peculiar configuration, its vast prairies, its long range of sea coast,
and its numerous rivers on the south, and its range of unexplored
mountains on the north, and from its peculiar position between the
settled countries of the United States on the one hand, and those of
the Mexican Republic, beyond the Rio del Norte, on the other, will
always be a resort for outlaws, and desperate speculators from our
country. Those who wish to get away from their conscience, and those
who have visions of a _paradise in the wild_, in short, the 'moving
generation' of the country will press to that region to find range.
Until the Rio del Norte be our boundary, or a Chinese wall rise between
the two states, or a continued line of military posts, interdicting
transit, be kept up, it will be the refuge of negro-stealers, and the
Elysium of rogues. During the past winter, it witnessed the rise and
fall of a republic, which numbered fifteen citizens, and endured fifty
days. They must allow us in this country, to have a wonderful faculty
to over-stocking all kinds {290} of markets, with the articles which we
furnish. Every profession has three aspirants for one that is needed.
We furnish more orations, than all the other people on the globe, and
we overdo, and parody every thing, that is great and noble.
We acknowledge, that the materials for this, our history, were no more
than the common parlance of the people, the passing conversations
of village news-mongers. We give as we have received. As we have
understood it, a Mr. Edwards was the Romulus of this new republic.[144]
He had somehow obtained, or imagined that he had obtained at Mexico
the conditional grant of some millions of acres, between the Sabine,
and the grant of Col. Austin.[145] We saw multitudes of emigrants
repairing to this land of promise. Among others, there was a Mr.
Chaplin, who, we believe, was a respectable man. He married a sister of
Edwards, a beautiful woman, over the events of whose life is spread no
small coloring of romance. Mr. Chaplin was appointed by Mr. Edwards,
the proprietor, and was elected by the people, chiefly Americans,
_Alcaide_, and commandant of Nacogdoches, the only place, that had any
resemblance to a town in the country.[146] It seems that the Mexicans
wanted to have a hand in the management of this business, and they
appointed another _Alcaide_, and commandant. Hence arose a feud, and a
collision of authorities between the old and the new '_residenters_.'
The warm blood of the emigrants was roused. Fifteen men, among them
Col. Ligon, a man whom we had known elsewhere, in a respectable office
and standing, took counsel from their free born minds, their stout
hearts, and probably from the added influence of the cheering essence
of the '_native_.' They repaired, on a set time, not without due pomp,
and as they say, under desperate apprehensions of enormous bodily harm,
to a stone house, the only one, we believe, of any consequence in the
village. Here they promulgated a declaration of independence, adopted
national banners and insignia, swore the customary oaths, pledged their
'lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor,' earnestly invoked the
aid of their fellow citizens in the {291} United States, formed their
constitution, and appointed their officers; and the offices were so
numerous, that, we believe, every citizen of the republic held at least
one. The aid of another republic, a band of renegade Cherokees, was
invoked with as much form, as Æneas used in soliciting the alliance
of Evander. The chief of these Indians was introduced under the most
imposing formalities. Among the names of the Cherokee plenipotentiaries
we observe the name of the thrice-famous _John Dunn Hunter_.[147]
The Fredonians had expected aid from Col. Austin's settlement, about
two hundred miles south west of them, on the Brassos and Colorado.
Not a few of the people of this colony were disposed to give in their
adhesion to the new republic. But the shrewd Col. Austin was aware, on
which side of the bread the butter lay, and he remained staunch in his
loyalty to his adopted country. He issued a thundering proclamation,
not unlike Gen. Hull's on the invasion of Canada, inviting his people
to range themselves under the standard of the Mexican government. The
Cherokee chain parted its links, like _a rope of sand_. The '_fifteen_'
had inadvertently caused the death of one man, and otherwise shed some
blood by dint of fist. Some of their more provident men said with the
famous Dutch refugee,
'Timens lædi,
His posteriora dedi.'
In other words, made the best of their way east of the Sabine. The
Mexicans embodied a small creole force, regained the '_stone house_,'
and over-took some of the Fredonians, wisely treating them with a
lenity, which rather savoured of contempt.
