ON THE ROAD TO BUENA VISTA.
Early in the afternoon the party started from Saltillo for the hacienda of Buena Vista, which they reached before nightfall. The youths were happy at the prospect of passing a night in a hacienda, and obtaining a glimpse of rural Mexican life.
A SERVANT AT THE HACIENDA.
The building where they were received was in the form of a hollow square, like the houses of Monterey, already described. The entrance was sufficiently broad to permit the admission of vehicles, and the carriage was driven inside before the travellers alighted. According to Mexican custom, amozo, or servant, had been sent in advance to give notice of the advent of the strangers and have the house in readiness. The visitors were shown to rooms on the lower floor; the Doctor was assigned to a room by himself, while the boys were lodged together in a large room very meagrely furnished. The beds were straw-filled mattresses, laidupon strips of rawhide stretched tightly across a frame, and the boys pronounced it an excellent substitute for some of the "patent spring mattresses" which are sold in American cities. The linen was scrupulously clean, which is not always the case in Mexico, but the supply of blankets was so light that it was evident the travellers were expected to make use of their serapes to keep off the chill of the night air.
They did not stay long inside the room, as they were anxious to see the surroundings of the place. So they wandered about, their first visit being to the stable, which they found commodious enough for the most fastidious horse in the world. "I have heard," said Fred, "that the people of this country are more particular about their horses than about themselves; a Mexican will take good care of his horse, but leave his wife and children to go hungry and half clothed."
"To judge by the difference between the rooms of the hacienda and the stable," responded Frank, "the statement seems to be well founded. The stable is certainly better ventilated, and the horses have no reason to complain of their quarters. A Mexican depends so much on his horse that he ought from very selfishness to be very careful of him."
NEAR THE KITCHEN.
From the stable they wandered to the kitchen, where three or four native women were at work preparing the meal which the strangers were to eat.
The first thing to attract Frank's attention was a woman kneeling on the floor over a flat stone raised at one end, on which she was rolling some dough into very thin sheets. "That must be a tortilla-maker," saidFrank; "we have had tortillas several times since we came into the country, but this is the first good chance I've had to see them made."
From his observation at this kitchen, and from subsequent information, the youth made the following note:
MAKING TORTILLAS.
"Tortillas, or cakes, are made from corn-meal, which is ground by hand on a flat stone called ametate, a word of Aztec origin. The corn is soaked in lime-water till the hull can be separated from it, and then it is pounded and rolled upon the metate until it is ground into meal. In this work the woman uses a cylinder of stone something like the American rolling-pin, or very often she uses a flat or slightly rounded stone, with which she pounds and twists for hours. When the meal is sufficiently ground a little water is added, and it is worked into dough; the dough is then rolled or patted in the hand until it is almost as thin as a knife-blade and formed into circular cakes. The cakes are baked on an ironcomal, or griddle, which has been previously held over the fire until it is so hot that the cooking is done in a few moments. They are not allowed to brown, and are best when served hot. They are generally without salt or other seasoning, and are very tasteless at first to a stranger; but after one has become accustomed to tortillas he prefers them to any other kind of corn-cake."
The equipment of the kitchen was exceedingly simple, and the youths wondered how a French cook would get along with none but Mexican utensils to get up a meal with. The stove, or cooking range, consisted simply of a wall or bank of solid adobe about two feet high, and of the same width; this bank was built up against one side of the kitchen, which was ten or twelve feet square, and it extended the whole length of that side. There were depressions in the bank, in which small fires of charcoalor wood were burning; on these fires the pots, pans, and griddles were placed, and the process of cooking went on. There was no chimney, the smoke escaping, or being supposed to escape, through an opening in the roof directly over the cooking range.
A PRIMITIVE KITCHEN.
But the kitchen of the common people is less elaborate than this. It consists simply of a mound of clay, perhaps a foot in height and a yard in diameter, and depressed in the centre. Little fires in this depression furnish the heat for cooking the food placed in the pots and kettles, which are of common unglazed earthen-ware. The cook sits or squats on the floor close by this primitive range, while the mistress of the kitchen previously described stands, and can walk about at will without the trouble of rising.
