the ecclesiastical and civil ideas
and institutions which prevailed throughout Europe in the
fifteenth century — that the occupation and settlement of the
MB. seward's speech axd toast. 158
northern portion of the continent fell to the lot of the German
and Sclavonic races, who were deeply moved by ideas of politi-
cal and ecclesiastical reforms. The result has been, that at the
beginning of the nineteenth century, two different, and in many
respects, antagonistical systems came face to face with each
other ; the one extending along the Atlantic coast, from the
banks of the Mississippi to the inclement regions of the north,
the other extending, unbroken and undivided, from the Missis-
sippi over the southern and western portions of the continent. The
ideas of the North have continually gained strength everywhere,
and have culminated there in republican institutions, which are
based upon the sovereignty of the people, and which guarantee,
in their highest perfection, civil and religious liberty. The
southern nations of the continent have accepted the same broad
and noble ideas, but the perfect establishment of them in a sys-
tem of republican government has encountered the resistance
of a long-cherished and powerful conservatism, animated and
sustained by European influence and intervention. The south-
ern nations, by the fidelity with which they have adhered to the
republican system through so many and such serious obstacles,
have given abundant evidence that they will ultimately and en-
tirely acquiesce and cooperate with the republican nations of the
north, so far as their institutions and laws are founded in natural
justice and equality. AVhat remains, and all that remains now
necessary, is the establishment of entire tolerance between the
North American States and the Spanish American Kepublics,
and the creation of a policy of mutual moral alliance, to the
end that all external aggression may be prevented, and that in-
ternal peace, law and order, and progress may be secured
throughout the whole continent, The people of Mexico have
not misunderstood me in my past political career : and since my
visit to Mexico, I feel encouraged more than ever, in the hope
that the intimate relations winch have been already secured,
will become permanent and perpetual. It is a satisfaction to
have learned, on my way to the Capital, that the policy and
sentiments which I expect to find prevailing there have been
fully sanctioned already by the people of the great, important.
154 RESPONSE BY GOVERNOR CUERVO.
and leading State of Jalisco. I ask you to indulge me, gentle-
men in the sentiment :
Peace, prosperity, and honor to the Governor and State of
Jalisco.
To these remarks, and the toast, Gov. Cuervo re-
sponded as follows :
As a citizen of Jalisco, as a Mexican, as an American, more
so as a free man, I cordially appreciate the splendid initiative
of the illustrious guest of Jalisco, Mr. Seward, for the creation
of the great continental American policy, so well defined by
him in the toast I have the honor to answer. As a patriot, I
will devote to the realization of that noble idea all that the in-
fluence of an honest man may ever be worth, with all the faith
inspired in me by the remembrance of its having been the
golden dream of one of the most eminent martyrs of our lib-
erty, the great Degollado. May the sisterhood of all the
American republics transform the world of Columbus into
what it must be : the home of every free man, with no other
distinctions but those imposed on all true hearted men by the
services lent to humanity. Among the citizens of that glorious
future country, our noble guest will be one of the first ; not for
the eminent service he rendered to his country in a career as long
as honorable, as a lawyer, a legislator, senator, governor, and
finally, as Secretary of State with the glorious martyr Lincoln ;
not for having been a faithful and loyal friend of Mexico in her
days of painful trial, but for a whole life, devoted to the most
noble of all causes : the absolute and unconditional emancipa-
tion of millions of slaves. God preserved him from the assas-
sin's weapon to reward him with the complete triumph of his
holy idea. Join me, gentlemen, in this sentiment r To that
citizen, whose name is his greatest pride — Mr. Seward. [En-
thusiastic applause.]
I have given these speeches, at length, as an illustra-
tion of the spirit and aspirations prevailing in this
OUR FRIENDS AT GUADALAJARA. 155
community, at this time, and as a part of the history
of the day. That these aspirations will ever be fully
realized may well be doubted ; but surely every right
thinking friend of humanity will pray that they may
be. We left the hall at 3 a. m., and on awaking at 6
o'clock a. m. found the dancing still going on.
On the following Tuesday morning, at day -break, our
luggage was packed, the escort ready, and the stage at
the door, and a host of warm-hearted friends of both
sexes, came to say farewell — kiss, and bid us God-speed
on our journey.
CHAPTER VI.
FROM GUADALAJABA TO GUANAJUATO.
TT^E left Guadalajara at 10:30 a. >r.. Tuesday, Oct.
20th, in the customarv stvle — a lar^e gmard .of
the regular cavalry of the Mexican Army in advance,
and another following in the rear. Our vehicle w, : -
capital thorough-brace coach, sent out from the City of
Mexico for our especial use, drawn by eight fine mules
and driven by George Elmore, a veteran stage-driver,
who is -aid to be the best in Mexico. Elmore was
born about forty-five years ago, at No. 187 Broadway.
Xew-York, but has lost, in outward appearance, all in-
dications of his nationality. When addressed in Eng-
lish, however, his hearty "You bet!" betrays his Cali-
fornian education at once.
Gov. Cuervo, Senor Don Juan Ignacio Matute, Senor
Don Luis Eendon, and Senor Canedo, accompanied us
as far on the way as the old, half-ruined suburban town
of San Pedro, and there took leave of us in the most
affectionate manner.
Col. Lomeli, Commander of the Guard of Jalisco,
came also to bid us adieu, and told us that on the pre-
vious evening his men had shot, and mortally wounded,
another robber, just outside the gates of the city on the
road over which we had lately passed, and that the poor
wretch was then dying. He also informed us that the
confirmation of the sentence of death upon two rob-
DEPARTURE FEOil GUADALAJARA. 157
ers then in prison at Guadalajara had arrived, and
that they would be shot immediately. Mr, Seward had
been appealed to by their father, to intercede for them
at the city of Mexico, but they were in their graves
long before we reached Guanajuato. They deserved no
sympathy.
We took leave of our old friends, who had accompa-
nied us all the way from Manzanillo, with much regret,
and shall not soon forget their kindness and constant
care for our welfare. Henceforth, we were under the
care of Senor Don Luis G. Bossero, the special commis-
sioner sent out from the City of Mexico to meet us at
Guadalajara and escort us to the capital. He is a
large, finedooking gentleman, exceedingly courteous and
polite in his manners, and speaks English with just
enough foreign accent to make his droll stories more
amusing and enjoyable.
Our baggage was loaded upon a cart drawn by four
mules, abreast, which were managed by about a
dozen retainers and servants of different degrees. Our
road, all day for thirty miles, led us over a broken, hilly
country, something like Central New York in appear-
ance, and almost entirely devoted to cattle raising.
The few small villages through which we passed were
all inhabited by very poor people, of Indian descent,
and the country generally seemed to be in keeping.
The whole country is underlaid with ancient and par-
tially decomposed lava, and the roads, though hard
enough at the bottom, were fearfully rough. Our bag-
gage-cart was repeatedly stalled or overturned, and one
of the mules had his leg broken, and was turned out to
die by the roadside.
A few miles out from Guadalajara, we crossed the
158 ANCIENT BRIDGE OVER THE RIO GRANDE.
Rio Grande de Santiago, the outlet of Lake Chapala,
upon a stone bridge of some nineteen arches. This
bridge is one of the remarkable structures erected by
the old Spaniards, and looks as if it might stand for
many centuries more. At either end of the bridge are
statues of the king and queen of Spain who were reign-
ing when the bridge was erected, but so worn and de-
faced by time as to be unrecognizable. The stone tab-
lets on which the records of the erection and other facts
about the bridge were engraved, have all been plastered
over with cement to deface and destroy them, for some
reason not apparent. The only date I could decipher
was 1718, and that appeared to refer to a repair instead
of the erection of the structure. No one living in the
vicinity could give us any data concerning it.
The falls of this river, a few miles below where we
crossed, are said to compare, not unfavorably, with those
of Niagara, but we did not see them.
We staid at Zapotlanejo, a curious old town of four
or five thousand inhabitants, on our first night out from
Guadalajara. A deputation of the citizens, on horse-
back, met us outside the town, and escorted us in.
They are very poor, but wonderfully hospitable people.
The houses have in many cases barricades upon the
roofs, reminders of the former revolutions and inva-
sions ; and the remarkable number of fair-haired and
fair-skinned children to be seen on the streets, tell
the same story. A fine band welcomed us, the citi-
zens made speeches in the evening, and were an-
swered by Mr. Seward ; and a concert by native Mexi-
cans, all excellent players, the harper being blind,
closed the evening's entertainment. The town has a
fine old church, at present under repair, and stands
SCENE OF HIDALGO'S DEFEAT. 159
in a small but fertile valley, surrounded by cane, corn,
and rice fields. We left Zapotlanejo on the morning of
Oct. 27th, to ride thirty-two miles to Tepotitlan, a
town of from five to eight thousand people. Our roads
had been bad enough in all conscience before, but they
grew worse and worse as we advanced, and the night
rains grew heavier. This day's travel was the hardest
we had yet experienced.
Nine miles beyond Zapotlanejo we-crossed the Bridge
of Calderon, a stone structure, spanning a deep but
narrow arroyo. It was here that the Padre Hidalgo,
the Washington of Mexico, with eighty thousand men,
all Indians, armed with bows and arrows, and a few
wooden cannon which burst at the first fire, attacked
the Spaniards, in January 1811. The Spaniards were
not a tenth as strong, numerically, but they were well
armed, and all the desperate valor and enthusiasm of
the Indians went for naught. The poor fellows rushed
up to the Spanish cannons and pushed their hats into
them to prevent their going oif. So little did they
know of the use and power of artillery. They were
mowed down by thousands, and broke and fled at last
in utter rout, leaving Hidalgo to make his way to Chi- -
huahua, where he was betrayed into the hands of his
enemies, sent to Guanajuato, tried, condemned, and exe-
cuted.
The soil in this vicinity is a dark red earth, which
resembles that of the gold belt of the Sierra Nevada,
and is tenacious to the last degree when wet up by the
rains, and worked into brick material by the wheels of
vehicles. We passed during this day, a poor little
village at which the butcher Kojas captured eighty
men — all the able-bodied male population of the vi-
160
GUTIEKREZ, THE TEliltOE OF JALISCO.
cinity — and murdered them all in cold blood, some
years since.
One of the most fearful brutes who ever infested the
roads of Jalisco, was Simon Gutierrez, whose band was
exterminated by the
State troops in the
Spring of 1869. Gu-
tierrez took refuge
in the city of Gua-
dalajara, and when
his hiding place was
discovered, (beneath
a floor,) jumped into
the middle of the
troops, with a re-
volver, and fought
until they riddled
him. His body was
propped up in a chair
and exhibited three
days in front of the
prison on the Plaza,
as shown in the picture, and crowds went to see it and
make sure that the terror of Jalisco, for so many years,
was dead, indeed, at last.
The poor people, all along the road, eke out a misera-
ble living by selling a few small fruits, frijoles, tortillas,
etc. etc., to travelers. I found one old fellow sitting on
a stone by the roadside, miles from any habitation, with
about a half-bushel of the nasty, little fruit resembling
our northern "mandrake," or May-apple, called the
guava — pronounced " guyava " — from which the guava
jelly of commerce is made. I asked kim how much
THE TEKKOK OF JALISCO.
THE GEATEFUL MERCHANT.
161
lie would take for his whole establishment, stock in
trade, basket, plates, and all. After a nice calculation,
he decided that it was worth all together fully twenty-
five cents, I paid him the money and made him distrib-
ute the fruit among the escort which just then came up ;
there was about enough to give them all the cholic
for a
week.
Sud-
denly,
an idea,
suggest-
e d b y
my reck-
less lib-
erality,
struck
him
with
great
force.
Was I
not the
grande hombre from the Mstados Unidos del Norte f I
had not the heart to deny it ; then he fell on his knees,
kissed my hand, and said that he had heard of me often,
and now thanked God that he had been permitted to
live to see me face to face. I had intended to break
the plates and basket, and " bust up " the shop ; but
his devotion saved him, and I gave them back to him
and made him a friend of the Americans for life. It is
pleasant to do good at so small an expense.
On our second night out from Guadalajara, we staid
11
THE GRATEFUL GUAVA MERCHANT.
162 THE ANCIENT TOWN OF TEPOTITLAN.
at Tepotitlan. It was 9 o'clock in the evening when
we entered this ancient town, escorted by the citizens
with torches, while bells rang a tremendous peal, and
a brass band played the national airs. We had a good
dinner at the house of the curate of the town, and
though our baggage did not arrive until two in the
morning, we were provided with good beds and comfort-
able quarters, furnished by these kind-hearted people.
The city contains from five to six thousand people and
four churches. They repair the churches, and let
everything else go to ruin. The people are mostly far-
mers, in a small way, and very poor. This year their
crops were nearly an utter failure, and they appeared
down-hearted.
We found here an American physician, Dr. John
Hush, nephew of the famous Philadelphia physician
of that name, and R. E. Armstrong, a resident of San
Francisco, traveling with his family for their health.
Dr. Rush served as surgeon in the 1st West Tennessee
(colored) Volunteers, during the Rebellion, under Gen.
Thomas. The town has its plaza, with public fountains
in the center, and all towns in this country have. The
streets, once well paved, are going to ruin.
Next morning, we drove until the middle of the
day, over a poor, open, hilly, and mostly barren and
uncultivated country, and then came in sight of the
quaint, old city of Jalos, far below us in a tree-embow-
ered valley.
This is a well-built little city of six thousand inhab-
itants, standing in a narrow Canada, wholly hidden
until you come upon the brow of the hill from which
we first saw it. It has a magnificent old church, in
fine repair, and many beautiful private residences,
GREAT EXCESS OF WOMEN. 163
painted outside and inside in brilliant fresco. How
the people all live I cannot imagine. As we entered
the city the bells were ringing a joyous peal, and a
band playing as usual. A fine house had been pre-
pared for us upon the plaza, but as we did not pro-
pose to remain over night, we drove on, and lunched
privately at the residence of a friend of Senor Bossero.
As we passed through the streets a large party of
school-boys met us, and at a sign from one of their
number, all went down on their knees, on the cobbles,
holding their hats in their hands.
The people, as we advanced eastward, became more
white, and blue eyes and fair hair were not uncom-
mon. The number of women was vastly in excess of
the men, and, of course, lawful marriage is out of the
question with the great number of the poor girls of
the towns. They are human, and, as they cannot
marry, is it a wonder that they sin ? Nearly every
girl among the lower orders, from fourteen years old
upward, whom we saw as we passed along, had a
child in her arms. I never saw so little corn, and so
many children to the acre.
That night, we staid at Venta de Los Pagarros,
twenty-four miles from Tepotitlan. Senor Perez, the
owner of this great hacienda-, which is twenty miles
long, and has forty thousand head of stock upon it,
has owned the property two years He bought
it when nobody else dared occupy it on account of the
robbers. His house is literally a fortress, impregnable
to all but heavy artillery. He organized his neighbors
at once into a military corps, and commenced a war of
extermination against the robbers. In an hour, he can
rally two hundred well-armed men, and as soon as a
164
GEEAT CENTKAL PLATEAU OF MEXICO.
band is heard of, they start for them, hunt them down,
and shoot them all like dogs, making no prisoners. In
this way he has restored peace to the neighborhood,
VENTA DE LOS PAGARROS.
and is building up a town around him, already. He
and his band have killed about eighty robbers within
two years.
From this point the country grows still more broken,
being cut up with deep arroyos, canons and barrancas.
The mountains in the distance are nearly all bare of
timber, save a few mesquite trees, and the country has
the general appearance of Western Texas along the
southern edge of the great Llano Estacado. We
were now ascending all the time, and had reached
an altitude of about six thousand feet above the sea.
We had left the orange, palm, banana, and other fruits,
and all the flowers of the tropics behind us, and were
upon the Great Central Plateau of Mexico. The
ST. JOHN" OF THE LAKES. 165
scenery is mostly tame, and the country poor, and com-
paratively uninteresting.
Just as a heavy shower came upon us, we met the
deputation of mounted citizens from San Juan de Los
Lagos or " St. John of the Lakes," and dashing down a
long, winding, well-paved grade, into a deep Canada,
and over a high, well-built stone bridge, entered that
substantial-looking city. A splendid house was pro-
vided for the company, and, as usual, we found that
the family, having placed it at our disposal, had left it
entirely themselves.
The District Judge, a young man, apparently of
twenty-five years, who has the power of life and death
over forty thousand people — there is no jury system
here, and no appeal in criminal cases, though sentence
of death passed by him must be confirmed by the Su-
preme Court of Mexico before it is finally executed —
with the Political Prefect, and others, was in attend-
ance to welcome Mr. Seward, and to see that the party
wanted nothing. They told us that they had shot
many robbers of late, but that there were still a num-
ber of very skillful ones in the vicinity.
Here and at Jalos, for the first time, we saw fences
made on the simplest possible plan, from the great or-
gan o cactus. This cactus is eight-sided, and shoots up
straight as an arrow, from ten to twenty-five feet in
height, and five to eight inches in thickness. They cut
the cactus into sections of the rio-ht length, stick the
cut end into a trench, cover the dirt around it to the
depth of a foot, and the fence is made. The pieces are
set as closely together as possible, and, as they take
root and grow for centuries, the fence improves with
age, instead of going to decay like other fences. The
166
GREAT CHURCH OF SAN JUAN.
nopal or prickly pear grows to perfection here, and the
aloe or century plant, as well, or better, than in the
tierra caliente. The town stands in a deep caSada,
and a few inferior orange trees grow in the court-yards
on the sunny side. Wheat grows well in this vicinity,
and the flour, too, is excellent, almost equal to that of
California, and much superior to that of the Atlantic
States.
Looking up from the plaza, I gazed in silent admira-
tion at the magnificent
cathedral finished
within one week of
one hundred years
before — they were
making the most exten-
sive preparations for
celebrating the centen-
nial anniversary — and
the finest I had seen in
Mexico, not even ex.
cepting that of Gua.
dalajara. Its two
graceful towers,
wrought and carved
with elaborate rich-
ness, to the very sum-
mit, from the beautiful
pink lava rock of which the whole structure is built, are
each two hundred and ten feet in height, and the main
building is two hundred and ten feet long. The grand
dome is covered with brilliant tiles in mosaic, and the
vaulted roof, of solid masonry, is at least seventy-five
feet above the floor.
CnURCH OF SAN JUAN.
WHAT I SAW IN IT. 167
In the basement, I descended eight wide stone steps,
all cut from a single piece of stone, and in the sacristy
saw the tomb of the projector of the cathedral, who
died four years before its completion, and numer-
ous magnificent and valuable old paintings. One
is a picture of the Virgin, which performs miracles
daily. Around this picture are hundreds of votive of-
ferings, in the shape of others, illustrating the miracles
performed by the Virgin in behalf of the persons offering
them. Some of these were ludicrous in the extreme.
Entering the main building, I saw graceful columns
in pale green and gold, supporting the fretted arched
roof in the same colors, a magnificent altar in marble
and silver, a chapel with a shrine of silver, and count-
less pictures and images, and decorations of barbaric
richness. The rich notes of a superb organ resounded
through the building, priests in gorgeous vestments
mumbled the morning services, and incense filled the
air. Gold and silver, satin and gilding, met the eye on
every side, and the scene at first glance was one of be-
wildering beauty.
But I looked around me and saw men and women,
barefooted and in rags, come creeping over the wet
flagging of the wide yard, and down the long aisle
Upon their knees, some of them carrying lighted can-
dles to offer at the shrine in fulfillment of vows made
when the assistance of the Virgin was greatly needed,
or groveling on the flagging at the doors ; and I glanced
from the sleek priests, who take in sixty thousand dol-
lars per annum from votive offerings, to the poor
wretches who toil for it and give it, and I went out
with more of bitterness than satisfaction in my heart.
At the door I saw a conspicuously posted list of
163 LAGOS AND ITS CHUECHES.
the names of those who had during the month offered
wax-candles at the shrine. Four-fifths of those who
offered these candles and paid the price, had tortilla*
plain, or an ear of boiled corn for their dinner, dirty
rags for clothing, and the earth for a bed. God
be thanked, the last great temple of any faith has been
built on earth from the sweat and blood of the toiling
millions, and these things shall not be for all time.
From San Juan de los Lagos we proceeded, on the
30th of October, to Lagos, thirty-six miles eastward to-
ward Guanajuato, arriving at 5 p. m. Here we had in-
tended to remain all night and go on at sunrise ; but
of the three carts conveying om* bedding and extra
luggage, only one got through before morning, the oth-
ers being out all night in a driving rain, and stuck fast,
in the mud and darkness. This delayed us so that we
were compelled to pass the day in the handsome house
which the citizens, who met us in carriages outside the
city, had placed at the disposal of the party.
The city of Lagos has a population of all hues and
ages, estimated at eighteen thousand, and of course
supj)orts half a dozen churches, whose bells keep up
an incessant dhior-donaino; from morning to nisjht. The
finest of these is the Parochial Church, an immense
structure, larger even than the cathedral at San Juande
los Lagos, built on the same plan, and only second to it
in costliness and elegance. It was founded in 1784, and
the sj)ires of cut stone, like those at San Juan, are as
yet only two-thirds finished ; they are still at work
upon them. The interior is exquisitely beautiful, with
pale blue and gold ceilings, carvings and statuary, tiled
floor, and vaulted fretwork roof. The congregation, as-
sembled at the early morning mass, are even more
A WELL-PRESERVED ROMAN. 169
ragged and devout than that at San Juan ; hardly a
single representative of the richer and better educated
classes being present.
The specialty of this church is its Saint. I forget
his name, but the record posted on the Avails shows
that he was a Roman soldier who suffered martyrdom
for his faith (Christian, of course, though that is not
stated,) in Rome, so the record affirms. His body was
found by miracle, A. D., 901, preserved as if he were
but just defunct, and he was canonized as a saint.
From Rome the body was carried to Spain, and from
thence brought to Lagos and placed on the altar with
the Bishop' s own hands eighty years ago. The body is
inclosed in a magnificent casket about five feet long, by
three broad, and four high, with sides of glass, and
corners and top of richly gilded metal. As a special
favor to Mr. Seward, the doors before the casket, as it
stands in the wall, were opened, and we went up and
looked into it, while hundreds of awe-stricken Avorship-
ers knelt and crossed themselves in silent adoration.
From a close inspection of this remarkably well-pre-
served specimen, I am able to draw the following con-
clusions : First, that the ancient Roman soldiers were
about four feet, eight or nine inches in height — not over
five feet — allowing a fair margin for shrinkage ; second,
that they had no beard, and their faces were as delicate
as that of a girl ; third, that they had wax teeth, fin-
ger and toe-nails, and cuticle on hands, face, and shins,
and wore gilt pasteboard tunics, and coats of mail, silk
stockings, and fancy bootees. I respect every man's
religion, and mean no disrespect for this illustrious de-
ceased as a saint, but as a soldier I cannot refrain from
the remark, that if he was in life a fair specimen of the
170 SCENES IN THE MAKKET PLACE.
Roman troops, I would back the National Guard, Capt.
Ben Pratt, of San Francisco, or the MacMahon Guard,
Gen. Cazneau, of the same place, to give odds and
knock the starch out of the entire phalanx. Of course
such men could as bravely die for their faith as if they
weighed three hundred pounds, and measured six feet
two inches in their stocking-feet, each ; nevertheless, I
am no longer surprised at the overthrow of Rome by
the Goths and Vandals, since I have seen what kind of
righting stock they had.
One thing is apparent in these churches of Central
Mexico, at the first glance, viz, : that the people who
come there to worship are in earnest, and not hypocrites
or doubters. They accept the whole faith as it is taught
them, without hesitation or mental reservation, and
never seek to evade its responsibilities, or hide the fact
of their faith when in the presence of unbelievers. For
that I honor them above many of my own countrymen
and countrywomen.
Sunday is the great market-day in Lagos, and no
sooner is morning service over than the two j)lazas and
the streets between them swarm with buyers and sell-
ers. Venders of peanuts, peppers, yams, vegetables,
bread, tortillas, and fruits of all descriptions, raise enor-
mous lunbrellas, in shape exactly like those of the Chi-
nese, covered with matting, and ten or twelve feet
across, upon stout poles, spread out their little stocks
on the pavement, and hour after hour cry their wares,
announcing in a loud voice how much of any given
thing they sell for a claquo or quwtilla, a cent or three
cents. Earthenware, charcoal, sugar, salt, and other
goods are sold in one plaza, dry goods in another, and
beef in little shops on a street between the two. Men
A MULISH FREAK. 171
with piles of rehosas on their shoulders, walk up and
down among the crowd, and others, with brilliant-hued
serapes and ponchos, hang their goods against the walls,
while young girls and old women, nearly all with in-
fants at their breasts, sit on the curb-stones and sell hot
soups, etc., from jars, for half a cent a bowl.
We left Lagos Nov. 1, for a thirty-six mile ride to
Leon, being led to expect a fine ride and easy trip. To
cut off three or four blocks, the driver avoided the fine ?
new bridge and drove directly into the river, which
came up to the body of the stage and was quite rapid
and broad. The mules, suspicious of the security of the
bottom, baulked in the middle of the stream, and not
all the lashing by a half-dozen volunteer cocheros and
postilions, and curses and blasphemy enough to sink a
ship, would start them a foot. We were taken off in
boats, and no sooner were we landed than we saw the
pig-headed mules start up of their own free will and
walk majestically ashore. Perhaps their hides did not
suffer for that freak.
Then we entered a broad alameda lined with immense
trees of the variety known farther north as the Califor-
nia pepper tree, but here as the Peruvian, which has
drooping limbs and foliage, giving it the graceful ap-
pearance of the w r eeping willow, and is at this season
covered with long clusters of bright red berries which
inclose the pungent black pepper grains. This alameda
is flanked by ditches inclosing cultivated fields, which
are higher than the road. Of course we found it a river
of mud and water, and almost impassable.
We had not gone a mile before we found our three
luggage cars which had started before daylight all down
in the mud and unloaded. Pleasant prospect indeed !
172 ARRIVAL AT LEON.
After more than three miles of flounderino; in the mud,
running along the embankments, and climbing in and
out of the stage, we reached higher ground at noom
and went on more comfortably, over an open, rolling
country wholly devoted to stock raising, until we
reached the boundary of the State of Jalisco, and en-
tered the State of Guanajuato, nine miles from Leon.
Just at this point, we saw a body of troops moving
along the road in advance of us. When they discov-
ered us, they made off at full speed and disappeared.
A mile further on, I saw some of them peeping at us
from behind a stone wall, and we subsequently learned
that in order to give an appearance of perfect safety, to
the road — our regular escort left us at Lagos, and re-
turned to Guadalajara — they had been instructed to
keep out of our sight entirely, and we were to travel
through the State of Guanajuato without any apparent
escort.
Seven miles from Leon we came out upon the summit
of a range of broken hills, and looked down into a
lovely valley, highly cultivated, tilled with fields of
green, growing grain, and tall ripe maize, and dotted
here and there with rich and beautiful, white- walled
haciendas.
Entering the city, we found, for the first time in our
journey, no deputation with carriages waiting to re-
ceive the party, and drove directly to the magnificent
house just finished and beautifully furnished for the oc-
casion — fronting on the grand plaza — which had been
prepared for us. The Prefecto Politico of Leon, Col.
