MEXICO 

 
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 CAMPBELL'S 
 
 NEW DEVISED 
 
 COMPLETE GUIDE AND DESCEIPTIVE BOOK 
 
 OF 
 
 MEXICO 
 
 By REAU CAMPBELL 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 1904 
 
 CHICANO LIBRARY 
 
 3121 Campbell Hall 
 
 University of California 
 
 405 Hilgard Avenue 
 
 Los Angeles, Calif. 90024
 
 Copyright, 1899, by Reau Campbell, 
 
 Press of 
 
 Robert O. Law Co. 
 
 Chicago 
 
 J. Manz & Co., Engravers, Brown-Cooper Typesetting Co. 
 
 Chicago. ' Chicago. 
 
 Photographs by Winfield Scott, Mexico. Detroit Photographic Co.
 
 ^^. 
 
 
 Preface, X 
 
 T T IS the early traveler in a country who knows the real need of a guide 
 ■*• and descriptive book, from the fact that his journeys are made, perforce, 
 without one, and he is compelled to find the places and things as best he can. 
 
 To find these places and things, of which one may have only heard, is not 
 unattended by difficulties. The native does not always regard them as out of 
 the ordinary, or of special interest, and, however courteous and willing he 
 may be, is not always able to show the way to objects of even considerable 
 importance. 
 
 I have known these difficulties as an early traveler in Mexico, and, while 
 I rejoiced in seeing what others had not seen, I have wished for the book 
 that might guide me over untraveled roads, till I have come to believe that 
 he who writes the book leaves a legacy to him who comes after. 
 
 The Guide and Descriptive Book of Mexico is written after the experiences 
 of a decade of travel in that country, and an exploring expedition made ex- 
 pressly to secure a better acquaintance with the country, these have given a 
 knowledge of its cities and towns, of its mountains, valleys and spreading 
 plains, and of its history and legend, impossible from reading or hearsay. 
 
 The Historical and Clerical data have been carefully culled from the best 
 authorities and from the records of Church and State. 
 
 The Legends are from the country's books and from the fascinating folk- 
 lore of its people. 
 
 Statistical and tabulated information is compiled from the latest data and 
 from the most reliable sources. 
 
 The Maps are from the latest surveys, comprising the extension of rail- 
 ways and routes of travel to the year of the date of the book. 
 
 The Descriptions have been written under the spell; in the presence of 
 an atmosphere of romantic adventure; while loitering in the fields of the 
 Conquest; under the shadows of ruined temples, whose describing by the 
 ancient chronicler suffices, and of which no more is known to-day than then, 
 
 when it was written by him that those temples were, "the work of a people 
 
 ill
 
 IV 
 
 which had passed away, under the assaults of barbarism, at a period prior to 
 all traditions, leaving no name, and no trace of their existence save those 
 monuments, which, neglected and forgotten by their successors, have become 
 the riddle of later generations." 
 
 The Illustrations are from photographs taken during tours of the country 
 and engraved directly from those photographs, without redrawing. The tour 
 of exploration was made for the express purpose of the publication of a guide 
 and descriptive book, that should guide and describe for the traveler or reader 
 of Mexico. 
 
 Every date and place of the story of Mexico, from the Grand River of the 
 North to Tehauntepec, is noted compactly and with all the accuracy possible. 
 Every city and town of note which has been written of elsewhere has its place 
 here; there are some not found in other books which are in these pages, and 
 none are more important or more interesting than the pre-historic Ruins 
 of Mitla, visited first by my exploring expedition of 1894, and which are here 
 written cf for the first time since the earlier chronicles of the country. 
 
 To the courteous citizens of the country I traveled in, to the strangers of 
 America, England, France, Spain and Germany abiding there, to the Railway 
 officials especially, and to my co-travelers and explorers I am indebted; to the 
 expert artists of the engravers' craft, and of the art preservative, who have 
 made a culmination so devoutly wished, I am deeply grateful. 
 
 REAU CAMPBELL. 
 
 Chicago, January i, 1895. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 After a book is in print it is the cold type that shows so glaringly the 
 faults of omission and commission, not more apparent to any one than to its 
 author — especially if that author has continued the study of his subject 
 
 Since the first edition of this work was printed I have not ceased to 
 travel in the country it describes — and if I knew Mexico then, and a generous 
 public has attested that, I should know it better now; and I have left out 
 some things that ought to have been omitted before and added that which 
 I should not have left out at all — till now the work is well nigh complete, 
 as nearly so as any book of its kind may be, where an advancing civilization 
 changes its pages almost ere they are written. R. C. 
 
 January, 1904.
 
 Contents. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL— Rivers— Lakes— Harbors— Mountains— Table-lands 
 — Seaports — Agriculture — Forests — Mines and Mining — Manufac- 
 tures — Climate — Railroads — Steamer Lines 7 
 
 HISTORICAL— The Toltecs and Aztecs— Conquest by Cortez— Viceroys 
 — Independent Mexico — Empire of Iturbide — Laws of the Reform — 
 Revolutions — American War — French Intervention — Administra- 
 tion of Diaz 23 
 
 PRACTICAL MATTERS— Railway Tickets— Baggage and Customs 
 Regulations — Money — ^Measures and Distances — Climate — Cloth- 
 ing — Cabs and Carriages — Horse Cars — Hotels and Restaurants — 
 Stores and Shopping — Cigars and Tobacco — Police and Military — 
 Doctors and Medicines — Cargadores — Church Visiting — Postoffice 
 — Express Service — Telegraph — Baths — Servants — Dulces — Streets 
 — Customs and Costumes — Official Permits — Laundry 43 
 
 AMUSEMENTS— Theatre Principal— Theatre Nacional— Arbeu Theatre 
 — Salon de Conciertos — Circo-Teatro Orrin— Bull Fights— Ball 
 Games • • 
 
 61 
 
 THE CITY OF MEXICO— Tenochtitlan— Chronology— Founding by 
 the Mexicans — Reign of Montezuma — Entrance by Cortez — Siege 
 by the Spaniards — Founding by Revillagigedo — City Government 
 — Markets — Flower Markets — Portales — National Palace — Mint — 
 National Library — School of Arts — National Museum — Cathedral 
 — First Parish Church — Churches — Religious Orders — Jesuits — 
 Inquisition — Schools and Colleges — Hospitals — Alameda — Paseos 
 Calzadas — Aqueducts — Monuments — Monte Piedad — Plazas — 
 Newspapers — Streets — Panteones 71 
 
 AROUND THE VALLEY— Chapultepec—^Iolino del Rey— Tacubaya 
 — ]\Iixcoac — San Angel — Coyoacan — Tlalpam — Noche Triste — Ta- 
 cuba — Atzcapatzalco — La Piedad— La Viga Canal — The Paseo — 
 Desierto — San Juan Teotihuacan — Tlalnepantla — Tajo de Nochis- 
 
 tongo — Guadelupe — Los Remedios ■ • 121 
 
 V
 
 vi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CITIES AND TOWNS OF MEXICO— Acambaro—Aguas Calientes— 
 Amecameca — Catorce — Celaya — Chihuahua — Cordoba — Cuautla — 
 Cuernavaca — Durango — Guadalajara — Guanajuato — Irapuato — 
 Jalapa — Lagos — Leon — Lerdo — Maravatio — Monclova — Morelia — 
 Oaxaca — Ruins of Mitla — Orizaba — Pachuca — Patzcuaro — Puebla — 
 Pyramid of Cholula — Queretaro — Saltillo — Salvatierra — San Luis 
 Potosi — San Miguel de Allende — Silao — Tampico — Texcoco — Tlax- 
 cala — Toluca — Tula — Vera Cruz — Yautepec — Zacatecas 155 
 
 RAILWAY RIDES IN MEXICO— South over the Central— Westward 
 to Guadalajara — Eastward to Tampico — Eastward over the Mex- 
 ican Railway — Westward over the International — Eastward over the 
 Interoceanic — South over the National — Westward from Acambaro 
 — The Mexican Northern Railway — South over the Southern — 
 South over the Mexico, Cuernavaca & Pacific — The Michoacan & 
 Pacific — The Monterey & Mexican Gulf Railroad — South over the 
 Sonora Railway — The Tehuantepec Railway — Hidalgo Railway — 
 Mexican National Construction Company 267 
 
 THE UNITED STATES OF MEXICO— Names of States— Capitals- 
 Area — Assessed Values — Population — Government — Taxes 320 
 
 LOCATION, POPULATION AND ALTITUDES.. 321 
 
 HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS 322 
 
 STREET CAR LINES • 325 
 
 MAP, AROUND THE VALLEY 326 
 
 TABLE OF TERMS • • ZV 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL 338 
 
 MAPS • • 345
 
 Geographical. 
 
 Between the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Gulf of Mexico on the east, 
 the United States on the north and Guatemala on the south, lies the Repub- 
 lic of Mexico, extending from the 15th to the 32d degree of north latitude, 
 and from the 86th to the ii6th degree of longitude west from Greenwich. 
 From north to south the length is nearly 2,000 miles; from east to west 
 about 800 at the widest part, with an area of 772,652 square miles. Along 
 the Gulf coast the low ground extends a distance into the interior, called 
 the tierra caliente, or hot land; then it rises in terraces to the table-lands 
 called the tierj-atemplada, temperate land, and still to the regions of higher 
 elevation, to the tierra fria, or cold land. In the tierra caliente it is summer 
 always; in the tierra templada eternal spring; in the tierra friait is rarely 
 cold enough for snow or ice. 
 
 On the table lands of the interior there is a wide expanse of treeless 
 plains, and but for the grand army of the cactus would be plantless, save 
 in the valleys, where trees line the banks of the little rios and lakes and 
 irrigating canals, but on the coast slopes and the low lands there are tangled 
 forests of tropical verdure. The table lands of the highest altitude are those 
 in Central Mexico. The plain of Toluca is about 8.575 feet above the sea; 
 the Valley of Mexico 7,478; Puebla about the same as the Valley of Mexico, 
 but for the most part a little higher. The table lands of the north range 
 from 2,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea. Humboldt said he could drive his 
 carriage from the City of jMexico to Santa Fe without the trouble of pre- 
 paring a road; certainly he would not have found it necessary to cut down 
 a tree, but it would be a rocky road, iip hill and down dale. 
 
 Climate — Not on earth is there a more equable, more delightful climate 
 than is found in Mexico. Winter and summer alike are made up of delight- 
 ful days; in winter of cloudless skies, in summer of cooling showers. 
 
 It is an erroneous idea that it is not safe or pleasant to travel in Mexico 
 in summer; in the interior the summer time is the most delightful. The 
 only difference between summer and winter is that it rains in the summer 
 
 7
 
 8 
 
 and does not in the winter. The rainy season commences in Alay or June, 
 and lasts until October and sometimes into November. The altitude, the 
 showers, the cooling breezes from the snow mountains make a perfect sum- 
 mer climate, and a healthful one. Fevers peculiar to the tropics are known 
 only in the hot lands of the immediate coast, and never experienced on 
 the elevated table-lands or even on the slopes sixty miles from the coast. 
 The mean temperature of the hot lands is about 80°; of the interior table- 
 lands, as in the capital and principal cities, 70°, and the higher elevations 
 60°. Make your outings in Mexico generally in the morning and you will 
 avoid the showers that nearly always come up in the afternoons of sum- 
 mer, and winds blowing dust and sand after mid-day in winter. A more 
 perfectly delightful climate is hardly possible to imagine, and possibly exists 
 in few other countries. 
 
 Rivers — The rivers of Mexico are more dignified by the appellation than 
 from the amount of water flowing within their banks. They are little more 
 
 ROPE BRIDGE. 
 
 than creeks, but as to length they are entitled to be called rivers. With 
 the exception of the Rio Panuco, and one or two others, the rivers of 
 Mexico are not navigable, and then only for a short distance from their 
 mouths. The lack of tributaries, and the immense amount of water drawn 
 ofif for irrigating purposes, is the reason given for the small size of the 
 streams. For the most part they are, during the winter, but straggling 
 brooks, or it may be, their beds are completely dry, but in the rainy sea-
 
 9 
 
 son become raging torrents. The Lerma is the longest river in Mexico, 
 running its whole length within that country, being nearly 700 miles long! 
 The Rio Grande, which rises in the United States, is over 1.500 miles long! 
 The Panuco, at Tampico, is a beautiful stream, navigable some 200 miles or 
 more through a tropical country, the banks fringed with that verdure so 
 often described by travelers in the tropics. The navigation of these few 
 miles of deep water in Mexico is to be one of the attractions for tourists 
 in that section. The jetties at the mouth of the Panuco make the harbor 
 at Tampico one of deep water. 
 
 The Rio Lerma rises on the west slope of the Sierra Madres, not far 
 from Toluca, and runs in a northwesterly course till it empties into Lake 
 Chap-^la. and. curiously enough, leaves the lake again, only a few miles 
 from its mouth, and becomes another river, the Santiago, tlowing on to 
 the Pacific Ocean. The Mexican National Railroad crosses the Lerma near 
 Its source, east of Toluca, and at Acambaro, running along its course be- 
 tween the two points. The Central crosses the Lerma three times; near La 
 Piedad, again at La Barca and a third time at Ocotlan, where it becomes the 
 Santiago, after passing through Lake Chapala. Humboldt said that the Lerma 
 could be made a navigable river, as he also said he could drive a carriage on the 
 table-lands from the capital to El Paso ; in either case there .would be many ups 
 and downs to be encountered. The Santiago, or Lerma, empties into the Pacific 
 near San Bias. The river at Morelia, along which the National Railroad runs 
 near that city, is called the Morelia River, though there are other names. The 
 Grijalva River, named for the commander of the Spanish fleet, who was the first 
 white man who ever saw it, rises in Guatemala, and empties into the Gulf at 
 Frontera. The Rio Usumacinta also has its source in Guatemala, and empties 
 into the Gulf near Frontera. The Rio Balsas, also called Alescala and Zacatula, 
 rises in the State of Tlaxcala and flows westward, and empties into the Pacific at 
 Zacatula. The Papaloapan rises in the mountains and empties into the Gulf 
 at Alvarado. The Rio Coatzacoalcos rises in Oaxaca and empties into the 
 Gulf at the town of the same name. Atoyac is a favorite name for rivers; 
 there are several of them in the States of Puebla and Vera Cruz. Nearly all 
 of the rivers in the south of Mexico, as the Papaloapan, San Jose and others, 
 are navigable for light draught boats for some miles — but withal of interest 
 to the more venturesome traveler. 
 
 The Rio Nazas is one of the rivers that loses its waters in the marsh.-s 
 of the great Bolson de :Mapimi. The Sonora, Yaqui and Mayo rise in the 
 mountains of western Mexico and empty into the Gulf of California. 
 
 Lakes — The lakes of Mexico are of exceeding great beauty. Than those 
 of Chapala and Patzcuaro no prettier waters are anywhere in the world — 
 not even the romantic Como, the tales of whose beauties are so eloquently 
 told, can surpass their islands and wooded shores, and only the villas are 
 lacking to make them as picturesque as Como or Maggiore. Lake Patzcuaro 
 is the highest navigable water in Mexico, and next highest on the continent, 
 Yellowstone Lake only having a higher altitude. The islands look like the 
 peaks of submerged mountains with only the tops above the water; on their 
 rugged sides, seeming to cling to them, -are some huts of the fishermen of 
 the lake, and up near the top of one the square white tower of a church 
 rises above the trees, the sonorous sounds of whose bells float over the beautiful 
 waters. 
 
 There are canoes for freight and passengers, and a few rude sail boats 
 making voyages between Patzcuaro and the islands and mainland ports up
 
 10 
 
 the lake, and to Tzintzuntzan, where the celebrated picture by Titian is, in a 
 ruined church. Lake Patzcuaro is near the city of that name on the west- 
 ern division of the Mexican National Railroad; it is about thirty miles long 
 and twelve miles wide. 
 
 Lake Cuitzeo is also on the same division of the National, thirty miles 
 west of Acambaro, the junction point with the main line. Lake Cuitzeo is 
 forty-five miles long and ten wide. The islands are very much like those 
 in Lake Patzcuaro; some of them are inhabited. One, "La Isla de los 
 Burros," is the objective point of a very interesting voyage from the sta- 
 tion at Querendaro, where canoes may be obtained. The island is inhabited 
 by a hardy tribe of Indian fishermen, who know little of the main land, 
 and care less — a happy contented lot, living off of what they can catch, 
 the little white fish about the size of a minnow or whitebait, which, when 
 they are dried in the sun, are ready for the table, if there was one on the 
 island. The lake is literally alive with water fowl, and so unused to the gun 
 that many a good shot may be had. On the eastern shore there are some 
 old salt works, and near the station of Querendaro some hot springs, the 
 
 LAKE PATZCUARO. 
 
 steam rising from the marsh in white columns. Near the track, where one 
 of the largest springs rises, is a pool so arranged that the waters can be 
 turned in or out, as the water may be too cold or hot. On the bushes, on 
 the trees, on the rocks, and stuck in the ground, are rude crosses made 
 of sticks and twigs, left there by grateful bathers whose ills have been cured 
 by the genial waters. 
 
 Lake Chapala is the largest lake in Mexico. It is nearly lOO miles long 
 and is thirty-three miles at the widest point. It is near the line of the 
 Guadalajara division of the Mexican Central Railway near the city of that 
 name. The stations of La Barca and Ocotlan are at the head of the lake. The 
 River Lcrma empties into Lake Chapala, and the same river under another 
 name, Santiago, but some authorities use the same name, is the outlet. 
 
 "Libertad" was the name of Lake Chapala's first steamboat. She ran 
 from La Barca to the towns and villages up the lake, and the voyage was 
 one of the most delightful in Mexico, through the "floating islands" to 
 the towering cliffs with sparkling cascades tumbling into the lake from far 
 up the rocks, by the picturesque towns and villages, of which the town of 
 Chapala is a resort of ancient renown, from its pure and healthful climate, 
 its hot springs and most picturesque scenery.
 
 11 
 
 The steamer "Libertad" had her machinery built in California, and was 
 transported by piecemeal on burros over the mountains from San Bias. 
 
 In the Bolson de Mapimi are several lakes, of which Mayran and Parras 
 are the largest — twenty to thirty miles long by ten to fifteen wide. In the 
 Valley of Mexico and near the City are Zumpango, Xaltocan and San Cris- 
 tobal on the north, Lake Texcoco on the east and Xochimilco and Chalco 
 on the south. La Viga and the other canals connecting them with the City. 
 All are very shallow and without an outlet, except what results from the 
 great drainage ditches and tunnels. 
 
 The steamboat has not made its advent on the lakes of the Plain of 
 Mexico; transportation is carried on by long flat-bottom boats propelled 
 by poles in the hands of strong men. There are regular packets between 
 the City and the towns and villages on the lake shores, some of them of ca- 
 pacity for fifty or sixty passengers, and where voyages cover many miles 
 and two or three days' time, they have accommodations for eating or sleep- 
 ing in the most primitive style. The passengers are mostly country folk 
 bringing their wares or garden truck to the city markets. The burros and 
 dogs lend their presence to make up a picturesque ship's company. 
 
 ON LAKE CHAPALA. 
 
 Cortez came across Texcoco in some such flat-bottom boats from the 
 eastern shore when he laid siege to the City of Mexico; but there was deeper 
 water in those days, and the feat was not without its merits. If you are 
 rowing or sailing on any lake in Mexico let it be done in the early morn- 
 ing or at least before noon; winds will come up very soon after mid-day 
 and will not subside till the sun goes down — not that there is danger, but 
 smooth water makes more pleasant voyages. 
 
 Motttitaiiis — Ask a native, "What mountains are those?" His answer — 
 no matter where he is or where the mountains are — is "Las Madres." Another 
 appellation is "las sierras ;" the word "sierra"' means a saw, the sharp peaks 
 resembling the teeth. Certain peaks here and there take names from their 
 fantastic shape, curious color, or from an incident of history or legend, as 
 Ixtaccihuatl is the "White Woman ;" Malintzi, called "Malinche," was named 
 from an appellation of La Marina, the guide, interpreter and wife of Cortez. 
 There is no mistaking the Saddle ^Mountain at Monterey, as a perfect saddle 
 is on its crest; or the Mountain of the Mitres in the same valley — the bishop's 
 mitre is as plain as if cut out with a scissors. The only active volcano is that 
 of Colima. 
 
 Above ranges high peaks are raised to the line of perpetual snow, and
 
 12 
 
 volcanoes still produce fire and brimstone. The following are the most im- 
 portant: 
 
 Ajusco, Federal District 13,612 
 
 Cerro de Culiacan, State of Guanajuato 10,640 
 
 Cerro del Proano, State of Zacatecas 7,762 
 
 Cerro de Patamban, State of Michoacan 12,290 
 
 Cofre de Perote. or Nauchampatepetl, State of Vera Cruz. . . 13,403 
 
 Cumbre de Jesus Alaria, State of Chihuahua 8,230 
 
 Gigante, State of Guanajuato 10,653 
 
 Ixtaccihuatl, States of Alexico and Puebla 16,060 
 
 Las Navajas, State of Hidalgo 10,528 
 
 Los Llanitos, State of Guanajuato 11,013 
 
 Matlalcueyatl, or Alalintzi, State of Tlaxcala 13.462 
 
 Nevado de Colima, State of Jalisco 14,350 
 
 Nevado de Toluca, or Xinantecatl, State of Mexico 15,000 
 
 Orizaba, or Citlaltepetl, State of Vera Cruz 17.356 
 
 Pico de Quinceo, State of IMichoacan 10,895 
 
 Pico de Tancitaro, State of Michoacan 1^,653 
 
 Popocatepetl, States of Mexico and Vera Cruz 17.782 
 
 Veta Grande, State of Zacatecas 9.965 
 
 Volcan de Colima, State of Jalisco 12,728 
 
 Zempoaltepec, State of Oaxaca 11,965 
 
 Table-lands — The plains of Mexico vary in extent from a score of 
 square miles to many thousands; they are arid and they are fertile, they 
 are as a desert and as a marsh. The Bajio, in the State of Guanajuato, is 
 a very fertile district well watered, and near to it the Cazadero (hunting 
 place), in Queretaro, a district of grazing. The Plains of Apam are noted 
 lor the growth of the maguey and its production of pulque; on one side 
 of these fertile lands is the arid Plain of San Juan; to the north and east, 
 just on the edge of the terrace, are great marshes almost covered with water. 
 In the State of San Luis Potosi a desert extends from a few miles north 
 of the capital nearly to Saltillo. In the States of Coahuila, Durango and 
 Chihuahua are the lagoons and marshes of the Bolson de Mapimi. 
 
 On the table-lands of the interior altitudes the cereals of the temperate 
 zone are grown to the extent, in many places, of two crops a year where 
 the lands are well irrigated; in the Nazas Valley cotton grows so luxuri- 
 antly that it does not require replanting till from four to five years. 
 
 The Coast is almost devoid of harbors and safe roadsteads except at Tam- 
 pico, where the mouth of the Rio Panuco has been jettied over a thousand feet 
 out into the Gulf. The outward scour of the river cleans the sands from the bar, 
 affording an entrance for the largest ships and a safe harbor large enough 
 for all purposes. At Vera Cruz ships anchor opposite the city and dis- 
 charge cargoes and passengers under the lee of a great sea wall, so that 
 the lighters are dispensed with and ships discharge and load at the piers. It 
 has taken nearly 400 years to find out that a safe harbor could be made at Vera Cruz. 
 
 At Coatzacoalcos, the Gulf terminus of the Tehuantepec Railway, a deep 
 water harbor will be provided, as the physical advantages of the port are 
 capable of great improvement by jetties. On the Pacific Coast the harbor 
 of Salina Cruz, near Tehuantepec. will be improved for the entrance of 
 big ships. At Acapulco is one of the finest harbors in the world; at Man- 
 zanillo, Mazatlan, San Bias and Guaymas are very fine harbors. The moun- 
 tains on this coast are washed by the sea, while on the Gulf are wide ex- 
 panses of lowlands with the hills farther to the interior.
 
 13 
 
 Agriculture and Forests— The lands of Mexico, with its diversified cli- 
 mate, grow the vegetable products of the world — corn, wheat, rye and bar- 
 ley, ofthe temperate zone, on the uplands; sugar cane, cofTee, the finest in 
 the world, vanilla, cotton, indigo, rubber, tobacco, jalap and cocoa in the 
 hot lands, while every variety of cactus produces something of use, from 
 the fibre of the ixtle to the pulque of the maguey. 
 
 The I^Iaguey. the American Aloe, is probably the most popular plant that 
 grows in Mexico; from the various branches of the maguey family are 
 produced the intoxicating drinks of the country, pulque, tequila and mescal. 
 The maguey is what we call the Century plant, from the idea that it blooms 
 once in a hundred years — which ,is correct — it blooms but once in its life. 
 Tequila and mescal, both transparent liquors, are obtained by a distillation 
 of the root and the lower leaves after roasting; the -liquor is very strong. 
 
 GATHERING PULQUE. 
 
 having a large percentage of alcohol. Pulque is the fermented sap or juice 
 of the maguey. When the plant is about to bloom the stem that would in 
 a few days run up to a height, is cut out, forming a bowl, into which gathers 
 the sap that would otherwise produce this long stalk; this juice or sap. 
 called agua miel, honey water, is gathered a gallon or two each day till 
 the plant is exhausted, when it dies and another one is put in its place 
 that will not produce for eight or ten years. A peon and a burro laden 
 with empty hog-skin bags or bottles go through the fields; finding a plant 
 that is ready the peon takes a long slender gourd that has a small hole in 
 each end; one end in the bowl of sap in the plant the other in his lips he 
 draws the sap into the gourd until it is full, then empties it into the hog- 
 skins, and when they are full they are emptied into a cask on a near-by cart, 
 taken to the hacienda, fermented overnight and taken to the City in the
 
 14 
 
 morning. Pulque spoils (if it can really spoil) within twenty-four hours. 
 If drank at all it must be done at once; which may account for the energy 
 of the Mexican in this direction. 
 
 All the vegetables and fruits known in North America are found in the 
 gardens and orchards of Mexico, and all those of the tropics are in the 
 fields and forests of the tierra caliente — oranges, lemons, pine-apples, ba- 
 nanas, and scores of others as the granadita, mamey and the chirimoya 
 that are never heard of except in Mexico. There is an infinite variety of 
 flowers in Mexico, comprising all those of temperate and torrid zones. 
 
 In the forests are all the hardwoods, mahogany, rosewood, ebony, as well 
 as the oak, pine and cedar of less value. In a great extent of country, in 
 the interior, wood of any kind is scarce, and timbers for manufacturing pur- 
 poses are freighted from distant points. The possibilities for agricultural im- 
 provement are unbounded. 
 
 i.":"'f<i«iA... 
 
 'V^'^g"--- 
 
 .t:%^'^ 
 
 BRINGING OUT SILVER. 
 
 Mines and Mining — This subject may be treated in one word, silver. 
 It is everywhere, in every state, in every hill and mountain. It is probable 
 that the total production of silver in Mexico, since the opening of the mines 
 to date, would reach $4,000,000,000. Gold exists in small quantities. It is 
 a curious fact that the ornaments found by the Spaniards in the houses of 
 the native kings and nobles were all of gold; silver was hardly mentioned 
 among the trophies taken to Spain. There is little iron, except at Durango, 
 where there is a mountain of it that is from seventy-five to ninety per cent, of 
 pure metal. Coal of fair quality is mined extensievly. Lead there is, and 
 some copper; also quicksilver, cinnabar, salt, bismuth, alum, asphalt, naphtha 
 and petroleum; sulphur is taken in huge blocks — pure sulphur from the
 
 15 
 
 crater of Popocatepetl, the mining of which has been going on since the 
 time when Cortez' soldiers let themselves down by ropes and baskets to 
 gather material for powder for the conqueror's cannon. 
 
 The most primitive methods of mining are yet in use in Mexico, but mod- 
 ern machinery is being introduced. The shafts, sometimes hundreds of 
 feet deep, are worked with a windlass and mule-power, and in some places 
 the miners pass up and down on ladders or steps cut in the side of the 
 shaft. The peon miners do not mind the heat or the water, but trudge 
 along day after day for the smallest wages or a percentage of what he 
 handles. 
 
 The old patio process, for the amalgamation of silver, invented by Bar- 
 tolome Medina in 1557, is still the most popular method. The ore is first 
 crushed in a mill which consists of an immense rolling stone turned by 
 mules; the smaller particles fall through a seive, the larger ones are crushed 
 again, and so on, are passed through other revolving stones till the ore 
 becomes a powder; this powder is carried by water through a trough to a 
 paved patio or court, and when the mass is about two feet deep, blue vitriol, 
 salt and quicksilver are thrown into it by handfuls till sufficiently impreg- 
 nated, then a herd of mules is driven round and round in the patio till the 
 mass is thoroughly mixe'd, taking from two to four weeks. The silver 
 mud is then taken to the washers, or tanks, and stirred in the water till 
 the amalgam of silver and quicksilver, being heavy, sinks to the bottom; 
 this mass is taken then to a sort of distillery and the mercury, separated by 
 distillation, leaves blocks of pure silver. 
 
 Manufactures — Mexico has advanced wonderfully in manufactures in the 
 last decade, till, within herself, she could supply all wants of her people 
 without the imports from the outside world, could clothe them from head 
 to foot, feed them, give then wine to drink and houses to live in. Statis- 
 tical information as to manufactures is not expected here. The percentage 
 of increase is not easily calculated. The advance has been from the primi- 
 tive hand loom of reeds to the factory of the most improved machinery. 
 The lack of the important factor of fuel will necessarily relegate the manu- 
 factories to the timbered regions, or to the line of the water-powers of the 
 country, where fuel is not needed. The forests are for the most part in 
 remote sections and in the hot lands. Coal is not yet mined in sufficient 
 quantities, though it exists in many parts of the Republic, and there are 
 evidences of petroleum. 
 
 The water-powers have never been utilized to their fullest capacity, and 
 there are great possibilities in this direction, as at Juanacatlan, near Guada- 
 lajara, where a wide river makes a sheer fall of seventy-one feet. It is used 
 only for an electric light plant, and one mill and a factory, but the whole 
 river from its source to the mouth has scores and scores of sites for other 
 factories and mills. 
 
 Carpets and woolen cloths are made at Soria, near Celaya. at Salvatierra, 
 and several other points; calicoes and cotton goods in the Federal District 
 and in many of the larger cities; blankets and zerapes at Durango, Sal- 
 tillo, San Aliguel de Allende, Aguas Calientes. Guadalajara and San Luis 
 Potosi; saddles, bridles, shoes and leather goods at Leon, Maravatio and 
 the City of Mexico; cigars and cigarettes at X'^era Cruz, the City of Mexico, 
 and the larger cities; breweries are at Monterey, San Luis Potosi, Chi- 
 huahua, Puebla, Orizaba. Guadalajara and Toluca; foundry and rolling mill 
 near the iron mountain at Durango. Chihuahua and Monterey are the larg- 
 est manufacturing centers of the country; the factories include almost every 
 branch of trade.
 
 16 
 
 The great Hercules Mills near Queretaro are among the finest cotton 
 factories in the world and second to these only are the mills on the line 
 of the ]\Iexican Railway near Puebla, and at Nogales near Orizaba. 
 
 Smelters and reduction works for getting out silver are located in all 
 the great mining towns. Sugar mills are in the cane country, but as yet 
 the refineries are very few. Crockery and pottery are made at Puebla. Guada- 
 lajara, and in very many smaller towns and villages. The onyx of Puebla 
 is famous for its delicate beauty. It is manufactured into very handsome 
 ornaments and used extensively in the manufacture of tops for stands and 
 tables, altars, fonts, etc.. for shrines and churches. All of Mexico's manufac- 
 tures are infant industries, but growing very rapidly. 
 
 CURVED BRIDGE ON THE MEXICAN NATIONAL RY. 
 
 Railroads— THE AlEXICAN RAILWAY was the first completed line in 
 Mexico. It extends from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico. 263 miles, passing 
 through a very rich region, both in the tropics and the table-lands. Cordoba 
 and Orizaba are the principal cities in the tierra caliente. The line is famous 
 the world over for the beauty of its scenery, and that between Maltrata and 
 Esperanza is beautiful beyond all description. From Esperanza the line runs 
 through a succession of fertile plains; the most noted are the famous pulque 
 Plains of Apam. The tram-road from Tejeria to Jalapa has been abandoned. 
 A tramway extends from Esperanza to Tehuacan. A branch from Apizaco 
 to Pueblo and from Ometusco to Pachuca. 
 
 THE MEXICAN CENTRAL RAILWAY from El Paso, Texas, crossing 
 the Rio Grande to the old town of Paso del Norte, now called the City of
 
 17 
 
 Juarez, runs almost due south 1,224 miles to the City of Mexico. Passing 
 the cities of Chihuahua, Jimenez, Gomez Palacio, Torreon, Calera, Zacatecas, 
 Aguas Calientes, Lagos, Leon, Silao, Irapuato, Salamanca, Celaya, Queretaro, 
 Tula and San Juan del Rio on the main line. 
 
 Connections of branches and other lines are made as follows: At Chi- 
 huahua with the Chihuahua & Pacific, and Kansas City, Mexico & Orient; 
 at Escalon, Mexican Northern; at Conejos, Central Durango ; at Bermejillo, 
 Mexican International and Mapimi Railroad; at Torreon, Mexican International 
 and Coahuila & Pacific ; Parral, Parral & Durango ; Jimenez, Parral branch ; 
 Gomez Palacio, San Pedro branch ; Adrian, Santa Barbara branch ; San 
 Bartolo, Rio Verde branch; Irapuato, Guadalajara division; Silao, Guanajuato 
 branch; Aguas Calientes, San Luis Potosi and Tampico division; Rincon de 
 Romos, Tepezala branch ; Pachuca, Panuco branch ; Tepenacasco, Tulancingo 
 branch; Yuricuaro, Zamora branch ; Guadalajara, Zapotlan division ; La Vega, 
 San Marcos branch ; Celaya, Mexican National ; San Luis Potosi, Mexican 
 National ; Tampico, Monterey & Gulf division ; City of ^vlexico, with Cuer- 
 navaca division. 
 
 It is impossible to enumerate the points of interest ; they are in almost 
 every mile. The most important are : the view of Chihuahua on the west 
 side; San Pedro Bridge; Bolson de ]»^lapimi on the east side; approach to 
 and passing of Zacatecas and Guadalupe, seen from the east windows; Bar- 
 ranca de La Encarnacion ; approach to Lagos and Leon ; Irapuato for straw- 
 berries and Celaya for dulces, both every day in the year; Queretaro for 
 opals; and just south of the city the road passes under the great stone 
 aqueduct of the city's water supply and into a fine valley, and afterwards to the 
 Plain of the Caza'dero to Lena, the point of highest altitude, 8,140 feet. At 
 Tula are the ruins of Toltec temples ; the road, continuing, runs through a 
 beautiful valley to the great Nochistongo Canal, seen on the west side. From 
 Huehuetoca may be obtained the first view of the great volcanoes of Popo- 
 catepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, and the plain, valley and City of Mexico. 
 
 The scenery on the line from San Luis Potosi to Tampico is unsurpassed 
 in Mexico, and roads to Guadalajara and Guanajuato are rich in scenic beauty. 
 
 THE CUERNAVACA DIVISION extends from the City of Mexico to 
 Cuernavaca, Puente de Ixtla, Iguala, and the Rio Balsas, with an ultimate 
 destination on the Pacific coast at Acapulco. The road crosses the broad plain 
 of the Valley of Mexico, passing historic points, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, 
 Padierna and Contreras. The scenic beauty of the line, as it passes up the 
 hills on the southern border of the plain, is magnificent, and the views south- 
 ward in the State of Morelos and be3^ond are grandly beautiful. 
 
 THE MEXICAN INTERNATIONAL 
 RAILROAD enters the Republic of Mexico 
 at the City of Porfirio Diaz, crossing the Rio 
 Grande from Eagle Pass, Texas, and runs 
 383 miles westward to its junction with the 
 Central Railway at Tor- 
 reon. Connection is made 
 at Reata for Monterey. The 
 principal cities and towns 
 are Monclova, Jaral and 
 Paila ; near the latter are 
 the famous vineyards of 
 Parras. The road skirts 
 the southern border of the 
 Bolson de Mapimi, and all 

 
 18 
 
 along the line are fine views of mountain scenery, making the ride an interest- 
 ing one. 
 
 After Torreon the road enters the San Juan Valley and extends, south- 
 westerly, 157 miles across the plains, over a tine roadway to the beautiful city 
 of Durango. 
 
 There are branch lines at Sabinas for Hondo ; at Pedricena for Velardena ; 
 at Torreon for Tlalmalilo; at Durango for Guanacevi ; at Horizonte for 
 Bermejillo; at Monclova for Cuartro Cienegas ; at Jaral for Parras; at 
 Hornos for San Pedro ; and at Matamoros for Zaragoza. 
 
 THE INTEROCEANIC RAILROAD has its main line from the City of 
 Mexico to Vera Cruz. On the eastern division the principal points of interest 
 are Texcoco, Irolo, San Martin, Pucbla, Perote, Jalapa and Vera Cruz. On 
 the western division are La Compania, Tlalmanalco, Amecameca, Nepantla, 
 Cuautla, Yautepec and Puente de Ixtla. The scenery is pleasing beyond de- 
 scription ; the great volcanoes are in full view for many miles ; in fact, 
 scarcely out of sight during the entire journey. Leaving Mexico, the road 
 passes along the shores of Lake Texcoco, seen from the east windows, while 
 Lake Xochimilco and Chalco can be seen from the other side. At Los Reyes 
 is the junction of the east and west lines. On the east line the points of 
 interest are the hacienda of General Gonzales — Texcoco — ]\Iolino de Flores — • 
 the pulque Plains of Apam, Puebla, Pyramid of Cholula, Volcano of Orizaba, 
 Perote and beautiful Jalapa. 
 
 From Los Arcos on the main line five miles west of Puebla, the Matamoros 
 branch leads off in a southwesterly direction, extending into a rich sugar 
 district. From Virreyes a branch extends northward to San Juan, and another 
 to Teziutlan on the north and San Marcos on the south of the main line. 
 
 THE NATIONAL RAILROAD OF MEXICO has its northern terminus 
 at Laredo, Texas, Nuevo Laredo being the city in Mexico on the opposite 
 bank of the Rio Grande. The line runs in a southwesterly direction, 840 miles, 
 to the City of Mexico, passing the cities of Monterey, Saltillo, Catorce, San 
 Luis Potosi, San Miguel de Allende, Queretaro ard San Juan del Rio on the 
 main line, with Celaya, Salvatierra, Acambaro, Maravatio and Toluca on the 
 old line. 
 
 At Monterey the road crosses the Alonterey & Gulf division of the Mexican 
 Central. At Vanegas connection is made with the Vanegas, Matehuala & Rio 
 Verde Railroad. At San Luis Potosi is the crossing of the Tampico division, 
 and at Celaya the main line of the Mexican Central. Acambaro is the junc- 
 tion for Morelia, Patzcuaro and Uruapam. At Maravatio connection is made 
 with the Michoacan & Pacific. At Rincon is the junction for S. L. de la Paz; 
 at Saltillo with the Coahuila & Pacific and Coahuila & Zacatecas ; at Toluca 
 with minor branches. 
 
 All roads lead to the capital, and all have their points of interest. These 
 
 are not lacking on the National, and daylight schedules are to be chosen 
 
 whenever it is possible. To be especially noted are the following: the beautiful 
 
 ' Monterey Valley, the City, Saddle Mountain, Mitre Mountain, Bishop's Palace, 
 
 on the east side; the ride through the canons to Saltillo; on the east side see 
 
 the mountain peak with a hole in the top, as if made with a monster cannon 
 
 .^shot; Hacienda Ramos Arispe and approach to Saltillo; battlefield of Buena 
 
 ,V Vista, just south of Saltillo; Catorce, station Tor the great mining town of 
 
 ,# the same name; Bocas, with its beautiful hacienda (on the east side) and 
 
 village; San Luis Potosi, on the west side; Dolores Hidalgo, once the home 
 
 of the patriot priest; San Miguel de Allende, the city on the hill, seen from 
 
 the east windows; the cafion and valley of the Laja; the cotton mills at
 
 19 
 
 Soria; canon near Maravatio ; canon of the Zopilote, south of Solis, where 
 is shown the rock of El Salto de Juan Medina, where the famous bandit 
 leaped his horse from the top to the chasm below, rather than be captured; 
 Zirizicuaro, on the east side; valley and city of Toluca; ascent of the Sierra 
 Madres to a point lo.ooo feet above the sea; passing around the village of 
 Ocoyocac, and a few minutes later a thousand feet above it ; grand view of 
 valley and volcano of Toluca; mill and aqueduct of Jajalpa; battlefield of 
 Las Cruces ; grand view from the mountain top after passing La Cima ; the 
 plain and valley of Mexico ; the City and the volcanoes on the east side ; 
 descent of the eastern slope; the "Moonstone" near Rio Hondo; Naucaulpan; 
 Los Remedios on the west ; Chapultepec on the east ; old aqueduct on the 
 east side. These are on the main line. On the western division the attractions 
 are no less, as it passes through the beautiful lake region of Mexico, Lake 
 Cuitseo and Lake Patzcuaro, and to the cities of ^Nlorelia, Patzcuaro and 
 Uruapan, 
 
 THE MEXICAN NORTHERN RAILWAY extends from Escalon to 
 Sierra Mojada, 78 miles. 
 
 THE MEXICAN SOUTHERN RAILROAD runs from Puebla to Oaxaca, 
 228 miles, passing through the important towns of Tecomavaca and Tehuacan, 
 with an ultimate destination at a Pacific port on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. 
 
 A tram line leads from Tehuacan to Esperanza on the Mexican Railway. 
 The road has a splendid passenger equipment, and runs through a county 
 wildly picturesque, where primitive Alexico may be seen as nowhere else. 
 Convenient schedules are operated to and from Puebla, connecting with those 
 of the lines from the capital. The line runs at the bottom of the canons, 
 instead of on the cliffs, as in the case of almost all the other lines, presenting 
 views unlike those seen anywhere else. Just below the beautiful city of Oaxaca, 
 reached by a broad, level carriage road, are the big trees of Santa Maria del 
 Tule and the wonderful Ruins of Mitla. Connections at Tlacotepec with 
 Tlacotepec & Huajuapam de Leon Railroad; at Oaxaca with Oaxaca & Ejutla 
 Railroad. 
 
 THE HIDALGO RAILROAD runs from the City of Mexico to Pachuca 
 and the mining cities beyond ; the road runs through a country rich in scenic 
 beautv. There is a branch line to Irolo. 
 
 THE MONTEREY & GULF DIVISION OF THE MEXICAN CEN- 
 TRAL RAILROAD extends from Tampico, on the Gulf, 387 miles to Trevino, 
 on the International Railroad, crossing the Mexican National Railroad at 
 Monterey, passing the cities of Victoria, Linares, Montemorelos and numerous 
 smaller towns and villages of more or less interest to the traveler, in the newly 
 opened country through which the line passes. 
 
 The constantly changing scenes in the mountains and valleys from Trevino 
 and ]Monterey to Linares and Victoria make the journey over the Monterey 
 & ^Mexican Gulf road a pleasing one, to which are added those of tropical 
 beauty on the southern division of the line south of Victoria and all the way 
 down to Tampico. 
 
 THE SONORA RAILROAD runs from Benson, in Arizona Territory, to 
 Guaymas, on the Gulf of California, 553 miles, passing Hermosillo, the capital 
 of the State of Sonora, and through a country intensely interesting and pos- 
 sessing a wealth of scenery. The harbor of Guaymas is one of the finest on 
 the Pacific coast, land-locked by high mountains that make it a very beautiful as 
 well as a very safe one. 
 
 THE PARRAL & DURANGO RAILWAY runs from Parral to Durango 
 through a rich timber and mining district.
 
 20 
 
 THE COAHUILA & PACIFIC RAILWAY from Saltillo on the National 
 runs westward to a connection with the Central and International at Torreon, 
 passing the city and wine district of Parras. 
 
 THE VERA CRUZ & PACIFIC RAILWAY has its northern and eastern 
 termini at Cordoba and Vera Cruz, connecting at the south w^ith the Tehuan- 
 tepec Railway at Santa Lucrecia. The line traverses a rich and very interesting 
 tropic country, where rubber, tobacco, sugar, coffee and all the tropic fruits 
 are grown in profusion. This is the shortest transcontinental line north of 
 Tehuantepec. 
 
 THE OCCIDENTAL RAILWAY runs from Altata on the Pacific coast 
 to Culiacan, the capital of the State of Sinaloa. 
 
 THE VERA CRUZ RAILWAYS run from Vera Cruz down the coast to 
 Alvarado. 
 
 THE COHUTLA & ZACATECAS runs from Saltillo on the National to 
 Conception del Oro, with an ultimate destination at Zacatecas. 
 
 THE CHIHUAHUA & PACIFIC from Chihuahua has the Pacific coast 
 for its final destination. 
 
 THE JALAPA & CORDOBA RAILWAY will in the near future connect 
 those two cities. The line is through a tropical country, and the ride over 
 it one of the most interesting in Mexico, through coffee and orange groves, 
 pineapple and banana gardens. 
 
 THE XICO & SAN RAFAEL RAILWAY east from the City of Mexico 
 is to extend to Puebla. 
 
 THE OAXACA & EJUTLA RAILWAY from Oaxaca southward trav- 
 erses a rich mining district. 
 
 THE NACOZARI RAILWAY runs south from Agua Prieta in the State 
 )f Sonora to Cos. 
 
 THE MEXICAN NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION COMPANY'S RAIL- 
 VAY has a line from Manzanillo on the Pacific coast to Colima, the capital 
 jf the state of that name ; also a line from Zacatecas to Guadalupe and 
 Troncoso. 
 
 THE MERIDA & VALLADOLID, MERIDA & PROGRESO, MERIDA 
 & PETO AND MERIDA & IZAMAL railways in Yucatan form a system 
 reaching from Progreso to the interior of the state. 
 
 THE UNITED RAILWAYS OF YUCATAN run from Merida south- 
 westerly through Yucatan to Campeche, with branch lines to interior points, 
 
 THE TLACOTEPEC & HUAJUAPAM RAILWAY runs from Tlacotepec 
 on the Mexican Southern southward through a fertile agricultural and rich 
 mining country. 
 
 The minor raihvays are Consolidated Copper, from Naco on the El Paso 
 & Southwestern Railway; Cordoba & Huatusco, from Cordoba, on the Mexican 
 Railway; Cardenas & Grijalva; Monte Alto Railway, from Tlaenepantla, on 
 the National and Central ; F. C. del Desague del Valle de Mexico, from 
 Grand Canal, on the Mexican Railway; Ixtlahuaca, Mani & Nijini Railway, 
 from Ixtlahuaca, on the National ; Torres & Prietas Railway, from Torres, on 
 the Sonora Railway ; Potosi & Rio Verde Railway, from San Luis Potosi ; 
 Mexican Mineral Railway, from Monterey ; El Oro Railway, from Tulte- 
 nango, on the National ; Chihuahua Mineral Railway, from Chihuahua ; 
 Oblatos Railway, from Guadalajara; Salamanca & Jaral Railway, from Sala- 
 manca, on the Central ; ; Toluca & Tenango Railway, from Toluca ; Toluca & 
 San Juan, from Toluca ; Cazadero & Solis, from Cazadero, on the Central ; 
 San Gregorio Railway, from Marfil, on the Central ; Mapimi Railway, from 
 Bermijillo, on the Central; Chalchicomula Railway, from San Andres, on
 
 FOR MOUNTAIN TRAVEL. 
 
 the Mexican Railway; 
 Jiianacatlan Railway, 
 from El Castillo, on the 
 Central ; Durango Cen- 
 tral, from Conejos, on the 
 Central. The National 
 Railway has a detached 
 division from Matamoros, 
 on the Gulf, northward lo 
 San Miguel 
 
 THE VANEGAS, CE- 
 DRAL & Mx\TEHUALA 
 RAILROAD runs from 
 Vanegas to Cedral, Matehuala and Rio Verde. 
 
 From Matehuala the Provenir de Matehuala Railroad runs to El Pelar. 
 
 THE RIO GRANDE, SIERRA MADRE & PACIFIC RAILWAY runs 
 southwesterly from Ciudad Juarez, opposite El Paso, 155 miles to Terranza, 
 with an ultimate destination on the Pacific Coast or that of the Gulf of Cali- 
 fornia. 
 
 THE TEHUANTEPEC RAILWAY.— The completion of the Tehuan- 
 tepec Railway makes the shortest possible transcontinental line north of the 
 Isthmus of Panama. The road runs from the fine harbor of Coatzacoalcos, 
 on the Gulf, to that of Salina Cruz, on the Pacific Coast. Both harbors are 
 amply protected and possessed of sufficient water f >r all practical purpo.-es. 
 The harbor of Coatzacoalcos was discovered by a band of Cortez' explorers. 
 As there was no safe road where his ships could ride off the coast of Vera 
 Cruz, he sent an exploring party down the coast, and Coatzacoalcos was the 
 harbor they looked for. Tehuantepec is a few miles inland from Salina Cruz on 
 the Pacific Coast. The importance of this railroad is realized in the immense 
 sailing distance saved on both sides, which is from 1,500 to 2,000 niiles on 
 the Gulf, and about the same on the Pacific. The Tehuantepec Railway is 
 about 190 miles long, while the Panama road is only forty miles, but this 
 difference does not count; when freight or passengers have to be transferred 
 it is as well to travel 190 miles as forty, when the saving of sea voyage is 
 considered. 
 
 Steamer Lines — The principal steamer lines to and from ^Mexican ports 
 are the Ward Line, New York & Cuba ^vlail Steamship Company, with weekly 
 steamers between Vera Cruz, Tampico, New York and Havana, touching at 
 Progreso, Campeche, Tuxpan and Frontera. 
 
 Other American and the European steamers make the same ports. The At- 
 lantic & Mexican Gulf Steamship Company operates a line between Tampico, 
 Vera Cruz and the Gulf and Atlantic ports of the United States. 
 
 The Pacific Mail steamers, between San Francisco and Panama, touch at 
 Acapulco, Mazatlan, ]Manzanillo and San Bias. 
 
 Inland navigation in Mexico is at present very limited ; small steamers are 
 run on Lakes Patzcuaro and Chapala. and on some of the smaller rivers of 
 the States of Tabasco, Yucatan and Yera. Cruz, and up the coast to the 
 ports of Vera Cruz and Tampico, touching intermediate ports. The Ward 
 Line and a Mexican company have coastwise steamers up and down the 
 Coast from Tampico down to Vera Cruz, Coatzacoalcos, Frontera, Campeche 
 and Progreso. The Rio Panuco and Tamesi River are also navigated a short 
 distance into the interior. But every one of these lines have their attractions 
 that do not obtain on any other waters of the western world.
 
 HERNANDQ CORTEZ— FROM THE ORIGINAL PAINTING IN THE HOSPITAU PE JESUS 
 — QITY QF MEXICO,
 
 Historical 
 
 What might have served to enlighten upon the history of the earlier 
 races that inhabited the land, was destroyed by the fanatics, who saw in the 
 temples they found, evidences of a civilization almost superior to their own, 
 and of a religion so nearly identical, that it seemed only a creed of the one 
 they professed; the jealous bigotry that threw down the graven stones, and 
 tore the pictured parchments to fragments, wiped out volumes of history 
 and placed bloody chapters in their stead. The bigots pulled down that 
 which in their day and generation they could not build up, placed a period 
 and a finis to the story of the races that were there for centuries before they 
 brought their bloody banners to these shores, till there is only here and 
 there a sculptured wall, with mosaics more intricate than any builded since, 
 or massive monoliths set up in pillars to grace a corridor of grander pro- 
 portions than their own, and, if they could, they would have destroyed all 
 of these works of a people who had passed away under the assaults of bar- 
 barism, at a period prior to all traditions, leaving no name, and no trace of 
 their existence save these monuments, which, neglected and forgotten by 
 their successors, have become the riddle of later generations. 
 
 There was a survival of the fittest. The bigot and fanatic passed away 
 in the fire of his own kindling. The good men and true saved, as brands 
 from the burning, some scrolls of picture writings, and from destruction 
 saved the marvelous carvings, that hung up for ornaments, and set as treas- 
 ures within our modern walls, tell us of a departed civilization, but with 
 only a drop of the knowledge of it. 
 
 It is to be regretted that from the w^eck of this primitive civilization some 
 of the arts peculiar to it w-ere not saved. The methods by which its as- 
 tronomers succeeded in determining the apparent motion of the sun and 
 the length of the solar year; of working and polishing crystal and other 
 stones; of manufacturing delicate articles of use and ornament of obsidian; of 
 casting figures of gold and of silver in one piece; of making filigree orna- 
 ments without soldering; of applying to pottery even and transparent glazes, 
 such as are used by makers of "fine ware, with colors that, after remaining
 
 for centuries under ground, still are fresh and brilliant; of weaving extremely 
 delicate tissues of cotton mixed with silky feathers and rabbit's fur. 
 
 The earliest data of record is in the coming of the Toltecs to Anahuac, 
 A. D. 648, and the movements of the various tribes in the succeeding cen- 
 turies till the foundation of Tenochtitlan in 1325, nearly 200 years before 
 its destroyers came. But these dates are determined by tradition only, on 
 which no two of the ancient chroniclers agree, but their differences are not 
 material. 
 
 The picture writings, the only and very meager record extant, are for 
 the most part on a cloth made of a fibre of the maguey. Most of these 
 were destroyed by order of the over zealous of the clergy. A few of these 
 pictures remain, some in the National Museums, some in private collections 
 and some in the libraries of Europe. 
 
 Historians agree as to these dates: 
 
 The Toltecs appeared in 648 A. D. 
 
 The Chichimecs in 1170 A. D. 
 
 The Nahuals in 1178 A. D. 
 
 The Aztecs or Acolhuans in 1196 A. D. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the Toltecs and Aztecs that are so often spoken 
 of in the same breath were 600 years apart. 
 
 This is the record of the nations; the names of the rulers before the 12th 
 century are not known; the first Chichimec king named in that century was 
 Xolotl, then through the 13th and 14th centuries in this order came Nopalt- 
 zin, Quinatzin and Tecotlalla; in 1406 Ixlilochtli commenced his reign; he 
 was followed by Netzahualcoyotl in 1426, and he in turn by Nezahualpilli in 
 1470. Cacamatzin began his reign in 1516, was succeeded by Cuicuitzcatzin in 
 1520 and he by Coanacotzin in 1520. 
 
 Of the Aztecs little is known except that their country was known as 
 Anahuac, and the capital Tenochtitlan, where the valley and City of Mexico 
 is now. 
 
 The empire of the Montezumas was established about the year 1460 and 
 continued till the arrival of the Spaniards in 1521, when Montezuma II was 
 killed by the arrows of his own warriors when Cortez forced him to go upon 
 the portico of his palace to quell if possible the rioting Aztecs, who under 
 Cuautemoc were attempting his rescue. Cuautemoc, the nephew of Monte- 
 zuma, became his successor and was the last of his line, the last of the 
 Aztec kings. 
 
 The Conquest — The name of Cortez is synonymous with the conquest, 
 but it was not his privilege to be the first of his race to reach the shores of 
 the land of his brilliant adventures. 
 
 Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba discovered the coast of Yucatan, March 
 4, 1517. A year later another expedition was sent out by Velasquez, the 
 governor of Cuba, under command of Don Juan de Grijalva, who came to 
 the shores of Mexico and landed on the island of San Juan de Ulua. oppo- 
 site the present city of Vera Cruz. A good report of the land was sent back 
 to Cuba by one of the captains, Pedro de Alvarado, later a famous officer 
 under Cortez, and still another fleet, larger than the others, was fitted out 
 and placed under the command of Hernando Cortez. Before the fleet was 
 ready to sail the governor determined to remove Cortez from command, 
 which coming to the ears of the Conqueror, he prepared his ships for sea, 
 and sailed before his removal could be accomplished, on the night of No- 
 vember 18. 1518, from Santiago de Cuba, touching at several other ports on 
 the island for supplies. Cortez finally sailed for Mexico February 18, 1519- 
 The fleet consisted of eleven ships, carrying ijo sailors, sixteen cavalry men
 
 26 
 
 with their horses, 553 foot soldiers, 200 Cuban Indians, a battery of ten small 
 cannon and four falconets; with this army went two Indians as interpreters, 
 captured by Cordoba in Yucatan two years previous. 
 
 On his ship Cortez raised the standard of the conquest, a black ensign, 
 emblazoned with the arms of Charles V., bearing the crimson cross borne 
 in clouds, with the motto: Amici, sequam crucem et si nos fidcm habemus 
 vere in hoc signo vincenius — "Friends, let us follow the cross, and if we 
 have faith we will conquer." Under this flag and the patronage of St. Peter, 
 Cortez sailed. On the island of Cozumel a shipwrecked Spaniard, Geronimo 
 de Aguilar, was picked up; having been there for nearly nine years he had 
 acquired the language and was a valuable acquisition as an interpreter. 
 
 The first landing was on March 20, 1519, near the Rio Tabasco, where 
 there was fighting with the natives and a number made captives, among 
 
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 SACRIFICE ON THE TEOCALi. 
 
 whom was La Marina, a native of Jalisco, sold here as a slave. She under- 
 stood the language of the uplands as well as the coast, and thus, through 
 her and Aguilar. Cortez could communicate with the people. La Marina 
 soon learned the Spanish language and became the interpreter, ally and wife 
 of the conqueror, and bore him a son, who was called Martin, as was an- 
 other son by his Spanish wife. 
 
 Leaving the River Grijalva, Cortez sailed up the coast and dropped his 
 anchors ofi Vera Cruz, April 21, 1519. Efforts to secure a peaceful recep- 
 tion on the part of the natives were unavailing. Discontent arose among the 
 Spaniards. Cortez. acting with his customary decision, burned his ships, and 
 on the i6tli of August began his march toward the capital of the Aztecs. 
 
 With little incident or opposition the brave band of adventurers reached 
 the table-lands and after a fight with the Tlaxcalans secured them as their
 
 27 
 
 allies. At Cholula, Cortez put down a conspiracy reported to him by La 
 Marina, which was attended by a great massacre of the Cholulans. The na- 
 tives were completely terrorized by the cannon and fire-arms, and the horse 
 and rider of the cavalry were regarded as almost a god, or at least one 
 being, as they had never seen a horse, so the invaders proceeded on their 
 march, unopposed, passed over the causeways of Tenochtitlan, and entered 
 
 the present City of Mex- 
 ico, Tuesday, November 
 8, 1519. The Aztec King, 
 ^lontezuma, came out to 
 meet Cortez, tradition 
 says, on the site of the 
 present Hospital de Jesus, 
 founded by him in com- 
 memoration of this meet- 
 ing. The aggressions 
 of the Spaniards, and 
 their oppression of 
 the ^Mexicans soon 
 turned their apparent 
 friendship to hatred, 
 and they drove them 
 out of the City over 
 the Tlacopan cause- 
 w^ay, now called Ta- 
 cuba, on the night of 
 July I. 1520, called la 
 noche triste, the Dis- 
 mal Night; retreat- 
 ing. Cortez fought 
 another battle at 
 Otumba on the 8th 
 of July, where the 
 Tlaxacalans came to 
 his rescue and turned 
 the tide of war in his 
 favor, and he halted 
 in the city of these 
 allies. While at Tlax- 
 cala reinforcements 
 came from Cuba; 
 powder for the can- 
 non and small arms 
 was made from the 
 TREE OF LA NOCHE TRISTE. sulphur taken from 
 
 the crater of Popocatepetl. The bergantines. small flat-bottomed boats, 
 were buih. to be put together and launched on Lake Texcoco, when Cortez 
 returned and commenced the siege of Tenochtitlan. December 31. 1520, oper- 
 ating from the town of Texcoco with a force of forty cavalry, eighty arque- 
 busiers and cross-bowmen. 450 infantry, armed with lances and swords, and 
 a battery of nine small cannon. This was the Spanish contmgent. The na- 
 tive allies numbered about 125,000. , , . , xt 1 a^ • ^ 
 
 Montezuma died on the 30th of June, the day before the Noche iriste. 
 and his nephew, Guatemotzin. called also Cuautemoc, who, it is said, shot 
 the arrow that caused Montezuma's death, was placed in command, ine
 
 28 
 
 siege continued till the native garrison was starved into submission, and 
 the Spaniards made their second and triumphal entry into the City of Mexico, 
 August 13. 1521; but they found a different city than when the meek Monte- 
 zuma met them at the city gates. Almost all the treasure had been de- 
 stroyed or concealed, and to extort the secret from Guatemotzin, Cortez 
 cruelly put him to torture, but without avail; the wealth of jewels, gold and 
 precious stones had been thrown into the lake. 
 
 Cortez was born in the town of IMedellin, Province of Estramadura, in 
 1485, the son of Don Martin Cortez de IMonroy. He came to Cuba before 
 he was twenty years of age, and later married Dona Catalina Juarez under 
 compulsion, whom he murdered in the garden at Coyoacan. During the 
 
 DEATH OF MONTEZUMA. 
 
 conquest La Marina took the place of Dona Catalina, by whom no children 
 were borne. A son, Don Martin, was born of La Marina, and three daugh- 
 ters by other Indian women of rank. 
 
 After the conquest Cortez married Doiia Juana de Zimiga, who was called 
 his second wife, and by whom he had three daughters and one son, also named 
 Martin, who was heir to the conqueror's titles and estates. There was a 
 son, Don Luis, by Antonia Hermosillo. 
 
 The two sons, both named Martin, entered into a conspiracy to secure 
 the rulership of the province to Don Martin, the son of Doha Juana. For 
 this his estates were confiscated, but finally restored to him. He married 
 and left a son, Hernando, the third Marques of the Valley, whose son, Don 
 Pedro, the fourth Marques, lived on the estates until 1629, dying in that 
 year without male issue. Through the daughters the property passed to 
 the Neapolitan Dukes of Monteleone, which family still controls the vast 
 estates.
 
 29 
 
 Hernando Cortez, the Conqueror, died in the town of Castelleja de la Questa, 
 in Spain. December 2. 1547. 
 
 The Viceroys — Mexico was under the dominion of Spain for 300 years, 
 during which time there were five Governors, two Audencias and sixty-two 
 Viceroys. Cortez was the first Governor; the others were miHtary command- 
 ers of the time. The Audencias. composed of three to five members each, 
 were torn by envies and jealousies and proved entirely unsatisfactory, so the 
 government by the Viceroys was resorted to. The most prominent, with the 
 important incidents of their administrations, are recorded here. Don An- 
 tonio de jMendoza was the first Viceroy, continuing in oftice from 1535 to 
 1550. He brought the first printing press and printed the first book in Alexico. 
 He extended the domain to Morelia and Guadalajara, and opened the mines 
 of Zacatecas and Guanajuato, and during his administration the first money 
 of Mexico was coined. 
 
 Don Luis de Velasco. the second Viceroy, held the office from 1550 to 
 1564, and extended the territory of the province northward to Durango. He 
 freed 150.G00 Indians held as slaves by the Spaniards, and founded many im- 
 portant institutions, among them Hospital Real and the University. During 
 nis time the patio process for the reduction of silver was invented at Pachuca 
 by Bartolome de Medina. He built the dyke of San Lazaro after the first 
 inundation of the city in 1552. Loved and lamented, he died in the City of 
 Mexico, July 31, 1564. 
 
 Don Alartin Enriquez de Almanza was the fourth Viceroy, from 1568 to 
 1580. The first stone of the Cathedral was laid during his reign and the In- 
 quisition established. 
 
 The seventh Viceroy was Don Alonzo Manrique de Zimiga. 1585 to 1590; 
 he was instrumental in extending the commerce of the country. 
 
 The eighth Viceroy was Don Luis de Velasco. son of the second Viceroy, 
 who established internal manufactures and commenced the extension of ter- 
 ritory into New Mexico in the years 1590 to 1595; after an absence as Viceroy 
 of Peru he was again Viceroy from 1607 to 161 1, during which time the great 
 Tajo de Nochistongo was begun, and the Alameda established. 
 
 The ninth Viceroy was Don Caspar de Zufiiga y Acevedo. Conde de Mon- 
 terey, who ruled from 1595 to 1603. He extended the domain to California 
 and founded the town of Monterey. California, and the one in ^Mexico; he 
 removed the city of Vera Cruz to its present site. Don Diego Carrillo Men- 
 doza. Marques de Calves, was the fourteenth Viceroy, 1621 to 1624, doing much 
 to exterminate the bandits that infested the highways of Mexico. For the 
 honor of this Viceroy the town of Galveston, Tex., was named. The twenty- 
 second Viceroy, Don Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva, Duque de Albur- 
 guerque, in 1653-60, colonized New Mexico, and founded the town of x\lbur- 
 fluerque. 
 
 The worthy Fray Payo de Rivera Enriquez was the twenty-seventh Viceroy, 
 and also Archbishop of Mexico, from 1673 to 1680. During his reign, the cause- 
 way and aqueduct of Guadalupe was built. Don Melchor Portocarrero Lazo 
 de la Vega. Conde de la Monclova, twenty-ninth Viceroy. 1686 to 1688. built, 
 at his own expense, the aqueduct of Chapultepec. colonized the State of Coa- 
 huila, and founded the town of Monclova. Don Caspar de la Cerdo Sandoval 
 Silva y Mendoza. Conde de Galve. was the thirtieth Viceroy, from 1688 to 
 1696, during which the domain was extended to include Texas, and under his 
 direction the town of Pensacola, Fla., was founded, in 1692. 
 
 The thirty-second Viceroy was Don Jose Sarmiento Valladares. Conde de 
 Moctezuma, which title of Conde came through his wife, a lineal descendant of 
 Moctezuma II. Don Juan de Acufia, ^Marques de Casafuerte, was the thirty-
 
 30 
 
 seventh of the line of Viceroys. During his reign, from 1722 to 1734, the first 
 newspaper, Gaceta de Mexico, was published. Don Pedro Cebnan y Agustin, 
 Conde de Fuenclara, was the fortieth Viceroy, from 1742 to 1746, during which 
 years the State of Tamaulipas was colonized. 
 
 Don Joaquin de Monserratte, Marques de Cruillas, forty-fourth Viceroy, 
 established the first regular army in Mexico between 1760 and 1766, and caused 
 the houses in the City of Mexico to be numbered. Don Carlos Francisco de 
 Croix, Marques de Croix, was forty-fifth Viceroy, from 1766 to I77i- He 
 expelled the Jesuits from Mexico and extended the Ala-meda to its present 
 dimensions. 
 
 The forty-sixth Viceroy was Don Antonio Maria de Bucareli y Ursua, from 
 1771 to 1779. Mining and minting was greatly increased during his reign, and 
 
 nearly $130,000,000 
 was sent to Spain. 
 He died in Mexico, 
 and is buried in the 
 church at Guada- 
 lupe; a bronze tab- 
 let in the floor of 
 the great church of 
 Guadalupe marks 
 his last resting- 
 place. He fostered 
 the military, but 
 encouraged the 
 commerce of the 
 country till it 
 reached an unpre- 
 cedented activity. 
 TORTURE OF cuAUTEMOc. Bcsidcs othcr great 
 
 public works he completed the aqeduct of Chapultepec at his own expense. 
 
 Don Juan Vicente de Giiemes Pacheco de Padilla, Conde de Revillagigedo, 
 was the fifty-second Viceroy and the great reformer of the period, 1789-94. He 
 paved and sewered the city, executed bandits, and sent out exploring expedi- 
 tions, one of which penetrated Alaska. He attended the erection of public 
 works in person, and w^as on the alert day and night, so that nothing escaped 
 him. It is said that one night he tripped on an uneven piece of pavement, and 
 had the workmen called from their beds and told them to have it fixed before 
 morning. On another occasion he found a street that was barricaded by some 
 native huts. He sent for an officer and ordered the street opened, so he could 
 pass through on his way to mass next morning. To this day the street is 
 called Calle Revillagigedo. 
 
 Don Miguel de la Grua Salamanca, Marques de Branciforte, was the fifty- 
 third Viceroy. During his reign, 1794-98, Florida was ceded to France — that 
 portion east of the Perdido River, 
 
 Don Jose de Iturrigaray, the fifty-sixth Viceroy, 1803-8, for his favors to 
 the native element during the interregnum between Ferdinand VH. and 
 Joseph Bonaparte, was arrested, imprisoned on the island of San Juan de 
 Ulua, and sent back to Spain. The fifty-seventh Viceroy was Don Pedro de 
 Garibay. He executed the Licenciado Verdad, the first martyr of Mexican 
 independence. 
 
 Garibay was succeeded by- the then Archbishop of Mexico, Francisco Javier 
 de Lizana, as fifty-eighth Viceroy.
 
 31 
 
 The Revolution —The Viceroys from 1809 were beset in all directions by 
 the revolutionary spirit that was afire throughout the country. The first con- 
 spiracy was discovered in ]Michoacan and promptly stamped out. In 1810 the 
 first decisive steps of the Revolution were taken by the joint action of the 
 patriot priest. Hidalgo, in the town of Dolores, in the State of Guanajuato, and 
 Allende, Aldama, together with the officers of the Queen's regiment (then gar- 
 risoned at San Miguel), and greatly assisted by Dona Josefa Ortiz of Quere- 
 
 
 STATUE OF CHARLES IV. 
 
 taro, who, under pretense of a literary society, was holding patriotic meet- 
 ings at her house. These plans were discovered and the patriots compelled to 
 act before they were quite ready. During the night of the i6th of September, 
 Sunday, the comrades came to the house of Hidalgo, in Dolores, and told 
 him of the discovery of the plot. The padre said they must act at once; at 
 early mass he told the people that the yoke w^as no longer Spanish, but French, 
 and the time for its throwing off had come; his people responded and he 
 set out with Allende and his companions at the head of a band of 300 men 
 armed only with clubs and knives. As they passed the Santuario de Atotonilco,
 
 32 
 
 Hidalgo took from the altar the banner of Guadalupe, and it became the stand- 
 ard of Independence. At San Miguel, the regiment of AUende joined the in- 
 surgents, the march to Guanajuato was commenced, the people of the country 
 flocked to his aid, and he came to the town with a heavy force; the Alhondiga 
 de Granaditas was taken, and the city occupied by the patriots. 
 
 The march thence was toward Morelia, then called Valladolid, and thence 
 towards the capital, his forces being constantly augmented, and at Las Cruces, 
 almost within sight of the city, October 30, 1810, met the Royal troops and 
 drove them back, but for some reason Hidalgo himself decided to retreat, and 
 retired towards the interior, encountering the Royalists again November 7th, 
 near Aculco, where he was defeated and driven back, but reached Guadalajara 
 in safety, and organized a government there. Hidalgo met the Spaniards again 
 January 16, 181 1, on the bridge of Calderon and had his little army dispersed. 
 
 The defeated patriots made their way northward with the hope of reaching 
 the United States in safety, but were betrayed into the hands of the Spaniards, 
 and were captured in the little town of Acatita de Bajan, on the 21st of May, 
 181 1, and conveyed to Chihuahua, where they were executed, Hidalgo on the 
 31st of July, Allende, Aldama and Jimenez on the 26th. 
 
 The death of these leaders had only a stimulating effect on the cause of Inde- 
 pendence. The entire country was aroused and a desultory war carried on in 
 every district for more than four years, until the execution of Morelos at the 
 orders of the Inquisition, December 22, 1815, at Valladolid, now called Morelia, 
 in honor of the patriot. As fast as they were captured the patriots were shot, 
 but others came to take their places, and in some cases came over from the 
 Royalist forces, as in the case of Yturbide, who captured and shot Matamoras 
 at Valladolid, February 3, 1814, and seven days later himself promulgated the 
 cause of Independence; the famous Plan of Iguala, which was the establish- 
 ment of the Roman Catholic church to the exclusion of all others; the absolute 
 Independence of Mexico as a moderate monarchy, with a Spanish prince on 
 the throne; the union and equality of Mexicans and Spaniards. These three 
 clauses were called "the three guarantees," represented in the national colors: 
 green, union of the Mexicans and Spaniards; white, religious purity; red, inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 Yturbide's army, known as the "Army of the Three Guarantees," finally 
 accomplished the Independence of Mexico. 
 
 The cities of Valladolid, Queretaro and Puebla were captured, the latter on 
 August 2, 1821, and at once commenced the siege of the capital. The last 
 Viceroy, Juan O'Donoju, had just arrived at Vera Cruz. He found that he 
 could not reach the City of Mexico and set about arranging a personal inter- 
 view with Yturbide, which occurred at Cordoba, on August 23. 1821, and an 
 agreement, known as the Treaty of Cordoba, was drawn on the lines of the 
 Plan of Iguala, with amendment that O'Donoju should be one of the regents 
 to govern IMexico until a king could be selected. This arrangement practi- 
 cally ended Spanish rule in Mexico. Yturbide returned to his army, and on 
 September 21, 1821, entered the City of Mexico in triumph. The territory 
 within the boundaries of Mexico at that time included Guatemala, all of the 
 present Republic of Mexico, and that part of the United States from the Red 
 and Arkansas Rivers to the Pacific Coast, extending north to the British pos- 
 sessions, — one of the greatest empires of the earth. 
 
 Agustin de Yturbide was born in Valladolid, now Morelia, September 27, 
 T7'83. joined the army at the early age of fifteen, and by his rnerit as a 
 soldier was rapidly advanced. He was never in favor of the Republic, though 
 he desired the Independence of Mexico, and probably hoped for his own 
 enthronement, which was accomplished for a brief season.
 
 33 
 
 On the 24tli of f'ebruary. 1822. the first Congress of Mexico assembled in 
 the capital. Their election had been provided for by a committee of regencv 
 based on the Plan of Iguala and the Treaty of Cordoba. Almost immediately 
 there were two important factions among the people. They resolved them'- 
 
 MONUMENT TO HIDALGO, CHIHUAHUA. 
 
 selves mto two political parties, one composed of the army and the church 
 that had for -its object the placing of Yturbide upon the throne. The other 
 party, composed mostly of prominent people, had an idea of an Empire under 
 a prmce of Spam. The Spanish- Cortez had, in the meantime, February 13, 
 1822, annulled the Treaty of Cordoba. This gave encouragement to the army
 
 34 
 
 and clergy party, and Congress was forced to make selection of an Emperor. 
 On May 19, 1822, Yturbide was elected by a vote of 67 to 15, and on the 21st 
 of July of that year Yturbide and his wife were crowned in the Cathedral as 
 Emperor and Empress of Mexico. The Emperor was titled Agustin I. The 
 Empire was short-lived. Congress, which had been friendly to Yturbide, was 
 dissolved by him and a sort of parliament organized, called a "Junta." 
 
 Before the end of the year the Empire came to an end by the proclamation 
 of a Republic on December 6, 1822, at Vera Cruz, by General Antonio Lopez 
 de Santa Ana, and early in January the entire country had gathered under the 
 banner of the Republic, leaving only the City of Mexico as the Empire. Ytur- 
 bide called Congress together, tendered his resignation, which was not accepted, 
 as the election had not been regarded as legal, and his actions as Emperor 
 were also illegal. He was banished from the country, but granted a pension 
 of $25,000 for his previous services to the country. 
 
 He went to England, and from London wrote to the Government warning 
 them of the machinations of the clergy for the restoration of the Spanish 
 rule in Mexico, and ofYering his services in defense against them. Congress 
 did not accept the information or his services, and at once a decree was issued 
 pronouncing Yturbide a traitor and placing the penalty of death, should he 
 return to Mexico. Yturbide was ignorant of the issuance of this decree and 
 returned to Mexico, landing at Soto la Marina, a little town on the Gulf 
 coast, in the State of Tamaulipas, north of Tampico. He was arrested at once 
 and taken before the legislature of Tamaulipas, then in session, condemned 
 to death, and shot July 19, 1824. 
 
 The second Congress, really the first of the Republic, assembled in the 
 capital on the 7th of November, 1823, adopting a Constitution very similar 
 to that of the United States, giving to the several states of Mexico similar 
 rights to those of the United States. It created a National Congress, to be 
 composed of a Senate and Chamber of Deputies, placing the executive power 
 in the hands of a President, and the judicial in the Supreme and Circuit Courts. 
 This Constitution was proclaimed on the 4th of October, 1824, and on the 
 loth of that month the first President of Mexico, General Guadalupe Victoria, 
 took the oath of office. Congress was dissolved on the 24th of December, 1824, 
 and the first Constitutional Congress convened January i, 1825. In that year 
 Fort Juan de Ulua, the only place held by the Spanish, was evacuated and the 
 Republic of Mexico was recognized by the United States and England. 
 
 From 1828 to 1846 there was a series of revolutions, growing out of the 
 disregard of the election between the Centralists and the Federalists. The sec- 
 ond election for President occurred in 1828, when General Gomez Pedraza 
 was elected. General Santa Ana dissenting and starting a revolution, which 
 placed General Vicente Guerrero in ofifice. 
 
 Congress passed an act on the 20th of March, 1829, banishing all Spaniards 
 from Mexico, which, of course, brought retaliation from Spain. A force was 
 organized in Cuba, which landed at Tampico in July, 1829. This invasion was 
 met by the opposition of all the people in Mexico. Santa Ana organized a force 
 at Vera Cruz and proceeded to Tampico, which was reenforced by General 
 Mier y Teran. A battle occurred on the 9th of September, which, on the nth, 
 was followed by the surrender of the Spanish invaders. This was the last act 
 of the Spaniards to regain possession of Mexico, and was followed by the recog- 
 nition of the Republic by Spain, December 28, 1836. 
 
 The Liberal Congress, in March, 1833, commenced the enaction of laws 
 against the clergy, tending to the abolishment of monasteries and convents, 
 and to forbid the priests teaching in State or National schools. This law was, 
 however, withdrawn by Santa Ana in 1834.
 
 35 
 
 While these stormy scenes were being enacted in Mexico, that part of the 
 great Empire known as Texas had been settled, to some degree, by Americans, 
 who, in 1835, under the leadership of Sam Houston, declared their Independ- 
 ence. 
 
 General Santa Ana was in command of the army sent to quell the revo- 
 lution, and was met by the Texans in several bloody battles, among which was 
 the massacre of the Alamo on the 6th of March, 1836, and at Goliad on the 
 27th, in which nearly 600 Texans were slain. 
 
 General Santa Ana was defeated at the battle of San Jacinto, near Galves- 
 ton, and the next morning, April 22nd, was made prisoner. This battle and 
 the capture of the President and Chief General of Mexico practically ended 
 the war and made Texas an mdependent State. 
 
 Texas existed as a separate Republic until 1844, being recognized by the 
 United States and the European powers. On the 12th of April, 1844, a treaty 
 was concluded between President Tyler and the Texans, by which Texas was 
 
 HOUSE OF CORTEZ AT COYOACAN. 
 
 admitted as one of the United States. This treaty was ratified by Congress in 
 March, 1845, which action, of course, did not meet with the approval of the 
 Mexicans. As Texas was an independent power and had been recognized as 
 such by the Mexican Government, their right to be annexed by the United 
 States was not questioned by any other power. 
 
 This was the beginning of the Mexican War, and the first battle was fought 
 April 24, 1846, in which sixteen Americans were killed and wounded, and the 
 remaining force captured. In the next battles, which were Palo Alto, on May 
 8th, and Resaca de la Palma on the next day (both of these places in Texas), 
 the ^Mexicans were defeated. 
 
 General Taylor crossed the Rio Grande at its mouth, on May the i8th, 
 and occupied the Mexican town of Matamoros. The Americans had provided 
 for the prosecution of the war by an appropriation of $10,000,000 and 50,000
 
 36 
 
 volunteers were called for. Before the war commenced an envoy of the United 
 States, jMr. Slidell. had been refused an audience by General Paredes, who 
 had obtained the place of the Presidential office of Alexico, so that all efforts 
 looking to a peaceful settlement were abandoned. General Taylor advanced 
 from the Rio Grande, captured ]\Ionterey September 20, 1846, and on the 
 23d of February, 1847. fought another battle at Buena Vista, about five miles 
 south of Saltillo. 
 
 Generals Doniphan and Price marched through New Alexico. where they 
 had engagements with Indians, then proceeded in the direction of Chihuahua, 
 which they occupied on the 28th of February, 1847, after the battle of Sacra- 
 mento. General, then Captain Fremont, acting under orders from the Gov- 
 ernment at Washington, started a revolution against ]\Iexico in California, and 
 on the 7th of July, 1846, Commodore Sloat occupied the town of Alonterey, Cal.. 
 and the next day Commander ]\Iontgomery occupied San Francisco. On the 
 17th of August, Commodore Stockton issued a proclamation taking possession 
 of California, complete occupation of the State being made by Stockton and 
 Kearney. 
 
 The expedition against the Mexican capital was under General Winfield 
 Scott, who landed at Vera Cruz March 9, 1847, and captured the city after five 
 days' bombardment, on the 27th of J\Iarch. On his march toward the capital 
 he met General Santa Ana at Cerro Gordo, and defeated him on the i8th 
 of April. Without further opposition General Scott reached Puebla, and 
 entered the Valley of Mexico on the 9th of August, defeated the Mexicans at 
 Padierna. August 20th, and marched to the field of Churubusco on the same 
 day. 
 
 On the 8th of September occurred the battles. Molino del Rey and Casa 
 Mata, and, on the 12th and 13th stormed the castle of Chapultepec. so gal- 
 lantly defended by the cadets of the military academy, and took possession of 
 Belem and San Cosme, entering the City of Mexico on the 15th of Septem- 
 ber, 1847. A treaty of peace called the "Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo," was 
 concluded on the 2d of February, 1848, by which Mexico ceded to the United 
 States all the territory north and east of the Rio Grande, for which the United 
 States Government agreed to pay to Mexico the sum of $15,000,000, thus con- 
 cluding a war, whose settlement, on its face, would seem to be the most liberal 
 in the history of wars, but concluding a war that General Grant pronounced 
 the most unholy and unjust ever waged by a stronger nation against a weaker 
 one. 
 
 In 1851 Mariano Arista was elected President. In less than two years, in 
 the midst of a revolution, he resigned the place. The following two years, 
 from 1853 to 1855, General Santa Ana was Dictator. On December the 12th, 
 1855, Comonfort was elected President, commencing his administration with 
 the enforcement of the laws against the Church. 
 
 In 1856 he ordered the sale of all landed estates owned by the Church, 
 the Church to receive the money, and the ownership of the lands passing to 
 private individuals. In the same year. September i6th. he announced the sup- 
 pression of the Monks, which was instigated by a conspiracy of the San Fran- 
 ciscans. During his administration a new Constitution was framed and 
 adopted. February 5, 1857, Comonfort remaining as President until the elec- 
 tion under the new Constitution, when he was elected to succeed himself. He 
 entered upon his second term, December i, 1857, and one of his first acts was 
 to overthrow the Constitution that he had sworn to support. He dissolved 
 Congress in December and imprisoned Benito Juarez, who had been elected 
 his successor. All of his plans failed, he left the country in 1858, and did not 
 return until the French Intervention, when he joined the Mexicans against
 
 37 
 
 Maximilian. After the departure of Comonfort, Juarez became the Consti- 
 tutional President, but was compelled to abandon the capital, and at once 
 set out for Guadalajara, where his Government was organized. He proceeded 
 to the Pacific Coast, thence to the United States, returning to Vera Cruz, from 
 which point he administered the Government. During this time another Gov- 
 ernment was in existence in the City of ]Mexico, under Felix Zuloaga. whose 
 adrninistration commenced a vigorous prosecution of the War of the Reform, 
 which extended over the entire country. In this Juarez took prominent part 
 by his proclamation of the Laws of the Reform at a time when there seemed 
 the least possible chance of success. This was the bitterest war in the history 
 of Mexico. Juarez' proclamation was dated July 12, 1859, and had the effect of 
 
 1^ ;iliJfA 
 
 MINT AT CHIHUAHUA, HIDALGO'S PRISON. 
 
 a settlemicnt of the causes of the dissensions of fifty years. Juarez entered 
 the City of Mexico, January 11, 1861, and commenced operation of the Laws 
 of the Reform from the capital. 
 
 In 1861, July the i/th, the Mexican Congress passed a law suspending pay- 
 ment on the bonds and interest of the Republic held by foreigners. This law 
 gave the European powers an excuse for the intervention. The first inter- 
 vention in ^Mexican affairs, however, was during the administration of General 
 Bustamente, when a claim of $600,000 was made by France for damages suffered 
 by French subjects during the various wars. 
 
 One of the items of this claim was made by a French cook for $60,000 worth 
 of pies, alleged to have been stolen from him by the soldiers. This claim of 
 the French was derisively called "La Reclamacion de los Pasteles," the claim 
 of the pies. A French fleet arrived off Vera Cruz October 27. 1839, and cap- 
 tured the city on the 5th of December, on which day the French were attacked
 
 38 
 
 and driven back to their ships by General Santa Ana, who in this battle lost 
 his leg. A treaty was concluded in March, 1839, when the full claim of $600,000 
 was paid. 
 
 The intervention of 1861 was then the second, and the outcome of an 
 agreement called the Treaty of London, entered into October 31, 1861, between 
 France, England and Spain, binding these nations to occupy the coast of 
 Mexico, with the idea to put the Mexicans in a position to establish a govern- 
 ment of their own. 
 
 The fleet of the allies arrived at Vera Cruz in December, 1861, and Jan- 
 uary, 1862, bringing commissioners — General Prim, of Spain; M. de Saligny, 
 of France, and Admiral Wyke, of England — who were authorized to treat with 
 the representatives of the ^lexican Go\ernment. These commissioners issued 
 a proclamation declaring that their presence in ]\Iexico was for the purpose 
 and question of finance only. A conference between the Government and the 
 commissioners, called the Treaty of La Soledad, signed February 19, 1862, 
 allowed the Spanish troops to advance as far as Orizaba, and the French troops 
 to Tehuacan. The English made no advance of troops into the interior; in 
 fact, only 1,000 marines had accompanied the English fleet as a guard of honor. 
 It was stipulated that the troops should be withdrawn as soon as the treaty 
 should be confirmed by the English and French commissioners. The Spanish 
 forces were withdrawn, and the English and Spanish ships left Vera Cruz. 
 The French troops remained, and were reenforced in IMarch to the number of 
 40.000 men under Marshal Forey, who arrived in Mexico in January, 1863. 
 Their advance towards the capital was repulsed at Puebla on the 5th of May, 
 1862, by General Zaragoza's troops. Puebla was captured on the 17th of May 
 of that year. 
 
 Juarez abandoned the capital and the French soldiers entered the City of 
 Mexico June 9, 1863. On the loth of July, 1863, an "Assembly of Notables" 
 was called together in the City of ]\Iexico, and a declaration made by that 
 body to the effect that Mexico should be governed by a hereditary Monarchy, 
 under a Catholic prince, and that the throne should be offered to Maximilian, 
 Archduke of Austria, also a representative of the ruling house of Spain, and 
 brought Mexico, in 1863, practically to the position she occupied in 1821. 
 Maximilian accepted the throne on two conditions: first, that he should be 
 elected by a popular vote in Mexico; second, that the Emperor Napoleon should 
 give him military aid as long as it should be necessary. 
 
 Maximilian arrived in the City of IMexico. June 12, 1864, with his wife, 
 Carlotta, daughter of Leopold L. King of the Belgians. They were crowned 
 Emperor and Empress in the Cathedral in the City of Mexico. 
 
 Maximilian continued to enforce the Laws of the Reform, and thus increased 
 the opposition of the Clerical party. As President Juarez had. or was believed 
 to have, abandoned the countiy, IMaximilian issued a decree declaring the war 
 at an end and all persons in arms against the Government to be bandits, and 
 when captured should be shot. The decree aroused bitterness of opposition 
 throughout the country, following the execution of Generals Arteago, Salazar, 
 Villagomez and Felix Diaz. The opposition to Maximilian was not confined 
 to ^lexico. The United States Government was opposed to the reestablishment 
 of a monarchy on the western continent. Secretary Seward informed the 
 French in a diplomatic way that, as soon as he could be relieved of some little 
 difiticulties that he had on his hands in his own country at that time, he would 
 look upon the occupation of Mexico by the French army as a grave reflection 
 on the United States, and that the United States could not tolerate the estab- 
 lishment of an Empire in jMexico based on military support of a foreign 
 country.
 
 39 
 
 Napoleon, on reception of this note, abandoned IMaximilian, and ordered 
 the evacuation by the French in November. 1866. Maximilian had not secured 
 the support of either of the parties of Mexico. He had burdened the countty 
 with an excessive debt, due possibly to evil councilors, one of which was Mar- 
 shal Bazaine. The collapse of the Empire was immediate. The appeal of 
 Carlotta to the French Emperor and to the Pope was unavailing. The last 
 of the troops left Mexico in February. 1867. IMaximilian decided first to leave 
 the country, but reconsidered his decision and concluded to remain. 
 
 President Juarez had left Paso del Norte and was advancing southward; 
 during all of this time he had maintained his authority as President of the 
 Republic. 
 
 THE GARDEN-CHAPULTEPEC. 
 
 General Miramon was sent out to capture Juarez and was defeated at San 
 Jacinto on the ist of February, 1867, and fell back to Queretaro, where he was 
 joined by Maximilian. While these movements were being prosecuted in the 
 North, General Porfirio Diaz captured Puebla on April 2, after a siege of 
 twenty-five days, and defeated Marquez at San Lorenzo on April 11, and at 
 once commenced siege of the City of Mexico. General Escobedo commenced 
 a siege of Queretaro in March and continued it until its capture on the 15th 
 of May. Maximilian was captured on the stony hill called Cerro de Las Cam- 
 panas, and on the spot where he was captured he was executed, together with
 
 40 
 
 his Generals, Miramon and Mexia, at seven o'clock on the morning of June 
 19, 1867. A request from the United States Government that the life of Maxi- 
 milian be spared was not heeded. Nineteen Generals of Maximilian's army 
 were also condemned to be shot, but were pardoned by President Juarez. 
 
 The City of Mexico surrendered to General Diaz June 21, and President 
 Juarez entered the capital on July 25, 1867. The Constitution of 1857 was 
 placed in effect throughout Mexico, a new Congress was convened, and 
 Juarez reelected President October 12, 1871. During this administration the 
 various railway and telegraph lines w^ere projected. They were only slight 
 disturbances that occurred in Mexico after the fall of the Empire. In a sub- 
 sequent election the opposing candidates were Juarez, Lerdo de Tejada and 
 Porfirio Diaz. Juarez was elected December i, 1871, and took his seat for 
 the third time, the result of which was a slight revolution, occurring in vari- 
 ous parts of the country. These were headed by Porfirio Diaz on his Ha- 
 cienda of La Noria, in 
 Oaxaca. A manifesto was 
 issued proposing a conven- 
 tion and assembly of Nota- 
 bles, to reorganize a gov- 
 ernment with Diaz as com- 
 mander-in-chief of the army, 
 until the establishment of 
 such government. The 
 movement was interrupted 
 by the death of Juarez and 
 the succession of the Presi- 
 dent of the Supreme Court, 
 Lerdo de Tejada. The ad- 
 ministration of Lerdo was 
 peaceful, and he was elected 
 President December i, 1872. 
 continuing in office for 
 three years, during which 
 time the railroad between 
 Vera Cruz and the City of 
 Mexico, called the Mexican 
 Railway, was opened on 
 AN OLD ORATORIO, TLALPAM. January I, 1873. 
 
 Another Revolution occurred in Oaxaca, January 15. 1876, and once more 
 the country was in the midst of a strife. Lerdo was forced to leave the coun- 
 try, and General Diaz entered the City of Mexico November 24. 1876, and was 
 proclaimed President; on the 6th of May, 1877, he was declared Constitutional 
 President, in which office he remained until November 30, 1880, during which 
 time he put down small revolutions and executed nine Revolutionists on June 
 24, 1879. 
 
 On the 25th of September, 1880, Congress elected General Manuel Gon- 
 zales President. During the administration of General Gonzales the celebrated 
 Nickel riots of 1883 occurred, the common people refusing to accept nickel 
 coin in the place of silver and copper, entailing on them considerable loss. The 
 national debt of Mexico was also greatly increased, and his administration was 
 practically a financial failure. 
 
 General Diaz was again elected President and took the oath of office De- 
 cember I, 1884, and at each recurring election to 1899 succeeded himself. On 
 taking the office in 1884 he found an absolutely empty treasury and a country
 
 41 
 
 without credit. It was a condition and not a theory that confronted Diaz — 
 a condition that theories alone could not ameliorate. Urgent and immediate 
 action was the only remedy for the deplorable state of the country. General 
 Diaz was the man of action, man of the hour, and delayed not till the morrow. 
 To perceive a need, with him, was to act at once, and to promote the pros- 
 perity and peace of his country was his only aim. The railroads and the 
 telegraphs had only been proposed; the commerce of the country was in a 
 state of lethargy. Diaz' quick, restless, active disposition called it to life, and 
 his liberal, wise and efficient administration of the Government made it pos- 
 sible to complete the enterprises of communication and commerce, and it so 
 promoted the internal improvements in every direction that his own acts have 
 placed President Diaz among the foremost statesmen of the world. 
 
 A patriotic Mexican writer says: "With the restless, inconstant character of 
 our race, the long tenure of office by one man is one of the greatest dangers 
 of the peace of the nation. Yet, notwithstanding. General Diaz has succeeded 
 in avoiding shipwreck on this shoal, making himself all but indispensable to 
 the completion of the reconstructive and conciliatory work of which he is the 
 true and only author. The work of pacification accomplished by General 
 Diaz has consisted in the strengthening of the central power, and the discreet 
 use of his personal prestige and influence for the purpose of securing in all 
 the states of the Mexican Union the election of governors attached to him 
 personally, and resolved to second him at any cost in the task of assuring to 
 the country the supreme benefit of peace, as the most imperious necessity of 
 the Mexican people. The patriotic conviction of the urgency, for a nation 
 bleeding and weakened as ours has been, of a convalescent political regime 
 to enable us to recuperate our shattered strength, has facilitated the insensible 
 and voluntary creation of a system of governmental discipline wherein the 
 federated units, like the wheels of an immense machine, receive without shock 
 the impulse of force which is conveyed to them from the great central motor." 
 
 ENTRANCE 9F CQRTEZ INTO TENOCHTITLAN.
 
 
 
 -> 
 
 IN THE HALLS OF HER ANCESTORS.
 
 Practical Matters 
 
 Travel in Mexico is attended by all the comforts and very many 
 of the luxuries that are found on the railway and steamer lines of the 
 United States, where the science of travel has well nigh been 
 perfected. Passenger trains are composed of coaches of 
 American manufacture and are for passengers of the first, sec- 
 ond and third classes, with all the accommodations found in 
 ^^^ modern cars. Pullman sleeping cars are attached to the 
 ,^r^'N through express trains of the trunk lines between the United 
 r ^M m. iM States and ^lexico, and on side lines and branch roads of im- 
 
 jjd^BvV portance. 
 '^Jy^w^B The dining-car and buffet service is yet in its infancy, but 
 ■f the wayside restaurant is as a rule good and up to the average. 
 - ^% ^g ^f*__ . Railway Tickets are regulated by a code of rules, 
 .^^mn^m similar to those in elTect in. the United States. They 
 are first, second and third class, at prices in accordance with accommodations 
 furnished. Through unlimited tickets, good till used and to stop over, on noti- 
 fication to the conductor, anywhere and for any length of time; limited and 
 excursion tickets are good to stop over within their limit; local or continuous 
 passage tickets must be used through to destination. 
 
 Baggage and Customs Regulations. On arrival at the border cities, 
 travelers should have their baggage ready for examination by the ^Mexican 
 officials, and on the return by the Americans. The duty is quickly and cour- 
 teously performed, without trouble or annoyance to the well-intending trav- 
 eler. Hand baggage should be taken to the baggage-room of the station, where 
 the trunks are also taken by baggage men to be opened by the owners, or 
 left in the sleeping-cars, according to local regulations. No fees are required 
 or expected, and it is bad taste to of¥er them. Nothing except wearing ap- 
 parel, watches and jewels worn on the person, fire-arms, tools of trade, a 
 camera in use. a broken package of cigars or cigarettes, and such other articles, 
 are on the free list. On the return the American officers are equally polite 
 and courteous, and their examination a mere form, but under the law nothing 
 is free except wearing apparel, hoop-poles, skeletons, sauer kraut, bologna 
 
 43
 
 44 
 
 and joss sticks. The ninety-nine cigar fallacy is long ago exploded, and idols, 
 antiquities, rag figures and presents for friends at home, are all dutiable, 
 though they are generally passed free in small quantities. 
 
 The baggage regulations on the railways are the same as in the United 
 States to holders of tickets purchased in this country — 150 pounds free on each 
 full ticket and 75 pounds on half tickets. On local or through tickets within 
 the Republic 50 kilograms, or no pounds, is the limit of baggage carried free. 
 On those leading to the United States or other foreign countries the full 150 
 pounds is allowed. Agents of transfer companies board incoming trains as 
 they approach the larger cities and check baggage to hotels or residences, call 
 for baggage to be checked to all points in the Republic and the border cities. 
 Cargadores (public porters, with numbered badges indicating a license, may be 
 trusted with baggage to and from trains. Give the man a written address 
 and take his number. 
 
 Money — The money of Mexico is the same as that of the United States — 
 i. e., dollars and cents — called in Spanish pesos y cefttavos; that is the legal 
 
 way of counting it, as enacted by a 
 4aw taking effect in 1890. but the 
 
 a"- people still use the old system to 
 
 some extent, though they under- 
 stand both. A 
 tlaco is a cent and a 
 half, a c liar till a is 
 ■' three cents; these 
 
 \ are of copper and 
 
 now almost out of 
 circulation. The old 
 silver coins were 
 the medio, 6yi 
 cents; j'eal, 12^ 
 cents, also called in; 
 the quarter and half 
 dollars are rarely so 
 called, they are dos 
 reales (pronounced 
 do re-al-es), and 
 cuatro rcalcs; and 
 seventy-five cents is 
 seis reales. Regard- 
 less of the law to 
 the contrary, prices 
 are quoted in reales, 
 up to one dollar, 
 then in most cases 
 it is pesos y reales, 
 thus: a dollar and a half is nn peso yciiatro reales; one dollar and four reales. 
 The fifty-cent piece is sometimes called a toston, and 25 cents a peseta, 
 though rarely. The Mexicans make change to a nicety and are credited with 
 splitting tlacos, literally, and with a hatchet. 
 
 Gold is little used — an onza de oro is w^orth $16; a media onza de oro, 
 $8; pistol a, $4; escudo de oro, $2; escudito de oro, $1. 
 
 The paper money in circulation is in notes of the National Bank of Mexico, 
 the State banks and the Bank of London, Mexico and South America all 
 
 t 
 
 IT' 
 
 y. 
 
 y
 
 45 
 
 passing at par. except in rare cases some of the State banks beyond the limits 
 of the State where issued, then only at a slight discount. 
 
 Silver is to be depended on at all times, and, although bulky and heavy, 
 it is the best. The native possessed of a sufficiency carries it in a hand bag 
 with a shoulder strap. 
 
 It is not necessary to buy Mexican money before reaching the border; in 
 fact, it is better not to do so, as better rates of exchange can be obtained 
 there and in ]\Iexico. The ticket agents at Juarez City, opposite El Paso; City 
 of Porfirio Diaz, opposite Eagle Pass, and New Laredo, opposite Laredo, can 
 always furnish sufficient funds to reach the interior, where American paper is 
 par or premium, as also Wells-Fargo or American Express cheques. 
 
 The gold and silver is not so acceptable; New York exchange commands 
 par or premium. 
 
 Measures and Distances — A vara is z^Yz inches and corresponds to the 
 yard in the dry goods stores. A metre is a yard and a tenth, and a pie is about ii 
 inches, corresponding to the foot, and is so translated into English; -a. pulgada 
 is about an inch. The law recently enacted requires the use of the metric 
 system in selling goods, hence the vara is a thing of the past and the metre 
 is the measure of ^lexico. A kilometre is about live-eighths of a mile, and a 
 legua, in English a league, is about 2.6 miles, the mile {milla) not being used 
 except on rare occasions; all measures and weights must have the govern- 
 mental stamp to show that they are correct. 
 
 Climate — Because it is in the far south, because it lies almost wholly 
 within the tropics and near the equator, Mexico is supposed to be a warm 
 country; the contrary is the case. The climate is the most equable in the 
 world; the only difference between summer and winter is, that in the summer 
 it rains almost every day. while in winter there is scarcely a shower during 
 the whole season. 
 
 It is the extremely high altitudes of nearly all the cities and towns of 
 Mexico, except those near the coast, that give them the delightful and health- 
 ful climate they possess. The rays of a tropic sun are tempered by cooling 
 breezes blowing over snow-clad mountains. The time for a tour of Mexico 
 may be at the tourist's convenience. Traveling is pleasant at all seasons. The 
 only places to be avoided in summer are those in the tierra caliente, Vera 
 Cruz, Tampico and other cities very near the sea coast, and except at these 
 places it is healthful at all times. Really. jMexico is seen at its best in the 
 "rainy season" — that is. between May and October — when the fields are green 
 and the whole country is ablossom from the summer rains. There are no 
 long rainy spells lasting two or three days; there is a shower every after- 
 noon or evening; this may be depended upon, and outings arranged for the 
 morning or forenoon. This program should be followed in the winter as 
 well, for if there are any winds to blow the dust and sand of the plains or the 
 waves of the lakes, they will come in the afternoon. 
 
 Clothing — The proper clothing is that used in the United States for spring 
 and autumn wear; light overcoats and wraps are needed only after nightfall 
 or at points of extremely high altitudes. For travel in lower levels of the tierra 
 caliente summer clothing will be needed and ladies will rejoice in the posses- 
 sion of a "shirt-waist." 
 
 Cabs and Carriages — If we could strike an average between the coach of 
 state of the Emperor ^Maximilian, as shown in the National Museum, and 
 the "yellow-flag" cab of the streets, the City of Mexico would have the finest 
 cabs in the world; as it is. she has more different kinds than any other city. 
 They are good, bad and indifferent, carrying little tin flags, about two by four 
 inches, when not engaged. These flags indicate the class and rates of fare.
 
 ^his is as you please. 
 
 46 
 
 The blue-flag rates are one dollar per hour for one or 
 more passengers. The red flag indicates seventy-five 
 cents per hour and thirty-seven cents per half hour. 
 The yellow or white flag's tarifif is fifty cents per hour 
 and the horses usually earn it, the time of transit being 
 usually so long that it would be cheaper to get a blue- 
 flag hack at once. Ten or twelve cents may be added 
 -: to these rates as a fee to the driver, and another to 
 the small boy who may have been on the box with the 
 driver and who may have opened the door for you. But 
 If an attempt to overcharge is made, a request for the 
 'numero''^ usually eiTects his departure in short order. After dark, and on 
 Sundays and Feast days, these rates are increased about fifty per cent. 
 
 If the cab is needed for less than an hour it is best to ask how much for 
 the ride; if for longer than an hour, say por hora and get in. Compare your 
 time with the driver and dismiss him promptly at the end of the ride. The 
 hackman of Mexico differs not from his brethren in all the other parts of the 
 world, and further advice to the traveler would be a waste of words. 
 
 Street Cars — The street car of Mexico, in the smaller towns, is a mule 
 car, the n:iule figuring as the almost universal motive power, standing still 
 at times, looking without life, but when the word is given he goes with a 
 rush, galloping to the other end of the line with all his might, as if in a hurry 
 to get where he can *^^m^^^^^ stand still again. The 
 
 driver simply holds the I^B^HlHlt I'^ins and lets the mule 
 
 go, his. the man's, duty ^g^ jyV^V^I being principally to 
 
 wind the brake, blow a ^jL-^^ ySm ^r ¥ ^ ^^" ^^°^" ^^ street in- 
 
 this is not the fault of ■RHB^^Ljd^S ^^^^ horn, which is not 
 unlike the campaign II j| ^^^HjeSjtf&T horn, or the Christmas 
 horn of the American >;^A'-;.^^HHHHHpi^ small boy, as highly 
 hideous in its hootings '"^f^^-^-- ' "^W*i'iUi-- — j^^t without effect on 
 
 the burros, which regard them not. and listen even lightly to the hissing whistles 
 and andele! andele! ! of their own drivers, but the street cars have the right of 
 way and hurry on through the droves, often jostling the heavy loads of the pass- 
 ing burro. There are first and second-class cars going in pairs within a block of 
 each other, the best car first. The first-class cars are painted buff and the 
 others green. The fares are from five to twenty-five cents, according to the 
 distance traveled. The second-class fares are cheaper. The conductor sells 
 tickets and a collector boards the car at certain points and takes them up, 
 thus doing away with the bell punch. At least this was the old way, but the 
 new company has adopted the bell punch and the indicator for the recording 
 of fares, and thus another of the quaint customs of this country has gone by. 
 Special cars may be hired for parties; these bear the legend "Especial" over 
 the lamp, and the public do not attempt to use them. There are also freight 
 cars, box cars and flat cars, and cars for sheep and goats. And there is in 
 Mexico, as nowhere else, a funeral car, with a raised dais and catafalque be- 
 neath a four-post canopy capped with a cross. The funeral car is painted black 
 or white. These cars, with a number of "Especiales." 
 with closely drawn curtains, make up a funeral train for" 
 those not able to hire a hearse and carriages. The name 
 tramway is in use. and is translated to Spanish as 
 tran-via. The system in the City of Mexico is a fine 
 one, nearly all the lines starting from the main plaza'
 
 47 
 
 and returning there. Electricity is the motive power in the Capital and the 
 larger cities. The cars are as fine as are to be found anywhere. There are 
 some splendid open cars for suburban excursions. 
 
