SLOPING LADDERS IN A SILVER MINE.
"The hardest part of the work seemed to be the carrying of the bags of ore up the long flights of slippery steps to the mouth of the mine. From the lower levels the water is removed by pumping, and in some places it is carried in pig-skins on the backs of naked Indians to where the pumps are at work. A pig-skin filled with water on the back of a man climbing up the sloping steps looked at a little distance like some strange animal which has not yet been assigned a place in natural history. These skins have the exact shape of the pig, and are without cut or seam, and we naturally wondered how they were obtained so nearly whole as they seemed to be. We had seen them before in the Mexican towns, as they are in common use by the water-carriers, and one day we asked an American resident how they skinned pigs in Mexico.
"'Why,' said he, 'it's easy enough when you know how. They don't give the pig anything to eat for a couple of days; then they tie him to a tree by his tail, hold an ear of corn about three feet in front of his nose, and so coax him out of his skin.'
"Another man told us that the body of the animal is beaten with aclub till the bones are smashed to pieces, and the flesh reduced to a pulpy mass, which is then drawn out through the neck, along with the fragments of bone. This seems more probable than the other process; at any rate, we give it the preference."
OPENING A NEW MINE.
From the mine our friends went to one of the reduction haciendas, where they saw the process of extracting silver from the ore, which has been described on previous pages. There are about fifty reduction-mills at Guanajuato, some worked by horse or mule power, others by water, and others by steam. Three kinds of crushers are in use, the Mexican arastra, the Chilian mill, and the American stamp-mill, all of which have their advocates, who prefer them to the others. The patio process is employed here as well as elsewhere, and hundreds of horses and mules are annually worn out in treading the ores. An American named Parkman made an improvement on this system by rolling a loaded barrel over and through the mixture by means of horses or mules walking in a circle, as in an old-fashioned cider-mill. The barrel mingles the ore and the chemicals as well as the horses' feet could do it, and the injury to the hoofs of the animals is prevented, as they do not come in contact with the mass. Sometimes heavy wheels are used instead of the barrels, and they are arranged on a graduated scale, so that they move slowly from centre to circumference of thetorta, or pulp heap, as they revolve, and from circumference back to the centre again. In this way the entire surface is gone over; the reductionof the mass takes from twenty to thirty days, and is thoroughly done.
ENTRANCE OF A MINE NOT IN OPERATION.
From the hacienda they were taken to the mint, where silver coins are made in the same manner as in mints in other parts of the world. The machinery of the mint is of English construction, and several Englishmen are or were connected with the establishment to superintend the more delicate parts of the apparatus. From the mint they went to a hill called the Cerro de San Miguel, which gave them an excellent view of the city and the hills that surround it. The number of elegant residences in sight convinced them that there is yet a great deal of wealth in Guanajuato, notwithstanding the decline in the yield of silver from the mines.
The next stop in the journey towards the capital was made at Queretaro, eighty-five miles from Silao, or one hundred from Guanajuato. It is a city of from fifty to sixty thousand inhabitants; it has no mines on which to base its prosperity, but is devoted to manufacturing, having been famous for 200 years and more for its production of cotton goods. The largest cotton-mill in Mexico is at Queretaro; it is known as the Hercules, and stands in a ravine, about two miles from the city. It was built bySeñor Rubio, is enclosed by a high wall loop-holed for musketry, and could stand an ordinary siege very fairly, provided the besiegers brought no cannon. A defensive force of forty soldiers is maintained at the mills, and they are armed with rifles and howitzers.
A COTTON FACTORY, QUERETARO.
The Hercules mill employs about fifteen hundred operatives, all Mexicans, with the exception of a few foreigners to look after the general management of details and keep the machinery in order. Not far from it is a smaller and older mill, which is surrounded with pretty gardens that require a considerable annual expenditure to keep them in order. Frank thought he would commend the plan to American mill-owners, and suggest the addition of gardens to their establishments; Fred was of opinion that the manufacturers of Lawrence and Fall River would not look favorably upon the suggestion, as they were much more interested in making the best possible showing in their bank accounts than in beautifying their surroundings.
The Queretaro mills are chiefly employed in turning outmanta, a variety of cheap cotton cloth, out of which the garments of the lower classes of the population are made. The Hercules mill makes 6000 pieces of cloth thirty yards long every week, and it pays the weavers about one cent a yard. The employés make from two and a half to five dollars weekly, and are furnished with lodgings, at very low rentals, close to the mills. They work from 6a.m. to 9.30p.m., with half an hour's intermission for breakfast, and an hour for dinner.
AQUEDUCT OF QUERETARO.
One of the first things to attract the attention of the youths was the aqueduct by which Queretaro is supplied with water. They learned on inquiry that it was built by one of the citizens at an expense of half a million dollars; the story goes that it was the result of a banter between him and another wealthy Mexican, one offering to supply the city with water if the other would build a shrine and saint of solid silver. The offer was accepted, and the agreement carried out by both parties.
The water comes from a mountain stream five miles from the city, andis brought through a tunnel, and afterwards along a series of arches, some of which are ninety feet high. It was finished in 1738, and has ever since supplied Queretaro with an abundance of water.
Church of the Cross. Hill of the Bells.QUERETARO.
The most interesting sight of Queretaro is the Cerro de las Campanas, or Hill of the Bells, and thither our friends proceeded as soon as they had partaken of the mid-day meal, which was ready on their arrival at the hotel. There is a fine view from the hill, and they greatly enjoyed it; but they were more interested in the spot where the last Mexican empire came to an end. Three black crosses mark the place where Maximilian and his generals, Miramon and Mejia, were shot on the morning of the 19th of June, 1867. This was the last scene in the drama of the imperial monarchy which Louis Napoleon sought to found in North America at the time of the American Civil-War.
Frank and Fred had already familiarized themselves with the history of Maximilian's career in Mexico. Frank had committed a portion of the story to paper, and with Fred's assistance it was completed during their stay at Queretaro, and mailed homeward with their next batch of letters. Here it is:
"From the time Mexico established her independence of Spain down to 1860, there was a bitter hostility between the two parties into which the influential portion of the population was divided—the Conservative or Church party, and the Liberals. The Conservatives represented the Catholic Church, whose religion was brought to Mexico by the priests that accompanied Cortez and sought to convert the people from paganism. They succeeded in great measure, and as long as the Spaniards were in power the Church was in full control. It possessed a great part of the wealth of the country; the most moderate estimate is that one-fourth of all the property in the country belonged to the Church, and some authorities say that the proportion was far greater.
"When independence was established, the Liberals began active opposition to the Church party, and the country was hardly ever at peace from one end to the other. Revolutions followed each other with great rapidity. Several Presidents were not allowed to enter upon the duties of their office at all, and the first President to complete the full term for which he was elected was Benito Juarez. Historians are not agreed as to the number of revolutions that have taken place in Mexico; but it is safe to say that they were not fewer than thirty-six in the limit of forty years, most of them being accompanied by bloodshed. In that period there were no less than seventy-three rulers, nearly all of them exercising very brief authority, and some none at all.
"As time went on, the hostility of the Church and Liberal parties to each other grew more and more bitter, till it culminated in the War of the Reform, between 1855 and 1858. In 1859 President Juarez proclaimed the famous Laws of the Reform, which forbade priests to appear in public wearing their robes of office, suppressed the monasteries and convents, and gave the property of the Church to the Government. The value of this property is said to have been more than $300,000,000. The Liberal army captured the capital city six months after the proclamation of these laws, and they were immediately put in operation, and with great severity.
"The country was deeply in debt, and in 1861 the Liberal Congress passed a law suspending payment of the interest on its foreign debt. This gave England, France, and Spain an excuse for sending a naval and military force to Mexico; they captured Vera Cruz, and then an arrangement was made which caused the withdrawal of England and Spain; but France remained, and was evidently determined to conquer the country. The French advanced towards the capital, which they captured June 9, 1863. There were 40,000 French troops in Mexico, and they were joined by a Mexican force which was in the interest of the Church party.
"In July a congress of Mexican notables proclaimed that the Government of Mexico should be an hereditary monarchy, under a Catholic prince, and offered the crown to Maximilian, brother of the Emperor of Austria. Maximilian accepted the offer, and came to Mexico with his wife, Carlotta; they arrived in July, 1864, and were crowned Emperor and Empress of Mexico, in the great cathedral of the capital city. The Emperor selected Chapultepec as his imperial residence; a fine avenue was laid out from the castle to the city, trees were planted, streets were improved, and for a short time it seemed as if peace and prosperity were coming to Mexico.
"Juarez was still President of the Republic; he and his army were driven far to the north, but they continued to fight, and in October, 1865, Maximilian signed an order which became known as the 'Black Decree,' condemning all Republican officers captured in battle to be shot as brigands. Many of them, including several generals and colonels, were shot accordingly, and this act exasperated the people.
A MEXICAN CAVALRY SOLDIER.
"The American Civil War had ended; the United States Government put 60,000 troops along the western frontier of Texas, and then intimated that the French forces must be withdrawn from Mexico. The diplomatic correspondence lasted six months, and our Government threatened armed intervention unless the French troops were recalled. They were withdrawn; Maximilian had no foreign support, and his own army could not cope successfully with the Republican forces. Juarez, with his army, advancedtowards the south, and the Imperial army marched to meet him, and was defeated. A Republican army, under General Diaz, captured Puebla, and put the Imperialists to flight.
A MEXICAN INFANTRY SOLDIER.
"Carlotta went to France, and vainly besought Louis Napoleon to continue his aid and keep a French army in Mexico. Then she asked the Pope to exercise his influence, and finding that was of no use, she became hopelessly insane. Maximilian started for the coast, intending to leave the country; unwisely for himself, he changed his plans, and joined General Miramon at Queretaro, where there were 5000 Imperial troops. Queretaro was besieged by 20,000 troops, under General Escobedo; the siegelasted two months, and ended on the 15th of May, when the key of the position was captured, and the Emperor and his army surrendered. The Emperor was taken on the Hill of the Bells, the very spot where he was afterwards shot by order of the court-martial which condemned him to death."
LINE OF DEFENCE HELD BY MAXIMILIAN DURING THE SIEGE.
"A very concise history of the events of that time," said Doctor Bronson, when Frank paused in reading their joint production; "have you anything more to add to it?"
"Yes, sir, we have," was the reply. "We have thought that the story of the court-martial, and the last days and hours of Maximilian, would be interesting, and ought to form a part of our narrative."
"That is quite right," the Doctor answered, "and if you have not finished it I will hear it some other time."
On a subsequent occasion Fred presented the following, which was heartily approved by Doctor Bronson as deserving a place in the narrative of their journey through Mexico:
"Maximilian was condemned to death on account of the 'Black Decree,' and the officers who had carried out his orders were sentenced to the same fate. The wife of General Miramon went to San Luis Potosi to intercede with President Juarez for her husband's life. The Princess Salm-Salm went at the same time to do a similar service for Maximilian. The princess, in the account of her interview, says: 'I saw the President was moved; he had tears in his eyes, but he assured me in a low, sad voice, "I am grieved, madame, to see you thus on your knees before me, but if all the kings and queens of Europe were in your place, I could not spare that life. It is not I who take it, it is the people and the law; and if I should not do its will, the people would take it, and mine also."'
"Miramon's wife told a similar story about the wish of the President to be merciful and reprieve her husband. She says he was wavering when his Minister of Foreign Affairs said, 'It is to-day or never that you will consolidate the peace of the republic.' Then the President told her as gently as he could that it was impossible to grant her request.
"The Government of the United States asked that Maximilian's life be spared, and the Emperor of Austria sent a similar request, but all to no purpose. On the morning of the execution Maximilian rode in a coach with his confessor from the prison to the Hill of the Bells, and Miramon and Mejia, with their confessors, followed in another coach. An adobe wall had been built up for the occasion, and the three men were placed in front of it, and about ten paces from the firing party. Maximilian held a crucifix in his hand, and looked intently upon it as the order to fire was given. The President caused the remains of the ill-fated Emperor to be carefully coffined, and they were sent home to Austria for interment in the Imperial vault of the Hapsburgs.
"President Juarez entered the city of Mexico on the 15th of July, less than a month after Maximilian's death, and carried with him a train of provisions for the relief of the suffering inhabitants. Great leniency was shown to all who had served under Maximilian; nineteen of the officers who had committed crimes or deserted from the Republican army were shot, others were imprisoned, and some were ordered to leave the country under pain of imprisonment in case they returned. The rank and file of the soldiery were sent to their homes or incorporated into the nationalarmy, and the President did everything in his power to bring peace to the country; and since that time Mexico has been a peaceful land compared with what it had been for the preceding forty years."
When Fred completed the reading of his story Doctor Bronson said he was reminded of an incident that happened at the time of the execution of Maximilian.
"I was in Paris," said he, "when the news came that the execution had taken place. The French papers were not allowed to make any comment upon the affair, except to execrate it and denounce the Mexicans in the bitterest terms. Louis Napoleon would have caused the immediate suspension of any paper that uttered a word in sympathy with the acts of Juarez.
"One of the liberal papers managed very skilfully to get around the prohibition. It printed the telegram announcing that Maximilian hadbeen shot by order of a Mexican court-martial, and directly beneath the telegram it printed the 'Black Decree' of October, 1865, to which you have alluded, and with it two letters written by Maximilian's victims just before they were led to execution. The decree and the letters were copied from the French official newspapers, and therefore they could be printed without risk of interference. There was not a word of editorial comment, nor was any needed."
