xmmmmm UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES MEXICO NATIOX.VL FLAG OF MEXICO Frontispiece THE STORY OF THE NATIONS MEXICO BY SUSAN HALE 47801 NEW YORK G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN Copyright By G. p. Putnam's Sons i8S8 Entered at Stationers Hall, London Bv T. Fisher Unwin ttbe IRnicfcerbocljer pcesa. Wew lI?orl. M 1^- CONTENTS. The Subject i-ii View from a steamer, i — Seen by Fernando Corte's, 2 ; his ambition, 3 — Inhospitable coast, 3 — Vera Cruz, 4 — Depart- ure, 4 — Climate we leave, 5 — Climate we -are seeking, 5 — Three climates of Mexico, 6 — Anahuac, 6 ; Tierra templada, 7 — Scenery of the plateau, 7 — Its early inhabitants, 8 — De- stroyed by Cortes, 8 — Traditions of Anahuac, g — Teocallis changed co cathedrals, 9 — The Conquistadores, 10 — Span- ish rulers, 10 — Two emperors, 10 — Mexico a republic, 11 ; its past and futuie, ri. II. Shadowy Tribes 12-23 Meaning of Anahuac, 12 — Tula, formerly ToUan, 13 — The Toltecs, 13 — Cholula : its legends, 14, 15, 16, 17, iS, 19, 20 — Mound builders, 21 — Legends of the Nahuas, 21 — Huehue-Tlapallan, 22 — Atlantis, 22 — Noah of the Mexi- can tribes, 22 — Universal fable of the deluge, 23. III. Traditions of the Toltecs . . . 24-37 Their wanderings, 24 ; ruins of their capital, 26 ; their re- sources, 26 ; language, 27 ; early faith, 27 — Cuernavaca, 28 — Toluca, 28 — Power of their ruler, 29 — Quetzalcoatl, The Shining Snake, 29 ; legends of his career, 30 ; possible facts, 32 ; mystery of his departure, 32 ; image in the museum, 33 ; his attributes, 33 — Evil days of the Toltecs, 34 — The Agave Americana, 34 ; its properties, 35 — Maguey, 35 — Xochitl, 36 ; her beverage, 36 — Deterioration of the Toltecs, 37 ; dates of their wanderings, 37. iii IV THE STORY OF MEXICO. IV. PAGE Chichimecs ....... 38-44 A new dynasty, 38 — The Chichiniecs, 39 ; occupations and customs, 39 — The mark of a warrior, 39 — The Serpent of the Clouds, 40 — The invasion of Xolotl, 40 — Fall of Tol- lan, 41 — Territory of Xolotl, 41 — New waves of emigration, 42 — Wise rulers, 42 — Texcuco, 42 — The Aztecs, 43 — War with Atzcapotzaico, 44 — Kingdom of Texcuco, 44. V. Nezahualcoyotl ...... 45-52 The young prince, 45 ; in captivity, 45 ; a faithful friend, 46 — Tlaxcaza, 46 — The plateau to-day, 46 — The Malinche, 46 — The Land of Bread, 47 — A wise tutor, 47 — Maxtla, 48 — The homage of Nezahualcoyotl, 48 — Maxtla's plot, 48 — Open enmity, 49 — Nezahualcoyotl's escape, 49 ; his hiding, 50 — Tyranny of Maxtla, 50 — The true prince triumphant, 51 — Maxtla defeated and killed, 51 — The kingdom of Texcuco Acolhuacan, 52. VI. Texcuco 53-(Ji The Golden Age, 53 — The government, 53 — Council of Music. 53 — Texcucan literature, 54 — Lost treasures, 54 — A royal poet, 55 — The Laughing Hill, 56 — Artificial lakes, 56 — Ruins of Tezcotzinco, 56 — Baths of Montezuma, 57 — A blot on Nezahualcoyotl's fame, 57 ; a Mexican Ilaroun al Raschid, 58 ; his religion, 59 — From anarchy to civiliza- tion, 59 — Nezahualpilli, 59— Decline of Texcuco, 60 — A Texcucan historian, 60 — Legend or fact ? 61. VII. MiCHOACAN ....... 62-69 The Land of Fish, 62 — Lonely lakes, 62 — Patzcuaro, 63 — The Place of Delights, 64 — The first settlers, 64 — Ire Titatacame, 65 — A dusky princess, 65 — Tixiacuri, the first king of Michoacan. 66 — The kingdom divided, 66 — Tzint- zuntzan, 67 — The glorious reign of Zovanga, 67 — A city of birds, 67 — Fruitless excavations, 68 — The Tarascans, 68. CCA' TEXTS. V VIII. PAGE Mayas 70-82 The first wave of migration, 70 — Traces of Mayas in Yucatan, 70 — A great empire, 7; — Xachan, the town of ser- pents, 72 ; its ruins discovered. 72 — Palace at Palenque, 72 — Lofty chambers and strange bas-reliefs, 73 — The Temple of the Cross, 74 — An emblem of Christian faitii, 75 — Meaning of the tablets, 75 — Chichen-Itza, 76 — A religious centre, 77 — Paintings and bas-reliefs, 7S — Chaak ISIool, the tiger- chief, 78 — The beautiful Kinich, 78 — Tomb of Chaak Mool, 7S — Paved roads of Yucatan, 79 — Votan and Zamna, 80 — Mayan legends, 80 — Weapons and armor, 81 — War with the Toltecs, 82. IX. ■- V:2CzTECs S3-95 Best known of the Anahuac tribes, S3 — Aztlan, 83 — The migration, 84 — Six centuries of wanderings, 84 — The name Mexican, 84, — Their adopted home, 84— Chapultepec, 86 — Driven to the islands, 87 — A wretched life, 87 — Valor of the slaves, S7 — An abiding city, 87 — Tenochtillan, or Mexico, 88 — Advances in civilization. SS — Results of mod- ern research, 89 — A king chosen, 90 — Early years of the kingdom, 91 — The Princess of Cloth, 92 — Canoas, 92 — Chimalpopoca, 94 — The usurpation, 94 — Maxtla, 95. X. EXICANS ....... 96-110 Itzcoatl, 96 — Alliance with Texcuco, 96 — War with Max- tla, 96 — Victory of the allies, 97 — Fall of the Tepanec monarchy, 97 — " The Valley Confederates," gS — Reign of Motecuhzoma, 98 — Height of the Mexican power, 98 — Conquest of the Chalcas, 99 — Inundation and famine, 99 — Raid upon neighboring provinces, 100 — Laws of Motecuh- zoma, 100 ; his successor, roi — Tizoc, loi — The Drinking- cup of the Eagle, lOi — Human sacrifice, 102 — Temple built by Tizoc, 105 — Dikes, 105 — A despot, 106 — Extent of the kingdom, 106 — Religious fanaticism, 108 — Doubtful records, 109. ^ ^ VI TFTE STORY OF MEXICO. XI. PACK Aztec Character .• . . . . 111-123 Unreliable testimony, iil — Hieroglyphics, III — Paintings, 112 — " Wanderings of the Aztecs," 112 — Religion, 114 — A future life, 114 — Funeral customs, 114 — Domestic life, 115 — Laws, 115 — Music, 115 — The Aztec calendar, 115 — Divi- sions of time, 116 — Names of days, etc., 117 — Opinions of antiquarians, 1 17 — The cycle, 118 — Unlucky days, 118 — Agriculture, iig — Irrigation, iig — A gentle race, 120 — The Priestesses, 12 r — Coatlicue, the goddess of the earth, 122 — Source of Aztec greatness, 122 — A fatal policy, 123. ^. XII. The Last of the Montezumas . . 124-134 Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, 124 ; his character, 124 — A coronation festival, 125 — Royal robes, 125 — The life of an Aztec king, 126 ; his capital, 126 — Diaz's description, 127 — A life of pleasure, 12S — State correspondence, 12S — Cha- pultepec, 129 — Montezuma's cypress, 129 — Clouds on the horizon, 130— Sinister predictions, 130 — The coming of the white men, 131 — An unhappy monarch, 131 —Landing of the strangers, 132 — Velasquez de Leon, 132 ; hi; expedi- tion to Yucatan, 133 — Grijalva visits Mexico, i33--Monte- zuma's embassy, 133. XIII. Cortes 135-144 Birth, 135 ; enters the army, 135 ; visits C'uba, 135 — An attractive portrait, 135 — Defects of character. 136 — Velas- quez and Grijalva's expedition, 136 — .\ love story, 137 — Cortes receives a commission, 137 ; his companions, 137 — Jealousy of Velasquez, 137 — The squadron, 13S — Jerome d' Aguilar, 138 — First conflict with the Aztecs, t39 — Palm Sunday, 139— A happy people, 140 — Rumors of danger, 140 Presents to the strangers; 141 — Cortes as Quetzalcoatl, 141 — Easter, i-ii — A perplexed council, 142 — Mistaken policy, 1-12 — \'era Cruz, 142 — Cortes visits Cempoallan, 143 — Tlaxcalla, 143 — The ships destroyed. 144. CONTENTS. vil XIV, PAGE Malintzi . 145-150 Her birthplace, 145 — The little duchess is made a slave, 145 — Life in Tabasco, 146 — Arrival of Cortes, 146 — Treaty of alliance, 146 — The heiress-slave becomes a Christian, 146 — Marina or Malinche, 146 — A nevir interpreter, 147 — A beautiful picture, 147 — Splendid gifts, 148 — Malintzi's beauty, 149 ; her devotion to Cortes, 149 ; its result, 149. XV. Tlaxcalla 151-157 An isolated province, 151 — Exaggerated reports, 151 — Efforts for the friendship of the Tlaxcallans, 152 — A trap for the Spaniards, 152 — A battle, 152 — Defeat of the Tlax- callans, 153 —Peace concluded, 153 — Christianity intro- duced, 153— Cholula, 154 — Slaughter of the CholuJtecas, 154 — Alliance with Txtlilxochitl, 154 — Cacamatzin impris- oned, 155— Cortes reaches Mexico, 156 — Cortes and Monte- zuma, 157 — A lesson and a vow, 157. XVI. La Noche Triste 158-165 Overtures of friendship, 158 — Bold measures, 159 — Monte- zuma in the power of the Spaniards, 159 — A rival in the field, 159 — Alvarado, 160 — The feast of Huitzilopochtli, 160 — The Spaniards in danger, 160-;— Death of Montezuma, 161 —Mexican traditions, 162 — Cortes abandons the city, 163 — A desperate struggle, 163 — La Noche Triste, 164 — The scene of the battle, 16-) ; the losses, 165. XVII. Conquest 166-179 An interval of peace, 166 — The new emperor, 166 — A legacy of the Spaniards, l67^Cortes in extremis, 167 — The Aztec army, r6S — Battle at Otumba, 170 — The Spaniards \ictorious, 170 — Preparations for defence, 171 — The Span- iards in Tlaxcalla, 171 — Ixtlilxochitl, 171 — Cortes at Texcuco, 172 — A new army and a new fleet, 172 — The campaign against Mexico, 173 — Suffering in the city, 174 — VI 11 THE STORY OF MEXICO. Surrender, 174 — The city destroyed, 175 — Cortes at Coyoacan, 175 — Search for treasures, 175 — The kings tortured, 175 — Military rule, 176 — Subjugation of Michoa- can, 176 — Later conquests, 177 — Death of the Aztec kings, 178 — Later life of Cortes, 178 ; return to Spain, 178 ; death, 178 ; burial in Mexico, 179. XVIIL Do^A Marina 180-183 Her position in the camp, 180 — After the victory, 180 — Life at Coyoacan, 180 — Arrival of Dona Catalina, 181 ; her death, 182 — Insurrection in Honduras, 182 — Marriage of Marina, 183 ; her later life and her death, 183 — Cortes visits Spain, 183 — A second marriage, 183. XIX. Indians 184-190 The conquest complete, 184 — Tlie name Indian, 184 — Origin of the Nahuatl tribes, iSs — Distinguished from the North American Indian, 1S6 — Military government, 1S8 — The Ayuntamiento , 1S8 — The Audiencia, lS8 — Nuiio de Guzman, i8g ; his cruelty to the natives, 189 — Guadalajara founded, 189 — A second Audieucia, 189 — A viceroy ap- pointed, 190 — Extent of New Spain, I90. XX. The First of the Viceroys . . . 191-202 Antonio de Mendoza, 191 ; his family and character, 191 — Reforms instituted, 191 — Industries encouraged, 192 — The Franciscans, 192 — Fray Pedro, 192 — Foundation of schools and colleges, 193 — Guadalajara and Valladolid, 193 — Michoacan and its people, 194 — The founding of a city, 195 — Spanish families in Mexico, 196 — Jews and Moors banished, 196 — Vasco de Quiroga, 197 ; his life in Tarasco, 197 ; his church at Tzintzuntzan, 198 — A wonderful picture, 198 — The cathedral at Morelia. 199 — Cortes goes to Spain, 200 — Popularity of the viceroy, 200 — First Mexican book, 202 — Departure of Mendoza, 202. CONTENTS. ix XXI. PAGE Fray Martin de Valencia . . . 203-213 Don Luis de Velasco, second viceroy, 203 — New institutions and industries, 203 — Puebla de los Angeles, 204; the tradition of its founding, 204 ; the situation, 206 — The early ecclesiastics, 207 — The worship of the Virgin, 207 — The "twelve apostles of Mexico," 20S — Fray Martin of Valenc a, 2o3 ; his life in Amecameca, 209 ; his death, 210 — Relics of Fray Martin, 211 — An object of reverence, 212 — Death of Velasco, 212 — A well-regulated government, 213. XXII. Other Viceroys . . . . ; 214-223 Events in Spain, 214 — Philip II., 214 — The character of the viceroys, 215 — The Inquisition, 216 — The Quemadero, 216 — Death of Philip, 217 — Inundations, 217 — Martinez and his canal, 218 — Successors of Philip, 2iy — Wars of succession, 220 — Revillagigedo, 220 ; anecdotes of his administration, 221. XXIII. Humboldt 224-232 A distinguished visitor, 224 ; he arrives in Mexico, 225 — Re- marks on the carving, 225 — Academy of fine arts, 226 ; its later history, 227 — The cathedral, 227 — Humboldt at Chapultepec, 228 ; The market, 228 — Teotihuacan, 229 — Mexican mines, 22g — Valenciana, 229 — At Patzcuaro, 230 — The birth of a volcano, 231. XXIV. Revolutions 233-237 Charles III. of Spain, 233 ; his successor, 233 — Branciforte and the statue of Charles IV., 234 — Napoleon invades Spain, 235 — A change of government, 235 — Juntas, 235 — The Bourbons restored. 235 — Iturrigaray and his adminis- tration, 236 — Revolt in the air 237 — The policy of Spain, 237 — Venegas, 237. X THE STORY OF MEXICO. XXV, PAGE Hidalgo 238-249 Birth and education, 23S — Colegio de San Nicholas, 238 — He takes orders, 238 ; life at Dolores, 240 ; bold schemes, 240 — Ignacio AUende. 241 ; An important step, 241 — The Grito de Dolores, 242 — A new army, 242 — Attack on Guanajuato, 243 — A brave boy, 243 — The new viceroy, 243 — Hidalgo excommunicated, 244 — Valladolid taken, 245 — Monte de la Cruces, C45 — The insurgents defeated at Aculco, 246 — Hidalgo declared Generalissimo, 246 — Battle of Calderon, 247 — Capture and death of the chiefs, 24S — End of the struggle for independence, 248. XXVI. MORELOS 250-257 Birth and family, 250 — Morelia, 251 — Muleteer and student, 251 — Morelos joins Hidalgo, 251 — Siege of Cuautla, 252 — Acapuico, 252 — First Mexican Congress, 252 — Declaration of independence, 253 — Attack on Valladolid, 253 — Mis- haps, 254^Morelos a prisoner, 254 — Death of Morelos, 255 ; his character and aims, 255 ; his object achieved, 256. XXVII. Yturbide 258-271 The close of Calleja's administration, 258 — The insurgents dispersed, 25S — Apodaca and Guerrero, 259 — Affairs in Spain, 259 — Agustin de Yturbide, 2G0 ; early services, 260 ; meets Guerrero, 261 — " Plan of Iguala," 261 — The " three guaranties," 261 — Advance of the insurgents 262 — The viceroy deposed, 262 — A successful campaign, 263 — O'Donoji'i, 263 — Treaty of Cordova, 264 — Yturbide enten> the capital, 264 — The Regency, 264 — The Mexican Empire founded, 265 — Work of the new government, 265 — Second Mexican Congress, 265 — Yturbide proclaimed Emperor, 266 — Signs of dissatisfaction, 267 — Santa Anna, 267 — The Casa-Mata, 263 — Yturljule banished, 268 ; his return to Mexico. 