Rosado, and a deputation of the ayuntamiento, called
at once to say that they had not received the telegram
announcing the departure of Mr. Seward from Lagos,
THE CITY AND THE PEOPLE. 173
and that we had arrived many hours sooner than ex-
pected, which accounted for the apparent neglect to send
out carriages to meet the coach.
This city, during the war, under the wise administra-
tion of Gen. Doblado who tolerated all classes who
obeyed the laws, irrespective of Republican or Imperi-
alist tendencies, gained largely in population, and is
now one of the most prosperous, or least unprosperous
towns in the country. The population of the city
proper is eighty-two thousand, or two thousand more
than that of Guadalajara, and the smaller towns in the
suburbs swell the population of the municipality to one
hundred thousand or more. There are very few rich
families, most of the people being tradesmen, boot-mak-
ers, saddlers, hat-makers, rebosa and serape weavers,
workers in metal, etc., etc. There are many pure white
families, and the average complexion of the population
is much lighter than in the towns nearer the Pacific
coast.
The country around has been much afflicted with
robbers, but Col. Rosado, acting vigorously in conjunc-
tion with other State and Federal authorities, is fast
thinning them out. Only a month or two since he dis-
covered the existence of a band of seventy of these
gentry in a cave near the road to Guanajuato, tele-
graphed to the three principal towns in the vicinity, or-
ganized a simultaneous attack upon them, and captured
them all at a blow. He took his share of the captives
to Leon, and tried and shot them ; but those taken to
some of the other towns were, after some ceremony, set
free, probably to resume the practice of their profession.
The town appears very orderly, and is well and com-
pactly built. It has some old convent buildings, now
174 DISCOUNTING A MIRACLE.
converted into free schools, and one immense church,
and several minor ones. I was disappointed in these
churches. The largest has beautiful colored glass me-
morial windows, the pictures being of the highest grade
of merit, and many rich paintings, but otherwise it
does not equal that at San Juan de los Lagos, and the
others are comparatively poor affairs, very old, and not
in the best of repair.
Apropos of churches, I must relate an incident which
recently occurred here. Two robbers had been arrested
by the authorities, and they — the robbers — threw
themselves upon the protection of the new saint of the
place, for whose canonization sixty thousand dollars in
coin, wrung from the hard and stinted earnings of the
laboring poor had just been forwarded by the Bishop
of Leon to Home, who, probably from a fellow-feeling,
and possibly old association, so interested himself in
their behalf, that the hearts of the authorities were
moved and they were discharged without trial. The
priests at once seized upon this fact as a miracle, and
played for all there was on the board. They issued a
pamphlet or tract, setting forth the details of the miracle,
and rudely illustrated for the edification of the faithful.
But, alas, they had crowed before they were fairly out
of the woods, and the result was discouraging. Col.
Rosado, who is an educated man, and appears to have
a prejudice against saints and highway robbers being
allowed to work together, immediately re-arrested the
two robbers, tried, convicted, and shot them, thus
spoiling the miracle, and causing the impression to go
abroad in the community that even sixty thousand dol-
lar saints will not always do to gamble on.
When we entered Leon, the Feast of All-Saints was
THE FEAST OF ALL-SAINTS. 175
in full blast. The plaza is large and very beautiful,
being surrounded by a handsome iron railing, flanked
with tall, heavy-foliaged fresno trees, and paved with
little cobbles in a beautiful mosaic, filled with beautiful
flowers, and has a very large and elegant fountain in
the center. The municipal palace, the handsomest
building of the kind, exteriorly, which we had seen in
Mexico, and other public buildings, and rows of stores
with broad-arched portals, front this plaza. During
the fekst the broad sidewalk around the plaza is wholly
given up to the sale of articles peculiar to the occasion.
It is the custom of the country to distribute bon-bons,
confectionery made into every conceivable form in imi-
tation of birds, beasts, fishes, men, angels, devils, &c,
&c.j richly gilded and elaborately ornamented, among
all one's friends, and especially among the children.
Around the entire plaza was a row of stalls constructed
of light matting and cloth, tastefully decorated with
colored curtains and flowers, devoted exclusively to the
sale of this confectionery and dtdces, and attended by
women old and young. Beyond the sidewalk was
another row of stalls devoted to the sale of wax-candles
of all lengths from six inches to six feet for offerings
at the church altars.
When evening set in, the crowd which surged around
the plaza became so dense that it was almost impossi-
ble to pass through it, and when the lamps were lighted,
and the military band played its most inspiring airs,
the scene, as we looked down upon it from the balcony
of our house, was the most animated and brilliant we
had ever seen in Mexico. At about 9^ p. m. the com-
mon and partly-dressed people began to thin out, and
the richer and more pretentious came in to make their
176 LEON BY LAMP-LIGHT.
purchases, sit on the benches, or promenade Tip and
down. In company with Mr. Burgess, an American
photographer resident here, Mr. Fitch and myself walked
around in the crowd for some time. The booth-keepers
cried their wares — fair women, old men and women,
and children in rags or tastefully dressed, walked up
and down, young men in broad sombrei^os and gorgeous
serapes lounged around in groups, beggars, blind, rag-
ged, filthy, and hideous, groveled on the pavement of
the street and yelled forth their wants, and incessantly
discoursed on the blessedness of giving in charity;
while the church bells sent forth their clangor until the
whole air was filled with a surging ocean of sound.
We were lost in the crowd, and admiration of the
scene. Just then a party of tall young men, hustled
us, and I, having had doubt, from the start, of the safety
of money and valuables, which to a considerable extent
I carried on my person, got on the outside. Unsus-
pecting Mr. Fitch, conscious of his own rectitude, and
suspecting no one else, kept on a few seconds, and then
suddenly discovered that the pocket in the skirt of his
coat behind had been cut out, and he was minus a
handkerchief, two pair of old kid gloves, and a pocket
guide to Spanish conversation, which, if it proves as
great a curse to the thief as it had been to the owner,
will have a tendency to cause him to abstain from
stealing for the remainder of his life. Our party ad-
journed at once to the house, determined to retire for
the night in the best order possible.
Next morning I went out alone, and found the church-
es, as usual, filled with devout worshipers — even the
pavement outside was covered with kneeling devotees.
At one of them the janitor was just passing around a
CHARITY MISCONSTRUED. 177
deep copper plate, in which he had collected about a
quart of claquos and quartillas / there was not a single
silver or gold coin in the lot. As he looked significant-
ly at me, I dropped an American dime into the plate.
Looking back a few minutes later, I saw him standing
by the corner of the church, outside, biting the dime,
and regarding me with evident suspicion. He undoubt-
edly thought that I had been palming counterfeit coin on
the Church. I do not allow any man to misinterpret
my motives, and henceforth I give nothing but copper.
The city of Leon is compactly built, and in all the
central part of the town the inhabitants cultivate flow-
ers in the patios or court-yards, and more especially
upon terraces and on the roofs of their houses. From
the observatory upon our house I looked down upon
the city, and saw one vast garden of brilliant flowers,
thus cultivated in tall urns of fancifully fashioned earth-
enware. Such, on a larger scale, were the famous
" Hanging Gardens " of Nineveh. The custom is a pleas-
ant one, and greatly contributes to the enjoyment of
life in a crowded city. Leon has about the climate of
San Francisco at this season — the first of November —
and the average temperature here is said to be from
sixty to eighty degrees all the year round. The finest
tropical fruits do not 'flourish here, but oranges, and
some other fruits, such as are cultivated with success
in the vicinity of Los Angelos, California, grow in
great luxuriance.
As I have previously stated, we had left our military
escort behind at Lagos, in the State of Jalisco, Sefior
Bossero having been assured by telegraph that the
road was perfectly secure. Eighteen miles from Leon
we stopped to change mules, and Mr. Seward, Mr. Fitch,
12
178 NARKOW ESCAPE FROM BANDITS.
and Mr. Burgess, who had accompanied us from Leon,
were walking a mile or thereabouts in advance, not
suspecting any danger, while I rode forward upon a sad-
dle-horse loaned me by Mr. Burgess. The stage had
been delayed by our first upset, which had no more
serious consequences than the landing of Mr. Seward's
colored servant in a nice, healthy nopal, or prickly-pear
plant, the spines of which will stay with him long after
his return to the United States, and we were some fifteen
or twenty minutes behind time.
Just then we saw a detachment of Mexican cavalry,
some twenty-five in number, coming toward us. When
they saw the party they ranged themselves in double
line to salute. We had almost reached them when one
of their number, who had been scouting along in a
corn-field, some distance from the road, raised a shout,
and in an instant the whole party dashed off into the
corn at full galloj), unslinging their carbines ready for
action as they went. I rode after them, anxious to find
out the cause of this sudden stampede, and saw one of
them rise up like a circus-rider and stand upright on
his saddle. He descried something in another direc-
tion, and with a yell, the squad changed its course and
dashed off with redoubled speed. A few minutes
later I saw a party of men in dark clothing, running
over a high ridge a mile away beyond a ravine, making
for a timbered mountain in the south-west, and in five
minutes more the white caps of the troops could be
seen darting in and out among the mesquite trees in
close pursuit.
We watched them until they disappeared in the dis-
tance, and then rode on, saying little, but each " think-
ing a heap." Had the stage not been delayed by the
THE MINES 0E LA LUZ. 17 ( J
upset, or had the soldiers arrived fifteen minutes later
— well, I will not pursue the subject further, as it is
unprofitable ; but if we did not have a narrow escape
from falling into the hands of the party of high-toned
gentlemen who were laying for us in that corn-field, I
am a sinner. I am always grateful for hospitalities,
but in this case, am more than willing to take the
will for the deed. As I s£iw the flying bandito and
the pursuing troops disappear, I, for the first time,
fully appreciated the force of the quotation:
" Tis distance lends enchantment to the view."
All day we were in sight of the range of treeless
mountains, on the summit of which are situated the
famous mines of La Luz, which occupy a position
not unlike that of those on the the top of Treasure
Hill, at Treasure City, in the White Pine district,
Nevada. We could see vast piles of quartz, probably
low grade ores, upon the mountain side. These ores,
hundreds of thousands of tons in amount, cannot
now be worked to advantage, owing to the heavy
taxes on bullion, and to the cost of beneficiating
them; but in time they will yield a vast amount of
treasure under more favorable circumstances. The
mountains in which the silver mines of Guanajuato
are situated, resemble those in which the famous Corn-
stock Lead of Nevada is found, and the situation of
the City of Guanajuato is not unlike that of Virginia
City, and Gold Hill, the elevation being not less than
five or six thousand feet, apparently, above the level of
the sea.
On our road to Siloa, and when still some miles
from the town, we saw a party of laborers from some
of the little hamlets which dot the country around,
180 A TOUCHING AND CHARACTERISTIC SCENE.
carrying a sick and dying man in a litter to the town
that he might receive spiritual consolation in his last
moments. They were all evidently of the humbler
class, but neatly and cleanly dressed, and the delicate
care with which they bore their dying companion along
the rough and toilsome road was touching to observe.
The day was very hot, and the labor of carrying the
heavy litter by no means a trifling one ; but each quietly
took his place and assisted to bear the burden when
his turn came without a word, and while a part were
sustaining the load upon their shoulders, the others
fanned the sufferer or held water to his parched and fe-
verish lips. Probably each man in the party had lost
a day's labor which he was ill able to spare, and con-
tributed something from his scanty means besides,
towards defraying the expenses of making the last
hours of their friend and companion as comfortable as
possible.
This kindness and consideration for the sick and un-
fortunate is characteristic of the people of Mexico, and
notably so of the humbler classes. The poorest family
in the land will share its last meal with the sick or the
stranger, and when there is not a mouthful of food in
the house — as is too often the case — will still give you
" a cup of cold water in the name of Jesus," and some
kind words of regret and apology for not being able
to do more.
Passing through the dilapidated old town of Salado,
or Siloa (pronounced Salow,) where we saw a church
bearing an inscription which shows that it was erected
in 1739, when New York contained fifteen thousand
people, we entered the foot-hills of the mountains of
Guanajuato.
CHAPTER VII.
GUANAJUATO, AND BENEATH IT.
LpROM a height three miles from the City of Guana-
juato, just as the sun was sinking behind the moun-
tains in the west, we looked down on what appeared to
be three separate towns situated in a deep ravine or
canon. The tall spires of the Cathedral of Guanajuato,
glowing like gold in the red sunlight, were the con-
spicuous feature of the main and central city. Enter-
ing the canon, we rode for two miles along the narrow
bed of a tortuous little stream, whose waters, having
done duty in all the silver reduction or beneficiating
haciendas of the district, were clogged and thick with
the residuum of the pulverized quartz which they were
bearing away into the valley.
The town of Marfil, which is wholly supported by
the beneficiating works which constitute its sole indus-
try, lines the banks of this stream on either side, and
the different haciendas, each of which is surrounded by
a high wall, and capable of being defended against at-
tack by a strong force, give it the appearance of one
vast fortress. The houses are all hidden by the walls,
which come down to the bed of the stream, and we
hardly saw a human being in all this ride.
Passing, at last, an ancient tower, of a quaint pat-
tern, constructed by the Spaniards for raising water,
looking like a relic of the days of the Crusaders, we
182 THE TRIPLE CITY.
arrived at the lower portion of the city of Guanajuato,
and found a delegation of officers waiting, with car.
riages, to escort Mr. Seward to the magnificent new
house, completely furnished throughout, which had
been prepared for the reception of the party. The
keys were handed to him as soou as we had entered,
and the committee then, considerately, bid us good-
night, and left us to dine and retire to rest.
Guanajuato impressed us with an idea of permanence
and comparative prosperity rather unusual in this part
of the country, in spite of its greatly reduced popula-
tion, its languishing industries, and its suburban mining
towns deserted and tumbling into ruins. It has many
beautiful private residences, which cannot be excelled in
comfort, extent, and elegance, in any part of the United
States, and many still wealthy and aristocratic families
of pure, or nearly pure, Castilian descent. The city,
proper, runs along on the steep hill-sides on either side
of a very narrow and tortuous ravine or canon over a
mile in length ; and the streets are narrow, crooked,
and very steep. There are only two streets at the bot-
tom of the caiiion which admit of a carriage being driven
over them at any speed, although all of them are most
beautifully paved with small cobbles, generally in mo-
saic. The houses on the back streets, of course, rise
above each other in successive terraces, like stairs, and
each, in turn, affords a fine view of the back-yards and
private portions of the residences next below.
At the upper end of the canon, Senor Rocha, one of
the oldest residents of Guanajuato, a few years since,
built three large dams of solid masonry, beautifully
constructed and tastefully ornamented, to collect the
waters of the little stream which trickles down there
SEiNOK ROCIIA AND HIS RESERVOIRS.
183
from the mountain side ; and from the reservoirs thus
created, the people of the entire city, and mills below
are supplied. At the commencement of the rainy sea-
son, in June, the flood-gates are opened, and the pent
up waters which have been accumulating for a year, are
allowed to flow out in a rushing river, which surges
through the canon, and washes everything clean, be-
fore it ; the reservoirs are then cleansed and repaired.
Here for the first time in Mexico, we missed the women
at the plaza
fountai n s ,
and the
donke y-
driving
water-carri-
ers, and
drew fresh
water from
the hy-
drants.
Senor
Rochahasa
concessi o n
for the sup-
plying of
the city
with water
THE RESERVOIRS AND PROMENADE.
for twenty
years, and will be able to repay himself for his vast
outlay. He has also built terraced promenades and
seats all around the reservoirs, and thus furnished Gu-
anajuato with one of the great requisites of a Mexi-
can city, a place of social public resort for its popula-
184 EL BUFF A.
tion at evening and morning ; lie has fine natural taste,
and has made the peculiar architecture best fitted for
this country and climate, a thorough study ; and when-
ever he sees a man about to build a house of any pre-
tension, he at once offers to superintend its entire con-
struction, free of charge.
Above the city, not far from the reservoirs, is a pecu-
liar, high mountain, crowned with a curious perpendicu-
lar rock, which, from its fancied resemblance to the out-
lines of a giant buffalo, has been christened " El Buffa."
From this mountain is procured, in unlimited quantities,
a species of lined, and beautifully variegated sandstone,
of all the colors of the rainbow — blue, pale green, and
chocolate predominating. The sandstone cuts readily,
has a fine grain, and is the best material for private
residences and public buildings imaginable. With
this, and in this way, Seuor Rocha has lined the sides
of the canon all the way up to the reservoirs, with resi-
dences of the most beautiful style. Graceful pillars in
long colonnades, arched portals, and corridors and patos
decorated with all the flowers of this prolific climate,
are seen by the delighted traveler on every side.
Surely, this fine, old, Mexican gentleman is a public
benefactor in the largest sense of the term.
For three centuries, Guanajuato furnished the world
with an almost uninterrupted stream of silver, and in
spite of wars and dissensions, crude and primitive sys-
tems of mining and reduction, oppressive taxes and
general mismanagement, her mines of incredible wealth
still pour out millions annually.
Early in the present century, Humboldt visited this
city, and described the mines of the district more fully
and scientifically than I am capable of doing ; his de-
THE SILVER MINES OF GUANAJUATO. 185
scription will still hold good in the main, and I refer
the reader to it. I was told, that the mine owners — as
is somewhat customary in all countries and all ages —
imposed upon him in many particulars — and that the
figures which he gave, are not to be trusted ; but for
reasons, which can only be guessed, I find that it is still
impossible to obtain any more exact data concerning
the yield of particular mines, even at this day. The
records are usually imperfect at best, and there is a
natural desire not to allow the public a full insight into
the workings and value of particular mines. If a mine
is paying well, it is always popularly supposed that it
is really paying much better than reported ; and if not
paying at all, it is probably for sale, and the best pos-
sible showing is made.
In 1852, the annual yield of the mines of this dis-
trict was estimated at nine million dollars, of which
one-tenth was gold and the remainder silver. It is now
only a little more than four million dollars ; but with
peace, and a judicious investment of capital, it could
be doubled, or even trebled, very speedily. The popu-
lation meantime has fallen off probably fifty per cent,
and the city now contains only forty-five or fifty thou-
sand people at the outside estimate.
General Florencio Antillon, Governor of Guanajuato,
to whom I am indebted for many courtesies, furnished
me with some interesting statistics. From them I
learned that the present population of the state is seven
hundred and twenty-nine thousand, nine hundred and
eighty-eight. This is, in proportion to its size, the
most densely populated state of the Repulic. There
are six hundred prisoners in the state-prison, at Sala-
manca, or one hundred and fifty less than in the Cali-
186 STATISTICS OF THE STATE.
fornia state-prison, with a population fifty per cent,
greater. The state forces, under pay, consist of one
battalion of the line of four hundred and seventy-nine
men, and four squadrons of mounted gendarmes — in all
nine hundred and eighty-eight men. These belong to
the National Guard, and are always on duty on the
road or in the Municipalities. There are also four
hundred members of the National Guard not on active
duty and pay, and three hundred and ninety-four more
doing duty at intervals, and liable to be called out at a
moment's notice. The guard of the Department of
Guanajuato, is now being armed with Henry rifles
from the United States, but the others still have the
old English Tower, and the Springfield muskets of
1860-63.
There are two hundred and eight students in the free
college. The free schools cost ninety-four thousand
dollars per annum, and are well attended. They have
day and evening schools connected with the primary
department for boys and girls, separately, and High
Schools intermediate between them and the colleges.
The old debt of the state, January 1st, 1868, was fifty-
eight thousand eight hundred and three dollars and ten
cents. The income of the state in 1868, from all sour-
ces, was seven hundred and fifty -nine thousand one hun-
dred and seventy-two dollars and nineteen cents, and
the expenses, seven hundred and forty-eight thousand
thirty-six dollars and fifty-five cents.
The condition of the state, in spite of the depression
of its leading interest, silver mining, seems to be com-
paratively good, and its credit well maintained.
A substantial, well macadamized, carriage-road is now
being built from Queretaro to Leon, running entirely
GOVERNOR ANTILLON.
187
through tlie State of Guanajuato, from South-east to
North-west, under the direction of Gilberto Torres, a
native Mexican Engineer, formerly in the United States
Coast Survey, on the California Coast. This road is to
be 216 miles long, and will cost the incredibly small sum
of $316 per mile, including the erection of several sub-
stantial stone bridges already completed.
Governor Antillon, who is a man of splendid personal
appearance, tall, handsome
and intelligent, was a com-
mander in the Republican
army during the war. His
reputation as an executive
officer is excellent, and the
State is said to be one of
the best governed in Mex-
ico. He is vigorously
shooting the " road-agents
or highwaymen, and al-
ready the roads in all parts
of the State are comparatively safe for travelers, and
will soon be quite so. If the duties on the production
of silver could be reduced fifty per cent, on what they
now are, the quantity would very largely increase,
and the State and Federal Governments would both
be largely benefited by it. The climate, generally,
throughout the State is about that of Southern Califor-
nia, and as healthy as the climate of any part of the
United States.
We visited the Mint of Guanajuato, said to be the
best in the Republic, and the only one which is worked
by steam. Its machinery is on the English plan, and
English made, and the mint is run, under contract, by
GENERAL FLOKJ^N CiU -o. ILLLON.
188 THE MINT.
an English company. The Treasurer of the mint, Se-
izor Don Juan B. Castelazo, an intelligent and highly
educated Mexican, who speaks English well, showed
us through the establishment. From him we learned
that the annual coinage of the mint is $4,000,000, of
which $500,000 is gold and the remainder silver. The
old silver coinage was dollars, half-dollars, quarters,
reals, (12 1-2 cts.) medios, (6 1-4 cts.) and quartillas,
(3 1-8 cts.) and this is the common currency of the
country, though the old copper or brass claquos and
quartillas still circulate extensively. The Governor
has now prepared dies for a new half-dollar similar to
the American, and ten and five cent pieces of our pat-
tern. These coins, are already being struck off, but are
not yet put in circulation. By the courtesy of Mr.
Frederic Meyer, I obtained the first of these new half-
dollars coined at the Guanajuato Mint ; and for Ameri-
can gold, I obtained a handful of the smaller coins to
take home as curiosities to my friends. The gold coined
is in onzas or sixteen-dollar pieces, corresponding to
the Spanish doubloon. Gold dollars will be coined
hereafter, and the old silver, 12 1-2 cents, 6 1-4 cents,
and 3 1-8 cents coinage, wil lbe abandoned. In other
words, the American decimal system has finally been
adopted for all the mints in Mexico.
Se2or Castelazo gave me the following list of the
taxes which silver producers in Mexico now pay : State
tax, three and one-eighth per ct. ; melting and assay of
bars, one-half of one per ct. ; coinage and Government
tax, four and three-eighths per ct. ; total eight per cent.
If the coin is exported — as it generally is — it pays an
additional export duty of eight per cent, or sixteen per
cent, all told. This is a reduction of at least seven per
ANCIENT CASTLE AND ITS HISTORY. 189
cent, on the old rates ; but farther reductions must be
made before the silver interest can become a^ain thor-
oughly prosperous.
One of the greatest objects of interest in Guanajuato,
is the ancient Castillo del Grenaditas, a square, two story,
stone structure of immense size, flat roof of stone slabs,
cemented water-tight, and walls from five to ten feet in
thickness, built early in the last century, and originally
intended to be used as a granary in which to store sur-
plus corn for the public protection against seasons of
scarcity. There is a large court-yard in the center of
the structure, surrounded with cornices and graceful
pillars.
When Hidalgo, after his pronunciamento with eleven
men at Dolores in the State of Guanajuato, in 1810, ar-
rived here, the whole Indian and native-born Spanish-
American population flocked to his banner. They were
hardly armed at all, but were brave and determined.
The Spaniards, two thousand strong, fled into this Cas-
tle of Grenaditas, and defended themselves through a
long siege, with obstinate courage and determination.
The patriots sought in vain to carry the place, as
the Spaniards were constantly on the watch, and gave
them no opportunity to approach the gates. At night,
the Spaniards burned great torches, and by their light,
shot all who came within reach.
At last, an Indian placed a great flat stone upon his
back, and thus shielded from the bullets which the
Spaniards rained down upon it, crawled up to the gates
and burned them down. The stone which he used as
armor, is still shown. The besiegers followed up their
advantage, and, after a part of the garrison had perished
from suffocation, carried the castle. It is said that not
a Spaniard escaped.
190
FATE OF HIDALGO.
In the following year, when Hidalgo, defeated at the
Bridge of Calderon, fled to Chihuahua, and was betrayed,
CASTLE OP GRENADITAS.
tried, and shot, his head and those of his three compan-
ions, were brought here, and placed on four hooks still
projecting from the four corners of the building near
the roof; and there they remained until 1823, when the
successful revolutionists took them down, and buried
them, with the honors due to the memory of the first
martyrs of Mexican Liberty.
Visiting this Castle, alone, I found it occupied as
a Carcel or municipal prison, Police Judges' offices,
etc., etc. The troops of the State, all of Indian blood,
but fine, stout, hardy, and well-disciplined men, stand
guard at this prison, and among the prisoners were
STEEET PEDDLERS AND THEIR WARES. 191
many white men, descendants of those who suspend-
ed the heads of Hidalgo and his companions, on the
hooks. A young man, who informed me that he was
one of the three judges of the minor criminal court,
politely showed me through the building. There
were about three hundred men and boys, and thirty-
six women in the Ca/rcel. They were in apartments
containing from twelve to twenty-five each, all opening
on the great court-yard, and light and well ventilated.
They were working at boot and shoe making, hat-
making, weaving serapes and coarse blankets, making
tallow candles, etc., etc., or attending school. The
white blood appeared to predominate among the pris-
oners, all of whom looked cheerful, clean, well-fed, and
comfortable.
All kinds of manufactured goods are hawked about
the city on men's shoulders, and you must be careful
how you look at anything, or you will be surrounded
in a moment with anxious sellers. I asked the price of
a pair of blue-steel spurs handsomely inlaid with ster.
ling silver.
" Six dollars, Sen or but what will you be pleased to
give % "
The same spurs, in California, would bring at least
twenty dollars, and I have seen not much finer ones sold
at fifty dollars.
I looked at some rebosas, merely to ascertain the
price, and was offered good ones for three dollars, and
finer ones for six dollars. Kemarking, by way of get-
ting rid of the dealer, that they were not fine enough,
as my family wore only silk — Heaven forgive me ! — I
left, and an hour later the dealer was waiting for me at
the door of our house, with a dozen costly silk ones in
192 HOW THE POOR PEOPLE LIVE.
boxes, for my inspection. I gave him fifty cents for his'
trouble, not feeling able to buy, and he went off pro
testing that I was a Republican Prince and a CabeUero
grande.
I wanted a pair of boots and could find none in the
shops to fit me. Seeing a boot-peddler in the crowd I
called him up, and looked at a pair with short legs
faced with buff, and soles fancifully shaped and fastened
with small metalic nails ; they were made at Leon, he
told me.
" Too small ; I wear number eight !"
He passed his hand carefully over my foot and with-
out another question thanked me, bowed low, and
hurried off. When I got back to the house and entered
my room, a servant brought me a pair the exact counter-
part of those I had looked at, except in size, saying that
the owner was in the ante-room. I tried them on, and
found them the nicest fit I had ever seen ; if they had
been made for me in New York they would not have
fitted me half so well.
" How much ? " I asked of the servant.
u Four dollars Senor !"
" Tell him I will give him three dollars and a half ! "
He came back in a minute: " JEsta Men, Senor ! " He
would have taken three dollars, had I offered it,
but they were cheap at twice or three times the money,
according to our American ideas. How 'he found out
who I was and where to find me, is a mystery I am un-
able to explain.
