He was equally distinguished in love and in war, and by some fair
_Mexicaines_ was entitled the "_Don Juan de Tenorio_."
An American journal describes the gallant Captain as a "_mixture of
Adonis and the Apollo Belvidere, with a dash of the Centaur_!"
He possessed a faultless figure, and the grace of his manner was very
captivating.
It was one of Mayne Reid's duties in Mexico to protect the inmates of a
convent, and the nuns frequently sent him little delicacies in the shape
of sweetmeats, made by their own fair hands, with his initials in
comfits on the top. In a letter he wrote:
"During the campaign in which I had taken part, chance threw me into the
company of monks of more than one order. Under the circumstances that
gave me _entree_ of their convents, and an intimate acquaintance with
the brethren, even to joining them in their cups--these consisting of
the best wines of Spain and her colonies, Xeres, Canario, Pedro Ximenes,
with now and then a spice of Catalan brandy, opening the hearts and
loosening the tongues of these cloistered gentry--I can speak to the
character of the present monks of Mexico as Friar Guage spoke of their
fraternity more than a century ago."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following letter from Mayne Reid to the _Ohio State Journal_ in
1882, may be here fitly introduced:
"Sir,--My attention has been called to a letter which lately appeared in
some American newspapers headed `Mayne Reid's Mexican War Experiences,'
in which certain statements are made gravely affecting my character and
reputation. The writer says that in Pueblao, Mexico, `Lieutenant Reid,
while reproving one of the men of his company, became very much heated,
and ran his sword through the man's body. The man died the same night.'
"Now, sir, it is quite true that I ran a soldier through with my sword,
who soon after died of the wound. But it is absolutely untrue that
there was any heat of temper on my part, or other incentive to act, save
that of self-defence and the discharge of my duty as an officer. On the
day of the occurrence I was officer of the guard, and the man a prisoner
in the guard prison--where, indeed, he spent most of his time--for he
was a noted desperado, and, I may add, robber, long the pest and terror
not only of his comrades in the regiment, but the poor Mexican people
who suffered from his depredations, as all who were then there and are
still living may remember. Having several times escaped from the
guard-house prison, he had that day been recaptured, and I entered the
cell to see to his being; better secured. While the manacles were being
placed upon his wrists--long-linked heavy irons--he clutched hold of
them, and, rushing at me, aimed a blow at my head, which, but for my
being too quick for him, would have been dealt me with serious if not
fatal effect. He was a man of immense size and strength, and as all
knew, regardless of consequences. He had been often heard to boast that
no officer dare put him in irons, and threaten those who in the line of
their duty had to act towards him with severity. Still, when I thrust
out, it was with no intention to kill, only to keep him off, and in
point of fact, in his mad rush toward me he impaled himself on my sword.
"The writer of the letter goes on to say: `Lieutenant Reid's grief was
uncontrollable. The feeling against him, despite the fact that he had
provocation for the act, was very strong in the regiment... If the
regiment had not moved with the rest of the army toward Mexico the next
day, Lieutenant Reid would have been court-martialled, and might have
been shot.'
"In answer to these serious allegations, not made in any malice, I
believe, but from misinformation, I have only to say that I _was_ tried
by court-martial, and instead of being sentenced to be shot, was ordered
to resume command of my company for the forward march upon Mexico. And
so far from the feeling being strong against me in the regiment, it was
just the reverse, not only in the regiment, but throughout the whole
army--the lamented Phil Kearney, commanding the dragoons, with many
other officers of high rank, publicly declaring that for what I had
done, instead of condemnation I deserved a vote of thanks. This because
the army's discipline had become greatly relaxed during the long period
of inaction that preceded our advance into the Valley of Mexico, and we
had much trouble with the men--especially of the volunteer regiments.
My act, involuntary and unintentional though it was, did something
toward bringing them back to a sense of obedience and duty. That I
sorrowed for it is true, but not in the sense attributed to me by the
newspaper correspondent. My grief was from the necessity that forced it
upon me, and its lamentable result. It is some satisfaction to know
that the unfortunate man himself held me blameless, and in his dying
words, as I was told, said I had but done my duty. So I trust that this
explanation will place the affair in a different light from that thrown
upon it by the article alluded to."
In February, 1876, Mr Henry Lee wrote to Captain Mayne Reid for some
account of the Mexican axolotl, and received the following answer:
Chasewood, Ross, Herefordshire, February 28, 1876.
My dear Henry Lee,--You ask me to tell you what I know of that strange
Protean--the _axolotl_. Such knowledge as I have is at your service.