270 , his execution, 270 ; character of Yturbide, 271. CONTENTS. xi XXVIII. PAGE Santa Anna 272-280 A confused story, 272 — Santa Anna, 273 ; his connection with Yturbitle, 273 — The Constitution, 273 — " Guada- lupe " Victoria, 273 — Expulsion of the Spanish, 274 — A presidential election, 274 — Mutiny in the capital, 275 — Colonization of Texas, 276 — Pedraza, 276 — A Spanish in- vasion, 277 — Santa Anna made Commander-in-Chief, 277 — Bustamente, 27S — Guerrero betrayed and shot, 27S — Santa Anna becomes President, 278 — Farias, 279 — Insur- rection in Texas, 279. XXIX. Still Santa Anna 281-289 Louis Philippe, 281 — Reclamacion de los pasteles, 281 — The French repelled, 281 — Santa Anna's home, 282 — Busta- mente recalled, 282 — Trouble again, 283 — Mejia, 283 — A revolution described, 284 — Bustamente resigns, 288 — Santa Anna triumphant, 288. XXX. Society ....... 290-300 Madame Calderon's journal, 290 — An ambassador from Spain, 290 — State of society, 291 — The Paseo, 291 — The Viga, 292 — Women in Mexico, 292 — Good-Friday in Mexico, 294 — Robbers, 297 — Guardias Ruraies, 298 — A monarchy proposed, 299. XXXI. Rumors of War 301-310 Results of the Spanish rule, 301 — Playing at independence, 301 — The appeal to arms, 302 — The country exhausted, 302 — Misfortunes, 304 — The United States, 304 — Spread of its territory, 304 — Colonization of Texas, 305 — Moses Austin, 304 — Revolt against Mexico, 305 — Houston and Santa Anna, 305 — Texas independent, 305 — Annexed to the United States, 306 — Herrera, Farias, and Paredes, 307 — The Mexican army, 308. XII THE STORY OF MEXICO. XXXII. PAGE War Begun 311-322 The beginning of hostilities, 311 — Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, 311 — The war carried into Mexico, 312 — Diffi- culty of negotiation, 312 — " Indemnity for the past," 313 — California, 313 — Policy of the United States, 313 — Monte- rey taken, 314 — P'remont enters the capital, 316 — Taylor's campaign, 316 — Siege of Monterey, 318 — Ampudia's proc- lamation, 319 — Paredes and his " Plan," 319 — Santa Anna again, 320 — Fall of Paredes, 321 — Santa Anna at the capi- tal, 321 — A new army, 321. XXXIII. PuEBLA Lost 323-332 Scott before Vera Cruz, 323 — Buena Vista, 323 — Raising money, 323 — The religious orders and their influence, 324 — Wealth of the Church, 326 — Ecclesiastical property seized, 327 — Bombardment of Vera Cruz, 328 — The city surrenders, 328 — Cerro Gordo, 330 — Santa Anna at Puebla, 330 — Pue- bla occupied by the Americans, 331 — Guadalupe and its surroundings, 331 — Santa Anna as Dictator, 332 — Patriot- ism aroused, 332. XXXIV. Chapultepec Taken .... 333-341 The approach to the capital, 333 — Churubusco, 333 — Docile Indians, 333 — Another victory for the Americans, 334 — Molino de Rey, 334 — Chapultepec taken, 336 — Occupation of the capital, 336 — Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 338 — Discovery of gold, 338 — Effects of the war, 339 — Attempts to capture Santa Anna, 340 — Santa Anna retires to Jamaica, 341 — Grant in the Mexican war, 341. XXXV. Benito Juarez • . 342-347 Peace restored, 342 — Herrera and his administration, 342 — Santa Anna again Dictator, 344 — An epoch of reform, 344 — Clerigos and liberates, 344 — Benito Juarez, 344 ; his early life, 345 ; governor and exile, 345 ; restored to office, 346 — A new Constitution, 346 — Juarez becomes President, 346 — Foreign intervention, 347. CONTENTS. xiii XXXVI. PACE French Intervention .... 348-356 A foreign squadron, 348 — The pretext and the cause, 348 — Spain and England withdraw, 349 — The policy of Napoleon III., 349 — A proposed empire, 349 — Maximilian, 350; dreams of " the right divine," 352 — The French troops advance on the capital, 353 — Divisions in Mexico 353 — The Cinco de Mayo, 354 — A bold attack, 355 — Defence of Puebla, 356. XXXVII. The Empire under Protection . . 357-364 The sovereigns arrive, 357 — The imperialist party, 357 — Reception of Maximilian, 358 — Relics of royalty, 359 — Military affairs, 360 — The new government, 362 — Chapul- tepec restored, 363 — Society at the capital, 363 — Apparent prosperity, 364. XXXVIII. The Unprotected Empire . . 365-372 Action of the United States, 365 — Responsibility for the intervention, 366 — The final word of Napoleon, 367 — Car- lotta goes to Europe, 36S — Her interview with Napoleon, 369 — Maximilian leaves the capital, 370 — At Orizaba, 371 — Father Fischer, 371 — The Emperor's manifesto, 372. XXXIX. Maximilian , 373~382 The French army withdrawn, 373 — Advance of Juarez, 374 — The Emperor and his attendants, 374 — Investment of Queretaro, 375 — Marquez and Diaz, 375 — Personal appear- ance of the Emperor, 376 — The treachery of Lopez, 377 — Maximilian a prisoner, 378 ; his death" 380. XL. End of the Episode .... 383-385 General Vidaurri, 383 — The escape of Marquez, 384 — General Diaz, 384 — Puebla, 385 — Vigor of the liberal gov- ernment. 385. XIV THE STORY OF MEXICO. XLI. PAGB The Last of Santa Anna . . . 386-391 Juarez enters the capital, 3S6 — Peace established, 387 — Santa Anna in retirement, 3S7 ; his exile and death, 3SS — Character of Juarez, 389 — Civil war again, 390 — Death of Juarez, 390 — Lerdo becomes President, 391. XLII. PoRFiRio Diaz 392-401 A new "Plan," 392 — Birthplace of Diaz, 392 — Scenery of Oaxaca, 393 — The Zapotecas, 393 — Ruins of Mitla, 394 — Early life of Diaz, 394 ; his military achievements, 395 — An escape from hostile troops, 396 — Triumph of the oppo- sition, 396 — Diaz proclaimed President, 397 — Presidency of Gonsalez, 39S — Policy of Diaz. 399 — Chapultepec at the present day, 399 — Hope for the Indian, 400 — Prospects of development, 401. XLIII. Physical Advantages .... 402-411 Climate and vegetation, 402 — Mexican flora, 403 — The market-place, 404 — A family group, 404 — Native pottery, 405 — The cargador^ 405 — Wearing apparel, 406 — Serape and rebozo, 406, 407 — The cotton industry, 408 — The source of Mexican wealth, 409. XLIV. Future 412-419 Influence of the Catholic Fathers, 412 — Extinction of monasteries, 412 — The parish priest, 413 — The Mozarabic liturgy, 413 — A missionary field, 414 — The policy of the government, 414 — vSchools, 415 — Literature in modern Mexico, 416 — The Mexican-Spaniard, 417 — Railways,4i8— Brighter days to come, 419. Index 421 ^Pi H Wi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Mexican Flag Valley of Tula . Column from Tula Ruins found at Tula quetzalcoatl Portico at Kaboh Vase in the National Museum, Washingt Casa del Gobernador,Uxmal Statue from Palenque Tablet of Cross at Palenque Mayan Bas-Relief Statue of Chaak Mool Zamna .... Organ Cactus Idol in Terra-Cotta . Canal outside the City of Mexico Stone of Tizoc .... Sculpture Representing Human Sacrifice Court of the Museum at Mexico Vase. Museum at Mexico Pyramid at Teotihuacan Early Pottery . Cathedral at Morelia Puebla de Los Angeles Temple of Xochicalco Cactus Hedge on Frontispiece. '5 24 25 31 43 63 71 73 74 77 79 81 85 89 93 103 107 113 120 169 187 201 205 225 239 XVI THE STOR V OF MEXICO. Panorama of Puebla . Indian Hut in the Tierra Caliente Cathedral, City of Mexico The Viga Valley of Mexico Monterey, Mexico General Taylor General Scott . Siege of Vera Cruz Battle of Moling del Rey Storming of Chapultepec Benito Juarez Archduke Maximilian* San Luis Potosi , Chapultepec in the Time of Maximilian Head-quarters of Juarez at San Luis de Potosi The Convent of ('apuchinas Zapotec Ornament Image of a Zapotec Chief . President Porfirio Diaz Aqueduct in the City of Mexico 269 283 289 293 Z^Z 315 317 325 329 335 337 343 351 359 361 379 381 393 394 397 410 * From " The Fall of Maximilian's Empire." By permission of the author, Seaton Schroeder, Lieut. U. S. N. For a numljer of these illustrations the publishers are indebted to the courtesy of Messrs. Hochette & Co., publishers of " Le Voyage au Mexique," by Jules Leclercq. ..,„„, Bt^^T — '^'"■"■■■'■■. .CALABASAST U ISi" *i./ I ( ! pa'sc NC. ^magdalenas '^i i-53 %' o If HEi^OSlLLo|_^-^u/^S J > V^ Xf' o TOPdLOBAMPO? St^^ V CULIAtoAN ALTATA^ o .%^'PAi V Nf^ y^ ^-^ ~C^ MAP OF MEXICO Scale of JEnglish illles 100 200 300 \^A c J^u> ^^ '^^S^^^^^r"'^^"^ ^"i ^^^^^^ ^^^i ^ ^ ^^W p ^^^^ ^^S Wi^J: i ^M ^^ ffl THE STORY OF MEXICO. THE SUBJECT. The steamer stops, and wc are lying off Vera Cruz, in the Gulf of Mexico. Half a mile off, the long, low shore stretches north and south, with the white town upon it, flat roofs making level lines on the houses glaring in the morning sunlight, domes and church towers rising above the rest ; glimpses of bright green tree-tops are to be seen, but outside the city all is barren and waste. The plain behind rolls up, however, and the background is the peak of snow-capped Orizaba, silent, lofty, 17,356 feet above our level. This is what we see to-day, leaning over the bul- wark of our large luxurious steamer which has brought' us, easih', from Havana in a few days, over the smooth, green waters of the Gulf. Our only anxiety has been the possible chance of a " Norther," which may break loose at any time in that region, sweeping over the waters with fury and driving the stoutest vessels away from the coast they would ap- I 2' ' THE STORY OF MEXICO. proach. Our only exertion has been to keep cool upon the pleasant deck, and to take enough exercise to be able to enjoy the frequent food provided by the admirable chrf oi the steamer. The scenery is the same that Fernando Cortes looked upon, some three hundred years ago, when he, too, cast anchor about half a mile from the coast, and scanned the shore with an anxious eye, to find a suitable landing. Orizaba rose before him, as now we see it, stately, majestic, cold and forbidding, under its mantle of snow. We must envy the adventurer, in spite of our ad- vantages in the way of ease and comfort. He stood upon the cramped deck of his little vessel, sur- rounded by a handful of men, with a limited amount of provisions, and great uncertainty about the next supply. No town stre,tched out its sheltering walls before him ; there was scarcely harborage for his ships. Yet he had the advantage of absolute novelty in his undertaking from the moment he himself, with his little band, led the way up the steep slope to Anahuac. Every true traveller has some of the instincts of the explorer in him, and these instincts must make us envy the prospect which lay before Cortes as he ap- proached in the Bay of VeraCru.^ the real beginning of his enterprise. There was the shore of the new country, where he might plant his "rich city of the true cross." There was the cold mountain which might contain in its depths the treasure he was seek- ing, and beyond it was the rumored Empire he longed to conquer. At that moment, no fear, no THE SUBJECT. 3 discouragement, held back the eager steps with which he sprang into his boat, and beckoned his compan- ions to follow him. Cort6s fulfilled his ambition, achieved his task, with what difficulties, through what straits and fail- ures, we shall have later to see. He scaled the sides of Orizaba, reached the lofty plateau, and seized the ancient citadel of the Montezumas. Civilization has trodden smooth the rough path he first opened, and railroads now make it easy to climb the pass so ar- duous for him. If our journey lacks the element of constant discovery which belonged to his, we have gained that of wonder and amazement at the diffi- culties he surmounted. Moreover, he came in igno- rance of what he was to find, with a blind desire for conquest, investing the region he approached with imaginary attractions. We know beforehand, as we begin to explore the country, that its legends and romances are as fascinating as its mines are deep ; that its story is as picturesque as the lofty ranges and deep rolling valleys which make the charm of its scenery. An inhospitable coast borders the treacherous, though beautiful, Gulf of Mexico. Its waters look smiling and placid, but at any season the furious " Norther " may break loose, sweeping with fearful suddenness over its surface, lashing its lately smiling waves into fury, threatening every vessel with de- struction. Low sand-bars offer little shelter from the blast. Ships must stand off the coast until the tempest shall be past. The country offers nothing better to its landed 4 THE STORY OF MEXICO. guests. Vomito lurks in the streets of Vera Cruz to seize upon strangers and hurry them off to a wretched grave. All the pests of a tropical region infest the low lands running back from the sea. Splendid vegetation hides unpleasant animals, and snakes are lurking among the beautiful blue morning-glories that festoon the tangled forests. Let us hasten away from these dangers, and climb the slope that leads to a purer air. We have escaped the terrors of the custom-house at Vera Cruz, from which, b\' the way, Cortes was exempt, and after a doubtful night in the hotel, serenaded by swarms of Vera Cruz mosquitoes, at early dawn we creep stealthily from our chambers, not to disturb the few misguided guests who mean to stay a little longer, and follow the dusky carga- dorcSy bearing our baggage on their backs, down into the silent street. In Mexico there is no effort on the part of an hotel proprietor to speed the parting guest. He signs the bill overnight and betakes himself to repose, undisturbed by the exodus in early morning. The cargadores who have agreed to attend to the luggage rouse their sleeping prey and lead them through a wide, straight street to the railroad station. There is no sign of breakfast at the hotel. Nobody is stirring but one sleepy inn- keeper. Hard by the station, as in every Mexican town, is a cafe, where excellent hot coffee is fur- nished, with plenty of boiled milk and good bread in many and various forms. Here we may sit and refresh ourselves with cup after cup, if we like, until the short, sharp whistle of the steam-engine warns THE SUBJECT. 