The scenes in the market-place or plaza of Guanajuato
are beyond description. The poor people of this great
mining district cannot afford to waste anything, and
they literally eat up an entire animal " from the tip of
HEAVY STEALINGS. 193
his nose to the end of his tail." All the meat not sold
fresh is dried, and sold in that shape. You see men
and women squatted on the ground before a pile of
sheep and goats heads and necks, dried with the horns
on, and the hair or wool still adhering to them in patches,
and notice, not without a rising of the gorge, that
the poor customers crowd around, and after hag-
gling for one of them, purchase it for perhaps a cent or
two, and walk off, gnawing at it as a dog would gnaw at
his bone. Boiled pumpkins or calobassas are also among
the staple articles of food among these poor people,
and the principal article of their diet is a kind of gruel
or soup made from ground corn ; and they think them-
selves vastly fortunate if they can add to this a dried
goats-head, sheeps-neck, or the nose or tail of a bullock
on Sunday. How they can live and work as they do
on such a diet Heaven only knows.
As a rule the people of the lower order are not dis-
honest, but there are many petty thieves among them.
To show how far they will go in the stealing line I will
mention a single fact. In a hardware store on the plaza,
I noticed several grindstones fastened to the wall by
chains, passed through the hole in the center, and pad-
locks ; on inquiry, I learned that this was done to pre-
vent their being stolen and carried off bodily by men
who did not even know the use of them, but would
take them in preference to almost anything else on
which they could lay their hands, because they were
heavier, and as they supposed, consequently more valu-
able.
The priests have given the authorities much trouble,
but appear now to have become pretty thoroughly
humbled. This was once one of their strongholds, and
13
194 SEVERE ON THE CLERGY.
it would hardly have been believed by a visitor twenty
years ago, that at this time the holy fathers would be
forbidden by law to walk the streets of Guanajuato in
their clerical robes and broad hats ; but such is the case.
About the time we were there, some of them, becoming
over-confident, ventured to disobey the law, and appeared
in their black robes on the streets. Thereupon, General
Antillon issued an order requiring the police to arrest
all such offenders, and gave notice that they would be
punished with a fine of five hundred dollars, and thirty
days in the chain-gang, with double the penalty for
each repetition of the offence. Next day there was not
a black gown or shovel-hat to be seen in the streets of
Guanajuato : and this was the city in which the Church
condemned the Padre Hidalgo to death.
Education is by no means neglected or despised by the
people of Guanajuato at this time. While there, we at.
tended the annual examination and distribution of prizes
at the State College. Governor Antillon presided and
distributed the premiums. The College has nearly three
hundred students, and is, partly, self-sustaining. It ap-
pears to be well managed, and a model institution in its
way. The graduating class, with few exceptions, were in
full dress black suits, with white kid gloves ; but I no-
ticed with not a little pleasure, that some of the highest
prizes were carried off by young men of almost unmixed
Indian blood, in clean but coarse leather pantaloons
and roundabout jackets, who were, apparently, treated
with as much consideration by the faculty and their
fellow-students as any one there. There was an abun-
dance of exceedingly fine operatic music, some superior
declamations, and when all the prizes, consisting of ele-
gantly bound books of practical value — not merely
THE BENEEICIATING HACIENDAS. 195
parlor ornaments — and diplomas had been distributed
the hall, which was beautifully decorated, was cleared,
and an array of brilliant loveliness, such as I have seldom
if ever seen elsewhere, was soon mingling with the stu-
dent-throng in the mazy dances of this land of music
and of flowers. As we were to leave for Celaya at
4 o'clock next morning, I was reluctantly compelled to
leave the ball-room and return home to get some sleep,
and so missed the conclusion of the festivities.
The reduction works, or beneficiating haciendas of
Guanajuato and Marfil are worthy of especial atten-
tion. One of the best establishments of this char, c
ter in the district, that of Mr. Parkman — an American
long resident in Mexico — was visited by our party who
spent some hours in inspecting it. The "mill," or
crushing apparatus, is run partly by steam, and partly
by water power. It is rude and primitive to the last
degree. The stamps work on wooden shafts, and the
quartz must be constantly shoveled under them by hand,
as there is no provision for self-feeding as with us.
There are twenty-nine arastras worked by mule-power
to reduce the crushed quartz to pulp. All the rock is
" dry crushed," and the process is slow and clumsy in the
extreme. But the " amalgamation," as we term it, or
"beneficiating," as it is termed here, is the most interesting
part of the work. We finish the whole operation in a
day, but lose on an average twenty-five to forty per cent
of the silver. In White Pine, where the ores are chlo-
rides and oxides, they lose only four to eight per cent.
— or a little less than is lost here. The cost of fuel
is eight dollars per cord, and steam machinery could
be run — if it were not for the difficulty of mak-
ing repairs — for less than it costs in Washoe, as labor
196 THE GREAT VALENCIANO MINE.
is cheaper ; but iu heneficiating they would probably
lose as much as they saved on the crushing, if the
American system of reduction and amalgamation was
fully adopted here.
Mr. Parkman's tortas are an improvement. He has
seven of them, each sixty feet in diameter, and holding
one hundred and twelve tons of pulp. The mules —
only two in number — travel around the outside, and
draw a shaft which works on a pinion in the center, on
which there is a pair of heavy wagon wheels, which,
by an adjustable scale, are made to run in a smaller or
larger circle, thus working over all the pulp in time.
As the pulp works outward toward the side of the
toi'ta, it is shoveled back towards the center, by hand,
and is thus well mixed. The time required in ben-
eficiating is twenty-five days in Mr. Parkman's haci-
enda, and the work is always well done. The ore is not
of a very refractory character, being mainly pure black
and bronze sulphites, and the patio process appears
to save more of the silver than any other. I am told
that there are occasionally small deposits of chlorides
found here, but that by the patio process none of it is
saved.
The great mine of San Jose de Valenciano, which is
said to have produced in its day eight hundred million
dollars, was not visited by Mr. Seward, but I had the
o-ood fortune to see it.
This mine is situated on the mountain, high above
the city on the North-east, and occupies a large and
rich portion of the Veta Mad/re or "Mother Vein, 1 '
of Guanajuato. It was discovered immediately after
the conquest by the Spaniards, and for many years was
a wonder of wonders. For forty years in succession it
THE ANGLO-MEXICAN COMPANY. 197
was " in bonanza" paying enormous dividends to its own-
ers ; and when Humboldt visited it, he estimated that
it then produced one-fifth of all the silver in the world.
It passed after his time into the hands of the " Anglo
Mexican Company," which commenced with a capital of
five L million pounds sterling, (say $25,000,000 in Amer-
ican coin,) with a board of directors sitting in London,
who sent out officers of the army and navy who had
never seen a mine in their lives, to superintend its work-
ings at fabulous salaries, erected an immense engine,
and run it at constant disadvantage and loss; and
finally, after sinking in this and other mines, nearly
their original capital, learned wisdom from experience,
and changed the programme. They employed a com-
petent director, Mr. Charles Furber, working some other
mines here at a profit, and "in time their stock would
have been once more in demand, but a fearful trag-
edy which I shall presently relate, put an end to all
operations again, for a time, at least.
Accompanied by Messrs. Anthony Burgess, Thomas
Abrams, Frederick Meyer, Smith, and Dr. Harris,
all American residents, who with Governor Antillon,
and Alfred Jeanotat had been unceasing in their atten-
tions to us, I started out to visit this famous mine at
day-break, Thursday, November 4th. Mounted on the
beautifully fleet and easy riding horses of the coun-
try — which have an artificial gait, trotting with the
hind legs and galloping with the fore legs at the same
time — with revolvers at our waists, and swords hung
at the pommel of the saddle and run through under the
stirrup-strap so as to be held under the left knee of
the rider — when will our American cavalry learn this
neat trick and dispense with the knocking and rattling
198 A DESERTED MINING- TOWN".
sabres hung at the belt and always a nuisance % — we
started off, at sunrise, up the winding streets and al-
leys, and over the rugged hillsides to the mine and
town around it.
At the crossing of a deep, dry arroyo we crossed
over a bridge, which bore an inscription, "For more
than three centuries the people of Guanajuato crossed
here without a bridge. Behold progress !" In another
part of our journey we passed a bridge on which there
was this inscription : "' This bridge was built here, etc. ,
etc. ; " as it is of solid stone, I don't wonder at its
having been built there instead of having been built
somewhere else, and sent there ready made by express.
An immense church with an elaborately carved and
sculptured front, worn and defaced by the storms and
convulsions of centuries, but still with unshaken walls
of massive stone, stands in the center of a town, which
must once have contained from ten to twenty thousand
people, all dependent on the working of the great
Valenciano mine. The church is unfrequented, save
by a few squalid and destitute devotees ; the town
is in ruins ; and desolation reigns sole mistress of the
scene. We galloped through the deserted streets, and
entered the gate-way of the enclosure out of which
have been borne, in times past, enough mule-loads of
treasure to sink the largest ship now afloat on the seas.
Little boys received our horses, and walked them up
and down, while we went through the vast enclosures,
where men and animals by thousands, once toiled and
suffered, but where now the grass grows and silence
reigns.
The extent of these works above ground cannot be
adequately described. They cover acres on acres of
IMMENSE SUBTEKEANEAN WOEKS. 199
ground, and cost millions of dollars. All around, you
see walls from three to eight feet in thickness and solid
as the rocks of the mountains, radiating in every direc-
tion. There are many shafts sunk deep into the how-
els of the earth, each with its separate enclosure and
outworks, and the chambers and drifts underground,
now filled with water, measure miles in extent. At the
main shaft the works resemble a vast fortress, and
are on a scale of extent unprecedented in the history of
mining in America. The mule-yard surrounded by a
high wall, with mangers of cut stone running all around
it, must contain, at least, three or four acres of ground,
and all the other enclosures and out-buildings are on
a proportionate scale.
The extent of the works under ground cannot be
seen at this time, as they are filled with water ; but it
is affirmed by engineers, that the galleries, chambers,
and drifts, are longer in the aggregate than all the streets
of the city of Guanajuato, and incredible as the state-
ment looks, it is probably correct. We went to the
mouth of the "tiro general" or great perpendicular
shaft, out of which so many millions of tons of ore have
been hoisted in years gone by, and laying down upon
our faces, looked into the yawning depths below. This
shaft is the largest on the American Continent, and noth-
ing in the mining line to be seen in the United States,
will bear a comparison with it. It is 687 varas deep,
— say 1939 1-4 feet of our measurement — thirty-six feet
wide, and eight-sided. The walls of this shaft are ex-
actly perpendicular, and for the protection of the work,
men below, laid up in cement, as smooth as the ceiling
of an ordinary dwelling-house in the United States.
The water now comes up to within 125 varas or about
344 feet of the surface of the ground.
200 THE GEEAT PERPENDICULAR SHAFT.
We dropped stones into the abyss, and when they
struck the water the report and echoes which followed,
lasted fifteen seconds, and were perfectly deafening.
We then fired a pistol down the two, and the report
which came back to us was like that of a twenty-four
pounder cannon, causing our ears to ring for hours
thereafter.
The enclosure around the great tiro is circular and of
immense extent. Radiating; from the tiro to the outer
wall, like the sections of an opened fan, are eight sub-
enclosures corresponding to the eight sides of the tiro :
in each of these enclosures stood, formerly, a great up-
right drum wheel, or winze, called a ?nalacate, on which
were the cables which hauled up and let down the
buckets filled with water and ore, or men and supplies.
The rope was always winding up on one end and down
on the other end of the malacate when it was in motion.
These eight great malacates were all worked by mule
power for centuries, but the English, company intro-
duced an immense hoisting engine to do the work.
The engine was found to require more feed than the
mules, and so was put out of use and the mules substi-
tuted again. There is another, but smaller tiro lower
down the hill. Humboldt estimated that it would re-
quire a tunnel seven or eight miles in length to drain
this immense mine ; but it seems to me that a much
shorter one would do the work effectually; and the
chance of striking "feeders" or "blind veins" of ore
in the course of the work sufficient to pay the whole
or a considerable portion of the cost of its construction,
would, apparently, justify the adoption of the plan, by
a company having an adequate capital. As the mine
now stands, it is estimated, that it would require two
A GAME PADEE. 201
million dollars, in coin, to put the requisite machinery
on the ground, drain the mine by pumping, and com-
mence work. It is generally believed that countless
millions of treasure yet remain in this mine, and will
some day be exhausted.
In the chapel near the tiro, we saw the votive offer-
ings and pictures presented by grateful miners in com-
memoration of some miraculous escape from death.
One of these was a rude painting representing a miner
falling into the great tiro, and being miraculously caught
and stayed in mid-air by the Virgin, as he pronounced
her name. If any man will convince me that a human
being ever fell into that shaft, and escaped with a whole
bone in his body, I will swallow all the stories you may
tell me about ancient and modern miracles henceforth,
without a doubt or question. We saw a number
of men sorting over and sifting a great pile of waste
ores, the accumulation of years, and this was all
the work going on at this great mine when we were
there. On every wall, and over every gate- way was
the sign of the cross, and ruin and desolation overshad-
owed all.
Near the church we saw a cross, erected on the spot
where a man was waylaid and murdered by bandits
only a few months before. Near this, and on the direct
road to Guanajuato, a priest was stopped only a short
time before our visit, " put up " and " gone through,"
by the bandits who took every dollar he had, kicked
him, and told him to travel. After they had let him
go he felt in his pockets, and finding a rial which they
had overlooked, called them back, and with a grim hu-
mor said to them, " Here my poor friends, there is still
12 1-2 cents coming to you!" They took the money,
202 FEARFUL MURDER BY PLAGIAROS.
and kicked him again for joking under such serious cir.
cumstances.
I have alluded to the new Superintendent of the
English Company, Mr. John Furber, who was in charge
of these works when we were there. He was a fine, in-
telligent young man, for whom we all conceived a great
liking. A long and useful life appeared to be before
him. On Sunday, the 19th of December, a month after
we saw him he left his brother's house at 5 o'clock in
the afternoon, accompanied by a servant, to return to
his residence at Marfil, distant about a league. After
passing the Cerro Tivzado, he was attacked a little in
advance of the junction of the old and new roads to
Marfil, by four men on horseback, supposed to have
been plagiaros, belonging to the band of the noto-
rious Juan Duran. A struggle took place in which Mr.
Furber was wounded by a pistol-shot in the stomach,
after which he was carried off, along with the servant
(who was blindfolded) in the direction of the hacienda
of Burburron, and, after many turnings and windings,
the party crossed the high road to Siloa, (not many
miles from where we saw the supposed robbers being
chased by the soldiers,) and the river Santa Anna,
and entered on the territory of the hacienda of Santa
Teresa. At this place the unfortunate gentleman was
hung up to a tree, whether dead or alive will probably
never be known, and the servant, after having been
stripped, was set at liberty and returned to his late
toaster's residence with the news of his murder.
The authorities at once dispatched a party to bring in
the body, which was found suspended to a tree without
coat or waistcoat, with a paper affixed to the braces, on
which was written in ink, the following : " This has
THE GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD. 203
befallen, me because I did not give five thousand
dollars."
In justice to the "gentleman of the road" in Mex-
ico, I must say that as a rule they are the most polite
people on earth, and even in taking a man's money and
■watch, do it with a certain courtesy and grace that
makes the operation comparatively easy to bear on the
part of the victim. They always apologize for the
act, regretting that necessity compels them to do it, and
in parting with the traveler, devoutly commend him
to the protecting care of Divine Providence. When
not too sharply pressed by the Government, the differ-
ent gangs in any one state usually have a sort of busi-
ness connection, and, if you desire it, the leader of the
first band into whose hands you fall will very courte-
ously, write out a pass for you to take along to save
you from further molestation. I have one of these
passes in my possession. It was given by the leader of
a band in the State of Guerraro, to a friend of mine,
who was " put up " in the most approved manner. He
went through the party in the highest style of the art;
and then, sitting on his horse, wrote with a pencil on a
slip of paper, on the pommel of his saddle, a pass as fol-
lows :
" Dear Gomez : This party has been done according
to our regulations. Please let them pass without mo-
lestation. Manuel."
The gentleman who received the pass then said :
" But, my dear sir, you have not left me a dollar to
buy meals on the road !"
The brigand replied, "Pardon Senor ? How much
do you require ? "
" Well, about five dollars will take me to Acapulco,
I think !" said my friend.
204 POLITE AND GENEROUS BRIGANDS.
The brigand chieftain, thereupon, not only gave him
back that amount but added to it a nice porte-nionnaie
which he had just taken, with others of the same sort,
from a German peddler, saying that he would find it
useful to prevent his losing the small change out of
his pocket while sleeping at night. He then told the
party that near a certain barranca they would be
stopped by the band who had control of that end of
the road, to the leader of which this pass was directed.
In due time they met the other band, presented
the pass, and not only were allowed to proceed without
molestation, but were actually furnished with a fresh
horse to replace a lame one which had given out on the
road, no " boot " being demanded. It is true that the
horse, probably, did not cost the bandits anything, and
they could afford to be liberal ; still, it was an act of
courtesy on their part, for which the party felt duly
grateful. I have a prejudice against being robbed by
anybody, but if I must be robbed, let it be by a Mex-
ican robber, by all means.
The business of kidnaping or carrying off travelers
into the mountains and holding them for ransom, and
murdering them if the amount demanded is not forth-
coining, now so active in Mexico, is of modern origin
and a foreign innovation. A few years since the Mexi-
can Government paid a large sum for the importation
of an Italian Colony of two hundred men, who were to
introduce the culture of silk, and stimulate industry in
many branches new to Mexico. These two hundred
Italians each brought a hand-organ with them, and took
to the business of grinding out " mooshic " on the streets,
at once. When that lead was worked out they took to
other occupations. Some of them had formerly been
A FOREIGN INNOVATION. 205
in the brigand business in their dear, native land ; and
finding, much to their astonishment, that the trick of
kidnaping or plagiaring had not been brought into
general practice in Mexico, proceeded to introduce it in
all its purity at once. They soon made the roads of
Mexico as unsafe as those of any part of Italy ; and by the
practice of frugality and economy, and strict attention to
business, were in a little time enabled to sell out their
" stock and good will " to native artists, who now carry on
the trade in all its branches at the old stands. The penal-
ty for carrying on this business is death by shooting, and
the Juarez Administration, whenever it is backed up with
a will by the local authorities, execute it with a relentless
vigor which promises to end the practice, or depopulate
the country in the end. This is the popular version of
the origin of the practice of plagiaring, but I cannot
vouch for its being correct in all its details. It is quite
certain however that it is not a native institution, and
it is a fact, that all the bands engaged in it have more
or less of the natives of Southern Europe among them
as leading spirits. Of the remnants of Maximilian's
army, dispersed widely through the land, there are very
few of any nationality, now engaged in an honest occu-
pation. Some are plain robbers on the highway ; some
merely petty thieves in the cities ; and many areplagia-
ros. Those not in either of the above branches of trade
are quite likely to be in sympathy with, if not actually
engaged in the various pronunciamentos. There are a
few Turcos, some Frenchmen, and now and then a Bel-
gian or Austrian, once soldiers, following some honest
trade, and unmolested and respected in the principal
cities ; but the bulk of the foreign mercenaries brought
over by Maximilian, were thieves and ex-convicts in
200 THE MIKE OF THE SEEEANO.
their own land, and it is not surprising that they
fall back into their old occupation, when set free in a
new country. The road from Manzanillo to Mexico, via
Colima, Guadalajara, Guanajuato and Queretaro, is but
little traveled by foreigners visiting the country, and
the few who do go over it, generally carry no valuables
and ride in the stage, trusting to luck to get through
without being robbed, or in any event losing but little
The rural guards keep the road in tolerable safety for
the diligencias, and by law the owners of property in
the immediate vicinity of a point where a robbery has
been committed are pecuniarily responsible to the vic-
tims for damages, though few suits of recovery are
brought, I imagine. On the road from Acapulco to the
the city of Mexico, travelers always secure a guard of
six to twenty maclieteros and usually pass through the
worst districts in safety.
On our return to the city, we passed within sight of
the second great mine of the district of Guanajuato,
<4 E1 Reyes," situated, like the Valenciano, on a hill,
with a large town around it, but we did not have time
to visit it.
After dinner we went to the Serrano mine, which is
being worked at a profit at this time. This is situa-
ted in the hill below the Buifa at the upper end of
the city. Five hundred men, women, and children are
employed at this mine, getting out the ore, breaking
it up, and sorting, it. The men generally work in small
gangs for a share of the sales of the ore they take out.
The amount of silver mined weekly is about five
thousand dollars, and the expenses one thousand dol-
lars, leaving a net profit of four thousand dollars.
The great tiro is about 950 feet, in depth.
IN THE TUNNEL. 207
A horizontal tunnel penetrates the hill from a level
with the hacienda, cutting the tiro or perpendicular
shaft at four hundred feet from the surface. This tun-
nel may be about fifteen hundred feet in length. A
railroad track runs through it, and lying down in the
cars we were carried in to the edge of the tiro. This
tiro is thirty feet in diameter, and six-sided, laid up in
cement like that at the Valenciano. The necessity for
this is seen in the fact that a rock, weighing many
tons, was displaced from a station near the bottom of
the shaft, a few days previous to our visit, and falling
upon the miners beneath, killed and maimed a large
number of them.
Standing here, four hundred feet below the surface of
the earth, and six hundred feet above the bottom of the
shaft, with a patch of pale blue sky far above us, and
inky darkness almost palpable to the touch around us
and filling all the depths below, we witnessed the most
wonderful scene on which we gazed in Mexico. Men
were sent up to the top of the tiro at the surface of the
ground, and told to discharge rockets down it. This
they did ; and the hissing and explosions of the fiery
messengers caused the most deafening echoes and re-
echoes, while the sides of the shaft, dripping with ooze
and slime, were revealed with startling distinctness by
the momentary glare.
But this was nothing to what followed : balls of the
fibre of the maguey or aloe plant, three feet in diame-
ter and steeped in pine pitch, or resin, were swung out
over the mouth of the shaft and set on fire. When the
first was in full blaze it was detached and allowed to
fall into the abyss. Like a great comet, with body of
molten metal and long tail of flame, rushing on a doomed
208 UNPARALLELED PYROTECHNIC DISPLAY,
planet, the monster projectile came down from the dizzy
height above us, and passing the mouth o-. the tunnel
in which we stood, with a roar more deafening than the
loudest thunder, went bounding and crashing into the
depths below, illuminating everything for a moment
with its blinding, lurid glare, followed by a darkness and
silence more profound than before. As soon as the tre-
mendous echoes which were awakened by the first had
died away, a second was sent down, and others fol-
lowed in quick succession.
Most of our party were unable to control their nerves
sufficiently to enable them to approach the edge, and
look up and down the tiro, holding by ropes to prevent
them from becoming dizzy, and falling headlong into
the depths ; but those who could do so, beheld a scene,
the awful sublimity and grandeur of which beggars all
the powers of language.
The remainder of the party now left, and I, in com-
pany with the superintendent, clothing myself in a mi-
ner's suit to keep off the water and mud, descended
to the bottom of the mine, one thousand feet and
more from the surface. We went down ladder after
ladder, along gallery after gallery, through chambers
like great churches in size, and others in which we
could not stand erect, down steps cut in the rock and
so slippery, with dripping water and soft clay, as to
compel us to use an iron-shod staff to support ourselves,
and through many a winding turning, until we stood at
the bottom of the tiro, wet through with perspiration,
and trembling with exhaustion.
At the bottom of the tiro is a great pond of water,,
the reservoir into which all the drainings of the mine
are gathered, and the buckets on the great cables
THE LOWER DEPTHS. 209
worked by the Malacates at the surface, were constantly
coming and going between it and the end of the tunnel,
six hundred feet above. These buckets will hold three to
four hogsheads of water, and are made of raw-hide in
the form of an ordinary Mexican water-jar. An iron
ring distends the mouth of the bucket, and when the
vessel descends, the wet hide flattening down allows the
water to rush in, and as the lifting commences, it falls
back into its original form, filled to the brim with the
dirty fluid. When the bucket reaches the level of the
tunnel, it is hauled into the opening, and as the cable
is slackened up it flattens down again, and the water es-
caping over the rim, runs off down the side of the tunnel.
But there are still lower depths. We went down
nearly two hundred feet more, and at the bottom of the
last level found men at work taking out ore. The drip-
ping of the water at this point is very considerable,
and two plans are made use of to get rid of it. A part
of the water is carried up to the reservoir, in pig-skins,
on the backs of naked and sweating Indians; and a
part — the larger part — is pumped up to that point by
hand. The pumps are mere straight logs, thirty feet
long, with a bore of three inches, and a piston and
bucket, pulled and pushed back and forth by two stal-
wart Indians, sitting on either side, working by main
strength without even a lever purchase to help them
along. There are stations or reservoirs at the end of
each pump, and all must be kept going continually
night and day. The Indian pumpers sit down to their
work upon the wet rock, and are as naked as when
born; the great heat and want of ventilation, at this
depth, rendering clothing, if they had it, a superfluity.
They get fifty cents each per day, and work twelve
14
210
SIGHTS UNDER GROUND.
hours at a shift. In all my mining experience, I have
never seen such a waste of power and such thoroughly
primitive appliances for mining.
I went through many of the galleries and drifts, and
examined the vein carefully. The main vein is five to
twelve feet wide, quite irregular, and runs in a gener-
ally south-western and north-eastern direction, dipping
to the south-westward as it descends. It carries metal
in a very unequal degree, in different portions, and
though presenting rich specimens and bunches of al-
most pure silver in spots, is not generally very rich.
In one
cham-
ber I
saw a
num-
ber of
m u 1 e s
and
horses
feeding
a thou-
sand
feet below the surface.
These poor creatures are
let down in slings from
the surface, through the
tiro, and never go out
again alive. They turned
their glazing eyes upon
us, with evident pain, as
we passed with lighted
torches, and appeared to regard us with mournful in-
terest, as in some way connected with the world above,
A HUMAN TARANTULA.
A SPEECHLESS AUCTIONEER. 211
of which they still retained some dim recollection, but
which they were never to look upon again. In another
chamber I saw women and children cooking food for
their husbands and parents ; they appeared to live here
altogether, probably returning to the light of day only
at long intervals. Utterly worn out, at last, we climbed
our way back to the tunnel, emerging into daylight
just as the sun was setting, swallowed a liberal allow-
ance of brandy to protect ourselves against taking cold,
mounted our horses and galloped back to the city.
The weekly sale of ores at the several mines is called
the " rescata." One at the Serrano I attended. The ore
is placed on the ground, each miner's work in a separate
lot, and the buyers sample it before the sale. It is
sold in the lump, by guess, not by weight, the buyer
taking his chances on the amount. The auctioneer
stands silent, under an umbrella, while the miners who
have a small interest in the sales over and above their
wages, volubly shout the praises of the lot in turn. As
each lot is put up, the buyers, singly, whisper their bids
in the ear of the auctioneer, and when all have bid, he
announces who bid the highest ; the other bids are not
named. The chance for collusion seem to me to be
very great. Some lots brought as high as five hundred
dollars, and the aggregate sales exceeded six thousand
five hundred dollars, at this rescata. This ended our
sight-seeing in Guanajuato.
chapter tiii;
FKOM GUANAJUATO TO QUEKETAKO.