First, as to its name; which is a word purely Aztecan. The Spaniards,
adopting it, have made some change in the spelling without materially
altering the pronunciation. Their form is _ajolote_--the final syllable
sounded, though with the accent on the penultimate. But, to one
unacquainted with Spanish orthoepy, it may be observed that the "j" is
pronounced as an aspirated "h"--in short, as the Greek chi--and so also
is "x" in the Aztec orthography. The final "tl" of the latter, common
to many Aztec and Zapoteque words--as in _tepetl_ (mountain), _metatl_
(millstone), which the Indian lingeringly lets fall from the tip of his
tongue--cannot well be symbolised by any exponent of vocal sound in our
language. The Spaniards represent it indifferently by "te," sometimes
with the addition of a "c," thus, _metate, Popocatepec_. The _ajolote_,
however, is without the added "c," and pronounced, as nearly as
possible, _ah-ho-loat-e_, with emphasis on the "loat," and the
terminating "e" barely distinguishable.
So much for the name of the reptile-fish. As to its nature, I fear I
can add but little to the information already before the public; though,
perhaps, something of its _habitat_ that may be interesting. Your
species, of the Brighton Aquarium, dwells in the Laguna de Tezcoco--the
largest of six lakes that lie in the Valley of Mexico. An ordinary map
will indicate only five: Chalco, Xochimilco, Tezcoco, San Christobal,
and Zumpango; and of these alone does Humboldt speak in his "Essai
Politique." But there are in reality six--the sixth called Xaltocan.
The two first-named are in the southern section of the valley--which, by
the way, is not a _valley_, but a _plain_, with a periphery of
mountains; an elevated plateau, slightly over 7,000 feet above the sea's
level, the mountain rim around, composed of parallel and transverse
_sierras_ of the great Andean Cordillera, having several summits that
rise from 8,000 to 10,000 feet higher, with two--Popocatepec and
Ixticihuatl--that carry the eternal snow. Chalco and Xochimilco, as
observed, occupying a southern position on this plain, are both fresh
water lakes--if lakes they can be called, for at the present time their
surface is concealed by a thick sedge of _tulares_--various species of
aquatic plants--whose roots, entwined, form a floating coverture termed
_cinta_, which is in places so close and tough as to permit de-pasturage
by horses and horned cattle. Here and there only are spots of clear
water of very limited extent, while the vast morass, miles upon miles,
is traversed by three or four canals--in the language of the country,
_acalotes_--partly natural, but for the most part hewn out of the sedge,
and kept open by the passage of the Indian boats and canoes navigating
them. It was upon sections of this _cinta_ that the famed _chinampas_,
or "Floating Gardens," were constructed, and not, as erroneously stated
by Humboldt, and other writers following him, on rafts of timber and
sticks. I may here interpolate a fact not generally, if at all, known
to Europeans: that these _chinampas_ (of which I hope some day to give
an account) are in existence at the present time.
Several species of very small fish inhabit lakes Chalco and Xochimilco;
indeed, the fish marker of the Mexican capital is chiefly supplied from
them. But I have never heard of the axolotl being taken, or observed in
either; and you surprise me by saying it has spawned in _fresh_ water in
the Brighton Aquarium. Tezcoco, from which I presume your Protean must
have come, is altogether of a different character, being salt as brine
itself--so much that a man bathing in it comes out with a scaly crust
over his skin, while waterfowl are often caught upon it, unable to fly
through their wings getting thus encrusted! No fish can live in it, for
the few minnow-like species there observed are found only by the
estuaries of influent fresh-water streams. Even vegetation struggles in
vain against the blighting influence of its atmosphere, and around its
shores are seen but the forms of plants belonging to species that grow
in salitrose soil; these so stunted and sparse as rather to heighten the
impression of sterility. Tezcoco is, in truth, a Dead Sea of the
Western world. Not so small, neither, since its area may be estimated
at a hundred square miles, more or less. Once it was much larger--at
the time of the Conquest--this being the lake whose waters washed the
walls of the ancient Tenochtitlan. At the present time its edge is, at
least, a league from the suburbs of the modern city standing on the same
site. At certain seasons, however, after a long spell of rain, but more
from the effects of a strong east wind, the lake is brought nearer, by
overflow of the adjacent plain, a phenomenon leading to the popular but
erroneous idea that Tezcoco, like the ocean, has a tide. Once, too, if
we are to credit Humboldt, this lake was much deeper than it is now.
