Convent of San Joaquin--Mexico in the Morning--Tacuba--Carmelite Prior--
Convent Garden--Hacienda of Los Morales--El Olivar--A _Huacamaya_--
Humming-birds--Correspondence--Expected Consecration--Visit to the
Mineria--Botanic Garden--Arbol de las Manilas--The Museum--Equestrian
Statue--Academy of Painting and Sculpture--Disappointment.
Early this morning we rode to the convent of San Joaquin, belonging to
friars of the Carmelite order, passing through Tacuba, the ancient
Tlacopan, once the capital of a small kingdom, and whose monarch,
_Tetlepanquetzaltzin_ (short and convenient name), Cortes caused to be hung
on a tree for a supposed or real conspiracy. The number of carts, the
innumerable Indians loaded like beasts of burden, their women with baskets
of vegetables in their hands and children on their backs, the long strings
of _arrieros_ with their loaded mules, the droves of cattle, the flocks of
sheep, the herds of pigs, render it a work of some difficulty to make one's
way on horseback out of the gates of Mexico at an early hour of the
morning, but it must be confessed, that the whole scene is lively and
cheerful enough to make one forget that there is such a thing as care in
the world. There is an indifferent, placid smile on every face, and the
bright blue sky smiling over them all; dogs bark, and asses bray, and the
Indian, with near a mule's load on his back, drags his hat off to salute a
bevy of his bronze-coloured countrymen, nearly equally laden with himself,
and they all show their teeth and talk their liquid Indian and pass on.
These plains of Tacuba, once the theatre of fierce and bloody conflicts,
and where, during the siege of Mexico, Alvarado of the Leap fixed his camp,
now present a very tranquil scene. Tacuba itself is now a small village of
mud huts, with some fine old trees, a few very old ruined houses, a ruined
church, and some traces of a building which--assured us had been the palace
of their last monarch; whilst others declare it to have been the site of
the Spanish encampment.
San Joaquin, also a poor village, contains the fine convent and immense
walled garden and orchard belonging to the rich monks of the Carmelite
order. As C---n knows the prior, he sent in our names, and I was admitted
as far as the sacristy of the convent church. The prior received us with
the utmost kindness: he is a good-looking man, extremely amiable and
well-informed, and still young. The gentlemen were admitted into the
interior of the convent, which they describe as being a very large handsome
building, clean and airy, with a fine old library, chiefly composed of
theological works; to the garden, which is immensely large, and though not
much cultivated, full of flowers; and to the great orchard, celebrated for
the profusion and excellence of its fruit. There is a mirador in the garden
which can be seen from the road, and from which there is a very extensive
view. I was very anxious for admission only to the garden, and pleaded the
_manly_ appearance of my riding-hat, which would prevent all scandal were I
seen from a distance; but the complaisance of the good prior would not go
quite so far as that, so I sat in the sacristy and conversed with a good-
natured old monk with a double chin, whilst the others wandered through the
grounds. They afterwards gave us a very nice breakfast, simple but good;
fish from the lake, different preparations of eggs, _riz-ou-lait_, coffee,
and fruit. The monks did not sit down with us, nor would they partake of
anything themselves.
We went in the evening to see a pretty hacienda called Los Morales (the
mulberry-tree) belonging to a Spaniard, which has a nice garden with a bath
in it, and where they bestowed a quantity of beautiful flowers on us.
The other day we set off early, together with the Belgian and French
Ministers and their families, in carriages, to visit a beautiful deserted
hacienda, called _el Olivar_, belonging to the Marquis of Santiago. The
house is perfectly bare, with nothing but the walls; but the grounds are a
wilderness of tangled flowers and blossoming trees, rose-bushes,
sweet-peas, and all manner of fragrant flowers. We passed an agreeable day,
wandering about, breakfasting on the provisions brought with us, arranging
large bouquets of flowers, and firing at a mark, which must have startled
the birds in this solitary and uncultivated retreat. We had a pleasant
family dinner at the E----'s, and passed the evening at the Baron
de -----'s. The gentlemen returned late, it being the day of a diplomatic
dinner at the English Minister's.