5 US to take the train. Heavy baggage was, or should have been, weighed and registered overnight. It is but six o'clock as we move out of the station. A big sun is slowly rising over the dr\-, hot clwppar- r«/ outside the city. Although it is early April, all is parched like midsummer. Soon, however, we begin to climb, and, as we ascend, pass through forests of wonderful growth. Sugar-cane and cofTee plantations now appear ; and the trees are hung with orchids, tangled with vines bright with blossoms, many of them fruit-trees now in flower, one mass of white or pink. The road crosses water-falls, winds round ravines, under mountains, through tunnels, climbing ever higher and higher, until Cordoba is reached at an elevation of over 2,000 feet. This town is surrounded and invaded by coffee plan- tations and orange groves. At the station baskets of delicious fruits are offered us — oranges, bana- nas, grenaditas, mangoes. Here we bid farewell to the tropics, and forget the snakes and the fear of vomito. The climate we are seeking is not a tropical one. Whoever associates Mexico with the characteristics of heat, malaria, venomous reptiles, has received a wrong impression of it. Such places, with their drawbacks, exist within the geographical limits of the country, but it is wholly unnecessary to seek them ; for the towns of historical and picturesque interest are above the reach of tropical dangers, for the most part, while there are seasons of the year when even the warmer portions can be visited with safety and delight. At Orizaba the climate is tem- 6 THE SIORY OF MEXICO. pcrate, ffesh, and cool, beginning to have the ele- ments of mountain altitudes. It is well to stop here for a day or two to become accustomed to the rarer air. It is a summer place of recreation for the inhabitants of Vera Cruz, while in winter it is a favorite excursion from the places higher up on the plateau. As we are travelling only in imagination, we may safely, without pause, press upward to the great plateau where most of the scene is laid of our stor}'. For Mexico, with the exception of the narrow border of sea-coast we have just crossed, is a lofty table- land between two oceans, a mountain ridge continued up from the Andes in South America, contracted at the Isthmus of Panama to a narrow chain of granite, to grow broad in Mexico as it stretches to the north- west, until it spreads, at an elevation from 4,000 to 8,000 feet, almost from ocean to gulf. This is Ana- huac, the so-called table-land of Mexico, a broad plateau upon which the picturesque romantic drama of Mexican history has been played. Upon this high plateau, which is by no means level, rise the crests of the great volcanic ridges, of which the highest are Popocatepetl and Istaccihuatl. The table-land rolls off northward at first, keeping its high level, growing narrower, gradually sinking as it approaches the Rio Grande, until at the boundary line of the United States it has fallen to 3,000 feet. Thus Mexico possesses three well defined climates, due to variation in altitude : the iicrra caliente^ or hot lands of the coast ; the tierra tcviplada, or tem- perate region ; and the tierra fria, tiie cold regions THE SUBJECT. J of the mountain tops, more than 6,000 feet above the level of the sea. These climates, moreover, are modified by the latitude, so that between the cold altitudes of the northern portions, and the warm tropical levels of the south, there is a vast range of atmospheric change. Our story has its stage, for the most part in the ticrra templada, where the year is divided into two seasons: the dry season, from November to May; the rainy one, from June to October. The pleasant- er one is the rainy one, in spite of its name. The rains are not continuous, but fall usually late in the afternoon and during the night, leaving the morning bright and clear, and the air deliciously fresh and cool. All the year roses bloom in the city of Mex- ico, and there are places where you may eat straw- berries every day in the three hundred and sixty five. Spreading over the greater part of this lofty region, there are broad, level plains of rich verdure, bright with all imaginable wild-flowers growing in profusion ; large lakes, as picturesque as those of Northern Italy, surrounded by hills that are moun- tains, reckoning from the sea level ; lofty mountain peaks, eternally snow-covered, barren and rocky be- low their snow-summits, then clothed with pine, and nearer at hand with fine oaks and other trees of tem- perate climates. Brawling streams water the valleys, and at the edge of the plateau make deep barrancas, whose depths reach to the lower level, their danger- ous chasms hidden by rich growths. On this elevated plateau, which with all its va- 8 TIJE STORY OF MEXICO. riety seems a world of its own, until within the period of modern inventions all but inaccessible to the lower country and the ocean beyond, we find the traces of an ancient civilization, reaching backward until it is lost in legend. Long before the invasion of Anahuac by Cortes, it was inhabited by intelligent races of men. The mystery which hangs about these people makes the search for their history full of interest. In the present native population, we seek to find some clue to the manners and customs of the first inhabitants, by which to read the mean- ing of the monuments they have left. They are gone, their institutions overthrown by a power strongei" than they were, by reason of the resources of advancing civilization, their idols and temples overturned by the zealots of another belief. Outraged by the human sacrifices of the Mexican tribes, Cortes destroyed, with a reckless hand, all the evidences of what he regarded heathen worship. In so doing, the records of the race were lost, together with carved images of gods. It is unfortunate that his zeal was not tempered with discrimination, for it is now difificult, through the clouds of exaggeration surrounding the Spanish Conquistadores, to find out what sort of people they were, who preceded them on Anahuac. Empires and palaces, luxury and splendor fill the accounts of the Spaniards, and imagination loves to adorn the halls of the Montczumas with the glories of an Oriental tale. Later explorers, with the fatal penetration of our time, destroy the splendid vision, reducing the emperor to a chieftain, the glittering THE SUBJECT. 9 retinue to a horde of savages, the magnificent capi- tal of palaces to a pueblo of adobe. The discouraged enthusiast sees his magnificent civilization devoted to art, literature, and luxury, reduced to a few hand- fuls of pitiful Indians, quarrelling with one another for supremacy, and sighs to think his sympathies may have been wasted on the sufferings of an Aztec sovereign dethroned by the invading Spaniard. Yet perseverence, after brushing away the spark- ling cobwebs of exaggerated report, finds enough fact left to build up a respectable case for the early races of Mexico. Visible proofs of their importance exist in the monuments, picture writings, and, above all, their traditions, which, at all events, remain a pretty story, with a sediment of facts the student may precipitate for himself. These traditions make of the early settlers of Anahuac a very interesting study, all the more from their shadowy nature, leav- ing still much margin for fancy. They were overwhelmed by the Spaniards, but not destroyed, for the descendants of the conquered races still form a large proportion of the population of Mexico. Their tcocallis and hideous carved gods gave way to Roman Catholic cathedrals and images of the Holy Virgin. Spanish viceroys, after the first atrocities of military discipline, ruled the gentle de- scendants of the Aztecs with a control for the most part mild and beneficent. The Catholic fathers who crossed the ocean to labor for the spiritual welfare of the natives, wisely engrafted upon the mysteries of their own faith the legends and superstitions of the older belief. Thus we find in many of the religious lO THE STORY OF MEXICO. ceremonies in Mexico, a wild, picturesque element, which is lacking in the church festivals of the Old World. When the Conquistadores took possession of the New Spain in the name of their royal master, the Emperor Charles V., he was one of the most power- ful of earthly monarchs. His son, Philip II., re- ceived the country as a part of his inheritance, along with realms which made him even greater than his father. But the successors of Philip II. knew not how to hold the possessions their fathers had won. Piece by piece their distant provinces were lost to them. Mexico, after two hundred years of neglect and mismanagement, shook herself free from Spanish rule ; since the early part of this century she has called herself independent, with the exception of the two brief periods when the ambition of two men, differing widely from each other in their antecedents and aims, caused them to attempt the role of " Em- peror of Mexico." Iturbidc was the former of these; the latter, the ill-advised Maximilian. For the last twenty years, since the fall of Maximilian, Mexico has been a republic, with all the varying fortunes that attend a young institution struggling with in- experience and difficulty. A native population with an inheritance of superstition, prejudice, and oppres- sion, mixed with a race whose traditions are all in favor of arbitrary government, supplemented by immigrants from every other nation who have come, often with lawless intent, seldom with disinterested motives, and never inspired by any feeling that could be called patriotism, must wait long for that THE SUBJECT. II unanimity of public opinion and harmony of interest which ensure good government. At times it has seemed that no good could emerge from such opposing elements ; yet nature has fur- nished to Mexico material for a long siege ; broad territory with a faultless climate, mountains rich in every mineral resource, valleys well adapted for cultivation and grazing, a land where every industry may, under a stable government, be pursued with success. The character of the descendant of the Aztecs is mild and docile, capable, as many people think, of high development by education ; such bad qualities as Mexicans have developed from Spanish inheritance are, it is hoped, giving way before the progress of civilization and education. The past of the people who live upon Anahuac is wrapped in mystery. So is- their future. Both are interesting problems, to be worked out from the legends of old time, and the narrative of the present. 