TTTE left Guanajuato at 4 a. m., Monday, Nov. 8th,
without a guard, and preceeded by postilions
running on foot, and carrying torches, drove at a gallop
down the long arroyo, between the fortress-like hacien-
das of the suburbs and Marfil, and out into the open
country below the mountains. When day-break came
we were crossing a broad "sand-river," near a little
town. Many women were carrying water in jars upon
their shoulders from shallow wells scooped out of the
sand in the bed of the stream, which is not a stream at
all, save during the floods of the rainy season.
We had the choice of the " Empressa General de Dili-
gencias " teams at every station, and as the road was
excellent went along at a glorious pace. This was the
best part of Mexico, which we had yet seen. The plain
is broad and extremely fertile, and generally pretty well
cultivated. We saw many fields of corn which would
be called No. 1, and something over, in Illinois, and
broad belts of wheat already well up and brilliantly
green. The farms or ranches are of immense size, sepa-
rated only by pillars of masonry, some fifteen feet in
height, to mark the boundaries, and each hacienda or
head farm-house is a fortress in itself, surrounded by a
small village, occupied by the former peons, but now
enfranchised laborers.
FEUDAL CASTLES SALAMANCA. 213
High walls with stout gates surround most of these
great haciendas, and on the roofs of some we noticed
breastworks of adobe, with loop-holes for musketry,
carried up above the battlements. These tell the story
of the times of civil war and brigandage so happily
passing away I trust, from Mexico forever. One of these
great haciendas, if resolutely defended by its occupant
and his retainers, could only be taken by means of artil-
lery. The villages are all surrounded by square lots, each
containing half-an-acre to two-and-a-half acres, fenced
with the organo cactus, and each cultivated by a sepa-
rate family.
At 12 o'clock m., we were in the ancient city of Sal-
amanca, the penal capital of Guanajuato, having mean-
time passed through the old market-town of Irapu-
ato, which has some five thousand inhabitants, and
two very old churches with elaborately carved stone
fronts, now in a dilapidated condition. The State-Prison
at Salamanca is located in what was once a convent,
which had a church attached, and thieves and despera-
does come to work where nuns had droned away their
lives in pious idleness. The convicts, five hundred in
number, are engaged in various kinds of labor, as at Gua-
dalajara, and in spite of the clamor raised by the Church
party and press, about the despoiling of the Lord, and
desecration of the property by substituting a penal
colony for a nunnery, the buildings are being improved
and extended, and it is evident that the property will
never again be used as a place of religious seclusion.
The Government of Mexico seems to be thoroughly
aware of the necessity of maintaining its attitude to-
wards the church in all firmness, and the indignant pro-
test of Bishop or priest, and the anathemas of the
214 THE PATEIOT GENEEAL DOBLADO.
Church herself, are treated with equal contempt. A
few days since, the remains of the patriot General Dob-
lado, were exhumed at Guanajuato, and laid in state in
the College building in great pomp, before being taken
to Mexico to be interred in the Pantheon, as the Na-
tion's honored dead. He had aided in carrying out the
orders for the secularization of the real estate of the
Church, and of course was excommunicated. The
Church refused to allow his remains to lie in the Cathe-
dral or any of the minor Church buildings, but the peo-
ple attended the ceremonies all the same, and the funeral
cortege, as it moved through the streets on its way to
Mexico, presented a spectacle impressive and suggestive
to the last degree.
There was not much else to see in Salamanca, and we
drove on towards Celaya, through a valley at least
twenty miles broad, and almost an unbroken corn-field.
In one field we counted thirty-four ploughs drawn by
oxen, at work at once, and in another, quite as many.
We saw many orange-orchards around the little villa-
ges, and at one hacienda a very extensive olive planta-
tion in full bearing. The soil is in many places six to
ten feet in depth, clear black loam like that of the prai-
ries, and exceedingly rich.
It is singular how little wild game you see here. Af-
ter leaving Santa Anna Acatlan, near Seyula for the
south-west of Guadalajara, we saw nothing in that line
save a few sand-hill cranes, pied cranes, and two species
of doves — the common " mourning dove " or " turtle
dove " of the West, and a little fellow with mottled sil-
ver-gray plumage, and pink and yellow under the wings
like a " yellow-hammer " — a very pretty creature. It
is true that the inhabitants can occasionally indulge in
CELAYA INTERESTING RELICS. 215
a snap-shot or two at a brigand band, bnt this must
be a poor substitute, after all, for the manly sports of
the field, such as we enjoy in most parts of the United
States.
We reached Celaya soon after noon. This city con-
tains at this time not more than nineteen thousand in-
habitants, and, yet, has twelve churches, four of which
are immense. We visited several of these, in succes-
sion, and found them much alike ; and all built of solid
stone and in magnificent proportions.
In one of them I saw a case containing three hun-
dred and sixty-five relics of Saints and Martyrs, pieces
of the true Cross, the Manger in which Christ was born,
the column at which he was scourged, the Holy Sepul-
chre, etc, etc., if there has been no mistake in the record,
and I have no reason to suppose that there has been
any.
While coming out from one of the churches we
heard a steam-whistle sound, for the first time in Mex-
ico, and went to a large woolen-factory from which the
whistle was calling to the workmen. This establish-
ment employs six hundred men and women and young
boys, and supports half the town. The wool used is
all of the coarse, common article, costing twelve cents
per pound, raised in the country, and all the dye-
woods come from the vicinity of Guadalajara. The
master-dyer gets seventy dollars per week, and the com-
mon hands from two dollars for the boys, to three and
four dollars for the women and men. Most of the em-
ployes are men, and among them are thirty officers of
the Imperial Army of the late General Mejia, who ap-
pear to find woolen- spinning and weaving a better pay
ing business than fighting, in the nineteenth century, in
216 THE ARTESIAN WELL AT CELAYA.
the vain effort to found new empires when old ones are
crumbling and tottering to their fall. During the war
in the United States the factory made immense profits ;
cargo after cargo of coarse woolen goods being smug-
gled into the Southern Confederacy and sold. Only
one cargo worth aixtj thousand dollars, was seized
and confiscated, and the owner could well afford the
loss. The goods made are common serapes, worth two
to five dollars each, blankets, and stout, striped cassi-
meres of all colors, of which last, a pattern for a pair
of pantaloons is sold at two or three dollars. The ma-
chinery is from the United States. The building and
machinery cost four hundred thousand dollars, and the
business employs an active capital of five hundred thou-
sand more, and is very profitable. The principal owner,
Seiior Carosse, is a native of the Basque Provinces, and
one of the richest men in Mexico. He came here with-
out a dollar thirty years ago, and now counts his wealth
by thousands.
The City of Celaya is now supplied with pure water,
of blood heat, from an artesian well four hunched feet
in depth, sunk at his own expense by Col. Saria. This
well throws out ten jets, of one inch each, and the wa-
ter is free to all. I can testify that a bath in it is
among the luxuries of the world. For his liberality
and public spirit in this matter, Col. Saria was thanked
by a resolution of the State Congress of Guanajuato,
signed by every member. Opposite the enclosure in
which this magnificent well is situated, in the center of
a handsome plaza with orange trees in fall bearing and
a thousand beautiful flowers, is a large fountain, and a
tall and exceedingly graceful column, surmounted with
the arms of Mexico, boldly sculptured and painted in
A CHAJNTCE FOR RAILROAD BUILDERS. 217
the proper colors. This was erected in the year 1822,
in commemoration of Mexican Independence.
Twenty-fonr miles from Celaya, is a town called
Salvatierra, which is said to be the most prosper-
ous one in Mexico. There is unlimited water-power in
that place. In the district of Guanajuato, within a cir-
cuit of fifteen miles, there is estimated to be, at this
time, forty million dollars worth of silver ore, which
will yield twenty-five dollars to the ton ; but owing to
the expense of reducing it there, it will not pay for
working at all, and is now lying valueless on the surface
of the ground.
A railroad of about one hundred miles, through a
wonderfully rich valley, offering no engineering obsta-
cles of any moment, would connect the two cities, and
enable the builder to bag $20,000,000 in profits on this
ore already out ; to say nothing of the future. With
water power unlimited, and American stamp-mills,
enormous profits could be made by working this ore.
The Jaurez Administration will grant no more fran-
chises, for railroads to be hawked about by speculators ;
but if anybody in the United States, or Europe, desires
to build a railroad in good faith, here is a chance to do
it, and win fame and fortune. The people are ex-
tremely anxious to have some one take hold of the
enterprise.
We left Celaya early on the 10th of December, and
drove at a rattling pace, over a road which was then
being re-turnpiked and placed in perfect repair, a dis-
tance of about twelve leagues, or thirty English miles,
to Queretaro. Our road took us through a broad and
beautiful valley, filled with little towns — nobody thinks
of living alone in this country, but all the people crowd
218 SAD CONDITION OF THE LABOEING CLASSES.
into towns for self-protection — and covered with ripe
corn and green wheat-fields.
One of these haciendas which we passed was beauti-
ful, indeed. The rancho contains some fifty thousand
acres. It is in the highest state of cultivation, and is
valued by its owner, Justo L. Carresse, at $300,000 in
gold. His wheat crop from this rancho, and a smaller
one which we passed, is worth annually, fifty thousand
dollars, and he also produces twenty thousand sacks of
Indian corn of fine quality.
The laborers get only twenty-five or thirty-seven and
a half cents per day, own no land, have no vested inter-
est anywhere, and are half-clad in ragged cotton goods,
and eat calabossas and tortillas and frijoles the year
round. Were they born to be merely hewers of wood
and drawers of water to the end of time ? Is that all
which is in store for them ? What Spanish despotism
peon slavery, and religious superstition begun, poverty
and civil war have perpetuated ; and they are still but
little advanced beyond the old state of slavery. They
stand, hat in hand, in the blazing sun, so long as you
are addressing them, and appear, on all occasions, to be
thoroughly respectful, orderly, patient, and good dispo-
sitioned, though their poverty is something painful to
behold. There is money enough sunk in the twelve
great churches of Celaya — three would hold all the
population — to build railroads through all this great
valley, and decent houses for every family, and clothe
and educate every child in the State ; and these poor,
patient, people and their ancestors paid it all.
Some day, not far distant, will, I hope, see these peo-
ple becoming small land-owners, and fully informed of
the rights with which the Republic has invested them ;
GEEAT NEED OF A CONTINENTAL EAILKOAD. 219
and it will be well, for all, if they acquire the know-
ledge gradually, instead of being taught it, and errors
with it, suddenly, by some loud-mouthed demagogue,
who may incite them into inaugurating a new reign of
disorder and terror.
In justice to the Republic and State authorities, I
must say, that they do all in their power to educate the
youth, and ameliorate the condition of the people ; but
while the million poor are so very, very poor, and the
few rich are so very, very rich; commerce depressed,
public improvements few, and the Government impov-
erished by foreign and domestic war, and its long strug-
gle with the church, progress is necessarily very slow
indeed : nevertheless there is progress. A better time
will come ; but will it be in our day and generation ?
We met and passed many country people, going to
market, with great wicker baskets of cam,otes, fruit,
sweet-potatoes, etc., etc., on their backs, and many of
them were braiding palm-leaf hats as they trotted rap-
idly along, bending beneath their heavy burdens, in the
full blaze of the tropical sun. It is useless to say that
these people are idle and dissolute from nature, and
will not work. They will work all the year round
if the work is offered them, and fairly kiss the hand
that gives it to them. A railroad across the Continent,
by the route we followed from Manzanillo, would put
an end, forever, to revolutions and civil wars — I think
the end is almost reached already — enrich the whole
country and the road-owners at the same time, and con-
fer on humanity a boon, greater than all the bequests
of the philanthropic Peabody.
Some fifteen miles from Celaya, we entered the State
of Querataro, the towers of that historic city looming
220 APPROACH TO QtJERETARO ALL QUIET.
up grandly in the distance across the plain. Our road
led through a wide avenue lined with immense pepper
trees in full green foliage, contrasting vividly with the
brilliant red berries which loaded down every bough.
All was quiet and peaceful as a New England Sab-
bath in the olden time. But three years since, this same
tree-embowered road presented a far different scene.
The usurping " Emperor " and his foreign mercenaries
and domestic traitors, brought to bay, at last, and ren-
dered desperate by the hopelessness of their position
were making a sortie, for the purpose of cutting their
way out towards Morelia and the Pacific Coast, when
they saw, streaming down through the wide avenue, the
victorious " Army of the "West," under Ramon Corona,
from Sinaloa, who, with wild yells rushed directly into
the thickest of the fight, and closed the last avenue of
escape to them forever.
CHAPTER IX.
QUERETARO.
~YT7~E had been told that we should find a revolution
* * in full blast at Querataro, and everything in con-
fusion. Instead, we found every thing going on in clock
work order, peace, apparent contentment, and compara-
tive prosperity. The Governor, it is true, having quar-
reled with the Legislature or State Congress, had been
impeached, and was then in the city of Mexico, await-
ing trial before Congress ; but the Gefe Politico, Senor
Angel Duenas, and other officers, were conducting busi-
ness with regularity in his absence.
We found the City and State officials, ready with car-
riages at the gates to receive the party. The city con-
tains forty thousand people, and though far less impor-
tant, commercially, than it once was, is still reckoned a
wealthy one. It has schools, churches, and historic lo-
calities enough to occupy one's attention for a week ;
but as we had only a day and a half to devote to it, we
decided to spend the first half-day in visiting the great
factory which, in fact, supports the town ; then devote all
the following day to the scenes of interest connected
with the siege, and the capture and death of Maxi-
milian.
We rode at once out of the City to the north-west,
past a long aqueduct carried across the valley on high
stone arches, the whole work having cost a million dol-
222 HOW THE AQUEDUCT WAS BUILT.
lars. It was the work of a rich Mexican who offered,
by way of a banter, to do it free of cost to Queretaro,
if a friend of like wealth would build a saint and shrine
of solid silver. The bantering offer was accepted, and
both parties carried out their agreement. The city is
still supplied with water through this aqueduct.
The first factory which we saw was the small one
known as La Purisiana Conception — i. e. The Immacu-
late Conception — which is run by water, and employs
only three hundred operatives. It is owned by Senor
Don Cuyatano Rubio, an aged, and very wealthy and
enterprising Mexican, whose sons carry on all his im-
mense business. It stands in a beautifully arranged en-
closure, with high walls, fountains, orange-trees, and
flowers around it, and is guarded all the time by watch-
men in full military uniform, armed and drilled in the
best modern style. It is lighted with gas, and the fine
machinery is of the most improved pattern. Only
mania or common cotton-cloth, such as is used by the
poorest class and the common people, is made at this
factory.
We passed on to the next and largest factory, not
only in Queretaro, but in Mexico. This is situated
just outside the city limits, and is known as the "Her-
cules." This is one of the largest establishments of
the kind in America, and is a model in its way. It was
founded twenty-five years ago by Senor Rubio, who
then employed fifty workmen. Since then he has added
to the capacity of the works until he has now the lar-
gest establishment in Mexico, and his income from it is
immense. The buildings, mostly of but one story,
cover a large extent of ground, and are enclosed
by a high wall and guarded by watch-men in uniform,
THE HERCULES COTTON FACTORY 223
armed and drilled as soldiers. The motive power is
furnished by two double oscillating engines of English
manufacture and one hundred horse-power each, and
the largest over-shot water-wheel in the world, sixty-five
feet in diameter, and of iron, wholly. The factory em-
ploys at present eighteen hundred men, women and
hoys, directly, and has eighteen thousand spindles in
operation. The buildings are erected, already, for
five thousand spindles more, and the number of opera-
tives will be increased to three thousand. This mill
produces six thousand pieces of common cotton goods,
each thirty-two varas — say thirty yards English — in
length, weekly. The women and men who do the
weaving, receive thirty-one and one-fourth cents per
piece, or about one cent per yard for their work, and are
paid weekly. They earn two and one-half to five dol-
lars per week, and are furnished with comfortable quar-
ters near the factory at a nominal rental. But they
work from 6 a. m. to 9 1-2 p. m., with only an intermis-
sion of half an hour, for breakfast, and an hour for din-
ner. Among the employes are many small boys from
seven to ten years of age.
The Government provides a day-school on Sunday
for these poor, little unfortunates ; but what can they
be expected to learn, when they have worked fifteen
hours out of the twenty-four during the entire week,
and can only have, at best, one brief day of liberty and
enjoyment of the sunlight in seven ? The buildings are
all well-lighted and ventilated, and were as well-cal-
culated for the purpose as any I have ever seen, and the
office and residence of the superintendent are on a scale
of extent and magnificence to be found in no similar
establishment, elsewhere. The factory was working
224
THE PROCESSIOJST OF THE HOST.
at the time, on orders largely in advance, and lit-
erally " coining money." The universal testimony of
the employers in all these factories, is that the work-
men and work-women are patient, laborious, and re-
liable; and that no better class of operatives could be
procured in the world. A beautiful statue of Hercu-
les and the lions, the latter spouting water, stands in
the center of the court-yard, and the entire surround-
ings of the place give evidence of a cultivated taste,
and unbounded wealth on the part of the proprietor.
Queretaro was once famous for the bigotry and fanat-
icism of its people. The appearance of the procession
carrying the Host, on the public streets, was the signal
for everybody in sight falling on his knees at once ;
and if any heretic dared to remain standing, or with his
hat on, he was sure to receive violent handling even il
he escaped with his life.
A few years since, an Englishman who was employed
at one of the mills, chanced to be on the streets when'
the procession with the Host hove in sight. Not be-
ing posted on the customs of the country he remained
standing until he was knocked down and nearly killed.
Some time after, he heard a small bell ringing on the
streets, and as this was the signal for the appearance of
the Host, supposed it was time to kneel. Down he
went on his knees and remained there with his face
buried deep in his sombrero until somebody came along,
and recognizing him, demanded an explanation of his
conduct. It turned out that the bell which he had sup-
posed headed the procession of the Host, was being
rung by the official dustman, as a warning to the inhab-
itants to have their refuse dust and garbage ready for
him to remove.
THAT SAME OLD MULE STORY. 225
He was of course quickly on his feet upon making
this discovery, but the joke on him was too good to be
kept, and he was almost driven out of the country by
the wags, who never tired of going after him, on the
subject. The carrying of the Host through the streets
of Mexican towns is no longer permitted, and the mis-
take is not likely to be ever repeated.
I believe all countries and all languages have the
same stories, only slightly varied to suit the locality.
A man told me in Queretaro, with all possible gravity,
that a few years since, an American bought a rancho in
the vicinity of that city, and took a large drove of mules
to pasture for a year, for one-half of the increase As
the mules did not breed as rapidly as he had anticipated,
he lost money, and finally bursted up in business. This
story has been told me in every country I have ever
visited, at the expense of the next door neighbors, and
I am half satisfied that, spite of the Mosaic account of
the affair, the real cause or origin of the difficulty
between Cain and Abel was the telling of this very
anecdote by the former to the latter. Abel replied,
" that is an old story, you had better start something
fresh ! " and the brutal row began.
On the evening of our arrival a number of gentlemen
assembled at the parlor of the house occupied by Mr.
Seward and party, and Serior Angel Duenas, Political
Chief, made an address, to which Mr. Seward replied
briefly ; and on his leaving, presented him with a letter
of thanks for the address and the efforts made by the
people of Queretaro and the authorities, to make his
stay in the state and city, a pleasant one.
Senor Manuel Gomez then advanced and pronounced
a " felicitation ", to which Mr. Seward replied in "writing
as follows:
15
226 WELCOME TO MR. SEWAKD.
" Senor Gomez : I pray you, my dear sir, to accept in this form
my grateful acknowledgment for the generous words of wel-
come, which on my arrival at this place you addressed to me,
on behalf of the officers and agents of the Federal Government
residing in the city of Queretaro. Republicanism on this conti-
nent, my dear sir, is not the cause of the United States of America,
or of the United States of Mexico, only, but it is the common
cause of both countries, and, as I believe, of all the nations which
now exist on the American Continent. It will be a happy conse-
quence of my present travel in Mexico, if it shall enable me, in
any degree, to cultivate and mature this sentiment, either in
your interesting country, or in my own".
The legislature of the state of Queretaro, presented
by one of its members, an address of welcome, of which
the following is a translation :
The Legislature of the State has the honor t<* felicitate Mr.
"W. H. Seward, giving him the welcome. It is the true inter-
preter of the people of Queretaro with regard to the expressions
of its gratitude. Meanwhile, history does not efface off its pages
the unjustified invasion of France in Mexico ; likewise, will not be
effaced the important services which Mexico received of the
Hon. Minister of America, in 1866.
Queretaro, Nov. 11th 1869.
(Signed,) B. Gandarilla,
President.
In reply Mr. Seward wrote a letter, concluding :
" The Legislature will scarcely need to be assured that I ap-
preciate the legendary and historical character of the state of
Queretaro. While its capital will be forever celebrated, as the
scene of the earliest and most pious labors of the humble founders
of Christianity in Mexico, it will be even more distinguished, as
the scene of those mighty events, which concluded the last
and most desperate attempt of all, to establish European monar-
chal domination on the American Continent. Peace, harmony 3
and sympathy among the several American Nations, is now the
THE EMPIRE OF MEXICO." 227
common interest of all of them, and it is soon to be perceived
that it is equally the interest of all mankind. With most pro-
found respect, etc."
A similar reply was addressed by Mr. Seward, to a
letter of welcome from Governor Varquez, which closed
the felicitations.
We spent all one day riding around Queretaro, visit-
ing the scenes of the last act in the bloody farce of
the " Empire of Mexico," and hearing the story from
the lips of men who witnessed it all, and participated
in it, or were familiar with all the details.
It is the common belief in the United States and
Europe, that the execution of Maximilian and his asso-
ciates, Miramon and Mejia, was in defiance of the will
of the majority of the people of Mexico, and that Max-
imilian's memory is greatly revered by all classes of
society. Certain newspaper correspondents, whose mo-
tives may well be questioned, have represented that
every relic and trace of him, is regarded with supersti-
tious reverence by the people of Mexico ; and that the
men who sent him to his death, are everywhere de-
detested and abhorred. I could see no trace of such a
feeling, and must be allowed to express a personal un-
belief of the whole story. Imperialists, belonging to
the wealthy and, former, " ruling classes," who might
be expected to speak reverentially of him, so far as
my observation, at least, goes, all hold his memory in
contempt, and regard him as the author, not only of
his own misfortunes, but of those who adhered to his
cause. They often say of him that he was, personally,
a gentleman, in his carriage and demeanor, but vain to
the last degree, cold-blooded, fond of idle pomp and
show, and devoid of all the qualities of heart and
228 THE SCENE OF THE DOWNFALL.
head to fit hiin for personal popularity, and enable him
to succeed in such an enterprise as founding an empire
on the ruins of a republic.
Queretaro is situated on the north-eastern edge of a
wide plain, around which, on the north-east, north, and
west, runs a range of low hills commanding the city. In
April, and the early part of May, 1867, the position of
the contending armies was about as follows : Gen. Es-
cobedo, the Commander-in-Chief of the Republican
forces, had his head-quarters on the heights east of
the city, and held undisturbed possession of the north-
east and south-east, and debated with the Imperialists
the possession of the lower part of ihe city nearest his
head- quarters. The Imperialists held the west, south-
west, and south-east, and the main portion of the city ;
while Gen. Corona on the south, and Regules and the
American Legion on the west, hemmed them in, and
prevented their escape toward the Pacific.
The old Convent and Church of Las Cruces, is an
immense structure, with walls of great strength, and is
situated on a hill sufficiently high to command the city,
but is commanded in turn by the heights beyond the
town occupied by General Escobedo. The Alameda
is on low ground, overlooked by the heights occupied
by Corona, but is surrounded by a stout, stone wall,
and was well defended by artillery and the Casa Blanca.
Between it and the Cerro de Las Campanas is an old ha-
cienda, with immense walls, invulnerable to everything
but the fire of the heaviest ordnance. From Las Cru-
ces to the Cerro, in a direct line, is a mile and a half,
and the line of defences was nearly two miles — twice
too long for the force that held it, or rather, tried to
hold it.
THE SIEGE OF QUERETARO. 229
The story of the siege of Queretaro and the deeds
of daring on both sides is now tolerably familiar to
the reading public. Maximilian sent out Miramon with
the flower of his army to attack, and if possible, cap-
ture Juarez at Zacatecas. He captured the city, Ju-
arez barely escaping, but next day was attacked and
routed by Escobedo, and on the following day, having
retreated thirty miles and united his forces to those of
Castillo, was again overtaken and routed completely, by
Escobedo, his whole army being killed or dispersed, and
himself escaping wounded, and with but a handful of
men remaining.
On the fourteenth of April, Corona made a daring
and desperate attack upon the strong-hold of Las Cru-
ces, and scaling the high walls of the cemetery on the
north-east side, occupied a position under the very walls
of the Convent for an hour, but was driven out at last
by the besieged, after a hand-to-hand conflict. Later
in the siege, Corona, while resting his forces in the plain,
in the rear of the Casa Blanca, was surprised in the
early morning by the forces under Miramon, who
marched under the cover of the night from the Casa
Blanca to the Alameda, and suddenly flanking his po-
sition, routed him, and compelled him to retreat to
the hills, a few hundred yards in the rear. This, how-
ever, gained him no permanent advantage, and he
was in turn flanked by Escobedo, and compelled to
retire within the intrenchments.
The sortie made with a view of escaping to Morelia,
had been made by Maximilian's forces previous to this
surprise of Corona, and had failed. Now for the final
catastrophe. The story, I heard from one ot the officers
of the court-martial which condemned Maximilian, Mir-
230 LAST SCENE IN THE CONFLICT.
anion, and Mejia to death ; and from other parties who
were eye-witnesses, some of whom evidently sympa-
thized with the Imperialists.
On the night of the 14th of May, 1867, the Impe-
rialists were defeated at all points, exhausted and dis-
pirited. They had lived on mule-meat and bean-bread
for weeks, and even that was s^one. Maximilian, de-
spairing, at last, of assistance from abroad, saw that
all was lost, and at lip. m. he sent Lopez, who was
then the " officer of the day," to the head-quarters of
General Escobedo, with instructions, to say to him, that
he proposed to take fifty picked horsemen, escape across
the Sierra Gordo to Tampico or Tuxpan, and embark for
Europe, leaving the place to surrender at once, if his
own life was guaranteed him. Escobedo repelled the
proposition with contempt, telling Lopez that he had
strict orders to refuse all terms to Maximilian, as an
outlaw, and violator of the laws of war, and that he
would carry the city by assault at the next attempt.
Lopez returned to Maximilian, told him of his utter
want of success, and then returned to the advanced
post occupied by him, just below Las Cruces, on the
north-western side, and in the outskirts of Queretaro.
Escobedo, reasoning that the proposition could only
come from a man in the last extremity, at once called
a council of war, and the general assault which had
been previously ordered for the following day at 8 a.
m., was directed to be made immediately. The Repub-
lican troops reached the out-post held byLopez in front
of Las Cruces at 4 a. m., and as soon as Lopez saw them,
he told his men that further resistance was useless.
