Visit to Contreras and San Angel.--The End of a brave Soldier.--A
Place of Skulls.--A New England Dinner.--An Adventure with
Robbers--doubtful.--Reasons for revisiting Mexico.--The Battle at
the Mountain of Crosses.--A peculiar Variety of the Cactus.--Three
Men gibbeted for robbing a Bishop.---A Court upon Horseback.--The
retreat of Cortez to Otumba.--A venerable Cypress Grove.--Unexpectedly
comfortable Quarters.--An English Dinner at Tezcuco.--Pleasures
unknown to the Kings of Tezcuco.--Relics of Tezcuco.--The Appearance
of the Virgin Mary at Tezcuco.--The Causeways of Mexico.
A RIDE TO SAN ANGEL.
The ride to San Angel has this advantage over all others out of Mexico,
that the road is nearly all the way upon dry land, thus presenting a
pleasant contrast to the gloominess of all the others, except the
Tacuba road. There is less of stagnant water, and little appearance of
_tequisquite_. It is lined with fields of corn and maguey. Contreras is
upon this road--the point where Santa Anna's line of defenses was first
broken, and broken in the same way as at Cerro Gordo, and by the same
officer, the late General Riley. It was the defect of all Mexican
military operations, that they were not sufficiently on the look-out
for night attacks. In the night Riley had been allowed to get behind
the position of his adversary at Cerro Gordo; and here again he got
behind and above him, by crawling up a ravine in a foggy night, from
which point he charged Valencia in reverse. That successful charge of
the brave old soldier raised him to the brevet rank of Major General,
and sealed the fate of the city.
What sort of a victory has it proved to the hero of this battle? He had
spent the best portion of his life in the Indian territory, arranging
difficulties, appeasing strifes, overawing the turbulent, and
restraining the lawlessness of white intruders. And now he had become
an old man, with the rank only of Major, as he had no kind friend at
court. But the Mexican war opened to him the prospect of winning a
"sash" or of being brought home in a coffin. The sash was won, but the
coffin was near at hand; for, while he was gaining his laurels, he
contracted a cancer, which in a short time after his return from a
distant command, consigned him to the home prepared for all living.
Forty long years had he followed the profession of arms, and endured
its hardships without a murmur; yet, when he laid down his sword to
die, he had nothing to leave to his children but the commissions
Congress had awarded him on his California revenues. War is a hard
trade for the bravest of the brave, and with very few prizes except to
political favorites, who with high-sounding titles, but without
military experience, ride by the side of some brave subaltern, gather
his laurels, and enjoy the fruits of his experience.
A slight breastwork and a heap of bones and skulls mark the site of
this gallant exploit of General Riley. And we fancied that we could
select the American skulls from the common mass, as they clearly
belonged to two distinct races of men; one set of skulls being thin and
firm, while the other was thick and porous. We rode on, and soon came
to San Angel, where were many pleasant places for suburban residences,
and an immense convent garden celebrated for its fruits. But now all
was parched and dry, for it was midwinter, which is here the middle of
the dry season, and it was not yet the time for the new foliage to
appear upon the trees, for that does not take place till February.
The occasion of our ride was an invitation to dine with an American
family at the paper-mill of Mr. M'Intosh, the English banker. This was
the greatest treat that I had yet met with in Mexico. Though I have had
the honor of dining in more distinguished places, both in Mexico and in
the United States, I never attended a dinner-party that I enjoyed so
much. It was a thrifty family, and a charming old-fashioned New England
housewife had prepared the dinner. Perhaps this is saying enough to
enable the reader to fill out the picture, for he will be sure to guess
that pumpkin-pies were not forgotten; for what would a down-east
thanksgiving dinner be without this national dish? The dinner was a
charm in itself, while the attendant circumstances gave it a double
relish. To complete the pleasure of the visit, we made our way into
"the Yankee's" kitchen, and there had the pleasure of seeing a
cooking-stove, and cooking-furniture of tin, copper, and iron,
displayed after the most approved fashion. Verily this universal Yankee
nation preserves its distinctive characteristics every where!
AN ADVENTURE.
On our way home we must needs have an adventure. But whether the party
that overtook us on the road were really robbers, or only
pleasure-seekers hurrying to escape from the rain, I have my doubts to
the present day. But my ministerial companion, who was more experienced
in such matters, having been kept here a long time by our government to
look after the unburied American dead, insisted that it was a genuine
case of attempted robbery. All I can say in the premises is, that eight
California robbers would not have run off in that style without first
ascertaining whether that old revolver had any powder in it or not.