11. SHADOWY TRIBES. Anahuac means " by the water," It is the ancient name for the great tract of land surrounding the lakes in the lofty valley of Mexico, — Chalco and Xochimilco, which are but one lake, properly speak- ing, the large Lake of Texcuco, and the smaller ones Zumpango and San Christobal. At first the name Anahuac was applied only to the neighbor- hood of the lakes, but later it came to be applied to the whole plateau. The Conquistadores, according to their own glow- ing account, found upon the shores of these lakes a busy population, with all the evidences of industry and prosperity. Temples, erected for worship, con- taining the images of strange gods, stood in the lofty places. Their monarch lived in a palace of luxury, surrounded by his guards ; he controlled a large army, which did battle for him against his enemies. His swift-footed messengers, without steam, without even horses, did his bidding even to the shores of the distant sea. Without printing, or telegraph, he received prompt information of distant events 1)\' pictures made on the spot by his speci.il artist. Here was a civilization which had rt- 12 SH A DO IVY TRIBES, 1 3 ceived nothing from the courts of Europe, whose forms and ceremonies, while as rigid and as grand, borrowed nothing from the traditions of the royal house of Spain. Whence came this proud people which had con- quered for itself a place in that valley of the perfect climate ? About fifty miles from the city of Mexico is a town named Tula, formerly Tollan, which means perhaps " the place of many people." A road, shaded by great ash-trees leads across the river Tula, through a narrow pass to some ruins of an ancient civilization, ruins already when the city of Monte- zuma, which Cortes found flourishing, arose. A building of ancient stone is still there, laid in mud and covered with hard cement of a ruddy tint, with which the floors are also covered. The largest room in the building is not more than fifteen feet square. Another building farther on, larger than the first, is called the Casa Grande ; it contains about thirty small rooms, connected by stairways, as their height above the ground varies. The plaza of the little town Tula contains the portion of a column and the lower half of a colossal statue, which belong, as well as the buildings just described, to the period of the Toltecs, whose capital was the ancient Tol- lan. Their city was abandoned a hundred years be- fore the Aztecs entered it, and its founders scat- tered. Whence came the shadowy race whose history vaguely underlies that of later Mexican races ? The great mound which since Humboldt's time has 14 THE STORY OF MEXICO. been called the pyramid of Cholula, of which every child has seen a pic'^ure in his geography, has now all the appearance of a natural hill. It is overgrown with verdure and trees ; torrents of water in the rainy seasons have cut crevices in its sides, and laid bare wide spaces. A good paved road now leads to the summit, where a pretty modern church looks down upon the little town of Cholula huddled round the base of the pyramid. The church and the road leading to it are the work of the Spaniards, but examination proves the whole mound to be built by men out of earth, broken limestone, little pebbles, and small bits of lava. Sun-dried bricks were employed, of varying sizes and different make, which aids the idea that the mound was built slowly and by differing methods. On the platform at the top, which was reached by five successive ter- races, Cortes found a temple, which he caused to be destroyed. The dates fixed for the erection of this pyramid vary from the seventh to the tenth century of our era. Conjecture only offers explanation of the purpose for which it was erected. Legends which the neighboring Indians preserve say that it was built in preparation for a second deluge. An- other version is that men dazzled by the splendor of the scene sought to erect a tower which should reach the firmament ; the heavenly powers, wroth with their audacity, destroyed the edifice and dispersed the builders. Cholula was one of the important cities of the Toltecs, but its construction is attributed to an earlier people. Another monument of the ancient civilization is 1 6 THE STORY OF MEXICO. Xochicalco, seventy-five miles southwest of the city of Mexico. In the middle of a plain rises a cone- shaped height from three to four hundred feet high, whose base has an oval form two miles in circumference. Two tunnels piercing the side of the mound open towards the north ; the first has been explored only eighty-two feet. The second penetrates the calcareous hill b)' a large gallery nine feet and a half high, with several branches in differ- ent directions. The ground is paved. The walls are supported b\^ mason-work cemented and covered with red ochre. The principal gallery leads to a hall eighty feet long, whose ceiling is kept in place by the aid of two pilasters. In one corner of this hall is a little recess, excavated like the rest out of the solid rock, with an ogival dome of Gothic aspect. So much for the interior. Outside are five suc- cessive terraces of mason-work sustained by walls surmounted by parapets. At the summit stand upon a broad platform the ruins of the temple for which the mound was apparently destined ; it is a rectangular building constructed of blocks of por- phyritic granite placed on each other without the aid of mortar, with sucli skill that the joinings were scarcely visible. In 1755 the temple still preserved five stories ; at the top was a stone, which might have served as a seat, covered like the rest of the building with strange ornaments carved in the5stone. Works evidently for defence testify to the con- stant fighting which must have been waged over Anahuac. In the j)rovincc of Vera Cruz, at Iluatusco, there are traces of fortifications stretching towards SUA DO IVY TRIBES. 1 7 the north. Ceutla seems to have been one of the chief points chosen for defence. The plain is cov- ered with ruins. A forest conceals and at the same time protects several pyramids of stone bound with mortar. These pyramids arc the mo-t striking fea- ture of this ancient architecture. The teocallis or palaces at Palenque and Copan, ruins found in Yucatan and Honduras, are erected on truncated pyramids like those of Anahuac. They are all of one primitive type, although differing in details of material and form. These ruins, still left to attest the power of the great vanished nations who erected them, are rapidly disappearing. The Spanish conquerors were amazed at their size and importance — so much so that in their description they often exaggerated their splen- dor. Some of them Cortes destroyed ; whatever he spared, gradually falls away, through neglect, theft, or other ravage of time. Forests of tropical growth have hidden the wonders of Palenque from destruc- tion. Other such places may yet exist all undiscov- ered ; and it is probable that the researches of sci- entific explorers will in time bring to light much information about the builders of these monuments. Meanwhile we must again turn to conjecture, and in the absence of facts to keep it within bound, we may indulge our imagination, and play with legend. Far away from some distant home, early in the dim traditional annals of Anahuac, men came to settle upon its plains. They found there a race of giants — strange, fierce men, of immense strength, — whose ancestors perhaps had struggled with pre- 1 8 THE STORY OF MEXICO. historic beasts, of which the bones lie buried deep below the present surface. This race of giants was wild and rude ; they lived by hunting, and devoured raw the flesh of the game they secured with bows and arrows ; they were brave, daring, and agile, but were given over to the vice of drunkenness. We cannot stop to be very much interested in this rudimentary people, called Quinames, who have left us scarcely more than a name, and little even of le- gend to charm us. The pyramid of Cholula and that of Teotihuacan are ascribed to them, rather by way of pushing back these monuments to an ancient pe- riod. Their conception and execution show ambi- tion, perhaps veneration, as well as determination and perseverance. Whence they came, therefore, it is vain to specu- late : how long they were there, what manner of men they were. A wave of life more civilized swept down upon them from the north and exterminated the whole race, so that we have nothing more to tell about them. The tribes which have the credit of destroying the giants bear the names of Xicalancas and Ulmecas. They paused a while upon the pla- teau, and passed on to people the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico. Next came the Mayas, still always from the north. Although they left some traces upon Anahuac, they too moved farther on, to establish in Yucatan and the territory between Chiapas and Central America their greatly advanced civilization. Of this great family the many different branches speak dialects varying from the mother tongue, but allied to each other. SUA DO IV V TRIBES. 1 9 The Otomis, still with the same northern origin, spread themselves very earh' over the territory which is now occupied by the states of San Luis, Potosi, Guanajuato, and Queretaro, reaching Michoacan, and spreading still farther. These were a rough people who lurked among the mountains, avoiding the Hfe of large communities. They have left no record of progressive civilization. Their descendants are still traced in the regions which they chiefly occupied, by peculiarities of dialect. Mixtecas and Zapotccas are names of other peoples who came to occupy Ana- huac, but the Toltecs are the first of these ancient tribes distinguished for the advancement of their arts and civilization, of which their monuments and the results of excavation give abundant proof. The legends of those tribes who came to Mexico over the broad path leading down from the north refer to an ancient home, of which they retained a sad, vague longing, as the Moor still dreams of the glories of Granada. They preserved the tradition of their long migrations in their hieroglyphics and pic- tured writings. These traditions bear a strong re- semblance to each other, and the dialects of the suc- cessive races which appeared in Mexico are so similar that it is probable they all belong to the same lan- guage, which is called Nahuatl. All these races are generalized as the Nahuas. One of the traditions relates that seven families alone were saved from the Deluge. Their descend- ants, after long and weary wanderings, fixed them- selves at Hueh\ie-Tlapallan(the 01d,01d, Red Rock), a fertile country and agreeable to live in, near a broad 20 THE STORY OF MEXICO. and endless river, flowint;' from mountains far away to an ever distant sea. On tlie shore of the river were broad plains where cattle L;ra/ed. The moun- tains, with summits reachiuL^ to the heavens, were full of game. The winters were long, but the sum- mers mild and agreeable. There the parents of the Nahuas dwelt long and happily, but at last enemies, whose attacks they had been obliged from time to time to resist, overcame them, and drove them from their homes. It was then they descended towards the south, seeking a land which slundd remind them of their favored home. Onl\' when they reached the plateau of Auahuac, near the great lakes which reminded them of their mighty river, could they rest. Such legends as these, and the forms of the pyra- mids found in Mexico and Yucatan, lead naturally to the guess that these races were the descendants of the Mound Builders of the Mississippi Valley, Ohio, and Missouri. The monuments of these prehistoric men are not unlike the teocallis and p)'ramids of the Nahuas. The " mounds" are artificial hills of earth, constructed with mathematical regularity, round, oval, or square. They are finished at the top by platforms, destined, apparently, to religious rites. Like those in Mexico, the Mounds, in their form and the great number of them, bear evidence to the pro- longed existence of the race who built them, to long years of labor, and thousands of workmen employed in their construction. Excavation has brought to light implements of war and household use, which show both taste and skill, and these objects are much alike in their general aspect, whether found in SH A no IVY TRIBES. 21 the valley of the Mississippi or of Mexico. Such conjectures are full of attraction ; but they have, as yet, no solid foundation. As for the Mound Builders, their name, by which we now designate them, is but a modern label. Their own is effaced from the memory of men. Their origin is equally lost, and the time of their existence, the date of their monu- ments, are vanished in a vague past. To associate, then, these Mound Builders with the early wandering tribes who descended to the plateau of Anahuac, is no help, at present, to the student of Mexican antiquit}'. Yet the idea is pleasing to the imagination ; and it is even reason to hope that future discoveries in either region may throw light upon the early stay of the other. Had we sure knowledge that the Mound Builders and the Nahuas were of the same race, we should still have to inquire whence came the)' all before they settled in the Mississippi valley, were driven out by their enemies, and migrated to the Mexican plateau? Such speculations are the pastime of the student of lost races. For him to dream of the pos- sible homes of a set of people where traces are but faintly to be discerned, is as fascinating as building airy castles in Spain. The theory of a submerged continent beneath the Azores, opposite the mouth of the Mediterranean, which might be the island described by Plato, At- lantis, the region where man first emerged from a condition like that of beasts to a constantly advan- cing state of civilization, plays a part in the fancies of those who are wondering about the origin of the Nahuatl tribes of Anahuac. 