TEPENACASCO.

Rose in Guasco at tour o'clock; dressed by candle-light, took chocolate,

and set off for Real del Monte. After we had travelled a few leagues,

tolerably cold, we rejoiced when the sun rose, and dispelling the mist,

threw his cheerful light over mountain and wood. The trees looked green and

refreshing after their last night's bath; the very rocks were sparkling

with silver. The morning was perfectly brillia'nt, and every leaf and

flower was glittering with the rain-drops not yet dried. The carriage

ascended slowly the road cut through the mountains by the English company;

a fine and useful enterprise; the first broad and smooth road I have seen

as yet in the republic. Until it was made, hundreds of mules daily conveyed

the ore from the mines over a dangerous mountain-path, to the hacienda of

Regla, a distance of six or seven leagues. We overtook wagons conveying

timber to the mines of Real, nine thousand feet above the level of the sea.

The scenery was magnificent. On one side mountains covered with oak and

pine, and carpeted by the brightest-coloured flowers; goats climbing up

the perpendicular rocks, and looking down upon us from their

vantage-ground; fresh clear rivulets, flinging themselves from rock to

rock, and here and there little Indian huts perched amongst the cliffs; on

the other, the deep valley with its bending forests and gushing river;

while far above, we caught a glimpse of Real itself, with its sloping

roofs and large church, standing in the very midst of forests and

mountains. We began to see people with fair hair and blue eyes, and one

individual, with a shock of fiery red hair and an undeniable Scotch

twang, I felt the greatest inclination to claim as a countryman.

The Indians here looked cleaner than those in or near Mexico, and

were not more than half naked. The whole country here, as well as

the mines, formerly belonged to the Count de Regla, who was so wealthy,

that when his son, the present count, was christened, the whole party

walked from his house to the church upon ingots of silver. The countess

having quarrelled with the vice-queen, sent her, in token of

reconciliation, a white satin slipper, entirely covered with large

diamonds. The count invited the King of Spain to visit his Mexican

territories, assuring him that the hoofs of his majesty's horse should

touch nothing but solid silver from Vera Cruz to the capital. This might be

a bravado; but a more certain proof of his wealth exists in the fact, that

he caused two ships of the line, of the largest size, to be constructed in

Havana at his expense, made of mahogany and cedar, and presented them to

the king. The present count was, as I already told you, married to the

beautiful daughter of the _Guerra Rodriguez._

We arrived at Real del Monte about nine o'clock, and drove to the

director's house, which is extremely pretty, commanding a most beautiful

and extensive view, and where we found a large fire burning in the grate--

very agreeable, as the morning was still somewhat chill, and which had a

look of home and comfort that made it still more acceptable. We were

received with the greatest cordiality by the director, Mr. Rule, and his

lady, and invited to partake of the most delicious breakfast that I have

seen for a long while; a happy _melange_ of English and Mexican. The snow-

white table-cloth, smoking tea-urn, hot rolls, fresh eggs, coffee, tea, and

toast looked very much _a l'Anglaise,_ while there were numbers of

substantial dishes _a l'Espagnole_, and delicious fresh cream-cheeses, to

all which our party did ample justice.

After breakfast, we went out to visit the mines, and it was curious to see

English children, clean and pretty, with their white hair and rosy cheeks,

and neat straw bonnets, mingled with the little copper-coloured Indians. We

visited all the different works; the apparatus for sawing, the turning-

lathe, foundry, etc.; but I regretted to find that we could not descend

into the mines. We went to the mouth of the shaft called the Dolores, which

has a narrow opening, and is entered by perpendicular ladders. The men go

down with conical caps on their heads, in which is stuck a lighted tallow

candle. In the great shaft, called Terreros, they descend, by means of

these ladders, to the depth of a thousand feet, there being platforms at

certain distances, on which they can rest. We were obliged to content

ourselves with seeing them go down, and with viewing and admiring all the

great works which English energy has established here; the various steam-

engines, the buildings for the separation and washing of the ore; the great

stores, workshops, offices, etc. Nearly all the workmen are British, and of

these the Scotch are preferred. Most of the miners are Indians, who work in

companies, and receive in payment the eighth part of the proceeds. The

director gave us some specimens of silver from the great heaps where they

lie, sparkling like genii's treasure.