 Hotels and Restaurants — IMore has been said against the hotels and 
 restaurants of Mexico than they ever deserved. The only trouble the American 
 has in the Mexican hotel results from his own misfortune, not to say his 
 fault, in not being able to speak the language to make his wants known, but 
 no man who can say hamone e waivos or bif tek e cafe need go hungry 
 in Mexico. All comers will find clean beds; they may be somewhat hard some- 
 times, and not as wide as the home bed. but scrupulously clean, as the rooms 
 are also. 
 
 On arrival the guest is shown to a room: if accepted then, he may register, 
 and his name is written on a blackboard, with his room number. It is need 
 
 HOTEL ITURBIDE— CITY OF MEXICO. 
 
 (ess to use up a hotel register if a room doesn't suit, and what is the use of 
 having a clerk to tell whei:e the guests' rooms are, when the caller may look 
 on the blackboard and see for himself? Once assigned to a room, the guest 
 is left severely alone, the manager's sole duty, after the assignment, being to 
 keep books and collect the bills; and yet everything moves smoothly, and all 
 wants are supplied when made known. A Mexican of mature age presides 
 over the key-rack, and when you have called for the key once, you won't have 
 to again; the master of the keys recognizes you as you approach, has your key 
 ready, with any cards or letters left for you, and with a cheery buenas noches, 
 Sefior, bids you good-night. The hall-boy — and there is one on every floor — 
 is a sort of Pooh-bah in his way. He is bootblack and porter, messenger and 
 chambermaid, and agent for remote and unknown laundries; he removes 
 soiled linen, and en manana has them back again, clean and snowy white, with
 
 4g 
 
 no one on earth except himself knowing where in Mexico he takes them or 
 whence he brings them. More than this, the hall boy runs a sort of free 
 school for the dissemination of the Spanish language to the ignorant guests; 
 this he does C07i mucho gusto, and is pleased to tell you the name of any- 
 thing, if he can catch on to your pronunciation of the question, como se 
 llama eso? Almost all hotels are on the European plan. Rooms may be 
 obtained at from one to twenty dollars per day, according to size and loca- 
 tion; if two or more persons occupy the same room, a reduction is made. 
 It is well to know the price of the room before engaging it, then there can 
 be no discussion at departure. Rooms may be engaged by mail or wire 
 (the message may be sent in English), and they will be kept and charged for 
 from the time indicated in the letter or telegram. Lights, candles and lamps 
 are provided for rooms, but guests are expected to furnish their own matches 
 and soap. In nearly all the best hotels there are good baths. The baths of 
 Mexico are to be commended, and are appreciated as a comfort and a luxury 
 not expected. Electric lights and call bells are in the best hotels. 
 
 In many of the better restaurants there are English-speaking head-waiters, 
 and bills of fare printed in English. There are regular meals at fixed prices, 
 irom 25 cents for bread and cofTee, ziV^ cents for eggs and coffee, to 50, 
 62^, 75 cents and $1.00 for dinner or supper. Where meals are served a la 
 carte the prices are affixed to each article. Arrangements may be made for 
 board by the day or week, at rates for two or three meals per day. as desired. 
 It is best for persons not speaking the language to take regular meals, table 
 d'hote, and the meal can be served without trouble and served well. What- 
 ever may be said of the restaurants in ]\Iexico. it should be added that the 
 good ones are managed by natives, and the bad ones by foreigners, as a general 
 thing, and. with few exceptions, the restaurant advertised as English or Amer- 
 ican is to be avoided. 
 
 The hours for meals are somewhat different in Mexico from what they are 
 in other countries, but the "meals-at-all-hours" rule applies to all the first- 
 class places. In the early morning the custom of Mexico — and it is a good 
 one — is to take coffee and bread, and. if you please, fruits; the best kind 
 of fruits are to be had everywhere. About noon is the breakfast hour; the 
 meal commences with soup and follows a menu very much like an American 
 noon-day dinner, ending with dessert, and coffee, of course. The other full 
 meal of the day takes place at from five to eight o'clock in the evening, and 
 is called dinner or supper, as the fancy dictates, and resembles the earlier bill 
 of fare of the noon-day in every particular, commencing with soup and ending 
 with coffee. 
 
 The chili con came, chile with meat, of jMexico. when nicely prepared, is 
 as palatable as it is hot. The meats are fresh, with only the fault of being 
 generally overdone; the poultry is fine; fresh vegetables are to be had every 
 day in the year, as well as the fruits of every clime — apples and peaches from 
 the temperate zone, and pineapples and oranges from the hot country. The 
 bread is always good, the coffee stronger than in other countries; little butter 
 is used; and is made and served fresh without salt. 
 
 The drinks peculiar to Mexico are many and varied. Pulque is the national 
 beverage, drank in public places by the poorer people, but in almost every 
 family of all the classes. Pulque is the juice of the maguey, taken from the 
 heart of the plant, and after the fermentation of twenty-four hours is ready 
 for use; pulque more than a day old is useless. Tequila and mescal are a 
 distillation from the different varieties of the maguey, the heart of the plant 
 being roasted and then put through the process of distillation. A small quan- 
 tity of tequila is a drink, taken with a grain of salt; literally the salt is placed
 
 49 
 
 on the tongue before drinking. The wines are for the most part good, the 
 sherry and claret particularly so. The champagnes are all imported, as are 
 also brandies and whiskies, which are used in moderation. Beer and ale are 
 manufactured in jMexico, though large quantities are imported, and the taste 
 for the Teutonic beverage is growing. 
 
 Stores and Shopping — Every store and shop in ]\Iexico has a name, and 
 that name is painted over the door; sign reading is as interesting to the new- 
 comer in jMexico as to the country cousin on his first visit to city relatives. 
 The name of the store is not always appropriate, but sometimes it is. as in 
 the case of the drug store called in Spanish the "gate of heaven." This can 
 be questioned only in the last word; a drug store may not be the gate to 
 heaven. One saloon is known as the *'Port of New York," though there is 
 nothing in it which resembles New York in any way. Another is more appro- 
 priately named; it is called "El triunfo del diablo," the triumph of the devil. 
 The stores are named for cities and countries and have fanciful titles. Other 
 signs, ending in "rm," indicate the wares for sale: Zapateria, shoes: relojeria, 
 watches: yc'j^rm, jewelry: sastreria, X2a\ox\ bonneteria, millinery; paiiaderia, 
 bakery, and p/afaria,si\\eT\\a.Te. The goods are usually in a line of shelves 
 running parallel with the street and very near the doors, so they can be seen 
 by the passers-by. The clerks stand in a line behind the counter like a file of 
 soldiers. Smoking is permitted everywhere, and the clerk on duty enjoys 
 his cigarette at pleasure. 
 
 The prices quoted are nearly always higher than it is expected to obtain, 
 as it is presumed that all customers will want to "jew" the figure down, and 
 the sharp driver at a bargain usually succeeds. The moral of which is, never 
 give the first price quoted. This rule applies to the street vender, in the 
 flower market, the markets, and the shops as well, but the larger and finer 
 stores do not practice this generally. 
 
 There are many very fine stores in the City of Mexico and the larger 
 cities that will compare favorably with those of the cities in other countries, 
 and there are many novel features to make a visit interesting, whether you buy 
 or not. The shopper will find the round of the shops even more fascinating 
 than among the bargain counters of New York or Chicago. There are novel- 
 ties to look over that are not anywhere else. Of course there are silks and 
 satins and all that, and there are rebosos of cotton, linen and silk, and tapalos 
 and mantillas and zerapes that are not to be found in New York or Chicago, 
 and opals and bargains in antiquities not found anywhere in the 
 world, to make shopping in Mexico interesting. 
 
 Cigars and Tobacco — He never chews, but the Mexican smokes at all 
 times and under all circumstances. Before breakfast and after breakfast, before 
 and after and during his dinner, and between the 
 courses he rolls and smokes his cigarettes, as he does 
 when he goes to bed and when he gets up. Only 
 uhen he sleeps he does not smoke. The men do 
 this, but the ladies do not smoke, as they have the 
 credit of doing, though a gentleman always offers 
 his cigarettes when he takes one himself. Elderly 
 ladies enjoy a cigarette, and occasionally a ranchero 
 (a farmer) and his wife may be seen smoking in the 
 cars, and many women of the middle or lower classes 
 smoke incessantly, but in polite society it is not the 
 custom among the women to smoke. In the restau- 
 rants and hotels smoking is permitted in the dining- 
 room, and is indulged in. In the churches and
 
 60 
 
 in the Pullman cars are the only places where smoking is prohibited. At 
 all other places it is permitted; at the theater, but not during the performance; 
 at the circus and bull fight it is the thing to do. At the bull fight cigars, 
 instead of bouquets, are thrown to the toreadores. 
 
 The high and middle grades of Mexican cigars are better than the domestic 
 cigars of the United States, and their best cigars are far better. The Mexican 
 cigar is cheap, but the imported article is very high. Many smokers use 
 cigars, but the great majority use cigarettes made of native tobacco, which 
 they roll dexterously. It is advised to buy only the brands of well-known 
 
 MAKING TORTILLAS. 
 
 makers, and, above all things, avoid the peddler and street venders; buy from 
 first-class stands always. 
 
 Matches necessarily go with the smoker's outfit, and Mexican matches are 
 the best in the world; they are double-enders, light at both ends. A stroke 
 of economy goes with every match — the striking of the other end. If you 
 are asked for a light the unused end is always returned. It is good as a 
 picture to see the courtesy and politeness exhibited in giving and taking a 
 light — the wave of the hand in thanks and the return of the match — and another 
 one to see three or four cigarettes held over the blaze of a single match. 
 The community of interest in that little fire, protected from the blowing out 
 by one man's hand, is wonderful, and the sociability of the scene pleasing to 
 a degree. Some other man of some other race might have blessed the man 
 who invented sleep, but I think every Mexican blesses the man who invented 
 smoke.
 
 51 
 
 Police and Military — The police are not as hard to find in Mexico as in 
 some other countries, and there are soldiers everywhere, not as a menace, 
 but as a protection. Time was when bandit tales had their scenes laid in 
 Mexico, and footpad stories told of her cities, but that is ancient history; the 
 rurales of the country districts, the police and military in the towns and cities, 
 have been regulators that regulated, till now all is peace and protection. 
 
 There has never been but one "hold up" of a passenger train in Mexico, 
 and that by American border thugs. Train robbers are ordered to be shot 
 on the spot of the hold up. and orders are obeyed in Mexico. There are no 
 dime museums, hence the bandits must necessarily be shot. The police of 
 the cities are a well-trained, disciplined body of men. and always within call. 
 In the City of Mexico and m the larger cities a policeman stands at street 
 intersections; his lantern is placed in the middle of the street, and the long 
 row of flickering lights up and down, in either direction, tells of the watch- 
 
 A WAYSIDE FONDA. 
 
 men of the night, who watch while we sleep. Your Mexican policeman never 
 lets the wrong man go; he lets no guilty man escape; in case of altercation, 
 dispute or difficulty he arrests all hands. No matter what occurs, when you 
 are asked to accompany a policeman to the ''coiniseria"" it is the part of dis- 
 cretion to accede to his request — no harm can come to the innocent and the 
 matter is quickly settled by the officer in charge. The policeman is a soldier 
 as well, and almost without exception is courteous and obliging, will go out 
 of his beat to show the way or find a place for you. The rule to go to the right 
 m walking on the street does not always apply, the preferred regulation being 
 to give ladies and your friends the inside both in walking with and meeting 
 them, all others take care of themselves and walk where they can, as you will 
 find it necessary to do. 
 
 The streets are for the most part well paved and lighted and kept scrupu- 
 lously clean by constant sweeping. Streets and sidewalks are very narrow 
 except in the newer districts.
 
 62 
 
 A national feast day will show what Mexican soldiery is; a fine, well- 
 trained body of men, whose pride and patriotism is to be applauded. Of the 
 infantry, artillery, or cavalry the rurales art the pride and the pink of the army. 
 
 The riirales are the country police, mounted on the finest horses, and uni- 
 formed in the most picturesque manner, with saddles and trappings richly 
 decorated. The men are fine specimens of humanity, stout and well built, wear- 
 ing the broad sombrero of the country, a short leathern jacket and trousers 
 braided and bedecked, all with silver braid and gold. They are armed to the 
 teeth with latest improved arms, and well they know how to use them, for 
 they were born to their use as their fathers before them. The first corps 
 of the rurales was recruited from the bandits of the country in the seventies. 
 
 THE SOLDIERS. 
 
 Among other reforms instituted by President Diaz this was one of the most 
 important. He found tribes of bandits scattered all over the country whose 
 fathers before them had been bandits — they were a fine body of men, who 
 knew every hole and corner of the country and could not easily be put down. 
 General Diaz offered amnesty and to organize them into a corps of the army, 
 with a regular pay, higher than any other cavalryman in any of the armies 
 of the world. The bandit accepted the amnesty and became a rural. The mili- 
 tary education and army regulation is very similar to that of the United States; 
 the West Point of Mexico is at Chapultepec; the ofiicers' grades are almost 
 identical with those of the United States. 
 
 The Jefe Politico is the chief political officer of a district comprising sev- 
 eral towns or villages; under him is the Alcalde, who is the mayor in the
 
 53 
 
 smaller towns. The police have no discretion in case of a quarrel or fight 
 on the street or elsewhere; all hands are arrested and hurried off to the com- 
 iseria; every man is presumed guilty until he proves his innocence. 
 
 Doctors and Medicines — The physicians of Mexico rank high among the 
 doctors of the world. A great many of them speak English and French, and 
 Spanish, of course. There are ohysicians from Germany, France and England 
 and the United States, and many of them prominent in their profession. The 
 country is healthy, but at the same time the information as to physicians and 
 medicines is essential, and one need not be in Mexico without the best medical 
 attendance. 
 
 Cargadores — This gentry combines the usefulness of the district telegraph 
 boy and street porter. They are strong, heavy-built men that carry the greatest 
 weights, from a trunk to a piano; they meet all trains and are in and about the 
 hotels ready to take the place of an expressman, and will convey baggage or do 
 errands of any kind. The men are trusty and reliable, are licensed by the 
 City Council, and carry on their breasts a brass plate with the number of their 
 license. The tariff varies according to the service to be performed. In em- 
 ploying a cargador always give directions explicitly; better write them down 
 and give him the card. Always take the number of his tag. 
 
 Church Visiting — The Mexican venerates the very walls of his church; 
 he does not pass in front of it without removing his hat, and it behooves the 
 visitor to respect what the native venerates. It is not advisable, nor is it nec- 
 essary, to follow the native customs, but no man will forget himself and wear 
 his hat in the church or treat with levity what the others may do. The attend- 
 ants in the churches are usually very courteous and willing to show what- 
 ever may be there of interest. There is not always a fee for this service, but 
 an offering for the poor of the parish is always acceptable. It is a good custom 
 that will commend you to these people to make a contribution, however small. 
 In the towns and villages throughout this country the best information may be 
 obtained from the priest, and you secure his good will by calling on him for it. 
 The people seeing you on good terms with the padre regard you as a person 
 of importance, and will join in their attentions. Without exception the priests 
 are most courteous and obliging, and will often put themselves out for your 
 convenience. 
 
 Postage — The rate on letters from Mexico to the United States and 
 Canada is 5 cents for each half ounce or fraction thereof; to all points in 
 Mexico the rate is 5 cents; to all other countries in the postal union 10 cents; 
 the registry fee is 10 cents; newspapers, i cent for each two ounces or fraction 
 thereof; other printed matter, i cent per ounce and three-fourths, or fraction 
 thereof, to the United States and Canada, and 2 cents to European countries. 
 The limit of weight of printed matter is 4.4 pounds. In the larger cities there 
 is a regular system of delivery by carriers, and a letter with its proper address 
 will be delivered promptly. 
 
 There is a printed list in the Post Ofifice, posted in the lobby, announcing 
 letters on hand not delivered; these lists are posted daily. Letters from the 
 United States to Mexico are 2 cents per ounce or fraction thereof; newspapers 
 the same as to domestic points. 
 
 Express Service — The Wells-Fargo Company operate over the ^Mexican 
 Central and Sonora Railways; the Mexican National operates its own express 
 line. All other railroads liave an express department that connects with the 
 other express companies. The various express companies in the United States 
 connect with those of Mexico. 
 
 Telegraph — The Mexican Government owns and controls a system of 
 telegraph wires reaching to all parts of the country. The various railroad
 
 54 
 
 companies also operate commercial wires along their lines, having connection 
 with the Western Union and Postal Telegraph Companies at the border. The 
 Cable Company has wires from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico and sends 
 messages to the United States via Galveston. 
 
 Newspapers — The ^Mexican Herald, a daily of metropolitan proportions 
 and style, issued every morning, is printed in English. Associated Press 
 and special dispatches from all parts of the world are printed in the Herald. 
 The Mexican Journal of Commerce is printed in English. The Mexican 
 Financier, a weekly devoted to financial and commercial interests, is printed 
 in both English and Spanish, parallel columns. All the American dailies of 
 
 the larger cities are 
 and also the latest 
 The Sonora News 
 trains of the trunk 
 icals and literature of 
 
 on sale at the various news stands, 
 weeklies and magazines. 
 Company has agents on all first-class 
 lines in ]\Iexico, with the latest period- 
 the day. 
 
 Among the daily papers printed in 
 the Spanish language are El Universal, 
 El Popular, El Tiempo, El Imparcial, 
 Correo Espafice, El Globo, Imparcial, El 
 Mundo, El Hijo del Ahnizotl, giving 
 foreign and domestic news; these and 
 the English papers mentioned 
 are published in the City of 
 Mexico. The other larger 
 cities of the Republic all 
 have their newspaper publi- 
 cations. 
 
 Baths — In the smallest vil- 
 lages and towns, and in all 
 of the larger cities are un- 
 usually good baths. They 
 are not always to be found 
 HI the hotels, but in some 
 central location, or conveni- 
 ent place near a street-car 
 ^.===:^=_^=-,^ line. As a rule the 
 ^ baths are good and 
 ' clean. The piece of 
 soap furnished is just 
 the size necessary for 
 a single bath. The 
 attendant furnishes this, 
 together with towels, comb, brush and a small bottle of oil, presumably for 
 the hair, and a wisp of the fiber called ixtle, all of which is included in the 
 price, which varies from 12^ to 25 cents. 
 
 Servants — The servants in the hotels and restaurants are polite and atten- 
 tive, which politeness and attention is always greatly enhanced by a fee. and 
 which is always expected. They are not "'accustomed to large fees, and a medio 
 or real is about the average; this custom, applies also to the hackmen, who 
 always expect this in addition to their regular fare. 
 
 Dulces — The dulces of Mexico are very toothsome. These sweets come 
 
 from Celaya. Queretaro and Morelia, places most famous for these delicacies. 
 
 Streets — An effort has been made by the government of the City of 
 
 Mexico to rename the streets and renumber the houses, but it is a dif^cult 
 
 A MILKMAN.
 
 55 
 
 matter to change a name that has been known for centuries, hence the old 
 names of streets are still in use, in spite of city ordinances and blue enamel 
 signs proclaiming the new ones. The new system is as intricate as the old 
 and it is probable that only a police officer or cab driver is conversant with 
 the new. The changes are deemed inadvised for many reasons, besides that 
 of the confusion among the masses, and an important one is that of the his- 
 toric and romantic incident that gave the old names is lost sight of in the new, 
 and both visitor and inhabitant are loth to part with those so full of interest. 
 They do not want to change the Calle de Revillagigedo, even if it is hard to 
 pronounce, for South street; or the Avenida de los Hombres Ilustres, the 
 "avenue of illustrious men," for plain, commonplace Western avenue. I think 
 
 IRRIGATION TREAD-MILL. 
 
 ancient street names were not sacrilegious when they called one the street of 
 the Love of God. Amor de Dios; street of the Holy Ghost, Espiritu Santo ; or 
 the street of Jesus — probably only a trifle overreligious, as what we would 
 call profanity of names, the Alexican does not consider in that light. 
 
 Many of the Saints' names are given to the streets in Mexico, but that 
 is done in all countries, and it is explained that the streets named for the 
 Deity or the Saints take their names from the churches located on or near 
 them. Many are curiously named, as the Calle Nino Perdido, street of the 
 Lost Child: Indio Triste,\\\^ Sad Indian; but as many record names and 
 dates of history, as ''Cinco de ^/ayo,'' the 5th of May; Juarez, Hidalgo. Com- 
 monfort and Zaragoza. A street may have a dozen names, as each block 
 often has a different one. but if one name is continued for several squares a 
 numeral prefix is used, as ist San Francisco. 2nd San Francisco, etc. San 
 Francisco is the main thoroughfare of the city, the fashionable down-town
 
 A LUNCH COUNTER. 
 
 nida, an avenue; Paseo 
 
 56 
 
 promenade, extending from the Alameda, where it 
 is called the Puente de San Francisco, and ending 
 at the Plaza Mayor, in the name of Plateros, the 
 intervening blocks being called ist and 2nd San 
 Francisco. 
 
 A reason is given — they are too numerous 
 to quote — for the name of each street; that of 
 the Sad Indian from the finding of the quaint 
 piece of sculpture, El Indio Triste; Cinco 
 de Mayo is named for the battle of the 5th 
 of May, 1862, and the defeat of the French 
 at Puebla. The Calle de Revillagigedo was 
 named for erratic old Conde and Viceroy of 
 that name, whose lively administration did 
 so much to improve the streets of the City 
 of IMexico. He had them cleaned, paved 
 and lighted. 
 
 The word Puente, or abbreviation, pte.^ 
 signifies that there was originally a 
 bridge over a canal in that street. 
 Calle is a street and Callejon an 
 alley or small street; Calzada, cause- 
 way; Rificonada, corner, and Ave- 
 a boulevard. Under the new system the streets are 
 numbered north and south and the avenues also numbered cross them east and 
 west at right angles; it is difficult for the novice in the Spanish language to 
 remember these numbers, and much easier to recall the old names. A map 
 may be of assistance, but a cab is the surest w^ay to find a street or number. 
 
 Customs and Costtttnes — I had heard of the courtesy and hos- 
 pitality of the Spaniard, and remembered, when I entered a Spanish 
 home, being welcomed and told "this house is yours," and when I 
 had admired some object, was informed that it was mine; when I' 
 came to Mexico I found the descendants of old Spain had lost no 
 whit of cordiality, and the welcome at place of business or the 
 home, was warm and spontaneous to a degree. Every house 
 was mine, all that was in it my own, and everybody at my 
 orders. 
 
 The dress of the Mexican is a picturesque one, of which 
 the wide sombrero is the feature, often richly trimmed in gold 
 or silver lace, with a crest or monogram on the crown. This 
 elaborate head-gear often costs fifty to sixty dollars, though 
 a less ornate hat may be bought for fifty cents without a cor- 
 responding decrease in size. A short jacket coming to or a 
 little below the waist is also trimmed in gold and silver; the 
 tight-fitting trousers, wide at the sharp-pointed shoe, have 
 two or three rows of gilt buttons. The complete costume 
 always includes a zerape of many colors; a zerape is a 
 blanket or shawl worn over the shoulders, thrown in a knightly 
 fashion, wath the fringed and tasseled end over the left shoulder. 
 Men of all classes wear the zerape. Overcoats are almost 
 unknown, except among the better classes. The principal and 
 favorite part of a costume is the sombrero. A Alexican 
 may go barefooted, and wear cotton trousers, but he'll 
 have a thirty-dollar hat if he can get it. The man on ^^^.
 
 57 
 
 horseback in ;Mexico is a symphony in gold lace and buttons, 
 
 and the trappings of his horse and saddle are most elaborate. 
 
 There are dudes in Mexico. They call a dude "un 
 
 lagartijo:'' He wears the most gold lace and buttons, the 
 
 . tightest trousers and the widest hat. In other respects 
 
 khe differs not from the dude of other countries, and further 
 
 space need not be wasted here. 
 
 For ladies of high degree, the Spanish mantilla of 
 black or white lace still does a fascinating duty in place 
 k ' * P^VEk of the hat or bonnet, and the Spanish costume from 
 
 T /iir^SDHB shoulder to high-heeled pointed slipper. The middle classes 
 1. /Ml.r**™ ^g^j. ^ black tapalo, a shawl which is both wrap and head- 
 gear. The lower classes and Indian maidens wear in the 
 same way a scarf of cotton, usually blue or brown; this is 
 the reboso. Mexican women are almost without excep- 
 tion of fine form, healthy and robust. There are thousands 
 of pretty faces, of richest color, long lashes, soft and downy 
 ear-locks, black as jet. and with long, inky black hair. 
 Under the tapalo or reboso is many a Venus; the corset 
 is unknown, and nature forms to perfection. 
 
 Ladies embrace each other at meeting, and kiss on 
 the cheek. Men embrace their friends, and pat each 
 other on the back. In passing on the street, instead 
 of saying "How'dy," they say "Adios — Good-by." 
 Other salutations are: Before noon it is buenos dias; 
 after noon, buenos tardes; after dark, buenas noches. 
 Politeness and courtesy are characteristic of ^Mexico, and it is seen con- 
 stantly everywhere; a Mexican will not enter a door or pass up a staircase 
 ahead of his companion without an insisting ''Pase sefior,'' urgently put, 
 till it is seen that one must go first, and then age or rank, or guest takes 
 precedence. 
 
 Following the customs of their ancestors, the 
 young people of Mexico have not that freedom of 
 association as in America. \ young lad} may not 
 indulge in the society of her young man except in 
 the presence of others; in fact, he may not even 
 call upon her, as in this, or other English speaking 
 countries. He must win her by haciendo del oso— 
 playing bear. This does not mean that the young 
 man indulges in any idiosyncrasies of the bear, 
 when he (the bear) catches a victim. At a certain 
 hour in the day the devoted lover comes 
 under the lady's window, and when she 
 comes to the casement he may stand 
 and look at her, exchange glances, smiles 
 and nods, go away and come back again . 
 to-morrow and do it all over again. Any- 
 where else this would seem to be flirtation . 
 itself, but here in :Mexico it is "playing 
 the bear," and is perfectly proper. If he 
 is faithful and keeps this up for two or 
 three vears, he may finally be allowed to 
 call and see her in the presence of another 
 member of the family. If all goes
 
 58 
 
 smoothly they "marry and live happy to the end of their days," as in the 
 fairy story. 
 
 They are a music-loving people, whose souls are moved by a concord of 
 sweet sounds, and if love of music is the test, few Alexicans are fit for treason, 
 stratagems and spoils. No jacal is too humble but what its adobe walls listen 
 to the tinkle of the guitar, and no village so small but its band of native 
 musicians will play in the little alameda in the evenings. In the larger towns 
 and great cities there is music in some plaza or park every day by the mili- 
 tary bands — an example set by the Government in giving the people music, 
 that might be emulated by the United States greatly to its credit. 
 
 There are fiddlers in Mexico and some violinists. The fiddlers sometimes 
 come under the car window of a passing train, and in hopes of a centavo 
 
 A COUNTRY LAUNDRY. 
 
 thrown, give samples of native music. There are some who carp at these 
 crude musicians, but they are those who do not appreciate fiddling as a fine 
 art, or the difificulties thereof. Themistocles said he "could not fiddle, but 
 he could make a small town a great city," proving that the attainment of 
 proficiency in fiddling is attended by hard work. When the weird sounds 
 come into your window let the centavitas go, for whatever work the player 
 may not have done, he has learned to fiddle. 
 
 There is music everywhere, there's music in the air, a music peculiar to 
 the country and the people, a music of song, of stringed and wind instru- 
 ments that plays at morning, noon and night. There are songs of praise and 
 songs of mirth, and love songs. 
 
 There are songs of home. The people have their "Home, sweet home" 
 in the notes of La Golondrina. Since music, heavenly maid, was young, she 
 hath not ceased to soothe the heart of savage and civilized man, and her 
 songs of home have been sweetest and dearest to his ear. That song of 
 ''Home, sweet home" is one that touches the American heart, as La Golon- 
 drina melts the Mexican and brings memories of his, whether it be of adobe
 
 59 
 
 or of stone. Whether the soft melodies are picked from the strings of a 
 guitar, or senorita sweetly smgs the touching notes, or organized orchestra 
 fills the ambient air with its tuneful tones, all there is of sentiment even in 
 the stoutest, sternest heart, wells up in tenderness when the home song's 
 music greets the ear, brighter, glistening eyes and quicker heart throbs tell 
 that the melody strikes the soul. 
 
 Official Permits — Permits or passes are required to visit the various pub- 
 lic institutions, such as the Palace of Chapultepec. the National Palace, etc. 
 They are obtained from the Governor of the Palace, who is very courteous 
 and obliging. When visiting an hacienda or for the ascent of Popocatepetl, 
 permits should be obtained from the owners, most of whom reside in the city. 
 
 Laundries— The laundry as it exists in this country has not been es- 
 tablished in all the cities in Mexico. Where there are no steam laundries 
 the bell boy on your floor of the hotel is agent for numerous and sundry 
 lavanderas, washerwomen of more or less proficiency, but who in the main 
 do very satisfactory work. The bell boy will attend to all details, and the 
 linen delivered to him will be safely returned. Lists should be retained and 
 checked with the returned articles, and any missing pieces will be looked 
 up; rarely is anything lost through these people, and their work is, for the 
 most part, promptly and carefully done. Prices are about the same as in 
 cities of the same size in other countries. 
 
 Batiks — The system of banking in Mexico is very similar to that of the 
 United States and other countries. There are many reliable institutions under 
 Mexican, American and English management, with correspondents in all parts 
 of the world. Bank drafts, letters of credit, and all classes of foreign exchange 
 received and issued and foreign money bought and sold.
 
 A HOLIDAY DRESS OF TEHUANTEPEC, MEXICO.
 
 Amusements. 
 
 Teatro Principal — In the old Aztec days, the days when the gladi- 
 ators fought before Tzins of Tenochtitlan, there had not been any dearth 
 of amusement for the people of the ancient capital, and as the pagan priests 
 of those days incited the warriors to combat with the victim prisoners for 
 the honor of their gods, so the priests of later times were the promoters of 
 more modern, but less bloody amusement, and the church was responsible 
 for the building of the first theater in the City of Mexico. The Brothers 
 of the Order of San Hipolito, to raise funds for the benefit of the Hospital 
 Real, erected a small wooden building and employed a company of players 
 who gave the initial performance on the evening of January 19th, 1722. 
 
 The play on the first program w^as "The Ruin and Burning of Jerusalem." 
 History gives no details of the success of the performance and we are left 
 in the dark as to the names of "the star" and his support, but we are in- 
 formed that the Burning of Jerusalem resulted in the burning of the theater, 
 a consummation that was looked upon by the natives as a direct visitation 
 of Heaven for the unholy method taken to obtain money for a holy cause. 
 The piece underlined for the second evening was "Here Was Troy," but 
 there was no theater and the performance was indefinitely postponed. Noth- 
 ing daunted, the energetic brethren of Hipolito immediately set about building 
 another theater, and in 1725 erected a third building in the street now known 
 as Coliseo Viejo, and in 1752 the building the Teatro Principal was com- 
 
 61
 
 62 
 
 menced and was completed in the next year on Christmas Day, and opened 
 with the appropriately named comedy "Better It Is Than It Was." 
 
 Up to that time the theater was the property of the Hospital Real, and 
 continued in that possession until the institution ceased to exist, when it 
 was conveyed to the College of San Gregorio by an order dated October 
 nth, 1824, where the title remained till 1846, when it became private prop- 
 erty. 
 
 For many years the entrance to the old theater could be seen under the 
 portales, but it has disappeared, as has much of the original building^, but 
 the old walls remain, except in the facade, which is of recent construction. 
 The interior arrangement, though, shows the massive style of architecture 
 of the olden times, with the thick stone walls around the parquet and 
 between the boxes and stalls, and although you may not understand the 
 language of the players it may be worth your while to visit the ancient play 
 house and oldest theater in Mexico. The leading attractions are not shown 
 at the Principal but it is eminently respectable, and while the audiences 
 are not composed entirely of the best people you will be in tolerable corii- 
 pany as at the average theater of to-day. 
 
 The National Theater, which was the grand opera house of the Mexican 
 capital, has been torn down to make way for the opening of the Calle de Cinco 
 de ]\Iayo, the street that is to run from the Cathedral to the Alameda. The 
 national government is to build a magnificent opera house and theater in the 
 block between San Francisco and ]\Iariscala — fronting on the Alameda and 
 San Francisco Street. 
 
 The Reuacimieiito Theatre on the Calle de Puerta Falsa de San Andres 
 is the fashionable theater at this writing, and will be until the National Theater 
 is completed. The Renacimiento has a seating capacity of 1,800 to 2,000 people. 
 Here may be found Italian and French opera, as well as Mexican and Spanish 
 dramatic art. 
 
 In most Mexican theaters j^ou may pay for and see one act or the whole 
 show at 25 cents per act, or tanda, as it is called. A collector passes through 
 the audience after the first act to collect for the second. 
 
 Between the acts those of the male persuasion who do not "go out to see a 
 man" put on their hats and stand in their places, surveying the audience. Smok- 
 ing is not allowed as formerly, and cigarettes are relegated to the foyer. The 
 lorgiiettes of the ladies have their busy time at this period of the performance. 
 
 The Arbett Theater is in the street of San Felipe; it was opened 
 in 1875. The Hidalgo Theater is in the Calle Corchero. These are the thea- 
 ters of the middle classes, cor^sidered respectable, but the performances are 
 not always of a high order, and they are the places for the carnival balls. 
 
 Salon' De Couciertos is the hall for concerts in the Conserva- 
 tory of Music, where high-class concerts by students, and social performances 
 are given. It has an auditorium with full theatric and operatic facilities, and 
 is one of the handsomest in the city. 
 
 Circo-Teatro Orriii is a circus theater, as its name indicates. It 
 is the outgrowth of the circus of the Orrin Brothers, formerly housed in a 
 tent on the Plaza de Santo Domingo, and moved to the present handsome 
 iron building that cost $100,000 on the Plazuela Villamil. Here is a theater 
 and circus merged in one. The ring is surrounded by a dress circle and 
 tier of private boxes, beyond which is a circle of gallery seats, and when 
 the ring is not in use the space serves as a parquet, in front of which is a 
 very pretty stage, with the circus performers' entrances on each side of the 
 orchestra. The ring ma>^ be transformed into a miniature lake, deep enough 
 to float canoes, small sail and steamboats, or it may be made into a palace
 
 63 
 
 while you wait, and from the region bej'ond the curtain may come in a 
 tiny coach of state the Prince and Cinderella, a pretty transformation, in 
 full view of the audience, one of the novelties for which the management is 
 noted. The winter months are the season for the circus, while light opera 
 holds the boards during the summer, but at all times there are novelties 
 worthy of the metropolitan amusement places of greater cities. 
 
 The Orrins have long been known for their liberality and many chari- 
 ties, giving frequent benefits for charitable institutions, hospitals, both native 
 and foreign. Fashionable and gala performances are of frequent occurrence, 
 then there are handsome decorations of bunting and flowers. The boxes are 
 profusely ornamented, corsage bouquets and boutonnierres are presented to 
 
 CIRCO-TEATRO ORRIN. 
 
 the occupants, who, in coming to their places, have literally walked on roses, 
 and on state occasions the President attends. His private box is in the cen- 
 ter of the box tier, is always reserved for his use, and never occupied by 
 anyone else; it may be recognized as always adorned with the national colors. 
 The Circo-Teatro Orrin is easily the most popular resort in the capital. 
 
 Ball Games are popular in Mexico, and fine buildings called *"Frontons'' 
 are erected in different parts of the city, in which are played a Spanish va- 
 riety of handball or basket ball. Performances are given under electric lights 
 in the evening in addition to the afternoon games. Baseball and cricket have 
 their votaries, but mostly among the American and English colonies. 
 
 Races at the Indianilla and Pefion tracks are under the direction of the 
 racing association and of the Jockey Club. 
 
 Bull Fights — The spirit of Tauromachy inherited from old Spain lives 
 in the most popular amusement of ]\Iexico, that is if it may be called an
 
 64 
 
 "amusement" and if we call it "popularity" that enjoys the largest patron- 
 age. An honest effort has been made by the government to stop the cruel 
 sport by the enactment of laws interdicting the functions in the Federal 
 District and other metropolitan localities, but the laws were repealed as 
 often as enacted, so great was the pressure of popular demand from the 
 masses, and notwithstanding the influence and example of non-attendance 
 of the best people, the Plaza de Toros is easily the most popular amusement 
 in IMexico. 
 
 "The better the day the better the deed" may not be a Mexican maxim, 
 but the better days are given over to the bull fight. Sundays and feast days 
 are chosen, and on no other day are the plazas open. 
 
 , r^TT 
 
 
 mm 
 
 ^m:mM^. 
 
 
 .'->', 
 
 
 AT THE BULL FIGHT. 
 
 The Plaza de Toros is the bull ring — a great circular building of stone 
 or wood with an interior that is an immense amphitheater seating thousands 
 of people. The seats are in tiers rising to the top where the private boxes 
 are, and as there is no roof except over the outer circle shading the boxes, 
 there is a shady side called "JCW(^ra" and a sunny side, *'.yc/," with prices in 
 accordance with the location, from 25 to 50 cents in the sun and $1 to $3 in 
 the shade, the private boxes with eight to ten chairs cost from $12 to $20 
 according to the reputation of the company giving the performance, as they 
 vary greatly as the stars and support in a theatrical troup, and what may be 
 the price when only local talent are on the bills will be largely increased 
 when a star matador and his company are underlined. Tickets may be 
 bought at the gates, but it is always best to buy them in advance, usually
 
 65 
 
 
 on sale at some cigar store frequented by the toreadores or at the city offices 
 of the bull ring, the locations of which are announced in the advertisements. 
 The ring itself is an arena about a hundred feet in diameter encircled by 
 a strong board fence about five feet high with a foot rail on the inside two 
 feet from the ground. This is to assist a torero too closely pursued by the 
 bull to escape by a leap over the fence to the passage way that extends 
 around the ring between the fence and the seats. But it is not always an 
 escape, since the bull often leaps the barrier in pursuit of his tormentor or 
 to get away from him, and at intervals in the passage way short barriers 
 are placed just far enough from the wall to admit the body of the man 
 and not wide enough for the bull's horns. There are gates that open into 
 the ring and at the same time close the passage and thus the bull, is forced 
 
 to return to the ring. 
 There is a "president" to 
 preside at each corrida or 
 performance, to direct the 
 details and to decide all 
 differences of opinion be- 
 tween the people and the 
 performers. There are al- 
 ways questions to be de- 
 cided, and the president, 
 usually a state or municipal 
 .ui^jK-,^™ officer, must be a man of 
 
 COMING OF THE COMPANY. cxccutive ability and well 
 
 posted in tauromachy. His seat is in a gorgeously decorated box near the 
 center of the shady side, and when he enters, with a staff of high-up, well- 
 known lovers of the sport, it is the signal for much cheering, especially so if 
 he is a president whose decisions have been favorable to the people. 
 
 The president has the general direction of the corrida, when he is ready 
 the company must be, and when he has given his permission for the bulls 
 to be killed then the killing commences. A bugler 
 stands at the president's side to call the signals to 
 remove the horses, or a bull that may prove too 
 tame, to call the ba7iderilleros and announce the 
 killing of the bull. Hence it may be seen how 
 easily a president may be popular or unpopular 
 with the masses, as he may or may not give them 
 quite enough of bloody action on the scene. Any 
 deviation from the program must be with the con- 
 sent and approval of the president, and the per- 
 formance cannot end until he is satisfied that the 
 advertisement has been carried out. There is music 
 by one or more brass bands that may be heard by 
 those sitting very near, but the shouts and cat-calls 
 of the canaille drown all semblance of music for 
 those on the opposite side of the arena, but the 
 musicians are there and you can see when they are 
 playing. A company of soldiers stationed within 
 call of the president with another company deployed 
 about the arena to do police duty, and try to pre- 
 vent the too enthusiastic members of the audience 
 from taking charge of the whole thing, throwing 
 the seats into the ring, or other mild methods the picador.
 
 66 
 
 m 
 
 of evincing their disapproval of an act or presidential 
 
 decision. The soldiers are rarely called into active 
 
 service; their presence has a wholesome effect, and 
 
 ■r--\^ while the mad enthusiast who would like to see a horse 
 
 1 gored just once more, and gets madder because the 
 
 president says there has been enough of it, feels like 
 
 fighting the whole company, he is usually pacified by 
 
 a gentle touch on his shoulder by the gendarme and 
 
 growlingly subsides. 
 
 |Fjf The scene is a brilliant one and the tension of nerves 
 
 - is great in anticipation of what is to come, the feeling 
 
 -w^* is one of amazement and anxious expectation. The 
 
 ENTRANCE OF BULL. bands are playing, or seem to be, and the thousands of 
 
 impatient spectators are shouting, whistling and yelling themselves hoarse. 
 
 There may be five thousand people, 
 
 but there is noise enough, and seats / - 
 
 too, for twenty thousand, and if there 
 
 is a star matador they will all be g- 
 
 occupied. The president and his 
 companions are in their places, and 
 the applause grows greater as the 
 gates on the other side of the arena 
 open to admit a gaily costumed 
 horseman mounted on a splendid 
 horse; he is the algtiazil; he rides 
 directly to the front of the president's 
 box and asks permission to kill the 
 bulls. Permission granted, the presi- 
 dent tosses to him the key of the 
 toril, which he catches, and gallops 
 back to receive the company. If he 
 catches the key there is applause; if 
 he misses it, a storm of hisses. The 
 gate opens again and the coming of 
 the gay company is loudly an- 
 nounced with a grand flourish of attack of the picador. 
 trumpets. It is a brilliant spectacle, this company of nimble-footed athletes 
 in costumes of silk and satin, gold and velvet, as they march quickly across 
 
 the arena to make their obeis- 
 ance to the president and then 
 to the audience. First in the 
 nM ■' '^'^^' procession come the rnata- 
 ■^:^i^7-ft'f<ir'%'xm>!mr)s dares or espadas, the stars of 
 -■ ^ ' .' V ^i^g company, who handle the 
 swords to the death of the 
 bulls; next the banderilleros, 
 second only to the matadores 
 in the profession; these gen- 
 tlemen are they who place the 
 banderillas in the bull's shoul- 
 ders, and then the capeadoreSy 
 third in rank, who hope to be 
 handerilleros and some day 
 placing the banderillas. matadores^ but now have only
 
 67 
 
 to manipulate the capes to distract the bull's 
 
 attention or place him in proper position for 
 
 the banderilla or the sword. The picadores 
 
 follow on horseback, their long lances in hand. 
 
 Then four mules, gaily caparisoned, harnessed 
 
 together and driven to an arrangement of 
 
 traces for dragging out dead bulls and horses. 
 
 Behind these, two men with wheelbarrows, 
 
 shovels, rakes and brooms, for cleaning up 
 
 the ring, and then the attendants, ''sabios 
 
 monos,^^ thQ wise monkeys, as they are called 
 
 from their good suggestion and advice to the 
 
 performers — diestros, toreros or toreadores, 
 
 as the bull-fighters are called. The toreador 
 
 is recognized on the street by a costume 'as 
 
 distinctly his ow^n as the one of silk and satin, bursting the barrier. 
 
 gold and velvet that he wears in the ring; it is a short "round-about" jacket 
 
 with very tight trousers; the hat has a straight stiff brim with a low flat top 
 
 felt crown; under the rim of the hat is a little queue of plaited hair, called 
 
 a coleta; what this is for does not appear, but if any offense against the ethics 
 
 of the sport is committed this queue is cut off, so the possession of it may 
 
 be regarded as a reward of merit, that when a torero is retired is cut off with 
 
 a scissors of gold. 
 
 Proceeding to the president's box, and having received his acknowl- 
 edgments, the company parades around the arena to receive the plaudits of 
 the people. • 
 
 Now all is ready, the beautiful capes of satin and velvet are thrown to 
 admirers in the audience, for it is an honor to hold a toreador's cape; as they 
 are not used in the ring, cheaper and stronger capes of bright-colored oil- 
 cloth are taken instead. Every one except the toreros have left the ring 
 and for a brief moment there is complete silence. The bugle sounds. All 
 eyes are turned to a low^ door on the other side that is suddenly thrown open. 
 From a dark stall beyond the bull is coming. As he passes under the rail 
 a barbed steel point covered with flowing ribbons is placed in his shoulder; 
 the colors of these ribbons indicate the ranche or hacienda from whence he 
 
 came, as the bulls are bred on cer- 
 tain farms for their fighting quali- 
 ties, and your smallest sport can 
 pick out a good fighter when he 
 sees the ribbons as easily as a 
 'Kentucky boy does the winner in a 
 horse race by the colors of the 
 jockey's jacket. The bull comes 
 from a dark stall where he has been 
 kept previous to the fight, finding 
 the gates suddenly opened and a 
 possible way of escape, gallops 
 through a scarcely less dark passage 
 that leads him to the open arena 
 and to certain death. Startled by 
 the pricking of the steel dart in 
 his shoulder and maddened by its 
 stinging he bounds forward to the 
 LEAPING THE BARRIER. Center of the ring, where, with head
 
 PLAY OF THE CAPES. 
 
 up and tail lashing the air, he stops a 
 second. It is a magnificent sight now 
 before the carnage begins. The splen- 
 did animal stands and bids defiance as 
 he throws the dust over his back, 
 pawing and shaking his shaggy head 
 with mingled rage, surprise, and fear, 
 perhaps but little of fear, for in a 
 second he has decided upon a plan of 
 attack. The shouting thousands and 
 the blare of trumpets would frighten 
 a more fearless beast, but if it scares 
 the bull there is no hint of it in his 
 action. A look to right or left and the 
 unequal fight is on. The throwing 
 of a cape in front of him and the thrower is chased to the barrier around 
 the ring and the man is over it none too quickly, as he may believe when he 
 hears the boards cracking behind him as a pair of sharp horns are thrust 
 through them as if they were paper. Foiled here, the bull turns about and 
 finds a horse in his way, a poor broken down horse, with eyes blindfolded that 
 he may not see his danger. There is no way of escape for the horse, his 
 rider spurs him on, and while the picador with his lance may for a moment 
 turn the bull and save the horse, it is but deferring the inevitable for the 
 time. Passing by this horse the bull finds another on the other side; this 
 time the horse does not fare so well; the bull rushes upon him with all his 
 might, the sharp horns sink into his f^esh as needles into a piece of cloth, 
 the horse is lifted bodily into the air and tossed over on the ground with the 
 rider underneath perhaps. 
 
 A capeador throws a cape over the bull's face, distracts his attention from 
 the {2i\\^\\ picador and wounded, or more probable, dead, horse. The capeador 
 deftly leads him to the other horse that just now escaped, but now his 
 time has come, the bull has learned that the horse is defenseless, the prick- 
 ing of the picador'' s lance is nothing. While it is intended that the bull should 
 be held off and the horse saved it is rarely done, and this one is disem- 
 boweled — it may be that if he does not die in his tracks he is ridden on 
 around the ring dragging his intestines under his feet, only to be gored 
 again and again till he is dead, for without the blood of the horses no bull 
 fight is complete. The two horses slain, or so badly disabled that they 
 cannot be ridden, the bugle sounds, and unless the president panders to 
 the clamor of the crowd for more horses the first act with the first bull is 
 over and the ba7iderilleros are ready. 
 
 Now comes the really artistic and interesting feature of the bull fight, 
 the placing of the banderillas. The banderilla is a dart about two feet long 
 with a sharp barbed point and covered with fancy colored paper or rib- 
 bons. The banderillero, a man without cape or means of defense, takes 
 two banderillas , one in each hand, walks out in front of the bull, holding 
 them up, shaking the ribbons to call the bull tow^ards him, and as he ap- 
 proaches the darts are placed in his shoulders where the barbs cause thenj 
 to hang as if they were for ornaments instead of goads to further rage 
 and madness. The man is an athlete and a nimble one. It is the rule that 
 the darts must not be thrust except w^hile the bull is in action and on the at- 
 tack, so it must be done quickly. It is said that the bull in the 'moment 
 of attack closes his eyes, so it is but a quick decision of the instant to thrust 
 the darts, step to one side, and the bull passes by, only to find another ban-
 
 69 
 
 derillero on the other side with another pair of banderillas for his further 
 decoration. Another rule is that the banderillas must not be placed back 
 of the shoulder. If they are properly placed and so firmly that they are 
 not shaken out, loud and long is the applause, otherwise the hisses are shrill 
 and sharp. The banderillero is a favorite with the lover of tauromachy as 
 well as with the first-timers at the fight. It seems with his lack of defense, 
 and depending entirely on his agility he is the hero in this contest between 
 human skill and brute force, so that it is often the matador comes back from 
 his advanced position as a star, much to the delight of the audience, to try 
 his hand and thrust an extra pair of 
 banderillas. In all well-regulated 
 companies there are two bandei'illos, 
 each with two pairs of banderillas, 
 makirig eight in all, that, if their 
 work is well done, are hanging from 
 the bull's shoulders, and the presi- 
 dent's bugler announces the end of 
 second act and calls the matador to 
 kill the bull. As the star in some 
 great drama is received with plaudits 
 as he enters upon the stage, so is 
 the matador \\'\i\\ shouts and throw- 
 ing of hats, that is, if he is indeed a 
 star matador known to kill his bulls 
 with a single stroke of the sword. 
 The matador takes his sword and 
 muleta.' and while the capeadores 
 are leading the bull to further weari- 
 ness on the other side of the ring, 
 advances to the front of the presi- 
 dent's box, hat in hand, dedicates 
 the bull to something or somebody, 
 some State or County, some man, 
 or girl, and tells the president that 
 he will kill the bull in the most ap- 
 proved style, then, tossing his cap 
 to an admirer in the shady seats, 
 proceeds to do his part, or after 
 saluting the president, he may cross 
 to the sunny side, as it is some- 
 times well to cater to the rabble, 
 and tell the people there that he 
 
 will kill the bull in their especial thrust of the sword. 
 
 style and toss his cap there to be held in great honor while he does it. 
 Then advancing toward the bull, the matador holds in his right hand a 
 long, perfectly straight, sharp-pointed, keen-edged sword; in his left he 
 carries the viuleta, the "red rag" of the Spanish bull fight, and used only 
 in the last act, in the killing of the bull. The muleta is a piece of red flannel 
 three or four feet square, held on a stick, near the ground and in front of 
 the bull, kept in a fluttering motion before his eyes, which seems to infuriate 
 further the already enraged animal. He lowers his head and makes a rush 
 for the muleta, which is held, although in the left hand, across to the right 
 of the matador; this gives him a fair play for the stroke of the sword, and 
 as the bull lowers his head to attack the "red rag" the right hand of the 
 matador drives the sword to the hilt into the bull's shoulders, or between
 
 70 
 
 them, cutting the spinal cord or piercing the heart, which if it has been well 
 
 done brings the bull to his knees and he lies down to die, but it may not be 
 
 , ^ death until the "stroke of mercy" has been 
 
 [ given by the cac/ietero, an attendant with 
 I a short dagger — who comes from behind 
 and gives the bull a quick, sure thrust 
 between the horns to instantaneous death. 
 \\hile this is being done the matador is 
 bowing his acknowledgments to an en- 
 thusiastic audience, who have gone wild 
 and thrown their hats, canes, coats, cigars 
 and coin into the ring; the hats, canes 
 and coats are thrown back to their 
 owners, but the cigars and coin are kept 
 for future reference. But — if the killing 
 has been bungled and the espada^s work 
 not well done, then instead of canes, hats 
 and cigars the disapproving enthusiast 
 pulls up the boards, and with the chairs 
 ,and anything that is loose or that he can 
 loosen, throws them into the ring. Four 
 mules gaily harnessed are then driven in, 
 a chain fastened about the heels of the 
 dead bull and he is dragged out. Even 
 before the dead first bull has disappeared 
 ,and the dead horses dragged out, the two 
 picadores appear on other horses worse 
 than the first, if possible, the bugle 
 sounds again, and another bull bounds 
 into the ring to meet the fate of the first; 
 DEATH OF THE BULL. after the second another and another till 
 
 five or six are killed, and if you have been there you are to be the jud^e 
 
 whether your Sunday after- 
 noon has been well spent. 
 
 The upper classes, as a rule, do 
 
 not frequent the bull-ring. 
 
 though there are many and 
 
 brilliant exceptions; you may 
 
 see on the Paseo almost any 
 
 day the most elegant equipage 
 
 on that grand boulevard 
 
 among whose occupants are 
 
 little children dressed in the 
 
 full ring costume of the torea- 
 dor. The Mexican small boy 
 
 plays at bull-fighting as the 
 
 American does at baseball, or 
 
 as the more sporty one puts on dragging out the dead. 
 
 the gloves with his fellows — is it then any wonder that the custom prevails 
 
 since the children are taught to admire it?
 
 The City of Mexico. 
 
 Two hundred years before the Spaniards came to Mexico there was a great 
 city in the midst of the lakes that spread out their bright waters in the Vale 
 of Anahuac, but it was nearly a thousand years before, that the Toltec tribes 
 came down into the beautiful valley. \\ hatever of chronological data there 
 may have been in the picture-writings of the Aztecs was destroyed in the 
 fanatical fires that destroyed the temples of Tenochtitlan. 
 
 The not altogether reliable data given by Clavigero places the arrival of 
 the Toltecs in Anahuac in the year 648, remaining there till A. D. 1051, when 
 they abandoned the country. The Chicimecs came in 1170, the Acolhuans or 
 Tezcucans in 1200; the Mexicans or Aztecs came to Tula in 1196. and in 1325 
 founded the city of Tenochtitlan, and after Tula was their capital city, near 
 the center of Anahuac, an empire that comprised some sixteen thousand square 
 leagues, though the name Anahuac, which means "near the water" was first 
 applied to the plain and valley of Mexico, of only about seventy leagues in 
 circumference. 
 
 The Aztecs were a migratory people, not always successful in their wars, 
 and at one time were a nation of slaves, but their ferocity soon brought them 
 freedom and set them upon their wanderings again; it was at this time that 
 they halted on the southern and western shores of Lake Texcoco. Such a 
 body of water seemed a sea to them, and the Casique. with a retinue of chiefs, 
 sought up and down the shores for a camping place till they came to a rocky 
 point jutting out into the lake — here they beheld, perched on a stem of prickly 
 cactus, a golden eagle of great size and beauty, with a serpent in his talons, 
 his outstretched wings were towards the rising sun — this was taken as an 
 
 71
 
 72 
 
 auspicious omen indicating a site for their city — the legend is preserved on 
 the banner of Mexico — for here the city was built. 
 
 From this miraculous incident the city was called Tenochtitlan, from "tunal" 
 a cactus on a stone, but in after years came to be called Mexico, from Mexitli, 
 the great war-god of the Aztecs. 
 
 The first houses were of reeds and rushes on foundations of piles set in 
 the shallow waters and thus began the building of a Venice of the western 
 world that soon came, with its ambitious walls of stone, palaces and temples 
 to a greater magnificence even than the beautiful Queen of the Adriatic. The 
 primitive houses of reeds and rushes were soon replaced by massive struc- 
 tures, totally unlike any other found on the w^estern continent and resembling 
 more those of Egypt. The great teocali or temple of the Aztec gods was a 
 pyramidal structure over a hundred feet high, requiring a hundred and four- 
 teen steps to reach from the ground to the esplanade that was broad enough 
 and "with ample room for thirty knights to run their courses in a regular 
 tourney." 
 
 Cortez stood on the top of this temple and looked down upon the city of 
 Tenochtitlan with its streets and canals, that are the same streets to-day, with 
 newer streets where the canals had been — the causeways that led to the main 
 land are the causeways of to-day and are called by the same names — the streets 
 led out in all directions from the great teocali, as to-day they lead out in all 
 directions from the great Cathedral that stands on its site. 
 
 The Spaniards under Cortez entered the City of Mexico on the 8th of 
 November, 1519. coming from the southeast and passing over the causeway 
 between Lake Texcoco and Lake Chalco. The Spaniards remained in the 
 city until the ist of July, 1520. when their barbarities caused the people to 
 rise in their might and drive them out. 
 
 After the defeat of the Dismal Night, "/a noche triste,''^ the Spaniards re- 
 treated over the causeway of Tlacopan or Tacuba, passed around to the north 
 of the city and the lakes, fought a battle at Otumba and marched to Tlaxcala, 
 thence to Texcoco and laid siege to the city December 31, 1520, crossing 
 the lake in bergantines. The defense under Guatemotzin was a gallant one 
 and lasted till the 13th of August, 1521, when Cortez made his second triumphal 
 entry into the Aztec capital. 
 
 Guatemotzin w-as put to death and the city destroyed, the great temples 
 razecf to the ground and the Christian city founded in the year 1522 by the 
 erection of the Atarazanas, or navy yard, for the bergantines on the site now 
 occupied by the Church of San Lazaro. 
 
 When the Spaniards had made their occupation of the city permanent the 
 population decreased as to the Mexican element and increased in Spanish 
 inhabitants till in i6co there were only about 10,000 Indians and nearly that 
 many Spaniards, and from that time the increase in numbers, both of the 
 Spaniard and mixed population, was rapid till the middle of the next century 
 there were nearly a hundred thousand people and at the end of it there were 
 125,000 people in the City of Mexico, making it the metropolis of the western 
 world. Which honor, as the largest city on the continent, it retained for more 
 than 250 years. 
 
 Not until the reign of the fifty-second viceroy, Juan Vicente de Giiemes 
 Pacheco de Padilla, Conde de Revillagigedo, in 1789, did the ancient capital be- 
 gin to assume the metropolitan proportions of a civilized city. This viceroy 
 paved the streets and lighted them, built sewers, established a police system, 
 rid the city of foot-pads by hanging the captured highwaymen, and created 
 very many reforms; the old Conde was very vigorous and emphatic in his 
 methods and permitted no delays in the carrying out of his orders; the work
 
 73 
 
 of improvement v/as required to be 
 promptly and effectively done and his 
 orders were not to be disregarded in 
 the sHghtest particular. 
 
 It is told of the Conde Revilla- 
 gigedo that he went about the city 
 unattended, day or night, and that 
 when he found anything wrong he 
 required it righted then and there. 
 One night he struck his foot against 
 an uneven place in the pavement — 
 he sent a messenger for the con- 
 tractor telling that he was wanted, 
 and waited there till he came and 
 told him in language forcible, but of 
 Castillian politeness, that the pave- 
 ment must be repaired before morn- 
 ing. At another time the Conde was 
 driving through the streets in the 
 early evening and came upon a bar- 
 ricade of huts completely shutting 
 oflf the passage of a street ; he or- 
 dered his coachman to summon the 
 ^j official in charge of streets, while he 
 ^ waited there ; the officer w^as ordered 
 ^ to clear the street and have it open 
 '^ so the Conde's carriage could pa>"s 
 < through as he drove to mass the fol- 
 I lowing morning. It was done, and 
 ^ till this day the s^treet from the Ala- 
 z meda to the Plazuela de la Canda- 
 laria is called Calle de Revillagigedo 
 in honor of the eccentric but practi- 
 cal reformer of the olden times. 
 
 The rules and regulations of the 
 modern city are scarcely less string- 
 ent, and a clean, well-kept city 
 is the result — but a monument to 
 the old Count should have a place 
 at every corner in the city as a re- 
 minder. 
 
 It is probable that the ancient city 
 of Tenochtitlan, covering about a 
 quarter of the territory of the present 
 city, was at the geographical center 
 of the Aztec empire and of the terri- 
 tory within the boundaries of Ana- 
 huac, but the City of Mexico is far 
 from the center of the Mexican Re- 
 public. It is, by direct air lines, 
 1,500 miles from the extreme north- 
 west boundary, 200 miles from the 
 Gulf, 400 miles from the Pacific 
 and 600 miles from the boundary
 
 74 
 
 of Guatemala on the south, in latitude 19° 26' 5" north and 99° 6' 45" west 
 from Greenwich. 
 
 The cit}^ is in the midst of a broad plain completely surrounded by high 
 mountains forming the n'm of a bowl or basin, from which there is no 
 natural outlet for the streams that rise in the hills, hence the accumulation 
 of waters that may have, at one time, covered the entire face of the plain, 
 and since the establishment of the city great inundations have occurred as in 
 1552 and again in 1629, tiooding the streets and drowning thousands of the 
 inhabitants. To prevent the recurrence of the tioods and consecjuent disaster 
 the dyke of San Lazaro was built in 1552, the great canal, called the Tajo de 
 Nochistongo, was commenced in i6c7, but neither served the purpose of the 
 drainage of the valley and the city is subject to the rise of the waters in the 
 very wet seasons, but inundations will be prevented by the great tunnel com- 
 pleted in 1896, bored through the hills of the eastern rim of the bowl. The 
 tunnel is connected with the lakes b}^ canals which makes a perfect drain- 
 age of the city and of the valley. 
 
 The city is in what is called the Federal District, covering an area of 
 some four hundred and fifty square miles — the government of the district like 
 the District of Columbia is directed, by the national legislature, administered 
 by the Ayuntimiento, or city council, the city and district being presided over 
 by a Governor appointed by the President of the Republic. The population 
 of the district is in round numbers nearly 6co,coo, and of the city proper about 
 400,000. 
 
 The great Lake of Texcoco is eastward of the city, Xochimilco and Chalco 
 to the southeast. Zumpango and San Cristobal to the north. It is probable 
 that before the filling up by the building of causeways, and the made-lands 
 from the grading, both for the old city of Tenochtitlan and the newer City 
 of Mexico, that these lakes were all one immense body of water, completely 
 surrounding the ancient cities. 
 
 The altitude of the City of Mexico, 7,349 feet above the level of the sea at 
 Vera Cruz, only 200 miles away, gives it a most delightful climate and a 
 most even temperature. The average mean range of thermometer from Octo- 
 ber to April is 56 degrees and from i\Iay to September 63 degrees; practically 
 the only difiference between summer and winter is that it never rains in the 
 winter and it does almost every day in the summer — but only in showers, and 
 never with long periods of rainy weather — and the only cold weather results 
 from a norther that blows up from the Gulf and lasts not more than a few 
 hours or a day. With the clean, well-kept streets and delightful climate, the 
 Mexican capital is a most delightful city whether the sojourn may be in the 
 winter or 'summer months. 
 
 National Library^Biblioteca Nacional, is located in the old Church of 
 San Agustin on the street of San Agustin, three squares south of San Fran- 
 cisco. The building is one of the finest in the city and has on two sides a 
 pretty little garden surrounded by a high iron railing, the posts of which are 
 surmounted by busts of Mexicans of prominence in literature, beginning with 
 Netzahualcoyotl, Ixtlilxochitli Tezozomoc, the ancient writers of the coun- 
 try, then CaVpio, Taele, Pesado, Navarrete, Gorostiza, Clavijero, Veytia, Ala- 
 man, Ramirez, Pena y Pefia, Najera, Sigiienza y Gongora, Alzate, Loza, Car- 
 doso and Lafragua. 
 
 Over the main door is a fine image of San Agustin, a remaining decoration 
 of the ancient church. The interior is superb in its architecture. Ionic 
 columns support the arches of what was the choir and now the vestibule. 
 The nave is now the stately library hall, and where the chapels were are now 
 the alcoves of bookshelves. Around the walls are statues of Isaiah, Confucius,
 
 75 
 
 Valmiki, Homer, Plato. Cicero, Virgil, Aristophanes, St. Paul, Origen, Alar- 
 con, Dante, Copernicus, Descartes, Humboldt and Cuvier; above these is a 
 statue of Time and the Arms of the Republic. On either side of the entrance 
 are medalion portraits, one of President Juarez, who decreed the establish- 
 ment of the library, the other of Don Antonio Alartinez de Castro, Minister 
 oi Justice, who signed the decree. The old chapel of Tercer Orden opening 
 into the main building is a storeroom for unclassified books. 
 
 The collection of books made from suppressed monasteries and convents 
 comprises nearly 2CO.cco volumes which, considering the source from which 
 they came, are mostly religious works, but a most valuable library is being 
 collected that comprises the choice books of the world. 
 
 There are old books and new; books on vellum and parchment; books 
 that the British ^Museum have not, but would like to have. There is an atlas 
 of England printed in Amsterdam in 1659, with steel plates and in colors 
 that are as bright and fresh as if just off the press. Another volume be'ars 
 date of 1472, and another is still older, printed in two colors with a most 
 perfect register. There is a Spanish and ^Mexican dictionary, printed in ^Nlex- 
 ico in 1571. There is a book of autographs of notables and soldiers of Cortez. 
 A roll of deerskin shows some original dispatches (painted pictures), sent 
 by Montezuma to his allies, but intercepted by Cortez. There are original 
 manuscripts and immense volumes with every old English letter done with 
 a pen. There are rare books of all ages and nations, from a Chinese diction- 
 ary down to the latest works of the day. 
 
 The Library is open daily, feast days excepted, from 10 a. m. to 5 p. m., and 
 is free to all. 
 
 Other Libraries — Each department of the government has a library 
 of appropriate books, as also the National Museum and the Academy of 
 Fine Arts; the School of Engineering has 8. ceo volumes; the Law School, 
 16,000; the Preparatory School, 10.000; and in the old Church of Betlemitas, on 
 Cinco de ]\Iayo street, is a free library of io,cgo, open daily, except feast days, 
 9 a. m. to I p. m., and 3 p. m. to 7 p. m. The National Palace has an exten- 
 sive library composed of the archives of the nation: 
 
 National School of Fine Arts is called also the Academy of San 
 Carlos. Drawing and painting was first taught in Mexico in the Col- 
 lege of San Juan de Letran, founded by Pedro de Gante, although Rodrigo 
 de Cifuentes, a painter of some renown, made portraits of Cortez at the time 
 of the Conquest. About the year 1600 came the great Sebastian Arteaga, 
 who has been called the founder of art in Alexico. At about this time came 
 Alonzo Vascjuez, Baltazar Echave and his wife, who was called La Sumaya. 
 Among the artists of the next century were Andreas Lopez, Herrera. Aguilera, 
 Juan Correa, Cabrera, a native Indian of Oaxaca, and his pupil, Vallejo; Ibarra, 
 Jose and Luis Rodriguez, Lopez, Saenz, Esquirel, Nicolas Juarez, Zendejas 
 and Alcibar, these were the painters; the sculptors were Cora and Patifio 
 Instolinque, but perhaps the greatest of all these was Francisco Eduardo 
 Tresguerras, painter, sculptor and architect, who flourished in the latter part 
 of the eighteenth and first part of the nineteenth centuries. 
 
 The work of these men are in the churches of the land throughout its 
 length and breadth and in the Academy of the City of Mexico. 
 
 The school of Fine Arts originated in the school of engraving connected 
 with the mint, established under a royal order of Charles III, dated March 
 15' 1778. under the direction of Don Geronimo Gil, the chief engraver, who 
 opened the school in ]\Iay following. The Director of the ]\Iint, Don Fer- 
 nando de Mangino, obtained the consent of the Viceroy Mayorga to the es- 
 tablishment of an academy of painting, sculpture and architecture. Classes
 
 77 
 
 were organized November 4. 1781 ; the King being informed, issued a royal 
 order December 25. 1783. licensing the insuitntion under the name of La 
 Academia de las Nobles Artes de San Carlos de la Nueva Espafia. The Aca- 
 demy was opened with imposing ceremonies on the 4th of April, 1785. 
 
 The first teachers came from Spain, the painter Aguirre and Velasquez, 
 painter and architect. In September. 1791, the Academy was removed to its 
 present quarters in the building formerly occupied by the Hospital de Amor 
 de Dios. then came the architect Manuel Tolsa and the painter. Rafael 
 Jimeno. Tolsa brought with him. as a present from Charles III. a fine col- 
 lection of casts valued at nearly $50,000. and under those auspicious circum- 
 stances the Academy prospered, interrupted though by the wars and revolu- 
 tions of the times, and was closed from 1810 to 1821. In 1824 the city coun- 
 
 AN OLD-IRON MARKET. 
 
 cil voted a small annuity for the support of the Academy, which continued 
 till 1843, when the proceeds of a lottery rendered a more adequate support 
 and the Academy was formally reopened January 6, 1847. Under the Juarez 
 government an annual allowance of $35,000 was made and in 1868 the name 
 was changed to the National School of Fine Arts, when prizes were offered, 
 among which is one of a pension of $600 per annum for six years. Tuition 
 is free. 
 
 The notable pictures are the "Martyrdom of San Apronianio," "The Holy 
 Family" and "The Adoration of ]\Iagi." by Echave. "Christ in the Garden." 
 by Luis Juarez; "San Agustin." by Antonio Rodriguez; "Justo and Pastor" 
 and "Life of St. Alexis." by Jose Juarez; "Mary and Elizabeth" and "Christ 
 and St. Thomas," by Arteaga; "Santa Ana and the Virgin," "The Holy Sepul- 
 chre" and "The ]Meeting of Mary and Elizabeth," by Echave. "Virgin of the
 
 •78 
 
 Apocalypse" is by Cabrera, and there is also a portrait of that artist painted 
 by himself. In "The Adoration of the Magi," by Nicolas Juarez, the artist 
 has introduced his own portrait, the figure on the left in blue. Among Ibarra s 
 pictures are "Woman of Samaria" and "Woman Taken in Adultery;" and 
 those of Cabrera are his "Virgin of the Apocalypse," "Bernard" and "An- 
 selm." There is also a "Crucifixion" by Arteaga; a "Martyrdom of St. Law- 
 rence," by Luis Juarez, and a fine "Virgin de la Purisima," by Aguilera. 
 
 There is a "San Juan de Dios," a "San Rafael," a "San Juan en el De- 
 sierto" all by Murillo, also a "San Francisco" and a "San Antonio de Padua" 
 
 that are also attributed to that great 
 artist. There is a portrait of 
 "Rubens" and a "Christ Torment- 
 ed," both by Rubens. There is a 
 "Seven Virtues" on wood by 
 Leonardo and a "San Sebastian" by 
 Van Dyke; a portrait of "Murillo" 
 by Velasquez. Among others are 
 a "Saint Gregory;" "Santa Cata- 
 lina de Sena," "Santa Teresa," and 
 a portrait of "Maria Ana of Austria, 
 Wife of Philip IV," a "Las Casas" 
 and numerous others more or less 
 interesting and by various artists. 
 The Academy of Fine Arts is on 
 the Calle del Amor de Dios, two 
 squares east of the Cathedral and 
 one square from the National Mu- 
 seum. The hours are from 12 noon 
 to 2 p. m., daily, and from 9 a. m. 
 to 12 m. Sundays and feast days. 
 National Museutti, or Museo 
 Nacional, half a square east of the 
 Cathedral and just in rear of the 
 National Palace, contains a fine 
 collection of antiquities and objects 
 of natural history, excellently ar- 
 ranged and altogether the most 
 interesting place in the capital, The 
 collection was formerly a depart- 
 ment of the National University 
 COLOSSAL HEAD. ^ud whcn that institution was closed 
 
 in 1865 the relics were removed to the present building, which until that time 
 was occupied by the Mint. The collection is constantly being added to by 
 the reception of relics from all parts of the country — the government very 
 wisely having decreed an ownership on all antiquities wherever found within 
 the boundaries of the Republic, and has caused them to be brought to the 
 National Museum until it contains one of the finest and most interesting 
 collections in the world. There are many examples of the prehistoric races 
 of the country, idols from their temples and ornaments from the palaces; 
 jewels, arms, shields and utensils of the Toltecs and Aztecs, with some of 
 their picture writings; there are portraits, parchments and paintings through 
 all the years of the country's history from the days of the Conquest. 
 
 The" Sacrificial Stone is in shape similar to the calendar stone. The 
 carvings indicate very clearly its uses; the basin hollowed in the top
 
 79 
 
 with the canal leading to a niche on the edge seems to have had the purpose 
 of catching the blood of the victim and carrying it away. _ The figures on 
 the rim show the victorious chiefs under Tizoc dragging their victims by the 
 
 INTERIOR MUSEUM. CITY OF MEXICO. 
 
 hair to the !..„.- ui bacrince to be offered to the sun. This stone v/as lound 
 near the Cathedral in 1791, and as it was too heavy to handle conveniently, 
 was about to be broken up and used for paving stones, but the destroyers' 
 work was arrested and a most interesting relic was preserved. 
 
 The Calendar Stone, sometimes called the Stone of the Sun, was 
 originally set in the f- 
 walls of the great 
 temple of Tenochtit- 
 lan. and after the 
 destruction of the 
 temple was buried in 
 the earth for many 
 years on the spot 
 where the temple 
 stood, on the Plaza 
 Mayor; it was resur- 
 rected and placed in 
 the west tower of the 
 Cathedral, where it 
 remained till 1886. 
 when it was removed 
 to the Museum, where 
 it is preserved. An 
 efifort by some writ- 
 ers, who have spent sacrificial stone. _ 
 little time in research, to discredit the interesting theory of its use 
 as a calendar, meets with but very little favor, as its drawings and divisions
 
 80 
 
 ,^^ 0;F% ^ - ^ 
 
 
 clearly indicate the calendar idea, which has been carefully and clearly worked 
 out till it is apparent to the most casual observer. The critics of the calendar 
 have only succeeded in a small way in appearing wise, and to know some- 
 thing which for some reason they do not divulge, and prefer to say it was 
 not a calendar stone just because somebody else said it was, and yet fail 
 to say what its uses were, beyond a hint at sacrificial purposes, although an- 
 other stone with more appropriate carvings stands beside it. 
 
 The tradition goes that both the Sacrificial and the Calendar stones were 
 taken from the ancient quarries near Coyoacan and dragged over the cause- 
 ways on w^ooden rollers to the walls of the teocali, and that they each broke 
 down the bridge of Xoloc, were lost in the lake and a second pair of mono- 
 liths were quarried and through the efforts of 5,000 men were safely moved 
 
 over the causeway 
 and the renewed and 
 strengthened bridge 
 in 1478. By order of 
 the king Axayacatl, 
 the engravings were 
 made and by the 
 priests they were ded- 
 icated through the 
 sacrifice of 728 hu- 
 man beings. 
 
 The Goddess of 
 Water, is a huge 
 monolith nearly 11 
 feet high, over 5 feet 
 across. It weighs 
 nearly 40.000 pounds. 
 Very much disfigured 
 in its carvings, it is 
 still nearly perfect in 
 form. It came from 
 Teotihuacan near the 
 Pyramids of the Sun 
 and Moon, and is an 
 idol of prehistoric 
 origin. 
 
 Huitzilopochtli 
 was the war god of 
 the ancient Mexicans. 
 CALENDAR STONE. The vcry elaborately 
 
 carved idol has two faces dissimilar in feature, and is perhaps two figures, 
 one of which has been called Teoyaomiqui, though this latter name does 
 not appear in Mexican mythology, and the theory that one part is a god 
 and the other a goddess is hardly tenable, though there is repulsiveness 
 and ugliness for more than two figures. The idol is nearly ten feet high 
 by about three in diameter. 
 
 El Iiidio Triste, the Sad Indian, was found in 1828, in the street 
 now called by that name. Why the image was called the Sad Indian does 
 not appear, for while the countenance may not be called pretty, it is by no 
 means sad. Writers agree that the statue was set upon a wall with a torch or 
 standard in each hand, and was more for the purpose of ornamentation than 
 an object of worship, and was not an idol. On the walls of the Temple of 

 
 81 
 
 Huitzilopochtli were Indians of stone with candlesticks in their hands, and 
 this may have been one of them, ahhough it was dug up (1828) in the street 
 that now bears its name, the Calle del Indio Triste. How this piece of sculp- 
 ture came by its name tradition does not narrate. 
 
 Two Serpents' Heads of gigantic size were originally in the walls 
 of the Temple of Tenochtitlan and were a part of the cohuatepantli or wall of 
 serpents. They were discovered by Sehor Garcias Cubas where they had been 
 buried beneath the original Cathedral. 
 
 The Feathered Serpent is one of the most curious sculptures of the 
 museum; it is coiled and has an unmistakable snake's head; this form of 
 serpent is found in smaller examples in the museum. They came from all 
 parts of Mexico, in fact have been found in various parts of the continent. 
 It is called Quetzal-coatl and represents an ancient myth of Mexico of a 
 
 GODDESS OF WATER. 
 
 white man with a long flowing beard who taught the people religion and civili- 
 zation; a religion that the earliest comers to Mexico found very simdar to 
 Christianity. The legend goes that this mysterious teacher was one of the 
 Apostles, St. Thomas, but why he should be represented by a feathered ser- 
 pent is not apparent. 
 
 Chac-Mol, the God of Fire, is a recumbent figure in stone, lying upon 
 its back, with both hands holding upon the stomach a round disk as an 
 emblem of the sun. This particular Chac-Mol was found in Yucatan, other 
 and similar figures from other parts of the Republic are in the ]Museum. There 
 are scores of other sculptures brought from all parts of the country about 
 which little is known as to their origin and of which history and tradition 
 are silent, and which the catalogues can only enumerate.
 
 82 
 
 A Colossal Head of a human is one of the finest pieces in the Mu- 
 lt is exquisitely carved in diorite; it is three feet high by two feet 
 
 through the neck and about 
 
 seven feet in circumference. It was found in 
 1830 in the street of Santa Teresa in the 
 City of Mexico, in excavating for the foun- 
 dation of a building and was presented to 
 the jMuseum by the Abbess of the Concep- 
 tion. Authorities disagree as to its origin 
 or use, though its carvings relate in some 
 way to the Aztec calendar. In the front 
 of the cap are thirteen shells, that may 
 mean the thirteen religious days of the man. 
 In the back of the head dress are twenty 
 shells and there were twenty days in the 
 civil month; these and other carvings 
 correspond in numbers to those on the 
 Calendar stone. In the other halls of the 
 Museum are many interesting relics pre- 
 historic, and of the age of the Toltecs and 
 of the Aztecs, arms and munitions of war, 
 
 darts, javcims, clubs ana snields. Among the shields is 01 . -!' ^ I 'it' /uma's. 
 
 There are also implements and objects of home life, 
 
 jewels, dresses and costumes of the earlier races of ^ 
 
 the country, and some of the famous picture writ- 
 ings showing the wanderings of the people. 
 
 Of the later centuries there is the Banner of the 
 
 Conquest, a portrait of the Conqueror Cortez. and 
 
 some of his armor, and the arms carried by the 
 
 soldiers under him, among which is a helmet and 
 
 cuirass worn by the gallant Captain Pedro de Alva- 
 
 rado, and of the post-conquest daj's there are some 
 
 portraits of the Spanish viceroys. The standard of 
 
 the war for independence, the banner of Our Lady 
 
 of Guadalupe taken by Hidalgo from the little 
 
 Church of Atotonilco, near San Miguel, in the State 
 
 of Guanajuato, his musket, cane, chair and handker- 
 chief are to be seen also — and of the later days the 
 
 coach, chariot of state and silver dinner service of 
 
 the Emperor jMaximilian and the carriage of Presi- 
 dent Juarez. These and many other objects of 
 
 interest representing all ages of the country make 
 
 this Museum one of the most notable in the world, 
 
 containing as it does so much that is to be found 
 
 in no other, called from times and tribes of a people 
 
 wholly difterent and distinct and with no link to 
 
 connect them with any other on the face of the - 
 
 earth. 
 
 The Monte de Piedad is trie National pawn- 
 shop, founded by the Conde de Regla Don Pedro 
 
 Romero de Terreros, the then owner of the great 
 
 Real del ]\Ionte mines, near Pachuca, with an huitzilopochtli. 
 
 endowment of over $300,000; approved by the Crown, June 2, 1774- and 
 
 on the 25th of February, 1776, the doors were opened for business. 
 
 At first no interest was charged on the loans. This was with thgr
 
 83 
 
 idea to protect the people from the usurious charges of pawnbrol<:ers 
 that have been the same sharks in all ages and countries. It was ex- 
 pected that on the redemption of the pledge that the borrower would make 
 some gift for charitable purposes, but as his gratitude did not always material- 
 ize it was found necessary to charge a nominal rate of interest. So low are 
 the charges that it is in reality a boon to the people, and the liberal rules of 
 redemption make the business one fair transaction. When the interest on an 
 article fails to be paid, it is exposed for sale with a fixed price. At the end of 
 a month the price is reduced, and again at the end of the second or third 
 month, when it reaches the amount of the original loan and interest, which 
 usually effects the sale, but if the article is sold during the tirst or second 
 month the excess over the loan and interest is paid to the borrower — an un- 
 heard-of and unprecedented proceeding. The idea of paying a borrower any- 
 thing on an unredeemed pledge simply because it sold for more than the loan 
 is absurd, and such a ridiculous plan does not exist except in the Monte de 
 Piedad of jNlexico. 
 
 The institution was established first in old college San Pedro y Pablo, after- 
 wards removed to the street of San Juan de Letran and later to the building 
 erected especially for it on the street of the Empedradillo, opposite and just 
 west of the Cathedral, on the spot where once was one of the palaces of 
 Cortez. 
 
 The original capital became very much reduced in 1814 by bad manage- 
 ment, but changes in the administration and reforms restored the deficit; 
 again in 1884, during the administration of President Gonzalez, the capital 
 was again impaired and has never fully recovered, but there is still sufficient 
 to do a very large business and the institution remains a practical benevolence. 
 Not so much as in the earlier days of its existence, but there are still to be 
 found among the pledges some very good bargains in articles of vertu and 
 interesting relics of persons who have seen better days. 
 
 Schools and Colleges — The school system of the City of ]\Iexico is 
 fully abreast of the times. So much progress has been, and is being made 
 that it is impossible in a work of this kind to give data or statistics. What 
 might be written this year would be all wrong next, hence no figures are given 
 here. Suffice it to say that information in detail is easily obtained from the 
 Department of Justice and Public Instruction. There are many private schools 
 and institutions of learning and public schools supported by the National, State 
 and Municipal governments, some of the most important of which are noted 
 here. 
 
 The Conservatory of Music was established in 1877 in a building 
 erected in 1787 on the site of the first building of the University of Mexico, 
 on lands that belonged to the estate of Cortez. There is a fine patio wath 
 flowers, and surrounded by old cloisters; a splendid concert hall and a fine 
 painting by Vallejo. The library and collection of music is very complete. 
 
 The School of Mines, La Mineria, on the Calle de San Andres, 
 was founded in 1777 by Don Velazquez de Leon and Don Lucas de Lasaga. 
 The building is a magnificent one. erected in 1813 at a cost of nearly $200,000. 
 There are fine patios, stairways and columned galleries, and is considered one 
 of the finest edifices in all Alexico. The decorations are superb, especially in 
 the chapel where there is a fine bronze altar, and frescoes by Jimeno. There 
 is a fine observatory, library and extensive cabinets of specimens. Under the 
 front portal are some immense meteoric stones weighing tons, that have fallen 
 at different points in Mexico. During his visit to the capital, in 1880, General 
 Grant was quartered in this magnificent building.
 
 84 
 
 The School of Medicine was authorized by a royal decree dated 
 
 March i6, 1768, followed by numerous other decrees down to the final one 
 of 1833. and after being located at ditTerent points in the city was finally estab- 
 lished in 1854 in the building formerly occupied by the Inquisition in the 
 Plaza of Santo Domingo. The college has a fine theater, lecture-rooms, 
 library and apparatus. 
 
 The Preparatory School for advanced students to prepare for the 
 colleges was originally an institution of the Jesuits and is still called by 
 the old name of the School of Ydelfonso. The present building was completed 
 in 1749 at a cost of nearly half a million dollars. The patios are surrounded 
 by galleries handsomely decorated. The various halls contain some handsome 
 paintings by Vallejo and other noted artists, among which is "The Holy 
 Family" and the "Feast of Pentecost." The library, museum and apparatus are 
 in keeping with the importance of the institution. 
 
 The School of Agriculture is located just outside the city on the 
 Tacuba road, on the hacienda de San Jacinto, and is an important institu- 
 tion, with all modern appliances for agricultural education. 
 
 The Colegio de la Paz, called also the College of San Ygnacio 
 Loyola, had its corner stone laid in 1734, but was not completed till 1767. 
 when the cost was estimated to be $2,000,000. The school was originally 
 directed by the Biscayan Brotherhood, but upon the banishment of the order 
 v^-as taken charge of by the government. It is supported by its endowment 
 and an appropriation. There are primary and secondary departments where, 
 in addition to the regular branches of education, sewing, embroidery, etc., 
 are taught. The original school was founded by three philanthropists through 
 pity of the numerous poor children of that part of the city who were without 
 schools, and with their own money bought the original site and commenced 
 the first building. Their names should be perpetuated. They are Don Jose 
 Aldaco, Don Ambrosio Meave and Don Francisco Echeveste. The building 
 is one of the most extensive and finest in the city. 
 
 Other Schools — Among tiie other schools are the Industrial School 
 for Women, Industrial School for Men. School for Deaf Mutes, Industrial 
 School for Orphans. School of Correction. School for the Blind. Commer- 
 cial College Law School, a Theological Seminary, Schools of the Lancasterian 
 Society, Benevolent Society and of the Catholic Society, in which there are 
 changes constantly being made, so that detailed information here would in 
 a short while be unreliable. 
 
 HOSPITALS. 
 
 Coiicepcioti Beistigui is one of the newest hospitals of the city, 
 having been founded by Sehorita Concepcion Beistigui and opened ]\Iarch 
 21, 1886. It was remodeled from the old convent of Regina Coeli, and is one 
 of the finest in the city. It is located near the Plaza de Regina, six squares 
 south of 2d San Francisco street. 
 
 Hospital del Divitio Salvador is for the care of insane women. 
 It had its foundation in the charity of a pious carpenter, Jose Sayago, 
 who took the unfortunate creatures he found on the streets and cared for 
 them in his own house, till the Archbishop Aguiar y Seijas gave him a larger 
 house and supplied him with money for expenses. After the death of Sayago 
 and the archbishop in 1698 the hospital passed to the care of the Jesuits, and 
 after the suppression of the order it came under the control of the govern- 
 ment, when a liberal appropriation was made and an improved mode of treat- 
 ment put in elifect. It is located in the Calle de Canoa, three squares north 
 of ist San Francisco.
 
 85 
 
 Hospital de Jesus Nazareno was founded by Cortez about the 
 year 1590. and was amply provided for in his will, but the administrators mis- 
 applied the funds, until the management was undertaken by Don Bernardo 
 Alvarez and matters put in proper shape and the provisions of the will firmly 
 established, so that all attempts to break it have failed, and it is still supported 
 by the endowment made by the conqueror. The hospital is on the Calle de 
 Jesus, three squares south of the Plaza ]\Iayor. 
 
 Hospital Municipal Juarez was once a church, a college and a 
 barracks. The college of San Pablo was built on the site in 1575, and a church 
 in 1581, and remained as important institutions for some two hundred years, 
 when they fell into decay and were leased by the government for use as a 
 barracks. The first uses as a hospital were in 1847. after the battle of Padierna 
 with the Americans near San Angel, on the 19th of August of that year, when 
 the wounded soldiers were brought in to this place. Afterward, through the 
 good oftices of Dr. Jose Urbano Fonseca. it became a municipal hospital, and 
 later, with the merging of hospitals of San Hipolito and San Lazaro, became, 
 since 1862, the Hospital Municipal 
 Juarez, though sometimes called 
 by the old name of San Pablo. It 
 is located on the Plaza de San 
 Pablo, one square east and six 
 squares south of the Plaza Mayor. 
 
 Casa de Matemidad was 
 iounded by an imperial decree of 
 the Emperor ^Maximilian, dated 
 June 7, 1865, and opened on the 
 anniversary a year later under the 
 direction of the Council of Public 
 Charities, of which the Empress 
 Carlotta was the president, and 
 who became so thoroughly inter- 
 ested that she sent from Europe 
 a complete set of surgical instru- 
 ments and a large sum of money 
 for the support of the hospital, 
 which is located on the Calle 
 Revillagigedo. half a square south 
 of the Alameda. 
 
 La Cuua, the cradle, is a 
 foundling asylum, known also as 
 La Casa de Sefior San Jose de Nifios Expositos, and was founded by the Arch- 
 bishop Lorenzana January 11, 1766, and supported by his private purse and alms 
 through his hands even after his return to Spain. The succeeding archbishop. 
 Don Nimez Haro y Peralto. continued the work by organizing a Congregation 
 of Charity for the custody and management of the asylum, which received a 
 royal approval, and by a decree of the king of Spain dated July 30, 1794, the 
 foundlings were declared legitimate and endowed with the rights of citizen- 
 ship, and it was further provided that the children should receive the name 
 of Lorenzana in honor of the founder of the asylum. The children receive a 
 practical education, the boys a manual training and the girls are taught 
 sewing, embroidery and music. The asylum is three squares east from the 
 south side of the Plaza Mayor. 
 
 Hospital Morelos was originally a foundling asylum, known as 
 Hospital de la Epifania. to which was attached the Hospicio de Nuestra Senora
 
 86 
 
 de los Desamparados, Our Lady of the Forsaken, and was founded by the good 
 Doctor Pedro Lopez in 1582. In 1604 it came under the control of the brothers 
 of San Juan de Dios, who built the present fine church and hospital, and who 
 administered the charity for more than two hundred years, till the order was 
 suppressed in 1820 and the hospital closed, but through the good offices of 
 Don Caspar Ceballos it was reopened March 8, 1845, under the name of the 
 Hospital iMorelos, in honor of the patriot soldier of the war of independence, 
 but it is still called also by its old names. It is near the Plaza de Morelos, 
 immediately north of the Alameda. 
 
 Hospital de San Andres was originally a pest-house in use during 
 the plague of 1779, though it was a Jesuit foundation of a century earlier. 
 After the termination of the plague it was made a general hospital, and under 
 the Laws of the Reform became the property of the Ayuntamiento, or city 
 government, and so remains to the present time. A department for the free 
 treatment of the diseases of the eye is maintained. The hospital is on the 
 Calle San Andres, a square and a half east of the Alameda. 
 
 Hospital de San Hipolito was founded by a retired merchant 
 of Peru, a native of Andalusia, Bernardino Alvarez, who took upon himself the 
 care of the sick and became a hospital nurse, but, not being satisfied wath 
 the treatment of the sick, resolved to establish a hospital of his own. A lot 
 near the church of San Hipolito was given him, with permission to build his 
 hospital, which he did with his own property and contributions made to him, 
 and set out to gather patients, not only in the city, but from as far away as 
 Vera Cruz he gathered the lame, the halt and the crazed. A brotherhood was 
 formed for the carrying on of the good work, which received the sanction of 
 the Pope, Cregory XIII; approved, in 1585, May i, by Sixtus V. Under 
 a bull of Clement VIII, October 8, 1604, the brothers were ordered to take 
 the vows of hospitality and obedience, and in 1700, under a bull of Innocent 
 XII, they became a monastic order under the rules of the Agustinians. and all 
 the privileges pertaining to that order, and were known as the Hipolitos, the 
 Brothers of Charity, which was purely a Mexican order. Under this admin- 
 istration the hospital became an insane asylum for males. The present build- 
 ing was erected in 1773. The order of Hipolitos was suppressed by the Span- 
 ish Cortez in 1820. October i, and the property, amounting to nearly $200,000, 
 confiscated, but the brothers, as individuals, remained in charge. The mu- 
 nicipality has since had charge. The hospital is on the Calle de San Hipolito, 
 one square west of the northwest corner of the Alameda. 
 
 Hospicio de Pobres was founded by Dr. Fernando Ortiz Cortez, 
 under a royal order dated July 9, 1765. The asylum for the poor was opened 
 March 19, 1774, and so great was the demands of the charity that a few 
 years later it was greatly enlarged by Don Francisco Ziifiiga. The support 
 was derived from an allowance of $i.coo per -month from the government 
 lottery, a most appropriate appropriation, since the lottery is your greatest 
 factor in creating paupers. There are different departments for the old and 
 young, male and female, with accommodations for a thousand or more. The 
 hospicio is on the Avenida Juarez, nearly opposite the southwest corner of 
 the Alameda. 
 
 Other Hospitals — The American Hospital was founded in 1886 through 
 the good work of the American colony and visiting Americans, and has its 
 sole maintenance from their charity and contributions from the philanthro- 
 pists of our country. 
 
 The English. French. German and Spanish Benevolent Societies look after 
 their sick in a charitable manner,
 
 87 
 
 PUBLIC AND NOTABLE BUILDINGS. 
 
 ..^^^ 
 
 The National Palace, Palacio Nacional, on the east side of the Piaza 
 
 Mayor, is the Capitol of the RepubHc of Mexico, as it was the Vice-regal palace 
 when the country was a province of Spain, and before that period was the site 
 of a palace of Cortez, and was the property of the Conqueror; the land 
 fell to his share when the city lots of Tenochtitlan were divided among the 
 Spaniards. At that time the site was occupied by what was known as "the 
 new palace" of Montezuma, which, being destroyed, Cortez built in its place, a 
 house flanked with towers. The estate was confirmed by the king to Cortez 
 in 1529 and remained in the possession of his heirs till 1562, when it was 
 bought by the crown for the residence of the Viceroy, and remained as the 
 vice-regal residence until 1692, when the house was destroyed in the riots 
 of that year. « 
 
 The present building was begun in 1692. and from time to time has 
 been added to until it extends over the entire north side of the Plaza Mayor, 
 having a frontage of 675 feet, extending down the 
 side streets proportionately, the whole surround- 
 ing an immense patio or court, with accommoda- 
 tions for the various departments of the Federal 
 Government, the Presidential offices. Senate 
 Chamber, Postoffice and barrack room for sev- 
 eral regiments. The Presidential apartments are 
 in accord with the high office and the dignity of 
 the government, magnificently appointed and 
 splendidly decorated — it is not the Presidential 
 residence, only the offices of the President and of 
 the Government. The most noted room is the 
 Hall of the Ambassadors, an apartment of regal 
 dimensions and adornment. It extends its elegant. 
 proportions a'ong the palace front, the immense 
 windows looking out upon the Plaza. The walls 
 are hung with portraits of the illustrious men of 
 the country's history, including the martyrs of the 
 War of Independence, Hidalgo. Allende. Morelos, 
 Matamoros and others; Yturbide, and Presidents 
 Arista, Juarez and Porfirio Diaz; there is also a 
 fine portrait of George Washington. Other 
 paintings are an allegorical representation of the 
 Constitution and the battle of the 5th of May, 
 respectively by Monroy and Miranda, ^^lexican 
 artists of high repute. On the 15th of September, 1896, there was placed 
 over the main gateway of the palace the bell from the tower of the church of 
 Dolores, in the State of Guanajuato, near San Miguel de Allende, rung by 
 Hidalgo incidentally to call the people to mass, but in reality to call them to 
 arms for the cause of Independence; hence became the Liberty Bell of Mexico. 
 
 In the old tower of the little church at Dolores, nearly a hundred years 
 ago on that September night when the stars shone bright, rang out the 
 clear tones of a bell. The people listened and wondered at its ringing at 
 such an hour, but well knew- that it rang not except upon the order of 
 the faithful padre, the good Father Hidalgo, and came from their homes 
 (juickly to answer the summons and hear what he might say. Assembled 
 there under the dim light of the flickering candles of the altar, the patriot priest 
 
 MEXICO'S LIBERTY BELL.
 
 88 
 
 told his people that the hour of independence was at hand and that they 
 should follow him and march then to do battle for their country and aganist 
 the Spanish king. The march was announced at the hour, with the banner 
 of Guadalupe taken from the little church of Atotonilco as their standard the 
 people followed Hidalgo, they knew not where, they only followed Hidalgo, 
 and thus was born the bell of liberty in Mexico. 
 
 Long ago the banner of Guadalupe of Atotonilco was placed in the Na- 
 tional Museum of the capital of the Republic, but the Liberty Bell of Mexico 
 was but yesterday placed above the gates of the National Palace, and on 
 the night of the i6th of September of 1896 rang out again as it did in 
 that night of 1810 for liberty and independence. 
 
 It is in history that the hour when this bell first rang, except for mass 
 or matin, was at eleven o'clock, and forty minutes of the night between the 
 15th and i6th September, 1810, then Hidalgo rang it in the call to arms and 
 liberty, and when the people answering, assembled under the darkening shad- 
 ows of its tower he pronounced the Grito of Mexican independence. 
 
 It has long been the custom of the President of Mexico to go upon the 
 balcony over the main gateway of the National Palace at the hour and there 
 pronounce again the Grito as Hidalgo said, and now he may ring the bell 
 that Hidalgo rang and all the people shout their vivas now, as did the little 
 band of patriots in 1810. 
 
 The bell had remained in the towers of the church at Dolores since Hidalgo 
 rang it on that eventful night, but on Independence Day of 1896 it was brought 
 to the capital, and on the i6th of September, with all the pomp and circum- 
 stance of state, was carried in grand procession and placed over the palace 
 gate. The triumphal car bearing the bell, the central figure of a glittering 
 pageant, rolled on golden wheels, whose spokes were trimmed with flowers. 
 An eagle with outspread wings on the front of the car seemed to fly before 
 the precious relic as if to lead the way. In the shadow of the eagle's wings 
 rested an old brass cannon, cast by Hidalgo, on which is inscribed, "Para 
 defender la Fe y la Pureza de Maria Santisima" — For the defense of the Faith 
 and the Purity of Holy Mary. The bell and the cannon were surrounded by 
 trophies of the war of independence, muskets, swords, cannon, sponges, picks 
 and pikes; the entire group surmounted with a wreath of laurel and oak, 
 ending in a background of tropic trees, entwined with the colors of Mexico. 
 
 The car was drawn by six magnificent horses, mounted by postilions and 
 guarded by an escort of rurales; the grand procession following was com- 
 posed of the dignitaries of state, civic and military, the army and the people. 
 The lookers-on in Mexico were massed to the walls on the sidewalks, every 
 window and balcony was filled and so were the housetops, from whence came 
 showers of flowers and serpentines in green, white and red, and the vivas 
 drowned the music of the band, as the people cheered the grand old bell 
 on its progress to the home of the nation. 
 
 When the car arrived on the Plaza in front of the Palace, the bell was 
 removed and hoisted over the central gate, in the facade of the Palace, and 
 as it reached its final resting-place a thousand doves with tricolor bands about 
 their necks rose up from the archway, circled around and flew away to the 
 four quarters, carrying the glad news. 
 
 The President and his Cabinet watched the hoisting of the bell from a 
 pavilion, and when the work was completed it was formally received from the 
 commission that had brought it from Dolores Hidalgo. The patriotic speeches 
 of presentation and reception were received with wild applause and the cere- 
 mony was over till the evening. 
 
 All day long the crowds had not left the Plaza, only thinned out a little
 
 89 
 
 now and then, and when night came it was packed again until the hour of 
 eleven drew on and there was a solid mass of humanity within the walls of 
 the great square. 
 
 At 11:35 President Diaz came from the Hall of the Ambassadors to the 
 balcony where, till now, he had only pronounced the Grito, took the rope in 
 his hand, a silence fell on the multitude till the hands of the clock crawled to 
 forty minutes past, and he gave the bell four lusty strokes, and a mighty shout 
 went up and re-echoed to the surrounding hills; then rang all the bells in 
 every tower. A star of electric fire surrounded the bell and cascades of colored 
 fires poured down from the Cathedral towers and the Palace walls, bands 
 played and people shouted, and almost wept from patriotic joy — the inde- 
 scribable scene may not be written in the words of any language, great was the 
 boon of him who saw the dedication of Mexico's Liberty Bell. 
 
 The Casa de Moueda) the Mint, on the Calle Apartado, six squares 
 north of the cathedral, was one of three established by the Spanish Government 
 in 1535, the other two at Potosi, in Bolivia, and at Santa Fe, New Mexico. 
 At first there was only an assay office from which ingots and bars bearing the 
 official stamp were issued and were current as money. 
 
 The present building was completed in 1734 at a cost of something over 
 half a million dollars. The increasing output of gold and silver of Mexico 
 caused the establishment of mints in other cities, notably at Zacatecas, Guana- 
 juato, Guadalajara, but the mint of Mexico is the principal one, the coinage 
 having reached the enormous sums of over $100,000,000 gold and nearly 
 $3,000,000,000 in silver. The mints may be leased to private parties, as they 
 often are, but the coinage is always under the espionage of the government. 
 Coins of the Spanish king, of the Republic and of the Empire under Maxi- 
 milian have been issued from this mint, with machinery from France, England 
 and the United States. 
 
 Aduatia, the Custom House, occupies the Plaza and ancient church of 
 Santiago Tlaltelolco, in the northwest quarter of the city. 
 
 Camara de Diputados, the Chamber of Deputies, or House of Rep- 
 resentatives, is in the Yturbide Theater, four squares north of San Francisco 
 street from the corner of Vergara, the original hall in the National Palace 
 having been destroyed by fire in 1872. The theater has been remodeled and 
 adapted to legislative uses. 
 
 Arzobispado, or the Palace of the Archbishop, on the corner of Calle 
 Arzobispado and Seminario, was established in 1530 by the first Archbishop of 
 Mexico, Juan Zumarraga, and decreed by Charles V. in 1533 to be the home 
 of the Archbishops forever, but the Republic of Mexico decreed otherwise and 
 in 1861 declared it to be the property of the State, and is now occupied by 
 various governmental offices. 
 
 The Palace of Yturbide, so called from its occupancy by the 
 Emperor Yturbide I. during his brief reign, now occupied (since 1855) as a 
 hotel, on ist San Francisco street, was built by the Marquesa de San Mateo 
 Valparaiso during the eighteenth century on lands that formerly belonged to 
 the Convent of Santa Brigida. 
 
 The House of Tiles, on ist San Francisco street, is one of the 
 curiosities of the city. It was built by the Conde del Valle de Orizaba early 
 in the eighteenth century, now occupied by the Jockey Club. It is a mag- 
 nificent house, with its walls completely covered with tiles. There is a Spanish 
 proverb applied to a spendthrift, "He will never build a house of tiles," that 
 the building of this beautiful house would seem to completely controvert. 
 
 Near by, fronting on the Plazuela de Guardiola, is the splendid residence 
 of the family Escandon. The house of Bazaine, on the Puente de Alvarado,
 
 90 
 
 noticeable from its recessed front, was occupied during the reign of Maximilian 
 by his perfidious minister, the Marshal Bazaine. 
 
 On the Tacuba road, near the Garita de San Cosme, is the house of the 
 Masks, la casa de los niascaroncs, so called because of the stone masks 
 which adorn its walls. This curious house was designed and partly built by 
 the Conde del Valle de Orizaba, in the year 1771, who died after having spent 
 $100,000 on it, and left behind him this most unique architectural monument. 
 
 The City Hall, Palacio del Ayuiitittiietito, is on the southeastern side 
 of the Plaza Mayor, on a site set apart by Cortez for the municipal palace, 
 and has been since so occupied. The present house was finished in 1722. The 
 lower floor is occupied by the fine dry goods stores of the city, in front of 
 which are the finest portales in the city. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO STREET CITY OF MEXICO. 
 
 There are many notable houses in various parts of the city, whose walls 
 could tell tales of history and romance if they had ears to hear them in the 
 centuries gone by. Among them the house of the Condes de Santiago, just 
 beyond the Calle de Parque del Conde, so-called from the park that origi- 
 nally surrounded the magnificent house with its carved doors and miniature 
 cannon used as water-spouts. The patio is large and of exquisite propor- 
 tions. The lower part of the house is occupied by stores and shops. On 
 3rd Calle de San Augustin is the house occupied by Humboldt, the great 
 German traveler, in 1803. A tablet recording this fact was set in the walls 
 on the looth anniversary of his birth, September 14th, 1869.
 
 91 
 
 PLAZAS, PARKS, PASEOS AND PANTEONS. 
 
 Plaza Mayor, the main plaza, or to be explicit, the Plaza Mayor de la 
 
 Constitucion, is in the city's center, where stood the great teocali, the temple 
 of the Atzecs, and where stands the Cathedral, and facing it the National 
 Palace. When the Aztec temples were destroyed and the city being built, 
 an open space was left here that soon became a market place and tilled with 
 shops and booths. These were destroyed by fire, after the royal order of 
 January i8, 1611, creating the space a public plaza, only to be rebuilt and 
 subsequently destroyed in a riot in 1692, the fire destroying the building of 
 the Ayuntamiento, City Council, and injuring the palace, with a loss of valu- 
 able records, a portion only being saved through the efforts of Don Carlos 
 de Siguenza y Gongora, the custodian. 
 
 Afterward an elegant stone building, called the Parian, was erected by the 
 municipality, and was rented to merchants of a high class, who brought here 
 their wares, and it became the bazaar of fine trade, but the fruit sellers and 
 vegetable venders surrounded it with their huts again and remained for 
 many years. 
 
 The coming of the Conde de Revillagigedo, the viceroy, in 1789, marked 
 the beginning of the present plaza. The hucksters and peddlers were driven 
 off to the Volador market, the open ditches were covered into sewers, the 
 panteons removed or obliterated, and in 1830 the foundation was laid in the 
 plaza for the equestrian statue of Charles IV, that was afterward removed 
 and which now stands at the entrance of the Paseo de la Reforma. The 
 Parian was looted during the revolution of 1828. and later, in 1843, the build- 
 ing torn down and the site included in the plaza. 
 
 In the center of the plaza is the Garden of the Zocalo, which derives its name 
 from the zocalo, or foundation, for a monument that was never built, a monu- 
 ment to Alexican independence. From this the plaza is often called the Zo- 
 calo. A music stand is built on the foundation, and a military band plays 
 here evenings and Sundays for the middle and poorer classes. 
 
 On two sides of the Plaza ]\Iayor are the portales, an extension of the 
 buildings over the sidewalks that are supported by columns with arches be- 
 tween, under which are some of the finest stores in the city. On the east side 
 the National Palace extends almost its entire length; on the north the great 
 Cathedral, with its towers, flanked on one side by the flower market and 
 on the other by the Plaza del Seminario. which is only a part of the main 
 plaza. Here is a monument to Enrico Martinez, the noted engineer of his 
 day, who was responsible for the Nochistongo canal, for the drainage of 
 the city. Bronze figures, inlaid in a marble shaft, show standards of measure- 
 ment and the level of the lakes at different times. 
 
