This is a fine wild scene. The house stands entirely alone; not a tree near
it. Great mountains rise behind it, and in every other direction, as far as
the eye can reach, are vast plains, over which the wind comes whistling
fresh and free, with nothing to impede its triumphant progress. In front of
the house is a clear sheet of water, a great deep square basin for
collecting the rain. These _jagueys_, as they are called, are very common
in Mexico, where there are few rivers, and where the use of machines for
raising water is by no means general as yet. There is no garden here, but
there are a few shrubs and flowers in the inner courtyard. The house inside
is handsome, with a chapel and a patio, which is occasionally used as a
plaza de toros. The rooms are well fitted up, and the bedroom walls covered
with a pretty French paper, representing scenes of Swiss rural life. There
are great outhouses, stables for the mules and horses, and stone barns for
the wheat and barley, which, together with pulque, form the produce of this
hacienda.
We took a long ride this morning to visit a fine lake where there are
plenty of wild-duck and turtle. The gentlemen took their guns and had
tolerable sport. The lake is very deep, so that boats have sailed on it,
and several miles in circumference, with a rivulet flowing from it. Yet
with all this water the surrounding land, not more than twenty feet higher,
is dry and sterile, and the lake is turned to no account, either from want
of means, or of hydraulic knowledge. However, C---n having made some
observation on this subject, the proprietor of the lake and of a ruined
house standing near, which is the very picture of loneliness and
desolation, remarked in reply, that from this estate to Mexico, the
distance is thirty-six leagues; that a load of wheat costs one real a
league, and moreover the _alcaba_, the duty which has to be paid at the
gates of Mexico, so that it would bring no profit if sent there; while in
the surrounding district there is not sufficient population to consume the
produce; so that these unnecessary and burdensome taxes, the thinness of
the population, and the want of proper means of transport, impede the
prosperity of the people, and check the progress of agriculture....
I had a beautiful horse, but half-broke, and which took fright and ran off
with me. I got great credit for keeping my seat so well, which I must
confess was more through good fortune than skill. The day was delightful,
the air exhilarating, and the blue sky perfectly cloudless as we galloped
over the plains; but at length the wind rose so high that we dismounted,
and got into the carriage. We sat by the shores of the lake, and walked
along its pebbly margin, watching the wild-duck as they skimmed over its
glassy surface, and returned home in a magnificent sunset; the glorious god
himself a blood-red globe, surrounded by blazing clouds of gold and
crimson.
In the evening a troop of asses were driven across the plain, and led round
to the back of the house; and we were all called out in haste, and each
desired to choose one of the long-eared fraternity for our particular use.
Some had saddles and some had none, but we mounted to the number of thirty
persons, followed by a cavalcade of little ragged boys armed with sticks
and whips. My ass was an obstinate brute, whom I had mistakenly chosen for
his sleek coat and open countenance; but by dint of being lashed up, he
suddenly set off at full gallop, and distanced all the others. Such
screaming and laughing and confusion! and so much difficulty in keeping the
party together? It was nearly dark when we set off; but the moon rose, the
silver disc lighting up the hills and the plains; the wind fell, and the
night was calm and delightful. We rode about six miles to a pretty little
chapel with a cross, that gleamed amongst the trees in the moonlight, by
the side of a running stream. Here we dismounted, and sat by the brink of
the little sparkling rivulet, while the deep shadows came stealing over the
mountains, and all around was still, and cool, and silent; all but the
merry laughter of our noisy cavalcade. We returned about eleven o'clock,
few accidents having occurred. Doña R---a had fallen once. Doña M---- had
crushed her foot against her neighbour's ass. The padre was shaken to a
jelly, and the learned senator, who was of the party, declared he should
never recover from that night's jolting. To-morrow we shall set off for
Real del Monte.
17th.-After mass in the chapel we left Tepenacasco about seven o'clock, and
travelled (I believe by a short cut) over rocks and walls, torrents and
fields of maguey, all in a heavy carriage with six horses. Arriving in
sight of walls, the mozos gallop on and tear them down. Over the mountain-
torrents or _barrancas_, they dash boldly, encouraging the horses by the
wildest shrieks.
We stopped at San Miguel, a country-house belonging to the Count de Regla,
the former proprietor of the mines which we were about to visit; the most
picturesque and lovely place imaginable, but entirely abandoned; the house
comfortless and out of repair. We wandered through paths cut in the
beautiful woods, and by the side of a rivulet that seems to fertilize
everything through which it winds. We climbed the hills, and made our way
through the tangled luxuriance of trees and flowers, and in the midst of
hundreds of gaudy blossoms, I neglected them all upon coming to a grassy
slope covered with daisies and buttercups. We even found some hawthorn-
bushes. It might be English scenery, were it not that there is a richness
in the vegetation unknown in England. But all these beautiful solitudes are
abandoned to the deer that wander fearlessly amongst the woods, and the
birds that sing in their branches. While we were still far from the house,
a thunderstorm came on. When it rains here, the windows of heaven seem
opened, and the clouds pour down water in floods; the lightning also
appears to me peculiarly vivid, and many more accidents occur from it here
than in the north. We were drenched in five minutes, and in this plight
resumed our seats in the carriage, and set off for _Guasco_ (a village
where we were to pass the night) in the midst of the pelting storm. In an
hour or two the horses were wading up to their knees in water, and we
arrived at the pretty village of Guasco in a most comfortless condition.
There are no inns in these parts, but we were hospitably received by a
widow-lady, a friend of -----'s.
The Señora de -----, in clear muslin and lace, with satin shoes, was worse
than I in mousseline-de-laine and brode-quins; nevertheless, I mean to
adopt the fashion of the country to-morrow, when we are to rise at four to
go on to Real del Monte, and try the effect of travelling with clear gown,
satin petticoat, and shoes ditto; because "when one is in Rome," etc. The
storm continues with such unabated violence, that we must content ourselves
with contemplating the watery landscape from the windows.