Some of the first magistrates of the fallen republic, on regaining the
eastern shore of the Sabine, betook themselves to school-keeping, like
Dyonisius, exchanging the sceptre for a rod. The Spanish vacher cracks
his thong, as sonorously, and as carelessly, as before, and the surface
of the vast prairies is at rest, like that of a lake, a few minutes
after a projected stone has ruffled its sleeping waters. '_Sic transit
gloria mundi_.'
{292} MEXICO
SOME ACCOUNT OF ITS INHABITANTS, TOWNS, PRODUCTIONS, AND NATURAL
CURIOSITIES
[Extracted from the Universal Geography.][148]
_Moral qualities of the_ INDIANS.--In his present condition,
the Mexican Indian is grave, melancholy, and taciturn, as long as he
is not under the influence of intoxicating liquors. This gravity is
particularly remarkable in the children of Indians, who, at the early
age of four or five years, display infinitely greater intelligence
and development of mind than the children of whites. They delight in
throwing an air of mystery over their most trifling remarks. Not a
passion manifests itself in their features. At all times sombre, there
is something terrific in the change, when he passes all at once from
a state of absolute repose to violent and ungovernable agitation. The
energy of his character, to which every shade of softness is unknown,
habitually degenerates into ferocity. This is especially the case with
the inhabitants of Tlascala. In the midst of their degradation, the
descendants of these republicans are still distinguished by a certain
haughtiness with which they are inspired by the remembrance of their
former greatness. The indigenous natives of Mexico, like all other
nations who have long groaned under civil and religious despotism, are
attached, with an extreme degree of obstinacy, to their habits, their
manners, and their opinions.
_Assimilation of their Religious Belief._--The introduction of
Christianity among them has scarcely produced any other effect than
merely substituting new ceremonies, the symbols of a mild and
humane religion,--for the ceremonies of a sanguinary worship. From
the earliest periods, semibarbarous {293} nations have received new
laws, and new divinities from the hands of their conquerors. The
indigenous and vanquished gods give place to foreign deities. Indeed,
in a mythology so complicated as that of the Mexicans, it was easy
to discover an affinity between the divinities of Atzlan and those
of the east. The Holy Spirit, for instance, was identified with the
sacred eagle of the Aztecs. The missionaries not only tolerated, they
even favored this mixture of ideas, by which the Christian worship
became more speedily established. The English collector, Mr. Bullock,
readily obtained leave from the clergy and authorities, in 1823, to
disinter and take casts from the image of the sanguinary goddess
_Teoyamiqui_.[149] During the time it was exposed, he adds, "the court
of the University was crowded with people, most of whom expressed the
most decided anger and contempt. Not so, however, all the Indians. I
attentively marked their countenances; not a smile escaped them, or
even a word--all was silence and attention. In reply to a joke of one
of the students, an old Indian remarked, 'It is true we have three very
good Spanish gods, but we might still have been allowed to keep a few
of those of our ancestors.' I was informed that chaplets of flowers had
been placed on the figure by natives, who had stolen thither unseen,
in the evening, for that purpose; a proof that notwithstanding the
extreme diligence of the Spanish clergy for 300 years, there still
remains some taint of heathen superstition among the descendants of
the original inhabitants." Yet it was, probably, a nobler impulse than
superstition that wove the chaplet for the statue of Teoyamiqui; rather
that mystery of nature, by which she links the present to the past
with veneration, and to the future with anxiety,--that awful reverence
with which the rudest nations look back to their origin and ancestors,
and which even now, among the most enlightened, still consecrates the
relics of Montmorillon and Stonehenge.