22 THE STORY OF MEXICO. The distant home of which they all preserved llie legend under one name or another, one of which was Aztlan, the musical title given it by the Mexicans, was, perhaps, Atlantis, the broad and mighty realm where mankind in its childhood lived for generations in tranquillity and happiness. Huehue-Tlapallan, Aztlan, Atlantis, these names represent the universal tradition of this early home. The world before the Deluge, the Garden of Eden, the Garden of the Hesperides, the Elysian Fields, Olympus, Asgard, — all these are but different terms to express the vague vision in men's minds of a happy past. If the theory of Atlantis could be true, these were not mere visions but traditions preserving a consistent recollection of real historical events, of a populou? and mighty cradle of nations which peopled the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi, tht Amazon, and the Pacific coasts of South America, as well as the older world. Atlantis, according to the stor}-, perished in a ter- rible convulsion of nature, in which the whole island sank into the ocean with nearly all its inhabitants. Only a few persons escaped in ships and rafts to lands east and west of the catastrophe. Each of these separate survivors became, in the legend of his descendants, the solitary Noah or Coxcox of a tradition representing the destruction of an entire world. The Nahuatl legend helps out the theory of Atlantis to willing minds. The Noah of the Mexi- can tribes was Coxcox, who, with his wife Xochi- quetzal, alone escaped the deluge. They took ref- uge in the hollow trunk of a cypress {ahuehiicte), SHADOWY TRIBES. 23 which floated upon the water, and stopped at last on top of a mountain of Culhuacan. They had many children, but all of them were dumb. The great spirit took pity on them, and sent a dove, who hastened to teach them to speak. Fifteen of the children succeeded in grasping the power of speech, and from these the Toltecs and Aztecs are descended. Another account describes a deluge in which men perished and were changed to fish ; the earth disap- peared, and the highest mountain tops were covered with water. But before this happened, one of the Nahua gods, called Tezcatlipoca, spoke to a man named Nata and his wife Nana, saying : " Do not busy yourselves any longer making /?//^?^d', but hollow out for yourselves a large boat of an aJiueJmete tree, and make your home in it when you see the waters rising to the sky." The Mexican historian, Ixtlilxochitl, has conceived that after the dispersion of the human race, which succeeded the attempt to build the Tower of Babel, seven Toltecs reached America, and became the parents of that race. Thus having learned of the Tower of Babel from his Catholic instructors, Ixtlilxochitl skilfully pieces the Hebrew legend upon the Toltec fabric. The friends of the Atlantis theory in like manner seize upon the universal fable of the deluge to weave into their tissue. It remains for every reader to decide for himself whether to regard these theories as the airy fabric of a vision, or made up out of the whole cloth. III. TOLTECS. A SOMEWHAT connected chain of events begins with the traditions of the Toltecs upon the plateau of Anahuac. Their farthest ancestors, they sup- posed, founded the city of Huehue-Tlapallan far to the north, perhaps on the shores of the Colorado River. There they lived from genera- tion to generation, nobody knows how long, until great civil wars broke out in their nation, and a part, deserting their ancient homes, wandered down towards the south. This was in the year 544 of our era. Guided by their great chief Huemat- zin, the Toltecs wandered over the sandy plains in the north of Mexico till they came to the land " near the water," fertile and promising, and finally settled in a place they called Tollanzinco. Not far off, in the course of time, they found- ed their great city of Tollan, now Tula, which became the centre of the Toltec nation. These people built so well and so COLUMN I'KOM TULA. 84 26 THE STORY OF MEXICO. much that the name became the word to mean builders. The few ruins left of their capital attest their skill. They felt themselves to be a superior race to that they found in their new home. The Toltecs were tall, robust, and well-formed, of light- sallow complexion, with but little hair on their face. They were wonderful for running, and coul'd run at the greatest speed for hours. Their manners were gentle and refined, as well as their tastes. Yet they were cruel in war as well as brave. Arrived in their new countr}', the\' set themselves to work to till the ground and plant it with all the crops the favorite climate permits. They had Indian corn, q\\\\q, frijoles, the beans so beloved to this day by the Mexicans, and other vegetables ; these they cultivated with better processes than the former in- habitants had known. Nevertheless, and although the proud Toltecas must have looked down on the native tribes, they took a step dictated by a wise diplomac}-, in order to preserve harmony and good- fellowship with their neighbors. They invited the ruler of the Chichemecs, a tribe to the north of them, to provide them a chief from his family, and, much flattered, he sent them his second son. Some Toltec Richelieu must have planned this scheme, with the intention of keeping the real power in his own hands. Precious-stone-who-shines(Chalchiuhtlatonac),well pleased to sparkle in a new setting, came to them from the powerful neighboring tribe of the Chiche- mecs, and governed peacefully for tlie space of fifty- two years, while the Toltecs planted and reaped, and pursued their gentle way. TOL TECS. ' 27 They spoke the tongue NahuatI, giving to it their own dialect. They wrote, and studied the stars, by which they regulated their division of time. It is said they were the first in all Anahuac who knew geography. How much they knew we never shall know, still less how little those before them knew. They knew the properties of plants, how to heal the sick by using them, how to keep well. They were excellent carpenters; they worked precious stones with skill ; they wove their garments out of strong or delicate fabrics in many colors and designs, de- manding and creating for themselves not only the necessities of life, but the adornments of art and taste. In fact, the Toltecs were a worthy people, averse to war, allied to virtue, to cleanliness, courtesy, and good manners. They detested falsehood and treachery, and held their gods in reverence. The early faith of the Toltecs was the adoration of the sun, moon, and stars. Especially the power {tecuhtli) which warmed the earth and made it fruit- ful, giving them thus their chief blessings, they wor- shipped under the name Tonacatecuhtli, to whom they offered flowers, fruits, and sacrifices of small animals. Polytheism, and the sacrifice of human be- ings, which was later engrafted on this simple belief by other tribes, had no part in the early religion of the Toltecs. At the end of the tenth century, when in England the Danes were beginning to trouble the Anglo-Sax- ons, and Ethelreds and Edreds were retreating before Canutes and Ilardicanutes; when across the channel Hugh Capet had put an end to the feeble dynasties of the Carlovingian kings, and was taking for him- 28 THE STORY OF MEXICO. self the crown of France, began to rule Tecpancalt- zin, the ciL^^hth of the Toltec chiefs. We cannot tell what manner of court he held, whether rude or splendid. His territory stretched over large dis- tances, and counted many flourishing cities, among them Teotihuacan, Cholollan, Cuernavaca, and Toluca. Cuernavaca, " where the eagle stops," at an elevation of nearly five thousand feet above the sea, is built upon a headland projecting into a valley between two sharp barrancas. The region is richly watered, and produces now, as in the time of the Toltecs, abundant crops. Fruits also abound there. The winter climate is delightful. The place was captured by Cortes before he laid siege to the cit\' of Mexico. It became his favorite resort, and the valley was included in ihe royal reward he received for his Mexican conquests. It was here that he be- gan in Mexico the cultivation of the sugar-cane, and here the Conquistador passed the last x'cars of his life. Traces of the ancient civilization are still to be seen. Behind a house in the town called the Casa de Cortes is a solitary rock u[:)on which are prehis- toric carvings ; on the crest of a little hill near by is a lizard about eight feet long carved in stone. Eigh- teen miles from Cuernavaca are the ruins of Xochi- calco, before mentioned. Toluca is forty-five miles west of the city of Mex- ico, at an elevation of 8,600 feet above the level of the sea. The scenery all the way from Mexico is of the finest description. The two volcanoes which dom- inate the valley, covered with snow, are behind, and TOL TECS. 29 before us is the equally beautiful Nevada de Toluca, nearly as high as they. It is an extinct volcano, the crater of which is now a lake with a whirlpool in the middle of it. Here the Toltecs had a palace of stone decorated with hieroglyphics. Such was the broad territory over which ruled Tecpancaltzin. The lakes in the valle}', much larger than the}' are now, were his, and all the fertile valleys around them, which his people knew well how to cultivate. His swift runners brought him from sunny Cuernavaca fruits of the tropics. Snow from the Nevadas, even in the hot days of summer, was at his disposition. His w^arriors kept his neighbors in proper aw^e, and he lived at peace with all men. It was then, according to some reckonings, that the mysterious Quetzalcoatl appeared in Tollan. He must have been a real personage, for the tale is deeply rooted in the traditions of the country, of the white man with a long beard who came from the East, and disappeared as mysteriously as he had come, over the Atlantic Ocean. The Toltecs w^ere dark, with scanty beards and short ; this stranger was absolutely unlike them. He remained with them twenty years, teach- ing them the arts of a better civilization. Recent study has busied itself with extinguishing the beams which surround the bright image of this wonderful be- ing. Before the traditions of his greatness are thus swept away, we will preserve them for a little longer. Quetzalcoatl (The Shining Snake) is sometimes de- scribed as one of the four principal gods who shared with the terrible Huitzilopochtli the work of the first creation. Elsewhere he is represented as a man who 30 THE STORY OF MEXICO. came to live among the Toltecs, and who disap- peared as mysteriously as he came. Between the two accounts of him, then, is every shade of matter- of-fact and miraculous in the taleii that are preserved of him. One, shown in an ancient painted writing, now lost, depicted him a youth, fasting seven years alone among the hills, and drawing his blood, be- cause the gods made of him a great warrior, showed how he became chief of Tula, selected by the inhab- itants on account of his bravery, and how he built them a great temple. " While he was doing this, Tezcatlipoca came to him, and said that towards Honduras, in a place called Tlapalla, he was to es- tablish his home, and that he must leave Tula and go thither to live and die, and there he should be held to be a god. To this he replied that the heavens and the stars had told him to go within four years. So, after four years were past, he left, taking along with him all the able-bodied men of Tula. Some of these he left in the City of Cholula, and from these the in- habitants are descended. Reaching Tlapalla, he fell sick the same day, and died the following one. Tula remained waste and without a chief nine years." A legend adds that " his ashes were carried to heaven by handsome birds ; the heart followed, and became the morning star." Baudelier concludes him to have been a prominent gifted Indian leader, perhaps of Toltec origin, per- haps Olmec. He suggests that his career began in the present state of Hidalgo, in which are the ruins of ancient Tula, and that his first stay was there, af- ter which he left that people and moved farther QUETZALCOATL. 32 THE STORY OF MEXICO. south, and settled at Cholula ; perhaps founding there the first settlement, perhaps elevating the tone of the village Indians already settled there. The beneficial effects of the coming of Ouctzalcoatl were the introduction, or improvement, of the arts of pottery, weaving, stonework, and feather-work ; the organization of government of a higher t}'pc, and the introduction of a mode of worship free from hu- man sacrifice. Perhaps his aversion to this bloody custom made him withdraw to the mythical Tlapal- la, a place on no map and only known to tradition, which puts it on the sea-coast, and generally on the Gulf of Mexico. The mystery of his departure and death led to his deification, and the worshipof his person becamethe leading feature of the religion at Cholula. It is likely that The Shining Serpent developed, if he did not originate, many of the gentle and grace- ful forms of worship, which still have a great part of the religion of the simple Indians of Mexico, of sac- rificing the fruits and flowers of each season to its appropriate divinity and festival. In Holy Week, now, in the city of Mexico, the shores of the canal leading to the town are decorated with flowers. Native boats float over the water heaped with bright blossoms, and the dark heads of the Indian girls are crowned with wreaths of pop- pies. They bring these blossoms in masses to dec- orate the altars of Nuestra Sefiora in the churches. Her image is the symbol of their divinity transferred from the earlier idols their remote ancestors wor- shippedc TO L TECS. 33 In the National Museum in Mexico is an image in the form of a coiled serpent in pyramidal form — its body covered with feathers — carved of basaltic por- phyry. This model, which appears in many of the old monuments, is regarded as the symbol of the mysterious Shining Serpent. Whatever were his serious claims to distinction, his worshippers invested him with wonderful attributes. His sojourn in their land marked its most prosper- ous period. In his time the seasons were the fairest, the earth the most productive. Flowers blossomed, fruits ripened without the toil of the gardener. The cotton in its pod turned blue, red, or yellow without the trouble of the dyer, so that the fabrics lightly woven and without fatigue took on rich and har- monious tints. The air was continually filled with perfumes and the songs of sweet birds. Every man loved his neighbor, and all dwelt in peace and har- mony together. These were the halcyon days of Anahuac. For twenty years the Toltecs knew no disaster, but flourished and spread under the influ- ence of their strange protector. And then, one day the strange god disappeared from among them, de- scending to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, where he bade farewell to the crowd that had followed him, promising, as he did so, that in the fulness of time his descendants, white men like himself, with full beards, should return and instruct them. Then he stepped into a magic bark made of the skins of serpents, and sailed away over an ocean unknown to these simple men towards the fabled land of Tlapalla. 