Leave _Trojes_--Beautiful Territory--Tarrascan Indians--Taximaroa--
Distressed Condition--An Improvement--Cold Morning--Querendaro--Fine Breed
of Horses--San Bartolo--Produce--Country Proprietors--_Colear_--Ride to
Morelia--Wild Ducks--Sunset--Cathedral Bell--Cuincho--Curates Morelos,
Mantamoros and Hidalgo--Warm Baths--Handsome Girls--Starving Travellers--
Lost Mules--Lancers--Night on a Heap of Straw--Mules Found--Tzintzontzan--
King Calsonsi--Pascuaro--Kind Reception--Bishop--Robbers--Curu--Night in a
Barn--Mountain--Uruapa--Enchanting Scenery--Pleasant Family--Jorullo.
VALLADOLID, 25th.
As the house was so agreeable, and our next day's journey short, we could
not prevail upon ourselves to leave the _Trojes_ before nine o'clock; and
even then, with the hopes of spending some time there on our return to see
the mining establishment; the mills for grinding ore, the horizontal
water-wheels, etc., etc.; and still more, the beautiful scenery in the
neighbourhood.
That you may understand our line of march, take a map of Mexico, and you
will see that Michoacán, one of the most beautiful and fertile territories
in the world, is bounded on the north by the river Lerma, afterwards known
by the name of Rio Grande; also by the department of Guanajuato; to the
east and north-east it bounds that of Mexico, and to the west, that of
Guadalajara. It lies on the western slope of the Great Cordillera of
Anahuac. Hills, woods, and beautiful valleys diversify its surface; its
pasture-grounds are watered by numerous streams, that rare advantage under
the torrid zone, and the climate is cool and healthy. The Indians of this
department are the Terascos--the Ottomi and the Chichimeca Indians. The
first are the most civilized of the tribes, and their language the most
harmonious. We are now travelling in a north-westerly direction, towards
the capital of the state, Valladolid, or Morelia, as it has been called
since the independence, in honour of the curate Morelos, its great
supporter.
We had a pleasant ride of nine leagues through an open pasture-country,
meeting with nothing very remarkable on our journey, but an Indian woman
seated on the ground, her Indian husband standing beside her. Both had
probably been refreshing themselves with pulque--perhaps even with its
homoeopathic extract _mezcal_; but the Indian was sober and sad, and stood
with his arms folded, and the most patient and pitying face, while his
wife, quite overcome with the strength of the potation, and unable to go
any further, looked up at him with the most imploring air, saying
repeatedly--"_Mátame, Miguel, mátame_" (Kill me, Miguel--kill me)--
apparently considering herself quite unfit to live.
About five o'clock we came in sight of the pretty village and old church of
_Taximaroa_; and riding up to the _mesón_, or inn, found two empty dark
rooms with mud floors--without windows, in fact without anything but their
four walls--neither bench, chair, nor table. Although we travel with our
own beds, this looked rather uninviting, especially after the pleasant
quarters we had just left; and we turned our eyes wistfully towards a
pretty small house upon a hill, with a painted portico, thinking how
agreeably situated we should be there! Colonel Y---- thereupon rode up the
hill, and presenting himself to the owner of this house, described our
forlorn prospects, and he kindly consented to permit us all to sup there,
and moreover to receive the ladies for the night. For the gentlemen he had
no room, having but one spare apartment, as one of his family was a great
invalid, and could not be moved. Accordingly, our travelling luggage was
carried up the hill; the horses and mules and servants were quartered in
the village, the gentlemen found lodging for themselves in a bachelor's
house, and we found ourselves in very agreeable quarters, on a pretty
piazza, with an extensive view, and one large room, containing a table and
some benches, at our service. Meanwhile, M. de B---- rushed through the
village, finding eggs and hens and tortillas, and then returning, he and
Mr. W---- produced the travelling stores of beef and tongue, and set about
making mustard and drawing bottles of wine, to the great wonderment and
edification of the honest proprietor. Even a clean tablecloth was produced;
a piece of furniture which he had probably never seen before, and now eyed
wistfully, doubtless taking it for a _sheet_. We had a most amusing supper,
some performing dexterously with penknives, and others using tortillas as
forks. We won the heart of the _bourgeois_ by sending a cup of tea to his
invalid, and inviting him to partake of another, which he seemed to
consider a rare and medicinal beverage. About nine o'clock the gentlemen
departed to their lodgings, and our beds were erected in the large room
where we had supped; the man assuring us that he was quite pleased to have
us under his roof, and liked our company extremely well; adding, "_Me
cuadra mucho la gente decente_" (I am very fond of decent people).