_Their talent for Painting and Sculpture._--The Mexicans have preserved
a particular taste for painting and for the art of carving on stone
and wood. It is truly astonishing to see what {294} they are capable
of executing with a bad knife, upon the hardest wood and stone. They
exercise themselves in painting the images, and carving the statues
of saints; but from a religious principle, they have continued too
servilely intimate for 300 years, the models which the Europeans
brought with them at the period of the original conquest. In Mexico
as well as in Hindoostan, the faithful are not allowed to make the
smallest change in their idols; every thing connected with the rites of
the Aztecs was subjugated to immutable laws. It is on this very account
that the Christian images have preserved in some degree, that stiffness
and hardness of feature which characterised the hieroglyphical pictures
of the age of Montezuma. They display a great deal of aptitude for the
exercise of the arts of imitation, and still greater for those of a
purely mechanical nature.
_Want of Imagination._--When an Indian has attained a certain degree
of cultivation, he shows great facility of acquiring information,
a spirit of accuracy and precision, and a particular tendency to
subtilize, or to seize on the minutest differences in objects that are
to be compared with each other. He reasons coldly and with method;
but he does not evince that activity of imagination, that lively
freshness of sentiment, that art of creating and of producing, which
characterises the people of Europe, and many tribes of African negroes.
The music and dancing of the indigenous natives partake of that want
of cheerfulness which is so peculiar to them. Their singing is of a
melancholy description. More vivacity, however, is observed in their
women than in their men; but they share the evils of that state of
subjection to which the sex is condemned among most of those nations
where civilization is still imperfect. In the dance women take no part;
they are merely present for the sake of offering to the dancers the
fermented drinks which they themselves had prepared.
_Their taste for Flowers._--The Mexican Indians have likewise preserved
the same taste for flowers that Cortez noticed in his time. We are
astonished to discover this taste, which, doubtless, {295} indicates a
taste for the beautiful, among a people in whom a sanguinary worship,
and the frequency of human sacrifices, appear to have extinguished
every feeling connected with sensibility of mind and the softer
affections. In the great market of Mexico, the native does not even
sell fish, or ananas, or vegetables, or fermented liquor, without his
shop being decked out with flowers, which are renewed every succeeding
day. The Indian shopkeeper appears seated behind a perfect entrenchment
of verdure, and every thing around him wears an air of the most refined
elegance.
_Wild Indians._--The Indian hunters, such as the _Mecos_, the
_Apaches_, and the _Lipans_, whom the Spaniards comprehend under the
denomination of _Indios bravos_, and whose hordes, in their incursions,
which are often made during night, infest the frontiers of New Biscay,
Sonora, and New Mexico, evince more activity of mind, and more strength
of character, than the agricultural Indians. Some tribes have even
language, the mechanism of which appears to prove the existence of
ancient civilization. They have great difficulty in learning our
European idioms, while, at the same time, they express themselves
in their own with an extreme degree of facility. These same Indian
chiefs, whose gloomy taciturnity astonishes the observer, will hold a
discourse of several hours, whenever any strong interest rouses them to
break their habitual silence.
_Prerogatives of the_ WHITES.--The greater or less quantity
of European blood, and the skin being more or less clear, are at once
decisive of the consideration which a man enjoys in society and of the
opinion which he entertains of himself. A white who rides barefooted,
fancies that he belongs to the nobility of the country. Colour even
establishes a certain equality between those who, as every where
happens where civilization is either a little advanced, or in a state
of retrograde movement, take pleasure in refining on the prerogatives
of race and origin.--When an individual of the lower orders enters
into a dispute with one of the titled lords of the country, it is
no unusual thing {296} to hear him exclaim to the nobleman, "It is
possible that you really thought yourself whiter than I am?" Among the
Metis and Mulattoes, there are many individuals who, by their colour,
their physiognomy, and their intelligence, might be confounded with the
Spaniards; but the law keeps them down in a state of degradation and
contempt. Possessing an energetic and ardent character, these men of
colour live in a state of constant irritation against the whites; and
resentment too often hurries them into vengeance. It frequently occurs,
too, that families who are suspected of being of mixed blood, claim,
at the high court of justice, a declaration that they appertain to the
whites. In this way, very dark colored Mulattoes have had the address
to get themselves _whitened_, according to the popular expression.
When the judgment of the senses is too palpably in opposition to the
solicitations of the applicant, he is forced to content himself with
somewhat problematical terms; for, in that case, the sentence simply
states, that "such and such individuals may _consider themselves as
white_."