34 THE STORY OF MEXICO. So Lohengrin vanished to the upper air, and as with those he left behind, all their good luck was over for the Toltecs. They did their best to preserve the memory of Quetzalcoatl. On the top of the pyramid of Cho- lula, which perhaps their fathers found standing when they reached the haven of their pilgrimage, the Toltecs raised an image of their deity, with fea- tures of ebony, although he was white; with a mitre on its head waving with plumes of fire ; with a re- splendent collar of gold around its neck, turquoise ear-rings, a sceptre all jewelled in one hand, and in the other a strange shield. Such is the description of the Conquistadores, who saw it ; and as they de- stroyed it, and tumbled it down from its lofty site, they should know. Evil days were coming to the Toltecs. The traveller in Mexico to-day sees growing all along the sides of the railway huge stiff bunches of the Agave Ainericana. The leaves are long and pointed with prickles along the edge, growing in a tuft like huge artichokes. Their blue, rather than green, surface has a whitish bloom over it, which makes the plants look as if they had been made of tin and painted some time ago. Sometimes the leaves are very large, and the bunches enormous. When the time comes a stem shoots up from the heart of the tuft to a great height, putting out branches at the top, which blossom in a cluster of yellowish flowers. These branches are symmetrical, and the effect is like a lofty branched candlestick, sometimes forty feet high. The blossoms fade ; the TO L TECS. 35 dying stalk, like the framework of last year's fire- works, remains a long time ; and when these plants, as they often are, are set along the railways, the line of tall bare stems looks not unlike a row of telegraph poles. The blue tin leaves are ever green, and last through many a year. This agave, or American aloe, is the century-plant, so called from the popular error that it blossoms only once in a hundred years. It is only true so far that each plant blossoms only once and then dies. In tropical regions this process proceeds rapidly; in colder countries, where it is raised artificially, it takes a long time to complete its perfect growth. The agave is native in the whole region between the tropics of America, where it flourishes from the sandy soil by the sea to table-lands and mountain altitudes. From its natural region it has been trans- planted everywhere, and even in cold climates it is cultivated as a green-house plant. In Spain, where it was early transplanted, among the other novelties which the Conquistadores introduced from their new land, it is absolutely at home. Its lofty candelabra are an ornament to Andalusian roadsides, and a bar- rier for wandering cattle. In Spain it is called ///«, which must be a different variety, if not a totally dis- tinct genus from the common plant of Mexico, for the use of its juices for a beverage is totally unknown in the old country, and this certainly would have been discovered there if such properties had not been wanting in the Spanish plant. For the agave of the Mexicans is their maguey, from which they extract pulque, the national bever- 36 THE STORY OF MEXICO, age. The agave has served them for many other purposes, from the earHest times. Its bruised leaves, properly dressed and polished, make a sort of paper; its leaves furnish a strong protecting thatch for the roofs of houses ; thread can be drawn from its long fibrous texture ; the thorns furnish a fair sub- stitute for the pin and needle ; and the root, well prepared, is nutritious and palatable as food. Of all these properties of the agave the Toltecs were cognizant. If their wise friend, The Shining Serpent, knew of other attributes it had, he kept si- lent. It was reserved for a woman to reveal to her race the fatal gift which lay hidden in the blue-preen stubborn leaves of the prickly plant. Xochitl was the name of the woman who showed to the king, Tecpancaltzin, how to extract from the heart of the maguey a sweet honey to drink, which, from that time to this, has been the delight and the curse of Mexicans. The plains of Apan are cele- brated for the production of the finest pulque, in it- self a thoroughly wholesome drink, suited to the climate of high regions, and beneficial when taken in moderation. From the root of the maguey, how- ever, strong distilled liquors can be made, called mezeal and tequila and of these it is best not to drink to much. The new beverage fouiid favor with the chief of the Toltec tribe, and spread its cheerful inflacnce over his people. He married Xochitl, the woman who had offered him honey extracted from maguey. The result of th's disco\'ery, and the consequence of the marriage, were ruin and dispersion for the proud race of the Toltecs. Meconetzin, (Son of TOL TECS. 37 Maguey) ruled at first with prudence and practical wisdom, but his habits deteriorated little by little; he became vicious, and revealed himself to be an in- supportable tyrant. The honey in the maguey had begun to ferment. The Toltecs thenceforth deteriorated in the moc*- disastrous manner. Famines and pests fell upon the land, and invasions of strange peoples. The population was thinned, harried, scattered. Its last chieftain was Topiltzin-Meconetzin (Son of Maguey), who, with his wife, Xochitl, was slain in a sanguinary battle against overpowering enemies. And this was the end of the Toltecs. This may have been in the year 1 1 16 of our era, after a duration of about five hundred and fifty years. Some historians consider that the Toltecs were not a great race, but simply a tribe of sedentary Indians, more advanced than their neighbors, whose traditions hav^e become with time exaggerated into the tale of a great and powerful nation. How this may be, the tourist at Tula may judge, according to his disposition, romantic or prosaic, by the import- ance of the ruins left b*y the vanished race. The excellent compcndios of history written by Payne and Zarate for the use of schools in Mexico still give the dynasties of the kings of Tula, as well as of the other early tribes, as if they were sovereigns of a well-established monarchy, accompanied by a list of the royal succession. According to this, the king- dom of the Toltecs lasted from 720 A.D., the date fixed for the end of their wanderings from Huehue-Tlapal- lan to Tollan, until 1 1 16 A.D., when their destruction was accomplished and their people dispersed. 47801 IV. CHICHIMEC.5. According to the old version of Anahuac story, the proud, brilliant dynasty of the Toltecs shone like a jewel upon the background of the savage tribes surrounding it, who remained during the pe- riod it flourished in the same condition as when the Toltecs came. It was from one of these less culti- vated races that the Toltecs took their first chief, Chalchiuhtlatonac, son of the so-called Emperor of the Chichimecs, to whose account is attributed a line of fourteen monarchs, and a duration of over two hundred years, but all this is very uncertain and vague; on the other hand, Baudelier is of opin- ion that there was no Chichimccan period in Mexico. The word Chichimccatl signifies indiscriminately a savage, a good hunter, or a brave warrior. The far-off region from which they immigrated like the other tribes upon Anahuac, called by them Amaquemecan, like the Huehue-Tlapallan of the Toltecs, was a fertile country of their dreams, pleasant to work in, and free from earthly disasters. Probably they came from the same region as the Toltecs; their language is classed with the Nahuatl, though their dialect was their own. They called 38 CHICHIMECS. 3C; themselves the Eagles. They not only had no cul- ture, but scorned it, preferring the advantages of bar- barism. Their occupation was hunting, which was fully furnished them by the game in the mountain regions, which they found unclaimed, and took possession of. They lived upon the flesh of wolves and pumas, — their smaller dishes were weasels, moles, and mice, without objecting to lizards, snakes, grass- hoppers, and earthworms. The Chichimecs seem to have wandered about completely naked, with skins of beasts to protect them from the occasional cold of their mild climate. Their houses were, for the most part, caves or cracks in the rocks, but they knew how to build rude huts, roofed with palm leaves. Gourds were their drink- ing vessels, and they could make a rude sort of pot- tery, out of which they fashioned jugs, and also little balls used for bullets in war, which could make dan- gerous wounds. They were always at war with their neighbors, and protected their own territory from in- cursions with their bows and arrows, and clubs, which they handled with great vigor. Each warrior of the Chichimecs wore a bone at his waist, which carried a mark for every enemy he had killed. Competition was sure to keep these bones well marked, as it was a distinction to bear the record of the most victims. Their battles were bloodthirsty. Prisoners were scalped upon the field of battle, and their heads carried in triumph back to camp, while dances of victory were performed. They had the reputation of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of their victims. 40 THE STORY OF MEXICO. The several tribes of the Chichimecs acknowl- edged no authority, other than obedience to the war- rior they themselves selected to lead them to battle. Their wives were their slaves ; and though they lim- ited themselves to one wife at a time, they reserved to themselves the liberty of changing one for another at any moment. The women prepared the food, cut down trees, brought wood and water, and made the pottery — bullets as well as pots and pans. The Chi- chimecs feared and worshipped the sun as a supreme deity, and the spirit of the thunder and lightning, whom they rudcl}^ depicted with bolts in his hands, like Jupiter, and called Nixcoatl, (the Serpent of the Clouds). These were the people who lived side by side with the Toltecs, their better-behaved neighbors, despised as inferiors, and regarded with disgust for their coarseness and horror for their bloody practices. By these, the Toltecs were conquered and destroyed. Xolotl, the leader of the Chichimecs, to use the greatly exaggerated reports gathered from historic paintings, which depicted these things, came to in- vade the realm of the Toltecs with a million warriors under six great chiefs, and twenty thousand or so of inferior officers. He had under his command more than three million men and women, not count- ing tlie children who came along with their mothers. The Toltecs were much deteriorated since their proud days. Allies whom they had oppressed had deserted them ; a religious sect A\hich differed from the prevailing belief had sought elsewhere a place of independent worship ; the sovereign and his favorites CHICHIMECS. 