The Countess del V---e has just sent me a beautiful bird with the most
gorgeous plumage of the brightest scarlet and blue. It is called a
_huacamaya_, and is of the parrot species, but three times as large, being
about two feet from the beak to the tip of the tail. It is a superb
creature but very wicked, gnawing not only its own pole, but all the doors,
and committing great havoc amongst the plants, besides trying to bite every
one who approaches it. It pronounces a few words very hoarsely and
indistinctly, and has a most harsh, disagreeable cry. In fact it presumes
upon its beauty to be as unamiable as possible.
I prefer some beautiful little humming-birds (_chupamirtos_ as they are
called here) which have been sent me, and which I am trying to preserve
alive, but I fear the cold will kill them, for though we see them
occasionally here, hanging by their beaks upon the branches of the flowers,
like large butterflies, and shaking their brilliant little wings so rapidly
that they seem to emit sparkles of coloured light; still this is not their
home; properly speaking, they belong to the _tierra caliente_. These little
birds are of a golden green and purple, and are so tame, that whilst I am
writing I have two on my shoulder and one perched on the edge of a glass,
diving out its long tongue for sugar and water. Our live stock is
considerable: we have Guinea fowls, who always remind me of old maiden
ladies in half-mourning, and whose screaming notes match those of the
huacamaya; various little green parrots; a scarlet cardinal, one hundred
and sixty pigeons in the pigeon-house, and three fierce dogs in conspicuous
situations.
I received a very polite letter today from the Señora de Santa Anna, and as
it was enclosed in a few lines from Santa Anna himself, I send you his
_autograph_, for I doubt much whether we have seen the last of that
illustrious personage, or whether his philosophic retirement will endure
for ever.
I have been endeavouring lately to procure permission from Señor Posada,
who is shortly to be consecrated archbishop, to visit the convents of nuns
in Mexico. Señor C---o, secretary of state, our particular friend, has been
kind enough to interest himself in the matter, though with indifferent
hopes of success. A few days ago he sent me his correspondence with Señor
Posada, who observes that the vice-queens alone had the privilege of the
_entree_, and seems to hesitate a good deal as to the advisableness of
granting a permission which might be considered a precedent for others.
However, I think he is too amiable to resist our united entreaties. I hold
out as an argument, that C---n, being the _duplicado_ of the queen herself,
my visit is equal to that of the vice-queen, which argument has at least
amused him. His consecration is fixed for the 31st of May.
Don Pedro Fonti, the last archbishop named in the time of the Spanish
dominion, having renounced the mitre, three illustrious churchmen were
proposed to fill the vacant place: this Don Manuel Posada, Don Antonio
Campos, and Dr. Don José María de Santiago. The first was chosen by the
Mexican government, and was afterwards proclaimed in the Roman Consistory
last December, with the approbation of Gregory XVI. They are now only
waiting for the pontifical bulls, which are daily expected from Rome; and
it is said that the ceremony, which will take place in the cathedral, will
be very magnificent.
April 3rd.--Accompanied by the--Minister, we spent yesterday in visiting
the Mineria, the Botanic Garden, the Museum, etc., all which leave a
certain disagreeable impression on the mind, since, without having the
dignity of ruins, they are fine buildings neglected. The Mineria, or School
of Mines, the work of the famous architect and sculptor Tolsa, is a
magnificent building, a palace whose fine proportions would render it
remarkable amongst the finest edifices of any European country. All is on a
great scale, its noble rows of pillars, great staircases, large apartments
and lofty roofs, but it reminds one of a golden aviary, containing a few
common sparrows. Several rich Spaniards contributed more than six hundred
thousand dollars to its construction. We were shown through the whole of
this admirable building by the director, who occupies a very handsome house
attached to it. But however learned the professors may be,--and amongst
them is the scientific Señor del Rio, now very old, but a man of great
learning and research,--the collection of minerals, the instruments and
models, are all miserable and ill kept.