In some parts of Mexico the cooking is done out-of-doors. This is particularly the case in the southern portion, and in the season of rains theweather often reduces culinary operations to a very limited quantity. The more rain the less dinner, unless the food is eaten raw; but as it consists largely of fruits, the inconvenience is less serious than it might be otherwise.
When our young friends went to dinner they found a repast that was entirely Mexican in character. After it was over they made notes of what they had seen and eaten, and this was the result:
"We had tortillas, of course, and very good they were. The dinner began with a soup, which was so good that we asked how it was made, as we thought it might be tried by some of our cooks at home. Here is what they told us:
"'We start this soup with a chicken broth just as chicken broth is made anywhere else. Then we take the meat of the chicken, the white part only, after it has been boiled very tender, and pick it into little bits of shreds. We take some pounded almonds, the yolks of hard-boiled eggs, a little bread which has been soaked in milk, a little spice of somekind, and plenty of pepper, and we mix the whole up together till it forms a hard paste. We make this paste into little balls and drop them into the soup when it is boiling hot and just before it is brought to the table.'
"If you want a good soup and a new one just try this. You may not hit the seasoning the first time, but when you do you'll find you've something worth eating.
"After the soup we had apuchero, which is said to be a very popular dish with the Mexicans, but we were not particularly fond of it. They begin it by boiling mutton to make a broth, and then they throw in every sort of garden vegetable cut in small pieces—apples, pears, squashes, tomatoes, green corn, onions, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, red or green peppers, in fact any and everything from the garden that is edible. There is so much pepper in the mess that it burns your mouth like an East Indian curry, but it is said to be good for the stomach and climate. They tell us we'll like it after a while; and perhaps we shall, but we certainly don't now. It's a good deal like the down East stew, with the addition of the hashed peppers and tree-fruits.
"Next we had atamal de casuella, which was translated into 'corn-meal pot-pie.' As nearly as we could make out, it is made by putting a mixture of scalded meal, flour, eggs, and melted lard into a broth in which chicken and pork have been boiled, so as to make a thin paste. Then make a mixture of the boiled pork and chicken hashed reasonably fine, along with red peppers and tomatoes, and cook them in lard. Next you spread the paste on the bottom and sides of a dish that has been well greased so as to prevent sticking, lay in your meat mixture, cover with more of the paste, and bake it gently but thoroughly. For a hungry man the dish ought to be very satisfying.
"Our dinner ended withfrijoles, or beans; and we remark here that beans are the principal food of the Mexicans of the lower ranks of life, and are largely used by the middle and upper classes. The great majority of Mexicans eat them twice a day, and a dinner would be incomplete without them. The annual crop of these beans in Mexico must be something enormous, and its failure would be as bad as that of wheat in our Northern States, potatoes in Ireland, or codfish along the New England coast.
"They cook them in various ways, but the favorite form is in a stew. They are usually considered unwholesome if eaten on the day they are cooked; they are always prepared with pepper, either green or red, and the preparation is so hot with pepper that one seems to be eatingmelted lead while partaking offrijoles à la Mexican. Peppers enter into nearly all the Mexican cookery; an American who does not like them told us that the proportions for a Mexican stew were one pound of meat, one quart of water, and one pound of hashed peppers. It is a common remark in Texas and Colorado that a wolf will not eat a dead Mexican because he is so impregnated with pepper that even the stomach of that voracious animal can't stand it."
The Mexican dinner proved a digestible one; at all events Frank and Fred slept soundly and were fully refreshed for the visit to the battle-field on the following day. Saddle-horses were in readiness as soon as breakfast was over, and the party made a good start. We will listen to Fred's account of the excursion:
THE GUIDE ON THE BATTLE FIELD.
