Chapter I: Preface

Having resolved to visit Mexico, the question first to be considered was how to do so in the most advantageous manner. Repairing to the office of Messrs. Raymond & Whitcomb, in Boston, after a brief consultation with those experienced organizers of travel, the author handed the firm a check for the cost of a round trip to Mexico and back. On the following day he took his seat in a Pullman parlor car in Boston, to occupy the same section until his return from an excursion of ten thousand miles. A select party of ladies and gentlemen came together at the same time in the Fitchburg railroad station, most of whom were strangers to each other, but who were united by the same purpose. The traveler lives, eats, and sleeps in the vestibule train, while _en route_, in which he first embarks, until his return to the starting-point, a dining-car, with reading and writing rooms, also forming a part of the train. All care regarding the routes to be followed, as to hotel accommodations while stopping in large cities, side excursions, and the providing of domestic necessities, are dismissed from his mind. He luxuriates in the pleasure of seeing a strange and beautiful land, without a thought as to the _modus operandi_, or the means by which detail is conquered. In short, he dons Fortunatus's cap, and permits events to develop themselves to his intense delight. Such was the author's experience on the occasion concerning which these wayside views of Mexico were written. It was a holiday journey, but it is hoped that a description of it may impart to the general reader a portion of the pleasure and useful information which the author realized from an excursion into Aztec Land, full of novel and uninterrupted enjoyment.

M. M. B.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Locality and Political Divisions of Aztec Land.--Spanish
Historians.--Boundaries.--Climate.--Egyptian Resemblances.
--Products of the Country.--Antiquities.--Origin of Races.
--Early Civilization.--Pictorial Writings.--Aboriginal Money.
--Aztec Religious Sacrifices.--A Voluptuous Court.--Mexican
Independence.--European Civilization introduced by Cortez.--
Civil Wars.--The Maximilian Fiasco.--Revival of Mexican
Progress.--A Country facing on Two Oceans.--A Native Writer's
Statement.--Divorce of Church and State 1

CHAPTER II.

Remarkably Fertile Soil.--Valuable Native Woods.--Mexican Flora.--
Coffee and Tobacco.--Mineral Products.--Silver Mines.--Sugar
Lands.--Manufactories.--Cortez's Presents to Charles V.--Water
Power.--Coal Measures.--Railroads.--Historic Locality.--Social
Characteristics.--People divided into Castes.--Peonage.--
Radical Progress.--Education and the Priesthood.--A Threshing
Machine.--Social Etiquette.--Political Organization of the
Government.--Mexico the Synonym of Barbarism.--Production and
Business Handicapped by an Excessive Tariff 23

CHAPTER III.

The Route to Mexico.--Via the Mammoth Cave.--Across the Rio
Grande.--A Large River.--Piedras Negras.--Characteristic Scene.
--A Barren Prairie Land.--Castaño, a Native Village.--Adobe
Cabins.--Indian Irrigation.--Sparsely Populated Country.--
Interior Haciendas.--Immigration.--City of Saltillo.--Battle
of Buena Vista.--City of Monterey.--The Cacti and Yucca-Palm.
--Capture by General Taylor.--Mexican Central Railroad.--
Jack-Rabbits.--A Dreary Region.--The Mesquite Bushes.--Lonely
Graves 43

CHAPTER IV.

Zacatecas.--Sand-Spouts.--Fertile Lands.--A Silver Mining Region.
--Alpine Scenery.--Table-Land of Mexico.--An Aged Miner.--
Zacatecas Cathedral.--Church and People.--A Mountain Climb.--
Ownership of the Mines.--Want of Drainage.--A Battlefield.--
Civil War.--Local Market.--Peculiar Scenes.--Native Beauties.
--City Tramway Experience.--Town of Guadalupe.--Organized
Beggars.--A Noble and Successful Institution.--Market of
Guadalupe.--Attractive Señoritas.--Private Gardens 62

CHAPTER V.

A Mexican Watering Place.--Delightful Climate.--Aguas Calientes.
--Young Señoritas.--Local City Scenes.--Convicts.--Churches.
--A Mummified Monk.--Punishment is Swift and Sure.--Hot
Springs.--Bathing in Public.--Caged Songsters.--"Antiquities."
--Delicious Fruits.--Market Scenes.--San Luis Potosi.--The
Public Buildings.--City of Leon.--A Beautiful Plaza.--Local
Manufactories.--Home Industries of Leon.--The City of Silao.
--Defective Agriculture.--Objection to Machinery.--Fierce
Sand Storm 76

CHAPTER VI.