Some say, that he said that the Republicans were de-
serters who came to join the Imperialists, but this is
HOW MAXIMILIAN" WAS TAKEN. 231
denied by Lopez and his friends. At any rate, he ran
directly to the head-quarters of Maximilian at La Cru-
ces, told him all was lost, and urged him to fly to Las
Campauas, and escape if he could. Maximilian, who
appeared to have completely lost his senses, ran down
from his room in the second story of the convent to the
basement, and demanded his horses, but was told that
the Republicans already had possession of the stables.
He then ran out toward the north, but was caught
by the shoulder, by an officer who pushed him back,
telling him that he was running directly into the jaws
of death. He then ran on foot through Queretaro in
a south-westerly direction toward the Cerro de Las Cam-
pauas. On his way through the city he w r as seen in
uniform by some of the soldiers of the regiment
of Col. Rincon of the Republican forces, who had
already made their way to the heart of the city.
They cried out to stay him, but Col. Rincon, either
because he did not recognize him, or because his fa-
ther had been under great obligations to Maximilian,
replied, " No ; he is only a private citizen, and a coun-
tryman of ours ; let him go !" He then ran on to
Las Campanas uninterrupted, and, demanding horses,
was told that it was useless, as all the country in
front was already occupied by General Regules.
Thus cut off, and surrounded at all points, he took
a white flag in his hand, and started down the slope
of one hundred feet toward the city, and before reach-
ing the bottom met Col. Geo. M. Green, the accom.
plished officer in command of the American Legion of
Honor from San Francisco, whom he recognized. Shots'
had by this time been fired at Maximilian, repeatedly,
by the advancing Republicans, and he was, in a pitiable
232 HOW MAXIMILIAN WAS TAKEN.
condition ; exhausted, disheartened, and with his great,
weak lips trembling so that he could hardly command
his speech, he asked Col. Green not to let him fall into
the hands of General Escobedo, of whom he stood in
mortal terror, but to point out General Corona and al-
low him to surrender to him. Col. Green said to him :
"Calm yourself; the Emperor of Austria has sent a
commission to ask the American Government to inter-
cede for your life !"
Maximilian apparently greatly relieved by the infor-
mation, replied :
" And my brother has done this ?"
By this time — all had passed in a few seconds — Gen
eral Corona had reached the spot, and going straight up
to him, Maximilian said :
" I am Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico." (drawing
his sword and presenting it ;) " I am the Emperor no
longer, but a Mexican citizen, and your prisoner?"
Corona replied :
"No, Maximilian, you are not now Emperor, and
never were !"
He then motioned to a subordinate to receive his
sword, refusing himself to accept it, or make any terms
of surrender, and referring him, altogether, to General
Escobedo, his superior in command. Lopez now or-
dered the Austrians and others in his command, to
disarm, and the work was complete.
The story that Lopez sold out to Escobedo for sev-
enty thousand dollars, in coin, is in a measure rebutted
by the facts that the Republicans had not a dollar to
pay him ; that he has not been known to have a dollar
since ; and that there was no need of such a bribe, as
all chance for successful resistance was gone, and the
WAS LOPEZ A TRAITOR? 233
Republicans already, had the city, practically, in their
power ; the City of Mexico was certain to fall, for it
could not be defended long by the forces within it.
There was no point on the continent from which suc-
cor could possibly come. It is a fact against him, that
he was not imprisoned, for a time, like his brother offi-
cers ; but may not that be explained on the hypothesis,
that although detested (as were all those who had gone
over to the Empire,) by the Republicans, they still felt
that he was entitled to some consideration for having
stopped the effusion of blood, when the proper time
arrived, and it was just and proper that he should do so.
Strict military disciplinarians might urge that his duty
was to have died at his post ; not to presume to judge
of the exigencies of a situation when his superior offi-
cer was in command, and on the ground; but civilians
will ask, to what good would such self-sacrifice conduce,
and it will be hard to answer. I do not propose to
offer an apology for a man whose former life had been
regarded infamous by his most intimate acquaintances ;
but something is due to the truth of history ; and it
really seems to me, from all the evidence which I gath-
ered at the time, and that which I found on the spot,
that Maximilian was not betrayed by Lopez ; and that
he (Maximilian), on the other hand, did, on the night
of the 14th of May, offer to abandon his companions
to their fate, and escape, personally, to the coast of the
Gulf of Mexico, and from thence to Europe, is beyond
a doubt.
We found the room occupied by Maximilian at Las
Cruces, unroofed, and filled with rubbish, from a pile
of which, small trees had grown up ; from one of them,
as much as twelve feet in height, I plucked a handful
234 MAXIMILIAN, MIRAMON AND MEJIA.
of flowers. Some one had written in bold letters, on
the wall, with charcoal, " Mexico es Libre !" but I saw
no other inscription. In the rooms below, all was just
as it was when the imperial horses were taken out, af-
ter the fall. We went up and stood in the bell-tower
in which Maximilian stood when a cannon-ball from
Escobedo's batteries cut down his aid by his side.
All the buildings around the Convent were tenantless,
roofless, and in ruins, having been dismantled by the
Imperialists, or leveled by the Republican batteries,
and never repaired.
From Las Campanas, Maximilian, with Miramon,
Mejia, Prince Salm Salm, and others, was taken back
to the city and imprisoned for six or seven days in the
old Convent of Theresite.- From thence he, with Mir-
amon and Mejia, went to the old monastery of Los Ca-
puchinos, and there they remained under guard (while
the court-martial decided their case) until the 19th of
June, thirty-four days after their capture, when they
went out to die. Maximilian persisted until the last
hour in the belief that the barefooted and ragged Re-
publicans of Mexico would not dare to shoot a Prince
of the house of Hapsburg-Lorraine, and one of the
" Lord's Anointed." But they did !
When at Los Capuchinos, I was shown by a friend
who accompanied me, the window at which Maximilian
was looking out, when he visited the place during the
pseudo Emperor's confinement after the court-martial
had sentenced him to death. It faces the patio, and
in the room adjoining, on the other angle, Miramon and
Mejia were confined. By looking diagonally across the
corner of this patio, they could see each other when
standing at their windows. When my friend entered
THE STORY OF THEIR EXECUTION. 235
they were conversing. Miramon called out to Maxi-
milian :
" Emperor : I beg you to prepare for death ; I tell you
that they will certainly shoot us !"
Maximilian replied confidently:
" No, they dare not do it : they may shoot you possi-
bly, but Don Benito will not let me be killed. He will
send me either to the United States or to Europe!"
Miramon shrugged his shoulders and replied :
"I assure you that you are deceiving yourself; they
will certainly shoot us all ! "
In Maximilian's room I saw a hole in the floor where
the pavement had been taken up, as if to effect an es-
cape into the room below ; but could not learn whether
this was made during the time that he was there con-
fined or subsequently.
In company with Senor Duerias, I rode out to see the
spot where the three met their death. On the north-
eastern slope of the low, rocky hill-side, facing the city,
a rude barrier of adobes had been thrown up to stop
the bullets, and here the carriage halted. Gen. Esco-
bedo, with a motion of the hand, directed Maximilian
to come down. The puppet Emperor, unaccustomed
to such treatment from those he regarded as the dust
of the earth, gave him a look of doubt which filially
changed to a scowl, descended hesitatingly, and walked
mechanically toward the summit of the hill. Miramon
arrived next, and, seeing that Maximilian was going
wrong, called him back. They stood at first with Maxi-
milian in the center, but the position was changed,
and when the troops drew up on the hill below to fire
upon them, Maximilian stood on the west, Miramon
next, and Mejia on the east. Maximilian, from a re-
236
LAST SCENE IN THE TRAGEDY.
pugnance to touching the hands of common men, had
contracted the habit in Mexico of standing with his
hands behind him, and in this position he stood, and
said something inaudible to the spectators, to Mejia and
to Miramon. Then he commenced a bitter, rambling, and
incoherent speech to Escobedo — not the words, at all,
which have since been put in his mouth — about being
willing to die for the good of Mexico, but was stopped
and told to face the muskets. Mejia stood with his
arms folded, Miramon holding his written defense ; and
THE EXECUTION OF MAXIMILIAN.
Maximilian with a cross elevated in his right hand,
when the sharp crash of the volley came, and all three roll-
ed upon the ground. Mejia and Miramon died instantly,
but Maximilian repeatedly clapped his hand on his
THE CERRO DE LAS CAMPANAS. 237
head as if in agony, and expired with a struggle, as
the echoes of the muskets died away among the canons
of the distant Sierra.
Died away did I say ? No ; not there, nor then !
Those echoes rolled across the broad Atlantic and shook
every throne in Europe. The royal plotter against the
liberties of men heard them in his palace by the Seine,
and grew pale as he listened. They rolled over the
Pyrenees, and the throne of Isabella began to crumble ;
over the Alps, and every monarch from Italy to the far-
thest East heard in them the rumblings of the com-
ing earthquake — the prelude of the fall of empires.
They will roll on, and on, through the coming ages, and
be answered by the uprising millions of future genera-
tions, until "Kingly Prerogatives" and "Divine Right"are
things of the past. The world had waited long for
these echoes, and was better when it heard them at last.
The ground, which but a few short months ago was
torn by cannon-shot, trampled by contending armies,
and drenched with the blood of Europe and America,
is now covered with corn-fields ; and three plain, wooden
crosses, painted black, without inscription of any kind,
and mounted on a rude pile of stones, alone mark
the spot whereon was enacted the last scene of one of
the most tremendous dramas of our time.
The laborers were engaged in gathering the corn,
when our carriages drove up, and they stopped a mo-
ment and looked on with silent interest, as Mr. Seward
stood beside the rude mound, while the uncle of Mira-
nion told the story of the execution, and the two sisters
of the most ambitious, bigoted and unscrupulous of Mex-
ico's celebraties, clad in black, stood weeping silently
behind them. Some there may be, who will think that
238 THE LAST OF THE EMPIRE OF MEXICO.
I am hardly human, in my want of sympathy for the
men who expiated their crimes against liberty and the
rights of men, at the Cerro de Las Campanas; but let
them see the widows and orphans, the ruined towns,
depopulated districts, poverty, misery and woe, which
they brought upon this lovely land, as I have seen them,
and then sympathise with dead royalty and its suppor-
ters if they can. I have as much sympathy for human
misery as any man living, but it is with the innocent
victims of this crime against all that is holy, — the star-
ving, poor and helpless, — that I sympathize ; not Avith
those who staked their all on the dice, — trusting to gain
the wages of crime, be worshiped for their success,
and feared for their power, — lost, and paid the penalty.
I would have doubted the justice of God, had Maximil-
ian lived, and the thousands of brave men whom he
sent to death through his black flag decree slept una-
venged in their bloody graves. I have stood on the
Cerro de Las Campanas, and I know that God is just !
" The mills of the Gods grind slowly,
But they grind exceeding small."
They never ground a grist finer than that which Na-
poleon III. sent to their mill, marked "Empire of
Mexico."
THE END OF THE EMPIRE.
CHAPTER X.
FROM QUEEETARO TO MEXICO.
TTTE left Queretaro early on the morning of Nov.
* * 1 2th, and, passing through the battle-field of El
Cemetario, around La Cruces, and San Francisqnito, with
their loop-holed and shattered walls, ruined outworks,
and surrounding hamlets, deserted and desolate, as-
cended a long hill, from the summit of which, we ob-
tained a glorious view of the white- walled city and the
lovely valley around it. Our road led us, nearly all
day, through a very broad and rich valley, covered
with corn-fields stretching out to the very horizon, well
cultivated and very productive. The haciendas of the
proprietors of these vast estates, each a strong-walled
fortress surrounded by the hovels of the laborers like
ancient feudal castles, formed a very picturesque feature
of the scene.
At 2 p. m., we had made forty-two Mexican miles, and
reached the fine old Mexican town of San Juan del
Rio, where we were received and entertained in the
most hospitable manner, by Seiior Don Antonio Diaz y
Torres and his amiable and accomplished wife, at their
beautiful city residence. The municipal authorities wel-
comed Mr. Seward with addresses and music, and Se-
iior Don Ramon de Ybarrola, a young civil engineer,
proprietor of the great estate of Galindo, in the vicin-
ity, made a brief " felicitation " in English.
240 THE LAND OF THE MAGUEY.
The town has numerous churches and old convent
buildings — the latter now confiscated and converted
into public schools — but not much else worth seeing.
The population numbers ten thousand.
Next day, the 13th of Nov., we drove the same dis-
tance over a wide, prairie-like, uncultivated plain, and a
lava-field of twenty miles in width, the road through
which was fearfully rough. This old lava underlies the
soil — the rich, black loam, of the country — at a depth
of three to six feet, for many square leagues. We had
been passing over such beds, or " flows," from time to
time, on all the journey from Colima. Where so much
of this material could have come from, is a mystery, at
this day.
We were now at an elevation of forty-five hundred
feet above the sea, and steadily ascending. Here, the
American Aloe, Maguey, Century, Mescal, or Pulque
plant, as it is termed in different localities, grows to an
immense size — much larger than in the tierre caliente —
and is planted out in regular order, in extensive fields,
all along the road. Many of the plants were sending
out their blossom stalks, ten to twenty feet in height,
looking, for all the world, like telegraph poles at a dis-
tance, and like gigantic asparagus sprouts when near at
hand ; and a few were bursting into blossom. This is
the " Century plant," which, Northern people have so
long believed blooms but once in a hundred years,
but, which matures here, in from five to ten years. It
blooms but once, the stalk being cut out to form a
reservoir for the milky sap which accumulates therein,
and is drawn out to be converted into pulque and mes-
cal. From each old plant, five or six " suckers " — each
of which will produce a new plant — spring up, and are
ARROYO ZARCO THE RURAL GUARD. 241
cut off and planted separately to keep the plantation
good. The plant requires but little cultivation, and
costs, on an average, about fifty cents from first to last.
Each plant yields about a barrel of pulque, and a large
amount of fibre for ropes and matting, and is worth,
altogether, about five dollars. The owner of a planta-
tion of one hundred thousand magueys considers him-
self worth five hundred thousand dollars.
At night we stopped at a fonda at Arroyo Zarco, a
large old hacienda, rich in pictures of great age and
merit, and other curious things. The owner long since
abandoned it as a residence, on account of the state of the
of the country, moving his family for safety and comfort
to the city of Mexico.
As the Governor of Queretaro, who had started for
the capital on three hours notice, to stand his trial be-
fore Congress, had been stopped and robbed, just out-
side the gates of Mexico, in the week previous to our
arrival, it was not deemed prudent for us to go over the
road alone. The authorities, accordingly, furnished us
with a detachment of regular cavalry, and from village
to village we were further escorted by detachments of
the rural guard, a very well mounted, and reliable body
of men, armed with the Maynard rifle, revolvers, and
sabres. These rural guards furnish themselves with
everything, pay all their own expenses, and receive one
dollar each per day from the municipalities.
Next day, Nov. 14th, we rode forty-five miles — Span-
ish — over the roughest kind of a road, soft lime-rock
and lava, mixed in about equal proportions, through a
country mostly unfitted for cultivation, and inhabited
only by a few poor people, scattered at wide intervals.
We staid at night at Tepeji del Rio, at the residence of
16
242 TEPEJI DEL RIO.
Mr. Archibald Hope, an Englishman forty-five years
resident in Mexico, who is erecting a cotton and woolen
factory and flour-mill, at this point, which were to be
ready for operation in a few days. This mill is fur-
nished with the best of machinery from England and
the United States, and will employ three hundred work-
men, and is in all its departments, one of the most com-
plete in Mexico.
Wood is sold every where in Central Mexico, by the
a/rroba of twenty-five pounds weight. Here it costs
only five or six cents per a/rroba j at Celaya it costs
seven to eight cents, and at Queretaro ten cents. As
we approach the Capital and ascend to greater altitude,
the country become less well- wooded, the hills — save in
a few places — are bare of trees, and only on the highest
mountains could we see any large timber. The oak — of
a species resembling the live oak of California — fresno,
willow, water-beech and mesquite are the principal
trees to be seen.
The nopal, or prickly pear, grows in great luxuri-
ance, and the maguey increases in size and value, but
the peculiar vegetation of the tropics has mainly disap-
peared. The nights at this time were cool, though
there was no frost, and the thermometer during the day
stood at sixty to seventy degrees.
We left Tepeji del Rio, early on the 15th of Nov., for
our last days' ride towards Mexico. For thirty-eight
days we had been " swinging around a circle," as it were,
having advanced northward from Manzanillo to Guada-
lajara, thence eastward to Guanajuato, thence south-
easterly and south to Queretaro and Mexico, traveling
in all a distance of about eight hundred Spanish miles,
and halting some days at each of the principal cities.
THE BLIND MAN AND HIS DAUGHTER. 243
During all this time we had heard not a word from
home, and knew nothing of the passing events in the
United States ; as a matter of course, we were anxious
enough to finish our journey and be once more in com-
muuication with the outside world.
As we were passing along the road I observed an
incident which my readers may think hardly worth re-
cording, but which struck me at the moment as very
affecting. In a narrow part of the road we met a little
Indian girl of perhaps twelve years, carrying a large
basket filled with some country produce upon her back,
and guiding her father at the same time. The father
was old and blind, but still strong, and. carried a heavy
burden, likewise, on his shoulders. To guide himself he
kept one hand resting lightly upon the basket carried
by his daughter, and when our coach came suddenly
upon them, and she sprang out of the track to give it
room, he followed, keeping exact pace with her, evi-
dently, reposing in perfect confidence upon her judg-
ment and discretion. Something which she may have
said in an undertone, or more probably her start of sur-
prise and attitude of attention, led him to think that
there was something unusual in the spectacle presented
to her eyes, and with a blind man's instinct he laid his
other hand gently and with a loving caress against her
cheek, as if he sought to divine her thoughts from the
changes which passed over her features, as fear, wonder,
or animated curiosity affected them. Of all the scenes
which I witnessed in Mexico, grand, beautiful, or pain*
ful, none impressed itself more vividly on my memory
than that of this timid, shrinking child, bearing life's
burden in all its fullness thus prematurely, and her
blind old father, bending beneath the load of years and
244 PULQUE AND THE PULQUERIES.
poverty, standing there by the dusty roadside, on the
lonely highway, in such attitude as could not fail to
strike the eye of the painter or the poet — I am neither
— on the instant; a picture unpainted, a poem un-
written, but a picture and a poem filled with tender
sentiment and touching pathos, nevertheless.
After a ride of ten miles, over a rough, hard moun-
tain road, through a poor, barren country, we emerged
at last, upon the summit of a divide, and looked down
for the first time upon the valley of Mexico.
The day was bright and beautiful. Lake Zupango
lay off to our left, on the south-eastward, and beyond
it the little city of that name, with its tall old church
tower peeping out from among the embowering trees.
The valley immediately before us was broken up with
small hills which interrupted the view, somewhat, at
first. Numerous small lakes, natural or artificially
formed for irrigating purposes, were scattered here and
there among the hills, and on the right, on the left,
and all around, were little hamlets, often half in ruins,
with dilapidated old stone churches and abandoned
convents and monasteries, in endless profusion. The
valley grows richer as you advance towards the Capital.
The vegetation is more luxuriant — and the villages
larger and more thrifty in appearance. The corn-fields
on either side of the road were large, and the ripe crop
heavy, and the maguey plantations grew more extensive
at every mile. The road is bordered with tall trees —
beeches, willows, fresnos, and pepper trees, in full bear-
ing. At the little towns we noticed the potteries at
which the delicate, red earthenware of Mexico is made
and kept for sale, and numerous "pulqueries" with the
pulque-drinkers standing around them leaning against
HOW PIG-SKINS ARE MADE IN MEXICO.
245
tlie walls in a state of stupid intoxication, with an
expression of utter vacuity or idiocy upon their faces.
The liquor is exposed to the sun in the skins of pigs,
sheep, and goats, denuded of the hair and bristles, which
appear to have been taken off whole. After much dili-
gent inquiry, Mr. Fitch elicited the statement, that the
MANEUVERING FOR A PIG-SKIN.
skins are taken off by allowing the pigs to fast twenty
four hours, then tying them by their tails to posts, and
coaxing them out of their coverings by holding ears of
corn just in front of their noses.
The statement went down in his book, at once, and
was added, unhesitatingly, to the, already, large stock of
useless knowledge he had accumulated on the trip.
The fact is that the animal is beaten with a club until
all the bones are smashed, and the flesh reduced to a
246 A REMINISCENCE OF WHITE PINE.
pulp, and the mass is then drawn out, little by little, at
the neck.
Walking on down the road in advance, as the coach
was ascending a hill, I saw an officer riding toward rne,
and was so startled by a resemblance to an American
friend whom I left in White Pine Mining District, Ne-
vada, that I accosted him at once. To my great relief
and surprise, as well, I found that he could not speak
a word of English. There was a slightly unpleasant
episode recalled to my mind by that resemblance.
When the rush, in mid-winter, into the airy and inclem-
ent mountain region of White-Pine, was at its height,
a party had gathered one cold, stormy night in our
cabin on the summit of Treasure Mountain, and was
whiling away the hours — in the absence of theaters,
churches, lecture-rooms, and choice female society, — im-
bibing hot fluids, and filling in the odd minutes at the
elevating and ennobling occupation of playing draw-
poker. (I would here observe that draw-poker is
played with five cards, dealt, one at a time, all around —
not two first and three next, as in euchre. I make this
explanation as a matter of necessity, the second and
third propositions having been advanced in my hearing
not long siDce, by no less an authority, than an United
States Minister, who, in spite of his professed knowl-
edge of the- game, has been known to lay down two
large pairs, when his opponent, who only held ace high,
raised him with six hundred dollars already on the
board. I make this explanation in the interest of the
heirs of Hoyle — not that I care anything about it myself.)
Among the party were two of the tallest men in the
camp — Messrs. Downton and Gerry — who had been in-
troduced to each other for the first time that evening.
THE STORY OF DOWNTON AND GERRY.
247
As the night advanced, their conversation became
more and more affectionate and affectingly personal.
Each was over six feet in his stockings, each blue-eyed,
light-haired, a little inclined to stoop in the shoulders,
and possessed of a decidedly camel-like hump, or pro-
tuberance on the
bridge of the nose,
and a very consid-
er able deflection
of that oro-an from
the line of the per-
pendicular. These
facts had not at-
tracted the atten-
tion of the rest of
the party to any
considera b 1 e ex-
tent ; but as the
drinking and play-
ing went on, the
worthies not iced
them of them-
selves, and commented upon them freely. The more
they thought of it and talked about it, the more thor-
oughly they became convinced that the resemblance
was something more than accidental, and that in some
mysterious and undefined way, they must be blood-re
lations of a very near degree of kindred.
So they went on, drinking and complimenting each
other on their mutual good looks and family resem-
blance, and by a curious fatality, winning, between
them, all the money from the other parties around the
board. The losing members of the distinguished com-
A FAMILY RESEMBLANCE.
248 SAD RESULT OF BUSINESS REVERSES.
pany bore this until it became considerable of a bore,
and it grew evident that if the game went on in that
way all night, most of them would be ruined past the
hope of redemption. It is beautiful to see brethren
dwelling together in unity, but when you have to stand
the expense, and make them happy out of your own
pocket, the spectacle loses much of its attraction ; at
least, so thought the others present that night. At
length, Joe Ackerson got the deal, and there were
some heavy hands out, apparently, judging from the
way different parties invested their beans. Downton
had gone a " blind ; " and Gerry saw it and raised it.
Downton made the blind good and raised him ; then
Gerry saw it and raised liim ; and so it went on until
each had his entire pile on the table, and all the other
players had drawn out, and were looking on, except Joe
Ackerson, who had announced himself as having had
chicken-pie enough, and retired to his luxurious bunk,
drawn the drapery of his couch — San Francisco eight
pound woolen blankets — around him, and to appear-
ance, at least, laid down to pleasant dreams.
They came to a call at last, and showed their hands.
Gerry threw down four kings triumphantly, and reached
forward to rake down the coin ; but Downton gently re-
pulsed him, and laying four aces before his astonished
eyes, pulled it all over to his side of the table, and com-
menced counting it into twenty dollar heaps, prepara-
tory to stowing it in his pockets and handkerchief. It
was perfectly astonishing how quickly these two affec-
tionate and gushing brothers forgot their probable re-
lationship, on which they had doated so much a few
minutes before, and went into criminations and recrim-
inations, and from that to belligerent demonstrations.
THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 249
Business reverses will sour any man's disposition, and I
have known the peace of many a happy and devoted
family irretrievably wrecked by an unfortunate com-
mercial venture, or an investment in stocks on a falling
market.
Luckily, neither of them had their revolvers within
reach at the moment, but they made a general average
on the chairs and furniture — all the property of others
as it happened — and when the company separated
them, we — the owners of the property destroyed — were
temporarily ruined, and they went their way, vowing
undying hatred of each other to the end of their days.
Since that moment I have had a horror of meeting
people who resemble each other, and it was an infinite
relief to me when I found that this man whom I met on
the road, and my friend in White Pine, were of differ-
ent nationalities, and not likely to greet each other as
natural brothers, should they ever come together.
Ten miles ride in the valley took us out from among
the broken hills, and the view became magnificent.
The mountains along the eastern horizon, beyond the
lakes of Mexico, lay like great purple clouds against
the deep blue sky. Popocatapetl, monarch of them
all, lifted his head, white with the snows of ages, ma-
jestic and awful in its grand proportions, far into the
unclouded heavens in the distance. Truly, the beauty
ot the Valley of Mexico has not been overrated.
Ten miles from the City of Mexico, Sehor Lerdo
de Tejada, and Matias Romero, two of the most noted
men of the Cabinet of President Juarez, and the
United States Minister to Mexico, Mr. Nelson, were
waiting with carriages and an escort of brilliantly
uniformed cavalry, and the party left the coach in which
250 PRESIDENT JUAKEZ AND MEXICO'S GUEST.
we had traveled from Guadalajara, for the more luxuri-
ous method of conveyance. We passed to the left of
Chapultepec and the Molino del Rey, and directly by
the famous tree under which Hernando Cortez found
shelter on the memorable Noche Triste, when his forces
cut their way by night through the hosts of the infuri-
ated Aztecs, piled up the dead to make a causeway
on which to escape across the shallow laguna, and at
last, sorely pressed, disheartened, and almost annihi-
lated, escaped from the city. Then the glorious pan-
orama of the great City of Mexico unrolled itself be-
fore us.
At the Garita de San Cosme, the stern, old champion
of Republicanism, the man of many adventures and
the most wonderful history and most varied fortunes,
the man of the iron will and indomitable resolution
which stand out on every feature, the man with the
charmed life, who has escaped unscathed from more
plots, conspiracies, and accidents, than any other man
now living ; the man who will live in history as one of the
wonders of our age, the man sent by Providence to repel
foreign invasion, crush and destroy the despotism of the
church, free the peon, establish schools, suppress insurrec-
tions, deal the last blow at imperialism in America, and
rule a turbulent nation with a rod of iron, the Citizen Presi-
dent, Benito Juarez, stood waiting to receive the nation's
guest. He was dressed in plain black, and had not even
a liveried servant in attendance ; his wife and daughter
accompanied him. The brief, friendly greeting over,
and the other members of our party having been intro
duced by Senor Bossero, the cavalcade resumed its way
and entered the Capital City of the Republic.
Driving past the old Alameda de Montezuma, where
IN THE CITY OF MONTEZUMA.