"After the capture of Monterey, General Taylor remained for a while at that city, and then marched upon Saltillo, which he occupied without opposition. General Scott ordered the divisions of Worth and Twiggs to join him at Vera Cruz for the advance upon the City of Mexico, and this reduced Taylor's force to 5000 men, nearly all of them volunteers. TheMexicans assembled a large army at San Luis Potosi, and advanced upon Saltillo with 20,000 men, expecting to drive the Americans out of the country.
"On the 22d of February, 1847—Washington's birthday—General Taylor met them at Buena Vista, or rather at the pass of La Angostura (the narrows), three miles south of the hacienda which gives the name to the battle. He occupied a position where he had great advantage, as a single battery of artillery protected the entire front, while the flanks were defended by steep gullies and ravines that the Mexicans could not hope to pass, and by the mountains that rose on the east to a height of 2000 feet.
"There is a plateau to the east which Santa Anna, the Mexican commander, tried to reach, as by gaining it he would be able to turn the pass where the Americans were posted. Some of his troops advanced to it during the afternoon of the 22d, but were driven back by the Americans; during the night the Mexican army gained the plateau, and the Americans then changed their position to the plain at the base, but continuing to hold the entrance of the pass.
THE BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA.
"On the morning of the 23d the fighting began in full earnest, the Mexicans attacking in three heavy columns, which were directed on the American left. The American line was broken on that side, but the centre and right held their ground and drove the enemy back. Then the Americans attacked the Mexican infantry on the right and drove it back. As a last move, Santa Anna formed his whole force into a single column, which drove the Americans back for some distance, until the Mexicans were checked by the artillery. In this last part of the battle, when the cause of the Americans seemed lost, General Taylor gave the celebrated order, which has passed into history, 'Give them a little more grape, Captain Bragg.' Captain Bragg's battery of artillery was stationed on one of the little mounds or hillocks at the entrance of the defile, and from that point he threw an iron hail among the advancing Mexicans that drove them into disorder and flight.
"The battle lasted all day, and when night came the two armies occupied very nearly the same positions they held in the morning. The men slept where they were, and General Taylor was uncertain whether the battle would be resumed the next morning or not. When morning came it was seen that the Mexican army had fled, and the whole ground where they were at sunset was deserted. About 20,000 men had been beaten by less than 5000. Their losses were placed at 2000, while that of the Americans was 746, or about one-sixth their entire number. Gen. Lew. Wallace, in writing about the battle, says that by every rule of scientificwarfare the Americans were beaten oftener than there were hours in the day, but they did not know it; they rallied and fought, and rallied and fought again, till they finally 'wrung victory from the hands of assured defeat.'
"We spent two or three hours on the battle-field, visiting all the points of interest and listening to the story as it was told by our guide, an intelligent Mexican who was born in the vicinity, and has latterly made it his business to show strangers over the ground. He said there had been very few changes since the battle. The public road runs straight through the battle-field, and it is easy to understand the positions of the opposing armies. One thing we understood, after seeing the ground, which we did not comprehend before: we had wondered why the Mexicans made so little use of their cavalry, of which they had 4000, and the Mexican horsemen are among the best in the world. When we saw how the ground is cut up withbarrancas, or deep ravines, making it impossible for companies and regiments of mounted men to preserve their formation, we did not wonder any more.
"We returned to the hacienda in time for the mid-day meal, and in the afternoon went back to Saltillo. The journey to Saltillo was quickly made, as the road descends a good deal, and the horses went along at an excellent pace."
BOLL OF MEXICAN COTTON PLANT.
The rest of the day was spent in sight-seeing about Saltillo, including visits to some of the cotton and other factories, for which the place is famed. The machinery in the cotton factories is of foreign make—some of it from England and some from the United States. The cloth made there is of ordinary quality, and sells for a price that ought to give a fine profit to the owners of the establishment. Frank asked about the wages of the laborers in the mills, and found that they received from thirty to fifty cents a day for twelve or fourteen hours' work, according to their skill and the amount of labor they performed.