NEW-MEXICO.--Many French writers, and, among others, the Abbe
Raynal, have spoken in pompous terms of what they term the _Empire
of New-Mexico_;[150] and they boast of its extent and riches. Under
this denomination they appear to comprehend all the countries between
California and Louisiana. But the true signification of this term is
confined to a narrow province which, it is true, is 175 leagues in
length, but not more than thirty or forty in breadth.
_Towns._--This stripe of country, which borders the Rio del Norte, is
thinly peopled; the town of _Santa Fe_ containing 4000 inhabitants;
_Albuquerque_, 6000; and _Taos_, 9000, comprise almost one-half of the
population. The other half consists of poor colonists, whose scattered
hamlets are frequently ravaged by the powerful tribes of Indians who
surround them, and overrun the province. It is true that the soil is
amongst the finest and most fertile of Spanish America.
_Productions._--Wheat, maize, and delicious fruits, especially {297}
grapes, grow most abundantly. The environs of _Passo-del-Norte_,
produce the most generous wines. The mountains are covered with pine
trees, maples, and oaks. Beasts of prey are met with in great numbers.
There are also wild sheep, and particularly elks, or at least large
deer, fully the size of a mule, with extremely long horns. According
to the Dictionary of _Alcedo_,[151] mines of tin have been discovered.
There are several hot springs. Rivers with a saline taste, indicate the
existence of rich beds of rock-salt.
_Mountains._--The chain of mountains that border the eastern parts of
New Mexico, seem to be of a moderate degree of elevation. There is a
pass through them, called the _Puerto de don Fernando_, by which the
Paducas have penetrated into New Mexico.[152] Beyond this chain extend
immense natural meadows, on which buffaloes and wild horses pasture
in innumerable herds. The Americans of the United States hunt these
animals, and sometimes pursue them to the very gates of Santa Fe. The
principal mountains coast Rio del Norte, following its western banks.
Some peaks, or _cerros_, are to be distinguished. Further to the north,
in the country of _Nabaho_, the map of Don Alzate has traced mountains
with flat summits, denominated in Spanish _mesas_, that is, _tables_.
_The Apache Indians._--The _Apache_ Indians originally inhabited the
greater part of New Mexico, and are still a warlike and industrious
nation. These implacable enemies of the Spaniards infest the whole
eastern boundary of this country, from the black mountains to the
confines of Cohahuila, keeping the inhabitants of several provinces
in an incessant state of alarm.--There has never been any thing
but short skirmishes with them, and although their number has been
considerably diminished by wars and frequent famine, the Spaniards are
obliged constantly to keep up an establishment of 2000 dragoons, for
the purpose of escorting their caravans, protecting their villages,
and repelling these attacks, which are perpetually renewed. At first
the {298} Spaniards endeavoured to reduce to slavery those who, by
the fate of war, fell into their hands; but seeing them indefatigably
surmount every obstacle that opposed their return to their dear native
mountains, their conquerors adopted the expedient of sending their
prisoners to the island of Cuba, where, from the change of climate,
they speedily perished. No sooner were the Apaches informed of this
circumstance than they refused any longer either to give or receive
quarter. From that moment none have ever been taken prisoners, except
those who are surprised asleep, or disabled during the combat.
_Manner of making war._--The arrows of the Apaches are three feet
long, and are made of reed or cane, into which they sink a piece of
hard-wood, with a point made of iron, bone, or stone. They shoot
this weapon with such force, that at the distance of 300 paces they
can pierce a man. When the arrow is attempted to be drawn out of the
wound, the wood detaches itself, and the point remains in the body.
Their second offensive weapon is a lance, fifteen feet long. When they
charge the enemy they hold this lance with both hands above their head,
and, at the same time, guide their horse by pressing him with their
knees. Many of them are armed with firelocks, which, as well as the
ammunition, have been taken in battle from the Spaniards, who never
sell them any. The archers and fusileers combat on foot but the lancers
are always on horseback. They make use of a buckler for defence.