Although I have not descended into these mines, I might give you a

description of them by what I have heard, and fill my paper with

arithmetical figures, by which you might judge of the former and the

present produce. I might tell you how Don Lucas Alaman went to England, and

raised, as if by magic, the enthusiasm of the English; how one fortune

after another has been swallowed up in the dark, deep gulf of speculation;

how expectations have been disappointed; and how the great cause of this is

the scarcity of quicksilver, which has been paid at the rate of one hundred

and fifty dollars per quintal in real cash, when the same quantity was

given at credit by the Spanish government for fifty dollars; how heaps of

silver lie abandoned, because the expense of acquiring quicksilver renders

it wholly unprofitable to extract it; and I might repeat the opinion of

those persons by whom I have heard the subject discussed, who express their

astonishment that, such being the case, an arrangement is not made with the

country which is the almost exclusive possessor of the quicksilver-mines,

by which it might be procured at a lower rate, and this great source of

wealth not thrown away. But for all these matters I refer you to _Humboldt

and Ward_, by whom they are scientifically treated, and will not trouble

you with superficial remarks on so important a subject. In fact, I must

confess that my attention was frequently attracted from the mines, and the

engines, and the works of man, and the discussions arising therefrom, to

the stupendous natural scenery by which we were surrounded; the unexplored

forests that clothe the mountains to their very summits, the torrents that

leaped and sparkled in the sunshine, the deep ravines, the many-tinted

foliage, the bold and jutting rocks. All combine to increase our admiration

of the bounties of nature to this favoured land, to which she has given

"every herb bearing seed, and every tree that is pleasant to the sight and

good for food," while her veins are rich with precious metals; the useful

and the beautiful offered with unsparing hand.

We were obliged to leave Real about two o'clock, having a long journey to

perform before night, as we had the intention of returning to sleep at

Tepenacasco. We took leave of our hospitable entertainers, and again

resumed our journey over these fine roads, many parts of which are blasted

from the great rocks of porphyry; and as we looked back at the picturesque

colony glistening in the sun, could hardly believe the prophecies of our

more experienced drivers, that a storm was brewing in the sky, which would

burst forth before evening. We were determined not to believe it, as it was

impossible to pass by the famous hacienda and ravine of Regla without

paying them at least a short visit.

This stupendous work of the Mexican miners in former days, is some leagues

to the south of Real del Monte, and is said to have cost many millions of

dollars. One should view it as we did, in a thunderstorm, for it has an air

of vastness and desolation, and at the same time of grandeur, that shows

well amidst a war of the elements. Down in a steep barranca, encircled by

basaltic cliffs, it lies; a mighty pile of building, which seems as if it

might have been constructed by some philosophical giant or necromancer;--so

that one is not prepared to find there an English director and his wife,

and the unpoetic comforts of roast mutton and potatoes!

All is on a gigantic scale: the immense vaulted store-houses for the silver

ore; the great smelting-furnaces and covered buildings where we saw the

process of amalgamation going on; the water-wheels; in short, all the

necessary machinery for the smelting and amalgamation of the metal. We

walked to see the great cascade, with its row of basaltic columns, and

found a seat on a piece of broken pillar beside the rushing river, where we

had a fine view of the lofty cliffs, covered with the wildest and most

luxuriant vegetation: vines trailing themselves over every broken shaft;

moss creeping over the huge disjointed masses of rock; and trees

overhanging the precipitous ravine. The columns look as if they might have

been the work of those who, on the plains of Shinar, began to build the

city, and the tower whose top was to reach to heaven.

But, as we sat here, the sky suddenly became overcast; great black masses

of cloud collected over our heads, and the rumbling of thunder in the

distance gave notice of an approaching storm. We had scarcely time to get

under shelter of the director's roof, when the thunder began to echo loudly

amongst the rocks, and was speedily followed by torrents of rain. It was a

superb storm: the lightning flashed amongst the trees, the wind howled

furiously, while

"Far along From peak to peak, the rattling crags among,

Leapt the live thunder."