It is estimated that about 30,000,000 pounds, or 60,000 bales, of cotton are annually converted into cloth in Mexico. Most of the raw cotton is grown in the country; and what with the cultivation of the product and its manufacture into textiles, it is thought that 50,000 families are supported by the cotton industry. Where the mills are carefully managed they are profitable, and make a liberal return for the investment of capital.
PICKING COTTON.
Bright and early the next morning our friends were ready for the journey to Jaral, where they were to connect with the train on the International Railway to carry them farther into Mexico. The distance is about forty miles, and was to be made by diligence, as the railway from Jaral to Saltillo was not then completed. They by no means regretted this, as a ride in one of these vehicles would be a novelty. The boys had read and heard a great deal about diligence travel in Mexico, and were more than willing to have an experience of it.
DEPARTURE OF THE DILIGENCE.
The start was made about seven o'clock in the morning, and there was a considerable crowd in the street to see them off. The arrival and departure of the diligence is an event in a Mexican town, though less so than it was before the days of the railway. It is probable that by the time this book is in the hands of the reader, the locomotive will have a finished track between Saltillo and Jaral, and the diligence will be known no more, except as a relic of past days. Those who have been jolted for hours and days in these heavily built carriages and over bad roads will give the heartiest kind of a welcome to the new order of things. The diligence will long continue on many of the side roads in Mexico, where it will not pay to build the railway, just as the stage-coach still exists in parts of the United States; but the great through routes have lost it for all time.
Immediately on their arrival at Saltillo, before going to Buena Vista, Doctor Bronson secured places for the trio in the diligence for Jaral; at the diligence offices all through Mexico, the rule of "first come first served" is followed as in a steamship or a Pullman car, and when the vehicleis full the traveller whose place is unsecured must wait for the next journey, extra carriages being very rarely put on. If the weather is good, an outside seat (el pescante) is decidedly preferable, as it affords a much better view of the scenery along the route. American tourists generally take the chances of the weather, and select outside places; but the native, who does not care for the prospect, and desires nothing beyond making the journey as speedily as possible, is quite content with the inside (el interior).
ON THE ROAD.
Mexican roads are bad, and Mexican carriages are constructed with a view to withstanding all the shaking that a rough road can give. Theresult is that at the end of a long journey the traveller feels very much as though he had been passed through a patent clothes-wringer or an improved threshing-machine. But no such fear troubled our friends, as the distance to Jaral was but forty-two miles, and the schedule time for the journey seven hours. The road was bad enough, it is true, but the youths heeded the advice of Doctor Bronson, and consoled themselves with the reflection that it might have been a great deal worse than it was.
They had read so much about brigandage in Mexico that the possibilities of an encounter with highwaymen naturally came into their minds. At the first opportunity they asked an American resident of Saltillo about the state of the country through which they were to pass, and the liability to an unpleasant encounter.
FIGHT BETWEEN BRIGANDS AND SOLDIERS.
"There is hardly any danger on this line now," was the reply, "and it is a long time since a robbery was committed. There is less brigandage in Mexico to-day than there was a few years ago, but there is still too much of it to make travelling altogether agreeable. The Government has put down the system of robbery as much as possible, partly by capturing and killing the brigands, and partly by hiring them to quit the business and become respectable citizens."
"That's a curious way to suppress crime," said one of the youths, "tohire a man to be honest, after he has spent a good part of his life in robbery."
"It doesn't harmonize with our ideas of propriety," said the gentleman, "but it had the desired effect at all events. General Diaz, when he became President, induced the robber chiefs to quit the business they were in, and enter the service of the Government; they were pardoned for their misdeeds, commissioned as officers in the army, and appointed to preserve order in certain districts. Their followers were enlisted as soldiers to serve under their old leaders; each soldier receives $40 a month, and furnishes his own horse and equipments. As they know the whole country where they are on duty, they have effectually put down brigandage in their districts; they are the best horsemen in the world, and there's no finer body of cavalry anywhere than the MexicanRurales—the reformed brigands."