251
the last great King of the Aztecs used to walk beneath
the trees at morning and evening, and the famous, gi-
gantic equestrian statue of Charles the Fourth, in
bronze, we went, directly, to the palace-like residence at
the corner of the Castle de Alfaro and Arco de San
Augustin, which had been exj)ressly fitted up for the
INTERIOR OE MR. SEWARD'S HOUSE IN MEXICO.
reception of Mr. Seward and party. President Juarez,
who had driven ahead — emerged from the gateway, bare-
headed, and said to Mr. Seward : — " will it please you
sir, to enter your house ? This is your home, sir !" He
then waited upon him to his apartments, bade him a
kindly " good-evening !" and immediately drove away,
and we were at home in Mexico.
CHAPTER XL
MEXICO AND ITS SUKKOUNDINGS.
CANNOT imagine a place which has more of interest
to the traveler, than the city of Mexico, both within its
walls and in its immediate surroundings. Paintings
and statuary, fine old buildings, beautiful flowers, objects
and points of historic interest, and women whose lovli-
ness is proverbial, attract the attention of the traveler,
go where he may. When I had been a week there, it
seemed but a day, and with all the longing for home
and its associations — to none dearer than to myself — I
could but look forward with regret to the hour of our
departure, two weeks later. If one could with safety,
ride out unarmed and unaccompanied by guards, through
the environs of Mexico, I know of no place where he
could spend a whole year with more complete satisfac-
tion. Mexico ought to be the Paradise of the earth,
and the day is coming when it will be so considered.
Even now, it presents almost irresistible attractions to
the traveler, and the more one sees of it, the more one
admires it, despite all its drawbacks.
We plunged at once into the enjoyment of life in the
Capital and its vicinity, paying particular attention to
the beautiful and historic surroundings, and suburban
resorts. On the Sunday after our arrival, Mr. Seward's
party, accompanied by Senor Komero and his accom-
plished American wife, and his sister Senorita Luz Ro-
LADIES OF MEXICO.
(1) Seiiora Dona Kosa Mancillas. (2) Seiionta Dolores Mora. (3) Scfiora Adela Mexia
de Hammeken. i4) Sefiorita Soledad Juarez. (5) Seflorita Malcovia Hill.
EXCURSION TO LA CANADA. 253
mero, his mother-in-law Mrs. Allen, Gen. Mejia the
Minister of War, and his daughter, — a magnificent
blonde, one of the acknowledged belles of Mexico, —
attended by a strong guard, rode ont to Tacubuya, and
from thence, via the old battle fields of Contreras and
Churubusco, to La Canada, a hacienda situated in a deep
gorge in the mountains, fifteen miles from the city.
This is one of the most noted places of resort in the
vicinity of Mexico, and one of the most beautiful in
the world. The views of the snowy peaks of Popo-
catapetl and the grand amphitheatre of Mexico are mag-
nificent, and beyond description. The hacienda itself
is equally beautiful, and it is not to be wondered at
that Maximilian, who desired to purchase or appropri-
ate every beautiful spot in the country, desired very
much to acquire La Canada, and probably would have
succeeded had the Empire and his funds held out.
The party lunched there and returned to the City de-
lighted with the excursion.
For myself, I stopped at Tacubuya, to call upon some
friends temporarily residing there, and spent a most de-
lightful evening. There I met Mrs. Gibbon, a Mexican
lady, whose husband — a member of the family which
produced the great historian — is a wealthy mine-owner
of Pachucha; Mrs. Adele Mexia de Hammekin, the
beautiful and accomplished wife of an American gentle-
man long a resident of Mexico, and daughter of the
Republican General Mexia, who was shot in 1836, after
his defeat by Santa Anna ; Seilor Acosta, a thorough
scholar and accomplished civil engineer, and his daugh-
ter Senorita Luz Acosta, one of the most accomplished
young women, and most devoted and loving daughters
I have ever met, who, subsequently, visited the United
254 VISIT TO TACUBUYA.
States to study English in our schools ; Senorita Olivia
Boulay, a fair young Californian, who in three years
residence in Mexico, had almost lost the faculty of
speaking English, though born in San Francisco ; Mr.
Brennan, of the projected Tuxpan railroad, and his
wife, and others.
From the windows of the residence of Mr. Gibbon
at Tacubuya, there is a magnificent view of the Castle
or Palace of Chapultepec, and the Molino del Rey, and
from the roof, Mrs. Gibbon watched the j^rogress of the
battles of Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, Cha-
pultepec, and the running fight down the line of the
aqueduct to the Garita del Belan, and the surrender of
Mexico. There, too, she often saw Maximilian walking
in the gardens of Chapultepec, and all the incidents of
the siege of the city by the Republicans under Porfiero
Diaz, were familiar to her, as his head-quarters were at
Chapultepec.
Mrs. Hammekin speaks English, French, Spanish,
German, and Italian, with almost equal fluency, and has
an inexhaustible fund of anecdotes relating to the dif-
ferent personages that have figured in Mexico since
1830. Mr. Hammekin is an American by birth, and
one of those who achieved the independence of
Texas, and was tal _m prisoner in the unfortunate " Mier
Expedition." They live in one part of the extensive
house formerly owned and occupied by Gen. Urega,
whose complicity in the Empire caused the confiscation
of all his property. The grounds are very extensive
and have been very fine, but are now neglected and go-
ing to decay. Grottoes of lava, a subterranean cave
with a well at the bottom said to have been excavated
by Montezuma — I wonder what old Monte did not do
THE AMERICAN CEMETERY. 255
in Mexico ! — immense baths in the open air shut out
from the gaze of curious and prying eyes by thick foli-
aged overhanging trees, broad avenues, beautiful shrub-
bery, and countless flowers — such as grow only in the
tropic climes — a billiard saloon, bowling alley, and
other places of amusement and recreation, are among
the attractions of this delightful resort. In such com-
pany, and amid such surroundings, the hours went
quickly by, and it may well be believed I was in no
haste to return to the city.
On our way back, we passed the American and Eng-
lish Cemeteries. Over the gate-way of the American
cemetery was lately to be seen this startling inscription :
" Here lies the bodies of seven hundred, buried un-
der an Act of Congress."
I am glad to be able to add that the stone bearing
this astounding inscription, was stolen just before our
visit, but sorry to say, also, that the thieves broke into
the cemetery and carried off many of the tomb-stones, to
be worked over and made into furniture, and sold. The
Imperialists, during the latter days of the Empire, did
all the damage in their power to the cemetery, demol-
ishing a part of the fences in the erection of batteries
and earth-works, and it has long been a scandal and a
reproach to the United States. We owe it to the
memory of the brave men who laid down their lives in
a war — right or wrong — to carry our flag into distant
lands, that their graves should not be left in the pres-
ent disgraceful condition.
The Republic of Mexico, to its credit be it said, after
the return of Juarez to the Capital and the expulsion
of the Imperialists, spent a considerable sum in repairing
the damage inflicted by the invaders, and re-erecting
256 THE GRAND CANAL.
over the graves of their gallant enemies who had fallen
in the attack on their own beloved city, the monuments
commemorative of their names and deeds. Had the
Government of Mexico possessed sufficient funds for its
own immediate necessities, it would have completed the
work. As it is, what they did is a standing reproach
to us, and we should see that the necessary funds are
provided at once.
On the following morning, Major Hoyt of San Fran-
cisco, Col. Geo. M. Green of the Republican Army of
Mexico, Seiior Antonio Mancillas, Member of Congress
from Durango, Sehor Ribera, Judge of the Court of the
Federal District of Mexico, and myself, started out for
a ride through the suburbs of the city. We drove
first to the Grand Canal which connects Lakes Chalco
and Tezcoco, by way of which a large part of .the
fruit, vegetables, and other provisions enter Mexico.
This canal has a rapid current towards the city, and is
navigated by almost innumerable boats, of small size,
propelled by poles in men's hands after the old Mississip-
pi "broadhorn" style. Everything entering the city must
pay a duty, as in Paris, and there is an arched gate-way
at one point thrown across the canal, where the cus-
toms collectors and their deputies are on duty night
and day. The assistants have long spears with which
they probe and run through a cargo in a few minutes,
or seconds, and it is seldom that any contraband article
escapes their vigilance. This station is called " La Get-
vita de la Vija " — or " the Gate of the Beam." It is
said that the customs collected from the boats loaded
only with farm produce, at this garita, average twelve
hundred dollars per day.
When General Porfiero Diaz was besieging this city
THE FLOATING GARDENS OF MEXICO. 257
after the fall of Queretaro, Colonel Green, with the
American Legion of Honor, had his head-quarters on
Piiion Island in Lake Tezcoco, about a mile off
shore, in front of the city on the east. They stopped
all the boats on the canal, and with sixteen hundred of
them, built a pontoon bridge from the main land to the
island. This island is evidently of volcanic origin.
At this time a deep rumbling sound is to be heard be-
neath it, and the matter is attracting the attention of
scientific men, who think it worthy of careful investi-
gation.
The famous " Floating Gardens of Mexico," lie along
the shore of this lake, for miles, and on both sides of
the Grand Canal. They were, all, sections of a great
" float " or " raft," composed of the roots and stalks of
water plants, originally, and thickened into a thin sheet
of rich soil, in time, by alluvial deposits, such as may
be seen in various parts of the Western States, and
along the borders of the sluggish rivers of the far
south-west. This float, originally, rested on the sur-
face of the water; but most of that nearest the solid
land has, already, become attached to the bottom, and
in course of years all will become so. The old descrip-
tions of these gardens will, in the main, hold good to
day, allowing only for the gradual change in their con-
dition. Between each is a narrow strip of open water,
or canal, and most of them are highly cultivated and
covered with garden vegetables. The flat-bottomed
boats with awnings to keep off the sun, looking not un-
like the Chinese " Sampans," run down the canal
through these gardens, a long distance, and you can
hire one to carry you twelve miles and back for less
than a dollar; human muscle is cheaper here than
steam.
17
258 scene of guatamozin's defeat.
In one of the outlets of the canal, opposite Pinon
Island, we saw the wreck of the little stern-wheel
steamer Guatamozin, which had exploded on her trial
trip on the lake some months before. President Juarez
and cabinet were on board, and the party just sitting
down to dinner when the explosion took place. The
little cabin was blown to atoms, and the whole upper
works smashed into kindling wood, but strange to say,
the whole party escaped unharmed, though Senor Ro-
mero was blown overboard,and was in the water sometime
before being rescued. It seems as if Juarez must, in-
deed, bear a charmed life, and that his good fortune
attaches itself to all about him.
On Pinon Island there are large deposits of nitrous
earth, and a great number of Indians are engaged in
collecting it, and washing it in small excavations, where
the pure saltpetre is separated and dried in the sun. It
was near the Garita de la Vija that Guatamozin's war-
riois were at last defeated, and where his monument
now stands.
-The story of the long siege, and the innumerable
battles fought by Cortez and his determined band of
Christian robbers, as they advanced, day by day, along
this canal, destroying the houses and filling up with the
ruins the gaps made in the causeway every night by
the Mexicans, is told with vivid impressiveness by Ber-
nal Diaz, and should be read by every student of his-
tory. This story knocks half the poetry out of the
legends of old Mexico, and shows the besieged to have
been ferocious cannibals and unmitigated savages, and
the besiegers only a little worse, more savage, lawless,
brutal and selfish, making the sign of the Cross with one
hand, while they cut throats and robbed unoffending
people with the other.
THE TREE OF THE " NOCIIE TRISTE."
259
From this neighborhood we drove back through the
southern part of the city, to the Garita de San
Cosme,
and along
the great
San Cos-
me aq-
ueduct,
which
was con-
st™ c t e d
by the
forced la-
bor of the
Indians
under the
Spaniards
over three
hu nd r e d
years ago.
It is seven miles long, and still supplies the city with
water ; but the Mexican Railway Company is laying
down pipes to take its place, and it will soon pass
away.
Near the garita stands the famous, old cypress tree
under which, or as some say, in the branches of which,
Fernando Cortez and his subordinate officers were hid-
den on the " Noche Triste" while his troops and Indian
allies were cutting their way out of the city, and
across the morass which they had bridged with
the bodies of their dead. The gnarled and twisted
trunk of the old cypress is over sixty feet in circumfer-
ence, and its age may be anywhere from one to four
TERMINATION OF THE AQUEDUCT.
2 GO AN AZTEC IDOL.
thousand years. In height it does not compare with
the Big Trees of California, but it has a certain beauty
of itself, and its history makes it one of the objects of
interest in the vicinity of this wonderful old Capital
There is an old church, half in ruins, near the old
historical cypress-tree, which was erected in commem-
oration of the Noche Triste, and, singularly enough, the
worshipers are all Indians — in fact, the Indians built it
and have always occupied it. In a niche in the church
we saw an ancient Aztec idol, where a saint would be
found in other churches. It appeared singular enough,
among the images of Saints, Martyrs, and the Holy
Family, but it is held in much reverence by the Indian
worshipers, and the white priests do not offer to object
to it on account of old associations.
In another part of the church we saw a sarcophagus,
which the Indian boy who acted as a guide for us — in
consideration of a rial — told us contained the body of
the Savior of the world. I think that he must have
been misinformed, as his story disagrees, in some im-
portant particulars, with the commonly accepted history
of the crucifixion and resurrection ; but as there was no
possible good to be attained by a discussion with him,
we did not stop to dispute it.
From the old church, we went to a beautiful pleasure-
garden called the " Garden of San Cosine," where we
found shady walks, trees, flowers, and many conven-
iences for amusement. It is true that the " Happy Fam.
ily " consisted of a deer and a poodle-dog, only, but the
other appurtenances of the place were perfect. They
charge one dollar an hour for the use of a bowling al-
ley, and we proceeded to rent the establishment and
run it. We had champagne, and "the Judiciary of
CHAMPAGNE, TOASTS AND TEN-PINS. 261
Mexico , " then ten-pins ; then champagne and " the Bar
of the United States," then ten-pins; then champagne
and " the Press of the United States," then ten-pins ;
and then champagne and " the National Guard of Cali-
fornia," then ten-pins ; then champagne and " the two
Republics, and death to all their enemies !" and then we
went on having champagne and things until night ; and
we got home at last, all right, and satisfied that there
were but two nations on earth worthy of mention, viz :
the Republic of Mexico, and California ; and we were
right.
Coming home through the city past the house of a
friend, I witnessed a scene which gives one a good idea
of how police matters are managed in Mexico.
Workmen were engaged in erecting a new door at
the entrance to the place, and the passage, otherwise
kept carefully closed and guarded, was left open for the
moment. One of the servants coming in, met a street
loafer going out with a huge bundle of clothing which
he had gathered up in the servants' quarters on the
ground or main floor, and was about making off with
them. She raised an outcry, at once, and the fellow was
seized by one of the masons, while another closed the
passage and prevented his escaping. A policeman was
sent for, and meantime, the fellow pleaded earnestly
for his liberty. He asseverated that he had only gath-
ered up such articles as he had supposed were of no
value, and thought that he was doing them a favor by
carrying off the old rubbish which was in their way.
The story did not go down, and he was detained un-
til the police arrived. The force consisted of two men,
one on foot, and one, who appeared highest in rank, on
horseback. The mounted man rode into the patio and
262 A1ST INFEKNALLY POLITE THIEF.
asked for a statement of the facts. Several witnesses
detailed them, and he then ordered the policeman to tie
the prisoner. The scamp declared at first that he would
not go a step, but the sight of a lariat on the saddle of
the officer caused him to suddenly change his mind.
The policeman then tied a small cord tightly around
his left thigh, apparently, to hamper him so that he
could not run if he attempted to escape. At this the
prisoner remarked :
" I was never arrested before in my life, and am an
honest man ; but if you are determined to tie me, do it
this way."
Suiting the action to the word he crossed his hands
upon his breast, in a manner so thoroughly professional
and artistic, as to show that he was well accustomed to
the tying process, and bring a loud laugh from the
bystanders.
The policeman then started to untie the cord from his
thigh and put it upon his wrists, when the fellow turned
to the lady of the house and coolly remarked :
Sefiora : I am innocent ; but will go with the officers
just out of compliment to you !"
This freak of extraordinary politeness on the part of
a thief, caught in the act, enraged the officer on the
horse, and jumping down, he took hold of the cord and
commenced to tie the culprit by the elbows behind his
back, ejaculating at each jerk, as he brought the elbows
nearer and nearer together :
" You will go with me out of compliment to a lady,
will you ? You must be a high-toned thief, you are so
infernally polite ! Out of compliment to a lady, eh ?''
All the squirming and grunting of the thief failed to
relax the cord a fraction, and he was soon in a condition
WW
9 If
' WW*
I
HOW CORTEZ PROCURED POWDER. 263
which would have defied the guardian spirits of the
Davenport Brothers to release him.
The officer then told the woman to roll the clothing
in a bundle and tie it up, which was done ; then he or-
dered the thief to take it in his hand and carry it,
which he refused to do. Thereupon he made a loop in
the cord, and passing it over the neck of the thief, com-
pelled him to carry it upon his back. As he mounted
his horse, his attendant attached the lariat on his saddle
to the cord with which the elbows of the culprit were
tied, and told him to vamos ! instanter. The officer
rode off on horseback, with the thief at the end of his
lariat carrying the bundle on his back, and walking by
the side of the horse, the woman who owned the cloth-
ing and those who were wanted for witnesses following
him, and the policeman on foot bringing up the rear.
That evening the woman returned with the clothing, and
brought word that the thief had been tried, convicted,
and sentenced to six months in the chain-gang.
The great volcano of Popocatapetl is the grandest
and most striking feature of the glorious panorama of
Mexico. As seen from the Castle of Chapultepec, or
the residences of the Barons or Escandons, atTacubuya,
it is so far beyond the power of language to describe,
that only the veriest tyro would make the attempt.
Only those who have sat for hours on hours, absorbed
in the surpassing beauty and grandeur of the scene,
can approach towards an appreciation of it.
It is related by some historians, that Cortez, having
exhausted his supply of gunpowder in the siege of
Mexico, scaled the height of Popocatapetl, and descend-
ing into the crater obtained therefrom a quantity of sul-
phur, with which he manufactured sufficient of the best.
264 TIIE GREAT VOLCANO OF POPOCATAPETL.
quality of powder to enable him to cany on the siege
to a triumphant close. But Bernal Diaz de Castillo,
who was with him every day from the hour of his
landing in Yucatan, until the final conquest of the
country down to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec was ef-
fected, makes no mention of this fact ; and as his history
is the only one extant not made up from vague tradi-
tions, hearsay, or absolute, unqualified lies, the story
may well be doubted
I have met men, in years gone by, who professed to
have stood upon the edge of the crater of Popocatapetl ;
but since I have seen the mountain, and conversed with
General Gasper Sanchez Ochoa — a thoroughly compe-
tent engineer, who owns the vast estate on which it is
situated, and made the only actual survey of this stu-
pendous work of the Almighty hand, which has ever
been accomplished — I know that some were only liars
and vain boasters.
Mr. Seward was extremely anxious to ascend the
mountain, but General Ochoa, though offering to place
every facility at his disposal, frankly told him, that the
effort was one which a man of his years and infirmities
had no right to make, and he could not anticipate for-
tunate results in case he attempted it. On this, the
proposed expedition was abandoned.
The editor of the Hevista Litetaria of Mexico, pre
pared and published a very interesting and valuable ar-
ticle on the subject, a portion of which has been trans-
lated, and will be read in the United States with inter-
est sufficient to warrant its insertion here :
This immense snow-covered peak ascends from the center
of the table-land of An&huac, and its base is several leagues in
circumference : its slopes commence at a height of from eight
THE WOMAN IN WHITE. 265
thousand to nine thousand feet above the level of the sea, and
form the mountainous ridges all around, among which is the
Iztlasihuatl, (meaning White Woman, or 'Woman in White,'
in the old Aztec language,) of fourteen thousand four hundred
feet above the level of the sea.
"Perpetual snow covers this giant of a mountain, and its
slopes are mostly composed of volcanic matter, (petrified streams
of lava may yet be seen) forming an entirely broken ground, gem
erally known under the vulgar denomination of ' Mai Pais. '
The sand near the snow-region shows no sign of vegetation
whatever, and immense rocks of basalt and calcareous forma-
tions may be encountered.
"In the language of the Aztecs the name of Popocat-
apetl meant : smoking mountain, or hill producing smoke, and
in fact, the quantity of smoke, issuing constantly from its cra-
ter, forms a dark column, visible at a great distance, and espe-
cially so during a clear and pure atmosphere.
" The Popocatepetl may be compared to an immense silver-
pyramid, rising from a great basin, whose surfaces are covered
with all possible kinds of shrubs and trees ; but the vegetation
of these regions, so full of mystery and solitude, and so inti-
mately connected with historical events, grows thinner and
thinner, the nearer it approaches the eternal snows. The shrubs,
in place of the beautiful cedars and oyameles, and the pale
looking flowers growing out of the sandy ground or appearing
in the crevices of rocks, indicate clearly, the great elevation and
the thinness of the air unfavorable to vegetation.
"The few, who ever made the ascension of this fuming
height, have admired, and very justly too, the imposing grand-
ness, in which nature clothes itself in these regions. The ex-
ploring parties of the old Aztecs never penetrated any farther
than to the commencement of the snows, and looked upon the
Popocatepetl with great veneration and also fear, believing that
a malignant spirit had taken up his abode in the interior of the
mountain. The Spaniards, when short of powder during the
times of the conquest, ascended the highest summit, but never
penetrated any distance down the crater, having been enabled
266 gen. ochoa's expedition.
to gather sulphur on its edges, deposited there by the hot fumes.
(Doubted as above. E.)
" Baron Yon Humboldt was the first, who came as far as the
mouth of the crater, but he did not descend into the latter ; he
contented himself with making some astronomical observations
and like Baron Von Gros, who was there considerably later,
afterwards published a geological analysis of tb e volcano.
" In the year 1856, a scientific expedition was undertaken,
headed by the engineer Gen. Gaspar Sanchez Ochoa. Until
then an exact description of the Popocatepetl had never been
made and it was only through this expedition, that plans of the
interior of the mountain were obtained, as well as a description
of the horizontal projection of the crater, and the crater itself,
its deposits of sulphur, etc., which were published soon after-
wards, including a chemical, geological and botanical analysis.
" By the labors of this expedition it was ascertained, that the
Popocatepetl rises to nineteen thousand four hundred and forty-
three feet above the level of the sea, according to Gaylusac's
barometer, which, in fact, differs but slightly from Yon Hum-
boldt's statement of nineteen thousand four hundred and forty
feet above sea-level.
" The snow-fields of the volcano cover a surface of more than
three thousand metres, stretching from its maimed summit
away down to the sandy regions of its slopes, where may be
seen and noticed the effects and devastations produced by its
former fearful eruptions of lava and inflammable matter, as well
as many rocks of black and gray basalt, all kinds of tezontles,
valuable stones of various colors, and red, yellow and black
clay.
" The excavations, which have been carried on in the slopes,
where vegetation exists, have revealed many remnants of vege-
table coal in an advanced state of petrification, which clearly
testifies, that immense numbers of trees must have become car-
bonized by the hot lava, flowing at such a great distance.
" It would be very difficult, to designate with any exactness
the time of the first outbreak of the Popocatepetl, but it may
be as remote as four thousand years, judging from the result of
INTERIOR OF THE CRATER. 267
geological investigations, and also from the opinion of Baron
Von Sontang.
" The temperature of this enormous maimed cone, during the
summer season, is about twenty-two degrees below zero, Fah-
renheith. The edges around the mouth of its crater are more
than five thousand metres in circumference. — Those parts which
allow descending into the crater, have a surface of about twenty
metres, are covered with snow, and are known as ' Interior edges f
after this come various basalt and porphyry rocks, hanging out
over the abyss, one of which is especially worth mentioning on
account of its enormous dimensions ; on its surface was located
the malacate or windlass, holding a cable, by means of which
a person was enabled to descend to a projecting acclivity, and
from there to the Plaza orizontal of the crater.
" The height from the malacate to the aforementioned ac-
clivity is some one hundred and fifty metres, and its entire
depth about three hundred ; the surface of the Plaza is about
two hundred metres in circumference and the length of the ac-
clivity some six hundred; the interior temperature changes,
according to the proximity of the respiraderos or sulfataras.
" The Plaza orizontal of the crater contains rich and numer-
ous layers of sulphur ; from all parts more or less dense col-
umns of smoke and deadly fumes are issuing forth, rising up
towards the great opening, spouting out the sulphuric vapors.
Among the principal sulfataras, some sixty are especially
worth mentioning, but principally there are twenty-two, whose
yellow outskirts of gold color denote the abundance of sulphur
they contain ; one of these sulfataras alone is about eighteen
metres in circumference, and has several respiraderos in its cen-
ter, from which a hissing sound is escaping, very much like that of
a half-opened locomotive valve : of course, an immense quantity
of sulphuric fume is ejected by these beautiful sidfataras, which
may be counted as among the finest of the world.
" Complete day-light reigns at the bottom of the crater, as
the rays of the sun penetrate down into it, and on account of
this circumstance, a more picturesque or imposing scene can
certainly not be imagined ; but all this changes very quickly
268 ENTERTAINMENT GIVEN BY U. S. MINISTER NELSON.
when a storm or a horrasca is coming on : then the air becomes
completely darkened and the snow is drifting down in profu-
sion, (only to melt as soon as it settles,) the respiraderos are
roaring continually, the heat increases to such an extent, as to
become insupportable, the centers of the sulfataras, from time
to time, spout out flames and burning matters, whilst the wind
is howling around the immense rocks at the summit, hanging
over the edges, and threatening to uproot them and precipitate
them into the abyss.
" Experiments, made in the crater of the Popocatepetl, have
confirmed the belief, that by comarcas movibles, condensing the
hot fume by refrigeration, pure and crystallized sulphur may be
very easily obtained at little cost : on separating the oxygenated
part from the hot vapor, sulphuric acid would be the result.
" The extensive and scientific descriptions, which have been
at different times published by the engineer, Mr. Gasper San-
chez Ochoa, have since sufliciently posted the geological socie-
ties, both of Europe and the United States, as to this point, as
formerly, but very scarce and inexact descriptions of those
regions could be obtained."
The official and most noticeable demonstrations in
honor of Mr. Seward in Mexico, were inaugurated by a
dinner at the San Carlos Hotel, given by United States
Minister Nelson to the distinguished American, the
members of his party, and a few invited guests, inclu-
ding the members of the Cabinet of President Juarez,
and Baron Schlozer, the Minister of the North German
Confederation. This took place on the 18th of Novem-
ber. The speeches and sentiments were all eminently
American, but as the demonstration was not one of na-
tional importance, and their insertion would necessarily
crowd out other matter of more general and lasting
interest, I am compelled to omit them.
On the 21st of November, Senor Don Matias Ro-
DINNER WITH MATIAS ROMERO.
2G9
MATIAS ROMERO.
mero, Minister of Finance — a most onerous, thankless,
and unprofitable office — and formerly Minister Plenipo-
tentiary to Washington,
gave a delightful private
dinner to Mr. Seward and
the members of his party,
with a few friends. Among
the ladies present were
Mrs. Romero — formerly
Miss Lulu B.Allenof
Washington — her mother
— Mrs. Allen — Senorita
Luz Romero, Senorita Do-
lores Mejia, the beautiful
and accomplished daugh-
ter of General Mejia, Minister of War and Marine, who
was also present. The reunion was social, and of the
most intimately friendly character.