After resting and dining amidst a running accompaniment of plashing rain,

roaring wind, and deep-toned thunder, we found that it was in vain to wait

for a favourable change in the weather; and certainly, with less

experienced drivers, it would have been anything but safe to have set off

amidst the darkness of the storm, down precipitous descents and over

torrents swelled by the rain. The Count de Regla, who, attracted by the

plentiful supply of water in this ravine, conceived the idea of employing

part of his enormous fortune in the construction of these colossal works,

must have had an imagination on a large scale. The English directors, whose

wives bury themselves in such abysses, ought to feel more grateful to them

than any other husbands towards their sacrificing better halves. For the

men, occupied all day amongst their workmen and machinery, and returning

late in the evening to dine and sleep, there is no great self-immolation;

but a poor woman, living all alone, in a house fenced in by gigantic rocks;

with no other sound in her ears from morning till night but the roar of

thunder or the clang of machinery, had need for her personal comfort, to

have either a most romantic imagination, so that she may console herself

with feeling like an enchanted princess in a giant's castle, or a most

commonplace spirit, so that she may darn stockings to the sound of the

waterfall, and feel no other inconvenience from the storm, but that her

husband will require dry linen when he comes home.

As for us, we were drenched before we reached the carriage, into which the

water was pouring, and when we set off once more amidst the rapidly-

increasing darkness, and over these precipitous roads, we thought that our

chance of reaching the proposed haven that night was very small. After much

toil to the horses, we got out of the ravines and found ourselves once more

on the great plains, where the tired animals ploughed their way over fields

and ditches and great stones, and among trees and tangled bushes; an

occasional flash of lightning our only guide. Great was our joy, when,

about eleven o'clock, a man riding on in advance shouted out that the

lights of Tepenacasco were in sight; and still more complete our

satisfaction when we drove round the tank into the courtyard of the

hacienda. We were received with great applause by the inmates, and were not

sorry to rest after a very fatiguing yet agreeable day.

MEXICO, 21st.

We left Tepenacasco the day before yesterday. Our journey was very

dangerous, in consequence of the great rains, which had swelled the

torrents; especially as we set off late, and most of it was performed by

night. In these barrancas, carriages and horsemen have been frequently

swept away and dashed in pieces over the precipices. But to make our

situation more disagreeable, we had scarcely set off, before a terrible

storm of thunder and rain again came on with more violence than the night

preceding. It grew perfectly dark, and we listened with some alarm to the

roaring torrents, over which, especially over one, not many leagues from

Sopayuca, where we were to spend the night, it was extremely doubtful

whether we could pass. The carriage was full of water, but we were too much

alarmed to be uneasy about trifles. Amidst the howling of the wind and the

pealing of thunder, no one could hear the other speak. Suddenly, by a vivid

flash of lightning, the dreaded barranca appeared in sight for a moment,

and almost before the drivers could stop them, the horses had plunged in.

It was a moment of mortal fear such as I shall never forget. The shrieks of

the drivers to encourage the horses, the loud cries of Ave María! the

uncertainty as to whether our heavy carriage could be dragged across, the

horses struggling and splashing in the boiling torrent, and the horrible

fate that awaited us should one of them fall or falter!... The Señora

----- and I shut our eyes and held each other's hands, and certainly no one

breathed till we were safe on the other side. We were then told that we had

crossed within a few feet of a precipice over which a coach had been dashed

into fifty pieces during one of these swells, and of course every one

killed; and that if instead of horses we had travelled with mules, we must

have been lost. You may imagine that we were not sorry to reach Sopayuca;

where the people ran out to the door at the sound of carriage-wheels, and

could not believe that we had passed the barranca that night; as two or

three horsemen who had rode in that direction had turned back, and

pronounced it impassable.

Lights and supper were soon procured, and by way of interlude a monstrous

bull, of great fame in these parts, was led up to the supper-table for our

inspection with a rope through his nose, a fierce brute, but familiarly

called "el chato" (the flatnose), from the shortness of his horns. The

lightning continued very vivid, and they told us that a woman had been

struck there some time before, while in the chapel by night.

We rose at four o'clock the next morning and set off for Mexico. The

morning, as usual after these storms, was peculiarly fresh and beautiful;

but the sun soon grew oppressive on the great plains. About two o'clock we

entered Mexico by the Guadalupe gate. We found our house _in statu quo_,

--agreeable letters from Europe,--great preparations making for the English

ball, to assist at which we have returned sooner than we otherwise should,

and for which my _femme-de-chambre_ has just completed a dress for me,

very much to her own satisfaction.