We left Taximaroa at six o'clock, having spent rather a disturbed night, in
consequence of the hollow coughs with which the whole family seemed
afflicted, at least the poor invalid on one side of our room, and the
master of the house on the other. The morning was so cold, that every manga
and sarape was put in requisition. Our ride this day was through superb
scenery, every variety of hill and valley, water and wood, particularly the
most beautiful woods of lofty oaks, the whole with scarcely a trace of
cultivation, and for the most part entirely uninhabited. Our numbers were
augmented by Colonel Y----'s troop, who rode from Morelia to meet him. We
had a long journey, passed by the little village of _San Andrés_, and
stopped to eat _tortillas_ in a very dirty hut at Pueblo Viejo, surrounded
by the dirtiest little Indian children. Throughout the whole ride, the
trees and flowering shrubs were beautiful, and the scenery so varied, that
although we rode for eleven hours in a hot sun, we scarcely felt fatigued,
for wherever there are trees and water and fresh green grass, the eye is
rested. In this and in our last few days' journey, we saw a number of blue
birds, called by the common people _guardía-bosques_, wood guardians. About
half-past five we entered a winding road, through a natural shrubbery,
leading to _Querendaro_, the fine hacienda of Señor Pimentel, a senator.
When we arrived the family were at dinner, and we were invited to join
them, after which we went out to see the hacienda, and especially the
handsome and well-kept stables, where the proprietor has a famous breed of
horses, some of which were trotted out for our inspection--beautiful,
spirited creatures--one called "_Hilo de Oro_" (golden thread)--another,
"_Pico Blanco_" (white mouth), etc. In the inner courtyard are many
beautiful and rare flowers, and everything is kept in great order.
At nine o'clock the following morning we left Querendaro, and rode on to
_San Bartolo_, a vast and beautiful property, belonging to Señor Don
Joaquin Gomez, of Valladolid. The family were from home, with the exception
of his son and nephew, who did the honours of the house with such cordial
and genuine hospitality, that we felt perfectly at home before the day was
over. I think the Mexican character is never seen to such advantage as in
the country, amongst these great landed proprietors of old family, who live
on their own estates, engaged in agricultural pursuits, and entirely
removed from all the party feeling and petty interests of a city life. It
is true that the life of a country gentleman here is that of a hermit, in
the total absence of all society, in the nearly unbroken solitude that
surrounds him. For leagues and leagues there is no habitation but his own;
the nearest miserable village may be distant half a day's journey, over an
almost impassable road. He is "monarch of all he surveys," a king amongst
his farm servants and Indian workmen. Nothing can exceed the independence
of his position; but to enjoy this wild country life, he must be born to
it. He must be a first-rate horseman, and addicted to all kinds of country
sport; and if he can spend the day in riding over his estate, in directing
his workmen, watching over his improvements, redressing disputes and
grievances, and can sit down in the evening in his large and lonely halls,
and philosophically bury himself in the pages of some favourite author,
then his time will probably not hang heavy on his hands.
As for the _young master_ here, he was up with the lark--he was on the most
untractable horse in the hacienda, and away across the fields with his
followers, chasing the bulls as he went--he was fishing--he was
shooting--he was making bullets--he was leagues off at a village, seeing a
country bull-fight--he was always in a good humour, and so were all who
surrounded him--he was engaged in the dangerous amusement of _colear_
--and by the evening it would have been a clever writer who had kept _his_
eyes open after such a day's work. Never was there a young lad more
evidently fitted for a free life in the country.
There was a generous, frank liberality apparent in everything in this
hacienda, that it was agreeable to witness; nothing petty or calculating.
