May 25, 1825.--This morning we made our entree into the city of Mexico.
Passing through the little villages of _Istapalapa_ and _Mexicalsingo_,
we rode for several miles over a paved causeway--_calzada_--lined with
the _schinus_,[1] aspins, and a species of willow very much resembling
the lombardy poplar--in sight of the numerous towers and domes which
rise above the scarcely visible flat-roofed houses of the city. The
approach to it, but for this and other fine avenues, would be perfectly
tame, as its situation is a level, whose elevation above the plain
which surrounds it is quite imperceptible. From the gate--_garita_--we
turned into the _Paseo de las Vigas_, a beautiful promenade on the bank
of the canal, which leads from _Chalco_, through the eastern portion of
the city, into the lake of _Tescuco_. We were here joined by the few
American residents of Mexico, and accompanied by them, soon entered its
streets, which in the suburbs are exceedingly filthy, but as we
advanced, they were clean, well paved, but not wide, with good yet
narrow sidewalks of broad flags of porphyry. My first feeling was
disappointment--not so much with the city, as with the crowds of
wretched ill-dressed people, of beggars, and poor half-naked Indians,
bending under heavy burdens. There are no carts or drays for the
transportation of goods, which are carried upon the backs of these poor
creatures, who are enabled to carry a load of three hundred pounds, by
means of a leather band or strap, the _cargador_ leaning forward at an
angle of about 45°, the burden resting on the back, supported by this
strap. With so heavy a load they travel great distances, moving in a
brisk walk or trot.
[Footnote 1: The _Schinus_ or _Arbol de Peru_ is a beautiful tree,
somewhat resembling a willow; it is odorous, and bears in bunches a
small red berry, which is almost as pungent as black pepper, as a
substitute for which it is used by the poorer people.]
The houses of Mexico, some of which are very spacious and magnificent,
are constructed generally of a light volcanic production called
_tetzontli_, in some instances cut smooth and square, but more
frequently rough, when the walls are plastered with lime and painted.
The handsomest are built of light gray porphyry. They are mostly of two
stories, some of three, with _axoteas_ or flat roofs. They have all
open squares. A gate, large enough for carriages to pass through, leads
from the street into the _patio_, or court yard. The basement upon the
street is occupied commonly as a store or shop, and in the rear are the
stables. Across the patio, fronting the gate, is the staircase, which
leads to the _corridors_, or interior porticoes, which surround the
area, and are ornamented with flowers. From the corridors, the doors
open into the various rooms, which communicate with each other around
the whole area, in instances where the house is so large as to occupy
the four sides. It is an airy style of building, the windows being
large, level with the brick floor, opening like double doors, and is
well adapted to the delightful climate of Mexico. The most serious evil
is the want of privacy to the chambers. Each window has its balcony.
The streets of Mexico run nearly from north to south, and from east to
west, crossing at right angles. The greatest longitudinal length is
about two miles--the latitudinal about a mile and three quarters;[2]
but as the figure of the city is unequal, these lengths are far from
uniform. In either direction the view is terminated by the mountains
which bound the plain of Mexico. In the central and most frequented
parts of the city, the streets are well paved and are kept clean; but
apart from these, they are amazingly dirty--the drains passing through
the centre being open, offensive both to the sight and to the smell.
[Footnote 2: This measure does not mean the distance of the opposite
_garitas_ or custom-house gates from each other, which is considerably
greater--but comprises the compactly built part of the city, not
comprehending the scattered houses in the outskirts.]
The _Plaza Mayor_ is the principal open square in the centre of the
city. On the northern side of it is the cathedral; the government
house, formerly the vice regal palace, occupies its eastern side; on
the southern and western sides are the _Cabildo_, (town-hall,) and
colonnades or _portales_, within which are the principal stores, and
where varieties of goods and trinkets, lottery tickets and shilling
pamphlets, are sold. In the southeastern portion of this square stood
the magnificent equestrian statue of Charles IV, raised on a fine
pedestal, and surrounded by a handsome iron railing. It has been
removed lately to the patio or court of the university, where it
remains to be admired for its admirable workmanship in bronze, although
it is seen to disadvantage in a compass too confined for it. In the
southwestern part of this plaza stands a collection of stores, a sort
of bazaar, called the _Parian_, which disfigures it extremely; but as
the city derives a large revenue from the rent, there is little
prospect of the levelling system being extended to this little town of
shops.
