[Illustration: SANTA ANNA. ]

MEXICO AND ITS RELIGION;

WITH

INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN THAT COUNTRYDURING PARTS OF THE YEARS 1851-52-53-54, AND

HISTORICAL NOTICES OF EVENTSCONNECTED WITH PLACES VISITED. 

BY

ROBERT A. WILSON. 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 

NEW YORK:HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 1855. 

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the yearone thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, by

HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York. 

TO

THE AMERICAN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES, THE FOLLOWING PAGES

Are Respectfully Dedicated. 

PREFACE. 

The custom of mingling together historical events with the incidents oftravel, of amusement with instruction, is rather a Spanish thanAmerican practice; and in adopting it, I must crave the indulgence ofthose of my readers who read only for instruction, as well as of thosewho read only for amusement. 

The evidence that I have adduced to prove that the yellow fever is notan American, but an African disease, imported in slave-ships, andperiodically renewed from those cargoes of human rottenness andputrefaction, I hope will be duly considered. 

The picture of inner convent life, and the inimitable gambling scene inthe convent of San Francis, I have not dared to present on my ownresponsibility, nor even that of the old English black-letter editionof Friar Thomas, but I have reproduced it from the expurgated Spanishedition, which has passed the censors, and must therefore be consideredofficial. 

I have presumed to follow the great Las Casas, who called all thehistorians of the Conquest of Mexico liars; and though his laboredrefutation of their fictions has disappeared, yet, fortunately, thenatural evidences of their untruth still remain. Having before me thesurveys and the levels of our own engineers, I have presumed to doubtthat water ever ran up hill, that navigable canals were ever fed by"back water, " that pyramids (_teocalli_) could rest on a foundation ofsoft earth, that a canal twelve feet broad by twelve feet deep, mostlybelow the water level, was ever dug by Indians with their rudeimplements, that gardens ever floated in mud, or that brigantines eversailed in a salt marsh, or even that 100, 000 men ever entered themud-built city of Mexico by a narrow causeway in the morning, and afterfighting all day returned by the same path at night to their camp, orthat so large a besieging army as 150, 000 men could be supported in asalt-marsh valley, surrounded by high mountains. 

In answer to the question why such fables have so long passed forhistory, I have the ready answer, that the Inquisition controlled everyprinting-office in Spain and her colonies, and its censors took goodcare that nothing should be printed against the fair fame of so good aChristian as Cortéz, who had painted upon his banner an image of theImmaculate Virgin, and had bestowed upon her a large portion of hisrobbery; who had gratified the national taste for holy wars by writingone of the finest of Spanish romances of history; who had induced theEmperor to overlook his crime of levying war without a royal license bythe bestowal of rich presents and rich provinces; so that, by the favorof the Emperor and the favor of the Inquisition, a _filibustero_, whose atrocities surpassed those of every other on record, has comedown to us as a Christian hero. 

The innumerable little things about their Indian mounds force theconviction on the experienced eye of an American traveler that theAztecs were a horde of North American savages, who had precipitatedthemselves first upon the table-land, and afterward, like the Gothsfrom the table-lands of Spain, extended their conquests over theexpiring civilization of the coast country; and this idea is confirmedby the fact that the magnificent Toltec monuments of a remoteantiquity, discovered in the tropical forests, were apparently unknownto the Aztecs. The conquest of Mexico, like our conquest of California, was in itself a small affair; but both being immediately followed byextensive discoveries of the precious metals, Mexico rose as rapidlyinto opulence as San Francisco has in our day. 

The evidence that I have presented of the inexhaustible supplies ofsilver in Northern Mexico, near the route of our proposed PacificRailroad, may be interesting to legislators. These masses of silver lieas undisturbed by their present owners as did the Mexican discoveriesof gold in California before the American conquest, from the inertnessof the local population, and the want of facilities of communicationwith the city of Mexico. 

The notion that the Mormons are destined to overrun Mexico is, ofcourse, only an inference drawn from the exact parallel that existsbetween the circumstances under which this delusion has arisen andpropagated itself and the history of Mohammedanism from its rise untilit overran the degenerated Christians of the Eastern empire. 

From want of space, I have been obliged to omit much valuable originalmatter procured for me by officers of government at the palace ofMexico, to whom, for the kind attention that I have upon all occasionsreceived from them, I heartily return my most sincere thanks. 

R. A. WILSON. 

Rochester, September 1st, 1855. 

CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

Arrival at Vera Cruz. --Its appearance from the Steamer. --GettingAshore. --Within the City. --Throwing Stones at an Image. --Antiquityof Vera Cruz. --Its Commerce. --The great Norther of 1852. --A littleSteamer rides out the Tempest. --The Vomito, or Yellow Fever. --Ravagesof the Vomito. --The Vomito brought from Africa in Slave-ships. --Acurious old Book. --Our Monk arrives at Vera Cruz, and what befallshim there. --Life in a Convent. --A nice young Prior. --Our Monk findshimself in another World 15

CHAPTER II. 

An historical Sketch. --Truth seldom spoken of Santa Anna. --SantaAnna's early Life. --Causes of the Revolution. --The Virgin Mary'sApproval of King Ferdinand. --The Inquisition imprisons theVice-King. --Santa Anna enters the King's Army. --The plan ofIguala. --The War of the two Virgins. --Santa Anna pronounces forIndependence 30

CHAPTER III. 

Incidents of Travel. --The Great Road to the Interior. --MexicanDiligences. --The Priest was the first Passenger robbed. --TheNational Bridge. --A Conducta of Silver. --Our Monk visits Old VeraCruz. --They grant to the Indians forty Years of Indulgence inreturn for their Hospitality. --The Artist among Robbers. --MexicanScholars in the United States. --Encerro 39

CHAPTER IV. 

Jalapa. --The extraordinary Beauty and Fertility of thisSpot. --Jalap, Sarsaparilla, Myrtle, Vanilla, Cochineal, and Woodof Tobasco. --The charming Situation of Jalapa. --Its Flowers andits Fruits. --Magnificent Views. --The tradition that Jalapa wasParadise. --A speck of War. --The Marriage of a Heretic. --Agambling Scene in a Convent 52

CHAPTER V. 

The War of the Secret Political Societies of Mexico. --The Scotchand the York Free-Masons. --Anti-Masons. --Rival Classes composeScotch Lodges. --The Yorkinos. --Men desert from the Scotch to theYork Lodges. --Law to suppress Secret Societies. --The Escocés, orScotch Masons, take up arms. --The Battle. --Their total Defeat 68

CHAPTER VI. 

Mexico becomes an Empire. --Santa Anna deposes the Emperor. --Heproclaims a Republic. --He pronounces against the Election ofPedraza, the second President. --His Situation in the Convent atOajaca. --He captures the Spanish Armada. --And is made General ofDivision 73

CHAPTER VII. 

In the Stage and out of the Stage. --Still climbing. --A moment'sView of all the Kingdoms of the World. --Again in Obscurity. --TheMaguey, or Century Plant. --The many uses of the Maguey. --Theintoxicating juice of the Maguey. --Pulque. --Immense Consumptionof Pulque. --City of Perote. --Castle of San Carlos dePerote. --Starlight upon the Table-land. --Tequisquita. --"The BadLand. "--A very old Beggar. --Arrive at Puebla 79

CHAPTER VIII. 

Pueblo. --The Miracle of the Angels. --A City of Priests. --Mariannain Bronze. --The Vega of Puebla. --First View of the Pyramid ofCholula. --Modern Additions to it. --The View from itsTop. --Quetzalcoatl. --Cholula and Tlascala. --Cholula without thePoetry. --Indian Relics 88

CHAPTER IX. 

A Ride to Popocatapetl. --The Village of Atlizco. --The old Manof Atlizco and the Inquisition. --A novel Mode of Escape. --Anavenging Ghost. --The Vice-King Ravillagigedo. --The Court of theVice-King and the Inquisition. --Ascent of Popocatapetl. --Howa Party perished by Night. --The Crater and the House init. --Descent into the Crater. --The Interior. --The Workmen inthe Volcano. --The View from Popocatapetl. --The first White thatclimbed Popocatapetl. --The Story of Corchado. --Corchado convertsthe Volcano into a Sulphur-mine 101

CHAPTER X. 

Texas. --Battle of Madina. --First Introduction of Americans intoTexas. --Usurpation of Bustamente. --Texas owed no Allegiance tothe Usurper. --The good Faith of the United States in theAcquisition of Louisiana and Texas. --Santa Anna pronouncesagainst Bustamente. --Santa Anna in Texas. --A Mexican'sDenunciation of the Texan War. --His Idea of our Revolution. --Hecomplains of our grasping Spirit. --The right of the United Statesto occupy unsettled Territory. --A few more Pronunciamientos ofSanta Anna. --The Adventures of Santa Anna to the present Date. 113

CHAPTER XI. 

From Puebla to Mexico. --The Dread of Robbers. --TheEscort. --Tlascala. --The Exaggerations of Cortéz and BernalDiaz. --The Truth about Tlascala. --The Advantages of Tlascalato Cortéz. --Who was Bernal Diaz. --Who wrote his History. --FirstView of Mexico. 122

CHAPTER XII. 

Acapulco. --The Advantages of a Western Voyage to India. --Thegreat annual Fair of Acapulco. --The Village and Harbor ofAcapulco. --The War of Santa Anna and Alvarez. --TheRetreat. --Traveling alone and unarmed. --The PeregrinoPass. --Quiricua and Cretinism. --Chilpanzingo. --An ill-cladJudge. --Iguala. --Alpayaca. --Cuarnavaca. 132

CHAPTER XIII. 

California. --Pearl Fisheries. --Missions. --IndianMarriages. --Villages. --Precious Metals. --The Conquest ofCalifornia compared with that of Mexico. --Upper California underthe Spaniards. --Mexican Conquest of California in 1825. --TheMarch. --The Conquest. --California under the Mexicans. --AmericanConquest. --Sinews of foreign Wars. --A Protestant and religiousWar. --Early Settlers compared. --Mexico in the Heyday ofProsperity. --Rich Costume of the Women. --SuperstitiousWorship. --When I first saw California. --Lawyers without Laws. --Aprimitive Court. --A Territorial Judge in San Francisco. --MistakenPhilanthropy. --Mexican Side of the Picture. --Great Alms. --City ofMexico overwhelmed by a Water-spout. --The Superiority ofCalifornians. 142

CHAPTER XIV. 

First Sight of the Valley of Mexico. --A Venice in a mountainValley. --An Emperor waiting his Murderers. --Cortéz mowing downunarmed Indians. --A new kind of Piety. --Capture of anEmperor. --Torturing an Emperor to Death. --The Children paying thePenalty of their Fathers' Crimes. --The Aztecs and otherIndians. --The Difference is in the Historians. --The Superstitionsof the Indians. --The Valley of Mexico. --An American Survey of theValley. --A topographical View. --The Ponds Chalco, Xochimulco, andTezcuco were never Lakes. 167

CHAPTER XV. 

The Two Valleys. --The lake with a leaky Bottom. --The Water couldnot have been higher. --Nor could the Lagunas or Ponds have beenmuch deeper. --The Brigantines only flat-bottomed Boats. --TheCauseway Canals fix the size of the Brigantines. --The StreetCanals. --Stagnant Water unfit for Canals. --The probableDimensions of the City Canals. --Difficulties of disproving aFiction. --A Dike or Levee. --The Canal of Huehuetoca. --The Map ofCortéz. --Wise Provision of Providence. --The Fiction about thenumerous Cities in and about the Lake 176

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Chinampas or Water Gardens. --Laws of Nature not setaside. --Mud will not float. --The present Chinampas. --They nevercould have been floating Gardens. --Relations of the Chinampas tothe ancient State of the Lake in the Valley 186

CHAPTER XVII. 

The gambling Festival of San Augustine. --Suppressed byGovernment. --The Losses of the Saint by the Suppression ofGambling. --How Travelers live in the Interior. --A Visit to thePalace 192

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Visit to Contreras and San Angel. --The End of a brave Soldier. --APlace of Skulls. --A New England Dinner. --An Adventure withRobbers--doubtful. --Reasons for revisiting Mexico. --The Battleat the Mountain of Crosses. --A peculiar Variety of theCactus. --Three Men gibbeted for robbing a Bishop. --A Court uponHorseback. --The retreat of Cortéz to Otumba. --A venerable CypressGrove. --Unexpectedly comfortable Quarters. --An English Dinner atTezcuco. --Pleasures unknown to the Kings of Tezcuco. --Relics ofTezcuco. --The Appearance of the Virgin Mary at Tezcuco. --TheCauseways of Mexico 196

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Streets of Tacuba. --The Spaniards and the Indian Women. --TheRetreat of Cortéz. --The Aqueducts of Mexico. --The English andAmerican Burying-grounds. --The Protestant President. --Therival Virgins. --An Image out of Favor. --The Aztecs and theSpaniards 208

CHAPTER XX. 

The Paséo at Evening. --Ride to Chapultepec. --The old Cypressesof Chapultepec. --The Capture of Chapultepec. --Molina delRey. --Tacubaya. --Don Manuel Escandon. --The Tobacco Monopoly. --ThePalace of Escandon. --The "Desierto. "--Hermits. --Monks in theConflict with Satan. --Our Lady of Carmel 219

CHAPTER XXI. 

Walk to Guadalupe. --Our Embassador kneeling to the Host. --AnEmbassador with, and one without Lace. --First sight of SantaAnna. --Indian Dance in Church. --Juan Diego not Saint Thomas. --TheMiracle proved at Rome. --The Story of Juan Diego. --The holy Wellof Guadalupe. --The Temple of the Virgin. --Public Worshipinterdicted by the Archbishop. --Refuses to revoke hisInterdict. --He fled to Guadalupe and took Sanctuary. --Refused toleave the Altar. --The Arrest at the Altar 229

CHAPTER XXII. 

The old Indian City of Mexico. --The Mosques. --Probable Extent ofCivilization. --Aztecs acquired Arts of the Toltecs. --ToltecCivilization, ancient and original. --The Pyramid ofPapantla. --The Plunder of Civilization. --Mexico as described byCortéz. --Montezuma's Court. --The eight Months that Cortéz heldMontezuma. --What happened for the next ten Months. --The Siege ofMexico by Cortéz. --Aztecs conquered by Famine and Thirst. --Heroeson Paper and Victories without Bloodshed. --Cortéz and Morgan 242

CHAPTER XXIII. 

The new City of Mexico. --The Discoveries of Gold. --Ruins atMexico. --The Monks, and what Cortéz gained by his Piety. --TheCity of Mexico again rebuilt. --The City under Ravillagigedo. --TheNational Palace. --The Cathedral. --A whole Museum turnedSaints. --All kneel together. --The San Carlos Academy ofArts. --Reign of Carlos III. --The Mineria 259

CHAPTER XXIV. 

The National Museum. --Marianna and Cortéz. --The small Value ofthis Collection. --The Botanic Garden. --The Market of SantaAnna. --The Acordada Prison. --The unfortunate Prisoner. --TheCauses of that Night of Terror. --The Sacking of the City. --TheParian. --The Causes of the Ruin of the Parian. --Change in theStandard of Color. --The Ashes of Cortéz 271

CHAPTER XXV. 

The Priests gainers by the Independence. --Improved Condition ofthe Peons. --Mexican Mechanics. --The Oppression they suffer. --Lowstate of the Mechanic Arts. --The Story of the Portress. --Charityof the Poor. --The Whites not superior to Meztizos. --License andWoman's Rights at Mexico. --The probable Future ofMexico. --Mormonism impending over Mexico. --Mormonism andMohammedanism 280

CHAPTER XXVI. 

The Plaza of the Inquisition. --The two Modes of humanSacrifice, the Aztec and the Spanish. --Threefold Power of theInquisition. --Visit to the House of the Inquisition. --ThePrison and Place of Torture. --The Story of William Lamport. --Thelittle and the big _Auto da Fe_. --The Inquisition the realGovernment. --Ruin of Spanish Nationality. --The political Uses oftheInquisition. --Political Causes of the Bigotry of Philip II. --Hiseldest Son dies mysteriously. --The Dominion of Priests continuestillthe French Invasion 292

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Miracles and Earthquakes. --The Saints in Times of Ignorance. --TheEruption of Jorullo. --The Curse of the Capuchins. --TheConsequences of the Curse. --The unfulfilled Curse. --ThePopulation of the Republic. --Depopulation from 1810 to 1840. --TheMixture of Whites and Indians not prolific. --The pureIndians. --The Meztizos. --The White Population. --Negroes andZambos. --The Jew and the Law of Generation. --The same Law appliesto Cattle. --It governs the Generation of Plants. --Intemperanceand Generation. --Meztizo Plants short-lived. --Mexico can not beresuscitated. --She can not recover her Northern Provinces 304

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

The Church of Mexico. --Its present Condition and Power. --The Numberof the "Religios. "--The Wealth of the Church. --The Money-powerof the Church. --The Power of Assassination. --Educating thePeople robs the Priest. --Making and adoring Images. --The Progressdownward 319

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Causes that have diminished the Religios--The Provincials andSuperiors of Convents. --The perfect Organization. --TheMonks. --San Franciscans. --Dominicans. --Carmelites. --Thewell-reputed Orders. --The Jesuits. --The Nuns. --How Novices areprocured. --Contrasted with a Quaker Prison. --The poor deludedNun. --A good old Quaker Woman not a Saint. --Protestantism feltin Mexico 330

CHAPTER XXX. 

The Necessity of large Capitals in Mexico. --The Finances andRevenue. --The impoverished Creditors of the State. --PrincelyWealth of Individuals 348

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Visit to Pachuca and Real del Monte. --Otumba and Tulanzingo. --Thegrand Canal of Huehuetoca. --The Silver Mines of Pachuca. --HakalSilver Mines. --Real del Monte Mines. --The Anglo-Mexican MiningFever. --My Equipment to descend a Mine. --The greatSteam-pump. --Descending the great Shaft. --Galleries and Veins ofOre. --Among the Miners one thousand Feet under Ground. --TheBarrel Process of refining Silver. --Another refiningEstablishment 352

CHAPTER XXXII. 

A Visit to the Refining-mills. --The Falls and basaltic Columns ofRegla. --How a Title is acquired to Silver Mines. --The Story ofPeter Terreros, Count of Regla. --The most successful ofMiners. --Silver obtained by fusing the Ore. --Silver "benefited"upon the Patio. --The Tester of the Patio. --The chemical Processesemployed. --The Heirs of the Count of Regla. --The Ruin caused byCivil War. --The History of the English Company 362

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Toluca. --Queretaro, Guanajuato, andZacatecas. --Fresnillo. --"Romancing. "--A lucky Priest. --San LuisPotosi. --The Valenciana at Guanajuato. --Under-mining. --A Name ofBlasphemy. --The Los Rayas. --Immense Sums taken from LosRayas. --Warlike Indians in Zacatecas. 372

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Sonora and Sonora Land Speculators seeking Annexation. --Sonoraand its Attractions. --The Abundance and Purity of Silver inSonora. --Silver found in large Masses. --The Jesus Maria, Refugio, and Eulalia Mines. --A Creation of Silver at Arizpa. --The PacificRailroad. --Sonora now valueless for want of personal Security. --TheHopes of replenishing the Spanish Finances from Sonora blasted byWar. --Report of the Mineria. --Sonora. --Chihuahua 382

APPENDIX. 

A. Mineria Report on the Mineral Riches of Sonora 391

B. Report on the Mineral Riches of Chihuahua 398

C. Report on the Mineral Riches of Coahuila 400

D. Report on the Mineral Riches of Lower California 402

E. The Remains of Cortéz 405

MEXICO AND ITS RELIGION. 

CHAPTER I. 

Arrival at Vera Cruz. --Its appearance from the Steamer. --GettingAshore. --Within the City. --Throwing Stones at an Image. --Antiquity ofVera Cruz. --Its Commerce. --The great Norther of 1852. --A little Steamerrides out the Tempest. --The Vomito, or Yellow Fever. --Ravages of theVomito. --The Vomito brought from Africa in Slave-ships. --A curious oldBook. --Our Monk arrives at Vera Cruz, and what befalls him there. --Lifein a Convent. --A nice young Prior. --Our Monk finds himself in anotherWorld. 

It was a stormy evening in the month of November, 1853, when the noblesteamship _Texas_ cast anchor in the open roadstead of Vera Cruz, under the lee of the low island on which stands the famous fortress ofSan Juan de Ulua. Hard by lay a British vessel ready to steam out intothe teeth of the storm, as soon as the officers should receive from usa budget of newspapers. We were too late to obtain a permit to landthat evening, so that we lay tossing at our anchors all night, anduntil the sun and the shore-boats appeared together on the morningfollowing. 

VERA CRUZ. 

The finest view of Vera Cruz is from the harbor; and the best time tolook upon it is when a bright sun, just risen above a watery horizon, is reflected back from the antiquated domes and houses, which arevisible above the old massive city wall. 

Soon we were in one of the canoes alongside, and were quicklytransported to the mole, on which we landed, among bales of cotton andbundles of freight that encumbered it. The iron gate of the city wasnow opened, and we passed through it, mixed up in the crowd ofbare-footed "cargadores" or porters, who were carrying upon their backsbales of cotton, and depositing them in various piles in front of thecustom-house. How quietly and quickly these cargadores do their work!and what great power of muscle they have acquired by long applicationat this laborious calling!

[Illustration: VERA CRUZ. ]

What a contrast does this city present to New Orleans, which we hadleft only four days before! Instead of the noise and bustle of acommercial emporium, all here is as quiet and as cleanly as achurch-yard. Even the chiming of bells for the dying and the dead, which so incessantly disturbs the living by night and day in the seasonof the "vomito" or yellow fever, is no longer heard, for it is thehealthy season--the season of "Northers. " The only noise is the littlebells upon the necks of the donkeys, that are carrying about kegs ofwater for family use. The chain-gang have completed their morning taskof cleansing the streets and gutters, and as they are led away to theirbreakfast, a clank now and then of their chain reminds the travelerthat crime has been as busy here as in more bustling cities. Morningmass is over, and bonnetless women of low and high degree are returningto their homes; some wearing mantillas of satin, black and shining astheir raven hair, which are pinned by a jeweled pin upon the top oftheir heads; others, more modern in their tastes, sport India shawls;while the common class still cling to the "rebosa, " which they soingeniously twirl around their heads and chests as to include in itsnarrow folds their arms, and all above the waist except the face. Priests appear in black gowns, and fur hats with such ample brims thatthey lap and are fastened together upon the top of their heads. Thearmed patrol, in dirty cotton uniforms, and soldiers in broadcloth, arereturning from morning muster; for in this hot climate the burden ofthe day's duties is discharged before breakfast. Under the arches(_portales_), and in the open market-place, men and women are driving abrisk trade, in the most quiet way, in meats, and vegetables, andhuxter's wares. Nature has denied to the butcher of hot climates theprivilege of salting meat, but he makes amends for this defect bycutting his tough beef into strips, which he rubs over with salt, andoffers to sell to you by the yard. Vera Cruz is now as venerable alooking town as when I was here before, although the houses, and theplastered walls, and tops of the stone churches seem to have had a newcoating of Spanish white within a few months. But the malaria from theswamps in the time of the vomito, or the salt atmosphere driven upon itby the Northers, soon replaces the familiar dingy hue. The batteredface of the stone image, at the side of the deserted church, hasreceived a few more bruises since I was last here; for the marriageableyoung misses still most religiously believe that a stone thrown by afair hand that shall hit the image full in the face, will obtain forthe thrower a husband, and an advantageous settlement for life. This isa small city, or the poor image could not have endured this kind ofbruising for two hundred years. 

The first Spaniard that landed here was Grijalva, [1] in 1518, in atrading expedition fitted out by Valasquez, Governor of Cuba. He was sosuccessful in his traffic with the natives, as to obtain, in exchangefor a few trinkets, $14, 000 worth of gold dust. His success soencouraged Valasquez, that he fitted out a much larger expedition thefollowing year, the command of which he gave to Hernando Cortéz, ofwhom we shall have occasion to speak more at large hereafter. Cortéz, at first, landed on the island of Ulua, in front of the site of thepresent city. But when he commenced his conquest he transported hisboats to the mouth of the river Antigua, where he founded his intendedcity, a little way below the place where the national bridge nowstands, and gave it the name of the Rich City of the True Cross (VillaRica de Vera Cruz); and there it was where he destroyed his littlevessels. Ninety years after the conquest of Mexico, the Marquis DeMonterey removed the port back to Ulua, and founded the present city ofVera Cruz. It was at first built of wood, but having been several timesburned down, it was at length built of its present material--a porousstone full of animal remains, obtained from the bottom of the harbor. This stone, when laid in and covered over with cement, forms a verydurable building-material. The castle, which stands upon the island ofUlua, is now fast going to decay. 

COMMERCE OF VERA CRUZ. 

As a fortification it is no longer of great value, [2] although it iscomputed that more than $16, 000, 000 was expended in its erection. Infact, its only present practical advantage is derived from thelight-house which stands upon one of its towers. 

This town, although it has been the terror of seafaring men for thelast three hundred years, has, for a like period of time, enjoyed anenviable commerce. Nearly three-fourths of all the silver that has beenshipped to Europe from America during that long period has been sentfrom this port, besides the other productions of the country, such ascochineal, vanilla, wood of Tobasco, sarsaparilla, and jalap. To allthis we must add that all the trade of Spain with Japan, China, and thePhilipine Islands, was carried across Mexico from Acapulco, on thePacific, to be shipped from Vera Cruz to Spain. During the long periodwe have named, this was the only port on the Atlantic side whereforeign commerce was allowed; and this was restricted to Spain alone, and to a single fleet of merchant ships that came and went annually, until about fifty years before the Mexican independence, when freecommerce was allowed with all the Spanish world. From a history of thecommerce of Vera Cruz, just published at Mexico, I find that its annualaverage did not vary greatly from $12, 000, 000 importations against$18, 000, 000 exportations. The extra $6, 000, 000 being about the annualaverage of the royal revenue derived from New Spain, as this countrywas then called. Silver constituted the bulk of this $18, 000, 000, bothin weight and in value. During the last fifty years of Spanishdominion, this commerce, extended, as we have said, to all Spanishpossessions, was monopolized by a company of merchants styled theConsulado of Vera Cruz. Under the management of this company itaveraged as high as $22, 000, 000. The revolution broke up this monopoly, and almost annihilated the commerce of this port, but it rapidlyrevived after the Spaniards were driven out of the castle, and fromthis time it has gone on increasing, until now it amounts to$26, 000, 000; the imports and exports being equal, as there is now noKing's revenue. This commerce is now carried on principally with theUnited States, since the establishment of a line of steamers to NewOrleans. The most important article of importation is raw cotton, forthe supply of the great manufactories in the interior of Mexico. Thesilver goes principally to England, and is drawn again in favor of thecotton purchaser. There is also a large import trade in agriculturalimplements, steam-machinery for the sugar-mills and the silver mines, besides heavy importation of silks and wines from France and Spain. With this hasty notice we are compelled to quit a subject which is thetheme of a most interesting volume. 

A NORTHER. 

The first time I saw Vera Cruz was during the great Norther of 1852. Iwas then returning homeward from the city of Mexico. A fierce Northerwas blowing, and the harbor was filled with shipping that could notbear up against such a tornado. I stood among the anxious multitude, watching the symptoms of the rising storm. We looked intently at theheavens as they gathered blackness, and saw far off toward the horizonthe clouds and the waves mingling together into one great vaporousmass. Now and then we were tantalized by brief intervals of brightskies; but they were again quickly overcast and shrouded in by moreintense darkness, while the temperature fell to a degree of chillinessunusual in this latitude. The howling of the wind was terrific. Wherewe stood we were near enough to see, or at least to catch glimpses ofwhat was taking place on board the shipping. All extra anchors thatcould be got out were soon thrown into the sea. But to little purpose;for a coral bottom is but a poor holding-ground in a Norther. One afteranother the vessels began to drag toward the shore; and even the castleitself seemed at times as though it would be torn from its rockyfoundations and dashed upon the town, so violent was the tempest. Theterror of those on land was hardly describable as they saw the shippingdragging around toward apparent destruction to both vessels and crews. Now and then a vessel held a little by some new obstacle that theanchor had caught hold of, but soon the resistance gave way, and thenit moved on again, approaching the shore, whither all now were tending, except a few that occupied a good holding-ground in the lee of thecastle and island. All did not drag at once, or drag together; but oneby one their power of endurance gave out, and one by one they camedragging on, when they had no longer any help, and little hope, if thestorm continued. "It can not last long, " the spectators would mutter, rather in hope than expectation, for the only chance for the safety ofthe vessels was in the lulling of the tempest. Yet it did continueagainst the constant predictions of all, and momentarily increased inviolence. Hope seemed to give way to despair as vessel after vesselapproached the land; and as they were dashed into pieces men held theirbreath, while the hardy seamen were struggling in the waves toward thebeach. One staunch vessel, without cargo, was carried broadside on, andher crew leaped out of her, and ran off in safety. Many singleshipwrecks have caused greater destruction of property, and immenselygreater loss of life; but here was the individual struggle of eachseparate mariner, made in the very sight of those who could render noassistance, but must stand idle spectators. Here strong swimmers wererendered powerless by the tempest, and were perishing from exhaustionin vain efforts to swim ashore. 

From this scene of disaster we turned to look back upon a more equalcontest going on between two of the elements: a small steamer--a littlecrazy thing, it seemed, almost ready to be blown to pieces; but it wasgallantly facing the tempest, and riding out bravely against thecombined force of wind and waves. But she mounted the waves, one afteranother, without any difficulty, though held by but a single anchor, asthe strain on her cable was eased away by the action of herpaddle-wheels, which were kept in motion by an engine of the smallestclass ever put into a river boat. This was said to be the most violentNorther that had visited Vera Cruz in a century. It destroyed sixteenvessels, and caused the loss of thirteen lives; and yet so small anamount of steam-power was fully able to bear up against the dreadedfury of a Norther, and to insure the safety of the vessel. 

THE BUCCANEERS. 

Vera Cruz, like almost every other Spanish American seaport town, hasits traditional tales of the horrors committed by the buccaneers, orfilibusters. The history of the buccaneers, their origin, their fearfulexploits of blood, the terror that their name even now inspires in theminds of all Spanish Americans, are too well known to demand arepetition here, though we may give the substance of their story, bysaying that they had their origin in a laudable effort to avenge thegross wrongs inflicted by the Spaniards upon the honest traders ofother nations, while trafficking with the native inhabitants ofAmerica, within the region which the Pope, as the representative of theAlmighty, had bestowed upon the King of Spain, to conquer and subduefor the benefit of the Church. Elizabeth of England raised the questionof the validity of the title of the King of Spain derived from soquestionable a source, and insisted that he had no rights in Americabeyond those acquired by discovery, followed up by possession. But theKing of Spain was too good a Catholic to have his right called inquestion, and when a heretic ship was caught among the West Indies, theavarice of priests and officials, and their holy horror at the approachof heresy to these regions, were exhibited in their dealings with thecargo and the unhappy crew. The inhuman treatment that the Spaniardsinflicted upon honest traders aroused men to reprisals; and all shipsventuring into these seas went fully armed. Private war was the naturalconsequence of Spanish cruelty and injustice; and the superior prowessof the Dutch and English soon made sad havoc with the plunder which theSpaniards had wrung from the natives for a hundred years and more. 

The filibusters finally degenerated into pirates and robbers, and thetreasure ships ("galleons") of Spain, and the towns upon her Americancoasts, were the victims of their depredations. The fury of thebuccaneers was mainly directed against the monks, and when they sackeda town, they never failed to pay an especial visitation to theconvents. When Vera Cruz was sacked they showed their contempt for theclergy by compelling the monks and nuns to carry the plunder of thetown to their private boats; thereby grieving these "holy men" most ofall, if we may believe the old chronicles, because they could have noshare in the rich plunder loaded upon their own backs. 

The second day after our arrival in Vera Cruz a fellow-passenger, whohad been sick all the voyage, died of the yellow fever, which he hadcontracted at New Orleans, or on the Mississippi; which was probablythe first time that a person ever died in Vera Cruz of vomito that hadbeen contracted in the United States. 

THE VOMITO. 

This is a fitting place to speak of this disease and of its ravages, which we witnessed before leaving New Orleans. It was the time for thefrosts to make their appearance when I left New York, and with theexpectation of seeing the ground covered with this antidote to thefever, crowds were returning from the north, though the marks of thepestilence were still visible along our route. It had followed the mainstream of travel far northward, and now, as we ventured upon its track, it seemed like traversing the valley of the shadow of death. Terror hadcommitted greater ravages than the pestilence; the villages and citieson our route were half deserted; stagnation was visible in allcommercial places; and when we reached New Orleans this strange stateof things was doubly intensified: it looked more like a city of thedead, or a city depopulated, than the emporium of the Mississippivalley. A stranger might have supposed that a great funeral service hadjust been performed, in which all of the inhabitants remaining in townhad acted the part of mourners. The city itself had been so thoroughlycleansed, that it might challenge comparison with one of the mostcleanly villages of Holland, while its footways seemed almost too pureto be trod upon. Nothing appears half so gloomy as such a place whendeserted of its principal inhabitants. 

This disease was unknown in America until the opening of the Africanslave-trade. It is an African disease, intensified and aggravated bythe rottenness and filthy habits of the human cargoes that brought itto America. It was entirely unknown at Vera Cruz until brought there inthe slave-ship of 1699. [3] In like manner it was carried to all theWest India islands. When the negro insurrection in San Domingo drovethe white population into exile, the disease was carried by theimmigrants to all the cities of the United States, and even to the mosthealthy localities in the interior of Massachusetts. Old people stillremember when New York was so completely deserted that its principalstreets were boarded up, and watchmen went their rounds of silentstreets by day as well as by night. The fever of the present year canbe traced directly to this accursed traffic. Slaves had been smuggledinto Rio Janeiro, who brought the disease in its most virulent formfrom Africa. In that city it was carrying its hundreds to the grave, when a vessel cleared for New Orleans, having the disease on board. This vessel disseminated it in the upper wards of the city, while atthe same time there arrived from Cuba another vessel which, from a likecause, had caught the vomito at Havana, and from this second vessel thedisease was disseminated in the lower wards of New Orleans. It was themeeting of these two independent currents of the fever in the centre ofthe city, on Canal Street, that caused that fatal day on which threehundred victims went to their long homes. Such were the fruits of thisoffspring of an inhuman trade in a single city, in a single day. 

FRIAR PAGE. 

I learn from the preface of a book in the Spanish language, which Ipurchased at Mexico, entitled "The Voyages of Thomas Page, " that aDominican monk of that name, the brother of the Royalist Governor ofOxford under Charles I. , was smuggled into Mexico by his Dominicanbrethren, against the King's order, which prohibited the entry ofEnglishmen into that country. As a missionary monk he resided inMexico, or New Spain, as it was then called, eighteen years. On hisreturn to England he published an account of the country which hevisited, under the title of "A Survey of the West Indies. " This beingthe first and last book ever written by a resident of New Spain thathad not been submitted to the most rigid censorship by the Inquisition, it produced so profound a sensation, that, by order of the greatColbert, French Minister of State, it was expurgated and translatedinto French by an Irish Catholic of the name of O'Neil. From thisexpurgated French edition the Spanish copy now before me wastranslated. From this Spanish edition I had made the severaltranslations that are found in this, and the following chapters. I havesince found a black letter copy of the original, printed at London, in1677; but I have concluded to use the translations, as furnishing amore official character to the picture therein drawn of the grosslyimmoral state of the clergy, and of the religious orders. As it is fromactual observation, and has the sanction of the censorship, it must beof more value to my readers than any account of personal observationsthat I might write. This is my apology for copying the most interestingportions of a long forgotten book. 

"When we came to land, " says our author, "we saw all the inhabitants ofthe city (Vera Cruz) had congregated in the Plaza (public square) toreceive us. The communities of monks were also there, each one precededby a large crucifix. The Dominicans, the San Franciscans, theMercedarios, and the Jesuits, in order to conduct the Virey (theViceroy) of Mexico as far as the Cathedral. The Jesuits and friars fromthe ships leaped upon the shore more expeditiously than did the Virey, the Marquis Seralvo, and his wife. Many of them (the monks) on steppingon shore kissed it, considering that it was a holy cause that broughtthem here--the conversion of the Indians, who had before adored andsacrificed to demons; others kneeled down and gave thanks to the VirginMary and other saints of their devotion, and then all the monkshastened to incorporate themselves with their respective orders in theplace in which they severally stood. The procession, as soon as formed, directed itself to the Cathedral, where the consecrated wafer[4] wasexposed upon the high altar, and to which all kneeled as theyentered.... The services ended, the Virey was conducted to his lodgingsby the first Alcalde, the magistrates of the town, and judges, who haddescended from the capitol to receive him, besides the soldiers of thegarrison and the ships. Those of the religious orders who had justarrived were conducted to their respective convents, crosses, asbefore, being carried at the head of each community. Friar Johnpresented (us) his missionaries to the Prior of the Convent of SanDomingo, who received us kindly, and directed sweetmeats to be given tous, and also there was given to each of us a cup of that Indianbeverage which the Indians call chocolate. 

"This first little act of kindness was only a prelude to a greater one. That is to say, it was the introduction to a sumptuous dinner, composedof flesh and fish of every description, in which there was no lack ofturkeys and capons. All set out with the intent of manifesting to usthe abundance of the country, and not for the purpose of worldlyostentation. 

A NICE YOUNG PRIOR. 

"The Prior of Vera Cruz was neither old nor severe, as the men selectedto govern communities of youthful _religious_ are accustomed to be. Onthe contrary, he was in the flower of his age, and had all the mannerof a joyful and diverting youth. His fathership, as they told us, hadacquired the priory by means of a gift of a thousand ducats, which hehad sent to the Father Provincial. After dinner he invited some of usto visit his cell, and there it was we came to know the levity of hislife. It exhibited little of the appearance of a life of penance andself-mortification. We expected to find in the habitation of a prelateof such an establishment a most magnificent library, which wouldfurnish an index of his learning and of his taste for letters. But wesaw nothing more than a dozen old books lying in a corner, and coveredwith dust and cobwebs, as if they had hid themselves for shame at theneglect with which the treasures they contained had been treated, andthat a guitar should be preferred to them. 

"The cell of the Prior was richly tapestried and adorned with feathersof birds of Michoacan; the walls were hung with various pictures ofmerit; rich rugs of silk covered the tables; porcelain of China filledthe cupboards and sideboards; and there were vases and bowls containingpreserved fruits and most delicate sweetmeats. Our enthusiasticcompanions did not fail to be scandalized at such an exhibition, whichthey looked upon as a manifestation of worldly vanity, so foreign tothe poverty of a begging friar. But those among us that had sailed fromSpain with the intent of living at their ease, and of enjoying thepleasures which riches would produce, exulted at the sight of suchgreat opulence, and they desired to establish themselves in a countrywhere they could so quickly win fortunes so secure and abundant. [5] Theholy Prior talked to us only of his ancestry, of his good parts, of theinfluence which he had with the Father Provincial, of the love whichthe principal ladies and the wives of the richest merchants manifestedto him, of his beautiful voice, of his consummate skill in music. Infact, that we might not doubt him in this last particular, he took theguitar and sung a sonnet which he had composed to a certain _Amaryllis_. This was a new scandal to our newly-arrived _religious_, whichafflicted some of them to see such libertinage in a prelate, who ought, on the contrary, to have set an example of penance and self-mortification, and should shine like a mirror in his conduct and words. 

"When we had satiated our ears with the delicacy of music, our eyeswith the beauty of such rich stuffs of cotton, of silk, and offeathers, then our reverend Prior directed us to take from hisdispensaries a prodigious quantity of every species of dainties toallure the taste or satisfy the appetite. Truly we seemed in anotherworld, by being transported from Europe to America. Our senses had beenchanged from what they had been the night and day before, whilelistening to the hoarse sounds of the mariners, when the abyss of thesea was at our feet, and when we drank fetid water, and inhaled thestench of pitch. In the Prior's cell of the Convent of Vera Cruz, welistened to a melodious voice accompanied with an harmoniousinstrument, we saw treasures and riches, we ate exquisiteconfectioneries, we breathed amber and musk, with which he had perfumedhis sirups and conserves. O, that delicious Prior!"

 [1] Apuntes Historicos de Vera Cruz, p. 102. 

 [2] Esterior Comercio de Mexico. M. M. Lerdo de Tegido. Mexico, 1853. 

 [3] Apuntes Historicos de Vera Cruz, p. 129. 

 [4] Called, in the Spanish translation, "The most holy Sacrament;" but in the English original, "The bread God. "

 [5] These missionary monks were on their way to Manilla and the Spanish East Indies by the road across Mexico. 

CHAPTER II. 

An historical Sketch. --Truth seldom spoken of Santa Anna. --Santa Anna'searly Life. --Causes of the Revolution. --The Virgin Mary's Approval ofKing Ferdinand. --The Inquisition imprisons the Vice-King. --Santa Annaenters the King's Army. --The plan of Iguala. --The War of the twoVirgins. --Santa Anna pronounces for Independence. 

Before commencing our journey to the interior, we must break the threadof our narrative by a brief biographical sketch: for this town is thebirth-place, and here began the public career of that man whose lifehas become the history of his country. With him the Mexican Republicbegan, and with him it has been terminated. In 1822 he was first toproclaim a Republic in the Plaza of Vera Cruz; and when I stood in thePlaza of the city of Mexico, in the winter of 1854, I heard himproclaimed absolute ruler of a state which had already ceased to be aRepublic. This was not the first time that he had been raised toabsolute authority in Mexico, but the third time that this had occurredin his checkered career--a career that resembles more the vicissitudesin the life of a hero of Spanish romance than the memoirs of a livingpolitician. 

SANTA ANNA. 

Santa Anna is a man of whom the truth has seldom been spoken; for noman can raise himself from a humble position to be the embodiment ofall the powers of the state without creating a host of enemies; nor cana man be long in possession of absolute authority without raising up atribe of flatterers. To the one, he is every thing that is shocking tohumanity; while to the other he is the perfection of all the moralqualities. This scurrilous manner in which all political discussionsare carried on in Mexico, has always furnished a ready apology for thesuppression of liberty of speech, and for the enforcement of theMexican law of ostracism in turn by every party in power. 

As we Americans have nothing to hope from his friendship, and nothingto fear from the displeasure of Santa Anna, we are able to take acorrect view of his character from the records, and to affirm that heis neither a saint, as represented by one party, nor a monster, asrepresented by the other; and as greatness is a comparative term, andgoodness is often used in a comparative sense, we may also add that heis the first of Mexican statesmen, and as good as the best of hisrivals. He has suffered unnumbered and overwhelming defeats, which haveso exhibited his recuperative talents as to attract the admiration offoreigners. Other aspirants have risen to popular favor, and thenfallen, one after the other, and have disappeared. But Santa Anna'sfalls have ever been a prelude to his rising again to a greaterelevation; and there is no point of elevation to which he has risenfrom which he has not been ignominiously hurled. He is a politicianwhose course reminds us of a skillful swimmer in the breakers; half thetime he rides the waves and half the time he is submerged, yet neversinks so deep but that he rises again to the surface. When Santa Annais in authority the fickle multitude cry out against him, and when heis in exile no suffering innocent can compare with him; and the booksthat at such times sell best in Mexico are those that vindicate hispast career. Of such a man something must be said, and to render thatsomething intelligible, a brief account of the social and politicalchanges of his times must be rendered. 

Santa Anna was born at Vera Cruz, in the year 1796, in the mostprosperous era of the colonial government of the vice-kingdom of NewSpain, while Ravillagigedo was Virey. The new and liberal code, regulating mines and mining, was yielding its legitimate fruits in theimmensely increased production of silver and gold, while thenewly-granted privilege of unrestricted trade with Spain and her othercolonies was followed by considerable shipments of grain from thetable-lands of Mexico to the West India Islands. The profound peacethat had reigned uninterruptedly for two hundred and seventy-five yearswas still unbroken. Not a word of disloyalty was breathed; while theInquisition of Mexico watched with the utmost care for the leastappearance of rebellion against God or the king. Such was the religiousand political stagnation at the time Santa Anna was born; and so itcontinued for the first twelve years of his life. But his youth was notto be passed in a period of national repose. 

THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION. 

It was the year 1808 that the news arrived in Mexico of theimprisonment of Charles IV. And Ferdinand VII. , the dotard andsimpleton who then disputed the Spanish throne, and who had renderedthemselves the laughing stock of all Europe by going, each one inperson, to advocate his side of a family quarrel before a common enemy, the French Emperor, by whom both had thus been caught like mice in acage, and compelled to abdicate. At this news a feeling of indignationran through the vice-kingdom, while all Europe laughed at the strangecombination of knave and fool exhibited in the characters of the twoSpanish kings. The people of New Spain saw in them only the guardiansof the Church in the power of the infidels, and at once forgot theunnatural crimes of their two kings. They thought only of their piety, and with joy the news was carried throughout New Spain, that one oftheir previous kings had consecrated his imprisonment to embroidering apetticoat for the Virgin Mary; and when this announcement was followedby another, a little more apocryphal, that the most holy image had, bya nod, signified her acceptance of the present, there could no longerbe a doubt of his title of Most Catholic King, which might from thattime onward be interpreted Most Catholic Mantua-maker. The world mightnow laugh at him, and hold him up to ridicule. All its ridiculemattered nothing to the Mexicans. It made no difference to them. Torevere the king and render him a blind obedience was at all times apart of their religion. Whether either of the two were fit to be kingswas not a question for the people to determine; and if the Virgin Maryhad not nodded her approval, the solution of this question ofcompetency would still be reserved for the tribunals of God and theInquisition. It was sufficient for the people to know that both fatherand son had been compelled to abdicate, and that they no longer werekings of Spain, and that the brother of the French Emperor occupied thevacant throne, which the Inquisition had associated, in theirsuperstition, with the throne of God itself. God and the king wereinseparable words in the mouth of a citizen of New Spain, and he thatdared to separate them was thought worthy of Inquisitorial fires. Theyowed the same reverence which the Aztecs rendered to their emperorbefore the conquest. 

Next to God and the king was the vice-king. Yet they had seen theirbeloved viceroy, Iturrigaray, deposed by a conspiracy of Spanishshop-keepers, which had organized itself in that focus of Mexicantrade, the Parian. All this was bewildering to the nation. All NewSpain was astonished to see a power sufficiently potent to arrest thevice-king emanate from such a quarter. And not only had they witnessedthis, but they had also seen this same officer, whose person was sosacred in their eyes, cast into the prison of the Inquisition among"heretics, and accursed of God, and despised of Christian men, " becausehe had not discriminated in favor of the Spanish-born in his appeal tothe patriotism of the people. 

Before they had escaped from this bewildering of all their ideas ofgovernment, they were suddenly called upon to take sides in a war ofraces that had sprung up in determining the question, who constitutedthe people, among the divers races that composed the population ofMexico? The Cortes of Spain had just proclaimed the sovereignty of thepeople. But who were the people? The solution of this question excitedone of the most cruel and envenomed wars on record. The handful ofwhites who had been born in Spain, and who enjoyed a monopoly of thelucrative offices in Church and in State, as well as a monopoly intrade, claimed it as their exclusive privilege to be considered thepeople, and they it was who imprisoned the vice-king, because heappeared to have more enlarged views than themselves. The Creoles, asthose of pure white blood born in America are called, who were excludedfrom all places of honor or profit, held the balance of power, and itwas doubtful for a long time to which side the Creole soldiers wouldincline. But they were not long in suspense; for when fired upon by anundisciplined rabble, rather than an army, of Indians, they returnedthe fire, and there, in sight of the city of Mexico, settled thecharacter of a contest which was, from that time forward, to shake thewhole social organization of the vice-kingdom--in which plantationswere destroyed, and villages and cities sacked and burned, and the mostunheard-of cruelties practiced by one party or the other on thedefenseless, until the final triumph of the Creole, or white troops, inthe time of the viceroy, Apaduer, over the insurgents, composed chieflyof Indians and those of mixed blood. 

RISE OF SANTA ANNA. 

While this war was raging in all its fury, Santa Anna arrived at an ageto choose an occupation for life; and with the ardor of youth heentered the king's service as a Creole officer, a cadet in the _Fijode Vera Cruz_. In this fratricidal war he soon distinguished himselfby that activity in the performance of the duties of a subaltern which, in more mature years, distinguished him as a leader and a politician. He was at that time in the unhappy dilemma of every man born in SpanishAmerica; he was compelled to choose between two evils--either to jointhe king's cause, and fight for the Spaniards who oppressed hiscountry, or to run the hazard of seeing re-enacted in Mexico the bloodytragedy of San Domingo, if the colored races should conquer in acontest with the Spaniards. A few Creoles had chosen the side of theinsurgents; but they were few; as the Spanish cause could not have beensustained for a day, if it had not been for the want of confidence inthe leaders of the insurrection. But it was not in contests with hisown countrymen that Santa Anna first won distinction; it was in abattle with the filibustering invaders while yet Mexico was a colony ofSpain: it was in the bloody battle of the river Madina, in Texas, wherean army of three thousand men (according to Mexican accounts), on theirway to join the Mexican insurgents, were totally routed by Aridondo. 

The zeal which Santa Anna continually exhibited in almost dailycontests with guerillas outside of the walls of Vera Cruz, so long asthe contest was confined to a war of races, soon won him distinction. But now he is called to play the part of a military politician; forwhen the news arrived in Mexico of the new constitutional revolution of1820 in Spain itself, all the higher classes of society in thevice-kingdom were in terror. Ten years of bloodshed and civil disorderhad been the fruits to Mexico of the first revolution of Spain--aninsurrection that had not been effectually put down until Spain herselfhad returned to despotism, and now the newly-restored peace wasthreatened with a more bloody insurrection than the former, unlessthere was an entire separation of the two countries. Experience hadfully demonstrated that the Spanish colonial system was compatible onlywith Spanish despotism. All native-born races desired to be free fromthe political disorders consequent upon the military revolutions ofSpain herself. In this desire they were joined by that class who thenruled over the consciences of all men in Mexico, the clergy; for thatpowerful body preferred to sacrifice the allegiance they owed to theking, from whom they had received their preferments, rather than runthe risk of losing their privileges. 

THE PLAN OF IGUALA. 

That which was the thought of all Mexicans capable of thinking, was notlong in receiving a definite shape and form. The _pronunciamiento_of Colonel Iturbide, at the city of Iguala, on the 24th of February1821, united all the conflicting elements of Mexican society; for allcould agree upon a plan that proposed a separation from Spain, while itgave guarantees to property, to the army, and to the church. Men whohad been educated under the fatherly care of the Inquisition, had noidea of religious toleration; toleration for heresy was no part oftheir creed; nor had their long civil wars produced that alienationfrom the priesthood which had arisen from this cause in the otherSpanish American states. One reason for this was that the firstinsurrection was headed by the parish priest, Hidalgo; and because themost prominent leaders in it were priests; while the watchword of theinsurgents was, "_Viva_ Our Lady of Guadalupe!" who is the patronsaint of the colored races of Mexico. The insurrection of Iguala wasentirely distinct in its character from the popular insurrection of1810; for that was an insurrection of the oppressed races against thedespotism that was grinding them in the dust. It was a peasant war; butthe cry of Iguala rose from the soldiers of the government. It was thefirst of that long list of military insurrections that have afflictedMexico. It was an insurrection of the Creole supporters of thegovernment, and rendered the government powerless at once. ColonelIturbide had distinguished himself, as a Creole soldier, by hiscourage, and by the cruelty which he exercised toward the firstinsurgents. 

When an officer in the service of the king in the first insurrectionobtained a victory, he went to make his offering, not at the shrine ofthe Virgin of Guadalupe, but at the shrine of the Virgin of Remedies, so that as long as the Spanish cause prospered, the shrine of Guadaluperemained in obscurity; but as soon, however, as Iturbide and theCreoles deserted the cause of the king and joined the nationalstandard, the Lady of Guadalupe was made the national patroness, andthe order of Guadalupe was established as the first and only order ofthe empire, while Our Lady of Remedies sank into obscurity. This gaveoccasion to an unbelieving Mexican to remark that the revolution was awar between the Blessed Virgins, and that she of Guadalupe hadtriumphed over her that had taken shelter in the plant. 

As soon as the tidings of the plan of Iguala reached Vera Cruz, SantaAnna hastened to give in his adhesion to the cause now truly national, which guaranteed equal rights to all under the united leadership ofIturbide and of General Guerrero, the only remaining Creole leader ofthe first insurrection still in arms. On the 18th day of March, 1821, he was the first to proclaim the plan of Iguala in the Plaza of VeraCruz. This promptness of Santa Anna in proclaiming the independencedetermined many who were hesitating in dread of a bombardment fromSpanish forces in the Castle of San Juan de Ulua; and this importantstep it was which first brought him prominently into notice. As aconsequence of this political movement, Santa Anna was appointed secondin command in Vera Cruz. 

CHAPTER III. 

Incidents of Travel. --The Great Road to the Interior. --MexicanDiligences. --The Priest was the first Passenger robbed. --The NationalBridge. --A Conducta of Silver. --Our Monk visits Old Vera Cruz. --Theygrant to the Indians Forty Years of Indulgence in return for theirHospitality. --The Artist among Robbers. --Mexican Scholars in the UnitedStates. --Encerro. 

A railroad eleven miles in length, crossing the morass, connects VeraCruz with the great National Road to the table-land of the interior. The coach in which the journey to Mexico is made is placed on arailroad track and pushed on before a crazy locomotive, while behindthe engine is a long line of freight wagons. At every cow-path thatcrossed our track stood a flagman waving his little red flag to thetrain as it passed, apparently in burlesque imitation of a regularroad. 

THE NATIONAL BRIDGE. 

The famous National Bridge carries the National Road over the riverAntigua, at the mouth of which, a little way below, Cortéz built hisVera Cruz (Villa Rica de Vera Cruz), and where he caused his vessels tobe sunk before commencing his expedition to the interior. Little hasever been known in our country of that magnificent whole, of which thisand other bridges of solid masonry are but parts. The National Road ofMexico was conceived and executed by a company of merchants known asthe Consulado of Vera Cruz. It is about ninety miles in length, andcost $3, 000, 000. From Vera Cruz it runs northward, often within sightof the Gulf, till it nearly reaches the Cerro Gordo, where it turnsinland, and passing upward through that celebrated gorge to Jalapa, adistance of sixty miles from Vera Cruz, and at an elevation of 4264feet above the sea; thence, for the remaining thirty miles, it iscarried over the famous mountain, Perote, to the great table-land ofMexico. It is a work of extraordinary character for the period in whichit was built, and the method of its construction; and reminds thetraveler of a Roman road of antiquity, though no Roman road ever passedover a mountain 10, 000 feet in height. The ruin into which it hasfallen in many places during the last thirty years of civil war, servesto keep up the illusion, though it falls far short of those ancientroads in the material of which it is constructed, being of small roughstones, covered over with a durable cement. 

[Illustration: THE NATIONAL BRIDGE. ]

The system of stage-coaches between Vera Cruz and Mexico is as nearlyperfect as any system of traveling dependent on weather can be. Comfortable hotels are established at convenient distances along theroad; and if the passenger desires it, he can have endorsed upon histicket a permission to tarry upon the road as long as he may desire. Six, and sometimes eight horses drag the coach along at a hazardousspeed. Twice, out of three times that I have passed over this road, Ihave been overturned. Once, while riding on the top, a heavy iron axlebroke like a pipe-stem, throwing me off upon the rough stones, with theadditional misfortune of having a heavy Frenchman fall upon me. But nobones were broken, and I still live to tell the story. 

The neighborhood of the National Bridge is a favorite haunt of theknights of the road. Though very pious in their way, they have noscruples in relieving any priest who may fall into their hands of suchworldly possessions as he happens to have about him. In fact, they seemto take a special delight in plundering these holy men, giving them theprecedence in relieving their wants. Out of respect to the cloth, theyomit the ceremony of searching, to which the other passengers aresubjected; nor do they compel him to lie down like the others. But withmock solemnity a robber approaches the sacred personage, and droppingon one knee, presents his hat for alms, which the priest understands tobe a reverential mode of demanding all the valuables that he carriesabout him: his reverence having been disposed of, the women aresearched; afterward the men, one by one, are ordered to rise up toundergo a like ceremony; and, lastly, the baggage is ransacked, andthen all are suffered to go on their way in peace, if no shots havebeen fired from the stage. In former times the robbers used to dividetheir plunder with the Virgin Mary, but now things are altered; therobber takes all, and even visits the churches occasionally, not toworship, but for plunder. If two or three priests take passage in asingle coach, people shake their heads and say, "That coach willcertainly be robbed;" and so it often happens. 

The stage ordinarily passes this bridge in the night, when there is noopportunity to look at the magnificent scenery around. I saw it once bydaylight; and long shall I remember the impression produced. I lingeredabout the spot to the last moment that "Jim, " or as he is here called"San Diego, " the driver, would permit. We reluctantly took our placesin the coach, and when the hostler let slip the rope that held theheads of the leaders, our eight wild horses dashed off at a furiousrate over a roughly paved road, to the no small disturbance of thereflections which such a spot awakens. 

We tried to think of the stirring events that had here so often takenplace in times of civil war, when Gomez practiced such cruelties in thename of liberty; when robberies and murders were committed here inbroad daylight; when the frowning battery that crowns the cliff, stopped the passage of armies. But it was of no use to try to think;the wheels would strike fire upon the boulders lying in the road, tumbling us about until all romance and recollection were pounded outof us. 

Gladly we halted at Plan del Rio to take a little chocolate and look atthe ruins of a stone bridge blown up by gunpowder, while new horseswere being brought out to drag us up the Cerro Gordo pass. 

Here we met a small body of soldiers conducting eight freight wagonsthat carried loads of coined silver, and were drawn by twelve horseseach, on their way to the coast--a common sight to the people of theseparts, as was evident from the indifference with which they regardedsuch cargoes of money; yet it was calculated to make an American stare, though he had been accustomed to look upon treasures of California inher palmiest days. But a few millions in silver make a most imposingshow. 

FRIAR PAGE AT VERA CRUZ. 

Our monk, on his journey to this point, had kept along the shore, crossing the Antigua near its mouth, visiting old Vera Cruz. He thusdescribes what he there saw:

"The first Indians whom we encountered in our journey were at old VeraCruz, which is on the sea-shore, where, as we have already said, theSpaniards first designed to establish themselves on undertaking theconquest of the country, but which they had to abandon on account ofthe little protection it afforded against the north winds. Here webegan to note the power which the clergy and friars have among the poorIndians; how they rule them, and the respect and veneration which arepaid them. The Prior of Vera Cruz having written, the morning of ourdeparture, advertising them of the day of our arrival, he commandedthem to come and receive us, and to serve us during our transit throughtheir territory. The poor Indians obeyed with the greatest promptitudethe orders of the Prior, and at a league from their village twenty oftheir principal men encountered us upon horseback, and handed a wreathof flowers to each one of us. Then they set out on their return infront of our caravan, and at a bow-shot distance, and in this manner weproceeded until we came up with others on foot, with trumpets andflutes, which were played very agreeably before our whole cavalcade. Those who had come out were the employees of the churches and thechiefs of the fraternities, all of whom presented us a garland offlowers. Then followed others--the priests' assistants, acolitos, andthe young people of the choir, who went singing a _Te Deumlaudamus_, until we arrived at the market-place. There is always aPlaza in the midst of the village, and here it was adorned by two greatand most beautiful elms: between these there had been constructed animmense arbor, in which was a table covered with jars and dishes ofconserves, and other kinds of sweetmeats and biscuits for eating withthe chocolate. While they were preparing the chocolate, heating thewater, and adding the sugar, the principal Indians and the authoritiesof the village came and knelt down, and kissed our hands, and gave ustheir address, saying that our arrival was a happy event for theircountry, and that they gave us a thousand thanks because we had leftour native country, our parents, and our firesides, in order to go toregions so remote to labor for the salvation of souls; and that theyhonored us as gods upon earth, and as the apostles or Jesus Christ; andthey said so many, many things, that only the chocolate put an end totheir eloquence. We remained an hour, and manifested our gratificationfor the demonstration of affection and bounty with which they hadfavored us, assuring them that there was not any thing in the worldmore dear to us than their salvation, and that to procure it we had notfeared to expose ourselves to all the perils with which we werethreatened by sea and land; nor even the barbarous cruelty of otherIndians who did not know the true God, in whose service we had resolvedto sacrifice even life. 

"With this we departed from them, making gifts to the chiefs ofrosaries, medals, little metal crosses, 'the Lamb of God' (_AgnusDei_), relics which we brought from Spain; and we conceded to eachone forty years of indulgence, in virtue of the powers which we hadreceived from the Pope for distributing them, where, when, and to whomwe pleased. On our going out from the shade of the arbor for mountingour mules, we saw the market-place full of men and women on theirknees, almost adoring us, and asking us to give them our blessing. Weraised the hand on passing, and gave it to them by making the sign ofthe cross. The submission of the poor Indians, and the vanity excitedby a reception so ceremonious, and with such public homage, turned theheads of our young friars, who began to believe themselves superior tothe bishops of Europe; and even our illustrious superiors were not farfrom pride, but exhibited excessive haughtiness, now that they had seentheir vanity flattered with such great acclamations in their sight aswere lavished upon us that day, although we were only some simplefriars. The flutes and the trumpets began to resound again at the headof our procession, and the chiefs of the people accompanied us as faras half a league, and afterward they retired to their homes. "

Slowly has the stage been moving up the pass. The rattle of the wheelshas ceased, the sun has made his appearance, and the awakenedpassengers are disposed to listen to tales of wild adventures. Theloquacious are ready with an abundant supply. The best of these is thetale of "The Artist among the Robbers. "

THE ARTIST AMONG THE ROBBERS. 

"Four years ago, " began the artist who made some sketches for thiswork, "while I was making a pedestrian journey over this road, I seatedmyself, weak and hungry, upon a stone by the roadside, not a littletired of life and evil fortune. The remains of the yellow fever werestill upon me, and only a single dollar burdened my pocket; for I didnot learn, until too late, how poor a place for an artist from abroadis this country, where the San Carlos is creating the native article byscores. I had not sat long in my gloomy mood before I had companyenough; for as I looked up I saw, trooping down the side of the hill, aband of men, who I thought would soon put an end to my troubles. I tookthe thing coolly, for I cared little for the result; and had I cared, there was no helping it now. So I patiently waited their arrival. Tothe questions of the only one who could talk English I answeredbriefly, as I supposed they would soon end my troubles. When I told himthat I cared little if he did kill me, the whole party laugheduproariously. The leader now came up, and having searched me, found mystory to be true. I then drew an outline of a picture with my pencil, and gave it to him. This so pleased him that he wrote me a memorandum, and with verbal directions as to the way I was to go if I wished forlodgings for the night, he bade me adieu, and the party disappeared upthe side of the woody hill, and I set out on my journey. "

The leagues were very long, but the landmarks were unmistakable; andwithout difficulty the artist reached the house and presented his paperto the old woman that appeared at the door. This paper procured him agood supper, and comfortable quarters for the night; for his fine opencountenance and yellow hair seemed to have touched the heart of thisold Mexican matron--a class of persons, by-the-way, who are the kindestmortals in the world. The good cheer disposed of, he gathered up hisfeet upon his mat for the night, and slept as men do who have nothingto fear from robbers. When in the morning he awoke, he found the olddame astir, preparing for him an early breakfast, which was of aquality unexpected in so unpretending a mansion. When breakfast wasprepared, and after he had finished eating it, the old woman made himunderstand by signs that he was to go into the adjoining room and therereplenish his dilapidated wardrobe. She supplied him with a new suitfrom head to heel, and then urged him to tie around his waist a smallsheep's entrail filled with brandy, according to the custom of MexicanIndians. Thus had our transient friend had his inner and outer mansupplied in this out-of-the-way hut, at the robbers' charges, afterwhich, being shown the direction in which to reach the Jalapa road, hebade the kind old matron _adios_, and traveled on to Encerro witha lighter heart than he had borne the day before. 

ENCERRO. 

At Encerro we left four of our fellow-passengers. They were the son andthree daughters of the widow who kept the inn. They had been through afull course of studies in one of the Roman Catholic boarding-schools inthe United States, and were now returned, having fully mastered theEnglish language--the great desideratum of the Spanish-American people, and one of the sources from which the Catholic schools and colleges inthe United States derive their support. 

What a beautiful spot is Encerro, the country residence of Santa Anna!It may not be as productive as his estate of Manga de Clavo, in the hotcountry, near Vera Cruz; but it is more salubrious and delightful. Inthe civil wars he had often made a stand here, and had learned toappreciate the beauty of the spot long before he was rich enough tomake the purchase--for the pay received by officers of the highest rankin Mexico, is not sufficient to enable them to accumulate a fortunetill far advanced in life. Politicians in Mexico, as in all othercountries, are not unwilling to hazard their private fortunes in theirpolitical contests, and though the estates of the unsuccessful partiesare not confiscated in a revolution, one reason may be that they arenot ordinarily of great value. 

The stage-coach has been forgotten in story-telling while slowlyclimbing up the pass, but as soon as we had overcome this impediment westarted off again upon an unrepaired road, at our former neck-breakingspeed, which we kept up until we reached Encerro, where for a littleway we had an earthen road. Yet it was only a short breathing before wewere upon the rough stones again. We had been gradually passing throughdifferent strata of atmosphere in our journey upward, the changes inthe character of the vegetation kept pace with the change of theclimate. 

"Whose is that estate inclosed by such an antiquated looking stonewall?" I inquired, of a fellow-traveler. 

"That belongs to Don Isidoro; and it extends some thirty leagues, " wasthe reply. "You see that ridge of hills. That is its northern boundary. This wall separates it from the estate of Santa Anna. In fact it issurrounded by a continuous and substantial stone-wall, sufficient tokeep in cattle. This spot of land sufficiently large for a county, witha soil the richest in the world, and a climate like that of Jalapa, isgiven up to be a range for thousands of cattle. "

A TROPICAL FOREST. 

We must hasten to our journey's end, which, for the present, is Jalapa. While here, we can sum up the story of our eighteen hours' ride. FromVera Cruz we passed through a tropical marsh, presenting a strikingcontrast to what we had witnessed about that town. In place of beingsurrounded by hot, shifting hillocks of sand, we were in the midst oftropical vegetation. Trees not only bore their own natural burdens, butwere borne down with creepers, vines, and parasitic plants; forming onestrange mass of foliage of very many distinct kinds matted together andmingled into one. Plantations of vanilla, of coffee, of cocoa, or ofsugar-cane, nowhere approached our road; nor were the cocoa-nut, thebanana, and the plantain, so familiar in all tropical climates, oftenvisible. Upon the whole route there were little evidences of labor, except those furnished by the road itself. It was all wilderness. Yetthe graceful features of the creepers, hanging from branch to branch ofthe sycamores, and the shady arbors formed by their dense foliage, looked as though a gardener's hand could be traced in so muchregularity; yet it was only Nature's own gardening, where the wildbirds might build their nests, and breed, and sing without fear ofdisturbance. How often have I dismounted, while riding along such aforest, by the side of some running brook, and while my horse wasfeeding I have almost fallen asleep under the soothing influence whichsuch an atmosphere produces upon a traveler, heated by fast ridingunder a vertical sun. It is one of those happy sensations that can notwell be described, nor can it be appreciated by those who have notexperienced it. Poets have exhausted their power in painting thebeauties of scenes where all the senses are satiated with enjoyment. Yet this voluptuous gratification is soon alloyed by the evils thatremind us that Paradise is not to be found upon this earth. Here isseen the whole animal kingdom busily laboring for the destruction ofits kind. Reptiles prey upon each other; parasitic plants fixthemselves upon trees and suck up the sap of their existence; and man, while he enjoys to a surfeit these bounties of nature, must watchnarrowly against the venom and the poison that comes to mar hispleasure, and teach him the wholesome lesson that true happiness isonly found in Heaven. We are now at our journey's end. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Jalapa. --The extraordinary Beauty and Fertility of this Spot. --Jalap, Sarsaparilla, Myrtle, Vanilla, Cochineal, and Wood of Tobasco. --Thecharming Situation of Jalapa. --Its Flowers and its Fruits. --MagnificentViews. --The tradition that Jalapa was Paradise. --A speck of War. --TheMarriage of a Heretic. --A gambling Scene in a Convent. 

Byron's lines, in the opening of "The Bride of Abydos" are gorgeousenough:

 "Know ye the land of the cedar and vine, Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine; Where the light wings of Zephyr, oppress'd with perfume, Wax faint o'er the gardens of Gull in their bloom; Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit, And the voice of the nightingale never is mute. "

But the poet would have given them a still more luxuriant coloring hadhe ever ascended the table-land of the tropics, and visited Jalapa, thespot which the natives insist was the site of the original Paradise. Paradise, jalapa, and myrtle, sound well enough together, and do notclash with the native tradition in relation to this delightful spot. 

PRODUCTIONS OF THE VALLEYS. 

We were now more than four thousand feet above the sea, on an extensiveplateau, half-way up the mountain. The beautiful _convolvulus jalapa_does not flourish here, but is brought from the Indian villages ofColipa and Maqautla, situated in the valleys that run among the hills. The _myrtle_, whose grain is the spice of Tobasco, is produced in theforests by the river Boriderus; the _smilax_, whose root is the truesarsaparilla, grows deep down in the humid and umbrageous ravines ofthe Cordilleras; and cocoa comes from Acayucan. From the ever-greenforests of Papantla and Nautla comes the _epidendrum vanilla_, whoseodoriferous fruit is used as a perfume. Thus these characteristicproductions of the country come from the mysterious valleys of theneighboring mountain, where, nearly a thousand years before any of thepresent generation was born, flourished an unknown race of men ascivilized as were the people of Palmyra or of Egypt, as vast ruins inthe forests of Misantla and Papantla clearly indicate: a race unknownto the degenerate Indians, who now wander about the ruined edifices andisolated pyramids of these cities, lost in the forest, as they are tous. A thousand years have passed away--their history has perishedforever. The old books say that the delicate little scarlet insect, cochineal, was once a product of this district, and Jalapa was itsproper market, and the mart of all the other peculiar productions ofthe neighboring region, because it was the town on the high landnearest to the sea-port. 

[Illustration: JALAPA. ]

Jalapa early became an important position to which foreign goods werebrought to be exchanged for silver and gold, jalap, sarsaparilla, vanilla, spice of Tobasco, cocoa, cochineal, and woods of variouscolors. 

It is the beauty of the place itself, and the unsurpassed magnificenceof its mountain-scenery, that throws such a charm around Jalapa. Thetransparency of its atmosphere makes the snow-crowned Orizaba andPerote, in the coast range of mountains, appear close at hand, withtheir dense forests of perpetual foliage, moistened incessantly by theclouds driven upon them from the ocean. High up in the region ofperpetual moisture, Jalapa has a soil intensely luxuriant, and isbeyond the reach of those parasitic plants of the low lands, that fixthemselves upon other plants and trees, and eat out their very life, asthe malarias do that of the human being. Roses of the most choicevarieties grow spontaneously by the roadside, or creep over the walls. Nature, the parent of architects, has here shaped all her trees uponthe most exquisite models. The very twig planted in a hedge, if left toitself, grows up into a tree which gracefully inclines its head like aweeping willow; while a mammoth white bell, or trumpet flower, hangspendent from the extremity of every limb, each flower larger and morebeautiful than our favorite house lily, and giving forth a richer odorthan the rose. From the exquisite delicacy and richness of the fruitwhich this plant (the chirimoya) bears, and the danger arising fromeating of it too freely, it is not unfrequently called the tree of theforbidden fruit; sometimes also it is called the custard plant. 

THE PARADISE OF JALAPA. 