 From the Plaza Mayor street cars for all parts of the city and the sub- 
 urbs start, and the passenger remaining in the car will be brought here again 
 on the return trip; and here are fired the salutes, and the troops reviewed 
 on national days, the i6th of September, 5th of May, 2d of April and other 
 days of national celebration. 
 
 La Alameda is the park of the better classes, and is so called from 
 the fact that it was first planted with alamos, or poplars. Every city, town 
 and village has an alameda. but this is the alameda of Mexico. 
 
 In 1592 a petition was made to the city council to set apart certain ground 
 for a park of recreation, and the old Indian market, the Tianquis del San 
 Hipolito. located on a part of the present Alameda, was selected, and a little 
 later the Plaza del Quemadero, the place of the stone altar on which the
 
 92 
 
 victims of the Inquisition were burned, was added. The Quemadero was 
 removed by order of the Viceroy Marquis de Croix, and the Alameda at- 
 tained its present size and shape. By his order to remove the Quemadero 
 the Viceroy incurred the displeasure of the bigots of the church, and this 
 same Quemadero came near being his own funeral pyre. 
 
 The Viceroy Revillagigedo, famous for his energetic reforms and muni- 
 cipal improvements, inclosed the Alameda with a high board fence in 1791, 
 which was replaced in 1822 by the stone wall that had done duty on the 
 Plaza Mayor in inclosing the unfortunate statue of Charles IV. A trench 
 was outside the wall of the Alameda, but these were all obliterated in 1885. 
 The Alameda is the resort of the fashionables, and here they most do congre- 
 gate Sundays and feast days to enjoy the music of the military bands. The 
 beautiful trees, the flowers and the fountains make the Alameda a most 
 beautiful park. 
 
 The Paseo de la Reforma extends from the city to Chapultepec, 
 commencing at the glorieta of the statue of Charles IV, running in a direct 
 line to the gates of the park at the foot 
 of the Hill of the Grasshopper. It is a 
 broad, smooth, and very beautiful boule- 
 vard, shaded by splendid trees, as are the 
 wide walk-ways on each side; along the 
 curb and between the promenades, at cer- 
 tain intervals, are erected statues to the 
 illustrious men of Mexico, presented by 
 the various States of the Republic; mas- 
 sive stone seats are along the promenade 
 under the trees. The Paseo widens into 
 circles, here and there, called glorictas, 
 in the center of which are splendid 
 statues, one of Columbus and one 
 of Cuautemoc, the Aztec warrior, 
 nephew and successor of Monte- 
 zuma, Other statues are to be 
 erected in all the six glorietas. In 
 the glorieta at the entrance of 
 Paseo is the statue of Charles 
 of Spain. The Aztec stat- 
 ues shown here have been 
 removed to the Paseo de 
 La Viga. The Paseo 
 was established during 
 the empire of Maximilian, and became at once the fashionable drive of the 
 Mexican capital, and a more beautiful one does not exist in Europe or Amer- 
 ica. Here in the late afternoon of every day, greatly increased in brilliancy 
 on Sundays and feast days, is a mag:nificent display of carriages and equipages 
 of every style, and a more splendid review does not exist anywhere. The 
 fine array passes up one side and down the other, a cordon of cavalrymen 
 in the center keeping the procession in line, and adding to the brilliancy of 
 the scene. There are other paseos in the city, but the Paseo de la Reforma 
 is the paseo. 
 
 Paseo de Bucareli is sometimes called Paseo Nuevo, the new paseo, 
 although it was opened in 1778, and is now little used as a paseo. This paseo 
 was named for the Viceroy Bucareli, during whose reign it was established, 
 and starts from the statue of Charles IV. In one of the glorietas is 
 
 the 
 IV
 
 93 
 
 a fountain and a statue of Victory, erected in 1829 in honor of President 
 Guerrero. 
 
 Paseo de la Viga runs along the bank of the famous canal of that 
 name, and is a very attractive drive, especially during the fiestas of the In- 
 dians, and still more especially on Holy Thursday and on the day of the 
 Feast of the Flowers, 'ihe drive is to be taken for the novelty rather than 
 the good road. About midway of the paseo is a bust of Cuautimotzin, the 
 last of his line, and the last of the Aztec kings. 
 
 Calzadas, or causeways, connected the city of Tenochtitlan with the 
 mainland. They were narrow roadways built by the Aztecs and improved 
 by the Spaniards, and in later days became streets, as the waters were filled 
 and houses built on the made land. 
 
 The causeway of Tlacopan is now the Tacuba road. It was the shortest 
 to the mainland, and was improved from a narrow^ foot-path to a wide road- 
 way as a means of retreat, as they found necessary, on the night of the ist 
 of July, 1521, the Noche Triste, and the tree under which Cortez sat down 
 and wept over his defeat on that dismal night is preserved to a healthy old 
 age. Part of this causeway is called the Puente de Alvarado, from the leap 
 of the Spanish captain over one of the cuts made by the Aztecs on that fate- 
 ful night. The spot is marked by a tablet in the wall of the churchyard of 
 San Hipolito. This causeway leads west from the city. 
 
 The second of the three causeways from the city to the mainland leads 
 southward toward San Antonio Abad, wnth branches to Coyoacan and Ixta- 
 palapan. Over the latter came Cortez on his first entry into the city of 
 Tenochtitlan, and met Montezuma in the suburb of Huitzillan, near the cor- 
 ner of the Calle del Paja and Jesus and the Hospital de Jesus. This causeway 
 was an important thoroughfare in the Aztec times, and was widened by the 
 Spaniards in 1605. 
 
 There were two causeways leading northward to the mainland between 
 the city and the hill of Guadalupe, called in the old days Tepeyac, and later 
 Tepeyacac, commencing in the city near Santiago Tlaltelolco. The eastern 
 of the two causeways was almost destroyed by the inundation of 1604, but 
 afterward repaired by Fray Juan de Torquemada. The other causeway is of 
 more recent date, having been built in 1675-76. Formerly it w^as ornamented 
 with glorietas like those on the Paseo, and had fifteen beautifully sculptured 
 shrines erected at regular intervals, where pilgrims to Guadalupe stopped to 
 pray. Some of the shrines are still standing, but alas, to what base uses have 
 we come — this causew-ay is used for the roadw^ay of the Vera Cruz Railway, 
 and the other is the route of street cars to Guadalupe. 
 
 Aqueducts for the city's w^ater supply were commenced to be built 
 mure than two centuries ago, but their usefulness has passed and they have 
 given way to the more prosaic iron pipes, and the ancient waterways have 
 been torn down and the material used for street repairs. There were two 
 aqueducts bringing water to the southern part of the city, one from a spring 
 near the Desierto, about twenty miles distant. This aqueduct formerly came 
 to the center of the city, passing by the west side of the Alameda, where it 
 served as a position of advantage for those wishing to see the burning of 
 the victims of the Inquisition. It now ends in San Cosme. Formerly there 
 were nearly a thousand arches of stone and brick, but the w^hole work cost 
 less than $200,000. The building covered a period from 1603 to 1620. 
 
 The other aqueduct brought the water from the spring in the park at 
 Chapultepec, ending in the beautiful fountain called El Salto del Agua, which 
 is still preserved, and the remaining arches may be seen from the street 
 cars of the Tacubaya line. At certain intervals are some beautiful shrines
 
 94 
 
 artistically sculptured. An inscription on the fountain of El Salto del Agua 
 says that this aqueduct was completed March 20, 1779, during the viceroyalty 
 of Bucareli, and that it is built on the line of an ancient aqueduct of the 
 Aztecs, built in the time of the Emperor Chimalpopoca, who obtained the 
 right to take the water of Chapultepec from the king of Atzcapatzalco. to 
 whom the Aztecs owed allegiance until their independence, in the time of 
 Itzcohuatl. in 1422 to 1433. 
 
 The more modern iron pipe brings water from the springs near Guadalupe 
 to the northern portion of the city. The aguador still does business, carrying 
 water from the fountains to residences. The water coming from the springs 
 is exceptionally pure, as it comes from the hills, and there is no contamina- 
 tion by contact with sewerage. 
 
 SHRINE IN THE OLD AQUEDUCT. 
 
 Monuments and Statues— The statue of Charles IV of Spain is the 
 most notable of the many in the city, is of heroic dimensions, being the 
 largest single piece of bronze in the world. It is located at the entrance of 
 the Paseo de la Reforma, but was originally in the Plaza Mayor, opposite 
 the National Palace, where before the casting, a wooden model of the statue, 
 gilded, was placed on the pedestal pending the molding of the bronze work. 
 A royal order by the king of Spain was made November 30, 1795, permit- 
 ting the building of the statue. The cast was made August 4, 1802. at six 
 o'clock in the morning, after two days had been spent in melting the bronze, 
 under the direction of Don Salvador de la Vega, from the model of Don 
 Manuel Tolsa, the w^ork being done under the administration of the Viceroy 
 Branciforte, paid for by the city and private contributions. The statue was 
 not completed until 1803, when it was unveiled with great ceremony on the 
 pth of December of that year.
 
 95 
 
 The statue remained in the Plaza Mayor until 1822, when the feeling against 
 the Spaniards became so bitter that its destruction was threatened, and a 
 great wooden globe was constructed about it and painted blue to protect 
 It from patriotic missiles thrown by the now independent Mexicans. But 
 the blue globe was not thought to be a complete safeguard, and the statue 
 
 was removed to the patio of the uni- 
 versity, where it remained until 1852, 
 when the animosity against Spain had 
 in a measure subsided, and the great 
 bronze horse and his royal rider was 
 placed in its present position. The 
 height of horse and rider is fifteen 
 feet nine inches, and weighs 60,000 
 pounds. 
 
 The Statue of Columbus, in a glo- 
 rieta of the Paseo de la Reforma, was 
 the fir?t to be erected to his memory 
 on the continent he discovered, a 
 beautiful work of Cordier's, placed 
 here through the generosity of Don 
 Antonio Escandon. The base is of 
 basaltic stone, supporting an iron 
 balustrade, with lamps at each cor- 
 ner ; resting on this is a massive block 
 of red marble ; is ornamented on its 
 four sides in exquisite sculpture ; the 
 arms of Columbus in garlands of lau- 
 rel ; the rebuilding of the monastery 
 of La Rabida ; the discovery of the 
 island of San Salvador ; a fragment 
 of a letter of Columbus to Sauris, and 
 the dedication by Senor Escandon. 
 Above this are life-sized figures in 
 bronze of Pedro de Gante, Diego De- 
 hesa. confessor to Ferdinand of 
 Spain, Las Casas and Marchena of 
 Santa Alaria de la Rabida. Sur- 
 mounting the whole is the statue of 
 Columbus drawing the veil that hides 
 the new world. 
 
 Guatimotzin, or Cuauhtemoc, the 
 nephew of IMontezuma, and last of 
 his line, the last Aztec king, has a 
 monument in the next glorieta be- 
 l;;ond that of Columbus, greatly ven- 
 'erated by the Lidians, who hold fes- 
 tivals in his honor on the great dates 
 a very beautiful one of bronze, the work of 
 the four sides of tne base are wrought in 
 
 STATUE OF CUAUHTEMOC. 
 
 of his life. The monument is 
 
 Don Francisco Jimenez. On 
 
 bronze scenes from the life of the great warrior and his torture by Cortez. 
 
 in placing his feet in fire to compel the divulgence of the hiding place of 
 
 the Aztec treasure. A bust of Cuauhtemoc is in the Paseo de la Viga, erected
 
 06 
 
 August 13, 1869, the anniversary of his capture by Cortez and final conquest 
 of the empire. 
 
 Near the entrance of Paseo de la Reforma is the statue in heroic size of 
 Charles IV. of Spain, and at regular intervals on each side of the grand 
 boulevard are statues of the men illustrious in Mexican history. 
 
 The Juarez monument, in the Panteon de San Fernando, the work of the 
 Islas brothers, is one of the most beautiful pieces of sculpture in the work!. 
 Within a Grecian temple, supported by marble columns, lies the dead presi- 
 dent, his head supported by a female, figurative of Mexico, the whole in white 
 marble. 
 
 Morelos, the soldier priest, has a monument that was unveiled by Maxi- 
 milian on September 30, 1865, the hundredth anniversary of the hero's birth. 
 It is in the Plazuela de IMorelos, between the churches of San Juan de Dios 
 and Santa Vera Cruz, and in the Plaza of San Fernando is a bronze statue 
 of Guerrero, by Norena. 
 
 In the Plaza de Santo Domingo is a monument to the memory of Sefiora 
 Doha Josefa Dominguez, the heroine of Mexican Independence, at whose hou^-e 
 in Queretaro the first meetings of the patriots were held. 
 
 CATHEDRAL AND CHURCHES. 
 
 "It was a marvelous time of original and beautiful work that covered 
 Mexico with churches, and set up in all the remote and almost inaccessible 
 villages towers and domes that match the best work in Italy, and recall the 
 triumphs of Moorish art," writes that ardent student of Mexico, Mr. Charles 
 Dudley Warner. "The beauty and originality is wholly in the exterior. While 
 nearly all the towers, domes, facades, and outside walls are original in form 
 and color and decorations and have a special charm, the interiors are strik- 
 ingly alike and generally commonplace. This uniformity is the more remarka- 
 ble in a people that build their interior domestic courts and decorate them 
 with so much variety. It should be said, however, that some of the interiors 
 of the churches were very rich in silver and gold decorations prior to the 
 sequestration of church property." 
 
 "Except in the general form of these churches, there is nowhere any repe- 
 tition of design. The artists seemed to have had free play to express their 
 love of beauty in towers, domes and fagades. Nothing is commonplace; noth- 
 ing is vulgar. Towers and domes, anyone of which I should like to see in 
 the United States, are common in the republic ; but it seemed to me that in 
 this part of Mexico they expressed a feeling not common elsewhere — not 
 Italian (which one encounters in so many lovely cloisters and towers), nor 
 yet exactly Spanish, but rather, I should say, Saracenic. At least this was 
 the impression strongly made upon me. The domes always reminded me 
 of the tombs of sheiks, of the califs, and so on, as one sees them in all 
 Moslem lands, and the slender towers recalled the graceful minarets. These 
 two forms in combination, so constant and so varied, stiggcsted always the 
 Saracenic spirit in the artist. It may be only a fancy, but it is not unrea- 
 sonable to believe that the Spanish architect who designed them was strongly 
 influenced in his work by the Saracenic forms with which he was so familiar 
 three centuries ago. There is another fancy about the facades of many of 
 the best old Mexican churches which I may have mentioned before. It is a 
 peculiarity which one sees in many village churches, and even in the City of 
 Mexico, and in such suburban towns as Coyoacan and Tacubaya. While the 
 churches were evidently designed by Spanish architects, the workers who 
 executed the fagades were evidently Indians ; and in the strange stone-work
 
 97
 
 98 
 
 designs, unlike any other architectural decoration that I know, and very diffi- 
 cult for us to interpret or enter into the spirit of — we have the Indian tradi- 
 tions of a prehistoric art and ornamentation. Much of this work, untrans- 
 latable into our terms, has more in common with the carving on the pre- 
 historic temples than with that on any Christian edifices. The subject is one, 
 however, that a layman is incompetent to deal wuth. It is much to be de- 
 sired that trained artists should study and describe the old churches of Mex- 
 ico. Many of them, like the noble edifice of Churubusco, with its interior 
 wealth of old Spanish tiles, are already going to ruin. 
 
 "The fascination in pursuing the study of the tow-ers and domes is that 
 there are no two alike. There was no slavish copying from book designs. 
 The style is the same, but each architect followed his own genius in con- 
 structing an object of beauty. The edifices are not aiw^ays simple; the roof 
 masses are bold and grand, often ; and there is an effect of solidity, of gran- 
 deur, with all the airy grace of form, and the satisfaction of the eye with 
 color. There is a touch of decay nearly everywhere, a crumbling and a de- 
 facement of colors, which add somewhat of pathos to the old structures ; but 
 in nearly every one there is some unexpected fancy — a belfry oddly placed, 
 a figure that surprises with its quaintness or its position, or a rich bit of 
 deep stone carving, and in the humblest and plainest fagade there is a note 
 of individual yielding to a whim of expression that is very fascinating. The 
 architects escaped from the commonplace and the conventional ; they under- 
 stood proportion without regularity, and the result is not, perhaps, explain- 
 able to those who are only accustomed to our church architecture. But most 
 of ours, good as it occasionally may be, is uninteresting ; whereas you love 
 this, in all its shabbiness of age, and do not care to give a reason why." 
 
 The Cathedral — On the very foundations of the greatest pagan temple of 
 the continent is erected the most ambitious house of the Christian Church in 
 the western world — the Cathedral. The Holy Metropolitan Church of Mexico 
 is built on the site of the great teocali of the Aztecs. 
 
 The bishopric of Alexico was established in 1527 by Pope Clement VII, 
 and on the 12th of December of that year Fray Juan de Zumarraga, at the 
 instance of Charles V of Spain, was made Bishop, but it was not until a year 
 later that he arrived in the City of Mexico, and on the 2d of September, 1530, 
 was confirmed as bishop-elect and protector of the Indians. 
 
 The archbishopric of Mexico was created by Pope Paul II on the 31st of 
 January, 1545, with Bishop Zumarraga as archbishop. 
 
 When the Aztec temples that were in the center of the City of Tenoch- 
 titlan were destroyed by the Spaniards in 1521, the space was set apart for 
 the building of a Christian church, as before the walls of the teocali v.ere 
 razed to the ground the sign of the cross and the image of the Virgin was 
 shown above the pagan altars, and at the throwing down of the heathen 
 gods and idols, as a consecration of the ground, and when the ruins had 
 been cleared away, the first church in the City of Mexico, the little church 
 of the Asuncion de Maria Santisima, was built where the temple stood. 
 
 This church, finished about three years after the conquest, was replaced 
 soon after by the first cathedral, and was preserved until the larger one 
 could be built. It stood in the open court in front of the present cathedral, 
 the first stone of which was laid just be3^ond the north wall in 1573. 
 
 The corner-stone of the present cathedral was laid in 1573; the founda- 
 tions were completed in 1615, and the walls were well under way; the roof 
 over the sacristy was finished in 1623, the first service held in 1626. The 
 great inundation of 1629-35 greatly hindered the work, so that the dedica- 
 tion did not take place till 1656, February 2, and even then the building was
 
 99 
 
 still incomplete, and it was not until eleven years later, on the 2d of Feb- 
 ruary, 1667, that the final dedication occurred. 
 
 The towers were completed in 1791, and the bells placed in position in 
 1792. The cost of the towers was nearly $200,000, and the great bell called 
 Santa Maria de Guadalupe, twenty feet from the top fastenings to the tongue, 
 cost $10,000. The larger bell, in the other tower, called Dona Maria, cost 
 nearly as much. The estimated cost of the Cathedral, from the laying of 
 the corner-stone to the hanging of the bells, is put at $2.000,000 — but that 
 does not represent a tithe of the actual cost if the labor had a fair value put 
 upon it, and the material had been bought at market prices. From north to south 
 the building is over 400 feet in length, the interior measuring 387 feet. From 
 west to east the interior width is 177 feet, the height from roof to the tiles 
 of the floor is 179 feet. The towers are 203 feet 6 inches high. The material 
 of the walls and towers is stone, the roof is in arches of brick and cement. 
 The front is to the south, the facade richly carved and with _ 
 friezes, statues, etc., in white marble between the two great / 
 towers, with their bell-shaped caps and crosses in stone, make 
 it one of the handsomest in the world. On the cornices are 
 statues of saints and great men of the church and religion -^ 
 orders. In the center of the fagade is the clock, and below ii I 
 the arms of the republic. Surmounting the whole is the mag- 
 nificent dome and lantern of graceful proportions, by the 
 architect Tolsa. The entire cathedral was from the architec- j 
 tural plans of Alonzo Perez Castaneda. The immensity of 
 the great church is apparent immediately upon the entrance. 
 It is Gothic and Doric, with a cold simplicity. Twenty mas- 
 sive fluted columns of stone separate the nave from the aisles 
 and support the vaulted roof, that under the lofty dome is 
 shaped in the form of a Latin cross. The dome is handsomely 
 painted in pictures of sacred history, among which is the 
 Assumption of the Virgin. There are fourteen chapels in the 
 cathedral, seven in each aisle, dedicated to the various saints, 
 each decorated in its own particular style with pictures of 
 scenes from the lives of the respective saints. These chapels 
 were formerly inclosed with handsomely carved wood railings. 
 Now they are behind iron gratings, where there are constantly 
 burning candles and tapers in front of the images of the 
 saints. The most noted of the chapels is that of San Felipe 
 de Jesus, where are preserved some relics of this saint, and 
 in front of which is the font in which he was baptized» In 
 this chapel rest the remains of the first emperor of Mexico, 
 Agustin Yturbide, beneath a monument erected to the honored 
 memory of "The Liberator." 
 
 Another chapel is that of Las Rellquias, containing pictures k~ 
 by Flerrera of the holy martyrs. In another, that of San §[ 
 Pedro, lies buried the first bishop and archbishop of Mexico, 
 Juan de Zumarraga, and also the remains of Gregorio Lopez, 
 the Mexican ]\Ian with an Iron Mask, supposed to have been 
 a son of Philip the Second of Spain. 
 
 The choir is enclosed within a high railing of richly carved 
 woods, and in the center of this enclosed space is a large 
 octagonal stand of highly polished dark wood for the music
 
 100 
 
 books, that have their notes so large that they can be read from the seats 
 around the raihng. Two immense organs, also in carved wood, rise almost 
 to the arches of the roof. From the choir, leading up the nave, is a passage- 
 way to an altar, inclosed between railings of tumbago, a metal composed of 
 gold, silver and copper. In the rear of the choir is the Altar of Pardon (del 
 Perdon). where at any time may be seen the devotees kneeling in crowds 
 about the base of the altar. Here are two fine paintings, one by the great 
 woman artist. La Sumaya. a San Sabastian. and a Candalaria, by Echave. 
 
 The main altar, erected in 1850, was designed by Lorenzo Hidalgo, and 
 cost a fortune in its ornamentations, gilding and carving. The fine altar of 
 the Kings (de los Reyes) is the most imposing in the building, of magnificent 
 proportions. Its top reaches to the arches of the roof. The altar was by 
 the artist who made the Altar de Los Reyes in the Cathedral of Seville in 
 Spain. The rich carvings and gildings are the especial admiration of the 
 Indians. A noted JMexican artist, Don Juan Rodriguez Juarez, greatly added 
 to the beauty of the altar by his images and pictures, among which are the 
 Assumption and the Epiphany. Beneath the altar of the Kings are buried 
 the heads of the patriots Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama and Jimenez, brought from 
 Guanajuato in great state and nomp after independence was secured. 
 
 In the sacristy are some magnificent pictures that completely cover its 
 walls: The Entry into Jerusalem, the Catholic Church and the Assumption, 
 by Juan Correa; the Triumph of the Sacrament, Immaculate Conception, and 
 the Glory of St. Michael, by Villalpando. In the Meeting Room is a Last 
 Supper and Triumph of Faith by Alcibar, and a collection of portraits of 
 all the Archbishops of Alexico by various artists. In the Chapter Room 
 is a fine Murillo, the Virgin of Bethlehem, a Virgin by Cortona, and another 
 by an unknown artist representing John of Austria imploring the Virgin at 
 the battle of Lcpanto. 
 
 The Sagrario Metropolitaiio adjoins the cathedral on the east side, and 
 is really a part of tlie main structure and opens into it. It is built on the 
 site of the first parish church of Mexico, the church of San Jose de los Na- 
 turales, mentioned elsewhere, being the first parish church of the Indians. 
 The Sagrario was founded in 1521 and dedicated to Santiago, the patron 
 saint of Spain. The first chapel was built by Juan Rodriguez de Villafuerte 
 for an asylum for Nuestra Senora de los Remedios. The present church was 
 built about the middle of the eighteenth century from plans by the architect 
 Lorenzo Rodriguez. The foundation was laid January 7, 17491 dedication, 
 January 9. 1768. The very intricate carvings of the fagade are in striking 
 contrast with the great front of the cathedral adjoining it. 
 
 The interior is shaped as a Greek cross; richly carved columns support 
 the high vaulted roof. There is a fine main altar and twelve minor ones. 
 The church has not escaped the repairer's work, but there is much of the 
 antique elegance that renders it intensely interesting. There are some fine 
 pictures; in the baptistry is a fine fresco by Jose Gines de Aguirre, the first 
 professor of fine arts sent from Spain and placed in charge of the Academy 
 of Fine Arts. The fresco represents the baptism of Jesus, Constantin, San 
 Agustin and San Felipe de Jesus. There is also a fine St. John in the Desert 
 after Murillo. 
 
 The little chapel between the cathedral and the Sagrario was built in 
 1750 and called San Antonio, from an image placed there. Afterward a 
 pious woman placed there an image of Nuestra Sefiora de la Soledad, since 
 when it has been known as La Capilla de la Soledad. 
 
 Completing the group of churches and chapels about the cathedral is the 
 Capilla de las Animas, adjoining the cathedral in the rear, and really a part
 
 101 
 
 of it, facing on the street de las Escalerillas. This chapel was originally 
 tenanted by a brotherhood whose duties required them to pray for the re- 
 lease of souls from purgatory. The good padre Don Cayetano Gil de la 
 Concha died October 7, at the age of eighty-seven, with an unbroken record 
 of having said mass 45,324 times. The chapel was destroyed by fire March 
 3. 1748, but rebuilt soon after. One of the altars supports an image of Santa 
 Rita de Casia that is greatly venerated by the Indians. 
 
 In all this great cathedral and its adjunct churches and chapels are con- 
 centrated the pomp and circumstance of the church of Rome, that for cen- 
 turies was the power of the land, and within the walls was made much of 
 the country's history. 
 
 A PENANCE. 
 
 Santa Ana, on the street of the same name a dozen squares directly 
 north of the Cathedral, was founded by the Franciscans. The church was 
 dedicated March i6th, 1754, and became an independent parish in 1770. The 
 font in which was baptized the Indian Juan Diego, to whom the vision of 
 the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared, was preserved for many years in this 
 church. 
 
 San Atitoiiio Abad, established in 1628, is on the street of that name 
 in southern part of the city; only a chapel of the original church, convent 
 and hospital now remains. 
 
 La Balvanera, originally a convent and church, was founded in 1573. 
 The corner-stone of the present church was laid IMay 3d, 1667, and dedicated 
 December 6th, 1671, is located at the corner of the streets of Balvanera and 
 Olmedo, about three squares from the Plaza Mayor, south two and east one. 
 The church was built by a wealthy lady, Dofia Beatriz de Miranda, but the 
 name of the donor was not known until after her death and that of her at- 
 torney, Don Jose de Lombieda, who superintended the building.
 
 102 
 
 Beleu de los Padres — Seven squares south from the Alameda on 
 the Calle de los Arcos de Belen. In the early history of the city an In- 
 dian woman named Clara Maria owned some real estate near what is now 
 known as the street of El Salto de Aguas. and being piously inclined, gave 
 some land and built a monastery for the Brothers of Mercy, which she main- 
 tained until she married and allowed a bad husband to squander her for- 
 tune in riotous living, and was herself left in poverty, to be taken care of by 
 the Brothers. Another Indian, Aiarcos, gave some lands and his service for 
 life; then another woman, Doha Ysabel de Picazo, gave of her money sufft- 
 cient to build a church, which was dedicated in 1678, but the present church 
 was not completed till 1735, through the beneficence of Don Domingo del 
 Campo y Murga. The church has some line paintings, and connected with it 
 is the Colegio de San Pedro Pascual. 
 
 San Bernardo, one square south of the Plaza j\Iayor, through the little 
 street of Callejuela, was intended for a convent and was built from 
 'money bequeathed by Don Juan IMarquez de Orozco, whose desire was for 
 it to be occupied by the Cistercian Sisters, but none of that order being in 
 the country three sisters of the donor opened the nunnery and lived there, 
 and their successors until the suppression of convents. The first church was 
 built by Don Jose Retes Largache, 1685-90. 
 
 Santa Brigida, on the corner of 2d Independencia and San Juan de 
 Letran, one square south of San Francisco street, near the Alameda, is the 
 fashionable church of the city. The order of St. Bridget was introduced into 
 Mexico through the gifts of Don Jose Francisco de 'Aguirre and his wife. 
 Doha Gertrudis Roldan, in 1743, and by these pious persons the church was 
 built in 1744 and dedicated on the 21st of December of that year. When the 
 nuns were banished from the country and their property confiscated this 
 church was bought in by a wealthy family, who gave it for church uses. There 
 is nothing of the antique about Santa Brigida; it is the fashionable church of 
 the capital and is kept in repair and up-to-date in its appointments. 
 
 San Cattiilo, five squares south and one east of the Plaza Mayor, on 
 the Calle de la Encarnacion, is now occupied by the Catholic Theological Semi- 
 nary and the name changed to Seminario Conciliar. The church is a very 
 pretty one indeed, with its tasteful decorations in wdiite and gold. The Or- 
 der of Carmilists, whose was the care of the sick and consolation of the 
 dying, was established in Mexico in 1755 through Father Diego Martin de 
 Moya. 
 
 La Caridad — This church, on the Calzada de Santa M^ria, near the 
 Plazuela de Villamil, three squares north of the Alameda, is all that remains 
 of the Convent and College of the Sisters of Charity, established at a cost 
 of nearly $200,000 by Padre Bolea Sanchez de Tagle, who wished to found 
 an institution for the protection of Indian girls w^hose beauty might ex- 
 pose them to the temptations and snares of the world, but the hopes of the 
 good Padre were never realized, as the building was not completed before 
 his death. The convent has always been called the Colegio de las Bonitas, 
 College of the Pretty Girls, and was used by the Sisters of Charity, whose 
 order was founded in Mexico by Doha ]\Iaria Ana Gomez de la Cortina, who 
 paid the passage of twelve of the Sisters from Spain, who arrived in Mexico 
 November 15th, 1844, when the good woman herself donned the habit and 
 joined the order. She died and was buried in 1846 in the patio of the con- 
 vent, where her tomb now is, and by her will the church of La Caridad was 
 built, at a cost of nearly $150,000, dedicated May 8th, 1854, General Santa 
 Ana acting as sponsor, or padrino. For their good works the Sisters of 
 Charity were for a time exempted from expulsion by the Laws of the Re-
 
 103 
 
 form, but when the Laws became a part of Constitution in 1874 the order 
 was suppressed, and the Sisters left Mexico in February, 1875, bemg the last 
 of the religious orders to leave the country. 
 
 El Carmeti — The Carmelites arrived in Mexico in October, 1585, and 
 after many trials and tribulations established a monastery and church of their 
 own, in 1605 — which was pulled down and the foundations laid tor a magnifi- 
 cent church that was never completed. The chapel was finished, however, 
 and is still in use on the Plaza de la Concordia, seven squares north and one 
 east of the Cathedral. 
 
 Santa Cataliua de Sena was built by two pious ladies named 
 
 Felipas and placed in possession of two nuns of the Dominican order, who 
 
 came from a convent in Oaxaca. The corner-stone was laid 
 
 in 1615, and the church dedicated March 7th, 1623. The 
 
 CHURCH STATUARY— SANTA ROSA. 
 
 convent was closed by the Laws of the Reform, but the church, on Calle 
 Cerbatana. four squares north of the Cathedral, remains. 
 
 Santa Catarina Martir is a very old church. The present church, 
 on the corner of the street of that name and Calle del Cuadrante. seven squares 
 north of the Cathedral, was built on the site of the first building and dedi- 
 cated in 1662; the decorations are quaintly done and has some altars totally 
 unlike any others. The good Dofia Ysabel de la Barrera. wife of Don Simon 
 de Haro, was the benefactress who gave the money to build the church. 
 
 Santa Clara, on the corner of Vergara and Santa Clara, two squares 
 north from San Francisco street, stands in evidence of the base uses to which 
 some of the churches of ^Mexico have come under the Laws of the Reform. 
 The convent is now a livery stable and one of the chapels is a shop. His- 
 tory says that Francisca de San Agustin and her five daughters took the 
 VOWS of the order of Santa Clara and that Don Alonzo Sanchez and his
 
 104 
 
 wife gave then a house on the site of the present church, and they estab- 
 lished a convent here in December, 1579 — and a church was founded that 
 was dedicated October 22d, 1661. Burned in 1755, the church was restored 
 at once and remains to this day, though denuded of its fine altar and other 
 decorations that were the work of Pedro Ramirez. The convent was closed 
 February 13th. 1861. _ 
 
 Colegio de las Niuas was founded by the famous Fray Pedro de 
 Gante in 1548 as free schools for girls, and from the benevolence of its in- 
 stitutions soon acquired great wealth, which was confiscated under the Re- 
 form Laws, but the church on the street of same name, one square south 
 of San Francisco street, still remains. 
 
 Nuestra Setiora de la Concepcioii was the first convent of Mexico, 
 and was established by Fray Antonio de la Cruz, a monk of the order 
 of San Francisco, who brought here three nuns from the convent of 
 Santa Ysabel de Salamanca, in Spain. The first building was demolished in 
 1644 and the present church and convent built at a cost of nearly $300,000 
 through the generosity of Don To mas Suaznaba and the donors of the church 
 of Santa Catarina Alartir, and at one time was one of the wealthiest in j\Iex- 
 ico, owning nearly $2,cco,ggo worth of property, and the convent a mosi 
 fashionable one, if we may say a convent is fashionable. The first families 
 were represented in the nuns of the Convent of Our Lady of the Conception. 
 Originally the church was magnificently decorated, and some of the former 
 splendor has survived the modern repairer; over the main altar is an image 
 of La Purisima Concepcion, the origin of which is unknown. A legend says 
 that at one time there was back of the organ a dropping of water from the 
 roof, the source of which was never discovered, but one of the nuns read 
 the interpretation in a vision that appeared to her. viz., that the drops of 
 water marked ofif the years of the convent's existence, and that when the 
 water ceased to drop it would come to an end — but the story does not add 
 that the falling water ceased when the Laws of the Reform were put in 
 force, but there was the end of the convent. Since then the streets of Pro- 
 greso and Cincuenta-siete have been opened through the grounds, and the 
 buildings used for schools and dwellings. The very high tower is on the 
 Plaza de la Concepcion, at the corner of the Callejon de Dolores, four squares 
 north of San Francisco street. 
 
 Corpus Cristi was established as a convent for the reception of In- 
 dian girls only, and they to be of noble families, which was the decree of 
 Pope Benedict XIH, dated June 26th, 1727, at the solicitation of Don Bal- 
 tazar de Zuniga, Marques de Valera, Viceroy at that time, and at whose ex- 
 pense of $50,000 the first convent and church was built. The corner stone 
 was laid September 12th, 1720, and the church dedicated July loth, 1724. Some 
 nuns from the other convents of the city took possession and prepared to receive 
 the Indian novices, establishing the custom that when they took the veil they 
 should always be dressed in the most elaborate costumes of the Indians, but 
 this passed away at the closing of the convent. The church near the Calle 
 de la Concepcion, opposite the Alameda on the south side, remains open. 
 
 San Cositie is one of the oldest churches in the city, established by 
 Fray Juan de Zumarraga, first Archbishop of Mexico, about the year 1538, 
 as a hospital for Indians, and dedicated the chapel to Cosmo and Damian, 
 the holy Arabian doctors. The enterprise not succeeding, the establishment 
 fell into the hands of the Franciscans, who built a monastery and church in 
 1600. The present church was built soon after. Don Agustin Guerrero be- 
 ing the donor of the ground and paying for the foundations, but for many 
 years remained incomplete, till one day Captain Don Domingo de Canta-
 
 105 
 
 A CHURCH DOORWAY. 
 
 brana was overtaken on the 
 Tacuba road by a violent 
 thunder storm and sought 
 sheher in the monastery. 
 He was so kindly treated 
 by the monks that he gave 
 them $75,000 with which to 
 complete the monastery and 
 church. The corner-stone 
 was laid in 1672, August 
 29th, and the church dedi- 
 cated three years later, 
 January 13th, to Nuestra 
 Sehora de la Consolacion, 
 but the old name of San 
 Cosme remains. The mod- 
 est Captain Don Domingo 
 declined the honor of being 
 the patron, asking them to 
 accept San Jose in his stead 
 — in memory of which a 
 painting was placed in the 
 church representing the 
 transfer of the title of 
 patron from the good Cap- 
 tain to San Jose. The pic- 
 ture is a curious one, show- 
 ing San Pedro among the 
 angels hovering over a co- 
 terie of monks, with Don 
 Domingo and a notary in 
 the act of attesting the 
 papers. An inscription tells 
 the story. The painting is 
 by Don Jose de Alcibar. 
 There is an image of San 
 Antonio that the legend 
 says restored a little chil 1 
 to life, and an image of Our 
 Lady of Consolacion which 
 rescued a little girl from 
 drowning in a well. Near 
 the picture is the tomb of 
 Viceroy Don J u an d e 
 Acuha, Marques de Casa- 
 fuerte, who died March 17, 
 1734. The monastery be- 
 came a military hospital in 
 1855, "^^'ith Sehora Doha Do- 
 lores Tosta de Santa Ana, 
 wife of General and Presi- 
 dent Santa Ana, as god- 
 mother, but was finally
 
 106 
 
 abandoned in 1862. It was in the tower of this church that Lieutenant U. 
 S. Grant placed a howitzer and used it with such advantage in the battle of 
 the 13th of September, 1847; the church is on the street of San Cosme, about 
 a mile west of the Alameda. 
 
 Santa Cruz Acatlan, on the Plazuela de Santiago, is one of the oldest 
 of the Indian churches, with the usual convent attachment. The convent was 
 closed when the nuns were expelled, but the church, with its historic pictures, 
 remains open. 
 
 Santa Cruz y Soledad was founded as an Indian mission in 1534. 
 The present church was tinished and dedicated October 21st, 1731. The al- 
 tars and chapel decorations are by celebrated Mexican artists. There is an 
 image of Nuestra Senora del Refugio in the church that was formerly fastened 
 to a wall in the Calle del Refugio, which street took its name from the image 
 whose fiesta is annually celebrated here on the 4th of June. The church is in 
 the eastern part of the city, near the Garita de San Lazaro. 
 
 San Diego is on the street of the same name, just west of the Alameda. 
 The original foundation was by the Franciscans, who commenced to build in 
 1591, but the church was not completed till 1621. The present church com- 
 prises the walls of the old one. The church is handsomely decorated and has 
 some line pictures by the noted artist Vallejo, among which are the "Prayer 
 in the Garden," "The Last Supper" and other subjects in the life of the 
 Savior, and on each side of the altar allegorical pictures of the Virgin of 
 Guadalupe and San Jose. The expenses of building the first church were paid 
 by Don Mateo Mauleon and his wife, and the tabernacle in the present church 
 was built through the efforts of Fray Carnago. 
 
 Saiito Domingo, originally a monastery and church, now a church 
 only, the monastery having been demolished, as v.as also a part of the church, 
 in opening streets under the Laws of the Reform. The first church was 
 dedicated in 1575 and destroyed by the inundation of 1716. The present build- 
 ing was completed in 1736, and remained intact till the opening of the streets 
 by the Government in 1861. The church is one of the largest and handsom- 
 est in the city and has some fine pictures, among which are the Crucifixion 
 and San Yldefonso. The church fronts on the Plaza de Santo Domingo, in 
 (he center of which is a statue of Senora Dofia Josefa Dominguez, the heroine 
 of Mexican Independence, whose remains rest in the panteon of Qucretaro. 
 Here, the traveler is told, is the spot where the Aztecs saw the eagle with the 
 serpent and held it as an omen for the site of the city, four squares north 
 of the Cathedral. 
 
 Nuestra Senora de la Encarnacion was in its day of splendor the 
 most magnificent convent in Mexico. The original church cost Don 
 Alvaro de Lorenzana over $100,000 to build. The corner stone was laid De- 
 cember i8th, 1639, and the church dedicated March 7th, 1648, when the deco- 
 rations alone cost nearly $40,000. Later a magnificent cloister was built and 
 still remains intact. The property owned by the institution amounted to 
 over $1,000,000, and when all the convents were closed the pictures were 
 brought and stored here. In 1886 the building was utilized as a Law School 
 and a seminary for young ladies. I\Iany of the old decorations remain, and 
 the modern use of gold leaf has added to their lavishness. Three squares 
 north of the Cathedral on the street of the same name. 
 
 Ensenanza Antigua was established in 1754. The convent was in 
 later years occupied by the Palacio de Justicia and a school for the blind. 
 The church is still open and has some good pictures by native artists. It 
 is on the Calle de Cordobanes, two squares north of the Cathedral.
 
 107 
 
 San Fematido — The corner-stone was laid October nth, 1735, and 
 the church dedicated April 20th, 1755. It was much injured by the earth- 
 quake of 1858, since which repairs have done much to obliterate its former 
 magnificence, but many fine pictures remain. 
 
 Sati Francisco — The original church and monastery was the great- 
 est in all Mexico, and its name is closely identified with the great events of 
 the country's history, from Cortez to Comonfort and Juarez. Established by 
 the Twelve Apostles of Mexico and Fray Pedro de Gante, who came to 
 Mexico City three years after its occupation by Cortez, the first church v/as 
 built in the grounds that had been the wild beast garden of Montezuma. 
 The building material was taken from the great teocali of Aztecs, in what 
 is now the Plaza Mayor, Cortez contributing the building fund. The grounds 
 
 DOMES OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 covered three great squares in the very center of the city, bounded on the 
 north by First San Francisco Street, on the south by the Calle de Zuleta, on 
 the east by Calles Coliseo, and Colegio de las Ninas, and on the west by San 
 Juan de Letran, an estate that would now be worth more than a million dol- 
 lars for the ground alone, which are now occupied by Hotels Iturbide. San 
 Carlos and Jardin, and the adjoining stores and residences, an estate worth 
 some more millions. The history of this great house of Franciscans from 
 the zenith of its power to its downfall would fill volumes with its incidents. 
 Cortez heard masses from its altars, and within its walls his bones were en- 
 tombed. In this church the Viceroys attended mass and lent their presence 
 at the great festivals. Here was sung the first Te Deum of Mexican Inde-
 
 108 
 
 pendence, General Agustin Yturbide being in the assemblage, and here he, 
 too. was buried. 
 
 The church flourished and the Brothers went about doing good, and 
 they prospered until the evil day came when they thought to put the State 
 under the rule of the Church, and a conspiracy tending to the overthrow of 
 Government was discovered and it was reported to President Comonfort the 
 14th of September, 1856, that the Franciscans were at the head of a revolt 
 and that the blow was to be struck on the 15th, Independence day. The 
 President, acting with his accustomed promptness, sent his troops to the 
 monastery early on the morning of the 15th and arrested the entire com- 
 munity of monies, took possession of church, monastery and grounds; on the 
 i6th a decree was announced opening a new street called Independencia that 
 cut the grounds from east to west. Two days later another decree cited the 
 treason of the Franciscans and suppressed the monastery. 
 
 The decree of suppression was rescinded in the following February, and, 
 although shorn of its greatness and some of its real estate, the monastery 
 was restored and continued in a feeble way till the entry of the army of 
 Juarez, on the 27th of December, i860, when the great monastery was closed 
 forever. The ornaments, jewels and paintings were taken to the Academy of 
 Fine Arts, the interior decorations were defaced and the altars removed. 
 In April another street was opened through the property, with the scant 
 satisfaction to the Franciscans that the street was called Gante, in honor 
 of the greatest of their order. 
 
 Soon the construction of dwelling houses began, and stores were built, 
 the monastery became a hotel, and the refectory, where there was room for 
 five hundred brothers to sit together at the table, became a stable — and the 
 church, after an almost royal existence of three hundred and thirty years, be- 
 came a Protestant Cathedral with scarcely a memory of its Catholic glory. 
 
 The main church of San Francisco, as it existed up to i860, was dedicated 
 December 8th. 1716. It was a magnificent structure, 60 feet wide by 230 feet 
 long, with a dome and lantern over a hundred feet high; the great w^alls 
 were covered with pictures, and thousands and thousands of dollars were ex- 
 pended in decorations, the silver tabernacle over the altar costing $25,000. 
 
 Rather than a church there was a group of seven churches, called by dif- 
 ferent names, but all were San Franciscan. The only remaining one of the 
 group is that of Nuestra Sehora de Aranzazu, and that is now known as 
 San Felipe de Jesus. The entrance is on First San Francisco Street, where 
 a new facade has been built that is joined to the old walls whose corner- 
 stone was laid in 1683. on the 25th of March. Many of the elegant interior 
 decorations remain. In walking around the block bounded by the streets 
 of San Francisco, San Juan de Letran, Independencia and Gante remains 
 of the fagades of the old churches may be seen. The Hotel Jardin was the 
 infirmary and lodging house of the monastery. Across the garden is the old 
 refectory, now a livery stable. The Yturbide Hotel is on grounds intended 
 for a convent, and the San Carlos is within the line of the walls of old San 
 Francisco. 
 
 In 1869 the great church was sold to the Protestant Church of Jesus in 
 Mexico. Trinity (Methodist Episcopal) Church was constructed from a por- 
 tion of the old walls, and Christ Church, Church of England, occupies an- 
 other part. Dwellings, stores, shops, hotels, restaurants, are built on the 
 grounds of the ancient church and monastery. 
 
 San Gerottltno w^as founded as a convent in 1586. noted particularly 
 as the convent where the great poetess of Mexico, Juana Inez de la Cruz, 
 took the veil, and where, after a long and useful life, she died April 17th,
 
 109 
 
 TABLET OF SAN HIPOLITO. 
 
 1695. The convent was, of 
 course, suppressed with all 
 the others. The church is 
 on the street of the same 
 name. 
 
 San Hipolito marks 
 the £pot of the terrible de- 
 feat of the Spaniards by the 
 Aztecs on that fearful, dis- 
 mal night, la Noche Triste ; 
 the re-entry of the Span- 
 ards to the city was made 
 on the day of San Hipolito, 
 August 13th, 1521, and one 
 of the soldiers. Juan Gar- 
 rido, built a little chapel of 
 adobe in memory of his 
 comrades who fell that 
 night. The chapel was called 
 for its founder, then called 
 the "Chapel of the Mar- 
 tyrs,"' and finally it was 
 named San Hipolito of the 
 Martyrs, and by that name 
 the church is still known. 
 
 The church was com- 
 menced in 1599, but was not 
 completed till 1739. For 
 many years the 13th of Au- 
 gust was celebrated by the 
 Brothers marching in the 
 Procession of the Banner, 
 in which was carried the 
 crimson standard of the 
 Conquest. 
 
 On a corner of the wall 
 surrounding the front of 
 the church is a tablet com- 
 memorating the defeat of 
 the Dismal Night. Cut in 
 the solid stone is the figure 
 of an eagle bearing an In- 
 dian in his talons, sur- 
 rounded by musical instru- 
 ments arrows, spears, and 
 trophies of the Aztecs. A 
 large medallion bears this 
 inscription in Spanish : "So 
 great was the slaughter of 
 the Spaniards by the Az- 
 tecs at this place on 
 the night of July ist. 
 1520 — so called for that
 
 110 
 
 reason the Dismal Night — that after having in the following year re-entered 
 the city in triumph, the conquerors resolved to build here a chapel, to be 
 called the Chapel of the Martyrs; and which should be dedicated to San Hip- 
 olito because the capture of the city occurred on that Saint's day." 
 
 The church in the broad street, the continuation of La Avenida de los 
 Hombres Ilustres, that runs along the north side of the Alameda, is on the 
 north side of the street, one square west of the Alameda. 
 
 Hospital Real and church was originally established under a royal 
 order in 1553 as a hospital for the Indians and placed under the management 
 of the Brothers of San Hipolito, who built the Theatre Principal for the pur- 
 pose of raising money from the performances for the support of the hospital; 
 these methods, and the taxes on the Indians of a measure of corn or a medio, 
 6% cents, per annum, failed to maintain it, and the hospital became a Medical 
 College, the second in America. The University of Pennsylvania (1764) was 
 the first. Finally, from lack of support, it was closed and the church became 
 a Presbyterian mission, located just south of the Hotel Jardin, one square. 
 
 Santa Inez was founded in 1600 by the Marqueses de la Cadena. The 
 church was dedicated January 20th, 1770. The facade is richly decorated in 
 the Ionic order, and the doors handsomely carved. The church was closed 
 for many years, but re-opened under the name of the Sagrado Corazon de 
 Jesus, but the old name is mostly in use. It is in the street of the same name, 
 three squares east of the Cathedral. 
 
 Jesus Maria — Founded in 1577 by two pious men, Don Pecho Tomas 
 Denia and Don Gregorio de Pasquera, with the idea that the descendants 
 of the Conquerors should be the nuns. The convent w^as occupied in 1580, 
 removed to its present site in 1582, at which time there came a nun to this 
 convent who was said to be a daughter of Phillip the Second of Spain and 
 a niece of the then Archbishop and later Viceroy of Mexico and first In- 
 quisitor General, Don Pedro Moya de Contreras. This story is substan- 
 tiated by the contributions to the convent of large sums of money from the 
 Royal Treasury of Spain and the Viceroyal exchequer of jMexico. 
 
 The corner-stone of the church was laid March 9th, 1597, and dedication 
 took place February 7th, 1621. The church contains some handsome pictures, 
 notably a St. Thomas and a Virgin and Infant Christ by Jimeno, and a Christ 
 in the Temple by Cordero. Location, two squares north of the National 
 Palace. 
 
 Jesus Nazaretio was founded by Cortez immediately after the perrna- 
 nent occupation of the city, and by his will left ample endowment for its 
 building and support, but it was nearly a hundred years before it reached an 
 era of prosperity, and the church whose building commenced in 1575 was 
 not dedicated till ninety years after, when the name was changed from the 
 original one of Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion to Jesus Nazareno, 
 from the miraculous image of Jesus of Nazareth that came into its posses- 
 sion through the death of a pious Indian woman to whom it had belonged. 
 
 The church has suffered little from modern repairs and renovations. The 
 handsomely carved wooden roof remains, but the doors and other wood- 
 \vork were renewed in 1835. The old altars and the large tabernacle are still 
 in place. 
 
 Another notable image is that of Nuestra Senora de la Bala, that was once 
 the property of a poor Indian of Ixtapalapan. who. the legend says, took his 
 gun with the intent of shooting his wife. The terrified woman fell down be- 
 fore the image and implored the protection of the Virgin — and when the shot 
 was fired it was found that the old man was not a particularly good marks- 
 man, and that the ba^ had lodged in the image, after which husband and
 
 Ill 
 
 wife became reconciled as they perceived that a miracle had been performed. 
 The image was kept in the church of San Lazaro for two hundred years and 
 brought to Jesus Nazareno in 1884. The bones of Cortez rested in this church 
 for awhile. The Conqueror directed that should he die in Spain his bones 
 should, after ten years, be taken to Mexico and placed in the Convent of La 
 Concepcion, that it was his intention to build, but which never was built. 
 Cortez died in Castilleja de la Questa. in Spain, December 2d, 1547. The body 
 was deposited in the tomb of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia, and ten years later 
 was taken to Mexico and placed in the Church of San Francisco, in Texcoco, 
 where it remained till 1629. On the 30tli of January of that year his grand- 
 son, Don Pedro Cortez, died, the last of the male line. It was concluded to 
 remove the remains of the Conqueror and bury them with the grandson in 
 the Church of San Francisco, in the City of Mexico, which was done with 
 great pomp and ceremony, and here his bones reposed for one hundred and 
 sixty-five years. 
 
 DWELLING IN A RUINED CHURCH. 
 
 On the 2d of July, 1734, the bones were removed again and placed in a 
 magnificent marble mausoleum in the Church of Jesus Nazareno, remaining 
 there for nearly thirty years. During the revolutionary times of the war for 
 Independence the hatred of the people for the Spaniards threatened even the 
 bones of the great soldiers of the Conquest, and on the night of the 15th of 
 September, 1823, they were removed and secreted in another part of the 
 church, and later taken out secretly and sent to Spain, and were finally laid 
 to rest in the tombs of the Dukes of Monteleone in Italy. His bones having 
 crossed the Atlantic twice, were interred six times in as many different places, 
 and finally have rested neither in the land of his birth, or in the country he 
 conquered. 
 
 In the Church of Jesus Nazareno are buried some men of note: Don Man- 
 uel Vilar. the sculptor; Don Lucas Alaman, the historian; Col. Manuel Cal- 
 deron, and Fray Juan Crisortomo Najera.
 
 112 
 
 The church is on the street of the same name, three squares south of the 
 Plaza Mayor^ 
 
 San Jose on the street of the same name, four squares south of the 
 Alameda, was founded by Fray Pedro de Gante in 1524. The present church 
 was built by Don Diego Alvarez, who was at once a lawyer, parish priest 
 and decorative artist, and who, with his own hands, made the frescoes. The 
 walls were cracked by the earthquake of July 19th. 1858, and the church 
 was practically rebuilt, at which time it fell heir to some of the altars, bells, 
 etc., that were being taken from the dismantled church of San Francisco, 
 receiving its final dedication June 20th, 1861, more than three hundred years 
 after its foundations were laid. 
 
 San Jose de Gracia was founded as a convent and church in 1610, 
 and fifty years later the present church was built. The convent suppressed. 
 the church became the property of the State, and in 1870 was sold to the Pro- 
 testants. On the street of the same name, four squares south and one east 
 of the National Palace. 
 
 San Juan de Dios, opposite the Alameda, on the north side, was 
 founded in 1582. dedicated 1629, destroyed by fire and commenced rebuilding 
 1766. The recessed fagade and portal are very handsome, and is in strange 
 contrast with the low surrounding houses, among which was a cheap variety 
 theater. 
 
 San Juan de la Peiieteticia was founded as a chapel of San Juan 
 Bautista in 1524 by Fray Pedro de Gante. A convent was added in 1593, and 
 both church and convent were supported by alms given by the Indians, at 
 whose instance and by whose efforts the convent was established. After a 
 while there came a great earthquake, and the church would have been de- 
 stroyed but for the uplifted arm of an image of the Child Jesus, that pre- 
 vented the great arch of the church from falling, and the church stood till it 
 was pulled down and rebuilt in 1695, at the expense of Dona Juana Villasenor 
 Lomelin. Location, four squares south of the Alameda, near the Calle de 
 las Artes 
 
 San La^zaro was originally a hospital for lepers, founded by Dr. Pedro 
 Lopez in 1572, and for nearly a hundred and fifty years was supported by him 
 and his estate, and by the Brothers of St. John till the order was suppressed, 
 in 1821. The present church was built in 1721 at a cost of nearly $100,000. 
 and was one of the finest in Mexico. The location is about twelve squares east 
 of the Cathedral, at the end of the street passing from the southeast corner. 
 
 San Lorenzo, on the street of the same name, four squares north of 
 San Francisco street, was originally an Agustinian convent. The church was 
 built by Don Juan Fernandez Riofrio and dedicated July i6th, 1650. The 
 convent has since been occupied by the School of Arts. 
 
 Nuestra Sefiora de Loreto, the church of the leaning tower, is 
 two squares north and two squares east of the Cathedral. It is a Jesuit founda- 
 tion of 1573, the original church being made of canes and reeds, dedicated 
 to San Gregorio. In 1675 Father Juan Zappa brought the image of Our Lady 
 of Loreto and the plans for her house to Mexico. Chapels were built in 1686 
 and 1738. but not until 1809 was the present church commenced, and in 1816. 
 August 29. it was dedicated. The work was paid for by Seiior Don Antonio 
 de Bassoco and his wife. La Marquesa de Castaniza. the total cost being nearly 
 $600,000. The architecture is somewhat difTerent from the prevailing style. 
 There are four rotundas rising to a superb dome above the arches. The in- 
 terior decorations are very beautiful, and there are some fine paintings by 
 Joaquin Esquivel from the life of Loyola of San Gregorio and a portrait of 
 Father Zappa. Owing to some defects in the foundation or building material
 
 113 
 
 one side of the church commenced to sink, which was aggravated by the inun- 
 dation, and the church was closed in 1832; eighteen years later it was found 
 that there was no danger of the leaning towers toppling over, and the church 
 was reopened in 1850. 
 
 Nuestra Sefiora de los Angeles, fronting the Palace de Zaragosa, 
 about a mile north of the Alameda, is a church with many vicissitudes 
 in its history that commenced in 1580, when an Indian chief called Isayoque 
 found floating on the waters of the great inundation of that year a very beau- 
 tiful picture of the Virgin, and when the waters had subsided he built a chapel 
 of adobe in which to keep the canvas he had found, but for some reason con- 
 cluded not to keep it there at all, and had a replica of the picture painted by 
 an eminent artist in a very beautiful manner on the adobe walls of the chapel. 
 
 OLD BRIDGE, COYOACAN. 
 
 P^iiteen years later a larger chapel was built over the adobe one, preserving 
 the wall on which the picture was painted, which had so many angels about 
 the picture of the Virgin that the new chapel came to be called Our Lady 
 of the Angels. 
 
 Having its origin in the floods of the valley, misfortune came to the church 
 again through the inundation of 1607, and great damage was done to the 
 picture, but the face and hands remained uninjured, which was regarded as a 
 miracle. The church was repaired, but not until two hundred years later, 
 when the present church was built, through the good offices of Sefior Larra- 
 goitis, and completed in the year 1808. 
 
 The miraculous painting, so much of it as was not lost in the melting away
 
 114 
 
 of the adobe in the water, remains, the missing portions being covered by a 
 dress made in the shop of a good tailor named Jose de Haro in 1776. It is 
 now covered by a glass casing to prevent further injury. Among the other 
 pictures is an equestrian painting of Santiago that came from the church of 
 Santiago Tlaltelolco when it was closed by the government. Here, also, is 
 preserved a stone bearing date of 1595 that came from the walls of the second 
 chapel. 
 
 Santa Maria La Redouda, on the Plaza de Santa Maria, four 
 squares north of the Alameda, was founded in 1524, and came to have many 
 Indian worshipers, one of whom started to make an image for his church; one 
 day he was called from his work, and when he returned found the image mirac- 
 ulously completed. Many miracles were performed by the image, and it is 
 
 greatly venerated since 
 \ # the quenching of a fire in 
 
 church on the nth of De- 
 cember, In this church 
 was preserved for many 
 years the coiled feathered 
 serpent emblem of the god 
 Quetzaecoatl. The stone, 
 inverted, its hollow base 
 was used as a font for holy 
 water. The Feast of the 
 Assumption was celebrat- 
 ed in great style by the In- 
 dians every year, attract- 
 ing great crowds; some 
 students at one time made 
 light of the processions 
 and the Indians resenting, 
 a riot ensued, after which 
 the Archbishop forbade 
 the people going there 
 any more on that feast 
 day. 
 
 San Miguel, eight 
 JUDASES. squares south of the Ca- 
 
 thedral, is the church of the butchers, who celebrate their saint's day October 
 i8th of each year. The church was founded in 1690, the present church being 
 opened in 1692, and in 1714 was greatly enlarged and received the dedication 
 to San Miguel. The church was repaired in 1850, but the quaintly carved old 
 doors remain. 
 
 Nttestra Sefiora de Moiiseratte, built in 1590, has an image of the 
 Virgin of Monseratte brought from Monseratte, in Spain, a replica of the 
 famous image that is there. The brotherhood of Monseratte did many good 
 works by their teachings in Mexico, and introduced fruits and vegetables from 
 the old country. When the order was suppressed the pictures, among which 
 was St. John in the Desert, were placed in the Academy of Fine Arts. The 
 church is on Calles Verde and Monseratte, seven squares south and one west 
 of the Plaza ]\Iayor. 
 
 San Pablo, six squares south and three east from the Plaza Mayor, 
 near the Plaza de San Pablo, was founded in 1569, the present church in 1580, 
 but was not completed till about the year 1800. 
 
 Santo Tomas La Palma, on the Plazuela de la Palma, in the south-
 
 115 
 
 1550. 
 
 east part of the city, about a mile from the Cathedral, was founded in 
 The carvings of the altars, roof and doors are interesting. 
 
 Porta Coeli was founded by the Dominicans August i8th, 1603. origi- 
 nally a college that was suppressed in i860, but the very interesting church 
 remains. On the facade is inscribed from the Bible in Latin: Terribles est 
 locus isfe Domus Dei et Porta Coeli. On the street of the same name, one 
 square south of rhe Plaza ^layor. 
 
 La Profesa was founded by the Jesuits in 1595. The existing church 
 was dedicated as La Casa Profesa de la Compania de Jesus. Up to the time 
 of the expulsion of the Jesuits from ^lexico in 1767 the church had accumulated 
 much property, which reverted to the Government, and part of it bought 
 in by the order San Felipe Neri, and the church was then called San Jose el 
 Real. Oratorio de San Felipe Neri. al- 
 though the old name of La Profesa is 
 most in use. The church is one of the 
 finest in Mexico, designed by Pelegrin 
 Clave and his pupils. Petronilo Monroy, 
 Felipe Castro and Jose Ramirez, who 
 painted its pictures and made the mag- 
 nificent white and gold decorations, al- 
 though the altar is the work of Tolsa. 
 The most prominent pictures are the 
 Adoration of the Cross and the Seven 
 Sacraments. The drapings of velvet in 
 crimson, with gold embroideries, that 
 are used in the great fiestas were pre- 
 sented by Father Manuel Sanchez de 
 Tagle y Bolea. The pretty little gar- 
 den on San Francisco Street was planted 
 by order of the City Council; on the 
 other side of the church property some 
 of its buildings were demolished for the 
 opening of the Calle de Cinco de Mayo. 
 The church is on Profesa or Third San 
 Francisco, at the corner of Calle San 
 Jose Real, two squares west of the Plaza 
 ^layor. 
 
 Rsgliia Coeli, in the southern 
 part of the city, on the plaza and street 
 of the same name, six squares from San Francisco Street, was built in 1553 
 originally, the present church, in 1731. being dedicated September 13th of that 
 year. The interior decorations are marvelously beautiful, in carvings of wood, 
 in colors and in gold, presented by the good Fray Jose Lanciego y Eguiluz. 
 
 Salto del Agua was so called from the fountain near the church — the 
 curiously carved fountain at the end of the aqueduct from Chapultepec. The 
 corner stone was laid March 19th, 1750. The church is at the corner of the 
 Plaza de la Tecpan de San Juan, seven squares south of First San Francisco 
 Street. 
 
 Santiago Tlaltelolco was the church attended by the good Indian 
 Juan Diego, in which he was baptized and to where he was going to 
 hear mass when the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to him. In 1524 the Francis- 
 cans established a chapel on this site; in 1537 a college was established for the 
 education of the Indians, and from which many eminent Mexicans proceeded. 
 The college was closed in 1578, reopened in 1667. closed again, and reopened 
 in 1728, and finally closed in 181 1, and the great domed church used as a custom 
 
 THE FIRST SHRINE IN MEXICO.
 
 116 
 
 house, while the convent has been made a prison. The font in which Juan 
 Diego was baptized was taken to the church of Santa Ana, images and paintings 
 to Isuestra Senora de los Angeles. The church is about two miles north of the 
 Cathedral. 
 
 La Sautisima has a most beautiful facade, richly and most elaborately 
 carved, and has an interior decoration that is interesting, though hardly in 
 keeping with the outer walls. The original foundation was in 1658. Its pur- 
 pose was a convent, and later a hospital for the poor. The second church was 
 dedicated in 1677, and the present one January 17th, 1783. The church is five 
 squares directly east of the Cathedral. 
 
 San Sebastian was founded by Fray Pedro De Gante in 1524, with a 
 hospital attachment. Two squares east and three north of the Cathedral. 
 
 Santa Teresa La Antigua, originally a convent of the Sisters of 
 Santa Teresa, began its history in a lawsuit. Don Juan Luis de Rivera pro- 
 vided by his will to build the convent. His heirs not carrying out the pro- 
 visions of the will, the Archbishop Don Juan Perez de la Serna brought suit 
 and caused the money to be paid and the deeds of land and houses turned 
 over to him. A new trouble then came up — the people refused to vacate the 
 houses. The energetic Archbishop gained an entrance by night, July 4th, 161 5, 
 into the patio and erected an altar, and hung the bells which he rang at day- 
 light summoning the people to mass, after which the astonished people were 
 notified that he, the Archbishop, had taken possession in the name of the 
 Church; that they must go at once, and they stood not upon the order of their 
 going. The work of tearing down the houses commenced that day, and in 
 less than a year the nuns were admitted to their convent. 
 
 The installation was attended by the wife of the Viceroy and the noble 
 ladies of the land, one of the ladies in waiting of the Vice-Queen being so 
 impressed that she became the first novice. 
 
 The corner stone of the present church was laid October 8th, 1678. and 
 *he church was dedicated to Nuestra Senora la Antigua, September loth, 1684. 
 
 A miraculous crucifix, brought from Spain in 1545, originally in a church 
 of Cardonal. in the State of Hidalgo, is in this church. The legend says thai 
 at one time an accident befell the crucifix and so disfigured it that it was thrown 
 into the fire, but the flames did not afifect it; then it was buried, and after 
 awhile it was resurrected and finally grew to its original freshness and beauty. 
 The Archbishop Serna had it brought and placed in an oratory, and later 
 his successor, Don Francisco Manzo de Zimiga, built a chapel for it, but 
 intending to bring it to the city, and finally when he sent for it the people of 
 Cardonal refused to let it go, and a pitched battle ensued between them and 
 the Archbishop's men, but they triumphed, and it was brought to the church 
 of Santa Teresa la Antigua and a chapel built for it. 
 
 After a while, as the fame of the miracles of this crucifix were noised 
 abroad, the old chapel was abandoned and a new one built that became one 
 of the most beautiful in the city. The corner stone of the new chapel was 
 laid in 1798, December 17th, and the chapel dedicated May 17th, 1813. It was 
 a gift from Don Manuel Flores and was the work of the architect Don Antonio 
 Valasquez. The magnificent church was almost totally destroyed by the earth- 
 quake of April 7th, 1845. The crucifix, although it had gone through fire, been 
 buried and resurrected, was but slightly damaged. Pending the repairing of the 
 chapel the crucifix was taken to the Cathedral, remaining there till 1858, 
 when, on the 9th of May, it was taken back to its place with great pomp and 
 ceremony. 
 
 The new chapel retains much of the beauty of the old one, and has some 
 very fine pictures, among which is a Coronation of the Virgin.
 
 117 
 
 The church is one square east of the Cathedral, on a short street called 
 Santa Teresa, running north from opposite the rear of the Palace. 
 
 Santa Teresa La Nueva is one square north from the rear of the 
 Cathedral and two squares east, opposite the Plaza of Loreto. The corner 
 stone was laid September 21st, 1701, and dedicated January 25th, 1715. 
 
 Santa Vera Cruz was founded by Hernando Cortez, the Conqueror, 
 and instituted a Brotherhood of the True Cross, whose duties were to comfort 
 condemned criminals prior to their execution and afterward to bury them. 
 
 The church contains a crucifix in a shrine behind seven veils — and at the 
 time of its establishment, about the year 1574, one hundred days of indulgence 
 were granted to all who visited the holy image at the unveiling. And even 
 now it is customary to grant indulgencies on certain days, usually on each 
 
 Friday of the year, 
 to all who wall visit 
 the image. The 
 crucifix is called 
 El Senor de los 
 Siete Velos, the 
 Lord of the Seven 
 Veils. The present 
 church was dedi- 
 cated in 1730, Oc- 
 tober 14th. The 
 church is on the 
 Plaza de Morelos, 
 opposite the Ala- 
 meda, on the north 
 side, on the Av- 
 enida de los Hom- 
 bres Tlustres. 
 
 Tlie Inquisi- 
 tion. — In 1527, by 
 a royal order, all 
 Jews and Moors 
 were banished from 
 Mexico — this was 
 the beginning of 
 the Inquisition. 
 Two years later a 
 council, consisting 
 of Bishop Fuenleal, 
 
 President, and the other members of the Audencia. Bishop Zumar- 
 raga, the chiefs of the Franciscan and Dominican orders, the munici- 
 pal authorities and two prominent citizens, met in the City of Mexico 
 and made public this declaration: "It is most necessary that the Holy 
 Ofifice of the Inquisition shall be extended to this land, because of 
 the commerce with strangers here carried on, and because of the many 
 corsairs abounding upon our coasts, which strangers may bring their evil 
 customs among both natives and Castilians, who, by the grace of God. should 
 be kept free from heresy." Whereupon the Inquisition was duly organized 
 and commenced its work immediately. 
 
 In 1570, under a royal order dated August i6th. Don Pedro Moya de Con- 
 treras— afterward Archbishop and Viceroy— was appointed Inquisitor Gen- 
 eral for Mexico, Guatemala and the Philippine Islands, with ofificial quarters 
 
 FREIGHT DEPOT IN A CHURCH AT CUAUTLA.
 
 118 
 
 in the City of Mexico — only the Indians being exempted from trial and con- 
 sequent and inevitable conviction and execution by this tribunal. 
 
 Although the Inquisition was practically organized in 1529, as Vetancourt, 
 a contemporary writer, says with rather an energetic zeal: "The tribunal 
 of the Inquisition, the strong fort and mount of Zion, was founded in Mexico 
 in the year 1571. They have celebrated general and particular autos de fe 
 with great concourse of dignitaries, and in all cases the Catholic faith and its 
 truth have remained victorious." 
 
 The popular meaning of ""auto de fe'''' has always been taken to be the 
 burning of a victim of the Inquisition, and this is what it always did mean, 
 although these words were applied to the public ceremony after the secret 
 trial, which ceremony commenced with a profession of faith by the members 
 of the tribunal, and those assembled, of their belief in Christianity and the 
 Church. Then the tribunal announced the charge against the victims, and 
 the verdict, following with a recommendation to mercy, the poor victims 
 were turned over to the authorities for punishment, which meant death in the 
 fire, for the Inquisition had but one charge, heresy, and one verdict, death in 
 the flames. 
 
 St. Dominick was the originator of the Inquisition, and the Dominicans 
 gave a monastery in Mexico for the chamber of the tribunal, which was 
 rebuilt and enlarged, but no record of it remains. But the building on the 
 Plaza de Santo Domingo, now occupied as a Medical College, commenced in 
 1732 and completed in 1736, was occupied by the tribunal for many years. 
 It was a foregone conclusion that a person summoned before the Inquisition 
 was already condemned, and that when he went forth again from the court it 
 was to the fiery stake. It is said of a Colonel of Mexican cavalry who was 
 commanded to appear before the tribunal that he marched his regiment there 
 and drew his soldiers up in line in front of the building where the Inquisition 
 was sitting, telling his soldiers of the summons, and that if he did not return in 
 twenty minutes they should enter and find him. What transpired within will 
 never be known, but the Colonel was back again at the head of his regiment 
 before the twenty minutes expired. It is' probable, though, that the inquisitorial 
 court was prepared to execute one man only, and not a regiment. 
 
 The first auto de fe in Mexico was in the year 1574, when "twenty-one 
 pestilent Lutherans" were burned to death, after which there was almost an 
 annual feast of fire for these teachers of Christianity (?) and brotherly love — 
 though it is said that in many cases the victims were mercifully strangled be- 
 fore they were burned— as in the auto de fe of April nth, 1649, fifteen persons 
 were burned, but only one burned alive, Tomas Trevifio, a Spaniard of Sobre- 
 monte, in Castile. It was alleged that he had "cursed the Holy Office and the 
 Pope," and he was tied to the stake and burned alive. 
 
 The place of execution by fire was called the brazero, or as it was a plat- 
 form of stones, it was called quemedaro. One was located on an open space 
 now occupied by the Alameda where the Fray Vetancourt says exultingly 
 that there was a good view from the doors of the church of San Diego, 
 where the ashes of the victims were thrown in the marsh at the rear of 
 the church. Great crowds assembled around the stake, extending to the 
 Plaza of San Hipolito, or sat upon the arches of the aqueduct as a better 
 point of view. Another burning place for minor crimes, like murder and 
 highway robbery, was in the Plaza de San Lazaro, but the principal brazero 
 was at the south end of the Alameda. 
 
 The reign of terror of the Inquisition continued till 1812. the year of 
 the adoption of the Liberal constitution in Spain, and on the 22d of Feb- 
 ruary, 1813, the Inquisition was suppressed by the Spanish Cortes in Spain,
 
 119 
 
 Mexico and the Spanish colonies, promulgated in ]\Iexico on the 8th of June 
 following, by the Viceroy's proclamation, declaring the property of the tri- 
 bunal contiscated and ordering the removal from the Cathedral of the tablets on 
 which were inscribed the names of the victims. 
 
 When Ferdinand VII. regained the throne of Spain the Inquisition re- 
 turned to power and took possession of its property — which in jMexico was 
 on the 21 St of Januarj-, 1814 — but it was short lived. The last auto de fe was 
 the execution of the patriot Morelos on the 26th of November, 1815 — the 
 charge was that "the Presbitero Jose Maria Morelos is an unconfessed heretic, 
 an abettor of heretics, and a disturber of the ecclesiastical hierarchy ; a pro- 
 faner of the holy sacraments ; a traitor to God, the King and the Pope" — 
 and this great soldier, patriot and Christian was condemned, beforehand, to 
 "do penance in a penant's dress — and was delivered to his executioners. He 
 
 CHURCH AND PLAZA DE SANTO DOMINGO. 
 
 was shot December 22d, 181 5. The Liberal constitution of Spain was revived 
 in March, 1820, and in May of that year the Inquisition was suppressed in 
 Mexico as the last place of its existence, but its judges escaped justice, the 
 fanatics that had thrown down the Aztec altars of human sacrifice, and visited 
 a vengeance upon the barbarian judges, lived through their generations to 
 commit deeds more cruel, for it w^as in His name they judged.
 
 120 
 
 Protestantism is not modern in Mexico and strange to say it carne 
 there first from Spain. In 1770 the liturgy of the Gothic Christians of Spain 
 was published. It was the Mazarabic Liturgy that was in use before the 
 liturgy of the Roman Church was introduced into Spain, introduced into 
 New Spain under the auspices of the then Archbishop of Alexico, Francisco 
 Antonio Lorenzana, and the then Bishop of Puebla. Francisco Fabian y 
 Fuero. This was the first step toward the introduction of Protestantism. In 
 1868 a decisive move was made by the Protestants of the United States and 
 in 1869 the Church of Jesus in Mexico was organized and prospered under 
 its first Bishop, Henry C. Riley, ordained by the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 of the United States. 
 
 Aid was extended by the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States 
 and by the Church of England, and some of the finest church buildings of 
 Alexic'o were obtained for the use of the Protestants, notably those of San 
 
 A LONE WORSHIPER. 
 
 Francisco and San Jose de Garcia, but recently resold to the Catholics. 
 
 The Presbyterians commenced their work in 1872 with stations in most 
 of the large cities, securing also some interesting old churches. 
 
 The Methodists began in 1873 and have prospered till there are circuits 
 in the various states of the Republic. 
 
 The Baptists came later, establishing churches and schools throughout 
 the country. 
 
 The Society of Friends have also made some progress in Mexico. 
 
 Protestant Churches — Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, situated at 
 No. 5 Gante Street and opposite the west entrance to the Hotel Iturbide, 
 was built upon the site and remodeled out of a portion of the historic convent 
 of San Francisco, wherein for a time lay the remains of the conquistador 
 Cortes. 
 
 Services are held in the English language by the pastor and in Spanish 
 by the pastor of the Mexican congregation. Each have separate and com-
 
 121 
 
 modious auditoriums. The pastors' residences are also in the bmlding, as 
 is also that of the presiding elder of the district, who i^ the official agent of the 
 M. E. ^lissions in the Republic of ^Mexico. The ]\I. E. Mission press rooms are 
 also under the same roof and doing excellent work for the cause, printing and 
 distributing annually over a million pages pertaining to mission work. Their 
 weekly family paper, the "Abogado Cristiano," is a credit to the society and in 
 "make up" not excelled by many elsewhere. 
 
 The adherents of the Baptist denomination hold services in Spanish in a 
 very neat and commodious modern-style building on the corner of Mina and 
 Humboldt Streets. The parsonage adjoins the same. The pastor, with an 
 assistant, conducts the services. The Baptist Society have also their own press 
 rooms, issuing a family paper printed in Spanish and other literature devoted 
 to the interests of their society. 
 
 The Union Evangelical Society (undenominational) hold services in a very 
 comfortably appointed church of their own at Xo. 608 First Humboldt Street. 
 Presbyterian Church on San Juan de Letran Street, No. 12. This society has 
 also a well-equipped printing establishment and are doing a vast amount of good 
 in reaching the people through their publications, among which is an excellent 
 family paper, the "'El Faro" (the beacon or light-house). 
 
 English services are held in Christ Church (Episcopal), at No. 4 Providencia 
 Street. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church South hold services in the church in 
 Avenida Balderas. As is the case with the Methodist and Presbyterian Socie- 
 ties, this society disseminates a vast amount of printed matter from its society 
 press rooms. They publish a family paper and all manner of literature pertain- 
 ing to the mission cause. 
 
 Christian Science, at 416 Dolores Street. 
 
 Services in German are held at intervals under the auspices of the Lutheran 
 Church. 
 
 An idea of the inroads Protestantism is making in this country may be 
 derived from the fact that the first evangelical work attempted in this country 
 was less than thirty years ago, the pioneer missionary being Miss Matilda 
 Rankin, of Illinois, but not until eighteen seventy-two was missionary work 
 organized, so that it may be said that there has been but twenty years of evan- 
 gelistic work to produce the following : Centers of operation, 95 ; congregations, 
 over 700; ordained missionaries, 80; assistant foreign missionaries, 70; foreign 
 ladies in mission schools, 75. Total number of foreign workers, 215. Nat've 
 ordained men, 125; native unordained men, 175; native teachers, 180; other help- 
 ers, 100. Total native workers, 580 ; total number of foreign and native workers, 
 795. Number of communicants, 22,000. Epworth Leagues and Christian En- 
 deavor Societies, 216 ; members of the same, 6,943. Number of Sabbath Schools, 
 379; Sabbath School scholars, 13,562. Children in schools, 12,000. Total 
 Protestant community, about 80.000. 
 
 English services are held periodically in the following places : Chihuahua, 
 Aguascalientes, Silao, Guadalajara, Puebla, Pachuca, El Oro, San Luis Potosi 
 and ^lonterey, 
 
 AROUND THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Chapultepec — In all the lovely Valley of Anahuac, none of the hills 
 cluster so many beauties as cling to Chapultepec, the beautiful Hill of the 
 Grasshopper, where, the legends say, under the grateful shades of the giant 
 ahuehuetls, was the home of Montezuma and the Aztec tzins. When the 
 summer days were long they came from old Tenochtitlan, over the long cause-
 
 122 
 
 way, the Emperor, in palan- 
 quin borne, the first in the 
 royal pageant, with the 
 princess attended by plumed 
 and feathered warriors, and 
 sat them down to rest ere 
 they commenced the climb 
 of rugged rocks. Attend- 
 ing slaves rested too their 
 waving fans, when the cool- 
 ing zephyrs from the trees 
 fell more softly on the mon- 
 arch's brow, till, less lan- 
 guid now, before the ascent 
 began to be half-way done, 
 the Aztec lord one day left 
 his palanquin, when he had 
 bade its carriers put it 
 down, and entered a cavern 
 that is there ; and while the 
 tzins waited his return they 
 heard his voice from the 
 rocks high above them, and 
 it seemed their king was a 
 very god, since none knew 
 but Montezuma how to pass 
 thus, through the earth from 
 the valley to the hill-top, and 
 all the people shouted in ad- 
 oration of their fair god. 
 
 It is in the legends that 
 the palace of the Montezu- 
 mas was on the Hill of the 
 Grasshopper, called Chapul- 
 tepec, and here the Spanish 
 Viceroy, Don Matias de 
 Galvaez, commenced in 1783, 
 and his son Don Bernardo 
 completed in 1785, the pal- 
 ace that stands there to-day, 
 but since each recurring vic- 
 eroy, emperor and president 
 has proceeded further with 
 its completion, adding, each 
 one, to its size and cost, 
 until it is now a palace in- 
 deed, the home of the Pres- 
 ident of Mexico and the 
 seat of the National Mili- 
 tary Academy. 
 
 The site is a superb 
 one, reached by a winding 
 carriage road on one side
 
 123 
 
 W^ 
 
 and a steep foot-path on another, while the other sides are precipitous, with 
 almost perpendicular cliffs. The carriage road and foot-path from the gates 
 end at the broad esplanade at the top, where the sentinels of the cadet corps 
 are always on guard, and beyond which guard there is no passing, except by 
 permit from the Governor of the National Palace. The card of the Governor 
 is not taken up by the guard, as it is necessary to present it to the attendant 
 in charge to gain admittance to the palace. The view from the esplanade is 
 beautiful indeed. Tacubaya, almost hidden by trees, is in the middle dis- 
 tance, and beyond, on the rising hills, other towns and villages; and still be- 
 yond the mountains are the great snow-capped peaks of Popocateptl and 
 Ixtaccihuatl. If you agree that the vista from the esplanade is very beauti- 
 ful, pass through the garden to the overhanging gallery on the other side, 
 and look out over the broad spreading plain of the valley. To the right is 
 the field of Churubusco, and far- 
 ther on to the east sheltering moun- 
 tains. In front, the magnificent city, 
 with its hundreds of towers, the 
 tallest overshadowing all the others, 
 are the Cathedral's. Beyond the city's 
 spreading squares you can see the hill 
 and church of Guadalupe. Following 
 the range of vision round to the left 
 there is the suburb of Tacuba, the hill 
 of Los Remedios; and nearer to 
 where you stand is the battleground 
 of Molino del Rey. The magnificence 
 of the picture baffles all description; 
 it is wondrous to behold, and the 
 memory of it lives with you always. 
 Far below your feet the tall cypress- 
 like trees shade the modest monu- 
 ment erected to the memory of the 
 cadets who fell in the defense of the 
 castle from the assaulting Americans 
 in '47. The names on the shaft tell 
 of those whose lives went out in the 
 merciless fire of a superior army. A 
 monument was not needed except in 
 their honor, for the memory of these 
 brave boys lives in the hearts of their 
 countrymen. There are fresh beau- 
 ties in this hanging garden filled 
 
 with pretty flowers, in the galleries, cadets- monument-chapultepec. 
 
 adorned in Pompeiian color, but these do not detain. — there is too 
 much grandeur in the view. — and you wander again to the terrace and 
 gaze over the valley to the blue rim of the mountains melting into the lighter 
 blue of the sky, and are loth to leave even for the magnificence of the in- 
 terior of this splendid palace. 
 
 The salons and apartments of the Castle of Chapultepec have the appoint- 
 ments of regal magnificence, since they are in heritage from the Viceroys of 
 olden times and a latter-day Emperor; and the luxurious beauty of the 
 decorations is due to none more than "poor Carlotta." though all that was 
 indicative of the empire has disappeared, and the monogramed "R. M." ap- 
 pears everywhere to remind you that it is the palace of the Republic of Mexico.
 
 124 
 
 In an ante-room at the corner of the esplanade are two chairs that be- 
 longed to Cortez, but there is little else of more ancient date than Maxi- 
 milian. The family rooms of the President consist of a magnificent suite, 
 reception room, boudoir, bed chambers, dining hall, smoking and card rooms, 
 all sumptuously furnished and elegantly decorated, each in appropriateness 
 and good taste. A stairway leading to the upper tioors has on the surround- 
 ing walls the coats of arms of all the rulers of Mexico from the Toltec tzins 
 of 1474 to the republic of to-day. If you have passed up this stairway and 
 out to the terrace and garden above, you may reach the esplanade again by a 
 grand stairway of marble. It is not easy to advise how to go or which way 
 to turn, since there is something to interest at every step, and when you 
 have passed through the salons, galleries, gardens, along the terrace, ex- 
 amined the National Observatory, looked into the well that drops down to 
 the cave, you will still not be ready to go, for there has been so much in the 
 view that it is hard to grasp it all, even for memory's sake. In the bosque 
 below is a magnificent park shaded by trees that were giants even in Monte- 
 zuma's time. Here are walks and drives in miles of shady way, where, in 
 
 passing, you may see 
 Montezuma's tree, 
 where he, too, like 
 Cortez, sat down and 
 wept over defeat; see 
 the hieroglyphics on 
 the rocks of the clifTs 
 under the castle, near 
 the Cadets' monu- 
 ment, and the cave 
 that opens on the 
 driveway up the hill. 
 There is little left of 
 the old aqueducts 
 built by the Spanish 
 viceroys, save a few 
 arches, and the old 
 aqueduct built by the 
 Aztecs has long since 
 disappeared. It is best 
 
 THRESHING WHEAT. tO gO tO ChapultCpCC 
 
 by carriage, as the walk up the hill is a tiresome one, and the walk is neces- 
 sary if the trip is made in the Tacubaya cars, although they pass the gate of 
 the park and very near the castle. Entrance to the palace is impossible with- 
 out a permit. 
 
 About half way up the hill on the left of the carriage road is the cave that 
 connects with the shaft whose top is in the garden of the palace — the pretty 
 story of Montezuma's disappearance into this cave and re-appearance on the 
 rocks above is prosaically modernized by a paved way through the cave and 
 an elevator in the shaft. 
 
 Molitio del Rey, the field of the battle of September 28th. 1847, is near 
 Chapultepec, and may be seen from the palace terrace. The field may be 
 reached by horse-cars connecting with the Tacubaya line, or by train over 
 the Mexican Central Ry., Cuernavaca division, from Buena Vista in the City, 
 The battle of Molino del Rey has been declared by General Grant to have 
 been one of the unnecessary battles of an unholy and unjust war. 
 
 Churubwsco, another of the engagements during the siege of the Mexi-
 
 125 
 
 can capital by the Americans, was fought August 20th. 1847, under the Amer- 
 ican Generals Srnith. Worth and Twiggs. A gallant defense was made by 
 the commander of the ^Mexican forces. General Don Pedro ]\Iaria Anaya. who 
 in answer to an inquiry by General Twiggs after the battle as to the where- 
 abouts of the ammunition, gallantly replied: "Had I any ammunition, you 
 would not be here." A monument commemorative of the battle is in the 
 village plaza. 
 
 In Aztec times the city of Huitzilopocho. with its temple to the god 
 Huitzilopochtli. stood on the site of the now straggling village of Churubusco. 
 The old city had a bad name as the abode of evil spirits and demons that 
 made night hideous with their bowlings, but when the monks built a 
 temple to the true gods the demons of Huitzilopochtli vanished. The Church 
 of Santa Maria de los Angeles, the name also of the primitive church, was 
 completed in 1678, May 2d, under the patronage of Don Diego del Castillo, 
 a silver merchant, and his wife Doha Helena de la Cruz, whose images carved 
 in wood are still preserved in the church. Although almost a ruin, the 
 church is one of the most interesting in Mexico, and there are still re- 
 mains of its former great beauty. The pretty decorations of tiles are rap- 
 idly disappearing, and the richly carved organ is falling into decay. There 
 are several curious pictures, among which is a line Assumption of the Vir- 
 gin. Take Tlalpam cars, and change at San Mateo or the cars for San Angel 
 to reach Churubusco. 
 
 Mixcoac — is a village of flowers and — bricks. The beautiful flowers of 
 the market in the city nearly all come from the gardens of Mixcoac, as do the 
 best brick used in the city houses. La Castafieda is a place of picnics and 
 fiestas in Mixcoac. and is much frequented by pleasure parties from the city. 
 Take San Angel cars from Tacubaya and ride south about a mile. 
 
 San Angel— is a place of summer resorts of many wealthy citizens of the 
 capital, who have their casas de recreo here among the gardens and orchards, 
 now very much neglected. The old church and monastery of Our Lady of 
 Carmen is very interesting, the site for which was given in 1613 by Don Felipe 
 de Guzman to the Carmelite Brothers. The architect was Fray Andres de 
 San ^kliguel, one of the first artists of his day. The building was commenced 
 in 1615 and completed two years later. The beautiful tiled domes and the 
 towers are well preserved, although some of the interior beauties are spoiled 
 by renovation. The church was dedicated to San Angelo Martir. from which 
 the town received its name. In 1633 the dedication was changed to Santa 
 Ana. in honor of a wealthy and very charitable lady, Doha Ana Aguilar y 
 Nino. The gardens and orchards were once very extensive, now only a tan- 
 gled forest of brush and decaying trees. The view from the towers is very 
 fine, overlooking the surrounding gardens and the valley. Take cars for 
 Tacubaya. and thence to San Angel or take Tlalpam cars, and change to the 
 cross-country line at San Mateo. 
 
 Coyoacan — was once the capital of Mexico and is older than the City of 
 Mexico, since Cortez established the seat of government here August 17th. 
 1521, and from Coyoacan laid out the plans and directed the founding of the 
 city, and here were the feasts celebrating the victories of the Conquest. On 
 the north side of the plaza stands the house in which the Conqueror lived for 
 many days with La Marina, his faithful guide and interpreter. The coat of 
 arms of Cortez is over the doorway. Near this house is another with a 
 garden, where Cortez also dwelt, and in the garden a well in which he 
 drowned his wife, who lies beneath the cross on the mound in a near-by 
 church-yard. The Church of San Juan Bautista was built in 1583. founded 
 at the same time with the Dominican monastery in 1530 by Fray Domingo
 
 126 
 
 de Vetanzos. The stone cross on the mound in the church-yard was placed 
 there by Cortez. 
 
 The Pedregal, or "stony place," is within a short walk of Coyoacan, south- 
 ward on the road that runs in front of the Church of San Juan Bautista. A 
 picturesque place with stone houses, cactus-hedged paths and clear running 
 streams. Coyoacan is reached by horse-cars from Tacubaya, or from San 
 Mateo, on the Tlalpam line. 
 
 Tacubaya is the prettiest place in the Valley of Mexico, with its beauti- 
 ful gardens, parks and shaded streets, lovely flowers and luxuriant trees 
 everywhere, so that it is no wonder that here is the place of the summer 
 homes of the wealthiest people in the Mexican capital. The location of the 
 
 EL SALTO DE AGUA. CITY OF MEXICO. 
 
 little city, on the slope of the hills back of Chapultepec, is so advantageous 
 that it was contemplated at one time, after the great inundation of the City 
 of Mexico in 1629 and '34, to make this the site of the national capital. At 
 that time Tacubaya was called Atlacoloayan, the "place in the bend of the 
 stream;" but after its settlement by the Spaniards it became known as Tacu- 
 baya de los Martires. 
 
 The principal church is that of San Diego, but the parish church and the 
 old monastery of the Dominicans are worthy of a visit. The one-time palace 
 of the Archbishop of jMexico was afterwards used as the National Astronomical 
 Observatory. The palace was built in 1737 by the Archbishop and Viceroy 
 Vizarron. Before its removal to Chapultepec the National Military Academy 
 occupied this palace.
 
 12t 
 
 The Alameda and tl'e Plaza de 
 Cartagena are pretty peaces, with 
 trees, tiowers and fountains. In the 
 west part of the city are the quaint 
 old mills of Santo Domingo, and 
 near them the Arbol Benito, "the 
 blessed tree." The story goes that a 
 monk passing that way was wearied 
 and so rested was he under the 
 grateful shade that he blest the tree 
 and bade it be always green. Im- 
 mediately there came from its roots 
 a spring of cold clear water. That 
 this is true, you may see that the tree 
 is ever green, and the brook goes 
 on forever. Tacubaya has been 
 called the Monte Carlo 
 of Mexico, and not in- 
 aptly so. There is 
 gambling there by 
 gamblers of all sorts, 
 sizes, ages and condi- 
 tions, on the streets, 
 under the white um- 
 brellas, in booths under 
 the trees, where you 
 may wager a penny or 
 
 a peso. In the gardens wandering minstrels. 
 
 are games that savor of Monte Carlo indeed. There are tables for Monte, 
 Rouge et Noir. or any other you please. The tables are crowded all the 
 time, particularly in the evening, when the stakes are high, as much as 
 
 .-_ A\^^'BV<j^^KS-\N'^'^^ 
 
 twenty and thirty thousand silver dollars may be on the tables at one time. 
 There are dozens of rooms in one garden, for games, refreshment, music and 
 dancing, while the gardens are lighted with many colored lights that make 
 the scene one of enchantment. Bull fights and cock fights are the other at-
 
 128 
 
 tractions that go to entertain in this intensely interesting town. 
 Two or three lines of cars start from the Plaza Mayor in the 
 city for Tacubaya. 
 
 Tlalpam — is an attractive little 
 city of the valley toward the south- 
 east at the end of the pleasant ride 
 on board a dummy train of the Val- 
 ley road, the cars starting from the 
 Plaza Mayor in electric cars to 
 the outskirts of the city, where the 
 dummy engines are attached. In the 
 old days when Tlalpam rejoiced in 
 the name of San Agustin de las 
 Cuevas, it was the place of a great gambling 
 fiesta, where every year fashionable folks came 
 to try their luck around the wheels of fortune 
 and become the prey of the less aristocratic 
 gambler; the fiestas became so disreputable that 
 they were for a time suppressed, but finally re- 
 vived, and the old-time gaiety prevails. Tlalpam 
 was once the capital of the State of Mexico be- 
 fore the seat of government was removed to 
 Toluca and this city included in the Federal 
 District. The streets are straight and run at 
 right angles, thanks to the erratic but ener- 
 getic Viceroy Revillagigedo. who, in 1794. instituted many improvements, 
 including a water supply. The streets are shaded by great trees and over the 
 ,r -- walls come the creeping vines to tell of the pretty gardens 
 
 beyond them. It is a quaint old town where some hours may 
 be spent in seeking out its beauties, and you may find some 
 ruined places like that of the Oratorio, up the street frorn the 
 station two or three squares, where a peon's hut is built in 
 
 the walls of a one-time temple; 
 the thatched adobe is in strange 
 contrast with the graven walls and 
 graceful arches of this relic of de- 
 parted grandeur. A delightful 
 day's outing may be made to the 
 towns in the south of the valley 
 — take the cars for Tacubaya, 
 where the first stop may be made, 
 then take the cross country line, 
 stop over one car at IMixcoac to visit the Tivoli de 
 la Castaneda; the next stop should be at San 
 Angel for an hour; two hours may be spent at 
 Coyacan, two at Churubusco. and two at Tlalpam, 
 returning by the Valley railroad in the afternoon, 
 the cars run direct to the Plaza Mayor. 
 
 Tacuba — is a pretty suburb that was a city 
 in itself in the old Aztec days when 
 Totoquiyauhtzin I, Chimalpopoca, Toto- 
 quinyautzin II and Tetlepanquetzaltzin 
 were kings and held their capitals at Tlaco- 
 pan, as the ancient city was called. These
 
 129 
 
 kings reigned in succession from 1430 to 1525; the latter named tzin was exe- 
 cuted with Cuautimotzin by Cortez in 1525 for an alleged conspiracy against 
 the Spaniards. 
 
 Tacuba has many gardens and pleasant places: it has a fine old church and 
 is the place of the residence of the Archbishop of ^lexico. Street cars marked 
 Tacuba (not Tacubaya) leave the Plaza Mayor every fifteen or twenty min- 
 utes, passing by the Tree of Noche Triste, making a very pleasant street-car 
 ride to consume not more than two or three hours. Popotla. also on this line, 
 is the intervening suburb between the cit}* and Tacuba where flourishes that 
 tree of the dismal night, under whose shadow Cortez sat down and wept over 
 his misfortunes and defeat. The tree is an ahuehuetl. of that kind found in the 
 park of Chapultepec. a cypress-like tree found in many parts of Mexico. 
 The famous tree is still in vigorous life, notwithstanding the onslaughts of 
 relic-hunters, from which it is protected now by a high iron railing, that is 
 also a defense against 
 the fury of the fanatic 
 who some years ago 
 set fire to the trunk. 
 Popotla in the native 
 tongue means "the 
 place of the brooms." 
 
 Atzcapotzalco had 
 such a muhitude of in- 
 habitants that it re- 
 ceived this unpro- 
 nounceable name, 
 which means the "ant- 
 hill." The kingdom of 
 Atzcapotzalco antedates 
 the Conquest by many 
 years; in fact it ceased 
 to be an independent 
 kingdom nearly a hun- 
 dred years before the ' 
 Spaniards came; when, 
 in 1428, the kings of 
 Tenochtitlan and Tex- 
 coco made war on 
 Maxtla. the tzin of Atz- a pulque shop. 
 
 capotzalco. slew him and divided the kingdom, placing Netzahualcoyotl, 
 the rightful heir, on the throne in the realm of Texcoco and giving 
 Atzcapotzalco to Tenochtitlan. a part of which went to the tzin of Tlacopan. 
 
 The ancient capital has dwindled to a village whose inhabitants are pot- 
 ters and vendors of vessels, and on the site of the old temple are the towers 
 and domes of a Christian church; one of the towers has the graven image of 
 an immense ant in memory of the great population of the bygone city. The 
 church was erected by the Dominicans in 1702. 
 
 There are many legends that hang about the name of this old town, so 
 that a book might be written to tell them all. Nearby is the village of Zan- 
 copinca. and near that a ruined aqueduct and little lake of pure water, where, 
 in a crystal palace under the waters, dwells IMalintzi half of each day. the other 
 half being spent in the spring of Chapultepec. where she is a good fairy, but 
 here a very siren that lures men to the depths of the lake, where they disap- 
 pear forever. The songs of this siren are passing sweet as they are heard in
 
 130 
 
 r\ 
 
 the early morning or in the evening, when it is dangerous to come near to the 
 water, as he who stops to listen is lured to a permanent disappearance by the 
 music and the spirit's entrancing beauty; he who lingers 
 is lost, a feeling of exquisite languor dulls his delighted 
 senses, he is irresistibly drawn into the depths by the 
 ^^j^/t^0p beckoning hand of beauty and is lost to the world forever. 
 ^^^^F"^ It may be that this fate deters the seekers for the treas- 
 ••^^L ,^— >•— ^ '"jfc^ ures of Cuautemoctzin that the Indians 
 
 ^^i'." ' j^Si^mi aver were thrown into this lake. Another 
 
 legend has its place in the open plain 
 west of the monastery under the shade of 
 the five great ahuehuetls, where in olden 
 times was a spring that constantly welled 
 up, but never overflowed — to drink these 
 waters meant disappearance forever. The 
 holy fathers came with the image 
 of the Virgin, in procession, and 
 preached against the spring, and the 
 people cast stones into it. until it 
 was covered up and hidden from the 
 sight of men, so that no one could 
 drink of its waters, and a chapel 
 with a shrine to the Virgin was built 
 over it, that has long since fallen 
 down and crumbled away; but he 
 who will come to the ahuehuetls, 
 and will hold his ear close to the 
 ground, may hear the murmuring 
 TOURISTS. _ waters underneath the ground. The 
 
 legend lives in the proverb: '■'Bebio del agiia de los ahuehuetls^'' as applied 
 to a sudden or mysterious disappearance: "He drank of the water of the 
 ahuehuetls." 
 
 El Desierto is not, or was not when it was so named, a desert; on the 
 contrary, a group of gardens of fruits and flowers in and about an ancient 
 monastery where lived a company of Carmelite Brothers, of which Thomas 
 Gage, a Dominican monk, says: *Tt is the pleasantest place of all about 
 Mexico, called 'La Soledad,' and by others El Desierto, the solitary or desert 
 place and wilderness. Were all wildernesses like it, to live in a wilderness 
 would be better than to live in a city. This hath been a device of poor Fry- 
 ers, named discalced or barefooted Carmelites, who, to make show of their 
 hypocriticall and apparent godlinesse, and that whilest they would be thought 
 to live like Eremites, retired from the world, they may draw the world to 
 them; they have built there a stately cloister, which being upon a hill and 
 among rocks, makes it to be more admired. About the cloister they have 
 fashioned out many holes and caves in, under and among the rocks, like Ere- 
 mites lodgings, with a room to lie in. and an oratory to pray in, with pictures 
 and images, and rare devices for mortification as disciplines of wyar, rods of 
 iron, hair-cloths girdles with sharp wyar points to girdle about their bare 
 flesh, and many such like toyes. which hang about their oratories, to make 
 people admire their mortified and holy lives. All these Eremeticall holes and 
 caves (which are ten in number) are within the bounds and compasse of the 
 cloister and among orchards and gardens of fruits and flowers, which niay 
 take up two miles in compasse; and here among the rocks are many springs 
 of water, which with the shade of the plantins and other trees are most cool
 
 131 
 
 and pleasant to the Eremites; they have also the sweet smell of the roze and 
 jazmin, which is a little flower, but the sweetest of all others; there is not any 
 other flower to be found that is rare and exquisite in that country which is 
 not in that wildernesse to delight the senses of these mortified Eremites." 
 
 But — Mr. Gage's description applies to other days; it is indeed a solitary 
 place and a wilderness now. with its ruins and caves, but withal interesting, 
 and well worthy of a visit notwithstanding the hard journey which must be 
 made on horseback from the city or by cars to Santa Fe and thence by burros 
 or horses. 
 
 EL DESIERTO. 
 
 La Piedad, beyond the Garita de Belen, is the place of the church and 
 monastery of Nuestra Senora de la Piedad. founded by the Dominicans in 
 1562, and the church was built in the fulfillment of a vow to the Virgin by a 
 monk and his companions on board a well-nigh shipwrecked vessel that if 
 she would bring them safely to land they would build a temple in her honor. 
 
 A monk of the brotherhood of Santo Domingo in Rome had received an 
 order for a picture of the Virgin and the dead Christ to be painted by the best 
 Roman artist, and when he came to depart for Mexico the artist had only 
 made a drawing of the subject, but it was taken on board in its unfinished 
 state and the voyage entered upon. A great storm came up and they prayed 
 to the Virgin to save them, and their prayers were answered — the greater 
 miracle was in the picture — when it was opened in ^Mexico, behold, it was 
 finished in all its beautiful coloring's. The wonderful picture hangs to-day 
 where it did on the day of the dedication, February 2, 1652, over the main
 
 132 
 
 altar of the church of La Piedad. Among the other pictures is a very curious 
 one representing the storm-tossed sea that was stilled by the Virgin. There 
 are some paintings by Cabrera and Velasquez and other native artists. 
 
 Take cars on the Plaza Mayor marked La Piedad. 
 
 Tlaluepatitla is a primitive town near to a modern city, a town noted 
 more for its buU-hghts than its other attractions, but the trip thither i5 
 one of interest since the route of the street car lines that start from the 
 Plaza Mayor in the city pass through the outlying villages that are all in- 
 teresting. The old church of Tlalnepantla bears date of 1583 and 1587 over the 
 side doors, probably the dates of the foundation and dedication — the other 
 dates. 1609 and 1704, in the w^alls, do not give further information; the 
 church remains in its primitive state, not having been tarnished by the reno- 
 vating hand of modern restorer. 
 
 Tajo de Nochistongo, the great drainage canal, the most ambitious 
 engineering feat of its time, was planned by Senor Don Enrico Martinez to 
 drain the waters of Zumpango, the highest of the lakes of the Valley, and 
 prevent their overtiow into Texcoco. Chalco and Xochimilco and the conse- 
 quent inundation of the City of Mexico; the original idea was to sink the 
 drain sufficiently to carry off the overflow of all the lakes, but this was 
 abandoned on account of its great expense. 
 
 Operations commenced November 28th, 1607, with fifteen thousand Indians 
 engaged in sinking shafts at intervals and working tunnels in both directions, 
 so that when the conduit was finished it was one long tunnel instead of a 
 canal, as it now is, and before a year had passed this tunnel was more than 
 four miles long, with a width of eleven feet by thirteen feet in height. The 
 walls of the tunnel were of adobe, faced with stone, and all on insecure foun- 
 dations; it caved in in several places, and in order to repair the work I^iar- 
 tinez ordered the mouth of the tunnel closed, or, as has been stated, the 
 engineer took this method of proving to his enemies the value of his work, 
 as the success of it had been questioned by many. 
 
 The test came in June, 1629. The rainy season had set in w-ith great vio- 
 lence and the waters from the lakes overflowed till the entire city except the 
 Plaza Mayor was three feet under water. The tiood came in a night, but did 
 not subside until five years later, in 1634. The streets became canals and 
 traffic was carried on in boats. Many lives were lost, foundations were 
 destroyed and buildings toppled, until finally a royal order was issued by Spain 
 to remove the city to the slopes between Tacuba and Tacubaya, but unfor- 
 tunately the order was not carried out. An exceptionally dry season followed 
 the liood, earthquakes cracked the earth and let the water into the depths, 
 and the city was permitted to remain on its original site. 
 
 jMartinez had been imprisoned as the cause of the great inundation, but 
 w^as released with orders to make the city secure against a recurrence of the 
 disaster. He opened the tunnel and repaired the dyke of Lake San Cristo- 
 bal — there were two dykes protecting against these waters, one nearly three 
 miles long and the other about two, about ten feet high and thirty feet thick. 
 
 The walls of the tunnel continued to fall in and the city was threatened 
 with another deluge at the return of the rainy season. It was finally decided 
 to open the conduit and make a canal of it; the work progressed slowly and 
 it was more than a hundred years before it was completed by a syndicate of 
 merchants termed a Consulada, in 1767 to 1789. The canal is from three to 
 seven hundred feet wide at the top, sloping to a few feet at the bottom to 
 prevent caving in. The perpendicular depth is from 150 to 200 feet; the 
 length from the sluice from the lake to the fall, El Salto del Rio Tula, is 6y,s^y 
 feet.
 