"Doesn't it sometimes happen that they turn robbers temporarily, just to keep themselves in practice?"
"Yes, they have done so in several instances, but on the whole these converted highwaymen have kept faith with the Government very fairly. You must remember that brigandage has been a regular occupation for centuries, and it cannot be broken up in a hurry. In some parts of the country it was organized as a business, and many men who stood well in the community were associated with the robbers, and received a percentage of their earnings."
"Did they take any part in the robberies?"
"Not exactly with their own hands; but they used to notify the brigands when valuable trains were to be on the road, and at what time they would start; they acted as scouts or spies, if you please, and in this way earned their right to a share of the plunder.
"I was once captured and carried into the mountains by a party of brigands who held me for a ransom. In the old times before Maximilian came here, the Mexican brigands simply robbed travellers who made no resistance, and killed those who resisted unsuccessfully. Maximilian imported some Italians, who very soon turned robbers, and affiliated with the Mexican bandits; they taught the Mexicans the Italian trick of holding prisoners for ransom, and it was practised very extensively.
ENCAMPMENT OF BRIGANDS.
"Well, the rascals carried me off to their retreat in the hills, and made me write to my brother demanding five thousand dollars as ransom for me. They threatened that in case it was not paid by a certain day I would be shot, and my friends would receive my head as a proof that the threat had been carried out.
A KING OF THE ROAD.
"The letter was delivered by a respectable citizen, who was on friendly terms with my brother and myself. I had dined at his house and he at mine, and we had had several business transactions. It had been intimated that he was friendly with the brigands, and this circumstance proved it. My brother paid the money to him, and I was released and allowed to come home. They treated me well while I was with them, but kept a guard over me all the time with orders to kill me instantly in case I attempted to escape."
"I suppose they made you promise not to reveal the name of that man to the authorities?"
"Not at all; I could have done so, and he would have been tried and convicted on the evidence of myself and brother. He would have beenshot without mercy, but the matter would not have ended there; the brigands would have avenged his death and assassinated both of us within a week,sure.
CAVALRY PURSUING A BAND OF ROBBERS.
"In some respects the brigands were not so bad as they have been painted," the gentleman continued. "The diligence companies have an arrangement whereby a traveller can buy a letter of credit to pay his bills with along the road, instead of carrying money, which would be a temptation to robbers. His expenditures are indorsed on the letter of credit by the company's agents, or he can draw a few dollars every night upon his letter to pay his hotel bill with. But it is necessary to carry some money in your pocket to pay the robbers for the trouble of stopping and examining you; if they find absolutely nothing to reward them for their efforts, you will very likely be killed as a warning to be more considerate the next time you travel. If they should rob you of your letter of credit, you can write or telegraph back to the agency where you obtained it, and a telegraphic transfer will be made for the amount remaining.
"Their usual plan of operations is to rush out suddenly from the road-side, and present pistols and guns in the faces of passengers and drivers, with a suddenness that prevents resistance. The passengers are ordered to alight, hold their hands in the air, then to lie down and place their mouths to the ground, and in this attitude their pockets are searched. The brigands are generally polite but firm, and in the American phrase, 'they won't stand any nonsense.' When the examination of pockets is completed they order the passengers to lie still for five or ten minutes, perhaps for a quarter of an hour, and during that time the fellows disappear from sight. If no resistance is offered no one is harmed, except once in a while when a blood-thirsty brigand kills for the sheer pleasure of it; but such fellows are soon apprehended, and generally they are betrayed by their followers, who do not relish the crimes that may be visited on their heads.
"Sometimes they build a barricade across the road at a place where there is a sharp turn, and in the confusion that follows the arrival of the coach at the barricade they perform their work. In such cases the robbers are concealed in the bushes all along the road-side, and the passengers suddenly discover a dozen or more guns bearing on them at once. Discretion is always advisable under such circumstances, and the traveller who is prudent will surrender his valuables at once.