Among the pleasing sights which we beheld was an orange orchard, inwhich I did not see a single tree that was not delicately andgracefully formed. In this profusion of nature I saw our own favoriteflowers. A tiny crimson rose was creeping about in every place, whilethe large pink rose, which grew so rank, was clinging to an old walland in full blossom; and many other varieties of crimson, white, yellow, and scarlet roses grow here without care; the morning-glory andhoney-suckle are wild flowers here; the sweet-william, thelady-slipper, and all the flowers that we cultivate in summer, appearhere to be spontaneous productions of nature. Even that sweetest andmost beautiful of flowers, the passion-flower, with its mystical crossand five protruding seeds, was running over a frame, and yielding aprofusion of blossoms, and a fruit--the granada--which almost equals inrichness and delicacy the fruit of the chirimoya. But all the naturalwonders of this town are not yet enumerated; for the fruits as well asthe flowers of every climate flourish in Jalapa. There arestrawberries, of the largest size, growing beside a coffee-tree thetree being filled with coffee-berries. Peach-trees were in full blossomin November, beside apricots and chirimoyas, while potatoes flourishamong the bulbous productions of a tropical climate. The people of thetown take a pride in its natural beauty; and there are no filthyalleys, no squalid poverty, or uncleanly hovels. Every house appears tobe of stone; the walls neatly whitewashed, and bordered with pink, red, blue, green, or yellow; and the streets are fashioned to suit thegrounds, without regard to checker-board regularity. 

I stood in an upper story of the house of a Mr. Todd, on the oppositeside of the little stream that runs in front of the town, and lookedout from that favored position. The sun had just escaped from the foldsof an imprisoning cloud, and was shining full upon the beautiful townand hill. The unabsorbed moisture on the leaves gave them an additionallustre. The green peering up every where amidst the whitened walls; thegraceful form of the trees, where their outline could be traced; thecuriously shaped roofs of the old stone churches, with buttresses andtowers; the college of San Francisco, a curiously fashioned pile ofbuildings, standing out above all others; the hill behind the town, thelofty mountain of Perote, on its left flank, on whose top the skyseemed to rest--all combined to give credibility to that which has beensaid of the beauty of Jalapa by an old Spanish author--that Jalapa was"a piece of heaven let down to earth. " This figure was afterwardapplied to Naples, and the remark was added--"See Naples, and die. " Butthe Jalapanos say, "See Jalapa, and pray for immortality, that you mayenjoy it forever. " It is the boast of the Indian, that "Jalapa isParadise. "

One is almost tempted to agree with them; for here grow all plants thatare pleasant to the eye, or good for food. Adam and Eve were not placedin the garden to plant and to sow, but to prune and dress the plantsthat grew of themselves. Here grow an abundance of broad-leaved plants, and for thread there is the fibre of the _maguey_, or century plant;while the thorns of the cactus are the needles used among the natives;so that all the materials were at ready hand for making their garments, as soon as our first parents had their eyes opened--by taking Jalap, Isuppose--and so discovering that they were naked. It is a curiousconceit, that the sin of Adam, in introducing a parasite into Eden, entailed a curse on this medicinal plant, which from that day, thestory goes, has for very shame hid its face by day, and only by nightopened its pretty scarlet flowers, which close again as the morninglight appears. 

In favor of the notion that Jalapa was the ancient Paradise, theargument is, that Paradise must have been in the tropics, in a regionelevated far above the baleful heat and malaria of the low lands, in aclimate where plants could grow to the utmost perfection. And there isno such place in the world except Jalapa. Here, too, when the dailyshower, which is requisite to bring all vegetable nature to perfection, rendered garments of wool necessary to protect humanity fromrheumatism, nature had provided the needles and thread needed tofashion them. So that, taken all together, this Indian theory is moreprobable than many of the unnumbered traditions of this country, wheretraditions and miracles appear to grow as spontaneously as wildflowers. 

In such a spot as this, where all the powers of nature seem to havecombined to form an earthly Paradise, and where the surroundingmountain-scenery is unsurpassed on the earth's surface, we might lookfor enlarged notions of the power, the majesty, and wisdom of that Godwho created it all. But images, like dolls, tricked out in the tawdryfinery, are the objects which this people adore, and to whom theyattribute more miraculous powers than were ever ascribed to the gods oftheir heathen ancestors. Humboldt says, "This people have changed theirceremonies, but not their religious dogmas. "[6]

A REVOLUTION. 

But let us take a look at the interior of this town. It is a littledisturbed now, as there was a revolution yesterday--a revolution and acounter-revolution in fact, all in one day. 

The Governor and Legislature of the State of Vera Cruz, which meets inthis place, were taken prisoners in the forenoon, for imposing a taxupon the retail trade; but in the afternoon their friends rallied, andthe Governor and Legislature were released, and the rebels driven fromthe town. In this double battle one man, at least, lost his life, forthe funeral took place as we entered. War is a terrible calamity at anytime; but when it is carried to that foolish extent of shedding blood, it becomes an intolerable evil, and prudent men show their wisdom byrunning from it: at least they did so at Jalapa. 

Jalapa, it may be here remarked, is built on the site of an old Indianvillage, which was one of the first to enter into alliance with Cortéz. For the benefit of the original inhabitants, that Franciscan Conventwas built by the conqueror. It is now converted into a college. Itssteeple is worth a visit, and well rewards the labor of climbing; forfrom it another view, even more splendid than that I have described, isto be obtained. From this point the snow-covered Orizaba is added tothe already imposing prospect; both it and Perote, with the interveningmountain and valleys, can all be embraced at a single glance. Theposition of the valleys, which produce the different plants that havebeen enumerated, are here pointed out; and from this spot, they showthe place where the mountain has been pierced in search of the preciousmetals, while a little way off is the road to the extensivecopper-mines. 

THE HERETIC AND THE JALAPINA. 

There is a curious story about the first marriage that took placebetween a heretic and a Jalapina. The hero held the important positionof agent of the English _Real del Monte_ Company at Jalapa. In oneof the families that had been greatly reduced in their worldlycircumstances by the ruin of the _Consulado_ of Vera Cruz, was adark beauty with whom he became deeply enamored. But how to make herhis wife was the difficulty. The lady was willing--was more thanwilling; "for when the fires of Spanish love are kindled, they burnunextinguishably, " says the proverb. Or, in the poetical language ofthe Indians, "it burns as did the fires of Mount Orizaba in itsyouth--fires that only went out when its head was coated with silvergray. " The mother was willing; and no one but the Church had aught tosay why they should not be united. How could the holy sacrament ofmatrimony be profaned by administering it to a heretic? It never hadbeen, it never must be, in the Republic. He might take the woman if hechose, and live with her; but to marry them would be a sin. So said thePadre of the parish, and so said every dignitary of the Church up tothe Bishop of Puebla, then the only remaining bishop in the Republic. The intercession of political authorities was invoked. The matterbecame serious, and a council was held at Puebla to dispose of thecase. From this holy council came the intimation to the lover that abribe of $2000 might be of service. But John Bull by this time hadbecome stubborn. He had spent money enough; he would spend no more; hewould get a chaplain from a man-of-war then at Vera Cruz; or betterstill, he would take his intended bride to New Orleans; for he would bemarried and not mated, as is the case of those who can not raise thefee claimed by the priest. He would not be ranked with thatpoverty-stricken set that are unmarried, or, as the phrase is, are"married behind the Church. " He was no _peon_. It was contrary to anEnglishman's ideas to have a wife unmarried; and as no English chaplaincame along, he wrote to the Roman Catholic Bishop of New Orleans, giving an account of his difficulties, and inquired if he would marryhim under the circumstances. With a liberality that ever distinguishesCatholic functionaries in Protestant countries, he promptly repliedthat he would marry them personally, if the parties would come to NewOrleans, or, if he should chance to be unavoidably engaged, then hischaplain should perform the ceremony. Whereupon our hero and hislady-love started for New Orleans; and being there united in holymatrimony by the bishop, spent the happy month, so long deferred, infestivities, and then returned home, supposing that their troubles werenow all at an end. 

But this foreign marriage proved to be only the beginning of evil tothem. They had committed an unpardonable sin; they had defrauded thepriest of his fee, and had set a bad example, which others might followfor the very economy of the thing. 

Hardly had our newly-wedded pair found themselves located in their ownhouse, and finished receiving the usual round of congratulations, whenthe wife was summoned to appear before the priest. She at oncecomplied, accompanied by her husband. The priest inquired why thehusband came, as he had not been sent for; he had only sent for thewife. The husband gave him an Englishman's answer--that she was hiswife, and where she went, there it was his place to go. The priest'sreply to this opened the cause. The marriage was not lawful, and hemust detain her, and send her on to Puebla, and have her placed in aconvent. Such was the order he had received, and which he exhibited;and the two soldiers at the door were stationed there to carry theorder into execution. 

At this point in the affair the Englishman drew two arguments fromunder his coat, and leveling one of them at the head of the padre, suggested to him the propriety of not interposing any obstacle to thereturn of himself and wife to their home. This was a poser; an act ofopen impiety; a Kentucky argument. But there was no remedy. TheInquisition was not now in authority; its instruments of torture hadbeen destroyed; its fires had been extinguished; and so the Englishmangot the best of the argument, and retired peaceably to his own home. 

At his house the Englishman was waited upon by the Alcalde, whoinformed him that he had been ordered to take the wife, and that hedared not disobey. But he suggested a method by which the order mightbe evaded. This was to send the wife every day, at a certain hour, intoa neighbor's house, and at that hour the officers would come and searchhis dwelling, and would accordingly report "Not found. " This farcecontinued to be enacted daily for nearly three months, when thehusband, becoming tired of it, wrote to the Bishop of New Orleans anaccount of the manner in which his house had been besieged, and in duetime received a reply from that excellent ecclesiastic, stating that hewould satisfactorily arrange the business; at the same time expressinghis regrets that he had not before been informed of the condition ofaffairs. 

In the mean time, another priest in the town chanced to be discussingthe all-absorbing question of the day, the heretic marriage, andunfortunately happened to remark that a marriage by an American priestwas not a lawful marriage. This was too much for our Englishman, and heanswered it--as an Englishman is accustomed to answer insulting remarksin relation to the affairs of his household--not by a single blow, butby such a pommeling as never a priest had sustained since the Conquest. Yet there was no earthquake on the occasion, and Orizaba was notdiscomposed at witnessing such a shocking act of impiety. 

Time moved on, and with it came the parish priest to validate themarriage. But our Englishman would not be _validated_. No, not he; andwhen the priest began to mutter and to move his hands, the Englishman'sblood was up, and so was his foot, and this ceremony was terminatedaccording to a formula not laid down in any prayer-book now extant. This was the end of the war. The pair had passed through manytribulations in order to consummate their union; yet both declare thatthe prize was worth the contest. 

THE MONK AT JALAPA. 

Our good monk, with whom we parted at Vera Cruz, visited the convent atJalapa, on his journey, and thus records what he saw:

"The night of our arrival at Jalapa we were entertained at the conventof San Francisco, where we passed the day following, as it was Sunday. The income of this convent is great, notwithstanding the community iscomposed of only six _religios_, though it might well maintain morethan a score of them. The guardian of Jalapa is no less vain than theprior of Vera Cruz; but he received us with much kindness, and treatedus magnificently, although we were of another order. 

"In this town, as in all others, we observed that the lives and customsof the clergy, both seculars and regulars (monks), were greatlyrelaxed, and that their conduct completely gave the lie to their vowsand their professions. The order of San Francisco, besides the vowscommon to the other orders; that is to say, chastity and obedience, exacts that the vow of poverty shall be observed more scrupulously thanthe other mendicants enforce it. Their dress should be of coarse cloth, and of a color to which they have given a name [monk's gray]; theirgirdles, or cordons, of rope, and their shirts of wool, if they canbear them. They are to go without stockings; and, finally, it is notlawful for them to use shoes, but to wear sandals. Not only are theyprohibited having money, but they ought not even to touch it; neitherto possess any thing as their own. In their journeys it is forbiddenthem to mount a horse, although they should fall by the way fromfatigue. It is necessary that they should go afoot with sorrow andfatigue; esteeming the infraction of any of these precepts a mortalsin, which merits excommunication and hell. But they neglect all theobligations which the rigorous observance of these rules imposes uponthem--to the neglect of all discipline, and to the disregard of thepenalties. Those that have been transported to this country live in amanner which does not in any thing show that they have made a vow toGod of even trifling privations. Their lives are so free and immodestthat it might be suspected, with reason, that they had renounced onlythat which they could not, or were unable to attain. 

MONKISH GAMBLING. 

"We were surprised and even scandalized at the extraordinary sight of aSan Franciscan of Jalapa, riding most beautiful mule, with a groom, orrather lackey, behind him, while only going to the end of the villageto confess a sick man. His reverence, as he went along, had hisgarments tucked up from beneath, which exhibited a stocking oforange-color; a shoe of the most exquisite morocco; small clothes ofHolland linen; with knots and braids of four fingers in width. Such aspectacle made us observe with more attention the conduct of thatfriar, and that of others beneath whose broad sleeves were exhibited ajacket embroidered with silk. They also wore shirts of Holland; andhand-ruffs inclosed their hands. But we did not discover, either intheir garments or in their table, any thing that indicatedmortification; on the contrary, every thing exhibited the same vanitywhich was noted in the people of the world. 

[Illustration: GAMBLING IN A CONVENT. ]

"After supper some of them began to speak of cards and dice, and theyinvited us to play, in order to contribute to the entertainment oftheir guests, one hand at a rubber. Almost all of our party excusedthemselves; some for want of money, others from not knowing the play. At length they found two of our _religious_ that would place themselveshand to hand with other two Franciscans. The party being arranged, theycommenced playing with admirable dexterity. A little was put down atfirst; it was doubled. The loss vexed the one, the gain stimulated theother. At the end of a quarter of an hour the convent of the AngelicOrder[7] of our father of San Francisco had converted itself into agaming house, and the poor _religious_ (friars) into profaneworldlings. We, who were simply spectators, had occasion to observewhat passed in the play, and to acquire matter for reflection upon sucha life. As the game went on engrossing in interest, the scandalcontinued to increase. The draughts of liquor were repeated with muchfrequency; the tongue unloosed itself; oaths mingled themselves withjests, while loud laughter made the edifice to tremble. The vow ofpoverty did not escape from the sacrilegious mirth. One of the SanFranciscans, who had often touched money with his fingers and placed iton the table, when he gained any considerable sum, in order to divertthe company, opened his broad sleeve, and with the hem he swept thetable of all the stakes, amounting sometimes to more than twenty goldounces, into his other sleeve; saying, at the same time, "Take care ofit thou that canst, I have made a vow not to touch it. " It wasimpossible for me to listen to such imprecations, and to witness suchscandalous lives, without being moved; more than once I was on thepoint of reproving them, but I considered that I was a stranger, apassing guest, and besides, what I should say to them would be likepreaching to the desert. I therefore rose up without making any noiseand went to my sleeping-place, leaving the profane crowd; who continuedwith their diversions until the dawn. The next day the friar who hadlaved his part with so much facetiousness, with more of the manner of abrigand than a _religious_, more suitable for the school ofSardanapalus or of Epicurus than for the life of a cloister, said thathe had lost more than eighty doubloons, or gold ounces--it appearingthat his sleeve refused to protect that which he had made a vow ofnever possessing. 

MORALS OF THE MONKS. 

"This was the first lesson which the Franciscans gave us of the NewWorld. It clearly appeared that the cause of so many friars and Jesuitspassing from Spain to regions so distant, was libertinage rather thanlove of preaching the gospel, or zeal for the conversion of souls. Ifthat love, if that zeal, were the motives of their conduct, they mightoffer their own depravity as an argument in favor of the truths of thegospel. Wantonness, licentiousness, avarice, and the other vices whichstained their conduct, discovered their secret intentions. Theiranxiety for enriching themselves, their vanity, the authority whichthey exercised over the poor Indians, are the motives which actuatethem, and not the love of God or the propagating of the faith. "

 [6] Essai Politique. 

 [7] This is the title of this order of friars. 

CHAPTER V. 

The War of the Secret Political Societies of Mexico. --The Scotch andthe York Free-Masons. --Anti-Masons. --Rival classes compose ScotchLodges. --The Yorkinos. --Men desert from the Scotch to the YorkLodges. --Law to suppress Secret Societies. --The Escocés, or ScotchMasons, take up arms. --The Battle. --Their total Defeat. 

As Jalapa is a pleasant resting-place in a journey to the interior, wewill stop here to discuss national affairs for a little while. Thefirst political subject in order is the furious contest that for tenyears was carried on between two political societies, known as the_Escocés_ and _Yorkinos_--or, as we should call them, ScotchFree-Masons and York Free-Masons--whose secret organizations wereemployed for political purposes by two rival political parties. 

MASONS AND ANTI-MASONS. 

At the time of the restoration of the Constitutional Government ofSpain in 1820, Free-Masonry was introduced into Mexico; and as it wasderived from the Scotch branch of that order, it was called, after thename of the people of Scotland, _Escocés_. Into this institutionwere initiated many of the old Spaniards still remaining in thecountry, the Creole aristocracy, and the privileged classes--partiesthat could ill endure the elevation of a Creole colonel, Iturbide, tothe Imperial throne. When Mr. Poinsett was sent out as Embassador toMexico, he carried with him the charter for a Grand Lodge from theAmerican, or York order of Free-Masons in the United States. Into thisnew order the leaders of the Democratic party were initiated. Thebitter rivalry that sprung up between these two branches of the Masonicbody, kept the country in a ferment for ten years, and resulted finallyin the formation of a party whose motto was opposition to all secretsocieties, and who derived their name of Anti-Masons from the party ofthe same name then flourishing in the United States. 

When the Escocés had so far lost ground in popular favor, as to be inthe greatest apprehension from their prosperous but imbittered rivals, the Yorkinos, as a last resort, to save themselves, and to ruin thehated organization, they _pronounced_ against all secret societies. Suerez y Navarro, in his "Life of Santa Anna, " thus relates the historyof these Secret Political Societies:

"After the lodges had been established, crowds ran to initiatethemselves into the mysteries of Free-Masonry; persons of allconditions, from the opulent magnates down to the humblest artisans. Inthe Scotch lodges were the Spaniards who were disaffected toward theindependence; Mexicans who had taken up arms against the originalinsurgents through error or ignorance; those who obstinately declaredthemselves in favor of calling the Spanish Bourbons to the Imperialthrone of Mexico; those who disliked the Federal system; the partisansof the ancient régime; the enemies of all reform, even when reformswere necessary, as the consequence of the independence. To this party(after the overthrow of the Empire) also belonged the partisans ofIturbide; those who were passionately devoted to monarchy; and theprivileged classes. 

"In the assemblages of the Yorkinos were united all who wererepublicans from conviction, and those who followed the popularcurrent--the mass of the people having devoted themselves to thisorganization. It is enough to say, in order to mark the position ofboth parties, that among the Yorkinos figured, in great numbers, thosethat believed the name of _republican_ was not a mere imagination. 

"Some individuals of both associations had the same object and the sameidentical end, and only differed in the modes of making theirprinciples triumphant. A great number of persons, who co-operated inthe creation of the new order, had belonged to the Scotch order, andhad labored for the overthrow of Iturbide. They knew the secrets of theScotch party, their projects, their tendencies; and the desertion ofsuch furnished a thousand elements to the new order to make war uponthe party they had abandoned. When parties were fully organized andassailing each other, the contest became terrible, and its consequencesfearfully disastrous. Actions the most harmless, and questions purelypersonal, were matters for the contests of parties. The press was theorgan of mutual accusations--now against particular individuals, andnow against parties in conjunction. The Escocés multiplied theirattacks until they lost all influence in affairs. Generals, Senators, Deputies, and Ministers abandoned their standard, as time increased thepower of their rival with every class of individuals that embraced thenew order. In the nature of things there was desertion and fear, because, as a writer, who was initiated into both orders, remarks: 'Ageneral enthusiasm had taken possession of men's minds, who thoughtthey saw in the new order the establishment of future prosperity. '

"The seekers for office found ready access in these lodges to those whohad office to dispense. The liberal found in the York lodges the strongsupport of liberty and liberal institutions. The high functionaries ofgovernment found aid and support in the strength of opinions; and thepeople, ever in search of novelty, united themselves to thisassociation, in order to form one mass which sooner or later wouldsuppress the privileged classes. 

INTRIGUES. 

"No intrigue, nor any effort, was able to check the progress of theYork lodges. This induced their enemies to present the project of a lawin the Senate, where the Escocés had a majority, to suppress secretsocieties by severe penalties against those who adhered to suchassociations. For the better insuring of success, the Escocés assumedthe language of morality; and, confounding their own affair with thatof their native country, clamored hypocritically against the perniciousinfluence which clandestine meetings exercised in public affairs. According to them the cry of the nation was against secret societies. The bill passed the Senate after prolonged discussion, being supportedby those persons who knew it was intended to satisfy an offended party, whose prestige diminished day by day. If the factions had notoriginated in secret societies, they might have extirpated the evil byproscribing masonry. When have the ravages of the hurricane been foundto content themselves with logical and pleasant words? At what time, and in what country, has a law been enforced, where those who were toexecute it found an insuperable obstacle in their own sentiments?Indeed, it was impossible to destroy the political fanaticism of theday by the mere dash of a pen! The evil had gone to its utmost limit, and could not be cured by rigor or persecution. 

"The demoralization was so great that it extended to the armed force, because the greater part of the chiefs and officers had joined one orthe other of the societies. Besides the seductive influences of thelodges, two generals, distinguished for their services in the firstinsurrectionary war, brought with them a number of soldiers to theparty to which each severally belonged. General Nicholas Bravo was thehead of the Escocés, and Don Vincente Guerrero was the leader of theYorkinos. Both derived support from the names and prestige of these twopersonages, and from the popularity which each enjoyed with hiscompanions-in-arms. The Scotch party feared the day would come, inwhich the deputies--the majority of whom were their enemies--woulddecree the total proscription of all those persons who were hostile, orsuspected of being hostile, to the Yorkinos, as the Chambers had falleninto the practice of submitting to the caprices of the dominant order. They therefore appealed to arms, having exhausted the right ofpetition. 

"General Bravo, Vice-President of Mexico, and leader of the Escocés, having issued his proclamation, declaring that, as a last resort, heappealed to arms to rid the republic of that pest--secret societies, and that he would not give up the contest until he had rooted them out, root and branch, took up his position at Tulansingo--a village aboutthirty miles north of the City of Mexico. Here, at about daylight onthe morning of the 7th January, 1828, he was assailed by GeneralGuerrero, the leader of the Yorkinos, and commander of the forces ofgovernment. "

After a slight skirmish, in which eight men were killed and sixwounded, General Bravo and his party were made prisoners; and thusperished forever the party of the Escocés. This victory was so completeas to prove a real disaster to the Yorkinos. The want of outsidepressure led to internal dissensions; so that when two of its ownmembers, Guerrero and Pedraza, became rival candidates for thepresidency, the election was determined by a resort to arms, whichbrought about the terrible insurrection of the Acordada. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Mexico becomes an Empire. --Santa Anna deposes the Emperor. --Heproclaims a Republic. --He pronounces against the Election of Pedraza, the second President. --His situation in the Convent at Oajaca. --Hecaptures the Spanish Armada. --And is made General of Division. 

We left Santa Anna at Vera Cruz, having just completed the first ofthose politico-military insurrections which fill up the history of histimes. He had added the city of Vera Cruz to the national cause, by atimely insurrection. Iturbide had rewarded him for this importantservice by bestowing upon him the ribbon of the order of Guadalupe, making him second in command at Vera Cruz. The chief command of thedepartment was bestowed upon an old insurrectionary leader, who wasknown by the assumed name of Guadalupe Victoria. He was a good-natured, honest, inefficient old man, whose great merit consisted in havinglived for two years in a dense forest, far beyond the habitations ofmen. While thus hiding himself from a host of pursuers, he acquiredthat habit, supposed to be peculiar to wild beasts, of passing severaldays without food, and then eating inordinate quantities--a habit whichhe found impossible to change in after-life, when he had becomePresident of Mexico. The story of this man's sojourn among wild beastshad been told all over Mexico, and had given him a great popularity, which he brought to the support of the national cause. 

In 1822 the Mexican nation was still in its swaddling clothes. Itsbirth had hardly cost a pang; but its infancy, its childhood, and itsyouth, were to be attended with a series of convulsions, the fruits ofthe vicious seeds sown in the conception of the new State. By the_pronunciamiento_ of a part of a regiment of the King's Creoletroops the connection between Spain and Mexico was severed forever, andthe colonel of these troops became the Emperor of Mexico. In thisrevolution the nation acquiesced, and thus discovered to the soldierytheir unlimited power when their arms are turned against their owngovernment. From that time onward Mexico, like every other countrywhere the Spanish language is spoken, became the victim of her ownsoldiery. This liberation of Mexico was by no means the result of theoutburst of national patriotism, but the consequence of the utterincapacity of Spain longer to hold the reins of her colonialgovernments. She indeed sent out a new vice-king to Mexico after thebreaking out of the insurrection; but the best that he could do was tosanction what had been done by a treaty at Cordova, in which it wasstipulated that Iturbide and the new viceroy, O'Donoghue, should beassociated with others in a regency, until Spain should send out one ofthe Spanish Bourbon princes to occupy the imperial throne of Mexico. 

The Spanish parliament refused to sanction the treaty of Cordova;O'Donoghue died, and Iturbide was left in possession of executivepower, without a defined office, while an insane opposition sprung upagainst him in the new Congress which he had called together. Thisunlooked-for opposition soon convinced him that the tearing away of anation from its traditional ideas was like the letting out of waters, and that he must either ride upon the wave or be overborne by thetempest. A resolution of Congress, to take from him the command of thearmy, brought matters to a crisis. Accordingly, on the night of the18th of March, 1821, he caused himself to be proclaimed Emperor by hispartisans; and the next day this new revolutionary act was confirmed byCongress, under the intimidation of military force, and the nationagain acquiesced. 

ITURBIDE DEPOSED. 

The revolution had caused a stagnation in all the departments ofcommerce and of revenue. Iturbide had inaugurated his insurrection byseizing, at Iguala, a million of dollars belonging to the ManillaCompany, on its way to Acapulco. He made another like seizure atPerote; but these high-handed measures, while they proved but a drop inthe bucket toward sustaining his government, increased hisembarrassments, by destroying all confidence; so that his new authorityhad stamped upon it the unmistakable marks of dissolution. He was anemperor without traditional associations; he had an empire without arevenue; a large standing army without pay. The fickle multitude, whosupposed that independence was to prove an antidote for every evil, began to murmur; while a host of demagogues, who envied the goodfortune of Iturbide, were all beginning to clamor for a republic. Theblow, however, came from an unexpected quarter. Santa Anna hadquarreled with a superior officer, General Echevarri, and Iturbide hadrecalled him from his command. But Santa Anna thought it most advisableto disobey the Emperor; and in the Plaza of Vera Cruz, surrounded bythe garrison, he proclaimed a republic, on the 2d of December, 1822. Hejoined in his insurrection the name and the influence of Victoria, yetboth were insufficient to save him from a complete route at the handsof Echevarri. At the critical moment in the affairs of Santa Anna, theGrand Lodge of the Ecoscés decreed the overthrow of Iturbide, and sentorders to General Echevarri, who was a member of the order, to unitehis forces to those of Santa Anna in overturning the empire. This was abitter pill for that general to swallow, but he swallowed it; and thetwo leaders together swallowed the empire. 

Iturbide, being unable to stem the torrent of insurrection, hadabdicated; a Republic had been established upon the ruins of theempire, and Victoria, the "wild man of the woods, " was elected firstPresident. He served out his time; but the last year of his governmentwas disturbed by the terrible insurrection of the Acordada, which hadarisen out of the election of Pedraza as his successor. Santa Anna was, at the time of this election, at Jalapa, discharging the duties ofVice-Governor of Vera Cruz, when the people of the town surrounded hishouse and called upon him to pronounce against the election. Thusbecoming implicated, he was forced to make a new insurrection. Thisthird _pronunciamiento_ of Santa Anna, was on the 5th of September, 1828. 

He made his first stand at the Castle of Perote; but finding this tooisolated a position, he marched to Oajaca, in the extreme southwest ofthe Republic, and took up his quarters in the Dominican convent of thatcity. As he was closely hemmed in by an active enemy, provisions grewscarce, and he was forced to resort to a novel method of supplyinghimself. On a feast-day, at the San Franciscan church, he dressed aparty of his soldiers in the garb of monks, and, having placed them ina convenient position, he made prisoners of the whole assembledcongregation, and then proceeded to divest them of all ready cash onhand, and then emptied the contribution-box of the money destined forthe poor saints[8] at Jerusalem, and retired and ended the war; for thesuccessful termination of the insurrection of the Acordada in the cityof Mexico accomplished the object for which Santa Anna took uparms--the declaration by Congress, that General Guerrero, a man ofmixed blood was the real President elect, instead of Pedraza, a whiteman, and the candidate of the aristocracy. 

CAPTURE OF THE ARMADA. 

When King Ferdinand had regained his despotic authority, in 1825, bythe aid of French bayonets, he bethought himself of Mexico, the mostproductive of his lost colonial possessions in America, which hadyielded, to his predecessors, the total sum of $2, 040, 048, 426, [9] orrather an annual revenue in silver dollars of $6, 800, 000 during aperiod of three hundred years. He was also incited by his impoverished_noblesse_, who could no longer obtain colonial appointments fortheir sons. The Spanish merchants also complained of the loss of theirmonopolies. But what at last aroused him to activity was the expulsionof the Spaniards from Mexico, in consequence of the ascendancy of thedemocratic party. Those of mixed and Indian blood were now trulyenfranchised; and they were heard to utter strange voices, which haduntil then been suppressed by the combined power of a spiritual andtemporal despotism: so that the bones of Cortéz, the benefactor of theKings of Spain, were no longer safe in the convent of San Francisco, where they had lain for three hundred years. [10] They were in suchimminent danger of being dragged out and scattered to the winds by themob, as those of "the accursed" enslaver of their race, that they wereremoved by stealth, and for a time deposited in the most sacred shrinein Mexico: afterward they were secretly removed to Europe, where theycried to the Spanish king for vengeance on the sacrilegious nation. AnArmada was at last fitted out, and landed at Tampico; and now allMexicans, from the President down to the humblest _peon_, watchedthe result with the deepest anxiety, as they saw Santa Anna undertakingthe defense of the country with untried soldiers. For on the issue ofthe struggle depended the question whether the whole nation should beagain reduced to servitude, or whether they should be left in theenjoyment of their newly-acquired liberty. The contest was one ofseveral days' continuance: when at last it was terminated by acapitulation, all Mexico rang with rejoicing; and Santa Anna, then notthirty-five years of age, received the military rank which he nowholds--General of Division. 

 [8] Breva Reséña Histórica, p. 280. 

 [9] See King's Proclamation, printed at Havana, 6th September, 1831. 

 [10] See note 1. 

CHAPTER VII. 

In the Stage and out of the Stage. --Still climbing. --A moment's Viewof all the Kingdoms of the World. --Again in obscurity. --The Maguey, or Century Plant. --The many uses of the Maguey. --The intoxicatingjuice of the Maguey. --Pulque. --Immense Consumption of Pulque. --Cityof Perote. --Castle of San Carlos de Perote. --Starlight upon theTable-land. --Tequisquita. --"The Bad Land. "--A very old Beggar. --Arriveat Puebla. 

The time allotted for my visit to Jalapa had come to a close. I tookout the ticket, endorsed _Escala donde le convengo_, which Itranslated--"Let him stop when, where, and as long as he pleases, " andonce more took my seat in the stage, which, on a fine afternoon, wasstarting for Perote upon the table-land. This short journey lay acrossthe mountain of Perote, passing over an elevation of 10, 400 feet, thehighest elevation that a stage-coach has yet reached, and one fromwhich the traveler can oftentimes enjoy a view of all the vegetable"kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. " I took my seat upon thetop of the coach, above the driver, that I might enjoy a last lingeringlook at this Nature's paradise, before the mountain-ridge shouldintervene between the world I had left behind, and the great saltdesert that we were soon to traverse. 

The prospect from the coach-top, as we traveled onward, was even morebeautiful than that I have already described. For several miles beyondJalapa we were descending and passing through one of those valleys ofwhich the Spanish poets so often sing, where the roadside is coveredwith a profusion of the flowers and vegetation that flourish only inthe most luxuriant soil. The valley was soon passed, and we began toascend so rapidly, that before an hour had passed we could mark thechanging vegetation, and observe the products of a colder climate; forthis changing vegetation is a barometer, which, in Mexico, marks theascent and descent as regularly as the most nicely-adjusted artificialinstrument. So accurately are the stratas of vegetation adjusted to thestratas of the atmosphere which they inhabit, as to lead the travelerto imagine that a gardener's hand had laid out the different fieldswhich here rise one above another upon the side of the mountain thatconstitutes the eastern inclosure of the table-land. The fertility ofthe soil did not seem to diminish; it was only the character of thevegetation that changed step by step, as we wound our way up toward thesummit of the Perote. 

MOUNTAIN VIEW. 

We changed horses at La Hoya, a place memorable in the annals of civilwar, as the spot where General Rincon blocked up the pass when SantaAnna was retiring in 1845, a fugitive from the country. Here the roadbecomes so steep as to induce the traveler to walk a little, for thebetter opportunities he can thus have of surveying the novel sightsthat present themselves at every turn of the road. When he is fatiguedwith climbing, and breathing the peculiar air of this altitude, he canseat himself by the roadside to wait the arrival of the coach, and tocatch momentary glimpses, among floating clouds, of the country throughwhich he has passed in his ascent from the coast. He can see a longdistance through such a rarified atmosphere; but it is only abird's-eye view, as the mass that is heaped together is more than hisvision can fully take in, before a cloud, ragged and torn, has passedacross the picture. The eye is delighted more with the details of ascene, than with this mass of all the excellences of all the climates. Still he has time to divide into sections the world below him; and ashe thus contemplates in part, he at length realizes as a whole thescene that is presented. The art of man never has, and never can, produce such a combination in the arrangement of the courses ofvegetation. As the traveler stands at an elevation where pine-treescrow in the tropics, where a post-and-board fence incloses a field ofgrain, and where a storm of snow and sleet had fallen only a few hoursbefore, he can look down upon hills and plains, one below another, eachone, in the descending scale, exhibiting more and more of tropicalproductions, until the regions of cocoa-nuts, and bananas, andsarsaparilla, and palms, and jalap, and vanilla, are reached in hisperspective. This is a specimen chart, where all the climates andproductions of the world are embraced within the scope of a singleglance. 

It is time to re-enter the coach, and close all openings, for a densefog is coming up from the sea, and has thrown so thick a curtain overthe prospect, that the eye can not penetrate it. The long line offreight-wagons, that have served to mark the route that we have come, disappear, one after another: we ourselves are soon enveloped indarkness. With the fog has come a chill and piercing air, and thepleasure of our mountain ride is now over. Still we move on and up withlittle hindrance, as the road on this side of the "divide" is in goodrepair. But as we go down on the other side, we are impeded byfreight-wagons held fast in the mud, and unable to move down-hill--itbeing easier to drag a wagon up an ascent than to draw it down-hillthrough stiff mud. An entirely different world now presents itself. Weare in a fine grain-growing country. Well-cultivated fields stretch outas far as the eye can reach, with farm-houses scattered here and there, that strikingly remind the traveler of his northern home at this seasonof the year. 

THE MAGUEY. --PULQUE. 

The fences here are chiefly formed by rows of the _maguey_ or _centuryplant_, growing at the side of a ditch. Here it reaches its greatestperfection, and adds materially to the fine appearance of the fields, and is seen every where upon the table-land. It grows wild upon themountains, and springs up in uncultivated places, as a weed. It iscultivated, as a domestic plant, in little patches, and is also plantedin fields of leagues in extent. It grows luxuriantly in the richestsoils, and shows itself in those desert plains, where nothing else, except a few spears of stinted grass and chaparral can exist. 

The uses to which the maguey is applied are more numerous than themethods of its cultivation. When its immense leaf is pounded into apulp, it forms a substitute for both cloth and paper. The fibre of theleaf, when beaten and spun, forms a beautiful thread, resembling silkin its glossy texture, but which, when woven into a fabric, moreresembles linen than silk. This thread is now, and ever has been, thesewing thread of the country. The leaf of the maguey, when crudelydressed and spun into a coarse thread, is woven into sail-cloth andsacking; and from it is made the bagging in common use. The ropes madefrom it are of that kind called Manilla hemp. It is the best materialin use for wrapping paper. When cut into coarse straws, it forms thebrooms and whitewash-brushes of the country; and, as a substitute forbristles, it is made into scrub-brushes; and, finally, it supplies theplace of hair-combs among the common people. 

The great value of the maguey plant arises from the amount ofintoxicating liquid which it produces, which is the chief source ofintoxication among the common people of the table-land. There are twospecies of this plant cultivated. One of them flourishes in the desertportions of the country, from which an abominable liquor is distilled, called _mescal_, or _mejical_. The other is the flowering maguey, orcentury plant, of which so many fabulous stories are told in the UnitedStates. This is one of the wonders of the vegetable world. Until theplant has reached its tenth year, or thereabouts, there is no trace ofa flower. In its fifteenth year, or thereabout, there are certainappearances which indicate that the central stem, or _hampe_, whichsustains the flower, is about to form in the centre of the plant. Ifpersons are not on the watch to cut out the heart at the proper time, the _hampe_ shoots out, and grows to about the height of a telegraphpost--for which I have often mistaken it--absorbing in its developmentthe sap, which, when fermented, forms the intoxicating drink called_pulque_. The sprouting of the stalk takes place in November orDecember; but the beautiful cluster of flowers, for which it is so muchadmired, does not form at its top till February. In this last month, the monster leaf that envelops the _hampe_ begins gradually to unfolditself, exposing to view a slender stalk, higher than a man onhorseback, with arms extended. On this stalk grow the flowers. Such isthe century plant--in botanical language, the _Agava Americana_. 

The juice of the maguey, in its unfermented state, is called_honey-water_. It is gathered from the central basin by cutting off aside-leaf and cutting out the heart, just before the sprouting of the_hampe_, for whose sustenance this juice is destined. The basin, thusformed, yields every day from four to seven quarts--according to thesize and thriftiness of the plant--for a period of two or three months. The process of taking it out of the plant is a little curious. Into theend of a long gourd is inserted a cow's horn, bored at the point;through this horn and into the gourd the juice is sucked up by applyingthe mouth to a hole in the opposite side of the gourd. From thegourd-shell the juice is emptied into a bottle formed from the skin ofa hog, which still retains much of the form of the animal. To form thisbottle of honey-water into _pulque_, all that is necessary is to putinto it a little of the same material which has been laid aside till itbecame sour, which operates like yeast, causing the honey-water toferment. 

As soon as the maguey juice in the hog-skin has fermented, it is_pulque_; and is readily sold for eight, and sometimes as high astwenty-five cents a quart, producing a very large revenue upon the costof the plant. It is not ordinarily sold at wholesale; but each magueyestate has its retail shops in town, from which the whole product ofthe estate is retailed out. One man, who has five of these shops in thecity of Mexico, keeps his carriage; and is reckoned, among the magnatesof the land, deriving from this source alone, it is said, $25, 000 ayear. The excise which Government derives from the sale of this liquor, which, in taste, resembles sour butter-milk, amounted to $817, 739 inthe year 1793. 

PEROTE. 

The traveler from the coast always arrives at Perote at a late hour;and as he leaves it again at an early hour next morning, he recollectsnothing of it but its chilly night air, and the good supper which hewas too cold to enjoy. But on his return from Mexico, he usually has anhour of daylight, which he can improve in a survey of this small andcleanly town. Here the freight-wagons, with their twenty horses apiece, stop to recruit; and the cargo-mules, that take this route, aregathered in the immense stable-yards, which give to the place theappearance of a collection of caravansaries. The whitewash-brush hasbeen industriously applied to the outside of the houses; and thoughthey are chiefly built of that frail material, dried mud, they presenta very neat and tidy appearance, giving one a very correct idea of whatmay have been the appearance of one of the first class of Indian townsin the times of Cortéz. 

A few rods to the north of the town stands the castle of San Carlos--asquare fort, with a moat and glacis. It is built in the best style offortifications of the last century, having been designed as adepository for silver, when, in consequence of the wars of Spain withmaritime nations, it was not deemed prudent to send it forward to thecoast: it was much used for this purpose when the road below wasblocked up, in the times of the insurrection, that began in the year1810. At one time the accumulation here was so great that it is saidto have amounted to 40, 000, 000 of silver dollars; weighing about 1300tons, or a little short of the whole silver export of two years. Thiscastle is now in a fine state of repair. It has a large garrison oflancers, and at the time of my visit was daily in expectation of thearrival of Santa Anna. From this castle Santa Anna, in 1828, issued his_pronunciamiento_ against Pedraza. In this castle he was imprisoned byRincon, in 1845, after his capture at Xico. From this castle he wasbanished by decree of the Mexican Congress; and to it he was nowreturning to hold the supreme power in the State. 

At two o'clock in the morning we were aroused from our comfortable bedsto take our places in the stage; and soon we were again upon the road. There is something exceedingly attractive in the appearance of theskies upon this elevated table-land, 7692 feet above the ocean. Themorning star-light is very beautiful. It is so much clearer, and thestars are therefore so much brighter here than in the dense atmospherewhere we inhabit, that the traveler, half chilled and sleeping, rouseshimself to contemplate the brilliant sights above him. The brighteststars that he has watched from childhood up, are brighter now thanever. New stars have filled the voids in his celestial chart, andsatellites are dancing round well-known planets. The North Star isstill visible, now 19° above the horizon. The Dipper has dipped fardown to the northward. The Southern Cross--that mysterious combinationof five stars, that emblem of the faith of Southern America, which onlyreaches full meridian at midnight prayers--is here 25° above thehorizon, shining brilliantly. And then there are so many unknownsouthern stars, and so many unfamiliar constellations, that the shorthours of night are well spent upon the driver's box. 

We have been gradually descending into what appears to have once beenthe bottom of a salt lake. The ground is partially incrusted with acompound salt called _tequisquita_, is composed of equal proportions ofmuriate of soda, carbonate of soda, and insoluble metal (common earth):this compound is used by the Mexican bakers and soap-boilers as asubstitute for salt and soda. A stinted grass is here and therescattered in patches over the _bad land_, as these barren plains arecalled; but the dry earth, which is rarely moistened for six monthstogether, is covered with drifting sand, which is driven about by thehot winds of this desert. 

How great was the change from what we had passed! The celestial chart, that we had been admiring with so much rapture, had gradually rolleditself up, and as the sun came out, we had a view of the drearinessaround us. It was truly a _bad land_--a land of evil--even a landfor wolves to prowl in, and where vultures watch for the carcasses ofdying mules, and where robbers ply their calling with little fear ofdetection. Here, in the midst of all this dreariness, we saw a prettylake, and beautiful scenery around it, that looked for a little whilelike an enchanted scene, and then vanished into air. We passed thehostelry of Tepeyagualco, where water is drawn from a fabulous depth, and soon came to that most celebrated spring of fresh water, situatedupon the boundary-line of the two departments of Vera Cruz and Puebla, and bearing the poetical name of "The Eye of Waters. " But we werefollowed by a driving storm of sand all the way to Nopaluca, where webreakfasted at twelve o'clock. 

AGED BEGGAR. 

As we came out from breakfast we encountered an old beggar, whom I hadoften seen before at this place. He was so old that Time seemed to haveforgotten him, and he too had forgotten Time. He could only reach hisage by approximation: he recollected that his third son was earningday-wages when the decree came (in 1767) for the expulsion of theJesuits. This would make the old beggar 130 years of age, if we callthe son eighteen, and the father twenty-five at the time of his birth. Poor old man! how much he has suffered from outliving his own kindred. One after another he has followed to the grave his children and hischildren's children, to the third and fourth generation, till now thelad that leads him by the hand, the only link that binds him to therace of the living, is of the sixth generation. 

Toward evening, after we had passed the storm of dust, we came to thelarge village of Amosoque, which is the only town of any magnitudebetween Perote and Puebla. It is noted for its excellent spurs; and wasformerly much more noted as a haunt of robbers. From this village wewere driven in a little more than an hour to the city of Puebla. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Puebla. --The Miracle of the Angels. --A City of Priests. --Mariannain Bronze. --The Vega of Puebla. --First View of the Pyramid ofCholula. --Modern Additions to it. --The View from itsTop. --Quetzalcoatl. --Cholula and Tlascala. --Cholula without thePoetry. --Indian Relics. 

_Pueblo de los Angelos_--the "Village of the Angels"--derives itsname from a miracle that occurred during the building of its celebratedCathedral. While its walls were going up, angels are said to have comedown from heaven nightly, and laid on the walls the same amount ofstone and mortar that the masons laid the day previous. It is, ofcourse, a sacred city. Its people, particularly the women, are the mostdevout in all Mexico; and, of course, the most profligate, as we shallshow presently. It is a city of priests, and monks, and nuns, andfriars, of every order, white and gray, black and greasy. As in allSpanish-American towns, the fronts of the houses are plastered andpainted in fresco; but the fresco painting has gone too long withoutrenewing, and the town looks now, as it did two years ago, gray, streaked, and inhospitable. The unwashed houses are filled withunwashed people; and the streets swarm with filthy beggars, and monksasking for alms in the name of the most blessed Virgin. The streets, thanks to the male and female chain-gangs, are kept quite clean. Butall else is dirty. If the angels, when they finished their work on theCathedral, had left a whitewash brush behind them, they would have donethe city a real service. The houses, inside and out, and occupants too, and the reputation of its men from olden time, all need whitewashing. 

CHARACTER OF THE POBLANAS. 

Perhaps I could not present a more deplorable picture of the moralcondition of the ladies of Puebla, who are celebrated for being so verydevout, "but not very virtuous, " than by copying the following fromMadame Calderon de la Barca's "Life in Mexico:"

"Yesterday (Sunday), a great day here for visiting after mass is over. We had a concourse of Spaniards, all of whom seemed anxious to knowwhether or not I intended to wear a Poblana dress at the fancy ball, and seemed wonderfully interested about it. Two young ladies or womenof Puebla, introduced by Señor ----, came to proffer their services ingiving me all the necessary particulars, and dressed the hair ofJosefa, a little Mexican girl, to show me how it should be arranged;mentioned several things still wanting, and told me that every one wasmuch pleased at the idea of my going in a Poblana dress. I was rathersurprised that _every one_ should trouble themselves about it. Abouttwelve o'clock the President, in full uniform, attended by hisaids-de-camp, paid me a visit, and sat about half an hour, very amiableas usual. Shortly after came more visits, and just as we had supposedthey were all concluded, and we were going to dinner, we were told thatthe Secretary of State, the Ministers of War and of the Interior, andothers, were in the drawing-room. And what do you think was the purportof their visit? To adjure me by all that was most alarming, to discardthe idea of making my appearance in a Poblana dress! They assured usthat Poblanas generally were _femmes de rien_, that they wore nostockings, and that the wife of the Spanish Minister should by no meansassume, even for one evening, such a costume. I brought in my dresses, showed their length and their propriety, but in vain; and, in fact, asto their being in the right, there could be no doubt, and nothing but akind motive could have induced them to take this trouble; so I yieldedwith a good grace, and thanked the cabinet council for their timelywarning, though fearing that, in this land of procrastination, it wouldbe difficult to procure another dress for the fancy ball. 

[Illustration: ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUMES. ]

"They had scarcely gone, when Señor ---- brought a message from severalof the principal ladies here, whom we do not even know, and who hadrequested that, as a stranger, I should be informed of the reasonswhich rendered the Poblana dress objectionable in this country, especially on any public occasion like this ball. I was really thankfulfor my escape. 

"Just as I was dressing for dinner, a note was brought, marked_reservada_ (private), the contents of which appeared to me more oddthan pleasant. I have since heard, however, that the writer, Don JoséArnaiz, is an old man, and a sort of privileged character, whointerferes in every thing, whether it concerns him or not. I translateit for your benefit:

"The dress of a Poblana is that of a woman of no character. The lady ofthe Spanish minister is a _lady_ in every sense of the word. Howevermuch she may have compromised herself, she ought neither to go as aPoblana, nor in any other character but her own. So says to the Señorde C----n, José Arnaiz, who esteems him as much as possible. "

If priests were angels, the town would be rightly named, for it is acity of priests and _religious_ men who have consecrated their livesto begging, and count it a merit with God to live on charity. Conventsof male and female _religious_ abound, and, as the books tell us, $40, 000, 000, in the form of mortgages upon the fairest lands of theVega of Puebla, is consecrated to their support, under the supervisionof the bishop. That smoking mountain, that outlet to infernal fires, isso lose at hand as to suggest the idea that this whole mass of impurityand moral rottenness may have been vomited up from the bottomless pit, or that the fallen angels, in their way thitherward, tarried here tofound a sacred city, see its Cathedral finished, and then led the waydown the inclined plane to that brimstone convent where friars "most docongregate. "

MARIANNA IN BRONZE. 

In this city of dirty houses and dirty faces there is, nevertheless, some public spirit. Since I was last here a bronze equestrian statuehas been set up in the Grand Plaza. It is a bronze woman, sittingquietly and easily upon a furious bronze horse. The horse is in aterrible state of excitement, but the woman is not alarmed in theleast; for she seems to be well aware that it is only make-believepassion, badly executed in bronze. Who could this woman be butMalinche, or Marianna, the Indian mistress of Cortéz--a fit patronessof the women of Puebla. She was the first convert that Cortéz ever madeto Christianity; and her sort of Christianity is not unusual in Mexico. That beautiful cone that rises so majestically out of the plain betweenPuebla and Tlascala bears the name of Malinche; but as this name wasapplied to her paramour as well as to herself, an additionaltestimonial, in the form of a bronze statue, was deemed requisite; forshe is considered here as almost a saint, and would be altogether suchif she had not been the mother of children, and ended her career bygetting married. That act of getting married--not her formerlife--rendered her unfit for a saint; for how could an honest housewifebe a saint? She might have been the best of mothers and the best ofwives, and have performed scrupulously the duties that God had assignedto her upon earth; but she was lacking in romance, in those aerialmaterials from which saints are made. Saints are made in damp, coldprison-cells, where, in the midst of self-inflicted misery, they seevisions, dream dreams, and perform cures upon crowds as deluded asthemselves. 

It was a delightful afternoon when I mounted my horse for a ride toCholula. The wind of the day before had driven away every vapor fromthis exceedingly transparent atmosphere, excepting only the cloud thatwas resting upon Popocatapetl, a little below its snow-covered summit. It was such weather as we have at "harvest home, " and it was truly a"harvest home" throughout the whole Vega. Men were working in gangs inthe different fields, gathering stalks, or husking corn, or cuttinggrain, or plowing with a dozen plows in company, or harrowing, orputting in seed. It was harvest-time and seed-time together. The fullgreen blade and the ripened grain stood in adjoining fields in thisregion of perpetual sunshine. As I rode along between carefullycultivated estates, I did not fail to catch the enthusiasm which groupsof cheerful field-laborers always inspire in one whose happiestrecollections run back to the labors of the farm. Such are thevarieties this country affords: three days ago I was enjoying the mostdelicate tropical fruits, which I plucked fresh from the trees;yesterday I was traversing a salt desert covered with clouds ofdrifting sand; and I was now among grain-farms of a cold climate. 

PYRAMID OF CHOLULA. 

Right before me, as I rode along, was a mass of trees, of ever-greenfoliage, presenting indistinctly the outline of a pyramid, which ran upto the height of about two hundred feet, and was crowned by an oldstone church, and surmounted by a tall steeple. It was the mostattractive object in the plain; it had such a look of uncultivatednature in the midst of grain-fields. It would have lost half itsattractiveness had it been the stiff and clumsy thing which thepictures represent it to be. I had admired it in pictures from mychildhood for what it was not; but I now admired it for what it reallywas--the finest Indian mound on this continent; where the Indiansburied the bravest of their braves, with bows and arrows, and adrinking cup, that they might not be unprovided for when they shouldarrive at the hunting-grounds of the Great Spirit. A little digging, afew years ago, [11] has furnished the evidence on which I base thisassertion. This digging has destroyed the old monkish fiction toreinstate the truly Indian idea of the dead, and of the necessity ofmounds for their burial. 

By going round to the north side, I obtained a fine view of the modernimprovements which have been constructed upon this Indian mound. I rodeup a paved carriage-way into the church-yard that now occupies the top, and giving my horse to a squalid Indian imp who came out of the vestry, I went in and took a survey of the tawdry images through which God isnow worshiped by the baptized descendants of the builders of thismound. My curiosity was soon gratified, and I returned to my place inthe saddle. 

[Illustration: PYRAMID OF CHOLULA. ]

I followed the wall around the church-yard, stopping from point topoint to look upon the vast map spread around on every side. Orizaba, which I first saw when 150 miles out at sea as a mammoth sugar-loafsitting upon a cloud, had at Jalapa, and at "the eye of waters, "different forms, while here it appeared to be joined with the Perote, forming the limit of the horizon toward the east. On the west werePopocatapetl, Iztaccihuatl, and Malinche; while smaller mountains andhills seemed to complete the line of circumvallation, which gave to theelevated plain of Puebla the aspect of the bed of an exhausted lake, and to the isolated hills, rising here and there upon its surface, theappearance of having been islands when the waters covered the face ofthe land. 

The cloud was still resting upon Popocatapetl; but its crest, far abovethe clouds, was in that region where, in the tropics, ice and snow lieundisturbed forever. The marks which it bore of having once been thesmoke-pipe of one of Nature's furnaces, furnished us with thetranslation of its name--"The mountain with a smoking mouth. " But thatlake of fire has long since ceased to burn, and when the mountain hadlast emitted smoke was unknown to the oldest inhabitant. And that othermountain, Iztaccihuatl, or the "White Woman, " lying so quietly andsnug, in her covering of perpetual snow, at the side of the volcano, called up in the minds of the Indians the strange conceit of man andwife. There were forests on the mountain sides and trees along therivers covered with green, but all else looked dry and parched. Seldom, indeed, has the eye of man ever rested on a finer farming country thanthe great plain of Puebla, and seldom are lands seen better cultivated. 

CHOLULA. 

Cholula was of old sacred to Quetzalcoatl, the "God of the Air, " who, during his abode upon earth, taught mankind the use of metals, thepractice of agriculture, and the arts of government. Translating mythinto history, we may call him the great Aztec reformer. He isrepresented as a man of fair complexion with curling hair and flowingbeard, very different from the type of the Aztecs. On his way fromMexico to the coast he remained for a while at Cholula, where a moundand temple was raised to his honor. 

This tradition made Cholula the Mecca of the Indian world; and with themerchants who came to attend the annual fair held at the base of themound came also hosts of pilgrims, to offer sacrifice to the memory ofthat god who introduced flowers into the native worship, anddiscouraged cruelties and human sacrifices. 

At Cholula I was so fortunate as to procure one of the images ofQuetzalcoatl, cut in stone, with curled hair and Caucasian features. Iafterward verified the same by comparison with the great image found atMexico, not without strong suspicions that both were counterfeits; forin this country even the most sacred records are open to suspicion. Popular tradition and the most approved authors will have it, that somestray white man had found his way among the Mexicans, and taught themempirically the calculations and divisions of time, and a very few ofthe arts of civilized life unknown to our Indians, and they veneratedhim as a god. But the probabilities are that the whole story is a myth, and for once the Inquisition was right in suppressing speculation inrelation to him, whether he was Saint Thomas or not. 

At the base of this pyramid, three hundred years ago, flourished therich and opulent city of Cholula, which, according to Cortéz, [12]contained 40, 000 houses. He says that he counted from this spot 400mosques, [13] and 400 towers of other mosques--that the "exterior of thiscity is more beautiful than any in Spain. " That is, as he and all otherhistorians of the Conquest agree in representing it, it was at the sametime not only the Mecca and the commercial centre, but the centre oflearning and refinement of Mexico. Here Indian philosophers met upon acommon footing with Indian merchants. Its government, too, wasrepublican; and upon these very plains, three hundred years ago andmore, flourished two powerful republics, Tlascala and Cholula. Thefirst was the Lacedæmon, the second the Athens of the Indian world, andwhen united they had successfully resisted the armies of Montezuma andhis Aztecs. But Aztec intrigue was too powerful for the AmericanAthens, and the polished city of Cholula having been subdued by thesame arts by which Philip of Macedon had won the sovereignty ofAthens--a combination of intrigue and of arms--Tlascala was left aloneto resist the whole force of the Aztec empire, now aided by thefaithless Cholulans. Yet Tlascala was undismayed by the new combinationbrought to bear against her, and did not readily listen to the proposedalliance of Cortéz. It was only after three terrible battles withCortéz, that Tlascala learned to appreciate the value of hisalliance--an alliance which has conferred upon her perpetual freedomand a distinct political organization to the present time. 

This is the poetry of the thing. Let us give it a little matter-of-factexamination. 

The spot on which I stand, instead of being what it has often beenrepresented to be, is but a shapeless mass of earth 205 feet high, occupying a village square of 1310 feet. It is sufficiently wasted bytime to give full scope to the imagination to fill out or restore it toalmost any form. One hundred years ago, some rich citizen constructedsteps up its side, and protected the sides of his steps from fallingearth by walls of adobe, or mud-brick; and on the west side some adobebuttresses have been placed to keep the loose earth out of the villagestreet. This is all of man's labor that is visible, except the work ofthe Indians in shaving away the hill which constitutes this pyramid. Asfor the great city of Cholula, it never had an existence; for if therehad been, only three hundred years ago, such a city here, composed of40, 000 houses, with 400 towers, besides the 400 mosques, then somevestige or fragment of a fallen wall or a ruined tower would still bevisible. But I searched in vain for the slightest evidence of formermagnificence, and was driven to the unwelcome conclusion that the wholecity was fabricated out of some miserable Indian village, inferior, perhaps, to the present town of one-story, whitewashed mud huts. 

My contemplations were broken in upon by a swarm of squalid women andchildren from the church vestry, importuning me to buy relics in clay, which might answer the double purpose of images of saints or of heathengods, according to the taste of the purchaser. But when they found meimpracticable, they brought out their greatest curiosity--a flintarrow-head, such as used to be plowed up in scores near the place whereI was born. Thoroughly disgusted with the sight of this Acropolis, withthis ancient Athens of mud, I turned my horse's head toward Puebla; andas I rode on, I met scores of these modern Athenians trotting homeward, bare-headed and bare-footed, carrying "papooses" on their backs, whiletheir faces, forms, and hair, and ragged dress, were the verycounterpart of the Indians of North America. 

The Indians of Puebla have long enjoyed the distinguished honor ofbeing the governing men, while the white inhabitants were ineligible toa seat in the city councils. This city was formerly an Indian village, bearing the indigestible name of Cuetlaxcapen, or "Snake in the Water;"but, in 1530, the Vice-King Mendoza established here a Spanish colony, but left the original government unchanged; so that, down to theindependence, the city administration was conducted by an Indianalcalde, assisted by a council of four Indians. Notwithstanding theanomalous form of its government, Puebla has ever been a greatmanufacturing town, and at this day consumes a quantity of cotton equalto some of our large manufacturing cities. 

 [11] The living witnesses of the result of this excavation are still at Cholula, and the fact is mentioned in several American works; my inference from the fact is the only novelty in the matter. 

 [12] Cortéz's "Letters, " Folsom's translation, p. 71. 

 [13] This word mosques Cortéz constantly makes use of, apparently to keep before the people of Spain the idea that he Was conducting a holy war. 

CHAPTER IX. 

A Ride to Popocatapetl. --The Village of Atlizco. --The old Man ofAtlizco and the Inquisition. --A novel Mode of Escape. --An avengingGhost. --The Vice-King Ravillagigedo. --The Court of the Vice-Kingand the Inquisition. --Ascent of Popocatapetl. --How a Party perishedby Night. --The Crater and the House in it. --Descent into theCrater. --The Interior. --The Workmen in the Volcano. --The View fromPopocatapetl. --The first White that climbed Popocatapetl. --The Storyof Corchado. --Corchado converts the Volcano into a Sulphur-mine. 

One of the first objects of interest in Mexico is the volcano ofPopocatapetl. A stage runs from Puebla to Atlizco, but beyond thatvillage the visitor must travel upon horseback. Atlizco is worthy of aspecial notice from its situation in a most fertile valley, and itspeculiar location at the base of a conical hill. This hill, like everyattractive locality in Mexico, is the scene of romantic traditions ofthe common people. From many, I select one illustration of the state ofsociety in the times of the vice-kings. 

There once was, the tradition runs in this village, an old _hidalgo_who possessed a plantation in the immediate neighborhood of the town. His family consisted of himself and two daughters; and he was rich. Upon a certain time, one of those strolling monks, with whom thecountry abounds, chanced to offer an indignity to one of the daughters, and the old man chanced to return the indignity by inflicting upon themonk such a beating as never poor friar had yet received in thevice-kingdom--such a one as the feelings of an outraged father alonecould justify. This was not the end of the matter; it was only thebeginning of evil to the old man, as he well knew, for he had laid hishands upon one of the consecrated--one who had received the sacramentof "Holy Orders;" and, above all, he was rich enough to tempt thecupidity of the Inquisition, which always watched with jealous careover the orthodoxy of those whose estates, when confiscated, would addto "the greater glory of God, " that is, to the treasury of the "HolyOffice. "

Guilty or not guilty, the old man had but one mode of escape, and thatwas by avoiding an arrest. To effect this object he resorted to a novelexpedient. As soon as he heard that his accuser had started for Mexico, it was given out that the old man had suddenly died. A circumstance byno means thought remarkable, when it became known that he had assaulteda priest. As he had not yet been accused, his neighbors ventured tocome to his funeral; and a coffin, with his name and age marked uponit, was decently buried in holy ground. The funeral fees, too, weresecured before the estate was pounced upon by the familiars of theInquisition. The daughters put on the deepest mourning, and hidthemselves from the public gaze, among their relatives; for they hadnot only to endure the loss of home and estates, but were to be shunnedas the accursed of God--the children of one dying while under theaccusation of sacrilege. As for the Inquisition, its officials did notcare to investigate the question of the decease, for it had reaped allthe benefit it might hope for from his conviction--"The Holy Office"had become his heir. 

THE OLD MAN OF ATLIZCO. 

Strange appearances and stranger noises after a time were heard aboutthe cave that is said to be in the top of the hill of Atlizco, andsometimes a ghost had been seen wandering about the hill by certainbenighted villagers; and one time, when the accusing monk was returningrather later than usual from a drunken revel, this ghost who had nowbecome the town-talk, chanced to fall in with him, and to give him sucha beating as few living men could inflict, and then disappeared. Stillthere was no earthquake, and the sun rose and set as though no injuryhad been done to a priest. 

Time wore its slow course along, without any important incidentoccurring in this matter, until the reputation of the new Virey, Ravillagigedo, reached Atlizco. Shortly thereafter there appeared atthe vice-royal palace in the city of Mexico an old man, who related ina private audience the story of his griefs and of his misfortunes, andinsisted that, in striking "the Lord's priest, " he had no intention ofcommitting an act of impiety, but that the feelings of a father hadovercome him in an unguarded moment, and induced him to avenge anattempt made to dishonor his daughter. The story of the old man touchedthe Virey, who had a manly heart wrapped up in a forbidding exterior. But it was a delicate undertaking even for a vice-king to attempt towrest a rich estate out of the clutches of the "Holy Office" withouthimself being suspected of heresy, or of disloyalty to the Church. YetRavillagigedo was never at a loss for expedients when justice was to bedone or the oppressed relieved. The best advice, however, that he couldgive the old man was to hide himself again, and to send his daughtersto Mexico to accuse the monk. 

Upon a set day, the vice-king was found arrayed in state, surrounded bya council of Inquisitors, before whom the daughters, in the deepestmourning, presented themselves as the accusers of the profligate monk. They stated, with an artless simplicity which could not fail toconvince, the story of the wrongs the monk had done them. TheInquisitors, sitting in the presence of the incorruptible Virey, couldnot, for very shame, do otherwise than declare unanimously that themonk, and not the old man, was worthy of the censure of the Church. 

"Then let us wipe away the stain that rests upon the fair fame of theseladies as daughters of one dying suspected, by decreeing their father'sinnocence, " said the Virey. 

This being assented to, the record of the old man's innocence was madeup, and, when duly attested by the Inquisitors, was handed to thedaughters. A door was at this moment opened, and there entered into theaugust presence a gray-headed old man, to whom the daughters presentedthe record. The old man, when he had received the record, advanced, and, bowing humbly, made confession of his fault. It was a bitter pillfor the "Holy Office" thus to be tricked into the performance of acommon act of justice, and in this way to lose a valuable estate. Fromthis time onward, it is said that Inquisitors were never known to holdcourt with a Virey. 

ASCENT OF POPOCATAPETL. 

At Atlizco horses must be procured for the journey up the mountain, forbeyond this point there is no carriage-road. I here follow the verbalnarrative of Mr. Frank Kellott, the artist of whom I have already mademention, as I dared not venture where bleeding of the lungs is producedby the rarity of the atmosphere and by the fatigue. 

"The company consisted of Mr. Corchado, the proprietor, Mr. Munez, aneighboring gentleman, three ladies, and myself, all on horseback. Sixteen Indians had been sent forward on foot early in the morning, with all the conveniences to make the trip a safe and agreeable one. The party went cheerfully up the mule-road that leads to the mountainrancho of Zacopalco, one of the highest inhabited points upon ourglobe. The soil upon the mountain, composed of volcanic mud, yieldssuch rich grasses, that almost at the upper edge of the timber there isa milk-house (_lecheria_), where a cattleherd, if caught out at night, may find a shelter. The inner man being well cared, for at the rancho, we journeyed on, following the path that led us through a tangled massof trees and plants, and among _barrancas_ whose sides were coveredwith pines. The timber grew shorter and more stunted as we proceeded, until, at the height of 12, 544 feet, the pines entirely disappeared. Alittle farther on, at an elevation of 12, 692 feet, we were at the limitof vegetation. After journeying a league or so over the yielding sandmixed with sharp stones, twelve of our Indians and our horses gave out. From this point for a little way farther, our party proceeded on foot, with the four remaining servants. 

"We had gone only a little way farther when two of our fair companionsalso gave out, and we sent them back to the rancho with the returninghorses and the fatigued servants, for there was now no time for delay, if we intended to reach the summit that day. The third lady wentbravely on, and would probably have enjoyed the honor of being thefirst woman that had ever ascended Popocatapetl, had it not been forthe unfortunate arrangement she had made in her wardrobe. Instead ofputting on the pantaloons, or _bloomers_, she had added extra skirts byway of precaution against the cold; so that when she had climbed about3000 feet over volcanic sand and loose stones, she gave out fromfatigue and the bruises she had received in her numerous falls. It wasa painful effort even for those of us who had no _skirts_ to impedeus to get on; and it was imprudent for her to proceed farther, for theicicles would be in her way as much as the sand and stones; for theseicicles were like spikes projecting upward from the rocks, and betweenwhich we should have to place our feet and pick our way as best wecould without falling upon them. In this state of things there was noalternative, and we were reluctantly obliged to dissuade her fromfarther effort, and to consign her over to the kind attentions of threemore of our Indians, who had given out, to conduct her down themountain. 

"Unfortunately, one of the last three Indians sent back had in hispocket all the chocolate, an article almost indispensable to thecomfort of a party climbing a high mountain, and, unconscious of ourloss, we continued our way until it was too late to remedy this loss. The basaltic rock which we had now reached was covered with the icicleswhich I have described, and we found no little difficulty in placingour feet between them, and guiding ourselves with the iron-pointedsticks which had been furnished us; while the dizziness caused bylooking back upon the world we had left behind added to our troubles. 

"Mr. Corchado, to draw off our attention from our own hardships, related to us the story of the death of six of his workmen, whoundertook to make the journey down the mountain by night. Each of themhad a load of stolen brimstone on his head. The day after this rash andcriminal attempt, their dead bodies were found in such a situation asto indicate plainly the manner of their death. Stiffened with theintense cold, and impeded by their heavy burdens, they had stumbled inthe darkness, and had fallen upon the sharp ice. One had his cheekpierced, and the others had divers wounds and bruises marked upon themas they lay frozen in death. The story of these unfortunates was notcalculated to inspire us with very pleasant reflections, in case theweather should change while we were on the mountain. 

A NIGHT UPON THE SUMMIT. 

"We climbed on, having reached the basaltic rock at an elevation of16, 805 feet, and with exhausting labor we traveled upon it until towardevening, when we came to that immense yawning abyss, the crater. Themouth was about three miles in circumference, of a very irregular form. Into this we entered, and soon arrived at the house which was to be ourlodging for the night. This house was a curiosity in its way; as it wasnot built like any other house, and could not be, on account of therarity of the atmosphere at this elevation of 17, 125 feet, and theimpossibility of obtaining sufficient oxygen, in a closed room, to feedcombustion. It was therefore built in the form of a miniature volcano. There was an outside and an inside wall, of a circular form, theoutside wall sloping inwardly, and the inside wall, which rested onpillars, sloping outwardly, until it met the outside wall. The fire wasbuilt in the open court, in the centre of the building, and the partysat under the arches and warmed themselves. The night that we werethere, the perverse smoke took the same direction as the heated air, and filled the whole inside to suffocation, so that our condition wasmost disagreeable, notwithstanding the arrangements that Mr. Corchadohad made in his own apartment for the comfort of his guests, for thereflection of the sun on the snow had thrown a film over our eyes, inspite of our green vails. Our stomachs were nauseated at this giddyheight, and, though we had almost every other kind of eatable anddrinkable, our appetites craved only chocolate, which we could notobtain. Our heads were dizzy, and our limbs were weary, and we lay downin a dense smoke to try to sleep. 

DESCENT INTO THE CRATER. 

"Morning came to our relief, and with it the film had passed from oureyes. We looked up to the top of the mountain above us, and then downinto that fearful abyss into which we were soon to descend. We couldeat no breakfast, and could drink no coffee, and so we were soon readyfor our day's journey. We followed a narrow footpath until we reached ashelf, where we were seated in a skid, and let down by a windlass 500feet or so, to a landing-place, from which we clambered downward to asecond windlass and a second skid, which was the most fearful of all, because we were dangling about without any thing to steady ourselves, as we descended before the mouth of one of those yawning caverns, whichare called the 'breathing-holes' of the crater. They are so called fromthe fresh air and horrid sounds that continually issue from them. Butwe shut our eyes and clung fast to the rope, as we whirled round andround in mid air, until we reached another landing-place about 500 feetlower. From this point we clambered down, as best we could, until wecame among the men digging up cinders, from which sulphur, in the formof brimstone, is made. 

"We took no measurements within the crater, and heights and distanceshere can only be given by approximation. We only know that all thingsare on a scale so vast that old Pluto might here have forged newthunder-bolts, and Milton's Satan might have here found the materialfor his sulphurous bed. All was strange, and wild, and frightful. 

"We crawled into several of the 'breathing holes, ' but nothing wasthere except darkness visible. The sides and bottom were, for the mostpart, polished by the molten mass, which had cooled in passing throughthem; and if it had not been for the ropes around our waist, we shouldhave slipped and fallen we knew not whither. We almost fancied that, inthe moving currents of air, we heard the wailings of the lost in thegreat sulphurous lake below. The stones we threw in were lost to soundunless they hit upon a projecting rock, and fell from shelf to shelf. The deep darkness was fearful to contemplate. The abyss looked asthough it might be the mouth of the bottomless pit. What must have beenthe effect when each one of these 'breathing holes' was vomiting liquidfire and sulphur into the basin in which we stood? How immeasurablemust be that lake whose overflowings fill such cavities as this! It iswhen standing in such a place that we get the full force of the figuresused by the Scriptures in illustrating the condition of the souls thathave perished forever. 