 133 
 
 The Tajo commences near the village of Huehuetoca, twenty-nine miles 
 north of the city on the jMexican Central, and the tracks of that railway run 
 along the eastern slope enjoying the distinction of the greatest "cut" of the 
 world, certainly the oldest one, as this great work commenced as a waterway 
 in 1607, used nearly three hundred years later as a railway entrance to the 
 Valley of Alexico, and its former uses abandoned since the national government 
 built the tunnel through the eastern mountains and drained the overflow in 
 that direction. In the corner of the garden in front of the Cathedral in the 
 Plaza Mayor a monument is erected to the memory of the great engineer of 
 the Tajo, Don Enrico Martinez. The shaft shows the level of the lakes and 
 statistics of the inundation. Unless a closer inspection of the Tajo is desired 
 a fine view may be had from the west windows of passing trains, the right- 
 hand side going to the city or the left going north. A day excursion to Tula or 
 Pachuca via the Central, leaving the city in the morning and returning in the 
 evening, will afford ample opportunity to see the great Tajo de Nochistongo. 
 
 Pyramids of the Sun and Moon of the prehistoric times are near the 
 village of San Juan Teotihuacan, about twenty-seven miles east of the city on 
 Mexican (Vera Cruz) Railway. Nothing is known of the origin of these pyra- 
 
 TAJO DE NOCHISTONQO, 
 
 mids, thanks perhaps to the destruction by the Spaniards of the pic- 
 ture records of the Aztecs and Toltecs. and as these people knew nothing, 
 or would tell nothing, their history must forever go unwritten; besides, nothing 
 in the excavations or relics found lends any light on the subject. 
 
 From the trains the pyramids seem insignificant enough, and only by 
 near approach are the ambitious heights to be appreciated. The Pyramid of 
 the Sun is 216 feet 8 inches high, having a base of 761 by 721 feet 7 inches, 
 while the top is 59 by 105 feet. The Moon is 150 feet 11 inches high, base 511 
 by 426 feet 5 inches and 19 feet 8 inches scjuar§, Ml along the little Rio de
 
 134 
 
 Teotihuacan and over the plain are traces of a city, and remains of walls and 
 fortifications, one of which is known as the Ciudadcla, the citadel, an area 
 inclosed by a wall over two hundred feet thick and thirty-two feet high. Iij 
 the center of the square is a small pyramid, and on the wall of earth fourteen 
 smaller pyramids. 
 
 About over the plain are numerous pyramids, or mounds, as they seem 
 to be now. Some openings have been made revealing in one case two large 
 halls and several smaller rooms, in another some frescoed walls. These mounds 
 may have been dwellings or shrines attached to the greater temples of the 
 pyramids. The cornices and walls were beautifully ornamented m colors, 
 ranging from ten to twenty shades or tints. 
 
 The only entrance discovered in the greater pyramids is in that of the 
 Moon, found some years ago. leading into a chamber whose walls are of cut 
 stone and laid directly on the lines of the compass. A curious causeway, 
 called '"Calle de los 3fuertos'' (Street of the Dead) begins near the Citadel, 
 passes the Pyramid of the Sun and ends near the Pyramid of the Moon. On 
 either side is a terrace of cement and lava faced with a mortar of high polish 
 
 ., ^ and brightly colored. 
 
 Along this Streei. of the 
 Dead are many of the 
 shrines or dwellings, 
 some of which have 
 been opened, revealing 
 chests of cut stone con- 
 taining skulls, bones 
 and ornaments of ob- 
 sidian, earthen vases 
 and masks. Many of 
 these ornaments of ob- 
 .-"i sidian and miniature 
 , • masks are found in the 
 fields round about, giv- 
 ing rise to many theo- 
 ries as to their origin 
 and uses, on which no 
 two writers agree except that they prove the builders of the pyramids 
 to be a race antedating the Toltecs or Aztecs. As to their uses, one 
 theory is that these masks were portraits of the dead attached to bodies 
 of perishable material, and, of course, long since disappeared, leaving only the 
 earthen faces covered with the dust of centuries and now turned to light by 
 the plowshare. Each writer compares the faces to some features of the now 
 living races, but the most interesting fact is that they are entirely dissimilar 
 to the inhabitant races at the advent of the Spaniards. 
 
 Second only to the Ruins of Mitla. these pyramids are the most interesting 
 remains in this part of Mexico. By taking the morning train of the INIexican 
 (Vera Cruz) Railway for Teotihuacan a day may be spent at the pyramids, 
 returning in the evening. 
 
 Texcoco, before and at the time of the Conquest, was the capital of the 
 kingdom of Tezcucans, a race probably more advanced in civilization than 
 the Aztecs, ruled at one time by the great. Netzahualcoyotl, who may be called 
 the King Solomon or the David of his race, or both, since he was a wise man 
 and just, and wrote many psalms and songs the translations of which greatly 
 resemble the psalms and songs of the Biblical kings. And the palace of 
 Netzahualcoyotl was of ancient magnificence; in the courtyard, at opposite
 
 135 
 
 ends, were two halls of justice, one, called the "Tribunal of God," had a 
 throne of pure gold inlaid with turquoise and other precious stones. Before 
 the throne, on a heap of trophies, weapons, shields, bows, arrows and quivers, 
 was a human skull crowned with an immense emerald in pyramidal form, sur- 
 mounted by an aigrette of brilliant plumes and precious stones. 
 
 The walls were hung with a tapestry of the hair of wild animals of varied 
 color and rich design, embroidered in birds and flowers, the hangings caught 
 up in rings of gold. Above the throne was a canopy of variegated plumage 
 from the center of which shot forth resplendent rays of gold and jewels. The 
 other tribunal, called "the Kings." also had a gorgeous canopy of feathers 
 emblazoned with the royal arms. The superior intelligence of these people and 
 their education gave ancient Texcoco the title of the Athens of America, as 
 Tenochtitlan was called its Rome. 
 
 This was ancient Texcoco. Her glory has passed away and only ruined 
 walls are left to tell of it, some pyramids to the north and one on the south- 
 ern border of the town, and three miles 
 west, near the village of Huixotla, an 
 
 immense wall. When the Spaniards t 
 
 came the Tezcucans were in the throes 
 of civil war among the descendants of 
 
 Netzahualcotl. and. one faction becom- . 
 
 ing friends of Cortez, it was easy to 
 make them allies as he had the Tlaxcal- 
 ans, and as the Cholulans had been de- 
 stroyed by massacre and there could be 
 no attack in his rear, the Conqueror 
 made Texcoco the base of operations 
 against the Aztecs and their city of Ten- 
 ochtitlan, and after he was driven out of 
 that city by Guatimoctzin he returned to 
 Texcoco to launch his bergantines that 
 had been built at Tlaxcala, and from the 
 canal over which may still be seen the 
 Bridge of the Bergantines sailed away 
 to lay siege to Tenochtitlan and effect 
 his second entry to the Aztec capital. 
 At Texcoco Cortez lived, at one of the 
 times when he was in disfavor with the 
 Spanish King, and here in one of the 
 churches his bones were entombed and 
 remained some years. The first Fran- 
 ciscan Mission in Mexico was established 
 Gante; the fine old church remains to-day. 
 
 The present town is a pretty one. with its streets shaded by orange trees 
 and is full of attractions for a day's outing, among which are excursions to 
 the Molino de Flores. Tetzcotzinco, Cuautlenchan. the Hacienda of Chapingo, 
 the estate of the late ex-president General Gonzales, and the Ruins of Huix- 
 otla. In the Plaza is a monument with a bust of Netzahualcoyotl, and on the 
 corner of two of the main streets a fine fountain, surmounted by a statue 
 of Hercules, the gift of Sefior Don Ruperto Jaspeado, an antiquarian of local 
 renown. 
 
 Molitio de Flores, the mill of the flowers, is a flour mill as well, but 
 not the commonplace, barn-like structure we may have in our mind's eye from 
 the country mills at home. Massive gates swing heavily on thick stone walls 
 
 A CORNER IN TEXCOCO. 
 
 Texcoco by Fray Pedro de
 
 136 
 
 and admit to what seems the court and gardens of a mediaeval castle; tortuous 
 stairways of stone lead to the castle that is the summer home of the very 
 ancient family of Cervantes, who have owned this bit of another world for 
 some centuries. The garden might have been a part of Eden from its leafy 
 trees, beautiful flowers and winding walks among foaming cascades and 
 splashing fountains, caves and grottoes hollowed by Nature's hand, shad- 
 owed by overhanging boughs where flowering vines have climbed, and around 
 one grotto, in which there is a pool of clear water, among the flowers are 
 some prickly cactus that guard all approaches, for this is the Cervantes' bath — 
 here in the garden under the trees, shut in by flowery screens and waving ferns. 
 
 Winding pathways paved with pebbles in variegated colors lead up and 
 down the hillside and across the ravine where the cascades are, then over a 
 rustic bridge to the family chapel. Some Moorish work around a cavern 
 makes the shrine, three sides are Nature's own handiwork, human hands have 
 only added a little belfry and the bells. In the chapel lie the departed Cervan- 
 tes, in tombs of solid stone, and in the unhewn walls are tablets in memoriam. 
 Before the quaint little altar dimly burns a lamp that is never extinguished, 
 throwing an uncertain light on the faded painting of the Crucifixion on the 
 rock behind it. In an adjoining cavern dwells the hermit padre — this solemn 
 little shrine is in strange contrast with the bit of fairyland in the gardens 
 beyond. ]\lolino de Flores is three miles from Texcoco. Admission to the 
 gardens is by permit only, obtained from the "administrador" in the city. 
 
 Tetzcotzitico, the "laughing hill," is three miles east of Texcoco and a 
 mile south of the JMolino de Flores. Here was a summer palace of Netza- 
 hualcoyotl, the King of the Tezcucans. In the solid stone of the hill are 
 terraced walks and stairways reaching in a winding way from the plane to the 
 summit, nearly a hundred feet above it. Along the way, in places shaded 
 by the clififs, are seats cut in the rock. Near the top is the King's bath, also 
 hewn in the stone of the hill; it is about five feet by three, or it may have 
 been a distributing reservoir, since the water came to it from the aqueduct 
 above and passed on to the hanging gardens. Here is evidence of the engi- 
 neering skill of the ancient races of ^Mexico; the water supply was brought to 
 the Laughing Hill from the mountains nearly fifteen miles away, an aqueduct 
 was on a graded side of the hill for nearly a mile, coming from another 
 hill on an embankment seventy feet high and again from another hill nearly 
 two miles distant, and thence the embankment continues twelve miles to the 
 mountains. On the top of tlie grading was an aqueduct of cement and stone 
 in the form of a tube about two feet in diameter, though the conduit is only 
 ten inches. Remains of this wonderful work are still to be found. 
 
 The Bosque of Contador, near Tetzcotzinco, is a fine grove of ahuehuetls 
 and was a part of the summer capital. 
 
 Cuautleuchati, near the ]\Iolino de Flores, was probably the place of 
 residence of a people older than the Texcucans, if we may judge from the relics 
 found round about. 
 
 This interesting section may be done in a day, but two would make the 
 trip easier. Take the morning train of the Interoceanic Railway, starting 
 from San Lazaro Station in the city. Stop at Texcoco. Thence the visits to 
 IMolino de Flores, Tetzcotzinco, Cuautlenchan and Huixotla must be made on 
 horseback or in carriages, which may be obtained in Texcoco. 
 
 La Viga Canal is a navigable water-way for traffic between the city and 
 the outlying towns and villages on the shores of Lakes Chalco and Xochi- 
 milco, flowing from those lakes to Lake Texcoco, and does not, as is popularly 
 supposed, take in any drainage or sewerage from the city, the water coming 
 from the south to the eastern district of the city passes northeasterly to Lake
 
 137 
 
 Texcoco ; it is a murky-looking water, but is not nearly so murky as it looks ; 
 taken up in the hand or vessel, it is as clear as it comes from the lake. The 
 boats of La Viga are different from the boats of any other canal, and there 
 are different styles of boats on La Viga. ranging from the dug-out canoe of 
 the Chinampas to the flat-bottom freight boat propelled by poles in the hands 
 of strong arms, a sort of armstrong motor, and side-wheel steamers of an- 
 tiquated design. All classes rrrry passengers, with their donkeys and dogs, 
 these latter being indispensable accompanists to the passenger, since each is 
 an owner of part of the cargo of wood, charcoal or garden truck, and must 
 have the burro to make a delivery at the port of destination, and the dog — 
 well, the dog just goes along from force of habit, or an innate aversion to 
 being left behind, and alone, because the family comes to town with its head 
 and the house is closed till they return. One of these long, low, rakish craft 
 from the other shores of Chalco and Xochimilco is a sight to see. at once a 
 freighter and a floating menagerie, as there are other live stock besides the 
 dogs and donkeys, in the shape of goats, sheep, ducks, and chickens. The 
 
 LA VIGA CANAL. 
 
 boats bring the provender for man and beast in a city of neary half a million 
 of people, and largely supply the city with fuel, the boats bringing it to the 
 landing places and the burros making the delivery throughout the city. 
 
 But there are boats for passengers, and for tourists to Santa Anita, Mexi- 
 calcingo, San Juanico, Lxtacalco, and las chinampas, the floating gardens. 
 These latter are a Alexican edition of the gondola, and with a Mexican gondo- 
 lier in the bow, using a pole instead of a paddle. These gondolas are as 
 picturesque in a way as the Venetian sort, not as graceful, perhaps, but sui 
 generis, in a class of their own, a wide, flat bottom batteau. like an old-fash- 
 ioned country ferryboat; there are low seats on each side running length- 
 wise, from end to end. under a canopy with gaudy-colored curtains. 
 
 The usual La Viga voyage is to Santa Anita; the trip may be on the 
 street cars that run along the banks of the canal; this is the most expedi- 
 tious way, but there is none of the novelty of the boat ride, and one must 
 not be in a hurry in Mexico. It is best to take the cars on the Plaza Mayor 
 marked La Viga, leaving them when they reach the canal at Embarcadero and 
 go thence by boat; the tariff of the boatmen varies, according to the number 
 of boats in port, the demand therefor, and whether it is a week-day, Sunday
 
 138 
 
 or a feast day, from fifty cents to a dollar, for a boat carrying ten or a dozen 
 people, to Santa Anita and return, including the stop there for a ride through 
 the chinampas, or tioating gardens, for which another and smaller boat must 
 be taken and another fare of fifty to seventy-five cents be paid for each canoe 
 carrying six or eight people. 
 
 The start on the voyage does not impress favorably, but as it proceeds it 
 grows interesting, especially after passing the Garita, where the municipal 
 duties were collected from incoming freighters; thence the wide, open canal 
 is alive with queer little craft, the long, narrow canoes darting here and there 
 among the larger ones, the little pleasure boats with their passengers squat- 
 
 A GONDOLA ON LA VIGA. 
 
 ted under the grass-woven canopies, and the larger boats coming fiom or 
 going to Xochimilco and Chalco with their cargoes of men, women, children, 
 burros, dogs, wood, charcoal and garden truck; then there are little bum- 
 boat canoes with dusky "Little Buttercups" to come alongside your boat, with 
 the cleanest-looking baskets covered with the whitest of drawn-work cloths, 
 under which are the native sandwiches,, tortillas, tamales, con came or con 
 dulce, that, no matter how they may have seemed elsewhere, here look tempt- 
 ingly toothsome. Any day will do for the voyage to Santa Anita and much 
 will be seen that you never saw before, but on a Sunday or a feast day there 
 will be more life on the canal and in the villages. 
 
 Santa Anita is a straggling village of thatched houses, a relic of primitive 
 times almost under the shadow of the towers of the metropolitan city, a pleasure 
 resort of the middle and lower classes, where every house is an open one, 
 fotida, restaurant or pulque shop, with thatched bowers over the seats and
 
 139 
 
 tables of the revellers. When your boat is anchored under a great tree at Santa 
 Anita, go ashore and pass up the street from the canal to the little old church 
 and beyond to a forlorn little plaza, where there are some swings 
 and some more fondas and pulque shops, and you will find the canoes to take 
 you through the sluices of the floating gardens. These gardens have no walks 
 and must be tloated through, which would entitle them to their name, even 
 if they were not really floating gardens, as they were in the olden times when 
 the chiyiampas grew the fruits and flowers for Montezuma and the Aztec tzins; 
 now they are flower and vegetable beds to supply the city markets. It 
 is worth the while of the trip if it were only to see the acres and 
 acres of poppies, whence the natives garland themselves and their houses 
 on feast days, and of which you may bring away a boat load for a real On the 
 
 AT HOME ON LA VIGA. 
 
 going or the return trip a stop should be made at the hacienda of 
 Juan Corona. While he lived, Don Juan's house was yours; his was a hos- 
 pitable roof, and it remains to-day in happy memory w'ith open doors. Don 
 Juan was a great man in his day, as valiant as he was good and charitable, 
 not a soldier, nor yet padre or a missionary, his life was full of brave deeds 
 and good works. Don Juan was a bull-fighter on Sundays and feast days, and 
 a philanthropist all the week, as if he would make six days of charity balance 
 his account of questionable sport on Sunday. His pleasure was the care of 
 the children of the poor, till he was called the father of the destitute, when he 
 established a school for his wards that is still maintained in one of the rooms 
 of his house. The old Don's hobby was less of tauromachy than the collection 
 of curios, and his house is a monument to the memory of that hobby, every 
 room is a museum in itself. Pass through the open door; no invitation is 
 needed, and there is none to stop your way. Within the patio of trees, flowers 
 and climbing vines is a stone stairway leading to an upper gallery; the curios
 
 140 
 
 commence on the stairway and continue through all the house. Pass around 
 the gallery to the farther side of patio and enter through the kitchen, the 
 quaintest, cleanest kitchen in the world; then through the dining-room, bed 
 chamber and parlor, coming out again onto the gallery at the stairs, where you 
 may enter the school-room and see a school wholly^ unlike any other. As a 
 visitor enters, the bright little beneficiaries of Corona's bounty rise in respect- 
 ful salutation and welcome. The school has not the ample means it had in 
 the life of good old Don Juan, and any offering is not only to a worthy charity, 
 but a tribute to the memory of a good man. 
 
 It will take longer to see all in the quaint old house than to write it down, 
 since it is impossible to do it completely. In the kitchen is the old-fashioned 
 cooking-place built of brick, around it and on all the walls are the utensils 
 of earthenware, as in the dining-room the table and its appurtenances are as 
 quaintly curious. But it is in the other rooms where are the curios and relics, of 
 every age and era of Mexico's history back to prehistoric times; idols from 
 the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon at San Juan Teotihuacan; weapons, plumes, 
 shields and war dresses of the Aztecs, a cigar case, pistol and sword of the 
 patriot-priest Hidalgo; the bed in which General Santa Ana died; some pieces 
 from the table service of the Emperor Maximilian and one of the muskets 
 with which he was shot; the rifle of General ]Miramon used at Queretaro; a 
 fine collection oichicaras, chocolate cups painted by the Indians of IMichoacan; 
 very curious and ancient costumes of the bull-ring, among which is one used by 
 the Spanish matador. Bernardo Gavino, when he was killed in the ring at 
 Texcoco; ancient Chinese and Japanese armor; paintings of religious subjects 
 and scenes from the bull ring; portraits of Don Juan and his wife and of 
 Mexican celebrities; a collection of bird eggs, stuffed animals, two immense 
 bowls or platters with the portraits of Maximilian and Carlotta; old tapestries 
 and silken shawls; rugs of the skins of wild beasts, and a thousand and one 
 other curious things collected in a long lifetime, of which no complete list or 
 description may be made, but each article is in its place just as Don 
 Juan left them when he died. No fees are charged nor any gratuities asked 
 or suggested, but there is a contribution box. and there are none more worthy, 
 since all the offerings are applied to the support of the school, and what you 
 have seen in this old house is worth a generous gift. 
 
 The journey on the canal may be continued to Ixtacalco and make a day of 
 it; here are other floating gardens and a fine old church, San Matias, founded 
 by the Franciscans more than three hundred years ago, in front of which is 
 a pretty little plaza with a fountain of clear, cool water; near by is a shrine 
 of Santiago, long since neglected as to religious uses, and now used as a 
 dwelling. 
 
 Mexicalcingo, a little further on. was an important town before the Con- 
 quest, now only an Indian village with an ancient and ruined monastery and 
 church dedicated to San Marco, also founded by the Franciscans. To make 
 the journey thus far it will take a day. and a luncheon should be brought 
 along. Only the more venturesome explorer will undertake the entire voyage 
 to Xochimilco. two days, but it is intensely interesting and without actual 
 hardship, though with some discomfort. The excursion to Ixtapalapa and the 
 intermediate villages on La Viga may be made by horse cars, or we may go by 
 boat and return by cars, but the round trip by boat is to be preferred. Cars 
 start from the Plaza Mayor; look for those showing the names of the places 
 you desire to visit; they will take you there and back again to the Plaza. 
 
 Los Retnedios. — About three miles west of the city's boundary is the Hill 
 Totoltepec, on the top of which is the Santviary of Our Lady of Succor, called
 
 141 
 
 the church of Niiestra Senora de los Remedies; its history and legend make 
 an interesting story. 
 
 On that dismal night of the ist of July, 1521, when the Spaniards were 
 driven from Tenochtitlan by Cuautemoc and his infuriated warriors, the 
 Spanish soldiers fled in all directions, but were gathered together in the Temple 
 of Otoncapulco that was on the hill of Totoltepec. Among them was Juan 
 Rodriguez de Villafuerte. who had in his keeping an image of the Virgin 
 that he had brought from Spain, and which had been placed in a shrine on the 
 great temple of the Aztecs among their gods. The checkered career of this 
 image in Spain was not less adventurous after its arrival in Mexico; on the 
 night of the terrible defeat it was carried by Villafuerte in his flight from the 
 
 m 
 
 J^ 
 
 ..^,^ 
 
 i 
 
 :!^^ nmn wr-^A ^^ 
 
 P 
 
 
 CHURCH OF GUADALUPE, NEAR CITY OF MEXICO. 
 
 city, but himself being severely wounded, could carry it no farther; he hid the 
 image under the broad spreading maguey, and went on his way. 
 
 Nearly twenty years after, an Indian chief. Cequauhtzin, called also Juan de 
 Aguila Tobar, was hunting on the hill of Totoltepec, when the Holy Virgin 
 appeared to him in a vision and bade him seek for her image that was hidden 
 beneath a maguey; the tzin made diligent search without success, and the 
 Virgin again appeared with the same command; still it was not found, and 
 she appeared yet the third time. After awhile the image was found and taken 
 by Cequauhtzin to his house. In the morning it had disappeared, and was 
 found again under the maguey where it had been. It was taken the second 
 time to the Indian's home, and he placed before it a little gourd filled with 
 dainty things to eat, but the image disappeared to the maguey. Again was 
 it brought to the house and placed in a strong box. locked and bolted, and, 
 to make matters doubly sure, the tzin slept that night on the lid of the box, but
 
 142 
 
 in the morning the box was empty and the image fled once more to the maguey 
 on Totohepec hill. 
 
 Then came Cequauhtzin to the good padres of San Gabriel in Tacuba and 
 told them of the apparitions, of the finding of the image and its subsequent 
 disappearances, which to the holy fathers seemed at once that a miracle had 
 been performed, and in the persistency of the image in returning to the hill 
 they discerned a command of the Virgin to build a temple in her honor on this 
 Hill of Totoltepec where her image might rest in peace after all the stormy 
 years of its existence. The shrine was commenced at once, and, shortly com- 
 pleted, was dedicated to Our Lady of Succor, since the Spanish soldiers were 
 saved through the saving of her image. Over the walls of the original chapel was 
 built the existing church through the efforts of Don 
 ^^ .^..^ Garcia Albornos, a great church worker of Mexico, 
 
 ' '" begun in May, 1574, and completed in August of the 
 
 following year, though the dome and arched roof 
 were not completed until over a hundred years had 
 passed, when the church was finally dedicated on the 
 25th of May, 1629, and seventy years after that Dr. 
 Francisco Fernandez Alarmolejo and his wife. Dona 
 Francisca de Sosa, brought an artist from Puebla to 
 ' finish the camarin they had caused to be built for 
 the home of the image. The image is of wood, carved, 
 but now at its great age browned and disfigured; it 
 is about eight inches long. Held in the arms of the 
 - image is a figure of the Child Jesus. The ornaments 
 . except some pearls, and all her rich vestments, have 
 .! long since disappeared. The gourd in wdiich Ce- 
 - , quauhtzin placed the delicacies before the image when 
 it was in his house is preserved in the shrine in a 
 '!ken case; the gourd has been broken and is mended 
 ■ ;- lib clasps of iron and brass. The altar is not w'hat 
 
 u was once, wath its ornaments of silver and gold, 
 tinsel and baser metals have taken their place. The 
 i Sliver railings and the silver maguey with all the rich 
 
 •*■ k ■' decorations disappeared under a rigid enforcement of 
 
 ' ■ the Laws of the Reform, and all the pictures of the 
 
 life of the Virgin have been taken away. In front of 
 the altar is an onyx slab wath the inscription in Span- 
 ish: "This is the true spot \vhere was found the most 
 ^ -. „,-^. ^^,^ holy Virgin, beneath a maguey, by the Chief, Don 
 
 " " *^ Juan Aguila, in the year 1540; (being the spot) wiiere 
 
 VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE. she said to him, in the time of her appearance to him, 
 that he should search for her." Prior to 1796, when this tablet w^as placed in 
 the floor, the spot was marked by a pillar supporting a maguey, with a carving 
 of the image; the pillar is now in the cloister. Under the main altar rest the 
 bones of the tzin, Don Juan Aguila Tobar, and near by is the chest in which he 
 confined the image to prevent its escape to the maguey. Among the pictures 
 in the church are some illustrating the life of the Virgin, and two, painted in 
 1699 by Francisco de los Angeles, of the Twelve Apostles. 
 
 Guadalupe. — The holiest shrine of all Mexico and its legend the pret- 
 tiest of all legends. 
 
 As we read the little of Aztec history that the Spanish fanatic left unburned 
 we may well wonder at the similarity of their religion to that of the Chris- 
 tians, and we are apt to conclude that the ancient Mexicans were not the pagans 
 they have been painted; true, they practiced human sacrifice, but was it less
 
 143 
 
 in cruelty than in the sacrifice of human life by the Inquisition? The Aztecs 
 waited for the coming of a Christ to save them; Malintzi, the Savior of the 
 Aztecs, was a man of fair countenance, long flowing hair and beard, was of 
 gentle mien and character, was and is to come to save the Mexican; Tonantzin 
 was the Mother of Gods in their religion, and the people worshiped her on the 
 Hill of Tepeyacac, now called Guadalupe, where the Holy Virgin appeared 
 to Juan Diego and where her holiest temple stands. This is the legend: 
 
 A pious Indian, Juan Diego, lived in the village of Tolpetlac. and as he went 
 to mass in the church Santiago Tlaltelolco, passed around the hillside of 
 Tepeyacac, on Saturday morning, December 9th, 1531, he heard the sweet 
 music of singing voices; he was afraid, and, looking up, behold! a lady ap- 
 peared to him and bade him hear what she might say; he should go to the 
 Bishop and tell him that it was her will that a temple in her honor should 
 be built on that hill; he listened tremblingly, on his knees, and when the lady 
 had vanished, went his way and told the 
 Bishop what he had seen and heard. The 
 Bishop was Don Juan Zumarraga; he 
 listened incredulously to the Indian's story 
 and sent him away. Sorrowfully he re- 
 turned to where the lady appeared to him, 
 found her waiting and told the Bishop's 
 answer; she bade him come to her again. 
 On the following day, Sunday. Juan Diego 
 came again to the hillside; the lady ap- 
 peared for the third time and sent him to 
 the Bishop again with her message that a 
 temple should be built for her. The Bish- 
 op, still unbelieving and distrusting the 
 improbable means of conveying such a _ 
 command through this poor Indian, told ^i[ 
 him he must bring some unmistakable 
 token that what he said was true, sent 
 him away again, and, unknown to him, 
 sent two servants to watch him; but as he 
 approached the hill he became invisible in 
 some mysterious way. passed around the hill, and alone saw the lady and told 
 her the Bishop required a token of the truth of her commands; she told him to 
 come to her again the next day. 
 
 Then returned Juan Diego to his house, and found that his uncle, Juan 
 Bernardino, was ill with the fever, cocolixtli, so that he must wait at home and 
 attend him. Early on the morning of December 12th, the sick man being at 
 the point of death. Juan Diego started to Tlaltelolco to call a confessor; fear- 
 ing that he might be delayed if he met the lady, and that his uncle might 
 die unconfessed. he went another way. around the other side of the hill. But 
 behold! she was there, coming down the hill and calling to him; he told her 
 of his uncle's illness and of his need for a confessor, but she assured him that 
 his uncle was already well. Then the lady told him to gather flowers from 
 the barren rocks on top of the hill, and immediately the flowers grew where 
 none had ever been before; she commanded him to take these flowers to the 
 Bishop as the token he had desired, and to show them to no other until the 
 Bishop had looked upon them. 
 
 Joyfully he folded the flowers in his tihna, a sort of cloak made olixtli, a 
 fiber of the maguey, and departed again for the Bishop's house. From the 
 place where the Virgin stood a spring of clear, cold water gushed forth; that 
 
 CHAPEL OF THE WELL, GUADALUPE.
 
 144 
 
 VISION OF JUAN DIEGO. 
 
 is there to this day, a panacea 
 
 for the ills that flesh is heir to. 
 
 When he came to the Bishop's 
 
 house, the Indian dropped the 
 
 flowers at the holy father's feet 
 
 and upon the tilma appeared the 
 
 image of the Virgin, Holy Mary, 
 
 in the most beautiful colors. The 
 
 Bishop placed the wonderful tilma 
 
 with Its miraculous picture in the 
 
 oratory of his house, holding it 
 
 as a priceless treasure. Juan 
 
 Diego, escorted by the Bishop's 
 
 servants, returned to his own 
 
 home and found that his uncle 
 
 was well, cured in the hour when 
 
 the Virgin spake and told him no 
 
 confessor was needed; a chapel 
 
 was built where the roses had so 
 
 miraculously grown from the 
 
 rocks, and on the 7th of February, 
 
 1532, the tilma of the holy image placed over its altar within the shrine. Juan 
 
 Diego and his uncle, Juan Bernardino, became the attendants, and under the 
 
 teachings of Fray Toribio Motolinia, Juan Diego and his wife took vows of 
 
 chastity and remained in the house of the Virgin as her servants till Juan 
 
 Diego died, in 1548. 
 
 The legend has the sanction of Rome, first, under Pope Alexander VII, 
 
 who ordered an investigation by the Congregation of Rites with a view to the 
 
 granting of authority for the perpetuation of the feast of the 12th of Decem- 
 ber, the day of the last appearance of the Virgin to Juan Diego, the day of 
 
 his gathering the roses in his tilma, and the appearance of the image 
 
 when the flowers fell at the Bishop's feet. In 1666 Sehor Don Francisco 
 
 Siles. Dean of the Cathedral, or- 
 ganized a tribunal of investigation 
 consisting of Juan de Poblete, 
 Juan de la Camara, Juan Diez de la 
 Barrera and Nicolas del Puerto, 
 Canons Siles and Antonio de 
 Gama; they went to the village 
 of Cuautitlan, the birthplace of 
 Juan Diego, and had confirmed 
 by the natives, some of whom 
 were over a hundred years old. 
 the truth of the story as they had 
 been taught it by their fathers be- 
 fore them. This and other evi- 
 dence was sent to Rome, but it 
 availed nothing. Cardinal Julio 
 Rospillozzi. who in 1667 was elect- 
 ed Pope, under the title of Clem- 
 ent IX. wTote to the Dean of the 
 Cathedral of Puebla that recogni- 
 tion was impossible because of 
 SECOND APPEARANCE OF THE VIRGIN. the similarity of the legend to that
 
 145 
 
 of the Immaculate Conception; 
 that it seemed superfluous to 
 grant a special office for the fes- 
 tival of Guadalupe. But when he 
 became Pope he was more liberal 
 to the petitioners, and. in the ab- 
 sence of further information, con- 
 tinued the authority for the festi- 
 val. The succeeding pontilifs dur- 
 ing the following century inter- 
 posed no objections to the recog- 
 nition of the Virgin of Guadalupe, 
 but there was no official indorse- 
 ment. Toward the middle of the 
 eighteenth century the Virgin of 
 Guadalupe was made the Patron 
 Saint of Mexico for her protec- 
 tion during the plague of the 
 fnatlanzahuatl in 1736. In 1754, 
 Juan Francisco Lopez, a Jesuit 
 priest, having been sent to Rome third appearance of the virgin. 
 
 for that purpose, secured favorable action by the Congregation of Rites, and the 
 feast of the 12th of December was established by the Papal bull of Benedict 
 XIV. dated 25th of May of that year, and the Virgin of Guadalupe was officially 
 proclaimed the Protectress and Patroness of Mexico, or New Spain. 
 
 On the 15th of September, 1810, when Hidalgo took the banner of this Vir- 
 gin from the little church of Atotonilco and proclaimed the independence of 
 Mexico, "Guadalupe" became the battle-cry of his followers. The first Congress 
 of the Republic of Mexico gave the festival further recognition by making the 
 I2th of December a national holiday through the decree of November 27th, 
 1824, and the day is religiously observed throughout the country, particularly 
 by the Indians, who in former years walked hundreds of miles to present 
 
 themselves before the holy shrine, 
 and since the building of the 
 railroads, come from the utter- 
 most parts by train loads. There 
 are other festivals of the Virgin of 
 Guadalupe, notably that of Jan- 
 uary I2th, when the Archbishop 
 and the clerical dignitaries are 
 present, and the feast is one of 
 splendid magnificence, another on 
 the 22d of November, one on the 
 3d of December, and on the 12th 
 of each month. At the foot of the 
 Hill of Guadalupe is a group of 
 churches, that have grown about 
 the original church of Nuestra 
 Senora de Guadalupe, built by 
 Bishop Zumarraga. afterwards 
 Archbishop of Mexico, who re- 
 ceived the sacred tilma from Juan 
 Diego. The first temple of the 
 APPEARANCE OF THE IMAGE ON THE TILMA. tilma was built and the image
 
 146 
 
 placed in it within fourteen days after the apparition. A hundred years after, 
 a new and larger church was added and the tilma with its miraculous image 
 placed in it, in November of 1622. Here the tilma remained for three hun- 
 dred years, with the exception of four years, when it was housed in the Cathe- 
 dral in the City of Mexico. 
 
 During the great inundation of 1629, when the City was endangered, the 
 Archbishop Francisco JManso y Zuhiga and the viceroy, Marques of Cerralvo, 
 sought the aid of the Virgin for the subsidence of the waters, and to that end 
 brought the holy image of the tilma to the Cathedral. The waters covered 
 the face of the earth in all the valley, and the bringing of the image was in a 
 barge, in which rode the Archbishop, the Viceroy followed in another barge 
 carrying a brilliant company of the dignitaries of church and state. 
 
 This weird and unique procession passed over the waters in the night, 
 the barges and gondolas were lighted with torches and paper lanterns, while 
 the musicians played sacred music and the people sang their hymns to the 
 Virgin. When the flotilla came to streets of the city the image was taken to 
 the Archbishop's residence for the night, whence it was taken the next day 
 to the Cathedral, where it remained four years, till the subsidence of the waters, 
 then taken back to the shrine at the Hill of Guadalupe. 
 
 In 1695 the existing parish church was built and used as a temporary shrine 
 of the Virgin of Guadalupe, while the work on a larger and greater temple 
 progressed, which was dedicated in May, 1709. The arched roof is surmounted 
 by a dome and lantern that is 125 feet from the floor, the supports are massive 
 Corinthian columns. The nave is nearly 200 feet long by 122 feet wide. The 
 original altar was from designs by the great Tolsa. drawn in 1802, but the work 
 was so hindered by the wars from 1810 to 1821 that little or no progress was 
 made, and it was not completed till 1836; the cost to this time was nearly half 
 a million dollars, which, added to the million or more that the churches had 
 cost, made the expenditures nearly two million dollars up to that year. Around 
 the chancel was placed a massive silver railing on a base of white marble, 
 the gift of the Viceroy Bucareli, who lies under the pavement of the west aisle. 
 The choir was of carved mahogany and ebony; there are other carvings in 
 the sacristy, where there are also some paintings and two very curious tables 
 of onyx. This church is what is termed "collegiate," that is. although not the 
 seat of an archbishop or bishop, has the organization of a cathedral. 
 
 In the year 1887 Father Antonio Plancarte y Labastida prepared to carry 
 out a long cherished design for renovation and embellishment of the Church 
 of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and he lived long enough to see the crowning glory 
 in the completion of his work before he put down his burden. Father Plan- 
 carte died in 1898. When the work was commenced the tilma was moved to 
 the adjoining church, one time the convent of the Capuchinas, but not with- 
 out some opposition on the part of the Indians, who ever watch the image with 
 a jealous eye; they are suspicious of every move; and when the work was 
 completed it was replaced in the renewed basilica on the 30th of September, 
 1895, at a very early hour before the break of day, thus avoiding further protests 
 from the Indians. The architects for the renewal of the church were Senor 
 Don Emilio Donde, who was succeeded by Don Juan Agea, who carried the 
 work to completion. On entering the great doorway there is a bewildering 
 sense of the gorgeous magnificence of the scenic interior, and one stands 
 almost in awe, with indecision whether to move on or stand there, and so 
 great is the beauty of the ensemble that it is hardly possible to fix the eye 
 on individual objects; before entering there was a pre-eminent object of seeing 
 the famous tilma, but for the moment even that is forgotten in the glorious 
 harmony of color.
 
 147 
 
 The presbyterum is reached by four separate flights of twelve steps and 
 is paved with diamond slabs of white and black Carrara marble. 
 
 The magnificent altar containing the frame holding the sacred tilma is a 
 mass of Carrara marble white as the snows of Popocatapetl, exquisitely carved 
 and wrought with gilded bronze, executed at Carrara by the sculptor Nicoli 
 from designs by the Mexican artists, Agea and Salome Pina. The bronze work 
 was done in Brussels. On the left, or Gospel side, of the altar is the figure of 
 Juan Zumarraga, on the Epistle, or right side, that of Juan Diego, done in 
 Carrara marble; im- 
 mediately in front is 
 
 the kneeling figure of py^ f | , ^ 
 
 Mgr. Labastida y 
 Davalos, Archbishop 
 of jMexico, under 
 whose care the great 
 work was completed. 
 Under the statue are 
 his ashes and the re- 
 mains of his father 
 and mother. At the 
 top of the frame hold- 
 ing the image on the 
 tilma are the marble 
 reliefs of three angels 
 represe n t i n g the 
 archdioceses of Mex- 
 ico. Michoacan and 
 Guadalajara. which 
 were chiefly instru- 
 mental in securing 
 the Papal authority 
 for the coronation. 
 Above the High 
 Altar is a splendid 
 Byzantine baldachin high altar of guadalupe. 
 
 supported by pillars of Scotch granite, surmounted by a gilded cross of roses, 
 the flowers of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The front arch of the baldachin bears 
 the arms of Pope Leo XIII. the other three arches the arms of the Archbishops 
 of Mexico. Michoacan and Guadalajara, who applied to Pope Leo for permis- 
 sion to crown the image of the tilma. On the baldachin in Gothic letters are the 
 Latin lines composed by Pope Leo XIII, as follows: 
 
 Mexicus heic populus mira sub Imagine gaudet 
 Te colore, alma Parens, praesidioque frui. 
 Per te sic vigeat felix, teque auspice. Christi 
 Immotam servet firmior usque fidem. 
 
 —LEO PP. XIIL 
 Which, being translated, means: 
 
 "The Mexican people i^^joice in worshiping Thee, Holy Mother, under 
 this miraculous Image, and in looking to Thee for protection. 
 
 "May that people through Thee flourish in happiness, and ever, under Thy 
 auspices, grow stronger in the faith of Christ." 
 
 Between the arches of the baldachin are bronze statues representing the 
 cardinal virtues, Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance.
 
 148 
 
 Underneath the High Altar is a crypt with a vaulted iron roof that will 
 sustain a weight of 300,000 pounds. The crypt contains four altars under the 
 High Altar, and has thirty urns for the reception of the ashes of the thirty 
 persons who gave $5,000 each to the cost of the High Altar and the baldachin, 
 the total cost of which was $150,000. 
 
 The blue vaults of the root are studded with gold stars in relief; in fact, 
 the stars are of cedar fastened to the roof. The beams are beautifully decorated 
 in Byzantine designs. The dome is a mass of gilding relieved with festoons 
 of pink roses; the panels are frescoed with figures of the Virgin of Guadalupe 
 and of angels with scrolls, and allegorical attributes of the Virgin. The lantern 
 of the dome is of stained glass, the gift of the College of the Sacred Heart, 
 of San Cosme, Canon Mantilla, J. L. Traslosheros, the Theological Seminary 
 of Durango. J. M. Fierro, Ygnacio Rivero, Guadalupe Ovando and Eduardo de 
 Ovando. The four spaces below the dome show the figures of the four evan- 
 gelists. 
 
 The walls of the basilica are richly decorated with five splendid frescoes, 
 gifts of the diocese of Zacatecas, archdiocese of Durango, diocese of Yucatan, 
 Bishop of San Luis Potosi, and the diocese of Quere- 
 taro. The first fresco to the right on entering, by 
 the artist Don Felipe G. Gutierrez, is a representation 
 of the conversion of the Indians under the benign 
 influence of the Virgin of Guadalupe, who is seen 
 hovering in the air over the groups listening to the 
 preaching of the friars and being baptized by them. 
 The second on the right is by a young Jesuit priest. 
 Fray Gonzalo Carrasco, shows the conveying of the 
 tilma with the sacred image, December 26th, 1531, 
 from the house of Bishop Zumarraga to the first 
 church built for its keeping at the foot of the Hill of 
 [Tepeyacac. It is a solemn procession, with the image 
 borne under a canopy attended by a brilliant coterie 
 of clericals arrayed in gorgeous vestments and gaily 
 costumed cavaliers, with which there is strange con- 
 trast in the sombre garb of the friars and the dress of 
 the Indians. About the canopy and the image are 
 acolytes bearing candles and flambeaux. In the lower 
 right-hand corner is a representation of the first mir- 
 acle performed through the Virgin of Guadalupe: in the fervor of adoration the 
 Indians had been sending arrows and javelins through the air; one of them 
 wounds a young man; his mother runs and begs the people to turn back and 
 care for him, but as the image is borne near the spot where the injured Indian 
 lies his wounds are miraculously healed. The fresco is a splendid piece of work 
 by a fine artist. 
 
 The first fresco from the entrance on the left or west side of the church 
 shows the presentation of the copy of the tilma and the image to Pope Bene- 
 dict XIV by the Jesuit Juan Francisco Lopez, in 1751, in soliciting the Papal 
 authority for the festival and recognition of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The 
 Pontiff is in the act of exclaiming "Non fecit taliter omni Nationi." The 
 picture is a striking one of historic as well as artistic merit. 
 
 The second on the left is by Don Felix Parra. It represents the salvation of 
 the people from the dreadful plague "matlazahuatl." in 1737, by the invocation 
 of the Virgin of Guadalupe by Archbishop Antonio Bizarron y Eguiarreta, who 
 placed the city under her protection and the pestilence departed from the land. 
 In the foreground an Indian smitten with the plague is kneeling in supplica- 
 
 THE CROWN.
 
 149 
 
 tion. beyond in the background is a splendid altar surrounded by a company of 
 gorgeously robed bishops, darkly cassocked priests and gaily attired cavaliers, 
 officers of the city and of the Spanish king. The picture is a brilliant one 
 of harmonizing colors that hold one in earnest contemplation. 
 
 The fresco nearest the altar on the west side is by Sehor Ibarraran y Ponce, 
 representing the taking of the evidence, in 1666. of the Vision for the purpose 
 of sending to Rome for papal recognition. The frescoes bear the names of 
 the donors. 
 
 On the wall between two of the frescoes is an inscription in Latin, which, 
 being translated, says: "The Mexican people, in honor of the Virgin of 
 Guadalupe, who in old time appeared on the Hill of 
 Tepeyac to Juan Diego, erected a holy temple and with 
 all piety venerated the ancient Image. One of the 
 most conspicuous in its cult was the Archbishop 
 Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Davalos. a most 
 munificent restorer of this collegiate church. Now 
 at length, as all had wished, and as the Chapter of 
 the Vatican Basilica had decreed in A. D. 1740. the 
 famous Image, with the sanction of the Supreme 
 Pontiff. Leo XIII. was crowned with a diadem of 
 gold on the fourth day before the Ides of October, 
 1895. Prospero M. Alarcon being Archbishop of 
 Mexico, to stand forever as the shield, the protection 
 and the honor of the ^Mexican people." On each side 
 of this inscription are the names of those who have 
 helped in the building of the church, not only by 
 gifts of money, but in whatever way they may have 
 assisted. In the apse behind the High Altar are mural 
 portraits of the Popes Benedict XIV and Leo XIII, 
 Archbishop Labastida. and Mgr. Alarcon. the arch- 
 bishop at the time of the coronation of the image 
 in 1895, and a painting of the arms of Father Plan- 
 carte. Here also is the family chanel and 
 vault of Sefior Don Antonio de Mier y Cells; 
 the chapel is dedicated to St. Joseph and is 
 most beautifully decorated. The crypt under 
 the chapel is an exact reproduction of the 
 crypt of the Escorial in ]\Iadrid. The three 
 stained glass windows of the chapel are 
 gems of the art and cost $17,000. The altars 
 with family vaults are five in number: that of stone sails of guadalupe. 
 
 Madame ]\Iartinez is dedicated to ^Mexican saints: the altar of San Antonio be- 
 longs to Miguel de Cervantes Estanillo: of San Joachim, to Manuel Fernandez 
 del Castillo, the altar dedicated to the founders of religious orders which la- 
 bored for the conversion of the Indians of Mexico belongs to Father Plancarte, 
 all of which are handsomely decorated. There is also a Chapel of the Sacred 
 Heart. In all there are ten altars in this great church. The fine windows of 
 the church were the gifts of prominent people of Mexico. 
 
 The High Altar holds the sacred tilma in which Juan Diego brought the 
 roses to the Bishop, and on which the Image of the Virgin so miraculously ap- 
 peared. Some years ago a number of artists and scientific men were per- 
 mitted to examine the picture, which they did critically, taking off the plate 
 glass, but they were not able to say that the colors were put on in any manner 
 known to art; they all agreed that the picture was not painted, and by their
 
 150 
 
 decision the mystery of the picture was enhanced and its miraculous origin 
 all but determined. The tilma has remained here in this place for nearly four 
 hundred years; its colors are bright and fresh, while other pictures as old are 
 faded and worn; is it any wonder that the mass of the people believe, since 
 learned men and artists cannot of their learning and art gainsay the legend? 
 
 The adoration of the image on the tilma has not been confined to olden 
 times; it continues, and will continue for all time. The culmination was on the 
 I2th of October, 1895, when a crown of gold and jewels, a galaxy of gems, 
 diamonds, rubies and sapphires, was placed over the tilma. On that day came 
 the pilgrims from every quarter, thronged the church and covered the plain 
 round about. 
 
 It was a magnificent scene to stand upon the hill and look down upon the 
 limitless, numberless multitude of pilgrims, come from the remotest corners of 
 Mexico and assembled here without the walls, for only hundreds could get 
 within the sacred portals, the unsheltered thousands knelt in mute adoration, 
 with bowed heads, in the dust of the salty plain, and listened to the tolling of 
 the bells in the tower when the jeweled, golden crown was raised to the brow 
 of the Virgin of Guadalupe, then fell down and kissed the ground in the fervor 
 of their adoration and blessed the memory of good Juan Diego. 
 
 Within, under the arches of the vaulted temple, were gathered the digni- 
 taries of the Holy Church of Rome, come from all the sees and bishoprics of 
 the western world, to render homage, and in all the pomp and ceremony of the 
 church, with mitered heads and in gorgeous robes, lifted up their voices ni 
 adulation to the Queen of Heaven, and bowed down before her image on the 
 Indian's tilma. In priestly procession the chief apostles of the church came 
 from the robing rooms in gorgeous attire, passed through the crowded corri- 
 dors till they came and gathered around the Archbishop's throne, and then 
 came the bearers of the jeweled crown, almost hidden in clouds of incense, 
 while a choir of boyish voices chanted anthems of praise. 
 
 There was a clangor of bells, across the plain booming cannon reverberated 
 against the hills that throw their lengthened shadows over the valley of Mex- 
 ico. Thousands and thousands of pilgrims had gathered at the Hill of Guada- 
 lupe, and the darkened spots here and there in the plain showed where other 
 pilgrims were plodding to their Mecca, footsore and weary, yet straggling on 
 to join the throng of devotees— and quickened their pace when faintly came 
 the tolling of the bells, and as the roll of the artillery announced the hour, 
 they knew the time was at hand. 
 
 The glad news had gone over ev^rv hill, down to every valley and oyer all 
 the plains of Mexico, that the coronation of Guadalupe was to be on this day. 
 The news went not by advertisement or printed paper, but on the wings of the 
 wind. The birds of the air told it to the people, and they came and knelt at 
 the hill of Guadalupe, that was called Tepayacac. 
 
 The crown is of gold and precious stones, contributed by the women of 
 Mexico from their own jewels, and was made by a Parisian goldsmith at a cost 
 of over $30,000 for manufacture alone. In shape it is an imperial diadem. 62 
 centimeters high and 130 centimeters in circumference. There are 22 shields 
 representing the 22 bishoprics of Mexico. Above these are angels circling the 
 crown and upholding six other shields bearing the arms of the six Arch- 
 bishoprics of Mexico. From the wings of the angels are festoons of roses and 
 diamonds gathered at the top under a globe showing Mexico and the Gulf. 
 
 Surmounting the whole is the eagle of Mexico bearing in its talons a dia- 
 mond cross. The crown is held above the image on the tilma by a cherub. The 
 shields are surrounded by emeralds and sapphires, and on the breast of
 
 151 
 
 each angel is a blazing ruby. Altogether it is the finest jewel used in religious 
 ceremonies in existence. 
 
 At the coronation the ladies who gave their jewels for the crown carried it 
 to the steps of the throne of the Archbishop, where the Papal brief author- 
 izing the coronation was read, and the notarial certificates of the action made, 
 and it was received by the Archbishop amid the clangor of bells and salvos of 
 artillery. 
 
 A solemn mass was said, and then the crown was carried in grand procession 
 through the assembled congregation, and when it had returned again to the 
 throne the Archbishop of Mexico, assisted by the Archbishop of Alichoacan, 
 ascended the platform and exactly at noon placed the crown in its place over 
 the head of the Virgin of Guadalupe above the tilma of Juan Diego, and the 
 coronation was done. 
 
 It was the scene of a lifetime; women were overcome with emotion and 
 men moved with the enthusiasm of the hour. Not alone were they Mexicans 
 who were here to take part; there were Archbishops and Bishops from other 
 countries, from the United States, Canada and Cuba. The Archbishop of New 
 York, of Quebec and of Santiago de Cuba and the Bishops from everywhere, 
 none too high to give him reverence whose homely service brought the 
 flowers in his tilma and poured them down at the feet of good old Zumarraga, 
 and held before the first bishop the first image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. 
 
 The event of the coronation revived the discussion of the authenticity of the 
 tilma and the miage; one bishop at least, the Bishop of Tamaulipas, dis- 
 sented and preached against it. and the great agnostic, Senor Don Juan ]\Ia- 
 teos. who has been called the Ingersoll of Mexico, opened the flood gates of 
 his splendid oratory against the story of the tilma and eulogizing the advance- 
 ment which he sees in the unbelief of a bishop of the Church. But the legend 
 will go on forever, and it can do no harm, even if it only serves 
 for a pretty story, it will live; but it will do more than that 
 among the people whence Juan Diego came, if it brings the 
 story of the Holy Child home to them. The controversy brought 
 forth an edict from the Archbishop of Mexico which calls atten- 
 tion to the tradition of the centuries, the approval of the Popes, 
 and while not putting down the apparition as an 
 article of faith, the edict says finally in exhortation: 
 "Preserve, therefore, the traditions which you have 
 inherited from your forefathers and hold indelibly 
 in your memory the words which Lorenzana caused 
 to be written with regard to the first Archbishop 
 of Mexico, Dr. Zumarraga. Heaven rewarded his 
 apostolic labors and his painful diocesan vis- 
 its made on foot by vouchsafing the appari- 
 tion to him on December 12th, 1531, of the 
 miraculous image of Our Lady of Guada- 
 lupe, a favor which kindled in his heart 
 such flames of devotion towards that Holy 
 Queen that at his own expense he began 
 the construction of the first chapel in her 
 " honor, there to satisfy his own devotion 
 and that of the faithful by an incessant round of 
 services." Then came, by the Archbishop's order, 
 fiestas more elaborate and brilliant than ever be- 
 fore, the people came as they never came before, 
 BEGGAR ON THE STAIRS. and as they will come on forever to worship at the
 
 152 
 
 Hill of Guadalupe. The great church fronts on the main plaza of the City of 
 Guadalupe, opposite the street that leads to the causeway over which the street 
 cars pass to and from the City of Mexico ; the cars pass the church and stop 
 under the trees of the little alameda which adjoins it on the east side. The 
 church is a massive stone structure with a tall tower, filled with bells, on each 
 corner; the southwest tower holds the town clock; the towers are over a hun- 
 dred feet high. The center fagade, through which is the main door, is of stone 
 and marble whiteness, handsomely sculptured ; twenty stone columns support 
 the elaborately carved friezes of the first and second elevations ; between the sets 
 of two columns are life-size figures, also in stone. Immediately over the 
 main entrance and in the center of the fagade is a sculptured representation of 
 the scene in the Bishop's house when Juan Diego let the roses fall from his 
 tilma, disclosing the image of the Virgin. In the center of the arched roof 
 is a massive dome, the lantern of which is 125 feet above the floor of the 
 church. 
 
 Adjoining the church on the east side is the ancient convent, called in old 
 times Santa Coleta. later as the Capuchinas de Nuestra Scnora de Guada- 
 lupe. The first movement toward the establishment of the convent was in 1575, 
 again in 1707, but it was not authorized until 1780, and the building not com- 
 pleted till 1787. The convent was closed and the nuns expelled by the Laws of 
 the Reform, and the building relegated to church and school uses. The convent 
 and church was erected at a cost of nearly a quarter of a million dollars. This 
 old structure is after the conventional style of church architecture in ^Mexico, 
 and has principally its antiquity to interest the visitor, and again as the abiding 
 place of the image on the tilma for many years. The Capilla del Pocito, the 
 chapel of the well, is just beyond the little park of trees on the east of the 
 church — a beautiful little chapel with a dome of glazed tiles that covers the 
 spring of water that gushed from where the Virgin stood as she sent the Indian 
 away with the flowers. The spring is just inside the door of the chapel, beyond 
 it, under the dome, is the altar and a carved pulpit supported b}" an image of 
 Juan Diego; on the walls are paintings of the various visions of the Virgin. 
 This chapel was completed in 1791 at a cost of over $50,000; the architect was 
 Don Francisco Guerrero y Torres, who gave his services free. Just opposite 
 the Chapel of the Well on the rise of the hill is the spot where the Virgin ap- 
 peared in one of the visions ; the spot was marked by a pillar supporting an 
 image of the Virgin. 
 
 Commencing here is the ascent of the hill by means of a stone stair- 
 way that leads to the Capilla del Cerrito, the Chapel of the Hill. About 
 half way up the stairs are the Stone Sails of Guadalupe, and thereby hangs 
 a tale : Some sailors in dire distress in a storm-tossed ship that had lost her 
 rudder, prayed to the Virgin of Guadalupe and vowed that if she would 
 bring them safe to land they would carry the foremast to the Hill of Guada- 
 lupe and set the sails before her shrine. There the sails are to this day, in- 
 cased in stone, a memorial to the protecting power of the Virgin. The date 
 of the placing of this curious work remains untold in the annals of Guada- 
 lupe. The walk up the stone stairs is a long one, but not tiresome if you 
 stop here and there, as you will, to see the magnificent panorama that grows 
 wider at every step till it spreads out in one grand, glorious picture, the like 
 of which is nowhere else in the world. "Ihe towers and domes of the churches 
 at the foot of the hill are beneath your feet ; beyond the towers the village of 
 Guadalupe ; across the plain the city and lakes, and surrounding all the moun- 
 tains, dimly, beautifully blue.
 
 153 
 
 The Capilla del Ccrrifo, the "chapel of the Httle hill," is built on the 
 spot where grew the roses in the barren rock, that sprang up at the Virgin's 
 word for Juan Diego to gather and take to the Bishop in token of her wish 
 for a temple there. Until the year 1660 the place was marked only by a 
 wooden cross ; at that time a little chapel was built there on the top of the 
 hill by Don Cristobal de Aguirre, who made an endowment of $1,000 for a 
 solemn service to be held on the 12th of December of each year in memory 
 of the vision of the Virgin. The chapel as it now stands was built by the 
 Presbitero Don Juan de Montufar in the early part of the eighteenth century; 
 he built also the stone stairway from the plain to the top of the hill. Back 
 of the chapel is a pretty little cemetery, where rest the remains of many 
 prominent ^lexicans, among whom lies buried the famous General and Dic- 
 tator, Santa Ana. A winding path leads down the west slope of the hill, afford- 
 ing an easy descent. About half way down is a curious little grotto in a tiny 
 garden ; the grotto is decorated with mosaics ingeniously laid in the rocky 
 clefs, the work of some of the servitors of the church. 
 
 Thus, going to the right of the church and old convent, through the little 
 park to the Chapel of the Well, thence up the stone stairs to the "'Chapel of 
 the Little Hill, down the path on the west slope, one passes around the 
 charmed circle of churches, chapels and shrines, and near the places where 
 the Virghi appeared to Juan Diego. The first two visions were on the side 
 of the hill, on its southern slope, near where the great church now stands, 
 on Saturday, December 9th, 1531 ; the third and fourth visions, the next 
 morning and afternoon. Sunday, loth, near the same spot. The fifth and last 
 appearance of the Virgin, Tuesday, December 12th, was on the spot marked 
 by the Chapel of the Well; the waters gushed forth from where she stood. 
 The roses were found on top of the hill where the Chapel of the Little Hid 
 now stands. The village of Guadalupe was made a town by a royal order of the 
 King of Spain in 1748. The Congress of the Republic of Mexico granted a char- 
 ter on the I2th of February. 1828, which raised the town to the dignity of a city, 
 and in the City of Guadalupe was signed the treaty of pence that was the 
 closing act of the war between the United States and Mexico, called the 
 treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, dated February 2d, 1848. Electric cars leave the 
 Piaza Mayor, immediately in front of the Cathedral in the City of Mexico, and 
 run in a northeasterly direction, after leaving the streets of the city, across the 
 plain to Guadalupe ; the route of the cars is on one of the two old causeways 
 of the Aztecs and Spaniards that led from the city to Tepeyacac. The two 
 causeways run side by side ; the eastern causev. ay. occupied by the street car 
 tracks, is the oldest — was built by the Aztecs, repaired and enlarged by the Span- 
 ish in 1604-6. ^ The western is not so ancient ; it is called Calzada Nueva, "the 
 new causeway," now occupied by the tracks of the Mexican (Vera Cruz) Rail- 
 way, was built in 1675-6. This new calzada was the great highway to Guadalupe 
 and the route of the processions from the Cathedral and the churches in 
 the city to the shrine of Guadalupe. The road was paved, the little arched, 
 bridges were of cut stone; about half way was a beautiful glorieta or circle; 
 and at intervals along the road were shrines or altars of cut stone, beautifully 
 sculptured ; there were fifteen of them, dedicated to the fifteen mysteries of 
 the rosary, where the pilgrims uttered the appropriate prayer at each as he 
 passed by. Some of the shrines remain ; they may be seen from car windows or 
 from the street cars on the adjoining causeway. 
 
 The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the holiest shrine in all Mexico, 
 and many pilgrims come to pray and to look upon the glories thereof.
 
 154
 
 The Cities and Towns of flexico. 
 
 There were cities in Mexico before the European who discovered the 
 country was born, aye, cities with hundreds of thousands within their gates, 
 a thousand years before the city was built that boasts the discoverer's birth, 
 and towns were there on the plains, and on the lake shore, and on a hundred 
 hills, looking down to the valleys below, where villages nestled in their shadows. 
 These have passed away, and only their ruined temples, here and there, have 
 left their pillars and graven walls, uncovered by the sands of fieeting cen- 
 turies, in unrefuted evidence of a splendid magnificence and pre-historic civili- 
 zation. 
 
 And there were cities and towns in Mexico when the greatest of these in 
 the United States of the North were but straggling villages. Their streets 
 were paved with stone, while the grass grew in ours, the shadows of high 
 walls shaded the passers by, instead of the trees that made the shady side of 
 our thoroughfares, and the first that is written here was a city nearly a hun- 
 dred years before the Mayflower unloaded its cargo on Plymouth Rock. 
 
 These remain till this day. and the traveler of the newer cities of the North 
 may come and walk in the same paved pathways, pass under the same dark- 
 ening arches, may bow down at the altars that were reared when the stones 
 of the Pilgrims' churches were unquarried. and he may live under a roof 
 that may have sheltered a courtly cavalier of old Spain, come here attendant 
 at a vice-regal court. The streets of the then, are the streets of the now, and 
 the oldest inhabitant knows not, except from history, when his house was 
 built. 
 
 I have not chosen to put one before the other here; I have written of them 
 in the order of their curious names, alphabetically as to the letters of their 
 spelling, leaving the pronunciation all to you, and to the native who tells 
 you how. 
 
 Acattibaro. On the 19th of September. 1526, Nicolas Montafies de San 
 Ak-kam'-baro Luis. an Otomite ally of the Spaniards, who was also Ca- 
 cique of Xilotepec, declared Acambaro a city, and the next day, with afl the 
 pomp and circumstance of state, he marched his soldiers up and down the 
 plain where the streets were to be, and coming to the place where the plaza 
 now is. a mass was said in a temporary chapel, on the spot where now stands 
 the parish church, and the Church of San Francisco was named that day. 
 After the religious ceremonies, the first city election was held, that is, Don 
 Nicolas appointed the officers, and Acambaro became a full-fledged city, nearly 
 four hundred years ago. 
 
 155
 
 166 
 
 There was no mushroom growth in the advancement of the town. The 
 date of its founding is recorded, but not so the date of its completion, and 
 if we may judge from its narrow streets, the tumble-down houses and neglected 
 plaza, its finishing must have been a century or so ago, and the chiefest 
 charm is in its antiquity. It is the same old Tarascan town that Nicolas 
 Montanes intended it should be, and the coming of the railroad has not dis- 
 turbed its siesta. The trains come and go, and the people ask not whence 
 they come or where they go, neither do they car3. 
 
 The Tarascans gave the town its name as meaning "the place of the 
 maguey," though little of it grows in the surrounding fertile plains, the lands 
 being tilled in more valuable products. Located on the King's highway to 
 the Pacific Coast, it was a trading place of note many years ago, and it was 
 then that the great stone bridge over the Lerma was built, and later, in 1810, 
 Hidalgo concentrated his troops at Acambaro, with the intention of march- 
 ing to the Capital. When the railway builders came they found the place 
 in the way of their lines, and it became — a place to change cars, that's all. 
 A day at Acambaro may not be, by any means, the least delightful. A min- 
 ute's walk from the handsome stone station and the tracks, will take you 
 backward another century, and (if you hear not the whistle or the engine 
 bell) to another country strange and quaint. There is no way to ride, and 
 there is no need to; you must walk and you will prefer to, through Amargura 
 Street, passing the fourteen capillas chiquitas, the stations of the cross, to 
 the church of Soledad. at the top of a little hill, coming back another way 
 to the plaza, where you may rest under the great trees. 
 
 Near by is the church of San Francisco with its deserted convent, one 
 of the oldest in all Mexico and one that has never been closed for repairs, 
 though there is a new and unfinished chapel that was commenced in 1850 
 as a thank offering for the escape of the town from cholera, intended to be 
 dedicated by Fray Macedonio Romero to Nuestra Senora del Refugios, but 
 it was never finished. These and the Church of Guadalupe are all to be 
 seen. 
 
 Near the railway track, about a quarter of a mile from the station, is 
 the great stone bridge across the Lerma that was built, long ago, in the old 
 Spanish days; the massive arches and columned entry-ways make an antique 
 picture that is in consonance with the sleepy old town. The water supply 
 is conducted from the hills in an aqueduct, built by a Franciscan brother, 
 Antonio Bermul, in 1527. In all the years of its existence Acambaro has at- 
 tained but 10,000 inhabitants, and there is nothing modern in the place except 
 the railway station, which is also the hotel where travelers may find rooms 
 and meals in a more modern style than at the one on the plaza. Located 
 in the State of Guanajuato. Acambaro is on the main line of the Mexican 
 National Railroad, 178 miles from the City of ^Mexico, and at the junction 
 of the western division of that road running to IMorelia and Patzcuaro. 
 
 A c a p u 1 c o. On the west coast of Mexico at Acapulco is the finest 
 Ah-ka-pull'-ko harbor of that country, and the second finest in the world; 
 surrounded as it is by high mountains with only a narrow tortuous pas- 
 sage to the sea, it is completely land locked and is picturesque to a degree. 
 Through the western rim of the hills an artificial cut has been made to ad- 
 mit the sea breezes — it is called El Abra de San Nicolas. 
 
 Acapulco was early made a fortified town as it was a seaport with a deep 
 water harbor, and was garrisoned by the Spanish early in their occupa- 
 tion of the country, and remained in their possession till the close of the war 
 for Independence, with the exception of a few days when the fort was taken 
 by the patriot army of Morelos, at that time under the immediate command
 
 157 
 
 of an American, a Tennessean, Col. Ellis P. Bean, who for a long time had 
 been a prisoner in the fort at Acapulco, having been sent there from Chi- 
 huahua and confined in the dungeons for nearly three years, but escaped, 
 joined the republican army under Morelos, and took his revenge in tak- 
 ing the City. 
 
 The importance of Acapulco will be greatly enhanced by the completion of the 
 Cuernavaca division of the Mexican Central Ry., that not only connects it with 
 
 THE BASKET WEAVER'S DAUGHTER. 
 
 the City of Mexico, the railway system of the interior, but opens up a market 
 for the extensive mineral and agricultural products of the State of Guerrero, 
 Lummis says of Acapulco: "It is all the picture of a dream. The soft 
 green of the bay — to which not even the Pacific ground swell can enter — 
 is cut by the sombre green of the beachless hills. At the water's edge, here 
 and there, rise high plumed heads of palms, with glimpses of plantations be- 
 tween their colonnades. On a long narrow strand of the northern shore 
 are strung the irregular white beads of the town, ended at the left by the
 
 158 
 
 truncate hill — at the right by the gray old fort. Than Acapulco there is no 
 better type of the JMexican tierra caliente. It is the jewel of all tropic Amer- 
 ica; artistically it has no superior in any land, and in this hemisphere no 
 equal." 
 
 The harbor of Acapulco was discovered by Cortez in 1531, and he sailed 
 from this port on his voyage up the west coast to Sinaloa, and from this 
 port also sailed May 9th, 1540, Don Hernando de Alarcon, the discoverer 
 of California; from Acapulco the galleon carried the commerce of Spain that 
 had crossed the Atlantic and the continent, to her colonies in the Philippines 
 for more than a century. 
 
 THE DRAWN WORK OF AGUAS CALIENTES 
 
 Aguas Calieutes. The name of this city may not be difficult of re- 
 
 Ah'-was Cal-i-en'-tees membrance. It may have impressed itself upon 
 
 your mind, if you were a traveler in Mexico in the early days of railroads 
 there, when some friend, better posted on the language, had coached you 
 how to ask for something you did not get — for the hot water that never 
 came. Aguas Calientes is a veritable city of hot water, and the citizens are 
 in it most of the time, as may be seen, even from the windows of the passing 
 train. 
 
 The hot springs, that have made the city famous, are about a mile from 
 the station, on the east side, and at the springs the first baths were estab- 
 lished, curiously named after John the Baptist and the Apostles, with their 
 names written over the doors, with the figures indicating the temperature of
 
 159 
 
 each particular Apostle. The ditch, which is the waste-way from the springs, 
 runs alongside the avenue, shaded by immense trees, crossing the track at 
 the station. Here were the scenes that have been talked of, and written of, 
 where the people came for their baths, and for their laundry, at one and the 
 same time. At first thought, the idea does not seem effulgent with dazzling 
 features — but the one of economy, both as to time and clothes, and the at- 
 tendant laundry expenses, should not be overlooked. One need have but one 
 suit, that can be washed and dried while you w^ait, the intervening time oc- 
 cupied by your own bath, with the added experience of every man his own 
 washerwoman being fully realized. 
 
 The scene along this hot-water canal, and at the pools, was an interesting 
 one — not always on the bills, as the theater people say. Looking up from 
 the station platform there was a long line of busy beings striving at a com- 
 pliance with nature's first law. They were in all stages of beginning, con- 
 tinuing or completing the ablution or the laundry, with, as a writer says, no 
 
 THE PORTALES, AGUAS CALIENTES. 
 
 Other protection than the blue sky of heaven and the Republic of Mexico; 
 babies tied to a string paddled in the warm waters, while their mothers tended 
 strictly to the business in hand. The picture was brightened by the many- 
 colored garments hung out to dry on the bushes that hereabouts did duty 
 as clothes lines. These things have been changed somewhat, bath houses 
 have been erected for the free use of the public, one on each side of the 
 Paseo very near the station, one for women, the other for men, so the bathers 
 that were along the waste ditches have gone into these bath houses, or the 
 fields beyond. A wide avenue with great overhanging trees affords a shady 
 drive, or horse-car ride, from the main plaza and the railway station to the 
 baths at the head waters, or for a fine walk if you are equal to one of a mile. 
 There are other baths in the city, near the station and near the plaza. These, 
 with the delightful climate of Aguas Calientes, render the stop an attractive 
 one.
 
 160 
 
 Like the old-fashioned towns of Tennessee, these in Mexico have a public 
 square, here called the plaza. The one at Aguas Calientes is beautiful with 
 its trees and Howers, winding walks, the towering monument over all ; in the 
 center is the band-stand, where sweet music entertains the people in the 
 evenings, and, on the four sides, fine buildings make this plaza a very at- 
 tractive one. The monument seems unfinished, but it is, or was. Originally 
 it was surmounted by a statue of Ferdinand VII, erected to commemorate 
 the founding of the city, October 22, 1575. The Mexicans were wont to throw 
 things down in times of war, even if they set them up again when the war 
 was over. The statue was thrown down, but never replaced, and the monu- 
 ment is now utilized to perpetuate other data in the city's history. There are 
 a dozen other plazas, including the very beautiful Jardin de San Marcos and 
 the Tivoli de Hidalgo, reached by the horse cars after a very short ride. 
 Near the main plaza, two squares north, are the markets, always interesting in 
 Mexico, and here especially so. 
 
 At any season the visit to Aguas Calientes may be made, but during al- 
 ficsta dc San Marcos is the best time to see the city in all its glory. The 
 feast commences April 23, and extends till May 10, when St. Mark takes pos- 
 session of the town, and all business is given over to merriment and turkeys, 
 this season being as disastrous to the latter as a November Thursday in "los 
 Est ad OS Unidos." 
 
 The chief product of Aguas Calientes is the "drawn-work" — the making of 
 which is the sole occupation of a large percentage of the people, and while not 
 engaged in its manufacture they are at the station to sell it. The finest linen 
 is drawn in the most intricate and exquisite designs — the fame of this work has 
 gone abroad and every woman traveler waits up till she arrives at Aguas. 
 
 Tne public buildings are very fine, indeed. The Palacio dc Gohicrno, State 
 House and Casa Municipal are on the main plaza, and adjoining it the Teatro 
 Morelos. The Parian market is one square north of the plaza. On the Jardin 
 de San Marcos is the Salon de Exposition and Scientific Institute. The 
 parish church has some very fine pictures, painted by Andreas Lopez, in 1797, 
 depicting the life of San Juan Nepomuceno. In the other churches are some 
 really fine pictures, notably, an Adoration of the Magi, by Jose de Alzibar, 
 in 1775, and another canvas of his is in the Church of San Juan de Dios. 
 Perhaps the best paintings of the Stations of the Cross, in Mexico, are at 
 the Church of the Encino, also by Andreas Lopez. In the Church of San 
 Francisco are some good pictures, one representing scenes from the life of 
 St. Francis, by Juan Correa, painted in 1681, another is the Vision of St. 
 Anthony of Padua. Under the church are the bones and bodies of mum- 
 mied monks. Aguas Calientes is an important city of 36,000 people, located 
 on the main line of the Mexican Central Railway, 364 miles from the City 
 of Mexico, six miles from the junction of the Tampico Division at Chicalote ; 
 the railway company has extensive shops and an employes' hospital at Aguas 
 Calientes. 
 
 A m e c a. On the Western Division of the Mexican Central Railway, 
 
 Ah-may'-cah 55 miles west of Guadalajara, is in the center of a rich mining 
 and agricultural district. 
 
 Amecameca, One may go out from the City of Mexico to the foot of 
 Ah-may'-ca-may'-ca the great volcanoes before breakfast, but not as the newly 
 arrived tourist at Denver did. when he thought, from the marvelously clear 
 atrnosphere, that he would walk out to Pike's Peak. You may take an early 
 train from San Lazaro station in the city, and arrive at Amecameca in less 
 than two hours.
 
 161 
 
 Amecameca lies on the plain just at the foot of Popocatepetl and Ixtacci- 
 huatl, and for the near views and the ascent one must go to Ameca — the name 
 has recently been shorn of one "meca." The train rounds a curve and comes 
 to a stop just at the foot of the Sacred Mountain. A wooded hill lies on the 
 right of the track, and just below^ the station is a stone-paved causeway, marked 
 at intervals by the stations of the cross ; it leads to the shrine on the top 
 of the Sacro Monte. This causeway was- built for the processions that, during 
 the fiestas of Holy Week, pass between the shrine and the parish church. 
 Once upon a time, very many years ago, there lived on this mountain a 
 good, kind old man. He lived in a cave and was so gentle and kind that 
 the birds came and sang to him, and the little animals of the forest played 
 about his door, and followed close on his footsteps. He was Fray Martin 
 de Valencia, one of the "Twelve Apostles" of ^Mexico, sent by Pope Adrian 
 VI as a missionary to the Indians, with the title of Vicar of New Spain. 
 
 STONE STAIRWAY, SACRO MONTE. 
 
 The Fray was greatly beloved by the people, and when he died and was 
 buried at Tlalmanalco, it is said that the Indians secretly removed and buried 
 him in the cave where he had lived so happily. The cave is now a part of 
 the shrine, in which is kept a very curious image of the Christ of the Holy 
 Sepulchre. It is made of some very light material, probably the pith of the 
 alder, or some like porous substance, that, although it is life-size, weighs 
 only about two or three pounds. The legend goes, that some men were con- 
 veying, on the backs of mules, images intended for another part of the coun- 
 try, and that one of the mules strayed from the train, made his way up the
 
 162 
 
 side of the mountain, stopped in the entrance of the cave, and waited there. 
 This was taken as a token that the image was to abide there; it was placed 
 in the cave and has remained there till this day — except, that on Ash Wednes- 
 day of each year it is carried, with great pomp and ceremony, from the shrine 
 to the parish church, where it remains till Good Friday, and is then returned 
 to its abiding place. 
 
 This is the great fiesta of the year at Amecamcca. The pilgrims come from 
 
 POPOCATEPETL FROM AMECAMECA. 
 
 all parts of the country to see what we call the Passion Play, just previous to 
 the return of the image to the shrine. The enaction of the Crucifixion, by 
 Indian actors, is curiously interesting, and when, after nightfall on Good 
 Friday, the image starts on its return, a great multitude with torches follow 
 up the stone steps of the causeway, some of the more devout crawling on 
 their knees up the rough hillside, a scene wondrously weird and altogether 
 indescribable; you look upon it with awe, and it is well that this is so, as 
 any indication of contempt or amusement might be resented.
 
 163 ^ 
 
 On the crest of the hill of Sacro Monte is the shrine of Guadalupe, where 
 there are some fairly good pictures of the saints and of the Virgin of the 
 Castle, by Villalobos. In the hard clay of the mountain are seen crude rep- 
 resentations of the cross, and on the trees and bushes are little pieces of 
 the dress of the pilgrims, hairs from their heads, or some other token of 
 their devotion left there for dnena fortuna. From the crest of the hill at 
 Guadalupe is the finest view of the volcanoes, the plain and city. The parish 
 
 IXTACCIHUATL FROM SACRO MONTE. 
 
 church of Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion and San Sebastian is on the plaza 
 and near the railway station, founded by the Dominicans, in 1547. It is quite 
 an extensive building, with a mutilated figure of San Sebastian over the en- 
 trance, said mutilation resulting from the earthquake of 1884. which' also 
 destroyed the tower of San Juan and furnished material for the building of 
 the Casa Municipal, on the Plaza Mayor. 
 
 Adjoining the church is an abandoned chapel, and between them an open 
 court filled with old sepulchres, as is the church yard. Over the door of this
 
 164 
 
 Capilla de la Santa Escuela is i glazed tile, with an inscription to Yturbide, 
 the liberator, asking the prayers of the people for the repose of his soul. 
 In the eastern part of the town is the little chapel of the Rosario, with some 
 excellently carved doors, altars and images of Santa Ana and San Jose. 
 
 To ascend the volcanoes of Popocatepetl you must come to Amecameca. 
 The ascent is attended with more fatigue than danger. It takes three days 
 to accomplish it; the first is going from the Amecameca to the rancho of 
 the owners of the mountain; the second from the rancho to the crater and 
 return; and the third by the return to the plain. Permission must be ob- 
 tained from the owner in the City of Mexico, guides at Amecameca, good 
 warm clothing and a plentiful supply for the inner man must be taken along. 
 The ascent is slow, as the guides must go ahead with ropes, but the descent 
 takes less time; you sit down on a mat of rushes and w-h-s-h-t! you are back 
 at the rancho — at least that's the way the sulphur miners in the crater go 
 and return from work. 
 
 You may have the grandest view of the world, and a toboggan slide 
 which, if it ends in your favor, you will never forget, and if it ends ad- 
 versely for you, your friends will remember it, and you will have the highest 
 and whitest monument on earth for them to point to; you would gain a 
 monument which might not be accorded you if you had not made the as- 
 cent, but really there is more of discomfort than danger. 
 
 Amecameca is on the Interoceanic Railway, thirty-five miles from the 
 City of Mexico. 
 
 There are no horse cars or carriages and none are needed; all that is 
 here to be seen may be reached on foot, with no tiring distances. 
 
 Catorce. Nearly every town in Mexico has a name that may be trans- 
 
 Kah-tor'-see lated to mean something. Catorce means, in the Spanish 
 language, fourteen. It is a mining town; the mines were discovered by a 
 band of bandits, fourteen in number, and for want of a better name it was 
 called the Real de Catorce. Silver was discovered here about the year 1780, 
 and the district at once took rank among the most important in Mexico. 
 Ore of fabulous richness was found, and the records show that for more 
 than thirty years, commencing with 1790, the value of the output amounted 
 to over three million dollars annually. Here are hundreds of mines and miles 
 of shafting and tunneling. The drainage tunnel of one mine alone, the San 
 Agustin. extends into the mountain for more than a mile and a half, and 
 was excavated at a cost of a million and a half dollars. For its entire length 
 a tramway has been constructed which is operated by mule power. Catorce 
 should be one of the very interesting places in Mexico to the tourist. Here 
 are found the customs of Mexico in their purity, unaffected by the influence 
 of the stranger. Difficult of access, the town can only be reached by horse- 
 back, or on foot. The ride up the mountains to the town is something, once 
 accomplished, always to be remembered, partly from its element of personal 
 peril, but more because of the beauty of the landscape encountered at every 
 turn. Glancing down as you near your journey's end, you catch the gleam 
 of the white walls of the town of Los Catorce outlined against the green 
 of the mountain side. Thousands of feet below shimmer the waters of a 
 mountain stream. The shifting coloring of the mountains, as light and shade 
 chase each other over their ragged expanse, the browns and greens of the 
 valley far below, and the hills in the hazy distance, are exceedingly beautiful. 
 The Real de Catorce is built on the side of a ravine near the top of the 
 range, and has a varying population of from 8,000 to 22,000, as the mines 
 are paying poorly or well. Here are found all varieties of silver ore, from 
 carbonate to refractory ore, assaying $15,000 to the ton. Catorce has a fine
 
 165 
 
 church, richly decorated, and a pretty plaza, the only level spot in the place. 
 To use a railroad phrase, it is a combination of a cut and a fill, so that to 
 tumble into it on one side or out on the other would be extremely disastrous. 
 The streets are neatly paved, and run up and down hill, many of them at an 
 angle of forty-five degrees. 
 
 The story of the wheels or, rather, the no-wheels, is a true one, literally, 
 with the single exception in the conveying (was about to say "carting," but 
 conveying is better), a carriage on burros to the city by a rich mine owner, 
 but was abandoned; the wheels would roll one way easily enough, but it was 
 dif^cult to get back to the starting point, and the innovation of wheels at 
 Catorce was not accomplished. 
 
 Catorce may be reached by horses or burro-back from the station of the 
 same name, on the Mexican National Railroad. 471 miles from the City of 
 Mexico, or from Vanegas by a branch road that runs to the city. 
 
 CATORCE. 
 
 Campeche. The capital of the State of the same name is on the 
 Cam-pay-che west shore of the peninsula of Yucatan, and the State 
 of Carnpeche was once a province of Yucatan. The wide Bay of Cam- 
 peche extends from Cape Palma across to Vera Cruz, with scarcely a good 
 harbor on its long shore line; the open roadstead at Campeche where the San 
 Francisco River empties is only ten to twelve feet deep, six miles from shore. 
 Campeche was founded by the Spanish about 1550 and soon came to be a 
 walled city as a protection against privateers and buccaneers that infested 
 these shores in the early days, and the city was three times looted within 
 twenty-six years. 
 
 The site of the city has been twice changed, but it is probably perma- 
 nently located now over the old Maya, underground chambers dug out for 
 what no one knows, except the long dead Mayas. 
 
 The Plaza de la Independenpia is a picturesque place in the city's center,
 
 166 
 
 where the band plays in the evening an.d the people parade under the shade of 
 tropical trees. 
 
 In the interior not far from Campeche are some remains of ancient temples, 
 or palaces, not unlike those of Uxmal in Yucatan, though not so extensive. 
 
 A railroad from Campeche to Merida was completed and opened for traffic 
 in July, 1898. but there is as yet no connection with the interior system of the 
 Republic, and Campeche must be reached by ships plying the waters of the 
 Gulf of Alexico. 
 
 Celaya. It was more than three hundred years ago that the fame of the 
 
 See-li'-ya beautiful Laja Valley came to the ears of the Spanish king, 
 and through his Viceroy, Don Martin Enriquez de Alamanza, a company of 
 sixteen married 
 men and their '"^ liiusa^ 
 
 wives, and seven- 
 teen young bach- 
 
 elors, was 
 sent north 
 
 l^^lr ^vSimK '^- i^^^^^f^ ^"^ '^'^ build a 
 
 .^^^^^^B ^iiJ^^^E^f ''^^^'^iP'^^^SMl town in the val- 
 
 4B^^^B ^-i^^wJm £■' ^H^^ ley. Just why 
 
 ^^H^^^p ''^rt ^SbT-T'^ ^^ this particular 
 
 ^f^^^K ' "^ Bi lf^ ^^ combination o f 
 
 ^t^^^^^ . ^^^ ^^IT- married men and 
 
 ^^^ ^^^ / ^^P M^*^ bachel o r s was 
 
 chosen, probably ^^[fljB^^V o^'^ly Do" Martin 
 
 ever knew, and the ^^^^^^L^ chronicler sayeth 
 
 not. By these the ^^hM^F ^^^^ ^^ Celaya was 
 
 founded, October ^^^^^ on guard. 12th, 1570, under 
 
 the name of Zelaya, ^ which, in the Bis- 
 
 cayan tongue, means "level land." but it was not until nearly a hundred years 
 
 later. October 20th, 1655, that Philip IV decreed it a city, and not till three 
 
 years later that the citizens heard of their metropolitan good fortune. 
 
 Since its founding Celaya has not figured greatly in the country's his- 
 tory. Built in a peaceful valley, its ways have been the ways of peace, and, 
 although located on the main highways of the country, the city has escaped 
 the rigors, and I doubt very much if its people heard much more than the 
 rumors of wars. If you come from the north or the south, the east or the 
 west, you may see the towers of Celaya from afar ofT, across the broad plains, 
 as you may see a ship coming from sea; as the sails are seen first, the rounded 
 domes come to view above the trees, the towers of the Church of Our Lady 
 of Carmen or of San Agustin. One of the most beautiful in thi§ land of
 
 167 
 
 churches, is the Church of Our Lady of Carmen in Celaya. It is in form a 
 Latin cross. 220 feet long and fifty-five feet wide, by sixty-nine feet high. Not 
 an old church, as churches go in ]\Iexico. this one was commenced in 1803, 
 and completed in 1807. The magnificent adornment, the frescoes and the su- 
 perb paintings were by Eduardo Tresguerras, a native of Celaya, and an 
 artist of renown, combining a superior knowledge of painting, sculpture and 
 architecture in all his work. One of his famous paintings is of Our Lady of 
 Carmen, in the chapel of the Last Judgment, where are. also, some portraits 
 of himself as a young and old man. Another notable picture is the Triumph 
 of Mary, by Nicolas Rodriguez Juarez. This picture is much older than the 
 others, having been painted in 1695; it was rescued from the fire which de- 
 stroyed the old Church of Carmen. 
 
 The Church of San Francisco, in the midst of a group of churches and 
 chapels, was founded in 1570. Only the facade and dome of the original 
 building remain; the other 
 parts were erected in 1715, and 
 the altars, the exquisite work 
 of Tresguerras. were added in 
 the early part of the nineteenth 
 century. The parish church and 
 Tercer Orden are of the Fran- 
 ciscan group, both built in the 
 early part of the seventeenth 
 century. In the little chapel of 
 Dolores is the tomb of this 
 great artist architect, built, also, 
 by his hand. The Church of 
 San Agustin, a short distance 
 from the San Franciscan group, 
 was built in 1603-10; the tower 
 is by Tresguerras. This won- 
 derful man. whose handiwork is 
 in every Celayan church, with comrades 
 
 such lines of exquisite art. was born in Celaya, May 13, 1765, and died there 
 August 3, 1833. He left, in his own work, this Michael Angelo of Mexico, 
 such monuments as might never have been erected to his fragrant memory. 
 
 Celaya. in the midst of a most fertile agricultural district, is also a manu- 
 facturing city of carpets and woolens, calicoes, rebosos, soaps and dulces; the 
 dulces of Celaya are famous the country over. Dulces are sweet-meats, made 
 from fruits and from milk; what bon-bons are to the French and candies are to 
 the American sweet-tooth, the dulces are to the Mexican, and Celaya is where 
 they make them to the queen's taste, so to speak. The sale of dulces is not 
 confined to the dulceria. The populace meet you at the train with boxes of 
 dulces, as those of the surrounding country bring strawberries and opals 
 to the passing trains, and lie in wait for the unsuspecting traveler — literally lie 
 in wait, for no matter what the hour of arrival may be. the venders are there. 
 They lie in their beds on the roadside and wait for the trains. They may not be 
 officially notified of a change of schedule or of a delayed train, but that 
 doesn't make any difference; they know it has to come some time and hav- 
 ing nothing else to do. they just wait. Naturally disgusted by these waits, 
 the prices when the train stops are bullish, but the bears get the best of it 
 before it leaves, and when the conductor cries '■''vamanos!'''' you can buy the 
 entire visible supply for a quarter. The train is besieged by the eager venders 
 
 crying their wares; ''Cajasf Caja^r (Cah— ba?) meaning, boxes of dulces.
 
 168 
 
 CATHEDRAL CHIHUAHUA. 
 
 The theater, the 
 portales, the baths 
 and the markets are 
 to be visited, and, al- 
 together, Celaya is 
 one of the places 
 where the lover of 
 the beautiful will 
 wish to linger. The 
 city, in the State of 
 Guanajuato, is locat- 
 ed, commercially, to 
 great advantage, at 
 the crossing of the 
 Mexican Central and 
 Mexican National 
 Railways. 182 miles 
 from the City of 
 Mexico. Horse cars 
 run from both sta- 
 tions to the main 
 plaza in the center of 
 the city, and they are 
 far more comfortable 
 than the hacks that 
 rumble over the stony 
 streets. 
 
 Chihuahua. 
 
 Chc-\vow'-wa 
 
 Chihuahua is an 
 old city, as most 
 Mexican cities are ; it 
 was founded in 1539, 
 by Diego de Ybarra. 
 The ancient name 
 was Taraumara, later 
 San Felipe el Real, 
 and then Chihuahua, 
 meaning a "place 
 W'here things are 
 made," and not, par- 
 ticularly, a place of 
 small dogs, as popu- 
 larly supposed in the 
 average tourist idea, 
 though the pronunci- 
 ation of the latter syl- 
 lables might indicate 
 that. 
 
 The pronouncing of 
 Mexican names seems 
 an almost insur- 
 mountable difficulty at
 
 169 
 
 first, but the newest traveler soon grows familiar with them, and rolls them 
 off as glibly as a native, and in a little while begins to tell how he used to 
 pronounce Chihuahua and Jimenez — just as they are spelled — but now can say 
 Che-wow-wa. in a tone of voice that would make a small dog, with a soft 
 spot in its head, prick up its ears, as at a sound from home. 
 
 The fame of the Chihuahua dogs has gone abroad throughout the land, 
 and the native has bulled the market accordingly; the demand largely ex- 
 ceeds the supply. The dogs are noted, primarily, for their diminutive size, 
 sharpness of nose and length of toe nails; but if they possess any further at- 
 tribute, the fact has not been reported. It has been suggested that the soft 
 place on the head of the genuine article has been left for an after injection 
 of brains. I speak thus, firstly, of dogs, because it is probable that the first 
 man to greet you. when you get off the train at Chihuahua, will have one under 
 his arm. It is a small dog that the man has under his arm, as it is proper 
 for a Chihuahua dog to be. but if you buy you may live to wonder how large 
 a small dog may grow to be. 
 
 AQUEDUCT AT CHIHUAHUA. 
 
 The train, as it comes from the north, or the south, comes from behind 
 high, intervening hills, so there is no view of the city until it stops at the 
 station. The city is on the west side of the track, and. as the train passes 
 over the barranca, between the shops and the station, there is a good view 
 of the town, with the high towers of the Church of San Francisco standing 
 out against the western sky. 
 
 Few ^lexican towns are located conveniently near the railway stations, 
 and Chihuahua is not an exception; street cars there are, and hacks, for all 
 parts of the city. The car line from the station passes the Mint. State Capitol, 
 Hidalgo Statue, the plaza. Church of San Francisco, the market, the hotels 
 and on through the old paseo to the Santuario de Guadalupe; the fare, six 
 cents takes you to nearly all the places of interest. A carriage must be taken 
 for the new paseo and alameda. and the fine views from the hill in the south 
 part of the city, for which the prices vary according to the style of turnout, 
 from one to two dollars an hour, with a twenty-five cent fare for short dis- 
 tance rides, as from the station to the plaza. 
 
 Being near the border, Chihuahua is a much Americanized town, and there
 
 170 
 
 are many fine buildings, of a semi-Mexican-American 
 style of architecture, on the principal streets, around the 
 plaza and along the new paseo and alameda. The State 
 Palace is a handsome edifice, on the street leading from 
 in the rear is a plazuela, with a fine monu- 
 ment and statue of Hidalgo on the spot 
 where he was executed, July 31, 181 1, 
 and his compatriots, Allende, Aldama 
 and Jiminez, on June 26, of the same 
 year. Just opposite the palace, in an old 
 building, formerly the Hospital Real, 
 is the Mint; in one of the rooms of the square tower, over the entrance, 
 the patriots were confined previous to their execution. The manufacture 
 of money in the mint is not as crude as the old house seems to be; the 
 dollars drop from the stamps, sixty every minute, while the wheels turn. The 
 silver for the most part comes from the mine of Santa Eulalia, near the city, 
 one of the richest in the country, and one of the oldest. A tribute, levied 
 by the clergy, in the early days, of twenty-five cents on each pound of silver, 
 produced $800,000 for the building of the parish church. 
 
 The Church of San Francisco, also called the Cathedral, is the parish 
 church that cost so much money and time to build. It was commenced in 
 1717, and not completed till 1789. It is said that an inclined plane of earth was 
 raised against the walls during their building, on which the material was carried 
 up, and by the time the towers were finished the plane extended beyond the 
 plaza. The church faces the plaza and occupies such a position that the 
 towers can be seen from all parts of the city. The facade is elaborately orna- 
 mented; there are thirteen statues of San Francisco and the Twelve Apostles, 
 and under the arches of the dome are basso-relievos of the fathers of the church. 
 A broken bell is shown in one of the towers, as having been pierced by a 
 cannon ball fired by the French during the bombardment of the city in 1866. 
 The church of the Compania was founded by the Jesuits, under Don Manuel 
 de Santa Cruz, in 1717. Another church is that of San Felipe Neri, also the 
 Santuario de Nuestra Sehora de Guadalupe, at the extreme west side of the 
 city, just beyond the terminus of the horse-car line, at the end of the old 
 paseo, where there is a remarkable image of San Ygnacio Loyola. 
 
 Just beyond the sanctuary of Guadalupe, beyond the top of the hill, is the 
 old aqueduct of the city's water supply, a continuous line of stone arches, 
 about four miles long, built a hundred years ago, but in a fine state of pres- 
 ervation. Near here are, also, the principal baths of the city. The old paseo, 
 or alameda, is much neglected, but the new one is too modern to be par- 
 ticularly interesting, except for the fine views of the city and the surround- 
 ing mountains; El Coronel was so called from the execution of a revolutionary 
 colonel at that point. 
 
 Chihuahua was for years the market for all northern Mexico, the trading 
 trains traveling between that city and Santa Fe. Col. Doniphan, of the United 
 States army, occupied the city in 1847, and afterwards made the famous march 
 to the south and joined Gen. Taylor. 
 
 Chihuahua, the capital of the State of Chihuahua, is on the Mexican Central 
 Railway, 999 miles from the City of Mexico. 
 
 Chilpauciiigo. The Capital of the State of Guerrero is one of the 
 
 Chil-pan-seen'-go oldest Spanish settlements in the southern part of 
 
 Mexico, so far in the interior, shut in by ranges of high mountains so that 
 
 it was for years of only local importance. But it is noted in the history of 
 
 the cQuntry as the place of assembly of the first Congress of Mexico, Sep-
 
 171 
 
 tember 13th. 1813. three years after the raising of the standard of the Republic 
 by Hidalgo and two years after his death. Chilpancingo is in the center of 
 an unexplored district abounding in prehistoric ruins and wonderful caverns 
 reached by the Cuernavaca division of the Mexican Central Railway. 
 
 Coatzacoalcos. Is important as the eastern terminal of the Tehuan- 
 Ko-at-zah-co-al'-cose tepec Railway at the mouth of the river of the same 
 name and destined to be what it was in Cortez time the best harbor on the 
 Gulf coast. 
 
 Colitna. The little state of Colima. of which Colima is the capital. 
 
 Col-e'-mah is on the Pacific coast of the Republic with its chief seaport 
 
 at Manzanillo. with which it is connected by a railway of twenty-eight miles 
 
 in length. Near by is the volcano of Colima, about 12,000 feet high, one of 
 
 MEXICAN RAILWAY STATION, CORDOBA. 
 
 the few active volcanoes in Mexico, having been in eruption more or less 
 since 1869. Under the name of Santiago de los Caballeros Colima was founded 
 by Don Gonzalo de Sandobal under a decree of Philip II of Spain. Colima 
 is reached by rail from Manzanillo on the Pacific or via the Mexican Central 
 from Guadalajara. 
 
 Cordoba. To go to Cordoba means to go to the tropics: indeed, the 
 Cord'-ova little city is just on the border of the tierra caliente, as the 
 
 ^lexicans call the hot country, in the foot-hills of the mountain ranges, with 
 an elevation that offers a comparative immunity from the malarial fevers of 
 the lowlands. In fact the location of the town was made with the idea of 
 a place of refuge from the plains below, when it was founded. April 18, 1618, 
 under an order from the then viceroy, Don Diego Fernandez de Cordoba,
 
 172 
 
 who knew the fertility of the valley of the Rio Seco, and chose the hill of 
 Xitango as the site of the city to be called by his name. 
 
 The tropical scenes have become familiar on the ride hither; the train 
 stops at a station, under palm trees, and the horse-car ride, uptown, is 
 through coffee groves and bananas, with gardens everywhere, with every fruit 
 that ripens under the tropic sun, oranges, lemons, guavas, pineapples, chiri- 
 moyas and granaditas. After this ride through the woods and the gardens, 
 you come to the narrow streets, where the low houses, roofed with red tiles, 
 have long projecting eaves that shade the narrower sidewalks — picturesque to 
 a degree. The plaza and the market may be something like the other towns, 
 but there is the tropic charm that the others do not possess. Within a square 
 of the market there is one of the most beautiful gardens in the world. It is 
 a tangled mass of fruits and tiowers overhanging winding walks, with foun- 
 tains, here and there, and pagodas for resting places. 
 
 The churches are San Antonio, founded in 1686, and San Hipolito, in 1793; 
 the latter was also a convent and hospital. On the plaza is shown a house 
 where Maximilian stopped over night on his way to the capital, and another 
 where was signed, by Yturbide and the Viceroy O'Donoju, the treaty acknowl- 
 edging the Independence of Mexico. 
 
 Sunday is a great day in Cordoba, when the country folk come to town 
 from Amatlan, and other villages roundabout, not in silk attire, but in the 
 gaudiest cotton, in all the colors of the rainbow and in the plumage of the 
 birds of their primeval forests; the trimmings are on the whitest of white cot- 
 ton — beads of coral, laces of their own handiwork and ornaments of silver, till 
 they are a sight to see. 
 
 Cordoba, in the State of Vera Cruz, is located on the Mexican Railway, 
 198 miles from the City of Mexico. 
 
 Cuautla. Long before the train arrives at Cuautla, the place where the 
 
 Kwout'-la city lies may be pointed out, but for its surrounding, and al- 
 most overcovering of green trees, it can not be seen, save the white spot 
 of tower gleaming in the sunshine. Down where the sugar cane grov/s, on 
 the southern slope of the hills that are beyond the volcanoes, is the very 
 pretty little town, in the midst of fertile fields and luxuriant gardens of fruits 
 and tiowers, a very picture of tropical beauty. In the approach to the town 
 the train backs in on a Y and comes to a stop in the quaintest railway station 
 imaginable. To what base uses may we come! This railway station was 
 once a convent and church; the tower and bells are still there, and it may 
 be that the confessional is the ticket oflice and the altar a desk for way-bills; 
 the nave is a storage-room for freights, and where was the convent-yard now 
 resounds with the locomotive's whistle. Just outside this church-station is 
 the prettiest plaza imaginable, with playing fountains of clear water undei 
 the trees that shade the streets and the park, where there is a music-stand, 
 seats and promenades for the people, and on the opposite side a very good 
 A hotel indeed, not good alone for Mexico, but good for a 
 
 w'v^^ A gtown of Cuautla's size anywhere, with a garden of fruits that 
 W tW^ y^ W. ^vill justify any description. The 
 
 ^ streets of Cuautla run at right angles 
 with low adobe houses on each side, 
 but presently they merge into shady 
 lanes, hedged with cactus, behind 
 which are thatched huts of reeds and 
 rushes almost hidden by the bananas, 
 the orange and lemon trees, trailing vines and bowers. 
 These are Cuautla's chief charms, and amply repay the 
 
 u^ \& 
 
 ^'
 
 173 
 
 rambles of a day's visit. Everywhere is running water, through the streets 
 and roads, in the gardens and parks, along the railroad track and through the 
 fields. These native engineers have taken the river from its bed, made its 
 waters run where they willed, till the land blossoms as the rose. 
 
 A horseback, or a ride by burros, may be made to sulphur baths, just east 
 of the town, and to the old stone bridge over the Rio Xuchitengo. or to 
 the hacienda of Coahuixtla. either of which is well worth the ride — the baths 
 of fine medicinal qualities, the antiquity of the massive bridge, or the charm- 
 ing novelty of hacienda life in the lowlands. 
 
 Cuautla was a city when Cortez came and took possession. The date of 
 the Spanish city is from 1605. After the war for Independence the city re- 
 ceived the surname of Morelos, and is now called Cuautla-Morelos, in honor 
 of General Morelos. who so heroically defended it against the Royalist forces 
 under General Calleja. who laid siege February 19, 1812, and so completely 
 drew his lines about the place that it was impossible to get in or out. There 
 was more or less lighting for nearly three months, till ]\Iorelos was forced 
 to evacuate, which he did effectually, but not until he was starved out. It is 
 said that, during the siege, food was so scarce that cats were sold for six 
 dollars, and rats and lizards for one and two dollars. 
 
 The parish Church of Santiago was founded in 1605, and the Church of 
 San Diego furnishes the Interoceanic with the oldest railway station in the 
 world, dating from the seventeenth century. There are chapels, shrines and 
 churches in the town, of various dates and names, but they are not so nu- 
 merous in the lowlands as they are up in the hill country. 
 
 The sugar industry may be further investigated by a stop at the great 
 Hacienda de Santa Ynez. on the line of the railway, three miles west of Cuau- 
 tla. The manager is an affable and courteous gentleman, and most hospita- 
 ble withal. Cuautla is in the State of ]\lorelos, on the Interoceanic Railway, 
 eighty-five miles from the City of Mexico. 
 
 Cuemavaca. The scenery is wonderfully grand; the ascent from the 
 Kwer'-na-vaca valley of ]\lexico is with a winding, twisting track from 
 the plains to the mountain, and the view looking back over the cities of the 
 plain, the lakes, the volcanoes and lesser mountains makes a picture that 
 is not easily described. The climb continues till an altitude of 10.000 feet 
 is attained, then the descent commences and continues on to Cuernavaca. The 
 grand views of mountain and valley scenery are in endless variety and with- 
 out cessation throughout the journey. 
 
 The old Indian name. Cuauhnahuac, has a more impressive meaning, ''near 
 the trees," than the Spanish word Cuernavaca, "cow-horn." though it is prob- 
 able that Cuernavaca is merely a corruption of Cuauhnahuac. Some Spanish 
 soldier heard the Indian name and laughing said. "Oh, Cuernavaca." and 
 the town was named. 
 
 The high headland, covered with trees, between the deep barrancas would 
 seem to give origin to the ancient name, anyhow it does give to the town a 
 most picturesque and delightful location. The mountain streams have been 
 changed in their courses, and through reservoirs, sent through the streets 
 and gardens, till the town is one vast garden in itself. 
 
 The Calle Nacional is the principal street, and the Jardin Benito Juarez, 
 the Plaza Mayor, of course, the plaza of the town. The State Capitol is in 
 a building that was once the palace of Cortez. and here, in this place, the 
 conqueror rested before his second advance on the City of IVIexico, and here 
 the great adventurer spent some of the last years of his life, and when you 
 have seen it you will not wonder at his choice. 
 
 There were millionaires in those days, who were only poor boys, just as
 
 174 
 
 in these days and this country, and Cuernavaca points with pride to the house 
 where Jose de la Borda lived. The native will tell you of his millions made 
 in mining, the amount, from forty to fifty millions, taken from mines at Tlal- 
 pujahua, Tasco and Zacatecas. You will be shown the garden of fruits and 
 flowers, the Jardin de la Borda, with terraced slopes, lakelets, cascades and 
 fountains that cost a million, and it may have cost more, for it is very beau- 
 tiful, indeed. And the native will tell you of the big church at Tasco, fifty 
 miles away, where Don Jose placed another million. 
 
 Before the Conquest of Mexico Cuernavaca was the capital of the Tla- 
 huicas, an independent tribe, until they were made tributary to Tenochtitlan 
 under Mocteuczoma Ilhuicamina and during the siege the province of Cuer- 
 navaca furnished reinforcements to Montezuma. While the bergantines were 
 being built Cortez made a reconnoissance in the direction of Cuernavaca and 
 
 JARDIN DE LA BORDA, CUERNAVACA. 
 
 arrived in front of the city in April, 1521, with a band of thirty cavalry, 300 
 infantry and a large body of his Tlaxcalan allies, but a deep gulch, the Bar- 
 ranca of Amanalco, prevented their entrance to the town. It was very nar- 
 row and the Spaniards were harassed by the shower of arrows from Tlahuicas 
 on the other side where they were entrenched and safe from the fire of the 
 Spanish. 
 
 Cortez sent a detachment up and down the Barranca to find a crossing 
 but they were unsuccessful. Finally a Tlaxcalan Indian noticed two gigantic 
 trees growing on opposite sides of the gulch with their trunks inclined to 
 the center so that the branches intertwined and formed a sort of suspension 
 bridge over which the Tlaxcalan quickly passed and was followed by many 
 others, among whom was Bernal Diaz del Castillo; and notwithstanding the
 
 175 
 
 heavy armor of the Spaniards only three fell down the barranca. The Tla- 
 huicas were taken by surprise; they were busy fighting across the Barranca 
 and had not noticed the enemy crossing through the branches of the trees, 
 and Cortez, having restored one of the destroyed bridges, crossed his cav- 
 alry and the rest of the infantry. The Tlahuicas tied to the mountains, the 
 villages around the city were burned and the houses pillaged. Soon the Tzins 
 returned and were brought trembling before Cortez. who, satisfied wuth their 
 humiliation, ordered the cessation of hostilities, and took possession of the 
 
 PLAZA, CUERNAVACA. 
 
 town. After the occupation of the City of IMexico by the Spaniards. Cortez 
 returned to Cuernavaca and for a time made it his home and constructed the 
 great palace that is now used as the State Capitol. Near the end of January, 
 1529, the friars that were to found the Convent of San Francisco came to 
 Cuernavaca; this convent was afterwards the parish church and is now the 
 Cathedral. It is more a group of churches and chapels, with connecting roofs 
 and walls; the tower contains a clock that was once in the cathedral of Se- 
 govia, presented to Cortez by Charles V of Spain. Asuncion is the parish 
 church; the others are San Pedro, Tercer Orden and Guadalupe, the latter 
 built by de la Borda; Guadalupe is in the suburbs of the city.
 