When we squared up for a fight, they might have known that it was
because my old mustang would not move; and they could have had all our
availables for the asking; but it was saving time in them to run when
they heard us call out in that hated "Yankee language," and they did
scamper off most expeditiously.
We got back to the city, without a wetting and without a chance of
getting frightened, where the faithful old mustang and I parted company
forever. Ten Mexican dollars was the market value of horse, saddle, and
bridle--less than the cost of his city eating, which he had enjoyed
with a gusto; and we took diverse ways at parting. The faithful old
fellow went to the silver mines, and I returned to the United States,
after an absence of three years and more, in which I had been through
perils by land and perils by water, but not sufficient to satisfy my
taste for adventure.
Up to this time I was a firm believer in the story of Cortez. But when
I had retired from active duties, I began to think of writing a book. I
did what no other foreign writer on Mexico has yet done--I made a
journey to the country _at my own charges_. I was not in the employment
of any company or any government; I was under no obligation to praise
any man who did not deserve it, and not disposed to speak unnecessary
evil of any, whether they deserved it or not. My advantages above most
writers upon Mexico were these: my independent position, and my
intimate knowledge of the character of the North American Indians,
acquired before I had gained any preconceived notions from the writings
of others. My father, who had lived among the Iroquois, or Six Nations,
in the family of Joseph Brandt, and went through the usual forms of
adoption in place of some Indian who had died, gave me my first lessons
on Indian character; and a taste so early acquired I followed up in
after life. My ancestors for several generations dwelt near the Indian
agency at Cherry Valley, on "Wilson's Patent," and in a neighboring
village was I born, but removed early in life to a part of the country
that had belonged to the Senecas, where I enjoyed a good opportunity of
studying Indian character.
It was the feast-day of the kings, _los Reyes_, when after my return to
Mexico, I was again in the saddle, riding out from Mexico toward the
village of Tezcuco. I had to take a by-way to avoid the Guadalupe road,
which was blocked up in consequence of the holiday. In doing so, I had
to leap a ditch or canal, in which both I and my horse came near
closing our pilgrimage in a quagmire; but in time we were again upon
the road. It is a dreary place about the hill of Tepeyaca, or
Guadalupe, and if the Virgin had not smiled upon the barren hill and
made roses grow out of it, it would be as uninviting as one of the
hills of the valley of Sodom. This hill is now called the "Mountain of
Crosses," for upon it, in 1810, the first insurgent, Hidalgo, the
priest of Dolores, won a battle against the royal troops, which should
have been followed up by an entry into Mexico; but Providence ordered
it otherwise, and the forest of crosses that once covered it proclaimed
a bloody slaughter without any results.
The shores of Tezcuco approach the hill in the wet season, leaving but
a narrow margin for the road, but in the dry season this margin is
greatly enlarged. I have already explained the composition of
_tequisquite_, and the manner of its production; here it was lying in
courses, or spots, as it had been left by the receding and drying up of
the water during the present dry season. Little piles of it had been
gathered up here and there to be taken to town for use, probably by the
bakers or soap-boilers, who are said to pay fourteen shillings an
_aroba_ for it. Besides a little stunted grass, there was here no sign
of vegetable life except a peculiar species of the cactus family, which
resembled a mammoth beet without leaves, but bearing upon its top an
array of vegetable knives that surrounded a most exquisite scarlet
flower.
FATE OF ROBBERS.
There was another sight by the road side more in keeping with the
gloomy thoughts which this desert plain excites: it was the dead bodies
of three men, who had been condemned by a military commission for
robbing a bishop. They were shot, and their bodies were placed on three
gibbets as a warning to others. The bishop said he would have pardoned
the robbery, but when they went to that extreme limit of depravity of
searching within his shirt of sackcloth for concealed doubloons, it was
more than a bishop could endure. The worthy ecclesiastic had renounced
the world and all its vanities, and had put on the badges of poverty
and self-mortification for $50,000 a year, and he wore the disguises
that ought to have shielded him from the suspicion of being rich!
These military commissions are no new invention in Mexico, for that
famous Count de Galvez, the Vice-king who built the castle of
Chapultepec and deposed the Archbishop of Mexico, had a traveling
military court, with chaplain and all spiritual aids, to accompany the
dragoons that scoured the road in search of robbers. When a fellow was
caught, court, chaplains, and dragoons made rapid work in dismissing
him to his long resting-place, and saying a cheap mass for the repose
of his soul, and then again they were ready for another enterprise. In
this way the roads were made safe in the times of that Viceroy.