Guanajuato.--An Ex-President.--Richest Silver Mine in Mexico.--
Reducing the Ores.--Plenty of Silver.--Open Sewers.--A Venal
Priesthood.--A Big Prison.--The Catholic Church.--Getting Rid
of a Prisoner.--The Frog-Rock.--Idolaters.--A Strawberry
Festival at Irapuato.--Salamanca.--City of Queretaro.--A Fine
Old Capital.--Maximilian and His Fate.--A Charming Plaza.--
Mammoth Cotton Factory.--The Maguey Plant.--Pulque and Other
Stimulants.--Beautiful Opals.--Honey Water.--Ancient Tula.--
A Freak of Tropical Weather 97

CHAPTER VII.

City of Mexico.--Private Dwellings.--Thieves.--Old Mexico.--
Climate.--Tramways.--The Plaza Mayor.--City Streets.--The
Grand Paseo.--Public Statues.--Scenes upon the Paseo.--The
Paseo de la Viga.--Out-of-door Concerts.--A Mexican Caballero.
--Lottery Ticket Venders.--High Noon.--Mexican Soldiers.--
Musicians.--Criminals as Soldiers.--The Grand Cathedral.--The
Ancient Aztec Temple.--Magnificent View from the Towers of
the Cathedral.--Cost of the Edifice.--Valley of Anahuac 126

CHAPTER VIII.

An Extinct Volcano.--Mexican Mountains.--The Public Institutions
of the Capital.--The Government Palace.--The Museum.--
Maximilian's State Carriage.--A Peculiar Plant.--The Academy
of Fine Arts.--Choice Paintings.--Art School.--Picture
Writing.--Native Artists.--Exquisite Pottery.--Cortez's
Presents to Charles V.--A Special Aztec Art.--The Sacrificial
Stone.--Spanish Historical Authorities.--Public Library.--The
Plaza.--Flower Market.--A Morning Visit.--Public Market.--
Concealed Weapons 150

CHAPTER IX.

A City of Vistas.--Want of Proper Drainage.--Unfortunate Site.--
Insecure Foundations.--A Boom in Building Lots.--Pleasant
Suburbs.--Night Watchmen.--The Iturbide Hotel--A Would-be
Emperor.--Domestic Arrangements.--A New Hotel wanted.--
Places of Public Entertainment.--The Bull Ring.--Repulsive
Performance.--Monte de Piedad.--An English Syndicate purchase
it.--The Alameda.--The Inquisition.--Festal Days.--Pulque
Shops.--The Church Party.--Gilded Bar-Rooms.--Mexican
Marriages.--Mothers and Infants.--A Family Group 170

CHAPTER X.

Benito Juarez's Grandest Monument.--Hotel del Jardin.--General
José Morelos.--Mexican Ex-Convents.--City Restaurants.--Lady
Smokers.--Domestic Courtyards.--A Beautiful Bird.--The Grand
Cathedral Interior.--A Devout Lottery Ticket Vender.--
Porcelain-Ornamented Houses.--Rogues in Church.--Expensive
Justice.--Cemetery of San Fernando.--Juarez's Monument.--
Coffins to Let.--American and English Cemetery.--A Doleful
Street and Trade 194

CHAPTER XI.

The Shrine of Guadalupe.--Priestly Miracles.--A Remarkable
Spring.--The Chapels about the Hill.--A Singular Votive
Offering.--Church of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.--Costly
Decorations.--A Campo Santo.--Tomb of Santa Anna.--Strange
Contrasts.--Guadalupe-Hidalgo.--The Twelve Shrines on the
Causeway.--The Viga Canal.--The Floating Islands.--Indian
Gamblers.--Vegetable Market.--Flower Girls.--The "Noche-
Triste" Tree.--Ridiculous Signs.--Queer Titles.--Floral
Festival 205

CHAPTER XII.

Castle of Chapultepec.--"Hill of the Grasshopper."--Montezuma's
Retreat.--Palace of the Aztec Kings.--West Point of Mexico.
--Battles of Molino del Rey and Churubusco.--The Mexican White
House.--High above Sea Level.--Village of Tacubaya.--Antique
Carvings.--Ancient Toluca.--The Maguey.--Fine Scenery.--Cima.
--Snowy Peaks.--Leon d'Oro.--The Bull-Ring and Cockpit.--A
Literary Institution.--The Coral Tree.--Ancient Pyramids.--
Pachuca.--Silver Product of the Mines.--A Cornish Colony.--
Native Cabins.--Indian Endurance 220

CHAPTER XIII.

Puebla, the Sacred City.--General Forey.--Battle-Ground.--View of
the City.--Priestly Miracles.--The Cathedral.--Snow-Crowned
Mountains.--A Cleanly Capital.--The Plaza Mayor.--A Typical
Picture.--The Old Seller of Rosaries.--Mexican Ladies.--Palm
Sunday.--Church Gala Day.--Education--Confiscation of Church
Property.--A Curious Arch.--A Doll Image.--Use of Glazed
Tiles.--Onyx a Staple Production.--Fine Work of Native Indian
Women.--State of Puebla full of Rich Resources.--A Dynamite
Bomb.--The Key of the Capital 241

CHAPTER XIV.

Ancient Cholula.--A Grand Antiquity.--The Cheops of Mexico.--
Traditions relating to the Pyramid.--The Toltecs.--Cholula of
To-Day.--Comprehensive View.--A Modern Tower of Babel.--
Multiplicity of Ruins.--Cortez's Exaggerations.--Sacrifices of
Human Beings.--The Hateful Inquisition.--A Wholesale Murderous
Scheme.--Unreliable Historians.--Spanish Falsification.--
Interesting Churches.--Off the Track.--Personal Relics of
Cortez.--Torturing a Victim.--Aztec Antiquities.--Tlaxcala.--
Church of San Francisco.--Peon Dwellings.--Cortez and the
Tlaxcalans 258

CHAPTER XV.

Down into the Hot Lands.--Wonderful Mountain Scenery.--Parasitic
Vines.--Luscious Fruits.--Orchids.--Orizaba.--State of Vera
Cruz.--The Kodak.--Churches.--A Native Artist.--Schools.--
Climate.--Crystal Peak of Orizaba.--Grand Waterfall.--The
American Flag.--Disappointed Climbers.--A Night Surprise.--
The French Invasion.--The Plaza.--Indian Characteristics.--
Early Morning Sights.--Maximilian in Council.--Difficult
Engineering.--Wild Flowers.--A Cascade.--Cordova.--The Banana.
--Coffee Plantations.--Fertile Soil.--Market Scenes 282

CHAPTER XVI.

The City of Vera Cruz.--Defective Harbor.--The Dreaded and also
Welcome Norther.--San Juan d'Ulloa.--Landing of Cortez.--His
Expedition Piratical.--View of the City from the Sea.--
Cortez's Destruction of his Ships.--Anecdote of Charles V.--A
Sickly Capital.--Street Scenes.--Trade.--The Mantilla.--Plaza
de la Constitucion.--Typical Characters.--Brilliant Fireflies.
--Well-To-Do Beggars.--Principal Edifices.--The Campo Santo.
--City Dwelling-Houses.--The Dark-Plumed Buzzards.--A City
Fountain.--A Varied History.--Medillin.--State of Vera Cruz 301

CHAPTER XVII.

Jalapa.--A Health Resort.--Birds, Flowers, and Fruits.--Cerro
Gordo.--Cathedral.--Earthquakes.--Local Characteristics.--
Vanilla.--Ancient Ruins.--Tortillas.--Blondes in a City of
Brunettes.--Curiosities of Mexican Courtship.--Caged Singing
Birds.--Banditti Outwitted.--Socialistic Indians.--Traces of
a Lost City.--Guadalajara.--On the Mexican Plateau.--A
Progressive Capital.--Fine Modern Buildings.--The Cathedral.
--Native Artists.--A Noble Institution.--Amusements.--San
Pedro.--Evening in the Plaza.--A Ludicrous Carnival.--Judas
Day 320

CHAPTER XVIII.

Santa Rosalia.--Mineral Springs.--Chihuahua.--A Peculiar City.--
Cathedral.--Expensive Bells.--Aqueduct.--Alameda.--Hidalgo's
Prison and his Fate.--Eulalia.--A Large State.--A Grand Avenue
of Trees.--Local Artists.--Grotesque Signs.--Influence of
Proximity to the United States.--Native Villages.--Dangerous
Sand-Spouts.--Reflections on Approaching the Frontier.--
Pleasant Pictures photographed upon the Memory.--Juarez, the
Border Town of Mexico.--City of El Paso, Texas.--Railroad
Interests.--Crossing the Rio Grande.--Greeted by the Stars
and Stripes 343

AZTEC LAND.