 176 
 
 Charles V. gave to Cuernavaca the title of Villa, but it was not made a 
 city till October 14th, 1834; in October and November, 1855, here was the seat 
 of government under the Plan of Ayutla, presided over by General Don Juan 
 Alvarez. During the Empire, Cuernavaca was the summer capital, and the 
 Emperor Maximilian had a pretty little home and garden called "Olindo," 
 and in the Jardin de la Borda he spent the few quiet days of his sojourn in 
 Mexico, but his last visit was cut short by the rumor of a conspiracy for 
 his assassination on the road when he should return to the City of Mexico. 
 The houses of note are the Palace of Cortez, with the tradition that the Con- 
 queror accomplished one of the killings of one of his wives here, but the 
 story doubtless grew out of the drowning in the well at Coyoacan. In one 
 of the rooms, however, the patriot Morelos was confined as a prisoner of 
 war en route to the City of Mexico. The Palacio de Gobierno is a new and 
 very elegant building. The Theatre Porfirio Diaz is a very fine play-house 
 containing also the public library. The churches, schools, hospitals and 
 other charitable institutions are worthy of note. 
 
 The whole country roundabout is full of interest, and it will take some days 
 and horses to do the region as it should be done. There are the waterfalls in 
 the Tlaltenango. Amanalco and San Antonio ravines. In the village of San 
 Antonio, reached over a good road, are some potteries and a lake of great 
 beauty; here also is another house of Cortez, near it a rock with some pre- 
 historic carvings. On a neighboring hill is a lizard in stone, nearly nine feet 
 long, and about three miles farther to the south is the hill Quauhtetl — "the 
 stone eagle," an eagle in stone that measures three feet from tip to tip. It is 
 eighteen miles to the ruins of Xochicalco, which are intensely interesting and 
 in every way worth the ride. One of the buildings, that may have been a 
 temple, measures seventy-live feet long by sixty-eight feet wide, built of cut 
 stone. Mr. Charles Dudley Warner says the views are most noble and of 
 the Ruins there is nothing like them in Assyrian or Egyptian work. Some 
 of the sugar plantations have old-time buildings, erected two centuries or more 
 ago, notably on the Hacienda de Temisco; another hacienda is that of Atla- 
 comulco, where all the fruits of the tropics may be seen in the fields and 
 gardens. One of the sugar haciendas was erected by Cortez and bequeathed by 
 him to the Hospital of Jesus in the City of Mexico, and remains to this day 
 the property of that institution. 
 
 Cuernavaca is the capital of the State of Morelos, and is reached by trains 
 of the Cuernavaca division of the Mexican Central Ry., fifty miles from the City 
 of Mexico. About seven miles away is the primitive Indian town of Juitepec, 
 in which is an ancient church where a great feast is celebrated every year, 
 a feast that combines the rites of the Christian church with pagan idolatries, 
 and the dance of the natives in front of the church is the same as the dance 
 of the Aztecs on the terraces of the teocalis. 
 
 Culiacau. The capital of the State of Sinaloa, a typical Mexican city, is on 
 Cool-e-ah-kan' the river of the same name, about forty miles from the Pacific 
 Ocean and 175 feet above it — connected with the port of Altata by rail. The 
 Plaza Mayor has on three sides quaint old portales and on the other the Ca- 
 thedral, and near by is the Seminary. The government has a fine mint here 
 for the coining of gold and silver mined on the Pacific slope. The town was 
 founded by Nuno Guzman in 1532 after he had exhausted his material for 
 adventure in Guadalajara and the cities farther south. 
 Dttratigo. It may be called an Iron City, to follow the simile of the Silver 
 Doo-rang'-o City as applied to some of the others of Mexico, though Durango 
 has of silver enough to entitle her to some claim in that direction also; her 
 best boast is in the baser metal. Within the corporate limits of the city of
 
 177 
 
 Durango there is iron enough to supply the world for three hundred years, 
 and yet, before the railroad was completed to the city, manufactured with 
 wooden machinery and water power, the products of the wonderful iron 
 mountain of Durango sold for thirty-five cents a pound, and if the mountain 
 could be sold at that rate it would exhaust the treasures of the universe to pay 
 for it; it is almost solid iron, the ore averaging from 75 to 90 per cent, of 
 pure metal. The iron mountain is just north of the railway station, and only 
 about half a mile distant. A cavalier in Cortez army, Sehor Mercado, was 
 induced to come here by the report of a mountain of silver, but only found 
 iron. The mountain is called Cerro IMercado in his honor. 
 
 Durango is a city, spread out on a plain, with its streets, for the most part, 
 running at right 
 angles, with low, but 
 substantial buildings 
 on either side, with 
 patios filled with 
 flowers and foun- 
 tains. Here and 
 there are pretty plazas 
 and plazuelas, with 
 other fountains, and 
 green trees galore. 
 The Plaza Mayor is 
 a garden, surrounded 
 on its four sides by 
 fine buildings of two 
 to three floors, the 
 State House being 
 one of them, and one 
 of the finest in ]\Iex- 
 ico; the others are 
 stores and cafes. In 
 the center is the artis- 
 tic pagoda that com- 
 pares so favorably 
 with the prosaic 
 "band-stand" of the 
 United States. These 
 of Mexico are always 
 architecturally artis- 
 tic, and always pretty, 
 while ours are pain- 
 fully and politically 
 
 plain. The walks are in durango. 
 
 paved and hedged about by flowering shrubs, native in name and to the land 
 they grow in. though there are also roses and lilies. In this plaza the 
 people most do congregate in the evenings, to promenade and to hear the 
 music of the band. And here, again, the Mexican scores another against us, 
 the music being furnished by the Government: the bands are under pay of 
 the people and they must play for the people; there are stated days of the 
 week for music, and at least twice of every week in the year the bands 
 play. Here, in our country, we must pay for a seat to hear the Marine Band, 
 or go to the dress parade of some regiment or battalion before we can hear
 
 178 
 
 the music we have paid for, or if the band is induced outside the barracks 
 it is for an extra stipend that the players are not entitled to. 
 
 Near the northwest corner of Plaza Mayor is a pretty little plazuela, that is 
 in the courtyard of a church and ancient convent, a most picturesque little 
 nook where only the electric light is younger than a century or two. Two 
 or three squares west is the beautiful alameda and the paseo, with their great 
 big trees and the picturesque bridge across the little rio. At the end of the 
 paseo, toward the north, is the public wash place, where there are scores of 
 lavandcrasto be seen washing clothes in a curiously arranged laundry of stone 
 basins, through which there is running water. AH of the pretty places are 
 not in the city. Near it, within two or three leagues, are some of the most de- 
 lightful yarrt'/;/^ in the world; these are not public gardens, however, but the 
 property of private citizens, and admission is only by permission. 
 
 PUBLIC LAUNDRY, DURANGO. 
 
 Two squares east of the main plaza is the very interesting market, and all 
 in this district are the stores that in their stocks and seeming activity are a 
 surprise, but it is to be remembered that Durango was a great city for three 
 hundred years before the railroad came, and was a market of supply for a 
 very large territory of interior country. There is little to see of the city resi- 
 dences, except a glimpse of the patios through the grated archways in the 
 high surrounding walls, but there is sufficient in this to tell of their exceeding 
 beauty of interior, whatever the uninviting exterior may be. It is thus of the 
 hotels, also. A look into these of Durango is satisfying as to the comforts 
 within; the tables, with snowy covers, are either in the shaded patios or beneath 
 the arched and pillared portales.
 
 ltd 
 
 Three hundred and fifty years ago, the spot where Durango now is, was d. 
 ranch, and where now is the corner of Calles Principal and Teresas, was a large 
 tree, under which an altar was built, and the first mass was said. Afterwards 
 a little church was built at the corner of Calle Constitucion and Calle iMayor; 
 this has been rebuilt, but many of the original timbers remain. The ranchero 
 who owned the lands gave lots to settlers to increase the defense against the 
 Indians. Later a mine was discovered on his lands, his wealth increased fabu- 
 lously, and a percentage of the output was levied for the building of the Cathe- 
 dral. Afterwards he built the house now used as the Governor's Palace, and the 
 adjoining theatre, all of stone, and the second theatre built in ]\Iexico. He 
 sent as a present to the King of Spain $2,000,000, asking permission to build 
 galleries and portales of silver around his home. This was refused as a privi- 
 lege pertaining to royalty only. He put up porches of wood, but on the 
 occasion of a christening in his family he paved the street from his house to 
 
 IRON MOUNTAIN, DURANGO. 
 
 the church with silver bricks. The descendants of this Croesus live in Durango 
 to-day, but they do not use silver as a pavement. 
 
 The Cathedral was commenced in the year 1695, by Bishop Garcia de 
 Legaspi. and the first public service was held in 1715, at which time was com- 
 pleted the thirteen arches and one tower. The second tower and the other 
 departments annexed to the temple, as they exist to-day, were not completed 
 until 1844, under the direction of Sefior Zubiria. The entire work is of the 
 Tuscan order of architecture. In the crypt are deposited the remains of eleven 
 of the twenty-four bishops of Durango. During the latter part of the last 
 century a terrible fire destroyed all the archives and antiquities, and the polit- 
 ical revolts of 1854 to i860 finished all the books and modern documents. The
 
 180
 
 181 
 
 Church of San Francisco is the oldest of all the Durango churches, the first 
 foundations having been laid, on this spot, in 1556; and in that year was 
 established the first Spanish settlement, under Fray Diego de la Cadena. This 
 first temple was solemnly blessed in 1563, on the reception of the mandates from 
 the \'iceroy, Don Luis de Velasco, at the hands of Captain Alonso Pacheco. 
 The Church of San Agustin was founded in 1626, by the first Bishop of 
 Durango. Fray Gonzalo de Hermosillo, a religioso of the order of San Agus- 
 tin. In this church is a very notable image of Jesus, the Nazarene, that was 
 brought from Spain in 1673. to which tradition attributes an infinity of miracles. 
 Santa Ana is a very modern foundation for Mexico; it was commenced in 
 1777 and completed during the episcopacy of Don Francisco Javier Olivares 
 in 1809. El Colegio was erected by the Jesuits in 1684 as a part of the college 
 they directed until 1720, the year in which was founded a seminary in the same 
 building. This church opened to the public in 1776. when the Parroquia was 
 transferred here from the cathedral. EI Santuario de Guadalupe was built in 
 1714 by the 12th Bishop of Durango, Don Pedro Tapiz; the interior was 
 renewed in 1885. Analco, one of the primitive churches, was founded by the 
 first Spanish settlers, in 1560, in the only place inhabited by the Indians who 
 lived in this valley. The ruins of this church were reconstructed, in 1862, 
 by Don Geronimo Silva. San Juan de Dios was founded as a hospital i-^. 
 1770. On a high hill overlooking the city, and which may be seen for miles 
 before you reach the city, and from every part of it when you arrive there, is the 
 old church of Los Remedios, a very ancient foundation, said by some to 
 antedate the Cathedral. Every pilgrim who will visit this church on the 8th 
 of September of each year subtracts seven years from his stay in purgatory. 
 
 There is nothing new in Durango, except the very modern railway station, 
 built of stone, for use both as a passenger station and residence of the agent. 
 It is surrounded by a pretty lawn, shaded by young trees. Horse cars run 
 from the station to the plaza and the hotels, and throughout the city, car- 
 riages may be hired for places not reached by the cars. Durango is the capital 
 of the State of the same name, on the main line of Mexican International 
 Railroad, 155 miles from Torreon, the junction with the Mexican Central 
 Railway. 706 miles from the City of Mexico. 
 
 Gomez Palacio. One of the very newest towns in Mexico, three miles north 
 Go-mez Pah-lah-cio of Torreon, on the Mexican Central Railway. Noted for 
 its manufactures, cotton industries, etc. Electric cars run to Lerdo and to 
 Torreon. 
 
 Guadalajara. Early in the sixteenth century an expedition, under the cruel 
 Wahd-tha-la-har'-a and treacherous Nufio de Beltran Guzman, started to the 
 northwest, and proceeded as far as the boundaries of the present State of 
 Jalisco: and. in the year 1530. the band under Juan de Ohate founded a city 
 under the name of Villa del Espiritu Santo de Guadalajara, not. however, on 
 the site of the present city, and the or^ chosen soon proved to be undesirable. 
 Another, in the Tlalcotlan Valley, was selected, and the settlement moved 
 there. This location was as bad as the first, and, in the absence of Guzman, 
 who, on account of his atrocities, had been recalled to Spain, a third selection 
 was made, this time by the people themselves, in the beautiful valley called by 
 the Indians Atemaxac. and there was founded, in 1541, the present city of 
 Guadalajara, which has become the cleanest, brightest, and most delightful 
 city in all the regions roundabout. There is always a desire on the part of 
 the traveler to proceed to the Capital, to the City of Mexico, and whatever 
 may retard his going there at once seems to him to defer a pleasure. That 
 may be. but. once in the Capital, and having done its more metropolitan attrac- 
 tions, it is easier to see the charms of other cities, and if a well-worn and
 
 182 
 
 time-honored policy of "save the best for the last," were to be carried out, the 
 Capital would be nearer the first, and Guadalajara very near indeed to the end 
 of the string. It is one of the most charming, most fascinating places in the 
 world in every way. It is beautifully located; the climate is superb, every 
 day being one of springtime; the streets are clean as a iioor that is swept; the 
 parks and plazas are ever green with pretty trees, and brightened with lovely 
 flowers, that bloom in December as in June. Guadalajara may well be written 
 
 down as Mexico's famous city. 
 Every street and plaza has some 
 Wvel attraction, and its suburbs 
 some novelty not found else- 
 where, and in the near neighbor- 
 hood such views of lake, cascade 
 and canon beauties as are not sur- 
 passed in the world. The one 
 single objection to the city is, 
 that it has been repaired, reno- 
 vated and repainted — and this lat- 
 ter, covering up the wrinkles of 
 age with fresh color, is to Le 
 deprecated, on any pretext — but, 
 in reality, none of this detracts 
 from the pleasure of a visit. 
 Long before the train arrives at 
 the station the towers of the Ca- 
 thedral can be seen, and the out- 
 lines of the city discerned. The 
 view is from the windows of the 
 right-hand side of the cars. 
 Guadalajara lies in the midst of a 
 plain — on three sides rising in 
 terraces to the mountains that al- 
 ^ ^m^^^^^^^^^^^m it'iost surround it, and on the west 
 
 \ ^^^^W^^^^^^^^^^^^ side is the jumping-of¥ place to 
 
 the tierra caliente where the moun- 
 tains seem to cease, and the plain 
 and sky come together. This 
 train does not stop on the out- 
 skirts, as at most places in ]\Iex- 
 ico, but comes to a station in the 
 city, near the garden of San 
 Francisco, and very near the prin- 
 cipal plaza. The streets run at 
 right angles, intersecting the 
 parks and plazas, of which there 
 THE MURiLLO, GUADALAJARA. are a scorc or more, with fourteen 
 
 portales that cover the sidewalks for many squares, fourteen bridges, five the- 
 atres, that of Degollado being the largest on the continent, except, perhaps, the 
 Metropolitan Opera House, in New York, or the Auditorium, of Chicago. It is 
 a handsome building of white stone, with a fine portico supported by massive 
 columns. The original intention was to include a hotel in the building, but 
 this idea has not at this writing been carried out. There are five tiers of seats, 
 stalls and boxes, and the decorations are very handsome indeed. The Degol- 
 lado was opened in 1866 by the famous Mexican cantatrice, Peralta. The other
 
 183 
 
 theatres are the Apollo, Principal and the Circo de Pro- 
 greso. There are twenty-five baths, twenty-three res- 
 taurants, and twenty-eight hotels, and when it is remem- 
 bered that this city did not have a railroad till 1888, 
 these statistics have more import. The public buildings, 
 the Cathedral. Governor's Palace, the Mint. Degol- 
 lado Theatre, the Hospicio. the Penitentiary, the Hos- 
 pital de Belen, and the State Capitol of Jalisco are all 
 fine specimens of Mexican architecture not expected in 
 this far-away place. The Paseo is a boulevard drive on 
 both sides of the Rio San Juan de Dios, which runs 
 northward in the eastern part 
 of the city; the drive extends 
 from the Alameda to the 
 southern boundary. Besides 
 the Alameda the principal 
 parks are the Plaza de 
 Armas, Jardin Botanico, 
 Parque Alcalde, and the Cal- 
 zada de San Pedro, beauti- 
 fully adorned with tropical 
 trees and ever-blooming flow- 
 ers. As to churches, the Ca- 
 thedral is a magnificent struc- 
 ture. The original foundation 
 was laid in 1548, in a hut 
 thatched with straw. The 
 )resent building was com- 
 nenced in 1561, the corner 
 -tone was laid ten years later. 
 on July 31st. by Bishop 
 Ayala, and the building was 
 completed in 1618; the tow- 
 JUAN PANDURO, THE NOTED INDIAN SCULPTOR. ers wcrc throwu dowu by the 
 
 earthquake of 1818. The clock between the towers was also injured by 
 the earthquake. The interior is rich m decorations and paintings; one. 
 the Assumption, by IMurillo. for which an offer of 75.000 dollars gold 
 was refused by the Archbishop, is especially fine, and there are others 
 too numerous to attempt description. The two towers are wholly un- 
 like any others in IMexico. but more like the steeples of the churches of this 
 country. In one of them is the "Campanita del Correo," literally, the little bell) 
 of the courier, or post, w^hich rang only in announcement of some event of 
 importance. Another bell, called San Clemente, was. in former times, rung 
 during a thunder storm, to ward off the lightning. An adjunct to the Cathedral 
 is the Sagrario, a comparatively new structure, commenced in 1808 and com- 
 pleted in 1843. 
 
 The other churches are San Francisco. San Agustin. San Felipe, La Com- 
 paiiia, Guadalupe, Mexicaltzingo, Jesus Maria, Capuchinas, Santa Teresa. Santa 
 ^laria. La ]\lerced. Santa Monica. El Carmen. San Jose de Analco. San Sebas- 
 tian de Analco, La Parroqua de Jesus, San Juan de Dios, Aranzazu, La Sole- 
 dad, San Diego, JBelen, La Concepcion, La Trinidad y la Parroqua del Pilar, 
 with others in course ot construction. 
 
 One ot the most famous institutions of Guadalajara is the Hospicio. and 
 one of the most notable in the world. It is a handsome building of white 
 stone, covermg an entire square, and containing twenty-three patios, or courts,
 
 184 
 
 with fountains and flowers. It is not a hospital, as popularly supposed, but an 
 asylum home for the poor of all ages, from the baby in the cradle to old men 
 and women bent with their infirmities. The institution is admirably managed, 
 under authority of the State of Jalisco. Children are taught all that may be 
 
 learned in schools, and 
 as they grow older they 
 learn some useful occu- 
 pation in the arts and 
 sciences, and the prod- 
 uct of thfc^r labor is of- 
 fered for sale, in sup- 
 port of the Hospicio, 
 among which are some 
 of the most exquisite 
 embroideries and laces, 
 made by the girls. Mu- 
 sic, painting and calis- 
 thenics are a part of the 
 tuition, while the more 
 A BURRO PARTY ^ practical matters of life 
 
 involve serious attention. No permit of entrance is required. You will be met 
 at the gate by one of the Sisters in charge, and placed under the guidance of 
 an attendant, who will show you one of the most interesting places you may 
 find in all your travels. 
 
 The Hospital de Belen is interesting even to the casual visitor, and in- 
 tensely so to the medical man. It is a building of one story only, but cover- 
 ing an immense area, as each of the four sides measures over a thousand feet. 
 The interior is curiously arranged — from a central court radiate six long, 
 narrow wards, that are each 260 feet long by 24 feet wide, in which are main- 
 tained over 8go beds — the physicians in charge may stand in this central 
 court, and simply turning half around, may see what is going on in each ward, 
 may see each of the 800 beds without moving from his position. One ward 
 is used for the sick from the prisons, is protected by a heavy grating and 
 guarded. The Hospital was founded bv Sefior Bishop Fray Antonio Alcalde, 
 and was opened in j^ ""• — " 
 
 1791. The Peni- ' 
 tentiary is built on 
 much the same 
 plans as the Hos- 
 pital, with long cor- 
 r i d o r s, radiating 
 from the central 
 patio — so that a 
 guard of fifty men 
 in the central court 
 might hold at bay 
 2,000 prisoners in 
 case of revolt, or 
 one rapid-fire ma- 
 chine gun with half the barranca ferry. 
 
 a dozen men could hold them in check. The towers seen from the 
 right-hand windows of the cars, on the approach to Guadalajara, are 
 at San Pedro, a suburb of Guadalajara. The village is about two 
 leagues east of the city, reached by horse cars that start from near the
 
 185 
 
 northeast corner of the main plaza, and run over a very picturesque road, 
 the Calzada de San Pedro, shaded by large trees and ends in a very pretty 
 plaza. The wealthier class of Guadalajara have their summer residences at 
 San Pedro, and some of their houses are very beautiful indeed. The famous 
 Guadalajara ware, that is known the world over, is from the potteries of San 
 Pedro. If you will walk two squares east on the street that leads from the south- 
 east corner of the plaza of San Pedro, turn down to the right half a square, 
 you will come to a low adobe house on the left side of the street. The latch 
 string is on the outside, and a warm welcome within its doors from Juan 
 Panduro. the Indian sculptor, who will show and sell samples of his exquisite 
 handiwork, or, rather, their handiwork, for there are two artists — father and 
 son; and if you desire a bust or statuette of yourself of life-like likeness, it may 
 
 CHURCH OF SAN JOSE, GUADALAJARA. 
 
 be modeled while you wait, afterwards baked and sent to your hotel, or the 
 artists will call at the hotel and do the modeling in your room. 
 
 There are four horse-car lines leading to as many suburbs, each an interest- 
 ing ride. If there is time to do them all they are worth it. 
 
 But to the Barranca is not so easy a journey, yet not one that even the 
 fatigue of a burro ride will bring regrets. Tram cars take you across the plain 
 in an hour, then there is another hour by burro for the descent ; this latter hour 
 is worth a hundred anywhere else for the very novelty of it. It is a narrow wind- 
 ing path down the mountain side, a path just wide enough for the trains of 
 burros to pass as they go up and down. They come to the mouth of the cafion 
 without any hint of it till you are on the brink of a yawning chasm that looks 
 ten thousand feet deep, but it is not quite so much as that; it is only two thou-
 
 186 
 
 sand feet, and the road makes the descent in little more than a mile, though 
 its crooks and turns make it about three miles; these crooks and turns are 
 so short that a train of twenty burros will in some places have four turns in it, 
 so that the riders see each other immediately above and below, as in a wind- 
 ing stairs. 
 
 The scenery is grandly magnificent and wholy indescribable, so wildly pic- 
 turesque, not as seen from a car window; here you are in the very midst 
 of great castled rocks, frowning precipices and unfathomable abysses, passing 
 first the scraggy mountain oaks till, in the lower road, the path is through a 
 forest of bananas and shaded by their broad leaves. At the bottom of the bar- 
 ranca is the Lerma River, here called the Rio de Santiago, and on either side 
 the towering mountains lift up in perpendicular cliffs, in the grandest pictures 
 of sublime magnificence. A little ferry, with narrow boats pulled from side 
 to side by a rope, transfers passengers and the freight brought by the burros, 
 while the poor little beasts that never get a ride anywhere must swim here. 
 The return takes a little longer time, as the ascent is more difficult, but the 
 riding is more comfortable going up hill, and the journey back to the city is 
 about four hours. All in all the trip is worth the fatigue of it. 
 
 Near Guadalajara are the beautiful Falls of Juanacatlan. a cascade with a 
 clear leap of over seventy-one feet — a veritable Niagara, of somewhat abbre- 
 viated dimensions, but, truly, the wonder of this country. Like the greater 
 Niagara of the North, the waters have been harnessed to turn the wheels of 
 mills and factories and the dynamos for the lights of Guadalajara. To reach 
 the Falls of Juanacatlan, stop at the station of El Castillo, either as you come 
 or go, or take the little accommodation train that 
 makes one or two trips each day from Guadala- 
 jara. Guadalajara is the capital of the State of 
 Jalisco, and is on the western division of the Mexi- 
 can Central Railway, 381 miles from the City of 
 Mexico. 
 Guatiajjuato. The nomenclature of the cities and 
 Wan-ah-wah'-to towns of ]\Iexico requires a curious 
 spelling that is often at variance with the pronun- 
 ciation, but when once you know how to call the 
 names they are as musical as at first they seem hard 
 to say. The derivation of these names is for the 
 most part from the Tarascan or the Otomite tongue, 
 or of Toltec or Aztec origin, in latter days given a 
 Spanish spelling which, properly enunciated, bears 
 some resemblance to the original. The Tarascan 
 Indians named this place Quanashuato. signifying 
 the hill of the frogs, and the Spaniards changed 
 either spelling or pronouncing very little when they 
 spelled it Guanajuato and pronounced it Wan-ah- 
 wah-to, with just a suspicion of a "g" before the 
 "wan." As to the wherefore of the "hill of the 
 frogs" does not appear in the legend, unless the 
 hill was named in honor of one of their 
 gods, one of which, in the shape of a 
 huge frog cut in stone, was found here. 
 To reach Guanajuato the traveler must 
 go to Silao on the Mexican Central 
 
 Railway, where there is a branch road -jfe^-^-- - 
 
 leading eleven miles eastward to Marfil; statue in the alhonoiga, guanajwato.
 
 187 
 
 thence by horse cars up the barranca, nearly three miles, to the center 
 of the city, over the most interesting road, for its length, in Mexico. 
 From Marfil to the Jardin de la Union and the Presa de la Olla the route is 
 along the highway that leads up the gulch, as an American miner would call it, 
 through, under and over the immense silver reduction works. A good plan is 
 to retain seats on the horse cars as far as Jardin de la Union, and then change 
 to another, going on up the hill to the Presa de la Olla. Perched on the steep 
 hillsides that rise almost perpendicularly are the low flat houses in such 
 out-of-reach places that it is a wonder how anything but a goat could ever 
 get there; there are hundreds of these houses on both of the mountains, some 
 of them so far up that they look like dry-goods boxes that might have been 
 carried there by a cyclone and lodged on some crag or jutting rock, and the 
 fact that they are all inhabited is proof that the ^Mexican is a good climber, 
 whatever else he may not be. This highway along which the street cars run 
 is crowded with people, burros and dogs, going up and coming down, in all 
 shapes and sizes, laden or unladen as the errand may or may not have been 
 performed. 
 
 The houses of that antique mold that suggests Egypt or the Holy Land are 
 larger and better, till at the Jardin de la Union are some really fine buildings, 
 a grand theatre, some fine churches and the Palacio Gobierno. The road does 
 not end here, but continues on up the barranca to what I may call the top 
 of the city, where are some of the most romantic little homes in a most pictur- 
 esque residence district. A stream which comes down from the upper hills 
 falls from one reservoir to the other, forming little lakelets that are crossed by 
 bridges to the houses on the other side. The walls of the reservoirs and the 
 bridges are covered with vines and flowers, and the houses are completely 
 embowered with them. I remember one of these charming nests — I can't call it 
 anything else — as dainty a piece as was ever a subject for a canvas. There is 
 scarcely room between the rocks and the stream for the house, .and it is built 
 on arches that stand in the water. Overhanging trees and vines from the clififs 
 above make a bower of beauty that casts a grateful shade over the balconies 
 and IMoorish arches below, so that the sunlight comes to that house softened 
 by swaying leaves and the air perfumed by ever-blooming flowers. 
 
 The Pompeiian colors of the walls and arches added other hues and tints 
 to the brighter ones of the flowers. Some pea-fowls sat sleepily on a wall. 
 a cock with spreading plumes strutted proudly up and down, and in the lake 
 the ducks floated lazily. From an upper casement window where the awning 
 cloth was thrown outside the casement rail, as is the fashion, two dark-haired 
 beauties robed in white, the long braids making inky stripes that must have 
 reached almost to their feet, looked out. Dost like the picture? There were 
 two of them — one in reality, the other in bright reflection in the clear crystal 
 waters of the lakelet. 
 
 It is an up-hill walk from the Jardin de la Union to the little alameda at the 
 Presa de la Olla. where the band plays evenings. Sundays and feast days, yet 
 worth it all : but if you are not equal to it. ride up on the cars and walk down 
 for the sights by the way and the grand view of the city and the surrounding 
 country. As soon as the street cars leave the station at ]\.Iarfil they begin 
 to arrive at and pass the silver haciendas or reduction works, where the pure 
 silver is taken from the ores by the various processes — ores that come from 
 these mines roundabout that have been among the richest in the world, that 
 from their discovery by two muleteers in 1548 to 1898 have produced over 
 one thousand rnilHons of dollars and are still worked as very rich mines. 
 These silver haciendas will need no pointing out: they are the old castle-like 
 Structures that line the road from Marfil to Guanajuato. The mines are farther
 
 188 
 
 A STREET IN CyANAJUATO. 
 
 up in the hills, whence the ore is 
 brought on the backs of mules 
 and burros. The Mint is one of 
 the finest and largest in the country 
 and coins more money than any 
 other. The process of melting the 
 bars of silver, stamping and mill- 
 ing, is the same as in our mints; 
 here was a white-haired old In- 
 dian, whose locks seem silvered by 
 the metal he has ladled from 
 the furnace to the molds in 
 thirty long years of continual 
 service, and the two Indians 
 seated on low stools literally 
 surrounded by the silver coins, 
 handling every piece, and by 
 passing them through their fing- 
 ers and over the palms of their 
 hands could detect the slightest 
 scratch or minute defect. A long 
 practice made them perfect, and 
 they never made a mistake in pick- 
 in ^ up twenty coins at a grasp, no 
 iiKiie. no less, and never failing to 
 til row out an imperfect piece. 
 Such a keen sense of touch is 
 truly wonderful, and it is stated as 
 a fact that their work was so per- 
 fect that no further examination 
 was made, but the coins rejected 
 by them were returned to the 
 furnace to be melted over again. 
 1 lie mint is curiously built, but a 
 strong, substantial building, that 
 might have been a treasure house 
 in Babylon of old, even to the 
 hanging garden that adorns the 
 roof with growing flowers. The 
 center of the field of operations in 
 doing Guanajuato should be at the 
 Jardin de la Union. Near by are 
 the churches, the theatres, the 
 hotels, the Mint and State build- 
 ings, and the Alhondiga or Cas- 
 tilla de Granaditas. erected in 1785 
 as a Chamber of Commerce, now 
 used as a prison. It was cap- 
 tured by Hidalgo in the early 
 part of the war for Independence, 
 and after he and the patriots Al- 
 lende. Aldama and Jimenez were 
 captured and executed at Chi- 
 huahua, their heads were brought
 
 189 
 
 here and hung on hooks on the walls of this building. Hidalgo is still shown 
 — I mean the hook is still shown. The execution of the patriot priest 
 and the hanging of his head on these walls was resented by the ^lexicans. 
 and after the War for Indeoendence was over the head was taken to 
 the cathedral in the City of ^Mexico and in his honor there was erected the 
 bronze statue that stands at the entrance. 
 
 During the attack on the Alhondiga by the patriots Hidalgo called for a 
 volunteer who would go under the walls and set fire to the massive doors — 
 a sturdy peon came forward, and. taking from the mountain side a wide, flat 
 stone, threw it on his back as a shield against the missiles that might be thrown 
 
 TEATRO JUAREZ, GUANAJUATO. 
 
 from the walls, took a fire brand in his hand and with it burned the great 
 doors and admitted Hidalgo and his followers to the patio, where they encoun- 
 tered the Royalists, drove them up the grand staircase and to the roof, where 
 they surrendered. Blood that flowed in the conflict is shown in stains on the 
 heavy balustrade. In one of the corridors is a statue of the heroic Indian 
 with the stone on his shoulders and the uplifted firebrand. 
 
 The Theatre Juarez, opposite the Jardin de la Union, is one of the finest 
 play houses, not only in Mexico but on the continent, and for a city of its 
 size is not surpassed in the world; it is a handsome building, of modern
 
 190 
 
 architecture, built of the beautiful green stone found in these hills, the columns 
 supporting the portico are constructed of discs of this stone laid one upon 
 another. The magnificent auditorium is richly decorated; this and the 
 scenery is from the brush of Mexico's greatest scenic artist, Herrcra. The 
 splendid foyer has sumpt-uous parlors with retiring-rooms for ladies, luxu- 
 riously furnished and daintily decorated. 
 
 There is wealth of paintings in the churches of Guanajuato, as there is a 
 wealth of silver in its mines. The churches are fine, especially that of the 
 Compaiiia, commenced in 1747, and finished in 1765. the shelf cut out of 
 the rock for its foundations alone costing nearly $100,000. The tower contains 
 a chime of bells, and you may have heard before you came, or known, after 
 yon heard the bells of Mexico, that they are not usually hung in chimes. The 
 
 ON THE ROAD FROM MARFIL TO GUANAJUATO. 
 
 dome somewhat resembles that of the Capitol at Washington, and is the one 
 seen high above all the others in all views of Guanajuato. The old Church of 
 San Sebastian is on the line of street cars leading to the Presa de la Olla; in 
 the churchyard are scores of crumbling tombs with curious inscriptions. The 
 Church of San Diego contains a picture of the Last Supper of San Francisco. 
 The other churches are San Francisco, Loreto and Guadalupe. In the former 
 is the much-venerated image of Our Lady of Guanajuato, presented by Philip 
 IL of Spain. 
 
 High up on a hill, in the western part of the city, is a panteon that may be 
 called a replica of the catacombs of the Old World. In the vaults are artis- 
 tically arranged the bodies and bones of lates lamented, whose departure from 
 this vale of tears covers more than one century. The visit to the panteon is
 
 191 
 
 not the most cheerful one, but the curious-minded will be entertained. The 
 panteon proper is a cemetery in which there are few graves. The bodies 
 are placed in tombs, arranged in tiers in the thick walls. A stipulated sum is 
 paid for the first five years, with the privilege of renewal. If at the end of that 
 time the mourners' grief has cooled, and further payment is not made, the 
 body is taken from the hole in the wall; if nothing but bones remain they are 
 thrown into the heap at the end of the arched corridor under the panteon. If 
 the body is preserved in the dry air of the climate it is placed against the 
 
 CATACOMBS, GUANAJUATO. 
 
 wall to grin, and bear company to the other mummies that have stood there 
 through the ages. About half way between the station at Marfil and the 
 Jardin de la Union is a little park on the right as you go up; stop here and 
 w^alk up the hill on the north side of the street to the panteon or call most 
 any Mexican that may be standing by, tell him you want burros; he will have 
 them there in ? jifTy, and you may ride up, if you can call this going on 
 burro-back ridinj. 
 
 The City of Guanajuato is totally unlike any other in Mexico, and the visit
 
 192 
 
 there is one that will be remembered; but the legends and fairy tales would 
 form a volume if they were all written down, from the turning of the hose on 
 the hogs to wash the silver from their bristles, gathered in their wallows in 
 the pools, to the miracles priests performed. I remember mine, and all the 
 sights seen from the gallop of the street-car mules up the hill from Alarfil, till 
 I bought the helados from an Indian boy as I took my seat in the train for 
 Silao. I will explain that an helado, or, as the venders cry the name, ^'e-low,^^ 
 is a sort of ice cream, frozen in a tin tube about an inch in diameter and 
 four inches long, and it was not the least ot the pleasant surprises I found 
 
 IN THE ARISTOCRATIC QUARTER, GUANAJUATO. 
 
 at Guanajuato. The first settlement in Guanajuato was made in 1557, although 
 the San Bernabe vein of La Luz mine was discovered in 1548. The later dates 
 cannot be precisely stated, as the records were destroyed during the War for 
 Independence in 1810 — but it is reasonably certain that these figures are cor- 
 rect and that the town charter was granted in 1679 and for the city in 1741. 
 
 Guanajuato, the capital of the State of the same name, is 250 miles from the 
 City of Mexico and fourteen miles by branch road from the main line of the 
 Mexican Central Railway at Silao.
 
 193 
 
 Guaymas.Is the chief seaport of the State of Sonora, and the southern 
 Wah-e-mas' terminus of the Sonora RaiKvay. The harbor is a very beautiful 
 one, surrounded by high mountains and dotted here and there with islands 
 that seem to be submerged peaks, with only the rugged points above the water. 
 Hermosillo. the capital of the State ot Sonora, is on the Sonora River, 
 Er-mo-seel'-yo in the midst of an agricultural district, surrounded by rugged 
 mountains, where there are mines of gold and silver, where live the Yaqui 
 Indians and other hostile bands that have always been a hindrance to the work- 
 ing of the mines. Hermosillo is on the Sonora Railway, 263 miles from 
 Benson, on the border, and ninety miles from the Gulf at Guaymas. 
 Iguala. Is a most picturesque little city nestled in a pretty little bowl of 
 Ig-wal-a a valley, among the mountains of the Pacific slope, on the Cuer- 
 navaca division of the Mexican Central Railway. Noted in history through 
 the Plan of Iguala, drawn in this city by Yturbide, called The Three Guarantees, 
 represented in the national colors, green, white and red, so Iguala may in a 
 way be called the birthplace of the Mexican flag. The ride over the Mexican 
 Central from the City of Mexico to Iguala is one of the finest in the Republic, 
 replete with magnificent scenery described elsewhere. The Cafion of the Black 
 Hand, commonly known as the Iguala Canon, is only a few miles east of the 
 town. Here are some of the most wonderful feats of modern engineering. 
 
 Irapuato. Irapuato means strawberries; not that this is the translation 
 Ir-ra-pwat'-o of the word, but when the name of that station is called and the 
 train stops there, all the passengers go out and buy strawberries. No matter 
 if it is December or January, the cry of "fresas!" is heard on all sides — and 
 great luscious berries, the finest and sweetest in the world, are offered at 
 midsummer prices, and the bottom of the basket does not exhibit that rising 
 tendency so common to the strawberry b x of the United States. Irapuato is 
 also celebrated as the place to change cars for Guadalajara. The city is on 
 the west side of the track ; only the church towers may be seen from the 
 station above the green trees which surround them. Here is a pretty little 
 city worthy of a stop-over check for one train at least, or if en route for 
 Guadalajara there is often time for a horse-car ride up town. The town is 
 irregularly laid out, if indeed it was ever laid out, the narrow streets turning 
 here and there, converging to numerous little plazas, and to the Alameda in 
 the center of the city, where there is a combination of cleanliness and beauty 
 of artistic gardening. There is al=o a queer combination in the two old- 
 fashioned well-sweeps that might have come from "down south," and the 
 beautiful music stand that exists only in Mexico. The wells and well-sweeps 
 are for irrigation purposes for the exquisite flower beds that adorn the park, 
 the borders of which are in fantastic shapes, laid with pebbles and bowlders 
 in different colors. The trees and shrubs are also similarly decorated and 
 protected about the roots. 
 
 The music stand, the necessary adjunct of every Mexican town, is at Ira- 
 puato a thing of beauty and a joy to its people, when the band plays in the even-
 
 194 
 
 ings and on the feast days and Sundays. It is in the center of the park, under 
 the trees and surrounded with llowers — so there's fragrance with the melody. 
 
 There are churches and churches, and pictures and pictures, in name from 
 Guadahipe to San Francisco and each seeming different from the last one, so 
 there must be a look into each arched door and a stroll through nave and 
 sacristy and climbs to belfry tower as everywhere else, and w^ithal there is 
 nothing disappointing in Irapuato, from the strawberries to the little fonda 
 on the plaza. 
 
 Irapuato is on the iMcxican Central Railway, 212 miles from the national 
 capital. 
 Jalapa. "'Ave Maria purisima, que vcnga el sol,'*^ be your prayer when you 
 Ha-lap'-pa come to Jalapa, as the Jalapeho invokes the Virgin to let the sun 
 shine through the mists that almost constantly hang over the place — not that it 
 rains, but a fine filmy mist prevails, in contrast to the bright sunshine of all 
 other Mexico. But when the sun shines, than Jalapa there is not a brighter 
 spot on earth, nor one more quaintly curious, nor yet any other more charm- 
 
 i n g 1 y fascinating. 
 
 j^^~ -^ ||J|^^g|^-r^ fr>K>.^ -- ' -'^^^^^^MB jf^^ r* Whether your com- 
 
 ' ing be down from the 
 
 mountains or up 
 from the sea, you may 
 look from your win- 
 dow in the car with 
 an anticipation not 
 akin to the thoughts 
 as you came to the 
 others of these old- 
 time towns. Either 
 way the approach has 
 been through tropic 
 forests, and the stop 
 at the station is in 
 the midst of one. 
 There is an incon- 
 gruity in the modern 
 AN IRAPUATO ALTAR. uewness of the rail- 
 
 road surroundings, the electric lights and the horse cars. A glance beyond 
 these is looking backward into another century. In the ride up town, the 
 twentieth is between the rails of the track, and the sidewalk is back in the 
 sixteenth, where the red-tiled roofs project over the walk-way, and casemated 
 w^indows are strongly iron-barred to keep bandits and lovers out, and sweet- 
 hearts and wives within. These iron bars may have been a necessity in the old 
 bandit days, but not for that purpose now, although it may be they are retained 
 'gainst the lovers, for the women are reputed for their beauty, till it has become 
 a proverb among the Mexicans, "Las Jalapcnas son halagiicnas," "bewitching, 
 alluring are the women of Jalapa." and whether this is the principal reason why 
 Jalapa is considered as "a part of Paradise let down to earth" does not appear. 
 However that may be, the American who has never been there, and knows 
 only the product, the jalap of the old family doctor, is apt to consider it any- 
 thmg else but Paradise, and perhaps has wondered if any good could come 
 from the town; but when he has seen "las Jalapefias," he may even forget the 
 jalap's dose. 
 
 In the days when the journey thither involved a horse-car ride of seventy 
 miles and two days' time going and returning, the attractions were sufficient
 
 195 
 
 to allure hundreds of tourists, and now that it is on a main line between the 
 City of Mexico and Vera Cruz, and reached within a few hours from either city, 
 their numbers greatly increase. 
 
 There is a fashion to speak of Mexico as "old Mexico" — eminently proper, 
 but unnecessary. There is nothing new there but the railways; but whatever 
 ancientness that may impress elsewhere, there is something older about Jalapa; 
 
 IRAPUATO. 
 
 really it seems to have the age on all the other towns in the country. It was 
 a place of importance when Cortez came. The houses on both sides of the 
 narrow streets are of a cumbersome style of architecture, with here and there 
 traces of the Moorish or Castilian. The long windows, heavily barred with 
 iron, reach nearly to the ground, and if there is a second story, there is a 
 bit of projection forming a casement or balcony, and over the railing the
 
 196 
 
 brightly colored curtain in yellow and red keeps out the too intense rays of a 
 tropic sun, and may also keep out the too intent gaze of some son upon the 
 face and form of the senorita that may be behind it. And this makes a mem- 
 ory of some old Castilian story of maiden and mandolin, of caballero and 
 casement, of music and moonlight — for here are the very walls ('tis well they 
 have not ears) and there the window and the balcony where some Romeo 
 may have climbed, and some Juliet leaned her cheek upon her hand. Jalapa 
 lies on the eastern hillsides of Meniltepec, and the streets running on steep 
 inclines, or across the slopes, are cleaned by every passing shower, so that 
 
 A JALAPA STREET. 
 
 cleanliness, as well as beauty and antiquity, are attributes of this delightful city 
 — an example of nature's emulated by the natives within their homes and 
 gardens. 
 
 The grandeur of the scenery round about is unsurpassed. Just back of 
 the city is a great mountain with a great chalk-like rock, which from its shape — 
 like a chest — is called the cofre, the Cofre de Perote, and farther away to the 
 southwest is the snow-capped peak of Orizaba, another of Mexico's extinct vol- 
 canoes, towering high above the surrounding mountains. To the east the 
 hills get lower and lower, till far away the dim outline of blue defines the 
 coming together of sky and sea.
 
 197 
 
 Excursions to Teocelo, Xico and Coatepec may be made by rail, or by the 
 old highway through tropical forests and coffee groves, on foot or burro-back. 
 The quaintly pretty little towns and grand view of the Coatepec Valley is worth 
 all the journey there. Another very interesting trip may be made to Jilotepec, 
 about six miles away down in the valley, to be made on horseback or by burros. 
 The burros are rather to be chosen, for the very novelty of it, and for safety as 
 well — one does not have so far to fall. 
 
 The Palacio Gobierno is the building of the city, though by no means the 
 most interesting. Its location is on the Plaza Mayor. There is a very pretty 
 little theatre, most unique in its appointments, hardly to be expected in this 
 so long out-of-the-way place. The Institute of the Ordnance Survey is located 
 at jalapa and has pro'duced some fine maps and topographical drawings. 
 
 The present Cathedral was formerly the Church of the Conception, founded 
 in the sixteenth century. The other churches are San Francisco, founded in 
 1555; San Juan de Dios. San Hipolito, 1641 ; San Jose. 1770. and the Calvario. 
 tSoT, dating their foundations from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. 
 
 While there is much of interest in their altars, shrines and paintings, the 
 charms of Jalapa are without the walls of these or any other buildings, unless 
 it be those where live the Jalapenas. 
 
 Jalapa means a "place of water and sand." It was an Indian to\vn when 
 Cortez came, and being on the main road from the coast to the capital, was 
 a place of importance. From 1720 to 1777 an annual fair was held for the 
 sale of goods brought from Cadiz in Spain. Jalapa is the capital of the State 
 of Vera Cruz. A street-car line leads up the steep street from the station to 
 the Plaza Mayor, up a hill so steep that it requires six mules to draw the car. 
 The city is located on the main line of the Interoceanic Railway, 257 miles from 
 the City of Mexico. 
 Lagos. A city three hundred years old in Mexico is not uncommon, and 
 Lah'-gose some of them had gotten their growth when their charters were 
 granted; that is about the age of the city that was formerly called Santa 
 Maria de los Lagos. St. ]\Ia'y of the Lakes. In modern times it has lost 
 much of its trade and some of its name. It was formerly the point of connec- 
 tion with diligencias for Guadalajara and San Luis Potosi, but the completion 
 of the railways to both of these cities took even this business away. However, 
 it is not commercial importance that attracts to the average Mexican town, 
 and Lagos has what all the others have, and a visit will not be disappointing. 
 It is a pretty town, on the west side of the track, yet hardly to be seen, it is so 
 overshadowed by trees. There are many interesting features in its churches. 
 markets, streets and plazas, and there is a boast of good provender and good 
 wine at the hotels. 
 
 Lagos is in the State of Jalisco, on the line of the Alexican Central Railway. 
 296 miles from the city. Horse cars run from the station to the center of 
 the city. " . , . 
 
 Leon. On a broad and fertile plain watered by the Rio Turbio is the 
 Lay-own greatest manufacturing city of all ^Mexico, though the fact is not dis- 
 coverable from the cars. There are no many-storied buildings with tall chim- 
 neys indicating such industries, but they are here at Leon. Every citizen 
 lives in his own house and his home is his workshop. There is scarcely an 
 article of use or ornament but what is made at Leon. The beautiful saddles, 
 bridles and horse accoutrements so much affected by the IMexican; shoes and 
 all other leathern goods, zerapes and rebosos answering the purpose of coats 
 and shawls for men and women, cotton and woolen goods, iron ware and cut- 
 lery, are all manufactured at Leon, and every one of the little low, square- 
 built houses is a busy shop of some kind or other.
 
 198
 
 199 
 
 There is no indication, from the station, of a city of such size and impor- 
 tance, nor from the street cars as they wind through the cactus-hedged lanes 
 for a mile or more, and come to the long, narrow streets, crossing others at 
 right angles that seem of the same interminable length with their never-ending 
 rows of houses as far as the eye can reach. This car line reaches to the main 
 plaza, a very pretty one, with the market at one corner, and the Casa Alunici- 
 pal on one side, and on the other three, the portales, with clean, well-kept 
 shops and stores, offering the products of the town. The plaza is shaded with 
 trees, and there are flowers and fountains and the inevitable music stand. 
 Horse cars lead out to an old causeway, now resorted to as a paseo for prome- 
 nades and drives to the pretty gardens in the suburbs. A little further out, on 
 the road to the north, are some hot springs and baths. 
 
 The establishment of the church in Leon received a set-back at the start, in 
 the murder of the cura. Espinoso, by the Chichimec Indians in 1586, but the 
 
 LAGOS 
 
 church survived, and those buildings now in existence are very interesting, 
 both for their great age and peculiar decoration. The one with the great dome 
 and two high towers was formerly the Church of Nuestra Sehora de la Luz, 
 commenced in 1746 (now, since 1886. the Cathedral), and is over 200 feet long, 
 but only forty-five wide. Here is an original painting of Our Lady of Light, 
 the Patroness of Leon, presented, as attested by the Jesuit signatures on the 
 back, by Jose Maria Genovesi, in 1740. In the Church of Nuestra Senora de 
 los Angeles are some very curious carvings by a native artist, one Muhoz of 
 most happy memory. The other churches are La Soledad, San Felipe and 
 San Juan, the former being the oldest. 
 
 Some idea of the size of Leon may be formed from the knowledge that 
 there are 507 streets, 7,820 houses, 236 manzanas. or squares, and ten plazas. 
 There was a Spanish town on this site in the year 1552, referred to in the royal
 
 200 
 
 archives as the town of Leon, from which time the city dates its age, though 
 the formal order for its foundation was not issued by Viceroy Ahiianza until 
 1575, but this order not royally confirmed until 1712. It was not made a city 
 until after the war of 1810, when it was so declared by the State of Guanajuato, 
 in which State it is. 
 
 Leon is on the Mexican Central Railway, 259 miles from the City of Mexico. 
 Lerdo. Near the Nazas River, and in the midst of a very fertile cotton 
 Laer'-do region, this is one of the newest towns in Mexico, and its boast is 
 
 in an equable climate, cotton mills and 
 oil manufactories rather than antiqui- 
 ties. There is a pretty garden in the 
 principal plaza with seats under the 
 trees. There are four churches, a mar- 
 ket and the Plaza de Toros to be vis 
 ited. The soil of the Lerdo plain is 
 very fertile, and the cli- 
 mate is particularly adapt- 
 ed to the culture of cotton; 
 it is claimed that two and 
 three crops may be made 
 without replanting, and as 
 to corn and wheat, they just 
 grow all the time. It is 
 only three miles south from 
 Lerdo to Torreon, the 
 junction point of the Inter- 
 national and the JMexican 
 Central Railroads. The city 
 is on the west side of the 
 road and about three miles 
 distant from Gomez-Palacio, 
 FROM THE STATION TO THE TOWN, LERDO. reached by electric cars that 
 
 run across the plain, through an avenue shaded by green trees. Lerdo is on 
 the Mexican Central Railway, 684 miles from the capital. 
 
 Matizatiillo. Is an important seaport on the Pacific coast in the State of 
 Man-zan-eel'-yo Colima, where there is an excellent harbor, with very beautiful 
 and picturesque surroundings. A railway of sixty miles connects the port with 
 Colima, the capital of the State. 
 
 Maravatio. Looking from the w^est windows of an approaching train, 
 Marry-va-tee'-o the picture is a pretty one of green trees, with red-tiled 
 roofs peeping just above them, and over all a Moorish tower, with its bells, 
 is lifted up against the blue sky. An arched bridge of stone is on the other 
 side, where it spans a branch of the river Lerma; a beautiful stream passes 
 under the track just south of the station. The town lies quite close to the 
 railroad, and there is often time for more than a passing view in a stroll through 
 the crooked streets to the principal plaza where there are fountains and 
 flowers. In the suburbs of San Nicolas and San INTiguel are the other plazas 
 reached by other still more crooked streets, which also lead to a small lake 
 just outside of the town. San Juan Bautista is the parish church, a large, 
 quaint old building in the form of a cross: the carved altars are worth seeing, 
 as are also the other churches, Columna and Nuestro Senor de los Herreros, 
 Our Lord of the Blacksmiths. Maravatio is one of the oldest of Mexico's 
 old towns, and has a reputation all over the country for the excellence of 
 the shoes manufactured there The original town was called Maravatio el
 
 201 
 
 Alto, located 15 miles southwest, and was founded in 1535; the present town 
 was founded in 1541. 
 
 One of the old houses near the parish church bears date of 1573. Mara- 
 vatio is on the ^Mexican Isational Railroad. 138 miles from the city. 
 
 Matamoros. Was formerly the capital of the State of Tamaulipas be- 
 Mat-ah-mo'-ros fore it was removed to Victoria. The town is on the 
 Rio Grande opposite Brownsville, Texas, and about thirty miles from the 
 Gulf. The city was occupied by the Americans under Gen. Taylor jNlay i8th, 
 1846 — but even before that was an important military base during the w^ar 
 between ^lexico and Texas. There is a division of the Mexican National 
 Railway extending north to ]\lier, seventy-five miles, with an ultimate des- 
 tination at Monterey. 
 
 Mazatlau. One of the most important ports on the Pacific coast, with 
 Maz-at-lan' only a fair harbor of eighteen to twenty feet of water, but 
 
 picturesque to a degree, situated at the mouth of the 
 Gulf of California, and surrounded by high hills that are 
 reflected in the marvelously clear water of the beautiful 
 bay — with what the natives believe to be the highest light- 
 house in the world; but there are others that are higher; 
 imand about thirty leagues are the famous mines. Real 
 del Rosario. discovered in 1655 by the losing of a rosary 
 by an Indian who remained by the scene of his loss 
 over night, and who found in the morning that his camp 
 fire had melted the silver from the ground. Mazatlan, 
 although one of the newest of Alexican towns, has figured 
 extensively in the country's history. The city was found- 
 ed in 1822, rebelled against Santa Ana in 1844, and 
 again in '46; was captured by the Americans in '47; 
 captured by insurgents in 1859; was bombarded by 
 the French in 1864; was captured by Maximilian's forces 
 in '66, and by the Mexicans in '68, after which there was 
 more or less trouble until 1877, since when peace 
 has reigned. The town is delightfully clean, and 
 quaintly picturesque. 
 
 Merida. The ancient Alaya town, Ti-hoo, was 
 
 Mer'-e-dah on the site of the present City of 
 Merida, which was founded by Don Francisco 
 de Montijo in 1542. Merida is the capital of the 
 State of Yucatan and its commercial metropolis, 
 and a city of the tropics in every w^ay worthy 
 of a visit and one of the many towns in jMexico 
 noted for the beauty of its women. In the midst 
 of a district noted far and wide for its ruins, 
 prominent among which are Uxmal and Chichen- 
 Itza. It is perhaps the most interesting city of 
 the peninsula. In the city the remains of the old walls, the ancient churches, 
 convents, the plazas and portales are sufficient to entertain for a protracted visit. 
 Merida is reached by rail from Progreso on the Gulf in twenty-two miles. 
 There is rail connection also with Valladolid in the interior and Campeche 
 on the Gulf. 
 
 Mitla. The archives of the Acropolis of Athens are written, and the tale 
 
 Meet'-la of Thebes has been told in ancient history; but that history runs 
 not far enough back in the ages to tell of the builders of the temples of 
 Mitla, Palenque and Uxmal, whence they came, or where departed. The 
 
 AT LERDO.
 
 202 
 
 parchments that bore the builders' tracings have mouldered to ashes in the 
 century of centuries, and the hieroglyphics worn to polished stone in the 
 drifting sands of a passed eternity, till the tale must forever remain untold. 
 Yet stand, as mute monuments, the chiseled columns, that call back the cul- 
 tured civilization of the mighty men of Mitla. and Palenque's people, in 
 whose temples we w^alk, wondering at their magnitude and magnificence; cal- 
 culating, hopelessly, upon the task that modern men would tire under, and 
 wondering and wondering how these walls were laid, how their mosaics where 
 graven, how these monoliths were raised, and where their quarries were; 
 how they were brought hence, how these massive columns were raised, and 
 how the corner stone was put in its place. Afterwards we turn away in dis- 
 appointing ignorance of it all, and hopelessly, for there is no history, nor 
 yet a legend, to fathom the mystery of it. 
 
 You may find but little of the history or legend of Mitla from its people 
 of to-day who do not even speak the language of their neighbors, the ^lexi- 
 
 RUINS OF UXMAL. 
 
 cans— Spanish is as Greek to them— and if they know anything handed down 
 from their fathers they have not told the secret. They call the name of the 
 place, not Mitla, but Lyo-baa, which in Tzapoteco tongue means the "door 
 of the grave" — well named, for here indeed is the grave of all tradition. 
 
 Thejourney to Mitla is an easy one. It is by rail to Oaxaca; thence, over 
 a wide road, hard beaten by much travel, through a valley almost treeless, 
 save where the verdure is along the banks of a little rio, or clustered here 
 and there about an hacienda or straggling village, or on the sides of the 
 mountains which hedge this valley in, and help to make the journey a pleas- 
 ant one. with pretty pictures of scenic beauty. 
 
 Diligencias or carriages may be obtained at Oaxaca, and they will roll 
 over the broad road as easily and smoothly as on a street. The start should 
 be made before noon to take advantage of the afternoon breezes that almost 
 always blow^ from the south and across the road; let this be the hour of start- 
 ing in the winter months; if there is a moon in the last quarters or at the 
 full this will bring you to Mitla by or a little after dark and you may have 
 the weird pleasure of wandering through the ruins by moonlight. In the 
 dark of the moon start by eleven a. m. and in the summer by seven or eight
 
 203 
 
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 Ci rt I C S K r. 
 
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 204 
 
 in the morning to avoid the almost every afternoon rain. Returning the same 
 rules may be followed. 
 
 Lunches may be taken from Oaxaca, but this is not necessary; the Hotel 
 Cerqueda at Tlacolula, the little more than half way town, is surprisingly 
 
 good, where good cof- 
 fee, fine, native choco- 
 late, excellent bread, 
 and fruits may be ob- 
 tained, and at the haci- 
 enda of the muy amable, 
 S e h o r Don Felix 
 Quero, at Mitla, there 
 are good beds, and an 
 excellent dinner is 
 served, by a genial host, 
 who will welcome in 
 . cordiality and speed the 
 parting guest with good 
 ^"- - wishes, till you will, 
 
 A MITLA TEAM. with the memories of 
 
 the wonders, the pleasant journey and the good living, bless the day you 
 came to Mitla. 
 
 The only rough part of the road is over the stony pavements of Oaxaca; 
 after that it is up hill and down dale, but easy rolling all the way, with plenty 
 to interest in every mile, from the city gates and the old stone bridge just 
 without its boundaries, down to the big trees of Tule. You have told your 
 driver that if he drives there is something in it for his own account, and he 
 will drive — but there must be a stop at Tule. The village is in a grove of 
 trees, and a turn out to the right is through an avenue of tropical verdure 
 that all but shuts out the sunlight. It is scarcely a quarter of a mile from 
 the main road to the 
 big tree. The popu- 
 lace will turn out to 
 greet you, in a kindly 
 way, and, from the 
 purest curiosity, fol- 
 low you about. The 
 big tree of Tule is in 
 the church yard of 
 Santa Maria del 
 Tule. A great grand- 
 father of trees, that 
 must have been still 
 a great tree long be- 
 fore the Spaniards 
 came, or even while 
 the builders were at 
 the temples of Mitla. 
 It is 154 feet and 2 
 inches around the big tree of tule. 
 
 trunk, six feet from the ground, and, as a native says, "it takes two looks to 
 see the top." To give a better idea of its immense size: if twenty-eight people 
 with outstretched arms, touching each other's fingertips, stood around the 
 trunk, they could barely complete the circuit.
 
 205 
 
 On the east side of this 
 giant of the forest is a 
 wooden tablet, with an in- 
 scription signed by Hum- 
 boldt, the great German 
 traveler, and probably 
 placed there by him, or by 
 his .order. It has been there 
 so long that the bark has 
 grown over it. almost com- 
 pletely embodying it in the 
 tree, and partially obscur- 
 ing the inscription, so that 
 the beginning and ending 
 of the lines cannot be read. 
 In the native tongue the 
 tree is an ahuehuctl, a 
 species of cypress. Back 
 on the main road again, 
 and the little mules go in a 
 gallop across the valley, 
 then over the barren foot- 
 hill of the mountain, with 
 still a broad even road, 
 though at a slower gait till 
 the turn at the top, then 
 you may go as fast as you 
 please. There is a pretty 
 view from this hill, back to 
 one valley of green fields, 
 and forward to another. 
 
 Looking toward the valley L 
 
 to the south there is seen 
 what seems to be a vast 
 pyramid, in the midst of it. 
 perfect in shape, but on 
 closer view it is found to be 
 covered with small trees, but 
 it may be a pyramid for all 
 that. We are in a land of 
 mysterious wonders, and 
 there may be yet undiscov- 
 ered relics of the forgotten 
 ages, or you may take the 
 lower road and pass 
 through the quaint old 
 town of Tlacochahuaya; on 
 either road, though, you 
 will see the white towers o*' 
 the little villages of the val- 
 ley, and the driver will 
 point out the spot where 
 lies the larger town of 
 Tlacolula. You can take 
 
 HUMBOLDT PANEL, BIG TREE OF TULE.
 
 S06 
 
 your time for luncheon and coflfee at the Hotel Cerqueda at Tlacolula, and, 
 while it is being prepared, you may walk across the market place and come 
 to the Plaza of the Casa Municipal, and a very pretty one, indeed; then come 
 back through the church yard, and through the quaint old church of the parish. 
 If you are not indeed hard to please, you will not regret the luncheon at 
 Tlacolula— still I have not advised to start on the journey without a basket. 
 
 The mules have rested, the drivers been refreshed, and it is a whip and 
 a hurrah through the streets of the east side of the town, with a hundred 
 dogs coming out to bark at your flying wheels; down through the cactus- 
 hedged lanes, and on into the fields again, with the greater part of the jour- 
 ney behind you, and a down-grade road to Mitla. On the right is the val- 
 
 TOMB ON MOUNT GUIRI, NEAR MITLA. 
 
 ley; on the left the mountains have come closer, till there are huge boulders, 
 of thousands of tons, that may have rolled down from them and lodged on 
 the smaller hills, close to the roadside; not one or a dozen, but hundreds of 
 them, probably shaken from their places by some violent quaking of the 
 earth. There are a few miles of this, then, across a wide, rocky bed of a 
 large river, in the rainy season, though only a rivulet now, and up the hill 
 on the other side, and you are at Mitla — at the hospitable door of Don Felix 
 Quero. 
 
 An exchange of courtesies with Don Felix, rooms arranged for, the order 
 for dinner given, and you are ready for the ruins. 
 
 If the journey has been well done, without delay, you should reach the 
 ruins within six hours, allowing twenty minutes at the Big Tree and ten 
 minutes at Tlacochahuaya. Luncheon at Tlacolula will make the running time
 
 207 
 
 little more than four hours, which with good teams has been done many times 
 in winter, but in summer it takes longer on account of rains. 
 
 It is only five minutes walk from the hacienda to the Ruins, through a 
 straggling village of thatched huts, through narrow streets hedged with giant 
 cacti. Pass out the door of the hacienda, turn to the left at the corner, turn 
 again to the left around the white walls, on northward through the lane, 
 across the dry bed of the rio and on the right of the road just at the top 
 of the opposite bank are the first remains of the ruined city. After passing 
 these bear to the right towards the church on the hill and in a moment you 
 stand within the graven walls of a temple that may be older than Solomon's. 
 
 I have called them temples, and temples they may have been, raised to 
 the honor of the gods their builders worshiped, though there is little simi- 
 larity to the teocalis found in the city of Tenochtitlan and the other cities 
 of An^huac on the plains to the north. These low walls differ radically in 
 their construction and decoration from the high pyramidal temples of the 
 Toltecs. though the absence of arches in the temples of Mitla would indicate 
 that the builders were of the same school, as the Toltecs had no arches in 
 their architecture and for the 
 most part avoided curves and 
 circular decoration. If not a 
 temple, then it may have been 
 a fortress, a most impregnable 
 one. and unless the instru- 
 ments of war were more for- 
 midable than those of later 
 generations, or even those of 
 the present day, the thick 
 walls would have resisted the 
 most persistent assaults. The 
 fortress idea further obtains 
 from the fact that there are 
 no windows or other openings 
 in the walls, and the only en- 
 trances open into the inner 
 square or plaza; for these 
 reasons the fortress idea is in 
 favor, but the people of the mitla maidens 
 
 earlier ages did not need such formidable works of defense. The 
 palace of a king or mighty chieftain may have been within these walls 
 — the Hall of the Monoliths, a banquet hall, the Corridor of Mosaics, a 
 royal bed chamber, and the central court might have been the throne room 
 and audience hall, but I adhere to a first impression and say. here was once 
 a great temple. This may have been one temple, or two of four courts 
 each. There are in each of the north and south groups four walled cou'-ts 
 facing about an open patio, lying exactly at the four points of the com- 
 pass, with their walls on lines true to the needle. Of the southern group, 
 only three of the courts have the walls standing. The east wall is in the 
 best condition, next the north, while the south is almost crumbled away, and 
 the west is but a heap of stones. 
 
 The heavy cap piece of the entrance to the north court is supported in 
 the center by a huge column of hewn stone. Under it leads a passage un- 
 derground, that may have extended to the other courts, as there is a sub- 
 terranean gallery running the entire length of the court, east and west, with 
 a short extension due north, and these may have existed, also, in the other
 
 208 
 
 courts of this great temple. In the north group the north court is in the 
 finest state of preservation, and gives ample evidence of the magnificent 
 handiwork of the men of a buried and forgotten race, whose civilization is 
 attested in the intricate carvings here; in the shaping of these stones; in 
 the lifting them from their quarries, and setting them in their places, as 
 with a mason's tact, that all the earth's tremblings have not shaken, nor 
 the warring elements effaced their gravings. The north court is built on the 
 same plan with the others; its walls are in a most complete state. The en- 
 trances of all the courts open into the open patio in the center, with no open- 
 ings at all in the outer walls. There are no windows anywhere. 
 
 In the north court and extending its entire length is a grand corridor, 
 called the Hall of the Monoliths. Here are six massive columns, nearly 
 
 EAST SIDE, NORTH COURT. 
 
 seven feet in circumference and twelve feet high, ranging down the center 
 of the hall. An under-the-walls passage leads to a second larger room, whose 
 walls also face the compass points. This room is surrounded by four smaller 
 ones, the one on the west side being in an almost complete state. The walls 
 are laid in the most intricate mosaics, of small pieces and of the most beau- 
 tiful and unique designs, fitted and put together without mortar or cement. 
 In each one of the courts of all the groups are niches, square, faced with 
 heavy stones set in the walls as if intended for the shrines of household gods. 
 The ancient races of this land had no arches in their architecture, as is 
 evidenced by everything that is left of their meager history, and here, over 
 their square-cut doorways, are magnificent monoliths, twelve to eighteen feet 
 long, four to six feet in width, and three to five feet in thickness. The east 
 court of the north group has only part of the front wall standing, and two
 
 209 
 
 :Wi%
 
 210 
 
 columns which show that there was here also a hall with the monolith columns ; 
 the massive lintel that was over the door has been thrown down. 
 
 Down the hill towards the village, in the midst of some huts of cane, is 
 a modern discovery, which the Indian guide calls "the sepulcher," long used 
 as a corn bin. It is about eight feet long and six feet wide, and below the 
 level of the ground. The architecture and cutting of the stone is exactly the 
 same as in the larger ruins on the hill. 
 
 The old church on the hill has its walls and foundations laid in the walls 
 and foundations of another group of the pre-historic temples — probably the 
 oldest foundation and walls of any Christian Church in the world. The same 
 stone carvings and inlaid work of the other ruins are found in both the ex- 
 terior and interior of the church, and much of the material of the temple 
 walls has been taken to build the church. Back of the church in one great 
 chamber now used as a stable are several patches of the hard red paint show- 
 ing some of the hieroglyphics that once adorned the walls. The view from 
 the tower of the church will give a better idea of the extent of the ruined 
 city. Looking to the south are the walls that extend to the banks of the rio, 
 to the westward is a pyramid of earth and stones crowned by an ancient but 
 yet a more modern shrine ; and across the rio in the midst of the village, 
 some other pyramids of earth and stone but loosely put together, yet with- 
 standing the ravages of the elements. Leaving the church, walk down the 
 hill near to temples on their right, and after crossing the rio come to the 
 sepulcher and pyramids, and passing through the village to the main road, and 
 turning to the right come to the hacienda again. 
 
 Of these ruins no more may be written, truthfully, than I have here. 
 Descriptions may be elaborated, and yet not do them justice. History is pain- 
 fully silent as to their origin. They were as they are to-day when the Spaniards 
 came. Fray Martin de Valencia visited them in 1533; in the old Spanish 
 chronicles notices are made in 1565 and 1574, and Cogolludo, who saw them 
 in the middle of the seventeenth century, speaks of them wnth admiration, as 
 works of "accomplished artists," of whom history has preserved no tradition. 
 His visit to these ruins was written of in 1688. 
 
 We are left to wonder what race of men carved these walls and laid their 
 intricate fittings. Where did they quarry these huge stones, and how were 
 they hewn to their perfect shape? How did they transport them hence, and 
 how lift them to their places, since men enough could not get around one to 
 lift it? What edged tools could cut their flinty substance, since only chisels 
 and axes of soft, untempered copper have been found? All is deeply, darkly 
 secret against all research. We come to them, and go away, knowing as little 
 as before we came, and pass on with a silent salute to the artisans of so 
 enlightened a race, whose work has made the arrogance of the twentieth 
 century silent in its wonder and admiration. 
 
 These ruins have withstood the ravages of time, perhaps a thousand cen- 
 turies, but here cometh, in this day and generation, a destroyer who can 
 destroy in a year what may not be built in a hundred ; may do what time and 
 the elements have not done in a thousand. The relic hunter comes to take 
 away what the sands have not covered up. Let him who reads these lines 
 beware. Let him look upon these walls, but not lay his hand upon them to 
 take their smallest pebble. And if any man shall show you a stone, and say 
 that it came from the walls of the Ruins of Mitla, say to him that he is a 
 vandal ; for that he is, indeed and in truth. 
 
 Thus were these ruins when I came to them in 1894; thus they were when 
 the ancient chronicler saw them, when Humboldt and Du Paix took their long
 
 211 
 
 journeys thence — no change had taken place; but recent excavations have 
 revealed new mysteries in hidden walls and pavements, tombs and subterranean 
 chambers. 
 
 In 1900 the debris was removed from the patio of the north court and a 
 hard cement pavement with cut-stone curbing and borders uncovered. In 1902 
 a similar work in the south court showed another pavement with a sealed 
 entrance, which on being opened disclosed a beautiful subterranean chamber, 
 cruciform, about thirty by forty feet under the east edifice of that court, and 
 with the same mural decorations as are in the chambers above. 
 
 The excavations at Mitla and in the surrounding valley have been made 
 under the supervision of Senor Don Leopoldo Batres, who, as the representative 
 of the Supreme Government of Mexico, has charge of all such work within the 
 Republic. Professor- Saville, representing the New York JMuseum of Natural 
 History, has ably assisted Sehor Batres. Great honor is due these eminent 
 archaeologists for their work in Mitla of Mysteries. 
 
 At this writing the good work of excavation, restoration and preservation 
 is progressing so that no permanent book may give the details up to date. 
 
 All over this valley of mysteries new discoveries are being made, and only 
 the daily paper, or the magazine, may give the latest details of what has been 
 found a't Mitla. 
 
 Moiiclova has a history, and seems to be content with it. When Texas 
 
 Mou-clo'-va and Coahuila were one State, Monclova was the capital ; now 
 it is the capital of neither. Texas having one of her own, and that of Coahuila 
 having been removed to Saltillo. ]\lonc!ova is in the center of a rich mining 
 district; the most important are the mines Cuatro Cienegas and Sierra Mojada. 
 Monclova is a very old town, and as such is a very interesting one. It was 
 named for the Viceroy Melchor Portocarrero Lazo de la Vega, Conde de la 
 Monclova, but for obvious reasons has not retained the entire name, which 
 is to be applauded if for no other reason than for the benefit of the trainman 
 who calls the stations along the line, since he has such inferior success with 
 the shorter ones. Monclova is on the Mexican International Railroad, 942 
 miles from the City of Mexico. It is in the State of Coahuila. 
 
 Monterey. The Spaniards had penetrated far into the interior and to 
 
 Mon-te-ray' the northward, before the middle of the sixteenth centuz-y, 
 and in 1560 had reached near the now American border. In that year they 
 founded the town of Santa Lucia, that was afterwards called Monterey in 
 honor of the then viceroy, Don Caspar de Zuhiga, Conde de Monterey, the 
 permanent settlement being made in September of 1596 by Fray Diego de 
 Leon. If he had sought the country over he could not have found a more 
 lovely site for a city than in this valley of level lands. It is completely sur- 
 rounded by high hills, curiously shaped, and the prettiest in Mexico. So 
 curiously shaped are their dark blue outlines, clear cut against the sky, that 
 the one, Ccrro de la Sillo, 4,149 feet above the plain, is a perfect saddle of 
 the military type known as the McClellan, and, at the peak, is shaped exactly 
 like the saddles seen in Mexico, requiring no stretch of the imagination, as in 
 the case of the old Man of the Mountain and Anthony's Nose, the saddle 
 rnountain being recognized at a glance. The Cerro de las Mifras, 3,618 feet 
 high,_ is the mountain of the mitres. It does not so assert itself, but the mitres 
 are just as compelling as the saddle, and that piece of the bishop's vestments 
 is as discernible to the average vivid vision. They are the bluest of blue 
 mountains standing out against the very bluest sky, and the marvelously clear 
 atmosphere is responsible for it all. 
 
 These mountains surround a lovely valley, watered by clear running streams
 
 212 
 
 and carpeted by the green of fertile fields that are brightened further by 
 flowering gardens, with great trees to shade the lanes and streets. In the 
 midst of this is Monterey, as quaintly novel as the valley is very beautiful. 
 
 Here, through the city, there runs a living stream of cold, clear water 
 that has its source in the great spring, the Ojo de Agiia. Along its banks the 
 people come to bathe under the shade of the overhanging foliage. On a 
 bridge, La Purisima, where one of the principal streets crosses this stream, 
 the Mexicans made a valiant stand against the advancing Americans in '46, 
 and while, as the legend says, the Virgin of Guadalupe hovered over the 
 banners of Mexico, they held the pass as the Spartans at Thermopylae. 
 
 In the western part of the city are the casas de recreo, a semi-suburban 
 district where the houses are in beautiful gardens of fruits and flowers, with 
 streams of running water and fountains under beautiful trees. These are 
 reached by horse cars, as are all of the points of interest in and around Mon- 
 terey. Special cars may be hired at reasonable rates, and they are much 
 to be preferred to the carriages that rattle in an uncertain way over the stony 
 streets; especially are the horse cars to be preferred for the rides to the 
 Bishop's Palace and to Topo Chico. The Bishop's Palace is a very picturesque 
 old ruin on a high hill northwest of the city, seen from almost every part 
 of it and from the cars. The Palace was commenced in 1782 and completed 
 in 1790, by Bishop Verger, for a summer residence. It is now fallen into 
 disuse, and occupied solely by two sentries, wdiose lonely watches are changed 
 once a month. These two are but a memory of the gallant army that de- 
 fended the hill against the assaulting Americans, under General Worth, on 
 the 21 st of September, 1849, w^hen the capture of the hill meant the surrender 
 of the city. It is a pleasant ride across the plain to the Hot Springs of Topo 
 Chico. The w^onderful hot waters issue from the side of a hill about three 
 miles to the north. The ride through the fields is a pleasant one, and at 
 the end of it there are pavilions, baths and a good hotel. The legend of 
 Montezuma's daughter, her journey to Topo Chico and miraculous cure by 
 the all-healing waters, lives in the centuries after her — how she came from 
 the far-away Hill of the Grasshopper, a weak and puny maiden, but when 
 she came again to Chapultepec it was with renewed life and vigor, to the 
 rejoicing of all. The court of the plumed and feathered king became, at 
 cnce, agents for the Topo Chico springs. The waters are only to be bathed 
 in to insure their own recommendation, and they so resemble the great Hot 
 Springs of Arkansas that they are only to be as well known to make them 
 equally popular. 
 
 The other excursions by horse car and carriage from Monterey are to 
 Santa Catarina and the chapels of Guadalupe and Lourdes, and eight miles 
 further to El Potrero, the road leading through a beautiful cafion to a valley 
 of meadows surrounded by mountains. About nineteen miles south of the 
 city, reached by rail, are two wonderful caves near the little village of Pes- 
 queria. A visit to the near-by mines by means of the little narrow gauge 
 railroads will prove interesting. 
 
 The only really old church of Monterey is that of San Francisco, dating 
 from 1560. The present church was built in 1730. though there are some 
 of the old ruins adjoining it, near the Plaza Mayor, where there is a pic- 
 turesque old convent w'ith a garden. The Cathedral is a massive structure 
 after the style of the average church of Mexico; it was commenced in 1792, 
 finished in 1833. and consecrated on the 4th of July of that year. It was 
 used as a powder magazine during the American war, and its walls and 
 towers give evidence in their scars of the vicissitudes of war. 
 
 The main plaza is a very pretty one indeed; it is, in fact, two plazas, with
 
 213 
 
 the Casa Municipal between them. At the east end is the Cathedral, and 
 just south of it is the Episcopal Palace. Near by is the State House and 
 
 ENTRANCE TO SUBTERRANEAN CHAMBER, 
 
 Theatre and the Casino, one of the finest club houses in the country. 
 Alameda and Campo Santo are in the northwest of the city. 
 
 The
 
 214
 
 215 
 
 Monterey is a much Americanized city, with its great smelters, fadtories 
 and breweries, but it is Mexican withal, and is a most delightful first-view 
 town across the border. Monterey is at the crossing of the Mexican National 
 and the Monterey division of the Mexican Central and the terminus of a branch 
 of the jMexican International that connects with the main line at Reata ; Mon- 
 terey is the capital of the State of Nuevo Leon, and is distant from the City 
 
 THE AUDIENCE CHAMBER. 
 
 of Mexico 667 miles. Horse cars run from railway stations to the Plaza 
 Mayor. 
 
 Morelia. Than Morelia there is no more lovely city in all Mexico, 
 
 Mo-ray'-lia and its people are content with it, to remain within its walls, 
 
 going not abroad except where business calls, and that only when it is most 
 
 urgent; when you have seen them in their homes there will be no wonder
 
 216
 
 217 
 
 at their contentment. In the olden days when the Viceroys of Spain or their 
 emissaries were going about in Mexico founding cities, they, with one ac- 
 cord, seemed to have had an eye for the beautiful in the selection of a site, 
 and particularly did >Mendoza have when in 1541 he founded the city of Val- 
 ladolid, (now called Morelia in honor of the patriot Morelos), when, as the 
 ancient chronicler says, the Viceroy found a site having the seven qualities 
 of Plato, and founded a small but very noble city, now grown to a large 
 and nobler city, whose towers are seen from afar with their belfries and 
 crosses peeping over the intervening hills. There is a "saddle" mountain at 
 Morelia and others as curiously shaped on all sides, sloping down to smaller 
 undulating hills and valleys in the midst of which the city is. Coming from 
 the east the track runs along the river bank, where a large proportion of 
 the populace do congregate for the launder of their clothes and themselves. 
 It is a pretty river with great overhanging trees on either shore, making 
 dark shadows over the waters, and a cooling shade protecting from rays of 
 a southern sun. The river is on the north of the track, and the scene from 
 the windows on that side is novel and interesting for a mile or more before 
 the station is reached. 
 
 ^kis^i 
 
 JiM-\ 
 
 1 
 
 EL PUENTE DEL OJO OE AGUA, MONTEREY. 
 
 Horse cars run from the station to the pretty plaza, to the very excellent 
 hotels of Morelia and beyond to the suburbs, where there are the most charm- 
 ing and cosiest flower-embowered homes in the world. It is a pleasant horse- 
 car ride, but it is best to leave the car just where it starts down the hill 
 by the old aqueduct and passes under its arches — then walk through the Cal- 
 zada de Guadalupe, a wide stone-paved paseo that leads to the Parque de 
 San Pedro. On each side is a massive stone balustrade, and at intervals 
 convenient resting places on the benches, also of stone. There are two rows 
 of tall trees with intertwining branches above, lending a constant shade over 
 the causeway and over the houses on both sides. The Calzada was com- 
 menced in 1732 and the work designed by Bishop Calatayud was intended 
 to afiford an easy and pleasant walk to the Santuario de Guadalupe. If you 
 have never seen the Mexican home that you may have read of. and which 
 you may have thought was described extravagantly, you may see it here, 
 if haply some arched doorway is swung ajar you may have a glimpse of 
 f^iry-land that you would never dream could exist behind such a cold gray
 
 218 
 
 wall. The patio is filled with flowers; some vines have climbed to the upper 
 galleries and almost hidden them with a bank of blossoms, blending in a 
 perfect harmony of color from a deep carnation to a delicate pink, relieved 
 by tints of blue and purple, with here and there some white and gold flowers. 
 From a bed of flowers in the center, sparkling waters, as if from their petals 
 instead of from hidden jets, fly in crystal globules to the overhanging leaves 
 of a feathery palm. You may not see the birds, there are so many flowers to 
 hide them, but the twittering, the whistling and singing in a hundred notes 
 tell that they are there. Such are the homes of the Calzada de Guadalupe 
 that leads from the city to the Parque de San Pedro, a park of great beauty, 
 shadowed by a forest of great trees, a favorite resort of the people. Through 
 the park runs the old aqueduct built by the good Fray Antonio de San 
 
 AQUEDUCT AT MORELIA. 
 
 Miguel Iglesias, in the year of the famine, 1785, as a means to provide food 
 for the people. Under one of the high arches is a tablet commemorating the 
 bishop's charity. 
 
 The Cathedral, one of the finest in all Mexico, and the Palacio de Gobierno 
 stand facing each other in the city's center, fronting the plazas. The main 
 plaza is called the Plaza of the Martyrs, commemorative of the execution 
 here of a company of patriots in 1830, and here also Matamoros was exe- 
 cuted ten years later. The plaza east of the Cathedral is that of La Paz 
 where the market is, and where may be bought the dulces for which the 
 town is noted, and also the curious pottery of Uruapam; the other plaza is 
 that of San Francisco, in front of the church of the same name. In the Plaza 
 de los Martires the band plays, under a beautiful pagoda in the midst of a
 
 219 
 
 garden of trees and flowers; here the people most do congregate, and here 
 may Morelia's folks be seen at their best, (in the evenings when there's music, 
 as there is two or three times a week), men of high and low degree, women 
 who wear the mantilla and her more lowly sister of the tapalo and of the 
 reboso, both showing the beauty of the city's people. 
 
 The Hotel Oseguera is a part of the building that was erected for the 
 bishop's palace, but as its cost created talk among the people, it was aban- 
 doned to more profane uses and became a hotel, and one of the best and 
 most unique in the land. The Hotel Michoacan has also a convent legend. 
 The Ocampo Theatre is the chief place of amusement, excepting always the 
 Plaza de Toros, built after the fashion of the bull-rings of old Spain, entirely 
 of stone, very substantial and of immense seating capacity. 
 
 The house in which ]\lorelos was born September 30th, 1765, is at the 
 second corner south from the Cathedral; it has a tablet recording the event. 
 In the first block east of the Cathedral and half way of the block is the 
 house in which Yturbide was born. 
 
 Of the churches, of course the Cathedral is the most prominent, in fact 
 there are few finer edifices anywhere than the Cathedral at Morelia; its 
 towers, the great organ, the silver altar rails, vestments and vessels, images 
 and candelabra, all of fine silver, have not an equal — though what is th'ire 
 now is only a remnant, nearly half a million dollars' worth having been 
 confiscated by the government in 1858, for the refusal to pay a levy of 
 $100,000, and one wonders how it all could have been used and where to put 
 it. There are some interesting pictures and handsome carvings and the silver 
 font in which Iturbide and Morelos were baptized. The Cathedral was founded 
 at Tzintzuntzan in 1538, was removed to Patzcuaro in 1540, and finally to 
 Morelia in 1579. to the little church of La Cruz. The present building was 
 begun in 1640 and completed in 1706. 
 
 The Church of San Francisco was founded in 1531, but not completed 
 until seventy years later; it is said that an underground passage leads from 
 the church to the fields beyond the city. The Church of Nuestra Seiiora 
 Socorro dates from 1550, and contains a much venerated image of that Vir- 
 gin. In the Santuario de Guadalupe are shown the chains around the atrium 
 that were once used to shackle the prisoners of the State. The other churches 
 are Carmen, 1596, with some fine pictures by Juan and Nicolas Juarez and 
 Calvera. The Compania is of Jesuit foundation, a very handsome group of 
 buildings, dating from 1582. The churches of Santa Catalina de Lena, Las 
 Teresas and Capuchinas were originally convents. La Merced and San Jose 
 are smaller churches. The College of St. Nicholas is the oldest college in 
 America, having been founded in 1540, by Bishop Quiroga. a portrait of 
 whom is preserved in the building. Among the pupils of later years were 
 iMorelos and Yturbide. The college was closed during the wars from which 
 the country suiTered, but remains to-day the oldest and one of the most 
 flourishing institutions in the country. Morelia has also a very fine seminary 
 for young ladies, however, of modern establishment. 
 
 The surrounding country is very picturesque and ten miles west are the 
 famous hot springs of Cuincho, famed for their cures. Morelia is very fa- 
 mous in the country's history and suffered greatly in its wars, and many 
 have been the dire and dark scenes enacted that made bloody marks on 
 her escutcheon; but the fair city of to-day rejoices in honoring her heroes 
 and dwells in contentment and peaceful hospitality. The city was founded as 
 the City of Valladolid, May i8th, 1541. September 12th. 1828, the name was 
 changed to Morelia, in honor of the patriot Morelos. Morelia is the capital
 
 220 
 
 of the State of Michoacan; it is located on the western division of the Mexi- 
 can National Railroad, 225 miles from the capital of the Republic. 
 
 Oaxaca. It was in the year of Alontezuma's downfall that the conqueror, 
 O-ah-hack'-ah Cortez, sent bands of men, here and there, to spy out the 
 land he had invaded. He had deposed the x\ztec princes, and the Emperor 
 was in chains, a humiliated slave to the Spanish King. There was a lull in 
 the wars, and the projects of peace claimed attention. The open road of 
 the sea at Vera Cruz left no protection for the Spanish ships. A surveying 
 party proceeded down the coast, guided by a chart that Montezuma had 
 shown them, and found a harbor at the mouth of the great river Coatza- 
 coalcos, that ottered safe and suitable accommodations. A spot was selected 
 for a fortified post, and a detachment of a hundred and fifty men, under Velas- 
 quez de Leon, was sent to form the colony. The route of de Leon was direct 
 to the southeast, through the canons, down through the Valley of Oaxaca, 
 where Cortez obtained a grant of a large tract of land, and laid out planta- 
 tions for the crown. The estate was soon so prosperous that its value was 
 more than twenty thousand gold onzas. The report gives detailed descrip- 
 tions of large and beautiful edifices, and some of them the most elaborate 
 specimens of Indian architecture in the Province of Oaxaca. The princely 
 domain comprehended more than twenty large towns and villages, and 23.000 
 vassals. Of these twenty large towns and villages, Alitla was one, and another 
 was Oaxaca. 
 
 On his return to Spain Cortez was, by a decree of Charles V, dated July 6, 
 1529, created Alarquis of the V^alley of Oaxaca, a title by which he was known 
 in those days even more than by his own name. To speak of "the Alarquis." 
 meant Cortez. The decree granting the estates of the valley was signed in 
 the month of July, of that year. 
 
 The route that the little band of Velasquez marched over was down 
 through canons where now runs the Mexican Southern Railroad, the mouth 
 of the river Coatzacoalcos, the eastern terminus of the Tehuantepec Railroad. 
 
 Oaxaca was a city, then, before the Spaniards came, and the date of its 
 original foundation is as obscure as that of the Ruins of Mitla, though there 
 is a record saying that the ancient city was founded in i486, and it is cer- 
 tain there was a settlement here much earlier than that, which became a city 
 that was called Huaxyacac, which means in the native language "in the nose 
 of the guajes" — the guaje is a tree useful for its wood as well as its fruit, 
 a tree that abounds in this valley, and each one of the various tribes gave 
 the town a name as referring to the guajes — the Zapotecas called the town 
 Luhulaa, "place of the guajes;" the ^Mixtecas called it Nahundua, "land of the 
 guajes;" in ]\Iixe it was called Huac Huim, meaning "within sight of the 
 guajes;" the Chinautecos called it Nicuhui, "chief place of guajes;" the Maza- 
 tecos gave it the name of Naxhintze, "the hill of the guajes." Only two 
 tribes gave names that did not mean something about the "guajes," the Cui- 
 catecos, called the place Nahanduva, "the wooden trumpet," and the Chochos 
 called it Cunchaa, "the residence of the supreme authorities." Thus it may be 
 seen in what a roundabout way the guajes {Wahk-hees) came to name the town 
 Oaxaca. 
 
 The first foundation of record was by a regiment of soldiers sent thither 
 by the Emperor Ahuizotl as a spy upon the actions of Zachila III. Then 
 the Spaniards came in 1521 and named the place Antequera from a fancied 
 resemblance to a town of that name in Spain; Juan Cedeno and Hernando 
 de Badajos were the leading pioneers. In 1526 the parish of San ]\Iarcial 
 Oaxaca was given the title of "villa" and on 25th April, 1532, by decree 
 of Charles V, Oaxaca became a city; in 1535, June 21st, Pope Paul III estab-
 
 221 
 
 lished the Bishopric of Oaxaca. On the loth of October, 1872, the old name 
 of San Marcial was dropped and the present name of Oaxaca de Juarez 
 adopted in honor of her illustrious son, the great president, Benito Juarez, 
 who was born here on the 21st of March, 1806. Little is known of the city 
 from 1560, when it had a population of 500, till 1790 when it had 14,000 people. 
 This great increase was due to the commerce, chiefly in the exportation of 
 cochineal, trade in which article alone amounted to over a million a year, an 
 industry that is still flourishing. 
 
 When Hidalgo, in 1810, declared for independence, he was denounced by 
 the Bishop of Oaxaca as an instrument of Satan, and two emissaries named Lo- 
 pez and Armenta, sent by Hidalgo in the disguise of venders of tinder, to spy out 
 the land, were taken and' executed, their heads were hung up in the street where 
 they were taken, and to this day the street is known as the Calle de Armenta 
 y Lopez: later there were several other executions among the priests and dea- 
 cons in 181 1, and the next year that other patriot priest, Alorelos, marched from 
 Tehuacan with 5.000 men and forty cannon. In Oaxaca ^Bishop Beigoza preached 
 a Holy War against the coming invaders and got together a body of 2,000 
 men, Spaniards, priests and students: Gen. Jose Maria Regules had about 
 200 Royalist Cavalry and thirty-six cannon of all sizes with which to defend 
 the city. 
 
 On the 24th of November, 1812, Morelos arrived in front of the city and 
 demanded its surrender within three hours and as no reply was received the 
 attack was made by six divisions of the patriot army and after a weak re- 
 sistance by the Royalists, Morelos' soldiers were in the streets of the city 
 supported by a lively fire from the artillery under Don ]\Ianuel Teran and 
 the division under Don Ramon Sesma, who was assigned to the storming 
 of the Cerro de la Soledad. while Morelos entered the city through the sub- 
 urb of El Marquesado, where the Mexican Southern Railway station now 
 stands. General Don Jose Maria Regules, the valiant Spaniard, was one of 
 the first to find a place of safety in the Convent of Our Lady of Carmen, 
 where the women and children had gone for protection, from where a vis^- 
 orous firing was made on the advancing insurgents, but it was soon taken 
 by them under the command of iMatamoros, while Teran was victorious in 
 the last stand made under the portales in the Plaza. 
 
 The battle was fought and won in two hours, commencing at 10 a. m., 
 was over at noon and Morelos in command of the city at one o'clock. The 
 Royalist ofScers were brought before the victorious Morelos, who paroled all 
 except General Regules and one or two others, who were executed on the 
 spot where Armenta and Lopez were beheaded — and the bodies of these two 
 latter, the emissaries of Hidalgo, and of the two deacons Tinoco and Palacios, 
 who had also been beheaded by the Royalists, were exhumed and given a 
 solemn funeral, with all the honors of war, from the Cathedral with Morelos 
 as chief mourner. 
 
 A local government with Don Manuel Nicolas Bustamente as first presi- 
 dent of city council was established. Morelos departed for Acapulco in Jan- 
 uary, 1813, leaving a garrison of 1,000 men under Col. Benito Garcia, who 
 was driven out a year later, in March, 1814, and the city came again into 
 the hands of the Royalists and from that time on was taken first by one 
 side and then by the other, until the war with Spain was over, and even 
 then there was little rest, as in all the revolutions Oaxaca was an important 
 base of operations. 
 
 On the 15th of September, 1830. in Oaxaca was born "the man of Mexico," 
 and her most illustrious son, Porfirio Diaz, and. from the days of his early 
 manhood his history is almost the history of the city; and as well might the
 
 222 
 
 city's surname be Diaz as Juarez, if the services of both her sons are con- 
 sidered. The birthplace of Diaz was in La Calle de Soledad, Number Ten. 
 
 Porfirio Diaz commenced his career in his native city. He was the only 
 student who dared to vote against the Dictator Santa Ana and had to fly 
 for his life. Later he returned, drove Garcia out and captured the city. This 
 was the beginning of the association of Diaz and Juarez — though Diaz had 
 studied law under Juarez and Juarez under Ignacio INIejia— now the three 
 FS^r-i^r^- ' ■ ' "• were soldiers in a 
 
 common cause and 
 remained loyal to 
 their country and 
 to each other 
 through all the 
 stormy times of 
 the revolutions, 
 and the latter lived 
 to see his student 
 and student's stu- 
 dent become presi- 
 dents of Mexico. 
 In 1858 Diaz de- 
 fended Oaxaca 
 against Gen. Co- 
 bos and pursued 
 him to Jalapa. 
 Again in i860 
 Diaz came up 
 from Tehuantepec, 
 fought and de- 
 feated Cobos 
 again near the 
 celebrated Ruins 
 of Mitla. In 1865 
 the French under 
 Marshall Bazaine 
 laid siege to Oax- 
 aca with the great- 
 est expedition of 
 that war; Diaz 
 was again in com- 
 mand of the de- 
 fense of his own 
 town. The siege 
 of three weeks de- 
 prived his soldiers 
 of all food, army 
 DOME OF SANTA DOMINGO, OAXACA. storcs and ammu- 
 
 nition; church bells could be made into cannon balls, but there was no 
 bread. On one of the last days Diaz placed a howitzer in one of the towers of 
 the old convent of San Francisco and stood by it himself till he was literally 
 dragged away by his officers. Was finally captured and taken to Puebla a 
 prisoner, but soon escaped and after numerous skirmishes, marched against the 
 Imperialists and this time was the besieger where but a little over a year before 
 he was besieged, and on the ist of November, 1866, made a triumphal entry into
 
 223 
 
 Oaxaca with many captured cannon, munitions and stores, and then marched 
 on Puebla and the City of Mexico. 
 
 After the French war Diaz returned to Oaxaca and the citizens presented 
 him in fee simple the Hacienda de la Noria, where he lived for two years, 
 the first of peace and quiet for many that had passed; two years of happi- 
 ness with the wife he had married by proxy in the days when his country 
 had need of him and there was no time for marriage. Don Porfirio re- 
 mained in Oaxaca till 1874, when he departed for the United States, a pro- 
 scribed man, returned to his country to be made its President, and after his 
 first term came back to Oaxaca and was unanimously elected Governor, and 
 when he went again it was once more to the Presidential chair. So Oaxaca 
 has been called ^'Morada de heroes en el jardin de los dioses^'' a dwelling 
 place of heroes in the garden of the gods. 
 
 The Cathedral is chief among the churches but by no means the largest 
 or most imposing building. The founding was in 1553, although the work 
 on the svalls did not commence in earnest until 1610, and then it was exactly 
 a hundred and twenty years before it was completed. The cost of the main 
 church with the sagrario and the Capilla de Guadalupe was nearly $2,000,000. 
 The first cathedral was in the very primitive church of San Juan de Dios, 
 which was built of straw — the Bishop of Antiquera was Dr. Juan Lopez de 
 Zarate. 
 
 The church of Santo Domingo is not only the most interesting in this 
 city, but there are few in the Republic that form so much of its history. 
 
 The interior adornments of this magnificent church were the finest in 
 Mexico; the life size figures of the saints were in relief and literally covered 
 with gold; so rich and so heavy was the gold in the walls that the soldiers 
 quartered in the adjoining ex-convent employed themselves in removing it 
 until the restoration of the church was commenced by Archbishop GiUow. 
 It is said that the enormous sum of $13,000,000 was spent on this beajtiful 
 building, which if true, makes it the most costly church building on the con- 
 tinent. 
 
 La Soledad was founded in 1582 and built at a cost of $160,000. The ad- 
 joining old convent is now used as a School of Arts. 
 
 Of the other churches San Juan de Dios was commenced in 1532; El 
 Carmen Bajo. 1544; Las Mercedes, 1570; San Cosme, 1576; La Compania. 
 1579; Las Nieves, 1581; San Francisco, 1592; San Felipe, 1633; El Carmen 
 Alto, 1679; Guadalupe, 1686; San Augustin, 1699; Consolacion, .^06; Las 
 Capuchinas, 1728; El Calvario, 1729; El Patrocinio, 1755; Los Princ'pes, 1782; 
 Sangre de Cristo, 1791; La Defensa, 1792; and Betlem in 1807. The most 
 notable of the public buildings is the State Palace, fronting the main plaza^ 
 built in 1883-5 at a cost of about $150,000. 
 
 Among the other public buildings are the Palace of Justice, built in 1872; 
 Municipal Palace, 1873; Scientific Institute, 1630; State Library, 1880; Hospital 
 General, 1865; and the Hospicio in 1876. The very beautiful cuy of Oaxaca 
 is at the junction of two lovely valleys and is almost completely surrounded 
 by high mountains, the Cerro de San Felipe del Agua, Monte Alban, and 
 near by, the Cerros Creston and Fortin. On Monte Alban are the extensive 
 ruins of a pre-historic city; and five miles away are the recently discovered 
 ruins of ancient sepulchres called Xoxo; in the hills and valleys of the sur- 
 rounding country are evidences of the existence of a civilized race prior 
 to the peoples who were here at the time of and just before the conquest. 
 
 The approach of the railroad is down through a lovely valley. The towers 
 may be seen, above the trees, while the train is yet some miles away, and 
 when it stops it is under the shadow of a high hill that stands up on the
 
 224 
 
 east side, and between it and the green fields on the other side of the track, 
 stands the station. 
 
 Tram-cars lead from the station to the Plaza Mayor, passing first a little 
 plaza shaded by great trees, in the midst of which is a fountain of running 
 water; then through the narrow streets, passing the old Church of La Soledad, 
 and stopping at the plaza. 
 
 The main plaza, or rather plazas, for there are two of them, are very beauti- 
 ful, shaded by immense trees, and filled with flowers; the two join at the 
 northeast corner, at the jutting of the Cathedral pavement. The main plaza 
 is styled the Plaza de Armas, and in its center is a monument to Juarez, who 
 was a native of Oaxaca, as is also General President Porfirio Diaz; the adjoin- 
 ing park is called Plaza de Leon. 
 
 Among the other pretty parks are those of Guadalupe, San Francisco, Net- 
 zahualcoyotl and Constitution, and most charming spots they are, and the 
 grand Paseo or boulevard will entice you. 
 
 One of the finest buildings is the Government Palace, facing the Plaza 
 de Armas, and it is, indeed, a palace, with its arched portales extending the 
 entire length of the square. The churches of Santo Domingo and La Soledad 
 have been monasteries and fortresses as well, and more than once have had 
 cannon within their walls, that thundered forth in liberty's cause. There is 
 a scientific institute, a seminary, an historical museum, and a library, by 
 way of public institutions. The houses of commerce and trade would do 
 honor to a larger city, and one with older railroad facilities. There are good 
 baths, with elegant appointments, with tiled floors, full-length mirrors, and 
 mantel shelves of onyx. The market, within a square of the plaza, is in- 
 tensely interesting, somewhat like the others of Mexico's markets, and yet 
 unlike them, in the tropic dress of the people. Every fruit in the world is 
 ofYered, and flowers at ten cents a bushel; the most exquisite roses, in Feb- 
 ruary, as many as you can carry, for a real, that would cost a mint of money 
 at heme. 
 
 Oaxaca, reached by the IMexican Southern Railway, is 228 miles south- 
 east 01 Puebla, boasts of good hotels, and there may be good living while you 
 stay in this beautiful place, for its beauties will entice you to linger, and the 
 hospitalities of its people make you welcome. 
 
 Orizaba, was a town long before Cortez came and had a Spanish popu- 
 O-riz-a.'i'-ba lation in 1533, when it had one of the unpronounceable names 
 of the Chichimec Indians, who saw "joy in the waters'^'^ of the numberless 
 cascades hereabouts and called the place "Ahauializapan;" but the Spaniards, 
 not being able to call it that, without dental danger, from time to time cut 
 out some of the letters and reduced the name to Orizaba. 
 
 With its charming location in a lovely valley, it is just on the first ter- 
 race above the tierra caliente, where the high hills are close up to the city's 
 borders to throw their shadows across the red-tiled roofs, trees and gardens, 
 and domes and towers, and to cool the waters of its clear running streams 
 and fountains, and with just a glimpse of the snow-capped volcano gleaming 
 in the tropic sun, Orizaba is beautiful and very charming. 
 
 Horse cars run from the station to the hotels, to the Alameda and the 
 plazas, through the city, and extend westward through the very pretty gardens 
 to Yngenio, the little lake, the church and the mills at Nogales. The rides 
 and drives may be made to the cascades that abound in these hills; tl^e first 
 in the Rincon Grande, the next and larger Tuxpango. and two others near 
 El Barrio Nuevo and at Santa Ana, very attractive excursions, occupying only 
 a few hours; and, besides las cascadas bonitas, there are flowers and ferns and 
 orchids to be gathered by the wayside.
 
 225 
 
 There are hills to be climbed for the very fine views and to visit historic 
 spots and legendary locations. The cross on the summit of the Cerro de Bor- 
 rego, seen from the cars, marks the spot where some French soldiers were 
 slain, and the narrow path up the side was their line of march, where a party 
 of Zouaves surprised and defeated the Mexican forces on the night of July 
 13. 1862. 
 
 Long centuries ago the healthful climate of Orizaba was a resort for the 
 fever refugees from the coast districts, and remains a favorite in these modern 
 days, where they come from Vera Cruz and the Gulf coast cities to pass the 
 summer days under the shadow of the hills and in the grateful shade of the 
 trees beside the clear, cool waters of La Joya Valley. The place was a fa- 
 vorite resort of ^laximilian. 
 
 ORIZABA. 
 
 In the pretty little Alameda is a monument to Ygnacio de la Llave, one 
 of the notable men of the town, for whom the very fine old Theater La Llave 
 was named when it was dedicated in 1857. The markets of Orizaba are es- 
 pecially attractive in the array of tropical fruits and flowers, with their venders 
 in the bright costumes of the tropic climes. There are so many groves, and 
 gardens that it is hard to say whether the cofifee groves are in Orizaba or 
 Orizaba in the coffee groves. The streets and plazas are marvelously clean 
 and the white-walled houses gleam brightly in the sun. 
 
 The first parish church, called El Calvario, and later Santa Teresa, was 
 built in 1564. The present parish church, San Miguel, is a remarkably hand- 
 some building of stone, completed in 1720. after nearly fifty years of build- 
 ing, and the tower was not completed till twelve years later. The north 
 chapel is called the Corazon de Jesus, and the southern, the Chapel of the
 
 226 
 
 Rosary. The church contains a magnificently inlaid chest of ebony and ivory 
 for the keeping of the sacerdotal robes and vestments. The Church of San 
 Jose de Gracia is another fine group of chapel, church and convent, but of 
 very modern build, having been completed in 1810. The pictures and frescos 
 are by a native artist. Barranca — an artist not without fame in these parts, and 
 whose son has proved himself a worthy heir to his father's brush. Pic- 
 tures by both are to be seen in all the churches of Orizaba. About the year 
 1600 the Church of San Juan de Dios was founded. It was permanently in- 
 jured by an earthquake, in 1696, and a new church was commenced; in 1714, 
 it was completed, but the final completion and dedication was not until 1763. 
 It was originally a hospital, built by the charitable townsfolk, for the fever 
 refugees from the lowlands; the worthy charity originated by Don Juan Ra- 
 mon, Don Pedro Mexia, and Don Sebastian Alaldonado exists to this day, 
 but not as the original hospital. That is long since in ruins. The healthful- 
 ness of Orizaba is perfect, and a more charming little city is not to be found 
 anywhere. Orizaba is in the State of Vera Cruz, on the line of the Mexican 
 Railway, 181 miles from the City of Mexico, and, although only eighty-two 
 miles from the sea, is 4,832 feet above it. 
 
