CUICATLAN
(1899)
Between Tehuacan and Oaxaca the railroad passes through a low, deep
valley which is ever hot. Few people on the train pass through this
valley without feeling its depressing influence. It would seem that
travelers would hardly stop at stations within its limits, unless
impelled by actual necessity. The most important of the towns in this
valley is Cuicatlan. Little of it is to be seen from the railroad, but
in reality it is a notably picturesque village.
It is the _cabecera_ of a district in which dwell three most interesting
tribes--the Cuicatecs, Chinantecs, and Mazatecs. We had time to visit
only the nearest of the Cuicatec towns. Cuicatlan itself is situated
near one side of a valley, through which runs a considerable stream. The
distant bank rises in two magnificent mountain masses. The nearer bank,
at the very base of which the town nestles on a series of little hills,
rises into almost sheer precipices of purple conglomerate. These cliffs
are hundreds of feet high, and are, apparently, due to a gigantic
landslide. The mass which fell must have measured fully two miles in
length, and still lies, broken and heaped up, at the base of the cliffs.
The face of the cliffs, and the fallen masses of rock at its base, are
cut into narrow gullies and gaps by water. The town consists of several
clusters of houses, scaled along the slopes of little hillocks and
settled into the spaces between them. Gigantic cactuses surround the
town, and cocoa palms rise to great heights within it.
It is customary for travelers to emphasize the slowness of the Mexicans.
Either we have been exceptionally fortunate, or the reputation is
largely undeserved. We have been rarely delayed by sluggish action.
Here, however, we found a _jefe_ who would surely satisfy the most
complaining. He was mild in manner, gentle in speech, fond of brilliant
plans and schemes, all of which, however, were to be put in operation
to-morrow and not to-day. It was with difficulty that we impressed upon
him our necessity. We told him that we wanted animals to carry us to
Papalo. In reply, he told us that Papalo was but a poor town, and he
outlined a journey the traveling alone in which would occupy some
eight or ten days. When we assured him that we had no time for such an
enterprise, he said that it would be much better for the towns to come
to us in Cuicatlan. He proposed sending to-morrow to those towns, and
assured us that, at the end of a week's time, we would have all the
subjects we needed. So, when we suggested that this, too, was loss of
time, he had other brilliant plans, all quite as useless. With the
utmost difficulty we finally succeeded in getting him to arrange for
animals to go to Papalo. From the very start, the road was up-hill.
Passing first through a section covered with a magnificent growth of
tree cactuses of two species, in fine fruit and flower, we found the
vegetation varied as we mounted, and at last came up among the pines.
There was a great variety of landscape and geological formation.
Purple-red conglomerate, with horizontal layers weathered into massive
forms; granitic schistose rocks, over which we later passed, gave their
peculiar scenic outlines. We climbed steadily for fully four hours,
and then looked down, along a gently sloping hill trail, to our town,
perched upon a slightly lower hill. Just at the edge of the town, we
passed a gang of men and boys at work, making a level platform for the
new _plaza_ and town-house. We congratulated ourselves that we should
have no difficulty, here, in finding subjects. The town claimed three
thousand population. Many of them were certainly away upon their fields
and ranches, scattered through the mountains, and working _fincas_ for
wealthy landowners. The town itself is picturesque in the extreme.
Notable among its features is the ruined church, the roof of which has
fallen in; the walls still stand, bare and broken, but the decorations,
some richly carved and gilded, are still unmoved within the
demolished edifice. The damage was recent, and represented a double
catastrophe--lightning and earthquake.
[Illustration: CACTUS; CUICATLAN]
We could not begin work until the _mozo_ came with the instruments.
Finally, at four o'clock in the afternoon, we began measuring with no
great difficulty. Before night, fifteen subjects had passed through our
hands and one bust had been made. Even when we arrived, at midday, it
was too cold for us to stay with comfort in the town-house, though it
was hot enough outside in the sunshine. When night came, it was bitter
cold, and we went to bed early in hope of keeping warm, a hope without
foundation. Early the next morning, we were ready for our work. Every
one had disappeared, except those whom we had measured the night before.