Señor -----, lame through an accident, and therefore unable to mount his
horse, or to go far on foot, seemed singularly gentle and kind-hearted. The
house is one of the prettiest and most cheerful we have seen yet; but we
passed a great stone building on the road, which the proprietor of San
Bartolo is having constructed for one of his family, which, if it keep its
promise, will be a palace when finished. The principal produce of this
hacienda is _pimiento_, the capsicum. There is the _pimiento dulce_ and the
_pimiento picante_, the sweet fruit of the common capsicum, and the fruit
of the bird pepper capsicum. The Spaniards gave to all these peppers the
name of _chile_, which they borrowed from the Indian word _quauhchilli_,
and which, to the native Mexicans, is as necessary an ingredient of food as
salt is to us. At dinner we had the greatest variety of fine fruit, and
pulque, which is particularly good in this neighbourhood. They also make
here a quantity of excellent cheese.
After dinner they proceeded to amuse us with the _colear_ of the bulls, of
which amusement the Mexicans throughout the whole republic are passionately
fond. They collect a herd, single out several, gallop after them on
horseback; and he who is most skilful, catches the bull by the tail, passes
it under his own right leg, turns it round the high pummel of his saddle,
and wheeling his horse round at right angles by a sudden movement, the bull
falls on his face. Even boys of ten years old joined in this sport. It is
no wonder that the Mexicans are such _centaurs_, seeming to form part and
parcel of their horses, accustomed as they are from childhood to these
dangerous pastimes. This is very dangerous, since the horses' legs
constantly get entangled with those of the falling bull, which throws both
horse and rider. Manifold are the accidents which result from it, but they
are certainly not received as warnings; and after all, such sports, where
there is nothing bloody, nor even cruel, saving the thump which the bull
gets, and the mortification which he no doubt feels, but from both of which
he soon recovers; and which are mere games of skill, trials of address--are
manly and strengthening, and help to keep up the physical superiority of
that fine race of men--the Mexican _rancheros_.
The next day we parted from our travelling companions, the Count de
B---- and Mr. W----, who are on their way to the fair of San Juan, and are
from thence going to _Tepic_, even to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
Unfortunately, our time is limited, and we cannot venture on so distant an
expedition; but we greatly regretted separating from such pleasant
_compagnons de voyage_. We spent the morning in walking about the hacienda,
seeing cheese made, and visiting the handsome chapel, the splendid stone
granaries, the great mills, etc. We also hope to spend some time here on
our return. By letters received this morning from Mexico, we find that
Señor Gomez Pedraza has left the ministry.
As we had but six leagues to ride in order to reach Morelia, we did not
leave San Bartolo till four in the afternoon, and enjoyed a pretty ride
through a fertile and well-wooded country, the road good and the evening
delightful. As the sun set, millions and tens of millions of ducks, in
regular ranks and regiments, darkening the air, flew over our heads,
changing their quarters from one lake to another. Morelia is celebrated for
the purity of its atmosphere and the exceeding beauty of its sky; and this
evening upheld its reputation. Toward sunset, the whole western horizon was
covered with myriads of little lilac and gold clouds, floating in every
fantastic form over the bright blue of the heavens. The lilac deepened into
purple, blushed into rose-colour, brightened into crimson. The blue of the
sky assumed that green tint peculiar to an Italian sunset. The sun himself
appeared a globe of living flame. Gradually he sank in a blaze of gold and
crimson, while the horizon remained lighted as by the flame from a volcano.
Then his brilliant retinue of clouds, after blazing for a while in borrowed
splendour, melted gradually into every rainbow hue and tinge; from deep
crimson to rose-colour and pink and pale violet and faint blue, floating in
silvery vapour, until they all blended into one soft gray tinge, which
swept over the whole western sky. But then the full moon rose in cloudless
serenity, and at length we heard, faintly, then more distinctly, and then
in all its deep and sonorous harmony, the tolling of the cathedral bell,
which announced our vicinity to a great city. It has a singular effect,
after travelling for some days through a wild country, seeing nothing but a
solitary hacienda, or an Indian hut, to enter a fine city like Morelia,
which seems to have started up as by magic in the midst of the wilderness,
yet bearing all the traces of a venerable old age. By moonlight, it looked
like a panorama of Mexico; with a fine square, portales, cathedral, broad
streets, and good houses. We rode through the city, to the house of Colonel
Y----, where we now are; but as we intend to continue our journey to its
furthest limits without stopping, we are now, after a night's rest,
preparing to resume our ride. They are saddling the horses, strapping on
the sarapes behind the saddles, taking down and packing up our _lits de
voyage_, and loading the mules, all which is a work of time. On our return
we hope to remain here a few days, to see everything that is worthy of
notice.