41 were delivered over to dissipation. But even the royal family gave proof of energy and resolution when the hour of danger came. An old chief, named Ayaxitl, called the country to arms, inspiring them with tales of the deeds of their ancestors. Old men and young boys took up arms ; and old Xochitl herself, the mother of the inefificient king, led forth to battle a legion of Amazons, and was slain at their front. But all this show of bravery came too late. The Toltecs were entirely defeated after a prolonged conflict, which was renewed for several days. Tollan was taken, the whole country surrendered, and its ruling race entirely exterminated. The Toltecs were no more, and the Chichimecs ruled in their stead. But these people, recovering from their barbarism in a measure, took on the ad- vanced customs of their conquered enemies, entered into their palaces, and enjoyed the fruits of their civilization. Xolotl took the title of Chichimecatl Tecuhtli, the great chief of the Chichimecs ; and his descendants added to this the name Huactlatohani (Lord of the Whole World). The territory claimed for him included a large part of the present Mexico, the states Morelos and Puebla, a portion of Vera Cruz, the greater part of Hidalgo, the whole of Tlaxcalla, and the valley of Mexico. He strengthened his power by marrying his son to a daughter of the late Toltec sovereign, saved from the destruction of the race, and altogether showed wisdom and judgment not to be expected from the antecedents of his people. Such conduct inclines students of this re- 42 THE STORY OF MEXICO. mote period to think that these Chichimecs were not the barbarous tribe who lived in caves and ate Hzards, but a later arrival from the mysterious north. During the reign of Xolotl new tribes came wan- dering down from these remote regions. These successive waves of emigration give the idea of a constantly renewed struggle for supremacy far off in the unknown Amaquemecan, resulting in the migra- tion of the conquered side. Xolotl received these new arrivals with benign hospitality, gave them lands to plant, and encouraged them to settle in his realm. Among these were the Aculhuas and Te- panecs, who founded the kingdoms, afterwards important, of Atzcapotzalco and Tlacopan. Xolotl had the credit of reigning from 1 120 to 1232, when he died. This would make him at least one hundred and twenty years old at his death. And some people from this imagine that there were sev- eral Xolotls that succeeded one another. Let us believe that he lived to this great age. The name means " Eye of great vigilance." For three generations his immediate successors ruled the kingdom with firmness and judgment, com- pelling their people to cultivate the land, thus pro- tecting agriculture, which was their chief source of wealth, and building towns to put an end to wander- ing habits inherited from the men who lived in caves on the mountain side. Quinatzin, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, established the capital of the kingdom of the Chichimecs in Texcuco. It was during his CHICHIMECS. 43 reign that the Aztecs, or Mexicans, whom we now hear of for the first time, established themselves in Tenochtitlan, which was on the site of what is now the city of Mexico, though their arrival made but PORTICO AT KABOH. little stir in the neighborhood. The Chichimecs were troubled by quarrels with the new kingdom of Atzcapotzalco, but for a century they maintained their good standing, always advancing in civilization and the arts of peace, and it was not until 1409 that 44 THE STORY OF MEXICO. one of their kings, Ixtlilxochitl, found these rising neighbors too strong for him. The Tepanecs and the Aztecs united, and swore together a conspiracy to overvvhehn him. He was assassinated, and his throne was usurped by Tezozomoc, tlie king of Atzcapotzalco. The Chichimecs may be said to come to an end here; for, after the return of the legitimate line, their reahn was called the kingdom of Tcxcuco, where their capital was already established. This city was occupied b}' the invaders, who made it their principal seat. The usurper at his death was suc- ceeded upon his stolen throne by his wicked son Maxtla. The adventures of Nezahualcoyotl, the rightful heir, are told by a native historian descend- ed in a direct line from the sovereigns of Tcxcuco, Ixtlilxochitl, whose writings, though probabl\' not over accurate, are more tangible evidence than the faint reports of previous legends. V. NEZAHUALCOYOTL, THE HUNGRY FOX. When the city of Texcuco was seized, the young prince Nezahualcoyotl, the heir to the crown, was but fifteen years old. He fled before the turbulent crowd of Tepanecs as they rushed into the palace gardens, and hid himself in the branches of a tree which most luckily happened to come in his way. From his hiding-place among its thick leaves he saw his father, Ixtlilxochitl, left alone for the moment turn and face his furious enemies. They seized and killed him on the spot, and the frightened boy saw the bleeding body carried off, a victim, as he well knew, for future sacrifice. Filled with horror and burning with thoughts of vengeance, he fled from the spot, seeking safety for the moment, with the firm resolve of turning later upon the assassins of his father and the usurpers of his inheritance. As the country was full of the triumphant army, in a few days the young prince fell into the hands of his pursuers, who knew too much to leave him at large. He was seized and imprisoned temporarily, until some decision should be taken as to his fate. The prison was a strong place guarded by the same governor who had held it in the previous reign, for 45 46 THE STORY OF MEXICO. the new government had not yet had time to change such offices. This old man knew the prince well, and was devoted to his line. He helped him to es- cape and took his place in the dungeon cell. It was long enough before the change was discovered for the prince to be far out of reach of pursuit. The good old governor lost his head, but Nezahualcoyotl found shelter in the neighboring province of Tlax- calla, whose rulers were for the moment friendly to his famil)-. This is the place which later offered to Cortes pro- tection and aid in his enterprise of conquest. Pres- cott calls it a republic in the midst of many small monarchies, dwelling apart on a system of govern- ment wholly independent. Climbing by rail the ascent from Vera Cruz, the modern traveller, after reaching the barren plateau of the cold region, and crossing a dreary, dismal country, strikes an insensibly downward grade, which gradually leads him to the central basin of Mexico. The Malinche presides over the landscape, an isolated peak, which all the year conceals beds of snow in the crevices of its summit, though unseen below, rising more than thirteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. Less majestic than the two great volcanoes, it yet has wonderful beauty of outline, and from its solitary position gains im- portance. This mountain was long the object of worship for the tribes who lived around its base, among them the Tlaxcallans, whose home lies to the northwest of it, in a deep valley surrounded by barren ridges. NEZAHUALCOYOTL, THE HUNGRY FOX. 47 Their so-called social organization and mode of gov- ernment, which have given their country the name of a kind of Mexican Switzerland, is now thought to have differed little from those of their neighbors. Their chiefs were elected from an hereditary house of rulers, and two of them formed the nominal head of the tribe, while the true power lay in a council. Their territory consisted of narrow valleys spreading into fertile fields, w'here they maintained long their independence, subject to the attacks of neighboring tribes. Tlaxcalla means "the land of bread." Its rich products naturally were tempting to the neigh- boring tribes, whose limits included land woX. so good for cultivation. Their next neighbors were the Cholulans, who dwelt under the great pyramid. The Tlaxcallans had the reputation of triumphing over their foes in battle, for they were both bold and strong. It was with the friendly Tlaxcallans that the wan- dering prince lived, unmolested in the companion- ship of a brave man who followed the fortunes of his young master. He had been the family preceptor ever since the birth of the prince. This tutor was wise as well as learned; although he was strongly prejudiced in favor of the legitimate family and against the usurpation of the fierce Tepanec, he coun- selled restraint and patience, and caused his pupil to lead a quiet life without attracting attention, while he was giving him lessons in the art of governing and training in all the qualities good for a monarch to possess. Meanwhile, the son of the usurper grew up un- 48 THE STORY OF MEXICO. trained and indulged in the ro)'al palace, humored but feared by all who surrounded him. IVIaxtla was born of a race of no gentle attributes ; he cared little for study, and knew no discipline. He knew the rightful prince, and hated him on account of his bet- ter claim to the throne, while he despised his reserve and modesty, which he set down to weakness, knowing nothing of the qualities of self-restraint and reserved force. When Tezozomoc died, he bequeathed his empire to his son IMaxtla. On the accession of the new sovereign, all the great families hastened to do him homage, and among them came Nezahualcoyotl, then twenty-three years old, with a present of flowers, which he laid at the feet of the young king. Maxtla sprang up and spurned the flowers with his foot, and then turned his back upon the true prince, who had self-control enough to withdraw quietly, admonished by signs from all the royal attendants, with whom he was a favorite. He lost no time in leaving the royal palace, and hastened back to the deserted one at Texcuco. But Maxtla could not fail to see that the sympa- thies even of liis own followers were with his rival, whose manners, indeed, were those to win, while his own repelled the affection of courtiers and inferiors. He resolved to do away with him, and formed apian which failed through the vigilance of the wily old tutor. When the prince was invited to an evening entertainment by Maxtla, the tutor was sure that more was meant than a friendly attention. He could not permit his pupil to go, but accepted the invitation for him, and sent in his stead a young man NEZAHVALCOYOTL, THE HUNGRY FOX. 49 he had at hand who singuhirl\- resembled Nezahual- coyotL This }'outh, perhaps, was pleased to attend a royal feast, dressed in the rich robes which the son of a king, even if lacking a throne, might wear; but there must have been a moment, just as he felt the deadly /;://Mveapon at his throat, when he perceived the game was not worth the candle; for the guest was assassinated as he came to the table, before the substitution could be perceived ; and thus the true prince escaped. His descendant, who tells us the stor\', does nt)t let us know whether Nezahualcoyotl was a party to the deception. We will leave the blame on the shoulders of the wily old tutor, in order to preserve the honor of our hero unsullied. When Maxtla found that his rival was not dead, like a prince in a fairy tale, he gave up secret plots, and boldly sent a band of armed soldiers to the old palace at Texcuco, to seize the young man whose popularity he feared. The tutor, always on the watch, arranged everything as usual, and when the emissaries of Maxtla arrived, they found the prince playing ball in the court of the palace. He received them cour- teous!}', as if he thought they came on a friendly visit, and invited them to come in, while he stepped into a room which opened on the court, as if to give orders for refreshments for them. They seemed to be seeing him all the time, but, by the directions of the old tutor, a censer which stood in the passage was so fed and stirred by the servants that it threw up clouds of incense between the guests and their host, between which Nezahualcoyotl disappeared into a secret passage which communicated with a great 50 THE STORY OF MEXICO. ])ipe made of pottery, formerly used to carry water into the palace. He stayed there till after dark, when he could escape without being seen, and found safety in a cottage belonging to an old subject loyal to his father's name. A price was set upon his head, and a reward offered to him who should take him dead or alive, in the shape of a marriage with some lady of birth and broad possessions. This bride never came to her wedding, for the prince was not found. Too many faithful vassals watched over him, in spite of the temptation of such a brilliant match ; they hid him under heaps of magueys, and furnished him with every means of escape. They turned their heads away when they saw him pass, lest they should be forced to betray the knowledge ; they put food for him in places where he might steal forth and find it. They hid him once in a large thing like a drvim, around which they were dancing as if to amuse them- selves. In fact, no one would give him up; the whole population connived to protect him and hide him from his half-hearted pursuers, forced to the task by their sovereign. It was a poor sort of life he led, and his own sufferings were increased by his tender heart for the difficulties these caused his loyal protectors. Most of the chiefs of the regions round about were, from policy, allied to the usurper, but the de- throned prince had friends, and the party on his side grew large as the tyranny of Maxtla and his op- pressions caused defections among his followers. When the time came for a general rising, Nezahual- coyotl found himself at the head of a courageous NEZAHUALCOYOTL, THE NUIVGRY FOX. 5 1 band which gained in size and strength, until it seemed safe to attack the regular forces of Maxtla. In the battle which took place the tyrant was routed, and the true prince triumphant. As soon as this was known all the chiefs flocked to do him homage, and he entered his capital in triumph, crossing to the sound of military music the spot where he had passed an evening under a drum, and entering by the royal gates the palace he had left through a water-pipe. Horses were not known in Anahuac until after the advent of the Conquista- dores. The young victor was borne in a sort of palanquin by four of the chief nobles of