The Botanic Garden, within the palace, is a small ill-kept enclosure, where
there still remain some rare plants of the immense collection made in the
time of the Spanish government, when great progress was made in all the
natural sciences, four hundred thousand dollars having been expended in
botanical expeditions alone. Courses of botanical lectures were then given
annually by the most learned professors, and the taste for natural history
was universal.
El Arbol de las Manitas (the tree of the small hands) was the most curious
which we saw in the garden. The flower is of a bright scarlet, in the form
of a hand, with five fingers and a thumb; and it is said that there are
only three of these trees in the republic. The gardener is an old Italian,
who came over with one of the viceroys, and though now one hundred and ten
years old, and nearly bent double, possesses all his faculties. The garden
is pretty from the age of the trees, and luxuriance of the flowers, but
melancholy as a proof of the decay of the science in Mexico. The palace
itself, now occupied by the president, formerly belonged to Cortes, and was
ceded by his descendants to the government. In exchange they received the
ground formerly occupied by the palace of the Aztec kings, and built on it
a very splendid edifice, where the state archives are kept, and where the
_Monte Pio_ (the office where money is lent on plate, jewels, etc.) now is,
the director of which is Don Francisco Tagle, whose apartments within the
building are very elegant and spacious.
The Museum within the University, and opposite the palace, in the plaza
called del Volador, contains many rare and valuable works, many curious
Indian antiquities, but they are ill arranged. On the walls are the
portraits of the vice-kings, beginning with Hernan Cortes. We spent a long
while here examining these antiquities; but we have seen nothing in Mexico
to equal the beauty of the colossal equestrian statue in bronze of Charles
IV, placed on a pedestal of Mexican marble, which stands in the court of
the University, but formerly adorned the middle of the square. It is a
magnificent picture of sculpture, the masterpiece of Tolosa, remarkable for
the noble simplicity and purity of its style, and was made at the expense
of an ex-viceroy, the Marquis of Branciforte. We also saw the goddess of
war lying in a corner of the court, beside the stone of sacrifices, which
we had already been shown.
To-day we have been visiting the Academy of painting and sculpture, called
the Academy of Fine Arts, of which I unfortunately recollected having read
Humboldt's brilliant account, in my forcibly prolonged studies on board the
Jason, and that he mentions its having had the most favourable influence in
forming the national taste. He tells us that every night, in these spacious
halls, well illumined by Argand lamps, hundreds of young men were
assembled, some sketching from the plaster-casts, or from life, and others
copying designs of furniture, candelabras and other bronze ornaments; and
that here all classes, colours, and races, were mingled together; the
Indian beside the white boy, and the son of the poorest mechanic beside
that of the richest lord. Teaching was gratis, and not limited to landscape
and figures, one of the principal objects being to propagate amongst the
artists a general taste for elegance and beauty of form, and to enliven the
national industry. Plaster-casts, to the amount of forty thousand dollars,
were sent out by the King of Spain, and as they possess in the academy
various colossal statues of basalt and porphyry, with Aztec hieroglyphics,
it would have been curious, as the same learned traveller remarks, to have
collected these monuments in the courtyard of the Academy, and compared the
remains of Mexican sculpture, monuments of a semi-barbarous people, with
the graceful creations of Greece and Rome.
Let no one visit the Academy with these recollections or anticipations in
his mind.... That the simple and noble taste which distinguishes the
Mexican buildings, their perfection in the cutting and working of their
stones, the chaste ornaments of the capitals and relievoes, are owing to
the progress they made in this very Academy is no doubt the case. The
remains of these beautiful but mutilated plaster-casts, the splendid
engravings which still exist, would alone make it probable; but the present
disorder, the abandoned state of the building, the non-existence of these
excellent classes of sculpture and painting, and, above all, the low state
of the fine arts in Mexico, at the present day, are amongst the sad proofs,
if any were wanting, of the melancholy effects produced by years of civil
war and unsettled government....
The Holy Week is now approaching, and already Indians are to be seen
bringing in the palm-branches and the flowers for the altars, and they are
beginning to erect booths and temporary shops, and to make every
preparation for the concourse of people who will arrive next Sunday from
all the different villages and ranchoes, far and near.