Had I known the real distance to Tezcuco, I ought to have abandoned the
journey on account of the lameness of my horse. But either the Virgin
Mary, or, more probably, the extreme purity of the atmosphere on these
elevated plains, had deprived me of the power of measuring distance by
the eye. This is excessively annoying to a traveler. He sees the object
he is attempting to approach at an apparently moderate distance, plain
in sight, and as he rides along, hour after hour, there it stands, just
where it seemed to be when he first got sight of it. I finally reached
my destination in good time for a dinner, and for as good a night's
"entertainment for man and beast" as could be found in all the Republic
of Mexico.
When I turned the head of the lake, I was close upon the track which
Cortez and his retreating band followed into the plains of Otumba. Poor
wretches! what a time they must have had of it in this disconsolate
retreat--wounded, jaded, like tigers bereft of their prey! They mourned
for their companions slain, but most of all for the booty they had lost.
"They grieved for those that went down in the cutter,
And also for the biscuits and the butter:"
and hobbled on, as best they could, while the natives pursued them with
hootings and volleys of inefficient weapons. Passing this point and
turning to the north-east, they entered the plains of Otumba, where
they encountered the whole undisciplined rabble of the Aztecs, and
scattered them like chaff before the wind.
A NIGHT AT TEZCUCO.
Soon after I had passed the head of the lake and turned southward, I
entered a cultivated country between tilled grounds and little mud
villages along the road. These were the representatives of the
magnificent cities enumerated by Cortez. That fine grove of cypresses
which had been a landmark all day was now close at hand, and I could
form some idea of its great antiquity. But the day was passing away,
and it was still uncertain whether I could find safe quarters for the
night, where my horse, and the silver plates on my bridle, and the
silver mountings of my saddle would be safe. I never own such fancy
trifles, but they were on the horse given me at the stable.
A good dinner and a clean bed I did not expect to find, nor could I
have found them a year earlier. But the new and enterprising company of
Escandon and Co., who now have the possession of the Real del Monte
silver mines, of which I shall speak hereafter, had just completed the
"Grand House" (_Casa Grande_) in connection with the salt manufacture,
which they carry on here solely for the use of that single mine. It was
a neat, one-story residence of dried mud (_adobe_), and worthy the
occupancy of the proudest king of Tezcuco. Though the flagging of the
interior court was not all completed, yet the managing partner had
taken possession, and it was fitted up according to the most approved
style of an Anglo-Saxon residence. As horse and rider passed into the
outer court, there stood ready a groom to lead the former into the
inner court, where were the stables for the horses, and I entered the
house to enjoy the unlooked-for pleasures of English hospitality in
this out-of-the-way Indian village.
The resident partner was an Englishman. His connection with the Real
del Monte Company extended only to the manufacture of salt. But even
this was an extensive affair, and had already absorbed an investment of
$100,000, in order to provide the salt used in only one branch of the
process of refining silver at that mine. The gentleman was now absent,
but his excellent English wife and her brother knew full well how to
discharge the duties of host even to an unknown stranger. The dinner
was of the best, and there was no lack of appetite after a hard day's
ride on a trotting horse. So we all had the prime elements of
enjoyment. Entertainment for man and beast is among the highest
luxuries to be found by the wayside. It was an equal luxury to my hosts
in their isolated residence to receive a visit from one whose only
recommendation was that the English language was his native tongue, so
that when we retired from the dining-room we had become old
acquaintances.
REMAINS OF TEZCUCO.
The King of Tezcuco never knew what it was, on a raw winter's evening,
to sit before a bright wood fire, in a fire-place, with feet on fender
and tongs in hand, listening to an animated conversation so mixed up of
two languages that it was hard to tell which predominated. Not all the
stateliness to be found in Mexican palaces, where, in a lordly
tapestried halls, men and women sit and shiver over a protracted
dinner, can yield pleasures like those grouped around an English
fireside. The evening was not half long enough to say all that was to
be discussed. As we sat and chatted, and drank our tea with a gusto we
had never known before, we forgot altogether that we were indulging in
plebeian enjoyments upon the spot where a king's palace had probably
stood. Instead of such plebeian things as a wood floor and Brussels
carpet, his half-clad majesty had here squatted upon a mat, and dealt
out justice or injustice, according to his caprice, to trembling crowds
of dirty Indians, whose royal rags and feathers made them princely.
Dignity and majesty are truly parts of Indian character, but a good
dinner and a clean bed are luxuries that an Indian, even though he were
an emperor, never knew.
My business here was to search for relics, and as soon as daylight
appeared I was astir. But no relics could be found except some stone
images so rudely cut as to be a burlesque upon Indian stone-cutting.