the kingdom. Thus did Nezahualcoyotl return to the throne of his fathers. The Mexicans, who had helped his former enemies to overthrow the rule of his father, now joined forces with him, abandoning without hesitation Maxtla, whose oppression and exaction made him an uncomfortable ally. A league of the other neighboring tribes, combining with the Mexi- cans, under the lead of the true prince of Texcuco, utterly routed the forces of Maxtla, and this tyrant who himself assassinated the father was slain by the hand of the son. Maxtla was killed in 1428. The usurpation of the throne of the Chichimecs by Tezozomoc first, and afterwards by Maxtla, his son, had lasted ten years. By this event the kingdom of Atzcapotzalco came to an end, having lasted not more than two hundred and sixty years. The kingdom which Nezahualcoyotl regained from the usurpers, whose kings traced their lineage 5-^ THE STORY OF MEXICO. back to the Chichimec Xolotl (Eye of great Vigilance), now became the kingdom of Texcuco Aculhuacan, by which it was known when Cortes, with his conquering legions, appeared on the plains of Anahuac, VI. TEXCUCO. Now followed the Golden Age of Texcuco. The Fox, no longer hungry nor hunted, proved himself a very Lion, a King of Beasts; he ruled his kingdom with wisdom, as he had fought with bravery, and endured adversity with patience. On coming to the throne, he proclaimed a general amnesty, pardoned the rebels, and even gave some of them posts of honor. He repaired the ruin wrought by the usurper, and revived what was worth revival in the old form of government. He made a code of laws well suited to the demands of his time, which was written in blood. It was accepted by the two other powers with whom he now entered into alliances, Mexico and Tlacopan. His adjust- ment of the different departments of government was remarkable for the time, or indeed for any time, providing councils for every emergency; of these the most peculiar was the Council of Music, de- voted to the interests of all arts and science. Its members were selected from the best instructed persons of the kingdom, without much reference to their ranks. They had the supervision of all works of art, all writings, pictorial or hieroglyphic, and had 53 54 THE STONY OF MEXICO. an eye on all professors to keep them up to their work. This Council of Music had sessions when it listened to poems and historical compositions recited by their authors, who received prizes according to the merit of their work. The literary men of Texcuco became celebrated throughout the country, and its archives were pre- served with the greatest care in the palace. These records, which would have told us all we want to know of the early story of the people of Anahuac, were, for the most part, inscribed upon a fine fabric, made of the leaves of the American aloe, the maguey which also gave them their favorite beverage. The sheets made from it were something like the Egyp- tian papyrus, and furnished a smooth surface like parchment, upon which the picture-writings were laid in the most brilliant tints. These manuscripts were done up in rolls sometimes, but were often folded like a screen, and enclosed in wooden covers, not very unlike our books. Quantities of such manuscripts were stored up in the country, not only by the Texcucans, but by all the inhabitants of the different kingdoms. Probably no race has made better provision for handing down its traditions and history than these people who wandered from the mysterious North. All this is lost to us by the in- fatuation of the Spanish Conquistadores, as we shall see later on. As if barbarians, ignorant of types and bindings, should descend upon the British Museum or Biblio- teque Nationale, and, perceiving therein countless parallelograms of calf containing wicked little dots TEXCUCO. 55 upon countless white leaves, should order them to be destroyed, as foolishness or blasphemy. So the first priests of the Christian religion arriving in New Spain destroyed these playthings of the idolaters, which they conceived to be probably precious, but at all events useless. Only chance specimens of these wonderful pic- ture-writings escaped the general destruction, and from which is gleaned whatever is surmised of the earliest life of the tribes of Anahuac. . Texcuco led all the other nations in its literary culture, or rather pictorial skill, since letters were unknown. The Texcucan idiom was the purest of all the many dialects from the Nahuatl root. Among its poets, the king himself, Nezahualcoyotl, was distinguished. He not only belonged to the Council of Music, but appeared before it with other competitors. Perhaps some folded screen enclosing an ode by his hand lies hidden yet somewhere in Mexico, or even among the dusty archives of Old Spain. Some few have come to light, and one of them exists in Spanish, translated by a Mexi- can. It is hard to be sure of the import of the original through the change of expression in- evitable in translating, but we may guess something of it. "Rejoice," he says, "O Nezahualcoyotl, in the enjoyable, which now you grasp. With the flowers of this lovely garden crown thy illustrious brows, and draw pleasure from those things from which pleasure is to be drawn." This garden of the no longer hungry Fox was a 56 THE STORY OF MEXICO. wonderful Place of Delights, and the remains of it may be seen to this day. About three miles from the capital rises the Laughing Hill of Tezcot- zinco. Here are left the remains of terraced walls, and stairways wind around the hill from the bottom to the top. In shady nooks among the rocks seats are hollowed out of the stone, and ingenious contrivances can be traced on all sides for enhancing the natural advantages of the situation. The most curious of all the vestiges of Nezahualcoyotl's gar- den is a round reservoir for water at an elevation of eighty or one hundred feet. It is about five feet across and three feet deep. Channels led from it in. all directions to water and refresh the terrace-gar- dens below. The country all about is full of artificial embank- ments, reservoirs and aqueducts for leading water about, and developing the attractions of the place. A magnificent grove of lofty akuckuetes, at some distance from the central part of the grounds, sur- rounds a large quadrangle, now dry, which was prob- ably an artificial lake in the time of the great king, for whose pleasure these things were planned. He was rich enough to pay for all the costly works he commanded, by reason of successful wars and judi- cious management of domestic industry, and so was justified in indulging his taste for magnificence in architecture. The ruins of Tezcotzinco faintly at- test the truth of the descriptions of this royal resi- dence, which tell of hanging gardens approached by steps (A porj)hyry, reservoirs sculptured with the achievements of the monarch, and adorned with mar- TEXCUCO. 57 ble statues. There stood a lion of solid stone more than twelve feet long, with wings and feathers carved upon them. He was placed to face the east, and in his mouth he held a stone face, which was the very likeness of the king himself. This was his favorite portrait, although many other representa- tions of him had been made in gold, wood, or featherwork. On the summit of the hill was the carved representation of a coyotl, the hungry fox which gave to the monarch his name so tedious to us to pronounce. The remains of Tezcotzinco are now shown as the Baths of Montezuma; but this is a purely modern application of the title of a chief more commonly known. The baths belonged to Nezahualcoyotl, and if by chance any Montezuma made use of them, it was only as a passing guest. Nezahualcoyotl, this wise, good, aesthetic king, committed a deed which his descendant and histor- ian regards as a great blot upon his fame. He remained unmarried for a long time, on account of an early disappointment in love, and was no longer young when he conceived a violent passion for a noble maiden whom he met at the house of one of his vassals. This vassal wished the fair lady for his own bride ; he had in fact brought her up with that in- tent, but the king, regardless of the laws of honor, caused the old man to be killed by his own men in a battle with the Tlaxcallans, which he set on foot chief- ly for this purpose. The young princess was then invited to the ro}'al palace, where she received in due form and time an offer of marriage from the monarch. 58 TJIE STORY OF MEXICO. The wedding was celebrated with great pomp, not long after the funeral of the vassal. This is the only anecdote that reflects discredit on the monarch, and there are many which tell to his advantage. It was his custom, as with the East- ern Khalif, to go about in disguise among his people to find out their wants in order to alleviate them. One day as he was walking through a field with one of his friends he met a small boy picking up sticks here and there. " There are many more in the forest yonder," he said ; " why do not you go there to get them ? " "The forest belongs to the king," said the boy, *' and it would be worth my life to take his property." The king advised him to disregard the law and go and take what wood he wanted, as nobody would find him out, but the boy was too honest or too cau- tious to follow the advice, and steadily went a glean- ing as he could in the open field. When the king returned to the palace he sent for the boy and his parents. The parents were praised for bringing up such a boy, the boy was praised and rewarded, and the king passed a law allowing unlimi- ted picking up chips. In short, Nezahualcoyotl was a model monarch. He pardoned all his enemies, was humane and clem- ent ; he formed a code of wise and just laws, and instituted tribunals for the prompt administration of justice; he established schools and academies for the diffusion of all sorts of knowledge, and generously encouraged science and art. As for his religious belief, he abjured the barbarous creed which pre- TEXCUCO. 59 vailed at the time, and announced his conviction of the existence of one God, author of the universe. He erected a superb temple to this deity, and com- posed hymns in his praise. Nezahualcoyotl died in 1472. It was nearly half a century since he had rescued his throne from the usurper. He had raised his kingdom from the anarchy in which he found it to a brilliant station, and saw it, at the close of his life, growing stronger and going farther in the path of advanced civilization. He had brought this about by his wise and judicious rule and might well contemplate with satisfaction the results of his wisdom and judgment. His only legitimate son was about eight years old at the time of his father's death. His name was Nezahualpilli. He became as learned as his father, was liberal and charitable ; even more severe in the administration of justice, going so far as to condemn to death two of his own sons who had infringed the law. In his time he was held to be the wisest mon- arch of the epoch, and amongst his subjects he had moreover the reputation of being a magician. He reigned forty-four years, and died in 15 16, leaving the kingdom to the oldest of his four legiti- mate sons. The reign of Nezahualcoyotl is the most glorious period of the kingdom of Texcuco, and of all the kingdoms of Anahuac. Its splendors have been confounded with those of the Aztec Court, and, as we see in the names now given to the ruins of the king's garden, even the name of the Montezumas is mixed up with the Tex- 6o THE STORY OF MEXICO. cucan annals. It is well, however, to keep the different dynasties distinct, in order to understand, when wc come to the Conquest, the various parts these distinct peoples played in that exciting drama. Texcuco maintained for some time its place and distinction, but never surpassed the height it reached in the fifteenth century. After that it began to diminish ; family dissensions in the royal house, and external warfare, together with too much prosperity and the relaxation that comes with it, were preparing this nation for the tempest and change already gathering afar off. This glowing account of the splendors of Texcuco is gathered by Prescott from the writings of Fer- nando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, who traced his descent, in direct line, from the royal house of Texcuco. He lived in the sixteenth century, occupying the position of interpreter to the Viceroy, beingfamiliar with the Indian dialects, and of course with the Spanish language. He was in other respects a man of cultivation and learning, had a library of his own, and pursued diligently the study of the picture-writings, hiero- gh'phics, and legends of his ancestors, with the object of throwing light on the obscure places of their story. He wrote, in Spanish, various books about the primitive races of Anahuac, among them the •' Historia Chichimeca," which has been used as a source of authority since it was first written. As a Christian, Ixtlilxochitl has given to the legends of the Ouet/.alcoatl and other mysteries of the early Mexican races, a color evidently borrowed from the light of Christian traditions, and the author TEXCUCO. 6 1 has cast over his picture of the Golden A