We requested the town authorities to bring in subjects. A few stragglers
were dragged in and measured, and some pictures taken. Notwithstanding
the poor way in which they had done their work, the policemen struck,
declaring that they would not bring others until they had been paid. It
was plain the town needed a lesson. We promptly paid the demand made
upon us, and, then, calling the _presidente_ and the _secretario_,
we told them that we must have a receipt for the payment to show the
_jefe_. We said that such a thing was unheard of; that, for town
officials to demand pay, before they would agree to obey the order
of their chief, was mutiny. At first they flatly refused to give the
receipt, but after a little consultation were anxious to return the
money, and threats were freely made to throw the whole police-force into
jail. We said that this was not our desire; we were surprised at the
demand, but, having met it, we insisted upon having our receipt. A
meeting of the town authorities being held to consider the matter, our
request was again refused, but attention was called to the fact that
some subjects were waiting outside to be measured and photographed. I
thereupon refused to measure or photograph any person until my demand
had been met. I showed them, clearly, the position in which they had
placed themselves; I stated that when they had done a wrong, and a
stranger demanded an official statement of the case, their duty was
simple and clear. By this time my own party was in arms; photographer,
plaster-worker, Manuel, all were scared. They insisted that our throats
would be cut that night. They called attention to the ugly manner and
black looks of the town authorities. They declared that we had better
flee, while yet there was opportunity; they insisted that they had not
left comfortable homes to be murdered in cold blood; they begged that I
would, at least, retreat from the position taken, and consent to measure
the subjects who were waiting. I assured them that it was far more
important to teach the town a lesson regarding their duty to their
higher officials, than to measure a few indians. Finally, after hours
of uncertainty, black looks, mutterings, and refusals, the town
capitulated, and the receipt was in my possession. Having gained my
point, I called the attention of the town officials to the bearings of
the case. I emphasized their duty to the _jefe_. They knew, quite well,
that it was out of place to demand money for obeying his order; I stated
that I appreciated whatever work the policemen might have done, and
that, in due season, I might have recognized it by a gift, but that
demands were quite another thing. I showed them how important it was,
that, when trouble rose between them and a stranger, they should furnish
any statement of the case he might, in justice, ask. Having stated the
matter fully, I consented to receive back the money, and tore up the
receipt much to their relief.
[Illustration:]
Still the work went slowly. No one was left in town but the officials
and some women. The latter locked and barred their doors, at the
approach of any of the town authorities, and neither threats to burn
their houses above their heads nor bribes would bring them forth. It was
only after three days of hard work that eighty men and twenty-five women
were secured. By that time, it was plain that the other men were safely
out of reach, and we concluded that naught remained but to return to
Cuicatlan, to complete our work with representatives from other towns.
This we did, although we found our _jefe_ still gentle, mild, and slow.
Once in the hot valley, we concluded that we might as well see more of
it. Leaving Cuicatlan at noon, a few minutes' ride brought us to the
station at Tecomavaca, perhaps the hottest of the hot valley towns.
Within it are ruins which have been strangely neglected by all tourists
and investigators. Probably, the great heat has killed whatever little
enthusiasm may have been kindled in those who have seen aught of these
ruins. When we reached the station, in the hottest portion of the day,
the valley seemed to glow; all looked hot and desolate. There were no
_mozos_ to help in carrying baggage, though the town was fully half a
mile from the station, behind bare, hot, sandy hills. It is one of the
poorest and meanest of the Mexican towns. A dreary _plaza_ is surrounded
by miserable adobe, or adobe-plastered, buildings. The only edifices
that looked clean and neat were the school, jail, and town-house. We
found shelter at a sort of a _meson_, where we could get no supper until
nine, or possibly till ten. Rather than go inside the rooms, we took
possession of the corridor, and there, with two cots, a table, and the
floor, lay down to rest. But not to sleep! The town, small as it was,
had twenty cases of _la grippe_. The woman of the house where we were
stopping was one of these. Her husband, who came back from the mountains
long after dark, appeared to have an affection and solicitude regarding
her, which, under other circumstances, might have been quite touching,
but which, then, was thoroughly exasperating. While he cooked his own
supper, made chocolate for her, and heated hot water for her use, he
kept passing back and forth, between the kitchen and the sick chamber,
until later than two o'clock in the morning. The noise which he made,
and these repeated movements, kept us all awake the whole night long.
The night was hot and close, and new and unknown insects troubled
us extremely. We were glad to be dressed and mounted, the following
morning. Riding across the river, we made the ascent to the summit, on
which were the ruins of Tecomavaca Viejo. The ascent was so abrupt that
our horses were repeatedly compelled to stop for breath. The trail
passed through cactuses, and spiny shrubs and trees, which tore our
clothes more than all we had endured during weeks of travel. The ruins
are unquestionably old. The hilly slope presents a succession of
terraced platforms, one behind the other, at different heights. The
rock walls between these are banked up and faced with rock, coated with
plaster and mud; there are many pyramids and mounds; there are also
curious subterranean, stone-faced, graves. Many curious disks of stone
were found, a foot or eighteen inches in diameter, and three or four
inches thick; these were all reddish grit, and had plainly been piled
one upon another to form pillars. Along the forward edge of some of the
terraced platforms, we found the lower discs of some columns still in
place. While the amount of work, represented in these cut terraces,
banked rocks, and subterranean constructions, impressed us greatly, it
was difficult to get a clear idea of the relationship of the parts.
[Illustration: CACTUS NEAR CUICATLAN]
[Illustration: VIEW IN A TLAXCALAN BARRANCA]
When, however, we found ourselves at the station, waiting for the train,
we looked back across the river to our three ruin-crowned hills. Then,
for the first time, having visited the spot, we could clearly make out
the relations. Three natural mountains or hills, the greater, central
one flanked on both sides by lesser, had been utilized by the old
builders; the natural rock masses had been cut and walled, until they
practically formed masses of construction, rising terrace behind
terrace, to the very summit. When the terraces were entire, with their
temple-crowned pyramids, and with embankments and walls in full repair,
these vast constructions must have been indeed impressive.