The cathedral is a splendid edifice, with a front of three hundred and
fifty feet, upon the plaza. It stands upon the same spot which the
famous Aztec Temple of _Huitzilopochtli_ occupied. The eastern part of
the front, built of red _tetzontli_, is a curious gothic, bearing a
more antique appearance than the other portion, which last, indeed, is
the front to the body of the edifice. This is built of gray porphyry,
ornamented with pilasters and statues, and surmounted by two handsome
towers. The interior is very rich and magnificent; the dome is lofty
and supported by large stone columns. The grandeur of the whole is
diminished greatly by the choir, which occupies a large portion of the
nave, and is connected with the chief altar by a railing of bronze,
surmounted by silver figures supporting branches for candles. A superb
chandelier of silver is suspended nearly under the great dome in front
of the grand altar, which is richly ornamented with gold and silver.
The tout ensemble has an imposing effect; and at night, when
illuminated, with the music of a full choir, instrumental and vocal,
the impressions it makes are irresistibly strong. The depth of the
whole edifice is about four hundred and fifty feet.[3]
[Footnote 3: The entire length of the interior of the cathedral is 373
feet--its width 179 feet. Those in the journal are the external
dimensions. The structure was begun in 1573, and cost $1,752,000. It
was dedicated in 1667. The grand altar bears a later date, and was
dedicated in 1743.]
In the southwestern corner of the cathedral, inlaid in the exterior
wall, is the celebrated calendar stone of the ancient Mexicans. It is a
huge mass of gray porphyry, having a circular face seven feet in
diameter, on which the figures that represent the months are sculptured
in relief. In the centre is a head, from the mouth of which water seems
to flow--surrounded by two circles, a large and a small one--the latter
divided into twenty parts, with hieroglyphics which designate the
twenty months of eighteen days each, into which the Mexican year was
divided. The remainder of the face is ornamented with figures in
relief.
The _Palace_, filling the eastern side of the _Plaza_, occupies a
square of six hundred and sixty feet by six hundred, within which space
are comprised the residence of the president, the offices of the
different departments of the government, the senate chamber and that of
the deputies, the mint, prison, botanic garden, and the barracks of a
regiment of infantry. On this spot Cortes fixed his residence after the
capture of the city; but he exchanged it subsequently for the site of
Montezuma's palace, on which now stands the _Casa de Estado_, the
family mansion of the conqueror. This classic ground is to the west of
the cathedral, fronting it; and the space, believed to have embraced
the residence of the Mexican kings, is a square of about six hundred
feet. On the northern side of this square passes the street running
west, _Calle de Tacuba_, by which Cortes retreated on the memorable
_noche triste_ (unfortunate night) when he was driven from
_Tenochtitlan_, or _Tenictitan_, as Cortes writes the name of the
ancient city.
The botanic garden occupies an inner _patio_, or court of the palace,
and is altogether unworthy of the celebrity which it has obtained in
foreign countries. It is confined and crowded. Collections of seeds
sold by the superintendent at high prices, have, to the great chagrin
of foreigners, been found invariably to comprise the most ordinary
plants, when the most rare and valuable were promised to the
purchasers. An additional garden has been laid out recently at
_Chapoltepec_. There are two tall trees of the _Manitas_, in the
botanic garden--all, with the exception of one at _Toluca_, that are
said to be growing in the republic. The Professor of Botany, _Don
Vicente Cervantes_, informed me that it is a common tree in Guatemala.
The flower is exceedingly beautiful, of a bright scarlet color; its
supposed resemblance to a hand, gives the name to the trees, _Arbol de
las Manitas_--but it is far more like a bird's claws.