"Let us turn from great to smaller things--to witness the labors of themen who work, and eat, and often sleep in the volcano. Some are diggingsulphur and placing it in baskets, while others are waiting to carry itupon their heads up the side of the crater. Others, again, out of oursight far up the mountain, are working at the oven, when the weather isclear, and there is no cloud between them and the sun, as it is only inthe finest weather that men can work upon the top, or carry burdens tothe hacienda. When the weather is fine, all the works are in fulloperation, and good profits are realized by furnishing brimstone forthe manufacture of sulphuric acid. 

"We are at the top once more; and now that our eyesight, which we lostin climbing the mountain, is restored to us, we will take a view of thelower world. Looking toward the west, every object glows in thebrightness of the rising sun, except where the mountain casts its vastshadow even across the valley of Toluca. How strangely diminished noware all familiar objects that are visible! The pureness of the mediumthrough which things are seen presents distant objects with greatdistinctness, but it will not present them in their natural size, forit can not change the angle of vision. The villages upon the table-landwere apparently pigmy villages, inhabited by pigmy men and pigmy women, surrounded with pigmy cattle, and garrisoned by pigmy soldiery. It is, by an optical illusion, Liliput in real life. Had the English satiristplaced himself where we now stood, he would have more than realized thepicture which his fancy painted. He might have seen the marshaled hostsof Liliput marching to the beat of drum, in the proud array of war. 

"If you wish to see all the sights, you must walk around the mountain, and look down its steepest side, where there is no table-land, into the'hot country. ' The distance is so vast, the descent so steep, that aninexperienced climber suffers from dizziness. If you climb to the verysummit, 250 feet above the mouth of the crater, you will find moresurface about you. But it is a point where few can desire to remainlong, or to visit it a second time. "

THE SULPHUR MINE. 

In Cortéz's letters to the Emperor we read as follows: "As for sulphur, I have already made mention to your Majesty of a mountain in thisprovince from which, smoke issues; out of it sulphur has been taken bya Spaniard, who descended seventy or eighty fathoms by means of a ropeattached to his body below his arms; from which source we have beenenabled to obtain sufficient supplies, although it is attended withdanger. It is hoped that it will not be necessary for us to resort[again] to this means of procuring it. " ... "As the Indians told usthat it was dangerous to ascend, and fatal to those who made theattempt, I caused several Spaniards to undertake it, and examine thecharacter of the summit. At the time they went up, so much smokeproceeded from it, accompanied by noises, that they were either unableor afraid to reach its mouth. Afterward I sent up some other Spaniards, who made two attempts, and finally reached the aperture of the mountainwhence the smoke issued, which was two bow-shots wide, and about threefourths of a league in circumference, where they discovered somesulphur which the smoke deposited. "[14] (Bernal Diaz says that thecrater was perfectly round, a mile in diameter. --Vol. I. P. 186. )During one of their visits they heard a tremendous noise, followed bysmoke, when they made haste to descend; but before they reached themiddle of the mountain there fell around them a heavy shower of stones, from which they were in no little danger. 

In or about the year 1850, Corchado, an active and enterprising whiteman, had become a favorite with the Indians at the foot of themountain, who proposed to him that he should accompany them when theyagain undertook one of their expeditions into the volcano, which oflate had been very frequent. This was a proposition that exactlyaccorded with his adventurous character. Accordingly, on an appointedday, he appeared at the rendezvous, with a rope, a piece of sail-cloth, and an iron bar. Thus provided, the party, which was a large one, started up the mountain, but one by one they gave out, until onlyCorchado and a single Indian arrived at the mouth of the crater. Here, unfortunately, Corchado fainted from the loss of blood and fatigue; andthe Indian, not knowing what better to do, covered him with thesail-cloth, and then started down the mountain for assistance. In ashort time he revived under the sail-cloth, and from his dangerousposition he drew himself into the volcano, that he might not perishfrom cold outside. He descended as far as the shelf, and, looking overinto the abyss, he found himself so refreshed by the atmosphere of thevolcano that he brought down the bar, sail-cloth, and rope, determiningto pass the approaching night at the bottom of the volcano. When he hadfixed his bar and rope, the relieving party arrived, and all descended, one by one, upon the rope to a point where they passed the night insafety. 

Corchado, on his return, gathered up some of the scoria and carried itto Puebla, when it was found to contain so large a percentage ofsulphur as to warrant its 'denouncement' as a sulphur-mine. Capital wasprocured at Puebla sufficient to set up the rude apparatus we havealready described, by means of which a very handsome profit on theadventure was realized. But, owing to a lawsuit, in which the affairwas at that time (1852) involved, no effort had yet been made to piercethe mountain, or to explore a passage through some vent or fissure. Agood path had been made up the mountain, and in the month of May it wasconsidered quite a safe undertaking to visit these sulphur-works. 

 [14] This must have been the great fissure, and not the crater. I see no objection to this statement; for in this Cortéz had no motive to falsify, and it is the ordinary appearance of an active volcano. 

CHAPTER X. 

Texas. --Battle of Madina. --First Introduction of Americans intoTexas. --Usurpation of Bustamente. --Texas owed no Allegiance to theUsurper. --The good Faith of the United States in the Acquisition ofLouisiana and Texas. --Santa Anna pronounces against Bustamente. --SantaAnna in Texas. --A Mexican's Denunciation of the Texan War. --His Ideaof our Revolution, --He complains of our grasping Spirit. --The rightof the United States to occupy unsettled Territory. --A few morePronunciamientos of Santa Anna. --The Adventures of Santa Anna to thepresent Date. 

We must resume again the narrative of historical events, in orderbetter to set forth the condition of the country through which we aretraveling. 

Texas is a turning-point in the history of Mexico. Captain Don Alonzode Leon, in the year 1689, [15] by command of the Vice-King of New Spain, took formal possession of Texas, in the name of His Most CatholicMajesty of Spain. Afterward a few military and missionary settlementswere commenced, with indifferent success, as the Indians were of a lessdocile character than those of the southern provinces. They were everrestive under the yoke of spiritual taskmasters, so that the feeblemissions and presidios had only a sickly existence down to the time ofthe breaking out of the civil wars of Mexico. 

We have already noticed the statement that, in the year 1819, a Mexicangeneral routed at the River Madina a party of 3000 men, who were ontheir way to join the Mexican insurgents. The above number is somewhatimprobable; say there were 500, which would be about as many as couldwell be mustered at that early period for a filibustering expedition atNew Orleans. 

In 1820 Moses Austin applied to the Spanish authorities, and obtainedfrom them the right to settle a certain number of families in Texas. Hedied soon after, and his son Stephen obtained a confirmation of thegrant, or, rather, a new grant, from the authorities established atMexico under the Federal Constitution of 1824. Under that constitutionTexas was annexed to Coahuila, and, together with it, was formed intothe united state of Coahuila and Texas. From the authorities of thisstate divers other Americans obtained grants of land under theprovisions of the colonization law of the Mexican Congress of the year1824. From this time all things went smoothly on, and the grantees werebusily engaged in introducing the number of families which werestipulated for in the said law, and in the grants made under it, whenthe Spanish armada landed at Tampico. 

DOWNFALL OF BUSTAMENTE. 

In consequence of the great dangers threatening the country, Congresshad conferred dictatorial powers upon the President of the Republic, Vincente Guerrero. By virtue of his dictatorship, he had invested theVice-president of the Republic, Bustamente, with the command of an armyof reserve, which he established at Jalapa. As soon as the Spanish armyhad capitulated to Santa Anna, Bustamente put forth a _pronunciamiento_, and, marching to the city of Mexico, he deposed the President, whom heafterward caused to be cruelly put to death. Having now, by means of asuccessful military insurrection, possessed himself of the executivepower, he proceeded by violent means to overturn, one by one, thegovernments of the individual states. In this war against the states hewas also successful, except in the most distant one, that of Coahuilaand Texas. 

Texas clearly owed no allegiance to the usurper Bustamente. It was anindependent state in all respects, excepting those powers it hadconceded to the general government by adopting the FederalConstitution. The subversion of this Constitution reinstated Texas asan independent republic. It owed no farther allegiance to Mexico. Texasmight at once have applied for admission into our Union, or have askedto be annexed to any other foreign state, pleading not only herinherent right to do so, but the excessive cruelties that Bustamenteinflicted on those state authorities that opposed his usurpations. 

The learned and eloquent General Tornel, distinguished alike as astatesman and a soldier, from whose popular history we have below madea brief extract, in pleading the cause of his country, charges badfaith against the United States in the acquisition of both Louisianaand Texas, but in both arguments he fails to make out a case. By thetreaty of San Ildefonso in 1800, France acquired an imperfect title toLouisiana; by the treaty of Paris in 1803, she conveyed all her titleto the United States. But, before the United States would pay over anymoney on account of the treaty of 1803, she required Spain to confirmthe treaty of San Ildefonso by putting France into the actualpossession of Louisiana. This being done, and not till it was done, didthe United States pay over the $15, 000, 000 stipulated as the purchasemoney. The dispute with Spain about boundaries was settled by thetreaty for the acquisition of Florida, in 1819, which establishedboundaries that were confirmed in a subsequent treaty with Mexico. Thusfar, certainly, there was no breach of faith. 

On the night of January 3d, 1832, the garrison of Vera Cruz _pronounced_against the usurping government of Bustamente, which was then sufferingdreadfully from the want of funds. A delegation was sent the same nightto Santa Anna, who had been in retirement at his estate of _Manga deClavo_ since the murder of his friend, President Guerrero. This fourthinsurrection was prosecuted with varying success for several months, but was finally terminated by the capitulation of Bustamente at Puebla, and the recalling of Pedraza from banishment in the United States, toserve out the few months that remained of his term of office asPresident. 

In 1832 Santa Anna was elected successor to Pedraza as President of theFederal Republic of Mexico. Texas had now of right the option ofreturning into the family of Mexican States, or of maintaining herseparate existence; but she was under no obligation to return, for, theconfederacy having been once broken up, it was optional with the onlymember that had not submitted to the usurper to re-enter thisunreliable family, or to continue outside. This election was not longopen; for, by the _pronunciamiento_ of Toluca (1835), the FederalConstitution was again abolished, and Santa Anna became dictator infact, if not in name. The clergy were at the bottom of this lastrevolution, and they demanded, as the price of their support, theextirpation of heresy from the territory of the Republic. This meantthe indiscriminate slaughter of all Texans. Santa Anna, who, in all hisprevious wars, had never shown a disposition to be cruel to thevanquished, was so dazzled with the prospects before him as to bewilling to make the slaughter of the Alamo and of Fannin's division anoffering to a priesthood who were plotting for the restoration of theInquisition. The battle of San Jacinto was, in its consequences, moredisastrous to the designs of the ecclesiastical party than even toSanta Anna himself. 

MEXICAN VIEW OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 

Let me stop in my narrative of events to translate a Mexican's eloquentdenunciation of the Anglo-Saxon race. It is from the pen of GeneralTornel, a most uncompromising enemy of that race and of its religion. Thus he opens his account of the Texan difficulty:

"In order to understand what we to-day (1852) are, and what we to-dayvalue, it is indispensable to discover, and to perpetuate the historyof one of the greatest scandals of the age--all of its antecedents, allof its consequences, all that can aid in coming to knowledge of thisgreatest act of injustice of which the Mexican nation has been thevictim. 

"Those who cross the sea change their skies, but not their nature. TheAnglo-Saxons abandoned their country from physical and moralnecessities, and on account of their political and religious quarrels. Transporting themselves to the virgin forests of America, they broughtwith them the characteristics of Northmen; they were distinguished forsobriety, laboriousness, and industry; for ardor in their enterprises;for constancy, and for that spirit of adventure which subjugates all bythe right of conquest. They leveled all obstacles by the vigor of theirarm and the sweat of their brow, and from their successes has arisenthe hope of acquiring every thing by the inspiration of their talentsand the force of their genius. 

"The English, of whom John Cabot was a compatriot, came by the northernroute [to America], and discovered an immense country, whose rivers arethe grandest, whose forests appear to be antediluvian, whose lakeswould be called seas in Europe; with harbors on an extensive coastwhich rival the greatest in the world. It has a soil suited to everypurpose of agriculture. In short, it has facilities for allenterprises, and for raising the material of a productive commercesufficient to establish advantageous relations with the Old World, andfor creating an independent society; for supplying its necessities; formaking its condition enviable; for rivaling the power, the influence, and the destinies of its parent country. 

"The country which they discovered they found scarcely inhabited, although here and there wandered some tribes without socialorganization, without government, without the power of concentration, even to the extent which numbers give to savages. They [the colonists]early learned that they could establish their dominion withoutresistance, and that they could extend it as far as they could open thecountry with the ax of the active colonist, who considered himself theheir of undiscovered wealth, which would result from an inevitabledestiny. The colonies which were established along the coast, and thosewhich were formed in the interior, increased, as increases the gentlerill in its onward course by uniting with other rills and with rivers, until, becoming one vast torrent, it precipitates itself into theocean. The colonies of Tyre, of Carthage, or Rome were never comparablewith the Anglo-American colonies, who appropriated to themselves, inless than a century, regions more extended than the half of Europe. 

"The observer of the providential destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race inAmerica notices that the emancipation of the thirteen Americancolonies, which constituted so many states and an independent nation, instead of being the result of the alleged political grievances, wasrather the impulsive force of expansion, which encountered insuperableobstacles while the states were colonies subordinate to a Europeannation. They were retarded in their advances by relations andcompromises with other nations. The Anglo-Saxon, when translated to thewilds of America, needed only a stopping-place in order to found apeculiar and exclusive polity, which should enable him to march everonward in his aggressions and usurping institutions. 

"The United States of America lost no time in making themselvespowerful; a nation rich in its industry, enviable in its commerce, respectable in its social organization, which are so favorable to theadvancement of the condition of man. When the government had regulated, with great prudence and wisdom, the interior system of the states, itplaced itself upon the watch for the compromised circumstances ofembarrassed European states that possessed colonies on the Americancontinent. Some of these colonies were contiguous to the limits whichthe United States had acquired definitely by the treaty of peace of1783. In order to augment, at the expense of her neighbors, herpossessions, already immense, and not yet well populated, she set aboutacquiring territory by astuteness, by cunning, by violence, and also byjustifiable means, when such were available. Spain first, and Mexicoafterward, have been her victims; and to-day these rich and powerfulstates display the spoils, for such they are in reality, which theyhave wrested from us. Such are the people that already rival thosenations of Europe whose territories are the most extensive, and whosecommerce is spread over all the seas. "

WEAKNESS OF THE SPANISH TITLE. 

My limits will not permit me to follow General Tornel through hisstatement of the manner in which Louisiana, Florida, and Texas wereacquired, and to notice his complaints of the injustice committed bythe Americans in all these acquisitions. He loses sight of the factthat Spain had no title to her possessions in America but that ofdiscovery, and that very doubtful claim had not, in a period of 300years, been strengthened by actual settlement. Three or fourdilapidated mud forts, and as many more feeble missions, constitutedthe sum total of the Spanish possession of Texas; and settlementsscarcely worthy of the name in the other northern departmentsconstituted all the title that Spain could put forth to thosecountries; while the right of Mexico was as much weaker, as Mexico wasa weaker power than Spain, and morally incapable of settling thedisputed territory. The claim of the United States was the necessityfor land in which to settle her population, which was so rapidlyaugmenting by foreign immigration. Once in ten years she requires aportion of the wild land nominally belonging to Mexico, and once in tenyears she must take it. 

SANTA ANNA. 

In 1836, while Santa Anna was a prisoner in Texas, Bustamente, then inbanishment in Europe, was elected President by the same party that hadchosen Santa Anna as Dictator. In 1838, the government having incurredthe hostility of France, Vera Cruz was blockaded for several months, during which time a night foray was made into the town by a party ofFrench sailors, headed by the Prince de Joinville. On their return, they were pursued by Santa Anna to the Mole, where they stopped fartherpursuit by discharging a cannon, which deprived Santa Anna of one ofhis legs, and effectually wiped out the recollections of hisunfortunate Texan campaign. In 1841, the government being no longerable to raise funds at two per cent. A month, the Minister of War, Valencia, pronounced against Bustamente in the citadel of Mexico. Theresult was, that Santa Anna was again elevated to supreme power, according to the plan of Tacubaya, and the interpretation he put onthat plan. In 1843 a slight change was made in the Constitution, but heremained in power until 1845, when, having left the capital to put downthe insurrection of Paredes, Congress declared against him. Herrera wasappointed President, and Santa Anna was imprisoned for a while in thecastle of Perote, and finally banished from the country. In 1847 he wasrecalled by the Federal party, with the consent of President Polk, andbecame the chief support of the war, notwithstanding his totallyinadequate means for organizing a successful defense. When the defensecould no longer be protracted, he left the city by night, and retiredto the West Indies, and afterward to Carthagena, where he remaineduntil he was recalled in 1852, and again restored to supreme authority. 

We may sum up the politico-military life of Santa Anna by saying thathe has been engaged in eight _pronunciamientos_. Five of these havebeen made by himself; three by others, for his benefit. Twice he hasbeen chosen President by the Federal party of the Federal Republic ofMexico. Three times he has been made President by the Central, orEcclesiastical party. He has been twice banished from Mexico, and eachtime recalled again and placed at the head of affairs. He has twicebeen taken prisoner, when his captors held long consultations upon thepropriety of putting him to death. He has, in turn, been the candidateof all parties, and has served all parties faithfully in turn, but mostfaithfully of all he has served himself. Actively engaged through lifeas a politician and a soldier, he has found time to readjust the wholecomplicated system of Mexican laws, and, in a series of volumes ofautocratic decrees, he has drawn from that chaotic mass a new system ofjurisprudence, that will stand as a monument of his genius as long asthe Mexican nation shall continue. 

 [15] _Bréva Reséña Histórica_, by Gen. Tornel. Mexico, 1852. P. 135. 

CHAPTER XI. 

From Puebla to Mexico. --The Dread of Robbers. --The Escort--Tlascala. --TheExaggerations of Cortéz and Bernal Diaz. --The Truth about Tlascala. --TheAdvantages of Tlascala to Cortéz. --Who was Bernal Diaz. --Who wrote hisHistory. --First View of Mexico. 

At early twilight, two stage-loads of passengers, drawn rapidly bytwelve wild horses through the now deserted streets of Puebla, approached the gate that opened out upon the road to Mexico. The rattleof the wheels and the clatter of so many hoofs had awakened thegatekeeper, and at our approach the ponderous portals that inclosed thecity by night flew open, and away we whirled out into the beautifulvega of Puebla. 

In times of civil disorder, this is a fine field for robbers to plytheir vocation in; and even now, when all was quiet, there was nolittle apprehension of a visit from these sovereigns of the road. Thepassengers had noticed my unmistakable Anglo-Saxon name, as it wascalled at the stage-door, and, when I had taken my seat, an elegant, long Colt's revolver was passed to me by a passenger in full uniform. Such is one of the advantages that a traveler enjoys who belongs to arace of men of acknowledged courage--an advantage that enabled we totravel alone across the continent without encumbering myself with aweapon; for, where all supposed me fully armed, and skilled in the useof weapons by instinct, I found it convenient to go unarmed. Upon thepresent occasion, I did not wish to raise a smile of incredulity byprotesting that I had never fired a pistol in my life, so I quietlyconsented to play the part of hero. 

By displaying my weapon carelessly in my hand when we stopped to takecoffee at Saint Martin's, I procured a seat upon the outside, which hadbeen refused me at Puebla. 

Our escort consisted of a body of six lancers, who, standing at theroadside, saluted us as we passed, and then rode after us at the top oftheir speed. Poor fellows! they found it hard riding to keep up withthe coach. It was some consolation for them to see a man seated on thetop of the stage with a Colt's pistol, even if he did not know how touse it, and for once they rode out their beat without gettingfrightened at their shadows. As the robbers were as great cowards asthemselves, whether the man on the box was really a fire-eater or not, it answered the same purpose. These stage-guards are heroes in theirway; they always come when the road appears the safest, and never failto ask for charity, but invariably leave you just as the coachapproaches a thicket. A few days ago, this guard caught a fellow on theroad whom they believed to be a robber, and hung him with apocket-handkerchief. 

REPUBLIC OF TLASCALA. 

We are now passing the borders of that famous Indian republic, of thehigh table-land, which shut out despotism by a lofty wall, [16] and wasso completely isolated in the times of Montezuma that its people couldobtain no foreign products, not even cotton or salt;[17] whose food wasthe maize which they cultivated, and the game which they caught uponthe snow-capped mountains; whose clothing was made from the maguey, andfrom skins of animals taken in the chase; a people whose government wasa council of elders, which was presided over by an hereditary chief;whose political institutions have been the study and admiration of thelearned of many lands. That is, in plain English, they were an ordinarytribe of North American savages, obtaining their living, as otherIndians did then and do now, by the cultivation of Indian corn andhunting, having the same crude form of government that is common to allthe savage tribes of North America. They gloried in their savagenotions of independence, and submitted only to the merest shadow ofauthority. They had not yet reached that point of social organizationat which the loose government of savages gives way to the despotism ofthe next stage of advancement, which we shall call _barbarism_. Thedifference between the Tlascalans and the Aztecs was the samedifference that exists between the North American savages, who live inunderground wigwams, [18] and the barbarous tribes of the interior ofAfrica, that live in cities of mud huts above the ground, and who yielda slavish obedience to a half-naked emperor, who sits or squats upon anox-hide in a mud palace, exercising the power of life and death, according to his momentary caprice, upon thousands of trembling slaves. The concentrated power and wealth of a whole tribe is in single hands, and is made available for conquest and for the sensual enjoyment of asingle individual. Savages can only act in concert when all are agreed, hence councils are their governing power, and the orator has as muchinfluence among them as the successful warrior; but when they haveadvanced a step, and power has become concentrated, the orator becomessilent, and the war-chief is the government. 

I had read with avidity the histories of Mexico, and gave to themimplicit credence, until I stood upon the Indian mound of Cholula, andsearched in vain for the least vestige of that magnificent city of40, 000 houses, which, only 300 years ago, was in the height of itsprosperity; and though it is not in the power of man, in the space of athousand years, wholly to obliterate the traces of a great city, yetnot a vestige of the Cholula of Cortéz can now be found. As I followedup the investigation, I soon discovered that not a vestige of any ofthe cities that entered into the alliance with Cortéz can now be found. Not a vestige exists even of the old city of Mexico, except thecalendar and sacrificial stones, of which I shall speak hereafter. 

CORTÉZ AND BERNAL DIAZ. 

Cortéz says that a dry stone wall, nine feet high, inclosed Tlascalafrom mountain to mountain, through which he entered between overlappingsemicircles of the wall. He says that he was attacked first by an armyof 6000 Indians, then by an army of 100, 000 on one day, and on the nextby 149, 000. He says farther, "I attacked another place, which was solarge that it contained, according to an examination I caused to bemade, more than 20, 000 houses. " Of the capital of Tlascala, he says, "It is larger than Granada, and much stronger, and contains as manyfine houses and a much larger population than that city did at the timeof its capture. "

A comparison of the statements of Bernal Diaz and those of Cortéz willcast some discredit upon the narrative of the former. The stout oldchronicler cuts down the 100, 000 Indians in the second battle to50, 000, and makes no mention of the third great action, in which149, 000 Indians were said by Cortéz to have been engaged. Here isanother comparison:

"There is, " says Cortéz, "in this city [Tlascala], a market, in whichevery day 30, 000 people are engaged in buying and selling, besides manyother merchants who are scattered about the city. The market contains agreat variety of articles, both of food and clothing, and all kinds ofshoes for the feet, jewels of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and ornaments of feathers; all as well arranged as they possibly can befound in any public square in the world. "[19]

Now see the difference between this great Munchausen and his professedapologist and companion, the writer of Bernal Diaz, who was familiarwith the suppressed manuscript of Las Casas, and makes quotations fromit. "The elder Xicotencotl, " says Bernal Diaz, "now informed Cortézthat it was the general wish of the inhabitants to make him a present, if agreeable to him. Cortéz answered that he should at all times bemost happy to receive one; they accordingly spread some mats on thefloor, and over them a few cloaks, upon which they arranged five or sixpieces of gold, a few articles of trifling value, and several parcelsof manufactured _nequen_--altogether a poor present, and not worthtwenty pesos (dollars). The caziques, on presenting these things toCortéz, said to him, 'Malinche! we can easily imagine that you willnot exactly experience much joy on receiving a present of suchwretched things as these; but we have told you before that we arepoor--possessing neither gold nor other riches, as the deceitfulMexicans, with their present monarch, Montezuma, have, by degrees, despoiled us of every thing we had. Do not look to the small value ofthese things, but accept them in all kindness, and as coming from yourfaithful friends and servants. ' These presents were, at the same time, accompanied by a quantity of provisions. "[20]

THE TRUTH ABOUT TLASCALA. 

Thus, according to Cortéz, the Tlascalans dwelt in cities rivaling themost polished and commercial cities of Europe; according to Diaz, theywere so poor that they were unable to make a present worth twentydollars! Cortéz gives a view of "a large wall of dry stone, about ninefeet in height, which extends across the valley from one mountain tothe other: it was twenty feet in thickness, surmounted throughout itswhole extent by a breastwork a foot and a half thick, to enable them tofight from the top of the wall. " Diaz says, "We came to an enormousintrenchment, built so strongly of stone, lime, and a kind of hardbitumen, that it would only have been possible to break it down bymeans of pick-axes. "[21] Such a wall, or the vestiges of it, would lastfor thousands of years; for it is not in the destructive power of manwholly to obliterate it, and yet I have been utterly unable to findeven a ruin, and I verily believe the whole of this Chinese wall is afiction. 

Tlascala is an Indian reservation of an oval shape, sixty-nine mileslong by forty-two miles wide. Its climate is cold. Its soil is notremarkably good. It has had its independent government since the timeof Cortéz. Its means of subsistence have been increased, and extensivemanufactories have been established. The only enumeration ever made ofits inhabitants was in 1793, when it was found to contain 51, 177 souls. In the extravagant official estimate of last year, its population isset down at 80, 171. [22] Cortéz says that Tlascala contained a populationof 500, 000 inhabitants, according to a report made by his orders. Wehave here our historians within metes and bounds, between mountains andstone walls; a perfect non-intercourse established with all the world;all foreign means of supply cut off, and the Indians dependent forsubsistence upon their own rude cultivation of maize. My readers maycall me extravagant if I should say that Tlascala probably containedabout 10, 000 inhabitants in the time of Cortéz, and could therefore, inan emergency, produce 1000 warriors. A greater number than this wouldbe contrary to the laws of population. I might here stop and call hardnames, but it is not my purpose to "bring a railing accusation" againstany. My only duty is to place evidence before the reader, and then lethim judge how much reliance is to be placed upon any historicalstatements that have been trimmed and modified to suit the purposes ofthe Spanish Inquisition. 

The quick wit of Cortéz early discovered that Tlascala was a greatnatural fortress, and that he could make it the centre and base of hisoperations in the wars he was contemplating against the differentIndian tribes of the table-land. The hatred borne against the Mexicansby the Tlascalans assured him of their co-operation against Montezuma. Hence the Tlascalans were especially favored. They shared with him inall the perils of his enterprise, and in the plunder gathered from theconquered tribes; for with them rested the question whether he shouldsucceed, and be hailed as the hero of a holy war, or should be brandedas a buccaneer, robber, and enslaver. And when, in course of time, theIndian element became the ruling power, curses loud and deep weremuttered against the enslaver of the Indians, and the Tlascalans camein for their share of imprecations. 

CENSORSHIP OF HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

But who was Bernal Diaz? This would be a strange question to ask in acountry where there was liberty of speech and liberty of the press, butin Spain the censorship was not only repressive, but it was"suggestive. " It not only suppressed the writings of authors, butcompelled them to father productions that were the very opposite ofthose they wished to publish. Take the case of poor Sahagun, who wrotea refutation of the historian of the conquest, under the pretense ofgiving the Indian account of that event: when his book was finallyallowed to see the light, after a delay of many years, it was foundthat his own account of the conquest had been suppressed, and theregular Spanish account had been substituted. Of Las Casas's "Apologyfor the Indians, "[23] which had occupied thirty-two years of his life, that part only was allowed to appear which treated of Saint Domingo. But his refutation of the histories of the conquest of Mexico is whollysuppressed. To have proved the Conquistadors a gang of unprincipledbuccaneers would have spoiled a Holy War, which was just what theInquisition would not allow to go before the world. To the little workof Boturini on Mexico there are appended, 1. The declaration of hisfaith in the Roman Catholic Church in the most unequivocal terms. 2. The license of the Jesuit father. 3. The license of an Inquisitor. 4. The license of the Judge of the Supreme Council of the Indias. 5. Thelicense of the Royal Council of the Indias. 6. The approbation of the"qualificator" of the Inquisition, who was a bare-footed Carmelitemonk. 7. The license of the Royal Council of Castile. Beyond all this, the writer must be a person in holy orders, and be a person ofsufficient influence to obtain the favorable notice of all thesebodies, who were instinctively hostile to the diffusion of allinformation, particularly in regard to the New World. Nor was this theend of the difficulty; the license of any one of these officials couldbe revoked at pleasure, and, when republished, the work had to bere-"_viséd_. " Even as late as the year 1825, a Spanish standard authorcould not be republished without expurgation. [24] With such factsbefore us, it is safe to declare that not a single statement of factthat affected either the interests of the king or the Church was everpublished in Spain or her colonies during the three hundred years ofthe existence of the Inquisition; but every thing published wasmodified to suit the wishes of the censors, without any regard to thesentiments of the putative author. 

But who was Bernal Diaz? How came he to be familiar with the writingsof Las Casas that never saw the light? Had he access to the secretarchives of the convent? He refers to the account of Las Casas asfollows:

"These [the slaughters at Cholula] are, among others, those abominablemonstrosities which the Bishop of Chiapas, Las Casas, can find no endin enumerating. But he is wrong when he asserts that we gave theCholulans the above-mentioned chastisement without any provocation, andmerely for pastime. "[25] The history of Diaz is among the standardliterary productions of that age, and is a very picture of candor andsimplicity. On every page there are such evident efforts attruthfulness as to raise a suspicion that something more than, a simplenarrative was the object of writing this book fifty years after theconquest. By supposing the author to be only sixteen years old when hecame to America, Lockhart makes him only seventy years of age when hewrote the work. But if we suppose him to have been of a reasonable agewhen he began his adventures, he must have been between eighty andninety years old when this book is alleged to have been written. Gomarahad overdone the matter in the superhuman achievements which he hadascribed to Cortéz, while Las Casas had proved the conqueror and hisparty to have been a gang of cruel monsters. Now, something had to bedone to avert the odium that was beginning to attach to this crusadeagainst the enemies of the Church. In Spain, where a padlock was uponevery man's mouth, and where each one buried his suspicions in the mostsecret recesses of his heart, and trembled lest, even in his dreams, athought of impiety might reach the ear of a familiar, history couldalways be made to conform to the interests of the Church. 

Since the records of the Spanish Inquisition have become the propertyof the public, and the manner in which the facts of history weretrifled with is now understood, it is a question more easily asked thananswered, Who wrote such and such a book?

WHO WROTE BERNAL DIAZ?

Who, then, wrote the history of Bernal Diaz? We have seen that it cutsdown the monstrous exaggerations of Cortéz more than a half, yet weshall see that the statements of Diaz are still incredible. It is avery religious book, as the Spaniards understand the word religion, andreflects great credit on the Church. But, with the slight evidence wehave presented, no one would charge the work with being altogether afiction, and Bernal Diaz a myth. All that can be said is, that we areleft in that state of uncertainty in which every one finds himself wholooks into a record that was within the control of the Inquisitorialcensors. 

Our stage-ride has been forgotten in discussing historical questions;and while we have been dwelling upon Cortéz and Bernal Diaz, we havecrossed the plain, and been climbing the heights of Rio Frio, and nowwe begin to catch glances of the valley and of the city of Mexico--acity and valley so renowned in history and tradition, that it seemsmore like a city of the Old World than a town in the interior of thecontinent that Columbus discovered. Truly it is an old city. It was anold city before Columbus was born--an old city in a new world. It isone of the links that binds the present age to ages long past andalmost forgotten--a city where the present and the past are strangelymingled together. In its streets are "penitents, " wandering, insackcloth and sandals, with a downcast look and a rope forself-castigation, among soldiers in new French uniforms and ladies inthe latest Paris fashions. This is not the time for a favorable view ofthe valley from this point. To see it in its full glory, we must lookupon it at sunrise. 

 [16] Folsom's _Letters of Cortéz_, p. 49. 

 [17] _Bernal Diaz. _ Lockhart's translation. London, 1844. Vol. I. P. 157. 

 [18] "We buried our dead in one of the subterranean dwellings. "--_Diaz_, vol. I. P. 152. 

 [19] _Letters_, p. 61. 

 [20] _Bernal Diaz_, vol. I. P. 179. 

 [21] Vol. I. P. 144. 

 [22] _Collección de Léyes_, 1853, p. 184. 

 [23] _Lord Kingsborough_, vol. Vi. P. 265. 

 [24] _A Year in Spain, by an American. _

 [25] _Bernal Diaz_, vol. I. P. 207. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Acapulco. --The Advantages of a Western Voyage to India. --The greatannual Fair of Acapulco. --The Village and Harbor of Acapulco. --TheWar of Santa Anna and Alvarez. --The Retreat. --Traveling alone andunarmed. --The Peregrino Pass. --Quiricua and Cretinism. --Chilpanzingo. --Anill-clad Judge. --Iguala. --Alpayaca. --Cuarnavaca. 

Let us now make a journey in another direction--from Acapulco northwardto the city of Mexico--the route that the East India trade used tofollow. But, first of all, let us discourse a little time about thisport of Acapulco, once so famous upon the South Seas. It was notdiscovered when Cortéz built, in Colima, the vessels that went tosearch for a northwest passage; but when they had returned from theirfruitless search, they anchored in the mountain-girt harbor ofAcapulco. The discoveries of the celebrated navigator, Magellan, fixedthe commercial character and importance of this sea-port. He had sailedthrough the straits that bear his name, and coasted northwardly as faras the trades. From this port he bore away to the Spice Islands, discovering on the voyage the Philippine Islands, where the city ofManilla was founded. By this voyage he demonstrated that the advantagesof a route across the Pacific were so superior to a voyage around CapeHorn, as to justify the expense of a land transit from Acapulco to VeraCruz, and reshipment to Spain. Now that the Panama Railroad is made, this demonstration may prove advantageous to other nations. 

ACAPULCO. 

The practical advantage of this discovery was the establishment of theannual Manilla galleon, in which was sent out 1, 000, 000 silver dollarsto purchase Oriental products for the consumption of Spain and all herAmerican colonies. In this galleon sailed the friars that went forth tothe spiritual conquest of India. In it sailed Spanish soldiers, whofollowed hard after the priests, to add the temporal to the spiritualsubjugation of Oriental empires. To this harbor the galleon returned, freighted with the rich merchandise of China, Japan, and the SpiceIslands. When the arrival of the galleon was announced, tradershastened from every quarter of New Spain to attend the annual fair. Little vessels from down the coast came to get their share of themammoth cargo. The king's officers came to look after the royalrevenue; and caravans of mules were summoned to transport the Spanishportion of the freight to Vera Cruz. Thus, for a short time, thepopulation of this village was swollen, from 4000 to 9000, which felloff again when the galleon took her departure. 

[Illustration: ACAPULCO. ]

Such was the commercial condition of the town of Acapulco down to thetime of the independence. From this time it was lost to commerce, untilit was made a half-way house on the voyage to California. The town liesupon the narrow intervale between the hills and the harbor. It is builtof the frailest material, and is destroyed about once in ten years byan earthquake. 

The castle of San Diego stands upon the high bank, and, thoughcommanding the entrance to the harbor, is itself commanded by thesurrounding high lands, and has so often been taken by assault duringthe last thirty years as to be considered untenable. The harbor appearslike a nest scooped out of the mountains, into and out of which thetide ebbs and flows through a double channel riven by an earthquake inthe solid rock. Tradition says it once had another entrance, but thatan earthquake closed it up and opened the present channel. There isstill another opening in the sharp mountain ridge that incloses it fromthe sea, but this opening, dug by the labor of man, at a point oppositethe entrance of the harbor, was to let the cool sea-breeze in upon oneof the hottest and most unhealthy places upon the continent. Such, insubstance, is and was the little city of Acapulco, the seat and focusof the Oriental commerce of New Spain and of all the Spanish empire. 

WAR OF SANTA ANNA AND ALVAREZ. 

Santa Anna and Alvarez are the only remaining insurrectionary chiefs inMexico. When I was last in the capital, Santa Anna was reigning supremein the vice-royal palace, and Alvarez was supreme at Iztla, the capitalof the Department of Guerrero, of which Acapulco is the sea-port town. The two chiefs had been long hostile to each other, but a gold mine, discovered upon the bank of the River Mescala, was "the straw thatbroke the camel's back. " Alvarez had not been consulted in thedisposition made of it. Santa Anna felt himself powerful in hisnewly-equipped army of 23, 000 men, the finest army that had ever beenseen in Mexico--an army which he was maintaining at a daily cost of$23, 000. Alvarez was equally strong in his mountain fastnesses, in theaffections of the _Pintos_, or "Spotted People, " and, above all, in the poverty of his country. Santa Anna took the initiative bysending 2000 men to garrison Acapulco, and Alvarez committed the firstopen hostility, by closing the passes against them. Then the campaignbegan. Santa Anna traveled at the head of his grand army. During hisunobstructed march to Acapulco there occurred a great many victories, for victories are indigenous products of Mexico. The siege of thecastle of San Diego de Acapulco was the first of the long list ofunsuccessful sieges that distinguished the year 1854. The besiegersdared not risk an assault, and they had not sufficient material forconducting a regular siege. For some weeks the opposing forces remainedlooking at each other, while almost the only blood spilled was by theclouds of musquitoes that hovered over the camp of the grand army, andby the swarms of fleas that infested the castle. It might well becalled a bloody war, for few escaped without bearing the scars ofwounds and bloodletting. 

While the besieging army was itself thus almost devoured, and haddevoured all the eatables of the Pintos, symptoms of rebellion showedthemselves at Mexico, to suppress which required the presence of SantaAnna. The generals of his army thought that they also might render moreimportant services to the country in the streets of Mexico than in thisinglorious war with bloody insects! A retreat was therefore sounded, and the country of the Pintos was evacuated. Thereupon rushed forth thelittle garrison from the clutches of the devouring insects, and issueda heroic proclamation, which was enough to frighten a whole army. 

It is time to commence my itinerary across the mountains northward tothe city of Mexico. My journey was by the same mule-path that Orientalmerchants have climbed for centuries, as is shown by the vestiges ofthat strange race of which Humboldt speaks--an inter-mixture ofManillamen and Chinamen with the native race. 

My traveling companion, who had a pistol, left me and went back at thefirst _venta_, or station-house, four leagues from Acapulco. AtLemones, the second station-house, four leagues farther, I passed thenight sleeping upon a table on the veranda. This is the commonlodging-place for solitary travelers in Mexico. Here I formed my firstacquaintance with the _venta_ pig, who considers himself the peculiarfriend of the traveling public. All the advances made by my newacquaintance at this first interview were occasional tugs at theblanket during the night, and divers unsuccessful attempts to turn thetable over. At Alta, two stages farther on, the pig ensconced himselfon a mat with the children, while he gave me no farther annoyance thanan occasional visit, and thrusting of his nose into the hammock where Islept. 

It was still dark when I left Alta in order to clear the Peregrino Passand reach Tierra Colorado that day. In a few hours I gained the top ofthe pass, and sat down to take a survey of the zigzag way up which myold horse had climbed, and of the extensive region of hill and mountaincountry before me. It is difficult to believe that over this slightmule-path all the Spanish commerce of India has passed, and cargoes ofsilver dollars, amounting to hundreds of millions, during a period ofthree hundred years. Over this pass armies have continued to advanceand to retreat with one uniform result: if the army is a large one, itis starved out of the country; if it is a small one, it is destroyed. Hunger devours the large armies; the Pintos devour the little ones. Allaround was now as quiet and solitary as the grave. There were no signsto indicate that this spot had been the scene of so much life andcontention. The prospect was a delightful one, and I could have enjoyedit much longer had I not been assailed by that common enemy, that hasassailed every general and colonel that has crossed this pass--an emptystomach; so that I and my old horse did our very best to reach the fordof the Papagalla, where there was a presumptive possibility thateatables might be found. I found entertainment for beast at the ford, but no food for his rider until we reached Tierra Colorado. 

Here prevails not only that harmless cutaneous affection, the _Quiricua_, which causes people to appear spotted or painted (_Pintos_), but also_Cretinism_, the much more formidable disease so prevalent among themountains of Switzerland. 

This town is also remembered as the scene of a bloody battle. GeneralGaray, who had lost his way the day before, had here come up, and wejogged along together; but as a Mexican general and escort are adoubtful protection to an unarmed man, if there is any real danger onthe road, a prudent traveler will shake them off and travel on alone. 

We passed Buena Vista, the fine sugar estate of M. Comonfort, andAquaguisotla, and slept at Mazatlan, and the next day arrived at thefamous city of Chilpanzingo, or City of the Bravos, the centre andfocus of the insurrection in the southern provinces. Here, in thepublic square or plaza, in front of a church built by Cortéz, there wasa grand bull-fight, or rather ox-fight, in which great efforts weremade to infuse some life into a dozen stupid cattle. These efforts wereattended with very indifferent success. A deep _barranca_ extendsto the Mescala, the largest river in Southern Mexico, across which wepassed on a raft of gourds, propelled by two naked Indians, who swamacross, each holding in his right hand a corner of the raft. 

AN ILL-CLAD JUDGE. 

The next night, after dark, I arrived at a little village, and turnedinto an open caravansary. The old man of the establishment was verykind, and offered me a mat to lie on, but he had no corn for my horse. After making some inquiries that were a little unpleasant for a man whowas traveling without a passport to answer, he said he would procurefor me some corn from the alcalde. This village magistrate, who, in theabsence of the "Judge of First Instance, " is _ex officio_ a judge, was an enormous negro, over six feet in height, whose dignity was notcertainly dependent upon his official robes, for a single napkinconstituted his whole apparel. He sat upon an ox-skin, which did dutyfor the wool-sack--the very personification of the majesty of the law, with curled wig, and hide as black as the gown of the Lord ChiefJustice, with the advantage that both were natural. This was the secondnegro I had yet seen in the country. The other held a commission ascaptain in the army, and was in the escort of General Garay. 

I had a hard day's ride to reach the city of Iguala in time to witnessthe celebration of the independence, which was proclaimed here in 1821. The celebration, for the most part, consisted in eating and drinkingfrom booths placed around the central square of the town. As I hadlittle time to spare, I hurried on, and soon came to the Puente deIztla, the carriage-road, that is finished thus far southward from thecity of Mexico. 

I started early next morning upon my journey. During the greater partof the day the road led through a continuous corn-field, and towardevening we came to the pretty Indian village of Alpayuca, so neat andwell-ordered that it might have passed for one of the missionary Indianvillages of our northern Indians, were it not for the fine old Catholicchurch, which must have cost in its construction, centuries ago, fiftytimes the value of the present village, without including the cost ofthe bronze railing, brought from China in the prosperous days of theManilla Company. 

CUARNAVACA. 

Not stopping to examine the ruins of great antiquity near this place, Irode on six leagues farther, when I arrived at the venerable city ofCuarnavaca, the place selected by Cortéz as the finest spot in all NewSpain. This was bestowed upon him, at his own request, by the EmperorCharles V. As a residence. It merits to this day the distinction thathas been given to it as one of the finest spots on earth. It standsclose under the shadow of the huge mountains that shield it from thenorthern blast, and it is at the same time protected from the extremeheat of the tropics by its elevation of 3000 feet. The immense churchedifices here proclaim the munificence of Cortéz, while the garden ofLaborde, open to the world, shows with what elegant taste he squanderedhis three several fortunes accumulated in mining. The combination of afine day in a voluptuous climate, the beautiful scenery, and the happyfaces of the people celebrating New Year's day in the shade of theorange-trees, made an impression upon a traveler not easily forgotten. 

I was too near the city of Mexico to remain long here, and I rode on, up the zigzag way that leads over the mountain rim of the Valley ofMexico. I was not fortunate enough to accomplish the journey from cityto city in a single day, and, from necessity, had to pass the night atthe half-way house, upon the summit of the mountain, 10, 000 feet abovethe sea. A poor Hungarian, who had been detained here like myself, cameand laid his blankets with mine, and then we lay down, and chatteredand shivered together until the morning. Such a night as this detractssomewhat from the enjoyments of this otherwise pleasant journey; butwhen I got a morning view of the valley and city of Mexico from theCross of the "Marquis of the Valley, " the sufferings of the chillynight were soon forgotten. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

California. --Pearl Fisheries. --Missions. --IndianMarriages. --Villages. --Precious Metals. --The Conquest ofCalifornia compared with that of Mexico. --Upper Californiaunder the Spaniards. --Mexican Conquest of California in 1825. --TheMarch. --The Conquest. --California under the Mexicans. --AmericanConquest. --Sinews of foreign Wars. --A Protestant and religiousWar. --Early Settlers compared. --Mexico in the Heyday ofProsperity. --Rich Costume of the Women. --Superstitious Worship. --WhenI first saw California. --Lawyers without Laws. --A primitiveCourt. --A Territorial Judge in San Francisco. --MistakenPhilanthropy. --Mexican Side of the Picture. --Great Alms. --Cityof Mexico overwhelmed by a Water-spout. --The Superiority ofCalifornians. 

I can not enter the valley of Mexico, and there discuss the varioussubjects that present themselves, without first gathering fromCalifornia the data that will elucidate the condition of a countryabounding in precious metals. 

MEXICAN CALIFORNIA. 

There is a striking dissimilarity between the two Californias. TheAmerican State of California is as celebrated for its fertility as forits mineral wealth. Peninsular California, on the other hand, is notdistinguished for its minerals, nor remarkable for its fertility. Withthe sea washing it on either side, it is a country of drought andbarrenness. It is like a neutral ground between the two rainy seasons. To the north of it, the winter is the season of abundant rains, withdry summers. To the south of it, the summer rains are heavy andcontinuous, without any showers in winter. Thus, lying between theopposite climates, it rarely enjoys the refreshing rains of either. Itsback-bone is not a continuation of the rich Sierra Nevada, but of thecoast range, which is poor in minerals. The Mexican estimates set downthe population as amounting to 12, 000, [26] but an American, who hascarefully examined the country, going down the whole length of thepeninsula on the one side, and returning by the other, fixes it at4000. The inhabitants are an imbecile race of mixed bloods and Indians, dwelling in the few small villages which the country contains, and uponthe ranchos and haciendas. 

CALIFORNIAN PEARL-FISHERY. 

Cattle thrive where water is to be found, and many of the natives areexcellent herdsmen. Fish are abundant, but the Californians lack thenecessary energy to become successful fishermen upon a large scale. Thepearl fisheries have for centuries brought strangers to this shore ofthe Gulf, and many of the inhabitants have served as divers withsuccess. The production of pearls in the Sea of Cortéz, or Gulf ofCalifornia, has been so great during the last three centuries, thatMexico has become the greatest country for pearls yet known. Everyfemale above the rank of a peasant must have at least one pearl toornament the pin that fastens her shawl or mantilla upon the top of herhead. Most of these pearls are of small value, on account of theirimperfection in shape or color; but their abundance is one of the firstthings that strike a stranger on entering Mexico. With a change offashions, the foreign demand for pearls fell off so much that, for thelast half century, these fisheries have been almost discontinued; butwith the reviving demand for pearls, the fisheries have again risen toimportance. For a more detailed account of these pearl-fisheries, Imust refer to the following note. [27]

In the year 1600 the Jesuits first undertook the establishment of amission at Loretto, on the Gulf coast, which has ever since been thecapital of the Peninsula. From the time of their first establishmenthere down to the time of the expulsion of the Jesuits from all thedominions of Spain, in 1767, they continued to cultivate this field, though it proved more than a match for their wonted perseverance. In afew places, the soil was made to yield its increase by the skillfulapplication of the waters that sprung up among the mountains and rocks. Wherever irrigation was possible at small expense, there an oasis madeits appearance, which was in striking contrast to the generalbarrenness that prevailed. 

The manner in which conversions were effected by the Spanish priestsmay seem a little strange to the "voluntaries" of our day. The idea ofrunning down a convert with dogs may seem to be rather an originalmethod of proselyting, and has been severely commented upon by Forbes, and other Americans who have visited the Missions. But then such menshould bear in mind that Catholics are not voluntaries, and never relyupon persuasion to make converts when they have the power to use astronger argument. If this same class of missionaries used dogs toconvert the Waldenses in Italy, there is a greater reason for usingthem among the half-brutish Indians of California. With such a race, moral suasion has no force; and to adduce arguments to convince a manwhose only rule of action is the gratification of his sensualappetites, would be labor thrown away. 

The good fathers took a more sensible view of the case. Having onceobtained the consent of an Indian to receive Christian baptism, theytook good care that he should not fall back from his profession, butretained him a prisoner of the cross. They used as much mildness as iscompatible with their system, and only compelled their converts tolabor as much as was necessary to the success of the mission, the restof the time being devoted to their spiritual edification; that is, theywere employed in repeating Latin prayers and a Spanish catechism, afteran old Indian who acted as prompter. Sometimes it was necessary toallow the Indians to go abroad for a time, but then their return wasprovided for by retaining the squaws and papooses as hostages, in thesame manner as they provided for the return of the plantation bulls, byshutting up the cows and calves in the _corral_. 

The system pursued by the Jesuits, and, after their expulsion, by theDominicans, was to treat the Indians as though they were half human andthe other half bestial. Abstractly considered, this was very wrong; butit was practically the only system of treatment that gave any promiseof improving their condition. Though in many respects they were treatedas slaves, yet the missionaries had generally at heart the bestinterests of the Indians. With them it was a settled rule, that when anIndian was to be married, his kindred should be carefully inquiredafter, and that among them he was to marry, or not at all; for longexperience had taught the fathers that certain diseases, hereditaryamong them, were checked by each marrying into his own clan, while theywere aggravated by intermarriage with a stranger. 

We may sum up the whole story of the combined missionary andgovernmental efforts at colonization in Lower Peninsular California, during a period of two hundred and fifty years, by saying that theyjointly succeeded in establishing a poverty-stricken village of mudhuts, called San Josef, at Cape San Lucas, where the Manilla galleon, on its voyage to Acapulco, could procure a supply of fresh vegetablesto stay the ravages of the scurvy among its crew. They also establisheda less important village at La Paz, which, with Loretto, and diverssmall hamlets and ranches, constitutes all there is of this parchedpeninsula. 

Upper California comes to my aid in illustration of the early conditionof Mexico, for, without this assistance, many phenomena that arewitnessed in Mexico would be inexplicable. The effects of suddenwealth, the great accumulations of precious metals in few hands, thegross immoralities to which such a state of things gives rise, thealmost fabulous state of society that arises when, by delays in itsexport, the accumulations become burdensome to the possessors, are nolonger novelties in our day, and they now serve to illustrate theromance of the history of other times. 

When, in the year 1847, a party of American settlers and trappershoisted the bear-flag in Upper California, their situation wasstrikingly similar to that of Cortéz and his party. Numbers were aboutequal in each case. The Territory of California was equal to the wholeempire of Montezuma. The hunters and trappers had a more formidableenemy to contend with than Cortéz had; but they proved themselves morethan a match for all antagonists. Like Cortéz, they found numerousvillages of mud huts and a country governed by priests, but immenselysuperior in civilization and in arms to the Aztecs. 

MISSIONS IN CALIFORNIA. 

In 1776, the monks of the angelic order of San Francis had establishedmissions along the coast. Adopting in this fertile country the practiceof enforcing the labor of the Indians, the missions became vast grazingfarms, where the priest, like the patriarchs of old, was the spiritualand temporal head of the establishment, and had flocks and herdsinnumerable. Villages (_pueblos_) had been established by the aid ofthe royal government, and mud forts (_presidios_) were founded as aprotection to both mission and pueblo; and ranges (_ranchos_) forcattle were granted to individuals. 

Such was California when it submitted to the "Plan of Iguala. " It wasreported to have had 75, 000 Indians in connection with its missions, and a large white and mixed population. But, according to our custom, we must deduct two thirds from all Spanish enumerations, and estimatethe population of every class at only 25, 000 at most. 

The priests of the missions had quietly acquiesced in the usurpation ofIturbide, and acknowledged his empire; but when Santa Anna proclaimed arepublic, they were struck with horror. The idea of conferring civilrights upon Indians was monstrous. The very existence of the missionsdepended on keeping these poor creatures in servitude. And as forrepublicanism, that was incompatible with the government of the Church;and, as good Catholics and priests, they solemnly protested against it. Had these missionaries been as poor as the apostles, they probablywould not have been disturbed for their want of republicanism. Buttheir wealth proved their ruin, and the ruin of Upper California. 

The new republic was at peace, and the surplus soldiery had to be gotrid of. It was not safe to disband them at home, where they might taketo the roads and become successful robbers; but 1500 of the worst wereselected for a distant expedition--the conquest of the far-offterritory of California. And then a general was found who was in allrespects worthy of his soldiery. He was pre-eminently the greatestcoward in the Mexican army--so great a coward, that he subsequently, without striking a blow, surrendered a fort, with a garrison of 500men, unconditionally, to a party of 50 foreigners. 

MEXICAN CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA. 

Such was the great General Echandrea, the Mexican conqueror ofCalifornia; and such was the army that he led to the conquest ofunarmed priests and an unarmed province. It was a perilousexpedition--perilous, not to the soldiers, but to the villagers upontheir route. All dreaded their approach and rejoiced at theirdeparture, for their march through their own country was a continuedtriumph, if one may judge from the amount of plunder they took fromtheir friends upon the road. It was an expedition that Falstaff wouldhave rejoiced to command, and his regiment would have distinguishedthemselves in such a war. Dry and dusty were the desert plains overwhich they marched, and dry and dusty were the throats of the army, for_cigaritos_ were scarce, and _muscal_ could seldom be found. But thetoils of the long marches were relieved by frequent _fandangoes_, forthe wives that followed the expedition equaled the men in numbers andcourage. 

This long journey, and these days of perilous marching and nights ofdancing, at length came to an end by their arrival at the enemy'sfrontier--the frontier of California, which, to their joy, they foundunguarded; nor was there any found to dispute their passage or "to makethem afraid;" for, had there been fifty resolute persons to opposethem, this valiant army would have absconded, and California would haveremained an appanage of the crown of Spain. But Providence had orderedit otherwise; and this horde of vagabonds (_leperos_) came rushingon, with their wives and children, until they reached the cattle-yards(_corrals_), and then was displayed their valor and their capacityfor beef, and in the name of "God and Liberty" they gratified theirappetite for plunder. The priests, on their part, stood up manfully, and witnessed a good confession. They refused to accept this phantom ofliberty which a party of vagabonds brought to them. The conquerors, however, could afford to be magnanimous in the midst of so much goodeating, and no vengeance was inflicted upon unarmed men. But when theprefect of the missions was shipped off to Manilla, the war was at anend, for there was no means of defense, or, rather, it was changed froma war against priests to one against the cattle. 

Thus was California conquered and annexed to the United States ofMexico in the year 1825, and the laws and constitution of that republicextended over it. But it is an abuse of words to say that any lawexisted from that time onward. The confusion produced by the irruptionof this horde of vagabonds continued uninterrupted, and it involved, inone chaotic mass, law, order, and every public and private right. Thehistory of the country is inexplicable, and its public archives are amass of such gross irregularities, and show such a total disregard ofall law, that they are little better than the Sibylline leaves. 

AMERICAN CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA. 

The party that raised the "bear flag" met with no opposition. The partythat landed from the shipping, and took possession of Monterey and SanFrancisco, were alike successful. But when a small party of Americansoldiers, under General Kearney, entered the country from the west, the_rancheros_ took the alarm, and rushed forth on their fleet horses todefend their private property from spoliation, for they had no idea ofregular soldiers disconnected from robbery and cattle-stealing! TheCalifornians fought bravely, and hemmed in the little army of Americansuntil they were in a suffering condition for provisions, and until thedreaded hunters and trappers, and draughts from the shipping, routedthe herdsmen and released the beleaguered force. This is all there wasthat looked like war in the American acquisition of this most valuableterritory. 

Not only was there this similarity in respect to the inadequate meansby which Mexico and California were acquired, but there is also astriking similarity in the fact of the immediate discovery ofinexhaustible mines of precious metals, that gave importance to anotherwise comparatively insignificant conquest. Though so manycenturies apart, each produced the same effect upon the politicalaffairs of nations by suddenly furnishing the world with an abundantsupply of the precious metals. The mines of Mexico, with some smallsupplies from South America, furnished the sinews of those religiouswars that desolated Europe after the Reformation, and enabled Spain tomaintain her vast armaments in the Spanish peninsula, and in herItalian kingdoms and principalities, and in her Belgian provinces. Spain was able to subsidize the armies of the Catholic League inFrance, and the forces of the Catholic Princes of Germany, and to turnback the tide of the Protestant Reformation after it had entered Italy, overrun Navarre, and reached her own frontier. The gold of Californiaand Australia has furnished England the sinews by which she has set onfoot armies, and subsidized nations in the present crusade againstRussia. 

At the time of the Reformation, all the precious metals were pouredinto the lap of a fanatical Catholic government; now they are inProtestant hands, and all, at last, find their resting-place, eventhose of Mexico, in the London market; while out of EnglishProtestantism has our republic arisen, which is still united to her bya common language, a common religion, and commercial relations, so thatthe London market regulates the value of our stocks and the price ofthe food we eat. But our common Protestantism is not the Protestantismof the Reformation: that was the Protestantism of princes, and everywhere rested for support upon state patronage, the people, in thatepoch, having no political existence. Protestantism was then a stateinstitution, and soon lost its vitality in such an unnatural alliance. The Protestantism of our day is the Protestantism of dissent, whichrejects state support, yet has shown itself more powerful thangovernments. It has restored peace to Ireland, and made its proselytesthere by tens of thousands after the last British regiment waswithdrawn. It has rent in twain the Church of Scotland, and is fastrevolutionizing the Church of England, by driving to Rome those whoprefer superstition to democracy, while it draws the remainder of thenation to itself. In the United States it is the ruling power, thoughit has here no political authority. It has penetrated the most obscurehamlets of France and Spain, and made thousands of converts in Italyitself. And where its preachers could not penetrate, there the writtenWord has found its way. 

MEXICO TWO CENTURIES AGO. 

The letters of Cortéz show that he, like his master, was above thesuperstitions of the Spanish race; yet both, skillful diplomatists, knew well how to avail themselves of the superstitions of others. Theearly Spanish adventurers to Mexico were a good illustration of thedoctrine of total depravity, and the priests, that held them inleading-strings, were as depraved as themselves. "Like priests, likepeople. " Our first settlers in California had learned self-governmentand self-control in the school of Protestantism; and when they tookpossession of that part of the country beyond the limit of Spanishsettlements, where there were no laws and no written code, they were alaw unto themselves, and the Spanish Americans that gathered about themfound more perfect protection to life and property than they had everbefore enjoyed. The Spanish adventurers at Mexico lavished the wealthwhich they had acquired by the forced labor of the Indians in the minesupon priests and monks, who amused them with lying miracles. They alsogave money as an atonement for the criminal lives they led, and toshield themselves from the vengeance of the Inquisition, where theywere suspected of being rich. The religion of the Californians was asimple veneration for the truths of Scripture. In some it amounted todevotion, but it was devotion sanctioned by reason and theunderstanding. They all alike despised superstition and abhorreddespotism. In conclusion, I may add, that, had such a race of men as Isaw in the mountains and villages of California at an early period ofits settlement existed at the time of the conquest of Mexico, theywould have revolutionized the world. 

We have heard much of the immorality, excessive extravagance and luxuryof the cities of California; but the following picture of the state ofthe city of Mexico in the heyday of its prosperity, five years beforeit was destroyed by an inundation, is from the black-letter volume ofThomas Gage, of which I have already availed myself. 

"Almost all Mexico is now built with very fair and spacious houses, with gardens of recreation. The streets are very broad; in thenarrowest of them three coaches may go, and in the broadest of them sixmay go in the breadth of them, which makes the city seem a great dealbigger than it is. In my time it was thought to be of between thirtyand forty thousand inhabitants, Spaniards, who are so proud and rich, that half the city was judged to keep coaches; for it was a mostcredible report that in Mexico there were about 15, 000 coaches. 

"It is a by-word that at Mexico there are four things fair; that is tosay, the women, the apparel, the horses, and the streets. But to this Imay add the beauty of some of the coaches of the gentry, which doexceed in cost the best of the court of Madrid, and other parts ofChristendom, for they spare no silver, nor gold, nor precious stones, nor cloth of gold, nor the best silks from China, to enrich them; andto the gallantry of their horses the pride of some doth add the cost ofbridles and shoes of silver. The streets of Christendom must notcompare with those in breadth and cleanness, but especially in theriches of the shops which do adorn them. Above all, the goldsmith'sshops and works are to be admired. The [East] Indians, and the peopleof China, that have been made Christians, and every year come thither, have perfected the Spaniards in that trade. There is in the cloister ofthe Dominicans a lamp hanging in the Church, with three hundredbranches wrought in silver, to hold so many candles, besides a hundredlittle lamps for oil set in it, every one being made with severalworkmanship so exquisitely that it is valued to be worth four hundredthousand ducats; and with such like curious works are many streets mademore rich and beautiful from the shops of goldsmiths. 

"To the by-word touching the beauty of the women I must add the libertythey enjoy for gaming, which is such that the day and night is tooshort for them to end a _primera_ when once it is begun; nay, gaming isso common to them, that they invite gentlemen to their houses for noother end. To myself it happened that, passing along the streets incompany with a friar that came with me the year before from Spain, agentlewoman of great birth, knowing us to be new-comers, from herwindow called unto us, and, after two or three slight questionsconcerning Spain, asked us if we would come in and play with her a gameat _primera_. Both men and women are excessive in their apparel, usingmore silks than stuffs and cloth. Precious stones and pearls farthermuch this vain ostentation. A hatband and rose made of diamonds in agentleman's hat is common, and a hatband of pearls is ordinary in atradesman; nay, a blackamore, or tawney young maid and slave, will makehard shift but she will be in fashion with her neck-chain and Braceletsof pearls, and her ear-bobs of considerable jewels. 

[Illustration: MEXICAN COSTUMES. ]

"Their clothing is a petticoat of silk or cloth, with many silver orgolden laces, with a very double ribbon of some light color, with longsilver or golden tags hanging down in front the whole length of theirpetticoat to the ground, and the like behind; their waistcoats madelike bodies, with skirts, laced likewise with gold and silver, withoutsleeves, and a girdle about their waist of great price, stuck withpearls and knobs of gold. Their sleeves are broad and open at the end, of Holland or fine China linen, wrought, some with colored silks, somewith silk and gold, some with silk and silver, hanging down almost tothe ground; the locks of their heads are covered with some wroughtquoif, and over it another of net-work of silk, bound with a fair silk, or silver, or golden ribbon, which crosses the upper part of theirforeheads, and hath commonly worked out in letters some light andfoolish love posie; their bare, black, and tawney breasts, are coveredwith bobs hanging from their chains of pearls. And when they go abroad, they use a white mantle of lawn or cambric, rounded with a broad lace, which some put over their heads, the breadth reaching only to theirmiddles behind, that their girdle and ribbons may be seen, and the twoends before reaching to the ground almost; others cast their mantlesonly upon their shoulders; and swaggerers like to cast the one end overthe left shoulder, while with their right arm they support the lowerpart of it, more like roaring boys than honest civil maids. Their shoesare high and of many soles, the outside whereof of the profaner sortare plated over with a lift of silver, which is fastened with smallnails with broad silver heads. Most of these are or have been slaves, though love have set them loose at liberty to enslave souls to sin andSatan; and for the looseness of their lives, and public scandalscommitted by them and the better sort of the Spaniards, I have heardthem say often, who possessed more religion and fear of God, theyverily thought God would destroy that city, and give up the countryinto the power of some other nation. 

"And I doubt not but the flourishing of Mexico in coaches, horses, streets, women, and apparel, is very slippery, and will make thoseproud inhabitants slip and fall into the power and dominion of someother prince of this world, and hereafter, in the world to come, intothe powerful hands of an angry Judge, who is the King of kings and Lordof lords, which Paul saith (Heb. X. 31) is a fearful thing. For thiscity doth not only flourish in the ways aforesaid, but also in thesuperstitious worshiping of God and the saints they exceed Rome itself, and all other places of Christendom. And it is a thing which I havevery much and carefully observed in all my travels, both in Europe andAmerica, that in those cities wherein there is most lewd licentiousnessof life, there is also most cost in the temples, and most publicsuperstitious worship of God and the saints. "

So much for worthy Thomas Gage, and his estimate of the Mexicans of hisday. 

AMERICANS IN CALIFORNIA. 

I arrived at San Francisco in the midst of the gold excitement. Thetown was crowded with rough-looking muscular men in red shirts, slouchhats, and trowsers over which were drawn high-topped boots. A Colt'srevolver, a belt filled with gold, and an unshaven visage completed the_tout ensemble_ of a crowd who were purchasing supplies for theircompanions in the mines. They strode along, conscious that theybelonged to the Anglo-Saxon race and the aristocracy of labor. As theyturned into the temporary houses or booths which then constituted thetown, or threaded their way among the piles of merchandise thatencumbered the streets, the effeminate natives instinctively shrunkback, conscious of their own imbecility; the Spanish Americans wereoverawed by their presence; and even Sidney convicts thought it mostprofitable to turn their thoughts to honest labor. 

The miner had his vices too as well as his virtues. If you will followhim as he opens right and left a crowd that surrounds a table heapedwith lumps of gold and silver coin, you will see how carelessly hethrows down a piece of metal, looking sharply into the eye of thecunning dealer of the monté cards. If he detects a false move, he cockshis weapon, and draws the gold back into his bag and strides away. 

Such were the men who knew no fear, and dreaded no labor or fatigue, and who have made California in five short years a state more powerfulthan the Republic of Mexico. 

In an interior town I was called to practice as an attorney. My firstclient was the driver of an ox-team, who was suing for extra servicesin addition to his regular wages of five hundred dollars a month andboard (Doe _vs. _ Pickett). My office was a space of four feet by six, partitioned off by two cotton sheets, in the corner of a canvas store. The ground was for a while the floor; yet I paid in advance the monthlyrent of two ounces of gold, and never had occasion to regret theoutlay. The heavy winter rains at length compelled my landlord to lay afloor of rough boards, which cost him seven hundred dollars for athousand feet. 

Before the establishment of the state government, there was a judiciarycreated by an autocratical edict of General Riley; and a pamphlet, extracted and translated from the Mexican Constitutional laws of 1836, constituted the _Corpus Juris Civilis_ of the Territory of California. The remainder of the law was made up of the judge's ideas of equity, and of the law he had read before leaving home. Inartificial and rudeas was this system, still it was wonderfully efficient; and it was wellfor the people of California that it was so, for an unparalleledimmigration had brought with it an unparalleled amount of litigation. 

With the daily occurring causes of litigation, crowds assembled at theschool-house on the Plaza, where from morning to night sat a judgedispensing off-hand justice. In front of him sat three or four clerksconducting the business. The crowds of lawyers, litigants, andwitnesses that surrounded the court were not idle spectators, butrepresented the ordinary accumulation of business for the day, whichwas to be disposed of before the adjournment of the court. Speedyjustice was more desirable than exact justice, where labor was valuedat a gold ounce a day; and none were more desirous of speed than thelawyers, whose prospects of compensation depended much upon thepromptitude with which judgment was rendered. 

The moving spirit of the whole scene, Judge A----, watched from behindthe desk all that was said or done, seldom withdrawing his attentionunless to administer an oath for the consideration of one dollar, or tosign an order for the consideration of two dollars. Sometimes he wouldchange his position; but, whether warming his uncovered feet at thefire-place, or drawing on his boots, or replenishing his stock oftobacco, there was the same unalterable attention on his part. As soonas he comprehended a case, his authoritative voice was heard, closingthe discussion, and dictating to a clerk the exact number of dollarsand cents for which he should enter up a judgment. And then another, and another case was called up, and submitted to this summary process, until about nine o'clock at night, when the day's work terminated. Allorders asked for by a responsible attorney were granted _ex parte_, thejudge remarking that if the order was not a proper one, the other partywould soon appear, and then he could ascertain the real merits of thecase. The grand feature of this court was the facility with which aninjunction could be obtained, and the rapidity with which it could beset aside. 

CALIFORNIAN COURTS. 

Crime was almost unknown until we got a state government and a code oflaws, which, with misplaced philanthropy, had made the legal practiceso easy upon criminals that a conviction was next to impossible. Thenit was that crime stalked abroad in the face of day, and Sidneyconvicts plied their trade in San Francisco after it had become a city. Shops were entered and robbed in business hours; and by night, men weremurdered in the streets; and thefts escaped punishment. Then it wasthat men, caught in the commission of crime, were hanged in the openstreets, and combinations were formed for self-defense. But when a newLegislature gave efficiency to the laws, the community yielded awilling obedience to the magistrate. From an early day there had been"miners' courts, " which, with their alcaldes, had conciliateddifferences. But when magistrates were elected, these courtsdisappeared. This was a change from bad to worse, for no condition isso deplorable as that of a people whose magistracy are powerless. 

Such is a fair picture of California in its worst estate, when theworst and the best of all nations were there congregated, and kept insubjection by the law-abiding spirit of an Anglo-Saxon immigration--astate of society in the first year of its existence, yet infinitelysuperior to that existing in the city of Mexico a hundred years afterthe discovery of the mines of Haxal and Pachuca. But we may completethe contrast by adding the more deplorable part of the picture whichFriar Thomas Gage has drawn. 

"It seems, " says he, "that religion teaches that all wickedness isallowable, so that the churches and clergy flourish. Nay, while thepurse is open to lasciviousness, if it be likewise open to enrich thetemple walls and roofs, this is better than any holy water, or water towash away the filth of the other. Rome is held to be the head ofsuperstition; and what stately churches, chapels, and cloisters are init! What fastings, what processions, what appearances of devotion! And, on the other side, what liberty, what profaneness, what whoredoms, nay, what sins of Sodom are committed in it, insomuch that it could be thesaying of a friar to myself, while I was in it, that he verily thoughtthere was no one city in the world wherein were more Atheists than inRome. I might show this much in Madrid, Seville, Valladolid, and otherfamous cities in Spain and in Italy; in Milan, Genoa, and Naples;relating many instances of scandals committed in those places, and yetthe temples are mightily enriched by those who have thought their almsa sufficient warrant to free them from hell and purgatory. But I mustreturn to Mexico, which furnishes a thousand witnesses of thistruth--sin and wickedness abounding in it--and yet no such people inthe world toward the Church and clergy. In their lifetime they striveto excel one another in their gifts to the cloisters of nuns andfriars, some erecting altars to their best-devoted saints, worth manythousand ducats, others presenting crowns of gold to the pictures ofMary, others lamps, others golden chains, others building cloisters attheir own charge, others repairing them, others, at their death, leaving to them two or three thousand ducats for an annual stipend. 

MEXICO TWO CENTURIES AGO. 

"Among these great benefactors to the churches of that city, I shouldwrong my history if I should forget one that lived in my time, calledAlonzo Cuellar, who was reported to have a closet in his house laidwith bars of gold instead of brick; though indeed it was not so, butonly reported for his abundant riches and store of bars of gold, whichhe had in one chest, standing in a closet distant from another, wherehe had a chest full of wedges of silver. This man alone built a nunneryfor Franciscan nuns, which stood him in above 30, 000 ducats, and leftunto it, for the maintenance of the nuns, 2000 ducats yearly, withobligation of some masses to be said in the church every year for hissoul after his decease. And yet this man's life was so scandalous, thatcommonly, in the night, with two servants, he would go round the cityvisiting such scandalous persons, whose attire before hath beendescribed, carrying his beads in his hands, and at every house lettingfall a bead, and tying a false knot, that when he came home in themorning, toward break of the day, he might number by his beads theuncivil stations he had walked and visited that night. 

