Chapter III: Introduction

The journey and excursions in Mexico which have originated the narrative and remarks contained in this volume were made in the months of March, April, May, and June of 1856, for the most part on horseback. The author and his fellow-traveller enjoyed many advantageous opportunities of studying the country, the people, and the antiquities of Mexico, owing to the friendly assistance and hospitality which they received there. With this aid they were enabled to accomplish much more than usually falls to the lot of travellers in so limited a period; and they had the great advantage too, of being able to substantiate or correct their own observations by the local knowledge and experience of their friends and entertainers.

Visiting Mexico during a lull in the civil turmoil of that lamentably disturbed Republic, they were fortunate in being able to avail themselves of that peaceable season in making excursions to remarkable places and ruins, and examining the national collection of antiquities, and other objects of interest,—an opportunity that cannot have occurred since owing to the recommencement of civil war in its worst form.

The following are some of the chief points of interest in these Notes on Mexico, which are either new or treated more fully than hitherto:

1. The evidence of an immense ancient population, shewn by the abundance of remains of works of art (treated of at pages 146-150), is fully stated here.

2. The notices and drawings of Obsidian knives and weapons (at page 95, &c., and in the Appendix) are more ample than any previously given.

3. The treatment of the Mexican Numerals (at page 108) is partly new.

4. The proofs of the highly probable sophistication of the document in the Library at Paris, relative to Mexican eclipses, have not previously been advanced (see Appendix).

5. The notices of objects of Mexican art, &c., in the chapter on Antiquities, and elsewhere (including the Appendix), are for the most part new to the public.

6. The remarks on the connection between pure Mexican art and that of Central America, in the chapter on Xochicalco, are in great part new.

7. The singular native bridge at Tezcuco (page 153) is another novelty.

The order in which places and things were visited is shewn in the annexed Itinerary, or sketch of the journeys and excursions described.

ITINERARY.

Journey 1. Cuba. Havana. Batabano. Isles of Pines. Nueva Gerona. Baños de Santa Fé. Back to Havana. _Pages_ 1-14.

Journey 2. Havana. Sisal. Vera Cruz. _Pages_ 15-18.

Journey 3. Vera Cruz. Cordova. Orizaba. Huamantla. Otumba. Guadalupe. Mexico. _Pages_ 18-38.

Journey 4. Mexico to Tacubaya and Chapultepec, and back. _Pages_ 55-58.

Journey 5. Mexico to Santa Anita and back. _Pages_ 59-65.

Journey 6. Mexico. Guadalupe. Pachuca. Real del Monte. Regla. Atotonilco el Grande. Soquital and back to Real del Monte. Real del Monte to Mount Jacal and Cerro de Navajas (obsidian-pits), and back to Real del Monte. Pachuca. Guadalupe. Mexico. _Pages_ 72-105.

Journey 7. Mexico to Tisapán. Ravine of Magdalena. Pedrigal (lava-field), and back. _Pages_ 118-120.

Journey 8. Mexico to Tezcuco. Pages 129—162. Tezcuco to Pyramids of Teotihuacán and back. Pages 136—146. Tezcuco to Tezcotzinco (the so-called “Montezuma’s Bath,” &c.). Aztec Bridge, and back to Tezcuco. _Pages_ 152-153. Tezcuco to Bosque del Contador (the grove of ahuehuetes, where excavations were made.) _Pages_ 154-156. Tezcuco to Mexico. _Page_ 62.

Journey 9. Mexico. San Juan de Dios. La Guarda. Cuernavaca. Temisco. Xochicalco. Miacatlán. Cocoytla. _Pages_ 172-195. Cocoytla to village and cave of Cacahuamilpán and back. _Pages_ 196-205. Cocoytla to Chalma. Oculán. El Desierto. Tenancingo. Toluca. Lerma. Las Cruzes. Mexico. _Pages_ 214-220.

Journey 10. Mexico to Tezcuco. Miraflores. Amecameca. Popocatepetl. San Nicolas de los Ranchos. Cholula. Puebla. Amozoque. Nopaluca. San Antonio de abajo. Orizaba. Amatlán. El Potrero. Cordova. San Andrés. Chalchicomula. La Junta. Jalapa. Vera Cruz. West Indies and Home. _Pages_ 260- 327.

Illustration: MAP OF PART OF MEXICO TO ILLUSTRATE A JOURNEY FROM VERA CRUZ TO MEXICO AND BACK & EXCURSIONS IN THE COUNTRY, By Messrs. E.B. Tylor & H. Cristy.