You will be surprised when I tell you that, notwithstanding our fatigue, we
went to the theatre the evening we arrived, and sat through a long and
tragical performance, in the box of Don A---o H---o, one of the richest
citizens of Puebla, who, hearing of our arrival, instantly came to invite
us to his house, where he assured us rooms were prepared for our reception.
But being no longer in savage parts, where it is necessary to throw
yourself on the hospitality of strangers or to sleep in the open air, we
declined his kind offer, and remained in the inn, which is very tolerable,
though we do not see it now _en beau_ as we did last year, when we were
expected there. The theatre is clean and neat, but dull, and we were much
more looked at than the actors, for few foreigners (ladies especially)
remain here for any length of time, and their appearance is somewhat of a
novelty. Our toilet occasioned us no small difficulty, now that we were
again in polished cities, for you may imagine the condition of our trunks,
which two mules had galloped with over ninety leagues of plain and
mountain, and which had been opened every night. Such torn gowns, crushed
collars, ruined pelerines! One carpet bag had burst and discharged its
contents of combs, brushes, etc., over a barranca, where some day they may
be picked up as Indian antiquities, and sent to the Museum, to be preserved
as a proof that Montezuma's wives brushed their hair. However, by dint of a
washerwoman and sundry messages to _peluqueros_ (hair-dressers), we were
enabled to _turn out_ something like Christian travellers. The first night
we could not sleep on account of the innumerable ants, attracted probably
by a small garden, with one or two orange-trees in it, into which our room
opened.
The next morning we had a great many visitors, and though there is here a
good deal of that provincial pretension one always meets with out of a
capital, we found some pleasant people amongst them. The Señora H---o came
in a very handsome carriage, with beautiful northern horses, and took us
out to see something of the town. Its extreme cleanness after Mexico is
remarkable. In that respect it is the Philadelphia of the republic; with
wide streets, well paved; large houses of two stories, very solid and well
built; magnificent churches, plenty of water, and withal a dullness which
makes one feel as if the houses were rows of convents, and all the people,
except beggars and a few business men, shut up in performance of a vow.
The house of Don A---o H---o is, I think, more elegantly furnished than any
in Mexico. It is of immense size, and the floors beautifully painted. One
large room is furnished with pale blue satin, another with crimson damask,
and there are fine inlaid tables, handsome mirrors, and everything in very
good taste. He and his wife are both very young--she not more than
nineteen, very delicate and pretty, and very fair; and in her dress,
neatness, and house, she reminds me of a Philadelphian, always with the
exception of her diamonds and pearls. The ladies smoke more, or at least
more openly, than in Mexico; but they have so few amusements, they deserve
more indulgence. There are eleven convents of nuns in the city, and taking
the veil is as common as being married. We dined at the Señora H---o's;
found her very amiable, and heard a young lady sing, who has a good voice,
but complains that there are no music-masters in Puebla.
The fine arts, however, are not entirely at a standstill here; and in
architecture, sculpture, and painting, there is a good deal, comparatively
speaking, worthy of notice. There used to be a proverb amongst the
Mexicans, that "if all men had five senses, the Poblanos had seven." They
are considered very reserved in their manners--a natural consequence of
their having actually no society. Formerly, Puebla rivalled Mexico in
population and in industry. The plague, which carried off fifty thousand
persons, was followed by the pestilence of civil war, and Puebla dwindled
down to a very secondary city. But we now hear a great deal of their
cotton-factories, and of the machines, instruments, and workmen, brought
from Europe here, already giving employment to thirty thousand individuals.
In the evening we drove to the new paseo, a public promenade, where none of
the public were to be seen, and which will be pretty when the young trees
grow.
19th.--C---n went out early, and returned the visit of the celebrated Don
N. Ramos Arispe, now an old man, and canon of the cathedral, but formerly
deputy in the Spanish Cortes, and the most zealous supporter of the cause
of independence. It is said that he owed the great influence which he had
over men of a middling character, rather to his energetic, some say to his
domineering disposition, than to genius; that he was clear-headed, active,
dexterous, remarkable for discovering hidden springs and secret motives,
and always keeping his subordinates zealously employed in his affairs.
C---n also visited the bishop, Señor Vasques, who obtained from Rome the
acknowledgment of independence.
