TLAXCALA
Tlaxcala was the ancient republic for many years before the Conquest,
and retained its independence against the Aztecs. It is noted in
history as being the place where Cortés met with so much encouragement
and help from the Tlaxcalans, after he had fought them and shown his
strength. It looks like a place that had always been old and always
picturesque. Romance is in the air at every turn. Of Cortés’s sojourn,
there are many mementoes, an old silken banner which he presented to
the Tlaxcalan chiefs, a curious piece of silken embroidery depicting
the battle between the invaders and the natives, and a grant to
Tlaxcala made by the Emperor Charles V., whose signature it bears.
There is also to be seen a number of idols which have been dug up from
time to time in the neighborhood. The baptismal robes of the chiefs,
the genealogical tree of chief Xicotencatl, the charter of Philip
II. to the city, bearing his signature and portrait, in the form of
a beautiful parchment book bound in vellum, May 10, 1585, more than
three hundred years ago. Tlaxcala abounds in interesting relics of
ancient times. Among them are some very old portraits of the heroes of
former days, a cloak which belonged to a noble Indian of that time who
was the first to receive Christian baptism, and the wonderful standard
which once belonged to Cortés. The Church of San Francisco was the
first Catholic Church erected in the New World. Its architecture is
very original inside and out and dates from 1524. The pulpit has a very
peculiar form and exquisite filigraned work full of gilt carvings; and
the sacred vestments, beautifully embroidered in silver and gold, were
brought over from Spain and used in the first Roman Catholic service
in this country. These vestments are shown to-day, with the first
baptismal fountain. The Sanctuary is dedicated to the miraculous Virgin
of Ocotlan, and is situated on the summit of a little hill close to
the city. One curious thing about the temple is that one half of it is
an architecture of several centuries ago, the walls being covered with
the finest chiselled workmanship possible to imagine, and richly gilt,
while the other half is entirely of modern style splendidly sculptured
by modern artists. On the walls are hundreds of wax reproductions of
human limbs, left there by invalids who had been miraculously cured of
various diseases, and who celebrated their cures by giving the church
these symbols.
Tlaxcala is the capital of the State, which is bounded on the
northeast and south by the State of Puebla and on the west by Mexico.
Historically it is one of the most interesting states in the republic.
Almost every building in the capital is a relic of the olden times.
The Municipal Palace and a few modern homes, built with the open
courtyard, are the only new houses. This presents a marked contrast
with the old architecture. Through the enchanting San Martin valley
will run a new railroad that will prove a boon to the grain growers.
It will not only be an outlet for many rich properties and the grain
of the fertile valley but it will be the most picturesque route in the
republic. Wherever the railroads have gone the Indians are beginning to
forsake their native speech. In Tlaxcala one realizes that the Aztec
is not a dead language. The Governor of Tlaxcala, Colonel Prospero
Cahuantzi, has done much to develop and perpetuate Indian tradition and
institutions. He has published books to that end and also an ancient
Tlaxcalan record which gives a curious history of the conquest told in
pictures. He writes and speaks this language which is fast becoming
extinct. The Governor is a pure blooded Indian, born in Ixtulco, a
town situated a short distance from the City of Tlaxcala. For nearly
twenty years he has governed the State so wisely and so well that new
life has sprung into the old capital. Schools and private colleges are
now established and industry has entered upon a period of development.
There will be inaugurated this year an irrigation plant which will be
of great benefit to the vegetation of the State. The city is alive
with business and everything looks in a condition of prosperity. The
political division of the State consists of six districts, which are
subdivided into municipalities. Tlaxcala is the principal and most
important. It has a population of seven thousand five hundred. Three
railroads cross the State: the Mexican railroad which runs from Mexico
to Vera Cruz and the Apizaco branch to Puebla, the Interoceanic from
Mexico to Vera Cruz and Acapulco, and the Santa Anna and Tlaxcala road.
The State has various good wagon roads which lead to the neighboring
states. The telegraphic and telephonic service is good and extensive.
[Illustration: OLD CHURCH TOWER, TLAXCALA.]
The soil is productive and the lands are suitable for the cultivation
of all classes of fruits of the cold zone and all kinds of medicinal
plants. The maguey is extensively grown and produces large quantities
of pulque, a drink for the middle classes. It has excellent medicinal
qualities and is very nutritious, and is consumed greatly by the
inhabitants of the southern part of the republic. It is useful for
fibre of the best class and also makes good alcohol. The State includes
fertile and extensive plains, being occasionally broken by deep ravines
or bare hills. The most important mountain range in Tlaxcala is that
formed by the beautiful mountain of Malinche, or Malintzin. This peak
rises to a height of four thousand four hundred and sixty-one metres
above sea level and captivates the fancy by its imposing and fantastic
figure, as it represents the body of a woman covered by a shroud and
the head shining with the snow which forms a crown. Sometimes the
figure is lost among the clouds which envelop a part of the mountain.
Often these clouds are agitated by storms which render a spectacle
startling to look on and without equal in the republic of Mexico. The
climate is healthy, dry and cold, especially in the mountains, where
frosts are frequent throughout the winter. The mining in the state is
of importance. There are some silver, copper and lead mines. Iron,
lime, chalk, and clays of good quality exist.
Corn is the principal product, although everything grows in this rich
soil, and through the introduction of modern methods of agriculture the
produce of the State has been doubled.
There are distilleries for the production of alcohol, flour mills, and
factories of cotton goods and prints. These are all equipped with the
latest machinery.
In the Cuauhtemoc district there is a foundry for artistic bronze work
which has been doing work of great credit to the State.
[Illustration: SEÑOR CORONEL PROSPERO CAHUANTZI.]
Tlaxcala was the scene of much human tragedy during the Cortés
conquest. It is one of the oldest places in Mexico and it was founded
by the Chichimecs. They came on the grand plateau about the same time
as the kindred races, at the close of the twelfth century, and planted
themselves on the western border of Lake Tezcuco. Here they remained
many years engaged in the usual pursuits of a bold and partially
civilized people. From some cause they incurred the enmity of the
surrounding tribes; a coalition was formed against them and a bloody
battle was fought on the plains of Poyauhtlan in which the Tlaxcalans
were completely victorious. Disheartened with their residence among
nations with whom they found so little favor the conquering people
resolved to migrate. They separated into three divisions, the largest
of which taking a southern course by the great volcano of Mexico, wound
round the ancient city of Cholula and finally settled in the district
of country overshadowed by the Sierra of Tlaxcala. The warm and
fruitful valleys locked in the embrace of this brotherhood of mountains
afforded means of subsistence for an agricultural people, while the
bold eminences of the Sierra presented secure positions for their town.
Yellow harvests of maize and the bountiful maguey covered the rocky
hillside and contributed to the wealth of the little republic. Their
geographical position was encompassed with mountains and their warlike
bravery gave them a reputation as soldiers and excited the wonder of
Cortés and his army. Nowhere else did the Spaniards encounter such
troops or meet with such determined resistance, and the Spaniard was
quick to see that the Tlaxcalans would serve him much better as friends
than as enemies.
[Illustration: ARCHWAY ENTRANCE TO SAN FRANCISCO CONVENT.]
“Nothing could be more picturesque than the aspect of these Indian
battalions, with the naked bodies of the common soldiers gaudily
painted, the fantastic helmets of the chiefs glittering with gold
and precious stones, and the glowing panoplies of feather-work which
decorated their persons. Innumerable darts and spears, tipped with
points of transparent iztli, or fiery copper, sparkled bright in the
morning sun, like the phosphoric gleams playing on the surface of a
troubled sea, while the rear of the mighty host was dark with the
shadows of banners on which were emblazoned the armorial bearings of
the great Tlaxcalan and Otomi chieftains. Among these, the white heron
on the rock, the cognizance of the house of Xicotencatl was conspicuous
and still more the golden eagle with outspread wings, in the fashion of
a Roman signum, richly ornamented with emeralds and silver-work, the
great standard of the republic of Tlaxcala.
[Illustration: SACRED WELL OF OCOTLAN.]
“The common file wore no covering except a girdle around the loins.
Their bodies were painted with appropriate colors of the chieftain
whose banner they followed. The feather-mail of the higher class of
warriors exhibited also a similar selection of colors for the like
object, in the same manner as the colors of the tartan indicate the
peculiar clan of the Highlander. The caciques and principal warriors
were clothed in quilted cotton tunics two inches thick, which, fitting
close to the body, protected also the thighs and the shoulders. Over
these the wealthier Indians wore cuirasses of thin gold plate or
silver. Their legs were defended by leathern boots or sandals trimmed
with gold. But the most brilliant part of their costumes was a rich
mantle of the _Plumaje_ or feather work, embroidered with curious
art, and furnishing some resemblance to the gorgeous surcoat worn by
the European knight over his armor in the middle ages. This graceful
and picturesque dress was surmounted by a fantastic head-piece, made
of wood or leather, representing the head of some wild animal, and
frequently displaying a formidable array of teeth. With this covering
the warrior’s head was enveloped, producing a most picturesque and
hideous effect. From the crown floated a splendid panache of the richly
variegated plumage of the tropics, indicating by its form and colors
the rank and family of the wearer. To complete this defensive armor,
they carried shields or targets made sometimes of wood covered with
leather, but more usually of a light frame of reed quilted with cotton,
which were preferred as tougher and less liable to fracture than the
former. They had other bucklers in which the cotton was covered with
an elastic substance, enabling them to be shut up in a more compact
form, like a fan or umbrella. These shields were decorated with showy
ornaments, according to the taste or wealth of the wearer, and fringed
with a beautiful pendant of feather-work.
[Illustration: RUINS OF THE ROYAL CHURCH, TLAXCALA.]
“Their weapons were slings, bows and arrows, javelins, and darts. They
were accomplished archers, and would discharge two or even three arrows
at a time. But they most excelled in throwing the javelin. One species
of this, with a thong attached to it, which remained in the slinger’s
hand that he might recall the weapon, was especially dreaded by the
Spaniards. These various weapons were pointed with bone or the mineral
iztli (obsidian), the hard substance already noticed as capable of
taking an edge like a razor, though easily blunted. Their spears and
arrows were also frequently headed with copper. Instead of a sword they
bore a two-handed staff about three and a half feet long, in which at
regular distances were inserted, transversely, sharp blades of iztli,
a formidable weapon, which, as an eye-witness assures us, he had seen
fell a horse at a blow.
“Such was the costume of the Tlaxcalan warrior, and of that great
family of nations generally who occupied the plateau of Anahuac.”
Their weapons, even with their bravery, were no match for the military
science of the Spaniards; and after four terrible battles, preceded
by a good deal of sharp skirmishing, the Tlaxcalans were defeated.
After some political delays they were completely subdued and became
the faithful allies of the Spaniards. Had this not been effected,
it is doubtful if Cortés’s name would have descended as “the great
conqueror,” at least in Mexico.
Tlaxcala City dates far back of Cortés’s arrival in the place, where
he fought and subdued with such excellent effect. The very air is
alive with romance and tradition. Age, hoary and musty, is stamped
everywhere, although the people are wideawake and prosperous.
The houses were built for the most part of mud or earth, the better
sort, of stone and lime, or of bricks dried in the sun. They were
unimproved with doors or windows but in the apertures of the former
hung mats fringed with pieces of copper or something which by its
tinkling sound gave notice of anyone’s entrance.
The streets were narrow and dark. The people gathered in the market
places on a public day. These meetings were fairs, held, in all
great towns, every fifth day, and attended by the inhabitants of the
adjacent country, who brought there for sale every description of
domestic produce and manufacture with which they were acquainted.
They peculiarly excelled in pottery, which was considered equal to
the best in Europe. It is further proof of civilized habits that the
Spaniards found baths, both of vapor and of hot water, familiarly used
by the inhabitants. A still higher proof of refinement was discerned
in the existence of a vigilant police which suppressed everything like
disorder.
The ancient capital, through one-quarter of which flowed the rapid
current of the Zahuatl, stretched along the summits and sides of
the hills, at whose base are now gathered the remnant of its once
flourishing population. Far beyond, to the southeast, extended the
bold Sierra of Tlaxcala, and the huge Malinche, crowned with the
usual silver diadem of the highest Andes, its shaggy sides clothed
with dark green forests of firs, gigantic sycamores, and oaks whose
towering stems rose to the height of forty or fifty feet unencumbered
by a branch. The bleak winds of the Sierra gave an austerity to the
climate unlike the sunny skies and genial temperature of the lower
regions; it was far more favorable to development of both the physical
and the moral energies. A bold and hardy peasantry was nurtured among
the recesses of the hills, fit equally to cultivate the land in peace
and to defend it in war. Unlike the spoiled child of Nature, who
derives such facilities of subsistence from her too prodigal hand as
supersede the necessity of exertion on his part, the Tlaxcalan earned
his bread--not from an ungrateful soil--by the sweat of his brow.
He led a life of temperance and toil. Cut off by his long wars with
the Aztecs from a commercial intercourse he was driven chiefly to
agricultural labor, the occupation most propitious to purity of morals
and sinewy strength of constitution. His honest breast glowed with
patriotism, or local attachment to the soil, which is the fruit of its
diligent culture, while he was elevated by a proud consciousness of
independence, the natural birthright of the child of the mountains.
Such was the race with whom Cortés was associated for the achievement
of his great work.
[Illustration: LA PARROQUIA.]
Few people, perhaps none except scientists, know that in the heart of
this ancient State is a race of pygmies. They are small of stature,
with dark-brown skin, broad faces, and shocks of black tangled hair.
They are very shy and wild-looking and wear serapes made of coarse
sacking. Fine clearings on the hill-slopes extend almost to the crest
of the mountains. Flourishing fields of grain, cattle grazing in the
pastures, and log houses of substantial construction surrounded by neat
little enclosures are occupied by these peaceful little men and women.
Up in that region, between Ajutla and Juquila, is a marvelous lake
of clouds. A deep blue sky and brilliant southern sun, without a
suggestion of mist in the still air, make the place wonderful on a
grand scale. Clad with foliage clear to the summit, the great ridge
forms half of a mighty amphitheatre whose sides are furrowed by
mountain torrents. Five distant mountains form the wall of an oval
valley with lower peaks running parallel. At one side a spur juts out,
making the only notable break in the enclosing rim. The great lake
seems to approach this edge like a mighty river and pour over the great
precipice like a dozen Niagaras combined in one. It is a cloud-lake,
mighty, mysterious and noiseless, making one of the greatest wonders in
this region of wonders.
The Tlaxcala of to-day is situated in the centre of a beautiful country
and has illimitable advantages. It is a favorite spot for the artist
and student. Governor Prospero Cahuantzi has a most interesting and
unique personality, and his hospitality to strangers is one of the
reasons of the popularity of the capital city. A visit to Mexico is not
complete without seeing this remarkable old historical place.
[Illustration: OLDEST PULPIT AND ALTAR IN AMERICA.]
[Illustration: ZOCALO IN REAL DEL MONTE.]
[Illustration: PANORAMA OF MINERAL DEL CHICO.]