"Great alms and liberality toward religious houses in that citycommonly are coupled with great and scandalous wickedness. They wallowin the bed of riches and wealth, and make their alms the coverlet tocover their loose and lascivious lives. From hence are the churches sofairly built and adorned. There are not above fifty churches andchapels, cloisters and nunneries, and parish churches in the city; butthose that are there are the fairest that ever my eyes beheld, theroofs and beams being, in many of them, all daubed with gold, and manyaltars with sundry marble pillars, and others with Brazil-wood staysstanding one above another, with tabernacles for several saints, richlywrought with golden colors, so that twenty thousand ducats is a commonprice of many of them. These cause admiration in the common sort ofpeople, and admiration brings on daily adoration in them to thoseglorious spectacles and images of saints; so Satan shows Christ all theglory of the kingdoms to entice him to admiration, and then he said, '_All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worshipme_' (Matthew, iv. 8, 9). The devil will give all the world to beadored. 

"Besides these beautiful buildings, the inward riches belonging to thealtars are infinite in price and value, such as copes, canopies, hangings, altar-cloths, candlesticks, jewels belonging to the saints, and crowns of gold and silver, and tabernacles of gold and crystal tocarry about their sacrament [the Saviour of the world in the form of awafer] in procession, all of which would mount to the worth of areasonable mine of silver, and would be a rich prey for any nation thatcould make better use of wealth and riches. I will not speak much ofthe lives of the friars and nuns of this city, but only that they thereenjoy more liberty than in Europe--where they have too much--and thatsurely the scandals committed by them do cry up to Heaven forvengeance, judgment, destruction. 

"It is ordinary for the friars to visit their devoted nuns, and tospend whole days with them, hearing their music, feeding on theirsweetmeats; and for this purpose they have many chambers, which theycall _loquatories_, to talk in, with wooden bars between the nuns andthem; and in these chambers are tables for the friars to dine at, andwhile they dine the nuns recreate them with their voices. Gentlemen andcitizens give their daughters to be brought up in these nunneries, where they are taught to make all sorts of conserves and preserves, allsorts of music, which is so exquisite in that city that I dare be boldto say that the people are drawn to churches more for the delight ofthe music than for any delight in the service of God. More, they teachthese young children to act like players; and, to entice the people tothe churches, they make these children act short dialogues in theirchoirs, richly attiring them with men and women's apparel, especiallyupon Midsummer's day and the eight days before their Christmas, whichis so gallantly performed that many factious strifes and single combatshave been, and some were in my time, for defending which of thesenunneries most excelled in music and in the training up of children. "

Such is a picture drawn by a candid writer of one of the most devoutCatholic cities in the world, where licentiousness and papacy went handin hand until they reached that extreme point of corruption, that, asin the case of Sodom, God overthrew the city by a judgment from heaven;not by fire and brimstone, but by a water-spout, which, in the space ofthe five years that it lay upon the town three feet deep, loosened thefoundations of all buildings and impoverished the inhabitants. And whenat length the earth opened and swallowed up these waters, the city hadto be rebuilt. The misery and distress that this flood inflicted uponthe lower orders of the inhabitants was great in the extreme. 

It was on Sunday morning that the cause of the moral superiority of theAmerican miners over those of Mexico was visible. Then the noise andbustle about my residence was hushed. The most immoral seemed to beoverawed by a sense of respect for the religious opinions of others;and when the sound of a ship-bell, hung on the limb of a tree, washeard, all except the baser sort repaired to the shade of an oak, solarge and venerable that it might have shielded the whole household ofAbraham while engaged in family worship. A portable seraphine gaveforth a familiar tune, in which all joined in singing with a zest whichis only realized by those whom it carries back in recollection todistant home. Then the voice of the preacher was heard invoking theblessing of God upon the assembled worshipers, and his pardon of theiroffenses; and then followed his exhortation to seek from God the pardonof their many sins; and as he, with heartfelt earnestness, "reasoned ofrighteousness, temperance, and a judgment to come, " many astern-visaged miner trembled for his condition, and went away a betterand a more honest man--ten thousand times more improved than if he hadpresented a crown of gold to the Virgin Mary. 

We are now prepared to enter the valley of Mexico, and examine theobjects that there present themselves. 

 [26] _Collección de Léyes_, p. 180. 

 [27] "The whole Pacific coast produces pearls, but the most extensive pearl-fisheries, at the present time, are in the Gulf of California, where, among an inexhaustible supply of little pearls, there are produced some of the very finest quality. The pearls of the Countess de Regla, those of the Marquesa de Gudalupe, and Madame Velasco, are from these fisheries, and are remarkable for their great size and value. The great pearl presented to General Victoria, while he was President, was from the same locality. " (WARD, vol. Ii. P. 293. )

 "The pearls of this gulf are considered of excellent water, but their rather irregular figure somewhat reduces their value. The manner of obtaining pearls is not without interest. The vessels employed in the fisheries are from fifteen to thirty tons burden. They are usually fitted out by private individuals. The armador or owner commands them. Crews are shipped to work them, and from forty to fifty Indians, called Busos, to dive for the oyster. A stock of provisions and spirits, a small sum of money to advance the people during the cruise, a limited supply of calaboose furniture, a sufficient number of hammocks to sleep in, and a quantity of ballast, constitute nearly all the cargo outward bound. 

 "Thus arranged, they sail into the Gulf; and, having arrived at the oyster banks, cast anchor and commence business. The divers are first called to duty. They plunge to the bottom in four or five fathom water, dig up with sharpened sticks as many oysters as they are able, rise to the surface, and deposit them in sacks hung to receive them at the vessel's side. And thus they continue to do till the sacks are filled, or the hours allotted to this part of the labor are ended. 

 "When the diving of the day is done, all come on board and place themselves in a circle around the armador, who divides what they have obtained in the following manner: two oysters for himself, the same number for the Busos, or divers, and one for the government. This division having been concluded, they next proceed, without moving from their places, to open the oysters which have fallen to the lot of the armador. During this operation, that dignitary has to watch the Busos with the greatest scrutiny, to prevent them from swallowing the pearls with the oysters, a trick which they perform with so much dexterity as to almost defy detection, and by means of which they often manage to secrete the most valuable pearls. 

 "The government portion is next opened with the same precautions, and taken into possession by the armador. And, last of all, the Busos open theirs, and sell them to the armador in liquidation of debts incurred for their outfits, or of moneys advanced during the voyage. They usually reserve a few to sell to dealers on shore, who always accompany these expeditions with spirituous liquors, chocolate, sugar, cigars, and other articles of which Indian divers are especially fond. Since the Mexicans obtained their independence, another mode of division has been adopted. Every time the Busos come up, the largest oyster which he has obtained is taken by the armador, and laid aside for the use of the Virgin Mary. The rest are thrown in a pile; and, when the day's diving is ended, eight oysters are laid out for the armador, eight for the Busos, and two for the government. 

 "In the year 1831, one vessel with seventy Busos, another with fifty, and two with thirty each, and two boats with ten each, from the coast of Sonora, engaged in this fishery. The one brought in forty ounces of pearls, valued at $6500; another, twenty-one ounces, valued at $3000; another, twelve ounces, valued at $2000, and the two boats a proportionate quantity. There were, in the same season, ten or twelve other vessels, from other parts, employed in the same trade, which, if equally successful, swelled the value of pearls taken in that year to the sum of more than forty thousand dollars. "--FARNHAM'S _Scenes in the Pacific_, p. 307. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

First Sight of the Valley of Mexico. --A Venice in a mountainValley. --An Emperor waiting his Murderers. --Cortéz mowing downunarmed Indians. --A new kind of Piety. --Capture of anEmperor. --Torturing an Emperor to Death. --The Children payingthe Penalty of their Fathers' Crimes. --The Aztecs and otherIndians. --The Difference is in the Historians. --The Superstitionsof the Indians. --The Valley of Mexico. --An American Survey of theValley. --A topographical View. --The Ponds Chalco, Xochimulco, andTezcuco were never Lakes. 

My first view of the Valley of Mexico was from the point where theAcapulco road passes the Cross of the "Marquis of the Valley. " I hadread with eagerness the History of the Conquest, and of the adventuresof the noble _Conquistador_. Not a shadow of a doubt had then crossedmy mind in regard to the truth of all that had been so elegantlywritten. Beautiful composition had supplied the place of evidence, andthat practice of writing romances of history which the Spaniards hadinherited from the Moors had completely captivated me, as it hadthousands of others. The aspect of the valley was all that my fancy hadpainted it. The sun was in the right quarter to produce the greatestpossible effect. The unnumbered pools of surface-water that abound inthe valley appeared at that distance like so many lakelets supplied bycrystal fountains, as each one reflected the bright sun from itsmirror-like surface; these all were inclosed in the richest setting ofnature's green. 

It was such a scene as would justify the extravagant language whichSpaniards have employed in describing it. While I recalled itstraditional history, I was tempted to exclaim as a native would havedone, and to give credence to the fables of which this valley has beenthe scene. Here, as the story ran, amid floating gardens of rarestflowers and richest fruits, lay, in olden time, another Venice--aVenice in an inland mountain valley--a Venice upon whose Rialto neverwalked a Shylock with his money-bags; for in this market-place the mostdelicious fruits the world produces, the loveliest flowers, rich stuffsresplendent with Tyrian dyes, and princely mantles of feather-work, were bought with pretty shells, and such money as the sea produces. Itwas a Venice with its street of waters and its central basin, wherejostled the gondolas of the Aztec nobles and the light canoes of birchbark among the vessels of commerce which came laden with slaves andother merchandise from the surrounding villages--a basin thatdisappeared the same day that the Indian empire fell. 

GUATEMOZIN. 

This basin was the last vestige of Aztec dominion; and when there nolonger was any safe shelter upon the land, Guatemozin retired to hiscanoe and took shelter here, and calmly waited till his time shouldcome to be murdered. He could not flee. He could not capitulate, for hewas an emperor. As he sat here waiting for death, what must have beenhis reflections! What thoughts did not the very boat he occupied callup! How often had it carried him out upon the lake to the floatinggardens and volcanic islands, where he had witnessed so many times thegorgeous reflections of an evening sun upon the snow-cappedPopocatapetl, in whose bowels "the god of fire" had his dwelling! Andthen the lake itself, how much it had perplexed his thoughts, that inone part its waters should be fresh, with islands teeming with therichest vegetation, and in another part salt and bitter, with utterbarrenness resting upon its shores! How he used to meet his brother ofTezcuco in the after part of the day, to exchange congratulations andtalk over affairs of interest to both the royal families! Now all thesepleasures were terminated forever. His brother of Tezcuco was in theranks of his enemies, seeking his destruction. 

Thus sat the emperor, surrounded by a numerous fleet of canoes, whoseoccupants were without hope of escape or strength to fight; but, withIndian stoicism, all sat waiting their inevitable doom from freebooterswhom they had disappointed of their prey. As the emperor and his noblessat here witnessing the destruction of their pumice-stone palaces andmud-built huts, and the filling up of their canals, they consoledthemselves with the reflection that their gold and their wealth wereall at the bottom of these canals, and that the Spaniards, in their hothaste to enjoy the spoils of the city, were unwittingly burying foreverthe prize for which they were contending. Such were the thoughts ofthese Aztecs as they sat in their canoes, longing for death to relievethem from agony of suspense, enduring all the torments of the extremestthirst, which they vainly sought to quench by draughts of the brackishwater of the lake. They had not long to wait; for, by the expresscommands of Cortéz, his followers were mowing down unresistingcitizens, because the emperor, over whom they had no control, would notsurrender himself. 

Who can stand for the first time upon the mountain rim that inclosesthis valley, and not have his thoughts carried back to some such sceneas this? The recollection is not easily eradicated that the remnant ofa once powerful tribe of Indians, partially emerged from barbarism, here received their death, in cold blood, at the hands of a party ofwhite murderers. The good Archbishop Loranzana commends the piety ofCortéz in never neglecting to attend mass before going out to his dailywork of slaughter. It was a pious act, no doubt, that on the lastmorning of the siege he stopped and listened to a mass--that pantomimewhich set forth the death of the Redeemer of the world--preparatory toconsummating the butchery of Indians incapable of resistance. 

Garci Holguin, the master of a brigantine, or rather flat-boat, bolderthan the rest, drove through the fleet of canoes that occupied thebasin, until he encountered in the centre a canoe containing the personof the emperor, whom he made prisoner and brought to Cortéz, whereuponthe slaughter ceased. 

Neither the horrid sight which the city presented, nor the fallenfortunes of a brave enemy, could move the soul of Cortéz. A brigandknows no remorse and feels no pity. Gold had been the object of hispious mission, and when he found not gold enough to satisfy thecravings of his gang, he soaked the fallen emperor's feet in oil, andthen burned them at a slow fire, to extort from him a confession of theplace of concealment of his supposed treasure; and when, in afteryears, he was tired of the burden of such a prisoner, he wantonlyhanged him up by the heels to die in a distant forest. 

In this very city where Cortéz tortured Guatemozin was a son of Cortéz, who inherited the spoils of his father's atrocities, put to the tortureby one of the Vice-kings, while the children's children of theConquistadors paid for the wealth they inherited in the terriblepenalties inflicted upon them by the buccaneers, that ravaged theircoasts for two hundred years. Have not the sins of the fathers beenvisited upon the children?

The Aztecs, their empire, and their city, have long since disappeared;their crimes, and the despotism which they exercised over the tribesthey had conquered, are all forgotten in the terrible catastrophe thatextinguished their national existence. Three hundred years of servitudein the indiscriminate mass of Indian serfs has blotted out everyfeeling of nationality. A few vagabonds among them still claim royaldescent, and, by virtue of their blood or their imposture, pretend toexercise, in obscure villages, an undefined jurisdiction over Indiansas oppressed as themselves. But the characteristics of the NorthAmerican Indians are still visible; they still exhibit thecontradictory traits of Indian character--cruelty and kindness, shynessand self-possession; enduring the greatest trials without a murmur, andsuffering oppression without complaint; delighting as much as theirnorthern brethren in tawdry exhibitions, in traditions of themarvelous, they seem to carry hidden in their inmost soul an idea thatthe time will come when they may take vengeance of the despoilers oftheir race. They have the Indian's love of adventure and want ofcourage. They delight rather in a successful stratagem than in openhostility, and deem no act of treachery dishonorable by which they cangain an advantage. Still, they have less romance in their compositionthan the unenslaved northern Indians, into whose souls the iron ofdespotism has never entered. 

THE AZTECS AND THEIR HISTORIANS. 

The great difference between what is recorded of the North AmericanIndian and the Aztec is owing less to any difference in themselves thanto the character of the historians who have written of them. Thenorthern writers were not carried away by the romance of Indian life;they were matter-of-fact men, and they drew only matter-of-factpictures. Spanish historians, and all early Spanish writers upon NewSpain, except the two brigands, Cortéz and Diaz, were priests. Withthem, truth was not an essential part of history. By the law of allcountries, the Conquistadors had outlawed themselves by levyingunlicensed war; but as they bore a painting of the Virgin Mary on oneof their standards and the cross on the other, it would be impiety toplace their conduct in its true light. Las Casas was an exception, andendured persecution for speaking the truth. "He had powerful enemies, "was all that his apologist dare say, "because he spake the truth. " Andif we add to this the sevenfold censorship already described, my readerwill agree with me that it is absurd to place confidence in recordsover which the Inquisition exercised a surveillance. 

The fabled Aztec empire has almost passed from the traditions of theMexican Indians. The name of only one of their chiefs, Montezuma, remains among them, and this name is affixed to almost every thing thathas an ancient look and is in a dilapidated condition. In my wanderingsamong them, I never rejected their proffers of rude hospitality, and Ihave listened with pleasure to their wild traditions. I soon foundthat, like other Indians, they draw from a supernatural "dream-world"the fortitude that enables them to bear without a murmur their hard lotin the present. They readily embraced the superstitions of theSpaniards, and rendered to the virgin of Guadalupe the adoration theyhad formerly bestowed upon their own gods. Their conversion may besummed up in the words of Humboldt: "Dogma has not succeeded to dogma, but ceremony to ceremony. The natives know nothing of religion but theexternal forms of worship. Fond of whatever is connected with aprescribed order of ceremonies, they find in the Christian religionparticular enjoyment. The festivals of the Church, the fire-works withwhich they are accompanied, the processions mingled with whimsicaldisguises, are a most fertile source of amusement to the lower Indians. "

THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 

There has been a great deal of poetry and very little plain prosewritten about the valley of Mexico. At an early morning hour I stoodupon the heights of Rio Frio; at another morning, as already said, atthe Cross of the Marquis; again, upon the highest peak of the Tepeyaca, behind Guadalupe, I saw a tropical morning sun disengage itself fromthe snowy mountains. From these three favored spots I have looked uponthe valley, where dry land and pools of water seemed equally to composethe magnificent panorama. Immense mirrors of every conceivable shapeand form were reflecting back the rays of the sun, while the greenshores in which they were set enhanced the effect. The white walls, anddomes, and spires of the distant city heightened the effect of apicture that can only be fully appreciated by those who have lookeddownward through the pure atmosphere of such a lofty position; but whenI came down to the common level, the charm was broken. Instead oflakelets and crystal springs, I found only pools of surface-water whichthe rains had left; and the canals were but the ditches from which, oneither side, the dirt had been taken to build the causeway through themarsh, and were now covered with a coat of green. These lakes have nooutlet, and as evaporation only takes up pure water, all the animal, vegetable, and mineral matter that is carried in is left to stagnateand putrefy in the ponds and ditches. 

A practical "man of the times, " with more common sense than poetry inhis composition, must grieve as he looks at the great advantages herepossessed for drainage and irrigation which are unimproved. There isnot a spot in the whole valley that is not capable of the most perfectdrainage, [28] while basins have been formed by nature in the highestpoints, from which irrigation could be supplied to the whole valley;but decay and neglect--fitting types of the social condition of thepeople--every where exhibit themselves. Water stands in all the narrowcanals or ditches that occupy the middle of the streets, for the wantsimply of a sewer to draw it down to the level of the Tezcuco. Once ayear the flags are taken off from the covered ditches, and the mud isdipped out, while a bundle of hay, tied to the tail of a dirt-cart, isdaily dragged through the open ones. 

I have spoken only of the lower division of this valley--the valley inwhich the city stands. If we consider the two partly separated valleysas one, the whole will constitute an oval basin 75 miles long fromnorth to south, with an average width from east to west of 20 miles. Two thirds of the southern valley is a marsh, and might well be calledthe "Montezuma Marsh, " it so strikingly resembles the marsh of thatname in the State of New York, though the whole body of ponds andmarshes of this valley contains much less water than its northernnamesake. The stage-road from Vera Cruz crosses this marsh for fourteenmiles, and has a great number of small stone bridges, beneath which thewater runs with considerable current toward the north, on account ofthe difference of level between the southern fresh-water ponds and thelower salt-water ponds, as in the days of Cortéz. There are occasionaldry spots, and now and then there is open water; but the greaterportion is filled with marsh grass, and furnishes good feeding for thedroves of cattle that daily frequent it for that purpose. The ancientvillage of Mexicalzingo, or "Little Mexico, " the traditional home ofthe Aztecs before they built Mexico, is situated on one of the dryspots, slightly elevated above the level of the fresh water; and onanother dry spot or island, six miles distant, stands the famous cityof Mexico itself, resting on piles driven into a foundation of softearth. The canal of Chalco commences at the northerly extremity of theXochimulco, and, passing by Mexicalzingo and the floating gardens, continues along the eastern front of the city, and empties itself intothe salt (_tequisquite_) pond of Tezcuco, having received as atributary the canal of Tacubaya, which passes along the southernboundary of the city. 

THE LAKES OF THE VALLEY. 

The highest water of the valley of the city of Mexico is the pond ofChalco, in the extreme southeast, being 4-8/12 feet above the level ofthe Grand Plaza of the city, and 20 miles distant therefrom, and11-2/12 feet above Tezcuco;[29] but its volume being small for the last400 years, the slight impediments of long grass and a few Indian dikeshave prevented any injury to the city by a too rapid flow to thenorthward. Xochimulco is the pond, or open space in the marsh, thatextends from the Chalco to near Mexicalzingo. Tezcuco is the lowestwater in the valley, being 6-1/2 feet below the Grand Plaza of thecity. [30] It receives the surplus of the waters that have not alreadybeen evaporated in the other ponds. At this great elevation, 7500 feet, evaporation does its work rapidly all over the valley, but it is inTezcuco that the residuum of the waters is deposited. 

 [28] Report of M. L. Smith, Lieutenant of Topographical Engineers, United States Army. 

 [29] Lieut. Smith's Report. 

 [30] Ibid. 

CHAPTER XV. 

The two Valleys. --The Lake with a leaky Bottom. --The Water could nothave been higher. --Nor could the Lagunas or Ponds have been muchdeeper. --The Brigantines only flat-bottomed Boats. --The CausewayCanals fix the size of the Brigantines. --The Street Canals. --StagnantWater unfit for Canals. --The probable Dimensions of the CityCanals. --Difficulties of disproving a Fiction. --A Dike or Levee. --TheCanal of Huehuetoca. --The Map of Cortéz. --Wise Provision ofProvidence. --The Fiction about the numerous Cities in and about theLake. 

It may be well here to repeat that, strictly speaking, there are twovalleys of Mexico--the upper northern valley, and the valley of thecity of Mexico; the first extends in an oval form to the north of thehills of Tepeyaca, some sixty miles, and communicates with the plainsof Otumba and Apam. In this valley are the two ponds, or _lagunas_, ofZumpango and San Cristobal, the highest waters of Mexico; and in italso is the half of the Tezcuco, which is the lowest laguna of thevalleys. It is a country of fine farming lands, and was probablyinhabited long before the time of the arrival of the Aztecs in thelower valley, as I infer from its proximity to the extensive ruins ofTeotihuican, that have come down from a remote and highly-civilizedantiquity. 

THE ANCIENT LAKES. 

The valley of the city of Mexico, which lies to the south of thesehills, is also of an oval shape, but is not more than twenty miles inextent. The surface-water with which it is saturated is in part fresh, and in other parts _tequisquite_; that is, where the waters have acurrent, they are fresh; but where they remain from year to yeardischarging their volume only by evaporation, then they become infusedwith the saline properties of the soil, [31] and all about them is markedwith barrenness. If the process of evaporation was less intense than itis, [32] all vegetation would die from the extreme humidity of the soil;as the gardener's phrase is, it would rot. Even in the city of Mexicoitself, a couple of feet of digging in its alluvial foundation bringsyou to the water-level in the dry season, and seventy or eighty yardsof boring does not carry you beyond the perceptible influence of_tequisquite_. [33] The effects of this law of evaporation puzzled theAztecs, who were, of course, ignorant of all philosophical principles, and could only account for the disappearance of the immense mass ofwater that fell in the valley in the wet season, upon the hypothesisthat the Tezcuco had a leaky bottom, or that there was a hole in thelake--an idea that thousands in Mexico credit to the present day. Thiswas the origin of that absurd story which Cortéz repeats in hisletters, that this lake communicated with the sea, and had its dailytides. 

There could not have been a much greater volume of water in this marshyvalley in the time of Cortéz than at present, if the wholeaccumulations of each year were to be carried off by evaporation alonefrom so small a surface as is here presented for the sun to act upon. But as the volume of water is the turning-point in the history or fableof the conquest, I must adduce the proofs and arguments that are athand to establish this statement. The level of the water could not havebeen higher, it is clear, for in that case neither Mexico, Mexicalzingo, or Iztapalapan could have been inhabited. 

Cortéz's account of deep waters has often been made plausible by addingthe hypothesis that the accumulating mud of centuries has filled up thelakes, so that they now are only shallow ponds. But this by no meansremoves the difficulty, for then, as now, the waters of the southernlaguna flowed into Tezcuco, conveying with them the infinitesimalinfusion of _tequisquite_ that had instilled itself into the Chalco. Had the volume of Chalco and Xochimulco been increased several feet, then the slight Indian barriers and the long grass would no longer havebeen able to retard the progress of the water till evaporation haddiminished its quantity, but, precipitating itself in a mass into theTezcuco, it would have overwhelmed the town of Tezcuco and all othervillages upon the shores, and established an equilibrium of surface inthe two ponds. 

All the lagunas, canals, and ditches that have been described arenavigated by small scows that draw but a few inches of water, which arethe medium of an extensive internal commerce. Through the lagunas andcanal of Chalco come from Cuatla all the supplies of the products ofthe hot country for the city and surrounding region. This commerceexceeds the whole foreign trade of the republic. [34] This kind of boatwas probably introduced by Cortéz, and in this convenient form histhirteen brigantines were probably made; for, had his brigantines beenof a larger draught of water, they could not have navigated canalsintended only for Indian canoes. One of these vessels, when suppliedwith a sail, a cannon, and a movable keel or side-board, would be aformidable auxiliary in an assault upon the city at the present day. And if one such scow was placed in the ditch on each side of thesouthern causeway, as Cortéz alleges, it would enable an assailingenemy to present just so much more front as the additional width of twoboats would give him. 

THE CAUSEWAYS AND CANALS. 

Writers have expressed their surprise at the existence of two navigablecanals to each causeway, one on either side, as an immense expenditureof unnecessary labor. The explanation of this is found in the fact thatin the construction of a pathway (for Cortéz says that it was only 30feet in width) through wet and marshy ground, a broad ditch isordinarily made on either side to obtain earth for the embankment, andto keep the water-level permanently below the top of the pathway. So itis, and so it must always have been at Mexico, in order to keep thesefoot-paths in traveling condition. In the dry season, which is thewinter, these broad ditches are covered with floating islands of green"scum;" but in the rainy season, which is the summer, they may benavigated by the shallow Mexican scows. A pathway of earth thirty feetin width could not endure the winds and waves of a navigable lake, orthe wear and "swash" of a canal twelve feet deep on either side; andthe fact that Cortéz navigated the ditches in the rainy seasonestablishes the insignificant size of his famous brigantines. 

As the level of the surface of the land and the surface of the water atMexicalzingo, at Mexico, and at the village Tezcuco, does notmaterially vary now from what it was in the time of Cortéz, if we cantake for data the foundations of the church built by the Conquistadorsat these several places, we shall have to look to another quarter for asupply of water for the city canals, which were sufficiently capaciousfor canoe navigation. This supply we readily obtain by allowing thewaters of the canals Tacubaya and Chalco to pass through the streets ofthe city in ditches sufficiently large for canoes, instead of passingalong the south and east fronts outside. By this hypothesis we obtain acurrent, a prerequisite to the very idea of a canal, particularly inthe streets of a city. 

The _savans_ of Europe have shown their profound ignorance of the firstprinciples of canal navigation in taking it for granted that the canalsof Mexico were filled with stagnant water, that had "set back" from thestagnant pond of Tezcuco; and that the level of the pond must at alltimes have been so high as to fill the canals, thus keeping the city inconstant danger from any sudden rise in the laguna. But, aside from therules of canal construction, there is an important sanitary questioninvolved. The present ditches in the middle of the streets, though theyhave a perceptible current, and a slight infusion of _tequisquite_, are an intolerable nuisance, and have a deleterious effect upon thepublic health. How much more so must they have been when, from theuncleanly habits of the Indians, they were the common receptacle of allkinds of filth, and were constantly stirred up to their very bottoms bythe setting-poles of the navigators? The system of canalling is asystem of slack-water navigation, but abhors stagnant water. 

We come next to the question of the dimensions of these street canals. We know that they were intended only for the navigation of Indiancanoes; that two of them, which intersected the causeway of the nightretreat, Cortéz crossed with his army, all of them climbing down intothe canal, wading across, and then climbing up on the other side whileloaded with their armor, and fighting all the time against a superiorforce of the Aztecs; and that Alvarado actually leaped across one ofthe openings, shows conclusively that the canals could not have morethan equaled in breadth the present canal of Chalco. On the hypothesisthat Cortéz used scows that drew no more water than the scows that atpresent navigate the canals, his story becomes credible, so far, atleast, as the possibility of making the circuit of the city in largeboats in a season of rains. 

TRUTH AGAINST FICTION. 

It is an ungracious task to sift truth from fables. One man isdispleased at seeing held up as a fiction a narrative which he has beenaccustomed to read with pleasure, and to take for truth, because it waselegantly written; and he requires an accumulation of proofs andarguments before he will abandon a belief which he has adopted withoutevidence. Another man, who deals only in matters of fact, is easilyconvinced, and is annoyed at an accumulation of proofs and argumentswhere one is sufficient. The superstitious man can not, of course, beconvinced, for his belief does not rest upon evidence; and he isindignant that an attempt should be made to detract from the gloryobtained by the Virgin Mary and the Church in this victory over theinfidels. Had I attempted to prove that the feather which is nowpreserved with so much care in the Church of _San Juan de Lateran_ atRome did not fall from the wing of the angel Gabriel when he came toannounce to Mary her conception, and that the whole history of thatfeather was a fable, notwithstanding it has received the attestationsof so many of the Holy Fathers, I should be cursed for my impiety nomore than I shall be for raising the question of the authenticity ofthe histories of the Conquest. With all these difficulties before me, Iwill venture to add one or two more reasons that have induced me todoubt the existence of those famous brigantines, which required a depthof twelve feet of water. 

In support of the hypothesis that the street ditches, called canals, were independent of the Tezcuco for their supply, we have still theremains of an old Indian dike, which extended from near Iztapalapan, along the east part of the city, to Guadalupe or Tepeyaca, which musthave been intended to shut off the Tezcuco when the water was high, andwhen it receded they probably opened a weir at the northern extremity, through which the waters of the city that had been discharged upon theflats of San Lazaro found an outlet. 

The waters of the valley are now distributed in the best possiblemanner to favor evaporation; and yet so completely is this power taxed, that when, in 1629, a water-spout, bursting over the small riverGuautitlan, had forced the waters of Zumpango over its barriers intothe San Cristobal, and that again into the Tezcuco, the city wasinundated to the depth of about three feet. Evaporation was unable toremove or materially lessen this new volume of water in a period offive years. This fully demonstrates that the average annual fall ofwater is equal to the full capacity of evaporation. The valley ofMexico is a very small one over which to dispose of the mass of waterthat the mountain-torrents in summer and the tropical rains pour intoit, and with the small margin of six and a half feet for rising andfalling, the city must have been in constant jeopardy. Still the floodshave been much less frequent than would have been supposed, fullydemonstrating the great uniformity in the fall of water in the Mexicanseason of rain. When a water-spout occurred in the Chalco in 1446, inthe time of the Aztec kings, there was a flood, which probably ran offinto the Tezcuco. Under the Spaniards the following floods areenumerated: the first in 1553; the second in 1580; the third in 1604;the fourth in 1607; the fifth in 1629. 

After the flood of 1607, the tunnel of Huehuetoca was undertaken, andconstructed in eleven months, for the purpose of letting out of thevalley the waters of the River Guautitlan, so as to prevent it fromfalling into Tezcuco or flooding the city. For those times it was agreat work, but we should say now that it was poorly engineered andbadly managed, and not worthy the notice it has received in books onMexico. Since that time, the great inundation of 1629 occurred whilethe mouth of the tunnel was closed. After that time, the Spaniards, instead of building inside of the tunnel an elliptical tube, actually, by a hundred years of misapplied labor, turned the tunnel into an opencut. 

THE MAP OF CORTÉZ. 

Cortéz furnished a map to illustrate his description. This map has thesame defect as his narrative; that is, it was untrue at the time hemade it. In order to bring Tezcuco about the city, he places thevillage of that name due east of Mexico, although he well knew that itwas nearly north, as the two towns are distinctly in sight, although ata distance of about six leagues. Now, if we carry the village ofTezcuco and the shore of the lake with it to its correct position, weshall have the Laguna of Tezcuco in about its present form and size. The apology for his defeat at Iztapalapan, by the breaking open of thedike and letting in the salt water, is, of course, inadequate, as thedike could not have supported a head of water sufficient to drown hismen, nor could so great a head of salt water be obtained at that point. 

In this survey of the ponds of Mexico, I have drawn upon the experiencewhich has been acquired in the process of evaporation at the extensivesalt manufactories of Syracuse and the surrounding villages in WesternNew York, and also the experience of our engineers Upon the Erie Canal, and the engineers upon the dikes or levees at Sacramento, where thenature of the soil resembles that of Mexico. And I may now concludethis long survey of the canals and lagunas of Mexico, by saying that itis a wise provision of Providence that all bodies of water that have nooutlet are found to contain a considerable infusion of salt, otherwisetheir accumulations of decaying matter would be such that mankind couldnot live in their vicinity. This valley is an illustration of thattruth. Tezcuco, surrounded by barrenness, is not deleterious to life, while the fresh-water lagunas, though continually changing theirvolume, render Mexico unhealthy in summer by the gases which theyexhale from decaying vegetation. 

ANCIENT POPULATION OF THE VALLEY. 

I have pretty thoroughly described this small valley, and have alsostated how large a portion of it is flooded with surface-water, and howlarge a portion of this water is infused with salt. In the vicinity ofTacubaya the land is remarkably fertile, and there is good tillableland as the mountains are approached, especially about Chalco on thesoutheast; but under Indian cultivation, the whole of this valley couldhave produced sustenance for only an extremely limited population, ifthe product of the floating gardens and the ducks caught upon the pondshould be added. It is totally inadequate to feed the population ofMexico under the vice-kings, 400, 000, or its present population of say300, 000; nor could the valley itself be made to sustain one third ofthis. This valley, it must be recollected, is inclosed on all sidesexcept the north by mountains that exceed 10, 000 feet in height, whilethe commissariat capacity of barbaric tribes is not such as to provideextensive supplies from a distance. Under such circumstances, we shouldlook for an extremely limited population. Yet the most surprising partof the story of the conquest is the enormous population assigned to thenumerous large cities which they allege the valley contained. Diazsays, "A series of large towns stretched themselves along the banks ofthe lake, out of which [the lake] still larger ones rose magnificentlyabove the water. " Cortéz says that Iztapalapan contained "10, 000families, " which would give the town 50, 000 inhabitants; "Amaqueruca, 20, 000 inhabitants;" "Mexicalzingo, 3000 families, " or 15, 000inhabitants; "Ayciaca more than 6000 families;" "Huchilohuchico, 5000or 6000. " The population of Chalco he does not give, nor the populationof the very numerous villages whose names he mentions. At the presentday there are a few mud huts in nearly every locality named, but notenough in any one instance to merit the name of a village. And this, Iam inclined to believe, was the real condition of things in the time ofCortéz. The city of Mexico alone would have exhausted the limitedresources of the valley. Old Thomas Gage was as much puzzled twohundred years ago to account for this astonishing disappearance of thenumerous Indian cities of this valley as we are, and also for thesupposed filling up of the lakes, never appearing to suspect that thestory of Cortéz was a fiction. 

 [31] There has been much speculation in regard to the origin of the saline properties of this water; but the Artesian borings going on while I was in Mexico, I think, sufficiently demonstrate that the earthy bottom of the valley, for hundreds of feet, contains an infusion of carbonate and muriate of soda. 

 [32] The atmosphere of Mexico is so intensely dry, that the hygrometer of Deluc frequently descends to 15°. --HUMBOLDT'S _Essai Politique_, vol. Ii. P. 110. 

 [33] When the Artesian well, in process of construction near my residence, had reached a depth of seventy yards, the water that came up was slightly impregnated with this salt. 

 [34] _Comércio de Mexico_, 1852. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Chinampas or Water Gardens. --Laws of Nature not set aside. --Mudwill not float. --The present Chinampas. --They never could have beenfloating Gardens. --Relations of the Chinampas to the ancient State ofthe Lake in the Valley. 

All the world has heard of the floating gardens (_chinampas_) ofMexico, but all the world has not seen them. I have not seen anyfloating gardens, nor, on diligent inquiry, have I been able to find aman, woman, or child that ever has seen them, nor do I believe thatsuch a thing as a floating garden ever existed at Mexico. Humboldtadmits that they do exist; says that he has seen floating earthy massesof great size in the tropical rivers, and then describes the manner ofthe construction of the chinampas, but in such a way as to satisfy thecareful reader that he does not intend to say that he saw them himself, and evidently makes his statement upon hearsay; and takes it up as anadmitted fact, without having his mind called to the physicalimpossibilities of floating a mass of earth that was of a greaterspecific gravity than water. 

FAITH AND TESTIMONY. 

When the historians of the Conquest wrote their marvelous narratives ofalleged adventures and of the new empire, it was a question for theEmperor and the Inquisition solely, whether their writings should passfor history or be condemned as fabulous. With this question the peoplehad nothing to do but to believe as it suited those in authority. Thequestion being settled that the publication of the letters of Cortéz asa verity would redound to the glory of the Church and the king, then itwas also settled that there should be no contradiction published; andas these marvelous tales were spread abroad throughout Europe, with themasses of silver from the newly-discovered mines, men were prepared tobelieve almost any thing--even that rich vegetable mould, whensaturated with water, could float. 

It not being lawful to promulgate the facts of the Conquest, the memoryof events that really transpired ultimately passed from therecollections of men, so that the letters of Cortéz were taken fortruth, even in their most minute details; so that, in a subsequentcentury, we find a vice-king employing an engineer to search for andclean out the hole in the bottom of the Tezcuco! for, from thevice-king down to the most insignificant official, all assumed that theletters of Cortéz gave a correct picture of affairs at that time; andall showed the greatest embarrassment in accounting for the magnitudeof the changes that are supposed to have occurred without asufficiently adequate cause. It is a common difficulty in all purelyCatholic countries, for there the rule of evidence is an unnatural one. The people have been taught to believe from their infancy that the lawsof nature can be set aside upon every trifling occasion, at themomentary caprice of any one of the multitude of saints "who are togovern the world;" and on proof that any mortal has set aside the lawsof nature or wrought a miracle, he at once becomes a saint. With these"dutiful children of the Church" there can be no fixed laws ofevidence; the only ground of belief is, and ever must be, Has thestatement been sanctioned by the highest authority? If so, it is true;if not, it is to be doubted, however positive the proofs may be. Adifficulty that the traveler every where encounters is that he canbelieve nothing that he hears, even on the most trifling subject, without careful examination and weighing of testimony. As he can notexamine every thing himself, he is constantly liable to be imposed uponby taking for granted that which is every where affirmed. Humboldt foronce, with all his caution, seems to have fallen into the common trap, and credited, without examination, the story of the floating gardens. 

THE CHINAMPAS. 

The chinampas are formed on the fresh-water mud on each side of thecanal of Chalco, from the southeast corner of the city to a point nearthe ancient village of Mexicalzingo, and for a part of the way they areon both sides of that beautiful but now neglected _paséo_, Las Vegas;there are also a small number near the causeway of Tacubaya, and inother parts of the marsh; their number might be extended without limitif it was not regulated by the demands of the vegetable market ofMexico. Chinampas are formed by laying upon the soft mud a very thickcoating of reeds, or rather rushes, in the form and about the size ofone of our largest canal scows. Between two chinampas a space of abouthalf the width of one is left, and from this open space the mud isdipped up and poured upon the bed of dry rushes, where it dries, andforms a rich "muck" soil, which constitutes the garden. As the specificgravity of this garden is much greater than that of the water, or ofthe substratum of mud and water combined, it gradually sinks down intoits muddy foundation; and in a few years it has to be rebuilt by layingupon the top of the garden a new coating of rushes and another coveringof mud. Thus they have been going on for centuries, one garden beingplaced upon the top of another, and a third placed over all, so soon asthe second gives signs of being swallowed up in the all-devouring mud. 

The gardeners navigate the open space between their islands with lightboats; and during the short hours of the morning, the market-boatalongside each island is loaded with a cargo of vegetables, fruits, andflowers, which are to be displayed in the great market of Santa Anna. More pleasing than a drive on the _paséo_ is a boat-ride down the canalof Chalco at eventide, when the proprietor of each of these littleestates is seen standing in the canal alongside, and throwing upon histhirsty plants a plentiful supply of the tepid canal water, which, fromevery leaf and flower, reflects back the rays of a setting sun, thathave penetrated the long shadows of the trees of Las Vegas. Some of thechinampas have small huts upon them, where a gardener lives, whowatches over two or three of these little properties. Sometimes alsoshrubs, and even trees, are planted along the edges, which yield bothfruits and flowers, and serve to keep the dry earth from falling intothe water. When looking at one of the largest and best cared forchinampas, the beholder can hardly divest himself of the idea that itis a floating island, and might well have been the residence ofCalypso. 

This is the whole of the story of the chinampas, the most fertile andbeautiful little gardens upon the face of the earth. A correct pictureof them would be poetry enough, without the addition of falsehood; forwhether it is the rainy season or the dry season, it is always the sameto them. They know no exclusive seed-time, and have no especial seasonfor harvest; but blossoms and ripe fruits grow side by side, andflowers flourish at all seasons. As market gardens they are unrivaled, and to them Mexico is indebted for its abundant supplies. 

The evidence that Humboldt[35] produces in favor of floating gardens, viz. , that he saw floating islands of some 30 feet in length in themidst of the current of rivers, amounts to little in this case; forevery one that has traveled extensively in tropical lowlands has seenvegetation spring up upon floating masses of brush-wood. Where earthtorn from the river bank is so bound together by living roots as toform a raft, it will always float for a little while upon the current, provided that its specific gravity does not materially exceed that ofthe water; and those grasses that flourish best in water will spring upand grow upon these islands. Peat, too, in bogs, will float and formislands, for the simple reason that it is of less specific gravity thanwater; and vegetation will also spring up on these peat islands. Butall this furnishes no evidence that the invariable law of nature, whichcarries to the bottom the heaviest body, has been suspended at Mexico. Had the floating gardens been built in large boats made water-tight, they might have floated. But, unfortunately, the Indians had not themeans for constructing such boats. Even timber-rafts would have becomesaturated in time, and sunk, as rafts of logs do if kept too long inthe "mill-pond, " waiting to be sawed into lumber. 

There is another law of nature, which must not be lost sight of, whichis at war with the idea of a garden floating on a bed of rushes; andthat is capillary attraction, which would raise particles of water, oneby one, among the fibres of the rushes until the frail raft on whichthe earth rested was saturated; and still pressing upward, the busydrops would penetrate the superincumbent earth, moistening and addingto the specific gravity of the garden by filling the porous earth untilit became too heavy to float, if it ever had floated. 

Nearly three hundred years had passed away before men ventured toquestion the truth of the statement that the gardens along the canal ofChalco ever floated, and then it seemed like temerity to raise thequestion, even if it were only a popular fallacy. It has therefore beentreated by all modern writers as a well-established matter, and one ofnot sufficient importance to justify its minute investigation. With methe question was a far different one. I had, after careful inquiry andobservation, come to the conclusion that the marshes of the valley ofMexico were, in the time of Cortéz, substantially in the condition inwhich we find them at the present day; that the filling up they hadundergone in that time was counterbalanced by the relief they hadgained by the canal of Huehuetoca. The chinampas constitute animportant link in the chain of proofs to establish this fact. If I havesucceeded in showing that these gardens of the Aztecs, instead offloating upon the water, rested upon the muddy bottom, it follows as amatter of course that the depth of the water in the laguna could not, in the day of the Aztecs, have been materially greater than it now is. 

 [35] _Essai Politique_, vol. Ii. P. 61. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The gambling Festival of San Augustine. --Suppressed by Government. --TheLosses of the Saint by the Suppression of Gambling. --How Travelers livein the Interior. --A Visit to the Palace. 

GAMBLING AT TLALPAN. 

I have already said that my first entry into the valley of Mexico wasfrom the south, through the suburban city of Tlalpan, where in good oldtimes was held the great gambling festival of San Augustine. Theadvancing morality of our day has put an extinguisher on this notedfestival, which was one of the most noted days in the Mexican calendar. Crowds flocked to it to gamble, to dance, and to adore the most holySaint Augustine. To a looker-on it was hard to say whether it was thedevil or the saint whom the people had come to worship. The chiefbusiness of high-born dames seemed to be to make a display of theirtaste in dress, and to set off the whole contents of their wardrobe;for five times in each day was their entire wardrobe changed, and sooften did they appear in a new set of jewels. To this festival camealso noblemen and highway robbers, to gamble and to rob each other, andto be robbed by the women at the _monté_ table. In honor of the saint, the city was crowded with monks, and thieves, and Magdalens, and thedignitaries of the Church and state. The rich and the poor cametogether to enjoy the saturnalia in honor of the most blessed SaintAugustine. Gambling was here duly sanctified by the participation ofthe priests, who were here, as they are every where in Mexico, the mostexpert gamblers at the tables. While this festival continued, moneychanged hands more rapidly than in California in her worst days. Fivedances a day were the pastime; but at the monté table was the solidsport. This was the great attraction that had called all the crowdtogether. It was an exciting scene to see the ounces piled up as mengot excited in the game. What is there left of woman's virtue, whenthe highest ladies of the court stake their ounces at a publicgaming-table, and poorer ones eagerly throw down their last piece ofsilver? Woman's rights have not yet reached that point with us that shemay gamble and get drunk without losing caste; and God grant they nevermay. 

It is a consolation to be able to add that the late government of theState of Mexico had sufficient firmness to suppress this abominablefestival of the Church, much to the pecuniary disadvantage of the saintand his priesthood. Indeed, there is now no public gambling, not evenin the city of Mexico, except the lottery of the Academy of Fine Arts, and the lottery which is monthly drawn to promote the adoration of ourLady of Guadalupe. This last is one of the most corrupting of alllotteries. Tickets for as small a price as a Spanish shilling arehawked about the street, and by the exhibition of a splendid scheme thepoor Indians are tempted to venture their last _real_ in the hopes ofwinning a rich prize, through the kind interposition of the Virgin, towhom they are taught to pray for that purpose. It is true that a massis performed for the benefit of all losers, but this mass has never hadthe power of restoring to the poor Indian his lost shilling. 

Let us now go from this place, where gambling used annually to have itsfestival, or, rather, harvest of victims, into the cathedral church ofSan Augustine, to whom the lucky gamblers were accustomed to dedicate apart of their winnings, that thus they might sanctify their unrighteouscalling by bringing robbery to the saint for an offering. Poor saint!how much he and his priests have suffered by this wanton interferenceof the civil government in Church affairs--this prohibition ofmonté-playing in honor of the festival of San Augustine! There was muchin this church to admire, and much of that gold displayed whichgamblers are accustomed to lavish upon their idols. It seemed likeanother worship and another religion from that which I had beenaccustomed to witness in the humble chapels of the Pintos, in whosecountry I had so long been wandering. 

Again I was in the saddle, and soon upon that noted causeway by whichCortéz entered the city of Mexico. It has lost none of its attractionsin the course of centuries, but has been kept in fine repair as acarriage-road, while the venerable trees that line it on either sidelook as old as the time of the Conquistadors. This noble carriage-way, through the marshy ground of the valley of Mexico, is an enlargement ofthe old causeway of the Indians, or, rather, it has been built over andaround it, that having been less than thirty feet in width. I soonarrived at Churubusco, the scene of one of the bloody battles of theAmerican campaign in this valley. There was little here to look at, andI hurried on and entered the south gate of the city, and soon arrivedat the _Hôtel de Paris_, to which I had been directed. My poor oldmustang here ended a twelve days' journey, over mountains and plains of_pedregal_, without a shoe to his hoofs. 

A party of Californians, who had been stopping here for some weeks, hadleft the day before, and I was ushered into French society, in which toform my first impressions of Mexico. Still, there was an exquisitepleasure in once more getting clean, and eating food cooked after acivilized manner. Not that I had in any wise become tired of drinkingporridge, extracted from corn, called _atola_, or dissatisfied witheating bits of fowl, which the maid of honor to General Garay soingeniously served up with her fingers, after having it well flavoredwith Cayenne or Chili pepper! He that does not love Chili must keep outof Spanish America. And he will prove a poor traveler who can not sitdown with a good appetite to a supper of small black beans (_frijoles_), and a dozen Indian cakes (_tortillas_), as thin and as tough as adrum-head, which serve the double purpose of spoon and plate. 

ABODE IN MEXICO. 

My room was on the roof, and when my inner and outer man was fully inorder, I used to walk till a late hour of the day upon the pavedhouse-top, now leaning against the parapet and looking up to thesnow-covered mountains, whose shadowy forms could be made out even bymoonlight, and upon the shadowy towers and domes of the city. Thuspleasant days and weeks flew on. Sometimes I rode about the valley, carefully searching after the relics of times past, and at other timessurveying the curiosities of the city. Once this order was broken inupon, in order to accompany that noble-hearted man and excellentembassador, Governor Letcher, to the palace, where I had an interviewwith Arista, then the President of Mexico, who strikingly resembled ourown President of that day, Millard Fillmore. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Visit to Contreras and San Angel. --The End of a brave Soldier. --APlace of Skulls. --A New England Dinner. --An Adventure withRobbers--doubtful. --Reasons for revisiting Mexico. --The Battle atthe Mountain of Crosses. --A peculiar Variety of the Cactus. --ThreeMen gibbeted for robbing a Bishop. ---A Court upon Horseback. --Theretreat of Cortéz to Otumba. --A venerable Cypress Grove. --Unexpectedlycomfortable Quarters. --An English Dinner at Tezcuco. --Pleasuresunknown to the Kings of Tezcuco. --Relics of Tezcuco. --The Appearanceof the Virgin Mary at Tezcuco. --The Causeways of Mexico. 

A RIDE TO SAN ANGEL. 

The ride to San Angel has this advantage over all others out of Mexico, that the road is nearly all the way upon dry land, thus presenting apleasant contrast to the gloominess of all the others, except theTacuba road. There is less of stagnant water, and little appearance of_tequisquite_. It is lined with fields of corn and maguey. Contreras isupon this road--the point where Santa Anna's line of defenses was firstbroken, and broken in the same way as at Cerro Gordo, and by the sameofficer, the late General Riley. It was the defect of all Mexicanmilitary operations, that they were not sufficiently on the look-outfor night attacks. In the night Riley had been allowed to get behindthe position of his adversary at Cerro Gordo; and here again he gotbehind and above him, by crawling up a ravine in a foggy night, fromwhich point he charged Valencia in reverse. That successful charge ofthe brave old soldier raised him to the brevet rank of Major General, and sealed the fate of the city. 

What sort of a victory has it proved to the hero of this battle? He hadspent the best portion of his life in the Indian territory, arrangingdifficulties, appeasing strifes, overawing the turbulent, andrestraining the lawlessness of white intruders. And now he had becomean old man, with the rank only of Major, as he had no kind friend atcourt. But the Mexican war opened to him the prospect of winning a"sash" or of being brought home in a coffin. The sash was won, but thecoffin was near at hand; for, while he was gaining his laurels, hecontracted a cancer, which in a short time after his return from adistant command, consigned him to the home prepared for all living. Forty long years had he followed the profession of arms, and enduredits hardships without a murmur; yet, when he laid down his sword todie, he had nothing to leave to his children but the commissionsCongress had awarded him on his California revenues. War is a hardtrade for the bravest of the brave, and with very few prizes except topolitical favorites, who with high-sounding titles, but withoutmilitary experience, ride by the side of some brave subaltern, gatherhis laurels, and enjoy the fruits of his experience. 

A slight breastwork and a heap of bones and skulls mark the site ofthis gallant exploit of General Riley. And we fancied that we couldselect the American skulls from the common mass, as they clearlybelonged to two distinct races of men; one set of skulls being thin andfirm, while the other was thick and porous. We rode on, and soon cameto San Angel, where were many pleasant places for suburban residences, and an immense convent garden celebrated for its fruits. But now allwas parched and dry, for it was midwinter, which is here the middle ofthe dry season, and it was not yet the time for the new foliage toappear upon the trees, for that does not take place till February. 

The occasion of our ride was an invitation to dine with an Americanfamily at the paper-mill of Mr. M'Intosh, the English banker. This wasthe greatest treat that I had yet met with in Mexico. Though I have hadthe honor of dining in more distinguished places, both in Mexico and inthe United States, I never attended a dinner-party that I enjoyed somuch. It was a thrifty family, and a charming old-fashioned New Englandhousewife had prepared the dinner. Perhaps this is saying enough toenable the reader to fill out the picture, for he will be sure to guessthat pumpkin-pies were not forgotten; for what would a down-eastthanksgiving dinner be without this national dish? The dinner was acharm in itself, while the attendant circumstances gave it a doublerelish. To complete the pleasure of the visit, we made our way into"the Yankee's" kitchen, and there had the pleasure of seeing acooking-stove, and cooking-furniture of tin, copper, and iron, displayed after the most approved fashion. Verily this universal Yankeenation preserves its distinctive characteristics every where!

AN ADVENTURE. 

On our way home we must needs have an adventure. But whether the partythat overtook us on the road were really robbers, or onlypleasure-seekers hurrying to escape from the rain, I have my doubts tothe present day. But my ministerial companion, who was more experiencedin such matters, having been kept here a long time by our government tolook after the unburied American dead, insisted that it was a genuinecase of attempted robbery. All I can say in the premises is, that eightCalifornia robbers would not have run off in that style without firstascertaining whether that old revolver had any powder in it or not. When we squared up for a fight, they might have known that it wasbecause my old mustang would not move; and they could have had all ouravailables for the asking; but it was saving time in them to run whenthey heard us call out in that hated "Yankee language, " and they didscamper off most expeditiously. 

We got back to the city, without a wetting and without a chance ofgetting frightened, where the faithful old mustang and I parted companyforever. Ten Mexican dollars was the market value of horse, saddle, andbridle--less than the cost of his city eating, which he had enjoyedwith a gusto; and we took diverse ways at parting. The faithful oldfellow went to the silver mines, and I returned to the United States, after an absence of three years and more, in which I had been throughperils by land and perils by water, but not sufficient to satisfy mytaste for adventure. 

Up to this time I was a firm believer in the story of Cortéz. But whenI had retired from active duties, I began to think of writing a book. Idid what no other foreign writer on Mexico has yet done--I made ajourney to the country _at my own charges_. I was not in the employmentof any company or any government; I was under no obligation to praiseany man who did not deserve it, and not disposed to speak unnecessaryevil of any, whether they deserved it or not. My advantages above mostwriters upon Mexico were these: my independent position, and myintimate knowledge of the character of the North American Indians, acquired before I had gained any preconceived notions from the writingsof others. My father, who had lived among the Iroquois, or Six Nations, in the family of Joseph Brandt, and went through the usual forms ofadoption in place of some Indian who had died, gave me my first lessonson Indian character; and a taste so early acquired I followed up inafter life. My ancestors for several generations dwelt near the Indianagency at Cherry Valley, on "Wilson's Patent, " and in a neighboringvillage was I born, but removed early in life to a part of the countrythat had belonged to the Senecas, where I enjoyed a good opportunity ofstudying Indian character. 

It was the feast-day of the kings, _los Reyes_, when after my return toMexico, I was again in the saddle, riding out from Mexico toward thevillage of Tezcuco. I had to take a by-way to avoid the Guadalupe road, which was blocked up in consequence of the holiday. In doing so, I hadto leap a ditch or canal, in which both I and my horse came nearclosing our pilgrimage in a quagmire; but in time we were again uponthe road. It is a dreary place about the hill of Tepeyaca, orGuadalupe, and if the Virgin had not smiled upon the barren hill andmade roses grow out of it, it would be as uninviting as one of thehills of the valley of Sodom. This hill is now called the "Mountain ofCrosses, " for upon it, in 1810, the first insurgent, Hidalgo, thepriest of Dolores, won a battle against the royal troops, which shouldhave been followed up by an entry into Mexico; but Providence orderedit otherwise, and the forest of crosses that once covered it proclaimeda bloody slaughter without any results. 

The shores of Tezcuco approach the hill in the wet season, leaving buta narrow margin for the road, but in the dry season this margin isgreatly enlarged. I have already explained the composition of_tequisquite_, and the manner of its production; here it was lying incourses, or spots, as it had been left by the receding and drying up ofthe water during the present dry season. Little piles of it had beengathered up here and there to be taken to town for use, probably by thebakers or soap-boilers, who are said to pay fourteen shillings an_aroba_ for it. Besides a little stunted grass, there was here no signof vegetable life except a peculiar species of the cactus family, whichresembled a mammoth beet without leaves, but bearing upon its top anarray of vegetable knives that surrounded a most exquisite scarletflower. 

FATE OF ROBBERS. 

There was another sight by the road side more in keeping with thegloomy thoughts which this desert plain excites: it was the dead bodiesof three men, who had been condemned by a military commission forrobbing a bishop. They were shot, and their bodies were placed on threegibbets as a warning to others. The bishop said he would have pardonedthe robbery, but when they went to that extreme limit of depravity ofsearching within his shirt of sackcloth for concealed doubloons, it wasmore than a bishop could endure. The worthy ecclesiastic had renouncedthe world and all its vanities, and had put on the badges of povertyand self-mortification for $50, 000 a year, and he wore the disguisesthat ought to have shielded him from the suspicion of being rich!

These military commissions are no new invention in Mexico, for thatfamous Count de Galvez, the Vice-king who built the castle ofChapultepec and deposed the Archbishop of Mexico, had a travelingmilitary court, with chaplain and all spiritual aids, to accompany thedragoons that scoured the road in search of robbers. When a fellow wascaught, court, chaplains, and dragoons made rapid work in dismissinghim to his long resting-place, and saying a cheap mass for the reposeof his soul, and then again they were ready for another enterprise. Inthis way the roads were made safe in the times of that Viceroy. 

Had I known the real distance to Tezcuco, I ought to have abandoned thejourney on account of the lameness of my horse. But either the VirginMary, or, more probably, the extreme purity of the atmosphere on theseelevated plains, had deprived me of the power of measuring distance bythe eye. This is excessively annoying to a traveler. He sees the objecthe is attempting to approach at an apparently moderate distance, plainin sight, and as he rides along, hour after hour, there it stands, justwhere it seemed to be when he first got sight of it. I finally reachedmy destination in good time for a dinner, and for as good a night's"entertainment for man and beast" as could be found in all the Republicof Mexico. 

When I turned the head of the lake, I was close upon the track whichCortéz and his retreating band followed into the plains of Otumba. Poorwretches! what a time they must have had of it in this disconsolateretreat--wounded, jaded, like tigers bereft of their prey! They mournedfor their companions slain, but most of all for the booty they had lost. 

 "They grieved for those that went down in the cutter, And also for the biscuits and the butter:"

and hobbled on, as best they could, while the natives pursued them withhootings and volleys of inefficient weapons. Passing this point andturning to the north-east, they entered the plains of Otumba, wherethey encountered the whole undisciplined rabble of the Aztecs, andscattered them like chaff before the wind. 

A NIGHT AT TEZCUCO. 

Soon after I had passed the head of the lake and turned southward, Ientered a cultivated country between tilled grounds and little mudvillages along the road. These were the representatives of themagnificent cities enumerated by Cortéz. That fine grove of cypresseswhich had been a landmark all day was now close at hand, and I couldform some idea of its great antiquity. But the day was passing away, and it was still uncertain whether I could find safe quarters for thenight, where my horse, and the silver plates on my bridle, and thesilver mountings of my saddle would be safe. I never own such fancytrifles, but they were on the horse given me at the stable. 

A good dinner and a clean bed I did not expect to find, nor could Ihave found them a year earlier. But the new and enterprising company ofEscandon and Co. , who now have the possession of the Real del Montesilver mines, of which I shall speak hereafter, had just completed the"Grand House" (_Casa Grande_) in connection with the salt manufacture, which they carry on here solely for the use of that single mine. It wasa neat, one-story residence of dried mud (_adobe_), and worthy theoccupancy of the proudest king of Tezcuco. Though the flagging of theinterior court was not all completed, yet the managing partner hadtaken possession, and it was fitted up according to the most approvedstyle of an Anglo-Saxon residence. As horse and rider passed into theouter court, there stood ready a groom to lead the former into theinner court, where were the stables for the horses, and I entered thehouse to enjoy the unlooked-for pleasures of English hospitality inthis out-of-the-way Indian village. 

The resident partner was an Englishman. His connection with the Realdel Monte Company extended only to the manufacture of salt. But eventhis was an extensive affair, and had already absorbed an investment of$100, 000, in order to provide the salt used in only one branch of theprocess of refining silver at that mine. The gentleman was now absent, but his excellent English wife and her brother knew full well how todischarge the duties of host even to an unknown stranger. The dinnerwas of the best, and there was no lack of appetite after a hard day'sride on a trotting horse. So we all had the prime elements ofenjoyment. Entertainment for man and beast is among the highestluxuries to be found by the wayside. It was an equal luxury to my hostsin their isolated residence to receive a visit from one whose onlyrecommendation was that the English language was his native tongue, sothat when we retired from the dining-room we had become oldacquaintances. 

REMAINS OF TEZCUCO. 

The King of Tezcuco never knew what it was, on a raw winter's evening, to sit before a bright wood fire, in a fire-place, with feet on fenderand tongs in hand, listening to an animated conversation so mixed up oftwo languages that it was hard to tell which predominated. Not all thestateliness to be found in Mexican palaces, where, in a lordlytapestried halls, men and women sit and shiver over a protracteddinner, can yield pleasures like those grouped around an Englishfireside. The evening was not half long enough to say all that was tobe discussed. As we sat and chatted, and drank our tea with a gusto wehad never known before, we forgot altogether that we were indulging inplebeian enjoyments upon the spot where a king's palace had probablystood. Instead of such plebeian things as a wood floor and Brusselscarpet, his half-clad majesty had here squatted upon a mat, and dealtout justice or injustice, according to his caprice, to trembling crowdsof dirty Indians, whose royal rags and feathers made them princely. Dignity and majesty are truly parts of Indian character, but a gooddinner and a clean bed are luxuries that an Indian, even though he werean emperor, never knew. 

My business here was to search for relics, and as soon as daylightappeared I was astir. But no relics could be found except some stoneimages so rudely cut as to be a burlesque upon Indian stone-cutting. There was a sacrificial stone and a calendar stone built into the stepsof the church of San Francisco, which were so badly done that the useto which they had been applied could just be made out. Here, too, was arude stone wall, that had been built over the grave of Don Fernando, the first Christian king of Tezcuco, who had been converted toChristianity by Cortéz. There is also here one of those little chapelswhich Cortéz built, which indicate extremely limited means in thebuilder. 

At the distance of a bow-shot from this is the site of the "slip"(canal) which Cortéz says he caused to be dug, twelve feet wide andtwelve feet deep, in order to float his brigantines. Near by, theIndians were digging a new canal for the little steam-boat which nowplies on the laguna. When they reached a point less than three feetfrom the surface, they were stopped by the water. How could Cortéz, under greater disadvantages, dig to the depth of twelve feet, withouteven iron shovels?

I returned to the _hacienda_ and inquired if there were no otherrelics. The proprietor assured me that he had been unable to find anyexcept the Indian mounds which he showed me, and some stone cellarsteps that he had found in digging. And this is all that now remains ofthe great and magnificent city of Tezcuco, which had entered intoalliance with Cortéz, and which, for more than a hundred years afterthe Conquest, was under the especial care of a Superintendent sent fromSpain, as an Indian Reservation. 

There are here eight Franciscan monks and a convent; seven of thesemonks I was assured were living at home with their families andchildren, but the eighth, who happened to be a cripple, lived in theconvent. A major in the guard was pointed out to me, who, havingcommitted a murder, took sanctuary in the church, where he remainedseveral days, when--and we have his own word for it--the Virgin Maryappeared to him and freely forgave him. On this news getting abroad, there was great rejoicing in Tezcuco that the Virgin had at lastvisited them. From being stigmatized as a murderer, the object of thisvisit was almost adored as a saint, and became one of the principal menof the village, and was created a major in the new corps. 

After I had surveyed the salt-works and the glassworks, I turned myhorse's head toward Mexico by the road along the eastern shore, so thatI made the complete circuit of Lake Tezcuco. 

Thus far my visit to the royal city of Tezcuco had been perfectlysuccessful, except in the attempts made to convince the youngEnglishman that I was not a dead-shot with the rifle; and I startedhome with a slight shade upon my veracity for denying my ability topierce the centre of the bull's-eye. But otherwise it was adisagreeable parting to all of us. As I returned by the east side ofthe lake, the splendid high farming-lands that extend from the shore tothe foot of the mountain were strikingly in contrast with the flatnessand barrenness of the plain on the water-side, which is so slightlyelevated above the level of the salt water that a few inches of rise inthe laguna spreads out an immense sheet of saline water, and yet thereis not a solitary evaporating vat where there is an unlimited demandfor the evaporated article at fourteen shillings the _aroba_. 

Cortéz speaks of the fine fields of corn on the east side of the lake. But they could not have been finer in his day than they are at present, though they furnished him with the supplies that supported his army. Ireached the head of Tezcuco at noontide, where the heavy water of thesalt lake was driving up toward the fresh water, as described byCortéz, but it was under the pressure of a strong north wind. 

THE AZTEC CAUSEWAYS. 

Now that I am on the new causeway, broad and spacious like all theothers, it may be well to conclude the discussion of the physicalcondition of this valley by determining the size of the old Azteccauseways. 

An island embosomed in a marsh has always formed a favorite retreat foran Indian tribe, whether among the everglades of Florida, or thewild-rice swamps of north-western Canada. Such a retreat is still moredesirable when, in addition to the security it affords from an enemy, it is likewise a resort for wild ducks, as was and is the case with thelaguna of the Mexican valley. Hence, probably, the Aztecs selected thisplace as the site of their village; and to reach it, it was necessaryto make one or more footpaths across the marsh. As the Aztecs had nobeasts of burden, this must have been a task of no little magnitude. Tohave made it thirty feet wide would not only have been a work ofimmense difficulty, but would have destroyed the defensive character oftheir position. Still, we can, upon this occasion, afford to be alittle liberal with the statements of Cortéz, as we have had to cut hishundreds of thousands of warriors down to a few thousand ofmiserably-armed Indians, and reduce his magnificent cities to smallIndian villages. In order to make the island of Mexico at allinhabitable, we have had to reduce his lakes from navigable basins oftwelve feet or more in depth to mere evaporating ponds. His floatingislands have been transformed into garden-beds built upon the mud; andhis canals have sunk to mere ditches. Now I propose to be liberal tothe old Conquistador in the matter of his famous causeways, and willtherefore admit that they might have been twelve feet in width--asbroad as the tow-path of the Erie Canal. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Street of Tacuba. --The Spaniards and the Indian Women. --TheRetreat of Cortéz. --The Aqueducts of Mexico. --The English andAmerican Burying-grounds. --The Protestant President. --The rivalVirgins. --An Image out of Favor. --The Aztecs and the Spaniards. 

As I rode along the street to the gate and causeway of Tacuba, overwhich Cortéz retreated on the "sorrowful night" (_triste noche_), I naturally fell into reflections upon the righteous retribution thatovertook a portion of the Spanish robbers on that night, and upon themysterious ways of Providence in allowing Cortéz and a remnant toescape being burned alive by the Indians after the infamous liveswhich, by their own admissions, they had been leading in the city. TheIndians had made a feeble resistance when Alvarado murdered theirchiefs, and had cringed into submission when Cortéz returned. But nowtheir wrongs had reached that point where even Aztecs could endure nomore. Their cup of iniquity seemed full, when Cortéz, who had left awife in Cuba, sent to the little village of Tacuba, called by DiazTlacupa, to fetch thence some "women of his _household_, among whom wasthe daughter of Montezuma [he had already one daughter of Montezuma inhis power] whom he had given in charge of the King of Tlacupa, herrelative, when he marched against Narvaez. "[36] The women beingrescued, Cortéz afterward sent Ordaz, with four hundred men, whichbrought on hostilities that ended in this night retreat. 

THE HOUSEHOLD OF CORTÉZ. 

Cortéz was worse than the Mormon governor of Utah, who is said to havethirty-six wives in his household. But they are, at least, voluntaryinmates of his harem, while the "household" of Cortéz had been taken byviolence. It is one of the prominent traits of Indian character that, while they are inhuman to their female captives, they guard with theutmost jealousy the virtue of their wives. Even among the debasedIndians of California, female infidelity is punished with death; and Ihave seen the whole population of an Indian village on the UpperSacramento thrown into the utmost confusion--the women howling, and themen brandishing their weapons--because a base Indian had sold his wifeto a still baser white man. "Such a thing was never, " they said, "donein the tribe before. " And here we have Cortéz, in contempt of evenIndian notions of virtue, sending to bring to his harem, by violence, another daughter of Montezuma. 

As Bernal Diaz goes more into detail than Cortéz, he now and then dropsan expression that furnishes a clew to many an enigma otherwiseunexplainable. In speaking of the avarice of the officers, he lets fallthe following confession of his own infamy:

"This was a good hint to us in future, so that afterward, when we hadcaptured any beautiful Indian females, we concealed them, and gave outthat they had escaped. As soon as it was come to the marking day, or, if any one of us stood in favor with Cortéz, he got them secretlymarked [viz. , branded with a red-hot iron] during the night-time, andpaid a fifth of their value to him. In a short time we possessed agreat number of such slaves. "[37]

Never was there a band of Anglo-Saxon outlaws, cut-throats, pirates, orbuccaneers that reached that point of human depravity that they couldbrand, as cattle are branded, with a red-hot iron, swarms of womentaken by violence, in order that they might not make any mistakes inrecognizing their numberless wives! None but Spanish heroes of a "holywar" ever exhibited such a picture of total depravity. 

When the Aztecs were thus roused to action by the brutal lust ofCortéz, they assailed him with phrensy rather than with courage, untilhis quarters in the city became untenable, and then this night retreatwas undertaken, in which all the gold, if there really was any, and allother treasures, and two sons and one daughter of Montezuma, were lostin the confused rush of such a multitude over this foot-path. TheIndian story is that Cortéz slew the children of Montezuma when hefound himself unable to carry them off. Perhaps he did, but theprobability is that they perished by chance, or, rather, it seems tohave been by chance that Cortéz or any of his gang escaped and camesafe to Tacuba. 

We must now give up history to talk of things by the road-side. 

The "hard water" from the springs on the south side of Chapultepec iscarried over stone arches upon the causeway of Tacubaya to the gate ofBelin. But at Santa Fé, several leagues distant from the city, is astream of soft water, which is brought to the powder-mill (_Molinadel Rey_), where it turns a wheel. Thence the aqueduct, passing bythe north side of Chapultepec, is carried along the highway to thecauseway of San Cosmo. It passes the gate of San Cosmo, enters thecity, and terminates in the street of Tacuba. By these two gates, andby the side of these two parallel aqueducts, the American army enteredthe city of Mexico. 

The objects of interest by the road-side, after I had passed the citygate, were, first, the French Academy, which is well worthy of a visitfor its pretty grounds, if nothing more. When we had got farther on, the land rose a little above the water-level of the swamp. Here abranch-road and the aqueduct turned off to Chapultepec, and in theangle thus formed by the two roads is the English burying-ground orcemetery. In this resting-place of the dead there is not a spot thatcan not be irrigated at all seasons of the year, while the art of manhas been busy in improving the advantages that nature has so lavishlybestowed. 

Just before my first arrival in Mexico, public attention had beenparticularly directed to this quiet spot, from its having been chosenas the place for depositing the ashes of the last President of Mexico, at whose burial no holy water had been wasted and no candles had beenburned, and for the repose of whose soul no masses had ever been said, or other religious rites performed, and yet he slept as quietly asthose who had gone to their burial with the pomp and circumstance of astate funeral. No priest had shrived his soul, his lips had not beentouched with the anointing oil, nor was incense burned at his funeral;yet he died in peace, declaring in his last hours that he had made hisconfession to God, and trusted in him for the pardon of his sins, andrefused all the proffered aid of priests in facilitating his journey toheaven. Thus died, and here was privately buried, the first and lastProtestant President of Mexico, the only really good man that everoccupied that exalted station, and probably the only native Mexican whoever had the moral courage to denounce the religion of his fathers uponhis dying bed. 