We set out after breakfast with several gentlemen, who came to take us to
the cotton-factories, etc. We went first to visit the factory established
at the mill of Santo Domingo, a little way out of the city, and called "La
Constancia Mejicana" (Mexican Constancy). It was the first established in
the republic, and deserves its name from the great obstacles that were
thrown in the way of its construction, and the numerous difficulties that
had to be conquered before it came into effect.
In 1831 a junta for the encouragement of public industry was formed, but
the obstacles thrown in the way of every proposal were so great, that the
members all abandoned it in despair, excepting only the Señor _Don Esteban
Antunano_, who was determined himself to establish a manufactory of cotton,
to give up his commercial relations, and to employ his whole fortune in
attaining this object.
He bought the mill of Santo Domingo for one hundred and seventy-eight
thousand dollars, and began to build the edifice, employing foreign workmen
at exorbitant prices. In this he spent so much of his capital, that he was
obliged to have recourse to the Bank of _Avio_ for assistance. The bank
(_avio_ meaning pecuniary assistance, or advance of funds) was established
by Don Lucas Alaman, and intended as an encouragement to industry. But
industry is not of the nature of a hothouse plant, to be forced by
artificial means; and these grants of funds have but created monopolies,
and consequently added to the general poverty. Machinery, to the amount of
three thousand eight hundred and forty spindles, was ordered for Antunano
from the United States, and a loan granted him of one hundred and
seventy-eight thousand dollars, but of which he never received the whole.
Meanwhile his project was sneered at as absurd, impossible, ruinous; but,
firmly resolved not to abandon his enterprise, he contented himself with
living with the strictest economy, himself and his numerous family almost
suffering from want, and frequently unable to obtain credit for the
provisions necessary for their daily use.
To hasten the arrival of the machinery, he sent an agent to the north to
superintend it, and to hire workmen; but the commercial house to which he
was recommended, and which at first gave him the sums he required, lost
their confidence in the agent, and redemanded their money, so that he was
forced to sell his clothes in order to obtain food and lodging. In July,
1833, the machinery was embarked at Philadelphia, and in August arrived at
Vera Cruz, to the care of Señor Paso y Troncoso, who never abandoned
Antunano in his adversity, and even lent him unlimited sums; but much delay
ensued, and a year elapsed before it reached Puebla. There, after it was
all set up, the ignorant foreign workmen declared that no good results
would ever be obtained; that the machines were bad, and the cotton worse.
However, by the month of January, 1833, they began to work in the factory,
to which was given the name of "Mexican Constancy." A mechanist was then
sent to the north, to procure a collection of new machinery; and, after
extraordinary delays and difficulties, he embarked with it at New York in
February, 1837.
He was shipwrecked near Cayo-Hueso, and, with all the machinery he could
save, returned to the north in the brig Argos; but on his way there he was
shipwrecked again, and all the machinery lost! He went to Philadelphia, to
have new machines constructed, and in August re-embarked in the Delaware.
Incredible as it may seem, the Delaware was wrecked off Cayo-Alcatraces,
and for the third time the machinery was lost, the mechanist saving himself
with great difficulty!
It seemed as if gods and men had conspired against the cotton spindles; yet
Antunano persevered. Fresh machinery was ordered; and though by another
fatality it was detained, owing to the blockade of the ports by the French
squadron, seven thousand spindles were landed, and speedily put in
operation. Others have followed the example of Señor Antunano, who has
given a decided impulse to industry in Puebla, besides a most extraordinary
example of perseverance, and a determined struggle against what men call
_bad luck,_ which persons of a feebler character sink under, while stronger
minds oppose till they conquer it.
It was in his carriage we went, and he accompanied us all over the
building. It is beautifully situated, and at a distance has more the air of
a summer palace than of a cotton-factory. Its order and airiness are
delightful, and in the middle of the court, in front of the building, is a
large fountain of the purest water. A Scotchman, who has been there for
some time, says he has never seen anything to compare with it, and he
worked six years in the United States. Antunano is unfortunately very deaf,
and obliged to use an ear-trumpet. He seems an excellent man, and I trust
he may be ultimately successful. We came out covered with cotton, as if we
had been just unpacked, and were next taken to visit a very handsome new
prison, which they are building in the city, but whether it will ever be
finished, or not, is more doubtful. We also visited the Foundling Hospital,
a large building, where there are more children than funds. They were all
clean and respectable-looking, but very poor. Antunano presented them with
two hundred dollars, as a memorial, he said, of our visit.