 Pachuca. Pachuca is a windy city. The winds blow down frorn the 
 
 Pa-chew'-ka mountains, and up from the valleys, and it seems, sometimes, 
 
 as if they came from both at once, blowing hot and cold, so that it is not 
 
 essentially a resort town, 
 except, it may be, for 
 miners, for here are some 
 of the richest mines in all 
 this country. There are 
 nearly three hundred 
 mines in and about the 
 city and suburbs, and in 
 the near-by districts of 
 Regla and the Real del 
 Monte. The mines are 
 said to have been discov- 
 ered by a poor shepherd, 
 --*r «-.- nearly four hundred years 
 
 IRRIGATION. ago. They have been 
 
 worked constantly ever since, yielding fabulous sums every year, till it is im- 
 possible to say what the total has been, one mine alone, Trinidad of old, hav- 
 ing yielded nearly $50,000,000 in ten years; and the others, Rosario, Candado 
 and Xacal have made many fortunes. The old "patio process," or amalga- 
 mating process, invented by Bartolome de Medina in 1557, was first used at 
 Pachuca. The principal modern mines are Rosario, Santa Gertrudis, Cayetano 
 and the Dolores, but no accurate estimate can be put on the amount of 
 treasure that has been taken out of their depths. 
 
 The streets are narrow and necessarily very crooked, as they wind up 
 and down the steep hillsides, and are, withal, very picturesque. Among the 
 notable buildings is the Caja, a fine structure, w^ith great towers above, built 
 in 1670, by the Marquis de Mancera, Don Sebastian de Toledo, as a treasure- 
 house for the Crown, when the government had the exclusive distribution 
 of quicksilver for use in extracting silver. The Casa Colorado was built by 
 the Conde de Regla, as a public granary. This Conde also built the aque- 
 duct of the water supply. 
 
 The Church of San Francisco was founded in 1596, and the present church 
 completed in 1660. In the adjacent chapel of Tercer Orden are interred the
 
 S27 
 
 bones of the good Fray Cristobal de la Cruz. What is now the school of 
 mines and mining, was once a college of the missionaries. 
 
 The great feast of San Francisco extends from September 30 to October 
 8, when the city is given over to bull-fighting, cock-fights and a general good 
 time, after the fashion of the people. Further up in the mountains is the 
 very curious Real del Monte, reached from Pachuca, over a very fine road. 
 The town is in the very heart of the mountains, picturesque to a degree in 
 its combination of English houses, with peaked roofs and chimneys, and the 
 flat-topped houses of Mexico. The only town in Mexico where there are any 
 dwellings with chimneys, as it is quite cold sometimes and fires are necessary. 
 
 ALTAR OF PALENQUE. 
 
 The great house of the town is the Maestranza, containing the ofiices, store- 
 houses and machine-shops of the Cayetano mine. 
 
 In the year 1739, Don Pedro Jose Romero de Terreros, a great miner of 
 his day, and an operator of Queretaro, was en route for his home in Spain. 
 He came to Pachuca; the richness of the prospect was too much for him: he 
 stopped here and spent his fortune, but remained by his venture till he had 
 made another and larger fortune. The output from 1762 to 1781, being over 
 $12,000,000, and in 1818 the total reached the enormous figure of $30,000,000. 
 An English company came into possession in 1824, with shares at a par value 
 of £100, that in a year were sold at £16.000, but at the end was a complete 
 failure. The mines are now operated with satisfactory results. 
 
 Pachuca is reached by a branch of the Mexican Central Railway from Tula; 
 is on the main line of the Hidalgo Railroad; on branches of both the Hidalgo 
 and Mexican Railways, distant from the City 84 miles.
 
 228 
 
 Paleuque. Buried in the forests of Chiapas, under the tangles of growing 
 Pai-en'-ke vines and fallen trees, half hidden by the mold of ceniunes, are 
 the ruins of a prehistoric city that, what little of it the world knows of at all it 
 calls Palenque — named not for anything that may be known of its origin, its ap- 
 pellation is equally as mysterious. In 1750 some Spaniards wandering in the in- 
 terior of the south of Mexico came accidentally upon the remains of an ancient 
 city of some eighteen to twenty miles in extent, or, it is more probable, the 
 natives led them into this almost impenetrable forest to show them the casas de 
 piedras, "houses of stone." Prior to this time and event the existence of such 
 a city was unknown; there was no tradition and no book ever made mention 
 of these ruins, doubtless older than Herculanseum and more extensive than Kar- 
 nak. In 1787 an exploration of the ruins was made under Captain Antonio del 
 Rio at the command of the King of Spain. The report of Captain del Rio 
 was delayed by revolutions and went by way of Guatemala to London, but 
 were not published till 1822. Another expedition under order of Charles IV. 
 of Spain was made by Captain Dupaix in 1807, but his report was not pub- 
 lished until 1834. Previous to 1831 Colonel Golindo made an expedition to 
 Palenque, an account of which was published in the Literary Gazette of that 
 year. After that a Mr. Waldeck made an exploration under authority from 
 Mexico. In 1839 John L. Stephens, on his return from Guatemala, made a 
 reconnoissance into the forests of Chiapas and spent some time within the 
 walls of the ancient temples and published some interesting chapters in his 
 "Incidents of Travel," which were handsomely illustrated by an English artist 
 of note — Catherwood. Since then Charnay and other noted explorers have 
 visited Palenque and all without exception agree to its wonders and the pre- 
 historic origin, and Stephens says that if a like discovery had been made at 
 that time in Italy, Greece, Egypt or Asia within reach of European travel, it 
 would have created an interest not inferior to the discovery of HerculaUceum or 
 Pompeii or the Ruins of Pa^stum. Mr. Stephens' account is enchantingly in- 
 teresting and covers some 2C0 pages of his book — though he relates all the 
 incidents of his travels; for instance, telling of his having heard the Spaniards 
 tell of a very peculiar beetle found in the forests of Palenque that emitted 
 light from their bodies sufficient to guide travelers in the paths at night, and 
 that he found the story was partially true; he found the beetles crawling on 
 the walls of the Ruins, and the light from four of them cast a glow several 
 yards around, and by the light of one beetle he could read. 
 
 As to the extent of the Ruins, Stephens says that the natives aver that they 
 cover a space of sixty miles and that some writers have said that the ancient 
 city was ten times larger than New York and three times the size of London — 
 but he says also that the natives know nothing about it and strangers less, 
 because the surface of the earth is covered by an impenetrable forest, compared 
 to which our wildest woodlands is an open field, and that one might pass 
 within a hundred feet of the greatest of the temples and not find it; consequently 
 the extent is unknown to any one as no exploration has ever been made. But 
 there are walls and temples, towers and altars, on the verge of that forest to 
 indicate the place of a great city. The remote antiquity of the Ruins is unques- 
 tioned. The Padres point to the cross in the tablets as an argument that the 
 builders were Christians and that the city was founded in the third century — 
 while Dupaix places the date long before the Christian era — but it is all the 
 merest guesswork; certainly it was a ruined city uninhabited when Cortez 
 marched within thirty miles of it on his way south and did not stop, for he 
 did not know it was there; if it had been inhabited he would have heard of it 
 and turned aside to subdue its people. 
 
 The greatest of the temples discovered is vulgarly called "the palace." It
 
 229 
 
 is on a pyramid nearly 50 feet high, with a base of 300 by 250 feet. The walls of 
 "the palace" are cut by fourteen arched doorways eight feet apart, ten feet wide, 
 running up to pointed archways; within the walls are a number of courts, the 
 largest of which is nearly a hundred feet square. The floors are covered with 
 a plaster and the wall covered with stucco molded or carved into curious figures 
 and hieroglyphics. From these floors staircases lead to towers that are yet 
 thirty to fifty feet high, and in the olden times must have been much higher. 
 There are scores of these temples, but there is not space to even enumerate. 
 Stephens mentions in 
 
 his writings two tab 
 lets that were in a 
 house in the village 
 and his artist, Mr. 
 Catherwood, made 
 drawings of them; 
 these are noted in a 
 very interesting work 
 on the topography 
 and resources of the 
 State of Chiapas by 
 Senor Don Ramon 
 Rabasa and the de- 
 scriptions of the two 
 writers are identical, 
 although the first 
 was written sixty 
 years before the sec- 
 ond, which is as fol- 
 lows: "In the fa- 
 cade of the building 
 on either side of the 
 entrance is a strange figure 
 
 
 ^w^^ 
 
 ^A . ^X^\ 
 
 
 
 
 
 tiT-^i;^ 
 
 
 30 
 
 THE PALENQUE CROSS. 
 
 -one has a headdress of leaves and flowers and 
 has a trumpet from which exudes flames and smoke — from the shoulders hangs 
 a tiger skin, adorned with a snake, a bird and other devices with bracelets 
 on the arms and feet. The other figure has a complicated adornment of the 
 head composed of plumes, with the sacred bird, el gavilan, the sparrow hawk 
 holding a fish in its beak. The other adornments are a tiger's head and a 
 grotesque figure with other gravings. Over both figures are various hiero- 
 glyphics." I give the description of Sefior Rabasa and the illustration of Mr. 
 Catherwood in Stephens' book. 
 
 The Ruins are three leagues from the village of Santo Domingo del Pal- 
 enque, reached by horseback from El Salto and by boat from Frontera to El 
 Shalto, or via the Usumacinto River to IMonte Cristo, thence by horse; in 
 either case the trip is not a hard one for the average venturesome traveler, 
 who will be amply repaid for whatever discomfort there may be in the journex.- 
 The population of Santo Dorningo del Palenque is 1,347. 
 
 Parras. A very pretty little city in the heart of the vineyard district of 
 Par'-ras northern Mexico — a typical Mexican town, with its plaza and ala- 
 meda shaded by great trees, its churches with rounded domes above them 
 gleaming white in the bright sunshine. The wines of Parras are noted for 
 their purity and flavor. Parras is on the Coahuila & Pacific Railway, ninety- 
 nine miles from Saltillg and ninety-two from Torreon. Population, 6,476. 
 Altitude, 5,032,
 
 230 
 
 Patzcuaro. If ever you should come to Patzcuaro and see its quaint and 
 Patz'-qua-ro curious streets, narrow and crooked, with shrines and saints 
 set in the walls at every zig-zag corner ; with its tree-covered plaza, where, on 
 the market night, the fishwomen sit beside little oil-wood fires and the native 
 comes to buy fish, and the copper and earthen pots to cook them in ; — if you 
 should ever come to Patzcuaro, make the climb to Los Balcones and look out 
 over the valley, with its scores of towns, and the lake, with its islands rising 
 out of the clear waters in cone-like peaks, you will say that the ancient 
 Tarascan kings were correct when they called the city "Patzcuaro," "place of 
 pleasure." 
 
 Between the station and the town is about a league, over a winding road, 
 hard beaten with much travel up and down the long steep hill. The mode of 
 transportation is the diligencia of the old Mexican type, and its creaking 
 
 leathers only quicken 
 the anticipation, but not 
 the pace of the mules. 
 The wayfarers met or 
 overtaken, and one 
 meets more than are 
 overtaken, are on foot 
 or on the backs ol bur- 
 ros, taking the product 
 of the field or the yield 
 of the lake from the 
 valley to the markets of 
 the town, or returning 
 with the proceeds and 
 purchases, so that the 
 speed — speed is not ex- 
 actly the word here — 
 of the coach is not ob- 
 jected to; and the view 
 gradually grows by 
 inches, as it were, till 
 the ride is one of the 
 pleasures of Patzcuaro. 
 When one comes to 
 the top of the hill there 
 is not time to enjoy the 
 panorama spread out in 
 the valley where the 
 A MEXICAN SAW-MILL. lake is, and then there 
 
 is so much right at the wheels that is new and novel to claim attention. The 
 mules, finding the pulling easier than on the incline of the hill, trot along at a 
 brisker rate and are soon at the hotel — not a pleasing prospect from the fajade, 
 but the patio with its flowers and the gallery all around are reassuring; the 
 rooms are not so inviting, but the clean newly-made-up beds are satisfying, so 
 that it does not matter if there are no carpets and only a tiled floor, one is only 
 to stay there when one can go nowhere else, and while one does stay there, it is 
 to sleep — to sleep, perhaps to dream of castles in Snain, and wake to find 
 a no less pleasing reality in a beautiful land, whose civilization is older and 
 whose ruins and legends as interesting. 
 
 The plaza of Patzcuaro is a pretty one, and in the center of it is a beautiful 
 pagoda, where the band plays in the evening. Over the flowers and fountains, 
 which bloom and play from January to January, are the grandest of grand old
 
 231 
 
 trees that may have sheltered the Tarascan potentates when they came to this 
 place of pleasure, and the same perennial verdure is there in the leaves. 
 
 A market night in Patzcuaro is such as could be nowhere else in the world. 
 Scores and scores of little fires light the scene. By each fire sits a woman, 
 a man or a boy, with their wares around them; the fruits, vegetables and fish 
 are in little stacks on mats on the ground. Everything is sold at so much 
 per stack in a Mexican market, and if you don't like the size of it, you can go 
 where the stacks are larger, or the prices smaller; some sell fish, others fruit 
 of every kind that ripens under a tropic sun; the stock in trade of another is 
 peppers and potatoes, tomatoes and tamales; another offers earthen vessels 
 and some of copper, for household uses, and there are flowers in abundance at 
 almost every stand — or, more properly, at every sitting, as the venders all 
 sit on the ground surrounded by their stock in trade. 
 
 The portales — columned archways — extend over the sidewalk on the four 
 sides of the plaza in front of the stores where they sell zerapes and rebosos. 
 
 A delightful morning walk is through some narrow, crooked streets where, 
 in the niches in the walls along, arc the fourteen stations of the Cross in the 
 street that leads to the Hill and Church of Calvary. 
 
 miMs '#. 
 
 ON LAKE PATZCUARO, THE VOYAGE TO TZINTZUNTZAN. 
 
 Los Balcones is a stone parapet or balcony in front of the Church of 
 El Calvario. where there are several stone benches on the edge of a precipice, 
 a thousand feet above the plain where the lake is. When the sun is just 
 peeping over the eastern peaks of the distant Sierras, tingeing the sky from 
 blue to gold and putting on a mellow light, it is the very prettiest picture. The 
 valley and the lake spread out, with the forty-three towns of the plain, and the 
 islands rising from the blue waters of the lake like the peaked and castled 
 ones in Como, in Italy, makes a picture of surpassing beauty and fascination. 
 
 The plaza, in the morning, is not so weirdly picturesque as when the oil- 
 wood fire-light blazed flickeringly, but as fascinating. The old churches, with 
 their crude, quaint pictures and their relics and offerings are to be looked over, 
 and another visit to Los Balcones is to be made to see the setting of the sun 
 that was so bright in its rising. After an early breakfast of the most luscious 
 fruits and the delicious coffee from the plantations of Uruapam near by, and 
 some fish fresh from the lake, it is time to start for Tzintzuntzan. Canoes 
 should be arranged for and they will be waiting — curious canoes, long and 
 wide, with high projecting prow and stern, hewn from great trees, each one 
 a solid piece. The oarsmen are Indians, with ladle-looking paddles with long 
 handles, which are industriously plie4, an4 you ^r? soon on your Avay up the 
 lake.
 
 232 
 
 The slow progress could not be monotonous on Lake Patzcuaro; there is 
 that to see here that could not be seen anywhere else. The islands look like 
 the peaks of submerged mountains with just the tops above the water. On the 
 steep sides are some quaint little houses, and rising above the trees, almost 
 at the top, gleams the white tower of a church, whose little bell sends forth a 
 sonorous peal over the water. The picture is a pretty one, and has its double, 
 as distinctly outlined as the original, in the marvelously clear water, and every 
 single canoe is two, coming together at the keel, as the reflection makes it 
 look. The fishermen are busy everywhere; their canoes dot the lake for miles 
 around. They are long, flat-bottomed boats, with a piece of cotton cloth 
 stretched on hoops for a shelter, not unlike the cover of a country wagon. 
 The fishermen stand in the bow with a long pole, which has a net on the end. 
 This is dipped in the water at random, and with more or less success. The 
 canoes hug the eastern shore, and it is not a long row — not more than three 
 hours — to Tzintzuntzan, where the famous Titian is. Tzintzuntzan was once 
 
 a great city, and the 
 capital of the Tarascan 
 kings; now, only a 
 straggling village, with 
 a group of ruined 
 churches. Your care- 
 fully studied salutation 
 in Spanish, a handful 
 of cigars and a bottle of 
 wine, will make the 
 padre and you the best 
 of friends. He will 
 know, even before you 
 ask him, that you want 
 to see the picture, and 
 will open the high 
 arched door of carved 
 wood which leads to a 
 patio or open court. A 
 THE TITIAN AT TZINTZUNTZAN. surpHccd Indian boy 
 
 brings a lighted candle. The padre leads the way, and a wondering little pro- 
 cession follows through a dark corridor that leads up to another massive door, 
 barred and chained and padlocked. 
 
 You are back in ancient feudal days, in some old castle opened to you. The 
 clanking chains and rusty, creaking hinges are on your prison doors; but the 
 boy holds the tallow dip high, and shows the padre's kindly face. You are only 
 at Tzintzuntzan, in search of a Titian. 
 
 The door opens into an inner room as dark as night. The padre unfastens 
 a grated window and a flood of golden sunlight comes through and falls full 
 upon the picture. 
 
 Such coloring, such composition, such feeling, could only come from a 
 masterhand. Whose? Tradition says Titian, and presented by Philip II. of 
 Spain. Eminent men, authors and artists agree. The padre closes the window 
 and the door, locks and chains them again; the boy holds up his flickering 
 torch, and you go out, leaving the padre and his treasures as a dream too 
 unreal to be true. An effort has been made to buy the painting, and $50,000 
 was offered by the Bishop of Mexico, but the faithful, devoted Indians refuse, 
 and the price that bought the "Angelus" would be no temptation. Yet the 
 "Entombment" is some hundreds of years older, is the work of an old master,
 
 233 
 
 and is big enough (the figuies are all life size) to make a hundred of the 
 "Angelus; ' and yet its price would not buy it, the Indians refusnig absolutely 
 to allow the picture to be taken away. 
 
 In the Casa Municipal of the village is a painting of the Calzontzin Sinzicha 
 receiving Christianity. Some attempts at excavating were made in 1855, but 
 the Indians were superstitious and quietly filled up the trenches as fast as they 
 were dug. 
 
 The See of Michoacan was removed from Tzintzuntzan to Patzcuaro, and 
 building of a great Cathedral was commenced, under a bull of Pope Julian III., 
 published July 8, 1550. But only a part of the church was finished, since the 
 See was removed again to INIorelia, and it is now used as the parish church. It 
 will hold 3,oco people. The bones of the good Bishop Quiroga, in wrappings 
 of silk, are preserved in the church, on the left of the main entrance. Here 
 also is an image of Nuestra Seiiora de la Salud, dedicated by Bishop Quiroga. 
 Connected with this church there was, in ancient days, a very rich nunnery. 
 There is an altar over the spring which supplies the city with the water 
 which gushed forth from the rock struck by the staff of Bishop Quiroga. The 
 staff is also sho\yn in the Cathedral at ]\Iorelia. The Church of San Agustin 
 w^as established in 1576, San Juan de Dios in 1650. The other churches are 
 San Francisco and Guadalupe. About a mile eastward of Patzcuaro is the 
 chapel of Humilladero. erected on the spot where the Indians received the 
 Spaniards with overtures of peace, which were hardly reciprocated by them. 
 
 Of the islands of Lake Patzcuaro there are three, Xanicho, Xaracuaro and 
 Pacanda. that are populated by a community of fishermen. Xanicho is the 
 largest, with a population of 1,200, and a quaint little church, Geronimo, and a 
 school for boys and girls. 
 
 Near Tzintzuntzan is the little town of Iguatzio, where there is a pyramid, 
 from which idols, ornaments and arms have been taken, and under which are 
 subterranean passages, with supports of timber, which tradition says com- 
 municated with those of Tzintzuntzan, discovered in 1855. These and the paved 
 road were in existence when the Spaniards came. 
 
 The cruel acts of Nino de Guzman greatly retarded the peaceful work of the 
 emissaries of Cortez, Guzman's cruelties culminating in the burning of the 
 Calzontzin Sinzicha to extort the secret of supposed treasure. After the recall 
 of Guzman to Spain came Vasco de Quiroga, a lawyer, afterwards the good 
 bishop, who did much to repair the cruel doings, and through him came about 
 the good works of peace, and the frightened people returned to their homes and 
 were taught to make copper ware and to work in other metals, as well as the 
 other arts of peace. The good effect of his teachings are felt in this region 
 to this day. and his name is much venerated. He died at Uruapam in 1565, 
 March 14. at the age of 96 years. 
 
 The old city of jNIichoacan, w^hich included Tzintzuntzan and Patzcuaro. was 
 founded February 28. 1534. by a Royal Order of Charles V., but the seat of 
 the See was finally to be at IMorelia. where it now is. 
 
 Patzcuaro is on the western division of the Mexican National Railroad, in 
 the State of Michoacan, 274 miles from the City of Mexico. Street cars from 
 the station to the Plaza. 
 
 Puebla. It is called the City of the Angels, but Puebla is a city of tiles. 
 Poo-eb'-lah Tiles are used everywhere, from the domes of the many churches 
 of the valley to their walls and fioors; glazed tiles of many colors adorn the 
 exterior and interior walls of residences, and in varied hues on the towers they 
 glisten in the sun. One house in the Calle de Mercaderes has its facade entirely 
 of tiles; and in the Church of Nuestra Sefiora de la Luz, and the old convent of 
 Santa Rosa, now an insane asylum, are some very beautiful mosaics of tiles.
 
 234 
 
 Looking down from the surrounding hills, or in the appro^tch across the plain, 
 the tiled towers present a picturesque effect. 
 
 The history of Puebla is romantic, and full of legends. The original name 
 of the city was Puebla de los Angeles, from the vision that led to its founding 
 on this site, or, rather, two visions. One legend goes on to tell of the mar- 
 shalling, in mighty hosts, of the angels above the 
 place where the city now stands. The other story 
 is, that the good Fray Julian Garces, desirous of 
 founding a halting-place between the coast and the 
 capital, set about to find a site for his city, and one 
 night, as he rested from his labors, he dreamed a 
 dream, and in it saw a beautiful plain, on the slope 
 of the great volcanoes, with two little hills about a 
 league between; there were springs in the plain, and 
 two rivers of abundant waters, with living trees and 
 flowers. While he looked upon this, two angels ap- 
 peared, with rod and chain, and measured streets 
 "PI^^^H ^^^^^ .. and squares. After this remarkable dream, the 
 
 ^Bishop awoke and immediately set out. Guided by 
 the same power that showed the vision, says the 
 chronicler, he soon came to the plain of his dream, 
 saying, "Here hath the Lord, through his angels, 
 shown me the site of the city, and to His glory it 
 shall be made." And thus came the name Puebla de 
 AT PUEBLA. los Augcles. But more substantial history relates 
 
 that some fifty families of Spaniards, from Tlaxcala, came to this valley, 
 and, on the i6th of April, 1532, commenced the building of houses of the city 
 that for more than three hundred and fifty years has borne the name derived 
 from the vision, till it was officially changed to Puebla Zaragoza, in honor of the 
 hero of the battle of the 5th of May, 1862. 
 
 Puebla has seen much of the vicissitudes of war, and, next to the capital, 
 has suffered most. It was captured b}'^ Yturbide, August 2, 1821; occupied by 
 General Scott, May 25, 184/'; was the scene of Zaragoza's victory, May 5, 1862; 
 recaptured by the French on the 17th of May, 1863, and in turn taken from 
 them four years later. April 2, 1867, by General Porfirio Diaz. 
 
 Northeast of the city, within the suburbs, is the hill and fort of Guadalupe, 
 named for the church that was there in the earlier days. Here was the battle 
 ground of the 5th of May, 1862, when General Zaragoza, with 2,000 men, 
 repulsed the 6,000 French soldiers, under de Lorencez; the French re-occupied 
 the city in 1863, but in 1867, April 2, General Porfirio Diaz recaptured the 
 forts and made prisoners the entire French garrison of Puebla. The ruins of 
 the church were used for fortifications, and, with the stone, the fort was built, 
 though the church was not completely demolished. The crypt was used as 
 a magazine, and the other parts put to baser uses. On a slightly lower hill, 
 called Loreto, about half a mile north, is the fort of Cinco de Mayo, and 
 within its walls the little chapel of Loreto. The view from the hill of Guadalupe 
 is one of extreme beauty. 
 
 The city is spread out on the plain in the foreground. To the westward 
 the great volcanoes of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl; to the north is the 
 mighty Malintzi. and to the east old Orizaba; the lesser hills are Tecolote on 
 the left, and the Cerro del Conde; to the right Amaluca, near by the hill and 
 fort of Loreto; to the left, the Cerro San Juan, with its arched hacienda, and 
 beyond it the Pyramid of Cholula. There are churches, churches, everywhere, 
 and in all directions, with their walls and domes of all the colors; §an Agustin
 
 235 
 
 
 IN THE CATHEDRAL, PUEBLA. 
 
 is white; San Jose, red; Santo Domingo, white; Concepcion, brown; Santa 
 Teresa, yellow; San Cristobal, red; Carmen, yellow; San Angel de Analco. 
 red; Compania, blue; Soledad, white; San Francisco, grey; while towering
 
 236 
 
 above all is the brownish-grey of the Cathedral, and, far away, the white towers 
 of Los Remedios, on the top of Cholula's pyramid. There is not a picture like 
 it in many days' travel, and there may not be in all the world. 
 
 It is not a long walk to this hill of Guadalupe, a trifle tiresome, but very 
 pleasant, if you take your time. The way is through the Plazuela de San 
 Francisco, out by the old Plaza de Toros, across the stone bridge over the 
 Atoyac, through the little paseo, and by the group of churches of Calvario 
 San Juan del Rio and Piadosas, and over the old causeway where marched the 
 processions in olden times; this is the way to Guadalupe. 
 
 The streets of Puebla are wide, as streets go in Mexico, and are wonder- 
 fully clean, sloping from curb to center, where, in some of them, are running 
 streams, while others are flooded for sanitary purposes. The parks and plazas 
 are pretty, indeed, with their trees, and flowers and fountains. The markets arc 
 more metropolitan than IMexican, though many curious articles are ofifered 
 in the stalls. Mats and baskets of colored straw, the crude crockery of Puebla 
 manufacture, clay figures and Indian carvings of onyx. The buildings are 
 more pretentious than in the average city of the country, though built in 
 purely IMexican style. They are two and three stories high. There are two 
 theatres and two bull-rings, and the bull-fights of Puebla are notable for their 
 excellence, if that word may be used in connection with the sport. 
 
 The public buildings are not so ambitious as might be expected in so fine a 
 city. The legislative sessions are in the old Alhondiga, on the Plaza Mayor, 
 and the Courts are in the old Colegio de San Pantaleon; the penitentiary is 
 one of the finest in the land. There is a State College, with libraries of nearly 
 40.000 volumes; a Normal School, and other educational institutions, and an 
 Academy of Fine Arts; also, several hospitals. 
 
 The Cathedral of Puebla rivals the great Cathedral of the City of Mexico, 
 and, except in point of size, is regarded by many as the finer church. Bishop 
 Zumarraga laid the corner stone of the first church, in 1532, and of the first 
 Cathedral in 1536. but the present building was not begun until a hundred years 
 later; it was consecrated April 18, 1649. The location is on a stone terrace, 
 to the south of the Plaza JMayor. The church is surrounded by an iron railing, 
 placed in 1886-87. This, with a monument, is in memory of Pius IX. Between 
 the two tall towers of the west front is the main doorway, with the date above. 
 1664, marking the completion of this portion of the building. The building is 
 22s feet long and loi feet wide, with a height on the inside of 
 more than eighty feet, the whole surmounted by a splendid 
 y^:^^ dome. The old tower, which alone cost $100,000, contains 
 >vi--T eighteen bells, the largest of which weighs nearly 20,000 
 H pounds. The great choir, built of stone, is in the center of 
 3 the nave, inclosed in wrought-iron gratings, made in 1697. 
 The carvings of the organ are superb, in native woods, as are 
 the doors of the entrance-ways. The work of Pedro Muhos, 
 begun in 1719 and completed 24th of August, 1722. To the 
 left of the altar and between it and the choir is the pulpit, 
 carved from Puebla onyx. The intricate marquetry work is 
 a revelation. On the door that leads to the Bishop's seat is an 
 inlaid picture of St. Peter, and in the shrine above is pre- 
 served a thorn from the crown of Christ. The interior of the 
 Cathedral was repaired in 1887 by a native of Cholula, Sefior 
 Leandro Tello. The high altar was commenced in 1789. and 
 completed in 1819. at a cost of $110,000. It is constructed of 
 every conceivable marble of Mexico, and the exquisite onyx of 
 Puebla, the work of a native artist, Manuel Tolsa. Beneath the
 
 237 
 
 altar is the tomb of the Bishops, this also laid in beautiful slabs of onyx. 
 The chapels are the Capilla de los Reyes, with ^ shrine and image of 
 Nuestra Senora de la Difensa, to whom is attributed many miracles; the Capilla 
 de San Jose contains a fine figure of that saint, and an ivory crucifix, a present 
 to Bishop Vasquez by Gregory XVI.; the Bishop's tomb is in front of the 
 chapel. The Capilla de los Relicarios has an altar of richly carved wood, and 
 a silver urn, containing the ashes of San Sebastian de Aparicio. also the busts 
 of other saints, with relics of their bones carried, under glass, on their breasts. 
 Here are scores of boxes, containing relics innumerable. 
 
 In the sacristy are many pictures, set in golden, carved frames; the tables 
 have slabs of richest onyx, and the vestment chests are handsomely carved. 
 
 Among the portraits in the Cathedral are those of the various Bishops of 
 Puebla. of Gregory XVIII., Charles V., Fray Julian Garces, first bishop of 
 Puebla. Leo X.; in the sacristy are some rich tapestries of Flanders, presented 
 by Charles V. Among the other pictures are the Fourteen Stations of the 
 Cross, the Holy Sacrament, the Assumption, the Apparition of Nuestra Senora 
 de la Merced to San Raymundo de Pefiafort, a Virgin and Child, by Ibarra, 
 a Dolores de Acazingo, the Triumph of i\lary, and a Last Supper, with many 
 others. 
 
 The parish church adjoins the Cathedral, where there are other fine pictures, 
 and a picture by Zendejas when he was over ninety years old; also a beautiful 
 baptismal font of onyx. 
 
 The Church of San Francisco is next to the Cathedral in point of interest 
 and beauty. Founded in 1532, on the hill above the Atoyac. the present church 
 was begun in 1667. The very high tower is built of a bluish-grey stone, beau- 
 tifully carved, and laid in panels of tiles. The old convent of this church is 
 now used as a military hospital. The flat arched roof, the story says, was 
 not trusted by the architect; he feared to remove the supporting timbers, and 
 left it to the priests to do. They were afraid to send laborers to take them 
 out, and it was concluded to burn them out. It was done; the arch remained 
 intact, and is to-day. after more than two hundred years. In this church is 
 a little image, carved in wood, of Nuestra Sefiora de los Remedios, called La 
 Conquistadora. It is only about eight inches high, with a little child in its 
 arms. This was presented by Cortez to Axotecatl Cocomitzin, the Tlaxcalan 
 chief, in token of his friendship. 
 
 Here also is the chapel of San Sebastian de Aparicio, who first introduced 
 wheeled carts and oxen into ]Mexico, and who drove an ox-cart between 
 Vera Cruz and the city, and later, in 1542. on the roads north to Zacatecas. 
 The Fray's bones were formerly kept in this chapel, until they were removed 
 to the Cathedral, where they now are, !n the Capilla de los Relicarios. The 
 image on the high altar is that of San Antonio de la Torre holding the child 
 Jesus. In the sacristy are the portraits of the twelve Franciscans known as the 
 "Twelve Apostles" of Mexico; here also a Holy Sepulchre, a Last Supper 
 and other paintings of more or less merit. There is a most interesting old 
 panteon in connection with the church. 
 
 La Compafiia was founded April 15, 1587; the present church completed 
 in 1690. There are two towers and a tiled dome. There is a fine figure of 
 San Ygnacio Loyola, some good carvings and paintings of unusual merit; 
 among the pictures is the Triumph of Mary, by Jose Carnero, and a Descent 
 from the Cross. The altar pictures are by Villalobos. 
 
 San Cristobal was founded more than three hundred years ago. The pulpit 
 is of onyx. This is one of the few Mexican churches with seats, with the 
 unusual feature, also, of having separate seats for men and women. 
 
 Of the other churches, San Antonio contains a relic of the skin of one of
 
 S38 
 
 the saints; Nuestra Seiiora de la Luz is particularly noted for its beautiful 
 tile work; Santa Clara, noted for its fine arches, possesses a thorn from the 
 crown of Christ; San Jose is the saint who protects Puebla from the light- 
 ning, an image of whom is in his church, carved from a tree destroyed by 
 lightning; La Soledad is one of the finest of the forty-six churches of Puebla, 
 but to write their history, or even record their legends, would make many 
 volumes. 
 
 From the brilliant victory of the fifth of May, the name of the hero of 
 that day was added and the city is now officially known as Puebla de Zara- 
 goza. Reached from the City of Mexico via the Mexican Railway and via 
 the Interoceanic, via these lines also from Vera Cruz. Time from the 
 
 PYRAMID CF CHOLULA. 
 
 capital about three hours, from Vera Cruz twelve. The Mexican Southern 
 Railway extends from Puebla to Oaxaca. 
 
 The Pyramid of Cholula. The date of the building of the Pyramid 
 Cho-loo'-la of Cholula is unknown. Even before the 
 Aztecs came to the plain of Cholula, the great pyramid was there in the 
 midst, and the people told them the legend of it, that it was built by a race 
 of giants descended from the two survivors of a great deluge that overspread 
 the land, and whose intent it was to raise its heights to heaven, but they 
 incurred the displeasure of the gods, who sent forth fires and destroyed them. 
 This indeed is the story that is coincident with the Chaldean and Hebrew 
 accounts of the Deluge and the Tower of Babel, of which there is so much 
 in the traditions of these people that is similar to the tales of the Bible. On 
 the summit stood the sumptuous temple of the mystic deity, Quetzalcoatl, the
 
 239 
 
 "god of the air," whose image was there, under its pinnacled towers, as the 
 chronicler says, with ebon features, wearing a mitre on his head, waving 
 with plumes of fire; a resplendent collar of gold was about the neck; pend- 
 ants of mosaic turquoise in his ears; a jeweled scepter in one hand, and a 
 curiously painted shield, emblem of his reign over the winds, in the other. 
 Cholula was, in those ancient days, what Rome is to-day. Pilgrims came 
 from hundreds of miles — as do the Mohammedans to Mecca — to bow down be- 
 fore the temple of Quetzalcoatl, in the holy city of Anahuac. Cortez declared 
 that he counted four hundred towers in the city of Cholula, yet no temple 
 had more than two. and some only one. High above the rest rose the great 
 temple on the pyramid, with its never-dying fires spreading their radiance 
 over the capital, proclaiming the return of the deity to resume his rule over 
 the land. Such was the pyramid and city as the Spaniards saw it at their 
 coming, and the people they found there could tell little else of its history 
 than is written here. The temple was thrown down promptly as was the 
 custom of the conquerors, and a Christian church placed in its stead, that 
 stands to this day. 
 
 The pyramid has the appearance of a natural hill, as its sides are overgrown 
 with trees and bushes, which is but an evidence of its great antiquity, as the 
 interior is composed of alternate layers of sun-dried brick, clay and limestone. 
 The height is 177 feet above the plain. The four sides face the cardinal points, 
 and are laid in terraces that now are overgrown with shrubs and trees. 
 The base lines are more than a thousand feet on each side, or twice as long as 
 the great Cheops; or, to give a better idea of its size, is to say that it cov- 
 ers twenty acres of the plain. A paved road leads up the steep west side, 
 with steps of hewn stone, to the arch and cross of the entrance-way to the 
 Church of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, on the very top. From the bal- 
 conies the view of the valley and surrounding mountains, the many churches, 
 with their glazed tile towers, and the towns and villages of the plain, is su- 
 perb. There are two other pyramids or "mounds," as Bandelier prefers to 
 call them, the Cerro de Acozac and the Cerro de la Cruz. Acozac, about 
 1,300 feet southwest of the great pyramid, is forty-nine feet high with base 
 lines of fifty-five to 150 feet. The sides are vertical and a ladder is necessary 
 for the ascent. The Cerro de la Cruz is about 350 feet west of the Pyramid 
 itself; it is forty-four feet high and has a base of 1.230 feet in circumference 
 and 460 feet at the top. Both these "cerros" are of adobe bricks. On the 
 Cerro de la Cruz tradition says tiiat Cortez caused the first mass to be said 
 in 1519. On the plains round about are numerous other cerros, or cerritos, 
 as they are much smaller. 
 
 The town of Cholula has dwindled, from the great capital of a mighty 
 nation, to less than 5,000 people. The market place, "Tianquiz." is still called 
 by its ancient name. Near the plaza is the ruins of an abandoned monastery 
 of San Francisco, founded in 1529. The church on this spot, called San Ga- 
 briel, was founded in 1604; it has a very handsome altar of expensive adorn- 
 ment. Near by and adjoining the walls, is the Royal Chapel and Tercer 
 Orden, whose roof of domes is supported by sixty-four round columns. 
 This church was built in 1608, for overflow meetings. There are tw^enty- 
 seven other churches in Cholula, and from the pyramid the towers of thirty 
 more can be counted on the plains near by. 
 
 The ride on the horse cars across the Atoyac Valley, from Puebla to 
 Cholula, is a delightful one. The track runs along the highway, between it 
 and an arched aqueduct. The hacienda of San Juan is the stone building 
 on the crest of a hill to the left, carried by assault in one of the numerous 
 battles around Puebla. The way is across a stDue bridge, with arched en-
 
 240 
 
 trances, over the Atoyac River, passing churches and haciendas in numbers, 
 on both sides, with something to interest in every one of the eight miles. 
 
 Queretaro. Queretaro occupies a prominent place in Mexico's history. 
 
 Kay-ret'-aro j^ ^ygg ^lu Otomite town before the Spaniards came, and 
 was made a city as early as 1655. by a decree of Philip IV, of Spain. Nearly 
 every Mexican town has its legend; that of Queretaro is, that an Otomite 
 chief. Fernando de Tapia by name, undertook to Christianize the town by 
 fighting, which seems to have been the earlier method. He came from Xilo- 
 tepec and Tula, to challenge the people of Queretaro to what might be called 
 
 1 
 
 SANTA ROSA, QUERETARO. 
 
 a "fair fist and skull" fight, the citizens to be baptized or not as they were 
 beaten or victorious. But it was not to be a fair fight, after all, for while 
 the performance was proceeding, a dark cloud came up, and the blessed 
 Santiago was seen in the heavens with a fiery cross. This ended the fight, the 
 people of Queretaro were baptized, and in commemoration of the miracle, 
 set up a stone cross, on a site now occupied by the church of Santa Cruz, 
 which is shown above the high altar in proof of the legend. 
 
 As in the case of many Mexican towms. this one derives its name from 
 an Indian word meaning a game of ball, or from "querenda." a rocky peak. 
 
 Queretaro was the place of the ratification of the treaty of peace between 
 the United States and Mexico, in 1848, and figured, more or less, in the later
 
 241 
 
 wars and revolutions, till the town is full of warlike reminiscence. Maximil- 
 ian's last stand was made here, and his surrender on the morning of the 15th 
 of May, 1867. Maximilian had his headquarters in the old convent of La 
 Cruz, and had arranged to attempt an escape on the night of the 14th of 
 May, but before the plans could be carried out the Republican soldiers ef- 
 fected an entrance through the stone walls of the orchard back of the con- 
 vent and surprised the bodyguard. The Emperor with his staff escaped from 
 the convent, passed through the city to the Cerro de las Campanas, where he 
 was captured and brought back to La Cruz, but in a few days removed to 
 the convent of the Capuchinas, where he remained till his death. 
 
 The story of "poor Carlotta" is one of the saddest, and had its saddest 
 feature at Queretaro, where her beloved, but unfortunate, husband met his 
 death. Maximilian was executed on the Cerro de las Campanas, just in the 
 western limits of the city, June 19, 1867, and with him the Generals, Miramon 
 and Mejia. The place of execution is marked by a beautiful chapel. 
 The two generals fell at the first volley, but it required a second firing be- 
 fore the Emperor was dead. He had requested that he might be shot in the 
 body, that his mother might look on his face. He had been led to believe 
 that his wife was dead, a story of consolation in pity given, to which he re- 
 plied, "one tie less to bind me to earth." 
 
 The body was taken to an old convent of the Capuchins, but subsequently 
 to Austria and buried at Miramar. A martyr cruelly betrayed by the French 
 Emperor, and seemingly by all the world except a devoted wife, who pleaded 
 for succor in vain to him and to the Pope of Rome. The Government of 
 the United States protested against the execution, although an imperial power 
 on this continent is inimical to its doctrines, but the protest was unheeded. 
 The Princess Salm-Salm, remembered in our own war times, rode 160 miles 
 to San Luis Potosi, and on her knees begged President Juarez to spare the 
 captive, but all unavailing, and Maximilian died a martyr to a political prin- 
 ciple. 
 
 Mendez was the first of the generals to be executed. On the 19th of May 
 he was placed near the wall of the Plaza de Toros and shot. 
 
 The court-martial was convened in the Yturbide Theatre, June 14, 1867, at 
 10:00 a. m., and at 10:00 p. m. on the 15th the sentence of death was pro- 
 nounced, and at once approved by General Escobedo, who ordered the exe- 
 cution to take place the next day, but a telegram from Juarez, at San Luis 
 Potosi, postponed the execution till the 19th. 
 
 The trial was based on the law of January 25th, 1862, which provided 
 for the execution on the spot of capture of all caught bearing arms against 
 the government — a trial that in this case could have but one verdict. Maxi- 
 milian was ill and did not attend the trial. Maximilian, at the instance of 
 Bazaine, had promulgated a similar law October 3d, 1865, that was even 
 more cruel. 
 
 The morning of the execution dawned bright and beautiful so that Maxi- 
 milian remarked. "I always wished to die on such a day." With Father Soria 
 the Emperor left the convent at 6 a. m. in a carriage and was driven to the 
 Cerro. Mejia and Miramon following in other carriages. Arrived at the hill 
 the prisoners were placed against a low wall of adobe erected for the purpose. 
 IMaximilian was expected to occupy the center, but he stepped to the right 
 and placed Miramon in the center saying: "A brave soldier must be hon- 
 ored by his monarch even in his last hour; therefore permit me to give you 
 the place of honor." An officer and seven men stood only a few yards away. 
 The Emperor went to them, took each soldier by the hands, gave each a 
 piece of gold, saying: "Muchachos! (boys) Aim well, aim right here," point-
 
 242 
 
 ing to his heart. Then stepping back to his place in the line addressed the 
 soldiers, hoping that his blood might be the last to be shed. Then came the 
 command to fire. Maximilian shouted: "Viva Independencia! Viva Mex- 
 ico." Miramon said: "Viva Mexico! Viva el emperador!" and Mejia gave 
 utterance to the same cries, the guns were fired and the empire was dead. 
 
 The convent of the Capuchins is now a dwelling. The chapel on the Hill 
 of the Bells, erected in 1889, replaced the three crosses that marked the spot where 
 the ill-fated emperor and his generals stood to receive the fire of their execution- 
 ers — the exact position of each is shown by tablets in the pavement of the chapel. 
 The Chapel was erected, under permission of President Diaz, by the friends 
 and admirers of ^laximilian, approved by the House of Hapsburg. Diplomatic 
 relations between Mexico and Austria were resumed soon after the dedication 
 of the chapel. 
 
 CONVENT OF LA CRUZ, QUERETARO, MAXIMILIAN'S HEADQUARTERS. 
 
 The Cathedral, formerly the Church of San Francisco, built in 1698, has 
 some very beautiful decorations in sculpture, carvings and paintings. Near 
 by is the Chapel of San Loreto. Santa Clara, founded by a rich Indian, the 
 Cacique Diego de Tapia. son of the introductor of Christianity in the town 
 in 1633, San Felipe, Santo Domingo, San Antonio, San Agustin, Carmen, 
 Merced. Santa Teresa, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz, containing the stone 
 cross that was set up and worshiped by the Indians, on their conversion on 
 the day of Santiago, nearly 400 years ago. are among the many churches, 
 whose towers are seen from the cars. At the village of San Francisco is the 
 church, or rather shrine, of Nuestra Senora del Pueblito. containing a curious 
 image of the Virgin, which at intervals weeps and sometimes assumes a 
 countenance anything but pleasant, much to the disquiet of the Indians, and
 
 S43 
 
 r" 
 
 who, for the time being, are put on their good behavior, at least till the clouds 
 roll by. 
 
 Mr. Charles Dudley Warner says of the church of Santa Rosa at Quere- 
 taro : "One of the finest chapels in the world, it is at any rate unique. I 
 know of no church in the world so rich in wood carving. It is overlaid with 
 thick gold leaf, almost gold plate, and, in some places, the gold is overlaid 
 with transparent tortoise shell. The great altar piece, which is said to have 
 been the richest part of the chapel, was wantonly destroyed by the French 
 when they occupied the city. They tore it down and burned it in order to 
 get the gold. I was told in Queretaro that they took gold to the value of 
 a million and a half of dollars. I can readily believe, judging from the thickness 
 of the gold leaf remaining that the sum obtained was immense. In the sacristy 
 covering one end of 
 the wall is a painting 
 that would attract ad- 
 miration anywhere. In 
 the central space is an 
 altogether lovely fig- 
 ure of Santa Rosa. In 
 form and color the 
 compositions would do 
 no discredit to Muril- 
 lo." The church is the 
 work of the great 
 Tresguerras of Celaya. 
 
 The old convent of 
 San Agustin is now 
 the Federal Building, 
 containing postoffice, 
 telegraph and other 
 federal offices. The 
 uplifted hands of the 
 figures between the 
 arches of the upper , ^._^ . . ^^ _ 
 
 gallery show all the ^-"^Q-^'y^^T Qp capuchinas, maximilian-s prison, qufretaro. 
 signs of the deaf and 
 
 dumb alphabet. In the Jardin de la Independcncia is a fine statue of Senor 
 Marques de la Villa del Villar del Aguila, Don Juan Antonio de Urrutia y 
 Arana. who contributed $88,287 of the $131,091 that it cost to build the magnificent 
 aqueduct that supplies the city with water. The aqueduct was commenced m 
 1720 and finished in 1735. The first stone of the fountain and statue of 
 the Marques was laid in 1843; partly destroyed by a cannon ball in the siege of 
 1867, the work was completed in 1892. 
 
 In the Jardin Zenea, which is the main plaza, is a delightful little forest 
 of tre-s and flowers with its statue of Neptune by Tresguerras and a beautiful 
 pagoda where there is music in the evenings. 
 
 In one of the Calzadas of the Alameda is a column with a statue of Colum- 
 bus. On the north tablet of the base are inscribed the arms of Queretaro 
 and the memorable dates of the history of the state; on the east are the names 
 of the patriots and on the west the benefactors, and on the other meterological 
 
 data. 1 1 • 1 
 
 In the Panteon de la Cruz is the handsome mausoleum of the herome la 
 Sefiora Corregidora Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, whose remains were brought
 
 244 
 
 from the City of Mexico and deposited here in 1894, with great pomp and 
 ceremony and now, as one of the orators of the day said, "Queretaro has on 
 the east in the Panteon of La Cruz, the hght of hberty in the sarcophagus 
 of Senora Ortiz de Dominguez, and on the west, on the Cerro de las Cam- 
 panas, the sepulchre of the monarchy." 
 
 The City of Queretaro, rejoicing in good government, abounds in edu- 
 cational and charitable institutions among which may be mentioned the civil 
 College, Normal School, Conservatory of IMusic, Hospicio Vergara, Hospi- 
 tal Civil, School of Arts, Seminario Conciliar, Academy of San Fernando and 
 many primary schools. 
 
 The Municipal Palace was in 1810 the house of the Corregidora Dominguez 
 where Senora Josefa, under guise of a literary society, held meetings which 
 were attended by the parties in arranging for the war of Independence ; but 
 through the key-hole of the door spies looked and listened ; the plans were not 
 frustrated but hastened, as that energetic woman sent word that night to Hidalgo 
 that they were discovered and before another night had passed the patriot priest 
 had spoken the grito of Mexican Independence. 
 
 CHAPEL ON THE HILL OF THE BELLS. 
 
 The State Palace contains the halls of legislature, courts and offices and 
 salons of the Governor; a fine building with a patio surrounded by arched 
 portales, and in the rear a pretty garden. The historical room contains many 
 interesting relics. The lock and key of the house of Sehora Ortiz de Do- 
 minguez; the coffin of Maximilian; the stools on which Mejia and Miramon 
 sat during the trial ; the table on which the death warrants were signed, 
 with the ink-stain and pen; portraits of the chief actors in the country's his-
 
 346 
 
 tory from Hidalgo to INIaximilian; battle-flags, pictures, and interesting arch- 
 ives. This collection completed and many other important and interesting 
 works were stimulated by the energy of His Excellency, the Governor, Sehor 
 Don Francisco Gonzales de Cosio, during the decade from 1890. 
 
 The city of Queretaro lies to the eastward of the track, and a good view 
 of the city may be seen from passing trains. Just after leaving the city, go- 
 ing south, the track passes under the aqueduct of the city's water supply, which 
 is nearly five miles long. The tallest arch is nearly a hundred feet high. The 
 water comes from the mountains, passing through a tunnel, over the aqueduct, 
 and is distributed through the city by fountains. One of the prettiest is in the 
 main plaza, amid a very bower of palms and tropical trees ; and, by the way, 
 you that have been looking for palm trees all along may see the first at Quere- 
 taro. The climate is very delightful. Year in and year out it is one succession 
 of early summer days. Queretaro is the place of opals. 
 
 Queretaro is the capital of the State of Queretaro, and is one of the most 
 important cities of Central ■Mexico, being a distributing point and a manu- 
 facturing center. The principal industries are the manufacture of cotton goods, 
 leather and leather wares, and sugar. The Hercules cotton factory is one of 
 the largest in the country ; it employs several hundred operatives, taken from 
 the native population. Population of Queretaro, 34^576. Altitude 5,963 feet. 
 
 Horse cars run from the station to the plaza, and beyond to the Hercules 
 mills and the suburbs, and the Caiiada, a delightful suburban village. Distance 
 from the City of ^Mexico, 153 miles. 
 
 Saltillo. That picturesque garment, the ccrapc, so much affected by the 
 Sal-teel-yo Mexican, and which does overcoat duty for a large contingent 
 not possessed of the wherewith to buy a sobrc todo of more modern fashion, 
 has its chief point of manufacture at Sahillo; at least those that have artis- 
 tic coloring, and whose textile is the most delicately woven, with the softest 
 finish, are native to that city, and to possess one from the hand looms of 
 that city was to own the very best. The zerape of to-day is machine woven, 
 and though some are made by hand, they are not the things of beauty they 
 were in times past, and one of ancient date is really a joy forever. An old 
 Mexican explained to me the difference in colors then and now, and the 
 cause of the change. He said that in the old days the designs of decorative 
 colors were taken from the plumage of the birds and from the flowers of 
 the land, so there were softer tints where natural beauty blended them, than 
 in these modern days, when the untutored eye is caught by the flaring colors 
 of cheap tints and gaudy combinations of the more civilized but less taste- 
 ful foreigner, who unwittingly, in the wares he sold the natives, changed the 
 whole school of coloring in the native mind. This applies, not only to the 
 zerapes of Saltillo, but to the pottery of Patzcuaro an i Guadalajara. 
 
 Saltillo is the capital of the State of Coahuila, which once included all 
 of Texas. The city was founded in 1586, but was not incorporated until 1827. 
 The location is just on the rise of the plateau, and the climate is a delightful 
 one, with only a very few days of cold weather in all the year. All the fruits 
 of the temperate zone, and many of the tropics, are grown. Apples and 
 oranges, pears and bananas, are found in the same gardens that are on either 
 side of the street through which the railroad runs. The short distance from 
 the station to the very pretty plaza may be made by street cars, or carriages, 
 always waiting the arrival of trains. The driver will make a contract, at 
 very low figures, and it may be that there is a lack of elegance in equip- 
 ment, yet it takes you to the lovely little alameda, to the baths of San Lor- 
 enzo or Alta Mira, and to the churches, which we call San Francisco or Car-
 
 246 
 
 men, and brings you safely to the hotel. Water is brought to the city by 
 means of a long aqueduct extending back into the hills. 
 
 The battlefield of Buena Vista is about five miles south of Saltillo, hardly 
 worth the while of an excursion, as it may be seen from the windows of the 
 cars. The field is on the east side of the track. This, and the fort on the 
 hill, a relic of the French occupation, is all there is to connect Saltillo with 
 the country's history. 
 
 Saltillo is on the ^Mexican National Railroad, 606 miles from the capital. 
 
 Salvatierra. Down in the Lerma Valley is one of the prettiest towns in 
 
 Salva-te'-er'-ra Mexico, and, withal, one of the oldest and most thriving — 
 going on in age to its second century, and possessing extensive cotton and 
 woolen mills. Long ago Salvatierra was a trading point, and its location in 
 the midst of a fertile plain has made it a place of importance. 
 
 The tower on the north of the track, seen from the car windows, is that 
 of the Church of Nuestra Sefiora de las Luces, the parish church, and a very 
 fine one, with handsome decorations and paintings. There are other churches 
 well worth a visit. The Plaza, the Alameda and the markets are all inter- 
 esting, but the most picturesque is the bridge of stone arches which spans 
 the Rio Lerma, as old. almost, as the city is. It is a picture in itself, with 
 its quaint traffic crossing to and fro, going to town and country with the 
 product of the field and farm, or the results of tienda trades in town. The 
 town was founded in 1643, and named for the then viceroy. The lands were 
 donated by Don Andres Alderete and his wife for the city, for which they 
 received an annuity from the crown of 2,000 pesos. The location of Salvatierra 
 was in the path of marching armies; the city suffered more or less during 
 the various wars, but recovered rapidly, and now the progress of peace is 
 evidenced in all her streets. Salvatierra is in the State of Guanajuato, on 
 the ^Mexican National Railroad, 197 miles from the City. 
 
 Sati Luis Potosi. There is San Luis and a St. Louis in every coun- 
 San Lu-ese Po-to-see' try, but there is only one San Luis Potosi — only 
 one San Luis of the Treasure — that in Mexico, the capital of the State oi 
 that name, and one of the most satisfactory cities in all that country. In the 
 midst of a spreading plain of great fertility, the gardens and groves extend 
 into fields that stretch away to the circling hills, that are rich in mineral 
 deposits of the precious metals, notably those of the rich San Pedro mines, 
 where the annual silver output runs up into the millions. Long before the 
 advent of the Spaniard the mines were known to the natives, and were re- 
 vealed by a pious Indian, with the hope of advancing the cause of Chris- 
 tianity. A venerable monk called the place by its present name, from its 
 resemblance to the Potosi mines in Peru. Since then the production has 
 been in untold millions down to the present day, when the annual coinage of 
 the mint is more than $3,000,000. 
 
 San Luis was not made a city till ^.bout 1666, although a settlement was 
 made there 100 years earlier, so the city has not been one of a mushroom 
 growth; and the advent of the railroad has not been the cause of its pros- 
 perity, because this city has been, for a hundred years or more, a great trad- 
 ing center for the eastern, as Guadalajara has been for the western slope. 
 Until the completion of the railways, the means of transportation to the sea 
 was by pack mules across the plains and over the mountains. But now San 
 Luis Potosi has greater facilities and becomes a railroad center, the Mexican 
 National Railroad leading north and south, and the Central westward to the 
 main line and east to the Gulf of Mexico at Tampico. The stations of both 
 roads are near the city's center, adjoining one of the principal plazas— a fea- 
 ture not common in Mexico, nearly all the stations being more or less dis-
 
 247 
 
 tant, but, as at San Luis Potosi also, with horse-car connections to the hotels 
 and plazas. 
 
 San Luis is noted for the cleanliness of its streets, and the bright fresh 
 look of its houses, which is looked after by the City Fathers. An ordinance 
 prevents the citizens from becoming negligent as to the appearance of their 
 dwellings, and they must be kept in order at all times. It is pleasant to 
 walk through these streets, and through the plazas and plazuelas, of which 
 there are many, with their trees and flowers, fountains and pagodas, where 
 there is music in the evenings, and where the people do congregate. And 
 there's many an open doorway that shows the pretty patios, with their 
 miniature gardens filled with fiowers fountains and singing birds, and these 
 
 J*i 
 
 
 A FOUNTAIN OF SAN LUIS POTOSI. 
 
 go to tell that the brightness and freshness of a San Luis Potosi house is 
 not all on the outside. The markets and market places, nearby the hotels, 
 are to be included in the walks about town, and are intensely interesting, 
 as all Mexican markets are. The State Capitol, the Library and Museum, 
 with nearly 100,000 volumes. El Instituto (the State College), the Alhondiga 
 and the Lonja Mercantil, are the prominent places of the city to be visited, 
 and are all buildings above the average in every way. Horse-car rides may 
 be made to Guadalupe and Tequisquiapan, the Baths of La Soledad, to Ax- 
 cala and Santiago, the cars starting from the main plaza; the fares are from 
 five to twenty-five cents, according to the distance traveled. In the rainy 
 season, as an additional attraction, the horse cars carry signs conveying the
 
 248 
 
 information that there is water in the river. Good carriages may be had 
 at the railway stations, or on the plaza, at from titty cents to a dollar per 
 hour. The churches are more than usually interesting, and are, for the most 
 part, fine examples of the prevaiHng styles of architecture — are rich in na- 
 tive decorative art, in carvings, paintings and pictures. 
 
 The Cathedral, formerly the parish church, is on the Plaza Mayor, a 
 really fine building, with ambitious towers built of stone; the pillars and altars 
 are also of cut stone and the sumptuous decorations, a triumph of art, were 
 made under the direction of Bishop Montes de Oca, 1890-98; the Bishop's 
 Palace, adjoining the Cathedral, is one of the finest in the land; one of the 
 windows opens on to a gallery w^hich overlooks the interior of the great 
 church. The See of San Luis Potosi was not promulgated till 1854, though 
 the first church was founded in 1583. 
 
 The two tall towers of red stone seen from the west windows of the cars, 
 just south of the city, are those of the Church of Guadalupe, standing high 
 above the plain and the surrounding trees, and may be seen for miles up and 
 down the road, an imposing landmark, that shows where the city is, long be- 
 fore it can be seen. 
 
 In the fajade of the church is a fine clock, presented by the King of Spain, 
 in return for the gift of the largest single piece of silver ore ever taken 
 from a mine. The church is well worth a visit, which may best be made by 
 a carriage drive out the Paseo, passing the markets, the fountains, with their 
 scores of quaintly costumed water-carriers, with queer wheelbarrows, carry- 
 ing from one to three earthen jugs, the barracks and the penitentiary— a 
 somewhat dusty road, but an interesting drive, with much to see. 
 
 In the Church of El Carmen are some especially fine paintings, illustra- 
 tive of the saints— both native and foreign — if saints may be so designated. On 
 the door is written in Spanish the words which say, "who asks here shall re- 
 ceive, who seeks shall find, and who knocks it shall be opened." The other 
 churches are Merced, San Agustin and San Francisco; one never tires of 
 the churches of Mexico, and cannot tire of these. 
 
 They are a thrifty people of San Luis Potosi, and the stores and shops 
 attest the fact. Every one has a "this-is-my-busy-day" look; the dealers are 
 intent on business, and the customers, in crowds, drive sharp bargains. The 
 gold and silver embroidery of the native is a pretty souvenir to buy; it is in 
 the shape of slippers and pieces for ornament, that may be bought at vary- 
 ing prices, according as the work is more or less elaborate. Pottery, feather 
 and palm work may also be found. As I have said. San Luis Potosi is a 
 railroad center. There is a frequent train service, and the stop may be long 
 or short, going south to the City, north to the United States, east to Tam- 
 pico or west to Aguas Calientes. 
 
 San Luis Potosi is reached by the Mexican National and IMexican Central 
 Railways. The distance from the City of Mexico is 362 miles. 
 
 San Miguel de Allende. A picturesquely pretty city, that is set upon 
 San Me-gil' de Al-yen'-de a hill and cannot be hid. is San Miguel de 
 Allende, where its rugged streets, and gardens terraced on the steep sides 
 of the enchanted Cerro de Moctezuma. look down over the valley of Laja 
 and to the blue hills far beyond. The ride of a mile from the railway, 
 in the old-time coaches, is an interesting one. leading over a hill and inter- 
 vening valley, where an ancient bridge of crumbling arches crosses a stream 
 of clear, sparkling water, and enters the quaint old town that lies spread out 
 on the hillside above; then, with a zigzag course, it is a climb to a plaza 
 that one has no hint or suspicion of, it is such a pretty one, till the coach 
 pulls up in front of the hotel that faces it, and whose casement windows look
 
 249 
 
 out over the prettiest of evergreen trees. The hotel is a surprise as well, 
 and was once the palatial home of a wealthy and pious man, Senor Don 
 Manuel Tomas de la Canal, and his wife, who donated the very beautiful 
 chapel of the Casa de Loreto, a chapel that is a very poem of color and 
 carving. If architecture be frozen music, then this gem is a dulcet melody, 
 where there is a delicious warmth in its very congealing. But to go back 
 to the hotel again, the image of the Virgin of Loreto over the door was 
 placed there through the reverence of the family. Canal, when it was their 
 home. 
 
 The very beautiful Gothic church on the plaza, the only one of its kind 
 in Mexico, was the work of a native architect, who knew not the process 
 of '"blue prints," and drew his plans with a stick in the sand; these were the 
 only guides for the builders to work by. The original church was com- 
 pleted nearly a hundred years ago, and the interior, with the exception of a 
 renovation in 1842-3, remains the same, only the iagade and the beautiful 
 Gothic towers being 
 new; this is the 
 parish church. The 
 others are San Ra- 
 fael, adjoining the 
 Parroquia, in which 
 there are some 
 strange statuary and 
 paintings, and at- 
 tached to this church 
 is the Casa de Loreto, 
 one of the most beau- 
 tiful things in ^Mexico 
 in carvings, gildings 
 and glazed tiles, pre- 
 sented by Sehor 
 Canal in 1635. The 
 names of the other 
 churches worth visit- 
 ing are the Concep- 
 cion, San Francisco. 
 Nuestra Seiiora de la 
 Soledad and the 
 Chapel of Calvario, at the nopal cactus. 
 
 the top of a steep hill, which the wickedest sinners approach on their knees, 
 stopping at the fourteen stations of the cross, on the hillside, to pray. 
 
 San Miguel has an important place in the history of the country. The 
 patriot, Ygnacio Allende. was born here, to which fact is due the addition of 
 Allende to the name of the town. About a dozen miles distant, to the north, 
 is the village and Santuario de Jesus Nazareno de Atotonilco, founded in 
 1748, famous as the place whence Hidalgo took the banner of the Virgin of 
 Guadalupe that became the standard of Independence, and, with Allende, 
 carried it to San Miguel, where the Queen's regiment joined the insurgent 
 forces, which became a victorious patriot army. The visit to San Miguel is 
 not complete without an excursion to Atotonilco. San Miguel was founded 
 in 1560, though the natives claim a foundation by Fray Juan de San Miguel 
 in 1542 in the building of the little church about three miles westward. 
 
 In the southern part of the city and high up on the hill are some very 
 beautiful gardens, laid in pretty terraces of flowers, watered by a hundred lit-
 
 250 
 
 tie cascades of clear water, that come down from the springs still higher 
 up on the cerro, where the baths are — delightful baths, where the water 
 comes pouring ironi under the rocks and into the baths, fresh and pure, 
 accommodatingly warm in winter and cool in summer. To get there one 
 may ride, but the carriage rattles over some very stony streets, and although 
 it is a climb, I would suggest to walk. Leave the plaza, walk one square up 
 the hill, turn to the right one square, then another up and again to the right, 
 till you come to the gardens. 
 
 San l\Liguel is in the State 
 of Guanajuato, on the Mex- 
 ican National Railroad, 253 
 miles from the city. 
 
 Sayula. Is a city of 
 Sah-yu-la 8,819 inhabi- 
 tants, on the Pacitic division 
 of the Mexican Central 
 Railway, in the center of 
 a rich mining district, 
 surrounded by fertile fields, 
 85 miles from Guadalajara. 
 Altitude of Sayula is 4,674 
 feet. 
 
 Silao. S i 1 a o was 
 See-low' founded in the 
 year 1553, by Don Fran- 
 cisco Cervantes Rendon, 
 but was not pronounced a 
 city till 1861. It is in the 
 midst of a fertile valley, 
 close to the silver hills of 
 Guanajuato. The comple- 
 tion of the railway, the es- 
 tablishment of shops, and 
 the building of the branch 
 to Guanajuato, enhanced 
 the importance of the place 
 and caused a wakening 
 from the three hundred 
 years' nap. from the settle- 
 ment to the incorporation 
 of the city. It is worth the 
 while to wander through 
 the narrow streets. The 
 Plaza Mayor is not far from 
 GOTHIC TOWER— SAN MIGUEL. the Station. Santiago, com- 
 
 pleted in 1728, is the parish church. It has a particularly pretty tower, tall and 
 slender. The Church of El Senor de la Vera Cruz contains a curious figure of 
 the Christ in papier niache. antedating the conquest of Spain by the Moors. It 
 was presented to the Indians by the missionaries. The Santuario del Padre 
 Jesus was built in 1798. The only other church of importance is San Nicolas. 
 Silao is in the State of Guanajuato, on the Mexican Central Railway, 238 
 miles from the City of Mexico, and fifteen miles from Guanajuato, by branch 
 road. 

 
 261 
 
 Tampico. In the tropical tierra caliente, Tampico lies en the GuH 
 Tam-pee'-ko shore, at the mouth of the Rio Panuco, which is r. truly noble 
 and great river, in which the navies of the world might ride. I.ideed, Tam- 
 pico is the rival of Vera Cruz, as the chief seaport on the east coast of Mex- 
 ico, and, \yith the completed jetties and the deep rivers, the g* eat merchant 
 ships may make fast to the piers, to receive and discharge their cargoes. 
 The rivers empyting here are navigable for some two hundred miles into the 
 interior, where the scenery is rich in tropic beauty. About ten miles west 
 of Tampico there are the ruins of an ancient city, a relic of the Aztecs, or 
 some other race of the pre-Cortez days. There is a conFiderable hill and 
 
 AT TAMPIC >. 
 
 the remams of embankments and other earthworks, together with a large, 
 rudely sculptured stone. At the summit is a collection of pyramidal and 
 conical mounds, many of them excellently preserved by a sort of shell of 
 rectangular stone slabs set closely together on edge. Some excavations, 
 made several years ago, showed the interior to be composed of earth, com- 
 mingled with ashes and broken pottery. The ruins extend for several miles, 
 and a populous city must once have occupied the site. It is supposed that 
 the houses of the inhabitants, built of cane and reed, similar to those of 
 to-day, stood on the top of the mounds. 
 
 At Tamos, several miles above Tampico, is the first sight of the Panuco, 
 coming from the interior. The stream is navigable to this point for ocean 
 steamers of considerable draught.
 
 252 
 
 '^ Just beyond Tamos, the Tamesi, another large river, 
 . is crossed by a long and substantial drawbridge, at its 
 • junction with the Panuco. Both streams are navigated 
 .< >^ by steamboats into the interior, and they are well worth 
 the while of the voyage, the scenery being particularly 
 'fine. At Tampico the station is close to the water, 
 where the view is enlivened by the various craft lying 
 ' at the wharves and anchored in the stream — steamships, 
 schooners, brigs, river steamers, tugs, lighters, etc. — a 
 respectable fleet altogether, and but an earnest of what 
 will be seen here in the future. Tampico is an attrac- 
 tive looking place, with an architectural appearance 
 quite different from w'hat may be seen elsewhere in 
 Mexico. It seems a combination of New Orleans w-ith a distinctively Spanish 
 style. The buildhigs mostly have pitched roofs, and wood is more commonly 
 employed in construction than elsew^here in Mexico, though the walls are 
 chiefly of massive masonry. The houses of many colors have wooden verandas 
 along their fronts, at each story, in the style common in the southern states of 
 our country. A large part of the city stands on a bluff, which rises from near 
 the river to a height of perhaps twenty to fifty feet or more, and at the end of 
 two of the streets broad stone steps descend to the water front. 
 
 On the river front is the most picturesque market, with its tents and 
 scores of white umbrellas. Near it is the Plaza, with an almost darkness 
 of dense shade. The trees are the homes of myriads of twittering, noisy 
 ravens. The river at Tampico is i,8oo feet wide, and has an average breadth 
 of 800 feet; for several miles above its mouth, the minimum depth is thirty 
 feet. The rise and fall of the tide is so 
 slight — only about eighteen inches — that 
 there is no inflowing current, and, with 
 the construction of the jetties, there is a 
 constant out-going scour across the bar. 
 For the greater part of the way the 
 river banks are low and marshy, but on 
 the right shore, two or three miles be- 
 low the town, there is a line of high, 
 rocky bluffs, that sometime will prob- 
 ably be in demand as a place of sum- 
 mer residence, with their fine view of the 
 sea and sweep of breeze from the Gulf, 
 which, blowing soft and free for most 
 of the time, makes the air agreeably re- 
 freshing. To reach Tampico from the 
 interior, change cars on the main line 
 of the Central at Aguas Calientes, and 
 on the National at San Luis P9tosi, or 
 proceed, via the Monterey division of 
 the Mexican Central Railway from 
 Monterey on the National road. 
 Tampico is a regular port of the 
 Ward Line, and other steamer lines from 
 all parts of the world are attracted 
 hither by the fine harbor, made by the 
 completion of the jetties, two long arms 
 of stone walls extending out into the la barra.
 
 *v 
 
 253 
 
 sea, more than a thousand feet, and one of the most important improve- 
 ments of the age. 
 
 The village at the jetties is called La Barra (the bar); there is one of the 
 finest beaches in the world and a magnificently rolling surf that renders the 
 bathing fine, and the temperature is such that it may be indulged in in winter 
 as well as summer days. There is a pavilion and dressing rooms on the 
 beach. Trains run on regular schedules between Tampico and La Barra. 
 
 Texcoco. Texcoco was the ancient capital of the great Netzahualcoyotl, 
 
 Tez-co'-co and, in 1431, was the rival of Tenochtitlan, now the City of 
 Mexico. At that time Texcoco might have been called the Athens of the 
 w/estern world, as Tenochtitlan was its Rome. 
 
 After the defeat of the Dismal Night and his march around the northern 
 •ihores of the lakes Cortez came from Tlaxcala and Cholula to Texcoco, and 
 brought v.ith him the bergantines across the mountains, put them together 
 on the shores of the lake, and prepared to take his army to lay siege to 
 the capital of Montezuma. The Tlaxcalans, already his allies, the Cholulans 
 destroyed by massacre, he found the people of Texcoco in the throes of 
 dissension and civil war, and there was naught in the way of his march to 
 Tenochtitlan. The base of operations was at Texcoco, and here, later, Cor- 
 tez made his abode while under 
 a royal exile from the City of 
 Mexico,, and here for some years 
 his bones were buried. In the 
 royal palace of Netzahualcoyotl. at 
 Texcoco, was a courtyard, on the 
 opposite side of which were two 
 halls of justice. In the principal 
 one, called the "Tribunal of God," ^^^^^^^ 
 
 was a throne of pure gold, inlaid ^^^^^^Hf ^ 
 
 with turquoise and other precious ^^^B|^^^.'^%F' -a^awBi^ME>- . 'Mti 
 
 stones. On a stool in front was ^^^K^ < '^ ''SHHHI^HHk :^^ 
 
 placed a human skull and crowned 
 with an immense emerald of a 
 pyramidal form, and surmounted at la barra. 
 
 by an aigrette of brilliant plumes and precious stones. The skull was laid 
 on a heap of military weapons, shields, quivers, bows and arrows. The 
 walls were hung with tapestry, made of the hair of different wild animals 
 of rich and various colors, festooned by gold rings and embroidered with 
 figures of birds and flowers. Above the throne was a canopy of variegated 
 plumage, from the center of which shot forth resplendent rays of gold and 
 jewels. The other tribunal, called "the king's," was also surrounded by a 
 gorgeous canopy of feathers, on which emblazoned the royal arms. 
 
 Texcoco is a pretty little town, with narrow streets, shaded by orange trees, 
 centering on a plaza, where there is a bust of Netzahualcoyotl. On a corner 
 south of the plaza is a fountain surmounted by a statue of Hercules, pre- 
 sented by Senor Ruperto Jaspeado. The old Church of San Francisco, founded 
 by Fray Pedro de Gante, was the tomb of Cortez. There are many ruins 
 and relics of the forgotten ages in and around Texcoco. In the south part 
 are three pyramids, and in the north another. West of the town, about 
 three miles, are the ruins of an ancient wall, near the old Church of Huixotla. 
 About three miles east are the most beautiful gardens of the Molino de Flores 
 (the mill of the flowers). Let the mind be disabused of anything like a flour 
 mill, or a barn-like structure wnth dusty sides and roof. Heavy gates open 
 through stone walls and admit to what seems the court of a mediaeval castle. 
 
 f^ \^t
 
 264 
 
 Tortuous stairways of stone lead to the castle, the summer home of the 
 ancient family, Cervantes, who have owned this bit of another world for 
 some centuries. Beyond the gates, a little farther, are the gardens that 
 might have been a part of Eden. There are grottoes and cascades, and a 
 chapel that is also the tomb of the Cervantes, with sepulchres cut in the 
 solid rock. Near by is the "laughing hill," Tetzcotzinco, the favorite resort 
 of Netzahualcoyotl. There are terraced walks, and stairways winding around 
 the hill. A basin in the rock has been called Montezuma's bath. It was 
 probably a distributing reservoir to the gardens below. There are some won- 
 derful examples of native engineering near the "laughing hill." where the 
 hills are connected across the valleys by embankments, in some places fifty 
 feet high, on the top of which was built an aqueduct about two feet wide, 
 with a conduit about a foot in width. In all it was twelve or fifteen miles 
 
 THE WATER WAGON. 
 
 in length, and much of it yet remans in a perfect state of preservation. Three 
 miles west is the Hacienda de Chapingo, belonging to the estate of the late 
 ex-president. General Gonzales. 
 
 Texcoco is in the State of Mexico, on the Interoceanic Railway, twenty 
 miles from the City. . . 
 
 Tlaxcala. The very name is synonymous with antiquity and reminiscent 
 
 Tlaz-cai'-a of Cortez and his indomitable band of adventurers. It is 
 one of the most interesting places in all Mexico, both for the beauty of its 
 location and its historic associations. 
 
 On leaving the train at the little station of Santa Ana, the traveler will 
 find two horse cars at the station, first and second class respectively. From 
 Santa Ana to Tlaxcala is about six miles, through beautiful woods or through
 
 255 
 
 cultivated fields, the hedges on either side of the road covered with wild flow- 
 ers, filling the air with perfume. The route is through the quaint little town 
 of San Pablo Apetitlan; thence across the river and past the Church of San 
 Esteban. To the west is a magnificent view of the two mighty volcanoes 
 of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, their summits crowned with eternal snows, 
 dazzlingly white and glistening in the sunlight; to the east may be seen the 
 lofty and beautiful "Alalintzi. ' — the whole forming a picture perhaps un- 
 equaled on this continent, or in the world. At last, after a ride of about 
 forty-five minutes, the town of Tlaxcala is reached and the car stops in 
 the queer little plaza. 
 
 Tlaxcala is situated in a valley, with hills entirely surrounding it, but we 
 read that at the time of the conquest, when Tlaxcala boasted 300.000 instead 
 of 4,000 inhabitants, as now, the town was built on the hills, the valley be- 
 ing reserved for agricultural purposes, and it is probable that from this fact it 
 takes its name, which means "Land of Bread." 
 
 The museum is never "open" to the public, for the reason, presumably, 
 that it is only tourists who care to visit it, but it is a very easy matter to 
 obtain admission. The visitor should call at the Municipal Palace (a build- 
 ing which dates back to the Spanish conquest), situated on the Plaza, and 
 one of the obliging ofticials will send with you a "'mozo'''' or servant, with 
 the keys of the museum which is situated on the next 
 street. Before leaving, however, he will naturally ex- 
 pect that you will wish to see the Council Room, and 
 if the vistior is not awed on being admitted to this 
 celebrated chamber, he will, at least, be interested 
 in the pictures which adorn its walls. These are 
 copies of the original pictures of the great Tlaxcalan 
 chieftains who allied themselves with Cortez, namely: 
 Lorenzo jMazihcatzin, Chief of Ocotetulco; Gonzalo 
 Tlahuexolotzin. Chief of Tepeticpac; Bartholome 
 Zitlalpopoca, Chief of Quiahuiztlan, and Vicente 
 Xicohtencatl, Chief of Tizatlan. The first name of 
 each is the "Christian" name, given to them by the 
 
 Spaniards when they were baptized, which was in the ^^*'hf , \ a^^**- 
 
 year 1520. The Museum contains a most interest- -^ — *^^fci- 
 
 ing collection of idols and of Tlaxcalan pot- church roof, tlaxcala. 
 tery, found at various times in the town and surroundmg country, but 
 that which the visitor will most wish to see is the "Banner of Cortez," 
 as it is usually called, but to be more correct, the banner which Cortez pre- 
 sented to the Tlaxcalans. It is kept in a glass case and is in an excellent 
 state of preservation. In the next case are the silken gowns which the 
 chieftains wore when baptized, and the embroidered vestments of the priests. 
 These are in such a perfect condition that it is hard to believe they are nearly 
 400 years old; they are an eloquent memorial to the skill of their makers. 
 Here, too, are more pictures representing the famous four chieftains, as 
 well as old plans and maps of Tlaxcala. 
 
 The Church of San Francisco is the oldest in America. Its foundations 
 were commenced in the year 1521, the same year that the conquest of Mexico 
 was completed. Here everything is antique: the very chairs used by the 
 good fathers, at the present day, look as if they might be a hundred years 
 old. In the chapel of the Tercer Orden is an enormous font, the actual 
 font in which were baptized the four chieftains whose portraits and garments 
 are in the Museum. On the other side of the chapel is an old pulpit, the 
 tablet informing us that from it was preached the Christian gospel, for the
 
 256 
 
 first time "in this new world." The church is situated on the slope of a 
 hill, and is approached by a paved way leading up from the queer old mar- 
 ket place, where, if you loiter a while, you will hear as much Indian spoken 
 as Spanish. The men and women sit on the ground beside their wares, laugh- 
 ing and chatting among themselves in the Aztec language. You will find, 
 however, that they talk Spanish perfectly, if you wish to buy any of the 
 luscious fruits or other commodities displayed. 
 
 The paved way leading up from the market place to the church passes 
 under an old archway which connects the bell tower with the building which 
 was formerly the convent, but now used by the government as the barracks. 
 Facing the church and the barracks is a paved court-yard, which extends 
 about one hundred and fifty feet to the edge of the hill, the side fronting the 
 
 BULL RING, TLAXCALA. 
 
 cliff being protected by a low wall. Directly under this, about fifty or sixty 
 feet beneath, is the "bull ring," affording the soldiers (or at least the officers) 
 of the barracks an excellent place from which to view the corrida without 
 payment. The "Xicotencatl" Theatre is opposite the San Carlos Hotel, but 
 it looks as if it had not been open for years. It is a walk of about fifteen 
 minutes to the famous Santuario de Ocotlan, built on a hill overlooking 
 Tlaxcala. 
 
 This church is built to commemorate the miraculous appearance of the 
 blessed Virgin of Ocotlan to the Indian Juan Diego, the legend being almost 
 the same as that connected with the yet more famous shrine of Guadaluoe, 
 near Mexico City. The church is a very fine building, with two very lofty 
 towers. The interior is splendidly decorated, the high altar especially being 
 a perfect marvel of wood carving. 
 
 Before arriving at the church you will probably notice the two curious 
 barrel-shaped structures, about ten feet high, in the middle of the road. 
 These are called "cuitacomatis" and are used for storing corn, preserved safely
 
 257 
 
 from rats and mice. It speaks well for the honesty of the little village that 
 the owners do not seem to fear any pilfering by their neighbors, for the 
 '"cuitacomatis" are built in the roadway, opposite the homes of their owners, 
 and are only protected at the top by a wooden cover, well thatched to pre- 
 vent the rain entering. 
 
 The view from the churchyard of Ocotlan is most beautiful. From it 
 can be seen the three mountains, Popocatepetl, Ixtaccihuatl and Malintzi. Im- 
 mediately below is the town of Tlaxcala, and a little beyond is the river, 
 which can be seen for miles, winding its way down the valley of Atoyac. 
 Across the river, which is spanned by a light iron bridge of modern make, 
 a little way from the main channel, the river has cut its way through the rocks, 
 forming a deep canon, and in one place it has forced its path underneath 
 the rocks, leaving them overhanging, and forming a Natural Bridge. 
 
 Tlaxcala is near the station of Santa Ana. on the branch line of the Mexican 
 Railway from Apizaco to Puebla. It is the capital of the State of Tlaxcala. 
 The population is 4.000; its altitude is higher than the City of Mexico — 7.506 
 feet above the sea. 
 
 Toluca. To go over the hills to Toluca is one of the things to do in 
 
 To-loo'-ca Mexico. No matter by what route one may have arrived at 
 the capital, one must go to Toluca. The going there is the chief charm 
 of the three-hour excursion. If you take an afternoon train from the city, 
 you will have the sun behind the Sierra Madres; while the train climbs the 
 eastern slope, creeping along in the darkening shadows, there is still a flood 
 of sunlight over the plain, glistening on the towers of the distant city and the 
 lakes beyond, and. above all. whitening still more the snows on Popocatepetl 
 and Ixtaccihuatl — a picture dazzling and grandly, sublimely beautiful. It 
 may be that the sun has dropped behind the further western hills ere you 
 turn the crest of these, and there is a softening twilight over the Toluca Val- 
 ley; but when the return is made on a morning train, the sun is again be- 
 hind the Madres, this time in the east, making another panorama equally 
 beautiful, with Ocoyacac under the precipice, a thousand feet down, and the 
 River Lerma. stringing a silver line way across the plain, and lost from 
 sight beyond the hills. On the farther side is Toluca, and, beyond the city, 
 the Nevada de Toluca. the volcano, once called Xinantecatl. Thus, in a little 
 journey of three hours, are two of the world's grandest views, worth a longer 
 journey to see. 
 
 Horse cars from the station run through the Calle Independencia, past the 
 statue of Hidalgo, to the plaza and near the hotels. 
 
 That Toluca is a marvelously clean city is discovered in the shortest stay; 
 the houses look bright and new. although it is one of the oldest cities in the 
 country, and the buildings are larger and finer than usual. The State build- 
 ings — this is the capital of the State of Mexico — erected on the spot where 
 once stood the house of Don IMartin Cortez. son of the conqueror, are the 
 finest in the Republic, and the market, with its pillars of Pompeiian colors, 
 is a thing of beauty. It is not far to the hot country, and all the tropical 
 fruits and flowers are to be found. In the portales one may find laces, "drawn 
 work," pottery and a thousand things for souvenir purchasers. 
 
 The residence of a rich haciendado is shown, who, in his time, was a 
 great patron of the bull-ring, and furnished from his hacienda many a bravo 
 toro, till they became famous in every ring, and his colors, dangling from a 
 grizzly neck, brought loud huzzas when the animal bounded into the arena. 
 One bull fought his way back to life and liberty. The picadors could not 
 hold him ofT, and he killed their horses; the banderilleros, if they could place 
 their darts in his shoulders, bad them shaken out in his rage, and the mata-
 
 258 
 
 dores were hissed and hissed, because they could not kill him. The old ha- 
 ciendado looked on with delight, and plead with the president not to allow 
 him to be lassoed and "assassinated," as he said. The wish was granted, 
 and the bull was driven back to the toril, and returned to the hacienda to 
 live some happy years, and when, at a green old age, he died in peace, sur- 
 rounded by a numerous and belligerent progeny, his ,body was interred minus 
 the skin, which was stuffed and hung up for ornament in his master's ban- 
 quet hall. The view 
 from the hill, ju- 
 back of the city, 
 is a pretty one, but 
 from the top of 
 the volcano it is a 
 grand one, reach- 
 ing from the Gulf 
 to the Pacific. 
 The height, as es- 
 timated by Hum- 
 boldt, is 15,156 feet 
 above sea level. 
 The ascent and 
 return requires 
 two days, though 
 it is not a diffi- 
 cult or perilous 
 one. The top is 
 not more than ten 
 feet wide, and the 
 crater contains a 
 fathomless lake 
 with a whirlpool 
 in the center. The 
 valley and site of 
 the city of Toluca 
 was within the 
 grant of Charles 
 V.to Cortez as the 
 Marquis of the 
 Valley, and a set- 
 tlement was made 
 here in 1530, but 
 not till 1677 was 
 Toluca made a 
 city. The Church 
 of San Francisc' 
 was founded m 
 1585. An old pas- 
 sageway leading from a side street has an inscription telling that this arch is 
 retained as a part of the first Catholic church in Toluca. 
 
 The parish church was built in 1585. The Church of Nuestra Sefiora del 
 Carmen contains a fine picture of the Virgin, and the dead Christ and what 
 is probably the first organ made in America. Near the city, about two miles 
 west, is the Church of Nuestra Sefiora de Tecajic, containing a miraculous 
 image of the Virgin, on coarse cloth, painted more than two hundred years 
 
 ALAMEDA OF TOLUCA.
 
 269 
 
 ago, and held in much veneration by the Indians. Tokica is the capital of the 
 State of Mexico, on the Mexican National Railroad, forty-five miles from the 
 City; elevation, 8,617 feet above the sea; population, 25,000. 
 Torreoii. Is the very newest city in ]^Iexico, twenty years ago only a pros- 
 Tor-re-own' pective railroad crossing, now a thriving city, the junction of two 
 important systems, the Mexican Central and International, with electric cars, 
 cotton mills, foundries, factories, breweries, ice plant, but no domed churches 
 and no legends. Population 15,000. Altitude 3,739- Distance from the City of 
 Mexico 705 miles. 
 
 Tula. It is but two hours frorn the capital of modern Mexico to the 
 Too'-la center of the Toltec Empire, where the ruins of the oldest capi- 
 tal of the continent lie half buried in the sands, blown over them in the 1,200 
 years since their building — but two hours from ihe great houses of the nine- 
 teenth century to the casas grandes of the seventh. Tula was the capital of 
 the Toltecs, founded about the year 638. After the migration of this people from 
 the north, they halted just beyond the plain of Mexico, and, on the banks 
 of the little river, builded a great city, that became the rival of Tenochtitlan 
 and Texcoco. The place was a ''place of reeds," and they called the city 
 Tula, which is also Tollan, and was known by oth r names, Tlapallan and 
 Huehuetlalpallan, to the ancient dwellers in the land. In these degen- 
 erate days, the mighty capital is a little railway junction village, a most pretty 
 one withal, with antiquities a thousand years younger than the casas grandes, 
 but are older than our oldest walls. The ruins of the ancient temples of the 
 Toltecs are called the casas grandes. They are on the Cerro de Tesoro, a 
 hill just beyond the river, reached by a walk of a mile, through a broad way 
 shaded by great trees, over an old stone bridge, of Spanish make, and back, 
 on the other bank of the river, to a point just opposite the town. There, 
 almost buried and without walls, are the casas grandes. The rooms are laid 
 in terraces, one above the other, in hewn stone and hard cement, and con- 
 nected with stairways. Some ruined walls, of the style of those around the 
 church in the village, evidently of Spanish make, are near the ruins. 
 
 In the plaza of Tula are some of the Toltecan relics, and the baptismal 
 font in the church is of the same origin; many of the houses of the town have 
 Toltec carvings hung up for ornament. 
 
 The Church at San Jose, in partial ruins, was founded in 1553, and com- 
 pleted in 1 561. In the primitive days of its building, it was church and fort- 
 ress combined, and the very thick walls were constructed with that view, as 
 are shown by the battlements on the roof, on the walls, and on the walls of 
 the old church near the casas grandes. The church is 190 feet long, 83 feet 
 high, with a tower of 125 feet, all built of stone, roughly cut. The convent, 
 built in 1585, is now used as a cavalry barrack and stables. 
 
 The pretty little town of Tula — and it is a very delightful one — can be made 
 the object of a day's outing from the City of IMexico, taking the morning 
 train out. and returning in the afternoon. It is on the line of the Mexican 
 Central Railway, in the State of Hidalgo, at the junction of the Pachuca branch, 
 fifty miles from the City, at an altitude of 6.6=;8 feet above the sea. 
 
 Uruapau. The present terminus of the Pacific division of the National 
 
 Oo-ru-ap'-an Railroad of Mexico is one of the most picturesque and 
 quaintest of the semi-tropics, surrounded by forests and encircled by rushing 
 mountain strearns. Uruapan is unique, entirely different from her sister cities. 
 The red-tiled, high-pitched roofs lend color to the picture and projecting eaves 
 drop a grateful shade over the narrow sidewalks of the cobble-paved streets 
 that end in primeval forests where the Falls of Tzararacua are.
 
 260 
 
 The ride over the western division of the National is through the lake region 
 and is particularly picturesque between Morelia, Patzcuaro and Ureapan — "the 
 loops" near the latter city show some wonderful feats of engineering — in an air 
 line distance of 2,673 feet; the fall is 426 feet, requiring curvatures of track 
 covering nearly three miles. 
 
 The coffee of Uruapan is pronounced the best in the world and the fruits are 
 of the finest flavor of any in Mexico. The climate is superb and healthfulness 
 attends upon pure air and fine water. 
 
 While far remote from the scene of conflict Uruapan did not escape all the 
 horrors of war — two patriots were, by order of Maximilian, executed in the 
 
 IN VERA CRUZ. 
 
 plaza, now called in their honor La Plaza de las Inmortales, where has been 
 erected a memorial, in a marble monument with bronze busts of the heroes. 
 
 The industrial interests are in coffee, fruits, mills, factories and lumber; lum- 
 ber is cheaper than stone or adobe, so that many of the houses and portales 
 are of wood. Uruapan is miles from the Capital, Population 9,859, Altitude 
 5,576. 
 
 Vera Cruz. Since the landing of Grijalva, in 1518, Vera Cruz has been 
 
 Ver-a Crooz' the chief seaport of Mexico. Here, also, landed Cortez, 
 
 April 21, 1519, on Good Friday. For this, and the reputed richness of the 
 
 land in gold, the place was named Villa Rica de la Santa Vera Cruz (the
 
 261 
 
 rich city of the holy true cross). There was no harbor for the safe riding 
 of the vessels left behind, and after the conqueror had established himself in 
 the interior, he sent an expedition down the coast and found the harbor of 
 Coatzacoalcos, the present terminus of the Tehuantepec Route, on the Gulf. 
 But this did not affect the importance of Vera Cruz. It was so much nearer 
 the richer districts of the interior, that the city has remained the seaport of 
 IMexico for nearly four hundred years. Before the completion of the jetties 
 or breakwater ships dropped anchor just below the island of San Juan de 
 Ulua, and the landing was made by lighter and small boats, which was not 
 included in the ship's fare. The prices of the landing varied with the weather, 
 from fifty cents in fair weather, to a dollar on stormy days. Now, with the 
 new sea wall, ships are protected from the winds and seas and may discharge 
 and receive cargoes direct from the pier. 
 
 Vera Cruz may be done in a day. A walk about the streets and plazas, and 
 along the Paseo, with its tall, waving palm trees, is all to interest; and to 
 the church of the black Christ, where the image of the Savior is black; there 
 is only one other like it, at Havana, or near that city. There is another thino- 
 that will attract the attention of the tourist at Vera Cruz, and that is the Street 
 Cleaning Department. The employes work without salary, and find them- 
 selves, and their thorough manner (but not their methods) are to be com- 
 mended. Their only reward is the enforcement of a city ordinance which 
 inflicts a five-dollar fine on the indiscreet and reckless citizen who should 
 happen to kill one of them. The natives call these street cleaners zopilotes, 
 but to the American they are just plain, everyday buzzards. I may mention 
 here that Vera Cruz has an imitator, in this respect, in Charleston, S. C. But, 
 altogether, Vera Cruz is to be visited to make the tour of Mexico complete. 
 The island of San Juan de Ulua, a prison now, once a fort, was commenced 
 in 1582 and finished about 1750 It has been occupied at different times — 
 by the French, in 1838; by the Americans, in 1847; by the allied French, 
 English and Spanish, in 1865; and was the seat of the Juarez Government 
 during the War of the Reform. Excursions to Ulua and to La Isla de los 
 Sacrificios, may be made. The hiring of boats for landing and for excursions 
 should be made by contract always. A tramway runs down the coast to 
 IMedellin and Alvarado, that may be taken just for the ride and the novelty of it. 
 
 The parish church, on the Plaza Mayor, was finished in 1734, and dedi- 
 cated to Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion. The Church of San Francisco was 
 founded in 1568. The tower is now a lighthouse, and the old convent con- 
 tains the public library. The church was formerly supported by a levy on all 
 ships coming into the port. The Churches of San Agustin and La Campania 
 were restored after the great fire of 1619. 
 
 On the island of San Juan de Ulua is a little chapel, dedicated to Nuestra 
 Sefiora de la Escalera, in which offerings are made for the safety of sailors. 
 
 Vera Cruz is reached from the interior by the Mexican and Interoceanic 
 Railways. It is 263 miles from the City of Mexico, in the State of Vera Cruz. 
 Yautepec. These little towns, down on the border of the tierra caliente, 
 Ya-ow'-te-pec seem farther away from the world, as we know it, and farther 
 behind in the centuries, than the towns of the hills, and when you are in 
 Yautepec you are in another world and another century. The little town is 
 nestled down in a valley that widens out, to the southward and west, into broad 
 plains, where the sugar cane grows; to the northward, the hills rise, one above 
 the other, and reach to Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, The cane fields con^ie 
 even to the city limits, and within them the narrow streets crook and turn 
 curiously. The dull gray walls seem cheerless enough, but here and there a, 
 half-open gateway reveals the tropical gardens on their other sjcjg, and §QmQ
 
 262 
 
 of the taller trees hang their golden fruit o\er their tops. You leave the 
 station and the locomotive that is there, the only evidence that there is any 
 other world but this lazy one you are just entering, as, in the novelty of it, you 
 really forget the other, till the locomotive's whistle calls you back. A cross- 
 topped tower, high over the low houses, will be a guide. Follow the streets that 
 lead to it, and soon come to the plaza, which is also the alameda — a pretty 
 little park with bright Howers and pretty trees, with a fountain under them, 
 where the natives come, with great earthen jars, for the pure sparkling water 
 that flows from it. Sit here on a stone bench; the inhabitants will come out 
 and look at you. In the evening the band plays, and you will have an oppor- 
 tunity to see the "four hundred" as they promenade. There is wealth and 
 beauty in the procession, such as it is not expected to see. At one end of the 
 little park is a long table, covered with corn. "Ah, this is the market place," 
 some one says, "a sort of produce exchange, and these are the samples of 
 corn." When you return after supper you find that he had mistaken the class 
 of traffic. A crowd of men. women and children are around the table. Each 
 has a dingy-looking card on the table; the card has three rows of five pictures 
 each. A man at the end of the table holds a bag, from which he draws smaller 
 cards, that have corresponding pictures to those held by the players; he calls 
 
 the names of the 
 animals in the 
 pictures, and the 
 person having a 
 similar one places 
 a grain of corn 
 on it. and anyone 
 getting fi V e 
 markers in a row 
 wins the game 
 and the money 
 paid for all the 
 cards, less the 
 percentage of the 
 It is much like a certain American game, here one man yells "Com- 
 and all the others "el diablo." Just on the other side of the 
 plaza a rambling stream runs over a rocky bed, almost dry now, but the waters, 
 collected in pools, form a laundry place for Yautepec, presenting a picturesque 
 scene. An old stone bridge, with a single arch, spans the stream for a path 
 that leads to a convent, or priestly residence, whose gardens can be seen from 
 the bridge in all their tropical luxuriance. In the graveyard are some crum- 
 bling old tombs built in the walls of the church or in the adjoining panteon. 
 At the north end of the village is a pretty little chapel, and near it the Plaza 
 de Toros. 
 
 Yautepec is on the Morelos division of the Interoceanic Railway, in the 
 State of Morelos, ninety-eight miles from the City of Mexico. 
 
 Zacatecas. The approach to Zacatecas from the north gives no hint of 
 Zack-ah-tay'-cas any city being near. The train climbs the tortuous windings 
 of the track to reach the summit of a hill that is 8.000 feet above the level of 
 the sea. A tall tower-like chimney of a smelter that is seen, first on one side 
 and then on the other, is the only evidence of civilization beyond the cars we 
 ride in. and even at the station where the train stops there is little to indicate 
 the existence of the great city that is in the barranca just beyond the hill, and 
 under the one whose rocky crest is called La Bufa. It is after leaving the 
 station, or on the approach from the south, that the passing passenger is 
 
 banker, 
 pleto '"
 
 263 
 
 treated to one of the finest views in the world, if his seat be on the east sid^ 
 of the car. Away up the immense gulch, the flat-top houses, the domes and' 
 towers, seem to have slidden down from both the hills, till it is tilled half 
 way up, on either side, and straggling out the mouth of it, down on to the 
 plain where Guadalupe is. And the road between Zacatecas and Guadalupe! 
 where is there any like it? or these two cities — are there any, except in the 
 Holy Land? And the passers up and down that road, and the streets of the 
 city, in the enchantment that distance lends them! do they not bring back 
 the bible lessons of your younger days? There are, also, the veritable Pales- 
 tinian asses laden for the city, or returning lazily over a road that seems as 
 
 ZACATECAS. 
 
 hard as that which leads to Jordan, and far beyond Guadalupe's towers is — 
 not the Sea of Galilee, but Lake Pevernaldillo. And up the hill, toward 
 the Bufa, is a rocky road, narrow as that which leads to righteousness, hedged 
 with prickly thorns, that leads to the little Church of Los Remedios, founded 
 in 1728, near the summit. Over this road, suffering devotees have crawled 
 to do a penance. On the hill of La Bufa a battle was fought between the 
 Juarez forces and a revolutionary party. May 2, 1871, resulting in a victory 
 for Juarez. , . -i, 1 
 
 The inevitable horse car dispels the Palestmic idea and it will amply 
 repay you to leave the train and^ake a seat in one that will take you from
 
 264 
 
 the station to the market plaza and to the hotels of Zacatecas. The city is easy 
 of access — one just drops into town. The horse cars leave the station, and, 
 per force of gravity, roll into the city, as they do into the suburb of Guada- 
 lupe. The mules work only half the time, but it is an up-hill business when 
 they do work. The cars roll from the station to Zacatecas, or from the city 
 
 tc Guadalupe, but 
 vice versa, they must 
 be pulled up by main 
 force. The coming 
 up is as hard as the 
 going down is easy. 
 The mules walk 
 leisurely down the 
 hill to Guadalupe, 
 without even the la- 
 bor of carrying the 
 harness, which is 
 piled on the front 
 platform. The city is 
 an interesting one, 
 where some days may 
 be passed in rambles 
 up one hill and down 
 the other. As you 
 saw the city from the 
 train, you could not 
 believe there was 
 room enough, and 
 level enough for a 
 park, but Zacatecas 
 has two that are filled 
 with flowers and 
 fountains, and where, 
 of course, the band 
 plays in the evening, 
 Sundays and feast 
 days; in little nooks 
 and shelves in the 
 rocks are numberless 
 p 1 a z uelas — beauty 
 spots of ferns and 
 flowers in rocky hill- 
 sides. Zacatecas is a 
 busy city, and the 
 streets present quite 
 a metropolitan ap- 
 pearance, some of the 
 FACADE OF CATHEDRAL, ZACATECAS. buildings reaching 
 
 three and four stories. The State and Municipal palaces are impos- 
 ing above the average in Mexico. The churches to visit are Nuestra 
 Sefiora de la Asuncion, with its richly carved facade of brown stone, carry- 
 ing life-size statues of Christ and the apostles, tiled dome and interior of white 
 and gold; it once owned a font of silver that alone cost a fortune and was con- 
 fiscated by the government. The church was founded in 1612, and is now, since
 
 265 
 
 1864, the cathedral. La Campania is the church of the Jesuits, begun in 1746, 
 and contains some very hne pictures. The others are San Francisco, 1567, and 
 San Juan de Dios. It is probable that the oldest Presbyterian church building m 
 the world is at Zacatecas; it was once the Church of San x\gustin, founded 
 in 1576, now devoted to Protestant uses, though a portion of the old convent 
 is used as a hotel. 
 
 But it is to Guadalupe that the church enthusiast takes his way, very early 
 after his arrival at Zacatecas. It is four miles to Guadalupe. The cars have 
 been drawn by the mules up the hill to the Plaza Villa Real, from whence they 
 roll back to the market plaza of Guadalupe. Walk throu g h this market, and 
 just beyond it is one of the 
 most interesting churches m 
 this country of churches. In 
 front of the church is a pretty 
 park of roses, well kept. The 
 grand old church, with its 
 tiled dome, is worthy of all the 
 journey to see. The main altar 
 has life-size figures represent- 
 ing the Crucitixion. Behyid 
 there is a canvas painting rep- 
 resenting the Hill of Calvary, 
 with the Jews and Roman 
 soldiery in the middle back- 
 ground. These, with the fig- 
 ures in front, produce a very 
 startling effect. The church is 
 always crowded with people, 
 kneeling at the various altars 
 and confessionals. On the 
 right of the church is the old 
 convent, filled with hundreds 
 of curious paintings, illustrat- 
 ing the lives and temptations 
 of the saints — some of them 
 going very much into detail. 
 One fine picture, a gigantic 
 San Cristobal, at the head of 
 the staircase, is finely executed 
 and the work of a master hand, 
 painted by Juarez in 1722. The 
 old church and convent was 
 
 founded in 1707 by Fray An- high altar, cathedral of zacatecas. 
 
 tonio ^largil de Jesus; the principal pictures were painted in 1720 by Antonio 
 de Torres; there is a fine San Jose by Ibarra. 
 
 The Capilla de la Purisima, a splendid chapel, is a more recent addition to 
 the old church; it was the gift of a maiden lady of great wealth, a few years 
 ago, and cost many thousands of dollars. The floor is inlaid with hard woods 
 of different colors. A superb altar is rich in gildings, silver and gold, wax 
 figures, silk and satin hangings. The altar rail is of onyx and solid silver. 
 The walls are finely frescoed, arched to a dome fifty feet above the floor. This 
 is all new, but is the finest chapel in ;Mexico. 
 
 Adjoining the convent is an orphan asylum, founded by General Garcia de 
 la Cadena in 1875, where the boys are taught the arts and sciences.
 
 266 
 
 Silver was discovered in 1546 by Juan de Tolosa, and so rich were the 
 mines that the place became a city in 1585 by decree of Phillip II., and from 
 1548 to 1810 the product of the mines was nearly $10,000,000,000; since that time 
 the output has not been so great. 
 
 In 1835 the State of Zacatecas declared against the Dictator Santa Ana, 
 and on the loth of May of that year Governor Don Francisco Garcia, with 
 5,000 men, waited on the plains of Guadalupe for the coming of the army under 
 Santa Ana. A great battle was fought the next morning, in which Garcia 
 lost 2,000 killed and 2,700 prisoners, while Santa Ana's loss was only about 
 a hundred ; the victors entered the city, pillaged it and butchered many of its 
 people. 
 
 About thirty miles west of Zacatecas are the extensive ruins of a prehistoric 
 city ; the Ruins of La Quemada consist of walls, pyramids, fallen columns, 
 mounds and pavements, all of massive proportions ; some of the walls are 
 eight feet thick and eighteen in height, and the columns nineteen feet in cir- 
 cumference, in a citadel 250x200 feet ; although nothing is known of the origin 
 of these temples, it is said by some writers that they are the remains of Chi- 
 comostoc, a city of the xA.ztecs, built about the twelfth century, hence are 
 probably 800 years old. The pyramid, according to Clavijero, was probably 
 erected to Huitzilopochtli and supported a statue of that god which the ancient 
 Mexicans carried with them in their travels. Zacatecas is on the Mexican 
 Central Railv.-ay, 439 miles from the City of ]\Iexico, and is the capital of the 
 State of Zacatecas. 
 Zapotlau. As usual in Mexico, the town of Zapotlan is a mile or more 
 Zap-ote-Ian from the station. 
 
 The broad Plaza de Armas is a pretty one ; portales long and arched on 
 three sides ; on the other to the south the church of San Jose and the garden 
 and church of El Corazon Sagrado de Jesus. The center of the Plaza is a 
 beautiful garden filled with flowers and tropic trees; some cedars closely 
 cropped have grown so thick that they would turn the rain as effectually as 
 an umbrella, which in fact they closely resemble; the impression is instanta- 
 neous. The pagoda where the band plays is in the usual picturesque archi- 
 tecture of Mexico, and the seats, prettily painted, are everywhere in the garden, 
 so the journey from one to the other is not a long one, and the always weary peon 
 can rest to his heart's content. 
 
 The church of San Jose fronts the Plaza. There are two towers of cut stone, 
 as in the handsome facade. The doors are in high archways, massive, and 
 bear heavy brazen plates on which are engraven the names of the children 
 of the city, whose contributions paid for their building. The inlaid floor 
 of the nave is in squares of native hard woods, each with a brass plate bear- 
 ing the name of the donor of each particular square, which, as the Padre 
 told me, cost them from one to twenty dollars, as the generosity of the donor 
 might be, or according to his fortune in this world's goods. 
 