THE AMERICAN CEMETERY. 

Adjoining the English cemetery on the south side is the Americanburying-ground, which has been established since the war, where havebeen collected the remains of 750 Americans, that died or were killedat Mexico, and a neat monument has been erected over them. HereAmericans that die henceforth in that city can be buried. Anappropriation of $500 a year would make this more attractive than theEnglish cemetery, but the place has been wholly neglected by Congresssince that worthy man, the Rev. G. G. Goss, completed his labors. Thereis a pleasure in observing the natural affinities which, in foreigncountries, draw close together these two branches of the Anglo-Saxonfamily. A common language and a common religion overmaster politicaldifferences, and the English and American dead are laid side by side torest until the judgment. At the south of the American cemetery is avacant lot, which the King of Prussia should purchase, so that theGermans may no longer be dependent on Americans for a burying-place, and that the three great Protestant powers of the world may here, asthey every where should, be drawn close together. 

[Illustration: MONUMENT TO THE AMERICANS. ]

Tacuba is a very small village, and is not in any wise noted except foran immense cypress-tree, that must have been a wonder even in the timeof Cortéz. Tacuba has the historical notoriety of being the place wherehostilities first broke out between the Aztecs and the Spaniards, andthe spot where the night retreat of the latter terminated. Here theland is quite fertile, and a little way from the village are severalwater-mills, where the grain raised in this part of the valley isground into flour. 

THE VIRGIN OF REMEDIES. 

A little way beyond Tacuba is the hill and temple of the Virgin ofRemedies. It was upon this hill, within the inclosure of an Indianmound, that the retreating party of Cortéz made their first bivouac, and built fires and dressed their wounds. Hence they gave to the hillthe name of _Remedios_, and the church afterward erected was dedicatedto our Lady of Remedies. Diaz tells us that it became very celebratedin his time. The story about Cortéz finding a broken-nosed image in theknapsack of one of his soldiers is not mentioned either by himself orBernal Diaz, and must therefore be an afterthought, to giveplausibility to a subsequent imposition. From this point Cortéz and hisparty, without their women or treasures, trudged along to the foot ofthe hills to Tepeac, or Guadalupe, and thence around the foot ofTezcuco to the plains of Otumba. 

The story is, that while Cortéz and his men were resting here, asoldier took from his knapsack an image, with nose broken and an eyewanting, which Cortéz made the patron saint of the expedition, and heldit up to their adoration, and that this little incident so encouragedthe men that they started off with renewed vigor. The whole of thisstory is probably a very silly modern invention. The bulk of the forcesof Cortéz was most probably composed of that class of reprobates thatto this day can be found about almost any of the West India sea-ports, ready for any enterprise, however hazardous. They have no religion;they are not even superstitious, but yield a nominal acquiescence tothe forms of the Catholic religion. Cortéz speaks often of his effortsto effect the conversion of the Indians, but it is in such a businesssort of way as to lead to the impression, that it was all done to makean impression at home, but was really a matter that he did not caremuch about. The famous image, according to the current story, disappeared soon after the Conquest, but was found about 150 yearsafterward in a maguey plant, and was as much dilapidated as if it hadbeen exposed to the weather for the whole of that century and a half. 

Such, in substance, is the tradition of the Virgin of Remedies, who fora century divided with the Virgin of Guadalupe the adoration of thepeople in the most amicable manner. But when the insurrection of 1810broke out, these two virgins parted company. "_Viva_ the Virgin ofGuadalupe!" became the war-cry of the unsuccessful rebels, while"_Viva_ the Lady of Remedies!" was shouted back by the conqueringforces of the king. The Lady of Guadalupe became suspected ofinsurrectionary propensities, while all honors were lavished upon theLady of Remedies by those who wished to make protestations of theirloyalty. Pearls, money, and jewels were bestowed upon her by thenobility and the Spanish merchants; and as one insurrectionary leaderafter another was totally defeated, the conquering generals returned tolay their trophies at the feet of the Lady of Remedies, to whoseinterposition the victory was ascribed. They carried her in triumphantprocession through the streets of Mexico, singing a _laudamus_. Then itwas that the Lady of Remedies was at the zenith of her glory. Herperson was refulgent with a blaze of jewels, and her temple was likethat of Diana of Ephesus, and all about the hill on which it stood boremarks of the greatest prosperity. 

RISE AND FALL OF THE VIRGIN. 

Her healing powers were then unrivaled, and the list of cures which sheis claimed to have effected surpasses that of all the patent medicinesof our day. She was an infallible healer, alike of the diseases of themind and of the body. A glimpse of her broken nose and battered faceinstantaneously cured men of democracy and unbelief. Heretics stoodconfounded in her presence, while the halt, the lame, and the leproushung up their crutches, their bandages, and their filthy rags, astrophies of her healing power, among the flags and other trophies ofher victories over the rebels. Nothing was beyond her skill; frommending a leaky boat to securing a prize in the lottery; from givingeyes to the blind, feet to the lame, mending a broken or a paralyzedlimb, or a broken heart, to putting the baby to sleep. Her votariesesteemed her omnipotent, and carried her in procession in times ofdrought, as the goddess of rain; and when pestilence raged in the city, she was borne through the infected streets. Such was she in the timesof her glory. 

Now all is changed. She is still a goddess, but her glory is eclipsed. She, like many a virgin in social life, neglected to make her marketwhile all knees were bowing to her, and now, in the sear and yellowleaf, she is a virgin still. Her temple is dilapidated, her garlandsare faded, her gilding is tarnished, the buildings about her Court arefalling to decay, while the bleak hill which her temple crowns lookstenfold more uninviting than if it never had been occupied. When Ientered this neglected temple of a neglected image, an old, superannuated priest was saying mass, and three or four old crones werekneeling before her altar. Such are the effects that followed therevolution of Iguala. Not only was her hated rival of Guadalupeelevated from her long obscurity to be the national saint, but theanimosity against this dilapidated image of Remedies was carried tothat extreme of cruelty that, when the Spaniards were expelled fromMexico, the passports of the "Lady of Remedios" were made out, and shewas ordered to leave the country. Poor thing!

The porter's eye glistened at the now unwonted sight of a silverdollar, and he soon had me through the most secret recesses of thesanctuary. The only things I saw worthy of admiration were somepictures, made from down or the feathers of the humming-bird, by whicha richness of color was imparted to the pictures that could not beobtained from paints. 

At last we came to the back of the great altar, and the curtain ofdamask silk being drawn up by a little string, we saw sitting in ametallic maguey plant a bright new Paris doll, dressed in the gaudyodds and ends of silk that make such a thing an attractive Christmaspresent for the nursery. Paste supplied the place of jewels, and aconstellation of false pearls were at the back of her shoulders. Theman kept his gravity, and did reverence to the poor doll, while Iburned with indignation at being imposed upon by a counterfeit"universal remedy for all diseases. " I had often read in theapothecaries' advertisements cautions against counterfeits, and rewardsfor their detection, and I always noticed, from these printedevidences, that the counterfeits were exactly in proportion to theworthlessness of the genuine article, and that medicine which wasutterly valueless itself suffered most from the abundance ofcounterfeits. So it was with the Lady of Remedios; after she had fallenbelow the dignity of a humbug, and no man was found so poor as to doher reverence, she was spirited away to the Cathedral of the city ofMexico, in order to save her three jeweled petticoats from beingstolen, and a child's doll, covered with paste jewels, now personifiedthe great patron saint of the vice-kingdom of New Spain. 

AZTEC AND ROMISH IMAGES. 

I again mounted my horse, angry at being cheated. Though the day was amost lovely one, I rode home in fit humor to contrast the system ofpaganism which Cortéz introduced with the more poetical system whichpreceded it, and to compare these cast-off child's dolls with theallegorical images of the Aztecs. My landlord had two boxes of suchimages, collected when they were cleaning out one of the old citycanals. By way of parlor ornaments, we had an Aztec god of baked earth. He was sitting in a chair; around his navel was coiled a serpent; hisright hand rested upon the head of another serpent. This, according tothe laws of interpreting allegories, we should understand to signifythat the god had been renowned for his wisdom; that with the wisdom ofthe serpent he had executed judgment; and that his meditations were theprofundity of wisdom. And yet this allegorical worship, defective as itmay have been, was forcibly superseded by the adoration of a child'sdoll--one that had very possibly been worn out and thrown from anursery, and perhaps picked up by some passing monk, was made thegoddess of New Spain, and clothed with three petticoats, one adornedwith pearls, one with rubies, and one with diamonds, at an estimatedcost of $3, 000, 000. Which was the least objectionable superstition?

We have been taught to look upon the worship of the Aztecs asmonstrous; but the witnesses against them were themselves monsters, whowere seeking for a pretense to excuse their own brutality in reducingthe Indians to the most debasing slavery, while they appropriated totheir own use the best looking of the squaws, and kept such swarms ofsupernumerary wives that each Spaniard had to brand them with a red-hotiron in order to know his own family. The fathers of the presentmixed-breed population of Mexico tell us that the Aztecs offered humansacrifices, and feasted upon human flesh. They hope, by dwelling uponthe enormities of the Indians, to excuse their own still moredetestable crimes. For three centuries their stories wereuncontradicted, and they have been received as historical verities. Butthe character of the witnesses warrants us in receiving theirstatements with some incredulity. 

 [36] _Bernal Diaz_, vol. I. P. 338. 

 [37] _Bernal Diaz_, vol. I. P. 31, 32. 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Paséo at Evening. --Ride to Chapultepec. --The old Cypressesof Chapultepec. --The Capture of Chapultepec. --Molina delRey. --Tacubaya. --Don Manuel Escandon. --The Tobacco Monopoly. --ThePalace of Escandon. --The "Desierto. "--Hermits. --Monks in the Conflictwith Satan. --Our Lady of Carmel. 

My residence was near the _Paséo Nuevo_, and at evening, while the sunhad yet an hour of his daily task to finish, I habitually saunteredforth for a walk up and down the Paséo, to look at the crowd ofcoaches, with tops thrown back, so that the bare-headed ladies, in fulldress for dinner, might enjoy the evening air, acquire an appetite, andsalute their friends by presenting the backs of their hands, while theytwirled their fingers at them with a hearty smile. Gentlemen onrichly-caparisoned horses dashed along between the rows of advancingand returning carriages, stopping now and then by the side of awell-known carriage to exchange salutations, or, by an exhibition of awell-timed embarrassment, proclaim the favored object of theirevening's ride. Crowds of foot-passengers sauntered along theroad-side, looking at the rich display made by the aristocracy andnobility of the republic. At the entrance of the Paséo, in front of theamphitheatre, where on Sundays bulls are tortured to death as a popularamusement, is the equestrian bronze statue of Carlos IV. , the work ofTolsa, who, as artist and architect, has won for himself undying renownat Mexico. The garden of Tolsa, the College of Mines, and the bronzehorse, testify to the greatness of his genius. Half way down the Paséois a fountain, around which two semicircles of coaches place themselvesfor a little time, to look on the passing current of carriages andhorsemen. They soon disappear as the sun shows symptoms of descendingbehind the mountains. On Sundays the scene is more animated, and thenthe President, with his body-guard of lancers, and attendants inscarlet livery, is seen to dash into the Paséo, ride down and returnthrough the Alameda, among whose trees and fountains the Sabbath crowdsmost do congregate. 

One morning when all was quiet in this place of display, I rode downthe street of San Francisco, and turned up the Paséo between the prisonof the Acordado and the bronze horse. There was nothing to disturb themonotony that now reigned but cabs or omnibuses on their way to orreturning from Tacubaya. Passing through the open gate of Belin, I rodealong at the side of the aqueduct to the rock of Chapultepec. 

CYPRESSES OF CHAPULTEPEC. 

It calls up singular reflections to look upon a living thing that hasexisted for a thousand years, though it be only a tree. Though so manycenturies have rolled over the venerable cypresses of Chapultepec, yetthey still are sound and vigorous. The extensive springs of pure waterthat issue from beneath this immense rock have kept them flourishing inthe midst of a _tequisquite_ valley. Long gray threads of Spanish mosshang pendent from the extremity of their limbs and cover the lowerleaves. These trees are the only living links that unite modern andancient American civilization; for they were in being while thatmysterious race, the Toltecs, were still upon the table-lands ofMexico--a race that has left behind, not only at Teotihuacan, but inthe hot country, the imperishable memorials of a civilization like thatof Egypt; and from them the Aztecs acquired an imperfect knowledge of afew simple arts. [38]

These trees had long been standing, when a body of Aztecs, wanderingaway from their tribe in search of game, fixed themselves upon theislands of this marsh, first about the rock of Chapultepec, then atMexicalzingo and Iztapalapan, and finally at Mexico. These trees wereundisturbed by the Spaniards when Cortéz took the city, and theAmericans respected their great antiquity, so that during all the warsand battles that have taken place around and above them, they havepassed unharmed. 

Not only unnumbered generations, but whole races have appeared anddisappeared, while these trees have quietly flourished amid the strifeof the elements and the contentions of men, taking no heed of thepassing events of which they were spectators. The Toltecs, of whom wemust speak more fully hereafter, were the first of these races thatdisappeared from the table-land--the victims of wars, and of thatplague of the Indian races, the _matlazhuatl_. As the Aztecs roseinto importance by their success in war and by the multitude of theircaptives, Indian princes made the springs near Chapultepec theirfavorite bathing-place, and spread their mats under these trees, and intheir shadow enjoyed their noontide slumbers. Then the pale-faces came, and peopled the valley with a race of mixed blood, and vice-kingsoccupied the place that had been the sacred retreat of the Aztecchiefs. 

These trees had added many rings to their already enlargedcircumference before the vice-kings disappeared, and an emperor sat inthe shade which had been their favorite retreat; and the Aztec eaglefloated again upon the standard that waved over Chapultepec; but it wasonly the galvanized corpse of that brave bird, and the emperor was onlya victim prepared for the sacrifice. Since that time much bad gunpowderhas been burned over the heads of the trees, and the roots have beenshaken by the discharge of the cannon of the castle at every change ofrulers, as one ephemeral government succeeded another, but thesecypresses still remain unharmed, and may outlive many other dynasties. 

CHAPULTEPEC AND MOLINA DEL REY. 

The Americans captured Chapultepec by a _coup de main_. Having madeseveral breaches through the stone wall behind the cypresses, theyrushed through under those trees and up the side of the hill next tothem, not allowing themselves to be delayed by the turnings of theroad. The general in command, the late General Bravo, was a man oftried courage, and not deficient in military sagacity. He sent mosturgent requests to Santa Anna for reinforcements, urging that GeneralScott was too prudent a soldier to attack the city before carrying thecastle, and that the garrison was inadequate for its defense. But SantaAnna was completely paralyzed, as Scott designed he should be, by thelarge force, under General Smith, which was threatening the south frontof the city. When it was too late, Santa Anna discovered that this wasonly a feint. 

[Illustration: CHAPULTEPEC. ]

The King's Mill (_Molina del Rey_) is an old powder-mill, standingon elevated ground in the rear of Chapultepec. It has nothing about itto give it notoriety except the slaughter of the American troops thathere took place from a masked battery, manned by a body of volunteersfrom the work-shops of the city. The whole affair was a militarymistake. Its capture was not necessary to insure the capture ofChapultepec, for, as soon as that fortress, which commanded the mill, should be in our power, the mill would be untenable. But repeatedsuccesses had made the American officers imprudent, so that withoutfirst battering down its walls, the division of General Worth rushedup, regardless of a flank fire of the castle, to carry this oldbuilding by assault. After the sacrifice of about 700 lives, cannonwere brought out and the breach made, and then the difficulty was at anend. 

A mile or so by the road leading south and west from Chapultepec isTacubaya, where are the suburban residences of the Archbishop, thePresident, and of divers city bankers; and where the English banker, Mr. Jimmerson, has introduced English gardening, and, in a Mexicanclimate, enjoys the pleasure of an English country residence. 

DON MANUEL ESCANDON. 

The most attractive establishment of Tacubaya is the new palace of DonManuel Escandon, a native-born, self-made Mexican millionaire; a manwhose capital has so enormously accumulated before he has even reachedmiddle life, that he was able to propose to discount a bill for$7, 000, 000 as an ordinary business transaction, though ultimatelygovernment divided the bid with another house. This most remarkableinstance of accumulation of wealth in modern times is deserving of apassing notice, which I give on the authority of my landlord, who had apersonal knowledge of his history. 

Don Manuel enjoyed, in addition to an intimate knowledge of his owncountrymen, the advantages of a foreign education, which had extendedto an examination of those arts and improvements that elevate Europeansabove the semi-barbarous people of Spanish America. The firstenterprise that brought him prominently forward was the establishmentof that vast and most perfect system of stage-coaches, of which I havealready spoken, on an original capital of $250, 000. The wretchedcondition of the roads, and the heavy losses that at first alwaysattend enterprises of that magnitude, disheartened his partners, whowere glad to sell out to him $150, 000 of the capital stock at adiscount of 50 per cent. Afterward the late Zurutusa bought into thescheme, and ultimately became the owner of all the property, having, before his death, more than realized the highest anticipations ofhimself or Escandon. A hundred thousand dollars, or thereabouts, werethe profits to Escandon by this establishment of a series of hotels andstages quite across the continent. By the successful running of ablockade of the coast, he realized nearly another hundred thousanddollars. The numerous enterprises open to men of superior sagacity, whofully understand the wants of a country in a state of chaos, and arefamiliar with the improvements of other countries, were readilyembraced by him, until he found himself possessed of sufficient capitalto become the principal purchaser of the extensive silver mines of_Real del Monte_, of which the salt-works of Tezcuco are but an outsideappendage. 

The tobacco monopoly had yielded to the King of Spain an average returnof nearly a million annually. Under the Republic the consumption of theweed had greatly increased, but, from the prevalence of disorder inevery branch of the administration, this important branch of therevenue was almost entirely absorbed by the officials through whosehands it passed, so that the sum realized by government in the mostunproductive year fell off to $25, 000, but finally reached $45, 000, theamount at which it was farmed out by Escandon and Company. Since thattime the return to government has gone on increasing, until it wasadvertised to be let the last year at the round sum of $1, 200, 000. Howmuch more the partners realized during the years that they held thecontract is, of course, known only to themselves. 

The new house which Don Manuel has built at Tacubaya is decidedly thefinest palace in the republic. The position is well chosen, and the sumof $300, 000 has been laid out upon the house and grounds. It is acombination of an Italian villa, with the comforts and conveniences ofEnglish life. London, Paris, and New York have alike contributed to itsfurniture. I was told that $50, 000 was invested in pictures alone. WhenI looked at the perfection to which the house, the grounds, and theornamental works had been carried, my only wonder was that $300, 000could have paid for such a combination of elegance and good taste. Thefamily, which consists only of Don Manuel and his widowed sisters, hadleft on account of the cholera then prevailing in Tacubaya, but thesteward readily opened every door to my companion; and thus, withoutintruding upon the privacy of a family, or even having the honor oftheir acquaintance, I obtained access to one of the finest privateresidences that I have ever yet seen, either in this country or anyother. In this house it was that the Gadsden treaty was proposed, at adinner-party at which Mr. Gadsden and Santa Anna were present. 

THE DESIERTO. 

There was nothing to detain me longer at Tacubaya; but a ride upon theTacubaya road is not well finished without being extended to the_Desierto_, a place now as attractive in its ruins as it was in itsprosperity. 

A description of what it once was I copy from old Thomas Gage: "Butmore north [south] westward, three leagues from Mexico, is thepleasantest place of all that are about Mexico, called the _Solidad_, or _Desierto_, 'the Solitary Place' or 'Wilderness. ' Were allwildernesses like it, to live in a wilderness would be better than tolive in a city. This hath been a device of bare-footed Carmelites, tomake show of their apparent godliness, and who would be thought to livelike hermits, retired from the world, that they may draw the world untothem. They have built them a stately cloister, which, being upon a hilland among rocks, makes it to be most admired. About the cloister theyhave fashioned out many holes and caves, in, under, and among therocks, like hermits' lodgings, with a room to lie in, and an oratoryto pray in, with pictures, and images, and rare devices forself-mortification, as scourges of wire, rods of iron, hairclothgirdles with sharp wire points, to gird about their bare flesh, andmany such like toys, which hang about their oratories, to make peopleadmire their mortified and holy lives. 

"All these hermits' holes and caves, which are some ten in all, arewithin the bounds and compass of the cloister, and among orchards andgardens, which are full of fruits and flowers, which may take two milesin compass; and here among the rocks are many springs of water, which, with the shade of the plantain and other trees, are most cool andpleasant to the hermits. They have also the sweet smell of the rose andthe jessamine, which is a little flower, but the sweetest of allothers; and there is not any flower to be found that is rare andexquisite in that country which is not in that wilderness, to delightthe senses of those mortified hermits. 

"They are weekly changed from the cloister, and when their week isended others are sent, and they return into their cloisters; they carrywith them their bottles of wine, sweetmeats, and other provisions. Asfor fruits, the trees do drop them into their mouths. It is wonderfulto see the strange devices of fountains of water which are about thegardens; but much more strange and wonderful to see the resort thitherof coaches, and gallants, and ladies, and citizens from Mexico, to walkand make merry in those desert pleasures, and to see those hypocrites, whom they look upon as living saints, and so think nothing too good forthem to cherish them in their desert conflicts with Satan. 

"None goes to them but carries some sweetmeats or some other daintydish to nourish and feed them withal, whose prayers they likewiseearnestly solicit, leaving them great alms of money for their masses;and, above all, offering to a picture in their church, called our Ladyof Carmel, treasures of diamonds, pearls, golden chains, and crowns, and gowns of cloth of gold and silver. Before this picture did hang, inmy time, twenty lamps of silver, the poorest of them being worth ahundred pounds. Truly Satan hath given them what he offered unto Christin the desert. 

"All the dainties and all the riches of America hath he given unto themin that desert, because they daily fall down and worship him. In theway to this place is another town, called Tacubaya, where is a richcloister of Franciscans, and also many gardens and orchards; but it is, above all, much resorted to for the music in that church, wherein thefriars have made the Indians so skillful that they dare compare withthe Cathedral Church of Mexico. "

 [38] "The Toltecs appeared first in the year 648, the Chicimecs in 1170, the Nahualtecs 1178, the Atolhues and Aztecs in 1196. The Toltecs introduced the cultivation of maize and cotton; they built cities, made roads, and constructed those great pyramids which are yet admired, and of which the faces are very accurately laid out. They knew the use of hieroglyphical paintings; they could work metals, and cut the hardest stones; and they had a solar year more perfect than that of the Greeks and Romans. The form of their government indicated that they were the descendants of a people who had experienced great vicissitudes in their social state. But where is the source of that cultivation? Where is the country from which the Toltecs and Mexicans issued?"--HUMBOLDT, _Essay Politique_, vol. I. P. 100. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Walk to Guadalupe. --Our Embassador kneeling to the Host. --AnEmbassador with, and one without Lace. --First sight of SantaAnna. --Indian Dance in Church. --Juan Diego not Saint Thomas. --TheMiracle proved at Rome. --The Story of Juan Diego. --The holy Well ofGuadalupe. --The Temple of the Virgin. --Public Worship interdictedby the Archbishop. --Refuses to revoke his Interdict. --He fled toGuadalupe and took Sanctuary. --Refused to leave the Altar. --TheArrest at the Altar. 

"_Placuit pinturas in ecclesia esse non debere, ne quod colitur veladoratur, in parietibus pingatur_--Pictures ought not to be in thechurches, nor should any that are reverenced or adored be painted uponthe walls. " So say the canons of the Council of Toledo. 

I was one of a vast crowd that, on a Sunday of December, 1853, werehurrying out of the city by the old gate and causeway of Tepeac to thesuburban village of Guadalupe Hidalgo, once Tepeac, but now consecratedto the Virgin Mary, who, tradition says, appeared there in a bodilyform to an Indian _peon_. Juan Diego was the name of the Indian, and1531 is the date assigned to the incident. I shall hereafter takeoccasion to relate the story as given by the veracious Juan, and dulyattested by authority which ought to be competent to settle thequestion, if any thing can do so. I hope that my readers will do theirbest to believe it. If they honestly endeavor to do so, and do notsucceed, I trust they will not suffer on account of their lack offaith. 

The occasion that was drawing the multitude together was theconsecration of the bishop-elect of Michoican, which was to becelebrated with great pomp at this most sacred shrine of the patrongoddess of the Republic. The State and the Church were duly representedupon the platform by the President, the nuncio, and the archbishop. Beneath the platform, and within the silver railing, were the officialrepresentatives of foreign nations, who were easily distinguished by astrip of gold or silver lace upon the collars and lapels of theircoats. To this uniformity of dress there was a single exception in theperson of the new American embassador, Mr. Gadsden, whose plain blackdress and clerical appearance would have conveyed the impression thathe was a Methodist preacher, had he not been engaged, with all theawkwardness of a novice, upon his knees, in crossing himself. 

This was the first occasion on which I had ever seen Santa Anna. Iflooks have any weight determining a man's character, then truly he wasentitled to his position, for he was, by all odds, the most imposing inappearance of any person in that assemblage, or any other I have yetseen in Mexico. His part in the performance was that of godfather tothe bishop. Surrounded by kneeling aids-de-camp, he alone stood up, inthe rich uniform of a general of division, seeming the perfection ofmilitary elegance and dignity. Each badge of prelatical rank, before itwas put upon the new bishop, was handed to Santa Anna, who kissed it, and then returned it. He stood without apparent fatigue during thewhole of that long ceremony. I have often seen Santa Anna since thattime, but never have I seen him appear to such advantage as upon thisoccasion. 

THE BIBLE IN MEXICO. 

On the next Sabbath I attended the Indian celebration of the appearanceof the most blessed Virgin. During the Christmas holidays in thecountry of the Pintos, I had seen Indians dressed up in whimsicalattire, enacting plays, and singing and dancing; but this was the firsttime that I had ever seen, in a house dedicated to the worship of God, or, rather, in a temple consecrated to the adoration of the Virgin, fantastic dances performed by Indians under the supervision of priestsand bishops. When I found out what the entertainment was, I washeartily vexed that I should be at such a place on the Sabbath day. Thedancing and singing was bad enough, but the climax was reached when thepriest came down from the altar, with an array of attendants havingimmense candles, to the side door, where the procession stopped towitness the discharge, at mid-day, of a large amount of fire-works inhonor of the most blessed Virgin Mary. 

I hurried home from this profanation of the Lord's day, and sat downand contemplated the old Aztec god, who had been deified for hiswisdom, and could not but regret the change that had been imposed uponthese imbecile Indians. The next Sabbath after this was the nationalanniversary of the miraculous apparition; but, having seen enough ofthis sort of thing, I concluded that my Sabbaths would be better spentin staying at home and reading a Spanish Testament, which had beenbrought into the country in violation of the law. When I was first atthe city of Mexico, Governor Letcher related to me the stratagem bywhich he contrived to smuggle an American Bible agent out of thecountry when the police were after him, on an accusation of sellingprohibited books! for in such a country as this, the Word of God is aprohibited book. 

Juan Diego, upon whose veracity rests the story of the miraculousappearance of the Virgin, was an Indian _peon_; and though, like therest of his race, he probably was an habitual liar, yet when he bearstestimony to a miracle he is presumed to speak the truth. He lived in amud hut somewhere about the barren hill now consecrated to the Virginof Guadalupe. The attempt to make out that it was Saint Thomas, or theWandering Jew who here had an interview with the Virgin Mary, and thatthe old rag on which the picture is painted is really a part of thecloak of Saint Thomas, is, by a very verbose proclamation of theArchbishop of Mexico, dated 25th March, 1795, pronounced a damnableheresy. I have in my possession a copy of this precious document, bearing the signature of Don Alonzo Nunez de Haro y Peralto. 

As I learn from the said proclamation that "the adoration of this holyimage" [picture] exists not only in Mexico, but in South America andSpain, and that it has propagated itself in Italy, Flanders, Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Poland, Ireland, and Transylvania, I shall be excusedfor giving the substance of this miraculous apparition, since it is nowan article of belief of all good Catholics, having been proved beforethe Congregation of Rites at Rome to have been a miraculous appearanceof the Mother of God upon earth, in the year and at the placeaforesaid. And the proclamation farther informs us that his holiness, Benedict XIV. , was so fully persuaded of the truth of the tradition, that he made "cordial devotion to our Lady of Guadalupe, and concededthe proper mass and ritual of devotion. He also made mention of it inthe lesson of the second _nocturnal_... , declaring from the high throneof the Vatican that Mary, most holy, _non fecit taliter omni nationi_. "

STORY OF JUAN DIEGO. 

Juan Diego had a sick father, and, like a good and pious son, hestarted for the medicine-man. He was stopped by the Virgin at the spotwhere the round house on the extreme right of the picture is situated. She reproached him with the slowness of the Indians in embracing thenew religion, and at the same time she announced to him the importantfact that she was to be the patron of the Indians, and also charged himto go and report the same to Zumarraga, who then enjoyed the lucrativeoffice of Bishop of Mexico. Juan obeyed the heavenly messenger, butfound himself turned out of doors as a lying Indian. The second time hewent for the medicine-man he took another path, but was again stoppedon the way at the spot where the second round house now stands. She nowrequired him to go a second time to the bishop, and, in order toconvince him of the truth of the story, she directed the Indian toclimb to the top of the rock, where he would find a bunch of rosesgrowing out of the smooth porphyry. The Indian did as he was commanded, and finding the roses in the place named, he gathered them in his_tilma_, and carried them to the bishop. The spot is marked by a smallchapel. On opening his _tilma_ before the bishop and a company ofgentlemen assembled for that purpose, it was found that the roses hadimprinted themselves around a very coarse picture of the Virgin. Thisis the story of the miraculous appearance of our Lady of Guadalupe. 

[Illustration: TEMPLE OF THE VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE. ]

The bishop was hard to convince at first, but when he considered thatthe Indian could not himself paint, and had no money with which to payan artist, and, above all, as there was a fair chance of making moneyby the transaction, he finally yielded to conviction. His example wassoon followed by the whole nation; and then the several buildings, oneafter another, began to make their appearance. There was somedifficulty at first in identifying the place of the first appearance ofthe Virgin, but this difficulty was removed by the Virgin herself, forshe again appeared and stamped her foot upon the spot, whereupon theregushed forth a spring of mineral water. [39] This has proved aninfallible cure for all diseases of body and mind, and to it theIndians resort to drink, and wash, and drink again, until it would seemthat they must soon exhaust the fountain, so great is the multitudethat resort to this spring of the Virgin. 

The Collegiate Church--for there can not be two Cathedrals in onediocese--is the principal building in the picture. It is not large, butit surpasses any thing I have yet seen for its immense accumulation oftreasure, excepting always the Cathedral. A railing formed of plates ofpure silver incloses both the choir and the altar of the Virgin. Theseare joined together by a passageway, which is inclosed by a portion ofthe same precious railing. The golden candlesticks, the golden shields, and other ornaments of gold, dazzle the eyes of the beholder, while thethree rows of jewels, one of pearls, one of emeralds, and one ofdiamonds, encircling "the holy image, " produce an impression not easilyerased. The contrast that is presented between these hoards of wealthand the extreme poverty of the multitude that here congregate is moststriking. 

The religion of Mexico is a religion of priestly miracles, and when theordinary rules of evidence are applied to them, they and the religionthat rests upon them fall together; hence the necessity of exacting atthe start a blind submission to authority, and an abnegation of thereasoning faculties the moment the subject of religion is approached. We have applied the ordinary rules of evidence to the romance of theConquest, and we find that it will not stand the test of anexamination. But if we doubt the history of the Conquest, we must doubtthe history of all the miracles of the Church, for all of them rest onthe like untenable grounds. I did not wonder at finding the countryabounding in unbelief. Now that the fires of the Inquisition haveceased to burn, the priesthood are made the butt and laughing-stock ofthose who are educated. Still, the national mind does not run towardthe pure Gospel, which is here unknown and prohibited, but toinfidelity and socialism. A sincere Protestant can have no sympathywith either side. 

AN INTERDICT. 

The following is Thomas Gage's account of an affair that took place inthis temple in his time:

"Don Alonzo de Zerna, the archbishop, who had always opposed Don PedroMexia and the Virey, to please the people, granted to them toexcommunicate Don Pedro, and so sent out bills of excommunication, tobe fixed upon all the church doors, against Don Pedro, who, notregarding the excommunication, and keeping close at home, and stillselling his wheat at a higher price than before, the archbishop raisedhis censure higher against him, by adding to it a bill of _cessatio adivinis_, that is, a cessation of all divine service. This censure isso great with them that it is never used except for some great man'ssake, who is contumacious and stubborn in his ways, contemning thepower of the Church. Then are all the church doors shut up, let thecity be never so great; no masses are said; no prayers are used; nopreaching permitted; no meetings allowed for any public devotion; nocalling upon God. The Church mourns, as it were, and makes no show ofspiritual joy and comfort, nor of any communion of prayers one withanother, so long as the party remains stubborn and rebellious in hissin and scandal, and in not yielding to the Church's censure. 

"And whereas, by this cessation _a divinis_, many churches, especiallycloisters, suffer in the means of their livelihood, who live upon whatis daily given for the masses they say, and in a cloister where thirtyor forty priests say mass, so many pieces of eight [dollars] do dailycome in, therefore this censure is inflicted upon the whole Church, that the party offending or scandalizing, for whose sake this curse islaid upon all, is bound to satisfy all priests and cloisters, which, inthe way aforesaid, suffer, and to allow them so much out of his meansas they might have daily got by selling away their masses for so manydollars for their daily livelihood. To this would the archbishop havebrought Don Pedro, to have emptied out his purse, nearly a thousanddollars daily, toward the maintenance of about a thousand priests, somany there may be in Mexico, who from the altar sell away their breadgod [sacrament][40] to satisfy with bread and food their hungrystomachs. And secondly, by the people suffering in their spiritualcomfort, and in their communion of prayers and worship, thought to makeDon Pedro odious to the people. Don Pedro, perceiving the spitefulintent of the archbishop, and hearing the outcries of the peopleagainst him, and their cries for the use of their churches, secretlyretired to the palace of the Virey, begging his favor and protection, for whose sake he suffered. 

"The viceroy immediately sent out his orders commanding the bills ofexcommunication and _cessatio a divinis_ to be pulled down from thechurch doors; and to all the superiors of the cloisters to set opentheir churches, and to celebrate their services and masses as formerlythey had done. But they disobeyed the vice-king through blind obedienceto their archbishop. The viceroy commanded the arch-prelate to revokehis censures; but his answer was, that what he had done had been justlydone against a public offender and great oppressor of the poor, whosecries had moved him to commiserate their suffering condition, and thatthe offender's contempt of his first excommunication had deserved therigor of the second censure, neither of which he would nor could revokeuntil Don Pedro Mexia had submitted himself to the Church and to apublic absolution, and had satisfied the priests and the cloisters whosuffered for him, and had disclaimed that unlawful and unconscionablemonopoly wherewith he wronged the whole commonwealth, and especiallythe poorer sort therein. 

ARREST OF AN ARCHBISHOP. 

"The viceroy, not brooking this saucy answer from a priest, commandedhim presently to be apprehended, and to be taken under guard to SanJuan de Ulua, and then to be shipped to Spain. The archbishop, havingnotice of this resolution of the viceroy, retired to Guadalupe, withmany of his priests and prebends, leaving a bill of excommunicationagainst the viceroy himself upon the church doors, intending privatelyto fly to Spain, there to give an account of his carriage and behavior. But he could not escape the care and vigilance of the viceroy, who, with his sergeant and officers, pursued him to Guadalupe, which thearchbishop understanding, he betook himself to the sanctuary of thechurch, and there caused the candles to be lighted upon the altar, andthe sacrament of his bread god to be taken out of the tabernacle, andattiring himself with his pontifical vestments, with his mitre on hishead, his crosier in one hand, in the other he took his god of bread, and thus, with his train of priests about him at the altar, he waitedfor the coming of the sergeant and officers, whom he thought, with hisgod in his hand, and with a Here I am, to astonish and amaze, and tomake them, as did Christ the Jews in the garden, to fall backward, anddisable them from laying hands on him. 

BANISHMENT OF THE ARCHBISHOP. 

"The officers, coming into the church, went toward the altar where thebishop stood, and, kneeling down first to worship their _god_, madeshort prayers; which being ended, they propounded unto the bishop, withcourteous and fair words, the cause of their coming to that place, requiring him to lay down the sacrament [the consecrated wafer], and tocome out of the church, and to hear the notification of what ordersthey brought unto him in the king's name. To whom the archbishopreplied, that whereas their master the viceroy was excommunicated, helooked upon him as one out of the pale of the Church, and one withoutany power or authority to command him in the house of God, and sorequired them, as they regarded the good of their souls, to departpeaceably, and not to infringe the privileges and immunities of theChurch by exercising in it any legal act of secular power and command;and that he would not go out of the church unless they durst take himand the sacrament together. With this the head officer, named Tiroll, stood up and notified unto him an order, in the king's name, toapprehend his person in what place soever he should find him, and toguard him to the port of San Juan de Ulua, and there to deliver him towhom by farther order he should be directed thereto, to be shipped toSpain as a traitor to the king's crown, a troubler of the common peace, and an author and mover of sedition in the commonwealth. 

"The archbishop, smiling to Tiroll, answered him, 'Thy master useth toohigh terms and words, which do better agree unto himself, for I know nomutiny or sedition like to trouble the commonwealth, unless it be byhis and Don Pedro Mexia his oppressing of the poor. And as for thyguarding me to San Juan de Ulua, I conjure thee by Jesus Christ, whomthou knowest I hold in my hands, not to use here any violence in God'shouse, from whose altar I am resolved not to depart; take heed Godpunish you not, as he did Jeroboam for stretching forth his hand at thealtar against the prophet; let his withered hand remind thee of thyduty. ' But Tiroll suffered him not to squander away the time and ravelit out with farther preaching, but called to the altar a priest, whomhe had brought for the purpose, and commanded him, in the king's name, to take the sacrament [wafer] out of the archbishop's hand; which thepriest doing, the archbishop, unvesting himself of his pontificals, yielded himself unto Tiroll; and, taking his leave of all his prebends, requiring them to be witnesses of what had been done, he went prisonerto San Juan de Ulua, where he was delivered to the custody of thegovernor of the castle, and, not many days after, was sent in a shipprepared for that purpose to Spain, to the king in council, with a fullcharge of all his carriages and misdemeanors. "

 [39] This water is impregnated with carbonic acid, sulphate of lime, and soda. 

 [40] It is difficult to convey to Protestant readers the idea which the Spaniards attach to the sacramental bread or wafer after the priest has pronounced the words of consecration. They call it both God and Jesus Christ, and claim for it divine worship. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The old Indian City of Mexico. --The Mosques. --Probable Extent ofCivilization. --Aztecs acquired Arts of the Toltecs. --ToltecCivilization, ancient and original. --The Pyramid of Papantla. --ThePlunder of Civilization. --Mexico as described by Cortéz. --Montezuma'sCourt. --The eight Months that Cortéz held Montezuma. --What happenedfor the next ten Months. --The Siege of Mexico by Cortéz. --Aztecsconquered by Famine and Thirst. --Heroes on Paper and Victorieswithout Bloodshed. --Cortéz and Morgan. 

As we have carefully surveyed the suburbs, and all the valley ofMexico, it is time to take a survey of the city itself, and examine itscondition at different periods of its history. 

THE MEXICO OF THE AZTECS. 

The Aztec city of Mexico perished with its conquest by the Spaniards. Day by day, as the siege went on, the Indians that followed thesoldiers pulled the houses down, when the latter had passed, and threwthe rubbish into the canals; so that, on the day on which the conquestwas effected, the city ceased to exist. Many times has that old citybeen restored, in the imagination of enthusiasts, with its fortypyramids (_teocallis_) and unnumbered palaces, adorned with all theluxury and magnificence of the most refined civilization, united withbarbaric grandeur and inhumanity in so strange a combination as todistract our feelings between hate and admiration. 

It was easy to build an Indian city that would present a most imposingappearance, for the climate was well fitted for drying mud thoroughly. Besides, there was an inexhaustible supply of pumice-stone(_tepetate_), and an exceedingly soft, gray quarry stone, for caps andlintels, with an excellent quality of cement, and material for"_fresco_ painting" of the walls, abundant and cheap. All thesearticles are combined in the building of the modern city, and give itits present appearance of elegance and great durability. But in the oldcity, one-story palaces of dried mud, plastered and frescoed, withlarge interior courts like that I have described at Tezcuco, must havebeen among the most imposing structures. If _tepetate_ was employedin the construction of the royal palaces, it would not have addedmaterially to the weight resting upon the earthy foundations; for whenthe water in the ditches occupied half the street, [41] the foundationsmust have been so much softer than at present, that structures of thelightest material only could be borne. 

In his anxiety to keep up a resemblance between his conquests and thatof Granada, Cortéz calls the _teocallis_, or Indian mounds which hefound, _mosques_, and speaks of "forty towers, the largest of whichhas fifty steps leading to its main body, and is higher than the towerof the principal church in Seville. "[42] Bernal Diaz says there were"115 steps to the summit. "[43] I must reduce the size of this greatpyramid to the size of the isolated rock that the Cathedral is said tooccupy. The difficulty of getting rid of the earth that composed theseforty artificial mountains does not seem to have troubled historians somuch as it would a contractor. I have often thought that those hillocksof earth on the north side of the town were once small artificialmounds on which the Indians offered their worship, for in the canalnear by was found that collection of clay divinities of which I havealready spoken. 

The difficulty in the way of forming a correct idea of that old city, is owing to the defective character of our witnesses. The one confessesto the habitual practice of falsehood for the purpose of deceiving theIndians; the other acknowledges practices that render the character ofboth infamous, and would make their testimony of no weight in a courtof justice unless corroborated. We must therefore feel our way as bestwe can. 

With the rude implements of the Indians, houses of the driest blocks ofmud, though covered with cement and painted with colored wash, couldeasily have been thrown down; but gunpowder or iron bars would havebeen necessary to overturn a wall composed either of stone or_tepetate_ and cement. Villages built of dried mud are often imposingin their appearance, and are yet most perishable; for the firstoverflow of waters, that shall cover but a few inches of the walls ofthe houses, will in a few hours reduce a whole village to a mass ofruins. Again, the dry wall that has fallen becomes saturated, anddissolves itself into soft mud. My hypothesis is, therefore, notwithout its difficulty, for at every inundation of the city in thetimes of the Aztecs we have to suppose it totally destroyed; an evilthat could not be remedied until the water had entirely subsided, andnew mud had been formed into blocks and dried in the sun, and a newvillage or city built every twenty-five years. 

To sum up my theory of Aztec civilization: they had earthen gods, earthen cooking utensils, and earthen aqueducts; their temples weresmall buildings, upon moderately-sized Indian burial mounds, and theirpalaces and sacred inclosures were of dried mud, and of a single storyin height. 

THE TOLTECS. 

With this solution, the difficulty that occurred to Humboldt is in partremoved, viz. , that the allotted time--one hundred and seventyyears--was too short a period in which to transform a tribe of NorthAmerican Indians into a settled community. The remainder of thedifficulty is explained by an event taking place in our own days. It ishardly thirty years since the Apache Indians began the systematicplunder of the northern states of Mexico, and now even these nomadesbegin to show the first glimmerings of civilization. Their captivesteach them the use of much of the plunder they have brought to theirown villages. Though their treatment of female captives is inhuman, yetit is not an uncommon thing for a captive to become a wife, and tointroduce into her wigwam, and to inculcate upon the minds of herchildren, a few of the primary ideas of civilization. It is thecommonly received notion that the Toltecs abandoned the table-landabout the time of the arrival of the Aztecs, but continued to flourishin the region of the Gulf coast and in other parts of the hot country;that the vast ruins which abound in those regions were inhabited citiestill within a few generations of the coming of the Spaniards; and thatin Yucatan, the part most distant from Mexico, that civilizationcontinued quite down to that period; that for a great portion of theone hundred and seventy years of their national existence, the Aztecskept up predatory excursions into the Toltec region, and out of itsdense population derived an inexhaustible supply of slaves and theplunder of civilization, included in which may have been the bestwrought of the stone idols that are still preserved. So that the Azteccivilization resolves itself into the very ancient civilization of theToltecs. 

PYRAMID OF PAPANTLA. 

We have removed to a greater antiquity, but have not got rid of thequestion of the origin of Mexican civilization. The year 600, named byHumboldt, may be considered as the time of their appearance on thetable-land; out many of the ruins in the hot country might claim athousand years earlier antiquity. These massive remains must havestood, abandoned as they are now, in the midst of the forest, for along time before the Conquest, as their very existence was unknown tothe Spaniards until near the close of the last century. The closeresemblance between the apparently most ancient of these works, andthose of the Egyptianss and other Eastern civilizations, does notinvolve the idea of a common origin or of intercourse, but only leadsto the suggestion that the human race, in its progress, naturallyfollows the same path, whether upon the eastern or western continent, and that it is separated by a cycle of thousands of years from thecivilization of our day. As a specimen of the works of the Toltecs, Iinsert a sketch of the pyramid of Papantla. 

[Illustration: PYRAMID OF PAPANTLA. ]

"The pyramid of Papantla, " says Humboldt, [44] "is not constructed likethe pyramids of Cholula and Mexico. The only materials employed areimmense stones. Mortar is distinguished in the seams. The edifice, however, is not so remarkable for its size as for its symmetry, thepolish of the stones, and the great regularity of their cut. The baseof the pyramid is an exact square, each side being eighty-two feet inlength. The perpendicular height appears not to be more than fromfifty-two to sixty-five feet. This monument, like all the Mexican_teocallis_, is composed of several stages. Six are stilldistinguishable, and a seventh appears to be concealed by thevegetation with which the sides of the pyramid are covered. A greatstairway of fifty-seven steps conducts to the truncated top of the_teocalli_, where the human victims were sacrificed. On each side ofthe great stairs is a flight of small stairs. The facing of the storiesis adorned with hieroglyphics, in which serpents and crocodiles, carvedin relievo, are discernible. Each story contains a great number ofsquare niches, symmetrically distributed. In the first story we reckontwenty-four on each side, in the second twenty, and in the thirdsixteen. The number of these niches in the body of the pyramid is threehundred and sixty-six, and there are twelve in the stairs toward theeast. The Abbé Marquez supposes that this number of three hundred andseventy-eight niches has some allusion to a calendar of the Mexicans, and he even believes that in each of them one of the twenty figures wasrepeated, which, in the hieroglyphical language of the Toltecs, servedas a symbol for marking the days of the common year, and theintercalated days at the end of the cycles. The year being composed ofeighteen months of twenty days, there would then be three hundred andsixty days, to which, agreeable to the Egyptian practice, fivecomplementary days were added.... This pyramid was visited by M. Dupé, a captain in the service of the King of Spain. He possesses the bust, in basalt, of a Mexican, which I employed M. Massard to engrave, andwhich bears great resemblance to the _calautica_ of the heads of Isis. "

I prefer in this way to copy from an author of unquestionable authorityan important historical fact, rather than to search for less accessiblesources of evidence on which I rest the theory, that what of this kindwe have seen at the city of Mexico are but fragments from the wreckthat befell the American civilization of antiquity, which had succumbedbefore the inroads of northern savages. This is sufficient inquiry intoantiquities till we come to the museum. 

MEXICO ACCORDING TO CORTÉZ. 

It is but justice to add the substance of Cortéz's account of thisancient city, which is embodied in the following paragraphs:

"This noble city contains many fine and magnificent houses, which maybe accounted for from the fact that all the nobility of the country, who are the vassals of Montezuma, have houses in the city, in whichthey reside a certain part of the year; and, besides, there arenumerous wealthy citizens who also possess fine houses. All thesepersons, in addition to the large and spacious apartments for ordinarypurposes, have others, both upper and lower, that containconservatories of flowers. Along one of the causeways [the Chapultepec]that lead into the city are laid two [water] pipes, constructed ofmasonry, each of which is two paces in width, and about five feet inheight.... The inhabitants of this city pay greater regard to the styleof their mode of living, and are more attentive to elegance of dressand politeness of manners than those of other provinces and cities, since, as the caçique Montezuma has his residence in the capital, andall the nobility, his vassals, are in the constant habit of meetingthere, a general courtesy of demeanor necessarily prevails.... For, asI have already stated, what can be more wonderful than that a barbarousmonarch, as he is, should have every object found in his dominionsimitated in gold, silver, precious stones, and feathers, the gold andsilver being wrought so naturally as not to be surpassed by any smithin the world, the stone-work executed with such perfection that it isdifficult to conceive what instruments could have been used, and thefeather-work superior to the finest production in wax andembroidery?... He possessed out of the city as well as within numerousvillas, each of which had its peculiar sources of amusement, and allwere constructed in the best possible manner for the use of a greatprince or lord. Within the city, his palaces were so wonderful that itis hardly possible to describe their beauty and extent. I can only saythat in Spain there is nothing equal to them. There was one palacesomewhat inferior to the rest, attached to which was a beautifulgarden, with balconies extending over it, supported by marble columns, and having a floor formed of jasper elegantly inlaid. There wereapartments in this palace sufficient to lodge two princes of thehighest rank with their retinues.... The emperor has another beautifulpalace, with a large court-yard paved with handsome flags in the styleof a chess-board. 

"Every day, as soon as it was light, six hundred nobles and men of rankwere in attendance at the palace, who either sat or walked about thehalls and galleries, and passed their time in conversation, but withoutentering the apartments where his person was.... Daily his larder andwine-cellar[45] were open to all who wished to eat and drink. The mealswere served by three hundred youths, who brought on an infinite varietyof dishes; indeed, whenever he dined or supped, the table was loadedwith every kind of flesh, fish, and vegetables that the countryproduced. The meals were served in a large hall, in which Montezuma wasaccustomed to eat, and the dishes quite filled the room, which wascovered with mats, and kept very clean. He sat on a small cushioncuriously wrought of leather. [46] He is also dressed four times everyday in four different suits entirely new, which he never wears a secondtime. None of the caçiques who enter his palace have their feetcovered, and when those for whom he sends enter his presence, theyincline their heads and look down, bending their bodies; and when theyaddress him, they do not look him in the face; this arises fromexcessive modesty and reverence.... [47] No sultan or other infidel lord, of whom any knowledge now exists, ever had so much ceremonial in hiscourt. "

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SPANIARDS. 

It was in the spring of 1519 that Cortéz and his company had landed atVera Cruz. From that point they had marched toward Mexico withoutopposition, except the skirmishes with the Tlascalans, and withoutopposition they had entered the city of Mexico on the 5th of November, 1519. Here they had been received with every mark of hospitality andtreated with every kindness. But this did not prevent theirtreacherously seizing the person of their host, and making him aprisoner in their quarters. In his name they had governed his tribe, and ransacked his dominions in search of the treasures collected by thegold-washers, and had even interfered in the religious worship of asuperstitious people, and murdered, in cold blood, a party of theirchiefs celebrating an Indian feast. Still there had been no war, untilOrdaz was sent, with his four hundred men, to recapture the concubinesof Cortéz, who had been rescued, as already mentioned. This was in Julyof the following year, eight months after their first entry intoMexico, and on the 10th of July, 1520, the licentious rule of theSpaniards at Mexico was terminated by the events of the _triste noche_. 

The mere handful that had at first entered the city had been increasedby the army of Narvaez, so that when the news reached Cortéz thatAlvarado and the eighty odd men that had been left with him in the citywere threatened with difficulty, he marched a well-appointed army offourteen hundred men, besides two hundred Tlascalans, to his relief. Their retreat to Tlascala has already been described, the character ofthe brigantines has been discussed, as well as the absurd story of hishaving dug a slip or launching canal at Tezcuco, twelve feet broad andtwelve feet deep. We have seen that the towns and villages said to havebeen built in the lake, and the still greater number of large towns onthe main land, could only have been petty Indian hamlets, and that thecentral portions of the valley of Mexico would not have been habitableif the lakes of Mexico had been any thing more than evaporation ponds. And, lest I should venture too far, I will conclude this remark byadverting to the testimony of Diaz, which concedes that when his bookwas written the face of the country was substantially as it now is, andas I have already described it to be. But he endeavors to save thestory of the Conquest by the shallow pretense that, during the fewyears that intervened between that event and the date of his history, the whole face of the country had completely changed. [48]

The great mystery is why so large a body of Spaniards, if they reallyamounted to the number claimed by Cortéz, should have retreated fromthe city at all, as they do not complain of being short of provisions. They had the great _teocalli_ for a fortress, on which they might haveplanted their cannon, and leveled the city in a few days, if not in afew hours, and the great Plaza in which to manoeuvre their cavalryand protect the Indians while leveling the rubbish of the broken walls. But a panic having seized them, and having escaped from the city by abadly-managed night retreat, ten months elapsed before the Spaniards, on the 13th of May, 1521, laid siege to the city. And with varyingsuccess the siege was continued just three months, until Guatemozin wastaken prisoner, on the 13th of August, 1521, so that the siege wascarried on in the midst of the rainy season, when the flats must havebeen covered with water, and the ditches well filled. No difficulty wasexperienced in bringing up his flat-boats to the sides of the muddycauseways, or in cutting off the supplies of provisions by water, or inbreaking down the earthen aqueduct of Chapultepec, so that the Indianswere finally subdued by the combined forces of hunger and thirst. When, the Aztecs were so enfeebled by want that they could no longer offerresistance, the Spaniards rushed into the town, seized the unresistingGuatemozin, and shouted victory. 

INDIAN WARFARE. 

It requires a familiarity with Spanish character, and the Moorish, Oriental origin of their literature, in order to read Spanish-Americanmilitary annals understandingly, as much so as it does a knowledge ofIndian character in order to sift out the truth from accounts of Indianwars. The superstitious dread which the Aztecs at all times evinced forthe Spanish horses and horsemen is common to all savages. [49] Theappearance of two or three horses, kept ready for that purpose, wassufficient to restore the battle after the Spaniards had taken to theirheels. And while the facts of the siege amount to little more thankeeping possession of the narrow causeways, by aid of superiorimplements of war, until famine and thirst had done their work, yet theSpanish histories of the Conquest make it to surpass in interest, andin the magnitude of forces engaged, almost any siege on record. And soplausibly is the narrative written, that the reader drinks it in withbreathless anxiety, without once stopping to ask himself how so manyhundreds of thousands of Indians could be fed in a salt valley, inclosed by high mountains, without the aid of a regularly organizedcommissariat department, or how such masses of undisciplined Indianscould be manoeuvred upon a narrow causeway, where numbers add nostrength, but only tend to augment the confusion--where, as in thiscase, there had to be a daily advance and retreat in presence of anactive enemy. 

IMPROBABILITY OF CORTÉZ'S ACCOUNT. 

The interesting note which we have copied describes an event within thememory of the present generation. And it is well recollected whattrepidation was caused in that colony of the British Empire by theapproach to the frontier of a nation of barbarians who despised fear, whose religion was war, and who knew no sin like that of turning theback to any enemy. Yet a hundred horsemen, with firearms, from amissionary village, unaccustomed to war, were sufficient to turn backthis mighty host of brave savages. It can not be claimed that theAztecs were superior to these Mantatees, or that the force of Cortézwas inferior in equipment to the hundred unwarlike Griquas whose"thunder and lightning" (as they termed the musketry) drove them back. The missionary was a Protestant, a man of truth, and had no glory towin, and therefore told only the simple truth. Cortéz, out of a muchinferior affair, has fabricated a romance, with such verisimilitudethat he has astonished the world by an account of achievements which henever performed. To write well is nine tenths of a hero; and in thetime of Cortéz, as it is even now at Mexico, it was the easiest thingimaginable to manufacture an astonishing victory out of the verysmallest amount of material. If no lives were lost in the battle, somuch more astounding is the victory. This practice of sacrificing humanlife is only a modification of cannibalism, and the very mission onwhich the Spaniards came to Mexico was to extinguish that crime, sothat they would jeopardize their title to the country should theypresume to shed the blood of each other in their interminable wars. Andso long as only women, and children, and Indians are the sufferers, they do no violence to the rules of warfare which Cortéz and theConquistadors introduced. The armies of Mexico have never beendeficient in good writers; a specimen of the capacity of one of them Ihave already given in the chapter on Texas; so that their stately anddignified histories of the national squabbles of the last thirty yearsare equal to Cortéz in gross exaggeration, and not a whit behind him inelegance of composition. 

MORGAN AND CORTÉZ. 

A hundred years after the conquest of Mexico, there sailed out of theharbor of Port Royal, now Kingston, in Jamaica, an unlawful militaryenterprise, about equal in force to that with which Cortéz first landedat Vera Cruz, but immensely inferior to the panic-stricken host thatfled by night from the city of Mexico. The fitting out of this unlawfulexpedition, like that of Cortéz, had the connivance of the localauthorities. The difference between the two was, that Morgan did notunderstand the Spanish Oriental style of proclaiming his own heroism, and furthermore, his expedition was not directed against amiserably-armed rabble of Indians, but against the fortified city ofPanama, held by a garrison of royal troops. 

Mooring his little fleet in the harbor of Chagres, Morgan marched hissmall force across the Isthmus, which then presented greaterdifficulties to his passage with cannon and munitions of war thanCortéz encountered in his march to Mexico. Like Cortéz in his firstexpedition, Morgan met with no opposition in his first visit to Panama, but, with his men, lived at free quarters in rioting and debauchery, committing those atrocities that pirates alone can commit, until, theirappetites and their passions being satiated, they returned to the Gulfcoast, taking with them the plunder of a city which was then thedepository of the treasures drawn from South America. They returned asecond time to Panama, as Cortéz did to Mexico. This time they met withresistance, but they carried the town by assault, and devoted it toutter destruction. Their efforts were seconded by a terribleearthquake, from which the people fled, and built a new city at adistance of a few miles from the ruins. 

For more than two hundred years the rank vegetation of a tropicalforest has been driving its massive roots beneath its foundations, andyet the ruins of Panama still bear the marks of having once been a cityof much magnificence. Two massive stone bridges, a pavement, diversebroken walls, and a solid tower standing up above the tops of the tallforest-trees, proclaim the incontrovertible fact that the traces of alarge city can not be altogether blotted out in the course of a fewcenturies. 

Morgan has never gratified the world with a narrative of hisadventures, nor has any of his gang enlightened us with a history ofthe conquest of Panama, nor has any Saxon bishop Lorenzana yet beenfound so lost to all moral sense as to commend the piety of suchinfamous men. And yet, in the boldness of his enterprise, in thecourage of its execution, in the amount of plunder realized, inmilitary talent and prowess, Morgan the pirate was incalculablysuperior to Cortéz the hero. 

 [41] CORTÉZ, _Letters_, p. 111. 

 [42] Ibid. 

 [43] _Diaz_, p. 247. 

 [44] _Essai Politique_, vol. Ii. P. 172. 

 [45] This is a little too strong a statement, considering that there never was and never could be a cellar at Mexico. 

 [46] The naked negro alcalde mentioned in Chapter XII. Was also seated on a leather cushion. 

 [47] This is not all fancy. No people in the world show more profound reverence to the aged or deference to their chiefs than the North American Indians. 

 [48] "Iztapalapan was at that time a town of considerable magnitude, built half in the water and half on dry land. The spot where it stood is at present all dry land; and where vessels once sailed up and down, seeds are sown and harvests gathered. In fact, the whole face of the country is so completely changed, that he who had not seen these parts previously would scarcely believe that waves had ever rolled over the spot where now fertile corn-plantations extend themselves to all sides, so wonderfully have all things changed here in a short space of time. "--BERNAL DIAZ, vol. I. P. 220. 

 [49] Moffatt's Southern Africa, page 242, furnishes the following complete illustration of the effect produced by horsemen and fire-arms upon savage warriors. "The commando approached within 150 yards with a view to beckon some one to come out. On this, the enemy commenced their terrible howl, and at once discharged their clubs and javelins. Their black, dismal appearance and savage fury, with their hoarse and stentorian voices, were calculated to daunt; and the Griquas [horsemen], on their first attack, wisely retreated to a short distance, and then drew up. Waterboer, the chief, commenced firing, and leveled one of their warriors to the ground; several more instantly shared the same fate. It was confidently expected that their courage would be daunted when they saw their warriors fall by an invisible weapon, and it was hoped they would be humbled and alarmed, that thus further bloodshed might be prevented. Though they beheld with astonishment the dead and the stricken warriors writhing in the dust, they looked with lion-like fierceness at the horsemen, and yelled vengeance, violently wrenching the weapons from the hands of their dying companions to supply the place of those they had discharged at their antagonists. Sufficient intervals were afforded, and every encouragement held out for them to make proposals, but all was ineffectual. They sallied forth with increased vigor, so as to oblige the Griquas to retreat, though only to a short distance, for they never attempted to pursue above 200 yards from their camp. The firing, though without any order, was very destructive, as each took a steady aim. Many of their chief men fell victims to their own temerity, after manifesting undaunted spirit. Again and again the chiefs and Mr. Melville met to deliberate on how to act to prevent bloodshed among a people who determined to die rather than flee, which they could easily have done. 

 "Soon after the battle commenced, the Bechuanas came up, and united in playing on the enemy with poisoned arrows, but they were soon driven back; half a dozen of the fierce Mantatees [the enemy] made the whole body scamper off in wild disorder. After two hours and a half's combat, the Griquas, finding their ammunition fast diminishing, at the almost certain risk of loss of life, began to storm [charge], when the enemy gave way, taking a westerly direction. The horsemen, however, intercepted them, when they immediately descended toward the ravine, as if determined not to return by the way they came, which they crossed, but were again intercepted. On turning round they seemed desperate, but were again soon repulsed. Great confusion now prevailed, the ground being very stony, which rendered it difficult to manage the horses. At this moment an awful scene was presented to the view. The undulating country around was covered with warriors all in motion, so that it was difficult to say who were enemies or who were friends. Clouds of dust were rising from the immense masses, who appeared flying with terror or pursuing with fear. To the alarming confusion was added the bellowing of oxen, the vociferations of the yet unvanquished warriors, mingled with the groans of the dying, and the widows' piercing wail, and the cries from infant voices. The enemy again directed their course toward a town which was in possession of a tribe of the same people still more numerous. Here again another desperate struggle ensued, when they appeared determined to inclose the horsemen within the smoke and flames of the houses, through which they were slowly passing, giving the enemy time to escape. At last, seized with despair, they fled precipitately. It had been observed during the fight that some women went backward and forward to the town, only about half a mile distant, apparently with the most perfect indifference to their fearful situation. While the commando was struggling between hope and despair of being able to rout the enemy, information was brought that the half of the enemy, under Choane, were reposing in the town, within sound of the guns, perfectly regardless of the fate of the other division, under the command of Karagauye. It was supposed they possessed entire confidence in the yet invincible army of the latter, being the more warlike of the two. Humanly speaking, had both parties been together, the day would have been lost, when they would with perfect ease have carried devastation into the centre of the colony [of the Cape]. When both parties were united, they set fire to all parts of the town, and appeared to be taking their departure, proceeding in an immense body toward the north. If their number may be calculated by the space of ground occupied by the entire body, it must have amounted to upward of 40, 000. The Griquas pursued them about eight miles; and though they continued desperate, they seemed filled with terror at the enemies by whom they had been overcome.... As fighting was not my province, I avoided discharging a single shot, though, at the request of Mr. Melville and the chiefs, I remained with the commando as the only means of safety. Seeing the savage ferocity of the Bechuanas in killing the inoffensive women and children for the sake of a few paltry rings, or to boast that they had killed some of the Mantatees, I turned my attention to these objects of pity, who were flying in consternation in all directions. By my galloping in among them, many of the Bechuanas were deterred from their barbarous purpose. Shortly after they began to retreat, the women, seeing that mercy was shown them, instead of flying, generally sat down, and, baring their bosoms, exclaimed, 'I am a woman. I am a woman. ' It seemed impossible for the men to yield. There were several instances of wounded men being surrounded by fifty Bechuanas, but it was not till life was almost extinct that a single one would allow himself to be conquered. I saw more than one instance of a man fighting boldly with ten or twelve spears or arrows fixed in his body.... The men, struggling with death, would raise themselves from the ground, and discharge their weapons at any one of our number within their reach: their hostile and revengeful spirit only ceased when life was extinct. Contemplating this deadly conflict, we could not but admire the mercy of God that not one of our number was killed, and only one slightly wounded. One Bechuana lost his life while too eagerly seeking for plunder. The slain of the enemy was between four and five hundred. 

 "The Mantatees are a tall, robust people, in features resembling the Bechuanas; the dress, consisting of prepared ox-hides, hanging doubly over their shoulders. The men, during the engagement, were nearly naked, having on their heads a round cockade of black ostrich feathers. Their ornaments were large copper rings, sometimes eight in number, worn round their necks, with numerous arm, leg, and ear rings of the same material. Their weapons were war-axes of various shapes, and clubs. Into many of their knob-sticks were inserted pieces of iron resembling a sickle, but more curved, sometimes to a circle, and sharp on the outside. They appeared more rude and barbarous than the tribes around us, the natural consequences of the warlike life they had led. They were suffering dreadfully from want; even in the heat of battle, the poorest class seized pieces of meat and devoured them raw. "

CHAPTER XXIII. 

The new City of Mexico. --The Discoveries of Gold. --Ruins atMexico. --The Monks, and what Cortéz gained by his Piety. --The Cityof Mexico again rebuilt. --The City under Ravillagigedo. --The NationalPalace. --The Cathedral. --A whole Museum turned Saints. --All kneeltogether. --The San Carlos Academy of Arts. --Reign of Carlos III--TheMineria. 

The city of Mexico, as rebuilt by Cortéz, was but an humble affair. Thesmall amount of plunder realized from the city destroyed; the necessityfor large remittances to secure peace at the Spanish court; the generalpoverty and destitution of the Indians inhabiting the surroundingvillages, and the narrow limits of the Aztec empire, were greatimpediments in the way of erecting a magnificent city. On a smallscale, he resembled Santa Anna in the activity with which he couldorganize an army after defeat, or resuscitate affairs when apparentlyirretrievable. He knew how to improve the most slender means to theaccomplishment of ulterior purposes. Perseverance is not one of theleading characteristics of the Spanish race, yet it is surprising tosee how much they will often accomplish with what would appear to ustotally inadequate means. Such was eminently the talent of Cortéz. Surrounded by disappointed men, who had been lured to the country bymagnificent pictures of its resources, he still went on extending hisconquests among the surrounding tribes. 

Fortunately, the most precious of all metals is obtained by the mostsimple process, and the gold-washings of the Mescala and other parts ofthe south, which the Indians had but partially wrought, received moreattention as soon as they learned how readily the precious metal couldbe exchanged for the gewgaws of the Europeans. Gold dust was greedilyexchanged for its weight in bright silver coins, and an ounce of goldwas not unfrequently given for a bright-colored handkerchief. In a fewmonths the means for the organization of a community were obtained fromthe gold-diggings. Nothing tends so much to elevate the lowly as thediscovery of gold-washings, in which individual effort, and notmachinery, is the ruling power, and the producer of wealth. But even agold country has its evils; for nowhere have I ever seen so manydisappointed men as at the very place where an abundance of gold couldbe had for simply washing it out of the mud; and nowhere have I seen solarge a proportion of unemployed men as on the spot where the wages oflabor were fabulously high. Still, with all these drawbacks, the cityof Cortéz rapidly progressed under the stimulus of gold discoveries, until he found the wildest of his dreams falling short of the reality. 

THE MONKS IN MEXICO. 

The new city did not occupy the exact position of its Indianpredecessor, but was clustered around the still remaining navigablecanals, upon the southern border, while the main portion of the oldcity, which lay toward the northern limits of the island--where to thisday such an abundant supply of earthen gods is to be found bydigging--was left a mass of ruins. These were not, by any means, theruins of fallen stone walls, or capitals, or columns, but shapelessmasses of earth, which proclaim most unmistakably the kind ofmagnificence which distinguished the ancient capital of the Aztecempire. 

The monks, who scented gold as buzzards scent carrion, began early todiscover the growing wealth of this new city, and soon a party of adozen Franciscans, in sackcloth with downcast visages, approached thecity. They came, not as religious teachers, but as spiritualscavengers, who had consecrated their lives for gold to clean out theroad to heaven for the vilest sinners. Cortéz, who had been thegreatest sinner, was now the greatest penitent. The whole city wasmoved at the coming of these holy men, who carried the cross beforethem, but forgot not the cards and the dice in their pockets--whodaily, in the mass, consecrated spiritual bread for famishing souls, and at night spent the wages of their piety at the gambling-table. Tothe surprise of his fellow-profligates, and to the astonishment of theIndians, Cortéz, walking bare-footed, led the procession that escortedthe monks from near the spot where his brigantines had sailed among thecorn-fields of Iztapalapan to the little chapel he had partly finished, and which now stands in the yard of the Franciscans. [50] He was sozealous in the performance of his devotions and his penances that hewon the affections of the holy fathers to such a degree that he everfound faithful supporters in the powerful order of Saint Francis in allhis troubles at the Spanish court. The question of his sinceritymattered little to them. It was the benefit of his public example whichthey, above all things, desired in their search after golden treasures. To get gold and to gratify their vices was their pious calling. Thoughthey boast of having baptized some 6000 Indians, this argues nothing, except as it tends to show the numbers of the Indian population of thevalley; for, as a badge of their subjugation, the Indians receivedChristian baptism; and truly it has been said of them, "They feared theLord, but served their graven images. "

We have now a sadder tale to tell; one that philanthropists havegrieved over so often. Gold-washings are soon exhausted, but theyfrequently lead to the discovery of silver mines, which become soprofitable as to drive away the very memory of the gold-washings. Thusthe fact that gold-washings ever existed in Mexico, or even in Brazil, is almost forgotten, and the places where those washings were rests invague tradition. 

But while gold is procured by the most simple process, to extractsilver requires science, and an immense expenditure of labor andmachinery, in delving to the very bowels of the earth, and inseparating the slight percentage of pure silver from the mass of ore. In this exhausting labor, which is often assigned to convicts, Indianswere employed until they gave up the ghost. The conquerors hadappropriated to themselves the best-looking of the Indian females, while their husbands--for Indians marry very early in life--wereconsigned to the mines as laborers and carriers in the bowels of themountain. From this promiscuous intercourse, so early introduced, hasarisen the present mixed-blood population of Mexico. The offspring ofsin, they are a nation of sinners. The pure Indians are the descendantschiefly of the unenslaved tribes, like the Tlascalans and Tezcucans, who carried on the subsequent wars of Cortéz, and the whites are mostlydescendants of later immigrations. 

In a former chapter we have seen that the evils which Californiasuffered in the first years of its existence afflicted Mexico down tothe time of the great inundation of 1629; and from the pen of aneye-witness we have given a picture of the state of society at thattime. But during the five years that the water rested on the city, itssuperabundant wealth disappeared; many of the nobility and gentrywithdrew to Puebla, carrying with them their treasures and their vices, while multitudes of the poorer classes perished. So that when theVirgin of Guadalupe, in her great mercy to an afflicted people, causedthe earth to open and swallow up the great excess of waters, they hadbecome a sobered and a more moral population. It is from this abatingof the waters in the year 1634 that we have to date the origin of thepresent city of Mexico; for the foundations of all the buildings exceptthose about the Cathedral were so much softened by five years ofsoaking that they could not be relied on; and a new city grew up uponnew foundations. This is the Mexico of the present day; a city moreelegant than substantial, and dependent more upon the plaster andcolored washings of its walls than solid masonry for its apparentdurability. 

THE VICEROY RAVILLAGIGEDO. 