* * * * *
Less than a league from the city to the west, is the porphyritic rock
of _Chapoltepec_,[4] which rises one hundred and sixty feet above the
plain. On its summit is a palace or castle built by the Viceroy Galvez,
but never finished. Towards the city it bears the appearance of a
fortress, and the work is so constructed as to withstand a siege. The
founder, no doubt, had it in view in its construction, as the resort of
the Viceroy in case of insurrection among the people, of which there
had been several instances. The view of the city and plain of Mexico
from this spot, is remarkably beautiful. Baron Humboldt, whose
enthusiasm sometimes led him to extravagance, thus eloquently describes
it:[5] "Nothing can be more rich and varied than the picture which the
valley presents, when, on a fine summer's morning, the heaven being
cloudless and of that deep blue which is peculiar to the dry and
rarified air of high mountains, we ascend one of the towers of the
Cathedral of Mexico, or the hill of _Chapoltepec_. A beautiful
vegetation surrounds this hill. The ancient trunks of cypress, of more
than fifteen or sixteen metres[6] in circumference, divested of
foliage, rise above those of the schinus, which, in figure, resemble
the weeping willows of the east. In the depth of this solitude, from
the top of the porphyritic rock of _Chapoltepec_, the eye overlooks a
vast plain with well cultivated fields, which extend even to the foot
of the colossal mountains, covered with perpetual ice. The city seems
washed by the waters of the lake of _Tescuco_, whose basin, surrounded
by villages and hamlets, reminds one of the most beautiful lakes of the
mountains of Switzerland. Long avenues of elms and poplars lead on all
sides to the capital. Two aqueducts, constructed upon lofty arches,
cross the plain, and present an aspect both agreeable and interesting.
To the north is seen the magnificent convent of Our Lady of
_Guadalupe_, with the mountains of _Tepexacac_ behind it, among ravines
which furnish shelter to dates and tufted yuccas. To the south, the
whole country between _San Angel_, _Tacubaya_, and _San Agustin de las
Cuevas_, appears an immense garden of oranges, peaches, apples,
cherries, and other European fruit trees. The beautiful cultivation is
contrasted with the savage aspect of the bald mountains which enclose
the valley, and among which are distinguished the famous volcanoes of
_Puebla_, the _Popocatepetl_, and _Iztaccihuatl_. The first forms an
enormous cone, whose crater, constantly inflamed, throwing out smoke
and ashes, opens in the midst of eternal snows."
[Footnote 4: _Chapoltepec_ signifies the mountain of grasshoppers; from
_Chapolin_, a grasshopper, and _tepetl_, mountain.]
[Footnote 5: Vol. 2, Book 3, c. 8.]
[Footnote 6: About fifty English feet.]
A less enthusiastic spectator would subtract many of its beauties from
this glowing description, and still could not fail to admire--to admire
much and long, the prospect from _Chapoltepec_. He would see a fine
city, with its sixty domes and twice as many towers, but the lake of
_Tescuco_ is too distant and indistinct to seem to wash it with its
waters--and he would look in vain for the villages and hamlets that
surround it. The fruit trees of _Tacubaya_, _San Angel_ and _Agustin_
exist, but unfortunately are not seen. These villages are situated on
the southwestern border of the plain, and abound in orchards, but these
are shut from view by high stone walls. With like disappointment he
would look towards the _smoking_ volcano of _Puebla_; the
_Popocatepetl_ does indeed smoke, but the smoke is indiscernible except
from the mouth of the crater itself--nor has it been known to throw out
ashes since 1665, when it continued to discharge for four days. In
other respects the preceding description is not too highly wrought.
* * * * *
About a mile from _Chapoltepec_ is situated the little village of
_Tacubaya_, celebrated for its mills, but chiefly for the _palace_ and
garden of the Archbishop of Mexico. From this palace, which stands upon
a commanding point above the village, the view is as extensive, and
perhaps even more beautiful than that from _Chapoltepec_, inasmuch as
this last is comprehended in it. The garden is laid out prettily, and
contains some fine plants and fruits, but is very much neglected. A
large orchard of olive trees adjoins it, which yield plentifully; but
the olives, which may not be so well cured, are not as good as those
imported from Spain. The cultivation of olive trees was forbidden under
the Spanish government, lest it might interfere with the monopoly of
the mother country, which exported in 1803, olives to the value of
thirty thousand dollars.[7]
[Footnote 7: Humboldt, vol. 4, p. 374-564.]
In two subjoined articles, extracted from the "American Annals of
Education," a very useful periodical, published in Boston,--are the
same which are referred to by an intelligent correspondent in the last
number of the "Messenger." (See page 205.) They are well worth the
reader's attention.