There was a sacrificial stone and a calendar stone built into the steps
of the church of San Francisco, which were so badly done that the use
to which they had been applied could just be made out. Here, too, was a
rude stone wall, that had been built over the grave of Don Fernando,
the first Christian king of Tezcuco, who had been converted to
Christianity by Cortez. There is also here one of those little chapels
which Cortez built, which indicate extremely limited means in the
builder.
At the distance of a bow-shot from this is the site of the "slip"
(canal) which Cortez says he caused to be dug, twelve feet wide and
twelve feet deep, in order to float his brigantines. Near by, the
Indians were digging a new canal for the little steam-boat which now
plies on the laguna. When they reached a point less than three feet
from the surface, they were stopped by the water. How could Cortez,
under greater disadvantages, dig to the depth of twelve feet, without
even iron shovels?
I returned to the _hacienda_ and inquired if there were no other
relics. The proprietor assured me that he had been unable to find any
except the Indian mounds which he showed me, and some stone cellar
steps that he had found in digging. And this is all that now remains of
the great and magnificent city of Tezcuco, which had entered into
alliance with Cortez, and which, for more than a hundred years after
the Conquest, was under the especial care of a Superintendent sent from
Spain, as an Indian Reservation.
There are here eight Franciscan monks and a convent; seven of these
monks I was assured were living at home with their families and
children, but the eighth, who happened to be a cripple, lived in the
convent. A major in the guard was pointed out to me, who, having
committed a murder, took sanctuary in the church, where he remained
several days, when--and we have his own word for it--the Virgin Mary
appeared to him and freely forgave him. On this news getting abroad,
there was great rejoicing in Tezcuco that the Virgin had at last
visited them. From being stigmatized as a murderer, the object of this
visit was almost adored as a saint, and became one of the principal men
of the village, and was created a major in the new corps.
After I had surveyed the salt-works and the glassworks, I turned my
horse's head toward Mexico by the road along the eastern shore, so that
I made the complete circuit of Lake Tezcuco.
Thus far my visit to the royal city of Tezcuco had been perfectly
successful, except in the attempts made to convince the young
Englishman that I was not a dead-shot with the rifle; and I started
home with a slight shade upon my veracity for denying my ability to
pierce the centre of the bull's-eye. But otherwise it was a
disagreeable parting to all of us. As I returned by the east side of
the lake, the splendid high farming-lands that extend from the shore to
the foot of the mountain were strikingly in contrast with the flatness
and barrenness of the plain on the water-side, which is so slightly
elevated above the level of the salt water that a few inches of rise in
the laguna spreads out an immense sheet of saline water, and yet there
is not a solitary evaporating vat where there is an unlimited demand
for the evaporated article at fourteen shillings the _aroba_.
Cortez speaks of the fine fields of corn on the east side of the lake.
But they could not have been finer in his day than they are at present,
though they furnished him with the supplies that supported his army. I
reached the head of Tezcuco at noontide, where the heavy water of the
salt lake was driving up toward the fresh water, as described by
Cortez, but it was under the pressure of a strong north wind.
THE AZTEC CAUSEWAYS.
Now that I am on the new causeway, broad and spacious like all the
others, it may be well to conclude the discussion of the physical
condition of this valley by determining the size of the old Aztec
causeways.
An island embosomed in a marsh has always formed a favorite retreat for
an Indian tribe, whether among the everglades of Florida, or the
wild-rice swamps of north-western Canada. Such a retreat is still more
desirable when, in addition to the security it affords from an enemy,
it is likewise a resort for wild ducks, as was and is the case with the
laguna of the Mexican valley. Hence, probably, the Aztecs selected this
place as the site of their village; and to reach it, it was necessary
to make one or more footpaths across the marsh. As the Aztecs had no
beasts of burden, this must have been a task of no little magnitude. To
have made it thirty feet wide would not only have been a work of
immense difficulty, but would have destroyed the defensive character of
their position. Still, we can, upon this occasion, afford to be a
little liberal with the statements of Cortez, as we have had to cut his
hundreds of thousands of warriors down to a few thousand of
miserably-armed Indians, and reduce his magnificent cities to small
Indian villages. In order to make the island of Mexico at all
inhabitable, we have had to reduce his lakes from navigable basins of
twelve feet or more in depth to mere evaporating ponds. His floating
islands have been transformed into garden-beds built upon the mud; and
his canals have sunk to mere ditches. Now I propose to be liberal to
the old Conquistador in the matter of his famous causeways, and will
therefore admit that they might have been twelve feet in width--as
broad as the tow-path of the Erie Canal.