It was the great Vice-king Ravillagigedo, toward the close of the lastcentury (1789), who gave the finishing strokes to the city, andestablished its reputation as the finest city on this continent whilethe vice-kingdom continued. It was then one of the best-lighted citiesto be found, while in its paving he expended the large sum of$347, 715. [51] We have seen, in our own day and in our own large cities, the popular applause which follows the rigid enforcement of wholesomeordinances; and it may be well supposed that in a city like Mexico, such an unusual proceeding would elevate the fearless magistrate inpopular estimation, and make him the subject of all kind of apocryphalanecdotes. 

The best of the anecdotes illustrating his sternness in enforcing cityordinances is the following: A police officer once reported to him thecase of the occupants of a house who had neglected sweeping in front oftheir premises. He informed him that the family had consisted of awidowed mother and two daughters, but that the mother had died duringthe previous night, and that, instead of sweeping the street as usual, the daughters sat at the door weeping, and soliciting money ofpassers-by to bury the dead body. "Return, " said the viceroy sternly tothe officer, "and stand at the door until there are twelve shillings (adollar and a half) in the plate, and then take it, and bring it and theoffenders to me. " The officer did as directed. "Deliver the money tothe municipal treasurer, in payment of the fine for violating the cityordinance, " said the vice-king to the officer, "and then return to yourduty. " He then turned to the orphans: "I hear that your mother is dead, and that you wish to obtain the means of burying her. Here is an orderon your parish priest, who will bury your mother, and here is a triflefor yourselves, " he said, handing to each of them a gold ounce. Theywent their way, blessing the man that had succored them in theirnecessity. This early example of the rigid enforcement of cityordinances has never been forgotten in Mexico, where, considering itslimited means, for its revenue[52] does not exceed $400, 000, includingits landed rents, its government is well sustained, and its laws betterenforced than in many of our own cities. Its police consists of amilitary patrol, [53] who, oddly enough, perform the duties oflamplighters. 

THE NATIONAL PALACE. 

The National Palace is an immense structure, which occupies the easternfront of the Grand Plaza, and is sometimes foolishly called the Hallsof the Montezumas. It contains within itself all the offices ofgovernment, besides the barracks of the President's guard. Besidesbeing the city residence of the President himself, it contains the twohalls that were formerly occupied by the two legislative bodies, theSenate and the Chamber of Deputies, while such a burlesque of our freeinstitutions existed in Mexico. In this palace also was the NationalMint, so long as any body would trust the nation with his silver barsto coin; but, now that the mint is farmed out, it is removed to aprivate establishment. In this building are all the archives of thevice-kingdom and the republic, and he who would study the history ofthe past must diligently labor here. 

The Cathedral is upon the northern side of the Grand Plaza, and is saidto occupy the site of the great _teocalli_, and to have a rockyfoundation. Whether this last assertion is really true, I have nomeans of verifying, but there must be something unusual about itsfoundations, as its towers are the only ones that I know of in the citythat do not lean a little. Ninety years was this vast edifice, or, rather, pile of edifices, in building, and the amount of treasureexpended in its construction seems to a stranger to be fabulous. Thebest of its many fine views, or, rather, the one I admire the most, isthe one from the entrance to the National Palace, though the one mostcommonly given is that from the front of the Municipality building, which occupies the entire south front of the Plaza. 

IMAGES IN THE CATHEDRAL. 

The interior of the Cathedral is certainly imposing, but I had so earlyin life attached the idea of the Gothic architecture to every thingmagnificent in the way of churches, that this Moro-Spanish style failsto produce an effect commensurate with the merits of the building. Again, images are not associated with my early ideas of divine worship;and when, passing from side altar to side altar, I feel that I am onlylooking at wax figures, they produce no solemnity in me. And when Iafterward learned, or thought I learned, that the showman of thestrolling museum got his "wax figures" at the same shop, or from thesame moulds in which were cast the images of the saints, they call upthe idea of Punch and Judy. 

Before these images I have seen hundreds of worshipers prostrate, repeating their prayers with the most profound reverence, while thesight of the image filled me with boyish glee that I could hardlysuppress. The identical image that was labeled Bluebeard in the museumis now Saint Peter. The "Disconsolate Widow" is now "the WeepingVirgin. " Charlotte Temple, and the baby that never knew its father, isnow Mary and the infant Christ. Macbeth, looking as though he had thetoothache, is Saint Francis. Othello is here a saint; and the sleepingDesdemona is now the sleeping Virgin. The monster that poisoned sixhusbands, and sits meditating the death of a seventh, is now dressed inthe latest Paris finery, and is a saint. The old miser, who laid upsuch hoards while he starved himself to death, is here placed amongsaints; the clothes are different, but there is the same forbiddingvisage. Here, too, are the Queen of Sheba, the Babes in the Wood, theBelle of the West, the Terrible Brigand, and Sir William Wallace--alltransformed into images of saints, before whom the people bow down withthe most profound reverence, and to whose intercession they commit thesalvation of their souls. 

I do not know whether the showman or the priests are to blame for myirreverence, or whether it is the fault of the system itself. Theargument in favor of the adoration of images is that they makeimpressions on the senses which aid devotion; but, if the impressionsmade on my senses are to be considered, the whole tendency is to debasethe immortal Maker of heaven and earth below the level of humanity, "and to change the image of the incorruptible God into an image madelike to corruptible man. " There was abundant proof of this in thetabernacle of our Lady of Remedies above the great altar of theCathedral. There sits enthroned this cast-off bauble of some nursery, emblazoned with jewels enough to supply the means to educate the wholepopulation of Mexico. To this piece of dilapidated wood and plaster ofParis are conceded attributes of God Almighty: to grant rain in timesof drought; health in times of pestilence; a safe delivery to women inperil of childbirth; and before it, in times of public calamity, thehighest dignitaries walk in solemn procession. 

Nothing disgusts an Anglo-Saxon more than to witness the mentaldegradation of the descendants of the Castilians, the slaves ofsuperstition, craft, and imposture. From generation to generation theyhave lived in constant fear of the secret agents of the Inquisition, and of the evil spirits that are ever plotting against the peace ofgood Christians. The permanency of the laws of Nature, the veryfoundation of all self-reliance and courage, is believed to be at thecaprice of every one of a legion of saints, each of whom has beencanonized on proof of working a miracle. Truth, and honesty, andchastity are subordinate virtues, and only a slavish devotion to hisconscience-keeper can sustain a believer in the hour of greatestnecessity. 

There are important truths to be learned in Mexico, and even in thisimmense pile of buildings devoted to superstition. Among these is theperfect equality that should exist in a place of worship. Here the richand the poor meet together upon a level; the well-dressed lady and themarket-woman are here kneeling together before the same image. Thedistinctions of wealth and rank are for the moment forgotten. While Iwas looking on and admiring this state of things, I saw a market-man onhis return homeward with an empty hen-coop on his back. He walkedboldly up, and knelt among the body of worshipers, told his beads, andthen started up and trudged on his homeward journey. This equality isonly for an hour, and hardly so long; yet it is an hour daily, and musthave its effect in this country of inequalities in reminding the mosthumble that this inequality is only for this world, and that at thetermination of life all will stand upon a common level. 

THE SAN CARLOS. 

The San Carlos, or Academy of Arts, is now in a flourishing condition, on account of the success of the lottery that supports it. The numberof students here gratuitously instructed in different branches of artis quite large. Here, too, it is refreshing to see equality triumphant;the child of the _peon_ and of the prince sit side by side, and on thedays of public exhibition, the crowds that throng its halls areadmitted gratuitously, and are of as miscellaneous a character as areits pupils. The pictures of _Pangre_ are the present great attraction, and every new production of his genius gains him additional applause. The works that Humboldt so much admired are still here, but since histime there have been added several marbles of considerable merit. 

This Academy of San Carlos is one of the many monuments of thatgreatest of the kings of Spain since the Conquest, Don Carlos III. , though not brought into full operation until the reign of his imbecilesuccessor, Carlos IV. All the monuments of which Mexico can boast atthis day are traceable to the reign of the only enlightened Spanishprince of whom Spain can boast in a period of 300 years. Nearly ahundred years have elapsed since the foundation of this academy, and ithas not yet produced a man of the first class either in painting orsculpture. 

The College of Mines, the finest building in this city, is anotherexhibition of the liberal spirit which governed in the reign of DonCarlos. Under this prince a new code of mining laws had been digested, strikingly resembling the present miner's rules in California. Theirimmediate effect was almost to double the production of silver, whilethe Mineria was both a school to impart scientific knowledge inrelation to mining, and a bank to advance money to develop new mineralenterprises. Its support now rests upon the tax it is authorized tolevy of one shilling upon every mark ($8) of silver produced. 

 [50] As it is an unimportant question whether Cortéz first built a chapel for the Franciscans back of the Cathedral, or the one in the yard of the Franciscans, I here repeat the popular tradition. 

 [51] HUMBOLDT, _Essai Politique_. 

 [52] As my readers may be a little curious to know how the city government is sustained, I translate the statement of city revenue of 1851. 

 There were in that year 379 licensed _pulque_-shops, yielding a revenue of $65, 297 538 retail grocer shops in which liquor is sold by the gill 25, 609 8 breweries pay a city tax of 1, 697 132 cafés, fondas, and eating-houses pay 4, 418 Tax on grain and bread consumed in the city 53, 762 Public diversions, $3103; permitted plays (not gambling), $3221 6, 324 Tax on canals, $6798; tax on coaches, $20, 157; markets, $56, 130 83, 085 Donation of the proceeds of a bull-fight 830 Gifts, in bread and meat, to the prisons 4, 561 A tax of one dollar on the slaughtering of 21, 984 beef-cattle 21, 984 16, 404 calves were slaughtered, paying six shillings tax 12, 303 145, 040 sheep, at one shilling and sixpence 27, 194 9394 pigs paid five shillings tax, or 5, 870 42, 734 swine, full grown, paid six shillings 32, 055 7750 goats and kids, at one shilling and sixpence 1, 453 Tax on property entering the city gates 1, 878 Licenses to slaughter to individuals 136 The water rents of $20, 000 were consumed in repairs. The tax on fish yielded $390 The balance of the revenue consists of certain city properties. 

 _Expenditures. _

 The heaviest items are for the public prisons $69, 863 For the hospitals of the insane 48, 000 Lancasterian schools 3, 600 Lights and city patrol 52, 422 Exhibition of flowers and fruits in November last 1, 831 Salaries of school-teachers, and rent of houses for schools 4, 812 Religious worship in Hospital of San Hippolito, and for vaccine matter 2, 282 Cleaning the streets by night and by day 21, 378 Salaries 31, 472 Dinners and festivals 151

 The city has a debt of $617, 978, and has, as a set-off, a claim against the supreme government for $1, 700, 000 of its funds seized from time to time, and for keeping prisoners. 

 [53] The arrests in the year 1851 were 212 men and 182 women for infractions of police regulations; 1256 men and 1944 women for excessive drinking; 384 men and 120 women for robbery; 180 men and 84 women on suspicion of robbery; 120 men and 25 women for picking pockets; 15 men and 3 women for murder; 728 men and 246 women for affrays and wounds; 209 men and 85 women for carrying forbidden weapons; 36 men who had escaped from prison; 39 men and 17 women for false pretenses; 354 men and 403 women for incontinence and adultery; 311 men and 318 women for the violation of public decency; 64 delinquent youth for the house of correction--making a total of arrests for the year of 3918 men and 3430 women; besides, they have protected 315 persons apprehensive of assaults from evil-doers. _And they have freed the city from the plague of 6048 dogs!_ Just as many dogs arrested as human beings. These statistics furnish an inadequate idea of the number of knife-fights that are of so common occurrence among the _peons_ about the _pulque_-shops, in which women and men show an equal skill at stabbing in the back. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

The National Museum. --Marianna and Cortéz. --The small Value ofthis Collection. --The Botanic Garden. --The Market of Santa Anna. --TheAcordada Prison. --The unfortunate Prisoner. --The Causesof that Night of Terror. --The Sacking of the City. --The Parian. --TheCauses of the Ruin of the Parian. --Change in the Standard ofColor. --The Ashes of Cortéz. 

MUSEUM. --BOTANIC GARDEN. --MARKET. 

The National Museum has its weekly exhibitions, and attracts as great acrowd of the common people as does the Academy of Arts. Here as perfectequality reigns as in the San Carlos or in the Cathedral. The firstobject of interest is the large collection of stone idols which havebeen dug up from time to time in and about the Grand Plaza. There aredog-faced idols, and apish gods, and unearthly things, besides thesacrificial stone, and a rude attempt to represent a goddess. Whetheror no this was a sort of Aztec Lady of Remedies I did not learn. TheAztecs might easily have produced these works without exhibiting muchcivilization; but I have heard it surmised that they must have beenamong the plunder of more civilized tribes. 

On the two opposite sides of the first hall we entered, I saw spreadout the pictorial chronology of two dynasties that had passed away--thevice-regal line of potentates standing over against the royal line ofAztec emperors. The portraits of the vice-kings, from Cortéz down tothe last of his successors, stretch entirely across one side of thehall, and about the same number of Indian caçiques are daubed upon apiece of papyrus that is fastened upon the opposite wall. It requiresthe greatest possible stretch of liberality for one accustomed toIndian efforts of this kind to dignify such intolerable daubs with thename of paintings. And yet this is the picture-writing of the Aztecs, with which the world has been so edified for centuries. If there is orever was an Iroquois Indian that should undertake to stain somiserably, I verily believe he would be expelled from his tribe. Tomake it manifest that this was intended for a chronological record ofthe imperial line, black lines were daubed from one of these effigiesto another. From a printed label in Spanish affixed to this wonderfulrelic, I learned that it was intended to represent the wanderings ofthe Aztecs from California. 

It is usual for North American Indians to store up traditions of theextensive wanderings of their ancestors, and if one is asked torepresent the tradition on bark, he would produce very much such anaffair as this, though with a somewhat greater resemblance to the humanform. Another picture represents Marianna, the mistress of Cortéz, withher rosary, and Cortéz with his fingers in much such a position as boysplace them in when they wish to convey the idea that they haveperpetrated a joke--a very satisfactory method of representing thepiety of Cortéz. Close by the pious couple is the representation of ascene which they seem to have come out to witness. A bloodhound isrepresented tearing an Indian to pieces, while a Spaniard is holding onto the end of the dog's chain. 

The banner under which Cortéz fought, or rather one of them--for he hadtwo--is here preserved in a gilt frame. It represents the Virgin Maryportrayed on crimson silk. In this hall is also a miniaturerepresentation of a silver mine, with the workmen at their severalbranches of labor. The remains of the vice-regal throne are here piledup in a corner. 

In the next room there are some paintings of no very great value, whichshould have been kept in the Academy; also a miniature fortress and asmall mineral collection, and any quantity of specimens of Indianidols, so misshapen as to be unfit for use as images of the Virgin andof the saints. 

As a Vice-royal and National Museum, the whole affair is beneathcontempt. If the few articles in it that are valuable were dividedbetween the Mineria and the San Carlos, and the rest thrown away, itwould be an advantage to all concerned. The Indian relics in thismuseum are not only much inferior to the specimens of the art of thesavage islanders of the South Seas, but immensely inferior to manyprivate collections of Indian curiosities that I have seen, and they gofar to demonstrate the entire absence of civilized arts among theaboriginal inhabitants of Mexico. 

In an interior court of the museum is the Botanic Garden. This, likethe National Museum, is a paltry affair. With the exception of the_Manolita_, or tree that bears a flower resembling the human hand, ofwhich there are but two in the Republic, there is nothing deserving ofnotice in this garden. In the large interior court of San Francisco aFrenchman has, as a private speculation, opened a garden and made acollection of the national plants of Mexico that is well worth a visit. In this private garden is one of the finest and rarest collections ofthe cactus family that I have ever seen, either in Mexico or elsewhere. 

The market of Santa Anna is the central market of the city. It adjoinsthe palace, and is close to the canal. The products of the chinampasare here displayed to the best advantage. As Mexico is within easymarketing distance of the hot country, we have here daily presented thefresh productions of two zones. This is one of the places where theappetite of a stranger can not only be gratified with the greatestvariety of delicacies ever collected in one spot, but the excellencyand abundance of the articles presented are perplexing to the personwho would venture upon the bold experiment of tasting every new articleoffered to him. As a vegetable and flower market, it has no equal. 

THE ACORDADA. 

The Acordada Prison is the principal state as well as city prison. Hereare confined men charged with every offense, from rioting to murder. Oftentimes these extremes are found together in the interior court ofthe prison, where the felon, with his hands steeped in innocent blood, is entertaining a crowd of novices in crime with the details of hisadventures, and of his many hair-breadth escapes from the cruelofficers of the law. He is as eloquent in giving lessons to novices ashis compeers in our own prisons, and he carefully instructs his hopefulpupils in the best ways of avenging their wrongs upon society. Some inthe prison are merry, and enjoy a dance, while others are indulging inobscene jests and ribaldry. Still, there are those that find means tolabor and to work at repairing shoes or clothes in the midst of thisbabel of sin and tumult. 

The Acordada gave its name to that night insurrection to which I haveso often referred. Two regiments of artillery, quartered in the palaceof the Inquisition, _pronounced_ against the legality of the electionof Pedraza to the presidency. One night they took possession of theAcordada, where they were joined by the whole body of desperadoes thereconfined. Among the persons at that time detained in this prison, andon that night wantonly killed, was an Englishman, who had been kept inprison for several years, charged with the singular offense of havingmarried the daughter of an ex-marquis. There had been romance in hiscourtship and romance in his marriage, but it had not met with theapprobation of the father, who unfortunately had influence enough toget the newly-married man into prison, and to keep him there. At lastthe father had relented, and on the next day the poor Englishman was tohave been set at liberty. Long and trying had been the sufferings ofthe unfortunate man, doomed to pass the best years of his life amongrobbers and assassins. Though every thing that kindness could do tolighten his sufferings had been done lay his own countrymen, yet theweary years of imprisonment, superadded to the sudden blasting of hishopes, had brought premature old age upon him while yet in the prime oflife. But now all was forgotten in anticipation of a to-morrow that hewas never to see. When the attack was made upon the prison, he went tothe door of his cell to learn the cause of so unusual a disturbance, and was instantly killed--the first victim of the night of theAcordada. 

On that fearful night the Acordada was unusually full of desperadoes, whom the civil disorders and stagnation of business had driven tocrime. A battle in the night in the streets of a large city is afearful thing, at least when cannon are the chief weapons used; butwhen there is added to this cause of alarm that the news had spreadthrough the city that all the murderers and housebreakers in the prisonhad been let loose, with arms in their hands, to murder and to ravagethe city, an idea may be formed of the terror of a population who werecowards by instinct. The contempt with which they had regarded thelower orders was to be fearfully retaliated. Hate, mingled withavarice, and inflamed by _pulque_ and bad liquor, was to do its work, and that, too, without pity. Men, untamed by kindness of those abovethem, were now the masters of the lives and property of all, and therewas no remedy. Fear had held the common people in a degraded position, but they feared no longer. Those who had lorded it over the poorinstead of laboring to elevate their condition, were now to suffer theconsequences of that neglect. 

It is a thankless task to labor for the elevation of the degraded, andoftentimes we are stung with the ingratitude of those whom we havedesired to aid. But God, who has enjoined this unpleasant duty upon us, has borne our daily ingratitude without casting us off, and we butimitate him when we continue to minister to the ungrateful, and theunthankful, and even the unmerciful. The people of Mexico had shownmore liberality, and given more than we. But they had not given it toeducate and to elevate the condition of the poor, but to feed pamperedpriests, "who walked in long robes, and who loved salutations in themarkets, " and to women like them, who had placed themselves in anunnatural relation to the world. God requires of all men not onlycontributions of money, for that is but half charity, but personalservices in discharge of the duties of good citizens, and in relievingthe afflicted; and he that disregards such duties may suffer as theMexicans did in the night of the Acordada insurrection, which turnedyoung hairs gray, and destroyed forever the happiness of unnumberedfamilies. 

When the common people, brutalized by oppression, found themselvesmasters of the city, and their oppressors powerless, then burst forththe pent-up hatred of ten generations. "They call us _leperos_ anddogs, " said some of them; "let us play the part of dogs--hungry dogs, among these spotted sheep. " The palaces of the great were no protectionagainst these infuriated _peons_, and women who boasted of titles ofnobility were not safe. The wealth that generations of unjustmonopolists had accumulated was scattered to the winds. _Leperos_ nowrioted on carpets from Brussels and on cushions of Oriental stuffs, andquaffed the choice wines of Madeira and Champagne. In the fury of theirintoxication they lost all restraint, and indulged in every excess andenormity. Robbery and murder were the order of the day. In carryingaway the plunder, disputes arose, and then they murdered each other asreadily as they had murdered those who claimed the title of citizens. Fear was the only authority they had learned to respect, and they knewno other government than the hated police; but now, when the policewere powerless, they could amuse themselves according to the instinctsof their brutish natures. They had never been taught self-control, andanimal indulgence was the utmost of their ambition, and they foundamusement in violating all laws, human and divine. The murders, theravishings, the wanton destruction of the richest household stuffs, andluxuries, and works of art in that night, can not all be written, norcan they ever be effaced from the memory Of those who witnessed them. 

THE PARIAN. 

Stretching across the Grand Plaza, opposite the Cathedral and in frontof the buildings of the Municipality, once stood the noted mart ofcommerce called the Parian, an ill-looking structure, in which wasaccumulated the mass of foreign merchandise. In this same pile ofbuildings had been concocted the conspiracy which, in the year 1808, had caused the seizure of the Vice-king, Iturrigaray, and hisimprisonment in the Inquisition. The complaint against the Vice-kingwas that he was about to recognize the political equality of thenative-born population with the emigrants from Spain. For this offense, his reputation and that of his kindred was to be forever blackened by asuspicion of heresy. 

In the night of the Acordada insurrection, the Spanish shop-keepers ofthe Parian found themselves utterly defenseless. They could no longerinvoke the aid of the Inquisition in oppressing and trampling on thepeople, whom their wantonness, and the wantonness of others like them, had brutalized. The neglect and oppression which had reduced a laboringman to a _lepero_ had not made him insensible to the unequal lawswhich elevated above him a race of beings destitute of that manlycourage which oftentimes gives plausibility to oppression. Now thelepero took delight in visiting upon the present occupants of thisbuilding a fearful punishment for the crime committed there twentyyears before, and among the guilty crowd there was to be found many aninnocent sufferer. 

The isolated crowds that had been traversing the streets, and indulgingtheir wantonness on a small scale, at length, as the night wore away, began to concentrate around the Parian, and quickly such devastation ofproperty was made as might be expected where the rich and poor had nocommon interest in its preservation, and where criminal and poor manwere almost convertible terms. The plunderers had little idea of thevalue or uses of the property they were scattering to the winds; andwhile they wasted millions worth of property, they wantonly shed theblood of the proprietors in the midst of their merchandise. Nor did theevil end when daylight appeared; for among the consequences of thisnight insurrection was the transfer of all authority to new hands. Those who the day before had been stigmatized with the impurity oftheir blood, were now the governing power, who, under the forms of law, were to carry into effect the behest of the successful insurgents. Neither the sight of the ruins of the night before, nor bales ofmerchandise strewed about among corpses and spattered with blood, couldmove the new masters of the city to pity the fallen condition of aclass of men who had proved themselves too cowardly to defend their ownusurpations, and too tyrannical to instill into the lately proscribedraces any ideas of compassion. 

THE OVERTURN. 

For three hundred years pure white blood and Spanish birth was anindispensable qualification for promotion in the vice-kingdom, and theslightest tincture of colored blood was an indelible disgrace. But onenight of tumult and rapine changed the popular standard of color. Andhe who had boasted the day before of his pure white blood and Spanishorigin, now sought to hide himself from the officers of the law, whovisited with the penalty of banishment the crime of having been born inSpain. Men now, for the first time, boasted of their Indian origin, andof the slight infusion they were able to discover of colored blood intheir veins; while a man of Indian descent, and who spoke a provincialdialect, was declared elected President of the Republic of Mexico: souncertain are all divisions of rank formed on the arbitrary distinctionof color. 

During the night strange murmurings were heard against "the accursedenslaver of their race. " The descendants of Cortéz were fearful for thesafety of his ashes, which had lain quietly in the convent of SanFrancisco[54] so long as the Inquisition possessed the power ofcompelling men to reverence his memory as the champion of the Cross, the favorite of the Virgin Mary, the hero of a holy war against theinfidels. But now that this accursed institution, and the infamous gangconnected with its management, had become powerless, the nationalfeeling began to manifest itself so openly that the remains wereremoved secretly and by night to the sanctuary of the most sacredshrine of Mexico, that of Santa Teresa, where they remained until asafe opportunity presented itself for shipping them off to the Duke ofMontebello, a Sicilian nobleman, who inherits the titles and also thevast estates of Cortéz in the valleys of the Cuarnavaca and Oajaca, upon which none of the revolutionary governments have laid violenthands. 

 [54] For a more authentic account, see Appendix E. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

The Priests gainers by the Independence. --Improved Condition ofthe Peons. --Mexican Mechanics. --The Oppression they suffer. --Lowstate of the Mechanic Arts. --The Story of the Portress. --Charityof the Poor. --The Whites not superior to Meztizos. ---License andWoman's Rights at Mexico. --The probable Future of Mexico. --Mormonismimpending over Mexico. --Mormonism and Mohammedanism. 

The clergy and the other white fomenters of the separation from Spainnever contemplated the formation of a republic, or the arming of the_leperos_. They were alarmed at the bold reforms of the liberal Cortesof Spain, and trembled at the prospect of losing their privileges andmonopolies. They judged that the safest course for them was theestablishment of an empire upon the subversion of the vice-kingdom, which would be so weak a power that they could overawe it. The priestsreasoned correctly, and have augmented their privileges and theirwealth, as we shall presently see. The Spanish monopolists were ruinedby the Revolution, as we have seen in the last chapter. But the commonpeople were the gainers ultimately by the expulsion of the Spaniards, though the whole country suffered for a time by the withdrawal of thecapital of the Spaniards. The benefit derived by the _peons_ from thisrevolution was the political importance which it gave them. The Parianand the _lepero_ perished together. The latter ceased to exist when thelast stone of the former disappeared. The Spaniards had been banishedfrom the country long before the authorities undertook the removal ofthis obnoxious edifice, and those who wished to avoid a like fatesought security in acts of benevolence; so that at Mexico charitableinstitutions are now so well conducted, that it is one of the fewCatholic cities in the world that can boast of being free entirely frombeggars. Political power gave to the common people an importance in thesocial scale which they had never before enjoyed. With the cheapness ofclothing the unclad multitude have disappeared, and the new generationfind more employment and better wages than their ancestors did, whenall branches of industry were clogged with monopolies, and they are, consequently, more industrious and temperate. 

MEXICAN MECHANICS. 

Still, the Mexican _peon_ is immensely below the American laborer, andstill has to be watched as a thief, for the want of a little moralityintermixed with his religious instruction. It is a degrading sight tostand at the door of one of the large coach manufactories at Mexico, and to witness the manner in which they search them, one by one, asthey come out. The natives, who have learned the most difficult partsof coach-building from English and French employers, can not for amoment be trusted, lest they should steal their tools or the materialsupon which they are employed. I saw even the man who was placing thegorgeous trimmings on the Nuncio's coach carefully searched, lest heshould have concealed about his person a scrap of the valuablematerial. That they are thieves is not to be wondered at when theircatechism teaches them "that a theft that does not exceed a certainamount is not a grave offense. "[55]

LOW STATE OF MECHANIC ARTS. 

With us, a mechanic is associated with the idea of a person occupying arespectable position in life; but at Mexico he still belongs to adegraded class, as men are there esteemed; he is a _peon_, on a footingwith a common laborer. The highest wages are three shillings a day, while at least two days in the week he is kept from his usualemployment by "days of obligation, " that is, festival days on which itis unlawful to work. _Tortillas_, Indian griddle-cakes, with blackbeans (_frijoles_) and red peppers (_chilie_), are his daily food; andhis lodgings are a palm-leaf mat upon a stone or earthen floor, whilehis _serapa_ does duty for a blanket at night. The greasy friar doesnot forget him as he goes his rounds in search of Peter's pence; andthe priest sets before him the horrid consequences of enteringPurgatory without first discharging the debt he still owes for hisbaptism. He and his "wife" still remain unmarried; for how can theyever raise the money to pay the priest? And if by chance he getsinvolved in debt, or for the debt of one of his kindred, one third partof his daily labor is embargoed by the creditor. 

When the Mexican mechanic has a small kit of uncouth tools, he worksupon his own account, but at the smallest possible profit. When he hasfinished a pair of shoes, if he be a shoemaker, he or his wife startsout to dispose of them to some passer-by in the street before a newpair is undertaken. When the tinman has finished a sprinkling pot, heor his boy walks the street till it is sold, and then perhaps a tinbath is made; and if, luckily, from a chance customer he has obtainedan extra price, a _fiesta_ is proclaimed to the family connection, andmaybe the additional luxury of buying a ticket in the lottery of theVirgin of Guadalupe is indulged in, and a vow is made that if he wins aprize, one half of the profits of the stake shall be deposited as agift at her shrine. In this way a week is passed, and it is terminatedwith the entire exhaustion of the little fortune of the poor mechanic. The kindred have had a time; _pulque_ and liquor have been passedaround freely; the women have enjoyed "equal rights" with the men; theyhave drunk their full share, and smoked their little cigars. Thetin-man, once more penniless, with an aching head, but with a lightheart, returns to his little hammer, and a piece of solder and tin goton the pledge of his future earnings. Such is the condition of nativeMexican mechanics, and of the mechanic arts at the capital. 

[Illustration: TRAVELING IN MEXICO. ]

The complicated machinery by which our shoes are made, or the equallycomplicated machinery by which tin is worked up into culinary vessels, never entered into the dreams of a Mexican mechanic. No Mexican man ofscience ever thought of degrading himself so low as to undertake theimprovement of the mechanic arts; yet it is astonishing to see whatMexican mechanics do accomplish with their imperfect means. I haveoften stopped to witness the success of a poor old man building apiano, which was both skillfully arranged and well-toned, and yet thetools employed were apparently inadequate for such a purpose. In thesame primitive style were coaches built before foreigners came andsubstituted coaches of modern pattern instead of the old, egg-formedcoach-bodies of the vice-kingdom. 

It may seem like trifling to be dwelling thus upon the character of thesubstratum of Mexican society, but it is from this very substratum thatthe wealth or poverty of a nation is to be traced. The sense of thedignity of labor is the foundation of American prosperity, while thedegradation of the mechanics and laboring class of Mexicans is thecause of the national imbecility. 

THE STORY OF THE PORTRESS. 

Let us look at the common people of Mexico from another point of view. I will reproduce in substance the tale of the old Meztizo woman, whoopens and shuts the great street door to all well-known inmates, by dayand by night, and to such others as can give satisfactory answers. Sheis esteemed a lucky woman because she has the use of a small room onthe ground floor for her services, where she and a number of herrelatives are often hived together. Her story is very likely not truein every particular, for it can not be denied that she, like all of herclass, does not consider falsehood _per se_ as any other than a venialsin. How should she, considering the teaching she receives?[56] But thestory is nevertheless, in the main, a pretty fair picture of the lifeof the humbler classes in republican Mexico. 

She will tell you how her husband basely left her with a family ofchildren, and took to another woman, because they were not able to paythe priest to get legally married. Her eldest son was seized and takento the wars, where he was compelled to stand up to shoot and be shotat, to settle the question which of two sets of white men should enjoythe right of plundering the people. Whether he should hereafter bedischarged honorably, or run away, or be killed in battle, it was thesame to her, for the man that recruited the soldiers would know that hehad once been a soldier, and would be sure to seize him first whenordered to furnish recruits; and, let what will be the course ofpolitical events, he is certainly lost to her forever. 

Her eldest daughter had been a help to her. She ground corn for the_tortillas_, and could guard the house door while the old woman went tothe public wash-house to wash a few shirts which gentlemen hadoccasionally intrusted to her care. But a chance shot in one of thestreet battles had hit her, and she too was gone. Her second son hadstopped too long in front of the _pulque_-shop after his day's work wasfinished, and was involved in a street affray, in which knives weredrawn, and a man killed. Whether he was the guilty one or not, itmattered little, as he was the first to fall into the hands of theofficers. For a long time he had been kept in the chain-gang, butlately he had been sent to the silver mines, where he would probablyend his days carrying ore on his back like a beast of burden, athousand feet under ground. 

She had a second daughter, old enough to carry food to her son while hewas in prison, and to lighten his misery by a daily visit while hebelonged to the chain-gang. But since he has been taken from the city, they two are left alone in the world. She has now no money, or shewould get her daughter married, as the priest would trust her if shewould only pay a small part of the fee. Still she is consideredfortunate; for, having the reputation of an honest women, she has got aportress's situation, and little means are thrown in her way by whichshe obtains a comfortable living. But her relatives, who are poorerthan herself, sympathize with her, and come and eat up her _tortillas_. 

Such is the substance of many a tale of misery, if you will stop andlisten to the pictures which the lowly draw of their condition in anyof the Mexican cities. Often they are fabricated, but very often theyare true. The old woman who tells you a tale to excite your sympathieshas perhaps only borrowed a tale of misfortune which she has heard herneighbor tell. Those who reproach these poor unfortunates with beingbeggars, thieves, and liars, forget that they have been made such byoppression. The greatest amount of suffering caused by the civil warsfalls upon the poor; and among the suffering poor, the women are thegreatest sufferers. If they are more intemperate than the men, it istheir misfortunes, too often, that have driven them to seek a temporarysolace in _pulque_. The slight hold they have on their husbands is thecause of their jealousy, and if they take part in bloody affrays, it isbecause they are under the influence of intoxication, and not from anyinherent inclination to cruelty. 

Never did a white skin cover a kinder heart than that of the poorMeztizo women of Spanish America. Their primitive hut by the wayside isas much at your service as your own castle, and you are heartilywelcome to their humble fare. I never was so unfortunate as to needtheir assistance, but I have often been astonished at the ready charityof the poor to those poorer than themselves. I once encountered anIrishman who had begged his way from the Gulf coast almost to thePacific, and I was greatly surprised at the cheerfulness with which apoor widow woman, keeper of a _venta_, accepted of a blessing insteadof more tangible coin for a night's entertainment. In delicate healthalways, and not without a full share of experience among strangers, Iknow full well how to appreciate the kind offices which a woman onlycan render. When death stared me in the face, and she could do nothingfor a perishing heretic except to solicit a passing procession to chanta _misericordia por un infirmo Americano_, that kindly office was notwanting. When, with returning health, I ventured out into the street, leaning upon a staff, a poor Indian woman, forgetting her nativeshyness, begged me to sit down under the shade of her roof while sheprepared for me a little orange-water, and when, a little refreshed byher orange-water, I tottered on, I shall never forget the look ofsympathy which she bestowed upon an unknown stranger. An Indian womanis always kind, but the kindest of her race is the poor despised Indianwoman of Spanish America. 

It is too common to look down coldly, and not unfrequently withcontempt, upon those who occupy the humbler walks of life, and to speakonly of their vices. The _peon_ has his vices, and they are glaringenough, but he is certainly not worse than his white neighbor. I hadbeen so long in California, and had seen so many exhibitions of couragein street-fights and personal encounters, that I had come almost toconsider the words white man and brave man as synonymous. But when Ifound myself in Mexico at the breaking out of a civil war, I soonlearned that white men are not always brave, and that they weresuperior to the Indian in little else except in the gilding with whichthey covered their vicious and corrupt lives. They borrow their customsfrom Paris and their style of living, but their morals are even belowthe Paris standard of virtue. 

WOMAN'S RIGHTS AT MEXICO. 

The law, which sinks the civil existence of the wife in the husband, and which charges the husband with liability for the debts andtrespasses of the wife, is sometimes stigmatized as harsh, unnatural, and tyrannical. If those that consider it so could for a little whileenjoy the matrimonial freedom of Mexico, they would soon discoverabundant reason for praising the wisdom of our ancestors in hedgingabout with so many disabilities an institution which is both thesafeguard of public morality and of our free government. Familygovernment, self-government, and political freedom dwell together;while despotism and family license are inseparable. At Mexico, oldfamily relations are not broken up by new marriages. Household familyworship is unknown, but, like so many pagans, each one trudges off tosay her prayers separately, and at a favorite shrine. The wife has herseparate property and interests, which she manages with the aid of her"next friend. " The husband, too, has his separate interests, and toooften his "next friend" is his neighbor's wife. 

After my return from Mexico, I heard a woman in a public assemblyadvocating, as social reforms, the institutions of a country in a stateof moral and political decomposition. I felt like exclaiming, "Cursedbe that woman who would introduce into our happy country the socialcustoms of paganism; and cursed be that people who listen to herinfidelity!" May a like evil fall upon those legislative tinkers whohave deprived the husband of the power of creating a trust for theprotection and support of his wife in time of necessity. 

We have examined sufficiently the social condition of Mexico to showthat there is no natural sympathy between the whites and the coloredraces, or the governing and governed races of Mexico. For a briefperiod, indeed, Guerrero, a man of Indian descent, occupied thepresidency; but he was deposed and murdered, and the government hasever since been in the hands of the whites. The present Pinto war inthe southwest looks toward again reviving the Indian rule. It iscarried on too languidly to promise success, as there seems to be noone in the movement possessed of the energy of that Indian drummer, Carrera, who usurped the supreme power in Guatemala. On the other hand, Mexico is like a ripe pear, ready to fall into the lap of anyunscrupulous adventurer who chooses to make common plunder of itschurches, its church jewels, and the inordinate private fortunes of itspriesthood and nobility. 

MORMONISM AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 

There is a rising cloud that is gathering blackness in the northwest, and must sooner or later precipitate itself and with the force of atempest sweep away--to use the words of General Tornel--in one mightyflood "the religion, language, and national existence of the Mexicans. "This is Mormonism. I have watched this delusion from its rise, near myown residence in Western New York, and followed its advancing progress, until, from a little rill, it has become a mighty torrent--a politicalelement so potent that its existence in the United States is nowscarcely tolerable. Where can it go except it precipitate itself uponthe territories of imbecile Mexico? To such a sect of fanatics Mexicocan present no opposition. It must surrender to Brigham Young and tohis followers their wealth, their images, their wives and theirdaughters, as the Aztecs surrendered all to Cortéz. 

I have often traced the close analogy between the rise of Mormonism andthat of Mohammedanism, as well as the striking similarity that existsbetween these two systems of false religion. Each one is founded, aftera fashion, on the Bible, to which each has supplemented a volume ofmiserable fables, the one called the Book of Mormon, and the other theKoran. Each has a spurious prophet, who is exalted above the prophetsof Scripture. Both systems permit polygamy, and both are mostultra-Protestant in relation to the forms and ceremonies, images andpictures of the Oriental and Latin churches. And as God sent the greatMohammedan imposture to punish the corrupt Christianity of a formerage, so in like manner He may soon commission Mormonism to wipe out ofexistence the corrupt Christianity of Mexico. Mormonism has not yetdeveloped a military character, because it would be madness to raise anarm against the United States. But when it shall have once passed thefrontier and entered the dominions of a feeble state, then we shall seehow keen an edge fanaticism can give to the sword in the hands of mennaturally courageous, when the double motive is held out of a newsupply of wives, and the inexhaustible treasures of the churches tostimulate their fanaticism. 

 [55] Having lost my memorandum, I am uncertain whether the number of days was one or more, and whether the number of _francs_ named was six or eight. The following is my best recollection of the question and answer on theft:

 "_Q. _ Is theft a grave offense?

 "_A. _ A theft that does not exceed in value a day's labor is not a grave offense; some theologians contend that a theft that does not exceed six francs is not a grave offense. "

 [56] I again quote the Catechism from recollection. 

 "_Q. _ What is a venial sin?

 "_A. _ A lie that does not destroy charity among neighbors is a venial sin. "

CHAPTER XXVI. 

The Plaza of the Inquisition. --The two Modes of human Sacrifice, theAztec and the Spanish. --Threefold Power of the Inquisition. --Visit tothe House of the Inquisition. --The Prison and Place of Torture. --TheStory of William Lamport. --The little and the big _Auto da Fe_. --TheInquisition the real Government--Ruin of Spanish Nationality. --Thepolitical Uses of the Inquisition. --Political Causes of the Bigotry ofPhilip II. --His eldest Son dies mysteriously. --The Dominion of Priestscontinues till the French Invasion. 

AN AUTO DA FE. 

The _Plazuelo_ or _Plazuelito_, the "Little Plaza" of the Inquisition, is now, as it ever has been, a market-place--the Smithfield of Mexico. On Sundays and all other market-days, there is here an abundant supplyof flowers, meats, and vegetables. On great holidays, in the times ofthe vice-kings, the scene was changed. Fruits and vegetables were, forthe time, placed in the background, and an act of "faith" (_auto dafe_), or burning of heretics, was offered as a public spectacle. Thegrandest of all the bull-fights of Mexico was nothing in comparisonwith this vice-regal exhibition. As among the Aztecs and the paganRomans, the sacrificial victims were kept in reserve for importantoccasions, and for occasions when a bull-fight would have been a mostinadequate exhibition. The consecration of a new archbishop, or thearrival of a new Vice-king from Spain, or the marriage of a member ofthe royal family, or some similar important political or religiousevent, could only call forth this extraordinary show of roasting menalive. 

If we are to believe the statements of Cortéz and Bernal Diaz, [57] theAztecs were accustomed to offer human sacrifices on festival days upona large circular stone still preserved. With an obsidian knife, lifewas instantly extinguished by opening the heart-case and taking out theheart, which was offered to their god of war. This horrid worship, ifindeed it ever existed, was suppressed, and one more horrid andcold-blooded in its atrocities substituted. There was seldom wanting avictim on those great occasions, for prisoners who would otherwise havebeen let off with confiscation of estates and a long imprisonment werenow doomed to the flames, to accomplish the double purpose of aspectacle and strike terror into the ranks of the higher classes, whotoo often furnished the victims. But the higher classes were allpresent. Suspicion might attach to their absence. And he that dared notbreathe aloud in his own bed-chamber, or tell the whole truth at theconfessional, from apprehension of an inquisitorial spy, took good heedthat no act or look of his on the day of the great fiesta should betrayhim to this secret, but every where present tribunal, lest he himselfshould be the sacrificial victim at the next entertainment. 

The roasting of a human victim at the _auto da fe_ was a purelydemocratic institution. The _leperos_, who were beneath thejurisdiction of the Inquisition, felt none of the terrors that hauntedthe rich even in night visions. Without the least apprehension, theyenjoyed the magnificence of the spectacle, and their hatred toward thehigh-born was gratified by the sight of one, and sometimes many, respectable persons burned in the fire for their entertainment. Theywere always ready to manifest their gratitude to the holy office byassailing and perhaps murdering any one who had incurred thedispleasure of the priests, but whom it was not politic to arrest. Thus, by a threefold power, did the Inquisition enforce the disciplineof the Church: by the authority of the king and the law, the dreadwhich it inspired; the sympathies of a rabble, whom it was theirinterest to keep brutalized; and the religious sentiment of the nation, so far as there was any. But this last was a very uncertain reliance, for the same law which makes heresy a crime, legalizes hypocrisy, andthe inquisitor cared very little for the thoughts of men so long asthey remain unuttered; and as no two men think alike, the crime ofheresy appears to consist in expressing too frankly the logicaldeductions of the understanding upon the all-important subject ofreligion. To speak disrespectfully of the holy office, the Inquisition, was the worst of heresy. 

THE HALLS OF THE INQUISITION. 

The north front of the Plazuelo of the Inquisition, now generallycalled the Plaza of the Dominicans, is occupied by the great yard ofthe Dominican convent, which is separated by a high wall from thePlaza, and by a street from the buildings of the Inquisition. Withinthis yard there is a large flagstone, with a hole in its centre, whichstone, on days of the _auto da fe_, used to be brought out into thePlaza, and, with iron post, neck-ring, and chain attached, constitutedthe simple apparatus for the human sacrifice. The Dominican fathershave carefully laid aside the iron post, with its ring and chain, andperhaps, with them, the most valuable of the instruments of torture, which were removed from the Inquisition building. As there are twoclasses of bull-fights, the ordinary and the grand bull-fight, so therewas the ordinary _auto da fe_, performed in this Little Plaza, and thegrand act of faith, _auto da fe general_, which ordinarily ought tocome off in the Grand Plaza of the city, in front of the vice-regalpalace. 

Seeing the great door open as I was passing, I ventured to enter thecentral court of the Inquisition, from which the halls of the differenttribunals and the chambers of the inquisitors and officials wereentered and lighted. All had now been thoroughly whitewashed andrenovated, and bore no marks of the fearful scenes that had been hereenacted. When I stood in the hall where its judgments used to bedelivered, I had to tax my memory of books to draw a picture of eventsthat here daily transpired in times past. I saw no Bridge of Sighs, yetthe whole institution was founded upon the sighs, and groans, and rivenhearts of its victims, of many of whom the world was not worthy. Therich were the most profitable game, but a beautiful woman was the mostacceptable spectacle to a populace debased from infancy by attendanceon bull-fights. A foreigner that had been by special grace licensed tovisit Mexico, was considered a fortunate prize, for to offer aforeigner as a human sacrifice was in accordance with the ancientcustom of the Aztecs. There was only one foreigner who amassed greatwealth, and that was Laborde the miner, who bought his peace bybuilding the Cathedral of Toluca. 

There was nothing to interest a stranger in the empty halls where oncethese legalized murderers had held their nightly meetings, and Iwandered away toward the prison and the place of torture, where, inchby inch, the life had been torn from the victims of priestly vengeance. I shuddered as I entered the prison door-way, though fifty years hadpassed since the last and most distinguished of its victims had enteredhere, the Vice-king Iturrigaray. Here, too, the hand of thewhite-washer had been busy, and the cells were now made comfortablerooms for the soldiery. The instruments of torture were all carefullyremoved from the place of torture, and the room bore no marks of theshocking scenes which had here so often transpired. Here poor Ramé, theFrenchman, had dragged out his long imprisonment, and here WilliamLamport, the unfortunate Irish victim, prepared himself for death. ButLamport's story is worth giving in full, to illustrate the scenes. 

STORY OF WILLIAM LAMPORT. 

William Lamport was an Irishman by birth, and must have been a RomanCatholic, or he could not have obtained a license to visit Mexico. Hewas probably one of that large class of Irish Catholics who emigratedto Spain in order to enjoy their religion more freely than they couldat home, under English oppression. It was probably two interceptedletters that cost this Irishman his life. His accusation sets forththat he was the author of two writings, in one of which "things weresaid against the Holy Office, its erection, style, mode of process, &c. , in such a manner that, in the whole of it, not a word was to befound that was not deserving of reprehension, not only as beinginjurious, but also insulting to our holy Catholic faith. " TheProsecuting Attorney (_fiscal_) says of the other writing "that itcontained detestable bitterness of language, and contumelies so filledwith poison as to manifest the heretical spirit of the author, and hisbitter hatred against the Holy Office. " Let his fate be a warning toall traveling letter-writers who are disposed to criticise too severely"the erection and style" of a very awkward-looking building, and themode of process therein used in condemning men to the flames. Probably, before he got through with his intercourse with the Inquisition, hemany times wished himself back under the liberal government of theAnglo-Saxon oppressors of his country!

It was a delightful day in the year 1569, when the most splendid _autoda fe_ that ever took place in Mexico was celebrated upon the occasionof the burning of Lamport. A throne had been placed for the Vice-king, and conspicuous seats were prepared for the _audiencia_. All theofficials of the city and of the department were present to addimportance to the grand performance ("_funcion_"). Not less brilliantwas the display which the whole body of the priesthood made upon theoccasion. The Archbishop, as spiritual Vice-king, displayed a bearingthat dazzled the populace, while his attendant clergy, with the wholebody of the monastic orders, added immensely to the grand spectacle. The procession, headed by the Grand Inquisitor and his subordinates, was followed by the officials and familiars, while the poor Irishmanwalked with his eyes raised to Heaven, for the purpose, said thepriests, "of seeing if the devil, his familiar, would come to hisassistance. "[58] The sermon and the ordinary exercises, including theoath administered to all the dignitaries present to support the HolyOffice, were spun out to an unusual length, so that it proved to be aprotracted meeting, as well as the greatest festival the Mexicans everwitnessed since the time that Montezuma offered human sacrifices. Butin the midst of the preliminary exercises Lamport escaped burningalive, for when his neck had been placed in the ring, he let himselffall and broke his neck, so that the crowd were compelled indignantlyto put up with burning of the dead body of a heretic. The unbelievercheated them out of half their expected sport. 

THE INQUISITION IN SPAIN. 

It may look like wandering from the main topic of discussion to devotea chapter to an institution which has ceased to exist for forty years. But no one can fully comprehend the social and political character ofthe diverse and conflicting nationalities and discordant elements thatfor three hundred years constituted the Spanish empire without fullyunderstanding the character and workings of the Inquisition, which, from "the Council of the Supreme" in Spain, extended, with itscomplicated ramifications, through all the provinces, and penetratedevery social organization in Europe and America, [59] and even to themost distant East India possessions, binding all the several partstogether as the nervous system does the parts of the human body; orrather by external folds, as the anaconda does its victim. TheInquisition was emphatically the nervous system of the Spanishmonarchy. From the time of Philip II. To the last of her kings, Spainhad but one monarch that could have escaped a lunatic asylum on acommission _ad inquirendo_, and not a single royal family in all thattime that had not at least one judicially declared idiot in thehousehold; and more than once it was the regular successor to thethrone. And yet this ingeniously contrived craft of priests held allmost firmly together, and made it capable of resisting every outsidepressure until the French imperial armies entered Madrid. 

When French gunpowder was applied to the Holy Office, the Spanishempire lost its nationality, and its different parts fell to pieceslike a rope of sand, and revealed to the world the sad truth that theSpanish race, whether in the Peninsula or in the colonies, was nowincapable of self-government. The Inquisition had consumed its powersof vitality. So long accustomed to submit to and lean upon despoticauthority, its various nationalities had lost the power ofself-support. Spain, from the earliest historical periods, had everbeen the victim of foreign colonial despotisms or imported tyrantsuntil Philip II. , under whom the Inquisition becoming firmlyestablished, it thenceforward continued a Catholic province of theRoman Church, until Rome and the Papal Spanish empire fell together bythe hands of Napoleon. From that time onward, Spain and all her formerprovinces have continued the sport of military insurgents--a melancholyevidence of the mental, physical, and moral ruin that overtakes acountry abandoned to the despotism of priests. 

Though the origin of the Inquisition of Spain is familiar to all, yetfew are accustomed to look upon it in its political bearings. The"pious" Isabella, or, as she is called by the descendants of theMoriscoes, "Isabella the Accursed, " is conceded to have been thefounder of the modern Inquisition, and yet her great piety did notprevent her from giving a death-blow to the _Fuero_ of Castile, themost liberal government of Europe except that of Aragon. The popularitywhich she acquired by the conquest of Granada, the religious furorexcited by that successful war, and the union with Aragon, enabled herto establish the Inquisition. By means of her priests associated in itsgloomy tribunals she was able to suppress popular rights. A shadow ofthe _Fueros_ of Catalonia, Valencia, and Aragon still remained, butshe had sapped the foundation on which they rested by the establishmentof the Holy Office. Charles V. Was sufficiently powerful to disregardsuch humble instrumentalities in carrying out any purpose he deemed tobe of advantage to his states. He was not a bigot by education, and wehave to look to disappointed ambition as the cause of the virulencewith which he persecuted the least indication of heresy. He had beenthwarted in his ambitious schemes; this he attributed to theReformation, which he himself had fostered at its beginning, in orderto sow discord among the princes of Germany. He had hoped that upontheir mutual jealousy he might establish despotic authority; but thetreason of Maurice of Saxony had subverted his darling scheme at themoment of its apparent success, and in disgust he retired from publiclife to spend the remainder of his days in recruiting his health andcursing the heretics. 

PHILIP II. AND THE INQUISITION. 

The Inquisition burned with renewed flames under Philip II. Fromprecisely the same cause that had made it tolerable to his father. Tothe troubles caused by the Reformation he attributed the election ofhis uncle Maximilian "King of the Romans, " and his own consequent lossof the Germanic empire. But, as a compensation for this loss, he hadsubstantially acquired England by his marriage with Queen Mary, and hadthe satisfaction of having his soldiers mingled with those of Englandin his war against France, and of seeing his own Archbishop of Toledopreside in the tribunal that condemned to the flames the Protestantbishops of England. The _autos da fe_ of Smithfield were weeding outheresy and liberty from England, which he already began to look upon asa province of his empire, when his wife died, and the avowed heresy ofElizabeth blasted his hopes in that quarter. The heretic Prince ofNassau had raised insurrection in the Netherlands, which deprived himof Holland. When the French Catholic League, which he had so longsubsidized, was about to declare him, or at least his daughter, sovereign of France, the relapsed heretic, Henry IV. , blasted this hopeby laying siege to Paris. On the side of the Catholic states of Europehis affairs went on most prosperously. He had acquired Portugal, withall her American and East India provinces. But in these newacquisitions he was not safe from the assaults of the heretics. TheDutch robbed him of Brazil, and of the Cape of Good Hope, and of theislands of Ceylon and Java in the East Indies. When his missionaryemissaries had excited an insurrection by which he might have acquiredJapan in a religious war, the Dutch were there with their ships, and, laying them alongside the rebel camp, they cannonaded it, while theimperial army on the land side utterly destroyed together emissarypriests and rebels, and forever excluded Spain and her emissaries fromthe islands, and even England after the negotiation of a Spanishmarriage. Nor were his treasure-ships safe from these audacious Dutch, who prowled about the West Indies and seized his galleons. The shipsfrom Goa, laden with the treasures of the East, had to take acircuitous route to avoid the Dutch, who were continually on thelook-out at the Cape of Good Hope. As if this was not enough, thefailure of his great armada sent against England, and the ravaging ofhis own coasts by Essex, increased his hatred against the heretics tosomething like a mania. 

These are sufficient reasons for accounting for the zeal of Philip II. On the subject of religion, and his blindness to the consequences ofthus abandoning his empire and his people as common plunder to amerciless horde of plunderers, who bound his empire most firmlytogether, but it was in the bands of national ruin. This, too, mayaccount for his often-repeated remark that he would not shield his ownson if he should incur the censure of the Inquisition. When his eldestson and heir openly avowed his hatred to the Inquisition, we find himdying a mysterious death. It has already been remarked that there canbe no such thing as reliance upon historical truth in a country wherethe Inquisition is in full authority. But it does not follow from thisthat we ought to adopt the popular surmise that Philip was privy to themurder of his son, or even that he was actually murdered. It may havebeen a murder, as the inquisitorial assassins were numerous, or it mayhave been a natural death, as represented in books that have beenpublished by permission of the censors. All that we know is, that hisdeath happened advantageously for the continuance of the Holy Office. 

FATE OF THE INQUISITION. 

Philip III. Can hardly be considered an accountable being. The same maybe said of his son and of his son's sons, to say nothing of those heirsto the Spanish crown that were legally adjudged idiots. The nominalfather of Charles III. , though he was King of Spain, must be consideredas not merely bordering on idiocy, but as actually a man of unsoundmind. Charles III. , though he had courage to drive from his dominionsthe Jesuits, dared not undertake a reform of the clergy. We mayconclude this chapter by saying that the Inquisition had its origin inpolitical considerations, or in the revengeful feelings of really greatsovereigns of Spain, and that its continuance was owing to the weaknessor impotency of their successors; and though it was the terror of allclasses above the street rabble, it was too powerful to be suppressedbefore the emancipation of the people which followed the Frenchinvasion. Such is the fate of a race over whom priests have onceacquired dominion. 

 [57] The defense of the invasion of Mexico by Cortéz in time of peace, and reducing the Aztecs to slavery, rests on the ground that the Aztecs were monsters. 

 [58] Though I do not entirely follow Pinblanch, yet I give him as authority for this incident. 

 [59] Mr. Gayarre, who, under a commission from the State of Louisiana, is examining the colonial records at Madrid, has discovered the evidence of an attempt made to introduce the Inquisition into New Orleans even after our people had begun to settle there. This is his statement:

 "It appears, " says Gayarre, "that soon after the death of Charles III. , an attempt was made to introduce the much-dreaded tribunal of the Inquisition into the colony. The reverend Capuchin, Antonio de Sedella, who had lately arrived in the province, wrote to the Governor to inform him that he, the holy father, had been appointed Commissary of the Inquisition; that in a letter of the 5th of December last, from the proper authority, this intelligence had been communicated to him, and that he had been requested to discharge his functions with the most exact fidelity and zeal, and in conformity with the royal will. Wherefore, after having made his investigations with the utmost secrecy and precaution, he notified Miro that, in order to carry, as he was commanded, his instructions into perfect execution in all their parts, he might soon, at some late hour of the night, deem it necessary to require some guards to assist him in his operations. 

 "Not many hours had elapsed since the reception of this communication by the Governor, when night came, and the representative of the holy Inquisition was quietly reposing in bed, when he was roused from his sleep by a heavy knocking. He started up, and, opening his door, saw standing before him an officer and a file of grenadiers. Thinking that they had come to obey his commands, in consequence of his letter to the Governor, he said, 'My friends, I thank you and his Excellency for the readiness of this compliance with my request. But I have now no use for your services, and you shall be warned in time when you are wanted. Retire, then, with the blessing of God. ' Great was the stupefaction of the friar when he was told that he was under arrest. 'What!' exclaimed he, 'will you dare lay your hands on a Commissary of the holy Inquisition?' 'I dare obey orders, ' replied the undaunted officer, and the reverend Father Antonio de Sedella was instantly carried on board of a vessel, which sailed the next day for Cadiz. 

 "Rendering an account of this incident to one of the members of the cabinet of Madrid, Governor Miro said, in a dispatch, 'the mere name of the Inquisition uttered in New Orleans would be sufficient not only to check immigration, which is successfully progressing, but would also be capable of driving away those who have recently come, and I even fear that in spite of my having sent out of the country Father Sedella, the most fatal consequences may ensue from the mere suspicion of the cause of his dismissal. '"

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Miracles and Earthquakes. --The Saints in Times of Ignorance. --TheEruption of Jorullo. --The Curse of the Capuchins. --The Consequencesof the Curse. --The unfulfilled Curse. --The Population of theRepublic. --Depopulation from 1810 to 1840. --The Mixture of Whitesand Indians not prolific. --The pure Indians. --The Meztizos. --TheWhite Population. --Negroes and Zambos. --The Jew and the Law ofGeneration. --The same Law applies to Cattle. --It governs theGeneration of Plants. --Intemperance and Generation. --MeztizoPlants short-lived. --Mexico can not be resuscitated. --She can notrecover her Northern Provinces. 

Earthquakes are, and ever have been, very frequent through the whole ofMexico. Yet they have never been very severe, particularly at the city, as is demonstrated by the very existence of a city upon such a mass ofsoft earth as I have shown in a former chapter constitutes thefoundation of Mexico. A reasonable amount of hard shaking woulddislocate its muddy basis and engulf the city. Now and then someunusually frail structure is toppled down, and the church steeples areswayed a little this way or that, but the cement that sustains them hasheretofore proved sufficiently cohesive to save them from being shakento pieces or tumbled down. [60] Some ten years ago, the convent church, in which was the miraculous image of our Saviour, was thrown down, andthe image that had annually poured forth its precious blood for thehealing of the spiritual and temporal maladies of all pious believerswas buried under the ruins. But this calamity was only a precursor of agreater miracle; for, on removing the rubbish, the sacred image wasfound intact, and as ready as ever to bleed again to order for readypay. The spiritual interpretation of this astounding phenomenon was, that the devil, in his malice, had attempted, as of old, to crush themiraculous power of the Saviour; and now, again, as upon the highmountain, he was foiled, and the flow of blood was not intermitted. 

IGNORANCE AND MIRACLES. 

Miracles have ever been the most fruitful source of profit that theChurch enjoys, for at the annunciation of every new miracle thefaithful are quickened to devotion and to contributions, which, aboveall things, is to be desired by the "impoverished Church" of Mexico. [61]An earthquake is always a windfall or a godsend to the priesthood. Anoutsider is often surprised at the number of miracles that, in oldtimes, were connected with earthquakes. But rarely do we hear of modernmiracles. The spirit of miracles works only in times of most profoundignorance; and experience has convinced the Church that the onlyprospect of the continuation of miraculous visitations of the holyApostles and of the Virgin in Mexico, depends upon the continuation ofthe people in the most profound ignorance, and in childlike obedienceto their spiritual superiors. So long as this state of thingscontinued, the holy Virgin was ever present among them, performing themost astounding cures, and even, upon one occasion, causing the groundto open and swallow up the surplus waters of the valley, to the reliefof the "most devout people of Mexico, " besides performing otherastounding miracles, that have been duly attested by Pope, prelates, and the Council of Rites. But now, since the education of the commonpeople has been attempted, although on a very limited scale, and menare allowed to speak openly, the most holy Virgin of Guadalupe haswithdrawn her wonder-working power from an unbelieving people, whilethe blind, the halt, the lame, the palsied, and the diseased crowdaround her shrine, not to obtain her healing mercy, but to solicitcharity. The saints, also, have ceased to stir up the elements, so thatvolcanic fires have ceased throughout the whole limits of the republic, and earthquakes have almost forgotten to perform their annual duty ofshaking the earth. 

The last volcanic eruption in Mexico was one of the most astounding ofwhich the record has come down to us, whether in Mexico or in any othercountry. Fortunately, we have reliable evidence in relation to thisevent, for Humboldt not only surveyed the volcano as it appeared in hisday, but, from eye-witnesses of the first eruption, learned theincidents that fill out the history, and also the miraculous causewhich is assigned for this mighty convulsion of nature. His story Ishall follow in preference to the popular tradition of the awfulconsequences that succeeded the curse pronounced by two Capuchin friarsupon the estate of Jorullo. 

Just one hundred years ago, which was fifty years before the time ofthe visit of Humboldt, two Capuchin friars came to preach at the estatewhich occupied the beautiful valley of Jorullo. This valley wassituated between two basaltic ridges, and was watered by two smallstreams of limpid water, the San Pedro and the Cuitamba. These smallparallel rivers furnished an abundant supply of water, which was wellemployed in irrigating flourishing sugar and indigo plantations. TheseCapuchins, not having met with a favorable reception at the estate ofSan Pedro, poured out the most horrible imprecations against thebeautiful and fertile plains, foretelling that, as the firstconsequences of their curse, the plantation would be swallowed up byflames rising out of the earth, and that afterward the neighboringmountains would forever remain covered with snow and ice. Afterdenouncing the curse, the two holy men went on their way. 

ERUPTION OF JORULLO. 

On the night of the 28th and 29th of September, 1759, horriblesubterraneous noises were heard, which had been preceded by slightshocks of an earthquake since the June preceding. The affrightedIndians fled to the Aquasareo, and soon thereafter a tract of landtwelve miles square, which now goes by the name of the "evil land"(_mal pais_), rose up in the form of a bladder, and boiled, andseethed, and bubbled like a caldron of pudding, shooting up columns offire from ten thousand orifices. Sometimes a number of orifices wouldunite into one vast crater, and vomit forth such a column of fire aswas never before seen by human eyes since the time when "the smoke ofthe country went up as the smoke of a furnace. "

Intelligent witnesses assured Humboldt that flames were seen to issueforth, which, from a surface of more than a mile square, cast upfragments of burning rock to a prodigious height. The two small riverswere swallowed up, and their decomposed waters added fuel to theflames, which burned for many months with a fierceness that isindescribable. 

Such is the origin of the volcano of Jorullo, in the State ofMichoican, and such is the pretended consequence of a curse pronouncedby Capuchin monks upon one of the most beautiful estates in thecountry; and for generations since, the dread of incurring thedispleasure of strolling vagabond monks has rested like a blight uponthe common people; and yet this is but one of the thousand ways bywhich the Mexican priesthood play upon the credulity of the ignorant ina country where convulsions of nature are matters of almost ordinaryoccurrence. Every extraordinary event in nature is ascribed to theexercise of supernatural power on the part of the clergy or the mostholy images of the Church. 

The fires of Jorullo have ceased to burn for half a century. Thecentral crater that was eventually formed, and the numerous littleorifices of fire, have long since become cold, and all the evidences ofan active fire have passed away. But to this day the Indians watch theprogress of the cooling process; as they anticipate that, before manyyears have passed, the unfulfilled portion of the curse will berealized, and that those now live who will see the surroundingmountains covered by perpetual snow--an evil which the half-cladIndians of the tropics appear to dread more than perpetual fire. 

The last and only enumeration of the inhabitants of Mexico or New Spainwas made in 1794, by that distinguished Vice-king to whom I have sooften referred, Ravillagigedo. This enumeration gave as the actualpopulation 3, 865, 529, besides the departments of Vera Cruz, Guanajuato, and Cohahuila, which were estimated to contain 518, 000 more, making asum total of 4, 412, 529. Since that time there has been a great deal ofextensive guessing, until by this simple process the population wasbrought up to 7, 661, 520, in 1853. [62] The process by which this increaseis effected is to add one sixth for supposed omissions in the census, and a like number for supposed increase in the subsequent fifteen yearstill the breaking out of war, and taking for granted that thepopulation has not retrograded during forty-five years of intermittentwar. Such conclusions are made in violation of all the laws ofpopulation. 

POPULATION OF MEXICO. 

It may not be uninteresting to my readers to run over the laws whichregulate the decrease of population, although it is too much our customto look only at the other side of the picture. The social and civilwars of Mexico have been of such a character, as we have seen, as towarrant the belief that from this cause alone population must haveconstantly diminished, from their very commencement in 1810 until 1840, when matters were comparatively resuscitated. The employment for laborduring the time that the large estates were neglected, and while thecanals of irrigation and the silver mines were in ruins, was of themost limited character; and the very indigent circumstances to which itreduced the majority of those who ranked above the _leperos_ must alsohave diminished the population of the republic much below that of thevice-kingdom under Ravillagigedo. 

Since 1840, notwithstanding the frequent wars, Mexico, in favoredlocalities, may have slightly increased in population; but thisincrease is more than balanced by the Indian wars of the northerndepartments, which have depopulated large tracts of country, sometimesextending across one tier of states even into the heart of Durango andGuanajuato; so that I hazard nothing in affirming that the populationof the whole country must be less to-day than it was in 1794, notwithstanding that Humboldt sets down an estimate of 5, 800, 000 forthe year 1803, and 6, 500, 000 for the year 1808. I might go farther, andaffirm that the constant insecurity of life and property in all but thecentral parts of the republic is such as to keep down the naturalincrease of a population never prolific, being made up of a combinationof uncongenial races--whites and Indians, whose intermixture leads tosterility. 

The census shows two fifths of the population to be pure Indians, mostly laborers: this class would have been the one most likely to haveincreased since the Revolution, had there remained the same amount ofemployment and wages as formerly. In consequence of the abolition ofmonopolies, the articles necessary for the comforts of life became muchcheaper and more easy of attainment to the laboring classes, whichwould tend to increase the number of this class. These Indians, moreover, had remained to a great extent free from the deleteriousintermixture of white blood. But the pure Indian, compared with thepure Caucasian, is a race, under the most favorable circumstances, ofslow increase. The diseases hereditary among the Indians are aggravatedby promiscuous marriages, so that in California the missionaries usedto inquire diligently after a man's family connections, and compel aconvert to marry into his own clan, or not marry at all. 

The Meztizos, or mixed races, constitute another two fifths of thepopulation. This is a less vigorous race than the pure Indian. They areall the children of sin, mostly the offspring of illicit intercourse, and are for this cause a feebler race than the offspring of the samemixture where the man was only blessed with a single wife. As allmarriage of whites with Indians in New Spain was unlawful, theseMeztizos bore the same relation to the law in New Spain which themulattoes do in our Southern States. 

RACES IN MEXICO. 

The whites were set down at one million, or about one fifth of thewhole population, at the most prosperous period of the vice-kingdom. Idoubt if they now amount to half or even a quarter of that number, andof this population there is a very vigorous French immigration, nowamounting to five or six thousand, and about as many Germans, a handfulof English, and still less Americans. The native white population doesnot possess the physical energy requisite for rapid increase. They formno portion of the laboring people; they live in effeminacy, and theirchildren are not nursed at the healthy breasts of athletic negresses, as are the children of our Southern planters, but are suckled by a moreenervated race than themselves, viz. , the Meztizos. The emigration fromSpain was never an emigration of laboring men. It consisted almostentirely of priests, stewards, clerks, and taskmasters, to whom laborwas considered as degrading. When the Spaniards lost a monopoly ofthese employments, and sank to the level of the native races, theirnumbers rapidly declined. The slight foreign immigration abovementioned is not one of laborers, for labor is considered an unbecomingemployment at Mexico for white men, but an immigration of tradesmen andshop-keepers, who add nothing to the material wealth of the country. 

Of the Mexican Negro race I never knew but two, and one of them heldthe post of captain in the army, and the other was the naked alcalde, mentioned in a former chapter, who was discharging the functions of"Judge of First Instance. " The reasons assigned for the disappearanceof this race from Mexico after so large an importation of slaves asthat which took place in the last century is the incongeniality of theclimate of Mexico, particularly of the table-lands, to the negroconstitution. At the breaking out of the Mexican revolution, almost theonly negro slaves in the country were in the department of Vera Cruz. The sugar-planters of the hot country of the interior, finding itimpossible to carry on their estates by the use of negro slaves, attempted to reduce the mortality among their working people by raisingup a race of those disgusting-looking beings called Zambos, a cross ofnegroes and Indians; but it was attended with the usual ill successthat has followed every attempt to cross or intermingle different anddistinct races of men, animals, or even plants. 

INTERMIXTURE OF RACES. 

The advantages arising from transplanting the human race, as well asvegetables and plants, are manifestly great. But transplanting shouldnever be confounded with intermixing races, whether they be human, orof the lower animals, or of plants. When God, in his infinite wisdom, saw fit to choose out a family that he destined to continue forthousands of years, He transplanted it into a new soil and climate, andsubjected it to divers migrations. First it went down into Egypt, andthen, "with a high hand and an outstretched arm, " He brought it up outof Egypt, and after a sojourn of forty years in the wilderness, Here-established it in the land of Canaan. This is the origin of the mostperfectly developed race of the present time. Whether in the tropics orin the most northern latitudes, the Jew is the same intellectual andphysical man, and carries about with him the indelible marks of adescendant of those patriarchs who were commanded not to intermarrywith the people among whom they dwelt. The Jew may wander and sojournin strange lands, but he cherishes with national pride the blood ofAbraham, which he insists still flows in his veins, and he is mostcareful, of all things, to transmit it pure to his children. ThoughCanaan abounded with fragments of nationalities, his boast is that hisblood is not intermixed with any of them. To the history of the Jews wemight add the experience of the Franciscan missionaries of California, that for a healthy offspring a man must marry among his own clan. 

The constant complaints we hear of the deterioration of importedanimals of choice breeds is the result of a disregard of this law ofpropagation. The importations of Merino sheep, and afterward of theSaxon, proved a failure chiefly from this cause. Those engaged in theimportation of English cattle begin already to make the same complaint, which they would not have done had they taken the precaution to importtheir foreign stock in families. The Mulatto is an apparent, not a realexception to the rule. He is superior to the Negro, often superior tohis white father; but it is a superiority for a generation only, andcarries with it the seeds of its own dissolution. The mule is superiorto the donkey, but lasts only for a generation. The Oregon ox, a crossbetween the Spanish and American breeds, is superior to either of thepure breeds. But it is the concentration in one animal of what might bethe material of divers generations. 