Nothing can equal the impetuosity and address of their horsemen. They
are thunderbolts, whose stroke it is impossible to parry or escape.
We must cease to feel astonished at the invincible resistance which the
Apaches oppose to the Spaniards, when we reflect on the fate to which
they have subjected those other Indians who have allowed themselves to
be converted.
_The Intendency of Mexico._--The intendency of _Mexico_, the principal
province of the Empire of Montezuma, formerly extended from one sea to
the other; but the district of _Panuco_, {299} having been separated
from it, it no longer reaches the gulf of Mexico. The eastern part,
situated on the plateau, contains several valleys of a round figure;
in the centre of which there are lakes at present dried up, but waters
appear formerly to have filled these basins. Dry and deprived of its
wood, this plateau is at once subject to an habitual aridity, and to
sudden inundations, occasioned by heavy rains and the melting of the
snow. Generally speaking, the temperature is not so hot as it is in
Spain; in fact, it enjoys a perpetual spring. The mountains with which
it is surrounded still abound in cedars and other lofty trees, in
gums, drugs, salts, metallic productions, marble and precious stones.
The flat country is covered the whole year through with delicate and
exquisite fruits, lint, hemp, cotton, tobacco, aniseed, sugar, and
cochineal, with which they support an extensive commerce.
_Natural Curiosities._--Besides the numerous volcanoes of which we have
already spoken, some natural curiosities are met with. One of the most
remarkable is the _Ponte-Dios_, or the bridge of God, a rock, under
which the water has hollowed itself a canal, situated about one hundred
miles to the southeast of Mexico, near the village of Molcaxac, on the
deep river Aquetoyac. Along this natural bridge, the traveller may
continue his journey as if he were on a high road. Several cataracts
present a romantic appearance. The great cavern of Dante, traversed
by a river; the porphyritic organ-pipes of Actopan; and many other
singular objects excite the astonishment of the traveller in this
mountainous region, where he is obliged to cross foaming rivers upon
bridges formed of the fruit of the _Crescentia pinnata_, tied together
with ropes of Agava.
_City of Mexico._--On the very ridge of the great Mexican plateau, a
chain of porphyritic mountains encloses an oval valley, the general
level of which is elevated 6700 feet above the surface of the ocean.
Five lakes fill the middle of this valley. To the north of the united
lakes of Xochimilco, and Chalco, on the eastern side of the lake
Tezcuco, once stood the ancient {300} city of _Mexico_, to which the
traveller arrived by causeways constructed on the shallow bottom of the
lake. The new city, although placed on the same spot, is situated on
firm ground, and at a considerable distance from the lakes, the waters
of which have retired, and the town is still intersected by numerous
canals, and the public edifices are erected on piles. The draining of
the lakes is further continued, by means of a canal which has been
opened for that purpose, through the mountains of Sincoq, in order to
protect the town from inundations. In many places however, the ground
is still soft, and some buildings, amongst others the cathedral, have
sunk six feet. The streets are wide and straight, but badly paved.
The houses present a magnificent appearance, being built of porphyry
and amygdaloid. Several palaces and private mansions have a majestic
effect, and its churches glitter with metallic riches. The cathedral
surpasses, in this respect, all the churches in the world; the
ballustrade which surrounds the great altar being composed of massive
silver. A lamp of the same metal, is of so vast a size that three men
go into it when it has to be cleaned; and it is enriched with lions'
heads, and other ornaments, of pure gold. The statues of the Virgin
and the saints are either made of solid silver, or richly gilded, and
ornamented with precious stones. Palaces, mansions of great families,
beautiful fountains, and extensive squares, adorn the interior of
this city. To the north, near the suburbs, is the principal public
promenade, or _Alameda_. Round this walk flows a rivulet, forming a
fine square, in the middle of which there is a basin with a fountain.
Eight alleys of trees terminate here, in the figure of a star. But
in consequence of an unfortunate proximity, immediately in front of
alameda, the eye discovers the _Quemadero_, a place where Jews and
other victims of the terrible Inquisition, were burned alive.
FINIS
FOOTNOTES: