"The finest picture in the last-named collection, that of the pupils of
the Academy, is by Felix Parra, and is entitled 'Las Casas protecting
the Aztecs.' Parra painted it before he had seen any country except
Mexico, and he received the first prize at the Academy of Rome on
account of the merit displayed in this work. I will not attempt to
describe the painting, but send a photograph by which you may judge of
it. The coloring is, of course, lost in the photograph, but you can get
an idea of the drawing and the sentiment of the picture. Las Casas is
represented standing on the steps of a teocalli, and at his feet is the
dead body of a Mexican chief, who has been slain by the Spaniards; while
an Aztec woman clings imploringly to the robe of the priest.

"The painting is a historic one, and the story it illustrates is this:

"Las Casas was a Spanish prelate who accompanied Columbus to the West
Indies and afterwards came to Mexico. He was horrified at the treatment
of the natives by their conquerors, and he crossed the ocean no less
than twelve times to intercede with the King of Spain in their behalf.
He was unsuccessful in nearly all his efforts, though he finally
persuaded the Emperor Charles V. to make some effort to redress the
wrongs which the Indians were suffering at the hands of the Spaniards.
He risked his life on many occasions on behalf of the natives, as we
read in Prescott's histories, and when the Emperor offered him the
bishopric of Cuzco, one of the richest appointments in the Spanish
colonies, he declined it and accepted that of Chiapas, one of the
poorest and most ignorant. He died in Madrid in 1566, at the age of
ninety-two years.

"Every time we visit the gallery we linger in front of this picture, and
are never weary of admiring and studying it. Many good critics pronounce
it not only the best painting in the gallery where it hangs, but the
best in the entire collection of the Academy. This is high praise,
indeed, when we remember that the Academy has works by Leonardo da
Vinci, Murillo, Rubens, Correggio, and Velasquez.

[Illustration: THE DEATH OF ATALA.]

"Another fine painting of the modern Mexican school is the 'Death of
Atala.' Felix Parra is represented by other works in addition to the Las
Casas; one of these is 'The Massacre in the Temple,' which also has
historic value. It illustrates the butchery of the natives in the temple
by Alvarado, whom Cortez had left at the capital city while he
personally went to the coast to meet the ships and troops that had been
sent from Cuba to reinforce the invading army. As the history of Mexico
was closely identified with the Church down to within twenty years or
so, it naturally occurs that nearly all the paintings of former days are
of a religious character, just as we find the paintings in the galleries
of Europe."

[Illustration: A SUCCESSFUL ARTIST AT WORK.]

One day in their visit to the Academy the youths met a gentleman to whom
they had been previously introduced, and one of them asked if the
wealthy people of Mexico gave much encouragement to native art.

"I'm sorry to say they do not," was the reply. "It has not yet become
the fashion to buy modern paintings, but some of our rich men are
setting the example, and as the country becomes developed and more
wealthy, the example may be followed. But just at present the best
patrons of art are the _pulque_ shops, and as their patrons are not very
critical, it does not require a high talent to meet their wants. In
private houses there is a greater demand for huge mirrors than for fine
paintings, and the value of the plate-glass mirrors in the city of
Mexico is far beyond that of the modern works of art to be found here.
Many an artist of fair promise has been obliged to abandon the dream of
his life, and obtain a living by painting for the _pulquerias_, or
selling silk and woollens behind the counter of a shop."

The gentleman then told a story of a native artist who had painted a
canvas some eight feet by six, representing "The Landing of Columbus."
Months and months passed and he could not find a purchaser though he
lowered his price to half its original figure; then at the advice of a
friend he made a few changes in the ships, costumes, coloring, and
scenery, and entitled the picture "Evacuation of Mexico by the French."
In less than a week he found a customer who made not the least objection
to the price which was set upon the work.

The mention of pulquerias naturally drew attention to those
establishments, which abound in Mexico as do beer shops in New York.
Fred undertook an essay concerning them and the substance in which they
deal.

"Pulque is the product of the _Agave Mexicana_, or maguey plant," wrote
the youth, "and a description of Mexico without a reference to it would
be like 'Hamlet' without Hamlet. It is the beverage of Mexico as beer is
that of Germany and wine the drink of France. Along the line of the
railway, as we were coming southward, we passed many fields of maguey,
and several times we saw the collectors gathering the juice of the plant
for conversion into pulque.

"Nobody knows when pulque was invented, as it was in use here centuries
before Cortez was born. There are many fables concerning it, and like
most fables of the kind, the discovery of the use which could be made of
the juice of the maguey is generally attributed to the gods. One more
practicable fable is that a Toltec noble discovered it and sent some of
the pulque to the King, by the hand of his daughter, Xochitl. The King
was so delighted with the drink and the maiden that he swallowed the
former and married the latter, and their son succeeded him as king. This
was the beginning of the downfall of the Toltecs and their extinction as
a nation, but the art of making pulque was not lost; the name of the
lovely Xochitl has been preserved in the Aztec name of the beverage,
_ochtl_. During our war with Mexico the soldiers under Generals Taylor
and Scott drank the liquid, and in attempting to pronounce its Aztec
name they generally got no nearer to it than 'cocktail.' They carried
the word back to the States, and Doctor Bronson tells us that it is
occasionally heard there at this day in clubs and hotels, where it is
applied to beverages in which spirits, bitters, and other ingredients
are mingled.

[Illustration: MAGUEY PLANT.]

"The maguey belongs to the cactus family of plants, and there are said
to be forty varieties of it. Twenty-two yield _aguamiel_, or
honey-water, from which pulque is made, and the others are used for
hedges and for making paper, cords, and other things. In former times
the natives are said to have had not less than a hundred uses for the
maguey plant in addition to its production of pulque. They made paper
from the pulp of the leaves, cords and thread from the fibre, needles
from the thorns, shingles and troughs from the leaves, and the little
clothing they wore was generally made from the thread derived from the
maguey. The leaves are sometimes ten feet long by a foot wide, and like
the leaves of the other members of the cactus family, they are of great
thickness.

"When the maguey plant is about ten years old it sends up a single
stalk in the centre which often rises to a height of twenty-five or
thirty feet. This stalk is covered with flowers, hundreds and sometimes
thousands of them, and they are of a yellowish green color. After
blossoming the plant dies, very much as does the sago-tree and some
other tropical growths; a single blossoming is all that it is capable of
in its lifetime. And here is where the pulque comes in, or, rather,
comes out.

[Illustration: THE TLACHIQUERO.]

"The Indians watch the plants closely when the flower-stalk is expected
to appear, and just at the right time they cut out the centre of the
stem, leaving a hollow as large over as an ordinary washbowl but a good
deal deeper. The sap, which was intended to nourish the flower-stalk,
flows into this cavity, and flows so rapidly that it must be emptied
every few hours. The leaves on one side of the plant are cut away so
that the cavity can be reached, and then the _tlachiquero_, or
collector, makes his rounds.

[Illustration: EXTRACTING AGUAMIEL.]

"He is equipped with a gourd open at both ends; inserting the broad end
into the cavity, he sucks up the juice (_aguamiel_), and then deposits
it in a pig-skin hanging over his back, or in pig-skins or earthen jars
on the back of a donkey.

"The aguamiel is carried to the central station of the establishment,
where it is poured into shallow vats of pig or cow skin. There it
ferments and becomes pulque, a vile-smelling liquid which is said to
taste like stale buttermilk; it is almost always repulsive to the
stranger, and sometimes one who comes within smelling distance of pulque
for the first time is made ill by it. A good maguey yields from eight to
fifteen pints daily, and continues to do so for three or four months;
and a good estate of maguey plants is more certain in the revenue it
brings to the owner than any other enterprise. The plants thrive in the
poorest soil where hardly anything else can live.

"A scientific writer on this subject says: 'An analysis of aguamiel
gives glucose, sugar, and water as the principal ingredients; it froths
when shaken, gives an abundant precipitate with subacetate of lead, and
when filtered the resultant liquor is colorless. Pulque is the product
of the fermentation of aguamiel, is an alcoholic, mucilaginous liquid,
holding in suspension white corpuscles, which give it its color, and has
an odor and taste peculiar to itself. It is more or less sugary
according to its strength, and contains about six per cent. of alcohol.'

"Pulque is sent from the estates along the railway in barrels and
pig-skins, and the amount consumed in the capital is about 80,000
gallons daily. There is a pulque train daily to the city; we passed it
at a side-track, and easily detected its presence by the smell of
fermentation.

"The pulque shops are as discernible to the nose as to the eye; they are
numerous in all the cities and large towns, and very properly are under
the eyes of the police. There are 820 of these shops in the city of
Mexico. They pay a license fee to the Government as do beer and wine
shops in European countries, and the law requires that they shall close
at 6 P.M.; and, what strikes a New Yorker with astonishment, it is
enforced, too. The city derives a revenue of a thousand dollars a day
from the pulque brought here for sale, in addition to what it receives
for shop licenses; the railway probably gets a thousand dollars also for
the daily transportation, and altogether the national drink of Mexico
costs a great deal of money.

[Illustration: A GLASS OF AGUARDIENTE.]

"Liquors called _mescal_ and _tequila_ are distilled from pulque, and
contain a larger percentage of alcohol. Then there is a stronger liquor,
called _aguardiente_ (burning water), which is literally described by
its name. Some gentlemen who have tasted it say that it is like
swallowing a torch-like procession or a whole collection of
Fourth-of-July fireworks."

[Illustration: "NOT CAUGHT YET."]

From pulquerias to police-courts is a very natural step, and one which
is taken by a good many natives of Mexico. Frank and Fred took it,
though not after the Mexican fashion, as their movement was voluntary,
while that of the native is performed by invitation, or demand, of the
police. The better classes of the population know next to nothing about
the police-courts or where they are held, and it was only after a great
deal of inquiry that the youths learned where and when to go. The guide
who had shown them the sights of the city claimed to be unable to tell
them, and when they ascertained for themselves, he was somewhat
unwilling to accompany them. It is barely possible that he had been
there on his own account altogether too often to make a voluntary visit
agreeable.

They found the court in the municipal palace, at one side of the Plaza
Mayor. Ascending a staircase, they were shown into a waiting-room, and
beyond it there were several smaller rooms. Two or three gentlemen were
seated at a table in each of the rooms, and seemed to be busily engaged
in discussing something. Frank asked the guide what they were doing.

[Illustration: A MAGISTRATE.]

"One of them is a magistrate," was the reply; "and the others are the
lawyers, who are laying a case before him. One is the prosecutor, and
the other is for the defence."

"But where are the accused and the policemen?"

"They're down-stairs, or perhaps they haven't got to the palace yet.
They don't come into these rooms at all. The magistrate hears the case
through the lawyers, and doesn't have the prisoner brought before him,
as you do in your country." On further inquiry the youths learned that
the magistrates hear the cases in this way, and decide whether the
complaint shall be dismissed, the prisoner let off with a fine, or sent
to the Belem prison, at the edge of the city.

Some of the prisoners were, as the guide said, "down-stairs;" but the
greater number were in a building separate from the palace, and situated
on a narrow street close by. There is a court in the prison building, in
which the magistrates hear cases in the same way as at the municipal
palace, without seeing the prisoner; they hear the testimony for and
against him, and decide accordingly.

At the Belem prison they found another court, where cases were more
carefully considered; but they learned from a gentleman, with whom they
afterwards talked on the subject, that the Mexican courts are
overcrowded with work, and prisoners often have to wait weeks or
months, and even years, before their cases can be heard. A prisoner
against whom a serious accusation has been made can never learn when it
will be called to trial; his friends are not informed; and the only
thing they can do is to watch and wait day after day, or possibly pay
heavily to somebody for his influence with the authorities. Matters are
better now than previous to the Laws of the Reform, but they are still
far from what they should be.

"We judged," said Fred, "that the Belem prison was greatly overcrowded,
as the court-yard was full of people, and so were the corridors that
overlooked the yard. The prisoners sleep on mats on the floor of the
dormitories, which are about 170 feet long. One hundred men lie in a row
on the mats along the floor of the dormitory, so that there must be very
little room to walk around. The fare of the prisoners consists of twelve
ounces of bread daily, one pound of meat, and a bowl of soup. Three
times a week they have stewed beans in addition to the other food.

[Illustration: AN OLD OFFENDER.]

"A prisoner whose sentence exceeds one month is compelled to work, but
he is paid for his labor; one-half his wages go to his family if he has
any, and the rest is saved up by the prison authorities until the man is
discharged, when the money is given to him. This seems to me an
excellent system, and it should be adopted in our own country. In that
case an ex-convict would have something to live upon for a while,
instead of being, as is too often the case, driven into crime to save
himself from starvation.

"To show the character of Mexican offences, I will quote from the
records of the prison for one month. The whole number of prisoners was
1278, and they were charged with crimes as follows:

"Thefts, 198; fighting, 109; stabbing, serious, 518; stabbing, slight,
313; wounding with sticks or clubs, 140.

"Observe that two-thirds of the number were in prison for the use of the
knife, and you get an idea of the propensities of the lower classes of
the population.

"We have already mentioned the adroitness of Mexican thieves, and we
heard several stories while visiting the prison that confirm what we
have heard. There's a saying here that if you drop a coin it will be
caught before it reaches the ground. They told us a story about the
Chief Magistrate of Mexico City which we were assured was entirely true;
it sounds like a 'chestnut,' but is good enough to be repeated. Here it
is:

"The magistrate was one day on the street when he remarked to a friend
that he had left his watch hanging over the head of his bed at home. In
less than an hour a thief was at the door with a fat turkey; he said
that it was sent by the magistrate, who wished his wife to send him his
watch, which he had left at the head of his bed.

"She sent the watch, and when his Honor came home that night he learned
of the trick that had been played. He consoled himself with the
reflection that he had a fat turkey for the next Sunday's dinner, and
would not be obliged to buy anything for that important meal.

"But the next day an accomplice of the watch-stealer called and said the
magistrate had sent him to get the turkey, which they desired to produce
in court. The man who stole the watch had just been arrested, and the
turkey was needed to secure his conviction, as it was one of the
'properties' in the case. Of course it was promptly sent.

"So the good man lost both his watch and his turkey, and never heard of
either of them again."

There is a short road to justice called _ley de fuga_, which is
sometimes travelled in Mexico; it may be translated into "running the
gantlet." By Mexican law an officer has the right to shoot a prisoner
trying to escape. Sometimes, when bandits or murderers are captured,
they are allowed to try to escape, and in their effort to secure their
freedom they take the chances of being killed. Recently this disposition
was made of seven bandits who murdered a German named Müller in the
State of Durango, and then robbed his house, compelling Mrs. Müller to
show where the valuables were kept. They were captured while seated at
table in Müller's house after completing the robbery, a party of
soldiers happening to arrive there most opportunely. As their conviction
and execution were certain, they accepted the offer of the officers to
permit them to try the _ley de fuga_, but not one of them succeeded in
escaping.

[Illustration: SCENE OF THE CAPTURE.]

CHAPTER XV.

THE PASEO DE LA REFORMA.--BRIGANDAGE NEAR THE CITY.--STATUE OF CHARLES
IV. OF SPAIN.--STATUE OF COLUMBUS.--A RELIC OF MAXIMILIAN.--AQUEDUCTS
FROM CHAPULTEPEC.--MONTEZUMA'S TREE.--CHAPULTEPEC; ITS HEIGHT AND
EXTENT.--MONTEZUMA'S BATH.--THE PALACE.--"THE FEAST OF
BELSHAZZAR."--NATIONAL MILITARY COLLEGE.--MOLINO DEL REY.--GENERAL
SCOTT'S ADVANCE UPON MEXICO.--CAPTURE OF VERA CRUZ.--BATTLE OF CERRO
GORDO.--ENTERING THE VALLEY.--CONTRERAS AND CHURUBUSCO.--FALL OF
CHAPULTEPEC.--GENERAL SCOTT'S ENTRANCE INTO THE CITY.--TREATY OF
PEACE.--GENERAL GRANT ON THE MEXICAN WAR.

[Illustration: A CORNER OF CHAPULTEPEC.]

One of the most attractive drives in the neighborhood of Mexico is along
the Paseo de la Reforma, the avenue leading to Chapultepec. In point of
fact, it is generally the first drive taken by a visitor, and he is
pretty certain to be favorably impressed with it. Chapultepec was a
royal residence before the Conquest; during the Spanish rule it was the
home of the viceroys, and since that time the President of the republic
has generally lived there when he could live at all in the city or its
vicinity. Maximilian selected it for the location of the Imperial
Palace, and enlarged the then existing buildings; the avenue leading to
it owes its origin to his ambition, and is a monument of his taste for
the beautiful.

[Illustration: MONTEZUMA'S TREE.]

Whether the ride to Chapultepec is taken by the tram-way or in a
carriage, the stranger will find it full of interest, and he would do
well to try both means of making the visit. If he is an equestrian he
will hire a saddle-horse, and make the excursion on horseback between
seven and nine o'clock in the morning, when it is the fashion to appear
thus on the Paseo. Doctor Bronson and his young friends followed the
prevailing custom, and through the aid of the manager of the hotel were
satisfactorily provided with steeds. But they were very modestly mounted
in comparison with some of the Mexican equestrians, whose saddles and
saddle-cloths were elaborately ornamented and said to have cost all the
way from one to two thousand dollars each. Some of the horsemen were
armed with sabres and revolvers--a souvenir of a custom which is no
longer necessary, but was emphatically so not many years ago. The road
to Chapultepec, and indeed the roads anywhere in the suburbs, were
infested with brigands, who used to rise up from unexpected spots as
though at the hand of a magician, and perform their work in a very
expeditious manner.

The enterprising brigands were not content with robbing people on
horseback or in carriages, but occasionally devoted their energies to
kidnapping residents and holding them for ransom. As an illustration of
their performances Frank made note of the following story:

"One evening while a gentleman was at dinner with his family, in the
suburb of Tacuba, a party of brigands appeared and commanded silence on
the part of all under pain of death. They harmed no one, and did not rob
the house, but they hurried the gentleman into a carriage, and drove
away with him. It was naturally supposed that he had been taken to a
place of concealment among the foot-hills of the mountains that encircle
the valley; but it turned out that his captors drove directly to the
city and secreted their victim in the cellar of a house. There he was
kept for several days, until the police were so closely on the track of
the kidnappers that they fled and left him to make his escape.
Subsequently they were captured and executed; but the circumstance was
not at all a pleasant one for suburban residents to contemplate."

Fred observed that the Paseo de la Reforma begins at the equestrian
statue of Charles IV., very nearly a mile from the Plaza Mayor. It may
also be said to begin at the Alameda, a beautiful garden of poplar and
other trees, and occupying a historic site. The Alameda includes the
ancient Indian market-place and the Plaza del Quemadero, where the
victims of the Inquisition were burned to death on a stone platform
which was long since removed. Successive viceroys improved it, and
within the last few decades it has been planted with flowers and
otherwise beautified, so that it is now a very attractive spot.

The statue of Charles IV. is a fine work of art, and notable as the
first bronze casting of any magnitude on this side of the Atlantic;
Humboldt pronounced it second only to the statue of Marcus Aurelius, and
it has received the unstinted praise of many critics who have seen it.
It was cast in 1802, and placed upon its pedestal in the following year.
During the War for Independence it was, in 1822, covered with a large
globe of boards painted blue, and in this condition it remained for two
years, when it was taken down and placed in the court-yard of the
University. In 1852, when the hostility to the Spaniards had somewhat
abated, the statue was restored to its pedestal, and has peacefully
rested there ever since. The casting is in a single piece, and weighs
thirty tons, and the height of horse and rider is only a few inches less
than sixteen feet.

[Illustration: STATUE OF COLUMBUS ON THE PASEO DE LA REFORMA.]

From the foot of the statue to the base of Chapultepec is a distance of
3750 yards; the Paseo de la Reforma runs straight as a sunbeam along
this measured length, and it has a width, including the sidewalks, of
fifty-six yards. At regular distances there are _glorietas_, circular
spaces like the _Rond-Point_ of the Champs-Elysées, in Paris, which are
intended for statues of men eminent in the history of Mexico; one of
them is already occupied with a statue of Columbus, who is represented
drawing away the veil that hides the New World. At the corners of the
pedestal are four life-size figures in bronze, and Frank and Fred were
pleased to observe that one of them represented the good missionary Las
Casas, who labored earnestly for the protection of the Indians. A statue
of Guatemozin, the last of the Aztec kings, is destined for the next
space, but had not been erected at the time of the visit of our friends;
the third space was intended for a statue of Cortez, and the fourth for
one of Juarez. The occupants of the other glorietas had not been named,
but they will be men famous in the history of Mexico. From present
indications Maximilian is not likely to be chosen as one of the heroes
to be preserved in bronze. The glorietas are 400 feet in diameter, and
surrounded with stone benches for the accommodation of pedestrian
visitors.

The Paseo is lined with shade-trees, so that it affords pleasant walks;
the centre of the road-way is reserved for people on horseback, while
the carriages move along the sides. On pleasant afternoons the vehicles
are so numerous that the police have sufficient occupation to keep them
in proper line, and the turnout is a fine one in every way. Frank and
Fred compared the display one afternoon with that of London, Paris, and
New York, under similar circumstances, and after careful consideration
they agreed that the Mexican pageant was more attractive than any one of
the rest.

"The ground is level, the road finely macadamized, and the way perfectly
straight; the horses and carriages are the best that can be procured;
the equestrians are splendidly mounted, and their apparel and equipments
are picturesque; the ladies are handsomely attired, and many of them
have pretty faces; the panorama of hills and mountains loses none of its
grandeur, and altogether we are in love with the Paseo de la Reforma."

So wrote Frank, and his cousin gave his hearty indorsement of the
opinion thus presented.

[Illustration: SAN COSME AQUEDUCT.]

"Don't forget," said Fred, "to make mention of the aqueducts that supply
the city with water, as they are in sight from this drive. One comes
from back among the hills near the old convent of El Desierto, and the
other leads from a great spring at the foot of Chapultepec. The latter
aqueduct gave shelter to our soldiers during their attack on the gates
of the city after the storming of the castle; from one pillar to another
of the aqueduct they dodged the fire of the Mexican artillery and
infantry, and so gained the front of the gate-way."

[Illustration: MONTEZUMA'S BATH.]

"I'll not forget that," replied Frank, "nor the old cypresses under
which Montezuma is said to have sat and walked; but before we get to
them we'll mention that an American company proposes to make an
extension of the city of Mexico by building a suburb on the level tract
of land through which the Paseo runs. This was one of the dreams of
Maximilian, but he had no time or opportunity to put it into practical
shape. His idea has been taken up by the peaceful invaders from the
North, and if it is carried out as they propose, it will not be many
years before the land is materially transformed. Artesian wells have
been sunk in this level space and have found an abundance of water, and
the projectors of the suburb say they will have their own supply without
depending upon either of the aqueducts."

[Illustration: CHAPULTEPEC AND ITS GARDENS.]

"Chapultepec is a delightful spot," wrote Fred, "whether considered as a
public resort, a royal or Presidential residence, or for the panoramic
view presented to the visitor as he looks from its top. It is an
isolated rock, or hill, rising about 200 feet, and with a length of 1000
or 1200 feet, and the top is crowned with the buildings, which have seen
many changes among their occupants as well as in themselves. The sides
are steep in some places, but gradual in others, the steep parts
predominating. All around the base are cypress-trees, whose age is
unknown; but they are certainly very old; and their venerable appearance
is increased by the moss that depends from their limbs.

"The tree of the greatest interest to us was that which bears the name
of Montezuma. If tradition is correct, the Emperor sat beneath its
shade; and it was possibly while resting here that he received the news
of the approach of those strange white men who had landed upon the
coast, and rode upon animals the like of which were never before known
in America. It is a wonderful tree 170 feet high, and forty-six in
circumference. Like the other great trees of Chapultepec, it is a
cypress; and like the others, too, it is heavily draped with moss, as
though in mourning for the aboriginal ruler, whose kingdom was torn away
by the invader.

[Illustration: EL SALTO DEL AQUA.]

"From the tree of Montezuma we went to his bath, which is not far away,
and is the famous spring that fills the aqueduct already mentioned. The
water is cool and clear, and supplied the ancient Tenochtitlan, just as
in later days it was made to supply the Spanish city which rose on the
site of the Aztec one. The aqueduct through which the water flows is
exactly on the line of that of the Aztecs. The Spanish aqueduct was
begun in 1677, and has 904 arches from its starting-point at Chapultepec
to its terminus in the Salto del Agua, or Water-fall, in the city. The
water of Chapultepec is called _agua delgada_, or thin water; while that
supplied by the San Cosme aqueduct is _agua gorda_, or thick water. From
time immemorial the spring has been flowing, and it is supposed to be
fed by underground channels from the mountains.

"After the tree and the baths we visited the palace, or such part of it
as was open to the public. There is not much worth seeing inside the
building, the most interesting feature about it being the view from the
roof. All the Valley of Mexico, with its girdle of mountains, was before
us; it was like the view from the cathedral tower, with the difference
that the city formed a part of the horizontal view in one direction,
while from the tower it lay beneath and around our feet; and the same
view that included the city embraced also the snowy peaks of
Popocatepetl and the 'White Woman,' which lay a little to the right of
the cluster of domes and roofs standing between us and the silvery sheet
of Tezcoco. In the opposite direction was Tacuba, the spot where Cortez
thought of rebuilding the city which was to rise in place of the
Tenochtitlan he had destroyed. It is to be regretted that he did not do
so, as the site is better adapted to a city; it admits of good drainage,
which the present one does not, and would undoubtedly be healthier.

[Illustration: AN AZTEC RELIC.]

"The present palace stands on the site of the one occupied by Montezuma.
Chapultepec was called the 'Hill of the Grasshopper' by the Aztecs, and
in their maps of the valley the hill is represented with a grasshopper
as large as itself perched on the top. We are wondering whether they
really had grasshoppers of that size. What a famine they would create if
they were as numerous as they are to-day in some parts of the West!

"What a magnificent place this must have been in the time of Montezuma,
according to the description in Prescott's History! Here was an aviary
that alone required 300 attendants, and there was a menagerie of
corresponding extent. Then the King had granaries of immense extent, to
guard against suffering in case of famine; and there were armories with
weapons sufficient for a military force of thousands. The halls of the
palace were spacious, and the royal dining-table was supplied with
delicacies of all kinds from every part of the dominions. Fresh fish
were provided daily by a line of couriers in the same way that they
were supplied to the Khan of Tartary in the days of Marco Polo, and also
to the royal table of Japan. According to the accounts, the runners made
the journey from the coast to the city in very nearly the same time that
it is now made by the railway.

"We were shown through the palace, which has large halls and galleries,
and is surrounded by terraces paved with marble and affording fine views
of the valley and mountains. Some of the halls and galleries are
elaborately ornamented, while others are quite plain; a portion of the
decorations ordered by Maximilian still remain, and others have been
covered or partly obliterated. The most interesting hall was the grand
saloon, where banquets are occasionally given. It is memorable for
having been the scene of Maximilian's 'Feast of Belshazzar,' as the
Mexicans call it--his grand banquet on his return from Orizaba, just
before he started for Queretaro, for capture, and for execution. Many of
the porcelain dishes marked with the imperial cipher were broken at this
banquet, and are kept as souvenirs by those who secured them. A friend
of ours in New York has one of them; it is part of a saucer, and was
given to him by a gentleman who was in Mexico shortly after the fall of
the Empire.

"The national military college is at Chapultepec, and adjoins the palace
building. We were told that it is conducted on a plan similar to that of
our military academy at West Point, and contained between three and four
hundred students. There was a military school here at the time of our
war with Mexico. The cadets enlisted for the defence of Chapultepec,
fought splendidly, and many of them were killed in the battle. A few
years ago a monument commemorating their gallantry was erected in the
garden on the side of the hill, and it should be visited in honor of the
brave youths who fell here.

"And this brings us to the incidents of the capture of Chapultepec.

"'Do you see that large building back of the grove?' said our guide,
pointing his finger in an easterly direction.

"We followed the direction with our eyes, and indicated that we saw it.

[Illustration: THE VALLEY OF MEXICO, FROM THE AMERICAN OFFICIAL MAP.]

"'Well,' said he, 'that is Molino del Rey, the King's Mill, and there's
where some of the hard fighting took place. Just beyond it is the Casa
Mata, and over there, and there, are the fields of Contreras and
Churubusco. From this point you can take in the whole range of General
Scott's battles in the valley that resulted in the fall of the city of
Mexico.'

"We studied the situations, and since then we've read up the history of
the battles, and will try to tell you something of them."

Frank and Fred kept their promise, and wrote an account which we are
permitted to give in their words:

[Illustration: VIEW OF THE FORT OF SAN JUAN DE ULLOA FROM VERA CRUZ.]

"It will be remembered that before the battle of Buena Vista a part of
General Taylor's army was sent to join General Scott in his advance upon
the capital of the republic. General Scott proceeded to besiege Vera
Cruz and the Castle of San Juan de Ulloa, which protects it. The
fortress is a strong one, and the Mexicans were so confident of the
abilities of Vera Cruz to hold out against any force the Americans could
send against it that they left a garrison of only 5000 men, did not
provision the city against a siege, and neglected to send away the women
and children. The Americans besieged the city on the land side, the
whole army landing without accident or opposition. The siege began on
the 9th of March, 1847, and on the 26th of the same month the city and
castle surrendered.

[Illustration: BATTLE OF CERRO GORDO.]

"Then began the march towards the capital as soon as the provision
trains could be made ready. The Mexicans made no opposition until the
Americans reached the foot of the mountains, where the battle of Cerro
Gordo was fought on the 18th of April, the Mexicans being commanded by
General Santa Anna, and the Americans by General Twiggs. The Mexicans
were defeated with a loss of 1000 killed and wounded and 3000 prisoners,
including five generals and many other officers. General Santa Anna fled
from the battle-field on a baggage mule, and the Mexicans were very much
demoralized.

[Illustration: GENERAL SANTA ANNA.]

"Perote and Puebla were occupied soon after the victory of Cerro Gordo,
and then the army halted in its advance to wait for reinforcements which
were on their way from the United States. It was not until the beginning
of August that General Scott was ready to move towards the capital, and
when he gave the order it was with only 10,738 men to follow him.
Colonel Childs, with 1400 men, was left at Puebla, which was a very
important point on the road by which supplies were to be forwarded.

"Three days the army struggled up the eastern slope of the mountains
that surround the valley. When they looked down on the beautiful valley,
with its lakes glistening in the sun, the towers of the city rising in
the centre of the level expanse, the black fields of lava, the hills
rising here and there, the green expanse of cultivated land, and the
causeways covered with people, the soldiers gave a loud cheer, and in
spite of the fatigue of the ascent were ready to dash forward to battle.

"To oppose them General Santa Anna had assembled an army of three times
their number, and erected forts to guard every approach to the city.
After carefully surveying the ground, General Scott decided to advance
to the south of the lakes. If he had continued on by the National Road,
which leads from Mexico to Vera Cruz, he would have encountered the
fortress of El Peñon, on which fifty-one guns had been mounted. The
engineers said he would lose one-third his army in capturing the fort,
and hence his decision to go to the south of the lakes.

"General Worth's division advanced to San Augustin, nine miles from the
city, where there is a large field of lava known as the Pedregal, which
artillery or cavalry could not cross. The Mexicans had intrenched camps
at Contreras and also at San Antonio, and General Scott decided to
attack both these points at once. Generals Twiggs and Pillow were to
advance upon Contreras while General Worth moved towards San Antonio.

"During the night of the 19th of August it rained, and the men camped
without fires. Early in the morning of the 20th the order to march was
given. The Mexicans were taken a good deal by surprise. Contreras was
won by a sharp fight that did not last long, and the invaders pushed on
to San Angel, which was evacuated as they approached. Some of the
cannon taken by the Americans were those which were lost at Buena Vista,
and the men who lost them were the very ones who had the good-fortune to
make the capture.

[Illustration: BATTLE OF CHURUBUSCO.--CHARGE OF "THE PALMETTOS."]

"San Antonio was abandoned before the Americans reached it, but a stand
was made at Churubusco, farther on; this was attacked in front and rear
at the same time. Santa Anna considered it the key of the Mexican
position, and the place was defended by 30,000 men. They made a good
defence, and at one time it looked as though the assailants would be
repulsed. Some of the most gallant fighting of the day was performed by
a South Carolina regiment ('The Palmettos') in a charge upon a Mexican
force largely their superior in numbers and backed by a battery of
artillery.

"Churubusco and Contreras had fallen, and it would have been easy for
the Americans to advance and take possession of the city before the
Mexicans had recovered from their panic. Under injudicious advice,
General Scott offered an armistice, to enable negotiations for peace to
be made; it was promptly accepted and lasted a fortnight, but resulted
in nothing. When Santa Anna felt that he had repaired his damages, he
sent an insulting message to General Scott, and hostilities were
resumed.

[Illustration: STORMING OF MOLINO DEL REY.]

"Very early on the morning of September 8th the advance began, the
troops moving in the direction of the Casa Mata and the Molino del Rey.
The Molino was attacked by the artillery and afterwards by the infantry.
At one time the Americans recoiled under the shower of bullets and their
heavy loss in men and officers, but it was only for a moment. The Molino
was carried, the Mexican cavalry behind it was put to flight, and the
road was clear to Chapultepec, the home of the Montezumas and the
viceroys. For four days the army rested, and on the 12th the order to
advance was given.

[Illustration: GENERAL SCOTT'S ENTRANCE INTO MEXICO.]

"The cannonade against Chapultepec began at daybreak on the morning of
the 13th, and at eight o'clock General Quitman advanced along the Tacuba
road, and General Pillow from the Molino del Rey. The Mexicans fought
stubbornly, but the Americans pressed on, and while the garrison was
occupied in one direction an attack was made in another, and the
position was taken. When the Mexicans fell back to the city, General
Scott ordered the pursuit to be continued on both the roads leading from
Chapultepec to the city gates of Belem and San Cosme. Away went the
pursuers; and here, as stated elsewhere, they found great advantage
from the aqueducts. Springing from one archway to another, they managed
to dodge the Mexican bullets and get close to the gates. There they
adopted the plan of boring through the houses, as they had done at
Monterey, and in this manner by sunset they were practically, though not
literally, in possession.

[Illustration: CAPTURED AT CHAPULTEPEC.]

"This was the end of the fighting. At midnight a party of Mexican
officers came out with a flag of truce and proposed the surrender of the
city, and at the same time the remnant of the Mexican army marched out
of the northern gate and fled to Guadalupe Hidalgo. On the morning of
September 14th General Scott entered the city, and, surrounded by his
staff and principal officers, rode in triumph to the Grand Plaza through
the crowd of men that thronged the streets and scowled as they clutched
their knives and muttered threats against '_Los Yanqueis!_' He was
followed by six thousand men of his army; their uniforms were ragged and
soiled with mud, but their weapons were in ready condition for service,
which happily was no longer needed.

"Negotiations for peace were begun immediately, and on February 2, 1848,
the treaty was signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo. It was ratified in the
following May, and as soon as it could be done conveniently, Mexico was
evacuated by the American troops, and the two nations became friends
again. And we shall all hope that the friendship will never be broken.

"Commenting on the war with Mexico, General Grant said: 'For myself, I
was bitterly opposed to the measure [the annexation of Texas], and to
this day regard the war which resulted as one of the most unjust ever
waged by a stronger upon a weaker nation. It was an instance of a
republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not
considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory.'"

[Illustration: A SCENE OF PEACE.]

CHAPTER XVI.

THE NOCHE TRISTE TREE.--A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF
MEXICO.--DEPARTURE OF CORTEZ FROM CUBA.--HE LANDS IN YUCATAN.--FOUNDING
THE CITY OF VERA CRUZ.--DEFEATING THE TLASCALANS.--ENTRANCE TO
TENOCHTITLAN.--RECEPTION BY MONTEZUMA.--RETURN TO THE COAST.--EXPULSION
OF THE SPANIARDS.--BESIEGING THE CITY WITH THE AID OF THE
TLASCALANS.--CAPTURE OF THE CITY, AND DEATH OF GUATEMOZIN.--BEGINNING OF
THE RULE OF THE VICEROYS.--THE CHURCH OF GUADALUPE.--STORY OF THE
MIRACULOUS APPARITION.--RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL HOLIDAY.--PILGRIMAGE TO
GUADALUPE.--_PENITENTES_; THEIR SELF-INFLICTED TORTURES.

[Illustration: THE NOCHE TRISTE TREE.]

The tree of Montezuma and the traditions connected with it called the
attention of the youths to another famous tree of Mexico. It was the
_Arbol de la Noche Triste_, or tree of the mournful night.

When it was mentioned to Doctor Bronson the latter said:

"Before we go there I wish you to inform yourselves about the tree, so
that we can talk intelligently concerning its historical associations."

Frank and Fred promised to comply with his request; and in their case a
promise was equivalent to its performance.

A day was set for the excursion to Popotlan, where the tree stands. On
the morning of that day Frank said they were ready with their story; it
was presented to the Doctor at the breakfast-table, and pronounced
satisfactory. Here it is as it was read by Fred:

[Illustration: DEPARTURE OF CORTEZ FROM CUBA.]

"Those who have studied history carefully know that Cortez sailed from
Cuba to make the conquest of Mexico. He had a fleet of eleven vessels;
the largest of them was of one hundred tons, three were of seventy tons
each, and the rest were open barks. His whole force consisted of one
hundred and ten seamen, five hundred and fifty-three soldiers, two
hundred Indians, and a few Indian women for servants. His regular
soldiers consisted of sixteen horsemen, thirty musketeers, and
thirty-two cross-bowmen; all the rest of the soldiers were armed with
swords and spears. In addition to these he had fourteen pieces of
artillery, with an abundance of ammunition; and he had sixteen horses,
which were the first ever seen in America. This was the force with which
he started for the conquest of a people numbering millions, and ruled
by a king, with a large army equipped with spears and bows and arrows,
and protected by coats of mail of thick wadding.

[Illustration: THE FIRST MASS IN THE TEMPLES OF YUCATAN.]

"He landed first on Cozumel Island, near the coast of Yucatan, where he
proceeded to convert the natives to Christianity. He did it in a very
summary way: by calling on the natives to destroy their idols and
embrace the new religion. When they declined to do so, he set his
soldiers to breaking and overturning the idols and throwing them out of
the temples. Then he erected an altar, reared a cross and an image of
the Virgin, and ordered one of the priests who accompanied him to
celebrate mass, which was done in the presence of his kneeling
followers.

[Illustration: BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS.]

"From Yucatan he sailed for the coast of Mexico, which he reached at the
mouth of the Tabasco River. Here he landed, and after a fight with the
Indians, which was won chiefly by the terror inspired by his horses and
the sound of the guns, which the natives took for thunder, he occupied
Tabasco. Shortly afterwards he had another battle with a force which his
historians estimated at 40,000. This army he defeated, and he celebrated
mass on the battle-field in thanks for his triumph over the heathen.

"'Then,' writes Diaz, 'after dressing our wounds with the fat of the
Indians whom we found dead, and having placed good guards round our
post, we ate our supper and went to our repose.'

"Peace was arranged with the Indians on condition that they should
submit to the authority of Cortez, and accept the religion he brought
them. They had no alternative, and immediately became Christians. When
this was accomplished he continued along the coast of Mexico, and laid
the foundations of Vera Cruz. There he first heard of the Emperor
Montezuma, and the story of his great wealth determined Cortez to make
the conquest of Mexico."

"That was where he burned his ships," remarked Frank, as Fred paused for
a moment.

"Yes," answered Fred, "he burned his ships partly in order to make
retreat impossible, and partly that he might increase his force with the
110 seamen. He left a small garrison at Vera Cruz, and then advanced
towards the city. Taking part with the tribes who had been annoyed by
the tax-collectors of Montezuma, he secured their friendship. He
conquered the Tlascalans in four severe battles, and then induced them
to join him in a march upon Montezuma's capital, as they were not on
good terms with the Aztecs; but he could not prevail upon them to
renounce their religion and adopt Christianity.

[Illustration: FIRST VIEW OF THE MEXICAN CAPITAL.]

"He reached Tenochtitlan, Montezuma's capital, in November, 1518, with
6000 Indian allies, in addition to his force of Spaniards. Ambassadors
from Montezuma met him on the road, and he was welcomed with great
courtesy and ceremony. A palace was assigned to him, and he immediately
fortified it. While he was laying his plans for taking possession of the
country and its immense store of gold, he learned that his garrison at
Vera Cruz had been attacked and one of his soldiers killed; and not only
was the soldier killed, but his head was sent to Montezuma.

"The death of one soldier may not be thought a very serious matter,"
Fred remarked, by way of explanation, "but it was so for Cortez. Down to
that time the Mexicans supposed the Spaniards were supernatural beings;
they were the children of the sun, and therefore immortal, but the
receipt of the head of the slain soldier undeceived them.

[Illustration: THE MEETING OF CORTEZ AND MONTEZUMA.]

"He at once took Montezuma prisoner, and having captured the men who
attacked Vera Cruz, he burned them alive in the public square in front
of the palace. Montezuma took the oath of allegiance to the King of
Spain, and was set at liberty after paying an enormous amount of gold
and precious stones by way of ransom.

"Just as Cortez thought everything was quiet he learned that the
Governor of Cuba had sent an army under Narvaez to deprive him of the
command of the country. As the army was much larger than his own, the
situation was desperate; but Cortez was equal to it.

"He left 200 men in the city under charge of one of his officers, and
then hastened to the coast, where he defeated and killed Narvaez, and
added his men to his own forces. Thus the army of 900 men, with eighty
horses and twelve pieces of artillery, that had been sent to conquer
Cortez became really his reinforcement. He returned with them to Mexico,
where, meantime, the people had risen against the Spaniards, killed
Montezuma, and under their new emperor, Cuitlahua, driven the invaders
out of the city. If you want a brilliant account of the evacuation of
the city, you will find it in Prescott's History; it is too long to be
given here.

"There is a reminiscence of the terrible retreat," continued Fred,
"which is shown to every visitor to the city. It is the Salto de
Alvarado, or Alvarado's Leap, in the street which bears the name of that
warrior. They tell us that where the line of house-fronts is broken, and
shut off by an iron railing, was formerly a canal in the ancient city of
Tenochtitlan. This is said to be the exact spot where Alvarado leaped
across the canal, and saved himself from the death which overtook so
many of his comrades. He commanded the rear-guard, and was one of the
few who escaped. Bernal Diaz says the opening was so wide, and the sides
so high, that no man in the world could have jumped across, no matter
how strong might be his limbs."

"Now we are coming to the Noche Triste tree," remarked Frank.

"Yes," answered Fred. "Cortez is said to have sat all night under this
tree at the time of the evacuation, lamenting over his misfortunes and
laying plans for the future.

"Do you think it is really so?" Fred asked, turning to Doctor Bronson.

"The legend is a romantic one," the Doctor replied, "and I would not
care to disturb it; but if I read the character of Cortez correctly, he
was not the man to sit down and mourn under any circumstances. Quite
likely he stopped under the tree on that eventful night of July 1, 1520;
but it is more probable that he was planning what to do next instead of
wasting his time in vain lamentations. It is time to go now," said he,
glancing at his watch, "and we'll have the rest of the story at the foot
of the famous tree."

Fred folded his manuscript and consigned it to his pocket, and then the
trio, accompanied by their guide, proceeded to Popotla by the railway.
Taking a car at the west side of the Plaza Mayor, they reached Popotla
in little more than half an hour from the time of their departure. They
passed through Tacuba, which was anciently an important town, but is now
a suburb of the great city, with a population of between two and three
thousand.

The tree is a species of cedar, called _Ahuehuete_ by the Indians, and
_Sabino_ by the Spaniards. Down to a few years ago it was in fine
condition, but one night a fire was kindled against it and seriously
injured its trunk. Several of its limbs have since died and been
removed; and to prevent its utter destruction by relic-hunters, the tree
has been surrounded by an iron railing, and is carefully watched by a
policeman. Visitors may pick up any twigs lying outside the railing, but
they are forbidden to tear anything from the tree, however
insignificant.

After inspecting the tree, and commenting upon the fact that it was
certainly old enough for Cortez to have sat a whole night beneath it and
indulged in any amount of lamentation, our friends resumed the story of
the Conquest.

"During the retreat," continued Fred, "the rear-guard of the Spaniards
was destroyed; the retreat lasted for six days, and then a battle was
fought, on the 7th of July, 1520, on the plains of Otumba. Here Cortez
was victorious, but he was not strong enough to attempt to retake the
city.

"He went to Tlascala, where he assembled a large force of natives, and
again marched upon the capital. Meantime the Mexicans prepared for
defence, and the Emperor having died of small-pox, which the Spaniards
introduced, the throne was taken by Guatemozin, the son-in-law of
Montezuma. Guatemozin assembled a large army and fortified the
causeways, so that he believed the place impregnable; but he was not
equal to the warlike skill of the Spanish commander.

[Illustration: THE BATTLE UPON THE CAUSEWAY.]

"Cortez had again been 'reinforced' by the Governor of Cuba; the latter
had sent two ships to the aid of Narvaez, of whose fate he was ignorant,
and when these ships arrived at Vera Cruz they were seized, and the men
of the expedition were easily induced to join Cortez.

"Approach by land being so well guarded, Cortez decided to attack the
city by water. Timber for thirteen brigantines was prepared on the other
side of the mountains, and carried on the shoulders of 8000 Tlascalans
to the bank of a small stream flowing into one of the lakes. There the
boats were put together, and though the Mexicans made many attacks, they
were always defeated.

"Each boat carried a piece of artillery and twenty-five Spaniards, and
the fleet was sufficient to wipe the war-canoes of the Mexicans out of
existence. When all was ready the fleet moved to the attack, and at the
same time the land forces proceeded against the city along three of the
causeways.

[Illustration: THE CAPTURE OF GUATEMOZIN.]

"Altogether the siege of the city lasted seventy-seven days; it ended on
the 13th of August, 1521, and that day may be taken as the commencement
of the reign of the Spaniards in Mexico. Guatemozin attempted to escape
in a boat, but was captured and treated as a prisoner of distinction.
The Mexicans again endeavored to drive out their invaders, but were
unsuccessful, and Guatemozin was put to death under circumstances of
great cruelty. He was burned on a bed of coals by order of Cortez, along
with several of his nobles and leading men.

"And this ends our story of the conquest of Mexico," said Fred. "Those
who think it dry reading are at liberty to skip, but if they have read
thus far there will be no need of doing so."

"What became of Cortez after the Conquest?" Doctor Bronson asked.

"He was rewarded by the King with the appointment of Governor and
Captain-general of Mexico, and a marquisate with a large revenue. But
his success aroused jealousy, as it generally does, and while he was
busy with the conquest of the outlying provinces of Mexico his property
was seized, and his retainers were imprisoned. He returned to Spain in
consequence of this, was received with distinction, and returned to
Mexico for new enterprises, but he found himself under the orders of a
viceroy, who had been sent to rule over him.

"He went back to Spain once more, where, with great difficulty, he
obtained an audience with the King, and was very coldly received. He
soon dropped out of sight, and the closing years of his life were passed
in utter obscurity in Seville."

"Very much like the closing years of the life of Columbus," Frank
remarked.

[Illustration: PONCE DE LEON.]

"Yes," added the Doctor, "and you may continue the parallel further
among American discoverers and conquerors. Americus Vespucius, or
Amerigo Vespucci, died in poverty; Balboa and Sir Walter Raleigh were
beheaded; Pizarro was assassinated; Magellan was killed in battle; and
De Soto never lived to know the value of his discovery of the
Mississippi. Hendrick Hudson was forced into an open boat at sea by a
band of mutineers, and never heard of afterwards; and Captain John Smith
died in retirement after having passed some time in a French prison.
Ponce de Leon, who went to Florida to find the fabled fountain of youth,
was mortally wounded in a fight with the natives of that country, and
his followers were forced into a disastrous retreat."

Absorbed with the train of thought aroused by Doctor Bronson's remark,
the youths silently accompanied that gentleman on the return trip to the
city. Frank concluded that he would never lead an expedition for the
discovery of a new world, and Fred decided that he did not care to make
a name in history by the conquest of a country that had done him no
harm.

[Illustration: THE CHURCH OF GUADALUPE.]

In the afternoon they went to the hill which is notable for the church
bearing the name of "Our Lady of Guadalupe." It is about three miles
from the city, and in a direction opposite to that of Chapultepec. The
present road is comparatively modern, the old one having been given up
to the line of railway from the capital to Vera Cruz. The new road and
the old one are parallel; the former has fourteen shrines along the
way-side, where pilgrims to the church used to pause to say their
prayers, but the new one is not so well provided. The tram-cars run at
a rapid rate, the mules often dashing into a gallop, but coming suddenly
to a halt when the conductor blows his horn.

The youths inquired as to the origin of the church, which is the most
famous of all the places of worship in the country, and the object of
many a pilgrimage every year. The result of their inquiries was the
following story:

"The Church of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe stands on the spot where the
Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a poor shepherd, an Indian named
Juan Diego, in 1531, ten years after the capture of the city of
Tenochtitlan by Cortez. He lived in a mud hut near the base of the hill,
and one day, his father being ill, he went to obtain medicine for him,
and was stopped by the Virgin, who upbraided him for the slowness of the
Mexicans in accepting the religion which the conquerors offered them.
She announced that she was to be the patron saint of the Indians, and
told him to go and tell the bishop what he had seen and heard.

"He went to the house of Zumarraga, who was then Bishop of Mexico, but
was turned away unbelieved and almost unheard. The Virgin appeared to
him again, and told him to gather some roses from the top of the rock
and carry them in his blanket to the bishop. He did so, and when the
blanket was opened the picture of Mary was found to be painted upon it,
and surrounded by the imprint of the roses. The bishop was incredulous
at first, but when he reflected that the Indian could not paint, and was
too poor to employ an artist, he accepted the miracle, and it was soon
after adopted by the nation.

"It was not easy to identify the spot, and so the Virgin appeared again
and stamped her foot upon the ground. Immediately there burst forth a
spring which is said to possess wonderful healing properties, and it has
continued to flow ever since. A small chapel was immediately erected,
and soon afterwards the foundations of the church were laid. Pope
Clement VII. officially proclaimed Our Lady of Guadalupe to be the
patron saint of Mexico, and the adoration of the picture spread
throughout the whole of America and also to Catholic Europe.

"At one time," said Frank, in his account of the visit, "the church of
Guadalupe was one of the richest in Mexico, second only to the great
cathedral; but the greater part of its treasure was taken by the Liberal
Government, and coined into money, at the time of the confiscation of
Church property. The golden frame of the picture of the Virgin was
carried away, but afterwards returned. The altar railing, of solid
silver, was not disturbed. Its value must be very great, as it is
massive, and the metal is said to be of the highest standard.

[Illustration: STATUETTE OF THE VIRGIN MARY.]

"The original painting is kept in an iron frame above the high altar,
and is shown only on rare occasions. By paying a fee to the sacristan we
obtained a view of it. The material on which the painting appears is of
a very coarse fabric, but the picture is distinct, and its colors seem
to be admirably preserved. Copies of the picture are to be seen
everywhere. Hardly a house in the country is without one of them, and
they are for sale in all shapes and kinds to suit the most economical
purse. Peddlers offer them to you on the streets, and no pious Mexican
would be without at least one image of the patron saint of his country.

[Illustration: MAKING A PILGRIMAGE COMFORTABLY.]

"Pilgrimage to this place is constantly going on, but the great and
especial day of the year is the 12th of December, the anniversary of the
miraculous appearance. On that day thousands of pilgrims are here from
all parts of Mexico and Central America, and at the conclusion of the
ceremonies there is an exhibition of fireworks in front of the church.
After this display the natives perform the _mitate_, one of their
ancient dances, in one of the halls attached to the church. The high
dignitaries of the church are present at the fireworks and also at the
dance. According to what we learned of it, the mitate has a resemblance
to some of the dances in the Hindoo temples of India. We are told that
the priests facilitated the adoption of the Catholic religion by
permitting the natives to retain some of their heathen customs, and the
mitate is one of them.

"In the War for Independence the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe was
borne on the banners of the insurgents, and their rallying cry was
'Guadalupe.' The priest Hidalgo, who originated the insurrection, was so
identified with the shrine and its use during the war that his name was
incorporated with it and given to the town which surrounds the church.
After the independence of the country was secured it was decreed that
December 12th should be kept as a national holiday, and consequently the
date is political as well as religious. The treaty of peace between the
United States and Mexico was signed here on February 2, 1848, and is
consequently known in history as the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo."

This is the church to which the Emperor Maximilian walked with bare feet
from the city, three miles away. He established a title and decoration
of the Order of Guadalupe, and during his brief reign it was conferred
upon distinguished and other persons who had rendered, or might render,
services to the empire or its ruler.

The mention of the devotional act of Maximilian in walking barefooted to
the church of Guadalupe reminded one of the youths of an account he had
read not long before of the way in which many of the pilgrims to the
shrine were accustomed to inflict self-torture in days gone by. They
lashed themselves and one another with whips, gashed their flesh with
knives, and in other ways personally injured themselves. Of late years
the practice has fallen into disuse, but occasionally a _Penitente_, as
he is called, may be seen punishing himself for some real or fancied
sin.

[Illustration: THE PENITENTES WALKING ON CACTUS-LEAVES.]

Doctor Bronson told the youths that in some parts of the country a
favorite act of the Penitentes is to walk over cactus-leaves, or to
crawl upon them on their bare knees. A cross is set up, in the yard of a
church and the ground in front of it is strewn with the thorny cactus.
On this dreadful pavement the Penitentes walk to the foot of the cross,
and believe that when they have accomplished the journey they have
expiated all the sins committed by them since the last ceremony of the
same kind was held. The Doctor said the priests had tried to abolish
this practice, which was established by the old Franciscan missionaries
about 200 years ago, but it has so strong a hold upon the Indians that
they refuse to give it up.

When the missionaries established the Order of Penitentes, their
principal dogma was that no sin could be forgiven without confession
and expiation. The society increased in numbers, and at length became
practically independent of the Church; it adopted several dogmas of its
own, one of them being the converse of the original, and to the effect
that no sin could be so great that it could not be washed away by
expiation. This new dogma gave the priests much trouble, especially
among the natives of New Mexico and the neighboring provinces of the
republic.

[Illustration: SAN FRANCISCAN MISSION.]

CHAPTER XVII.

AREA AND INHABITANTS OF MEXICO.--CHARACTER OF THE POPULATION.--INDIANS,
EUROPEANS, AND MESTIZOS; THEIR RESPECTIVE NUMBERS AND
CHARACTERISTICS.--INCLINATIONS OF THE MIXED RACES.--TENDENCIES OF
EDUCATED INDIANS.--PRESIDENT JUAREZ AS AN EXAMPLE.--HOW THE INDIANS
LIVE.--HOW THE SPANIARDS TOOK POSSESSION OF THE LAND.--CREOLES AND THEIR
ORIGIN.--THE MESTIZOS.--LEPEROS AND THEIR CHARACTER.--ADROIT
THIEVES.--PAWNING A CHURCH ORGAN.--THE LEPEROS AND THE BRIGANDS.--CHURCH
OF SAN DOMINGO.--SHORT HISTORY OF THE INQUISITION IN MEXICO.--THE
_AUTO-DA-FÉ_.

On the day following the visit to the church of Guadalupe Doctor Bronson
was occupied with some business matters that rendered his movements
somewhat uncertain. Frank and Fred thought it a good opportunity to make
some statistical notes about Mexico which they had been for some time
contemplating, but had postponed in consequence of there being no hurry
about the matter. The figures were at hand whenever they chose to use
them, and so they had no anxiety on the subject.

[Illustration: INDIAN OF NORTHERN MEXICO.]

"First," said Fred, "we will see the extent of the country, learn how
large the population is, and of what it is composed."

"Very well," was Frank's reply; "you may put down the figures and other
memoranda as I read them off."

The youths settled down to their work, Fred at table with note-book and
pencil, and Frank with an array of books before him. For an hour or two
their heads were, as Dr. Holmes says, "ant-hills of units and tens," as
we shall see from the following, which they have permitted us to copy:

"Mexico lies between the 15th and 33d parallels of latitude, and the
86th and 117th meridians of longitude. Its greatest length is only a
trifle less than 2000 miles, and its greatest width 750 miles. At the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec it narrows to 140 miles; and this is the place
where Captain Eads proposed to make a railway for transporting ships
from one ocean to the other. We'll have something to say about this
proposition in another place.

"We cannot find that there has ever been an exact survey of the country
or a careful census of the inhabitants. No two authorities agree
concerning the area and population; but an average of the best of them
shows that the country measures about 800,000 square miles, and has
10,500,000 inhabitants. It is divided into twenty-seven States, one
Territory, and one federal district; the federal district includes the
capital city, and may be regarded as the equivalent of the District of
Columbia in the United States, though it is much larger in area.

[Illustration: A MESTIZO WOMAN.]

"One-half the population consists of mestizos, or 'mixed people;'
one-sixth are Europeans or their creole descendants; and one-third and
more are of pure Indian blood. The following figures are from the last
census:

  Indians                                   3,200,000
  Europeans and their descendants           1,500,000
  Mestizos--mixed races                     5,800,000
                                           ----------
  Total                                    10,500,000

"Señor Garcia Cubas, a Mexican gentleman who has written a statistical
work about Mexico, published at the office of the Minister of Public
Works, says of the different races of people in the country: 'The
difference of dress, customs, and language shows the heterogeneous
character of the population.... The habits and customs of the people
that make up the creole portion of the population are essentially
European, and conform particularly to the fashions of the French, with
some features borrowed from the Spanish. Their national language is
Spanish; French is considerably used; and English, German, and Italian
are receiving increased attention. The nearest descendants of the
Spanish, and those less mixed up with the natives of Mexico, belong by
their complexion to the white race. The natural inclination of the mixed
races to the habits and customs of the whites and creoles, as well as
their estrangement from those of the natives, is the reason that many of
them figure in the most important associations of the country, by their
learning and intelligence, including in this number the worthy members
of the middle classes. From this powerful coalition the force of an
energetic development naturally results, which is inimical to the Indian
race. Many of the natives themselves contribute to this fatal
consequence, as they have joined the body I have referred to, and
founded new families with the habits and customs of the upper classes.'"

"President Juarez may be cited as an example of the pure Indian of
Mexico," Fred remarked, "who leaves behind him the traditions and
customs of his race, and adopts those of the enlightened classes."

"I presume so," replied Frank, "and every Indian who has adopted the
dress and ways of the European, and identified himself with the
nineteenth century habits of thought, is helping to assimilate the
aboriginal race with the new one. In this way the population will in
time become essentially European, but it will take hundreds of years to
bring about such a state of things. Railways, commerce, education, and
liberal ideas will accomplish it; and the Mexico of the twentieth
century promises to be a great improvement upon that of the eighteenth.
There is now no political distinction on account of race, and the social
one cannot last much longer."

Having given utterance to this sage remark, Frank blushed at his
audacity in hazarding a prophecy, and referred again to the books before
him.

"Wouldn't it be well," said Fred, "to say something about the natives,
and compare them with the Indians of the Western States and Territories
of our own country?"

"It certainly would," responded Frank, "and so here goes:

[Illustration: INDIAN GIRL SPINNING COTTON.]

"The Mexican Indian is not much unlike the American one in general
appearance, as he is of a brown or olive color, and has little or no
beard. His cheek-bones are high, and he has slender limbs and a broad
chest. Owing to his having been so long accustomed to carrying burdens
on his back, he is inclined to stoop, while the American Indian stands
erect. The Mexican Indian is also liable to stoutness, while the
American one is not. His dress is pretty much the same in all parts of
the country, varied, of course, by the conditions of the climate. Short
and wide trousers of coarse cotton cloth, a loose jacket of the same
material, a serape or blanket for cool weather or at night, a straw
hat, and a pair of sandals form his costume. The different tribes are
distinguished by the colors of the clothing, but this distinction is
slowly being effaced."

"Now a few words about the creoles," suggested Fred.

[Illustration: PEDDLER OF WOODEN TRAYS.]

"But I have not done with the Indians yet," replied Frank, "as this is a
good place to say something about their houses. We have mentioned them
in another place, but I want to add that in the hot country the Indian
dwelling is made of wood, thatched with palm or banana leaves, while in
the uplands it is of adobe, with a flat roof covered with clay supported
by beams and stamped or beaten hard. A fire is generally kept burning
day and night, and near it are the cooking utensils, which cost
altogether only a few dollars at most. The hut has no furniture except a
few stools and some mats of cane or rushes, which serve as beds at night
and seats by day. A whole family lives in a space which we should
consider small for one person and altogether too restricted for two.

"When the Spaniards conquered the country they took possession of the
lands and everything else; they allowed the Indians only sufficient
space for their villages, and a plot of ground 3600 feet square for
agricultural purposes, which all the inhabitants of a village were to
cultivate in common. They still have this common garden, but the
majority of them abandon their rights in it, and earn their living by
hiring out with land-owners or miners. In former times a Spaniard spoke
of himself as _gente de razon_, or man of intelligence, while he
designated the Indian as _gente sin razon_, a man of no understanding.
The Indians accepted this distinction, and often speak of themselves in
this way. Of course this is not the case with the superior ones, who
have adopted the European ways of living.

[Illustration: CHARCOAL VENDER.]

"Now I come to the creoles," said Frank, "who are either Europeans or
people of European parentage. They were formerly the ruling class of
Mexico in every sense of the expression, but since the Revolution and
the Laws of the Reform their position is changed, as they are compelled
to recognize the equality of the educated Indian, which in olden times
they absolutely refused to do. When Juarez, who, as already stated, was
an Indian of pure blood, became President it was a great shock to the
sensibilities of many of the old aristocrats, but they survived it
because they were compelled to do so. The hostility has generally died
out, but a good deal of it lingers and will remain for many
generations."

[Illustration: OF THE OLD ARISTOCRACY.]

"I am reminded," said Fred, "of a transaction which is attributed to the
Pilgrim Fathers of New England when they landed at what is now
Plymouth."

"What is that?"

"They are said to have held a meeting, and passed the following preamble
and resolution:

"'_Whereas_, it has been decreed that the saints shall inherit the
earth;

"'It is therefore _Resolved_, that we are the saints.'"

"The Spanish conquerors of Mexico evidently did not think it worth
while to pass any resolutions or hold any meetings," answered Frank,
with a laugh. "They went ahead and inherited the earth without bothering
themselves about formalities. The Indians were considered to have no
rights that the white men were required to respect, and were made to
understand that it was owing to the great mercy and tenderness of the
Spaniards that the natives were not slaughtered down to the last of the
race. And there is little doubt that they would have been slaughtered
had they not been needed for menial work and to make life easy for the
newcomers.

[Illustration: A CREOLE RESIDENCE.]

"As before stated, the creoles have the manners, customs, and dress of
Spain to a large extent, though they follow the fashions of France in
several particulars. The account of a Mexican courtship shows how the
women are secluded, as in Spain. The men have the Spanish taste for
gaming, bull-fights, and gallantry, and they have lost little of the
polite forms for which Andalusia is famous. Where their means permit
they are princely in their hospitality, and no grandee of Castile could
stab his intimate friend with a stiletto more gracefully than can the
Mexican creole in case of a misunderstanding. That the creole women are
pretty and possessed of most fascinating manners is the testimony of all
who have seen them.

"In regard to the mestizos," said Frank, "I will quote a few words from
'Mexico and the Mexicans,' and let you write them down."

Fred assented, whereupon Frank slowly read out the following:

"The noblest of the Aztecs fell in battle with the Spaniards. Their
property fell into the hands of the victors, who at the same time became
possessed of the families of those who had fallen. The rude warriors
married the dusky daughters, who became their equals by baptism. It was
not considered a _mésalliance_ to marry a noble Aztec girl. The sons of
Montezuma, who were educated in Spain, received the title of count. The
Indian aristocracy adopted Christianity, and became amalgamated with the
new population.

[Illustration: GROUP OF MEXICAN HORSEMEN.]

"The mestizo is thus the child of a white father and an Indian mother.
He is a magnificent horseman; one might take him for an Arab as, lance
in hand, he rushes past upon his light steed. In the warmer regions he
wears, on Sundays, a carefully plaited white shirt, wide trousers of
white or colored drilling, fastened round the hips by a gay girdle,
brown leather gaiters, and broad felt hat, with silver cord or fur band
around it. The mestizos include the great majority of the _rancheros_,
or farmers, and the _arrieros_, or mule-drivers; many of them are
educated, and take a leading part in law, politics, and medicine, where
they often attain high rank. They are excellent soldiers, especially on
horseback, and it is this class of Mexicans that have given the Mexican
cavalry its high reputation."

"How about the leperos?" queried Fred. "Don't they belong among the
mestizos?"

"Yes," was the reply, "that is what the books I am looking at say of
them. They come from the union of the worst of the two races, and are
said to possess the vices of both with the good qualities of neither.
They are the class from which the thieves and beggars of Mexico are
recruited. One writer says, 'A lepero is a thief from infancy, and is
able to steal as soon as he leaves his mother's arms.' The Chief of
Police says that nine out of ten of the men and boys selling lottery
tickets or newspapers on the streets are thieves and pickpockets, and
their legitimate business is simply a cloak for the illegal one.

"Another authority says that on the line of the Mexican Railway from
Vera Cruz to the capital nothing that two men can lift is left
out-of-doors after dark. All car-couplings must be carried into the
stations; and the rascals used to steal the spikes that held the rails
to the ties until the company adopted the plan of riveting them to the
rails after they were driven into place.

"Brantz Meyer tells about an Englishman who was walking along one of the
principal streets of Mexico, when he suddenly felt his hat rising from
his head. He looked up and saw it sailing towards the window from which
the thief had caught it by the dexterous use of a hook.

"Another story that he tells is about a Mexican who was stopped on the
road by three others, who robbed him of his cloak. They told him to wait
where he was and he would be able to make something by doing so; out of
curiosity he waited, and in a little while an accomplice of the thieves
came and handed him a pawn ticket. He accompanied the gift with a
graceful bow, and explained that the cloak had been pawned for thirty
dollars. 'We wanted the money and not the cloak,' the thief explained,
'and as the garment is worth at least a hundred dollars, you can redeem
it and make seventy dollars by the transaction.'

"There was once a lepero who pretended to be converted by the preaching
and teaching of a missionary, and the good man gave him employment as
janitor of the church. One day an organ was delivered at the church, and
the missionary appointed a time when it should be exhibited to his
friends. The party assembled accordingly, and the missionary was
surprised to find that the janitor was absent. He was still more
surprised when he found that the organ had followed the janitor's
example and was missing. The janitor had carried it away during the
night to a neighboring empeño, and pawned the instrument for whatever he
could obtain on it."

[Illustration: A SOCIETY BELLE.]

We may add to Frank's account of this gentry that the brigands were of
the lepero class, though very often they had leaders of a higher rank in
life. The Government has executed a good many of them in its efforts to
break up the system of highway robbery, and altogether the natural
instincts of the leperos have been greatly curbed in recent years. They
are almost always armed with either knife or pistol, and make ready use
of these weapons on frequent occasions. At nearly every festival or
assemblage of any kind, fights among leperos form a part of the
proceedings. It is not customary to interfere between the combatants,
the bystanders forming a circle and looking calmly on until one of them
falls.

[Illustration: A MEXICAN GRANDEE.]

Fred laid aside his pencil and note-book, while Frank closed the volumes
he had consulted. This done, the youths went out for a stroll, intending
to submit the result of their labors to the Doctor when next they met
him.

[Illustration: A SERMON IN THE CHURCH.]

Their walk took them to the Church of San Domingo, which was once a
magnificent building, but has suffered greatly in its proportions and
decorations in recent years. It was the church of the Dominican order of
priesthood, and had a large convent near it. The convent, or more
properly monastery, has been destroyed, and the church has lost some of
its parts by reason of the extension of streets which were needed for
the business of the city.

[Illustration: CHURCH OF SAN DOMINGO.]

Close to the church is the School of Medicine, which is partly supported
by Government and partly by fees received from the students. The
building was interesting to Frank and Fred because it was once the
tribunal of the Inquisition, which was established in Mexico in 1571,
and suppressed in 1813. Immediately after the suppression of the
Inquisition the building was converted into a prison; afterwards it was
the office of the Government lotteries, and then a barrack for soldiers.
The Mexican Congress met here for a time; and in 1854 the building was
adapted to its present use as a School of Medicine.

One day the youths accompanied Doctor Bronson in a visit to the school,
and while he was busy with medical matters they accompanied their guide
in looking up the few traces that remain of the Inquisition. Some of the
cells where prisoners were confined were shown to them, and also the
room where they were tried. After their return from the inspection the
youths tried to obtain a full history of the Inquisition, but were
unsuccessful. Doctor Bronson told them that no satisfactory and
impartial history of it had ever been written, all the works that have
appeared on the subject being either very hostile or very friendly.

"Briefly we may say," added the Doctor, "that the Inquisition was
formally established in the thirteenth century, and came to an end in
the first part of the nineteenth; but trials and punishment for heresy
had taken place as early as the fourth century. The Inquisition was more
powerful in Spain than in any other country of Europe; and it never had
any hold of consequence outside of Spain, Italy, and France, and the
colonies of Spain. One historian (Llorente) says that during the whole
period of the Spanish Inquisition--from 1483 to 1808--31,912 persons
were burned alive, 17,659 were burned in effigy, and 291,456 were
subjected to rigorous pains and penalties. The accuracy of his
statements is doubted, Prescott considering them greatly exaggerated and
his figures most improbable; and other writers share Prescott's opinion.

"The decree by which the Inquisition was established in Mexico
especially exempted the Indians from its operations, and thereby secured
its popularity among them, as the public burning of Spanish and other
heretics afforded much amusement to the natives, and was a sort of
substitute for the human sacrifices of the Aztecs, which the Conquest
had abolished. The Mexican Inquisition was under the special charge of
the Dominican order, the same as in Spain, and hence was associated with
the Church of San Domingo.

"There is," continued the Doctor, "a popular misapprehension concerning
the _auto-da-fé_, or profession of faith. It is generally believed to be
the burning of the condemned, whereas the _auto-da-fé_ was simply the
public ceremony that followed the secret trial by the Inquisition. The
members of the tribunal, and all others assembled with them, made a
public _auto-da-fé_, or profession of their faith in Christianity and
the doctrines of the Church. After this was done the list of the
condemned was read, together with the punishments accorded to them, and
then the victims were handed over to the civil authorities for
punishment. The trial and sentence were the work of the Church, but the
punishment was that of the civil power only.

"The first _auto-da-fé_ in Mexico was in 1574, when 'twenty-one
pestilent Lutherans' were burned, and from that time on the public
burnings were frequent. How many people perished in these affairs is not
known; but it must not be understood that all the victims who suffered
were burned alive. In most instances, even where the body of the
condemned man was burned, he was killed by strangling; thus in one case
where fifteen persons perished, fourteen were first strangled, and only
one was burned alive. The penalty of death by burning was visited only
upon heretics and sorcerers.

"And here," added the Doctor, "is a photograph of four victims of the
Inquisition, whose skeletons were found in the wall of the building
which was the seat of the tribunal in Mexico. They are supposed to have
been built into the wall at the time of its construction, but nothing is
actually known concerning them.

[Illustration: TORTURE CHAMBER.]

"The trials of accused persons were always held in secret; the
unfortunates were not permitted to see their accusers, or even know
their names. The punishments were death by fire or on the scaffold,
imprisonment for life or shorter terms, with or without hard labor,
forfeiture of property, civil infamy, and in mild cases public
retraction and penance. Accused persons might be tortured to make them
confess their guilt, and an accomplice might be a witness against an
accused individual."

"What a horrible system!" exclaimed Frank.

"Yes," replied the Doctor, "but you must remember that it was very
nearly the same form of procedure as that of the civil tribunals of the
same countries and times, and not unlike what is known in some parts of
the world at the present day. And, furthermore, remember that while the
Inquisitors of Spain and Mexico were doing the deeds which have been
proven against them, persecution was by no means unknown in England and
America. Perhaps at the very hour when a victim of the Inquisition was
being put to death in Mexico, the Christian people of Salem,
Massachusetts, were hanging somebody accused of being a witch, or the
English Puritans, under Cromwell, were putting Charles I. to death!"

[Illustration: PRISONERS OF THE INQUISITION.]

CHAPTER XVIII.

ASCENT OF POPOCATEPETL.--"THE WHITE WOMAN."--GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF
THE VOLCANO.--FIRST ASCENT BY WHITE MEN.--AMECAMECA.--HIRING HORSES AND
BUYING PROVISIONS.--EQUIPMENT FOR THE EXCURSION.--DANGER OF
ROBBERS.--PEONS AND VOLCANEROS.--FIELDS OF BARLEY AND FORESTS OF
PINE.--AN INDIAN TRADITION.--FATE OF THE GIANT AND GIANTESS.--ICE FROM
POPOCATEPETL FOR THE CITY OF MEXICO.--SULPHUR FROM THE CRATER.--SLEEPING
AT TLAMACAS.--ARRIVAL AT LA CRUZ.--THE ASCENT ON FOOT.--DIFFICULTIES OF
CLIMBING IN THE RAREFIED AIR.--THE PICO DEL FRAILE.--CAUGHT IN A CLOUD.

[Illustration: A RESIDENCE IN THE FOOT-HILLS.]

It was the most natural thing in the world that the daily view of the
snow-covered mountains, Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, roused in the
youths a desire to ascend to the top of the former. Doctor Bronson was
not ambitious to undertake the expedition, but he encouraged the youths
in their desire, and arranged to accompany them as far as the foot of
the cone, where the saddle-horses are left. Frank was appointed the
historian of the affair, and performed his work in a manner that
secured the hearty commendation of the Doctor. Our readers may judge for
themselves of the young man's literary abilities; we have not changed a
line or a word of his account, which was as follows:

"Popocatepetl means 'The Mountain that Smokes,' and Iztaccihuatl is _La
Mujer Blanca_, or 'The White Woman.' The name of the great volcano is
generally shortened to 'Popo' or 'Old Popo,' and for the sake of saving
time and space I shall follow the fashion occasionally, and not give the
name in full.

[Illustration: THE VALLEY OF AMECAMECA.]

"The name of 'The White Woman' comes from the resemblance of the top of
the ridge to the body of a woman lying upon a bier and covered with a
shroud. The face is quite perfect, but the rest of the figure requires
considerable aid from the imagination. Old Popo is not altogether a
smoking mountain, as there are times when no smoke comes from it, though
it constantly throws out fumes of sulphur; in one sense it may be called
an active volcano, while in another it should not be so designated.
According to the historians, it was quite lively during the first years
of the Conquest, but for a very long time it has been peaceful enough,
and only at rare intervals shows any signs of a return to business
activity.

[Illustration: IZTACCIHUATL, THE WHITE WOMAN.]

"Geographically it is forty-five miles from the city of Mexico in a
south-southeasterly direction; it is in latitude 19° north and longitude
98° 30' west, and according to the measurements of Humboldt and others,
it is 17,540 feet high. The latest Mexican atlas makes it 17,884 feet;
General Ochoa, the owner of the crater, says it is 19,673 feet, and
still another measurement gives the height of the summit at 21,373 feet.
You may take your choice of these figures.

"Popocatepetl was first ascended in 1522 by Francisco Montano, who was
lowered 450 feet into one of the craters by means of ropes. He did not
succeed in reaching the summit, nor did several other explorers who made
the attempt during the time of Cortez.

"It used to be a much more tedious journey to the summit of Popo, as it
was necessary to go on horseback about sixty miles from the city of
Mexico, and the expedition required a large outlay for horses, guides,
and escort, and consumed from ten to fifteen days. Now the railway is a
great help in the matter, and we utilized it to the utmost. Before the
railway was opened, the journey to Amecameca was made by diligence.

"Two American gentlemen, Colonel Watson and Mr. Arms, both of New York,
were stopping at the hotel with us, and on learning that we wished to
visit Popocatepetl, they invited us to join them. Of course we accepted
at once, and Colonel Watson offered to make all the arrangements about
horses and guides. His first step was to obtain a letter of introduction
from General Ochoa, who owns the crater of the volcano and carries on an
extensive business of mining for sulphur; the letter was addressed to
his agent and major-domo at Amecameca, Don Domingo Zela, and asked him
to facilitate the movements of the party in any way in his power, and
allow us to sleep in his _rancho_ at Tlamacas.

"Colonel Watson went to Amecameca one morning accompanied by Fred, who
was to act as interpreter, as the colonel was a little rusty in his
Spanish. Doctor Bronson, Mr. Arms, and I followed the next day, and the
colonel had everything ready for us on our arrival. We went by the
Morelos Railway, starting from the station of San Lazero at 7.30 in the
morning, and reaching Amecameca in about two hours. The distance is
fifty-eight kilometres, or thirty-six miles.

"The town is of goodly size, and has a prosperous appearance. It was
once the resort of robbers, who occasionally dashed out upon the roads
in the direction of the city, and after plundering everybody who came in
their way they retired as speedily as they came. The people of the town
screened them whenever they were pursued by the military, and some very
vigorous action was necessary before the business was broken up. Most of
the three thousand inhabitants are Indians, and since the advent of the
railway and the consequent increase in the number of visitors they show
a laudable ambition to make the most that they can out of the strangers
who come within their reach.

"Through the aid of Don Domingo Zela, Colonel Watson had secured a
sufficient number of horses and mules to give everybody a good mount,
and also for the transportation of the baggage. He had engaged some
_volcaneros_, or mountaineers, men whose ordinary occupation is the
transportation of sulphur from the mines in the crater; they know every
inch of the way, and are accustomed to all the peculiarities of the
mountain. Nobody should attempt to ascend Popocatepetl without a
sufficient number of volcaneros; one to each traveller is none too many.

"Then there were several peons, or general servants, and there were
arrieros to look after the animals and see that none of them were lost.
Altogether we made quite a cavalcade, and must have presented an
imposing appearance to the crowd that assembled to see us off.

"It did not take long to pack our baggage on the mules; we did not have
a large quantity, and, moreover, it was in bags or bundles suitable for
the pack-saddle. It included heavy blankets for keeping us warm at
Tlamacas--where we were to spend two nights close to the
snow-line--heavy overcoats, canned meats and other provisions, and our
travelling-bags containing the little odds and ends that one wishes for
his own use. We were told that we could get most of the things we needed
at Amecameca, but it might happen that the usual supply-shop would be
'out' just then, and we had better make sure by procuring in the city
the things that we wanted. Then we had goggles to protect our eyes from
the glare of the sun on the snow, thick mittens and mufflers to keep out
the cold from hands and faces, and heavy woollen stockings to put over
our boots to prevent slipping on the ice.

"The boots that we wore were not our ordinary ones, but heavy affairs
specially made for the purpose, and having sharp nails in the soles to
give us a good grip on the ice. We did not put them on until reaching
the snow-line, and when we came back we gave them to the volcaneros as
souvenirs of our visit. If the fellows were sharp they probably sold the
boots at a good price to the first party of tourists who happened along
without this sort of an equipment.

[Illustration: ALONG THE TRAIL.]

"There was some difficulty in getting away, as Colonel Watson's horse
insisted upon having a private dance just to show off his ability, and
as the dance took place in the midst of the other horses, it made a
disturbance until we could get out of the way. The example became
contagious, and very soon some of the other horses joined in the dance,
but we managed to quiet them all down without accident.

"We had been warned in the city that robbers occasionally interfered
with visitors between Amecameca and Tlamacas, and if we could procure an
escort it would be a wise precaution, and possibly save us from plunder
or a fight. Colonel Watson brought a letter to the commander of the
_Rurales_, or Rural Guards, at Amecameca, and that gentleman kindly gave
us an escort of four men to accompany us to Tlamacas and back, waiting
there while we were making the ascent of the mountain. Quite possibly
these fellows had been brigands, and may have carried on business in
this very place, but this was no affair of ours. They served us
faithfully, and we were not interfered with in any way.

[Illustration: DWARF PINES AT A HIGH ELEVATION.]

"That robberies have been committed, and murder too, was evident from
the great number of crosses along the road. There is said to have been a
time when a man known to have five dollars, or even one dollar, in his
pocket was not safe along this route. There were men who were ready to
commit murder for a trifling amount; anybody who wanted to be rid of the
presence of another had only to mention it to one of this gentry, and
accompany the mention with a suggestion that it would be worth five or
ten dollars to have the obnoxious individual disappear. In a day or two
he would be found dead by the way-side; a slight stir would be made by
the police, but if no reward was offered for the murderer the affair was
soon forgotten.

"At any rate, that is what the chief volcanero, who acted as our guide,
told us, when we asked him about the crosses. But before we go out of
Amecameca, or Ameca, as it is often called, let me say that it is a very
pretty place, and reminded us of Interlachen or Meiringen, in
Switzerland. It is 8000 feet above the level of the sea, lies in a sort
of valley, and has an abundant supply of water, which rolls down from
the mountain and sparkles in numerous rivulets that flow through every
street. The water serves to keep the streets clean, and the clean
streets seem to have impelled the inhabitants to keep their houses in
presentable condition; the walls are white or in bright colors, and
altogether Amecameca is one of the most attractive little towns we have
seen since we crossed the Rio Grande.

[Illustration: THE DOME OF POPOCATEPETL FROM TLAMACAS.]

"There was a crowd of people in the Plaza Mayor, and in the
market-place, and the people seemed to move around more actively than in
the capital. Perhaps it was the greater purity of the air, though one
might think that its increased rarity would have an enervating effect.
Anyhow, it was cooler at Ameca than in the city, and that may have been
the cause of it. Many persons predict that this little town at the foot
of the great mountain will be a fashionable resort at no distant day, as
it certainly has many attractive features.

"We had a ride of fifteen miles to the rancho of Tlamacas, where we were
to spend the night. The pack-mules went off in advance, while we sat
down to a good breakfast which the colonel had ordered in the Hotel
Ferrocarril. Then we mounted our horses, and after the dance I have
mentioned we got away.

"Our road led among fields of barley, the lines between them being shown
by hedges of maguey or other members of the cactus family, and now and
then by rows of poplar and willow trees. The way ascended with more or
less steadiness, and after a time we passed from the cultivated ground
into forests of pine and other mountain trees. Some parts of the lower
hills were devoted to pastures, and the cattle in them were in good
condition. They are nourished upon a rich bunch-grass that grows here;
and scattered about here and there we saw a good many thistles, together
with beds of mountain flowers. We passed a few haciendas, the last being
that of Tomacoco, where there is a church very much in ruins.

[Illustration: MEXICAN SAW-MILL.]

"The pine forest begins after we leave the plain, and as we go up among
the hills the pines are reduced in size, as they always are on the sides
of high mountains. Our horses have hard work to scramble up the steep
path, but they are evidently accustomed to it and toil on bravely. The
guide warns us to be very careful in case we dismount, as the horses
have a trick of snatching their bridles out of one's hands and starting
down the mountain at the best speed they can make. Fred's horse tried
this and succeeded, but he didn't go far, as he was caught by one of the
soldiers, who happened to be in the rear, where the path was narrow.

[Illustration: HACIENDA OF TOMACOCO.]

"Do not suppose that the trees were small; some of them were two feet
and more in diameter and seventy or eighty feet high, and the air was
full of the sweet resinous odor for which a pine forest is famous and
that is so welcome to most nostrils. For one, I do not know a more
charming perfume than that of a forest of pines; and Fred agrees with me
in this. It was difficult to realize that we were in Mexico. Had I been
brought here blindfolded, and then asked to guess where we were, I
should have named New England, Wisconsin, or California long before
thinking of the land of the Aztecs. We passed several saw-mills of the
most primitive character. They were operated by two men, one standing
above the log and the other below it, and alternately pushing and
pulling the saw. The cutting was done by the downward stroke of the
saw, as in the ordinary saw-mills of the Eastern States.

[Illustration: VOLCANEROS (MINERS).]

"Higher and higher seemed the great mountain as we slowly zigzagged in
his direction. Sometimes he was hidden from our view by the trees or the
shape of the hills, and again he came suddenly before us and seemed to
signal us to persevere. Up and up we went; and when we reached Tlamacas
we were 13,000 feet above the sea, or more than 4000 feet above the town
whence we set out in the forenoon.

"Our guide told us that there is a tradition among the Indians that Old
Popo and the White Woman were once living beings. They were a giant and
giantess, and for some disobedience of the gods they were changed into
mountains. The giantess was struck dead, and that is why she lies
stretched out on her bier and covered with a white robe; Old Popo was
the giant, and he was merely rooted to the spot where he stood. He shows
his grief by occasionally shedding tears of lava, which rolls down in
great floods, and in the sobbing and sighing that form a part of his
weeping he breathes huge volumes of smoke. Sometimes his grief is so
great that he shakes in agony, and then the whole earth is moved.
Evidently he doesn't feel as badly now as he used to, as he has behaved
very well for three centuries and more.

"It was lucky we brought a supply of bedding and provisions, for there
was absolutely nothing at Tlamacas except some huts of rough boards and
stone. The rancho stands in a valley, and we descended quite a little
distance before reaching it; this descent seemed to us a waste of labor,
as we would be obliged to make up for it by another ascent.

"Several times during the day we met donkeys and mules laden with ice
and sulphur, the two commodities which are produced by the great
mountain. Ice is cut from the places where it accumulates. The city of
Mexico has long been supplied from here, just as the cities at the base
of Mount Etna are supplied from that famous volcano. It is packed upon
mules or donkeys and carried to the railway or to the canal at Chalco,
whence it is brought to its destination. The sulphur is taken from the
crater, as we shall presently see, brought as far as the snow-line on
the backs of men, or slid down the steep side of the mountain; and from
there it goes to the railway on the backs of beasts of burden.

"Ice-machines in the city have somewhat interfered with the business of
the Indians who bring ice from the mountain, and may possibly break it
up altogether. The ice is like that from glaciers all the world over,
and resembles snow more than it does the product of the New England
lakes and rivers in the winter season. It is sold in the city as _nieve_
(snow), and the boys who peddle ice-cream in the capital call out,
'_Nieve! tome nieve_!' as they go about with their wares.

"We managed to sleep fairly well in the huts at Tlamacas, and were tired
enough to go to rest very early. From our supply of canned provisions we
made up an excellent supper, and there was a material addition to it in
the shape of some fresh chickens, which one of our muleteers had brought
along just as a speculation. He argued to himself that we would be glad
to buy chickens in addition to the stock of food we had on hand, and so
we were. We gladly paid him double what the chickens would have cost at
Amecameca. Mr. Arms suggested that possibly the chickens had cost the
man nothing, as they were probably taken from a chicken-house during the
night while the legitimate owner was slumbering.

[Illustration: IN THE PINE REGION.]

"The thermometer went down to forty-two degrees during the night, and
when we started in the morning it was forty-seven degrees. The volcanero
was to call us at five o'clock; and for fear he would not be around at
that hour, Colonel Watson set an alarm clock, which he had stowed away
in his hand-bag. The clock fired itself off at five and waked everybody,
the volcanero included.

[Illustration: EL PICO DEL FRAILE.]

"We shivered in the sharp air of the morning while taking coffee and
biscuits for an early breakfast, and were mounted and off before six
o'clock. Between us and the volcano there was a strip of pines and then
a stretch of black volcanic sand up to the snow-line. It was a hard
struggle for our poor horses, and Fred and I wished to dismount and
spare them the exertion; but the guide warned us to save all our
strength for the climb that we would be compelled to make on foot, so we
stuck to our saddles in spite of our sympathy for the suffering brutes.

"We had a magnificent view as we ascended, and Doctor Bronson, who went
no farther than the snow-line, said he was amply paid for his fatigue,
even though he was obliged to forego the view from the top. We looked
down into the Valley of Puebla, we studied the landscape as though it
were an out-spread map, and we watched the sunlight playing on the hills
and on the great cone that dazzled before us. Many times Fred and I were
reminded of our ascent of Fusiyama, but we found the scene far more
grand and extensive. The summit of Fusiyama is nearly four thousand feet
lower than that of Old Popo, and it can be readily understood that the
monarch of Mexico far surpasses that of Japan in grandeur. Fusiyama,
too, does not exhibit any valleys like those of Mexico and Puebla, deep
set in the encircling mountains, and gemmed with lakes that flash in the
clear sunlight. And, furthermore, it has no towering peak like that of
Orizaba to pierce the horizon, and no masses of mountains at nearly all
the points of compass to suggest that the earth was once a raging sea
that had suddenly become petrified.

"We reached the side of a deep barranca, and descended to where a stream
dashed along a rocky bed. Then we slowly climbed the other side of the
barranca, and a little way above it we came to the limit of the trees.
They did not dwindle to tiny dwarfs a foot or so in height, as we often
find them on mountains, but stopped all at once while yet of respectable
size, though much smaller than when we first entered the pine forest.
Beyond the barranca we entered the worst of the volcanic sand, and our
horses stopped repeatedly to take breath as they waded through it.

"In about two hours after leaving Tlamacas we came to a rocky ridge on
which was a cross.

"'This is La Cruz,' said our guide, 'and here you must leave your
horses. They can go no farther.'

"We dismounted. According to Humboldt's figures, we were 15,000 feet
above the level of the sea, and 2500 below the summit of the volcano. We
were 1000 feet higher than the summit of Fusiyama, nearly as high as
that of Mont Blanc, and 9000 feet above that of Mount Washington, and
yet we still had almost half a mile of perpendicular height to make
before reaching our destination!

"There was a wide strip of sand between us and the snow-line, and
through this we walked painfully, slipping and sliding backward almost
as fast as we went on. Our progress was very slow, and the effort
required was great. Fred and I were glad that Doctor Bronson did not try
it, as he would have been sure to break down long before the snow-line
was reached. Mr. Arms is spare and tall and a fine walker, and Colonel
Watson is a small man, full of youthful vigor. It was fortunate that
they were, and it was also fortunate that Fred and I had had experience
in hill climbing, and then, too, we were younger than either of the
others.

[Illustration: NOT A GOOD CLIMBER.]

"When we reached the edge of the snow we sat down and rested. Some of
the peons had fallen behind, and we prided ourselves that we had shown
the Mexicans that Americans know how to climb high mountains without
turning back for want of breath.

"We ate some of the solid food and drank some of the cold tea we had
bottled expressly for the occasion before leaving Tlamacas. When we had
thoroughly rested and refreshed ourselves we put on our spiked shoes,
covered them with the woollen stockings, and, armed with alpenstocks and
aided each by a volcanero, we attacked the great icy cone of the giant
Popocatepetl. The volcaneros carried our overcoats and had them ready to
wrap around us whenever we stopped.

"Fortunately for us, the snow was in the best condition for ascending;
it was like a very hard drift, softened by the sun just enough to give a
good foothold but not sufficiently to let our feet sink more than an
inch or so below the surface. Our principal guide went ahead and we
followed in his tracks; every few minutes we paused to rest and breathe,
and long before we reached the crater the lightness of the air was such
that our halts were longer than our periods of ascent.

"The blood rose to our faces, our veins throbbed, and for a time our
heads seemed on the verge of bursting. We appreciated the advice of a
gentleman in the capital, that no one with the least tendency to heart
trouble, or one with weak lungs or a tendency to corpulence, should
undertake the ascent of the volcano; and if we were to add anything to
the advice, it would be that everybody else should refrain from making
the attempt; it is the hardest venture we ever made in mountain
climbing, and we certainly would not again undertake it or urge a friend
to do so.

"We left to one side the Pico del Fraile, a pinnacle of porphyry that
shoots up into the air like the spire of a church. There was a deep
chasm like an enormous moat at the side of the Pico, and we asked our
guide if anybody had ever passed the chasm and climbed to the dizzy top.
His face wore a smile of incredulity as he pronounced the feat
impossible, and furthermore said there was nothing there to pay for the
effort. Colonel Watson asked him, in sheer bravado, if he would
undertake to escort us there, but he shook his head without making any
audible reply. It is quite possible that he suspected the colonel of
'chaffing.'

"Suddenly we were enveloped in a cloud so dense that we could see only a
few yards in any direction. The guide ordered us to keep close together;
and if by any accident we should become separated, we were to call out
immediately, and also keep our faces and feet directed to the ascent of
the mountain. We obeyed his instructions, but it was our good-fortune
that the cloud did not long remain to trouble us. It disappeared as
suddenly as it had come, and we had a fine view of the Valley of Puebla
and of the great mountain, the White Woman. As we rose to and above its
level it lost all resemblance to the recumbent figure that gives its
name, and became nothing but a broken mass of rocks and snow-drifts."

[Illustration: "NO MOUNTAIN FOR ME!"]

CHAPTER XIX.

THE ASCENT OF POPOCATEPETL CONTINUED.--LAST STEPS OF THE UPWARD
JOURNEY.--LOSS OF LIFE ON THE MOUNTAIN.--HOW THREE INDIANS
PERISHED.--THE CRATER OF THE VOLCANO.--HOW THE SULPHUR-MINERS
EXIST.--DANGERS OF THE CRATER.--THE SOLFATARAS.--CAUGHT IN A
STORM.--VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT.--SCENES IN THE CRATER.--A RAPID
DESCENT.--TOBOGGANING ON A GRAND SCALE.--HOW THE SULPHUR-MINE
ORIGINATED.--NO ERUPTION IN SEVEN THOUSAND YEARS.--RETURN TO
AMECAMECA.--EXPLORATION OF THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY.--TOMBS AND THEIR
CONTENTS.--CURIOUS INSTANCE OF PRESERVATION.--MONTE SACRO.--"MODERN
ANTIQUITIES."--INDIANS WORSHIPPING THE VOLCANO.--EXPERIENCE WITH A
RATERO.

"The snow hardened a good deal as we neared the summit," continued
Frank; "in fact it was much more like ice than snow, and the walking
became more difficult every minute. In some places it was as smooth as
glass, and but for our outside stockings and the spikes in our shoes we
would have been constantly slipping. Even as it was we had a good many
falls, but nobody was seriously hurt by them. There was no danger of a
long slide down the mountain, as the guide took us along a route where
there were many hummocks, or pillars of ice, so that we brought up
against them whenever we had the misfortune to fall down.

[Illustration: "HURRAH FOR THE TOP!"]

"Our woollen mittens were a great protection to our hands, which often
came in contact with these pillars and would have been cut by them, as
their tops and edges were sharp. We are told that persons who have made
the ascent without gloves or mittens have had their hands so badly
lacerated that they could not be used for days afterwards.

"We had no serious accidents, which is not always the case with parties
making the ascent of Old Popo. Sometimes the snow slides down in the
form of avalanches, and occasionally the sand does the same thing. To be
caught by one of these avalanches is almost certain death, but happily
the guides know the mountain and its peculiarities so well that such
accidents are rare. Parties have been overwhelmed by storms of hail in
the same way that a party on Mont Blanc lost their lives several years
ago. Considerable areas of sand and snow are sometimes set in motion by
the tread of one's feet upon them, and the unfortunate climber who has
caused it is carried down and dashed to death on the rocks below.

"One story that we heard was of three Indians who were descending the
volcano. One of them saw a depression in the snow like a furrow, and
thought it offered an easy footing. He went to it, and suddenly
disappeared from the sight of his companions. As they moved towards the
place to ascertain what had happened, they felt the crust sinking
beneath them, and had barely time to scramble back before a considerable
area disappeared in a crevasse. No trace of the missing Indian was ever
found.

"It seemed as though our toil would never end, when suddenly Fred, who
was in advance, gave a shout and sat down. He swung his hat in the air,
and I wondered what he meant by it.

"'Here we are!' shouted Fred; 'we're at the crater.'

[Illustration: THE CRATER OF POPOCATEPETL.]

"I hurried up as fast as I could, and sure enough there it was, a great
chasm a thousand or more feet deep, and fully half a mile across. The
sides narrow somewhat, so that a little way down you can make out pretty
nearly all of the outline. The bottom of the crater can be called flat
in a general way, though it is the farthest possible from the ideal of a
ball-room floor. Steam and the vapors of sulphur rise from solfataras
scattered over the bottom, and from these solfataras the sulphur is
constantly forming. The supply is inexhaustible, as the formation goes,
on a great deal faster than the miners can remove the product.

"We scrambled down perhaps 200 feet, to where the edge of the crater
hung over like a precipice. Here there is a _malacate_, or apparatus for
hoisting out the sulphur. The men working in the sulphur-mines descend
and ascend by this apparatus; in fact there is no other way of getting
in or out of the crater.

"Our guide told us that the men run great risks, as stones are
constantly falling from the sides of the crater, whence they are
dislodged by the frost and by the action of the steam and sulphur jets.
Rumblings like the premonitions of an earthquake are frequently heard,
and sometimes the ground trembles so much as to make one's footing
unsteady. In addition to this is the effect of the sulphur, which rots
the clothes of the men, and causes their teeth to fall out. They sleep
in caves in the sides of the crater, and on two or three occasions a
caveful of men has been overwhelmed and killed by the stony avalanche.
Altogether the place did not appear attractive as a residence, and I was
not surprised to learn that the men receive high wages, and even at the
rate of pay they are not easily obtained. They remain a month at a time
in the crater without leaving it, and are then replaced by new men and
allowed a vacation among their friends in the country at the base of the
mountain.

[Illustration: BRINGING ICE FROM THE MOUNTAIN.]

"We could have been lowered down by the malacate, but concluded not to
make the attempt. We could not do so without spending the night in the
crater, and this we were not prepared for; Doctor Bronson would be
waiting for us, and would fear some accident had happened; though, as
for that matter, we could have sent one of the peons to tell him; and
furthermore, we thought we should run more risk than we would be
compensated for by the experience. A party of three gentlemen went down
there a few weeks before we did, and one of them became exhausted, and
his life was saved with great difficulty. Our guide said, whether
truthfully or not we don't know, that a German gentleman died there a
few years ago, and since then the miners do not desire visitors among
them.

"The crater is not at the top of the mountain, the highest point of
Popocatepetl being to the west of this great chasm, and about 1000 feet
more elevated. It is a sharp cone, and so difficult of ascent that few
have succeeded in reaching the summit. There is some dispute as to
whether it has actually been ascended, as the Government offers a reward
of $500 to any one who proves that he has been to its top. Some American
gentlemen in the capital city say it has been done, but the difficulty
of officially proving the accomplishment of the feat would be more than
the value of the reward. Hence it is not claimed at all; and
consequently, the negative testimony favors the assumption that no one
has yet scaled the height of Popocatepetl.

"We remained nearly two hours on the summit, shivering in the cold air
in spite of our thick overcoats, while at the same time the heat of the
sun scorched our faces. While we were there a _borrasca_, or storm, came
on, and the air was suddenly darkened. We sought shelter beneath a
projecting rock, and watched the cloud of snow as it eddied and whirled
around the crater. At such times it becomes so dark in the crater that
the men cannot work; they retire to their caves and wait till the storm
is over. At the same time the fires of the solfataras become very
distinct, and recall the description of Dante's Inferno.

"The storm lasted about twenty minutes and then cleared away, the sun
coming out as brightly as ever and the air growing comparatively still.
These storms are rarely of long duration, but they are to be dreaded
whenever they come; the temperature falls far below the freezing-point,
and the wind blows a gale. But down in the crater it is warm enough, in
consequence of the steam and heat from the solfataras. The snow melts as
soon as it strikes the bottom, and renders walking a matter of
difficulty.

"The story of our descent of the mountain is quickly told. The workmen
had dug a straight trench in the volcanic sand, and it is down this
trench that they send the sulphur by the simple force of gravity. It is
placed in sacks, the sacks are piled on a _petate_, or mat of bulrush,
and when once started the mat and its cargo slide down with great
velocity.

"For two reals each of us hired a petate of one of the men at the
hoisting-works, and with our volcaneros to guide the impromptu
toboggans, we went down with great rapidity and ease and without
accident. It reminded us of the descent of Vesuvius; the sand is much
like that of the famous volcano of Naples, and we were very glad to be
able to make use of it.

"I said we came without accident; for the sake of exactness I must add
that Colonel Watson was pitched out of his vehicle at the end of his
ride, and stopped with his head and shoulders buried in the sand. Fred
had a similar experience, with the difference that he went in feet
foremost; as neither suffered any injury, and was ready to laugh over
the mishap, my original statement holds good.

[Illustration: PACK-TRAIN FROM TLAMACAS.]

"The Doctor had gone back to the sulphur rancho at Tlamacas, and thither
we followed him as soon as we found our horses. It was too late to get
to Amecameca that evening, and so we had another night among the sulphur
refiners. The sulphur is brought here just as it is dug from the crater
of the volcano; it is refined at Tlamacas and made ready for market, and
is sent thence to Amecameca on the backs of donkeys or mules. General
Ochoa says that in spite of its abundance he cannot compete at the coast
towns with the sulphur from Mediterranean ports, and his only market is
in the interior of Mexico. He intends to place some improved machinery
at the edge of the crater, so as to reduce the expense of hoisting out
the crude material; and in this way he hopes to lower his price. His
plan is to run his machinery by means of the jet of air from one of the
large solfataras, which he estimates at twenty horse-power.

"While we were absent on the mountain General Ochoa's agent told Doctor
Bronson the following story about how the general came to own the
mountain:

"'Serious attention to the richness and abundance of sulphur in the
crater of Popocatepetl was first called by Baron von Humboldt; the
existence of sulphur in the crater was known long before, as the
Spaniards seem to have made use of it in the time of the Conquest. In
one of his letters to the Emperor Cortez says, "As for sulphur, I have
already made mention to your Majesty of a mountain in this province from
which smoke issues; out of it sulphur has been taken by a Spaniard, who
descended seventy or eighty fathoms, by means of a rope attached to his
body below his arms; from which source we have been enabled to obtain
sufficient supplies, although it is attended with danger." There is
other evidence that the conquerors obtained sulphur from the mountain,
but their methods were of the most primitive character.

[Illustration: AN IMPROVED REFINERY.]

"'About the year 1850, an enterprising Mexican named Corchado visited
the crater, and brought away samples of the sulphur, which he carried to
Puebla. A company was formed, and a considerable amount of sulphur was
taken out, but owing to lawsuits and political troubles, the enterprise
was soon abandoned. When General Ochoa was a student in the mining
section of the military college his tutor was a gentleman who had known
Baron Humboldt, and was greatly impressed with his remarks about the
value of the sulphur deposits in the volcano. Through this gentleman's
advice the general applied to the Government for permission to work the
deposits, and he obtained a concession that gave him control of the
mountain down to the limit of vegetation. Afterwards he purchased the
rancho of Tlamacas, and established a refinery there; he has spent a
great deal Of time in the crater, and as he is an able geologist he has
much to say about it that is interesting.'

"According to his theory, which is based on the lignite formed at the
bottom of the crater, there has not been an eruption of Popo for seven
thousand years; by that he means an eruption on a scale corresponding to
the size of the mountain, and not an occasional disturbance, in which
the crater throws up a few discharges of stones and an unusual quantity
of steam and sulphur vapors. In Prescott's 'History of the Conquest of
Mexico' there is an account of an eruption in 1521, taken from a letter
of Diego Ordaz, one of the captains under Cortez; but modern writers
think that Ordaz mistook a violent thunder-storm on the summit of the
volcano for an eruption. From what we saw at the crater we can readily
believe that he made such a mistake.

[Illustration: LOOKING FROM THE TOP OF POPOCATEPETL.]

"The view from the top of the mountain was the grandest we have ever
taken, and one we will never forget while we live. The air is so clear
that distance is strangely diminished; towns and villages that seem to
lie at our feet are really many, many miles away, and as we looked to
the eastward our guide told us that the streak of silver bordering the
horizon was the Gulf of Mexico. Mountain, valley, table-land, lakes,
plain, forest, all were spread before us, and in the range of vision
from the top of Popocatepetl an area of twenty thousand square miles is
said to be included. On one side of the mountain you can look down into
the _tierra caliente_ of the coast region, while on the other the eye is
lost among the mountains and table-lands that stretch away until lost in
the limitless distance."

So ends Frank's account of their visit to the great mountain of Mexico.

[Illustration: A DANGEROUS PLACE.]

The party returned to Amecameca, and determined to remain there a day or
two to make some explorations in the vicinity, and also to rest from
their fatigues. During their stay Fred found the following description
of a visit to the crater of Popocatepetl by an artist, Mr. Frank
Kellott, which he carefully copied into his note-book. We have obtained
the youth's permission to copy the account, and it is certain to
interest our readers.

"We followed a narrow foot-path," said Mr. Kellott, "until we reached a
shelf, where we were seated in a skid and let down by a windlass 500
feet or so to a landing-place. From this we clambered down to a second
windlass and a second skid, which was the most fearful of all, because
we were dangling about, without anything to steady ourselves, as we
descended before the mouth of one of those yawning caverns which are
called _respiraderos_, or 'breathing-holes' of the crater. They are so
called from the fresh air and horrid sounds that continually issue from
them. But we shut our eyes and clung to the rope as we whirled round and
round in mid-air until we reached another landing-place about 500 feet
lower. From this point we clambered down as best we could until we came
among the men digging up cinders from which sulphur, in the form of
brimstone, is made.

"We took no measurements while in the crater, and heights and distances
can only be given approximately. We only know that all things are on a
scale so vast that Old Pluto might here have forged new thunder-bolts,
and Milton's Satan might have here found the material for his sulphurous
bed. All was strange and wild and frightful.

"We crawled into several of the breathing-holes, but nothing was there
except darkness visible. The sides and bottom were for the most part
polished by the molten mass which had passed through them, and if it had
not been for the ropes around our waists, we should have slipped and
fallen we knew not whither. The stones we threw in were lost to sound
unless they hit upon a projecting rock and fell from shelf to shelf. The
deep darkness was fearful to contemplate. What must have been the effect
when each one of these breathing-holes was vomiting up liquid fire and
sulphur into the basin where we stood? How immeasurable must be the lake
whose overflowings fill such a cavity as this!"

The region around the base of Popocatepetl seems to have been densely
peopled at some remote period, if we may judge by the ruins that lie
scattered about, by the numerous tombs on the hills and in the valleys,
and by the great quantity of pottery brought to light by excavations.
Some antiquarians who have made researches here think that the cradle of
the human race is to be found in Mexico, and that the people of this
region gave the arts and sciences to Egypt and the rest of the Old
World.

This conundrum was a perplexing one for our young friends. They did not
try to solve it, but contented themselves with investigations on their
own account.

The first object of their attention was Monte Sacro, which is in the
town of Amecameca. It is a volcanic hill about 300 feet high, and
contains a grotto that was turned into a hermitage at the time of the
Conquest. A church was built there and a cemetery laid out, and as the