 On each side of the main altar are two shrines of cut stone. The Gothic 
 arches of the vaulted roof are more than sixty feet from the floor, producing 
 a grand effect. Between San Jose and the church of El Corazon Sagrado de 
 Jesus is a pretty garden with stone pillared arbors over which tbe vines have 
 so thickly grown that the people may pass from one chapel to the other dry 
 shod and dry headed though it may rain ever so hard. Here, in the evening 
 particularly, the air is heavily laden with the perfume of tropic flowers. Back 
 of the garden is the chapel of Tercer Orden and a school. In the church of 
 El Corazon Sagrado de Jesus is a fine picture of San Jose that a kind old lady 
 explained to me was possessed of such miraculous powers that if I should
 
 267 
 
 fall from the dome of the church it could bear me up and I would not be 
 hurt. I took her word for it and did not try the experiment. 
 
 In 1806 the old church was thrown down by an earthquake during High 
 Mass and more than 2,000 people were killed. The surrounding houses were 
 not injured. In evidence there is a stone taken from the adjoining house that 
 was demolished a year ago which showed that the house was 108 years old, 
 and hence could not have been thrown down by the earthquake which destroyed 
 the church. 
 
 In the upper part of the city, near the eastern hills, are a number of 
 shrines of chapels built for the Indians and on land owned by them. One 
 of them, the Capilla de la Platana, the Chapel of the Banana Garden, has a 
 belfry on each side of the garden entrance now almost crumbling to decay, 
 but still the rotten timbers hold the old bells from falling down. At the 
 corner of the chapel is a dilapidated statue of San Cristobal that was origi- 
 nally in front of the church destroyed by the earthquake. The statue was 
 made in about six sections. A part of the trunk of the body is gone, and 
 also the shoulders and the little child he bears, except one hand of the child 
 and part of an arm of the saint. Despite the misfit caused by the missing 
 parts the Indians have set up the statue and it is greatly venerated. In front 
 of the Chapel of Todos Santos is a stone cross about eight feet high, cut ni 
 one piece. This chapel is in a corn patch and long ago abandoned. 
 
 The Volcano of Colima and the Nevada da Colima, about twelve to fifteen 
 miles distant, are in fine view from the plaza. They are in reality one 
 mountain, but of two peaks and with two craters. The former is the only 
 active volcano in Mexico ; volumes of smoke constantly pouring forth, and 
 at night there is frequently a grand display of fire and molten lava. In 1818 
 there was a violent eruption, covering the mountain sides with flowing lava. 
 Here in Zapotlan the streets were knee-deep in ashes and a strong wind blowing 
 north carried the ashes so far that they fell in Zacatecas, 200 miles away. The 
 eruptions of fire and lava are irregular, and may occur any day. 
 
 Zapotlan is on the Pacific division of the Alexican Central Railway, 102 miles 
 from Guadalajara. Population 17,596. Altitude 5,130. 
 
 CHAPALA.
 
 268
 
 Railway Rides in flexico. 
 
 "Call it travel, 
 that thou takest for pleasure." 
 
 —Shakespeare. 
 
 South over the Central. — Whenever 
 there is a schedule that puts the train over the 
 rirst two hundred miles south of the Rio 
 Grande by night, take it; no matter which 
 route you travel by, there is nothing to see 
 but chaparral and desolate looking hills, and 
 first impressions would not be of the best if 
 you traveled by day-train. There is just 
 enough novelty in the little towns on the bor- 
 y-.' der, that are so oddly new and so old fash- 
 •! ioned, to awaken an anticipation for 
 
 more; it is all the better to sleep 
 over it and dream of what may be 
 .J to-morrow. I can safely say that these 
 .*fMll«J ^ dreams, at least, will not go by con- 
 traries. When the first morning in 
 Mexico comes, with a brighter sun- 
 shine than you ever saw before, you will be an early riser; perhaps you 
 will roll up the little curtain of your window, before you leave your pillow, 
 and hurry out for a hasty toilet, fearing that you may miss something 
 — and you might, for the scenery begins very early in the morning, and 
 this old, old country is all new to you. The train is rolling along through 
 a narrow valley, level as a billiard board, the veritable high table-lands 
 we have read about, but never seen till now, lying between two close ranges 
 of mountains, shrub-covered and crowned with the most entrancing cloud 
 effects one imagines out of fairy land; the soft, white heaps are tossed above 
 some towering summit or rolled into a blue valley between. 
 
 While we are looking skyward there is an entrancing view at our feet; 
 here is a first glimpse of an hacienda. At the farther end of the plain a 
 group of white buildings, a wide corra!, fenced in with slight boughs, and a 
 fringe of most exquisite green, along the margin of a fine line of clear water, 
 completes a pretty picture. Out of the corral, on one side, comes an immense 
 herd of cattle, at the other an equally immense herd of goats, black, brown 
 and white. A group of Indian women are filling great red jars at a pool 
 of water, and across the dry water-courses fiocks of sheep wander, followed 
 by their shepherds. It is truly another world than that of yesterday. 
 
 By and by, between a gap in the deep red mountains, which wall up the 
 narrow valley, there is a wonderful vista full of color, with another glint
 
 270 
 
 of another valley, and, far oflf, the mystical heights of some new range of 
 hills which distance clothes with abundant majesty. The novelty never wears 
 away. But this country is not all of deep valleys and lofty mountains; there 
 are broad, spreading plains as well, yet, in all the land, in its length and 
 breadth, the mountains are always in view. 
 
 The railroads seem to come upon these Mexican towns unawares, and there 
 is rarely a hint of them till we are at the station, and they are, with few 
 exceptions, located a mile or more from the line of road. The first stop is 
 at Chihuahua, made at the shops where the restaurant is located, and, until 
 the train starts across the barranca there is nothing to be seen of the city, 
 then the view is from the windows on the west side of the car. It is a good 
 
 view of the city, with the tall 
 towers of the Church of San 
 Francisco standing high against 
 the sky. While the train stops 
 at the station just after crossing 
 the bridge there is time to en- 
 joy it. After lea.v'ing the sta- 
 tion the better view is on the 
 left, where the road to the 
 mines of Santa Eulalia runs 
 through the hills, and pretty 
 soon the buildings and tall 
 chimneys come to view, and just 
 after leaving the station is the 
 Cerro del Coronel on the right 
 of the track. The road runs 
 through a semi-lake region, 
 passing through the valley of 
 the Conchos and San Pedro. 
 Near Santa Rosalia there are 
 some hot springs, famous for 
 their curative qualities. Jimenez 
 is a city of some 10,000 people, 
 the shipping point for the Par- 
 ral mining district. A branch 
 road runs from Jimenez to Par- 
 ral and Allende. Escalon is the 
 junction point of the Mexican 
 ALTAR AT GUADALUPE, NEAR ZACATECAS. Northern Railway, running 
 
 northeastward to the Sierre Mojada mining district, \/here is located one of the 
 greatest carbonate camps in the world. Southward nov/, the roads runs along 
 the western border of the great Bolson de Mapirr.i, to interpret, literally, a 
 "pocket" in the mountains. This is the Laguna country, in the rainy season al- 
 most covered by water, and in the dry season it collects in ponds or larger 
 lakes. Several rivers, notably the Nazas. flow into this Bolson, and unless there 
 is an underground outlet somewhere, the water must escape only by evapora- 
 tion, but so much is used in irrigation that only a small stream reaches the 
 basin. 
 
 East of the line about Conejos is a curious sulphur mountain, easily dis- 
 tinguished by the stripes of the mineral. At Conejos is the junction of the 
 Durango Central Railway. At Bermejillo connection for ]\rapimi Railroad and 
 Mexican International. At Gomez Palacio take electric cars for Lerdo. Here is 
 the rich cotton district of Lerdo, where the seed requires only to be planted once
 
 271 
 
 in three or four years. Lerdo is seen from the windows on the right, and soon 
 after leaving the station the track, crosses the Nazas River on a fine steel bridge; 
 look up and doAn the river and see the dams and storage reservoirs for irriga- 
 tion purposes. From Gomez Palacio a branch extends eastward via San Pedro 
 to Monterey, and three miles south the main line of the Central crosses the 
 Mexican International Railroad, with connections on the east for Eagle Pass, 
 and on the west for Durango and for Saltillo via the Coahuila and Pacific Railway. 
 South from Torreon there is a continual up-grade of track, and the moun- 
 tains are closer than on the borders of the Bolson. Just below the station 
 of Gutierrez the Tropic of Cancer is crossed, and the first place of import- 
 ance in the Torrid Zone is Fresnillo. once a great city before the overflow 
 of the mines of Proafio. The city is about five miles from the road, and 
 has now only about 20,000 people. 
 
 ARCHED STREET, ZACATECAS, 
 
 Every hour of the journey, now, is one of increasing interest; still, as 
 it is onward, it is upward, and its windings tortuous among the hills, where 
 the scenery is grand, gloomy and peculiar. The climb is to reach the sum- 
 mit of a hill whose altitude is greater than any on the road, except one, a 
 little over 8,000 feet. The tall tower-like chimneys of a smelter, high above 
 the track, are seen first on one side and then on the other, as the road bends 
 in one horseshoe after another. This is the approach to Zacatecas, one of 
 the greatest mining cities of the world. There is no view of the city in the 
 approach from the north, nor even as the train stands at the station; but, 
 as it moves off, take a seat on the left of the car, or, what is better, go to the
 
 272 
 
 rear platform, for one of the finest views of the journey. The moment th 
 wheels begin to roll, sharply down hill now, there is a full view of a ci 
 of 3S,ooo people, for all the world like one of Palestine, with its low. fl 
 topped houses and domed churches, two hundred feet below, spreadin 
 and down the gulch and on the mountain side beyond, reaching down the 
 ley with a straggling suburb, to Guadalupe, six miles away. The track w' 
 around on the sides of the hills, passing directly over some mines and snr. 
 ers, keeping the city in view all the while. Up and down the road that r 
 along the valley are curiously costumed people, droves of donkeys laden w 
 silver, carts and cars, goats and cattle on the hillsides, and a hundred thi 
 to see not seen anywhere else in the world. 
 
 Leaving Zacatecas behind, under the shadow of the great Cerro de 
 Bufa, now below, in the valley, is Guadalupe, and far beyond is Lake Pev. 
 
 BATHS, AGUAS CALIENTES. 
 
 naldillo, whose waters seem to meet the sky at the horizon. Those are not 
 monuments over the graves of fallen heroes that you have seen through this 
 mining district; those white tombstone-like objects are landmarks to desig- 
 nate the boundaries of an hacienda or a mining claim. 
 
 The road enters a more agricultural district below Guadalupe, and runs 
 through one valley after another down to Aguas Calientes, on the plain. 
 The city is on the west side of the road. No general view of the city may 
 be had, as it is on the same level with the track, and a forest of green trees 
 hides the houses. There is plenty to be seen at the station. The main street 
 of the city crosses the track just below it; the bath-houses are within a stone's 
 throw, and the hot-water ditch, wherein is the public laundry and baths of 
 the Indians, crosses the track just at the end of the platform. From Aguas 
 Calientes, or at Chicalote. nine miles above, the Tampico division connects 
 with the main line of the Mexican Central. 
 
 Onward, over the plains to the southward, it is still down grade to the
 
 273 
 
 rranca of Encarnacion, which the road crosses on a high iron bridge. Just 
 
 ier it, on the leit side, is an irrigation reservoir. The station is just at 
 
 south end of the bridge, and a mile or two to the westward is the Httle 
 
 of La Hncarnacion, with its towered Church of Candelaria, in view 
 
 the car windows, and the white Campo Santo. Now the track winds 
 
 t over some rocky hills, as far as Las Salas, and then down to the 
 
 again at Lagos, the city seen from the west windows. The scenery 
 
 ot so wild here, but is very pretty indeed. In the range to the west is 
 
 immense El Gigante. high above all the other mountains. 
 
 eon is another of the great cities of this fertile plain, and one of the 
 
 est in Mexico. It is on the east side of the road; its streets are hedged 
 
 cactus and shaded by trees. Nothing but the towers of the churches 
 
 be seen. 
 
 Vt Silao is the branch road for Guanajuato. The city of Silao is on the 
 side of the road and nearer to it than most of the cities are. The ride 
 -xteen miles to Guanajuato is a very picturesque one. As the train winds 
 It through the hills there are glimpses of the great mining city, first from 
 side of the cars, and then from the other. 
 Irapuato is the junction of the Guadalajara division and the station for 
 strawberries. They are on sale on the arrival of all trains, from June to 
 January, and January to June. The city is on the west side, half a mile 
 from the station. Salamanca is the next place of importance, and then Ce- 
 laya, where this road crosses the ^lexican National. Both these cities are 
 to be seen from the west windows. In the latter, high above the trees, is 
 the yellow-tiled dome of the beautiful Church of Our Lady of Carmen, and 
 back of the city the plain slopes gradually to a high mountain that is seen 
 miles up and down the road. This beautiful valley is what is called the 
 Bajio region and it seems to have grown in beauty and fertility; hence on, 
 to Queretaro, it is one vast garden between the low ranges of hills on either 
 side. Queretaro is on the east side of the track and just north of the city; 
 also on the east side is the hill where Maximilian and his generals were 
 executed, and south of it the track passes through a pretty suburb, where you 
 may see your first palm tree and the first oranges and lemons in the groves 
 where they grow. Just after leaving the city the train passes under the 
 great stone aqueduct that brings the city's water supply from the moun- 
 tains, five miles away. There are eighty of these arches, the highest of 
 which, near where the track passes under, is ninety-four feet. The view is 
 first on the left and then on the right. The great Hercules cotton mills may 
 also be seen from the right windows. 
 
 At San Juan del Rio, the last city on the line, the track reaches an ele- 
 vation of 6.245 feet and commences the climb to the plain of Cazadero; and 
 the City of San Juan del Rio may be seen for miles and miles as the train 
 crawls up the slope; at the little station of Marquez it reaches the highest 
 point on the line, 8,132 feet above the level of the sea, then starts on the 
 down grade to the Tula Valley. Tula is the junction of the Pachuca branch. 
 This little city is one of the Toltec towns where there are some old ruins. 
 It is a very picturesque place on the east side of the track. 
 
 No matter what may be the time of day, early in the morning, late in 
 the evening, or if there be a moon, no matter what time of night, be ready 
 to see the Tajo de Nochistongo, the great drainage canal, commenced in 
 1607, with a purpose to drain the lakes above the plain of Mexico and prevent 
 the inundation of the city, but after a cost of millions of dollars and thous- 
 ands of men, was abandoned. The train passes on the east cut of the canal, 
 so the view must be from the west windows or on the right, going south.
 
 274 
 
 When this great work is approached let every window on that side be occu- 
 pied. At Hiiehuetoca there is the first view of the snow mountains, the 
 great volcanoes of Ixtaccihuatl and Popocatepetl from the east windows, and 
 of the plain of Mexico, and within an hour a journey that has been full of 
 pleasure and crowded with novelty ends at Buena Vista station, in the City 
 of Mexico. 
 
 Westward to Guadalajara. — The ride over the division of the Mexican 
 Central Railroad, from the main line at Irapuato to Guadalajara, is not ex- 
 actly like any other ride in Mexico and for this it is interesting. I do not 
 know that the junction point was located at Irapuato as a particular favor to 
 the strawberry Indians, but the necessary time for the transfer of passengers 
 and baggage is very much in their favor, and scarcely a passenger but adds to 
 his outfit. The branch road starts northward but, within half a mile, turns 
 due west and encircles the town on its north side, running along through a 
 tree covered plain. The line is rich in scenic beauty, as all roads in Mexico 
 
 WATER CARRIERS, GUANAJUATO. 
 
 are, the journey is one of pleasure, no matter what other object it may have, 
 and it is a rich agricultural country as well. The first station of importance 
 is Penjamo, the quaint looking old town lying to the south of the road, 
 and may be seen from the cars. It is a very interesting old place, with its 
 narrow and crooked streets. It has a population of about 8,000. La Piedad 
 is the station for the old town of Piedad Cabadas, known in ancient and mod- 
 ern history by other aliases, but now answering to the name given here. 
 It is a city of some 10,000 people, located south of the line, in the valley of 
 the Lerma. Near the station the River Lerma is crossed. Here this longest 
 river in Mexico is crossed for the first time and the road follows its wind- 
 ings, and runs along the south branch for some miles. From Yurecuaro a branch 
 extends southward to Zamora and beyond to the timber regions of Michoacan. 
 The line crosses the Lerma again at La Barca, a city of 10,000 mhabitants, on 
 Lake Chapala, where the Lerma empties into it. The river is sometuues called
 
 275 
 
 the Rio Grande, and is referred to as the Mississippi of Mexico. It is a curious 
 fact that this river empties into Lake Chapala at La Barca and flows out of it just 
 below Ocotlan, fifteen miles farther on. Lake Chapala is a beautiful body of 
 water, on which there are steamboats and sail boats. The machinery of the first 
 steamer was brought from California, by sea, to San Bias, and thence packed on 
 burros over the mountains ; the boiler lies on the beach, a rusty monument to 
 American pluck and energy. It is not recorded that anybody else has carried 
 steamboats over the mountains on mules. The voyage around the lake is 
 one of seventy miles, and of many delights in the superb scenery, excep- 
 tionally beautiful. High and overhanging cliffs, reflected again in the clear 
 waters, mountains, fertile plains, valleys with fields of fruit and groves of 
 tropical trees. Sometimes, when a high east wind prevails, the waves loosen 
 the vegetation growing in the shallow water of the delta, where the Lerma 
 comes in and sends some floating islands, often an acre in extent, out into 
 the lake. The town of Chapala, on the north shore, is picturesquely located 
 under the towering cliffs of the mountain, and has long been a health re- 
 sort of the natives, on account of the very hot springs that are there, which 
 have a high reputation for their curative properties ; the waters, clear as 
 crystal, gush from under the rocks on the mountain side. Take boats from 
 Ocotlan or stages from Atequiza for the resorts on Lake Chapala. Continuing 
 the journey by rail, west from La Barca, the track comes to the river again 
 and crosses it, after it has left the lake, near Ocotlan, the third crossing of 
 the river. From the windows on the right there is to be seen a fine old 
 Spanish bridge of many arches, near Poncitlan, and from the left there is 
 another glimpse of the lake. The stream here is more entitled to the name 
 of river than most of the Mexican rios are. They are mostly brooks or creeks, 
 are entirely dry, except in the rainy season, when they are roaring, raging 
 torrents; but this is a river that makes a leap of nearly a hundred feet over the 
 rocks at Juanacatlan. 
 
 El Castillo is the station for the Falls of Juanacatlan, the Niagara of Mexico, 
 and, though a somewhat smaller edition, is not unlike the world's greatest 
 cataract. A branch road runs from the station to the falls, a ride of only 
 about four miles, and is accomplished in about twenty minutes ; a trip to the 
 falls is one of the things to do. The immense water power, that for cen- 
 turies has been owned by one of the prominent families of ^Mexico, was util- 
 ized only to turn the wheels of a mill until an electric light plant was put 
 in, and from this point the lights of Guadalajara are supplied. There is 
 now a great cotton and woolen mill whose wheels are turned by the falls. 
 Water-falls are not common in Mexico ; it is only in the rainy season that 
 water falls to any alarming extent. There are cascades and cataracts that 
 are not all in your eye, so to speak, here, there and everywhere, that are not 
 always useful or ornamental for the one requisite of water, but Juanacatlan 
 is a beauty and a joy that goes on forever in the rainy season and out of it, 
 but particularly in the rainy season. 
 
 The first glimpse of Guadalajara is to be had from the windows on the 
 right hand, looking forward. The towers begin to peep over the hills, and 
 a little further on those of San Pedro can also be seen north of the track. 
 While you watch these, the train is rolling on up the grade, and in a few 
 minutes is passing the outlying gardens of the very beautiful city of Guada- 
 lajara. 
 
 From Guadalajara the line runs westward to the mining districts of Ameca 
 and the city of that name, with an ultimate extension to the Pacific slope. 
 
 Westward to the Pacific. — In its extension towards the Pacific Coast the
 
 276 
 
 Mexican Central Railway has adopted the route via Zapotlan and Collma and 
 will make its western terminus at Alanzanillo. At this writing the road is com- 
 pleted as far as Tuxpan, eighteen miles southwest of Zapotlan, a primitive ]\Iexi- 
 can city of much beauty and of that certain quaintness that pertains to all these 
 places but recently reached by the railway. 
 
 The ride from Guadalajara is interesting in every mile of it. Leaving the 
 station the route is east for a mile or more, and then turns southward, tending 
 westward. There is a fine view of Guadalajara and that delightful suburb of 
 San Pedro as the train passes through the fertile fields dotted with white- 
 walled haciendas. The ride increases in interest and the views grow pictur- 
 esque. Near Mazatepec are the storage reservoirs for irrigation in the valley 
 a little further on, and after leaving Valencia there is a splendid view of moun- 
 tain, lake and plain, aqueducts here and there and different levels with long 
 lines of graceful arches. 
 
 One of the most picturesque views is of the Hacienda of Bella Vista, seen 
 first from the north and from the hills above: then the road winding down 
 finally comes almost under the shadow of its domes and towers, passes over, 
 under and alongside its arched aqueducts that in one place are outlined 'gainst 
 the sky in a long line of grey stone. Along here the road crooks and turns till 
 three tracks of the route may be seen — one of the most pleasing panoramas in all 
 Mexico. 
 
 The railway has not been here long enough to drive the pack mule out 
 of business, and he still makes up some long trains of his own, carrying the 
 products of the country ; but not to such long distances, not to Guadalajara 
 any more; he puts his burden down at Santa Ana and the other stations along 
 the line. There is a sugar country round about Santa Ana, as indicated by the 
 wares of the station peddlers, who bring to the passing trains crude candies made 
 from native sugar and put up in tiny crates made of thin slats of cane not 
 longer than your finger, each deftly tied at the corners with a thread. The box 
 is worth the price, and the candy is not half bad. 
 
 After Santa Ana the route is southward over a wide plain with blue bills 
 all around, following a chain of shallow lakes whose waters are flecked with the 
 white of thousands of cranes and pelicans. 
 
 Zacoalco is an old village of that sort we see in the old-time geographies 
 a church with arched walls and a moth-eaten tower background against a 
 sharp peaked mountain. 
 
 This chain of yellow-water lakes extends southward to Sayula. Tn the dry 
 season the diligencias had a smooth road through the middle of the channel. 
 Now, since the passing of the diligencia, the railway skirts the borders, passing 
 villages of thatched huts embowered in tropic trees. 
 
 Near Sayula are some fine mining properties, and the town, waking from 
 a lethargy, begins to show signs of life. Tn a ride of five kilometers south- 
 ward there is a grade of 700 feet to Quemado, where there is a fine view of 
 the plain and the yellow lakes to the northward and the wide spreading plain. 
 
 After turning the summit at Quemado down into another valley there are 
 some more yellow lakes, and the towers of Zapotlan are seen in the distance. 
 After leaving Zapotlan and thence to Tuxpan there are fine views of the Volcano 
 of CoHma. 
 
 Eastward to Tampico. — One writer on Mexico advises to come to the 
 country by sea and proceed from the lowlands to the highlands, with the 
 idea that this is the best from a scenic point of view — to go upward and let 
 the scene grow upon you. I don't think so, but rather to come from the 
 broad table-lands to an abrupt jumping-off place and look down, even over
 
 277 
 
 the tops of other mountains, lower hills and sloping plains, away to the sea, 
 and let the picture fade in its mists. To my mind this is a picture that no 
 pencil can paint nor pen portray. It is often thus in :\Iexico, and particularly 
 so in this ride eastward to Tampico. The Tampico division of the Mexican 
 Central Railway leaves the main line at Aguas Calientes. at least this is the 
 nominal junction point where trains are made up and where passengers change 
 cars, when that is necessary, but the actual point of junction is at Chicalote, 
 nine miles north, to where trains run on the main line and then switch off to 
 the east-bound track. 
 
 The maguey of this region is used for the manufacture of mescal. The plant 
 is very much smaller than the pulque-maguey of southern Mexico ; it runs to 
 root and it is from the root that the mescal is distilled. The nopal or, as it 
 
 FOR RAINY WEATHER. 
 
 is called sometimes, the prickly pear, grows here in the densest thickets. It 
 bears a really palatable fruit that is a staple article of food with the natives, 
 who also use the leaves to feed to cattle, the thorns having first been taken 
 off by slightly singeing in the fire. 
 
 The only place of importance between Aguas Calientes and San Luis Po- 
 tosi is Las Salinas de la Penya Blanca, a place of 5,000 people, near the sta- 
 tion of Salinas, where one of the greatest deposits of salt in the world is 
 located; the immense product is shipped to all parts of the country. The ha- 
 ciepda of the Errasu family, the owners of this immense estate, is very like
 
 278 
 
 a castle of the olden times, with its moat, draw-bridge, portcullis and all; 
 the walls are as thick as those of a fortress and have their watch-towers and 
 port holes. This was all very necessary in the earlier days of bandits in 
 ]\Jexico. For several years just previous to the completion of the railway, 
 the production of salt was pushed to the fullest capacity, so that there w-ere 
 thousands and thousands of tons ready for shipment when the road was com- 
 pleted, and now there are required several miles of sidetracks to reach the 
 vats and warehouses. 
 
 After Salinas the descent commences, and it is more than average down- 
 grade from here to Tampico, and it is simply rolling over one hill after an- 
 other, down to San Luis Potosi. It is an impressive view of the city, as the 
 train comes down from the highlands, enters the city from the north, through 
 a wide avenue, and stops in the handsome stone station that fronts the ala- 
 meda, almost in the city's center. 
 
 Leaving San Luis Potosi, the road crosses the ^lexican National Railroad, 
 on the outskirts of the city, and by the steady and gradual slope of the plain, 
 runs down nearly 1,500 feet in forty-seven miles, to Villar. The descent to 
 the coast is by a series of terraces; each terrace has its range of hills on 
 the outward edge, which makes this region peculiarly picturesque. It will 
 be noticed that the east side of these hills is covered with trees, while the 
 west slope is comparatively bare. Here and there these table-lands are cut 
 through by canons, and down through them tumbles the water, in a thous- 
 and cascades, from terrace to terrace, from one table-land to another, on down 
 to the sea. 
 
 From Villar to Las Tablas is another drop in the track of about 1.500 
 feet, and then it is a little up-grade to Cardenas. The run has been through 
 the beautiful San Ysidro Valley; the track has twisted and turned about the 
 mountain slopes. The drop has been so gradual as to be hardly noticed, and 
 if you have thought the scenery grand, as it indeed is, do not exhaust your 
 adjectives; they will be needed a little further on, where you can exhaust all 
 that are in all the languages of the world, over these, the grandest views of 
 the world. 
 
 From Cardenas to Las Canoas is only fourteen miles, but the drop is 
 about 700 feet, through the very lovely valley w^here there is verdure bright 
 and green. Las Canoas, being interpreted, means "the canoes," not that 
 there are any canoes hereabouts, nor are any needed, nor is there water 
 enough to float one; there is water enough, but not in any one place, and 
 it is too much on the slant, falling in a hundred cascades. Las Canoas is 
 simply a little canoe of a valley and the prettiest one in the world, because 
 there is no other just exactly like it — "a grassy-bottomed cup, closed in by 
 precipitous mountains, from which strange formations of fantastically disposed 
 rocks reach out into the even ground." One rock near the road, just 
 above the station, seems a gigantic stage setting for the depicting of some 
 scene in old Scotland, though Scotland has no such rocks and hills as these. 
 You may see the pretty little cup of a valley while the train stops at the 
 station; it is only a little one. and one look around will cover it. though it 
 induces to dwell upon its very loveliness. Just ahead there is the beginning 
 of the great Canon of the Tamsopo. There indeed is the veritable '"jump- 
 ing-off place." There, at that switch, you can see the rails bend downward 
 over the edge of the canon— a switch with a signal arm so long that it ex- 
 tends across the track: no train or engine can pass it without throwing it 
 down, and the train ofif the rails. The place is one of such importance that 
 even human watchfulness is not to be trusted, as a car or train once beyond 
 pontrol, and beyond this switch, would be lost, but this is a safety switch that
 
 279 
 
 saves. It is always thrown to a side track that runs out on a level place 
 and averts any possibility of an accident; the switch is never opened except 
 while a train is passing, and is closed instantly by the ever attendant watchman. 
 This is a pretty valley indeed, but there are grander scenes just beyond. 
 Such feats of engineering as you have never dreamed of, no matter what rail- 
 road you have traveled over. The beauties and the w-onders of it are wholly 
 indescribable and beyond compare. A seat on the left, or north side, of the 
 car is the best; the rear platform, however, is the vantage point if you must 
 travel by train. But if by any possible chance you have an opportunity to 
 roll down the caiion on "the trolleys," or on an open car, do it. It is an 
 experience of a lifetime, which the longest life will not forget. The trolley 
 is what would be called, anywhere else, a hand-car. closely resembling the 
 work-car of a section gang, but provided with a powerful brake, that the 
 
 IN THE TAMOSOPO CANON. 
 
 simple turning with the fingers will bring in contact wdth all the wheels in 
 an instant; in fact it is only the experienced hand that prevents the trolley- 
 car from stopping so quickly as to throw the occupants forward. There are 
 seats for five persons on each car, and there are only two trolleys, so the 
 equipment has not been arranged with a view to a large patronage, but if 
 there were hotels at either end of the caiion, I think their number would have 
 to be largely increased. And I, since I have traveled on the trolleys, would 
 not have missed it, if I had to camp out at both ends of the ride. _ There 
 is an untrammeled view, forward and backward, up the steep mountain side, 
 thousands of fee:, down the deep depths of the canon, thousands of feet, 
 and across the awful chasm, to the heights and cliffs beyoiid, with no nar- 
 row windows or door to curtail the magnificent grandeur of the view. This
 
 280 
 
 is travel by trolley, down the great canon of Tamasopo, but the average trav- 
 eler must be content with the Jb'uUman car. 
 
 The throttle of the engine is hardly opened to give the wheels a turn at 
 Las Canoas, when it is closed, and not opened again until the mouth of 
 the canon is reached, seventeen miles away, and no steam is used except 
 for the brakes. One hour and twenty-seven minutes are used to travel these 
 seventeen miles that might be done in ten minutes of real hurry, if there 
 were no curves on the track. The slow time is for safety's sake, and the 
 danger has been brought to a minimum, so that it is not thought of; in 
 fact, there is little thought of anything but the wonderful road and its won- 
 derful scenery. 
 
 At the head of the caiion the little river jumps ofif in a pretty cascade, 
 tumbles over the rocks, foams and frets over the great boulders', for some 
 hundreds of feet, then dives into the ground and is seen no more for sev- 
 eral miles. In the rainy season there is such a volume of water that it can- 
 not pass through the underground passage, but runs over what is now the 
 dry bed of the canon. 
 
 The cafion widens and the view grows grandly. Here and there the track 
 is held by great walls of stone, and coming to some jutting crag too sharp, 
 too abrupt to build around, a tunnel is cut through. In one place there are 
 three within a few feet of each other, so that a train of ten cars would be 
 in three tunnels at one time. In our mountains and caves there are pulpits, 
 chairs and slides described as the Devil's, but the Devil's Backbone is here 
 on the ]\Iexican Central, in the Tamasopo Canon, and there is a hole through 
 it big enough for a railroad train to pass. Passing from the darkness of one 
 of these tunnels into the broad light of brightest day, the marvelous view 
 bursts upon the vision with no warning of its stupendous immensity. Perpen- 
 dicularly down, more than a thousand feet, is the density of tropical green 
 that is shaded lighter up the mountain side, and in a thousand hues, as the 
 sunlight falls upon them at this angle or that. Over on the other mountain, 
 the bright spots of lighter green are patches of sugar, and here, below our 
 track, is the delicate pink of the rosewood tree; each tree seems as one huge 
 posy, so thick the blossoms are. Far away over the other mountains, far 
 away over the other valleys, the panorama, it seems, stretches to infinity, and 
 while we hear the rushing of the waters, so far below, we think we can see 
 the waters of an aerial river, or the distant seas where earth and air are lost 
 in their intermingling. These mountains are unlike those of the interior, be- 
 ing covered with a tropical verdure, fed by the constantly blowing mists from 
 the sea, while the valleys are luxuriantly rich in the density of the full tropical 
 foliage, and what we see here, we have not seen before in all our travels 
 in Mexico, or other lands we may have traveled in, for there is not its equal 
 in varied beauty or dif^culty of engineering accomplishment. 
 
 There are six tracks in view, as the road twists and turns down towards 
 the valley, that we seem never to get nearer to, and in one place a track 
 seems just under us, though we must travel six miles before we reach the 
 spot in view. It was here that, on that famous trip of the trolleys, we lost 
 our Mexican attendant, who had gone back as a flagman against a possible 
 following train, and we left him beliind, as we thought, but not if he knew 
 himself, his country and our lunch basket, of which latter he had had a 
 taste. He simply clambered down the rocks and sat down to rest on a tie 
 of the track down the mountain while we rolled ofif our six miles and caught 
 up with him! 
 
 If ever Joseph's brethren had let him down into this pit of St. Joseph — 
 this Hoyo de San Jose in the Tamasopo Canon — he would never have got-
 
 281 
 
 ten out to distinguish himself either in Egypt or anywhere else. It is said to 
 be bottomless. It is in evidence that various and sundry burros, whose misfor- 
 tunes forced them over the brink, never returned, and that place whence no 
 burro returns has no stopping place of even the narrowest proportions, and 
 where a burro cannot climb must partake of the perpendicular, or of a polished 
 surface. Indeed, this Hoyo de San Jose is a wonderful hole-in-the-ground, 
 where rivers of water empty their torrents in the rainy season. There is no 
 
 outlet, and the pit 
 does not till up, 
 then is it not bot- 
 tomless, qiiicii sa- 
 he? The railroad 
 must describe a 
 figure 8 to get 
 around the pit, and 
 just west of it is 
 established a little 
 station and an- 
 other safety switch 
 that is always set 
 for the side track. 
 Here now are 
 the full tropics, as 
 you have dreamed 
 of them — g r e a t 
 giant trees, with 
 hanging vines 
 from the highest 
 branches. These 
 and the trees are 
 covered with or- 
 chids, that flourish 
 in the moisture of 
 the mists from the 
 sea. This almost 
 impenetrable for- 
 est is a dense mass 
 of verdure, from 
 the top-most 
 branches to the 
 ferns that grow in 
 their shade. A lit- 
 tle farther on the 
 wild undergrowth 
 
 has been cleared away. This may not be apparent, at first, as there 
 seems to be. and there is still, an undergrowth of — coffee trees. The road 
 runs through the midst of one of the finest coffee plantations, and if 
 there is time to stop at the little platform on the left of the track, you may 
 walk through it, and down a thousand steps to the Puente de Dios. where a rush- 
 ing mountain stream leaps in a flying cascade into a beautiful pool, passes out 
 of view, and appears again in other pretty pools below this Bridge of God. 
 If the scenery here is not so wild, so grandly picturesque, it is not the less 
 
 A CORN BIN.
 
 282 
 
 interesting; passing from the forest and the cofTee groves the road comes 
 to an open space and a comparatively level spot where the timber has been 
 cut away. On the right is a village of the timber cutters, a group of thatched 
 huts that, until now, you may not have seen except in pictures, as much 
 a tropical village, both as to architecture and fashion of dress, as you will see. 
 
 Here, on the left of the road, is a river fringed with palms and palmettos. 
 The road follows along its banks to Tamasopo, now a little railroad town where 
 trains are made up, and great heavy double-header engines are kept to 
 take them up the mountain. Just out of Rascon the river is crossed and 
 the grade is downward to Valles, then up a short distance to another canon, 
 not so great as the one just passed, but with one view at least, it is worth 
 them all to see. It is the Canon del Abra de Caballeros, and the grand view 
 is of El Salto del Abra de Caballeros at the Boca del Abra. The view is 
 from the left or north windows of the cars, or best from the rear platform. 
 
 Some day the railroad company will operate an open observation car 
 from Las Canoas, because the magnificence of the scenery demands and it 
 is impossible to grasp its grandeur from any car that has sides or a roof. 
 The track comes to the head of the caiion and runs along high on the moun- 
 tain side. Ihe river comes to view only a little below the roadway, but 
 for a mile or more the marvelously colored waters fall in one cascade over 
 another till there is a score or more — some more than a hundred feet in 
 height — all the time in full view from the cars; the roar of the lower falls 
 cannot be heard from the depth so far below. Here, at the mouth of the 
 canon, from the high point where the track is. is the most magnificent pic- 
 ture I ever saw. Ihere is a greater fall of water at Niagara, but the high 
 towering peaks are here at El Salto del Abra, and here is a cascade of three 
 hundred feet, and a chain of them more than a mile long. The composi- 
 tion of the landscape is simply superb; there are neither words to describe 
 it and no pencil, however deft, can paint its beauties. The color is of na- 
 ture's own and in her brightest hues. On the other side of the cafion a tow- 
 ering peak is 3.000 feet high, its sides precipitously drop down in gray rocks 
 to the water's edge, washed by the torrent that goes on forever, and the 
 clififs are whitened by the filmy white foam that rises in mists from this 
 home of the cascades. Back beyond the beginning of the falls, another and 
 a higher mountain raises its head loftily. If you can, persuade your con- 
 ductor to stop a minute — a minute here is worth an hour anywhere else in 
 the world where a railroad runs — only a minute for the very grandeur of it. 
 
 I stood there and gazed rapturously. I asked for another minute, but 
 I was called back to earth from the pinnacle to where I had soared. I took 
 that mmute, and my rifle from the car. with the thought to see if it would 
 carry to the cliffs beyond. I fired a shot, and a thousand parrots, startled, 
 flew screaming, circling around above and below us, settling down again in 
 the trees where their dwelling places are. 
 
 While these minutes w^ere flying, the one great picture had so filled the 
 eye that not one look was taken ahead. Here the canon widens out and 
 we look abroad, over a hundred miles of sloping plain, with undulating hills 
 that lie between us and the sea. Still, however, we are skirting along the 
 sides of high mountains in which there are many caves. One. La Ventana, 
 has a chamber that is nearly 700 feet high. The name comes from an open- 
 ing or window near the top that may be seen a long way off, in the moun- 
 tain side. To reach La Ventana requires a walk above the roadway, but an- 
 other. Choy Cave, is immediately under the track; in fact, a bridge is built 
 over the skylight of this cavern, and steps have been made down to the 
 entrance two hundred feet below, from which comes a stream of clear, cold
 
 283 
 
 water. The chamber of Choy Cave is over 200 feet high and with steps 
 and passage ways along the subterranean river that is nearly a hundred feet 
 deep. Downward the grade is, with plains and the biggest Mexican rivers 
 to see and cross, the rivers Tamesi and Panuco, near Tamos. Near the line 
 are the ruins of an ancient Aztec city that cover some miles of territory, so 
 that it must have been a populous capital. These cities of the ancients of 
 Mexico are not to be seen from the cars, but the more curious and venture- 
 some tourist will rind a field to interest him and worth his while to explore, 
 though he must camp out; there is not even a fonda for frijoles or tortillas, 
 and only jacals for shelter. 
 
 We came down from these grand mountains to the sea, and when we 
 stopped at Tampico it was night, the car was rolled out on the jetties, and 
 while the breezes of the Gulf fanned us. we listened to the lullaby of the waves, 
 and dreamed of mountains miles and miles in height, that the sea beat 
 against and came 
 down over their tops 
 in a cascade as wide 
 as the ocean. 
 
 Eastward over the 
 Mexican Railway.— 
 The first railway of 
 Mexico was built 
 from Vera Cruz to 
 the City of Mexico, 
 and, long before any 
 of the others were 
 finished, the fame of 
 this one went abroad, 
 and all over the 
 world the wonders of 
 its engineering feats, 
 and the magnificence 
 of its scenery, was 
 told, till people 
 crossed the seas with 
 no other object than 
 to look upon its beau- 
 ties, and the won- 
 drous work of its 
 building. It is easier 
 
 of access now. and the barranca road near Guadalajara. 
 
 there are thousands of travelers that start eastward from the capital, or west- 
 ward from the Gulf, with the same object in view. 
 
 Passing out of the fine station of Buena Vista, the track takes a north- 
 erly course from the City of Mexico, and runs along the solid roadbed of 
 an ancient causeway, trod by pilgrims to the shrine of Guadalupe for more 
 than three centuries, and on either side of the track stand the shrines where 
 the processions halted, and weary wayfarers worshiped. Along the east side 
 of the track is the more modern road of foot travel, and the line of electric 
 cars, from the city to the shrine. Under the shadow of Guadalupe the track 
 turns somewhat to the east; on the left is the village, the great church, the 
 stone sails, and the chapel on the hill all to be seen from the cars. 
 
 There is little choice of seats just here. On the right there are views of 
 the city, the lake and plain, and the great volcanoes. Popocatepetl and Ixtac- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 m 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 . ■ >■ 
 
 2 
 
 
 •' *■ '. T/i 
 
 
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 284 
 
 cihuatl are constantly in view, then Malintzi, and then Orizaba. In two hun- 
 dred miles there are snow-capped mountains always in sight. On the right 
 is Lake Texcoco. on the left Lake San Cristobal, and on either side may be 
 seen the great drainage works that are to drain the water from these lakes, 
 and reclaim the lands of the valley. 
 
 Near San Juan Teotihuacan are the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, seen 
 from the windows on the left. Not very formidable pyramids as seen from the 
 cars, but the "Sun" is 216, and the "Moon" 151 feet high; the former more than 
 half as large as the great Cheops of Egypt. Between the two pyramids is a 
 causewav. called the Street of the Dead, also seen from the cars. 
 
 ABOVE MALTRATA, MEXICAN RAILWAY. 
 
 At Otumba is the field of battle between Cortez and the iMexicans, July 8, 
 1520, during the retreat after the defeat of the Noche Triste. 
 
 These scenes left behind, and after passing Ometusco, the junction point 
 for Pachuca, the course is southeastward, across an almost level table-land, to 
 the Plain of Apam, where the pulque grows, the track passing through fields 
 and fields of thousands and thousands of acres of the immense plants that 
 an American would call "century" plants. The Apam pulque is the best, or, 
 perhaps it is better to say. the favorite, with those who drink pulque, and 
 if you have not made the experiment, you will find no better place to try 
 it than at Apam. The dealers meet all trains.
 
 285 
 
 The pulque traffic Is a source of great revenue to the railway companies. 
 Regular trains, carrying nothing but pulque, leave the stations in the re- 
 gion from one to three o'clock in the morning, running on fast time, reaching 
 the city between live and six o'clock. The barrels and hogskins are tumbled 
 out onto the Custom House platform, the duty paid, and a hundred carts and 
 cargadores take it to the "shops." all over the city. Pulque will not keep, 
 and the Mexican knows it. He hurries it onto the train, and rushes it to the 
 place of sale, drinks it and goes back after another load. From the fields to 
 the "shops"' it is not more than a day. \\ hen the plant is about to send 
 up the long slender shoot that bears the bloom of the century plant, the bud 
 is cut out, and in the basin formed the sap gathers, and is taken out by a 
 man. with a long slender gourd. With his lips he withdraws the air from 
 the gourd, and the crude pulque fills it, and is poured into the hogskin 
 on his back, which, when full, is loaded on a burro or cart, taken to the 
 hacienda, and after a quick process of fermentation, it is ready for the pulque 
 train and the market. 
 
 At Soltepec all four of the great peaks may be seen in one grand sweep 
 of the vision. At Apizaco the branch line extends south to the city of Puebla, 
 passing Santa Ana, the station for the ancient city of Tlaxcala. Along the 
 branch are some points of scenic interest. On the right, after leaving the 
 station, is the Church of Santa Cruz, a little further on, on the left, the grand 
 old mountain. Malintzi, in the distance, and near the road a little canon and a 
 cascade, whose waters supply the power for a woolen mill. After crossing 
 some barrancas, the train makes a stop at Santa Ana, from whence street 
 cars run to Tlaxcala. The towers of its churches are seen from the windows 
 on the right, and in a little while, from these same windows, may be seen the 
 Pyramid of Cholula, and a look ahead will show the towers of Puebla and 
 the old forts on the hills beyond. 
 
 Buy canes at Apizaco: canes of all the woods that grow in Mexico. They 
 are on sale on the station platform, along with the cakes, pies and pulque. 
 You can buy one, or a cord, for it seems here is a solution of the timberless 
 hills of the country; they have been stripped by the cane makers of Apizaco. 
 There are large canes and small, cut and carved in designs fantastic, painted 
 in all the colors of the rainbow and of the flowers that grow. Canes for the 
 old man. the dude, and the small boy. It is Apizaco's admonition, that if any 
 man passes that way, and afterward goes down to his grave caneless, it is 
 his own fault. There is a good restaurant and bufifet in the station, and there 
 is usually time to buy canes and coft'ee, during the time of transfer of pas- 
 sengers and baggage for Puebla. 
 
 Leaving Apizaco, the course of the main line is slightly to the south- 
 east, and in a few miles the highest point on the line, 8,333 feet, is reached. 
 The road runs at the base of old INTount IMalintzi. and, passing the foot-hills, 
 comes to San Andres, where passengers desiring to make the ascent of the 
 volcano of Orizaba change cars. Now the scenery becomes more interesting, 
 as the track winds in and out among the hills, a seeming prelude to the 
 gradeur, just ahead, that no words are adequate to describe. 
 
 Esperanza is the stopping place at the edge of the great terrace of the 
 table-land, 8,043 feet above the sea, where commences the descent to the tierra 
 caliente. At Esperanza the Mexican Railway maintains extensive yards and 
 shops, and hence, southward, a horse^car line runs to Tehuacan, on the Mexi- 
 can Southern Railway. The station' building combines ticket and telegraph 
 offices, a good restaurant and comfortable hotel. It is not much of a pull 
 for the engine to make the start out of the Esperanza yards. The loosening 
 of the brake will sometimes start the train, without the opening of the
 
 286 
 
 throttle. The wheels begin to turn, and the only steam needed will be to 
 slow up, or stop the train. With only little stretches of up-grade, it is a roll 
 from Esperanza to Vera Cruz. The drop from the yards here to Maltrata, 
 seventeen miles, is 2,493 feet, and from Maltrata, (5,550 feet in altitude), to 
 Orizaba, 3,943 feet. The slip down is 1,607 feet in thirteen miles, making a 
 total descent of 4,100 feet in twenty-nine miles. 
 
 A seat on the right of the car is to be chosen. The incline of the train 
 can be felt, as it moves toward Boca del Monte, the "mouth of the moun- 
 tain," and here commences the grandest piece of scenery — one of the grand 
 views of the world. On one side, the towering mountains — the road is only 
 a little shelf hewn in the rocks — on the other, down a thousand feet or more, 
 is a rushing stream, foaming and fretting over the rocks and boulders, at 
 the bottom of a yawning canon, and beyond it mountains as high as this on 
 whose side the train crawls along. Whether the engineers sought the spot 
 near La Boca as the most available for a water supply, or, in commendable 
 forethought, placed the tank here that the people might enjoy the view, while 
 water is taken, the deponent saith not, but the thanks of every traveler are 
 due for the placing of the tank where it is, whatever may have been the 
 motive. Without any warning, or prelude of the grandeur, the magnificence, 
 the surpassing beauty of the picture, it bursts upon the vision. A bridge over 
 an awful chasm inspires awe, and a tunnel shuts the eyes to its depths, for a 
 moment only, and then, as in the sudden lifting of a curtain, from dark- 
 ness to daylight, displays the picture that no pencil paints. 
 
 Here the engine stops for water, a prosaic reason for such a poetic pleas- 
 ure in the looking on such a view, and demands the traveler's gratitude. 
 
 No window is broad enough for its scope, and a doorway is all too nar- 
 row. Every passenger is out and down on the narrow space between the 
 rails and edge of the caiion. There is Maltrata, a dozen miles away, to fol- 
 low the rails, yet we look down on the red tiles of the roofs; the round 
 tower of the village church gleams in the sunshine, two thousand feet straight 
 down below your feet: the streets, gardens, houses, look like the toys from 
 a child's play-box, and the people are only pigmies. The green fields are 
 like a checker-board, spread out in the valley. You may look beyond the val- 
 ley, to the other mountains, look ahead to some others, and see above them 
 the snow-tipped peak of Orizaba; or try to follow the silver thread of the 
 stream in the valley, or the shining rails of the track, winding down the 
 rnountain. You may for a moment traffic with the Indians for the most beau- 
 tiful orchids, but the gem of the view is in the valley right under you, and 
 your furtive glances come back to this jewel of a valley. La Joya, till it 
 is indelibly fixed in your mind as the most beautiful picture you ever saw. 
 
 The object of the stop is accomplished, whether it was for water for the 
 engine, or for you to see the view, and the train rolls on. Regretfully, per- 
 haps, you think of the orchids, that you failed to purchase; surely, those very 
 orchids were worth as many dollars in your own country as the Indians 
 demanded in cents. And you wondered, perhaps, why they refused your of- 
 fer, held them at the original price, and, unlike all the other Indians every- 
 where else, would not take less. Just wait a little while, and you may have 
 another chance at these same orchids. While the train is running its dozen 
 miles, curving in and out on the hillside, there is a rough-and-tumble scramble 
 of these Indians, two thousands feet down the rocks, and the same orchids 
 that you didn't buy will be at the station at Maltrata when you get there; 
 .'ind as that is the last chance for the Indian to sell to-day, you may be able 
 10 buy at your own price. 
 
 Crossing the little valley of Maltrata, keep your seat on the right of the
 
 287 
 
 car. The road enters a canon, called "Infernillo," the ravine of the "little 
 hell," which, barring the absence of any superfluous heat, seems to be prop- 
 erly named, and the railway builders must have had a dif^cult time in run- 
 ning their lines through such a place. There is a bridge 140 feet high, 
 with a sheer precipice above and below, with the mountain stream falling 
 down the chasm in a roaring cascade. Through a tunnel, and out at the 
 other end, is another beautiful valley, the Valley of the Cascades. The road 
 runs down through the center of it. passing Nogales. and coming to Orizaba. 
 There are fine views on either side, but the towns and villages are on the 
 north of the road. 
 
 ON THE MEXICAN (VERA CRUZ) RAILWAY. 
 
 Orizaba is on the border of the tropic lands, and the scenery hence is un- 
 like any left behind. The finest views are on — both sides. The rear platform 
 is the best position, as from there nothing should be missed. Running 
 through the palm-shaded street, the road goes into the cane and cofTee fields. 
 The volcano is in the view, and the hill on the left, overlooking the city, is the 
 Cerro del Borrego, where a small body of French held at bay a much larger 
 force of Mexicans, during the Maximilian war. 
 
 After six or seven miles, the line enters the Barrar.ca de Metlac. The 
 choice of seats is on the right, to see the deep ravine, and the Rio Metlac, 
 nearly a thousand feet below. Here an immense horseshoe curve takes the
 
 288 
 
 track around the he^d of the valley, over a curved bridge, on the other side 
 of which is an ascending grade to Fortin, then down hill to Cordoba. The 
 view down the river is a pretty one indeed, the old stone bridge of the high- 
 way in the foreground, and the bluest of blue hills in the distance. 
 
 The town of Cordoba is on the north of the track. It might be seen from 
 the cars, but for the dense tropical forest intervening. It may seem to you 
 that all the inhabitants are at the station, dressed in their best suits of clothes — 
 bright and clean, wide of trouser, and broad of straw sombrero, and brightly- 
 colored costume of woman's dress. Here the tropic Mexican appears, in all 
 his picturesqueness. as he is seen in pictures. 
 
 On down the hill, the road runs through cofifee plantations, fields of sugar- 
 cane and tropic forests of palm and palmetto, groves of oranges, gardens of 
 mangoes, pineapples and bananas, from w^ience come the luscious fruits 
 brought to the cars at Cordoba. 
 
 Through some tunnels, and over bridges, the road drops down into the 
 Atoyac Valley, and crosses the river of that name, just beyond the station, 
 and just after leaving it. On the right, after the tunnel is passed, is another 
 beautiful view, with a cascade falling from the hill over the rocks, splashing 
 the water to snowy foam, and making a silver ribbon through the deep val- 
 ley below^. Passing the bridge Chiquihuite, and that of San Alejo, the road 
 comes to Paso del Macho, where the mountain scenery is left behind, and 
 with a few more twists and turns, takes a due eastward course across the 
 slope to Vera Cruz. 
 
 From Esperanza to Paso del Macho an open car with no top or sides 
 is almost a necessity and the day will come when they will be carried on 
 express trains, as it is impossible to enjoy the full grandeur of the scenery 
 in a closed car. 
 
 Westward over the Intertiatiotial.— It makes little difiference at what 
 point the traveler comes to the border, his curious eyes will look with won- 
 der before he crosses the bridge over the narrow, sluggish, muddy little creek 
 that forms the boundary between the United States and Alexico — a creek 
 that does not seem to have grown a bit since it left El Paso, unless it be in 
 mud and murkiness, and why it was ever called the Rio Grande nobody but 
 the man who named it w^ill ever know. Perhaps the discoverer came upon 
 it unawares on a rainy day during the w^et season, certainly not on such a 
 day as when I saw it first, when it seemed there was hardly water enough and 
 hardly current enough to carry the mud along. 
 
 One does not look at the river, though, but to the hills beyond — the bleak 
 and barren hills that came to view when you are a hundred miles away across 
 the Texas prairies. And yet one does not see Mexico in these hills — only 
 where Mexico is. Beyond the hills, in table-lands, fertile valleys and old- 
 time cities with domed and towered churches, is Mexico. 
 
 At SpofTord Junction, on the main line of the Southern Pacific, a division 
 of the road makes a detour to the southwestward, and comes to the border 
 at Eagle Pass, where the connection is with the Mexican International Rail- 
 road. The town on the Texas side is Eagle Pass; at the other end of the 
 steel bridge it is La Ciudad Porfirio Diaz. The original name of the town, 
 Piedras Negras, was changed in honor of the President of Mexico. Since 
 the opening of the line, in March, 1888, and the establishment of the railroad 
 headquarters here, the towns have grown, till they now number about 6,000 
 people. The altitude is 722 feet above the sea, and healthfulness is conceded. 
 The higher elevations are not far away, and the climb to them commences at 
 the river, reaching 1,200 feet, at Nava. in twenty-four miles, and, still on 
 the rising grade, the road passes Allende, Leonora, Peyotes and Blanco,
 
 S89 
 
 places of 1,000 to 1,500 people. At Sabinas there is a branch to the coal mines 
 of Hondo and Felipe. The supply of bituminous coal is practically inex- 
 haustible. A branch line to Lampazos is proposed to be extended from the 
 coal mines. After crossing the Rio Sabinas, the average is up-grade to Mon- 
 clova, where the altitude is 1.926 feet. 
 
 At Hermanas are some hot springs that are claimed to be equal to the 
 famous Hot Springs of Arkansas with a warm and equable climate. Mon- 
 clova is one of the very many very old towns in Mexico, that have made 
 very little headway in population or advancement, and the primitiveness of it 
 is its novelty. Near the city is a rich mine of magnetic iron, and the whole 
 region, round about, is rich in the more precious metals. 
 
 IN ORIZABA. 
 
 At Monclova a branch line extends westward to Cuatro Cienegas with 
 an ultimate destination at Mazatlan on the Pacific coast, passing Sierra Mo- 
 jada, Jimenez and Culiacan. From Nadadores there is a stage line thirty miles 
 to San Lucas Springs, where there is a hotel and Sanatarium. 
 
 From Reata a branch runs from the main line southwest to Monterey, where 
 connection is made with the Mexican National and the Monterey & Gulf 
 Railways. The direction hence is almost due south, to Trevino. the junc- 
 tion point with the Monterey division of the Mexican Central Railway, and 
 -the Gulf at Tampico. At Jaral the road reaches an elevation of 3,753 feet, and 
 runs within about thirty miles of Saltillo, the capital of Coahuila, to which 
 point a branch line is proposed. There is a look of utter desolation in these 
 hills, but there are valleys between, where there are fertile lands, and where 
 herds and flocks are grazing.
 
 2Q0 
 
 Now the road takes a more westerly course, runs along the table-lands 
 and comes to Paila, where the altitude is 3,898 feet. A few miles to the south 
 of the line is the very ancient town of Parras, one of the oldest in Mexico, 
 having been founded some three hundred and fifty years ago. The location 
 is superb, renowned for its healthlulness, in the midst of a fine grape coun- 
 try. Tlie wines of Parras are sold in almost every Mexican city and are 
 rated high. They are made in both clarets and sauternes. When the Parras 
 branch is completed the old town may take a new lease of life. 
 
 From Hornos a branch extends northward through the cotton countr> to 
 San Pedro, fourteen miles. Near Hornos are the inexhaustible salt mines that 
 supply the product to all parts of the country. 
 
 At Matamoros there is an extension northward through the Laguna coun- 
 try, forty-one miles, to Zaragoza, reachmg the cotton districts. 
 
 The course is now westward, running a little north of Lake Parras, a 
 typical Alexican lake about 3,600 feet above the sea level, and north of the 
 line is the larger lake. Mayran. It is a level track now along the southern 
 borders of the great Bolson de Mapimi until Torreon is reached, where con- 
 nection is made with the Mexican Central Railway; the elevation, here, is 3,721 
 feet. 
 
 Torreon is near the Nazas River, the great irrigating di'tch of this terri- 
 tory, and three miles north is the city of Lerdo in the midst of Mexico's most 
 famous cotton regions, where 'tis said the cotton grows on trees. Proceed- 
 ing westward on the International it is only five miles to the lovely San 
 Juan Valley where the train rounds a curve and rolls into the oasis. The 
 high point of rocks on the left forms the gateway, and to the other side of 
 the track the valley stretches away to the north. It is a pretty valley, is the 
 San Juan, and they have made the waters of it run around its borders on the 
 hillsides, and through aqueducts of stone, till it is high enough to irrigate the 
 fields. l!- looks as though these Indian engineers had made the water run 
 up hill; \ e crossed the stream back there, and here it is on a level with our 
 windows. 
 
 Across the valley the rows of trees show which way the river runs, and 
 dotted here and there, little patches of white mark the village and hacienda, 
 with the fertile fields in between and growing grain nearly ready for the 
 harvest. They have two harvests each year in this valley, which they would 
 not have one, perhaps, if they waited for the rains, but the blessed little river 
 stands in the rainmaker's place. 
 
 All the mountains in Mexico are cut in fantastic shapes, but here, on this 
 road, a freakful nature seems to have outdone herself, or perhaps, this road 
 gives us a closer view of the rocks and crags that look like castles or a herd 
 of some huge monsters outlined against the sky. 
 
 At Pedricena there is a branch southward six miles to Velardena. 
 
 Some miles below there is a cave (any conductor w-ill point out the place; 
 a black hole in the hill on the north side), a veritable robbers' cave, where tne 
 bandits buried their dead, or came to hide themselves and count the proceeds 
 of business in the old diligencia days. The robbers are not there now, but there 
 are the relics of them in skulls and bones. The cave is high upon the almost 
 perpendicular sides of the mountain and the opening is just large enough for 
 a man to drop himself into a chamber twenty-five feet long, and as wide, with 
 six or eight feet from floor to ceiling and a narrow opening to another smaller 
 room. The darkness can almost be felt, and the dust of ages, a foot thick on 
 the floor, makes the place uninviting. A friendly Mexican match will give 
 a glimpse of the glittering stalactites; on the floor and against the sides of the
 
 291 
 
 chamber are the evidences of the robber story, and a skull or two may be added 
 to your collection of curios from this curious country. 
 
 Long drouths parch the country, but the land is fertile, even without rain, 
 and irrigation is a science in Mexico. The stranger wonders what there is 
 to support the haciendas that are as big as a town. "Can anything grow 
 here?" some one asks. "Nothing is impossible in Mexico. See that palm tree 
 over there in that hacienda; it is the only one within three hundred miles. 
 and where the palm grows there is life in the land." This is truth; the palm 
 is there and there is not another this side of Tampico. 
 
 ENTRANCE TO SAN JUAN VALLEY, MEXICAN INTERNATIONAL RAILROAD. 
 
 On the south of the road, a little farther on, is an extinct volcano that is 
 near the track, some four or five hundred feet high, and if there was time for 
 the stop, it would be worth all the climb to look down into the awful crater, 
 with its sides and depths crusted with the lava of a thousand years, or more 
 it may have been. You can see the volcano from the cars as you pass by, but 
 you must climb to the crater if you would see that. I might enlarge upon 
 this story, as the train does not stop here and there is little chance to disprove, 
 but the truth is enough to tell of anything in Mexico.
 
 292 
 
 The road now is, for the most part, across the plains; the everlasting hills 
 surrounding it are never out of sight. Ihere is an iron bridge across tlie bed 
 of a river, now bone dry, that when you come back may be a rushing torrent. 
 When it rains in Mexico, it rains; the showers may be few and far between, 
 but when they come they make up for lost time. But, withal, there is life 
 in this seemingly arid soil, else how came the trees that for miles along this 
 plain make it look like one vast orchard? And there is water above ground, 
 though your palace car point of observation may not disclose it, else where do 
 they drink and how get a sustenance — these herds of horses and cattle? Across 
 the spreading plain is the city of Durango afar off, the towers rising above 
 the low-roofed, square-topped houses. Beyond the city, and overlooking it, is 
 a high hill with the Church of Los Remedios on its very top. A golden sunset 
 makes the background of gorgeous hue, and while you watch its beauties the 
 train rolls down to the station, where the people wait your coming just as they 
 waited for those that came yesterday. 
 
 The train comes to an anchor at the pretty stone station, and almost under 
 the shadow of the wonderful iron mountain that was one of the objects of the 
 building of this road. A mountain of solid iron it is, the ore ranging from 
 75 to 90 per cent of pure iron, and enough of it to supply the world for a 
 hundred years. The completion of the railroad did not help the iron industry 
 of Durango, though. The little foundry that did a land-office business for so 
 many years got thirty-five cents a pound for iron till the railroad came, and 
 they found they could bu}'^ in Pittsburgh and ship to Durango for a great deal 
 less than thirty-five cents. The old foundry, with its wooden machinery and 
 water-power, has been replaced by a million-dollar smelter, and iron is cheaper 
 now. 
 
 A busy, bustling scene is at the station; coachmen call their destinations 
 and fares, darting here and there to relieve some weary traveler of his baggage 
 and, if he can, thrust him into his own particular coach, before the traveler 
 can enter a word of protest. Private carriages are there in numbers, whose 
 drivers, more dignified than the liverymen, assist their master, or their master's 
 guests to transfer baggage, all the while conscious of the admiring glances cast 
 upon them by groups of pretty Indian girls, who are there, as everybody else 
 is, for the purpose of seeing the train come in, and catching, at the same time, 
 a glimpse of these youths in embroidered suits^ and gaily tinseled sombreros. 
 Your anticipation of seeing a city extremely primitive is not realized at the 
 station. You stand under the shelter of a m'odern stone station, with its smooth 
 grass plat, roses, green trees and graveled walks, and watch the scene before 
 you, then glance beyond the throng, down the track over which you just passed, 
 to see the substantial freight depots of the big stores and smelters, each one 
 of which has its own private depot and side-track for handling freight, and 
 wonder why they called Durango "primitive." 
 
 It was a matter of small wonder that the ancient city of Jerusalem should 
 be so long without railroad communication with the outer world, and the 
 completion of the line from Joppa was only the talk of a day, but a city more 
 than three hundred years old, and with nearly a hundred thousand inhabitants, 
 on this continent, and with a main line of railroad within a hundred and fifty 
 miles of it, secured its first railroad since Jerusalem did. It was left to Durango 
 to be the last of the great cities of Mexico to have a railway, and it is still 
 such a novelty in that city that the populace wait at the station for the arrival 
 of the train in the late afternoon, and come down early in the morning to 
 see it pull out. 
 
 It is to see this new, old city that attracts a journey down the line of the 
 International Railway of Mexico; this, and to see the newest primitiveness
 
 293 
 
 of Mexican city life before the women exchange their lace mantillas for Paris- 
 ian bonnets, and the men strip the silver bangles from their trousers and change 
 the ornamental, monogrammed sombrero for the silk tile. 
 
 From Durango northward a branch line extends to Tepehuanes, traversing 
 a rich mining region and through some fertile valleys, with an ultimate exten- 
 sion to Guanacevi. 
 
 Eastward over tlie luteroceaiiic. — Leaving the City of Mexico from the 
 handsome station of San Lazaro, the trains of the Interoceanic Railroad pass 
 through the eastern outskirts of the city and come to the field of practice of the 
 artillery school, with its adobe targets on the left of the track, and run along 
 an ancient causeway that was once the high road between the capital of the 
 Montezumas and the great 
 city of the Tezcucans. On 
 both sides of the track, 
 and very close to it, are 
 tall trees that make a 
 shaded avenue for some 
 miles, and such an avenue 
 is on the roadway of no 
 other line on earth. Look- 
 ing back from the rear 
 platform, it will be seen that 
 the branches almost meet 
 above the cars, and down 
 the long vista seem to close 
 the entrance where the 
 train came in. On the 
 right are the plains and 
 marshes extending to Ix- 
 tapalapa, La Estrella and 
 Peiion, and to the extinct 
 volcano of Ajusco, to be 
 seen in the distance. On 
 the left is Lake Texcoco; 
 on the right, the waters and 
 marshes of Xochimilco and 
 Chalco. Turning around 
 the southern shore of Lake 
 Texcoco, the road comes to 
 Los Reyes, the junction of 
 the Morelos Division with the main line 
 
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 JALAPA. 
 
 a picturesque Indian town, where the 
 people bring fish to the trains to sell to the passengers as something out of the 
 ordinary of train and station peddlers in Mexico, or, perhaps, anywhere else. 
 Skirting the eastern shore of the lake the road enters a fertile plain, where there 
 are haciendas, villages and churches without number. At the station of Chapingo 
 is the hacienda of the late ex-President. General Gonzales, on the north of 
 the track a group of gorgeously painted houses, bearing an oriental look of 
 towers and bright colors; on the right, almost opposite the hacienda of Cha- 
 pingo, is the village of Huixotla. with an old church and older ruins of Aztec 
 origin. Texcoco is the town that in the old Toltec days was the rival of 
 Tenochtitlan. or the City of Mexico, and the capital of a powerful nation. 
 At Texcoco Cortez stopped to prepare his bergantines, with which to transport 
 his army over the waters of the lake. Tetzconcinco. or the "laughing hill," the 
 favorite resort of Netzahualcoyotl, the Tezcucan chief, three miles east of Tex-
 
 294 
 
 coco, may be seen from the windows on the right, and near it the trees that 
 overshadow the Molino de Flores, and a little farther on is the aqueduct of the 
 waters for these gardens and palaces of the chiefs of the olden times. 
 
 The course is almost due north for some miles, to make a circuit of the foot- 
 hills of the great volcanoes that are always in the view. At the little station 
 of San Antonio, and between there and Metepec, there is a fine view of the 
 Texcoco Valley, the lake, and beyond it the City of Mexico, forty miles away; 
 and also from the north windows, beyond Metepec, in the distance, are the 
 pyramids of the Sun and Moon, which are older, perhaps, than Cheops of 
 Egypt. 
 
 At Otumba, Cortez met the army of the Aztecs in 1520, and drove them in 
 retreat before him. At Irolo are two branch roads to Pachuca, and at San 
 
 OLD SPANISH FORT NEAR PEROTE. 
 
 Lorenzo a branch to San Nicolas; for some miles the road runs through the 
 pulque region, then starts on an up-grade, reaching an altitude of 9,000 feet 
 near Nanacamilca. and then down on the other side, through a most pictur- 
 esque district, passing along the mountain sides, through cafions, and down to 
 the depths of the barranca, with constantly changing scenes in every turn and 
 curve, till it comes to the lovely valley of San Martin Texmelucan, with its 
 streams of clear, sparkling water, shady woodlands, and scenes of prosperity. 
 Passing San Martin and Analco, the line enters the great plain and valley 
 of Puebla, one of the richest in all Mexico; the great haciendas here and there 
 and everywhere are in evidence of its wealth. At Los Arcos is the junction of 
 the branch road to Matamoros. On the right is Cholula, the greatest of the 
 Mexican pyramids; hence the road runs across the plain to Puebla. Leaving 
 Puebla the road skirts the eastern slope of great Malintzi, and at certain points
 
 295 
 
 there is a striking resemblance in the outline of the rocky crest to a giant face; 
 and here also is a view to be enjoyed perhaps nowhere else in the world, the 
 road running through a semi-tropical valley in sight of four snow-capped moun- 
 tains — Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl to the west, Malintzi in the foreground, 
 and Orizaba far to the east. It is a fact that, in all the miles of all the 
 divisions of the Interoceanic road, with scarcely an exception of half an hour's 
 run, there is a snow-capped 
 mountain always in the view. 
 The route is now to the north- 
 east, crossing the Mexican 
 Railway at San Marcos, and 
 coming to a well-watered 
 plain that is just on the verge 
 of the terrace that drops down 
 to the hot lands. At Virreyes 
 is a branch road to San Juan 
 de los Llanos and the junction 
 of the Tecolutla division now 
 completed to Tezutlan. On 
 the right of the road, near Pe- 
 rote, is the old castle of Pe- 
 rote, an ancient fortress built 
 by the Spaniards soon after 
 the conquest, as a stopping 
 place for rest, after the long 
 pull up the mountain. Here 
 was kept a large garrison of 
 soldiers that patroled the road 
 between Vera Cruz and Pu- 
 ebla in the old bandit days. 
 Las Vigas is on the very edge 
 of the great terrace. If there 
 is no mist in the valley, the 
 view is grandly magnificent ; 
 or, you may look out over a 
 sea of white clouds with the hi- 
 describable sensation of travel- 
 ing by rail above them and 
 through their filmy folds. 
 The track is through an end- 
 less lava bed that is a confused 
 mass of black rock, from a 
 pebble to huge pieces of the 
 weight of tons. It was a 
 marvelous piece of engineering 
 in the building of this road 
 and every crook and turn of its track seems to show greater difficulties over- 
 come. At no place is the grade more than two and a half feet to the lOO, which 
 is remarkable, when the face of the country traversed is considered. The views 
 are marvelous and beyond compare. There is the chalk-faced Cofre de Perote, 
 white capped Orizaba, and the lesser hills sloping away to the Gulf, the waters 
 of w'hich, the ships and the white houses of Vera Cruz are a hundred miles 
 away. It is a continual drop dowm till the train stops in the region of the full 
 tropics, at the picturesque station of the ancient town of Jalapa, and thence the 
 grade is still downward to Vera Cruz. 
 
 A COUNTRY HOME.
 
 296 
 
 Between Palmar and Colorado is a beautiful piece of railroad work, in the 
 famous Huarumbo cutting, the deepest cut in Alexico, where the line makes 
 almost a complete loop. Near Rinconada is a sugar-loat mountain, Cerro 
 Gordo, where one of the hardest fights of the American war was fought. 
 it is a wonderful track along here. There are a hundred horse-shoe curves. At 
 one place the track you are to pass over seems a thousand feet below you, 
 .the white rock of the ballast showing through the verdure of the intervening 
 trees. Sometimes it is hard to tell whether that is the track just passed over 
 or the one you are coming to. In one view there is a perfect replica of the 
 Hudson palisades. 
 
 Down at San Francisco the thatched houses of the tropics are shaded by 
 feathery palm trees, and the straggling villages seem to have their residences 
 designed chiefly for ventilation, with the walls of reeds and the roofs of palm 
 leaves. Numberless streams from the mountains flowing to the sea are crossed 
 here and there, and at La Antigua the river of the same name is passed on 
 a steel bridge, near the place of a landing constructed by Cortez, where there 
 are some old cannon accredited to the conqueror, and near by some tombs and 
 an old church, bearing date of 1526. In the approach to Vera Cruz all beauty is 
 left behind, and but for the rolling surf of the sea, here might be the entrance 
 to the desert of Sahara, where the sand blows in drifts like the beautiful snow, 
 and where real snow fences are necessary to keep the sand from burying the 
 tracks. But there is only a mile or two of this, and it is not to be remembered 
 with all the grand beauties of the hills behind us. 
 
 The Morelos Division of the Interoceanic Railway leaves the main line 
 eleven miles out of the City of Alexico at Los Reyes and runs southwest. 
 The first station of importance is Ayotla, where, like Los Reyes, the inhab- 
 itants bring fish to the trains to sell. The old adobe town on the right of the 
 track, on the shores of the lake, is a very pretty one. 
 
 After passing Ayotla the road makes a turn around the lake, and the vol- 
 canoes come to view and are in sight through all the journey, seen first from 
 the left windows, but as the track curves about are seen from either side. 
 
 La Compania is a very pretty little village, where there is horse-car con- 
 nection on the left for Tlalmanalco, and on the right, along a shaded roadway, 
 to Chalco, a city on the border of the lake, whose towers and domes can be 
 seen for some distance as the train moves southward. Next is the village 
 of Cuatlenchan, on a hill on the left side; the church on the top of the hill is 
 seen up and down the road for several miles. 
 
 Amecameca is the stopping place for the pilgrims bound for the craters of 
 Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl. The train rounds the hill and stops right at the 
 base of Sacro jMonte, the sacred mountain, one of the most picturesque shrines 
 in all Alexico. Look from the windows on the right, or, while the train waits, 
 step on the platform for a good view of the stone stairway, almost hidden 
 by a dense grove of trees. The city lies spread out on a plain on the left of 
 the track. Tourists who have no time for a longer stay, or do not continue 
 to the end of the road, may leave IMexico on the morning train, have a few 
 hours at Amecameca and return in the afternoon. The view from the Sacro 
 Monte is superbly magnificent. No nearer view of the volcanoes is obtainable 
 unless the ascent is made, which requires three days' time and is attended with 
 mu,ch discomfort: but the adventure of the ascent, and the seeing of the 
 grandest view in the world, from a height of nearly 18,000 feet, is worth any 
 amount of fatigue. Leaving Amecameca the railway passes through one of 
 the streets of the town and crosses the stone causeway which was built for 
 the pilgrim processions, between the church and the shrine. At a point a few 
 miles south of Ozumba the highest elevation of the road is reached, there
 
 297 
 
 having been a continuous climb from the plain of Mexico, and the down- 
 grade to the hot country is commenced; without an engine the train would 
 roll to Cuautla. too fast, so the engine is retained to hold it in check. From 
 the station at Nepantla there is a magnificent view from the left windows, a 
 view taking in millions of acres of the hot lands to the mountains, a hundred 
 miles beyond. For miles and miles, as the train rolls down the hills, may be 
 seen, first from one side and then the other, the dome and tower of a church. 
 The same church may be seen for two hours; it is the Church of San Miguel, 
 at Atlatlahutla, and near it is an abandoned monastery. Here again the tourist 
 
 THE OLDEST RAILWAY STATION IN THE WORLD— CUAUTLA. INTEROCEANIC RAILWAY. 
 
 finds another feature of Mexico's scenery and people, totally different from all 
 the other travels in the Republic. The houses are adobe as to walls and 
 thatched as to roofs; the broad plains have curious trees; bands of Indians 
 troop from one town to another in curious costumes, marching along totally 
 oblivious to the passing locomotive and approaching civilization, and will not 
 give away to the latter any quicker than they will to the engine if they happen 
 to be on the track when it comes along. In fact, it is hard for them to 
 understand that the train cannot "keep to the right" when it meets people in
 
 298 
 
 the road, and they claim the right of way from the fact that they were there 
 first. 
 
 Now the sugar country is reached. The train passes through a fine haci- 
 enda and backs into Cuautla on a Y, passing and crossing an aqueduct, where 
 the natives are seen bathing and washing clothes, comes to a station that was 
 once a church. 
 
 The train stops some minutes at Cuautla and there may be time for a walk 
 through the little alameda, just outside of the station, where there are trees 
 and flowers, a hotel where there are good wines, coffee and lunches to be 
 had. As the approach to the station has been through a grove of tropical trees 
 and gardens, so is its departure, and the train continues southward through 
 the cane country to Yautepec; the distant mountains enrich the scene, making 
 a blue background to a lovely tropical picture that extends down to Jojutla and 
 thence to Puente de Ixtla, where connection is made with the Cuernavaca division 
 of the Mexican Central Railway. Near Puente de Ixtla are the famous caves of 
 Cacahuamilpa. 
 
 South over the National— The murky, muddy, misnamed Rio Grande 
 does not improve as it grows and goes on to the sea; it is the same insignifi- 
 cant little creek here, as everywhere else that a railroad crosses it, and the 
 country of the first hundred miles of IMexico equally unattractive in chaparral 
 and cactus-covered plains. This desolation continues only to the Salado River, 
 at Lampazos, where the mountains begin. On the right of the track, south of 
 the station, is La Mesa de los Cartujanos, a mountain with a perfectly level 
 top, 2. ceo feet above the plain. A narrow path, not wider than is necessary for 
 a man and a mule, leads up the rugged side to the wooded and watered table 
 at the top, where once was the home of a tribe of Indians, the Cartujanos, 
 so called from an ancient Benedictine mission, established there two hundred 
 years ago, w^ho, strangely enough, found wood and water on the summit, when 
 there was none on the plain. The route of the railway is southwesterly, fol- 
 lowing what was first an Indian trail, then the King's highway, and, in later 
 days, the line of march of the American armies, as they proceeded on an inva- 
 sion that their greatest general has pronounced the most unholy and unjust 
 war ever waged by a stronger on a weaker nation. The track crosses and 
 recrosses the old road many times, passing Bustamente, Villaldama and Palo 
 Blanco. From V^illaldama a branch extends to the Guadalupe mines. The 
 mountains are growing and closing in nearer the road, until the Saddle ]\Ioun- 
 tain and the ]\Iountain of the Mitres are in view. These overlook the valley 
 of Monterey, a perfectly lovely valley, with high hills on every side. At Mon- 
 terey is the junction of the Alonterey division of the Mexican Central Ry., the Mex- 
 ican International and tramway lines for Topo Chico Hot Springs. The National 
 has a disconnected branch that may some time tap the main line at Monterey — 
 it now runs from Matamoros near the mouth of the Rio Grande northward 
 seventy-five miles to San Miguel. South from Monterey the road runs across 
 the plain and enters the San Juan Valley, which grows narrower and nar- 
 rower, till it becomes a caiion, and the views interesting in their beauty and 
 grandeur. Eight miles from Monterey is the village of Santa Catarina. with 
 high mountains on either side. On the left, about two miles across the valley, 
 high up near the top, is a hole directly through the crest, as if made by a mon- 
 ster cannon shot, and near Garcia are some caves, not seen from the cars, but 
 objects of excursions from Monterey. After some miles of winding about, first 
 on one side and then on the other of the noisy little San Juan River, the valley 
 closes to the narrow precipitous cliffs of a canon, and the road comes to the 
 table-land, and at Ramos Arispe an interesting village and hacienda is seen on 
 the right.
 
 299 
 
 The wider valley continues on to Saltillo, running through fertile fields and 
 gardens, till after the city is passed, the road enters a more barren district. Five 
 miles south, on the left, the track runs near to the battlefield of Buena Vista. 
 At Saltillo connection is made with the Coahuila & Zacatecas Railway, running 
 southwest to Concepcion del Oro, seventy-eight miles, and the Coahuila & Pa- 
 cific Railway westward to Torreon. 
 
 It is an up-grade to Carneros. and. just beyond, on the right, is the little 
 pueblo of Gomez Farias, once the home of a band of bandits. It is a roll 
 from here down to the plains, passing the unimportant stations of La Ventura 
 and El Salado. At Vanegas is the junction of the Vanegas. Cedral & Rio Verde 
 
 ON THE MEXICAN NATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 Railroad to the silver reduction works of Cedral and Matehuala, running also 
 within a mile of the Real de Catorce. that formerly were reached only by 
 burros from the station of Catorce, twenty miles farther on. At Catorce the 
 narrow mountain path can be seen from the windows on the left. It starts 
 up the mountain from the little village just at the foot of the hill, almost hidden 
 by green trees. Catorce is the last stop in the Temperate Zone, the Tropic of 
 Cancer being crossed just before arrival at the station of La Maroma. The 
 spot is marked by a pyramid, seen on the right of the track. The route now is 
 across an unbroken plain, the long stretch of track being without a curve; 
 there are deflections here and there, but no curves for nearly a hundred miles. 
 There are no cuts or fills, and, if danger of derailment were the only considera- 
 tion, trains might make a speed of a hundred miles an hour. 
 
 From Catorce the ride is still over what seems an almost endless plain,
 
 300 
 
 until the train reaches Bocas, where there is something to see from both sides 
 of the cars; on the left a beautiful hacienda, looking like a walled fortress, but 
 outside the walls are some tropical gardens, all lovely with bright flowers. On 
 the right, almost hidden by the trees, are two white church-like towers. This 
 place, the property of the family Farias, is one of the finest haciendas in 
 Mexico; it is worth a million of dollars. It is the first really line hacienda 
 seen on this route. Nearly a thousand people are employed here; nearer the 
 track is a manufactory of mescal and tequila. 
 
 After leaving Bocas the road enters the hills again, and some pretty vLews 
 are presented, but what most interests the tourists is the approach to the city 
 of San Luis Potosi. The first view is from windows on the right, and after 
 passing through some fertile fields and some miles of gardens, with adobe walls 
 inclosing semi-tropic fruits and vegetables, the towers of the old-time town 
 are in full view against a low line of hills to the westward, and when the 
 train comes to the station one concludes it is a gala day in town, as if the entire 
 population, resolved into a committee of reception, had come to the station to 
 meet some distinguished guest. Leaving San Luis Potosi sta- 
 tion, the view is from the west windows — the two tall towers in 
 the southern part of the city are those of the Church of Our 
 Lady of Guadalupe; going southward, the road enters the rich 
 agricultural belt of Central Mexico. The country becomes 
 more broken and interesting, and as valley after valley is 
 passed, it is apparent that the soil is here extremely produc- 
 tive. The population becomes more dense, and the vegeta- 
 tion increases in luxuriance. Villa Rej^es is passed, 
 with the immense hacienda of Jaral, which, during the 
 revolution of 1810, furnished a full regiment of cavalry 
 to assist the royalists against the armies of the patriots. 
 The hacienda once controlled 20,000 peons. Before ar- 
 riving at San Felipe a deep barranca is crossed, 
 spanned by a viaduct noticeable for its height and 
 the engineering skill displayed in its construction. 
 San Felipe is a town of some 6,000 inhabitants, and is 
 situated in the center of a rich farming country. 
 Dolores Hidalgo was given its surname in honor of the 
 the Washington of Mexico, who here sounded the watchword 
 of liberty which fired the Mexican heart, and roused the whole country to arms 
 to repel the power of Spain. This is a quaint old town of several thousand in- 
 habitants. It has a fine plaza, and interesting churches, and the traveler is 
 shown many relics of the Cura Hidalgo, which are here preserved in the old 
 house which he occupied. The approach to San Miguel is from the northeast. 
 The city is picturesquely located on the south side of the track, and the view 
 from the left side of the cars is a beautiful one. The city is a mile away, but 
 is spread out on the side of a great hill, so that it cannot be hid. 
 
 After San ]\Iiguel the road comes to the Caiion de la Laja. The best view 
 is from the windows of the cars on the right, the waters of a little river 
 sparkling under the trees hundreds of feet below the track. Across the caiion 
 the hills rise up high, shutting off the early afternoon sun; and just at a turn 
 of the canon, on a jutting point of the mountain, is a cross that stands out 
 against the sky, as if it was painted there. Down in the valley, here and there, 
 are clusters of adobe houses, with quaint little churches, making the queerest 
 little villages imaginable; some of them are very near the track on the right 
 side, so close that the flying tourist has glimpses of Mexican backyard life. The 
 houses are almost hidden from view by trees and vines, among which 
 
 patriot.
 
 &te some oranges, lemons and bananas. There are some wonderful views all 
 through the canon, making it a most interesting portion of the journey. After 
 leaving the canon the road enters a semi-tropical region, passes the enter- 
 prising village and factories of Soria, seen from the west windows, and if the 
 train would stop long enough, a walk through the puiely Mexican town of 
 San Juan de las Vegas would be amply repaid. The streets are hedged with 
 giant cacti, fifteen and twenty feet high; behind, there are the adobe houses of 
 the inhabitants, almost hidden by a luxuriant foliage of banana leaves and 
 vines. There are forests and orange and lemon trees and some coffee trees. 
 The people are purely Mexican, with not even a half-bred Spanish exception. 
 At Gonzalez the trunk line of the National Railway of Mexico leads southeast- 
 ward through Queretaro, San Juan del Rio and El Salto to the City of Mexico 
 through a country fertile and replete with attractive scenery. 
 
 The old route to the Capital is through a rich agricultural region to and be- 
 yond Celaya, which city is on the right, and for miles the domes of the churches 
 and tlat-topped houses may be seen, with a high mountain for a blue back- 
 ground. The National crosses the Mexican Central Railway at Celaya, and, 
 having left the valley of the Laja, crosses a broken country to the valley of the 
 Lerma, the longest river in Mexico, which the road crosses after passing 
 Salvatierra, where there are some extensive woolen mills. At Acambaro is 
 the junction of the Western Division of ihe National Railway with the 
 main line. The city lies on the right of the road, on a plain al- 
 most hidden by trees and at the base of a high mountain. If for any reason 
 
 the train should stop long enough at Acambaro. a walk up town will repay. 
 Leaving this station, the route runs more to the southeast, but follows the 
 Lerma Valley, often running along its banks, sometimes near the water, and 
 again high on the cliffs of a canon. 
 
 Maravatio is a pretty little city on the right of the track, about forty miles 
 from Acambaro. A look from the windows shows the tower of an old church 
 above the trees, beyond which are the low-built houses. The country now 
 alternates between the finest agricultural lands and grazing plains, with some 
 barren hills intervening. The Canon of the Zopolite, through which the road 
 passes, presents some of the finest views of wild scenery. Just before the 
 canon is reached, on the left is shown a high cliff from which Juan Medina, 
 a noted brigand, leaped his horse to the death of both horse and rider, to 
 escape the latter's capture by the pursuing soldiers. After leaving the cafion 
 the road winds about on the barren hills in such bends and curves that the 
 track parallels itself two or three times, and looking from either side, that 
 part of the road passed a quarter of an hour ago, or to be gone over fifteen 
 minutes hence, may be seen two or three hundred yards away. Along here a 
 seat on the left of the train is best. 'Way across the valley is a village, down 
 by the river Lerma. almost hidden by the trees, only the white belfry of the 
 church rising above them. This village is not out of sight for nearly an hour.
 
 302 
 
 The seat on the left is best for views of the cafion, and if a careful lookout is 
 kept, the snow-capped crater of the volcano of Toluca may be seen, the 
 first glimpse about the hundred-and-fortieth kilometre post, and it may be seen 
 again and again, as the train reaches the top of the grades. Coming down 
 into the valley of Toluca the view is best from the right side, where it seems 
 to rise higher and higher above all the hills, as the road runs nearer to its base. 
 The city of Toluca is in the midst of a wide, level plain, a table-land, dotted 
 here and there with haciendas, showing evidence of great prosperity. The view 
 of the city is from the right side of the cars. Going east from the city the route 
 runs through the finest agricultural district, and along the broad highway that 
 was once a paved road, with massive stone bridges, crosses the Lerma again, 
 and comes to the base of the Sierra IMadres and commences the climb up its 
 steep sides. Looking back new, see the cities of the plain — Toluca in the dis- 
 tance, and the once "great city of Lerma," the home of the brigands, now a 
 mere village. Passing the suburbs of the town of Ocoyocac, the road winds 
 up the mountain side till it is a thousand feet above it, when, looking down 
 on the red-tiled roofs, it looks like a toy town of playhouses. The view from 
 
 the right-hand windows and the rear platform is grand beyond description; as 
 the train crawls slowly up the steep grades the panorama spreads out wider, 
 and the white-capped volcano seems to follow in the wake, till the view is 
 lost behind the trees. At the foot of the mountain is the river, like a silver 
 ribbon; beyond, the green and fertile valley, dotted here and there with a 
 hacienda or hamlet; in the far distance the snow-topped mountain, and, nestling 
 at its foot, the white walls and warm, red-tiled roofs of Toluca. A few more 
 turns, and the fair view is shut out, skyward; now, along the clififs of another 
 canon, the train approaches the summit. At Salazar, built on a plain near the 
 summit, the train halts for some ten minutes. The air is found to have become 
 sharp at an altitude of nearly lo.ooo feet. Leaving Salazar, the train continues 
 the ascent to La Cima. The station of La Cima is directly on the divide; the 
 waters flowing east go to the lake, on the Plain of ]\Iexico; those flowing west 
 go to the Pacific Ocean, and the stream that rushes down the west side of the 
 mountain, alongside of the track, is the headwaters of the River Lerma. 
 
 From this station the descent of the eastern slope begins, and the glorious 
 beauty of the noble Valley of Mexico commences to unfold. Through gaps
 
 303 
 
 in the mountain wall you may catch tieeting views in the panorama, until 
 finally it bursts like a vision full upon the sight; the glittering towers and 
 domes of ^Mexico in the middle distance; a little farther, and to the left, the 
 broad expanse of the waters of the lakes gleaming in the sunlight like burnished 
 silver; beyond, and overshadowing all, raising their snow-crowned heads far 
 above, a coronal of rainbow-tinted clouds wreathing them about, stand, in 
 majestic beauty, like guardians watching mutely over the scene, the giants of 
 the valley, Ixtaccihuatl and Popocatepetl. Could they but speak, what a his- 
 tory they might unfold — the building up of cities and their throwing down; 
 what opulence of power, what cruelty, crime and bloodshed. Races have come 
 and gone; majestic monuments, raised by the hand of man. have crumbled 
 into dust and are forgotten. They alone remain immutable, the hand of time 
 dealing with them but lightly. 
 
 Passing down the east side of the backbone of the continent, in crooks and 
 turns, through the tunnel of San Martin, the train rolls rapidly along the 
 side of the Monte de las Cruces, called so from the innumerable crosses erected 
 over the graves of highwaymen and their victims; here on this mountain 
 
 AT THE HACIENDA. 
 
 Hidalgo fought a battle with the Royalists and might have marched on the 
 capital, but chose to retreat, and here was the turning point in his fortunes 
 that cost him his life. After crossing a curved bridge over the Dos Rios, 
 nearly a hundred feet high, the road comes down into the Hondo Valley. The 
 village with the church, on the hill on the right, was the home of a band of 
 robbers for many years. Just after passing the station there is shown, on 
 the left side, an immense meteoric stone, or, "the stone that fell from the 
 moon," as the natives call it. 
 
 The ride between Toluca and the City of Mexico should by all means be 
 made in daylight, as here are some of the finest views in the world. 
 
 Now the City of Mexico is at hand, and with a few more turns the towers 
 and domes are in the view. As the train rolls down the Valley of Los Reme- 
 dios, the sanctuary is seen on the hill to the left; Chapultepec on the right, 
 and the town of Tacuba on the left. Again, on the left, the Church of San 
 Esteban, near the tree of Noche Triste, and then the fine passenger station, in 
 the City of ^Mexico.
 
 304 
 
 Westward from Acambaro. — As the train circles the town, the view Is a 
 very pretty one. btill passing through the fertile farming lands the journey 
 grows more interesting with every mile, interspersing rich haciendas with 
 scenery wild and weird, and after making a quick turn from between some 
 hills comes suddenly in view of Lake Cuitseo. Circling round through the 
 marsh at the head of the lake, where there are some salt works, the train comes 
 up to, and runs along the lake shore. The view is from the north side. It is 
 a fine body of water, but very shallow, with mountain islands rising up from 
 the water in every direction. One of these is inhabited by a tribe of Indians 
 who have no dealings with the outside world. On a little island of a few acres 
 they have a little world of their own, where a hardy, healthy band of contented 
 people seem entirely oblivious to all beyond the shores of their lake. The 
 men are strong, sturdy fellows, who go about the lakes in long canoes and 
 take, with a pole-net, the little white minnow-like fish on which they subsist; 
 dried in the sun, they are ready to be eaten. The women are fine specimens, 
 looking as if they might be warriors too, if their little island was attacked, but 
 seem happy in the little thatched huts that are their homes. The waters are 
 covered with thousands of water fowl of all kinds, and there is excellent 
 shooting. 
 
 Near Querendaro, just beyond the station on the lake shore, on the right, 
 see the columns of steam rising from the marshes. These are springs of hot 
 water, hot enough to boil an egg hard in a few moments. In the thick brush 
 near the track the Indians have made bathing-pools and come here to bathe, 
 and the fame of the cures is great. On the bushes and sticking in the ground 
 around the pools are hundreds of little crosses, made by two sticks tied to- 
 gether, left there by grateful patients who have been cured of their ills by the 
 waters. The ground all about the springs seems to be a mere crust, sounds 
 hollow, and sinks under the weight of a person walking near the springs. 
 There is a strong smell of sulphur, and whether this is only an upper crust of 
 his Satanic majesty's domain may be surmised. 
 
 From Lake Cuitseo to Alorelia the route crooks and turns through fertile 
 lands, passing fine haciendas and pretty villages, crossing valleys where per- 
 petual running streams keep the fields and gardens green from summer to win- 
 ter and winter to summer. When the reaping of one crop is accomplished 
 another is planted, and large yields of corn, wheat and barley are made. 
 
 From the right side of the cars a '"saddle" mountain is seen all the way from 
 Lake Cuitseo. It lies just north of the suburbs of Morelia, and is a landmark 
 showing the location of that city. 
 
 The tops of the towers in the city of Alorelia may be seen rising above the 
 low intervening hills, while the train is yet some miles away. The city is on 
 the left of the track, but a seat on the right is best. The track runs along the 
 river bank for a mile or two, and there are hundreds of Indian women wash- 
 ing clothes. These with their children, and the men waiting to let their wives 
 carry the laundry home, make an interesting scene. 
 
 The ride from the city to the western terminus of the Mexican National 
 at Patzcuaro, is picturesque to a degree. From the left windows you see the 
 Cuincho waterfall, where there are also some hot springs with water at a tem- 
 pe-ratnre sometimes reaching a hundred degrees. 
 
 The first view of Lake Patzcuaro is from the right-hand side of the cars, 
 and after making some curves on the hillside high above the barranca, the train 
 comes down to the shore of the lake, where th^e is a hacienda hotel near 
 the station. 
 
 The city of Patzcuaro is two miles from the station, located high on the 
 hills, from whence is a view of exceeding beauty. Miles of the lake, dotted
 
 305 
 
 with its dozens of islands, and the valley with nearly fifty towns and their white- 
 domed churches, illustrate a lovely panorama. 
 
 Westward from Patzcuaro the line extends to Uruapam, a primitive Mexi- 
 can town that is not like any other ; here is the center of a fertile fruit district 
 and tlie finest coffee country on the west slope. 
 
 The Mexican Northern Railway runs northeast from Escalon, on the 
 Mexican Central Railway, to the Sierra Moiada mining district, forty miles. 
 
 The Rio Grande, Sierra Madre & Pacific Railway starts at Ciudad 
 Juarez, opposite El Paso, and runs southwesterly to Terrazas, 155 miles, with 
 an ultimate destination on the Pacific coast. 
 
 The Yaqui gold fields are reached by the "Corralitos" road, as it is called. 
 
 SIERRA MOJADA, MEXICAN NORTHERN RAILWAY. 
 
 The mineral belt extending along this road, both east and west, from San Bias 
 to Casas Grandes, is extraordinarily rich in the ores of silver, copper, lead and 
 gold. Many mines in this territory have been worked for centuries, by the 
 Spaniards, then by Mexicans and Indians, and are now being worked by 
 Americans. It is only recently, however, that placer gold and marvelously rich 
 gold veins have been known to exist in this section. The climate is delightful. 
 Great palm trees, thirty to fifty feet high, grow green in the canon of the Rio 
 de Aros and southward, and flowers bloom there in January while the Can- 
 delaria peaks are perhaps covered with snow. It is a mile straight down, one to 
 the other, but the linear distance may be covered in three hours or less. The
 
 306 
 
 train leaves El Paso at a convenient hour in the morning, and arrives at CasaS 
 Grandes early in the afternoon. 
 
 The Coahuila 6c Pacific Ry, extends from Saltillo on the National to 
 Torrcon on the Central, passing through the wine regions of Parras and an 
 otherwise fertile district. 
 
 The Tocahuila 6c Zacatecas Railway runs southwest from Saltillo on the 
 Mexican National to Concepcion del Oro, seventy-eight miles. 
 
 South over the Southerti.— Through the south of Mexico, from Puebla 
 to Oaxaca, runs the Mexican Southern Railroad, with an ultimate destination 
 at Tehuantepec, or at the deep water harbor of Salina Cruz, on the Pacific 
 Coast. The road penetrates the rich regions of one of the richest sections of 
 the Republic, a territory with a wealth of timber and mineral resources in 
 the mountain districts, and illimitable beds of marble and onyx. In the low- 
 land valleys cane and coffee grow with wildest luxuriance, and all the fruits 
 of the tropics are found in the fields of the haciendas along the line. 
 
 The products of the contiguous territory must contribute to a local traffic 
 that will enter largely into increased earnings as mines and quarries are opened, 
 and when all the sugar and coft'ee lands are put under cultivation, while the 
 route of the road is geographically in the line that must be taken by the 
 "backbone railroad" from North to South America, and while that plan is 
 being promoted, this section is already built and operated, and in the near 
 future the Mexican Southern Railroad will offer the shortest route, for through 
 business, from the interior of the two Republics to the west coast of Central 
 and South America. 
 
 Unlike any other railroad in Mexico, the Southern does not run high on the 
 table-lands, and along the mountain sides, but follows the valleys, and, from a 
 scenic point of view, offers an innovation to the travelers of other lines that 
 have looked down on the valleys below the tracks, till they came here to travel 
 through the valleys, and through one canon and barranca after another, look- 
 ing up to the overhanging cliff's and towering peaks that close in about the 
 roadway till it seems there is hardly room to pass between them. Here are 
 the ever-running rivers to complete the innovation from the dry, rocky beds 
 
 of the rainy-season rivers of other sections. 
 The route of these rivers is the route of the 
 road, and the two are companions, hardly out 
 of sight of each other for many miles. Leav- 
 ing Puebla the Mexican Southern Railroad 
 runs almost due east, parallel with the line of 
 the Interoceanic Railway, across the plain as far 
 as Amozoc; at Amozoc the people make the 
 enormous spurs affected by the Mexican horse- 
 men, and other fine saddlery hardware; spurs 
 and toy flat irons are brought to the passing 
 trains and sold as souvenirs. This should be 
 called the Valley of Churches. Look where 
 you will, the tiled domes rise above j:he plain. 
 They are in the villages, north, east, 
 south and west, and every hacienda 
 has one of its own — picturesque to 
 a degree, with the polished tiles of 
 many colors, as in the Puebla Val- 
 ley and around Cholula. Looking 
 backward, as the train leaves the 
 handsome station in Puebla, there
 
 307 
 
 is a view of the city, the forts of the surrounding hills, and beyond them, to the 
 westward, the pyramid of Cholula ; further, high against the western sky, the 
 Volcanoes of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl ; and, to the northward, old Malintzi, 
 and the Cerro del Tecolote; then, a little to the east of north, the sharp, white 
 
 peak of Orizaba, rising 
 above the hill of Ama- 
 luca. Is there a view like 
 this, anywhere, that may 
 be seen from the windows 
 of a passenger car? 
 Where? 
 
 It is a slightly ascend- 
 ing grade from Puebla, 
 with an altitude of 7,093 
 feet to Amozoc, at 7,295 
 feet above the sea, and 
 after leaving that station 
 it is as constantly descend- 
 ing, for more than a hun- 
 dred and thirty-five miles, 
 to Quiotepec, and then it 
 is up hill to Las Sedas, 
 and, again, down hill to 
 Oaxaca. Of course there 
 are ups and downs of 
 track, but the average as- 
 cents and descents are as 
 mentioned. After Amozoc 
 the first town of impor- 
 tance is Tepeaca, on the 
 left of the track, with the 
 towers of a grand old 
 church, high above the 
 houses and the trees sur- 
 rounding it. The station 
 of Rosendo ^larquez was 
 named for a prominent 
 Mexican and former Gov- 
 ernor of the State of 
 Puebla. 
 
 Tecamachalco is a pic- 
 turesque old town, lying 
 on a hill to the north of 
 the track. The road from 
 it to the town skirts the 
 hill above the intervening 
 little valley, or, we may 
 call it a street, since it 
 leads from the others of 
 the town, that wind about 
 The picture is not exactly like any other in Mexico. 
 Around Las Animas the prickly-pear does not grow, or, at least, not as 
 
 MITLA— THE YOUNG AND THE OLD 
 
 among the adobe houses.
 
 308 
 
 much as elsewhere. Here it is the "organo," the full-grown plant greatly 
 resembling the pipes of the church organ, and it is most aptly named. Here 
 also is that variety from which the ixtle fibre is taken. It is a succession of 
 rich valleys and nature's great terraces, the table-lands, that the road passes 
 through along here, dropping from one to the other, by gradual descent, that 
 is shown by the easy running of the train, and a rising temperature. Passing 
 the stations of Tlalcotepec and Carnero, the important city of Tehuacan is 
 next on the line. The station at Tehuacan and the city are on the east side 
 of the track. It is a very pretty little city, its streets, with a row of trees 
 through the center, running at right angles, and passing through pretty plazas, 
 where there are other over-hanging trees, growing with a tropic luxuriance. 
 It is the "Street of Democracy" that leads from the station to the Plaza 
 
 PARISH CHURCH, OAXACA. 
 
 Mayor. The low-walled houses on either side have their patios filled with 
 flowers, and on the outer walls curiously curled brackets hold the old-fash- 
 ioned street lamps. On one side of the plaza is the principal church of 
 the place, on another the portales, on the others stores and residences. In 
 the center, in the dense shade of the trees, is a handsome music stand, em- 
 bowered in flowers. The outer walks of the plaza are paved with stone. 
 There are seats on either side, and on other walks leading in and out among 
 the trees and flowers. Near the plaza is a curious old market, and a more 
 curious old convent-looking church with a garden behind the high walls 
 surrounding it. Opposite the market is the College of Arts, and near by an 
 abandoned church, now used as a barrack for a company of rurales. 
 
 Tehuacan is on the ridge of a great water shed from which flow the rivers
 
 309 
 
 to the Gulf and to the Pacific, and in the center of a rich agricultural dis- 
 trict. It is the market for the surrounding villages and haciendas. This rich 
 valley tempted the building of a tramway from Esperanza on the Mexican 
 Railway, but it was wholly inadequate to the traffic, and since the building 
 of the Southern road there has been a largely increased trade. 
 
 After leaving Tehuacan, the view from the windows on the left is full of 
 interest. The city's white walls and towers gleam through and over the 
 trees. The plain spreads away to the mountains beyond, and not far away 
 they break off in great cliffs of rocks some hundreds of feet high, that are 
 in the view for miles and miles. As the track curves about the plain, the 
 picture is constantly changing in shapes and colors, for the rocks are stained 
 in all the colors by the oozings through of the metals of the earth coursing 
 down the cliff, that seem cut in huge columns, as might have been in some 
 prehistoric battlements of an ancient fortress. Here also, just below the city, 
 is a castle-like monastery on a pyramid near a high-walled panteon. The 
 monastery may have extracted its Pompeiian colors from the cliffs just be- 
 yond, that are so full of color. Pass- 
 ing down the plain, southeasterly, 
 the track runs near a 
 little stream that grows 
 larger as it winds in 
 
 
 and out among the hills. The stations on this table-land are La Huerta, 
 Santa Cruz, Pantzingo, Nopala and Venta Salada. Near Pantzingo is one 
 of the most curious freaks of irrigation engineering, the water from springs in 
 the upper terrace is brought to the edge and falls in little cascades to the 
 fields below. Seen from the windows on the west side. Near San An- 
 tonio the road enters the Canon del Rio Salado, which is but the 
 beginning of the great Caiion de los Cues, through w^hich it runs 
 to the town of Tecomavaca. The scenery through this canon is grandly 
 picturesque, resembling that of the great Marshall Pass in Colo- 
 rado, the track rlinning at the bottom of the canon, right along the 
 banks of a rushing, roaring river. The mountains are lifted up thousands 
 of feet, in peaks and crags, that the storms have cut into fantastic shapes. 
 Their walled sides drop perpendicularly to the water's edge, and close in 
 upon the river and the road till the passenger doubts, in his mind, how either 
 will find the way out. till the train dashes through a little tunnel, that is only 
 a wMnk of darkness, and the river tumbles over some high rocks, at the point 
 of the rocks, and runs alongside again. Here is a curious freak of the 
 scenery; we have been riding along a stream whose w^aters run to the south, 
 the train passes through a cutting, across a bridge, and comes to the river 
 again, but the waters are running to the north. There are two rivers; the 
 one running south is the Rio Salado, the other, the Rio Grande. They come
 
 310 
 
 together behind a hill, close by, and form the Rio Qiiiotepec which is the head 
 water of the Rio Papaloapan, And here at Quiotepec is the lowest point on 
 the line, the altitude being only 1,768 feet above the sea; the ascending 
 grade commences, and it is almost a steady climb through the Canon of 
 Tomellin, along the river bank, still with high towering mountains on either 
 side. Ihe station at Cuicatlan is in the midst of tropical verdure. There 
 is little of the village in view at the station, but, just alter leaving it, a look 
 back will show the picturesque little town on the hill above the track. 
 
 At Tomellin the river is crossed and left behind, and the train now begins 
 to ascend the valley of its tributary, the Tomellin or Rio de San Antonio. 
 The scenery of Tomellin is picturesque. The little river is very pretty, the 
 green trees invite to cooling shades, bright plumaged birds chatter in the 
 branches, but beyond all this, Tomellin is to be remembered — Tomellin is 
 the dinner station. And such a dinner! Appreciated perhaps all the more, 
 because so absolutely unexpected in this far-away country; for this it may 
 be remembered, yet more than all for the very excellence of it. It could be 
 a model for very many dinner stations some thousands of miles nearer home. 
 If you dine at Tomellin, you'll not forget or regret it, and perhaps you will 
 want to carry some of the dinner along for supper. As this is written in 
 1904 it is hoped that "Dick," the Chinaman, may live the century through 
 and the next one too, and that this paragraph may never have to be changed. 
 
 Hence, for scn;e n iles, it is an up-hill ride through the cafion still, with 
 scenery wild and \seird on either side of the road, passing the stations of 
 Almoloyas, Santa Catarina, Parian, arriving at the summit at Las Sedas, 
 where there is one of the grandest views of all the grand views of this scenic 
 line. From the windows on the right the panorama extends far down the 
 valley, and across it to the far-away pictures among the mountains, range 
 after range rising one above the other, the deep blue of the nearer ones 
 fading a little to those just beyond, and fading again till they seem to blend 
 into the sky, the sun tingeing each with a different hue, and on the range 
 near by, marking the white line of a mountain road that crosses to the val- 
 leys on the other side. 
 
 The grade is downward, and it is only a roll down past Huitzo to Etla, 
 a pretty little village on a hill eastward from the road, showing picturesquely 
 from the windows on the left. Etla is a town of fiestas, to which the pil- 
 grims come from far and near, as they do to Amecameca and Guadalupe, 
 and scarcely in fewer numbers. The old church is on the very top of the 
 hill, fronting the pretty little plaza, where the fiestas are held, and back of 
 it is a very ancient aqueduct of high arches extending into the mountains, 
 bringing a supply of fresh water to the village. It is a wide, open country 
 that the road runs through, the rich valleys extending to the hills on both 
 sides, dotted here and there with haciendas, that, with their great houses, 
 granaries and churches, are villages in themselves, and remind one of the 
 principalities we have read of in the old feudal ages. Across the valley, to 
 the west, the mountain breaks off in palisades; on the east it slopes to blue 
 mountains. Thus the ride is, with much to see from either side, or back to 
 the hills just climbed over. There has not been a moment of monotony in 
 all the journey, at the end of which there are anticipations of newer nov- 
 elties in this, to us, hitherto unseen city, and while we are only leaving the 
 little town of Etla. and its outlying haciendas, just down the valley there 
 are the towers of Oaxaca. 
 
 South over the Cuemavaca Divisioti Mexican Central — The route is not 
 over the old diligencia road across the Plain of Mexico, but over one equally 
 51s attractive, and while the style of travel may not be as antiquely pictur-
 
 311 
 
 esque as on the rumbling, dust-covered diligencia, the scenery is equally 
 as fine, and there is a deal more of comfort. 
 
 Trains leave from the Buena Vista station of the Mexican Central Rail- 
 way, in the City of Mexico, circling the western suburbs, running throusfh 
 the grounds of the Agricultural school, Nextitla, Tacuba, San Juanico, and 
 Santa Julia, a flag station. This place will be an important one. It was a 
 regular hacienda before, and the owners have fractioned the grounds and 
 sold them in lots. The "Colegio Salesiano" is now in construction. This 
 Catholic institution is devoted to poor boys, and is supported by charity of 
 Mexican families. It is provided with shops of all kinds. After leaving Santa 
 Julia the road crosses, in a straight angle, the main line of the Mexican Na- 
 tional Railroad, and reaches the Morales flour mill, after which it runs through 
 the grounds of "Molino del Rey." the Alexican Government's arm factory, 
 in the surroundings of which the battle with the United States army took 
 place in 1847. There are still some remains of the defenses built by the 
 ^Mexican army. On the left-hand side, and about half a mile from the track, 
 is the magnificent castle of Chapultepec. with its great groves and architectural 
 solidity. It was the ancient dwelling of Aztec kings, and the present resi- 
 dence of the President of the Republic. From this place on, the splendid 
 views of the Valley 
 of Mexico begin to 
 develop, until the 
 heights of Ajusco 
 are reached. The 
 next point of interest 
 is Tacubaya. It has 
 a population of 
 about 20.000. and is 
 the most important 
 suburban town of 
 j\Iex i c o , where 
 wealthy men from 
 the city have built 
 magnificent houses 
 and gardens for 
 their summer re- 
 sorts. From the sta- 
 tion of Tacubaya there is a small branch to the Valdes and Santo Domingo 
 flour mills. These mills use the waters supplying Tacubaya and the City of 
 Mexico as motive power. 
 
 Mixcoac is a small town, but an important one of the valley, on account 
 of its topographical situation, healthful climate, and abundant water. The 
 principal industry of the natives is the cultivation of flow^ers. a great number 
 of them being taken to the City of Mexico for daily sale. Mixcoac. as w^ell 
 as Tacubaya. is connected with the city by this road, by the Valley Railway, 
 and horse cars. 
 
 At 500 metres from the station the road passes by the door of "Hacienda 
 de la Castafieda," a place of amusement, with large gardens. Balls as well 
 as other amusements take place every Sunday. 
 
 El Olivar is the residence of the Catholic clergy. Near the station 
 there is another flour mill, and several factories of cotton goods and paper. 
 The line runs through the small town of San Geronimo. devoted to the 
 cultivation of fruit, especially strawberries. It is remarkable to see the work 
 the natives have done in order to adapt these grounds for cultivation, as
 
 312 
 
 all has been formed within dry walls and filled with vegetable earth, hauled 
 from long distances. The town is well supplied with water for irrigation, 
 A little further on the road passes the "Lomas de Padierna," where a battle 
 with the United States army took place. Near the track there is a small 
 monument, erected to the memory of the soldiers who fell in that battle. In 
 making the grading works some pieces ot uniforms with buttons of the 
 two armies were discovered. 
 
 Cotitreras is the oldest factory of cotton goods established in the Valley 
 of Mexico. The greater part of the people from the town of La Alagdalena 
 are employed here. The factory is moved by the water of La Cafiada River, 
 and is situated at the entrance of a long and narrow cafion. Ever since the 
 road was completed foreigners have chosen this place for Sunday excursions. 
 The Cafiada Canon is one of the most picturesque of the Republic. Its vege- 
 
 
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 ,*^^^4Vs 
 
 ^m 
 
 
 '*^ 
 
 ':^^B^- 
 
 T^ 
 
 fO 
 
 ■!'; 
 
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 :.V 
 
 h\0 
 
 
 ^T^i^''*T 
 
 Q-^^i 
 
 HACIENDA AT MITLA. 
 
 tation is tropical, notwithstanding the elevation, and in winter, when the vege- 
 tation of the valley is dead, that of the Cafiada is as exuberant as that of the 
 tierra caliente. 
 
 After leaving Contreras the road passes through the lands of San Nicolas, 
 arriving at the flag station of Eslava, situated on one side of the hacienda 
 of the same name. A mile beyond the road enters on a tract thickly cov- 
 ered with volcanic stone, thrown away a long time since by the volcano of 
 Ajusco, The grounds have a very original aspect. It has not been neces- 
 sary to make any works for letting rain water run out. The ground is so 
 porous that all the water filters in. and afterwards appears at the bottom of 
 the mountains in a dozen crystal springs. 
 
 Near the 40-kilometre post it was necessary to make two big cuts, and 
 one of the biggest fills in the country. To give an idea of its magnitude, it 
 is enough to say that it may be seen distinctly from the City of Mexico, and
 
 313 
 
 for its construction it was necessary to remove an amount of material ex- 
 ceeding 90,000 cubic metres. From this point may be clearly seen the Valley 
 of Mexico in the whole extension, the lakes of Texcoco. Chalco and Xochi- 
 milco, all the small towns of the valley, and the volcanoes with their white 
 peaks. It is one of the most picturesque views of the road. The elevation of 
 this place is 1,657 feet above the City of Mexico, and 9.006 feet above the sea. 
 
 The road continues ascending through the chains of mountains, and ar- 
 rives at the station of Ajusco. at an elevation of 9,318 feet. The station is 
 situated in the lower part of the town of Ajusco. 
 
 The next station is La Cima, the summit, at an elevation of 9.895 feet 
 above the sea. This is the highest point of the line. From this place the 
 
 PATIO OF HACIENDA, AT MITLA. 
 
 line begins to descend, passing, at 66 kilometres, the dividing line between 
 the Federal District and the State of Morelos. From this station to Cuer- 
 navaca, by straight line, is thirteen miles, but on account of the mountainous 
 country the road distance is thirty-eight miles. 
 
 Fierro Del Toro, at an elevation of 9.665 feet above the sea, is sit- 
 uated at the entrance of the magnificent forest of Huitzilac. The road con- 
 tinues on one side of the mountains of Coajomulco, through the town of 
 the same name. Before reaching this point, the hills and valleys of the 
 productive State of IMorelos may be seen, with the city of Cuernavaca and 
 the numerous haciendas where they cultivate the sugar cane and tropical fruits. 
 
 After Coajomulco. the line passes San Juanico. Near this place there are 
 some very high stone hills, in the highest of which there are some ruins 
 called the "Gran Tepoxteco." This is a remarkable construction on account
 
 314 
 
 of the difficulties the Indians must have had to take up the materials to such 
 a height, about 600 feet vertical. Some idols are still to be seen there. Ac- 
 cess to the mountains is very difficult. 
 
 At the lower part of San Juanico Mountains, and not very far from the 
 track, the town of "San IMiguel de la Cal" is situated, where there is a de- 
 posit of natural lime, ready for use; it is probably the only one of such 
 magnitude in the Republic. 
 
 From San Juanico the line runs to the west, touching the towns of Santa 
 Maria, Chamilpa, Ocotepec and Ahuatepec, and comes to the city of 
 
 Cuemavaca, capital of the State, with a population of 16,000 inhabitants; 
 elevation 4,960 feet above the level of the sea. It is built upon a hill between 
 
 
 p 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 h.'^sSHI 
 
 STREET IN CUERNAVACA. 
 
 two large depressions of ground, which make two ravines that unite outside 
 of the southern extremity of the town. From any of the culminating points 
 of Cuernavaca the eye embraces the territory of the State in its widest ex- 
 tent, its inner chains as well as its mountainous boundary. To the north is 
 the long range of Ajusco with its ramincations, whose ofifshoots, known as 
 the mountains of Tepoxtlan, rise in fantastic shapes, whilst the snowy peaks 
 of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl tower loftily in the background. The large 
 sugar plantations and plantain farms, with which the country is filled, together 
 with the luxuriant vegetation surrounding them, reveal the fertility of the 
 soil of this essentially agricultural State. The town proper contains more
 
 315 
 
 than 500 houses, besides the cottages in the suburbs, with their orchards 
 and gardens. It has more than sixty streets and alleys, five squares, five 
 churches, the most important being the Parish Church, which, like that of 
 Tula, in the State of Hidalgo, is very old and its exterior appearance that 
 of a fortress. Among the public buildings may be mentioned the old palace 
 of Cortez, now occupied by the State Government, the Literary Institute, the 
 Porfirio Diaz Theatre, the Hospital and the Barracks; the Post Office and 
 the Telegraph Office are all that is modern. 
 
 After leaving Cuernavaca the descent of the Pacific slope continues. The 
 scenery is grand beyond description, from one vantage point almost the 
 entire State of Morelos is within the range of vision. 
 
 MONTEREY & MEXICAN GULF STATION, MONTEREY. 
 
 At Puente de Ixtla the tracks of the Interoceanic Railway are connected, 
 thus forming a circle immediately south of the Capital with a wealth of scenic 
 
 frandeur not surpassed anywhere in the world. A trip out on the M. C. & 
 '. Ry., and back over the Interoceanic, or vice versa, is a fine one that must 
 not be neglected by the traveler. Near the junction of the two roads are 
 the famous caverns of Cacapuamilpa. The fine scenery continues to Iguala, 
 to where the road was completed in 1898. Thence towards Acapulco down to 
 the Rio Balsas, the present terminus, the wild mountainous district renders 
 the ride one of intense interest to the lover of the picturesque. 
 
 The Michoacan & Pacific Division of the National Railway of 
 Mexico runs west from the town of Maravatio, on the Mexican National 
 Railroad thirty-three miles to Ocamoo, and fifty-seven miles to Zitacuaro. 
 
 The Monterey Division of the Mexican Central extends from the 
 station of Trevino, where it connects with the Mexican International Railroad
 
 316 
 
 southeast to the Gulf of Mexico, at Tampico, crossing the Mexican National 
 Railroad at Monterey. 
 
 South from Trevino the road runs for some distance through an unin- 
 teresting district, but the barren hills and plains become verdure-clad and there 
 are fertile valleys farther south; above Monterey the picturesque region begins 
 and continues to the lovely valley in which that city lies, coming to it at 
 the north and leaving it at the south side. 
 
 Approaching Monterey the best views are from the windows on the west 
 side, showing the Mountain of the Mitres and the Saddle Mountain, on the 
 far side of the valley, with the beautiful city at the base, almost hidden by 
 the tall trees, only the towers showing above them. It is not all romance 
 and antiquity at Alonterey. In every view the more prosaic chimney stack 
 of a smelter, factory or brewery stands in line with the church tower of the 
 olden days. Monterey has probably made greater advancement than any 
 other Mexican city as a manufacturing centre. There are establishments of 
 almost every branch of trade, some of the most extensive ore smelters in 
 the country, and the brewery making the famous Cuautemoc beer from the pure 
 waters of the Monterey Valley. 
 
 South from Monterey this direct line to the Gulf continues through 
 a very fertile country, passing from one valley to another, the products chang- 
 ing with the climate southward, from the fruits and cereals of the tempe- 
 rate zone, to the cane and cotton and tropic fruits of the tierra caliente; 
 from the familiar forests of our own land to the hard woods of the warmer 
 countries. The builders of this road boast the use of ebony for ties; cer- 
 tainly there are some now under the rails cut within hauling distance of the 
 track. There is merchantable mahogany, rosewood and other close-grained 
 timber in demand for the finer uses in the arts. Another of the products 
 of this region is a beautiful black marble, without a seam or gleam of white, 
 or other color than its own inky blackness. This and a hard gray stone are 
 used in the company's handsome stations, at Monterey and other points 
 on the line. 
 
 At San Juan there is a picnic ground, with a dancing pavilion, in a grove 
 of trees near a clear running stream. On the right of the track is a native 
 "fonda," side by side with the "Two Republicks" restaurant; on the other 
 side some thatched huts, in queer contrast with the big brick kiln near by. It 
 is a well watered country that this one, unlike the other roads of Mexico, 
 runs through. The running streams are seen in little rivulets, creeks and 
 rivers of more pretentious proportions than is usual in this country, and 
 the prospect is necessarily different from most of the other railway lines. 
 
 Moiitemorelos, seen from the windows on the west, is a city of some 
 16,000 inhabitants, founded in the year 1749, about which time the first church 
 of the town was built. The only work of art is a painting "Pensador Mexi- 
 cano," by Senor Don Eduardo Lizardi. There are two Protestant churches, 
 Presbyterian and Baptist. The former was founded by Senor Leandro Garza 
 Mora, in 1862; the latter by Mr. Thomas Westrup, in 1869. 
 
 Linares is a flourishing town in the sugar belt, on the head waters of the 
 Rio Tigre, sometimes called the Conchas. The sugar industry of this sec- 
 tion has been greatly promoted by the advent of the railroad, and the im- 
 portation of modern machinery. On the right, far across the plain, is a 
 high mountain that a bright, gossipy correspondent has called the "Sombrero," 
 and with great excuse, for no matter what its other name may be, it will 
 be recognized at once as a ''sombrero." The immense crown of the peak, 
 and wide, spreading brim of the foothills, are in sight during all the journey 
 down to Tampico.
 
 317 
 
 Victoria is the capital of the State of Tamaulipas, founded in 17^,0 Its 
 population ranges from 11,000 to 12,000. The altitude of the town is 'i 180 
 feet above the sea level, and is located at the 23° 42' 54" latitude, and 
 o 01 02 longitude, east of the meridian of Mexico. The climate is almost 
 perfect, there being neither excessive heat in summer, nor are the winters 
 in any degree severe. Oranges, limes, bananas, pineapples, grapes, and in fact 
 all the tropical products are grown in profusion in this locality There are 
 three churches in the city, two Catholic and one Protestant. One of the for- 
 mer is the Cathedral; its construction dates from the foundation of the town 
 and IS still in an unfinished condition. The erection of the other was com- 
 nienced at a comparatively recent date, and of the more modern style of 
 church architecture. The Protestant church is a very unpretending place 
 ot worship. It being merely a missionary headquarters. 
 
 CITY AND BAY, GUAYMAS, MEXICO, SONORA RAILWAY. 
 
 ^ Among the points of interest to the tourist may be mentioned the park 
 t'edro Jose Mendez, containing many rare and beautiful plants and shrub- 
 t17'ai ^^°''^^^ '■^^°''^ ^^ situated at the southern end of the Alameda, 
 ihe Alameda is an elegant drive and promenade, with a row of fine trees 
 on each side extending for a distance of over two miles. The governor's 
 residence and state house of representatives is situated on the Alameda as 
 are also many beautiful private residences, all of which go to make La Ciu- 
 dad de Victoria a very attractive place among the comparatively newer order 
 ot cities of Mexico. 
 
 .^/V' ^descending grade with long stretches of level track across an open 
 country, hence to Tampico, with here and there patches of tropic verdure 
 The rmff ^J°r- °/i ^^^ T'^ extended forests that are over the hills towards 
 the coast and_ in the valleys to the west of the road. 
 
 Ihe lampico terminals of the line comprise extensive wharves at deep
 
 Sid 
 
 water, where the largest ships come alongside. The freight yards are ample 
 and the track connections with the San Luis Potosi division complete. 
 
 South over the Soiiora Railway. — ^The State of Sonora is noted foj 
 its great agricultural resources. Uhe principal staple is the famous sweet 
 orange grown in the luxuriant orchards of Hermosillo and Guaymas. 
 Wheat, corn, beans, alfalfa, cotton, sugar cane, tobacco and other agricul- 
 tural products are cultivated in great quantities. Wheat is sometimes ex- 
 ported to England and to Mexican eastern markets. Flour is constantly sent 
 to the States of Sinaloa and Lower California and now to other Mexican 
 states. Cattle are numerous in middle and northern Sonora, are exported to 
 Lower California and to the United States. Mines are abundant and very 
 rich, and the mining industry is well developed all over the State. Vast 
 amounts of rich silver ore are taken to United States smelters. 
 
 The Sonora Railway, crossing the State in a northerly direction from Guay- 
 mas to Nogales, boasts of being the first international railroad built and 
 operated between Mexico and the United States. It is 353 miles long and 
 standard gauge. The first tie was laid in the early part of 1880, and last 
 spike driven in October, 1882. 
 
 There are several periodicals and newspapers published in Nogales, Mag- 
 dalena, Altar, Ures, Hermosillo. Alamos and Guaymas. "El Tratico," of Guay- 
 mas is one of the largest in the Republic of Alexico and has a very wide 
 circulation at home and abroad. 
 
 The State of Sonora is noted for the beauty of its scenery of land and sea. 
 
 Nogales, with about 3,000 inhabitants, is a thriving double town of the 
 boundary line, half of it lying in Arizona Territory, the other portion in 
 the State of Sonora. On the American side can be seen several fine business 
 houses, hotels and factories, while on the other side there are some fine 
 shops, stores and private residences. The ]\Iexican Custom House is an 
 imposing stone building. The town of Nogales is very enterprising, well 
 provided with public schools, and has water works and electric light. 
 
 Just south of Nogales the tourist can admire the beautiful Casita Cafion, 
 dotted with superb trees and shrubbery, intersected by several streams of 
 clear water running alcng the route of the railroad. 
 
 From Casita south to Santa Ana the country is all under cultivation, large 
 farms alternating with orchards and vegetable gardens. The town of Mag- 
 dalena. with 4.000 inhabitants, is quite renowned, it being the rendezvous 
 of thousands of pilgrims from Sonora, Chihuahua and Durango in Mexico, 
 and from Arizona, California and New ]\Iexico in the United States, all go- 
 ing to ^lagdalena to pray to San Francisco's image, on the fourth of Oc- 
 tober every year. 
 
 Hermosiilo, the capital of Sonora, and the seat of the Catholic diocese, 
 possesses a magnificent government capitol. a fine new cathedral, and a small 
 But nice Protestant church, the national mint, one of the best modern flour 
 mills, a beautiful depot and several other elegant public and private build- 
 ings. The Plaza of Hermosillo is the largest and handsomest in Sonora. 
 The population exceeds 10,000 people. The district of Hermosillo is noted 
 for its splendid agricultural and mining surroundings, the railroad crossing 
 exuberant orange groves, vegetable farms and flower gardens. 
 
 Guaymas, the home of the Sonora Railway, is a city of over 8,000 in- 
 habitants, all very enterprising and progressive. The foreign element is quite 
 important and of high standing. Guaymas is a great commercial place and 
 the feeder of Sonora, Lower California, Sinaloa and Colima. the Sonora 
 Railway facilitating the imports and exports from and to the United States, 
 Europe and Eastern Mexico.
 
 31^ 
 
 The bay of Guaymas is the best on the Mexican Pacific coast, and one 
 of the largest in all the Pacific Ocean. Marine trade is very important in 
 Guaymas, and its bay is constantly visited by Mexican and foreign craft. A 
 marine railway is being built and is nearing completion. 
 
 That the city of Guaymas is progressing rapidly, due principally to the 
 opening of the'Sonora Railway, is shown by the construction of a street- 
 car system, two substantial brick buildings for public schools, a magnificent 
 civil hospital, the new jail, an imposing stone structure, water-works system, a 
 very large bonded warehouse, landings and wharves for the storage and trans- 
 fer of foreign freight, Protestant and Catholic churches, and several other 
 buildings, factories and private residences of modern style. 
 
 During the winter season — November to May — the temperature of Guaymas 
 is unequaled in the world, well adapted for the invalid as well as for the 
 tourist and sportsman. Ducks and other wild game are plentiful in the out- 
 skirts of the city, and fishing, sailing, boating and bathing in the surf, are 
 the most enjovable sports on the great Guaymas Bay. The Carnival in Guay- 
 mas is carried' out in grand style at the same season as in New Orleans, num- 
 berless foreigners visiting the city, participating in the processions and mas- 
 querade balls. ^ ,. - 
 
 The Tehuatitepec Railroad runs from Coatzacoalcos. on the Gulf of 
 Mexico, to Salina Cruz, on the Pacific Coast, about 145 miles. 
 
 The Hidalgo Railroad runs northeastward from the City of Mexico to 
 Pachuca, Tulancinsro and Zumpango. 
 
 The Mexican National Constructioti Coitipatiy operates a line from 
 Manzanillo, on the Pacific Coast, to CoHma. 60 miles; also a line from Zaca- 
 tecas to Guadalupe and Ojo Caliente, 30 miles. 
 
 The Vera Cruz & Pacific Railway connects the vast railway system 
 of Mexico and the north with the Tehuantepec Railway and the Isthmus coun- 
 try. The route is through the heart of the tropics and the scenery wildly 
 picturesque. ,. ^ ^^ .. ^ 
 
 The Mexican National Railway line from Monterey to Matamoros. 
 on the Gulf, will be completed Ijy 1905.
 
 320 
 
 The United States of Mexico. 
 
 The Republic of Mexico comprises twenty-eight States, one Territory and 
 the Federal District in which the national capital is located. The State Gov- 
 ernments are very similar to those of the United States, having a Governor, 
 Legislature, Courts, etc. The following table is interesting: 
 
 Names of States. 
 
 Capital. 
 
 Area in Assessed pnn„iatinn 
 square miles, value. Population. 
 
 Aguas Calientes Aguas Calientes 
 
 Campeche Campeche 
 
 Coahuila Saltillo 
 
 Colima Colima 
 
 Chiapas Tuxtia Guitierrez.. 
 
 Chihuahua Chihuahua 
 
 Durango Durango 
 
 Guanajuato Guanajuato 
 
 Guerrero Chilpancingo 
 
 Hidalgo Pachuca 
 
 Jalisco Guadalajara 
 
 Mexico Toluca 
 
 Michoacan Morelia 
 
 Morelos Cuernavaca 
 
 Nuevo Leon Monterey 
 
 Oaxaca Oaxaca 
 
 Puebia Puebla 
 
 Queretaro Queretaro 
 
 San Luis Potcsi San Luis Potcsi 
 
 Sinaloa Culiacan 
 
 Sonora Hermosilio 
 
 Tabasco San Juan Eautista. 
 
 Tamaulipas Victoria 
 
 Tlaxcala Tlaxcala 
 
 Vera Cruz Jalapa 
 
 Yucatan Merida 
 
 Zacatecas Zacatecas 
 
 Territory of Tepic Tepic 
 
 Lower California La Paz 
 
 Federal District City of Mexico 
 
 Totals 
 
 3,080 
 
 $ 6,272,375 
 
 100,910 
 
 20,760 
 
 1,728,435 
 
 84,218 
 
 59,000 
 
 7,152,345 
 
 280,899 
 
 2,700 
 
 3,925,724 
 
 65,026 
 
 29,600 
 
 4,722,823 
 
 363,216 
 
 89,200 
 
 5,926,728 
 
 327,004 
 
 42,300 
 
 7,727,327 
 
 371,274 
 
 12,300 
 
 31,005,785 
 
 1,065,317 
 
 22,700 
 
 2,125,000 
 
 474.594 
 
 7,600 
 
 16,078,924 
 
 603.074 
 
 38,400 
 
 24,023,825 
 
 1,137,311 
 
 8,080 
 
 22,127,344 
 
 924.457 
 
 23,000 
 
 22,728,416 
 
 935,849 
 
 1,850 
 
 17,125,572 
 
 161,697 
 
 25,000 
 
 11,684.323 
 
 326,940 
 
 28,400 
 
 13,127,425 
 
 947.910 
 
 12,600 
 
 37,127,591 
 
 1,024.446 
 
 3,800 
 
 12,062,345 
 
 228,489 
 
 26,100 
 
 15,123,727 
 
 582,486 
 
 36.100 
 
 5,072,424 
 
 296.109 
 
 77.000 
 
 7,623,121 
 
 220.553 
 
 10,000 
 
 4,232,163 
 
 158,107 
 
 29.000 
 
 7,828,822 
 
 220,253 
 
 1,500 
 
 7,842,924 
 
 172,217 
 
 23.840 
 
 26,232,716 
 
 960,570 
 
 28,400 
 
 4,892,516 
 
 312,264 
 
 25,300 
 
 16,989,728 
 
 496.810 
 
 530 
 
 788,542 
 
 149,677 
 
 60,000 
 
 4.894.733 
 
 47,082 
 
 450 
 
 61,124,573 
 $409,318,296 
 
 530,723 
 
 '48,590 
 
 13,569,482 
 
 For the support of the Governments of the various States there is a system 
 of taxation on all foreign and domestic merchandise, as well as a direct tax 
 on real and personal property. 
 
 Each State is represented in the Congress by two Senators, elected alter- 
 nately every tw'O years, and by one member of the Chamber of Deputies for 
 each 40.000 of population, and one for each fraction of more than 20,000. 
 
 The largest State is Chihuahua, since Coahuila was shorn of that portion 
 of the domain now called Texas. Tlaxcala is the smallest State. After the Fed- 
 eral District, Puebla is the wealthiest in assessed values, with Guanajuato a close 
 second. The wealth of the former is, for the most part, in the silver mines; of 
 the latter, in agricultural lands and onyx quarries. Campeche represents the 
 smallest amount of wealth. The Federal District is to Mexico what the District 
 of Columbia is to the United States, w^itii laws administered under the direction 
 of the Federal Government.
 
 321 
 LOCATION, POPULATION AND ALTITUDE OF CITIES. 
 
 Acainbaro 
 
 Acapuk'o 
 
 Aguas Calienles 
 
 Ameca 
 
 Amecaineca 
 
 <;;aiupeche 
 
 Catorce 
 
 Celaya 
 
 Chihuahua 
 
 Ciudad Juarez 
 
 <Jiuda<i P. Diaz 
 
 Coatzaeoalcos 
 
 Coliina 
 
 Coniobu 
 
 Cuautia 
 
 Cuernavaca 
 
 Culiacau 
 
 Durango 
 
 Gomez Palacio 
 
 Guadalajara 
 
 Guanajuato 
 
 Guaymas 
 
 Herniosillo 
 
 Iguala 
 
 Irapuato 
 
 Jiilapa 
 
 Lagos 
 
 Leon 
 
 Lerdo 
 
 Linares 
 
 Maravatio 
 
 Matanioros 
 
 Slei-ida 
 
 Mexico 
 
 Mitla 
 
 Monterey 
 
 Monclova 
 
 Morelia 
 
 JTuevo Laredo 
 
 Oaxaca 
 
 Orizaba 
 
 iPachuea 
 
 JParral 
 
 .f 'arras 
 
 Fatzcuaro 
 
 !^*rogre^^o 
 
 I'uebla 
 
 (^ueietaro 
 
 Salamanca 
 
 Saltillo 
 
 i^alvatierra 
 
 .San Juan Bautista 
 
 San Juan del Rio 
 
 ?an Luis Potosi 
 
 San Miguel de Allen Jt 
 
 Snyula 
 
 Sierra Mojada 
 
 Silao 
 
 Tampieo 
 
 Tehnacan 
 
 'I'ehuantep'-c 
 
 'I'oluca 
 
 Torreon 
 
 Tula 
 
 (j'niapan 
 
 Vera Ciuz 
 
 A'ictoria 
 
 Zacatecas 
 
 Zamora 
 
 Zapotlan 
 
 Mex. Int 
 
 Tehuantepec R. R.... 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex.Ry 
 
 Interoceanie 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Occidental 
 
 Mex. Int 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Sonora 
 
 Sonora 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Interoceanie 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Nat 
 
 Mex. Nat 
 
 U. Ky. of Yuc 
 
 .Mex. N'at. and Mex. Cen. 
 
 Guanajuato Mex. Nat 
 
 Guenero Mex. , Cuer . & Pac 
 
 Aguas Calientes Mex. Cen 
 
 Jalisco Mex. Cen 
 
 Mexico i Interoceanie 
 
 Campeche ! U. Ry. of Yuc 
 
 San Luis Potosi Mex. Nat 
 
 Guanajuato '.Mex. Cen. and Mex. Nat. 
 
 Chihuahua Mex. Cen 
 
 Chihuahua j Mex. Cen 
 
 Cuahuila 
 
 Vera Cruz 
 
 Coliiua 
 
 Vera Cruz 
 
 Morelos 
 
 Morelos 
 
 Sinaloa 
 
 Durango 
 
 Durango 
 
 Jalisco 
 
 Guanajuato 
 
 Sonora 
 
 Sonora 
 
 Guerrero 
 
 Guanajuato 
 
 Vera Cruz 
 
 Jalisco 
 
 Guanajuato 
 
 Durango 
 
 Nuevo Leon 
 
 Miehoacan 
 
 Tamaulipas 
 
 Yucatan 
 
 Distrito Federal 
 
 Oaxaca 
 
 Nuevo Leon... 
 
 Couhuila 
 
 .Miehoacan 
 
 Tamaulipas . . . 
 
 Oaxaca 
 
 Vera Cruz 
 
 Hidalgo 
 
 Chihuahua 
 
 Coahuila 
 
 Miehoacan 
 
 Yucatan 
 
 Puebia 
 
 Queretaro 
 
 Guanajuato. . . . 
 
 Coahuila 
 
 Guanajuato 
 
 Tabasco 
 
 Queretaro 
 
 San Luis Poti.> 
 
 Guanajuato 
 
 Jalisco 
 
 Coahuila 
 
 Guanajuato 
 
 Tamaulipas 
 
 Puebia 
 
 Oaxaca 
 
 Mexico 
 
 Coahuila 
 
 Hidalgo 
 
 Miehoacan 
 
 Vera Cruz 
 
 Tamaulipas 
 
 Z.oateeas 
 
 ^Miehoacan 
 
 Jali.-ico 
 
 Mex. Nat. and Mex. Cen. 
 
 Mex. Int 
 
 Mex. Nat 
 
 Mex. Nat 
 
 Mex. So 
 
 Mex. Ry 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Coah. & Pac 
 
 Mex. Nat 
 
 U. Ry. of Yuc 
 
 I. O. and Mex 
 
 Mex. Cen. and Mex. Nat 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Nat 
 
 Mex. Nat 
 
 Mex. Cen. and Mex. Nat. 
 ..Mex. Cen. and Mex. Nat. 
 
 Mex. Nat 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Nor 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. So 
 
 Mex. Nat 
 
 Mex. Nat 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Nat 
 
 Mex.Ry 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 Mex Cen 
 
 Mex. Cen 
 
 8006 
 
 6000 
 
 37S16 
 
 4739 
 
 8180 
 
 7406 
 
 6-2.54 
 
 25565 
 
 30098 
 
 8192 
 
 12774 
 
 1500 
 
 20698 
 
 8136 
 
 6269 
 
 9584 
 
 10380 
 
 31092 
 
 7680 
 
 101208 
 
 40580 
 
 8648 
 
 10613 
 
 7463 
 
 19640 
 
 20388 
 
 16000 
 
 63263 
 
 7795 
 
 7076 
 
 6000 
 
 8347 
 
 42819 
 
 368777 
 
 300 
 
 62266 
 
 6684 
 
 38606 
 
 8000 
 
 35049 
 
 33.539 
 
 37487 
 
 16382 
 
 6476 
 
 7210 
 
 4914 
 
 98191 
 
 38016 
 
 13724 
 
 23996 
 
 11008 
 
 10543 
 
 8224 
 
 60858 
 
 12740 
 
 7888 
 
 12840 
 
 15463 
 
 16313 
 
 7.395 
 
 10386 
 
 25910 
 
 13845 
 
 2000 
 
 9859 
 
 29162 
 
 10086 
 
 34438 
 
 12533 
 
 17596 
 
 6301 
 
 50 
 
 6179 
 
 4100 
 
 8571 
 
 
 
 9043 
 
 5763 
 
 4633 
 
 3717 
 
 702 
 
 15 
 
 1601 
 
 2713 
 
 4267 
 
 5068 
 
 131 
 
 6207 
 
 3723 
 
 5054 
 
 6837 
 
 
 
 672 
 
 24U 
 
 5655 
 
 4608 
 
 6134 
 
 5855 
 
 3725 
 
 1187 
 
 67.50 
 
 26 
 
 26 
 
 7349 
 
 4000 
 
 1624 
 
 1926 
 
 6396 
 
 459 
 
 5071 
 
 4028 
 
 8023 
 
 5701 
 
 5032 
 
 7183 
 
 
 
 7091 
 
 5947 
 
 5646 
 
 5337 
 
 5760 
 
 51 
 
 6252 
 
 6121 
 
 6035 
 
 4474 
 
 4749 
 
 5829 
 
 5497 
 33 
 8761 
 3739 
 7353 
 5576 
 23 
 1473 
 8010 
 51S0 
 4976 
 
 Ak-kam-ha.ro. 
 Ak-kn-ptdl-co. 
 Ah- was Cal-i-eH-tees. 
 Ah-may-ca.. 
 Ah-may-ca. mayca.. 
 Cam-jaee-ehe. 
 Cah-for-see. 
 See-?/-ja. 
 Che-ifoit'-wa. 
 The-oo-darf TTar-ez. 
 " " Fui fee-iio-Dee-a.z. 
 Ko-at-zah-co-a/-cose. 
 Co-lee-mah. 
 Cord-o-va.. 
 Kivoiit-]&. 
 Kwer-na-raca. 
 Koo-le-a-ca/i. 
 Doo-ro«5f-o. 
 Gomez Pal aft-see-o. 
 Wah-dtha-la-^iar-a. 
 Wan-a-ifo/i-tL). 
 Wah-ee-wios. 
 Er-mo-seei-yo. 
 E-gual-a. 
 lira pwat-o. 
 Ha-lap-a. 
 io/i-gose. 
 Lay-ow'H. 
 iaer-do. 
 Lee-nafr-es. 
 .Many-va fee-o. 
 Mat-a-mo-ros. 
 Merry-da. 
 J)Ieh-he-co. 
 MeetAah. 
 yioii-t e-ray. 
 Jlon c/o-va. 
 Mo-raj7-ya. 
 Noo-ei'-o Lah-raj/-do- 
 O-ah-ftafc-Hh. 
 Orry-zah-va.. 
 Pa-cftoo-ca. 
 Var-ral. 
 Pa r-r as. 
 Patz-quar-o. 
 Vrv-gress-o. 
 Poo-e6-la. 
 Kay-re^a-ro. 
 Sal-a-»Man-ca. 
 Sa.\-teel-yo. 
 Sal-va-tee-6/--ra. 
 San ffahn Bah-oo-tees ti 
 San Wahn dei Ree-^,. 
 San Xoo-is Vu-\.^,■see. 
 San Me-g«7 day .\i-»/end-e 
 Sah-(/o?«-.a. 
 See-er-ia Mo-/iad-a. 
 See-low. 
 Tain-pee-co. 
 Tay-wah c«»?. 
 Tay-wan-te /jeefc 
 To-Zoo-ca. 
 Tor>-Oit)i. 
 Too-] a. 
 
 Oo-roo-(ii/-iiii. 
 Vera Krooze. 
 Vic-fo-ii-a. 
 Zak-a-<aj/-cas. 
 Zani-o-ra. 
 Zai>ote-Zan.
 
 322
 
 323 
 
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 iSOiSOOOOOOO l-COOOO 
 
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 aaE.E5.E5,aaaS.EaaftEES.S. a a' 
 
 555535s55S355S=5S5=5«5S55===SSk5 
 
 SSOCJOOOOSlOOCOOOOOi-COOOt^OOOOClOOO.flO 
 
 d a = - =: 
 
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 824
 
 325
 
 326 
 
 A PULPIT OF SANTA ROSA, QUERETARO.
 
 327 
 
 Table of Terms 
 
 NUMBERS. 
 
 ENGLISH. SPANISH. PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 One Uno, una Oo'-no. 
 
 Two Dos Dose. 
 
 Three Tres Trace. 
 
 Four Cuatro Kwah'-tro. 
 
 Five Cinco Seen'-ko. 
 
 Six Seis Say'-is. 
 
 Seven Siete See-ai'-te. 
 
 Eight Ocho O'-tcho. 
 
 Nine Nueve Noo-ev'-e. 
 
 Ten Diez De-eth'. 
 
 Eleven Once On'-say. 
 
 Twelve Doce Do'-say. 
 
 Thirteen Trece Tray-ce. 
 
 Fourteen Catorce Kah-tor'-say. 
 
 Fifteen Quince Keen'-say. 
 
 Sixteen • Diez y seis De-eth' e say'-is. 
 
 Seventeen Diez y siete De-eth' e see-ai'-te 
 
 Eighteen Diez y ocho De-eth' e o'-tcho. 
 
 Nineteen Diez y nueve De-eth' e noo-ev'-e 
 
 Twenty Veinte Vay'-inte. 
 
 Twenty-one, etc Veinte y uno, etc Vay'-inte e oo'-no. 
 
 Thirty Treinta Tray-intah. 
 
 Forty Cuarenta Kwar-en'-tah. 
 
 Fifty Cincuenta Seen-kwen'-tah. 
 
 Sixty Sesenta Se-sen'-tah. 
 
 Seventy Setenta Say-ten'-tah. 
 
 Eighty Ochenta O-chen'-tah. 
 
 Ninety Noventa No-ven'-tah. 
 
 Hundred, a or one Ciento See-en'-to. 
 
 Two hundred Doscientos Dose-see-en'-tose. 
 
 Three hundred Trescientos Tray-see-en'-tose. 
 
 Four hundred Cuatrocientos Kwah-tro-see-en'-tose. 
 
 Five hundred Quinientos Ke-ne-en'-tose. 
 
 Six hundred Seiscientos Sai-is-see-en'-tcsc. 
 
 Seven hundred Setecientos Sai-tay-see-en'-tcse.' 
 
 Eight hundred Ochocientos O-cho-see-en'-tose. 
 
 Nine hundred Novecientos No-vay-see-en'-tose 
 
 Thousand, a or one Mil Meel. 
 
 Two thousand Dos mil Dose meel. 
 
 Eleven hundred Mil ciento Meel see-ain'-tose. 
 
 Hundred thousand Cien mil See-en' meel. 
 
 Million Un millon Un milyon.
 
 328 
 ORDINAL NUMBERS. 
 
 ENGLISH. SPANISH. PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 First Primero Prim-mer'-ro. 
 
 Second Segundo Say-goon'-do. 
 
 Third Tercero Ter-sere'-o. 
 
 Fourth Cuarto Kwar'-to. 
 
 Fifth Quinto Keen'-to. 
 
 Sixth Sexto Seks'-to. 
 
 Seventh Septimo Sep'-te-mo. 
 
 Eighth Octavo Ok-tah'-vo. 
 
 Ninth Noveno, or nono No-vay'-no. 
 
 Tenth Decimo Day '-see-mo. 
 
 MONTHS. 
 
 ENGLISH. SPANISH. PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 January Enero Eh-ner'-ro. 
 
 February Febrero Feh-brer'-ro. 
 
 March Marzo Alar'-zo. 
 
 April Abril Ah-breel'. 
 
 May Mayo Mah'-yo. 
 
 June Junio Hoo'-ne-o. 
 
 July Julio Hoo'-le-o. 
 
 August Agosto Ah-go'-sto 
 
 September Setiembre Seh— te-em'-bray. 
 
 October Octubre Ok-too'-bray. 
 
 November Noviembre No-ve-em'-bray. 
 
 December Diciembre De-the-em'-bray. 
 
 DAYS OF THE WEEK. 
 
 ENGLISH. SPANISH. PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 Monday Lunes Loo'-ncs. 
 
 Tuesday Martes . .- Mar'-tes. 
 
 Wednesday Miercoles Ale-er'-ko-les. 
 
 Thursday Jueves Hu-er-es. 
 
 Friday Viernes Ve-ere'-nes. 
 
 Saturday Sabado Sah'-bah-do. 
 
 Sunday Domingo Do-meen'-go. 
 
 TIME. 
 
 ENGLISH. SPANISH. PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 Day Dia De-ah'. 
 
 Morning Mariana Man-yah'-nah. 
 
 Noon Medio dia May'-deo de'-ah. 
 
 Afternoon Tarde Tar'-day. 
 
 Evening Tardecita Tar'-day-see'-tah. 
 
 Night Noche No'-tchay. 
 
 Midnight Media noche May'-de-ah no'-tchay. 
 
 Yesterday Ayer Ah-yere'. 
 
 The day before yesterday Antes de ayer An'-tays day ah-yere 
 
 To-day Hoy Oy. ^ 
 
 To-morrow Mariana Man-yah -nah.
 
 329 
 
 The day after to-morrow. . Pasada manana Pa-sah'-da man-yah'-nah. 
 
 The night before last. . . Antes de anoche An'-tays day ah-no'-tchay. 
 
 Last night Anoche Ah-no'-tchay. 
 
 Last week La semana pasada Lah say-mah'-nah pa-sah'- 
 
 dah. 
 
 Last month El mes pasado El mace pa-sah'-do. 
 
 Last year El afio pasado El ahn'-yo pa-sah'-do. 
 
 Year Afio Ahn'-yo. 
 
 Month Mes Mace. 
 
 Week Semana Say-mah'-nah. 
 
 An hour Una hora Oon'-ah oh'-rah. 
 
 Half an hour Media hora ^May'-de-ah oh'-rah. 
 
 Quarter of an hour Un cuarto de hora Oon kwar'-to day oh'-rah. 
 
 What day of the month is 
 
 it? i. Que dia es hoy? Kay de'-ah es oy? 
 
 Hour Hora O'-rah. 
 
 Minute Minuto Min-oo'-to. 
 
 Second Segundo Say-goon'-do. 
 
 What time is it? oQue hora es? Kay o'-ra es? 
 
 It is one o'clock Es la una Es lah oon'-a. 
 
 It is a quarter past one. . Es la una y cuarto Es lah oon'-ah e kwar'-to. 
 
 It is half past one Es la una y media Es lah oon'-ah e may'-dia. 
 
 It is a quarter to two. . . .Son las dos menos cuarto. Sone lahs dose may'-nos 
 
 kwar'-to. 
 It is about four Son cerca de las cuatro. . . . Sone ser'-ka de las kwah'- 
 
 tro. 
 It is twenty minutes past Son las diez y veinte minu-Sone lahs de-eth e vay'-inte 
 ten tos. min-oo'-tose. 
 
 Two o'clock Son las dos Sone lahs dose. 
 
 Ten o'clock Son las diez Sone lahs de-eth'. 
 
 It is midnight Es media noche Es may'-de-o no'-tchay. 
 
 It is noon Es media dia Es may'-de-a dee'-ah. 
 
 SEASONS. 
 
 ENGLISH. SP.A.NISH. PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 Spring Primavera Prim-mah-vere'-ah. 
 
 Summer Verano Vai-rah'-no. 
 
 Autumn Otoiio O-tone'-yo. 
 
 Winter Invierno Een-ve-ere'-no. 
 
 MONEY. 
 
 ENGLISH. SPANISH. PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 Money Moneda Mo-nay '-dah. 
 
 Money Dinero De-ner'-o. 
 
 Gold Oro O'-ro. 
 
 Silver Plata Plat'-ah. 
 
 Paper Papel Pah-pell'. 
 
 Dollar Peso Pay'-so. 
 
 Cent Centavo Cen-tah'-vo. 
 
 Real Real Ray-al'. 
 
 Medio Medio May'-de-o. 
 
 Change Cambio Kam'-be-o. 
 
 Bank note Billete Beel-yai'-te.
 
 330 
 
 Per cent Por ciento Por see-en'-to. 
 
 Bank Banco Bank'-o. 
 
 Draft Letra de cambio Lay'-tra day cam'-be-o. 
 
 Check Cheque Chek'-kay. 
 
 Discount Descuento Des-coo-en'-to. 
 
 Premium Premio Pray'-me-o. 
 
 Par A la par Ah lah par. 
 
 ON THE ROAD. 
 
 ENGLISH. SPANISH. PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 Ticket Boleto Bo-lay'-to. 
 
 First class Primera clase Prim-er'-ra klas'-say. 
 
 Second class Segunda clase Say-goon'-dah klas'-say. 
 
 Third Tercera clase Ter-sere'-ah klas'-say. 
 
 Through ticket Boleto terminal Bo-lay'-to ter-me-nal'. 
 
 Limited ticket Boleto limitado Bo-lay'-to lim-e-tah'-do. 
 
 Unlimited ticket Boleto ilimitado Bo-lay'-to e-lim-e-tah'-do. 
 
 Stop-over ticket Boleto de parada Bo-lav'-to day pah-rah'- 
 
 dah. 
 
 Excursion ticket Boleto de excursion Bo-lay'-to day ex-cur-see- 
 on'. 
 
 Round-trip ticket Boleto de viaje redondo.. Bo-lay'-to day vee-ah'-he 
 
 ray-don'-do. 
 
 Half-fare ticket Medio boleto May'-de-o bo-lay'-to. 
 
 Sleeping-car ticket Boleto de coche dormitorio Bo-lay'-to day ko'-tchay 
 
 dor-me-to'-re-o. 
 
 Ticket agent Agente de boletos Ah-hcn'-tay day bo-lay '- 
 
 tos. 
 
 Ticket office Despacho de boletos Des-pah'-tcho day bo- 
 lay '-tos. 
 
 Telegraph office Oficina del telegrafo Off-e-see'-nah del tel-leg'- 
 
 rah-fo. 
 
 Railroad Ferrocarril Fer-ro-car-reel'. 
 
 Railroad station Estacion Es-tah-see-on'. 
 
 Train Tren Tren. 
 
 Express train Tren expreso Tren es-pres'-o. 
 
 First train Primer tren Prim-er' tren. 
 
 Through train Tren terminal Tren ter-me-nal'. 
 
 Local train Tren local Tren lo-cal'. 
 
 Sleeping car Coche dormitorio Ko'-tchay dor-me-to'-re-o 
 
 Smoking car Coche de fumar .Ko'-tchay day foo-marr'. 
 
 Express car Coche del expreso Ko'-tchay del es-pres'-o. 
 
 Day coach Coche de dia Ko'-tchay day de-ah'. 
 
 Baggage car Carro de equipajes Kar'-ro day ek-we-pah'- 
 
 hcs. 
 
 Baggage room Sala de equipajes Sah'-lah day ek-we-pah'- 
 
 hes. 
 
 Baggage agent Agente de equipajes Ah-hen'-tay day ek-we- 
 
 pah'-hes. 
 
 Baggage Equipaje Ek-we-pah'-he. 
 
 Trunk Baul Bah-ool'. 
 
 Valise Maleta Mah-lay'-tah. 
 
 Hat box Sombrerera Som-bray-ray'-rah.
 
 331 
 
 Check Talon Tah-lon'. 
 
 Dining room Comedor Kom-may-dor'. 
 
 Toilet room Retrete Ray-tray'-te. 
 
 Without change Sin cambio Seen kam -beo. 
 
 No transfer Sin trasbordo Seen trass-bor'-do. 
 
 A M Por la manana t'or lah man-yah'-nah. 
 
 p,' M. Por la tarde For lah tar'-day. 
 
 Schedule Itinerario E-tin-a-rair'-re-o. 
 
 Agent Agente Ah-hen-te. 
 
 Ticket Agent Agente de boletos Ah-hen-te day bo-lay' - 
 
 tose. 
 
 Chief of station Jefe de la estacion Hef-edaylahes-tah'-se-cjn 
 
 Conductor Conductor Kon-dook-tor'. 
 
 Sleeping-car conductor. . Conductor de coche dor- Kon-dook-tor' day ko'- 
 
 mitorio. tchay door-me-to'-re-o. 
 
 Porter Portero Por-ter'-o. 
 
 Engine Maquina Alack'-e-nah. 
 
 Engineer ^Maquinista Mack-in-e'-sta. 
 
 I wish to go to— Quiero ir hasta — Kee-er'-o eer as'-tah — . 
 
 What time does the train 6 A que hora sale el tren?. Ah kay o'-rah sally el 
 
 start? tren?^ 
 
 How many miles from o Cuantas millas de aqui Kwahn -tahs meel'-yas day 
 here to — ? hasta—? ah-kee' as'-tah—? 
 
 When will I arrive? 6 A que hora llegare? Ah kay o'-ra 1-yay-gah- 
 
 ray'? 
 At what hour does the o A que hora sale el pro- Ah kay o'-ra sally el 
 
 next train leave? ximo tren? prox'-e-mo tren? 
 
 How much is the cost of a ^, Cuanto cuesta un boleto Kwahn'-to coo-es'-ta oon 
 ticket from here to B.? de aqui a B.? bo-lay'-to day ah-kee' 
 
 ah B.? 
 How much is the cost of o Cuanto cuesta un boleto Kwahn'-to coo-es'-ta oon 
 a return ticket? de ida y vuelta? bo-lay'-to day e-da e 
 
 wel'-ta? 
 How long is the ticket o Por cuanto tiempo es Por kwahn'-to tee-em'-po 
 good? valido el boleto? es val'-e-do el bo-lay - 
 
 to? 
 How much baggage free?, i Cuanto equipaje es libre? Kwahn'-to ek-we-pah'-he 
 
 es lee'-bre? 
 What is the cost for ex- ^ Cuanto cuesta por ex- Kwahn'-to coo-es'-ta por 
 cess? ceso? ek-cess'-o? 
 
 Per hundred pounds? 6 Por cien libras? Por see'-en lee'-brahs? ^ 
 
 Per fifty kilos? ^Por cincuenta kilos?. . . Por sink-wen'-ta kee - 
 
 lose? 
 
 IN TOWN AND AT THE HOTEL. 
 
 ENGLISH. SPANISH. PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 Hotel Hotel O-tel'.-, 
 
 Have you any rooms va- i, Tiene Vd. cuartos va- Tee-ai'-ne oo-staid' kwar- 
 
 cant? cios? tose vas-se-ose'? 
 
 Have you a good room 6 Tiene Vd. un cuarto Tee-ai'-ne oo-staid' oon 
 
 with bath? bueno con bano? k w a r' - t o boo-ain'-o 
 
 cone-ban-yo. 
 I want two rooms..,,... Quiero dos cuartos Kee-er'-o dose kwar'-tose.
 
 332 
 
 Room Cuarto Kwar'-to. 
 
 Bath Baiio Ban'-yo. 
 
 Another bed Otra cama Oh'-trah cam'-ah. 
 
 In the hotel En el hotel En el o-tel . 
 
 Give me my bill Deme Vd. mi cuenta.... Day'-may oo-staid' me 
 
 cu-en'-tah. 
 Give me my receipt Deme Vd. mi recibo Day'-may oo-staid' me re- 
 
 see'-bo. 
 
 Bring me some water. . . . Traigame agua. Trah-ee'-gah-me' ah-gwa. 
 
 Bring me some hot water. Traigame agua caliente. . Trah-ee'-gah-me' ah-gwa 
 
 cal-ly-en'-te. 
 Bring me some letter pa- Traigame papel de cartas. Trah-ee'-gah-me' pah- 
 
 per. pel' day kart'-as. 
 
 Bring me a pen and some Traigame una pluma y Trah-ee'-gah-me' oon'-ah 
 
 ink. tinta. ploom'-ah e.teen'-tah. 
 
 Bring me some envelopes. Traigame cubiertas Trah-ee'-gah-me' koo-be- 
 
 er'-tahs. 
 
 Towels Toallas To-al'-yas. 
 
 Soap Jabon Ha-bon'. 
 
 Matches . Cerillos Seh-reel'-yos. 
 
 Candle Candela Kan-day'-la. 
 
 Lamp Lampara Lamp'-a-ra. 
 
 Ice Hielo Yai'-lo. 
 
 Beer Cerveza Ser-vay'-za. 
 
 How much shall I have to i Cuanto habre de pagar a Kwahn'-to ah-bray' day 
 
 pay to 
 
 the 
 
 washerwo- 
 
 la lavandera? 
 
 
 pah-gar' 
 
 ah 
 
 la 
 
 lav 
 
 -an- 
 
 man? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 der'-ah? 
 
 
 
 
 
 I want a 
 
 wash( 
 
 erwoman. . 
 
 Quiero 
 
 una . 
 
 lavandei 
 
 ra. . . . 
 
 Kee-er'-o 
 der'-ah. 
 
 oo'-: 
 
 nah 
 
 lav 
 
 -an- 
 
 At what 
 
 hour 
 
 ■ will you i A que 
 
 hora 
 
 vendra 
 
 Vd.?. 
 
 A kay' o'-: 
 
 ra ven-drah' 
 
 oo 
 
 come? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 staid'? 
 
 
 
 
 
 Street . . 
 
 
 
 Calle . 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ki-ye. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Palace Palacio Pal-as'-see-o. 
 
 Church Iglesia E-glay'-see-ah. 
 
 Cathedral Catedral Cat-eh-dral'. 
 
 School Escuela Es-koo-ai'-lah. 
 
 College Colegio Col-ai'-he-o. 
 
 Cemetery Cementerio Sem-en-ter'-e-o. 
 
 Prison Carcel Kar'-sel. 
 
 Store Tienda Tee-en'-da. 
 
 Market Mercado Mer-cah'-do. 
 
 House Casa Kah'-sa. 
 
 Call me very early Despierteme muy tem- Des-pe-er'-ta-me moo-e 
 
 prano. tem-pran'-o. 
 
 Call me at 7 o'clock Despierteme a las siete... Des-pe-er'-ta-me ah lahs 
 
 see-ai'-te. 
 Take my baggage down. . Lleve Vd. mi equipaje Lyai'-ve oo-staid' me ek- 
 
 abajo. we-pah'-he a-bah'-ho. 
 
 How much is my bill?. . . i Cuanto es mi cuenta?. . .. Kwahn'-to es me coo'- 
 
 enta? 
 I want to pay my bill. .. . Quiero pagar mi cuenta. . Kee-er'-o pa-gar' me 
 
 coo'-en-ta? 
 What time is it? i Que hora es? Kay o'-ra ais?
 
 333 
 
 Send me a messenger.... Envieme un cargadoi . . . . En-vee-eh'-me oon car- 
 
 ga-dor'. 
 
 Carriage Coche Ko'-tchay. 
 
 Coachman Cochero Ko-cher'-o. 
 
 How much tor one hour?. 6 Cuanto por una hora? Kwahn'-to per oo'-nah 
 
 o'-rah? 
 How much to the station? i Cuanto hasta laestacion? Kwahn'-to as'-tah lah es- 
 
 tah-see-on'? 
 
 Where are you going?. . . i A donde va Vd.? Ah don'-dy vah oo-staid'? 
 
 Go straight ahead Vaya derecho Vah'-ya day-ray'-tcho. 
 
 Go faster Vaya mas rapido Vah'-ya mass rap'-e-do. 
 
 Go slower Vaya mas despacio Vah'-ya mass des-pas'-seo. 
 
 Stop Parese Vd. ! Par'-asy oo-staid'. 
 
 Right Derecho Day-ray'-tcho. 
 
 Left Izquierdo Ees-quee er'-do. 
 
 Before Delante Day-lan'-teh. 
 
 Behind Detras Day-tras'. 
 
 North Norte Nor'-tay. 
 
 South Sur Soor. 
 
 East Este Es'-tay. 
 
 West Oeste Wes'-tay. 
 
 PostofBce Correo Kor-ray'-o. 
 
 Letters Cartas Kar'-tas. 
 
 Postage stamps Timbres Teem'-bres. 
 
 Envelopes Cubiertas Koo-be-er'-tas. 
 
 Registered letter Carta registrada Kar'-tah reh-his-tra'-da. 
 
 Have you any letters for 6 Tiene Vd. cartas para Tee-ai'-ne oo-staid' kar'- 
 
 me? mi? tahs par'-ra-rame? 
 
 At what hour does the iA que hora sale el tren A kay' o'-rah sally' el tren 
 
 mail train leave for — ?. correo para — ? kor-ray'-o par'-aii — ? 
 
 Letter box Buzon Boo-zon'. 
 
 SHOP TALK. 
 
 ENGLISH. SP.^NISH. PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 Have you any Tiene Vd. — ? Tee-ai'-ne oo-staid'. 
 
 1 want to buy Quiero comprar Kee-er'-o com-prar'. 
 
 Have you others 'Tiene Vd. otras? Tee-ai'-ne oo-staid' o'- 
 
 trahs. 
 
 I want another Quiero otra Kee-er'-o o'-trah. 
 
 How many Cuantos Kw^ahn'-tose. 
 
 Silk Seda Say'-dah. 
 
 Wool Lana Lah'-nah. 
 
 Cotton Algodon Al-go-don'. 
 
 Linen Lienzo or Lino Le-en'-zo or Lee'-no. 
 
 Have you anything bet- Tiene Vd. alguna cosa Tee-ai'-ne oo-staid' al- 
 ter? mejor? goo'-na co'-sa mai'-hor. 
 
 I w^ant this-. Quiero este Kee-er'-o es'-tay. 
 
 Send this to Envie Vd. esta a En-ve-eh' oo-staid' es'-ta 
 
 ah. 
 
 Large Grande Gran'-day. 
 
 Small Poco Po'-co. 
 
 New Nuevo Noo'-ev-o. 
 
 Old Viejo Ve-eh'-ho.
 
 334 
 
 Bad Malo MahMo. 
 
 Pretty Bonito Bo-nee'-to. 
 
 Cheap Barato Bah-rah'-to. 
 
 Dear Caro Kar'-o. 
 
 Very Dear Aluy Caro ]\Ioo'-e kar'-o. 
 
 Narrow Angosto An-gose'-to. 
 
 Wide Ancho An-tcho'. 
 
 Collar Cuello , Coo-el'-yo. 
 
 Gloves Guantes Wan'-tez. 
 
 Handkerchiefs Pahuelos Pan-yu-ai'-lose. 
 
 Shoes Zapatos Zap-at'-ose. 
 
 Pins Alfileres Al-fee-lai'-res. 
 
 Needles Agujas A-goo'-has. 
 
 Thimble Dedal Day-dal'. 
 
 Thread Hilo E'-lo. 
 
 Ribbon Liston Lees-tone'. 
 
 Scissors Tijeras Tee-hai'-ras. 
 
 Veil Velo Vay'-lo. 
 
 Black Negro Nay'-gro. 
 
 White Blanco Blank'-o. 
 
 Red Rubio Roo'-bee-o. 
 
 Blue Azul Ah-zool'. 
 
 Pink Rojizo Ro-hee'-zo. 
 
 Green Verde Vere'-de. 
 
 Purple Purpureo Poor-poor'-ay-o. 
 
 Yellow Amarillo Am-a-reel'-yo. 
 
 Long Largo Lar'-go. 
 
 Short Corto Cor'-to. 
 
 Thick Espeso Es-pay'-so. 
 
 Thin Delgado Del-gah'-do. 
 
 A yard Una vara Oo-na var'-a. 
 
 How do you sell it by the yard? i A como vende Vd. la vara? A co'-mo ven'-day 
 
 oo'-staid lah var'-a? 
 GEIVERAL. 
 
 ENGLISH. SPANISH. PRONUNCIATION, 
 
 Good morning Buenos dias Boo-en'-os dee'-as. 
 
 Good evening Buenas tardes Boo-en'-as tar'-des. 
 
 Good night Buenas noches Boo-en'-as no'-tches. 
 
 Sir Sehor Sane-yor'. 
 
 Madam Sefiora : Sane-yo'-ra.^ 
 
 Miss Senorita Sane-yo-ree'-ta. 
 
 Thank you Gracias Grah'-see-as. ^ 
 
 How do you do? i Como esta usted? Co'-mo es-tah oo-staid ? 
 
 Well, thank you Bien. gracias Be-ehn', grah'-see-as. 
 
 And you? ^Y usted? E oo-staid'? 
 
 Do me the favor Hagame V. el favor Ah-ga-me el fa-vor'. 
 
 If you please Si usted gusta See oo-staid' goo'-stah. 
 
 What do you want? I Que quiere usted? Kay kee-er'-e oo-staid ? 
 
 What is this? iQueeseste? Kay es es'-ty? ^ ^ 
 
 What do you call that?. . . o Como se llama eso? Ko-mo say yam -ah ai-so.-* 
 
 Do YOU know Sabe usted Sah'-beh oo-staid'. 
 
 Wha't is the matter? i. Que tiene? Kay tee-ai'-ne? 
 
 Pardon me Perdoneme Per-ddn-a-me.
 
 335 
 
 As soon as possible Tan pronto como posibleTan pron'-to ko'-mo pos- 
 
 e'-bleh. 
 
 I will come again Vendre otra vez Ven-dray' o'-trah vace. 
 
 Which is the way to — ?. 6 Cual es la via para — ? Kwahl es lah vee'-ahpar-a? 
 Show me the way to — ?. . Enseheme Vd. el camino En-sane'-yai-me el cam- 
 
 de — ee'-no day — 
 
 What is your name? oQue es su nombre de Kay-es soo nom'-bre day- 
 
 Vd.? oo-staid'? 
 
 oOr, Como se llama Vd.? Co'-mo say l-yam'-a oo- 
 staid'? 
 
 I am ready Estoy listo Es-toy' lees'-to. 
 
 I am well Estoy bien Es-toy' be-ehn'. 
 
 Bring me Traigame Trah-e'-ga-me. 
 
 Very well Muy bien. Moo'-e be-ehn'. 
 
 Let us go Vamos Vam'-ose. 
 
 It is late Es tarde Es tar'-dy. 
 
 It is early Es temprano Es tem-prah'-no. 
 
 Sit down Sientese Vd See-en'-ta-seh oo-staid'. 
 
 Go "m Entre Vd En'-tray oo-staid'. 
 
 Come in Entre En'-tray. 
 
 Go away Vaya Vah'-ya. 
 
 Good bye Adios Ah-de-ose'. 
 
 Yes Si See. 
 
 No No No. 
 
 Do you speak English? ^Habla Vd. ingles? Ah'-bla oo-staid' ing-les'.-- 
 
 I speak it a little Hablo un poco Ah'-blo oon po-co. 
 
 What do you say? oQue dice Vd.? Kay dee'-say oo-staid'? 
 
 Where is — ? oDonde esta — ? Don'-day es-tah' — ? 
 
 Where does he live? c.Donde vive el? Don'-day vee'-veh el? 
 
 DOCTOR AND MEDICINE. 
 
 ENGLISH. SP.A.NISH. PRONUNXIATION. 
 
 I am sick and want a doc- Estoy enfermo y quiero Es'-toy en-fere'-mo e kee- 
 
 tor un medico. ere'-o oon med'-e-ko. 
 
 Will you go to look for a Quiere Vd. ir a buscar Kee-er'-e oos-staid ir ah 
 
 doctor. un medico. boos'-car oon med'-i-ko. 
 
 I want a doctor who Quiero un medico que Kee-er'-o oon med'-e-ko 
 
 speaks English. hable ingles. kay ab'-lay een-gless'. 
 
 Is he a good doctor?. . . . c.Es buen medico? Es boo-en med'-e-ko? 
 
 Where is the drug store?, o Donde esta la botica?. . . Don'-dy es-tah' lah bo- 
 tee' ka? 
 Take this prescription to Lleve Vd. esta receta a la Lyai-veh' oo-staid' es'- 
 the drug store. botica. sta res-ay'-tah ah la bo- 
 
 tee'-ka. 
 
 What is the matter with ^Que tiene Vd.?. Kay tee-ai'-ne oo-staid'? 
 
 you? 
 
 I have headache Tengo dolor de cabeza. . Teng'-o do-lor' day ca- 
 
 vay'-za. 
 
 I have toothache Tengo dolor de muelas. . Teng'-o do-lor' day moo- 
 
 ai'-las. 
 
 I have stomachache Tengo dolor de estomago. Teng'-o do-lor' day es- 
 
 tom'-ago. 
 
 I have earache Tengo dolor de oido. . . . Teng'-o do-lor' day o-ee'- 
 
 do.
 
 336 
 
 I have a cold Tengo resfriado Teng'-o res-free-ah'-do. 
 
 I have fever Tengo fiebre Teng'-o fee-ai'-bre. 
 
 How are you? 6 Como esta Vd.? Ko-mo es-tah' oo-staid'? 
 
 I am better Estoy mejor Es-toy' may'-hor. 
 
 I am worse Estoy peor Es-toy' pay'-or. 
 
 Quinine Quinina Kee-nee'-na. 
 
 Chloroform Cloroformo Cloro-for'-mo. 
 
 Calomel Calomel Calo-mel'. 
 
 Castor oil Aceite de castor As-ay'-e-tay day cas-tor'. 
 
 Pills Pildoras Pil'-do-rahs. 
 
 Capsules Capsulas Cap'-soo-lahs. 
 
 Salts Sales Sal'-ehs. 
 
 Morphine ]\Iorfina Mor-fee'-nah. 
 
 Laudanum Laudana Lah'-oo-dah-na. 
 
 Porous plaster Parche poroso Par'-tchay po-ro'-so. 
 
 Plaster Emplasto or Parche Em-plas'-to or Par'-tchay. 
 
 Mustard plaster Sinapismo Se-nah-pees'-mo. 
 
 Aconite Aconito Ah-con'-e-to. 
 
 Belladonna Belladona Bel-yah-don'-ah. 
 
 Nux Vomica Nuez Vomica Noo'-es vom'-i-ca. 
 
 Glycerine Glicerina Glee-cer-e'-nah. 
 
 Arsenicum Arsenico Ar-say'-ne-co. 
 
 TABLE AND MEALS, 
 
 ENGLISH. SPANISH. PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 The bill of fare La lista Lah lee'-sta. 
 
 A plate Un plato Oon plat'-o. 
 
 A glass Un vaso Oon vaz'-o. 
 
 A teaspoon Una cucharita Oo'-na coo-tchar-ee'-tah. 
 
 Cofifee Cafe Kaf-fay^. 
 
 Cofifee and milk Cafe con leche Kaf-fay' con lay '-tehee. 
 
 Tea Te Tay. 
 
 Milk Leche Lay'-tchee. 
 
 Cream Crema Kray'-mah. 
 
 Sugar Azucar Ah-zoo'-kar. 
 
 Chocolate Chocolate Chock-o-lat'-e. 
 
 Beef tea Un caldo Oon cal'-do. 
 
 Lemonade Limonada Lee-mo-nah'-da. 
 
 Beer Cerveza Ser-vay'-sa. 
 
 Wine Vino Vee'-no. 
 
 Claret Vino tinto Vee'-no teen'-to. 
 
 Ice Hielo Yai'-lo. 
 
 Bread Pan Pahn. 
 
 Butter Mantequilla Manty-keel'-ya. 
 
 Water Agua Ag'-wah. 
 
 Ice water Agua con hielo Ag'-wa con yai'-lo. 
 
 Soup Sopa So'-pah. 
 
 Fish Pescado Pes-cah'-do. 
 
 Oysters Ostiones Os-te-on'-es. 
 
 Rice Arroz Ar-roce'. 
 
 Eggs Huevos Wai'-voce. 
 
 Fried eggs Huevos fritos Wai'-voce free'-toce. 
 
 Hard boiled eggs Huevos duros Wai'-voce doo'-roce.
 
 33? 
 
 Soft boiled eggs Huevos pasados por aguaWai'-voce pa-sah'-doce 
 
 por ahg'-wah 
 
 Omelet Tortilla de huevos- • Tor-teel'-ya day wai'-vo 
 
 Beef Vaca Vah'-ka. 
 
 Roast beef Vaca asada Vah'-ka ah-sah'-da. 
 
 Boiled Hervido Er-vee'-do. 
 
 Meat Carne Kar'-nay. 
 
 Beefsteak Beftek Bef-tek. 
 
 Steak and potatoes Beftek con papas Bef-tek con pap -as. 
 
 Rare Poco asado Po-ko ah-sah'-do. 
 
 Well done Bien asado Be-en' ah-sah'-do. 
 
 Mutton Carnero Kar-nere'-o. 
 
 Chops Costillas Kos-teel'-yahs. 
 
 Cutlet Chuleta Choo-lay -ta. 
 
 Veal cutlet Chuleta de ternera Choo-lay '-ta day ter- 
 
 nere'-a. 
 
 Lamb Cordero Kor-dere'-o. 
 
 Pork Puerco Poo-ere'-ko. 
 
 Bacon Tocino To-see'-no. 
 
 Ham Jamon Ha-mone'. 
 
 Pepper Pimienta Pee-mee-en'-ta. 
 
 Salt Sal Sal. ^ 
 
 Oil Aceite Ah-say -e-tay. 
 
 Vinegar Vinagre Vee-nah'-gre. 
 
 Mustard Mostaza Mos-taz'-ah. 
 
 Sauce Salsa Sal'-sah. 
 
 Vegetables Legumbres Le-goom -bres. 
 
 Potatoes Papas Pap^-ahs. 
 
 Fried potatoes Papas fritas Pap -ahs free -tas. 
 
 Beans Frijoles Free-ho'-les. 
 
 Peas Chicharos Chee -char-ose. 
 
 Lettuce Lechuga , Lay-chu'-ga. 
 
 Cabbage Col Col. ^ 
 
 Tomatoes Tomates To-mat -es. 
 
 Cauliflower Coliflor Col-e-flor'. 
 
 Garlic Ajo Ah'-ho. 
 
 Radishes Rabanitos Rah-ba-nee -tose. 
 
 Chicken Polio Pole'-yo. 
 
 Turkey Pavo Pah'-vo. 
 
 Ice Cream Helado A-lah -do. 
 
 Cheese Queso Kay'-so. 
 
 Fruit Fruta Froo'-ta. 
 
 Strawberries Fresas Fray'-sahs. 
 
 Grapes Huvas Oo -vas.^ 
 
 Oranges Naranjas Nar-ran -kas. 
 
 Bananas Platanos Plat'-a-nos. 
 
 Lemons Limones Lee-mo'-nes. 
 
 Figs Higos E'-gose. 
 
 Table Mesa May'-sa. 
 
 Chair Silla Seel'-ya.^ 
 
 Napkin Servilleta Ser-veel -yet-a. 
 
 Fork Tenedor Ten-e-dor . 
 
 Knife Cuchillo Coo-cheel'-yo. 
 
 Spoon Cuchara Coo-tchar'-ah.
 
 338 
 
 Chronological. 
 
 ANNO DOMINI. 
 
 648 — The Toltecs arrived in Anahuac. 
 1051 — They abandoned the country. 
 1170 — The Chicimecs arrived in Mexico. 
 1 196 — The Mexicans reached Tula. 
 1200 — The Alcouans arrived. 
 
 1325 — The Mexicans founded Tenochtitlan or the City of Mexico. 
 1428 — Foundation of the Aztec kingdom. 
 1431 — Enthronement of Netzahualcoyotl, King of Texcoco. 
 1485 — Cortez born at Medellin, Spain. 
 1502 — Montezuma II. enthroned. 
 1504 — Cortez left Spain for Cuba. 
 
 1510 — Great tidal wave on Lake Texcoco overflows Tenochtitlan. 
 151 1 — Turrets of the great Aztec temple burned. 
 
 Spanish ship wrecked on the Island of Cozumel. 
 1516 — Death of Nezahualpilli, the Tezcucan King. 
 15 1 7 — March 4, discovery of Yucatan by Cordoba. 
 1518 — May I, departure of Grijalva from Cuba for Mexico. 
 
 November 18, Cortez sailed from Srntiago. 
 1519 — February 10, Cortez sailed from Habana. 
 
 March 20, Cortez landed at the mouth of the Tabasco River. 
 
 April 21, Cortez landed at Vera Cruz. 
 
 August 16, commenced the march to the City of Mexico. 
 
 September 23, Cortez entered Tlaxcala. 
 
 November 8, Cortez entered the City of Mexico. 
 1520 — June 30th, death of Montezuma. 
 
 July I, Cortez driven out of City of Mexico, Noche Triste, the "Dismal 
 Night." 
 
 July 8, battle with the Mexicans at Otumba. 
 1521 — August 13, re-entry of Cortez into the City of Mexico. 
 
 Establishment by Spain of the rule over the new province by a governor. 
 
 Cortez established the seat of government at Coyoacan. 
 
 Establishment of the first Christian church in the New World at 
 Tlaxcala. 
 1524 — First church commenced on the site of the present Cathedral.
 
 339 
 
 1525 — Hanging of Tetlepanquetzaltzin by Cortez. 
 
 1526 — September 19, Bishopric of Puebla established, seat at Puebla. 
 
 1528 — Establishment of the government under the Audencia. 
 
 1529 — July 6, Cortez made Marques del Valle de Oaxaca. 
 
 1530 — Guadalajara founded. 
 
 1531 — December 9, vision of the Virgin of Guadalupe to Juan Diego. 
 
 December 12, Juan Diego gathered the flowers from where the Virgin 
 stood. The feast of Guadalupe. 
 
 July 25, Queretaro became a Christian city. 
 1533 — Toluca founded. 
 1535 — The first Viceroy arrived in Mexico. 
 
 June 2, Bishopric of Oaxaca established, seat at Oaxaca. 
 
 First printing press brought to the country and first book printed in 
 Mexico. 
 1536 — August 29, corner stone of the Cathedral at Puebla laid. 
 1539 — March 19, Bishopric of Chiapas established, seat at San Cristobal. 
 1541 — May 18, Valladolid, now Morelia, founded. 
 1542 — San Miguel founded. 
 
 1545— January 31, Archbishopric of Mexico established, seat at City of Mexico. 
 1546 — September 8, discovery of silver at Zacatecas. 
 
 1547 — December 2, Cortez died in the town of Castelleja de la Questa. in Spain. 
 1548 — January 20, Zacatecas founded. 
 
 July 31, Bishopric of Guadalajara established, seat at Guadalajara. 
 1552— First inundation of the City of Mexico, and the dyke of San Lazaro built. 
 1553 — Silao founded. 
 1557 — Guanajuato founded. 
 
 The Patio process for the amalgamation of silver invented by Bar- 
 tolome de Medina at Pachuca. 
 1562— August 15, Bishopric of Yucatan established, seat at Merida. 
 1568 — English driven ofif the island of Los Sacraficios near Vera Cruz. 
 1570 — August 16, the Inquisition established in Mexico. 
 
 Celaya founded. 
 1573 — Corner stone of the Cathedral laid. 
 
 1574 — Twenty-one Lutherans burned by order of the Inquisition. 
 1576 — Leon founded. 
 1583 — San Luis Potosi founded. 
 1586 — An English ship captured near Acapulco. 
 
 1587— Sir Francis Drake captured a Spanish ship with a rich cargo, ofif Cali- 
 fornia. 
 1596 — Monterey founded. 
 1600 — The City of Monterey founded. 
 
 1603 — Building of the Aqueduct of Chapultepec commenced. 
 1604 — Church on the Pyramid of Cholula dedicated.
 
 S40 
 
 l6o7 — November 28, the great drainage canal, Ta]o de Nochistongo, com- 
 menced. 
 1615 — Foundation and walls of the Cathedral completed. 
 1618 — Cordoba founded. 
 
 1620 — September 28, Bishopric of Durango established, seat at Durango. 
 1623 — Cathedral placed under roof. 
 1626 — First service in the Cathedral. 
 1629 — Great inundation of the City of Mexico. 
 
 1634 — Subsiding of the waters of the inundation of the Plain of Mexico. 
 1643 — Salvatierra founded. 
 1649 — April 10, fifteen persons burned by order of the Inquisition. 
 
 April 18, Cathedral at Puebla consecrated. 
 1660 — A colony of a hundred families settled in New Mexico. 
 1667 — December 22, dedication of the Cathedral. 
 
 1678 — May 2, Church of Santa Maria los Angeles at Churubusco completed. 
 1691 — Conquest of Texas. 
 
 1692 — Building of the National Palace commenced. 
 
 1709 — May I, completion of the Church of Guadalupe near City of Mexico. 
 1722 — January 19, opening of the first theater in Mexico. 
 
 The first newspaper, Gaceta de Mexico, published in Mexico. 
 1724 — February 4, completion of the Palacio del Ayuntimiento or City Hall. 
 1760 — The first regular army organized in Mexico. 
 
 Houses numbered in the City of Mexico. 
 1767 — Jesuits expelled from Mexico by Royal Order, dated January 15. 
 1770 — A fleet sailed for Spain with a cargo of thirty millions of silver dollars. 
 1776 — February 25, establishment of the Monte de Piedad or national pawn 
 
 shop. 
 1777 — December 25, Bishopric of Linares established, seat at Monterey. 
 1779 — May 7, Bishopric of Sonora established, scat at Culiacan. 
 1783 — September 27, Yturbide born. 
 1789 — Arrival of the famous Viceroy, Conde de Revillagigedo. He appointed a 
 
 police force in the City of Mexico, lighted and paved the streets. 
 1791 — Completion of the towers of the Cathedral. 
 1795 — Cession of Florida, west of the Perdido River, to France. 
 1802 — August 4, casting of the bronze statue of Charles IV., at 6 a. m. 
 1803 — December 9, statue of Charles IV. unveiled in the Plaza Mayor. 
 
 Humboldt traveled in Mexico. 
 1810 — September 16, Hidalgo sounded the Grito of Mexican Independence. 
 
 October 30, battle of Las Cruces. 
 181 1 — January 16, Hidalgo defeated at the Bridge of Calderon. 
 
 May 21, Hidalgo captured at Acatita de Bajan. 
 
 June 26, Allende, Aldama and Jimenez executed. 
 
 July 31, Hidalgo executed at Chihuahua.
 
 341 
 
 i8i2 — Evacuation of Cuautla by Morelos. 
 
 1813 — September 14, meeting of the first Mexican Congress at Chilpancingo. 
 
 November 6, first formal Declaration of Mexican Independence. 
 
 December 2^, defeat of Morelos. 
 1814 — February 3, execution of Matamoras at Morelia. 
 
 October 22, proclamation of the first Constitution at Apatzingan. 
 1815 — December 22, Morelos executed by order of the Inquisition. 
 1820 — May 31, suppression of the Inquisition in Mexico. 
 1821 — Promulgation of the Plan of Iguala and the colors of the ^Mexican flag. 
 
 August 2, Puebla taken by Iturbide. 
 
 September 27, Iturbide entered the City of ^Mexico. 
 1822 — February 24, first Congress of the Mexican Nation assembled. 
 
 May 19, Iturbide elected emperor. 
 
 Iturbide and his wife annointed and crowned in the Cathedral of Mexico. 
 
 December 6, a Republic proclaimed by Santa Ana at Vera Cruz. 
 1823 — July 14, Iturbide shot at Padilla. 
 1824 — October 4, Constitution proclaimed. 
 
 October 10, first President of ^Mexico inaugurated. 
 
 November 7, Second Mexican Congress. 
 
 Statue of Charles IV. taken down and removed from the Plaza Mayor to 
 the patio of the University. 
 1825 — January i, First Constitutional Congress assembled. 
 
 During this year the last Spanish soldier left Mexico in the evacuation 
 of the Island of San Juan de Ulua. 
 1829 — A Spanish force landed at Tampico in July. 
 
 September 11, Spanish invaders defeated and captured by the forces 
 under Generals Santa Ana and Mier. 
 1830 — September 15, Porfirio Diaz born. 
 1835 — Rebellion of Texas under Sam Houston. 
 1836 — December 28, Spain formally recognized the Republic of Mexico. 
 
 March 6, massacre of the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas. 
 
 March 27, massacre at Goliad. 
 
 April 22, battle of San Jacinto, Texas. Santa Ana captured. 
 1837 — August 22, first concession granted for a railway between the City of 
 
 Mexico and Vera Cruz. 
 1840 — April 27, Bishopric of Lower California established, seat at La Paz. 
 1844 — April 12, Texas admitted into the Union. 
 1846 — April 24, first skirmish of the American War. 
 
 May 8, battle of Palo Alto and May 9, Resaca de la Palma. 
 
 May 18, General Taylor crossed the Rio Grande at ]Matamoros. 
 
 July 7, Monterey, Cal., captured. 
 
 July 8, San Francisco, Cal., captured. 
 
 September 20, Monterey captured.
 
 342 
 
 1847 — February 23, battle of Buena Vista. 
 February 28, Chihuahua occupied. 
 March 9, General Scott landed at Vera Cruz. 
 March 27, Vera Cruz captured. 
 April 18, battle of Cerro Gordo. 
 May 25, Puebla occupied by the Americans. 
 August 9, General Scott entered the Valley of Mexico. 
 August 20, battles of Padierna and Churubusco. 
 September 8, battles of Casa Mata and IMolino del Rey. 
 September 12 and 13, storming and capture of Chapultepec. 
 September 13, capture of the Garita de Belem and San Cosme. 
 September 15, entry of the Americans into the City of Mexico. 
 1848 — February 2, conclusion of peace and signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe, 
 
 Hidalgo. 
 1850 — June I, Bishopric of Vera Cruz established, seat at Jalapa. 
 1851 — President Arista inaugurated. 
 
 1852 — Statue of Charles IV. placed in its present position. 
 1853 — Santa Ana proclaimed dictator of Mexico. 
 1854 — August 30, Bishopric of San Luis Potosi established, seat at San Luis 
 
 Potosi. 
 1855 — Comonfort elected President. 
 
 1856 — June 25, decree ordering sale of church real estate by President Comon- 
 fort. 
 September 16, suppression of the Franciscan monks. 
 1859 — July 12, proclamation of the Laws of the Reform, by President Juarez. 
 1861 — July 17, passage of the law suspending payment on bonded debt of the 
 Republic. 
 October 31, adoption of the Treaty of London by England, France and 
 
 Spain. 
 Arrival of the allied fleet at Vera Cruz, in December, 1861, and January, 
 1862. 
 1862 — January 26, Bishopric of Queretaro established, seat at Queretaro. 
 Bishopric of Leon established, seat at Leon. 
 Bishopric of Zamora established, seat at Zamora. 
 Bishopric of Zacatecas established, seat at Zacatecas. 
 February 19, Treaty of La Soledad signed. 
 
 May 5, brilliant battle at Puebla and repulse of the French by the Mexican 
 General Zaragosa. 
 1863 — March 6, suppression of all religious orders in Mexico. 
 
 March 16, Bishopric of Tulancingo established, seat at Tulancingo. 
 Bishopric of Chilapa established, seat at Chilapa. 
 Archbishopic of Michoacan established, seat at Morelia. 
 Archbishopric of Guadalajara established, seat at Guadalajara.
 
 343 
 
 May 17, Puebla captured by the French. 
 June 9, French troops occupied the City of Mexico. 
 
 July ID, assembly of notables called in the City of Mexico, and the 
 crown tendered to Maximilian, the Archduke of Austria. 
 1864 — June 12, Maximilian crowned Emperor of Mexico. 
 
 1865 — October 3, Maximilian published a decree declaring all persons in arms 
 against the Imperial Government bandits, ordering them executed. 
 October 21, Generals Felix Diaz, Arteaga, Salazar and Villagomez shot 
 
 at Uruapam as bandits under Maximilian's decree. 
 
 November 6, the United States, through Secretary Seward, sent a 
 
 dispatch to Xapoleon III., protesting against the presence of the 
 
 French army in Mexico as a grave reflection against the United States, 
 
 and notifying him that nothing but a Republican would be recognized. 
 
 1866 — April 5, Napoleon withdrew his support from Maximilian. 
 
 November, Napoleon ordered the evacuation of Mexico by the French 
 troops. 
 1867 — The last of the French troops leave Mexico in February. 
 April 2, capture of Puebla by General Profirio Diaz. 
 April II, he defeated Marquez at San Lorenzo. 
 May 15, capture of Queretaro, surrender of Maximilian to General 
 
 Escobedo. 
 June 19, execution of Maximilian, Mejia and Miramon. 
 June 21, capture of the City of Mexico by General Porfirio Diaz. 
 July 15, Juarez entered the City of Mexico and re-established his gov- 
 ernment. 
 1869 — September 16, completion of the ^Mexican Railway to Puebla. 
 
 October 4, Bishopric of Tamaulipas established, seat at Victoria. 
 1871 — December i, Juarez re-elected President. 
 1872 — July 18, death of President Juarez. 
 
 December i, election of President Lerdo. 
 
 December 20, completion of the Mexican Railway in the meeting of the 
 tracks above Maltrata. 
 1873 — January i, opening of the ^Mexican Railway between the City of Mexico 
 
 and Vera Cruz. 
 1874 — Incorporation in the Constitution of the Laws of the Reform. 
 1875 — December 5, opening of the National Exhibition of Mexican products, in 
 
 the City of ^Mexico. 
 1876 — January 15, commenced the revolution under the plan of Tuxtepec. 
 
 November 24, General Porfirio Diaz entered the City of Mexico at the 
 head of the revolutionary army and was proclaimed provisional presi- 
 dent. 
 1S77 — ;May 6, General Diaz declared Constitutional President. 
 1878— Concession granted for the building of the Interoceanic Railway,
 
 344 
 
 1879 — June 24, execution of nine revolutionists against the Diaz government, 
 
 at Vera Cruz. 
 1880 — i\Iay 25, Bishopric of Tabasco established, seat at San Juan Bautista. 
 September 25, election of General Manuel Gonzalez as President. 
 Track laying on the Mexican Central commenced. 
 October 14, construction of Mexican National Railroad commenced. 
 1882 — November 25, Sonora Railway opened. 
 1883— The "Nickel Riots" occurred. 
 
 March 15, Bishopric of Colima established, seat at Colima. 
 1884 — March 8, completion of the tracks, and on April 5 opening of the Mexican 
 
 Central Railway from El Paso to the City of Alexico. 
 1885 — February, some Americans arrested for breaking twigs from the tree of 
 
 Noche Triste. 
 1886 — Completion of Mexican National Railroad to Morelia and Patzcuaro. 
 December i, re-election of General Porfirio Diaz to the presidency. 
 1888 — April 17, completion of the Mexican Central to Guadalajara. 
 
 March i, completion of the International Railroad, Eagle Pass to 
 
 Torreon. 
 November i, completion of the Mexican National Railroad, from Laredo 
 to the City of Mexico. 
 1889 — Construction of the Mexican Southern Railroad commenced in Sep- 
 tember. 
 1892 — November 11, opening of the Mexican Southern Railroad. 
 1893 — Completion of the Interoceanic Railway to Vera Cruz. 
 1894 — March i, first party of American tourists visited the Ruins of Mitla, 
 under escort of the American Tourist Association. 
 Completion of the Tehuantepec Railroad. 
 1897 — Completion of the Mexico, Cuernavaca & Pacific Railway to Cuernavaca.
 
 345 
 
 Index. 
 
 Page 
 
 Acambaro i55 
 
 Acapulco 156 
 
 Aduana 89 
 
 Agriculture 13 
 
 Aguas Calientes 158 
 
 Alameda, La 91 
 
 Alhondiga 188 
 
 Altitudes of Cities 321 
 
 Altitudes of Mountains 12 
 
 Ameca 160 
 
 Amecameca 160 
 
 Amusements 61 
 
 Anahuac 24 
 
 Apam, Plain of 12, 284 
 
 Apizaco 285 
 
 Aqueducts 93 
 
 Arbeu Theatre 62 
 
 Around the Valley of Mexico 121 
 
 Arzobispado 89 
 
 Assembly of Notables 38 
 
 Atotonilco 249 
 
 Atzcapotzalco 129 
 
 Audencias, The 29 
 
 Baggage 43 
 
 Bajio Region 272 
 
 Balsas. The Rio 9 
 
 Ball Games 63 
 
 Balvanera, La loi 
 
 Barranca 185 
 
 Barranca del Infernillo 286 
 
 Belen de los Padres 102 
 
 Bergantines 27, y2 
 
 Bishop's Palace 212 
 
 Boca del Monte 286 
 
 Bocas ,,,.,,,., 300 
 
 Page 
 
 Bolson de Mapimi 11, 268 
 
 Buena Vista, Battle of 36 
 
 Bull Fights 63 
 
 Cabs 45 
 
 Cacahuamilpa 315 
 
 Calendar Stone 79 
 
 Calzadas 93 
 
 Camara de Diputados 89 
 
 Campanas, Cerro de las 39 
 
 Campeche 165 
 
 Capuchinas 242 
 
 Cargadores 53 
 
 Caridad, La ._ 102 
 
 Carlotta 241 
 
 Carmen, El 103 
 
 Carmen Church at Celaya 166 
 
 Carriages 45 
 
 Casa Mata, Battle of 36 
 
 Casa de Moneda 89 
 
 Catacombs at Guanajuato 190 
 
 Cathedral, City of Mexico 96-98 
 
 Cathedral, Durango 179 
 
 Cathedral, Guadalajara 183 
 
 Cathedral, Morelia 215 
 
 Cathedral, Puebla 236 
 
 Catorce 164 
 
 Celaya 166 
 
 Cequauhtzin. Legend of 141 
 
 Cerro de las Mitras 211 
 
 Cerro de las Silla 211 
 
 Cerro Gordo 296 
 
 Chac-Mol 81 
 
 Chalco, Lake 11 
 
 Chapultepec 121 
 
 Chapala, Lake 9
 
 346 
 
 Page 
 
 Charles IV., Statue 94 
 
 Chihuahua i68 
 
 Chilpancingo 170 
 
 Chinampas 137 
 
 Cholula, Pyramid of 238 
 
 Cholula, Massacre 27 
 
 Choy Cave 282 
 
 Chronological 338 
 
 Churches, City of ]\Iexico .96 
 
 Church of the Leaning Tower. . . .112 
 
 Church Visiting 53 
 
 Churubusco, Battle of 124 
 
 Churubusco, Town of 124 
 
 Cigars 49 
 
 Circo-Teatro Orrin 62 
 
 Cities and Towns i55 
 
 City of Mexico 71 
 
 Climate 7> 45 
 
 Clothing 45 
 
 Coaches, Hackney 45 
 
 Coahuila & Pacific Ry 306 
 
 Coast, The 12 
 
 Coatepec Valley 197 
 
 Cofre de Perote 196 
 
 Colegio, Durango 181 
 
 Colegio de las Nifias 104 
 
 Colegio de la Paz 84 
 
 Colleges 83 
 
 Collossal Head, A 82 
 
 Colima i7i 
 
 Columbus, Statue of 95 
 
 Commercial College 84 
 
 Congress 33 
 
 Corpus Cristi 104 
 
 Conquest of ^Mexico 24 
 
 Conquest, Standard 26 
 
 Conservatory of Music 83 
 
 Contreras 312 
 
 Convents loi 
 
 Cordoba 171 
 
 Coatzacoalcos 9, 171 
 
 Corona, Don Juan I39 
 
 Page 
 Cortez 24 
 
 Cortez, Banner of 255 
 
 Costumes 56 
 
 Coyoacan 125 
 
 Cuautla 172 
 
 Cuautlenchan 136 
 
 Cuernavaca 173, 314 
 
 Cuincho, Hot Springs 304 
 
 Cuitzeo, Lake 10 
 
 Culiacan 176 
 
 Customs Regulations 43 
 
 Customs 56 
 
 Desierto, El . . -. 130 
 
 Diaz, President 39 
 
 Diego, Juan, Vision of 143 
 
 Discovery of Mexico 23 
 
 Dismal Night 27 
 
 Distances 45 
 
 Doctors 53 
 
 Dolores Hidalgo 31 
 
 Dominicans 117 
 
 Dulces 54 
 
 Durango 176 
 
 Duties 43 
 
 Eastw^ard Over the Interoceanic. .293 
 Eastward Over the Mexican Ry. .283 
 
 Eastward to Tampico 274 
 
 Etla 310 
 
 El Indio Triste 80 
 
 El Salto del Abra de Caballeros. . .282 
 
 Encarnacion Bridge 272 
 
 Ensenanza Antigua 106 
 
 Entombment, The 232 
 
 Esperanza 285 
 
 Eulalia, Santa, Mine 170 
 
 Express Service 53 
 
 Feathered Serpent, The 81 
 
 Fierro del Toro 313 
 
 Floating Gardens ,,,.,,,,., t J37
 
 347 
 
 Page 
 
 Flower Market Qi 
 
 Foreign Hospitals 86 
 
 Forests I3 
 
 French Intervention Zl 
 
 Fresnillo 269 
 
 Geographical 7 
 
 Goddess of Water 80 
 
 Grijalva. Landing of 26 
 
 Grijalva P 
 
 Grito of Independence i45 
 
 Guadalajara 181 
 
 Guadalupe near City of Mexico. . .142 
 
 Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Treaty of 36 
 
 Guadalupe near Puebla 234 
 
 Guadalupe near Zacatecas 263 
 
 Guanajuato 186 
 
 Guarantees. The Three 32 
 
 Guatemotzin 2"] 
 
 Guatemotzin, Statue of 96 
 
 Guaymas i93. 3i8 
 
 Hall of Ambassadors 87 
 
 Hall of the Monoliths 207 
 
 Harbors 12 
 
 Hercules Mills 16 
 
 Hermosillo 193. 3^8 
 
 Hidalgo 31, 87 
 
 Hidalgo Railroad 19, 3i9 
 
 Historical 23 
 
 Historic Houses 89 
 
 Hospicio Guadalajara 183 
 
 Hospicio de Pobres 86 
 
 Hospital Real no 
 
 Hospitals, City of Mexico 84 
 
 Hospitals, Foreign 86 
 
 Hotels 47 
 
 Hotels and Restaurants 47 
 
 House of the Masks 90 
 
 House of Tiles 89 
 
 Huitzilopochtli Idol 80 
 
 Huixotla, Ruins of 293 
 
 Humboldt House 90 
 
 Page 
 
 Iguala. Plan of Z^ 
 
 Iguatzio, Town of 2ZZ 
 
 Indio Triste, El 80 
 
 Inquisition. The 117 
 
 International Railway 17 
 
 Interoceanic Railway 18 
 
 Irapuato 193 
 
 Iron 14 
 
 Iron Mountain 177 
 
 Iturbide 89 
 
 Ixtacalco 140 
 
 Ixtaccihuatl, Height of 12 
 
 Jalapa 19,4 
 
 Jesus Maria no 
 
 Jesus Nazareno no 
 
 Juanacatlan, Falls of 186 
 
 Juan Diego. Vision of 143 
 
 Juan Medina 301 
 
 Juan Panduro 183 
 
 Juarez, Benito 38 
 
 Juarez ^Monument 96 
 
 La Barca 274 
 
 La Bufa 262 
 
 La Cuna 85 
 
 La Mineria 83 
 
 Lagos 197 
 
 Laja, Canon of 300 
 
 Lakes 9 
 
 La Piedad 131 
 
 Las Canoas 2^^ 
 
 Laundries 59 
 
 La Viga Canal 136 
 
 Law School 84 
 
 Leon 197 
 
 Lerdo 200 
 
 Lerma River , 9 
 
 Liberty Bell 87 
 
 Libraries 75 
 
 Linares 316 
 
 Los Remedios 140
 
 348 
 
 Page 
 
 Malintzi 285 
 
 Maltrata 286 
 
 Manufactures 15 
 
 Manzanillo 200 
 
 Map Around the Valley 326 
 
 Mapimi, Bolson de 268 
 
 Maravatio 200 
 
 Marfil 186 
 
 Marina, La 26 
 
 Matamoros 201 
 
 Maximilian 241 
 
 Mayran, Rio 11 
 
 Mazatlan 201 
 
 Measures 45 
 
 Medicines 53 
 
 Mescal 13 
 
 Merida 201 
 
 Metlac Ravine 13 
 
 Mexia 241 
 
 Mexicalcingo 140 
 
 Mexican Railway 16 
 
 Mexican Central Railway 16 
 
 Mexican International Ry 17 
 
 Mexican Interoceanic Ry 18 
 
 Mexican Nat. Construction Co... 319 
 
 Mexican National Ry 18 
 
 Mexican Northern Railway. . .19, 305 
 Mexico, Cuernavaca & Pacific Ry. .17 
 
 Mexican Southern Ry 19 
 
 Mexican War 35 
 
 Michoacan 215 
 
 Michoacan & Pacific Railway.. 19, 315 
 
 Military 51 
 
 Military Academy 122 
 
 Mines and Mining 14 
 
 Mint, City of Mexico 89 
 
 Mint, Chihuahua 170 
 
 Miramon 241 
 
 Mitla 201 
 
 Mixcoac 125. 311 
 
 Molino de Flores I35 
 
 MoHno del Rey, Battle of 36 
 
 Page 
 
 Molino del Rey 124 
 
 Monclova 210 
 
 Money 44 
 
 ]Monte de Piedad 82 
 
 Montemorelos 316 
 
 ]\Ionterey 211 
 
 Monterey & Mexican Gulf Ry.19, 315 
 
 Montezuma 24 
 
 ^Monuments, City of IMexico 94 
 
 ]\Ioon, Pyramid of the 133 
 
 ]\Ioonstone 303 
 
 Morelia 215 
 
 Alorelos Division 296 
 
 Mountain Altitudes ......12 
 
 Mountains 11 
 
 Museum 78 
 
 Nacional, Teatro 62 
 
 National School of Fine Arts 75 
 
 National Library 74 
 
 National Museum 78 
 
 National Palace 87 
 
 National Pawnshop 82 
 
 Nazas, The 9 
 
 Netzahualcoyotl 253 
 
 Newspapers 54 
 
 Nickel Riots 40 
 
 Noche Triste 72 
 
 Nochistongo 132 
 
 Nogales 318 
 
 Notable Buildings 87 
 
 Nuestra Senora de la Angeles. .. .112 
 Nuestra Seiiora de la Concepcion.104 
 Nuestra Sefiora de la Encarnacion.io6 
 Nuestra Sefiora de la Loreto. . . .112 
 Nuestra Sefiora de Monseratte. . . 114 
 
 Oaxaca ^ 220 
 
 Ocoyocac 302 
 
 Of^cial Permits 59 
 
 Olivar, El 311 
 
 Opals 244
 
 S49 
 
 Page 
 
 Orizaba 224 
 
 Orizaba, Peak of 286 
 
 Orrin, Circus 62 
 
 Otumba 294 
 
 Pacanda, Island of 233 
 
 Pachuca 226 
 
 Palace, The National 87 
 
 Palacio del Ayuntumiento 90 
 
 Palenque 228 
 
 Palo Alto 35 
 
 Panteons 91 
 
 Panteon of Guanajuato 190 
 
 Papaloapan. The 9 
 
 Panuco, Rio 251 
 
 Parks 91 
 
 Parras 229 
 
 Paseo de Bucareli 92 
 
 Paseo de la Reforma 92 
 
 Paseos 91 
 
 Paseo de la Viga 93 
 
 Paso del Macho 288 
 
 Patio Process 15 
 
 Patzcuaro 230 
 
 Patzcuaro, Lake 9, 229 
 
 Permits 59 
 
 Piedad, La 131 
 
 Plaza jMayor de la Constitucion. . .91 
 
 Plazas 91 
 
 Plaza de Toros 64 
 
 Police 51 
 
 Popocatepetl, Ascent of 160 
 
 Postage 53 
 
 Porta Coeli 115 
 
 Pottery of Guadalajara 185 
 
 Practical ^Matters 43 
 
 Preparatory School 84 
 
 Profesa, La 115 
 
 Protestantism 120 
 
 Protestant Churches 120 
 
 Public Buildings 87 
 
 Puebla 233 
 
 Puebla, Cathedral of 236 
 
 Puente de Dios 281 
 
 Pulque 13 
 
 Queretaro 240 
 
 Quetzalcoatl 238 
 
 Quiroga, Bishop 5 . .219 
 
 Races 63 
 
 Railroads 16 
 
 Railway Rides of Mexico 269 
 
 Railway Tickets 43 
 
 Real del Monte 227 
 
 Reboso 57 
 
 Resaca de la Palma 35 
 
 Restaurants 47 
 
 Revolution, The 31 
 
 Revillagigedo. Conde de 30 
 
 Rio Grande, The 9 
 
 Rio Grande, S. M. & Pac. Ry.21, 305 
 
 Rivers 8 
 
 Ruins of Mitla 201 
 
 Rurales 52 
 
 Sacrificial Stone 78 
 
 Sacred Mountain 160 
 
 Sacro Monte 160 
 
 Saddle Mountain 211 
 
 Sagrario Metropolitano 100 
 
 Sayula 250 
 
 Salm-Salm Princess 241 
 
 Salon de Conceirtos 62 
 
 Saltillo 245 
 
 Salvatierra 246 
 
 San Angel 125 
 
 San Hipolito, City of Mexico. .. .109 
 
 San Juan Teotihuacan 284 
 
 San Juan de Ulua, Island of 261 
 
 San Luis Potosi 246 
 
 San Miguel de Allende 248 
 
 San Pedro 184 
 
 Santa Ana 35 
 
 Santa Eulalia 268
 
 350 
 
 Page 
 
 School of Agriculture 84 
 
 Schools and Colleges 83-84 
 
 School of Medicine 84 
 
 School of Mines 83 
 
 Sculptor, Indian 185 
 
 Servants 54 
 
 Shopping 49 
 
 Silao 250 
 
 Silla, Cerro de la 211 
 
 Sonora Railroad 19, 318 
 
 South Over the Mexican Central. .267 
 South Over Mex., Cuer. & Pac. .310 
 
 South Over the National 298 
 
 South Over the Sonora Railway. .318 
 South Over the Southern Railway. 306 
 
 Standard of the Conquest 26 
 
 Standard of Independence 32 
 
 Statues, City of Mexico 94 
 
 Steamer Lines 21 
 
 Stores 49 
 
 Strawberries I9J 
 
 Street Cars 46 
 
 Streets, City of Mexico 54 
 
 Sun, Pyramid of the 133 
 
 Table-lands 12 
 
 Tacubaya 126 
 
 Tehuacan 308 
 
 Tehuantepec Ry 21, 319 
 
 Tajo de Nochistongo 132 
 
 Tampico 251 
 
 Tapalo 57 
 
 Teatro Principal . . .' 61 
 
 Teatro Nacional 62 
 
 Telegraph 53 
 
 Tamasopo Cafion 277 
 
 Tenochtitlan 71 
 
 Tenochtitlan, Siege of 27 
 
 Tequila I3 
 
 Tetzcotzinco 136 
 
 Texcoco 134- 253 
 
 Texcoco, Lake 11 
 
 Page 
 
 Titian, Picture by 2^2 
 
 Theatres, City of Mexico 61 
 
 Theological Seminary 84 
 
 Tlacolula 205 
 
 Tlalnepantla 132 
 
 Tlalpam 128 
 
 Tlaxcala 254 
 
 Tobacco 49 
 
 Toluca 2S7 
 
 Tomellin 310 
 
 Topo Chico 212 
 
 Torreon 269 
 
 Travel in Mexico 43 
 
 Treaty of Cordoba 32 
 
 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo 36 
 
 Treaty of La Soledad 38 
 
 Treaty of London 38 
 
 Tree of the Noche Triste 27 
 
 Tresguerras, Eduardo 167 
 
 Tula 259 
 
 Tule, The Big Tree of 204 
 
 Two Serpents' Heads 81 
 
 Tzintzuntzan 231 
 
 United States of Mexico 320 
 
 Usumacinta, The Rio 9 
 
 Vanegas, Cedral & Matehuala R.R.21 
 
 Vera Cruz 260 
 
 Viceroys 29 
 
 Victoria 317 
 
 War with United States 35 
 
 Water-clock, Heavenly 104 
 
 Westward Over the International.. 288 
 
 Westward from Acambaro 304 
 
 Westw^ard to Guadalajara 273 
 
 Xaltocan 11 
 
 Xanicho, Island of 233 
 
 Xaracuaro, Island of 233 
 
 Xicaca 80
 
 351 
 
 Page Page 
 
 Xochimilco, Lake n Zacatecas 262 
 
 Zerapes 56 
 
 Yautepec 261 Zocalo 9^ 
 
 Yturbidc 32, 89 Zopilote, Canon of 301 
 
 Zapotlan 266 Zumpango 11
 
 >s^ 
 
 ^
 
 29 30
 
 CITY OF MEXICO. 
 
 VALLEY OF MEXICO
 
 4
 
 
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