"A friend of mine tells a story," he continued, "that illustrates the politeness of the Mexican robbers.
"He was travelling on horseback with a friend and a servant, and fell into the hands of a band of brigands whose leader was named Manuel.The fellows took everything of value that the travellers had, and then the chief told the sufferers that he would give them a pass which would save them from further molestation. Perhaps he was not altogether disinterested in so doing, as the exhibition of the pass would save his friends the trouble of searching an array of empty pockets and getting nothing for their trouble.
"Thereupon he wrote on a leaf of my friend's note-book something like the following:
"'Dear Gomez,—This party has been thoroughly examined, and we've left them nothing you want. Please allow them to go on without delay.'
"'Dear Gomez,—This party has been thoroughly examined, and we've left them nothing you want. Please allow them to go on without delay.'
HOTEL BY THE WAY-SIDE.
"Then he told them where they would be stopped, and was about to bid them good-by when my friend suggested that he had nothing with which to pay his expenses on the road. Manuel suggested that the travellers ought not to want for anything, and immediately gave them five dollars, which he placed in a neat pocket-book that he had taken from another traveller the day before. They met the other robbers at the place designated, and on presenting the pass were not interfered with in any way. My friend's horse had become lame, and Gomez generously gave him a fresh horse, stolen, no doubt, from somebody else, and turned the lame steed out by the road-side."
Other stories of the same sort were told, and the interview ended with an account of how the American owner of a line of coaches between Vera Cruz and Mexico City, away back in the forties, before the days of the railway, made a bargain with the chief of the brigands commanding the route, by which, in consideration of an annual subsidy, they were not to molest his coaches or passengers. The subsidy was regularly paid, and the brigands faithfully regarded their side of the bargain. When GeneralScott was advancing from Vera Cruz upon the capital he made a contract with this same American to supply the army with beef; and through the efficient aid of his friends the brigands, he had no difficulty in carrying out his contract. They stole cattle from all the haciendas within a hundred miles of the route and kept him well supplied.
The road from Saltillo to Jaral follows a picturesque valley, and in the forty-two miles between the two places makes a descent of nearly fourteen hundred feet. Consequently there was more down-hill than up, and the diligence went along in fine style. The driver was an accomplished whip, and managed his team admirably. For a part of the way the vehicle was drawn by horses; at the first station mules were substituted, and our friends were unable to say which were the better for the work. The driver explained that he preferred mules for the reason that in case they ran away they would keep to the middle of the road, while horses were apt to shy and turn to one side, thereby endangering the safety of the diligence and its passengers. This difference between horses and mules has been noted by drivers in other parts of the world, and is said to be correct.
The driver had an assistant, whose duty it was to throw stones at the leading animals to encourage them to their work. He was a skilled marksman and rarely missed his aim. Sometimes he threw the missiles while seated on the box at the driver's side, and at others he ran alongside the team or kept near the wheels of the coach. In either case the result was the same, and the conveyance under his manipulations made good progress.
Crosses at several points on the road showed where travellers had been killed by robbers. On all the roads of Mexico these crosses can be seen, and on some routes they are painfully numerous.
At noon a halt was made at a hacienda sufficiently long to enable the passengers to have something to eat. They were supplied withchile con carne, a stew of meat and peppers, very hot in two ways, and with the ever-present tortillas and frijoles. The jolting over the road, combined with the pure air of the Sierras, gave the travellers a vigorous appetite, and they heartily enjoyed their road-side repast. The service was somewhat primitive in character, and reminded our friends of Delmonico's, in New York, solely by its contrasts.
No brigands came to disturb the progress or the minds of the travellers, and in due time they reached Jaral and were landed in safety. Fred made the following practical note for the information of future travellers:
"The fare between Saltillo and Jaral is $3.75. Twenty-five pounds of baggage may be carried free by each passenger; for all excess he must pay seventy-five cents for each twenty-five pounds. There is a daily departure each way, and sometimes when the business demands it there are two departures."
STREET SCENE AT JARAL.