Mr. Seward paid a high and well-deserved tribute to
Senor Romero, for the services rendered by him to the
cause of liberty and Mexico during his residence at
Washington, and the latter replied in feeling and affect-
ing terms, acknowledging that the policy marked out
by Mr. Seward, though strongly opposed by himself
and General Grant — both of whom were at the time in
favor of armed intervention by the United States, and
the expulsion of the French from Mexican soil by force
— was the best in the end, and accomplished its object
without entailing on Mexico the curse which usually
falls on nations who call in a more powerful neighbor
to relieve them from a present danger, creating thereby
a danger still greater, and harder to meet and over-
come.
270 DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT'S FAMILY.
This speech contained a revelation of some diplomatic
secrets, the chief of which was, that at that time, Mr.
Romero and prominent military men, were so deter-
mined to bring about an armed intervention, that they
coalesced, with the object of securing Mi*. Seward's re-
moval from the Cabinet, but failed.
On the 24th of November, the party accompanied
Mr. Seward to Chapultepec, to dine with the family of
President Juarez. This dinner was a most sumptuous
and elegant affair. Nothing that money could procure,
and good taste suggest was lacking, and the decorations
of the grand dining-hall, reception-rooms, and parlors
were beautiful and tasteful in all their details. Sefior
'' Don Benito," — as his friends love to call him — and
his amiable wife, did the honors of the house in a man-
ner which put all the guests — fifty in number — per-
fectly at their ease, and they were assisted by all the
sons-in-law and daughters, Miss Soledad, and Don Benito
Juarez, jr. As the dinner was strictly a private one,
and the toasts and sentiments such as would be given
only at a family reunion of old and dear friends, I shall
say no more about it.
The table was spread in the grand saloon in which
the " Feast of Belshazzar " — as it has been not inaptly
termed — took place, on Maximilian's return from Ori-
zaba, just previous to his departure for Queretaro on
the fatal exj)edition which resulted in the collapse of
his mushroom empire, and the erection of a little mound
of stones and three black crosses, at the foot of the
Cerro de Las Campari as, as a monument and a warning
to unscrupulous and ambitious adventurers for all com-
ing time ; the table, too, was the same.
We went up on the roof, and looked down on the
AT CHAPULTEPEC.
271
fair Valley of Mexico — the fairest, it seemed to us, on
which our eyes had ever gazed. The grand, old forest
with its huge trees covered with long, grey moss, hang-
ing down like a funeral pall, and the winding road
leading up to the
castle, was at our
feet. Up the
slope to the rear
of the castle,
charged the victo-
r i o u s American
troops, on the
memorable day
when the last bul-
wark of the un-
fortunate republic
fell. All around
the palace, or cas-
tle, were the beau-
tiful gardens,
filled with blooming flowers which Maximilian and
Carlotta — I never heard her called " poor Carlotta " in
Mexico — had planted.
Out by the gate-way stands the scarred and black-
ened tree, at whose foot — so tradition says, and prob-
ably tells the truth — Guatamozin, " heroic in the de-
fence of his empire and sublime in his martyrdom," (as
the legend on the monument just raised to the honor of
his memory, on the banks of the grand canal where his
final defeat took place, by the order of the Agunte-
mento of Mexico, tells us,) was put to cruel torture by the
ruthless Spaniards, in the vain effort to make him reveal
the hiding place of the treasures for which they are dig-
CHAPUI/rEPEC.
272 THE PALACE AND ITS SUREOUNDFNGS.
ging in the ancient city, to-day. In front of ns was the
fair Capital of the Republic, with its many towers and
steeples, and white-walled palaces, and the beautiful
lakes beyond, glistening in the bright autumn sun of
the tropics.
To the north-east, beyond the city, was Guadaloupe,
and the villages along the shores of Lake Tezcoco.
Nearer by, off a little to the left, not far from the great
aqueduct of San Cosme, — which, oh Vandalic outrage!
is now being demolished to give place to a railroad
track — is the Church of the Noche Triste, and the
great tree in which Cortez hid on the night of his dis-
astrous retreat from Mexico. To the right, Tacubuya,
with its monument to the honor of the brave men who
fell in the defense of Mexico against the American
Army under General Scott, and the scene of many a
fearful deed of blood and outrage. Behind the castle,
the red-walled and flat-roofed " Molino del Rey," where
so many gallant American soldiers laid down their
lives ; and farther south, the battle-fields of Contreras
and Churubusco.
The valley of Mexico, with its surrounding moun-
tains, forms a perfect amphitheater, of which Chapulte-
pec is the "dress-circle." Popocatapetl, the white,
headed old monarch of all the mountains of North
America, towers in everlasting grandeur high into the
blue heavens, in the south-east, and " the Woman in
White " — his glorious spouse — stands beside him like
a royal bride at the altar. Every foot of the ground
within the limit of our vision is historic, and around it
clings nearly the entire romance of the New World.
Inexpressibly lovely, is the prospect from the veran-
dahs of Chapultepec, turn which way you will, and I
SOUVENIKS OF MAXIMILIAN. 273
do not wonder, that Maximilian lavished such sums
upon the spot which he fondly anticipated was to be
the home of himself and his descendants, and the seat
of power of a mighty empire, which he imagined he
had founded on the ruins of liberty in America. The
last official document signed by this infatuated dreainer,
when he was surrounded at Queretaro, and captivity
and a felon's death stared him in the face, was an or-
der for the importation of two thousand German night-
ingales with which to stock the groves of Chapultepec.
The obscene statuary which he placed in the gardens
and corridors of Chapultepec, though generally mutila-
ted in no delicate manner, still stands there, and the
walls are adorned with voluptuous representations of
the Seasons, etc., after the style of an ancient Pompeian
Villa, which he designed to imitate ; but there are no
pictures left in the palace, and most of the furniture,
and all the costly plate and dinner-service was removed
when General Diaz — who had his head-quarters here —
reduced the city to a surrender and the last act in the
ghastly farce was over.
We saw the bathroom and chambers occupied by
the royal couple, their beds and parlor furniture, or a
portion of it, and a few other relics and souvenirs, but
cared more for the attractions with which nature and
art, combined, have invested the view from the veran-
dah. The magnificent colonnade, which was being
erected by Maximilian's orders along the whole front
of the palace, next to Tacubuya, is still unfinished,
and the stones lie just where they were left when the
news came that Queretaro had fallen; and knowing
that the end had come,
" The guests fled the hall and the vassals from labor,"
18
274
THE ALAMEDA OF MEXICO.
and the swift vengeance of the Almighty fell on all
who had participated in the great crime against free-
dom and humanity.
We rode back at night-fall through the broad,
straight avenue which Maximilian had cut from the old
Alameda, under whose trees Montezuma once walked,
and saw thousands of ladies and gentlemen riding up
and down on the long paseo — a drive of a mile or more,
the fashionable and only safe drive in the vicinity of
Mexico — while the military band played in the plaza,
and the cavalry of the Mexican army galloped, here
and there, ensuring us and them against the attacks
of the handidos and plagiaros, with which even the
suburbs of the capital swarm.
LEKDO DK TEJADA.
CHAPTER XII.
FESTIVITIES IN MEXICO.
(^\N Thursday, November 30th, Senor Don Sebastian
^ > ^Lerdo de Tejada, Minister of Foreign Relations,
(Secretary of State,) gave a bachelor dinner at his
beautiful, and richly and tastefully furnished residence,
in honor of Mr. Seward. The affair was strictly a pri-
vate one, and only sixteen persons, all told, sat down
to the banquet. The parties were: the host, Senor
Lerdo, Mr. Seward, United States Minister Nelson,
Minister Romero, Baron Schlozer, Minister of the North
German Confederation, Minister Iglesias, Frederick
Seward, General Savadera, General Mejia, Minister of
War, Col. Albert S. Evans, Senor Bossero, George S.
SHlton, United States Vice Consul, Minister Balcarcel,
Mr. Fitch, Mr. Boal, Secretary of American Legation,
and Mi\ Foster.
Mi\ Lerdo, of course, made the first after-dinner
speech, cordially welcoming Mr. Seward, recounting his
services in behalf of Mexico, and giving due credit to
the Government and people of the United States, for
their moral and physical aid and sympathy. He con.
eluded with a toast in honor of the President of the
United States, to which Mr. Nelson made a brief but
effective reply, paying a high tribute to Sefior Lerdo,
and toasting President Juarez and Cabinet.
Mr. Seward then read the following address, which
276 PRIVATE DIIS^ER AT SEN0R LERDo's.
was translated into Spanish and read, at once, by Mr.
Bossero :
The year 1861 without calculation or effort, and almost with-
out expectation on my own part, brought me to a position in
which I had to confront a desperate, organized, and even armed
resistance, to all the great political ideas which I had fondly
cherished and peacefully promulgated through a period of many
years. Slavery had taken up arms in alarm for its life, and
had organized rebellion aiming at the dissolution of the Amer-
can Union. Spain, deriding what under the circumstances
seemed the imbecile theory of the Monroe doctrine, through
the treachery of President Santa Anna gained possession of the
City of San Domingo, and re-established a Yice Royalty in that
Island, and soon after seized the Chincha Islands from Peru ;
Great Britain, not yet cordially reconciled to the independence
of her former colonies, the United States, struck hands with
France, which had been their ancient ally, but was now labor-
ing under a hallucination of imperial ambition, and with the
concurrence, voluntary in some cases, and forced in others, of
the other maritime powers of Western Europe, lifted the reb-
els of the United States to the rank and advantage of lawful
belligerents. The statesmen of Europe, with its press almost
unanimous, announced that the United States of America had
ceased to exist as one whole sovereign and organized nation. The
Emperor of France emboldened by the seeming prostration of
the United States, landed invading armies at Vera Cruz and Ac-
apulco, and overran the territories of Mexico, overthrowing all
its Republican institutions and establishing upon their ruins an
European Empire. With the United States in anarchy, St.
Domingo re-established as a monarchy, and Mexico as an Em-
pire, it was unavoidable that Republicanism must perish through-
out the whole Continent, and that thereafter there would re-
main for those who had been its heroes, its friends, its advo-
cates, and its martyrs, only the same sentiments of reverence
and pity with which mankind are accustomed to contemplate
the memories of Themistocles and Demosthenes, of Cato and
of Cicero.
MR. SEWARD S ADDRESS
277
In that hour of supreme trial I thought I knew better than
the enemies of our sacred cause, the resources, the energies and
the virtues of the imperilled nation. In the name of the
United States, I called upon the Republican rulers and states-
men of the Continent for moral aid, and conjured them by all
the force of common sympathy, common danger and common
ambition to be faithful and persevering in their own Repub-
lics. The universal answer was equal to the expectation. The
United States became for the first time in sincerity and ear-
nestness, the friend and ally of every other Republican State in
America, and all the Republican States became from that hour
the friends and allies of the United States. This alliance com-
manded respect and confidence in unexpected quarters. Switz-
erland, Italy, Russia, North Germany, Turkey, Egypt, Mo-
rocco, Siam, and China became the friends and moral allies of
the American Republics, and their triumph at last was com-
plete. The United Statea were restored, and Slavery abolished
there. St. Domingo was evacuated, Peru was left independ-
ent, and Mexico resumed her noble Republican autonomy.
For the heroes who led Republican forces in this great contest,
Scott, Grant, Sherman, McClellan, Farragut, and so many oth-
ers in the United States ; Zaragoza, Diaz, Arteaga, Salazar, Es-
cobedo and Corona in Mexico — for the statesmen who directed
the councils of the nations who took part in it, Lincoln, John-
son, Stevens, Stanton, in the United States — Juarez, Lerdo,
Iglesias and Romero in Mexico — Gortchacoff, Bright, Bismarck
and Napoleon (Jerome) in Europe, I came to feel and acknowl-
edge sentiments of gratitude, of respect and of affection, not in.
ferior in force to those of fraternal confidence and affection.
This is the manner, Mr. Lerdo, by which you have won me
to your side and secured my ardent wishes for your future pros-
perity and suceess as a man, a minister and a statesman. If I
have not so expressed myself heretofore, since my arrival in
Mexico, it was only because I was waiting for this most season-
able occasion.
The two great demonstrations in honor of Mr. Sew-
278 GRAND BANQUET AT THE PALACIO NACIONAL.
arcl iii Mexico, were the grand banquet at the Palacio
National, and the grand ball at the Teatro National,
which concluded the festivities.
The banquet took place on the night of Saturday,
Dec. 27th, in the hall — four hundred feet in length — at
the southern end of which Maximilian's throne once
stood, and where the crimson canopy of rich silk bro-
cade which surmounted it still stands, as if in mockery
of the past, and a perpetual sermon on the vanity of
human ambition. As if to add point to the lesson, the
sword and sceptre of Iturbide, inclosed in a frame
and covered with glass, were hanging against the wall,
right above the chairs occupied by the Citizen Presi-
dent Don Benito Juarez, and the Ex-Premier of the
United State, Wm. H. Seward.
The invitations were issued by " El Ministro de Me-
lactones Exteriores" SeSor Lerdo de Tejada, in the name
of the President of the Republic, and in honor of the
Hon. Wm. H. Seward.
The guests were received in the great drawing-rooms
hung with crimson satin tapestry, brought over and
placed there by Maximilian ; and the kind, ainiable, and
accomplished ladies of the family of the President, —
though not participating in the dinner, as no ladies
were invited — were in attendance to welcome them.
Four hundred guests, including all the prominent
American gentlemen in the city, the sons-in-law and
staff of the President, all the Cabinet, and the princi-
pal officers and heads of departments of the Govern-
ment, with many members of Congress — among them
some of the most distinguished leaders of the opposi-
tion — sat down at the table at 7 p. m.
The scene, when all the guests were seated at the ta-
AN EKA OF GOOD FEELING. 279
ble in the brilliantly lighted hall, was one such as is
seldom witnessed on our continent, and never twice in a
life-time. Juarez and Seward sat together, and the
guests, Mexicans and Americans, were so distributed
through the hall as to produce the most striking con-
trasts. Confederate officers, in exile, sat side by side
and drank with veterans of the army of the Union, and
next them, officers of the army of the Eepublic of Mex-
ico, with their breasts covered with decorations com-
memorative of gallant deeds j)erforined in the late war,
or even as far back as the war between the United
States and Mexico in 1846 — 7. Members of the Cabi-
net of President Juarez sat by the side of the most vi-
olent leaders of the opposition, and for the time, at
least, all hostility and ill-feeling appeared to be laid
aside, out of mutual good- will and respect for the guest
of the nation.
Of the four hundred guests present, about three hun-
dred appeared to have come charged with speeches and
" brindisis" the military men forming the exceptional
one hundred. Conspicuous in the vicinity of the Pres-
ident was General Mejia, Minister of War, in his gor-
geous uniform of Commander-in-Chief, and directly op-
posite him I noticed Col. Geo. M. Green, late Comman-
der of the American Legion of Honor, wearing the
decoration for the highest order of merit for services
rendered in the war against the Empire.
The hall, though of immense length, is quite dispro-
portionately narrow, so that but one table was set
through its entire length. This naturally made it im-
possible for the after-dinner speakers to be heard at
either end of the table, and led to much confusion late
in the evening.
280 SPEECHES, MUSIC, AND CONFUSION.
The President, staff and Cabinet, with Mr. Seward
and party, occupied the center. The northern end of
the hall was occupied by a stage, on which the grand
band was placed, and a company of some fifty profes-
sional and amateur vocalists rendered from time to
time the national songs of Mexico and the United
States, and choice selections from the most popular op-
eras. The table was furnished sumptuously with
French porcelain and plate : the great epergne in the
center before President Juarez was a master-piece of
art of immense value, being of pure silver, and all the
figures and statuettes of solid metal — a relic of the de-
funct Empire.
When the speaking commenced at about 9 o'clock — it
lasted until midnight — the center of attraction was, of
course, at the middle of the table, but as all could
not hear, another set of speakers were hard at work
at each end of the hall, and the band (being unable
to tell who was speaking and who was not,) chipped
in from time to time with music at the most
inappropriate moment, thus adding to the confu-
sion, and making it almost impossible for any one
speaker to be heard a dozen yards away. Neverthe-
less, the best possible feeling prevailed ; all was excite-
ment and enthusiasm, but there was no wilful disorder,
and each seemed to be determined to do his utmost to
honor the guest of the evening.
As most of the speeches were in Spanish, and the
whole would fill a volume like this to the exclusion of
all other matter, I can only give a few of the most im-
portant.
The citizen President Juarez was, of course, the first
speaker. In a brief, but well considered and well de-
livered address, he welcomed Mr. Seward as the na-
ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT JUAREZ. 281
tion's guest, and paid a high and eloquent tribute to
the American people and Government for their sympa
thy and moral and material support, in the trying hours
of the foreign invasion of Mexico, at the same time
briefly recounting the services rendered by Mr. Seward
himself.
After the band had played the " Star Spangled Ban-
ner," at the conclusion of the remarks of President Ju-
arez, Minister Nelson made the following address :
Me. Peesddent, Me. Sewaed and Gentlemen : My great-
est regret in attempting to respond to the sentiment just an-
nounced by His Excellency the President of the Republic, arises
from the fact that I do not speak the Spanish language with fa-
cility, and that speaking my own language, I cannot be under-
stood by a large number of the gentlemen present. I will
therefore be brief. As the humble representative of the Gov-
ernment of the United States, I return my most cordial thanks
for the toast in honor of that illustrious soldier and patriot who
presides over the destinies of that Republic, and who, without
previous experience as a statesman, is so discharging the duties
of his great office as to command the confidence of a large major-
ity of his countrymen and the respect of the civilized world.
No man living more earnestly desires the peace, happiness, and
prosperity of Mexico than the President of the United States.
At the head of our armies he fought not only for the preserva-
tion of the American Union, but also for the American system
of Government. Our victories were, therefore, your victories —
our defeats your defeats. The success of the rebellion, would
in my opinion, have resulted in the utter destruction of popu-
lar governments and republican institutions, there, here, and
everywhere. No wonder then, that the patriots of Mexico and
of all Spanish America — no wonder that people of every na-
tion, kindred, and tongue, and representing every system of
government — watched and waited with the most intense solici-
tude, the wavering fortunes of the conflict. The world com-
282 ADDEESS OF U. S. MINISTER NELSON.
prehended the grandeur and magnitude of the issues involved.
It was not, as was alleged by certain European statesmen, a con-
test for power on the one hand, and independence on the other ;
the war was not waged merely to crush a gigantic insurrection,
or merely to destroy the curse of human slavery — but the Un-
ion armies were also fighting for those great principles which lie
at the foundation of all free governments. The result of that
contest, encouraged and strengthened republican governments,
and the grandest problem that was ever submitted to human
society, was solved — whether mankind could be trusted with a
purely popular government. The victorious sword of Grant,
and the earnest patriotism of the immortal Lincoln, aided
by the wise statesmanship of Seward, settled these questions
finally, and forever. The problem is solved. Republican gov-
ernments can successfully resist the most powerful combina-
tions, and do possess more energy, strength, and recuperative
power, than any other system.
Another question was settled — a question which was the in-
evitable corollary of that war — I mean that of European inter-
vention in American affairs ; and it was decided, that European
powers, cannot with impunity approach, too nearly, the ark of
American liberties. The moral aid of our Government, con-
ducted and directed by Mr. Seward, combined with the patriot-
ism of your soldiers and statesmen, relieved this beautiful coun-
try from foreign domination. Many a time and oft, as Mr. Ro-
mero can testify, did General Grant manifest his warm sympa-
thy for the struggling patriots of Mexico, during the interven-
tion ; and since his elevation to the Presidency, on the occasion
of the official presentation of the distinguished Minister from
this Republic, he used these memorable words : and what
President Grant says I need hardly add he means :
"Your previous residence in the United States has made you
familiar with its institutions and its people, and must have sat-
isfied you that its Government shares the views of the Mexi-
can statesmen who deem a Republic the form of government
best suited to develop the resources of that country and to
make its people happy. For myself, I may say, it is not neces-
MR. LERDO'S RESPONSE. 283
sary for me to proclaim, that my sympathies were always with
those struggling to maintain the Republic, that I rejoiced when
the evident will of the people prevailed in their success, and that
they have now my best wishes in their labors to maintain the
integrity of their country, and to develop its natural wealth.
I am prepared to share in your efforts to continue and increase
the cordial, social, industrial, and political relation, so happily
existing between these two Republics."
It is the desire of the President of the United States that
Mexico should be, and forever remain, free, sovereign, and inde-
pendent ; that she may wisely reap the fruits of her victories ; that
she may pass safely through every ordeal to which she may be
subjected, and surmount every obstacle in the pathway of her
prosperity, and that friendly relations between our respective
Governments and people may be perpetual.
Gentlemen, I have the honor to propose the health of His
Excellency, the President of Mexico, and the peace, happiness,
and prosperity of the Republic.
Lerdo de Tejada, Minister of Foreign Relations, re-
sponded to Mr. Nelson in an eloquent and effective
speech in Spanish. Mr. Lerdo' s remarks were received
with loud applause. The band played Yankee Doodle,
and Mr. Seward then arose amid the acclamations of
the entire company, and addressed the guests in a low
hut distinct and emphatic voice as follows :
President of the Republic of Mexico and Gentlemen :
In an assembly where I am surrounded by four hundred Amer-
ican patriots and statesmen, the time which can be allowed to
me to engage attention is very short, and the words which I
may speak, however earnest, ought to be few and simple. The
sentiments of a grateful nature no less than profound respect
and loyal sympathies for this august assemblage, oblige me to
express humble thanks from the depth of my heart for this hos-
pitality and friendly welcome. Pardon me, gentlemen, for say-
284 MR. SEWARD 7 S ADDRESS.
ing that these grateful emotions have brought up with them a
somewhat painful apprehension that those who have bestowed
this generous welcome upon me, may, to patriots of a less con-
fiding disposition, seem to have incurred the fault of forgetting
the interests of their own country, in extending their hospital-
ity to a stranger. I have been accustomed to study and con-
template the commerce of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of
the United States, the teeming wealth of the Mississippi Val-
ley and the golden treasures of the Eocky Mountains and the
Sierra Nevada, and, I believe, without having awakened a sus-
picion of personal cupidity. I do not think it necessary, there-
fore, to disclaim that unworthy motive for my visit here, when,
for the first time, standing among the mines of Guanajuato,
Potosi, and Real del Monte, and contemplating with wonder
and admiration the grains, and fruits, and flowers of temperate
though tropical Mexico. As little, perhaps, need I disclaim
common individual ambition as a motive of my visit to Mex-
ico. Certainly, I ought to know now, if I have never known
before, that the people of Mexico wisely reserve political places
and honors not for foreign adventurers, but for their own loyal
and patriotic citizens.
.But what shall be said of the ambition of the United States,
and of my supposed share in that ambition ? Certainly, only
this need be said, that while that ambition is always less than I
would inspire my Government with, I am neither its agent nor
in any sense its representative. But what shall be said of the
ambition of the United States as a nation, and of my own com-
plicity therewith ? On this point I answer with a full and
frank confession. The people of the United States, by an in-
stinct which is a peculiar gift of Providence to nations, have com-
prehended better than even their government has ever yet done,
the benignant destinies of the American Continent and their
own responsibility in that important matter. They know and
see clearly, that although the colonization, and initiation of civ-
ilization in all parts of this continent was assigned to Euro-
pean monarchical States, yet that in perfecting society and civi-
lization here, every part of the continent must sooner or later
me. seward's address. 285
be made entirely independent of all foreign control, and of
every form of imperial or despotic power — the sooner the bet-
ter. Universally imbued with this lofty and magnanimous
sentiment, the people of the United States have opened their
broad territories from ocean to ocean, and from the lakes to the
gulf, freely to the downtrodden and oppressed of all nations,
as a republican asylum. In their Constitution they have writ-
ten with equal unanimity and zeal, the declaration that to
all who shall come within that asylum they guarantee that
they shall be forever governed only by republican institutions.
This noble guarantee extends in spirit, in policy, and in effect
to all other nations in the American Hemisphere, so far as may
depend on moral influences, which in the cause of political truth
are always more effective than arms. Some of those nations
are communities near the United States, which, while they are
animated like the American people, with a desire for repub-
lican institutions, and will not willingly submit to any other,
are yet by reason of insufficient territory, imperfect develop-
ment, colonial demoralization, or other causes, incapable of in-
dependently sustaining them. To these, as in the case of the
ancient Louisiana, Florida, Alaska, St. Domingo and St.
Thomas, the people of the United States offer incorporation
into the United States, with their own free consent, without
conquest, and when they are fully prepared for that important
change. Other nations on the continent, liberally endowed
with the elements and virtues of national independence, pros-
perity, and aggrandizement, more matured and self-reliant,
cherishing the same enlightened and intense desire for republi-
can institutions, have nobly assumed the position and exercised
the powers of exclusive sovereignty. Of this class are Mexico
— older as a nation, but newer as a republic than the United
States — Venezuela, and Colombia, the Central American States,
Peru, the Argentine Kepublic, and Chili. These republics
have thus become, and are gladly recognized by the people of
the United States with all their just claims and pretentions of
separate sovereignty, fraternal republics and political allies.
To the people of the United States the universal acceptance of
286 me. sewaed's addeess.
republicanism is necessary, and happily it is no less necessary
for every nation and people on the continent. Who will show
me how republicanism can be extended over the continent upon
any other principle or under any other system than these ? If
I forbear from dilating upon the influence which North America
and South America with all their archipelagoes firmly estab-
lished and fraternally living under republican institutions, must
put forth and will put forth in advancing civilization through-
out the world, it is because I have already said enough to show
that loyalty and patriotism on the part of a citizen of one
American Republic is, in my judgment, not only consistent but
congenial with the best wishes for the welfare, prosperity and
happiness of all other American Republics.
I give you, gentlemen, the health of President Benito Ju-
arez — a name indissolubly associated with the names of Presi-
dents Lincoln, Bolivar, and Washington, in the heroic history
of Republicanism in America.
Mr. Seward's remarks were translated into Spanish,
and reported by Seilor Iglesias, Minister of Justice,
and thus rendered, were loudly and emphatically ap-
plauded by Mexicans of all shades of political opinion
present.
Seuor Don Valentine Baz, Vice President of Con-
gress, followed with a brief speech, closing with a
toast, " To the Congress of the United States of North
America." To this Mr. Seward responded as follows :
The distinguished Mexican speaker proposed a sentiment in
honor of the Congress of the United States. Being the only per-
son present who has been a member of that august body, I am
expected to respond. Two things are necessary in every repub-
lic ; one is a President, the other is a Congress. The safety of
the State is the proper care of the President ; the liberty of the
people is the proper care of the Congress. May God now and
ALTAMIRANO, THE INDIAN ORATOR.
287
always endow all Presidents and all Congresses with the wis-
dom necessary for the discharge of their supreme responsibili-
ties.
Seiior Savadera, Minister of Gubernacion, spoke
next, and Deputado Rojo followed him, each giving, as
did all the subsequent speakers, a sentiment in honor
of Mr. Seward and the " moral alliance of the Ameri-
can Republics for the defence of republican institutions
against foreign aggression."
Then came the great speech of the evening — that of
the homeliest and cleverest orator in Mexico, the Indian
scholar, radical republican,
brave soldier, and anti-
Church statesman, Ignacio
M. Altamirano of Guer-
rero. This singular rep-
resentative man of the
aboriginal race of Mexico
has nothing in his personal
appearance to attract the
attention of the casual ob-
server, but the magical
effect of his impassioned
eloquence is beyond description, and one must see and
listen to him to comprehend it.