C---n then went to the convent of El Carmen, to see the paintings of the
Life of the Virgin, supposed to be original works of Murillo, particularly
the Ascension and Circumcision; but which are ill-arranged, and have
suffered greatly from neglect, many of them being torn. Indeed, in some of
them are large holes made by the boys, who insisted that the Jewish priest
was _the devil._ There is a Descent from the Cross, which is reckoned a
fine painting; and it is a pity that these works should be shut up in this
old convent, where there are about half-a-dozen old monks, and where they
serve no purpose, useful or ornamental. Were they removed to the Mexican
Museum, and arranged with care, they would at least serve as models for
those young artists who have not the means of forming their taste by
European travel. Zendejas as a painter, and Coro as a sculptor, both
natives of Puebla, are celebrated in their respective arts, but we have not
yet seen any of their works. C---n also visited the bishop, and saw his
paintings and library, which we hope to do to-morrow; and from thence went
to the college, the rector of which was _attache_ in Spain to the Minister
Santa María.
We dined again in the house of Señor H---o. The manner in which his floors
are painted is pretty and curious. It is in imitation of carpets, and is
very rich in appearance and very cool in reality. A great many of the
floors here are painted in this way, either upon canvas with oil colours,
or upon a cement extended upon the bricks of which the floor is made, and
prepared with glue, lime, or clay, and soap.
Señor H---o has four young and pretty sisters, all nuns in different
convents. As there are no other schools but these convents, the young girls
who are sent there become attached to the nuns, and prefer remaining with
them for ever to returning home. After dinner, accompanied by Don N. Ramos
Arispe, whom C---n formerly knew intimately in Madrid, and by various other
ecclesiastics, we visited the boast of Puebla, the cathedral, which we did
not do when we passed through the city on our arrival last year. To my
mind, I have never seen anything more noble and magnificent. It is said
that the rapid progress of the building was owing to the assistance of two
angels, who nightly descended and added to its height, so that each morning
the astonished workmen found their labour incredibly advanced. The name
given to the city, "Puebla de los Angeles," is said to be owing to this
tradition.
It is not so large as the cathedral of Mexico, but it is more elegant,
simpler, and in better taste. Sixteen columns of exquisite marble, adorned
with silver and gold, form the _tabernacle_ (in Mexico called _el Cipres_).
This native marble, called Puebla marble, is brought from the quarries of
Totamehuacan and Tecali, at two and seven leagues from the city. The floor
of the cathedral is of marble--the great screens and high-backed chairs of
richly-carved cedar. Everything was opened to show us; the tombs where the
bishops are buried; the vault where a martyr lies, supposed to have been
miraculously preserved for centuries, the gift of a pope to a bishop of
Puebla. The figure appears to be of wax, enclosing the skeleton of the
martyr, and has the most angelic countenance I ever beheld. It is loaded
with false emeralds and diamonds.
We were also shown the jewels, which they keep buried, in case of a
revolution. The _Custodía_, the gold stand in which they carry the Host, is
entirely encrusted with large diamonds, pearls, emeralds, amethysts,
topazes, and rubies. The chalices are equally rich. There are four sets of
jewels for the bishop. One of his crosses is of emeralds and diamonds;
another of topazes and diamonds, with great rings of the same, belonging to
each.
In the evening we went with the M---- family, who have been very civil to
us, to the theatre, where we saw a comedy better acted and more amusing
than the tragedy which they murdered two nights before. We went early the
next morning to the bishop's palace, to see his fine library and collection
of paintings, where there were a few modern originals and many fine copies
of the old masters. We then went with the Señora H---o, to return the
visits of the ladies who had called on us. The young ladies invariably
complain that they have neither music, nor drawing, nor dancing masters.
There is evidently a great deal of musical taste among them, and, as in
every part of Mexico, town or country, there is a piano (_tal cual_) in
every house; but most of those who play are self-taught, and naturally
abandon it very soon, for want of instruction or encouragement. We are now
going to dine out, and in the evening we go to a concert in the theatre,
given by the Señora Cesari and Mr. Wallace. As we must rise at three, to
set off by the diligence, I shall write no more from this place. Our next
letters will be from Mexico.