There was not a great deal to be seen at Jaral, but the youths did not waste their time. They devoted themselves to obtaining information about the country to the northward along the line of the International and Central railways, and here is substantially what they ascertained:
"A hundred miles to the north of where we now are is the city of Monclova, which was for some time the terminus of the International Railway. It was the capital of Texas and Cohahuila when they both formed one State, before the war which gave Texas her independence. It is the centre of a region rich in minerals, and of late years several enterprising Americans have established themselves there, and are developing the resourcesof the country. Some of the silver ore in the Monclova district is so rich that it is sent to the United States and to Europe to be reduced, and the transportation of this ore furnishes a good business for the railway company.
"About half-way from Monclova to the American frontier is the town of Sabinas, which is the centre of a rich coal region. Mexico is in great need of coal, and it is only recently that it was known that she had a fine supply of it in her borders. It is found in a large part of the Sabinas Valley. There are extensive mines at Hondo and San Felipe, especially at Hondo, whence they are shipping large quantities for the use of the railways in this country and Texas, and for the mines in the interior of Mexico.
"There is an abundance of iron ore near Monclova, not far from the railway, and it is proposed to erect extensive iron-works at Sabinas for its reduction. The railways seem to have waked up this sleepy country, and if some Rip Van Winkle of other days could arise and look around him, he would rub his eyes in astonishment.
"If we had come into Mexico by the Central Railway we would have passed through the State of Chihuahua (pronounced she-waw-waw); but we wouldn't have seen much, as the train leaves El Paso in the evening, runs through a desolate country, and reaches the city of Chihuahua for breakfast in the morning. Mr. Janvier, the author of 'The Mexican Guide,' says there is not much to be seen in the city, and advises travellers not to stop there. According to his account, it is so overrun by Americans that it cannot be called a typical Mexican town. It has about 20,000 inhabitants, and no public buildings of importance, with the exception of the Church of San Francisco, which was built by a tax of one real on each pound of silver taken from the Santa Eulalia mines, which are in the vicinity.Chihuahua was once the centre of a large trade with the United States; and at one time when the road was dangerous, armed caravans were made up periodically, just as they are made up in Central Asia and other parts of the Old World at the present time.
EL REAL DE SANTA EULALIA.
"The silver-mines of Santa Eulalia are about fifteen miles from Chihuahua, and have the reputation of being among the richest silver-mines in the world. The district is fifteen or twenty miles square, and contains, or once contained, a good many silver-mines, which turned out fabulous amounts of the precious metal. Gen. Lew. Wallace has visited and describedsome of these mines, and judging from his account they must have been very rich. According to tradition, there was a time when the Real de Santa Eulalia had 7000 inhabitants, and the city of Chihuahua 70,000, all living, directly or indirectly, upon the product of the mines. Since the Spaniards left Mexico the mines have not been worked as extensively as before, and the operations now carried on there are upon a limited scale. There is a prospect that some of the old glory of the mines will be restored, now that northern Mexico is becoming accustomed to American ways of mining, and is beginning to adopt them.
THE RAVINE WHERE THE OUTCASTS LIVED.
"There is a romantic story concerning the way the mines were discovered. About the year 1700, three scoundrels who had been driven out of Chihuahua went to find refuge among the mountains of Santa Eulalia; they must have been a very bad lot to be obliged to seek safety in that region, which was infested by the Apache Indians, who were at war with the white people, and would have made quick work of killing these refugees if they had caught them. How they lived nobody knows; they were obliged to shift their locality from time to time to prevent being found by the Indians, and one day they came upon a ravine with precipitous sides, where there was a good supply of water.
"One of the men knew something about silver, and in looking around he found a rich deposit of ore. They sent word by a friendly Indian to the senior priest in Chihuahua that they would show him where he could get enough silver to build the finest cathedral in the world, and would do so on condition that he would absolve them from their sins, and obtain their pardon from the authorities.