Writing of it in 1803, he states its depth then to have been from three
to five French metres. I think the great German traveller must have
been misinformed, as there has been no silting up to account for its
present shallowness. There is not a spot in Lake Tezcoco where a man,
standing upright, would have his head under water. It is traversed by
market boats of the bread-basket pattern, flat bottomed, and impelled by
poling--just the same sort as Cortez found navigating it when he
launched his brigantine on its eastern edge, which vessel was doubtless
nothing more than a rude raft. The _periaguas_, and other craft which
now ply upon it, bringing produce from Tezcoco, and other lake shore
towns to the capital city, are all of the punt species, none of them
drawing over eighteen inches of water. Notwithstanding, they have to
keep to well-known ways, where the lake is deepest, guiding their course
by certain landmarks on the shore, passing a wooden cross, "La Cruz,"
planted near the centre, coming in sight of which the devout--or rather,
I should say, superstitious--boatmen uncover, and offer up a prayer to
"Al Virgen."
This grand shallow sheet, then, so saline that fish cannot live in it,
and vegetation withers under its blighting breath, is the congenial
dwelling-place of the axolotl, and, if I mistake not, its only one in
the Valley of Mexico; at least I am not aware of its existence in the
other three lakes lying northward, their waters salt, too, but at times
so low as to be almost dried up, or showing only a residuum of mud, its
surface an efflorescence, akin to soda, and resembling hoar frost,
called "tequiqzuite."
Though in a sense the sole inhabitant of Tezcoco, the axolotl is not
left to peaceful or undisputed possession of the lake. It has its
enemies in the predatory aquatic birds--herons, cranes, and cormorants--
while man is also among them. To the "Lake Indian" its capture is a
matter of economic industry, its flesh being a saleable commodity in the
market. It is not absolutely relished as an article of food, except by
the Indians themselves; who, as is well known, will eat anything and
everything that lives, moves, and has being, be it fish, fowl, reptile,
or insect. This, from ancient usage, originally a thing of necessity,
not choice, when the Aztec, surrounded by Tlascallan, with other warlike
enemies, was confined to the islands of this inland sea, and from it
compelled to draw part of his sustenance--to eat indifferently frogs,
tadpoles, newts, and such repulsive reptiles; as also the eggs of a
curious water-fly--the axavacatl (_Ahuatlea Mexicana_)--a sort of
"caviar," still obtainable in the markets of the Mexican capital. I
have seen the axolotl of respectable dimensions--at least a foot in
length, while specimens of fifteen and sixteen inches are occasionally
exhibited. Fish or flesh, relished or not, it is often eaten by
invalids, the Mexican _medicos_ pronouncing it a specific for liver
inflammation and pulmonary complaints, as we do cod-liver oil; while it
is also supposed to be serviceable in cases of hectic fever, and as a
food for children. A mucilaginous syrup, compounded of its gelatinous
portions and certain medicinal herbs, is sold in the _boticas_ of the
apothecaries as a balsam for colds, coughs, and other bronchial
maladies.
I refrain from touching on the zoological character of this creature, so
strangely abnormal, as I could add nothing to what is already known to
you. Besides, that is a question for the scientific naturalist, to whom
I leave it. But it may not be generally known that, in addition to your
Brighton Aquarium species--which is, I suppose, the _Siredon
Humboldtii_, or _Siredon Harlanii_, of Laguna de Tezcoco--there is a new
and quite distinct one recently discovered, inhabiting Lake Patzcuaro.
This large sheet of water, lying centrally in the State of Michoacan--
more than a hundred miles from the Mexican valley, in a direction nearly
due west--has also its axolotl. Its discoverer has named it _Siredon
Dumerilii_, after the accomplished French herpetologist; while its local
vulgar name on the shores of Patzcuaro is "achoque de agua," or "water
achoque," to distinguish it from a sort of land lizard called "achoque
de tierra"--the _Bolitoglossa Mexicana_ of Dumeril and Bibron, also
common around the edges of the Michoacan Lake. The Patzcuaro species
differs from yours of the Brighton Aquarium in several respects. In
size it is somewhat the same; but its colour, instead of being blackish,
or white, as in the Albino varieties of Humboldt's Siredon, is of a
violet-red, slightly blemished with grey, the gills only being black,
while the neck, throat, and breast are of a pale, whitish hue.
Without dwelling longer on this subject, I will venture to say that when
all of the great Mexican saline lakes--such as Chapa'a and Cuitzoc--are
searched, there will be found other species of axolotl, distinct from
any of those yet known to science. Mexico is a fine field for the
scientific explorer; its paths hitherto but little trodden by the
naturalist, because unsafe from being so much frequented by the "Knights
of the Road," ycleped _salteadores_.
Mayne Reid.