I once asked a Dutchess county farmer the cause of the greatsuperiority of his crops of wheat over those of his neighbors, and hisreply was that he always brought his seed from a distance, changed itoften, and took good care not to let it intermix with the wheat of thatregion. The same, or, rather, greater results have attended thetransportation of American seeds and plants to California, where a newsoil and a new climate has produced upon all the staples of agriculturesuch an improvement as to astonish men who have made this branch ofindustry a study. It is the result of the migration of plants wherethere are no plants of the same character to intermix, and sodeteriorate the race by crossing the breed. In trees the same law holdsunchangeably. We produce fine fruit by inoculation and by grafting; butexperience has taught us never to inoculate upon a grafted stem, butalways upon a natural branch. As the Conquistadors selected thebest-looking Indian women for the mothers of the Meztizos, so thefruit-raiser selects the best natural stems to inoculate with hisartificial varieties of fruit. In this way we get better fruit byexhausting the root, and a whole race of plants are sometimes worn outby mixture from too close a proximity of the different families of thesame genus. In the laws which Moses gave to the children of Israel, wefind a provision against the evils of intermixtures in the precept:"Thy cattle shall not gender with diverse kind. " "Thou shalt not sowthe field with, divers seeds. " In these precepts God has taken care toguard the wholesome generation of plants as well as of animals. 

The successful intermingling of the Protestant Anglo-Saxon immigrationwith our own people in the second and third generations is not anexception to the law of generation, as both are but branches of thesame stock, and are successfully planted together. Nor is the mortalitywhich follows the Catholic immigration an exception to the beneficiallaw of migration, for habits of intemperance account for the shortlives of these immigrants; and though their offspring is abundant, yetit is all tainted with an inheritance of disease, and too many of thechildren suffer the ruinous consequences of having drawn "still slops"from a mother's breast in infancy. For physically, and in the chain ofgeneration, most truly are the sins of the fathers visited upon thechildren to the third and fourth generation. 

Our collection of material for an argument will be complete when I haveadded that the trees most prolific of artificial fruit die theearliest, and suffer most from running sores; that the vines cultivatedartificially to produce the choicest wines suffer most from the mildew, and the potatoes of the most artificial varieties are the ones thathave suffered most from the rot. When the cholera first visited Mexico, its passage through the country was like the ravages of the Angel ofDeath among the Meztizos and the fragments of decaying races. And thisprogress toward depopulation can not be stayed by the infusion of avigorous stock. The law of sexuality in plants leads to theintermarriage of the vigorous with the decaying and the intermixture ofblossoms; nor can human plants long vegetate together withoutintermarriages, which ingraft the vigorous constitutions with the virusof the old and decaying. 

PROSPECTS OF MEXICO. 

If, then, I have correctly enunciated the law of migration of men, animals, and plants, and if the law of intermixture of distinct races, or distinct species of the race, has been truly stated, the importantargument to be drawn from it, which interests all Americans inquiringinto the future of Mexico, is, that the present incongruous fragmentsof population which the internal disorders of Spain have set loose inMexico can never be transformed into a homogeneous nationality, nor cansufficiently permanent elements of strength be found in this politicalchaos to constitute a permanent government. The degraded condition towhich labor is reduced forbids the idea of an immigration of foreignlaborers, while the miserable scale of wages--a quarter of a dollar aday upon the estates, payable out of the plantation store, or threeshillings in the towns--holds out no inducement for poor men of ahealthy race to abandon their own country and migrate to Mexico insufficient numbers to form a substratum of society which ultimatelymight rise into a nationality. 

A still more important question is disposed of by the facts stated inthis chapter, viz. , that there is no possibility of the presentinhabitants of Mexico ever successfully driving back the Apaches andreconquering the northern provinces. Her title to the wild regions ofthe north, which rests on discovery and colonization, is lost by herutter inability to subdue the Indians and to colonize, after aprobation of three hundred years. At this day the whole of the northernprovinces lie, like waifs, open to any civilized people to takepossession who require an additional territory. But nothing is soabsurd as the American process of acquisition by treaty of territorieswhich already are, or soon will be, covered all over by immenseland-claims, in districts subjugated by the Indians, instead ofacknowledging the title of the Apaches to the lands they have conqueredfrom Mexico, and long held in possession, and purchasing of those whoare the real sovereigns of Northern Mexico. 

 [60] An attempt was made to explain away the story of Cortéz getting drowned out at Iztapalapan, a point above the level of the city of Mexico, by suggesting that _perhaps_ an earthquake may have changed the face of the valley. But, unfortunately, Iztapalapan was the southern support of the old Indian levee (_calzado_), built to keep the water off of the city of Mexico in seasons of heavy rains. 

 [61] Though the richest ecclesiastical quasi-corporation in the world, your ears are constantly saluted with solicitations for contributions to the impoverished Church. 

 [62] _Colleccion de Leyes_, p. 184. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

The Church of Mexico. --Its present Condition and Power. --The Numberof the "Religios. "--The Wealth of the Church. --The Money-powerof the Church. --The Power of Assassination. --Educating thePeople robs the Priest. --Making and adoring Images. --The Progressdownward. 

The Catholic Church of Mexico is a peculiar institution. Its historicalantecedents have been considered in previous chapters in connectionwith other subjects. Men no longer whisper their unbelief withtrembling, nor have they any longer to dread inquisitorial fires ifthey refuse to pay tithes to the bishop, or if they neglect to bestowrich gifts upon the priests. Still the Church survives the losses ofthis important engine of piety, and continues unmodified by passingevents. In the midst of revolutions it stands unchanged, a relic of thelast century. It stands like a great showman's wagon from which thehorses have been detached, and children, great and small, are collectedaround to look at its images. Unfortunately, there is an abundance offull-grown children in a country where, for centuries, a combination ofspiritual and temporal despotisms have dwarfed the intellects of mendown to the standard of a toy-shop religion, which had long rejoiced incrushing the human intellect, while it disdained to enlighten thehumblest understanding. 

[Illustration: MEXICAN PRIESTS TRAVELING. ]

Mexico is the only Catholic country in which the Church has remainedunchanged during all the revolutions of the last half century. TheFrench infidel armies, and the wars and revolutions that followed theFrench invasions, overturned the Church of Spain and Italy, so that theChurch organization that now exists in those peninsulas is a newcreation. Not so in Mexico. Its revolution was for the purpose ofsaving the privileges of the Church from the too sweeping reforms ofthe Cortes of Spain. And there it now stands, with all the propertiesand annuities which it enjoyed in the time of the idiot kings. TheInquisition no longer enforces with fire the censures of the Church, and men are no longer compelled by legal process to pay tithes. But forthese losses the Church has received a heavy compensation. The priestsand inquisitors who ruled the childish court of Spain would allow noindependence to the Mexican Church, but supplied, by royal appointment, all the candidates for vacant bishoprics and chapters, while theVice-king was allowed to fill the inferior offices of the Church. 

By the partial separation of Church and state which took place in1833, the Church of Mexico became independent of the state. Thechapters acquired the right of electing their own bishops; thebishops, by virtue of their spiritual authority, appointing thepriests and exercising control over all Church property as _quasi_corporations-sole, at least over all property not vested in religiouscommunities, if practically there could be said to be any realexception. What that newly-acquired power of the Mexican bishopsamounts to, we in the United States, from our own experience of thesame authority, can judge. 

STATISTICS OF THE CHURCH. 

That the reader may know how extensive is this money-power of thebishops, I subjoin an extract from a statistical chart[63] published bySeñor _Lerdo de Tejado_, _First Official de Ministerio de Fomento_, thefollowing synopsis of the clergy and their incomes:

"There is one archbishop, the Archbishop of Mexico, and eleven bishops, and one to be created at Vera Cruz. There are 184 prebends and 1229parishes. The total number of ecclesiastics is 3223. [64] There are 146convents of monks and 59 convents of nuns, and 8 colleges forpropagating the faith. The convents of monks are inhabited by 1139persons, and there are 1541 nuns in convents, and with them 740 younggirls and 870 servants. There are 238 persons in the colleges forpropagating the faith. " This is less than half the number of the_religios_ under the vice-kings, while the riches of the Church haveimmensely increased, as we shall presently see. 

REVENUE OF THE CHURCH. 

I translate from the same author, in a note, statistics upon themuch-agitated question of the wealth of the Church of Mexico, [65] fromwhich it will be seen that the total amount consumed in the maintenanceof these 3223 persons, is annually $20, 000, 000, besides the very largesums expended in the repairs and ornaments of an enormous number ofchurches, and in gifts at the shrines of the different images, whichcan not be appropriated to the maintenance of the clergy. This sum of$20, 000, 000, if fairly divided among them, would yield an abundantsupport, though not an extravagant living; but, unfortunately, thegreatest portion of this immense sum is absorbed by the bishops, whilethe priests of the villages contrive to exist by the contributions theywring out of the _peons_. At the time of the census, 1793, the twelvebishops had $539, 000[66] appropriated to their support; but now theirrevenues are so mixed up with the revenues of the Church, that it isimpossible to say how much these twelve successors of the apostlesappropriate to their own support. 

MONEY-POWER OF THE CHURCH. 

In place of the Inquisition which the reformed Spanish government tookaway from the Church of Mexico, the Church now wields the power ofwealth, almost fabulous in amount, which is practically in the hands ofa close corporation-sole. The influence of the Archbishop, as thesubstantial owner of half the property in the city of Mexico, gives hima power over his tenants unknown under our system of laws. Besidesthis, a large portion of the Church property is in money, and theArchbishop is the great loan and trust company of Mexico. Nor is thispower by any means an insignificant one. A bankrupt government isoverawed by it. Men of intellect are crushed into silence; and noopposition can successfully stand against the influence of this Churchlord, who carries in his hands the treasures of heaven, and in hismoney-bags the material that moves the world. To understand the fullforce of his power of money, it must be borne in mind that Mexico is acountry proverbial for recklessness in all conditions of life; forextravagant living and extravagant equipages; a country where a man'sposition in society is determined by the state he maintains; a country, the basis of whose wealth is the mines of precious metal; whereprincely fortunes are quickly acquired and suddenly lost, and wherehired labor has hardly a cash value. In such a country, the power andinfluence of money has a meaning beyond any idea that we can form. Lookat a prominent man making an ostentatious display of his devotion: hisexample is of advantage to the Church, and the Church may be ofadvantage to him, for it has an abundance of money at 6 per cent. Perannum, while the outside money-lenders charge him 2 per cent. Permonth. The Church, too, may have a mortgage upon his house over-due;and woe betide him if he should undertake a crusade against the Church. This is a string that the Church can pull upon which is strong enoughto overawe government itself. 

This money-power of the Church yet lacks completeness and concentrationto make it even a tolerable substitute for the power lost by theabolition of the Inquisition, as this wealth is distributed among 12independent bishops. But, having succeeded in establishing the temporalpower of her bishops in Mexico more firmly than in the United States, the Papal court made another step in advance. In 1852, Mexico waselectrified with delight at the condescension of the Holy Father insending a _nuncio_ to that city. For two full years this representativeof the Holy See was _fêted_ and toasted on all hands, as little lessthan the Pope himself, whom he represented. But last year all thesehappy feelings were dashed with gall and wormwood by an announcementthat as the bishops controlled all this immense property by virtue oftheir spiritual authority, there was a resulting trust in his favor, orat least in favor of the Pope, whom he represented with full powers. Itwas Pandora's box opened in the midst of "a happy family. " There was nodisputing the nuncio's law; but to render to him an account of theirreceipts and disbursements, or to deliver over the bonds and mortgagesto this agent of the Pope, was most unpleasant. The old Archbishopkeeps fast hold of the money-bags, which, so far, the keys of SaintPeter have been unable to unlock. The battle waxes loud and fiercebetween the parties and their partisans, and Santa Anna stands lookingon, dreaming of the happy time when, through the internal dissensionsof the Church, these accumulations of 300 years of robbery and falsepretenses will fall into the public treasury, and the people as well asthe government will obtain their enfranchisement. 

The money-power of the Church has proved sufficiently strong to save itfrom the hungry maw of a famishing government, and to stand unaffectedby the revolutions that surround it; and now and then, when toobitterly assailed by some political reformer, it finds relief in theassassination of the assailant, as in the case of the eloquent memberof the last Congress, who, after a violent philippic against thecorruptions of the priests, was found murdered in his chamber. And, asin case of the inquisitorial assassinations, the crime was proved tohave been connected with a robbery. The power to overawe courts ofjustice, proverbially corrupt, and the facilities with whichassassinations are procured, are now the most dreaded weapons of theChurch, and may account for the nominal conformity of the intelligentclasses. 

The unbelievers in Mexico, though considerable in numbers, are notorganized with a positive creed. Theirs is only a negativeexistence--unbelief; and they are generally found conforming outwardly, as a more convenient and prudent course than running a tilt with thewell-organized forces of the Church. 

There is nothing peculiar in the spiritual powers of the Church ofMexico, as these powers are common to all Catholic countries, and varyonly with the ignorance and brutality of the people; the more degradedthe people, the greater is the power of the priest and bishop. Theintelligent Catholic, educated among Protestants, looks upon his priestas a religious instructor, and interprets the _ego te absolvo_ asrather a matter of form, meaning little more than that he willintercede for him. He has caught and is applying a Protestant ideaunwittingly. But with the gross multitude who constitute the mass ofthe Spanish-American population, the priest is the God of the people;his giving or withholding absolution is a matter of life or death; and, however corrupt and debauched he may be, he still holds jurisdictionover the pains of hell and the bliss of heaven. For a reasonableconsideration in money, he will shut up the one and open the other. Theoffering in the mass of the bloodless sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as itis called, is not sufficient for the Catholic in a Protestant country, but the priest must also preach a sermon every Sabbath, like aProtestant minister, though he still holds to the efficacy of the massin conferring blessings on the living and the believing dead. Thepreaching of the priest is a rare thing in an exclusively Catholiccountry. The mass is his livelihood, and if he be the head of acommunity, or a popular priest, he often makes a profit in taking inmasses to say, and letting out the job at a discount. The whole mattermay be summed up by saying that the more profoundly ignorant the peopleare, the more devotional do they become, so that the priest has alwaysa pecuniary interest in the ignorance of the people, and if he makesany effort toward their enlightenment, it is an effort made directlyagainst his own pecuniary interests and the income of his office. 

WORSHIP OF IMAGES. 

The most ancient anti-Catholic, I might with propriety say, Protestantsect, whose form of synagogue worship is congregational, and who arerepublican at heart, though too often submitting to a despotism, arethe Jews. Between these two, the Jew and the Catholic, there exists anunmitigated hostility. The Catholic reviles the Jew with a sin ofwhich, most likely, his own ancestors were not guilty, [67] and the Jewcurses the Nazarene for the idolatry of his worshipers. He will make noallowances for the nice distinction between adoration and worship, andinsists that the making the likeness of any _thing_ to be set up in aplace of worship is idolatry, and that the image of the cross is asmuch an image as the image of Him who hung thereon. And in all this theJew is right, if we are to obey the commandment of God. Yet the Jewforgets that a thousand years of trial were requisite to cure hisancestors of their proneness to idols. After their first mission, accomplished in the birth of Christ, God has preserved them a perpetualwitness against paganism. But so subtle is this sin, that we findourselves setting up sensuous representations, while we point thefinger of scorn at the Catholic, who ascribes miraculous power to animage of the Virgin. And what is the difference, the Almighty himselfbeing judge, between setting up a cross in a place of worship orascribing miraculous power to an image, or, as is the fashion to say, some spirit acting through the image? Are they not different stages ofthe same disease, and each equally calculated to provoke the Almightyto jealousy. 

SUMMARY OF EVILS. 

Image worship has another curious aspect. It is a very tolerablethermometer by which to measure the downward progress of nations. PaganRome, in times of comparative purity, had her laws against idolatry;but as her higher classes advanced in refinement and sensuality, andthe plebeians became debased and brutalized, the whole religious ideasof the nation degenerated into idolatry, associated with a despoticmiracle-working priesthood, and soon followed by a political despotism. It is curious to witness how exactly it takes on the same form indifferent countries in traveling this downward road. The Buddhist ofChina, who has reached a thousand-fold lower level than the Catholic, has his unmarried priesthood, his monks, and nuns, and self-imposedpenances, and tortures, and holy water, and a ritual in an unknowntongue (Sanscrit), so strikingly resembling the Catholic as to suggestthe idea of a common origin, if such an idea were not impossible. Yetin the moral standard they seem to have reached the point of totaldepravity. Hence we might sum up the cause that have produced theMexican of the present day by enumerating the absence of the scripturalidea of family relation; the despotism exercised by the priesthood withthe aid of an Inquisition, and the unnumbered toll-gates they haveplaced on the road to heaven; the effeminacy of the higher classes anddebasement of the peasantry; the absorption of half the revenues of thecountry in superstitious and idolatrous purposes, and the uncleanlyhabits superinduced by mental and physical degradation for generations, so that the word _leper_ is used to designate a poor man in the citywhere that loathsome disease has its victims. 

 [63] _Grando Sinoptico de la Republica Mejicana en 1850. Por Miguel M. Lerdo y Tejado_; approved by the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics. 

 [64] This number 3223 includes all of the 1139 monks, except the lay brothers. The two classes of priests, those who are not monks and those who are monks, are distinguished in Catholic countries as seculars and regulars (_clerigos_ and _religios_). Humboldt says the Mexican clergy are composed of 10, 000 individuals (_Essai Politique_, vol. I. P. 172), and, including the nuns, and lay brothers and sisters, he puts the sum total of the religious at 14, 000. But in a note he gives the numbers in five of the principal departments out of twelve, which foot up at only 5405 for the clergy of both orders. 

 [65] "The general revenue destined for the maintenance of the clergy and of religious services in the republic may be divided into four classes: first, that which appertains to the bishops and to the canons, who form the chapter of the Cathedral; second, those revenues which appertain to particular ecclesiastics and chaplaincies; third, those of curates and vicars; fourth, those of divers communities of _religios_, of both sexes. 

 "The first class is principally of tithes and first-fruits, the product of which was very considerable in times past, when they included a tenth part of all the first fruits which grew upon the soil of the republic, and the firstlings of the cattle. But lately this revenue has much fallen off, since by the law of the 17th of October, 1833, it is no longer obligatory upon the cultivators to pay this contribution. Nevertheless, there still are many persons who, for conscientious reasons, or for other cause, continue to pay this tax, so that it produces a very considerable sum. This part of the clergy also receive considerable sums which have been left by devout persons for the performance of certain annual ceremonies called _anniversaries_. 

 "The collegiate church of our Lady of Guadalupe has, in addition to a monthly lottery, which operates upon a capital of $13, 000, certain properties and other capitals of which the government takes no account. 

 "Particular ecclesiastics and chaplains are supported on a capital generally of $3000, established by certain pious persons for that object, besides the alms of the faithful, which are given for a certain number of masses to be applied to objects of their devotion. 

 "The support of curates consists of parochial rights, viz. , fees for baptisms, marriages, funerals, responses, and religious celebrations (_funcions_) which, in their respective churches, they command the faithful to make; and, finally, by the profits which they derive from the sale of _novenas_, medals, scapularies, ribbons (_madedas_), wax, and other objects which the parishioners employ. 

 "The income of convents of monks, besides the alms which they receive for masses, _funcions_, and funerals, which they celebrate in the convent churches, consists of the rents of great properties which they have accumulated in the course of ages. 

 "The convents of nuns are in like manner supported by the income of great estates, with the exception of two or three convents which possess no property, and whose inmates live on charity. 

 "Besides the incomes named, which pertain to the _personnel_ of the clergy, there are, in the cathedrals and other parochial [churches], revenues which arise from some properties and foundations created for attending to certain dues called "_fabrica_" which consist of all those objects necessary for the services of this worship (_culta_). 

 "From the want of publicity which is generally observed in the management of the properties and _rents_ [incomes] of the clergy, it is impossible to fix exactly the value of one or the other; but they can be calculated approximately by taking for the basis those data which are within the reach of the public, which are the total value of the production of the annual return (_movimiento_) of the population for births, marriages, deaths, and, finally, the devout practices which are still customary among the greater part of the population. Observing carefully these data, I assume, without the fear of committing a great error, that the total amount which the clergy to-day realize in the whole extent of the republic, for _rents_, proceeds of tithes, parochial rights, alms, religious ceremonies (_funcions_), and for the sale of divers objects of devotion, is between eight and ten millions of dollars. 

 "Some writers have estimated the properties belonging to the clergy at one half of the productive wealth of the nation; others at one third part; but I can not give much credit to such writers, as they are only calculations that rest on no certain data. I am sure that the total amount of the property of the clergy, for chaplaincies, foundations, and other pious uses, together with rustic and city properties, which belong to the divers religious corporations, amount to an enormous sum, notwithstanding the falling off that is said to have taken place from the amounts of former years. 

 "All property in the district of Mexico [federal district] is estimated at $50, 000, 000, the half of which pertains to the clergy. Uniting the product of this property to the tithes, parochial rights, etc. , I am well assured that the total of the income of the clergy amounts to from eighteen to twenty millions of dollars. "

 [66] The Archbishop of Mexico $130, 000 The Bishop of Pueblo 110, 000 The Bishop of Valladolid 110, 000 The Bishop of Guadalajara 90, 000 The Bishop of Durango 35, 000 The Bishop of Monterey 30, 000 The Bishop of Yucatan 20, 000 The Bishop of Oajaca 18, 000 The Bishop of Sonora 6, 000 -------- Total individual income of twelve bishops $539, 000

 --_Essai Politique_, vol. I. P. 173. 

 The reason why the Bishop of Sonora was limited to $6000 was that his diocese was so poor that he had that salary paid out of the king's revenue. 

 [67] Most of the Jews of our day are the descendants of the Babylonian Jews, who did not return to Jerusalem after the Captivity, but remained in the province of Babylon until they were driven out, some four hundred or more years after Christ; the Babylonian, not the Jerusalem Talmud, being most commonly in use among them. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Causes that have diminished the Religios. --The Provincials andSuperiors of Convents. --The perfect Organization. --The Monks. --SanFranciscans. --Dominicans. --Carmelites. --The well-reputed Orders. --TheJesuits. --The Nuns. --How Novices are procured. --Contrasted with aQuaker Prison. --The poor deluded Nun. --A good old Quaker Woman not aSaint. --Protestantism felt in Mexico. 

THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 

The monkish orders of Mexico have remained unchanged from the time oftheir first establishment. We have seen that they have fallen offimmensely in numbers, but have increased immensely in efficiency, bythe termination of those internal controversies between theSpanish-born and Creoles, and by enfranchisement from state control. Not only are they now all native-born, but the Meztizos seem to be thepredominant race in the priesthood. The priesthood is not now soinviting an employment as it was before the suppression of theInquisition. Miracles have ceased to be a profitable speculation, whilethe revenue once paid to the monks has been followed by ill-suppressedcontempt. The employment once monopolized by the Spaniards being nowthrown open to general competition, there is less willingness to submitto the despotism which ever reigns in religious houses than there wasin the times of the vice-kings. Hard fare, cruel treatment, and publiccontempt have diminished the candidates for monastic orders, until theold proverb--"He that can not do better, let him turn monk"--is notunknown at Mexico. With the increase of liberty the number of nuns hasdiminished, as violence can no longer be used in getting a girl into aconvent. For all these reasons the number of the _religios_ has rapidlydiminished, while the wealth and efficiency of the Church hasincreased. 

Having spoken of the bishops, the lords spiritual of Mexico, and thecontrolling influence they exercise over a feeble government, we comenext to the second class of spiritual masters of the country--the headsof orders, the provincials, and the heads of religious houses. Thesetwo classes of dignitaries are usually elected for their known severityof discipline, either by the procurement of the bishop, or throughfanaticism of the monks or nuns, who, having voluntarily madethemselves convicts and prisoners for life, now undertake to add totheir self-afflicted mortification by choosing for their head asuperior the most hateful of their number. The novice is taught thatthe greatest favor with Heaven is to be obtained by implicit obedienceunder most trying circumstances, and the more cruel the despotism theyunmurmuringly submit to, the greater will be the accumulation of goodworks. But cursed to the lowest depths of Purgatory is that recluse whodares to murmur even in his inmost thoughts; and if he so far forgetshis duty as to murmur aloud, then all the powers of the Church arebrought to crush his insubordination. 

We have thus followed spiritual despotism through its various stages, from the Pope to the bishops; from the bishops to the provincials ofreligious orders; and then down to superiors of a community of half adozen monks or nuns, by whom immorality is pardonable, but who regarddisobedience or insubordination in the slightest particular "like thesin of witchcraft and idolatry. " Such is the perfect organization ofthe papacy in all its parts, which, acting as one great secret, political, social, and religious association, labors continually toconcentrate the riches of the nations at Rome as a common centre. 

There is a peculiar feature in the Catholic Church in Mexico unknown inother Catholic countries: it is the preponderance of the regular clergy(monks) over the secular clergy. This is owing to Cortéz, who wrote tothe Emperor Charles V. To send him regulars, for the conversion of theIndians, instead of seculars, assigning as a reason for this request"that the latter display extravagant luxury, leave great wealth totheir natural children, and give great scandal to the newly-convertedIndians. " Hence more than one half of the Mexican clergy are monks, andwear the cowl; for at the time of the census of 1793, as we have seen, there were in the city of Mexico 1646 monks, besides lay brothers, against 550 secular priests, while in the fifteen convents for nunsthere were 923 of these female monks. 

CHARACTER OF THE DIFFERENT ORDERS. 

The reader has already become quite familiar with the Franciscanfathers and their vows of poverty and self-mortification, and theirskill at playing for gold ounces. They have pretty well maintained thatreputation since the time of Friar Thomas Gage. But there are somehonorable exceptions to this rule, though few and far between. We havealready noticed how they were favored by Cortéz, and the result hasbeen that they are the richest fraternity in the republic. These holymen of the Angelic Order of Saint Francis have lately discovered a newsource of wealth in renting their large central court to a Frenchman, who occupies it with the best garden of plants in Mexico; and as theconvent occupies nearly a whole square in the central part of the city, they have pierced the convent walls, and rented out shops upon thebusiness streets, while the soldiers of Santa Anna occupy the vacantcloisters of the convent. In this "happy family, " with all the immensewealth of the establishment, the _donados_, and those monks who are sopoor as to have no friends, find but a miserable subsistence. 

Of the Dominicans I have already spoken in connection with theInquisition. In their yard is the flag-stone which was used by them inoffering human sacrifice before the Revolution. There it is kept as arelic and symbol of the power once enjoyed by the Church. There is yeta lingering hope that there may be restored to these brethren the powerof roasting alive human beings. In speaking of depravity of morals, itis hard to say which of the fraternities has reached the lowest level, though common consent concedes the palm to the Dominicans. 

The name of the Carmelites carries us back to the time of the Crusades;but they are better known in Mexico as the former proprietors of the_Desierto_, which Thomas Gage so touchingly describes. Their habitualpractice of self-denial and mortification, in appearance, while riotingon the luxuries that devotees lavished upon them, has not beenforgotten. These holy brothers had a hand in the Inquisition as well asthe Dominicans. They were a set of scamps set to watch the purity ofother men's lives, while they themselves lived a life of habitualprofligacy. The ruins of their old convent, the _Desierto_, is stillone of the most attractive spots about the city. As the travelerwanders among its ruined walls, he will find in the subterraneous cellsring-bolts fastened in the walls, where poor prisoners for their faithendured something more than self-mortification. 

The monks of Santiago, San Augustin, and the Capuchins have all fineconvents, and are rich; but the monks of Saint James are the mostinveterate beggars. 

The monks of San Fernando enjoy an enviable reputation compared withthe spotted sheep I have just been considering. They are late comers, and have not learned all the ways of wickedness of the older orders. Next come the "Brethren of the Profession, " of whom it is pleasant tospeak, after saying so many hard things of their neighbors. They standso high as men of character and learning, that I am tempted to telltheir story on hearsay, for want of better authority. They were onceJesuits, but when the royal _cebula_ of Carlos III. Came for theirexpulsion, these fathers had sustained so good a character for charityand usefulness that they were allowed to return, on condition ofrenouncing the name and peculiarities of that order. I am inclined tobelieve this strange story to be substantially true, for clearly theyare of the Jesuits, and yet they are not Jesuits. The reputation whichthey enjoyed in 1767 they still retain, and not only command therespect of all classes of society in Mexico, but their chapel is thefashionable church of the city, where genteel people resort to saytheir prayers. 

"The Brethren of the Holy Places of Jerusalem"--the Hieronomite monks, are not numerous, and are known in the markets as lenders of money, with the interest of which they support themselves and "the poor saintsof Jerusalem;" that is, a portion of those lazy, greasy, fighting Latinmonks at Jerusalem, that have been one of the causes of the present warin Europe. 

"The Hospitalers of Saint John" (_Juanos_) are better known for theirexploits in the time of the Crusaders than for any thing they have donein Mexico. 

It would be a thrice-told tale to repeat the story of the Jesuits; theworld knows that too well already. The details of their proceedings inMexico till the time of their expulsion have been too often written bytheir enemies. Their great prosperity and their great wealth made themthe envy of the other orders, as corrupt and depraved as themselves, but not so dangerous, because they had reached that point at whichdepravity ceases to contaminate. Dirty, greasy monks could not endurean order that wore the garb of gentlemen, and were in favor with thearistocracy, while they themselves were despised. 

This envy was all-powerful with them, and led, for a time, to thelaying aside of their own private bickerings, and uniting in thecrusade against the common enemy, the Jesuits, and acting in harmonywith the political power. 

NUNNERIES. 

The Church has always made much of the nuns. It has ever been thecustom of the priesthood to endeavor to throw a veil of romance overthe very unromantic way of life followed by females who have shutthemselves up for life in a place hardly equal to a second-classstate-prison. Woman has an important place which God has assigned herin the world; but when she separates herself from the family circle, and elbows her way to the rostrum, where, with a semi-masculine attire, and with a voice not intended for oratory, she harangues a titteringcrowd upon the rights of women to perform the duties of men; or goes tothe opposite extreme, and shuts herself up within high stone walls toavoid the society of the other sex, she equally sins against her ownnature, and not only brings misery upon herself, but inflicts uponsociety the evils of a pernicious example, and furnishes a theme forall kinds of scandal. 

Proud families who have portionless daughters; relatives who desire toget rid of heirs to coveted estates; convents in want of funds andendowments, [68] or a pretty victim for the public entertainment ontaking the veil; friends who have unmarriageable women on their hands;and romantic young misses, ambitious of playing the queen for a day atthe cost of being a prisoner for life, have all contributed to populatethe fifteen nunneries of the city of Mexico. In the flourishing timesof the Inquisition, this business of inveigling choice victims intoconvents was more profitable, for then murmuring could be crushed intosilence, and parents dreaded to oppose the wretched pimps ofsuperstition who came to inveigle their daughters into convents. 

NUNNERIES AND PRISONS. 

The Quaker prison of Philadelphia is a paradise compared with such aplace as this. If the reader has ever placed his eye at the keeper'seye-hole in that prison, he must have seen in many a cell a cheerfulface, and the appearance of as much comfort as is compatible with animprisoned condition; for ministering angels have been there--mothersin Israel, who have torn themselves from their domestic duties for alittle time to minister consolation to the very criminals in prison;and, now that the prison-door has separated the poor wretch foreverfrom society, whose laws have been outraged, she, by her kindness andteaching, has led the convict to look to Heaven with a hope offorgiveness, and daily to pray for those he has injured, while he readsin the holy book which she gave him, that a repenting thief accompaniedthe Son of God to Paradise. 

Let us turn from such an unpoetical scene as this, which that cheerfulprison presents, to the convent of Santa Teresa, the most celebrated ofall the ten or fifteen nunneries now in operation about the city ofMexico. In a cold, damp, comfortless cell, kneeling upon the pavement, we may see a delicate woman mechanically repeating her daily-imposedpenance of Latin prayers, before the image of a favorite saint and abasin of holy water. This self-regulating, automaton praying machine, as she counts off the number of allotted prayers by the number of beadsupon her rosary, beats into her bosom the sharp edge of an iron crossthat rests within her shirt of sacking-cloth, until, nature and hertask exhausted, she throws herself down upon a wooden bed, soingeniously arranged as to make sleep intolerable. [69] This poor victimof self-inflicted daily torture, half crazed from insufficient food, and sleep, and clothing, has endured all this misery to accumulate astock of good works for the use of less meritorious sinners, besidesthe amount necessary to carry herself to heaven; for penance, and notrepentance, is this poor pagan's password for salvation. 

The old Quakeress is not a fashionable saint, for she never dreamed ofthis huxter business in spiritual affairs. Out of the overflowinggoodness of her heart, she had tried to lighten the miseries of life inher own humble and quiet way, and found her happiness in seeing allabout her made comfortable. The money that others expended in buyingmasses for the repose of their own souls and those of their relativesafter death, she expended in ministering to soul and body in thisworld, leaving to God above the affairs of departed spirits, to dealwith them according to His mercy. She never presumed to add to thetorments of this life, or undertook to lighten the torments of thedeparted. Her duties lay all in this world, and when her labors wereended, she quietly lay down in death, leaving her future condition toGod. She never would pierce her bosom with an iron cross, though it hadoften been pierced by the trials of life. She has seen enough of realpoverty and mortification, but never dreamed of such a thing as povertyand mortification self-imposed, by wearing upon her flesh a garment ofsacking-cloth, or the ingenious invention of a bed so contrived as todeprive herself of wholesome sleep. Images and holy water occupy noplace in her creed, though soap and water are almost too prominent. Shedid her good deeds from a sense of duty which she owed to her kind, andfrom the pleasure that it gave her to relieve misery while dischargingthe ordinary duties of life, and never dreamed of the sweet odor hergood works left behind her--an odor which followed her to heaven--anodor more acceptable to the Almighty than all the endowments she mighthave left to pay for masses for the repose of her soul. 

SELF-CASTIGATION. 

There is so much that is monotonous in talking over the details ofaffairs of the different orders of these female monks, from the Sisterof Guadalupe to the Sisterhood of Mercy, that it is as well to considerthem as one, as divers households of single women, who, to winextraordinary favor of God, had separated themselves from theirfamilies, and devoted their lives, some to repeating prayers and actsof self-mortification, some to attending at the hospitals on the sickor the blind, the idiotic, the deformed, the deaf and the dumb, othersto educating young ladies according to their peculiar notions ofeducation, others again consecrating themselves to pauperism, andliving upon charity; and when the daily supply of alms has failed, these self-made poor sisters collect together, and there wait and pray, and ring their bell, until some benevolent individual shall chance tohear the well-known signal, and come and relieve them. 

Such is the system of religion of all countries which bear theChristian name, but where freedom does not exist, and where liberty cannot thrive. There is a trifling difference in its phases as exhibitedin the Greek and the Latin Churches, but the difference is too slightfor us outsiders to notice. In Mexico it exists in its mostunadulterated state, less contaminated than elsewhere withProtestantism or other foreign substances. 

PENANCES. 

The old farce of self-castigation is here still enacted, as it has beenfor three hundred years, but in the dark, _of course_; and blood, orsome substitute for it, is heard to fall upon the floor by the fewselected witnesses;[70] but a party of boys, report says, beingsomewhat skeptical about the quality of this blood, concealedthemselves in the church, and when the pious farce began, took soactive a part in the sport upon the naked backs of the fathers, as toinflict bodily injury, and break up the bloody entertainment. StillProtestantism has been felt in Mexico, if not embraced, and the commonpeople look back to the happy time when the soldiers of theirProtestant conquerors made money plenty among them, and wheneven-handed justice was dealt out alike to rich and poor, high and low. Though the foreigners laughed at the fables of the priests andridiculed the monks, they yet were honest in their dealings with thepeople instead of taking by violence. As there are no people sobesotted that they do not admire courage and honesty, so the _Paisano_looks upon the heretic as a man of a superior race to himself. 

 [68] I have selected three cases of taking the veil, to which I have added captions, which lift the veil from this practice of consecrating young girls to superstitions uses. They are extracted from Madame Calderon's Life in Mexico. 

 _Taking the Veil. _

 "I followed the guide back into the sacristy [of the convent], where the future nun was seated beside her grandmother, in the midst of her friends and relations, about thirty in all. 

 "She was arrayed in pale blue satin, with diamonds, pearls, and a crown of flowers. She was literally smothered in blonde and jewels; and her face was flushed, as well it might be, for she had passed the day in taking leave of her friends at a fête they had given her, and had then, according to custom, been paraded through the town in all her finery. And now her last hour was at hand. When I came in, she rose and embraced me with as much cordiality as if we had known each other for years. Beside her sat the Madrina, also in white satin and jewels; all the relations being likewise decked out in their finest array. The nun kept laughing every now and then in the most unnatural and hysterical manner, as I thought, apparently to impress us with the conviction of her perfect happiness; for it is a great point of honor among girls similarly situated to look as cheerful and gay as possible--the same feeling, though in a different degree, which induces the gallant highwayman to jest in the presence of the multitude when the hangman's cord is within an inch of his neck; the same which makes a gallant general, whose life is forfeited, command his men to fire on him; the same which makes the Hindoo widow mount the funeral pile without a tear in her eye or a sigh on her lips. If the robber were to be strangled in the corner of his dungeon--if the general were to be put to death privately in his own apartment--if the widow were to be burned quietly on her own hearth--if the nun were to be secretly smuggled in at the convent gate like a bale of contraband goods, we might hear another tale. This girl was very young, but by no means pretty; on the contrary, rather _disgraciée par la nature_; and perhaps a knowledge of her own want of attractions may have caused the world to have few charms for her. 

 "Suddenly the curtain was withdrawn, and the picturesque beauty of the scene within baffles all description. Beside the altar, which was in a blaze of light, was a perfect mass of crimson and gold drapery; the walls, the antique chairs, the table before which the priests sat, all hung with the same splendid material. The Bishop wore his superb mitre, and robes of crimson and gold, the attendant priests also glittering in crimson and gold embroidery. 

 "In contrast to these, five-and-twenty figures, entirely robed in black from head to foot, were ranged on each side of the room, prostrate, their faces touching the ground, and in their hands immense lighted tapers. On the foreground was spread a purple carpet bordered round with a garland of freshly-gathered flowers, roses, and carnations, and heliotrope, the only things that looked real and living in the whole scene; and in the middle of this knelt the novice, still arrayed in her blue satin, white lace veil and jewels, and also with a great lighted taper in her hand. 

 "The black nuns then rose and sang a hymn, every now and then falling on their faces and touching the floor with their foreheads. The whole looked like an incantation, or a scene in Robert le Diable. The novice was then raised from the ground and led to the feet of the Bishop, who examined her as to her vocation, and gave her his blessing, and once more the black curtain fell between us and them. 

 "In the _second act_ she was lying prostrate on the floor, disrobed of her profane dress, and covered over with a black cloth, while the black figures kneeling around her chanted a hymn. She was now dead to the world. The sunbeams had faded away as if they would not look upon the scene, and all the light was concentrated in one great mass upon the convent group. 

 "Again she was raised. All the blood had rushed into her face, and her attempt to smile was truly painful. She then knelt down before the Bishop, and received the benediction, with the sign of the cross, from a white hand with the pastoral ring. She then went round alone to embrace all the dark phantoms as they stood motionless, and as each dark shadow clasped her in its arms, it seemed like the dead welcoming a new arrival to the shades. 

 "But I forget the sermon, which was delivered by a fat priest, who elbowed his way with some difficulty through the crowd to the grating, panting and in a prodigious heat, and ensconced himself in a great armchair close beside us. He assured her that she 'had chosen the good part, which could not be taken away from her;' that she was now one of the elect, 'chosen from among the wickedness and dangers of the world'--(picked out like a plum from a pie). He mentioned with pity and contempt those who were 'yet struggling in the great Babylon, ' and compared their miserable fate with hers, the Bride of Christ, who, after suffering a few privations here during a short term of years, should be received at once into a kingdom of glory. The whole discourse was well calculated to rally her fainting spirits, if fainting they were, and to inspire us with a great disgust for ourselves. 

 "When the sermon was concluded the music again struck up; the heroine of the day came forward, and stood before the grating to take her last look of this wicked world. Down fell the black curtain. Up rose the relations, and I accompanied them into the sacristy. Here they coolly lighted their cigars, and very philosophically discoursed upon the exceeding good fortune of the new-made nun, and on her evident delight and satisfaction with her own situation. As we did not follow her behind the scenes, I could not give my opinion on this point. Shortly after, one of the gentlemen civilly led me to my carriage, and _so it was_. "

 _A Victim for her Musical Powers. _

 "In the convent of the Incarnation I saw another girl sacrificed in a similar manner. She was received there without a dowry, on account of the exceeding fineness of her voice. She little thought what a fatal gift it would prove to her. The most cruel part of all was that, wishing to display her fine voice to the public, they made her sing a hymn alone, on her knees, her arms extended in the form of a cross, before all the immense crowd: "Ancilla Christi sum, " "The bride of Christ I am. " She was a good-looking girl, fat and comely, who would probably have led a comfortable life in the world, for which she seemed well fitted; most likely without one touch of romance or enthusiasm in her composition; but, having the unfortunate honor of being niece to two _chanoines_, she was thus honorably provided for without expense in her nineteenth year. As might be expected, her voice faltered, and instead of singing, she seemed inclined to cry out. Each note came slowly, heavily, tremblingly; and at last she nearly fell forward exhausted, when two of the sisters caught and supported her. "

 _A Victim of her Confessor. _

 "She was in purple velvet, with diamonds and pearls, and a crown of flowers; the corsage of her gown was entirely covered with little bows of ribbon of divers colors, which her friends had given her, each adding one, like stones thrown on a cairn in memory of the departed. She had also short sleeves and white satin shoes. 

 "Being very handsome, with fine black eyes, good teeth, and fresh color, and, above all, with the beauty of youth, for she is but eighteen, she was not disfigured by even this overloaded dress. Her mother, on the contrary, who was to act the part of Madrina, who wore a dress facsimile, and who was pale and sad, her eyes almost extinguished with weeping, looked like a picture of Misery in a ball-dress. In the adjoining room long tables were laid out, on which servants were placing refreshments for the fête about to be given on this joyous occasion. I felt somewhat shocked, and inclined to say with Paul Pry, 'Hope I don't intrude. '

 "----, however, was furious at the whole affair, which he said was entirely against the mother's consent, though that of the father had been obtained; and pointed out to me the confessor whose influence had brought it about. The girl herself was now very pale, but evidently resolved to conceal her agitation, and the mother seemed as if she could shed no more tears--quite exhausted with weeping. As the hour for the ceremony drew near, the whole party became more grave and sad, all but the priests, who were smiling and talking together in groups. The girl was not still a moment. She kept walking hastily through the house, taking leave of the servants, and naming, probably, her last wishes about every thing. She was followed by her younger sisters, all in tears. 

 "But it struck six, and the priests intimated that it was time to move. She and her mother went down stairs alone, and entered the carriage which was to drive them through all the principal streets, to show the nun to the public, according to custom, and to let them take their last look, they of her and she of them. As they got in, we all crowded to the balconies to see her take leave of her house, her aunts saying, 'Yes, child, _despidete de tu casa_, take leave of your house, for you will never see it again!' Then came sobs from the sisters; and many of the gentlemen, ashamed of their emotion, hastily quitted the room. I hope, for the sake of humanity, I did not rightly interpret the look of constrained anguish which the poor girl threw from the window of the carriage at the home of her childhood. 

 "At stated periods, indeed, the mother may hear her daughter's voice speaking to her as from the depths of the tomb, but she may never fold her in her arms, never more share in her joys or in her sorrows, or nurse her in sickness; and when her own last hour arrives, though but a few streets divide them, she may not give her dying blessing to the child who has been for so many years the pride of her eyes and heart. 

 "They gave me an excellent place, quite close to the grating, beside the Countess de S----o; that is to say, a place to kneel on. A great bustle and much preparation seemed to be going on within the convent, and veiled figures were flitting about, whispering, arranging, &c. Sometimes a skinny old dame would come close to the grating, and, lifting up her veil, bestow upon the pensive public a generous view of a very haughty and very wrinkled visage of some seventy years standing, and beckon into the church for the major-domo of the convent (an excellent and profitable situation, by the way), or for padre this or that. Some of the holy ladies recognized and spoke to me through the grating. 

 "But, at the discharge of fireworks outside the church, the curtain was dropped, for this was the signal that the nun and her mother had arrived. An opening was made in the crowd as they passed into the church, and the girl, kneeling down, was questioned by the bishop, but I could not make out the dialogue, which was carried on in a low voice. She then passed into the convent by a side door, and her mother, quite exhausted and nearly in hysterics, was supported through the crowd to a place beside us, in front of the grating. The music struck up; the curtain was again drawn aside. The scene was as striking here as in the convent of the Santa Teresa, but not so lugubrious. The nuns, all ranged around, and carrying lighted tapers in their hands, were dressed in mantles of bright blue, with a gold plate on the left shoulder. Their faces, however, were covered with deep black veils. The girl, kneeling in front, and also bearing a heavy lighted taper, looked beautiful, with her dark hair and rich dress, and the long black lashes resting on her glowing face. The churchmen near the illuminated and magnificently-decked altar formed, as usual, a brilliant background to the picture. The ceremony was the same as on the former occasion, but there was no sermon. 

 "The most terrible thing to witness was the last, straining, anxious look which the mother gave her daughter through the grating. She had seen her child pressed to the arms of strangers and welcomed to her new home. She was no longer hers. All the sweet ties of nature had been rudely severed, and she had been forced to consign her, in the very bloom of youth and beauty, at the very age in which she most required a mother's care, and when she had but just fulfilled the promise of her childhood, to a living tomb. Still, as long as the curtain had not fallen, she could gaze upon her as upon one on whom, though dead, the coffin-lid is not yet closed. 

 "But while the new-made nun was in a blaze of light and distinct on the foreground, so that we could mark each varying expression of her face, the crowd in the church, and the comparative faintness of the light, probably made it difficult for her to distinguish her mother; for, knowing that the end was at hand, she looked anxiously and hurriedly into the church, without seeming able to fix her eyes on any particular object, while her mother seemed as if her eyes were glazed, so intensely were they fixed upon her daughter. 

 "Suddenly, and without any preparation, down fell the black curtain like a pall, and the sobs and tears of the family broke forth. One beautiful little child was carried out almost in fits. Water was brought to the poor mother; and at last, making our way with difficulty through the dense crowd, we got into the sacristy. 'I declare, ' said the Countess ---- to me, wiping her eyes, 'it is worse than a marriage!' I expressed my horror at the sacrifice of a girl so young that she could not possibly have known her own mind. Almost all the ladies agreed with me, especially all who had daughters, but many of the old gentlemen were of a different opinion. The young men were decidedly of my way of thinking, but many young girls who were conversing together seemed rather to envy their friend, who had looked so pretty and graceful, and 'so happy, ' and whose dress 'suited her so well, ' and to have no objection to 'go and do likewise. '"

 [69] "The Santa Teresa, however, has few ornaments. It is not nearly so large as the _Encarnacion_, and admits but twenty-one nuns. At present there are, besides these, but three novices. Its very atmosphere seems holy, and its scrupulous and excessive cleanness makes all profane dwellings seem dirty by comparison. We were accompanied by a bishop, Señor Madrid, the same who assisted at the archbishop's consecration--a good-looking man, young and tall, and very splendidly dressed. His robes were of purple satin, covered with fine point-lace, with a large cross of diamonds and amethysts. He also wore a cloak of very fine purple cloth, lined with crimson velvet, crimson stockings, and an immense amethyst ring. 

 "When he came in we found that the nuns had permission to put up their veils, rarely allowed in this order in the presence of strangers. They have a small garden and fountain, plenty of flowers, and some fruit; but all is on a smaller scale, and sadder than in the convent of the Incarnation. The refectory is a large room, with a long, narrow table running all round it--a plain deal table, with wooden benches; before the place of each nun, an earthen bowl, an earthen cup with an apple in it, a wooden plate, and a wooden spoon; at the top of the table a grinning skull, to remind them that even these indulgences they shall not long enjoy. 

 "In one corner of the room is a reading-desk, a sort of elevated pulpit, where one reads aloud from some holy book while the others discuss their simple fare. They showed us a crown of thorns, which, on certain days, is worn by one of their number by way of penance. It is made of iron, so that the nails, entering inward, run into the head, and make it bleed. While she wears this on her head, a sort of wooden bit is put into her mouth, and she lies prostrate on her face till dinner is ended; and while in this condition her food is given her, of which she eats as much as she can, which probably is none. 

 "We visited the different cells, and were horror-struck at the self-inflicted tortures. Each bed consists of a wooden plank raised in the middle, and, on days of penitence, crossed by wooden bars. The pillow is wooden, with a cross lying on it, which they hold in their hands when they lie down. The nun lies on this penitential couch, embracing the cross, and her feet hanging out, as the bed is made too short for her, upon principle. Round her waist she occasionally wears a band with iron points turning inward; on her breast a cross with nails, of which the points enter the flesh, of the truth of which I had melancholy ocular demonstration. Then, after having scourged herself with a whip covered with iron nails, she lies down for a few hours on the wooden bars, and rises at four o'clock. All these instruments of discipline, which each nun keeps in a little box beside her bed, look as if their fitting place would be in the dungeons of the Inquisition. They made me try their _bed and board_, which I told them would give me a very decided taste for early rising. 

 "Yet they all seem as cheerful as possible, though it must be confessed that many of them look pale and unhealthy. It is said that, when they are strong enough to stand this mode of life, they live very long; but it frequently happens that girls who come into this convent are obliged to leave it from sickness long before the expiration of their novitiate. I met with the girl whom I had seen take the veil, and can not say that she looked either well or cheerful, though she assured me that 'of course, in doing the will of God, ' she was both. There was not much beauty among them generally, though one or two had remains of great loveliness. My friend, the Madre A----, is handsomer on a closer view than I had supposed her, and seems an especial favorite with old and young. But there was one whose face must have been strikingly beautiful. She was as pale as marble, and, though still young, seemed in very delicate health; but her eyes and eyebrows were as black as jet; the eyes so large and soft, the eyebrows two penciled arches, and her smiles so resigned and sweet, would have made her the loveliest model imaginable for a Madonna. 

 "Again, as in the Incarnation, they had taken the trouble to prepare an elegant supper for us. The bishop took his place in an antique velvet chair; the Señora ---- and I were placed on each side of him. The room was very well lighted, and there was as great a profusion of custards, jellies, and ices as if we had been supping at the most profane _café_. The nuns did not sit down, but walked about, pressing us to eat, the bishop now and then giving them cakes, with permission to eat them, which they received laughing. 

 "After supper a small harp was brought in, which had been sent for by the bishop's permission. It was terribly out of tune, with half the strings broken; but we were determined to grudge no trouble in putting it in order, and giving these poor recluses what they considered so great a gratification. We got it into some sort of condition at last, and when they heard it played, they were vehement in their expressions of delight. The Señora ----, who has a charming voice, afterward sang to them, the bishop being very indulgent, and permitting us to select whatever songs we chose, so that, when rather a profane canticle, "The Virgin of the Pillar" (La Virgin del Pilar), was sung, he very kindly turned a deaf ear to it, and seemed busily engaged in conversation with an old madre till it was all over. 

 "In these robes they are buried; and one would think that if any human being can ever leave this world without a feeling of regret, it must be a nun of the Santa Teresa, when, her privations in this world ended, she lays down her blameless life, and joins the pious sisterhood who have gone before her; dying where she has lived, surrounded by her companions, her last hours soothed by their prayers and tears, sure of their vigils for the repose of her soul, and, above all, sure that neither pleasure nor vanity will ever obliterate her remembrance from their hearts. "--_Life in Mexico_, vol. Ii. P. 9. 

 [70] "All Mexicans at present, men and women, are engaged in what are called the _desagravios_, a public penance performed at this season in the churches during thirty-five days. The women attend church in the morning, no men being permitted to enter, and the men in the evening, when women are not admitted. Both rules are occasionally broken. The penitence of the men is most severe, their sins being no doubt proportionably greater than those of the women; though it is one of the few countries where they suffer for this, or seem to act upon the principle, that 'if all men had their deserts, who would escape whipping?'

 "To-day we attended the morning penitence at six o'clock, in the church of San Francisco, the hardest part of which was their having to kneel for about ten minutes with their arms extended in the form of a cross, uttering groans, a most painful position for any length of time. It was a profane thought, but I dare say so many hundreds of beautifully-formed arms and hands were seldom seen extended at the same moment before. Gloves not being worn in church, and many of the women having short sleeves, they were very much seen. 

 "But the other night I was present at a much stranger scene, at the discipline performed by the men, admission having been procured for us by certain means, _private but powerful_. Accordingly, when it was dark, enveloped from head to foot in large cloaks, and without the slightest idea of what it was, we went on foot through the streets to the church of San Agustin. When we arrived, a small side door apparently opened of itself, and we entered, passing through long vaulted passages, and up steep winding stairs, till we found ourselves in a small railed gallery looking down directly upon the church. The scene was curious. About one hundred and fifty men, enveloped in cloaks and sarapes, their faces entirely concealed, were assembled in the body of the church. A monk had just mounted the pulpit, and the church was dimly lighted, except where he stood in bold relief, with his gay robes and cowl thrown back, giving a full view of his high, bald forehead and expressive face. 

 "His discourse was a rude but very forcible and eloquent description of the torments prepared in hell for impenitent sinners. The effect of the whole was very solemn. It appeared like a preparation for the execution of a multitude of condemned criminals. When the discourse was finished, they all joined in prayer with much fervor and enthusiasm, beating their breasts and falling upon their faces. Then the monk stood up, and in a very distinct voice read several passages of Scripture descriptive of the sufferings of Christ. The organ then struck up the _Miserere_, and all of a sudden the church was plunged in profound darkness, all but a sculptured representation of the Crucifixion, which seemed to hang in the air illuminated. I felt rather frightened, and would have been glad to leave the church, but it would have been impossible in the darkness. Suddenly a terrible voice in the dark cried, 'My brothers! when Christ was fastened to the pillar by the Jews, he was _scourged_!' At these words the bright figure disappeared, and the darkness became total. Suddenly we heard the sound of hundreds of scourges descending upon the bare flesh. I can not conceive any thing more horrible. Before ten minutes had passed, the sound became _splashing_ from the blood that was flowing. 

 "I have heard of these penitencies in Italian churches, and also that half of those who go there do not really scourge themselves; but here, where there is such perfect concealment, there seems no motive for deception. Incredible as it may seem, this awful penance continued, without intermission, for half an hour! If they scourged _each other_, their energy might be less astonishing. 

 "We could not leave the church, but it was perfectly sickening; and had I not been able to take hold of the Señora ----'s hand, and feel something human beside me, I could have fancied myself transported into a congregation of evil spirits. Now and then, but very seldom, a suppressed groan was heard, and occasionally the voice of the monk encouraging them by ejaculations, or by short passages from Scripture. Sometimes the organ struck up, and the poor wretches; in a faint voice, tried to join in the _Miserere_. The sound of the scourging is indescribable. At the end of half an hour a little bell was rung, and the voice of the monk was heard calling upon them to desist; but such was their enthusiasm, that the horrible lashing continued louder and fiercer than ever. 

 "In vain he entreated them not to kill themselves, and assured them that heaven would be satisfied, and that human nature could not endure beyond a certain point. No answer but the loud sound of the scourges, which are many of them of iron, with sharp points that enter the flesh. At length, as if they were perfectly exhausted, the sound grew fainter, and little by little ceased altogether. We then got up in the dark, and with great difficulty groped our way in the pitch darkness through the galleries and down the stairs till we reached the door, and had the pleasure of feeling the fresh air again. They say that the church floor is frequently covered with blood after one of these penances, and that a man died the other day in consequence of his wounds. "--_Life in Mexico_, vol. Ii. P. 213. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

The Necessity of large Capitals in Mexico. --The Finances andRevenue. --The impoverished Creditors of the State. --PrincelyWealth of Individuals. 

Having spoken of the Church, the great power which overawes thegovernment, it is also proper to mention the secondary powers: the menof colossal fortune. In a country like Mexico, whose wealth arises frommines of silver, these immense private fortunes are requisite to thesuccessful development of its resources. Large capitals must beconstantly hazarded on the single chance of striking a _bonanza_, in anadventure as uncertain as a game of _monté_. The abandoned mine oftenturns out to be the treasury of an untold fortune to the man who waslaughed at for attempting its restoration, while the most promisingadventure proves a total failure. The temptations to these adventuresare dazzling in the extreme. The ambitious man forgets the shame andirretrievable ruin that follows a failure, and looks only to thechances of winning a title of nobility and "a house full of silver. "Men who shun the gambling-table will adventure all on a mine, and in ayear or two they have passed from the memory of men, for they havebecome poor. Again, a man of slender means has become rich in theMexican sense, which means a man of millions, and then he is at onceelevated by his admirers into that brilliant constellation which is the"great bear" of the Mexican firmament. 

STATE CREDITORS. 

Still, these powerful private individuals prevent the consolidation ofany government, whether republican or dictatorial, and put far off thatnecessary evil, the confiscation of the estates of the Church. If thereis a Congress in session, its members are influenced as our own areinfluenced. They are swayed this way and that by private interests. When Congress is not in session, they are constantly operating upon thetreasury, or, rather, the minister of the treasury is diving aboutamong them to raise the means to keep afloat from day to day. They willnot submit to their full share of taxation. When they advance money onthe pledge of some income, it is on the most onerous terms, so that atleast one quarter of the revenue of Mexico is used up in interest orusury. Long experience has reduced the business of shaving the revenueto a system. The most common way to do this is to buy up some claim attwelve and a half cents on a dollar, and then couple it at par with aloan of money on the assignment of some _rent_. Every thing is farmedout, until at last, two years ago, Escandon proposed to farm the wholeforeign duties. 

Many a time have I sat down in the large ante-room of the treasury tolook upon and study the characters of those who have come there to bedisappointed, when promises will no longer satisfy hunger. One poorwoman had got a new promise in 1851, and three months' interest, onmoney _deposited_ with the Consolado of Vera Cruz, and invested in 1810in building the great road of Perote. Santa Anna, on his return, gaveher a new order, and she presented it to the minister with brighthopes, when he gave her fifteen dollars--all he had in the treasury. The best way to collect a debt at Mexico is to convert it into aforeign debt, if possible, and then, if there is a resident that standshigh with his minister, the matter meets with prompt attention. He thatcan buy a foreign embassador at Mexico has made a fortune. 

MEXICAN MILLIONAIRES. 

I have spoken of two rich men of Mexico, the first Count of Regla, andone who has succeeded to his mine. As I was standing on the Paséo, alad passed driving a fine span of mules. "That is the Count de Galvez, "said my companion, "the son of the late Count Perez Galvez, the luckyproprietor of the _bonanza_ in the mine of La Suz at Guanajuato. "

"But that _bonanza_ has given out, " said I. 

"No matter; this boy's inheritance is sometimes estimated at$9, 000, 000. " A snug capital with which to begin the world!

Laborde, the Frenchman who projected and established the magnificentgarden at Cuarnavaca, and also built, from his private fortune, thegreat Cathedral of Toluca, made and spent two princely fortunes insuccessful mining, and at last ended his checkered career in poverty. The Countess Ruhl, the mother of young Galvez, and her brother theCount Ruhl, are also fortunate miners. The latter is now interested inthe _Real del Monte_. But the rich man of the Republic is the Marquisde Jaral, in the small but rich mining department of Guanajuato. Thisman's wealth surpasses that of all the three patriarchs put together. Afew years ago, the whole amount of his live-stock was set down by his_administrador_ (overseer) at three million head. He then sent thirtythousand sheep[71] to market, which yielded him from $2. 50 to $3 ahead, or from $75, 000 to $90, 000 annually. The goats slaughtered on theestate amounted to about the same number, and yielded about the sameamount of revenue. Besides all this, there is his annual product ofhorses and cattle, and corn and grain fields many miles in extent. Truly this Marquis of Jaral is a large farmer. But as I said of mining, so I may also say that large capitals are necessary to carry onagriculture successfully in the vast elevated plains of the northern, or, rather, interior departments, for the whole value of the valley ofJaral consists in an artificial lake, which an ancestor of the presentproprietor constructed before the Revolution for the purpose ofirrigation; for, without irrigation, his little kingdom would bewithout value. I might speak of many other landed proprietors whoseestates are princely, but none are equal to Jaral. Indeed, all men ofwealth possess landed estates. It is the favorite investment forsuccessful miners to purchase a _few_ plantations, each of a dozenleagues or so, under cultivation. 

 [71] WARD'S _Mexico_, vol. Ii. P. 470. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Visit to Pachuca and Real del Monte. --Otumba and Tulanzingo. --The grandCanal of Huehuetoca. --The Silver Mines of Pachuca. --Hakal SilverMines. --Real del Monte Mines. --The Anglo-Mexican Mining Fever. --MyEquipment to descend a Mine. --The great Steam-pump. --Descending thegreat Shaft. --Galleries and Veins of Ore. --Among the Miners onethousand Feet under Ground. --The Barrel Process of refiningSilver. --Another refining Establishment. 

An opposition line of stages upon the road that extends sixty milesfrom the city of Mexico to the northern extremity of the valley hasbrought down the fare to $3. It is a hard road to travel in the wetseason, and not a very interesting one at any time. Three miles ofcauseway across the salt marsh brought us to the church and village ofour Lady of Guadalupe Hidalgo. From this place we passed for severalleagues along the barren tract that lies between the two salt-ponds ofSan Cristobal and Tezcuco, and soon arrived at Tulanzingo, where thegreat battle of the Free-masons was fought, and where eight poorfellows lost their lives in the bloody encounter. This, and thehorrible battle of Otumba, which Cortéz fought a little way east ofthis spot, are memorable events in the history of Mexico--morememorable than they deserve to have been. 

As we rode along the eastern rim of the valley, the sun was shiningbrightly on the western hill that inclosed it. The opening made by thecanal of Huehuetoca was plain in sight. To read about this canal and toderive an idea of it from books is to get an impression that here, atleast, the Spaniards did a wonderful work. But to look at it is todissipate all such complimentary notions. The engineer who planned itmay have been a skillful man, but the government that fettered hismovements, like all Spanish governments of those times, consisted of across between fools and priests. Even those pious gamblers, theFranciscans, had a finger in the business. After absorbing, for near ahundred years, the revenue appropriated to completing the work, theyabandoned it to the merchants of Mexico, who finally finished it. Thepond that was to be drained by it, the Zumpango, was certainly aninsignificant affair. There was nothing farther of interest until wearrived at Pachuca. 

Pachuca is the oldest mining district in Mexico. In its immediatevicinity are the most interesting silver mines of the republic. Thesemines were the first that were worked in the country, and immediatelyafter the Conquest they were very productive. They were worked forgenerations, and then abandoned; again resumed after lying idle fornearly a century, and worked for almost another hundred years; and thenonce more abandoned, and resumed again while I was in Mexico. They nowproduce that princely revenue to Escandon and Company of which I havealready spoken. 

THE HAKAL MINE. 

The Hakal (_Haxal_) mine in part belonged to the number of those whichthe English Real del Monte Company worked on shares, with poor success, for twenty-five years. It lies about three fourths of a mile from thevillage of Pachuca. That company devoted their chief attention to themines upon the top of the mountain, at an elevation of 9057 feet, andseven miles distant from this place, and these mines were comparativelyneglected. The new company, immediately upon taking possession, devotedparticular attention to the Hakal, which resulted in their striking a_bonanza_, [72] in the Rosario shaft, which was yielding, from a singlesmall shaft, about $80, 000 a month, if I recollect rightly. [73] The oreof this mine is of a peculiar quality, and its silver is best separatedfrom the scoria by the smelting process, of which I shall treat morefully when I come to speak of the mines of Regla. The Guadalupe shaft, close by the Rosario, was doing but little when I was there, as it doesnot belong to the same proprietors. On the night of my arrival they hadjust completed the work of pumping the water out of the San Nicholasshaft, famous for the immense amount of silver taken from it in theearly period of the mining history of Mexico. 

Mounted on a good horse, and followed by a lackey, I rode up the zigzagcarriage-road which the English company constructed a quarter of acentury since in order to convey their immense steam machinery to thetop of the mountain, some seven miles distant. This road is still keptin a good state of repair, and forms a romantic drive for those whokeep carriages in the mountains. The sun was shining upon thecultivated hills and rolling lands far below us as we jogged along ourwinding way up the mountain. At every turn in the road new beautiespresented themselves. But it was getting too chilly for moralizing, andboth lackey and I were pleased when we reached the village upon the topof the mountain, which bears the name of Real del Monte. The house ofentertainment here is kept by an English woman, who seems to be a partof the mining establishment. While in her domicile, I found no occasionto regret that I was again elevated into a cold latitude. 

THE MINING MANIA. 

More than thirty years have passed since that second South Seadelusion, the Anglo-Spanish American mining fever, broke out inEngland. It surpassed a thousand-fold the wildest of all the New Yorkand California mining and quartz mining organizations of the last fiveyears. Prudent financiers in London ran stark mad in calculating thedividends they must unavoidably realize upon investments in a businessto be carried on in a distant country, and managed and controlled by adebating society or board of directors in London. Money was advancedwith almost incredible recklessness, and agents were posted off withall secrecy to be first to secure from the owner of some abandoned minethe right to work it before the agent of some other company shouldarrive on the ground. No mine was to be looked at that was not named inthe volumes of Humboldt, and any mine therein named was valued aboveall price. In the end, some $50, 000, 000 of English capital ran out, andwas used up in Mexico. It was one of those periodical manias thatregularly seize a commercial people once in ten years, and for whichthere is no accounting, and no remedy but to let it have its way andwork out its own cure in the ruin of thousands. It is the same in ourown country. [74]

DESCENT INTO A MINE. 

After a hearty breakfast at the tavern, I called at the office, or, asit is here called, "the Grand House" (_Casa Grande_), and wasintroduced by Mr. Auld, the director, to the foreman, who took me tothe dressing-room, where I was stripped, and clad in the garb of aminer except the boots, which were all too short for my feet. My rigwas an odd one; a skull-cap formed like a fireman's, a miner's coat andpants, and my own calf-skin boots. But in California I had got used touncouth attire, and now thought nothing of such small matters. Wetherefore walked on without comments to the house built over the greatshaft, where my good-natured English companion, the foreman, stopped meto complete my equipment, which consisted of a lighted tallow candlestuck in a candlestick of soft mud, and pressed till it adhered to thefront of my miner's hat. Having fixed a similar appendage to his ownhat and to the hat of the servant that was to follow us, we wereconsidered fully equipped for descending the mine. 

While standing at the top of the shaft, I was astonished at the sizeand perfect finish of a steam-pump that had been imported from Englandby the late English mining company. With the assistance of balancingweights, the immense arms of the engine lifted, with mathematicalprecision, two square timbers, the one spliced out to the length of athousand, the other twelve hundred feet, which fell back again by theirown weight: these were the pumping-rods, which lifted the water fourhundred feet to the mouth of a tunnel, or _adit_, which carried it amile and a quarter through the mountain, and discharged it in the creekabove the stamping-mill. There is a smaller pump, which worksoccasionally, when the volume of water in the mines is too great forthe power of a single pump. 

A trap-door being lifted, we began to descend by small ladders thatreached from floor to floor in the shaft, or, rather, in the half ofthe shaft. The whole shaft was perhaps fifteen or twenty feet square, with sides formed of solid masonry, where the rock happened to be soft, while in other parts it consisted of natural porphyry rock cut smooth. Half of this shaft was divided off by a partition, which extended thewhole distance from the top to the bottom of the mine. Through this thematerials used in the work were let down, and the ore drawn up in largesacks, consisting each of the skin of an ox. The other half of theshaft contained the two pumping timbers, and numerous floorings atshort distances; from one to another of these ran ladders, by which menwere continually ascending and descending, at the risk of falling onlya few feet at the utmost. The descent from platform to platform was aneasy one, while the little walk upon the platform relieved the musclesexhausted by climbing down. With no great fatigue I got down a thousandfeet, where our farther progress was stopped by the water that filledthe lower galleries. 

Galleries are passages running off horizontally from the shaft, eithercut through the solid porphyry to intersect some vein, or else thespace which a vein once occupied is fitted up for a gallery byreceiving a wooden floor and a brick arch over head. They are thepassages that lead to others, and to transverse galleries and veins, which, in so old a mine as this, are very numerous. When a veinsufficiently rich to warrant working is struck, it is followed throughall its meanderings as long as it pays for digging. The opening made infollowing it is, of course, as irregular in form and shape as the veinitself. The loose earth and rubbish taken out in following it is throwninto some abandoned opening or gallery, so that nothing is lifted tothe surface but the ore. Sometimes several gangs of hands will beworking upon the same vein, a board and timber floor only separatingone set from another. When I have added to this description that thisbusiness of digging out veins has continued here for near three hundredyears, it can well be conceived that this mountain ridge has become asort of honey-comb. 

THE MINERS. 

When our party had reached the limit of descent, we turned aside into agallery, and made our way among gangs of workmen, silently pursuingtheir daily labor in galleries and chambers reeking with moisture, while the water trickled down on every side on its way to the commonreceptacle at the bottom. Here we saw English carpenters dressingtimbers for flooring by the light of tallow candles that burned in softmud candlesticks adhering to the rocky walls of the chamber. Men wereindustriously digging upon the vein, others disposing of the rubbish, while convicts were trudging along under heavy burdens of ore, whichthey supported on their backs by a broad strap across their foreheads. As we passed among these well-behaved gangs of men, I was a littlestartled by the foreman remarking that one of those carriers had beenconvicted of killing ten men, and was under sentence of hard labor forlife. Far from there being any thing forbidding in the appearance ofthese murderers, now that they were beyond the reach of intoxicatingdrink, they bore the ordinary subdued expression of the Meztizo. According to custom, they lashed me to a stanchion as an intruder; but, upon the foreman informing them that I would pay the usual forfeit ofcigaritos on arriving at the station-house, they good-naturedlyrelieved me. Then we journeyed on and on, until my powers of endurancecould sustain no more. We sat down to rest, and to gather strength fora still longer journey. At length we set out again, sometimes climbingup, sometimes climbing down; now stopping to examine differentspecimens of ores that reflected back the glare of our lights withdazzling brilliancy, and to look at the endless varieties in theappearance of the rock that filled the spaces in the porphyry matrix. Then we walked for a long way on the top of the aqueduct of the adit, until we at last reached a vacant shaft, through which we were drawn upand landed in the prison-house, from whence we walked to thestation-house, where we were dressed in our own clothes again. 

REFINING SILVER. 

When my underground wanderings were ended, and dinner eaten, it was toolate in the day to visit the refining works; but on the next morning, bright and early, I was in the saddle, on my way to visit the differentestablishments connected with this mine. First, upon the river, at themouth of the adit, was a stamping-mill, where gangs of stamps wereplaying in troughs, and reducing the hard ore to a coarse powder. Alittle way farther down the stream the ore was ground, and then, inblast ovens or furnaces, was heated until all the baser metals in theore became charged with oxygen to such a degree that they would notunite with quicksilver. The ore was then carried and placed in thebottom of large casks, and water and quicksilver were added, and thenthey were set rolling by machinery for several days, until the silverhad formed an amalgam with the mercury, while the baser metals in theore were disengaged from the silver. The whole mass being now pouredout into troughs, the scoria was washed off from the amalgam, which wasgathered and put into a stout leathern bag with a cloth bottom, and theunabsorbed mercury drained out. The amalgam, resembling lead inappearance, being now cut up into cakes, and placed under an immenseretort, fire was applied; the mercury, in form of vapor, was driventhrough a hole in the bottom of the platform into water, where it wascondensed, while the silver remained pure in the retort. This is calledthe barrel process, and is used for certain kinds of ore. 