Born of Aztec parents in the State of Michoacan, and
reared in the strict observance of the Catholic faith,
this man has educated himself up to a standard seldom
attained in the United States, or Europe, and learned
to hate the priesthood who for centuries held in abject
slavery the consciences and minds of millions of Ms
race, with a hatred which finds expression in such lan-
IGNACIO M. ALTAMIRANO.
288 PLAIN TALK TO CHURCH DIGNITARIES.
guage as that which he made use of a year or two since,
when he shook his finger at the assembled dignitaries
of the Church, and exclaimed with an emphasis and
earnestness which had in it the spirit of prophecy :
" Look you, sirs ! That henceforth you walk in the
strait and narrow way, turning neither to the right nor
to the left, as becomes the followers of the meek and
lowly Jesus of Nazareth, or prepare for the inevitable
day, in which the long suffering people of Mexico, shall
arise in their might, level your proud temples to the
dust, and scatter the fragments of your pagan idols to
the winds ! "
Of his speech on this occasion I give a very hasty
translation, made by Seuor Don Miguel Pedrorena, of
San Francisco, premising however, that no translation
however perfect, can give a clear idea of the torrent of
fiery eloquence which flows from his lips when he warms
to his subject. As he proceeded all the guests left
their seats, and stood around the chair of the President
to listen in silence only broken from time to time by
enthusiastic applause, in which all joined.
Gentlemen : — The Minister of one of the republics of South
America, perhaps the most flourishing, said, a few years ago,
referring to the honors that had been tendered by his country
to the illustrious Cameron and S. Martin, that " Those nations
only that are grateful, deserve to be assisted."
A holy maxim, that has been stamped forever in the conscience
of the people, the observance of which has raised them to the
highest pinnacle of power, and the forgetfulness of which
has dragged to degradation the most famous and powerful em-
pires. The republics of this new Continent should always keep
in their minds this maxim, that we may never forget it, if we
wish to see America occupy that position that has been assigned
ALT AMIR ANO's ADDRESS. 289
to it by the laws of civilization, that is to say, the first in the
world. Gentlemen, the motive that to-day unites us in this
banquet, is one of friendship toward our venerable guest.
This banquet is not to the foreign monarch, who, leaving his
throne for a few days to travel among us, is received with offi-
cial ovations ; nor to the fortunate conqueror, whom we see in our
banquet, raising the cup to his lips with a bloody hand, a ban-
quet offered through fear ; but it is the apostle of human dig-
nity and honor, the defender of the dignity of America, and one
of the most venerable patriarchs of liberty, whom we welcome
in our midst, and in honor of whom we decorate with flowers
our Mexican homes, and tender to him our sympathies and ad-
miration. See him'! you see on his forehead no crown ; but
those venerable locks, those white locks which show his age —
what an age ! that shows us all that those years have been con-
secrated to the service of his country, consecrated for the good
of all.
I forget, seeing Mr. ¥m. H. Seward among us, the great
statesman of the age, the premier of the United States. I see
and only wish to see, in him, the friend of humanity, the enemy
of slavery, and the liberator of the unhappy negro. Slavery !
The infamous spot of the old world, the legacy left us by the
past century, like a hereditary infirmity to modern civilization !
That slavery which the Greek and Roman republics were not
great enough to blot out from their codes of laws ; that the bar-
barians of the middle ages took up with pleasure, as an auxil-
iary to their brute force ; that slavery that even Christianity was
unable to destroy ; there was a time when the whole world
seemed to believe that slavery was one of the precepts of Divine
rights. That the Pagan world should have allowed and sup-
ported this servitude, was not strange, but that the Christian
world should tolerate it was atrocious.
But the time came when this should have a change. The
Democracy of the United States, that ought to have been the
strongest party in existence, was born with this hereditary dis-
ease of slavery. The English Puritans and the Quaker ¥m,
Penn, had tried to form in this virgin country, (America) an
19
290 ALTAMIRANo's ADDRESS.
evangelic.il society ; but shortly after the arrival of the Puritans
at the traditional rock, a ship from Holland put ashore on the
borders of the James, the first group of slaves landed in the
United States. From this on, the slave trade was carried on
with force. Even Washington did not dare to interfere with
this subject. And here let me say, for the honor of the fathers
of Mexican independence, that they inscribed on their banners
in 1810, the words " Abolition of Slavery."
But some few in the United States thought, and justly, that
liberty was dishonored there by the existence of slavery.
Among these could be found the Hon. ¥ra, H. Seward. Not
satisfied with the idea, they set their shoulders to the gigantic
task of washing away the dark cloud that obscured the stars and
stripes of their noble flag. Gigantic task, I say, that threatened
to annihilate those that should attempt it. John Brown raised
the flag, and marched to martyrdom. Then two men appeared
to whom power offered an opportunity to realize their wishes.
Abraham Lincoln and Wm. H. Seward were competitors for
the Presidency of the Republic. The first being the choice of
the people, he immediately called to Mr. Seward to stand by
him in his work, and both together triumphed over their
enemies.
The Emancipation decree was proclaimed on the twenty-sec-
ond of September, 1862. You all know the rest. The most
bloody civil war that has ever been witnessed, agitated that
country with all its horrors, but Divine Providence — always
just — put an end to it, giving the victory to the humane cause
of the North. The thunderbolt fell, the heavens became serene,
the dead were taken up from the battle-fields, the blood was
washed away, and under the splendor of the rainbow appeared
the slaves, with their chains broken asunder, and their foreheads
illuminated with the sun of equality. The American flag now
flies before the whole world free of stain, saying to the nations
of the world, " The Liberty of America raises itself devoid of
reproach." Such is the work done by these apostles of Frater-
nity, whom not even the crown of martyrdom has failed to
visit ! The venerable William H. Seward is one of these apos-
TRIBUTE TO THE UNITED STATES PRESS. 291
ties. His heart, his thoughts, his whole life, have been con-
sumed in the task that gave for a result, victory. How can we
pay the homage due to his virtue ? Gentlemen, in honor of
avenged humanity, let us drink to the illustrious American,
"William H. Seward, who honors mankind !
Speeches and sentiments then followed thick and fast.
Among the speakers were Senor Sierra, M. C, Senor
Santa Cilia, son-in-law to President.Juarez, Col. Alcer-
raca, Senor D. D. Alandrina, Senor Alcala, Deputy
from Yucatan, Senor Arias, from the State Department,
Senor Garcia Flores, Senor Urquida Branco, Deputy
from Chihuahua, Gen. Zerega, one of the ablest speak-
ers in the country, Senor Lafraga, Judge of the Supreme
Court, Senor Rojo, and General Landman.
Senor Herrera, M. C. made an excellent speech in
acknowledgment of the services rendered to the cause
of liberty in both republics by the press of the
United States. He paid the only just and comprehen-
sive tribute to the power of the press, which I heard in
Mexico, and gave as a sentiment : " The Press of the
United States of America," calling on the writer to
respond. My readers will, I trust, pardon me for the
apparent egotism of reporting my own remarks on this
occasion, as I was requested to do so, — for reasons which
can hardly fail to be apparent, — by the party whose
wish I would be most anxious under any circumstances
to gratify :
" Senor President and Gentlemen : For perhaps the hun-
dredth time in my life, probably more through the partiality of
my friends than from any merit of my own, I find myself call-
ed upon to respond to the sentiment of ' the Press.'
292 EESPONSE BY COL. EVANS.
Standing before men whose names and deeds have already
passed into history and become indissolubly connected with the
story of the progress of mankind, and amid scenes around
which is gathered half the romance of the world's history, I
cannot but be proud beyond measure, to be regarded as even
the humblest representative of that mighty institution of civili-
zation, which is not only ' the power behind the throne, but a
power greater than the throne itself, a power before whose irre-
sistible attacks all the thrones of the Earth are crumbling into
dust to-day.
That the press of the United States of North America, and
the press of the United States of Mexico may henceforth mani-
fest the spirit of mutual forbearance and conciliation, and cul-
tivate that spirit of fraternal kindness so necessary for the pres-
ervation of the peace, internal and external, of the two Repub-
lics, and ensure their progress, development and enlightenment,
is, I believe, the sincere wish of every honorable journalist in
America to-day ; it certainly is my own.
Thus much for the press. And now a word on a subject
still nearer and dearer to my heart.
Mexico ! the valor of your sons has been proven on a hun-
dred well fought battle fields and their patriotism there is now,
thank God, none to gainsay. Happy indeed am I to see
around me to night some of the brave sons of my own proud
city by the Sunset Sea, who have fought gallantly side by side
with the sons of Mexico, for the triumph of Republican insti-
tutions.
Mexico ! The sun of your tropic clime is only less warm
than the hearts of your children, and the flowers of your fields
only less beautiful than the daughters of your land, whom I
have known and loved and honored long and well.
But mightier far than the power of the press, grander than
the courage of the soldier, nobler than the devotion of the pa-
triot, more beautiful than all the flowers of the valley, are the
memories, sweet and tender, and holy, which cluster around the
sacred name of ' Mother.'
Gentlemen: the good son honors his mother; he who
AN IMPEOVISED POEM. 293
honors his mother, will honor his country. For the honor of
your country and of mine, let me ask you to drink with me to
the health of ' the Mothers of Mexico,' so nobly represented in
the person of the ever respected wife of your Citizen President
Benito Juarez."
Mr. Iglesias having passed many high compliments
upon the King of Prussia, and the North German Con-
federation, Mr. Schlozer responded ; his speech being in
French, was understood by most of his Mexican hear-
ers, and was greatly applauded.
No Mexican banquet is complete without its poem,
and on this occasion, Mr. Justo Sierra composed at the
table, and immediately read, amid great applause, the
following, which I give as a fair sample of what the
impromsadores, who abound among all classes of the
people, are capable of doing on the moment. It is im-
possible to translate it into English, without utterly
spoiling it.
" Salud a la immortal, salud y gloria
Al arco de la alianza americana
Que esculpiera en el bronce de la historia
El credo de la fe republicana.
Salud a la que un dia
En el campo broto de la conciencia,
Y sacudiendo la Bretana ropa
Anadio al diccionario de la Europa
Una palabra nueva : < independencia,'
A la immortal que removiendo el seno
Del nuevo Continente,
Serena y sin encono
Descorrio sus immensos pabellonee
Y alii sento al trabajo sobre un trono
Y alii se bizo adorar de las naciones.
294 SOUVENIRS OF THE BANQUET.
Hurra, salud a la divina madre
Que en su mente sublime engendro altiva
La gran locomotiva,
El Mesias de fierro, el gigantesco
Arado, en cuyo surco brota inmensa
La cosecha sagrada de los libres,
Y abandonando el fatigado suelo
Lanza espirales de humo, en donde pura
La oraeion del trabajo sube al cielo.
En el zodiaco augusto de los tiempos
Mantendra Dios con su mirada austera
La gran constelacion donde fulgura
La luz continental de su bandera;
Y el dia en que se escondan para siempre
Romas y reyes, dulce y apacible
Del hurra de los pueblos se desprenda
Rechazando el cortejo funerario
La libertad, lucero en el Calvario
Y sol en la conciencia de los siglos."
The banquet ended at midnight, the guests of the
opposite nationalities taking the little flags of Mexico
and the United States, which adorned the table, away
with them as souvenirs.
CHAPTER XIII.
CONTINUATION OF THE FESTIVITIES.
/^VN Monday, the 6th of December, the Seward party,
^^ at the invitation of Francisco Foster, Miguel Pedro-
reno, Major Hoyt and Mr. Toler of California, started at
10 a. m., from the Paseo de la Vija, in company with the
family of President Juarez, Mrs. Romero and Mrs. Al-
len, Mr. aud Mrs. Skelton, Doctor Manfred and daugh-
ter, Col. Geo. M. Green, Gen. Slaughter, Major Clarke,
Sen or Antonio Mancillas and wife, Senorita Dolores
Mejia, and others, on a boat excursion up the Grand
Canal towards Lake Chalco.
The party occupied five boats, the musicians another,
and the wines and provisions in charge of the servants,
a seventh. Each boat was about twenty feet in length,
six or seven broad, and flat-bottomed. Two stout boat-
men in each boat poled the flotilla up the canal against
the strong current, which comes down from Lake Chal-
co, into Lake Tezcoco, at the rate of four miles per
hour.
We passed the newly finished monument to the
memory of Guatamozin, on the spot where that mon-
arch made his final stand against Cortez, was defeated,
and made prisoner — the tree at the foot of which he was
roasted by the Spaniards to make him reveal his treas-
ures, still blackened by the fire, can be seen to-day, at
Chapultepec — and for twelve miles through the famous
"floating gardens of Mexico." These gardens are all
296 A SMALL WATER-PAETY.
stationary now, or at least, all those along the banks of
the canal, having been anchored down by cotton-wood
trees planted along their edges, which taking deep root,
have fixed their hold fimily in the earth below the wa-
ter. They rise, at most, but two or three feet above the
surface of the water, and are in the form of oblong
squares, and perfectly level. Every description of gar-
den vegetables, corn, etc., etc., grow finely on these
marsh gardens, many of which are fringed with tall
cane, and most of them are highly cultivated. Hun-
dreds of boats, loaded with " produce," were met com-
ing down the canal, and others conveying passengers,
or loaded with stable manure from the city, being car-
ried out to the gardens, were seen at every point. There
were also many little canoes, each about twelve feet
long, and two feet wide, hollowed from the trunk of a
single tree, in which stalwart Indians were poling their
families up and down the canal.
A detachment of cavalry galloped along the banks
as the flotilla moved up the canal, to guard it against a
possible attack. It was a curious sight to see these
bronze-hued soldiers of the Aztec blood guarding a party
of another race, galloping across the bridge which Cor-
tez seized and held as his first point of vantage against
the city, which their ancestors defended with such
desperate but fruitless valor against the Spanish inva-
ders.
Disembarking for a few minutes, at the old, ruinous
town of Santa Anita, we went on to an Indian village
with an unpronounceable name, and a tumble-down, old
church — in which the priest was hearing confessions from
kneeling women, on both sides of his open box at the
same time — and there disembarked for the final picnic.
PICNIC AT AN INDIAN VILLAGE. 297
All the way up the canal we had been indulging in
Mexican music, French and Spanish wines, and the mu.
sic of other days, alternately ; the Hymn of Zaragoza,
John Brown, the Danza, Home sweet Home, Star Span-
gled Banner, American cheers and the popping of cham-
pagne mingling in strange confusipn.
A bountiful collation, picnic style, was spread be-
neath the trees and discussed with keen relish. We
had not seen a single unpleasant day during the month
that we had been in the City of Mexico, and on
this occasion, the ladies, clad in thin stuffs and with-
out shawls or capes, danced with the gentlemen of our
party in the open air, for hours, as they might have
done in New York in June, and felt no subsequent ill-
effects from it.
After numerous toasts, and a very facetious speech
by Major Hoyt in response to the sentiment of " the
child, above all others of which I am proud — Califor-
nia," — by Mr. Seward, the guard were called down to
finish up the feast — abundance of everything being
left for them, and a novel scene ensued. Colonel Green,
between every spee'ch and toast, called for vivas for
every distinguished man he could remember, dead or
alive, from Geo. Washington to Benito Juarez, Bona-
parte to Grant, Hidalgo to General Mejia, and the de-
fenders of Thermopolye to General Antonio Caravajal,
all of which were given by the excited, swarthy sol-
diers with equal good will. An officer of the staff of
the Governor of California addressed them for a mo-
ment, and offered a toast to peace and lasting friendship
between the two republics, an enthusiastic soldier
adding :
" Yes ; and we will go out together as true brothers
298 A RUNNING SEA FIGHT.
and whip the whole old world into republicanism !''
whereupon, the laughter and cheers were redoubled.
Then Antonio Mancillas made a rousing, red Republi-
can speech, going even to the extent of woman's suf-
frage, and was applauded to the echo at every sentence.
Then the party started down the canal on the return
trip. We had hardly got under way when a contest
among the boatmen as to who should get ahead, com-
menced, and the excursionists, from plying them with
dollars to induce them to do their utmost, soon came to
join in themselves, and a scene of indescribable con-
fusion and excitement took place.
The moment that one boat attempted to pass another,
it would be grappled by all on board the slower craft,
and a dead lock would ensue. Major Hoyt, on the
boat in which were Mr. Seward and Mrs. Juarez,
clinched with a gentleman, whom modesty forbids me
to name, on another, alongside, and both, falling, strug-
gled for some minutes, the contest ending in the gallant
Major being drawn, head-foremost into our boat, and
made prisoner. Dr. Manfred, holding like grim death
to the Major's leg to prevent his being captured, was
drawn overboard, and then pulled out of the water
into our boat, and paroled as a prisoner of war. Then
the Seward boat, getting a little ahead, was boarded by
Mr. Foster, who pitched one of the boatmen headlong
into the canal ; whereupon, Col. Green went over and
threw both of their boatmen, heels-over-head, into the
chilly waters, and the flotilla came to a stand-still.
The uproarious laughter of the ladies as they cheered
on their respective champions, testified to their intense
enjoyment of the ludicrous scene. The boatmen who
had been thrown over, were compensated — amply in
CIRCUS PERFORMANCES AT AN OLD CONVENT. 299
their estimation — by a present of a dollar a piece, and
quiet once more restored, we went rapidly back to the
city which we reached at night-fall, after one of the
pleasantest days we enjoyed in Mexico.
Among the minor demonstrations was the grand fun-
cionhy Bell &, Buislay's Circus at the Circo de Charini in
the old Convent of San Francisco. Great preparations
had been made, specially, for the occasion, and the Gov-
ernment lent a military band and a regiment of its
choicest troops, to add eclat to the affair. The grand
court-yard of the convent is used for the circus, the ring
covering the spot in which the dead of centuries lie
buried, and the corridors rising one above the other,
with their graceful pillars and costly ornamentation
form the galleries, which are divided into boxes. What
a change in the institutions and the religious sentiments
of this once bigoted Catholic people this indicates, can
be readily understood.
Noticing that the mochos did not appear to be there
in great numbers, I asked the reason of a common me-
chanic or tradesman of some kind who chanced to be
near me at the moment. His reply :
"Because they will not submit to see the burial
ground of their ancestors desecrated by a circus," con-
tains more of bitterness, satire, and hatred, than I have
ever seen before in a single sentence, and is curiously
illustrative of the state of feeling in the capital.
The vast audience arose and bowed, en masse, as Mr.
Seward entered, and the troops presented arms, while
the band played the national hymn. The performance,
consisting of the usual ring exhibition, tableaux, in-
cluding one representing the " Moral Alliance of the
two Kepublics," etc., etc., passed off well.
300 GRAND CLOSING BALL AND BANQUET.
There was also a " grand funcion" at — the " Teatro
National" at which an oj)era company gave the Span,
ish version of " Crispino e la Comare " in good shape,
though the fairy was dressed in deep mourning ; and a
theatrical entertainment in which the " Campania Zara-
zula" gave us " Uncle Tom's Cabin " in Spanish, and a
curious old cabin it was. They varied the plot so as
to make the villain Legree get his deserts, being
whipped to death by the slaves, to the great satisfaction
of the j)opulace, half of whom had been affected to
tears by the imaginary sufferings of the slaves, though
they had most of them seen bull-fights and kindred
atrocities without a murmur of disapprobation, and
probably, with yells of delight.
But the grand and closing feature of the demonstra-
tions in honor of the nation's guest, was the ball at the
Teatro National on the night of Thursday, December
9th. Three thousand tickets, of which one thousand
were to families, were issued, and more than three thou-
sand persons were in attendance. The great theater
— the largest on the continent of America — was decora-
ted with flowers and the Mexican and American colors
from floor to roof, and lighted within by three hundred
and fifty chandeliers, each holding from twenty to fifty
candles, which poured down a flood of mellow light
and blistering stearine on all below. The stage was
carried out so as to cover all the body of the vast
house, the fine galleries or tiers of jxdcos rising one
above the other to the roof, being reserved for the use
of those not participating in the dance.
Outside, the scene was magnificent. The front of the
teatro, from ground to roof, was covered with lanterns,
the entire street, for a whole block, was arched over
A MAGNIFICENT SCENE. 301
and illuminated, making a fairy arcade ; and lines of
cavalry and infantry, in superb uniform, kept the street
clear and prevented the passing of carriages, either
way. The Government paid twenty-two thousand dol-
lars for the music, supper, and decorations for this ball,
and it must have been honestly and economically spent.
Its equal has, probably, never been seen on the Ameri-
can continent.
President Juarez and family, and the Seward party,
occupied the double boxes, with crimson silk hangings
and costly furniture, constructed for the sole use of
Maximilian and his suite, and from thence looked down
on one of the most magnificent scenes which the mind
can imagine, or tongue describe. The costumes of the
ladies in attendance were, generally, in excellent taste,
and, not unfrequently, rich and elegant in the extreme.
I noticed one lady who wore at least fifty thousand dol-
lars worth of diamonds, and though this was a decided
exception to the rule, there were many others whose
toilets represented a fortune.
The men were all in black coats, black pants, white
vests, gloves, and cravats, without a single exception.
The youth, wealth, beauty, aristocracy and fashion of
Mexico, were fairly represented, though some of the
most strict and haughty of the moclios staid away.
At 10 p. m., Mr. Seward was received by President
Juarez and family, and at 11 the dancing commenced.
There was a lack of that animation which usually char-
acterizes an American ball-room, but in its place, there
was an amount of politeness and courtesy exhibited on
all sides which would put us to shame.
The dinner was spread in the corridors and grand sa-
loon of the Hotel Iturbide — once the palace of the Itur-
302 REMARKS BY MR. SEWARD.
bide family — and plates were laid for three thousand
persons. There was no convenient place for speech-
making, except in the saloon where President Juarez
and Cabinet and Mr. Seward were seated. There, in
the late hours before day-break, considerable talking
was done. During this speaking an incident, which
may have some significance, took place.
Sefior Yalasquez of Monterey, the President of Con-
gress for that month, had made a most enthusiastic
speech in honor of Mr. Seward, and in response, the
latter called his attention to two facts in the history of
Europe and America within the last ten years, viz : that
the Emperor of France had a well-marked and distinct-
ive foreign policy, and a domestic policy, both of which
were imperial and European. The first showed itself
in the form of an intervention in the affairs of Amer-
ica, and an attempt to establish as a preliminary an Em-
pire in Mexico ; and the second in the furtherance of
the project for the completion of the Suez Canal
through the Egyptian peninsula which separates the
Mediterranean from the Red Sea. On the other hand,
the United States have a policy in regard to Mexico,
and a foreign policy as distinctly marked, and alto-
gether American, which shows itself in maintaining the
independence of the sister Republic, and the construc-
tion of a ship canal across the isthmus of Darien which
separates the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Mr. Seward
said " the Colombian Congress hesitates and stumbles.
Secure for us Mr. President, a resolution of the Congress
of Mexico, recommending the Colombian Congress to
ratify the treaty for the construction of a ship canal across
the Isthmus of Darien, which has already been negotiated
between the two Governments, and I am sure that the
THE DAKIEN SHIP CANAL. 303
Congress of Colombia could not resist the friendly ap-
peal."
Senor Valasquez replied, that he could not answer
for the Mexican Congress as a body ; it must speak for
itself in its free and sovereign capacity ; but he would
cheerfully pledge his own personal support of such a
measure.
President Juarez then arose, and in a brief speech set
forth the merits of the project, pronouncing it the great
work of Republican America and of modern civiliza-
tion. For his own part he would give the project all
the support and assistance in his power, and he trusted
that Mr. Seward, as well as himself, might live to see
the noble work accomplished. Thereupon all the
guests at the table, a large number of whom were mem-
bers of the Mexican Congress, stood up, and made the
hall ring with enthusiastic vivas for the Darien Ship
Canal.
The banquet and ball terminated together at sunrise,
and the official ovations to Mr. Seward in the city of
Mexico were over.
The more one sees of President Juarez, the more he
is impressed with the conviction of his being a great
man, in the fullest acceptation of the word. In person, he
is below the average height of men of the Anglo-Saxon
race, and he is stout built without tending to corpu-
lency. In his dress he is exceedingly plain, but fastid-
iously neat. No one ever sees him without a full suit
of black broadcloth, dress coat, black hat of fashion-
able Parisian pattern, and neatly polished boots. The
only variation is on important social occasions like this,
when he dons a white cravat and white gloves, in place
of the customary black ones.
304 DON BENITO JUAREZ.
He rides in a common plain coach — no better than a
first-class hack in New York — and will allow no ser-
vants in livery about him. His manner is always quiet,
and his demeanor toward strangers courteous and affa-
ble, without in the least tending towards familiarity-
His complexion is quite dark, with the reddish tinge
indicative of Aztec Indian blood, eyes small and black,
features strongly Indian, and the expression of his
smooth-shaven face indicative of great self-possession,
quiet self-reliance, decision and indomitable resolution.
There is nothing quick, nervous, or "fidgety" in his
manner. I doubt if any man living can say he ever
saw Benito Juarez scared, excited, or irresolute for a
moment.
He impresses you as one who moves slowly but
with irresistible force, and is capable of any sacrifice
and any expenditure of time, money, or blood to carry
out his plans when once adopted. Whether entertain-
ing the Nation's guest, as we saw him on this night, when
thousands of eyes were upon him ; sitting in his bare-
walled room at El Paso del Norte, with a price upon
his head, and but two hundred Indian troops to
support him and the Republic, against the mercenary
hordes of Europe, and domestic traitors ; or walking
in the garden of Chapultepec, smoking his cigarrito, and
meditating on plans for putting down pronunciamentos,
crushing the power of the Church, or establishing
schools and providing for the education and improve-
ment of his people, he is ever the same taciturn, self-
reliant, hopeful, unexcitable man, believing in himself,
and confident of the final triumph of Republicanism,
over all trial and opposition. A horse-fancying friend
described him once to me as " not a three-minute trotter,
CURIOUS TRADITION AND COINCIDENCES.
305
but a mighty good all-day horse, and safe for a long
journey." The idea is sound, though expressed in a
homely manner. He is never accused of forgetting his
friends, and his triumph over all enemies and difficul-
ties the most gigantic, stamp him as a man of no ordi-
nary mould ; one destined to fill a remarkable page in
the history of the world.
There is a curious coincidence connected with this
man's history. When the Spaniards conquered Mexico
an old chief, or priest, at the Pueblo of Taos in New
THE PUEBLO OF TAOS.
Mexico, kindled a fire upon the altar on the walls of
the Aztec temple there, and planting a tree in front,
told his followers that when the tree died, a new white
race would come from the East and conquer the land,
20
306
YOUTHFUL APPEARANCE OF THE PRESIDENT.
and when the fire went out, a new Montezuma would
establish his power in Mexico. The tree died in 1846,
when the Americans conquered New Mexico, and the
fvre went out when the last of the Aztec priests of Taos
died at his post, in the year that Benito Juarez became
President of Mexico !
I have no faith in miracles, ancient or modern, proph-
ecies, saints, or " old wives' fables," but the coincidences
above related are well authenticated, and sufficiently cu-
rious to be worth reading.
Time has dealt lightly with " the Don Benito ; " his
black hair is only slightly tinged with grey, his figure
is erect, and his step firm and elastic 