"The bad men were absolved and pardoned, and kept their promise by showing the way to the mines, which were immediately opened, and yielded one hundred millions of dollars in eighty-six years. Enormous fortunes were made by the owners; and there is a story that once on the visit of a bishop who was to perform some religious service, the owner of one of the mines entertained the holy man at his house. He laid a path of silver bricks from his house to the door ofthe church, and when the bishop proceeded to the church he walked all the way upon solid silver. And the story ends by saying that the owner was careful to have the bricks taken up as fast as the bishop lifted his feet from them."
Leaving Jaral a little before noon, our friends proceeded by the south-bound train of the International Railway to Torreon, a distance of 130 miles, which was accomplished in about five hours. At Torreon they waited two hours for the train of the Mexican Central Railway, and while looking about them the youths espied several car-loads of cotton, which were about to leave by a freight train then being made up.
ON THE EDGE OF THE COTTON FIELD.
Naturally, the sight of the cotton led to an inquiry concerning the production of that article in Mexico and the uses made of it. The youths learned that cotton is grown in about half the States of Mexico, the largest quantity being produced in the State of Vera Cruz, while that of Durango ranks next. In the early part of the century about one million pounds of cotton were exported annually. Down to the time of the independence of Mexico from Spain, the royal authorities allowed no manufactures in the colony that would be likely to interfere with those of the mother-country, and consequently the manufacture of cotton goods was prohibited. After independence was secured, factories were built and set in operation, and at present the production of cotton is not sufficient to meet the demands of the manufacturers.
"COTTON IS KING."
The best cotton is grown in thetierra caliente, but the plant thrives in the table-land up to an elevation of 5000 feet. According to a Mexican statistician, the average product is about 2000 pounds to the acre, which is more than double the average of the cotton-growing region of the United States.
Torreon and its near neighbor, Lerdo, are the principal shipping-points for the cotton grown in Durango. It is probable that the opening of the railways will stimulate the growth of cotton in Mexico. The United States and other cotton-growing countries may look for considerable exportations of that product from Mexican seaports at no distant day. The manufacture of cotton cloth in Mexico is encouraged by an import duty on all foreign textiles that does not give much opportunity for competition. German and English manufacturers have labored hard to convince the Mexicans that they would be greatly benefited by allowing other countries to do their manufacturing for them, but thus far the Mexicans have remained obstinately adhesive to their protective tariff.
The train left Torreon a few minutes before seven o'clock in the evening, and consequently but little was seen of the country until the followingmorning. Soon after daylight it reached Fresnillo, an important mining town which dates from the middle of the sixteenth century. A valuable silver-mine was opened at Fresnillo at that time, but its operation was long ago abandoned. Fresnillo is the point at which the two sections of the Mexican Central Railway were brought together in 1884, and the route was completed for an unobstructed run of the locomotive from the frontier of the United States to the capital of Mexico.
VIEW IN THE MINING REGION.
Our friends made their toilets in the sleeping-car as quickly as possible, and then turned to a contemplation of the scenery through which they were passing. On each side of the railway there was an extensive plain, with a fringe of low mountains forming the horizon. Straight ahead lay a range of mountains, which a friendly fellow-passenger said was rich in silver and had made the fortunes of Zacatecas and other towns.
They stopped for breakfast at a small town bearing the name of Calera, but neither Frank nor Fred could find that it was famous for anything, not even for the quality of the meals supplied by its restaurant.Then they rolled on towards Zacatecas, which they reached in about an hour after leaving Calera. In approaching Zacatecas the train wound among the mountains in numerous curves and bends, forming "mule-shoes" by the dozen, and facing every point of the compass before coming to a halt.
Zacatecas affords a good opportunity for studying silver-mining in Mexico, and consequently it had been selected by Doctor Bronson as a convenient stopping-place. By advice of the conductor, our friends rode in the tram-way cars to the hotel, and intrusted their baggage to cargadores, who were more than anxious for employment. The hotel in which they lodged was formerly an Augustinian convent, and all the more interesting for that reason.