I had come self-introduced to the Real del Monte, but that had notprevented my receiving the accustomed hospitality of the establishment. A groom and two of their best horses were at my service during my stay. As the weather was fine, and the roads of the first class of Englishcarriage-ways, I heartily enjoyed the ride down the mountain gorgeuntil it opened upon the broad plain where the second refiningestablishment, that of Vincente, is situated. Except that the ironfloors of their blast ovens were made to revolve while in a state ofred heat, all was substantially the same as at the last place. Following the meanderings of the stream, I had been graduallydescending from the sharp air of early spring to the more appropriatetemperature of the tropics, as I had occasion to notice in looking intothe fine garden of the English director, which exhibited both thefertilizing effects of irrigation upon English flowers, and theadvantages of tropical heat upon native varieties. 

 [72] A very rich portion of a vein is called a _bonanza_. 

 [73] Mr. Thomas Auld, the director of the company, furnished me very accurate data in relation to affairs, but these are with my other losses at New Orleans. 

 [74] Before leaving California, a young man in my office, who had been using some of my money which he could not replace, proposed to repay me in a certificate printed in red ink, which certificate declared that I had paid $2000 toward the capital stock of ---- Mining Company; Capital Stock, $250, 000; signed Col. ----, President, a gentleman a little in arrears at his boarding-house, and my defaulting young man was secretary. Rather an unpromising show that, as the property consisted of a tavern, built of canvas upon Colonel Fremont's Maraposa grant, on the principle of squatter sovereignty. Near by the squatter had dug a promising hole, and if only money and machinery could be had, _perhaps_ he might realize something from it. The young man assured me that they had an agent in New York negotiating for machinery, and in a few months they would be able to declare dividends. Biting my lips to suppress a hearty laugh, I put the paper printed with red ink into my pocket. 

 On my arrival in New York, I was thunderstruck at seeing a gilded sign stuck up on the Merchants' Exchange: "---- MINING COMPANY OFFICE. " Not over-troubled by modesty, I ventured in, and inquired if that machinery had been sent out. I was requested to be seated in a fine cushioned chair. As I love entertainment, I sat down, and took a survey of the desks, the Brussels carpet, the ledgers, and the piles of pamphlets, which clearly demonstrated that a man would get his money back many times over before he paid it in. It seemed strange how all this could he supported on the supposed future earnings of a hole in the ground. The Board of Directors assembled. Many of them, I was assured, were the leading men of New York, and things went off with all solemnity. When all was ready, an immense piece of the richest gold quartz was taken from a desk, such as used to be sold at good prices in San Francisco for this very purpose. But not a man in that august assembly dreamed of the manner in which such things are gotten up, except perhaps the said agent sent out to get machinery, but now figuring as a director. I was easily prevailed on to sign an argumentative certificate, and was shown one signed by Robert J. Walker on a much worse hole in the ground than this. I was also informed that New York was not the proper market, which I understand to mean that machinery could not be obtained in New York on the credit of a quartz vein; and in London they would not look at a scheme that did not embrace a million at least, said the agent aforesaid. Therefore he proposed to give me an engraved certificate, declaring that I had paid $8000, which of course I readily accepted when I found that there was no machinery in the case, and that all I had to rest my engraved certificate upon was the one hundredth part of the said hole in the ground, with a doubtful title. The last I heard of this agent was, that he was traveling with his wife upon the Rhine. Whether he was in search of machinery or not, I did not stop to inquire. 

 Instead of the above being an extraordinary case, I understand that it is about a fair average of the California gold schemes that have been brought upon the stock-market of New York. If the papers are only drawn up in the proper form, the most prudent men in Wall Street are sometimes found to embark their capital before the question has ever been settled whether gold can be successfully obtained from quartz in California. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

A Visit to the Refining-mills. --The Falls and basaltic Columns ofRegla. --How a Title is acquired to Silver Mines. --The Story of PeterTerreros, Count of Regla. --The most successful of Miners. --Silverobtained by fusing the Ore. --Silver "benefited" upon the Patio. --TheTester of the Patio. --The chemical Processes employed. --The Heirs ofthe Count of Regla. --The Ruin caused by Civil War. --The History of theEnglish Company. 

We rode along the stone road across the plain, passing now a number ofEnglish-made wagons laden with stamped ore for Regla, and then a droveof cargo-donkeys trudging along under the weight of bags filled withthe rich ore of Hakal. Now and then, too, we encountered Americanarmy-wagons converted to peaceful employment, and adding to thematerial wealth of Mexico. But our ride was not a long one before wereached Regla, the utmost limit of our journeyings, a distance oftwelve miles from the "Real. " Here the first salutation from theEnglish gentleman at the head of the establishment was that breakfastwas waiting, as it was now eleven o'clock, and we must not visit theworks upon an empty stomach. My surprise at this unlooked-forhospitality was a little diminished when I learned that all theseentertainments of strangers are at the company's expense. 

THE FALLS OF REGLA. 

The _patio_, or open yard of Regla, on which the principal portion ofthe ores of the Real del Monte company are "benefited, " or, as weshould say, extracted, is situated deep down in a _barranca_, whereboth water-power and intense heat can be obtained to facilitate theprocess of separation. The immense amount of mason-work here expendedin the erection of massive walls would make an imposing appearance ifthey had been built up in the open plain; but here they are soovershadowed by the mason-work of nature that they sink intoinsignificance in comparison. The bank, some two hundred feet high, ofsolid rock, as it approaches the waterfall on either side, has theappearance of being supported by natural buttresses of basalticcolumns--columns closely joined together and placed erect by the handof nature's master-builder. Still, all would have been stiff and formalhad the sides of the _barranca_ been lined only with perpendicularcolumns; but broken and displaced pillars are piled in everyconceivable position against the front, while a vine with brilliantleaves had run to every fissure and spread itself out to enjoy thesunshine. The little stream that had burst its way through the uprightcolumns and over the broken fragments, fell into a perfect basin ofbasalt, heightening immensely the attractions of the spot. I sat downupon a fallen column, and for a long time continued to contemplate theunexpected scene, of which, at that time, I had read nothing. There wassuch a mingling of the rich vegetation of the hot country with therocky ornaments of this pretty waterfall that I could never grow wearyof admiring the combined grandeur and beauty of the place, from whichPeter Terreros derived his title of Count of Regla. 

Peter Terreros, the first Count of Regla, became one of the rich men ofthe last century in consequence of a lucky mining adventure. In oldentimes the water in the Real del Monte mines had been lifted out of themouth of the Santa Brigeda and other shafts in bulls' hides carried upon a windlass. When near the surface, this simple method of getting thewater out of a mine has great advantages on account of its cheapness, and is now extensively employed in Mexican mines. But after a certaindepth had been reached, the head of water could no longer be kept downby this process, and, in consequence, the Real del Monte was abandonedabout the beginning of the last century, and became a complete ruin;for no wreck is more complete than that which water causes when it oncegets possession of a mine, and mingles into one mass floating timbers, loosened earth, rubbish, and soft and fallen rock. By the mining lawsof Mexico, the title to a mine is lost by abandoning and ceasing towork it. It becomes a waif open to the enterprise of any one who may"re-denounce" it. The title to the soil in Mexico, as in California, carries no title to the gold and silver mineral that may be containedin the land. The precious metals are not only regarded in law astreasure-trove, but they carry with them to the lucky discoverer theright to enter upon another person's land, and to appropriate so muchof the land as is necessary to avail himself of his prize. ColonelFrémont's Mariposa claim, and all other California land claims, aresubject to this legal condition. 

PETER TERREROS. 

Peter Terreros, then a man of limited means, conceived the idea ofdraining this abandoned mine by means of a tunnel or adit (_socabon_)through the rock, one mile and a quarter in length, from the level ofthe stream till it should strike the Santa Brigeda shaft. Upon thisenterprise he toiled with varied success from 1750 until 1762, when hecompleted his undertaking, and also struck a _bonanza_, which continuedfor twelve years to yield an amount of silver which in our day appearsto be fabulous. The veins which he struck from time to time, as headvanced with his _socabon_, furnished means to keep alive hisenterprise. When he reached the main shaft, he had a ruin to clear outand rebuild, which was a more costly undertaking than the building of aking's palace. Yet his _bonanza_ not only furnished all the means for asystem of lavish expenditure upon the mines and refining-works, butfrom his surplus profits he laid out half a million annually in thepurchase of plantations, or six millions of dollars in the twelveyears. This is equal to about 500, 000 pounds' weight of silver. Besidesdoing this, he loaned to the king a million of dollars, which has neverbeen paid, and built and equipped two ships of the line, and presentedthem to his sovereign. 

The humble shop-keeper, Peter Terreros, after such displays ofmunificence, was ennobled by the title of Count of Regla. Among thecommon people he is the subject of more fables than was Croesus ofold. When his children were baptized, so the story goes, the processionwalked upon bars of silver. By way of expressing his gratitude for thetitle conferred upon him, he sent an invitation to the king to visithim at his mine, assuring his majesty that if he would confer on himsuch an exalted favor, his majesty's feet should not tread upon theground while he was in the New World. Wherever he should alight fromhis carriage it should be upon a pavement of silver, and the placeswhere he lodged should be lined with the same precious metal. Anecdotesof this kind are innumerable, which, of course, amount to no more thanshowing that in his own time his wealth was proverbial, and demonstratethat in popular estimation he stood at the head of that large class ofminers whom the wise king ennobled as a reward for successful miningadventures, and that he was accounted the richest miner in thevice-kingdom. The state and magnificence which he oftentimes displayedsurpassed that of the Vice-king. This, in no way embarrassed an estate, the largest ever accumulated by one individual in a single enterprise. 

Count Peter is estimated to have expended two and a half millions ofdollars upon the buildings constituting the refining establishment ofRegla, which goes under the general designation of the _patio_. Why hiswalls were built so thick, or why so many massive arches should havebeen constructed, is an enigma to the present generation, as they couldby no means have been intended for a fortress down in a _barranca_. 

But let us go in and examine the different methods of "benefiting"silver here applied. The ores from the Rosario shaft of the Hakal mineof Pachuca are here stamped and ground, and then thrown into a furnace, after having been mixed with lime, which in fire increases the heat;while upon the open _torta_ we shall see that lime is used to cool themass. Litharge (oxide of lead) is added, and the mass is burned untilthe litharge is decomposed, the lead uniting with the silver and theoxygen entering into the slag, into which the baser metals, or scoriain the ore, have been formed. This is cast out at the bottom of thefurnace. The mass of molten lead and silver is drawn off, and placed ina large oven with a rotary bottom, into which tongues of flame arecontinually driven until the lead in the compound has become once moreoxydized, forming litharge, and the silver is left in a pure state. This is the most simple method of purifying, or "benefiting" silver. 

BENEFITING THE ORE. 

A little beyond the furnace is a series of tubs, built of blocks frombroken columns of basalt. In the centre of each revolves a shaft withfour arms, to each of which is fastened a block of basalt, that isdragged on the stone bottom of the tub, where broken ore mixed withwater is ground to the finest paste. Here the chemical process of"benefiting" commences. A bed is prepared upon the paved floor(_patio_) in the yard, in the same manner as a mortar bed is preparedto receive quicklime dissolved in water. In the same way is poured outthe semi-liquid paste. This is called a _torta_, and contains about45, 000 lbs. Upon this liquid mass four and a half _cargas_ of 300 lbs. Of salt is spread, and then a coating of blue vitriol (sulphate ofcopper) is laid over the whole, and the tramping by mules commences. Ifthe mass is found to be too hot for the advantageous working of theprocess, then lime in sufficient quantities is added to cool it; and iftoo cool, then iron pyrites (sulphate of iron) is added. The mules arethen turned upon the bed, and for a single day it is mixed mostthoroughly together by tramping and by turning it over by the shovel. On the second day 750 lbs. Of quicksilver are added to the _torta_, andthen the tramping is resumed. 

The most important personage, not even excepting the director, iscalled "the tester;" for the condition of the ores varies so much, thatexperience alone can determine the mode of proceeding with eachseparate _torta_, and upon the tester's judgment depends oftentimes thequestion whether a mining enterprise, involving millions of dollars, shall prove a profitable or unprofitable adventure. Perhaps he can notread or write, though daily engaged in carrying on, empirically, themost difficult of chemical processes. To him is intrusted the entirecontrol of the most valuable article employed in mining--thequicksilver. He is constantly testing the various _tortas_ spread outupon the _patio_; to one he determines that lime must be added; toanother, an opposite process must be applied by adding iron pyrites. When all is ready, with his own hands he applies the quicksilver, whichhe carries in a little cloth bag, through the pores of which heexpresses the mercury as he walks over and over the _torta_, much afterthe manner that seed is sown with us. The tester determines when thesilver has all been collected and amalgamated with the mercury. Whetherthe tramping process and the turning by shovels shall continue for sixweeks or for only three, is decided by him. When he decides that it isprepared for washing, the mass is transported to an immense washingmachine, which is propelled by water, where the base substances are allwashed from the amalgam, and then the amalgam is resolved into itsoriginal elements of silver and quicksilver by fire, as alreadyexplained, with the loss of about seventy-five to one hundred pounds ofmercury upon each _torta_. 

Let us now run over the many chemical processes that have been resortedto in order to separate the silver from the ore. The roll-brimstone, that has been procured in Durango, or in the volcano of Popocatapetl, is bought up at the mint in the city of Mexico, where it is burned in aroom lined with lead, and into which water is jetted until the smoke ofthe burning brimstone is condensed. This water of sulphur is thencarefully collected, and distilled in a boiler of platinum, on whichsulphur can not act. The sulphuric acid obtained by this distillationis used to separate the gold that is found in the silver bars fromsilver. This sometimes amounts to ten per cent. The acid dissolves thesilver, but does not act upon the gold, which is thus separated fromthe silver. The sulphate of silver is drawn off and poured upon platesof copper, by which means the silver is precipitated, and sulphate ofcopper, or blue vitriol, is produced, which, not being of use in themint, is sold to the Real del Monte Company, where it is employed inobtaining silver. The process by which the company obtain their salthas been already stated, while the lime they use is burned upon themountains. After all these hard and laborious processes, only from fiveto ten per cent. Of silver is obtained, except in cases of _bonanzas_, which shows that silver mines can be profitably worked only in thosecountries where labor commands the lowest standard of wages. 

THE HEIRS OF REGLA. 

The heirs of the Count Peter inherited his accumulated treasures, hispurchased estates, his title, and his prospects of future success inmining, which were as brilliant as they had been in his lifetime. Theynever dreamed of financial embarrassments in the midst of accumulationsof wealth which surpassed the wildest of Oriental romances. They forgotthat their wealth rested upon the perfect security which they inheritedfrom the wise and virtuous government of Carlos III. , of blessedmemory; that he it was who had put out the fires of the Inquisition, and so curtailed the power of the priests that they could no longerplunder with impunity, or rob the Terreros of the fruits of theirfather's enterprise by threatening them with the censure of the Church, which, in the reign of a feeble king, had a significant meaning. Thenew code of mining laws, the cheapness of quicksilver, and the openingof commerce, had all combined to make their fortune, which they mightlose in a moment if the heir to the throne should prove an idiot, aswas most likely, and priests should again usurp the control of affairs, and play their old game of plundering the rich while they excited thepopulace. 

Fortunately for the family of Terreros and the many successful miningfamilies of that period, Charles IV. Was not quite so much of an idiotas his grandfather or his great-grandfather had been, and though theInquisitors resumed their fires, yet it was with such comparativemoderation as not to interfere seriously with the progress of thatprosperity to which Carlos III. Had given an impulse. The Countess ofRegla still sported the richest jewels to be found in New Spain, andher sister's coronet was the envy of all the ladies of the court. Butthe insurrection of Hidalgo came upon them in the midst of prosperity, overwhelming alike the rich and the poor. The large Spanish capitalsbegan to be withdrawn from the country, the plantations were broken up, and the mines, abandoned by their laborers, soon fell to ruin; and theywho had been baptized in the midst of the most ostentatious display ofwealth, found themselves pinched to sustain their ordinary expenses. 

THE REAL DEL MONTE. 

The Terreros family kept their title good to the Real del Monte byretaining a few workmen about the premises; but it was substantiallyabandoned for twenty-five years before the English Real del MonteCompany took possession. In the space of two years this company hadcleared out and rebuilt the adit by working gangs of hands night andday. Another party, engaged upon the shafts, arrived at the adit levelat the same time with the workmen upon the drain. A third party, engaged in making and repairing a carriage-road from the sea to themine, had completed their labors; while a fourth party, in charge ofmachinery and steam-power apparatus enough to equip a Cornish mine ofthe largest class, had arrived at the mine. In this fourfold, and muchof it useless labor, the company had exhibited untiring activity, whilethey exhausted all their capital without realizing the return of asingle dollar. But they derived rich hopes from reading the story ofPeter Terreros, and they continued to hope on and hope ever, for aperiod of twenty-five years longer, when they ceased to exist. Thestory of this company is summed up in saying that they expended uponthis vast enterprise the sum of $20, 000, 000, and realized from it$16, 000, 000. They disposed of all their interests here for about whattheir materials were worth as old iron, and the present proprietorsenjoy the fruits of their labors at a cost of less than a million ofdollars, with a fair prospect of yet realizing from their speculationas large a treasure as that acquired by Peter Terreros, the first Countof Regla. 

Having thus described with some minuteness one of the most extensivesilver mines in the world, where an average of 5000 men and unnumberedanimals are employed, it will not be necessary to go into details as wenotice the many other celebrated mines of Mexico. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Toluca. --Queretaro, Guanajuato, andZacatecas. --Fresnillo. --"Romancing. "--A lucky Priest. --San LuisPotosi. --The Valenciana at Guanajuato. --Under-mining. --A Name ofBlasphemy. --The Los Rayas. --Immense Sums taken from Los Rayas. --WarlikeIndians in Zacatecas. 

A stage runs daily from the city of Mexico by Tacubaya and the Desiertoto the beautiful valley and city of Toluca. This town is greatlyindebted for its present celebrity to successful mining adventures. ItsCathedral is a monument of the munificent liberality of the FrenchmanLaborde, whose fortune was ever unequal to his generosity. We havespoken already of the almost Oriental magnificence displayed in thefamous garden which he built and adorned at Cuarnavaca. After spendingthe wealth acquired from the _bonanza_ of Tasco, he started off insearch of new adventures and a new fortune. Being again successful, hemade Toluca the beneficiary of his princely liberality. The celebratedCathedral of that city, and all its ornaments, are the proofs of hismunificence. When his third fortune was exhausted, the fickle goddessforsook him, and he who had three times been raised from nothing to thecondition of a millionaire, came in his old age to the archbishop forrelief from his poverty. This relief he obtained by selling the jewelshe had once bestowed upon the Church. Such often are the vicissitudesin the life of a successful miner. I can not notice here the manyinteresting objects gathered as I would wish to do, nor have I spacefor a description of the beautiful mountain scenery about Toluca. 

MIDDLE STATES OF MEXICO. 

The middle states of Mexico, Guanajuata, Zacatecas, Durango, and SanLuis, are deserving of a more extended notice than my limited spacewill permit. There is little of war or romance to recount in thehistory of any of them. Their story is made up of notices of silvermines, and times of great _bonanzas_ and cattle-raising. Here thepopulation is mostly white, made up of the hardy peasantry from Biscay. The Indians on the high table-lands were too hardy to be reduced toslavery: the result is the same here as in Chili. The two races havenot extensively intermixed, as the Indians were driven northward, where, for a period of three hundred years, they have, in a measure, maintained their independence, and have so much improved in the art ofwar that they are able to return again and fight for the homes of theirancestors. The white inhabitants of these states are more cleanly intheir habits, and more industrious than the Southern people. The littlestate of Queretaro has little to boast but its agriculture, but to thenorth of it is a country of mines and pasturage. 

There was formerly great rivalry between the states of Guanajuato andZacatecas on the ground of their mining successes. Each in turn has hadits season of boasting, for it has happened that, in those years whenGuanajuato was most prosperous, Zacatecas was not in _bonanza_, and_vice versa_. When I was first in Mexico, San Luz and San Luce, atGuanajuato, were in _bonanza_, with divers others; and out of$300, 000 in silver bars brought down to the city of Mexico, nearly tenper cent. Of gold was extracted. But now both these _bonanzas_ havegiven out, and the annual product of silver in the State of Guanajuatohas fallen off over $2, 000, 000, while the mines of Zacatecas are in amost flourishing condition, as is shown by the large sum of $1, 200, 000being demanded by government for renewing the lease of the mint atZacatecas. 

Fresnillo is the most flourishing of the mines of Zacatecas. This minewas formerly considered of little value. Among its advantages is anAmerican manager, who for many years has aided in the direction of itsaffairs. On my return from Mexico, I found the road up the Perotecovered with wagons laden with portions of a monster steam-engine, thefifth that was to be employed to pump the water from this mine. Itseems incredible that so large a sum as $1, 000, 000 should be requiredfor the freight alone of this new machinery. But, after I had becomefamiliar with the vast scale on which every thing is conducted at alarge silver mine, where millions appear as the small dust of thebalance, I can credit what my readers might think improbable. [75]

I have often spoken of the peculiarities of peasant life in the countryand of the _peons_ of the cities. But there is another phase of humblelife to be considered--the social state of the mine laborer. Like allmen whose wages are very irregular, and subject to the fluctuationswhich follow mining speculations, they themselves become irregular intheir lives. They have all heard of the many instances of persons of ashumble condition as themselves accidentally falling upon a princelyfortune, and they know, too, what a miraculous change such a discoverymakes in the social condition of a _peon_, for every miner inZacatecas knows the homely distich:

 "Had the metals not been so rich at San Bernabe, Ibarra would not have wed the daughter of Virey. "[76]

In addition to scraps and snatches of songs, the mining laborers havetheir _romances_, which are as wild as the _yarns_ of the sailor, andhave for their almost universal theme the miraculous acquisition andloss of a fortune. The hero possesses princely wealth to-day, thoughyesterday he was suffering for food, and to-morrow he will be againbereft of all by the fickle turns that Fortune makes in the wheel ofdestiny. The wildest of our romances never come up to many incidentsthat have occurred in their own mine; and when they attempt fiction, itis on the pattern of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. I do verilybelieve that all that class of Arabian tales are but the reproductionof the _romances_ from the Oriental gold-washings. 

The most important mines in the State of San Luis Potosi are those nearCuatorce. In the midst of bleak and precipitous mountain ridges is thevillage of Cuatorce, from which a circuitous mountain road leads to theentrance of the mining shafts, in which more wonderful things haveoccurred than in the wildest of the "romances. " The story of PadreFlores is a familiar one, but will bear repeating. 

PADRE FLORES. --CUATORCE. 

The padre, being tired of the idle life of a pauper priest, bought, fora small sum, the claim of some still more needy adventurer. Afterfollowing his small vein a little way, he came to a small caverncontaining the ore in a state of decomposition. This, in California, would be called a "rotten vein. " With all the difficulties to beencountered in obtaining a fair value for mineral in a crude state, thepoor priest realized from his adventure over $3, 000, 000, which wasconsidered a very fair fortune for an unmitred ecclesiastic. 

The Mineral Report, mentioned in the last note, which is so full on thesubject Fresnillo, insists that it is a continuation of the formationof Cuatorce and the other mines of San Luis. The mountains at Cuatorceare more dreary, bleak, and barren than in any other of the principalmining districts, as it is more exposed to the storms and tempests fromthe northeast and from the ocean. It was in this State of San LuisPotosi that Dr. Gardner's quicksilver mine was alleged to exist, and inthe ineffectual efforts made to determine its whereabouts ourgovernment has become quite familiar with the location of all theworked mines of this state. The mines upon the mountains of Cuatorceare said to have been discovered in 1778 by a negro fiddler, who, beingcompelled to camp out on his way home from a dance, built a fire uponwhat proved to be an outcrop of a vein, and, in consequence, found inthe morning, among the embers, a piece of virgin silver. It is adoubtful question among those who are anxious about trifles whether thename _Potosi_ given to this mine, owes its origin to the similaritybetween the mode of its discovery to that of the celebrated mines ofthat name in South America, or to the vast amount of silver at one timetaken from it. 

Guanajuato, when it yielded its six millions a year of silver, besidesa fair supply of gold, was one of the most important States in therepublic. With every successful speculation, new adventurers were foundto invest their capital in resuming the working of abandoned mines, until at last men have become bold enough to undertake, for the thirdtime, the draining of the great shaft of the Valenciana, so famous inthe last century. When I was last in Mexico that undertaking wasreported to have been accomplished. This mine is on a more magnificentscale than even the Real del Monte. Its central shaft alone cost amillion of dollars; and though steam power can not be used, yet it isso dry that horse windlasses can keep it clear of water. Itsabandonment in every instance has been in consequence of someinsurrectionary chief setting the works of the mine on fire, and notfrom any deficiency in its product of silver. When I was in Mexico, solittle progress had been made in restoring the mine that it was notthought worth visiting. But the most sanguine hopes were entertainedthat it would again be as productive as in the times when its abundantriches secured for its owner the title of Marquis of Valenciana, thoughhe had worked with his own hands on the shaft which afterward yieldedhim its millions. 

THE MINE OF LOS RAYAS. 

Second in importance among the old mines of Guanajuato is _Los Rayas_. Its history presents a new feature in the mining system of Mexico, notbefore mentioned, but which is important to a right understanding ofthe operation of the mining code. The right of discovery gives title totwo hundred _varas_ along the mine, and to two hundred _varas_ (about500 feet) in depth. The consequence of this limitation is, that when avery rich claim is made, there immediately springs up a contest to getbelow it, and to cut off the lucky discoverer from the lower part ofhis expected fortune, and he has no means of avoiding such a result butby driving his shaft downward until he reaches a point below his firsttwo hundred _varas_, which entitles him to claim another sectiondownward. 

This principle is strikingly illustrated in the case of the famous mineof the priest Flores at Cuatorce, which he blasphemously named "thePurse of God the Father, "[77] where there are marks of divers attemptsbeing made to undermine him, though without success. But the case is adifferent one when the _bonanza_ is upon a high ridge, and it can beundermined by drifting in from a lower level. Then commences a livelycontest to determine who can dig the fastest, and make the most rapidprogress in this contest of mining and countermining. 

The Marquis de los Rayas owes his title and his princely fortune of$11, 000, 000 to a successful contest of this character. The Santa Amitawas in _bonanza_, yielding an ore so pregnant with gold that the crudemass often sold for its weight in silver. 

DEEP MINING. 

Contests of this kind are very different from those which used to takeplace in California some years ago, when twenty feet square was markedoff upon the top of a ridge, through which the claimant had to sink hisshaft to the base rock on which the gold was supposed to be deposited. When the rock was reached, it was often found difficult to keep thelines that had been marked off on the surface, particularly when thelead grew richer as it approached the border of the claim. Controversies were frequent, and frequently resulted in subterraneanquarrels and fights, and, of course, ended in superterranean lawsuits. But the Mexican rival parties were seldom near enough for a fight, andthe quarrel ended, as it began, in a contest to determine who could digthe fastest. 

Another peculiar feature of deep mining is the construction of the mainshafts. A description of the method of construction of one of these Itake from Ward's Mexico, [78] a book that is otherwise of little valueto a person seeking for information on the subject of mines atGuanajuata, so great has been the revolution there in a few years inthe condition of mining affairs: "I know few sights more interestingthan the operation of blasting in the shafts of Los Rayas. After eachquarryman (_barretero_) has undermined the portion of rock allotted tohim, he is drawn up to the surface; the ropes belonging to thehorse-windlasses (_malacates_) are coiled up, so as to leave everything clear below, and a man descends, whose business it is to fire theslow matches communicating with the mines below. 

"As his chance of escaping the effects of the explosion consists inbeing drawn up with such rapidity as to be placed beyond the reach ofthe fragments of rock that are projected into the air, the lightest_malacate_ is prepared for his use, and two horses are attached to it, selected for their swiftness and courage, and are called the horses of_pegador_. The man is let down slowly, carrying with him a light and asmall rope, one end of which is held by one of the overseers, who isstationed at the mouth of the shaft. A breathless silence is observeduntil the signal is given from below by pulling the cord ofcommunication, when the two men by whom the horses are previously heldrelease their heads, and they dash off at full speed until they arestopped either by the noise of the first explosion, or by seeing fromthe quantity of cord wound round the cylinder of the _malacate_ thatthe _pegador_ is already raised to a height of sixty or seventy _varas_[Spanish yards], and is consequently beyond the reach of danger. "

The author then goes on to enumerate the risks that attend this callingof _pegador_, and the consequent high wages that have to be paid topersons who undertake this perilous office, all of which accidents andadventures must be familiar to those of my readers who have paid anyattention to the business of blasting rocks; and as his hairbreadthescapes have nothing in them remarkable, we may conclude this notice ofLos Rayas by adding his statement that the king's fifth from this mine, from 1556 to his time, amounted to the snug sum of $17, 365, 000. Hegives only the sum reported, and makes no calculation for the largesums out of which the king was annually cheated at all the mines. Thatmy reader may understand how a sum so apparently incredible as five oreight times seventeen millions of dollars could be taken out of asingle mine, he must recollect that Los Rayas was a most productivemine shortly after the Conquest, and that for a century or two it wascomparatively of little value, until Mr. José Sardaneta undertook theundermining of the rich mine of Santa Amita in 1740, and that afterwardthe rich product of the lower levels of the Santa Amita are included inthis immense sum. 

INDIANS AND SOLDIERS. 

There is too much sameness in the details of the histories of thevarious other important mines of this State and of those in theadjoining State of Durango to justify the lengthening out this chapter, and I will conclude it with giving the substance of a statement I heardthe American gentleman make on the subject of Indian depredations inthe very centre of the republic, showing the great inconveniencesuffered in consequence of the state of insecurity in which the peopleconstantly live. A party of their own Indians, a most degraded band ofcowardly vagabonds, that lived not a great way from the city, concludedto personify a company of northern savages, in order more successfullyto plunder the inhabitants. With shoutings, these vagabonds rushed intothe houses of the people, who were so paralyzed by the very sight ofIndians in a hostile attitude, that, without resistance, they sufferedthem to plunder whatever came within their reach which tempted theircupidity or lust. At length, becoming satiated with liquor andchampagne that they had taken from a carrier, they had to retire andcamp out for the night. In their retreat they were pursued by a captainand soldiers of the regular army, who, being more numerous than theIndians, exhibited a great deal of courage until they came in sight ofthe savages, when, all at once, it was concluded to encamp for thenight, and to resume the pursuit the next day, when the Indians wouldbe at such a distance that they would not disturb their pursuers bytheir whooping. 

 [75] By reference to a long and able paper on the mines in the hill of Proano (Fresnillo), it appears that one half of the cost of four pumping-engines already in operation in that mine was the freight from Vera Cruz to the mine. 

 [76] This translation is bad enough, but no worse than the original. 

 [77] This will sound to Protestant readers something like horrible blasphemy; but it must be borne in mind that God the Father of the Catholics is an entirely different idea from the spiritual God whom we worship. The devout Protestant who recognizes but one Being worthy of adoration, veneration, and worship, never ventures to mention any of the names by which He is known but with the profoundest reverence. The Catholic, on the other hand, has a host of objects which he deems worthy of adoration, and seems to have cheapened the article by multiplying it. His senses are all exercised in his peculiar kind of worship, and, as a natural consequence, they are apt to conclude that the Almighty enjoys those exhibitions that give them the greatest pleasure. They worship him by performing a pantomime of the life and suffering of Christ, which is called the mass, and seek to propitiate him by offering the body of his Son in sacrifice. They bestow upon God gifts of jewels and of gold; and as he passes through their streets in the form of a wafer, as they believe, the soldiers present arms, beat the drum, and discharge their cannon, as to an earthly prince. Though our Saviour (_Santo Christo_) heads the calendar of intercessors between God and man, he is seldom invoked, though they often honor him by naming their children after him. As they have conferred upon a multitude of their saints the supernatural powers of God, they have necessarily brought God himself down to earth. If I might be pardoned the expression, I should say that they treat him and his well-beloved Son with a loving intimacy. The worship of the Catholics is substantially materialism, more or less gross, according to its distance from or its proximity to Protestantism. There is no blasphemy, according to their system, in naming their shops after the Holy Ghost, a horse-stable after "the Precious Blood, " though I could never hear them mentioned or see them without having my Protestant notions shocked, while I equally shocked their feelings by refusing to kneel to the Host, and slipping out of the way to avoid it. Nor could I exhibit the least reverence to their religious emblems without committing what in me would be an act of idolatry, the two systems being so diametrically opposite that one can not go a step toward the other without breaking over a fundamental doctrine of his own belief. God is an invisible Spirit, says the Protestant. God is a Spirit, answers the Catholic, but he daily assumes the form of a wafer, and traverses our streets, and in that form we most commonly worship him. Such is the religious antagonism that will ever be found in the world while man remains what he now is, ever divided between mentalism and materialism. Forms and names often differ, but these are the two ideas into which all the religious systems of the world resolve themselves, although abortive attempts are often made to combine them. 

 [78] Vol. Ii. P. 452. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Sonora and Sonora Land Speculators seeking Annexation. --Sonora and itsAttractions. --The Abundance and Purity of Silver in Sonora. --Silverfound in large Masses. --The Jesus Maria, Refugio, and Eulalia Mines. --ACreation of Silver at Arizpa. --The Pacific Railroad. --Sonora nowvalueless for want of personal Security. --The Hopes of replenishingthe Spanish Finances from Sonora blasted by War. --Report of theMineria. --Sonora. --Chihuahua. 

LAND TITLES. 

It has been said in another chapter that the Apaches had extended theirdepredations beyond the first tier of States, and had entered Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, and even Guanajuato, making this secondtier of states their stamping ground, while Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, over which they now rode without opposition to a country moreabundant in plunder, are left as political waifs to any who may chooseto take possession of them. As in all abandoned countries, there areinhabitants here incapable of getting away, and too poor even for theIndians to notice; and there are a few miserable villages stillexisting, with a fragment of their former population. All theinhabitants of these wretched hamlets have their eyes fixed on theUnited States as the only hope of relief from their Indian plunderers. The proprietors of estates, extending over vast districts, too cowardlyto defend their claims, which exceed in extent European principalities, are sitting quietly down at a respectful distance, anxiously lookingforward to the time when their claims will rise in value from a fewdollars to as many hundred thousands by an annexation to the UnitedStates. Mexican operators in grants have not been idle. They haveascertained what the United States courts call a title, and have beenproviding themselves with the necessary parchments, [79] while Americanoperators, in connection with them, have been equally busy. 

Chihuahua and Sonora are the States or Departments to be affected byour Pacific Railroad. Sonora is the most valuable of the two, not onlyon account of its inexhaustible supply of silver, but also on accountof its delightful climate and agricultural resources. It is like theland of the blessed in Oriental story. California does not surpass itin fertility or in climate. With industry and thrift, it could sustaina population equal to that of all Mexico. The table-lands and thevalleys are so near together that the products of all climates flourishalmost side by side. Food for man and beast was so easily procured thatthe descendants of the early settlers sunk into effeminacy long beforethe breaking out of the great Apache war of the last century. Drought, however, makes the formation of artificial lakes and reservoirsnecessary to the full development of its agricultural wealth. 

CHIHUAHUA AND SONORA. 

But it is the remarkable abundance of silver which distinguishes itabove all other countries except Chihuahua. I have described, in aformer chapter, the long and laborious processes by which silver isproduced from the ore in the southern mines, and also the great depthsfrom which it is raised. In Sonora, silver is most commonly extractedfrom the ore by the simple process of fusion. But in the district ofBatopilos, it is, or rather was, found pure. If we should adopt thetheory that veins of ore extend through the entire length of Mexico, then I should say that they "crop out" in Sonora, or, rather, that thesilver _lodes_ which are here above the surface dip toward the city ofMexico, and also northward toward California. The mountain chain whichtraverses California under the name of the _Sierra Nevada_ appears tobe only a continuation or reappearance of the mountain chain herecalled _Sierra Madre_ (Mother Range), which forms the boundary betweenthe departments of Sonora and Chihuahua. 

On the western declivity of this mountain range, the most remarkableillustration of this fact of cropping out is found at Batopilos, already mentioned. This town is in a deep ravine. The climate is, likethat of the California gulches, intensely hot, but remarkably healthy. Here the _lodes_ of silver ore are almost innumerable, [80] with crestselevated above the ground. The mine of _El Carmen_, in the times of thevice-kings, produced so immensely that its proprietor was ennobled, with the title of Marquis of Bustamente. This was the beginning of thefamily of Bustamente. A piece of pure silver was found here weighingfour hundred and twenty-five pounds. I should like to continue indetail to enumerate the rich surface mines in the southern portions ofthese two States, but, lest I should weary my reader, I must omit them, and refer those who wish to learn more to the translations from thelast official reports of the _Mineria_, entitled Chihuahua and Sonora, which are embodied in the Appendix. 

"The 'Good Success Mine' (_Bueno Successo_) was discovered by anIndian, who swam across the river after a great flood. On arriving atthe other side, he found the crest of an immense _lode_ laid bare bythe force of the water. The greater part of this was pure massivesilver, sparkling in the rays of the sun. The whole town of Batopiloswent to gaze at the extraordinary sight as soon as the river wasfordable. This Indian extracted great wealth from his mine, but, oncoming to the depth of three Spanish yards (_varas_), the abundance ofwater obliged him to abandon it, and no attempts have since been madeto resume the working. When the silver is not found in solid masses, which requires to be cut with the chisel, it is generally finelysprinkled through the _lode_, and often serves to nail together theparticles of stone through which it is disseminated. "[81]--"The ores ofthe _Pastiano_ mine, near the _Carmen_, were so rich that the _lode_was worked by bars, with a point at one end and a chisel at the other, for cutting out the silver. The owner of the Pastiano used to bring theores from the mine with flags flying, and the mules adorned with clothsof all colors. The same man received a reproof from the Bishop ofDurango when he visited Batopilos for placing bars of silver from thedoor of his house to the great hall (_sala_) for the bishop to walkupon. "[82]

The next mine of interest in our progress northward is the _Morelos_, "which was discovered in 1826 by two brothers named Aranco. These twoIndian _peons_ were so poor that, the night before their greatdiscovery, the keeper of the store had refused to credit one of themfor a little corn for his _tortillas_. They extracted from their claim$270, 000; yet, in December, 1826, they were still living in a wretchedhovel, close to the source of their wealth, bare-headed andbare-legged, with upward of $200, 000 in silver locked up in their hut. But never was the utter worthlessness of the metal, as such, so clearlydemonstrated as in the case of the Arancos, whose only pleasureconsisted in contemplating their hoards, and occasionally throwing awaya portion of the richest ore to be scrambled for by their formercompanions, the workmen. "

Near the Morelos is the _Jesus Maria_. Though on the western or Sonoraslope of the mountain, it is only eight leagues from Chihuahua. This, like Morelos, is a modern discovery, and, of course, was not includedin the number of those Sonora mines which produced such an intenseexcitement about a hundred years ago in Mexico, and even in Spain. Here, within the circuit of three leagues, two hundred metallic _lodes_were registered in one year. The story of the mine of _El Refugio_, discovered by a fellow of the name of Pacheco, gave occasion foranecdotes like those of the Arancos which we have just recited. Adealer had an old cloak which took the fancy of Pacheco, and topurchase this thing he gave ore from which the dealer realized $8000. Three twenty-fourths (three bars) of the product of this mine netted, between the years 1811 and 1814, $337, 000. On the Sonora side of themountain is _Santa Eulalia_. The ores of this _real_ [district] arefound in loose earth, filling immense caverns, or what are called"rotten ores" in California, and are easily separated by smelting. Oneshilling a mark ($8) was laid aside from the silver which one of thesecaverns produced, which shilling contribution constituted the fund outof which the magnificent Cathedral of Chihuahua was built. 

THE MINE OF ARAZUMA. 

Proceeding northward, we come to a spot the most famous in the worldfor its product of silver, the mine of _Arazuma_. For near a century, the accounts of the wealth of this mine were considered fabulous; buttheir literal truth is confirmed by the testimony of the Englishembassador. After examining the old records which I have quoted, I haveno doubt that the facts surpassed the astonishing report; for inMexico, the propensity has ever been to conceal rather thanover-estimate the quantity of silver, on account of the king's fifth;yet it is the king's fifth, _actually paid_, on which all the estimatesof the production of Sonora silver mines are based. Arazuma (which, inthe report of the Mineria that I have translated for this volume, appears to be set down as Arizpa) was, a hundred years ago, the world'swonder, and so continued until the breaking out of the great Apache wara few years afterward. Men seemed to run mad at the sight of suchimmense masses of virgin silver, and for a time it seemed as if silverwas about to lose its value. In the midst of the excitement, a royalordinance appeared, declaring Arazuma a "creation of silver" (_creadorde plata_), and appropriating it to the king's use. This put a stop toprivate enterprise; and, after the Indian war set in, Arazuma becamealmost a forgotten locality; and in a generation or two afterward, theaccounts of its mineral riches began to be discredited. 

We have the following record in evidence of the masses of silverextracted at Arazuma. Don Domingo Asmendi paid duties on a piece ofvirgin silver which weighed 275 lbs. The king's attorney (_fiscal_)brought suit for the duties on several other pieces, which togetherweighed 4033 lbs. Also for the recovery, as a curiosity, and thereforethe property of the king, of a certain piece of silver of the weight of2700 lbs. This is probably the largest piece of pure silver ever foundin the world, and yet it was discovered only a few miles distant fromthe contemplated track of our Pacific Railroad. 

I might continue enumerating the instances of mineral wealth brought tolight in these two states, Sonora and Chihuahua, if I supposed it wouldbe interesting to my readers; but as they have heard enough of silver, I may add that rich deposits of gold were found at Molatto in 1806, anda still greater discovery of gold was made a few years ago. In thislatter discovery, the poor diggers suffered so much from thirst that adollar was readily paid for a single bucket of water, and at length, byreason of the drought, this rich _placer_ had to be abandoned. 

FUTURE OF SONORA. 

Such is Sonora, a region of country which combines the rare attractionsof the richest silver mines in the world, lying in the midst of thefinest agricultural districts, and where the climate is as attractiveas its mineral riches. But its richest mineral district is near itsnorthern frontier, and is almost inaccessible, and can never beadvantageously worked without an abundant supply of mineral coal forsmelting; nor can any of its mines or estates be successfully workedwithout greater security for life and property than at present exists. The capitalists of Mexico will not invest their means in developing theresources of Sonora, and in consequence, the finest country in theworld is fast receding to a state of nature. I found in the Palace atMexico a copy of the last report of the Governor of Sonora upon thestate of his Department, in which he mentions, among many other causesof its decadence during the last few years, the extensive emigration ofits laboring population to California. 

Extravagant as are these statements of the mineral riches of Sonora, they probably do not come up to the reality, as the largest of them arefounded on the sums reported for taxation at the distant city ofMexico, when it was notorious, as already stated, that a large portionof the silver was fraudulently concealed in order to avoid the taxes. Such concealment could be successfully carried on in a region sodistant and inaccessible as Sonora was in the time of Philip V. , for itwas in the reign of that idiot king, before the liberalmining-ordinances of Carlos III. , that the Sonora mining-fever brokeout. 

A hundred years have passed since the once formidable Apaches sweptover northern Sonora like a deluge, blotting out forever the hopeswhich the Spanish court had conceived of retrieving the fallen financesof their empire from this _El Dorado_. But Providence had ordered itotherwise. The Spaniards had done enough to demonstrate itsinexhaustible wealth, and then they were driven away from this"creation of silver, "[83] and the whole deposit held for a hundredyears in reserve for the uses of another race, who were destined tooverrun the continent. 

I should have but half performed my task should I omit to speak of theexcellent bay and harbor of Guaymas, in the southern part of Sonora. After San Francisco, it is the finest harbor on the Pacific, and is thenatural route through which our commerce with the East Indies should bedirected. The long experience of Spain taught her that a western routeto the East Indies was so much superior to the one by the Cape of GoodHope as to compensate for a transhipment of all of her East Indiamerchandise upon mules' backs from Acapulco to Vera Cruz. Much moreadvantageous must it be to us, when a railroad from El Paso, passingthrough the midst of the silver district I have described, shalltransfer our commerce with Japan and China to the Pacific side of ourcontinent. Here the very silver necessary for the purchase of tea isnearly as abundant as tin in some of the European mines, and, as inCalifornia, the prospects held out to the farmer are equal to mineralattractions. 

It would be folly for our government to acquire Sonora without firstproviding for connecting it with our country by railroad, and equallyfoolish to acquire it without making provision, in the treaty ofacquisition, for reducing all land-titles to the size of a singletownship, in consideration for the superior value given to the propertyby the annexation, and for annulling all land-titles under which thereis not an actual occupancy. The Spanish courts concede to governmentthis power over private rights, and for this reason a treaty ofacquisition from Mexico would prevent the confusion that now exists inCalifornia, and enable American settlers to locate understandingly atonce. All titles should continue to be subject, as they now are, to theright of the miner to enter in search of precious metals, thus noconflicts in relation to the rights of land-owners and miners couldarise. The principle on which the Mexican mining laws and theCalifornia mining customs are established should be recognized by theUnited States. But that right of entry would not arise until theconstruction of a railroad should afford the means of actually reducingthe country to possession, which Spain never has accomplished, andMexico never can accomplish. 

 [79] When I was first at the city of Mexico, Governor Letcher introduced to me a son of the late emperor, who had a claim for land in California which he had not located before the annexation. I advised him, without a fee, that our courts did not recognize foreign "floats, " and that, by his own _laches_, he had lost his claim, which he now spread along the Sacramento River for 400 miles. Finding out, after an expenditure of several thousand dollars, the defect, he got a new claim from the late President Lombardini of thirty miles square, which he will probably now pin tight in Sonora. The defect of our two last treaties with Mexico was in not having a clause inserted reducing all titles to land to six miles square, as a consideration for the enhanced value by the annexation. 

 [80] I would not like to make such extravagant statements on my own authority, however satisfactory the testimony might be to myself, for the abundance of silver in Sonora is beyond the belief of most men. But, fortunately, I have, in Ward's "Mexico, " an authority that can not be disputed. The work is accessible to all my readers. The author was charged by the British government with an examination of the mines of Mexico. 

 [81] Ward, vol. Ii. P. 578. 

 [82] Ibid. 

 [83] I do not know exactly how to translate the Spanish idea attached to the words _creador de plata_ unless by saying that it is a spot where baser substances are supposed to be converted into silver by some unknown process of nature. 

APPENDIX. 

A. 

MINERIA REPORT ON THE MINERAL RICHES OF SONORA. 

Among the five-and-twenty states and territories that compose theMexican confederation, there is no other which contains in itsrespective territory the like wonderful mineral riches which abound inthe state of which we treat. This would appear almost fabulous; butthere is proof enough from the testimony of many residents of thatstate, and from the assertion of travelers, from the evidences whichthe archives of the various missions exhibit, and from the royalregistry of mines (_reales de minas_), and, lastly, from theindubitable fact of the production of great quantities of gold andsilver from the mines and _placers_ of this state, considering thesmall amount of forces, and its isolation from all the principalsettlements of the republic by reason of the distance which separatesit from them. 

In fact, many metals of universal estimation, such as gold, silver, mercury, copper, and iron, in a pure state, in grains, in masses, or indust, as well as mixed with other metals, superficially or in veins, are found in the extensive territory of Sonora; lead, or combinationsof lead, for aiding in extracting metals by fire, and for theconstruction of munitions of war, amianthus or incombustible crystal, divers ores of copperas, exquisite marble, alabaster, and jasper ofvarious colors, as well as quarries of stone of _chrispa_ and magneticstones, muriate and carbonate of soda, saltpetre or nitrate of potassa, are, in enumeration, the mineral productions which are found inabundance in the territory of the state of Sonora, which comprehendsthe region from the river of Fort _Monte Clarasal_ at the south to theGila at the north, and from the Sierra Madre at the east to theColorado at the northwest. 

To the disgrace of the nation, these authentic and exact notices ofthe marvelous riches of this remote state have availed nothing indetermining speculators (_empresarios_) to resort to those places inpursuit of a fortune so certain, or at least to have avoided, by themeans of colonization, the loss which is _feared_ of this inestimablejewel. 

The territory of the state of Sonora lacks nothing but security [fromincursions of Indians] in order that the hand of man may be profuselyrecompensed for his labor. Virgin soils, where the agricultural fruitsof all climates not only flourish, but many of these improve inquality; navigable rivers, which contribute in part to the easytransportation of the products to the ports of the Pacific forexportation and consumption; mines and _placers_ of precious metals, inmany of which there is no necessity of capital to explore and collectthem--are not these stimulants enough to attract there a populationthrifty and civilized? In order to ascertain the mineral riches whichthe nation may lose in a short time, we call attention to the mineralstatistics which follow, although they are imperfect and diminutive. 

As already we have said, the whole of Sonora is mineral; but as amongus we only give this name to those places in which there have beendiscovered and worked a conjunction of veins, it results that theplaces in this state to which for this cause has been given the name ofmineral are thirty-four. Some of the mines are _amparadas_ [viz. , worked sufficient to confer a legal title to the occupant], and areimperfectly in a state of operation. The names of all of these twoclasses, which are sixteen in all, are Hermosillo, San Javier, Subiate, Vayoreca, Alamas, Babicanara, Batuco, La Alameda, Rio Chico, El Aguaja, Aigame, El Luaque, Saguaripa, La Trinidad, San Antonio, and El Zoni. 

The remaining eighteen are found abandoned, some for the want of water, and others for the want of laborers or capital, and by the fear whichthe barbarous Indians inspire. The names of these last minerals are SanJuan de Sonora, that of the Sierra at the northwest of Guaymas, Arizuma, Bacauchi, Antunes, San José de Gracia, El Gavilau, SanIldefonso de la Cienequilla, San Francisco el Calou, Santa Rosa, SanAntonio de la Huenta, Vadoseco Sobia, Mulatos, Basura, Alamo-Muerto, and San Perfecto. 

In the same state have been discovered twenty-one _placers_; of these, one is of virgin silver, in grains and plates (_planchas_), and twentyof pure gold, in grains and dust; but as nearly all these are situatedin the mineral districts (_minerales_) already mentioned, the names ofthose which are not given are the following: Agua Caliente, Quitovac, Las Palomas, La Canaca, and Totahiqui. With the exception of three, towhich gold-hunters from time to time resort to relieve theirnecessities, all the others remain abandoned. 

There was only one mineral district actually in work at the close ofthe last century and the beginning of the present; those now actuallyin process of being worked are fourteen, and their names are La Grande, La Quintera, El Subiate, Bulbaucda Europita, Vayoreca, La Cotera, SantoDomingo, Noercheran, La Sibertao, Minas-Núevas, El Tajo, Minas Prietas, and another near La Grande. 

From the mineral districts (_minerales_) abandoned there ought to beinferred an increased number of mines, which are in the same condition, but we do not know their names, and we have only notices of the twentyfollowing: Pimas, La Tarasca, Ubalama, Ojito de San Roman, Yaquis, LaGuerita, Noaguila, Las Animas, Afuerenos, Piedras-verdes Navares, LaCalera, Caugrejos, Guillarmena, San Atilano, San Teodoro, and ElGavilau. In those in Pinas, and in one of those of the _mineral_ of SanJosé de Gracia, have been found considerable amounts of pure silverdeposited in their veins, and mineral taken from San Teodoro hasproduced one half silver. In extracting the silver from the ore in thisplace, we ought to mention that the greater part of these mines aresusceptible of great _bonanzas_, from not having been workedextensively, as their proprietors abandoned them when the metals failedto appear upon the surface, and when the exploration was a little morecostly. 

There are eleven haciendas in the State of Sonora for purifying themetals which the mines and _placers_ produce, without taking into theaccount many little establishments, with from two to five horse-mills, with one bad furnace for the fusion of metals. Three of these aresituated in Alamas, five in Aduana, one in Promontorio, another inTatagiosa, and the last in Minas Nuevas (New Mines). There are manyabandoned mines, as the rubbish and ruins indicate, which we havenoticed, in all the abandoned mineral districts. 

The methods which they have observed in extracting the metals from theore are the _patio_ [by application of quicksilver in an open yard], and that of fusion, with the aid of some metals that assist the fusion;but from the fact that the quicksilver augments considerably the price, the few that there carry on the business have preferred the process offusion to that of the _patio_, from being less costly, and because thedocility of the metals afford facilities to this process. 

No machines of new invention have been introduced into that state, either for the drainage of the mines or for facilitating the extractingof the metals. This ought not to surprise us, in places so desert anddistant from the metropolis, unaccustomed to the vivifying movements ofcommerce, and to the necessities which civilization has engendered inthe more important populations in the central parts of the republic. That which is rare, and ought to call attention, is the exception ofsome mines, where _malacatos_ [water-sacks of bull-hides, drawn up by awindlass] are used for discharging water. In almost all those whichhave thus been worked, they have not had an opportunity to exhibittheir riches, as the abundance of water in many of them was theprincipal cause of their abandonment. 

The greatest difficulty in the way of giving an exact idea of theproducts of the mines and placers of Sonora is the scandalouscontraband exportations of gold and silver which are made from theports of the Sea of Cortéz [Gulf of California] on the one hand, and, on the other, the difficulties that have presented themselves to hisExcellency, the Governor of that state, for giving the statisticalnotices which have been sought on repeated occasions by the Junta ofthe Mineria, both of which causes have made difficult the account whichwe furnish; but by those which they themselves furnished of theproduction of those minerals before and since the independence of thenation, and by the exhibits of various witnesses presented in theremission of bars which from thence they made to the capital of therepublic, when the ports of the Pacific were sealed to foreigncommerce, the production of precious metals having yielded in diversepochs not far from 4500 pounds of silver, without considering the gold(abundant enough in _placers_ and in rivers), and from what is known, the quantities of this metal extracted have been considerable, and inmore abundance than in the mineral districts of the other states of therepublic. 

Attention having been much called to the ley and weight of the grainsof pure gold found on the surface in Quitovac, Cienequilla, and SanFrancisco, as well as those masses of virgin silver found in Arizuma, which wonderful riches stimulated the colonial government to despoilthe proprietors of it, and afterward the King of Spain, in declaringthat it pertained to his royal patrimony. 

All those places in Sonora which are actually abandoned, as well as allthe lands of that state, are susceptible of producing great riches. Thereasons on which these assertions are founded are those which M. SaintClair Duport mentions in speaking of the probable variation there willbe in value of gold and silver in time, by reason of the greatextractions hereafter of these metals, particularly in California [thiswas before the annexation of California] and Sonora, where, as in theUral Mountains, and the Altai Mountains of Central Asia, gold isextremely abundant, and because in the _placers_ mentioned explorershave recognized gold in dust, which they have not washed for want ofwater in some, and from the difficulty that exists in others in orderto work them, such as those of Arizuma and La Papagueria. 

Nothing could be said in relation to the number of operatives who areemployed in working the mines of this state, nor the day-laborers; norin respect to articles consumed there, as well in the digging of themetals as in extracting them from the ores, because, as has alreadybeen said, his Excellency the Governor has not been able to give thenotices which have been sought, and there are no other betterauthorities through whom information can be procured. For in this statethere are no mining courts, [84] but the ordinary judges of firstinstance are the authorities which take cognizance of matters whichoccur in the department of the Mineria. 

 [84] The title to all mines in Mexico rests solely upon discovery and improvement, without any regard to the proprietorship to the land on which the mines are located; but the proof of discovery and improvement must be made and recorded in the mineral courts, except in Sonora, where the ordinary courts have jurisdiction. 

There are no companies for the exploration of the mines in that remotestate. Some inhabitants, in distant periods, have procured theformation of numerous caravans with the character of companies, andwith the object of collecting precious metals, which they encounteredin the placers of Arizuma and of Papagueria, but until now they havenot been able to hold with effect undertakings so laudable. 

Various are the causes on account of which the riches which lie buriedthrough all parts of the immense territory of the State of Sonora havenot been explored. Some of these reasons have already been referred to, but, for greater clearness, we take this opportunity to recapitulatethem all. The first, which are much noted, are the following:

1st. The absolute want of personal security. 

2d. The scarcity of population, and of the means of subsistence for thefew hands that they were able to have devoted to working mines in theimmediate vicinity of hostile Indians. 

3d. The irregularity and the want of experience and capital in thosewho have undertaken the exploration and the extraction of metals, whichhas occasioned the abandonment of this class of speculations wheneverthey presented any difficulties, or commenced to be more costly byfailing to produce metals upon the surface of the earth. Some certainspeculations which have been directed with regard to the rules whichregulate mineral industry, and have been prosecuted with capital, havewell compensated the labors and efforts of the proprietors. 

Gold and silver, as above said, are not the only mineral productions ofSonora. In the part of Muchachos, situated in the Sierra Madre, betweenTueson and Tubac, and in Mogollon, a place situated in the mountains ofApuchuria, in those of Papagueria, and near the Colorado, are foundgreat masses of virgin iron, and abundant veins of the same metal. Cinnabar was discovered in 1802 in the hill of Santa Teresa, situatedin the _mineral_ of Rio Chico; and in the hills which are at the northof the Colorado, it has been found in the past age. Copper is alsofound in Antunes, Tonuco, Bacauchí, Pozo de Crisante, Sierra deGuadalupe, Sierra de la Papagueria, and particularly in the Couanea, from whence have been extracted great quantities of this metal, with agreat ley of gold. Metals of lead (_metales plomosos_) abound in AguaCaliente, Alamo-Muerto, La Papagueria, Arispe, and La Cieneguilla. Fromthese two last points have been taken considerable quantities of them, for supplying all other mines of the state [to aid in fusion], and formunitions of war. Copperas, or sulphate of iron, is abundant in SanJavier, San Antonio de la Huerta, and Agua Caliente. In the first ofthese placers a vein runs from south to north, from pieces of which, dissolved in water, there results a tint which, by evaporation, formsinto grains, and produces the same effect as the tint of China. InCucurpe is _amianto_, or incombustible crystal, which the ancients somuch valued. Marbles of various classes and colors, as well asalabasters and jaspers, are found in Opasura, Hermosillo, Uores, LaCampana, and other points; but we do not know as yet the place fromwhich the Aztecs obtained the beautiful reddish marble which they usedin the construction of their divinity of Chapultepec, which ispreserved in the National Museum, and which, according to allconjectures and probabilities, proceeded from the quarries of marble ofthat state. There are quarries of the stone of chrispa, and even themagnet in Alamas, Hermosillo, in Sierras of the frontier, and in thecausada of Barbitas, ten leagues distant from Hermosillo, near theroute of La Cieneguilla. Muriate and carbonate of soda, saltpetre, ornitrate of potassa, are found in the margin of the rivers which emptyinto the Gulf of Cortéz [of California], and particularly in the mouthsof the Colorado. 

B. 

REPORT ON THE MINERAL RICHES OF CHIHUAHUA. 

The statistical notices which have until to-day been received, embracefive cantons or departments of that state, which show that there existin it sixteen _minerals_ [districts containing mines], of which twelveare in working, and four abandoned in consequence of the incessantincursions of barbarous Indians. Their names are Hidalgo del Parral, Minas Nuevas, San Francisco del Oro, Santa Barbara, Zopago, Chinipas, Guazapores, Batozegache, Guadalupe y Calvo, Cuacogornichie, Galeana, Cosihuiriachic, Santa Eulalia, Barranco, and two more, without names, in the canton Caleana. 

Twenty-one mines are found in operation in the twelve _minerals_ inaction. The number of those abandoned is increasing, and is notpermanent; and the only cause referred to is that many of them areabandoned for want of capital, and others from the hostility of thebarbarians. The products of those that were worked in the year 1849amount to 146, 818 marks of silver, of a ley of eleven _dineros_, and 7marks, 7 oz. , and 4 eighths of gold to the twenty-two quintals. Thenumber of haciendas and furnaces for extracting the metal from the orewas twenty, and the processes which they use in that state are the_patio_ and the furnace; the last is the most general. Finally, therehas been put in practice a third system, by the house of Manning andM'Intosh, for the purpose of separating the silver by means of theprecipitate of copper. The consumptions of the last year, 1849, amountto $544, 194, notwithstanding which the notices omit the returns ofvarious mines, haciendas, furnaces, and water-mills. The items arequicksilver at $140 a hundred, gunpowder, lime, wood, sulphate ofcopper, salt, iron, steel, metals of aid [metals thrown into thecompound to aid the process of extracting], tallow, grease, hides, leather, corn, straw, grain, flesh, beans, and bars of iron. The numberof operatives is not known with exactness, because the reports onlyrefer to certain mines and haciendas, but in these they amount to 1833, besides day-laborers at five _reals_ (5/8ths of a dollar) a day forhalf the time. The most important improvements that have beenintroduced into some of these mines consist in the establishment ofpumps for facilitating draining, and in the introduction of Germanovens for fusing a greater quantity of mineral at a less cost and withgreater perfection, being so much the more interesting as the conditionof the metals presents itself more easily to this kind of benefiting. 

Four companies have been established for prosecuting the labor of themines, Preseña, Rosario, Tajo, and Prieta. The first takes its namefrom Señor Delille, the second is composed of Mexicans, and the lasttwo are composed of Mexicans, English, and naturalized Spaniards. Nothing is known in relation to their capitals. Besides the preciousmetals, we find lead in Naica and Babisas, of the canton of Matamoros;copper, from which only _magistral_ is taken, is found in the canton ofMina, and sulphur and saltpetre in the canton of Iturbide. The reportsmention nothing in respect to the authorities that take cognizance ofthe affairs of the Mineria; but it is presumed that, as in the rest ofthe nation, the judges of first instance take knowledge ofcontroversies, and the courts of mines, if by chance they areestablished, take cognizance of the economy and government of themines. 

The mint of Guadalupe and Calvo coined in 1848, $720, 765, and in 1849, $665, 225, of which two sums $1, 027, 130 were of silver, and $355, 859 ingold, the whole being the proceeds of 116, 015 marks, 1 oz. , and 4eighths of silver, of the ley of eleven _dineros_, and of 2351 marks, 5oz. , 2 eighths of gold, with ley of twenty-two carats. This appearsfrom the reports of the mint of the capital of that state. 

C. 

REPORT ON THE MINERAL RICHES OF COAHUILA. 

This state, one of the least populous, and exposed, like all thefrontier states of the north, to the incessant incursions of thebarbarous tribes, offers at present very little interest to thosespeculations which engender the exercise of mineral industry--thatwhich, besides experience and capital, requires for its development anabundance of hands and entire security. While the publication of themineral statistics of the nation not only brings the idea ofmanifesting the present condition of this branch of industry among us, but also that of propagating its exercise as one of the principalelements of riches among the Mexicans, it is necessary to speak of thestate in which the Mineria is in Coahuila, and of hopes which it makesto spring up for the future. There are twelve mines actually_amparadas_, or in labor, in the four _minerals_ already mentioned:their names are unknown to us, and it is only known that their monthlyproducts amount to 200 marks [of 8 ounces] of silver and 150 loads of_greta_ [litharge]. The number of operatives employed in all theseamount to 193, and the day laborers receive four _reals_ [half adollar] a day. 

There is no exact notice of the number of mineral districts and singlemines abandoned in the State of Coahuila; but the number isconsiderable, according to the information furnished from 1843 by thedeputation of Santa Rosa. Among those deserving a particular mention isthat of the Sierra de Timulco and that of Potrerillos, by the good leyof the metals of the mines of the first, and by the uniformity of theveins and not unappreciable richness of the second. These veins rungenerally from northwest to southeast, and in the course theyencounter, scattered about, silver-bearing galena [sulphuret of lead], lead, copper, with sulphuret of zinc. The amount of the consumptions ofthe mines that are worked is also unknown; but it is known that thegunpowder costs the operators $9 an aroba [of 25 pounds], of lead, $12a carga of 300 pounds; that of _greta_, $6; copper, of superiorquality, $16 the hundred weight; the carga of coal, six _reals_ [threefourths of a dollar], and wood, one _real_ a mule-load. The ruins andthe heaps of rubbish manifest that in other times there was muchactivity in the labor of the mines and haciendas for separating themetals; but to-day there are only in existence some furnaces, which arethe least costly, which the miners of Coahuila can use for theirmetals. This they effect generally in ovens, and in _galemes_ in theopen plain. But this method of separating the metals, which Coahuilanshave been necessitated to adopt as the least expensive, untilquicksilver has notably fallen in price, has not remained stationary, as in other parts of the republic. These simple inhabitants havesucceeded, by the force of experiments, in obtaining as a result thepower of fusing 25 cargas [of 300 pounds] of metal, with theaggregation of 18 cargas of _greta_, in only one furnace and in thespace of twenty-four hours, by consuming only 45 pounds of coal foreach carga of metal. 

There are three companies in that state for working the mines in themineral district of Ramirez, and another in that of Trinudco. There isno notice of the amount of funds employed, but it is presumed that theyare not considerable, by considering the smallness of the fortunes ofthe inhabitants of the frontier. 

In government and economy of mines the Assembly of Mineria of thevalley of Santa Rosa have jurisdiction, but in litigations the judgesof first instance have jurisdiction, to whom a particular law of thisstate gives authority. 

In Coahuila, besides silver, there is found virgin iron in masses ofconsiderable volume and of extraordinary value in the Sierra ofMercudo, in Guadalupe, and other points. 

There is copper in Putula or Rios and in Guadalupe. In these mineraldistricts we also encounter lead. _Amianto_ (incombustible crystal)also abounds in Niezca and in the vicinity of Monclova, as also nitrein San Blas, jurisdiction of San Buonaventura. In the hills of Gizedo, correspondent to the district of Santa Rosa, are extracted sulphur andcopperas. 

It is difficult to ascertain and to mention all the causes which haveled to the decadence of the mineral industry of this state, because thereports which the authorities have remitted do not state it exactly;but there is no doubt that they are two, viz. , the want of securityoccasioned by the frequent incursions of the barbarians, and the littleaffection which the agricultural people that occupy that state have formining enterprises; that, as already said, they require recognizances, as well as capital and hands, things which are scarce enough in thevast territory of the frontier state of Coahuila. 

D. 

REPORT ON THE MINERAL RICHES OF LOWER CALIFORNIA. 

The sparse population of this territory, the want of scientificinformation in its inhabitants, and the difficulties which have existedin the way of keeping up an intercourse with their fellow-citizens ofthe centre of the republic, are causes weighty enough for explainingthe ignorance in which we live concerning the mineral riches of thatinteresting peninsula. Without doubt, if we are permitted to judge ofit from the abundance of the precious metals which California of theNorth and Sonora contain, and their contiguities, we ought to inferthat in the territory of Southern California the designated metalsshould be found in considerable quantities. The official notices whichwe possess in respect to Lower California fortify this conjecture. Those exhibited by persons who lack competent instruction upon thispoint contribute in part to foretell what will be the grade ofprosperity which will come in time with the developing of the mineralindustry in this territory. 

Southern California, by its topographical position alone, is called tooccupy an important place, not only among the integral parts of thenation, but even among foreign parts of America which are bounded bythe Pacific. If its first necessity is attended to, with theaugmentation of population commerce will come to give it the consequentmovement and animation, and the Mineria will come to complete thecircle of its prosperity; so that it is now difficult to perceive thegrand importance, commercial and political, which this despisedpeninsula, which is called Lower California, will yet attain when thetransition of time and the sequel of events come to realize theseUtopian offspring of a patriotic sentiment; but we will occupyourselves with the statistical mineral notices of that territory. 

There are nine mineral districts (_minerales_) which are nowrecognized in California: their names are San Antonio, Zule, SantaAnna, Muleje, Triumpho, Las Virgenes, El Valle Perdido, Los Flores, Cuecuhilas. There is a range traversing from north to south for thespace of forty leagues in that territory, which contains also amultitude of veins which have not been explored. In all these mineralsabound, but the irregular and inconstant labor of some of the minesdoes not permit us to consider them as in action. 

Explorations of some mines of gold and silver have been made inCalifornia, but they remain in the same state with the other_minerales_. One and another have been worked superficially, but theirpossessors abandoned them when they presented any obstacle, which madethe working more costly, so that it is no exaggeration to say they allare now abandoned. In a country almost a wilderness (_desierto_), wherethe want of conveniences in exploration of the mines failed to engenderthe stimulus of acquiring and preserving the proprietorship of thediscoveries, [85] and where, with the same facility with which theyabandon one known vein, they proceed to work another new vein--in acountry where the great part of the inhabitants might well beconsidered as tribes that have only reached the first grades ofcivilization, rather than organized societies, it is not strange thatthere is a want of mineral recognizances where only the mines at whichthe metals are easily procured, and not costly in extracting from theore, are worked. 

 [85] The proprietorship of mines in Mexico is acquired by proof being made to the mining court of discovery and actual working; and is again lost by an abandonment of four months; there is no other source of title to mineral lands. 

Notwithstanding that which has been said, there are various residentsof the mineral districts referred to that extract gold and silversufficient to cover their commercial transactions, to pay theirlaborers and the salaries of their operatives, to procure certainnecessaries, and to enjoy certain luxuries which many of theirfellow-citizens do not enjoy. To ascertain to what value theseextractions of metals ascend is extremely difficult for the want ofdata with which to aid any calculation. 

The benefiting (extracting the metals from the ores) is no lessimperfectly done than the labor of the mines. There are no haciendasfor benefiting; many persons that engage themselves in miningspeculations have in that territory one, two, and even fivehorse-mills, with which they grind the metal; this they mix withquicksilver and salt--imitating the process by the _patio_--inproportion of 50 pounds of the first and 75 of the second to 625 (25arobas) of metal, and, proceeding by means of fusion in bad ovens, theyobtain silver. Some others obtain it by means of vases of refining withthe aid of lead. 

The consumptions of the Californians in the extraction of the preciousmetals consist of quicksilver, salt, and wood; the first they havepurchased in the last years at two dollars a pound, the second atthirty-seven and a half cents for twenty-five pounds, and the third ata quarter of a dollar a mule-load. It is to be presumed that when thequicksilver of Northern California comes to compete with thequicksilver of Spain in the mineral districts of the interior[86] of therepublic, the price of this principal element for conducting theworking of mines will fall greatly in all the nation, and that theMineria will assume a grade of prosperity never yet seen in ourcountry; and Lower California, by its proximity to the places of theproduction of mercury, will obtain it, without doubt, at a still lowerprice. The day-laborers, who work the mines of this territory, receivefor their labor from seventy-five cents to one dollar; but there is nota fixed number, neither is their occupation constant. 

 [86] This term is applied to all places distant from the capital. 

It is not necessary to speak of the existence of companies forexploring mines in a country where there is such a scarcity ofpopulation, and where there is not an accumulation of capitalsufficient in order that a part of it might be employed in thehazardous enterprises of mineral industry. The judges of first instanceare the authorities that in Lower California take cognizance of allaccounts concerning the affairs of mines (_á la Mineria_). 

In the river which passes by Muleje and Gallinas, the inhabitants ofthose places collect the sands, from which they obtain small quantitiesof gold in dust. In another placer, which embraces an extension ofseven leagues, they also extract some gold in dust in quantities asinsignificant as those which result from the sands of the rivermentioned. 

Silver and gold are the only metals that have claimed the attention ofthe Californians, because they derive an advantage from theirextraction, and not because there do not exist other metals lessvaluable, but which yield proportionably greater profit to the minersthat undertake the exploration; these are lead, copper, iron, magistral, crystal of Roca, loadstone, and alum. 

E. 

THE REMAINS OF CORTÉZ. 

The account of the disposition of the remains of Cortéz, given on page279, is the one commonly received, and contained in works of standardauthority. Since this volume was placed in the hands of the printers, Ihave received a new number of the _Apuentes Históricos_, which containsanother account, which is undoubtedly the true one. According to this, when the body of Cortéz was first brought to America, it was taken toTezcuco, and buried at the San Franciscan convent, beside that of hisfriend, King Don Fernando. In the course of the following century itwas taken to Mexico and buried in the convent of the Jesuits (thePro-for is probably intended). After the Revolution, it was transportedto Sicily by the agent of his descendant, the present "Marquis of theValley. "

THE END.