"We said there had been peace in Mexico since the fall of the Empire," continued Fred, "but our words deserve to be qualified. There have been disturbances at different times and in various parts of the country. In 1871 there was something that almost threatened civil war in the shape of a pronunciamento by General Diaz, and for a while things had a serious aspect. General Diaz did not like the election of Juarez for a third time; he proposed an assembly of notables to reorganize the government, and that he (Diaz) should be commander-in-chief of the army until the assembly had done its work. This would have been practically equivalent to making him President, but the whole scheme was ended by the sudden death of Juarez in July, 1872.
"Lerdo de Tejado then became President, and for three years everything was peaceful. Then came another revolution, which drove Lerdo from the capital and installed Diaz in the Presidential chair. At the end of his term Diaz was succeeded by General Gonzales, who was a poor man when he became President, and a very rich one when he left the office. He left it peaceably, and was succeeded, December 1, 1884, by Diaz, who has shown himself a man of ability, and has managed the affairs of the country very creditably.
"There you have Mexican history boiled down," said Fred. "Perhaps it may be tedious to some of the boys at home, and if it is, they know how to skip."
The conversation that followed this reading naturally turned upon Mexican affairs. Doctor Bronson signified his readiness to answer any questions the youths might ask, or, if he did not know the correct answers, he would try to tell them where the desired information could be obtained.
"President Juarez was a native of Mexico, and not of Spanish descent, was he not?" Frank asked.
FIRST PROTESTANT CHURCH IN MEXICO.
"Yes," said the Doctor; "he was a full-blooded Indian, his parents having been people in very humble circumstances. He has been called the Washington or the Lincoln of Mexico; to him Mexico owes the Laws of the Reform and the concessions that have brought railways into the country and opened it up to commercial relations with the rest of theworld. He was the first Protestant President of the country, all his predecessors having been of the Catholic faith. He is described by those who knew him as a man rather below the average height, stoutly built without being corpulent, exceedingly plain in dress, but always fastidiously neat. Ordinarily he wore a dress-coat of black broadcloth, with other garments to match, and on state occasions he substituted white gloves and cravat for the every-day black ones. He used to ride in a plain coach, with no liveried servants, which was quite a contrast to the grand turnout of Maximilian, who had a state carriage like that of Louis XIV.
"His complexion was Indian, and so were his features; his eyes were small and black, and his face, which was always clean-shaven, bore an expression of great firmness. He was not talkative, and was the same determined, silent man in prosperity as in adversity. His faith in the success of the republic was never shaken, even when he was living in an adobe hut on the banks of the Rio Grande, with less than 500 followers, and a reward offered by Maximilian for his head. When he arrived at El Paso del Norte he was accompanied by only twenty-two friends, who have since been called 'the immaculate.'
"I have read somewhere,"[4]continued the Doctor, "a curious story connected with his history. When Mexico was conquered by the Spaniards, a priest of the Aztec temple at Taos, in New Mexico, kindled a fire upon its altar, and planted a tree in front of the edifice. He prophesiedthat when the tree died a new white race would come from the East and conquer the land, and when the fire went out a new Montezuma would arise and rule Mexico. The tree died in 1846, during our war with Mexico, and the fire went out when the last of the Aztec priests of Taos died, in the year that Juarez became President."
PUEBLO AT TAOS, NEW MEXICO.
"Was he ever imprisoned or banished, like the most of the leading men of Mexico?" Frank asked.
"Yes," was the reply. "He was a native of the State of Oajaca, where he was educated in a seminary and studied law; he graduated with high honors at the college, and for some years held the chair of natural philosophy in that institution. In 1836, when he was thirty years old, he was imprisoned by the Conservatives on account of his Liberal principles. After his release he became Chief-judge of the Republic, and held several other offices until 1853, when he was imprisoned and banished by General Santa Anna, and lived two years in the United States, suffering severe privations. Events brought him into Mexico again, and from that time he did not leave the country until his death. He was imprisoned a third time, in 1857, by Comonfort, but only for a short while."
"We have mentioned the Laws of the Reform, which were proclaimed by President Juarez and caused the appropriation of the property of the Church by the Government. Did the Church have much property besides the convents, cathedrals, and Church buildings generally?"
GARDEN OF A MEXICAN CONVENT.
"A great deal more than those," the Doctor answered. "The Church owned real estate in vast extent both in the cities and the rural districts, and some people say more than half the dwelling-houses in the city of Mexico belonged to it. It had the reputation of being a very generous landlord, as it rented its houses at a lower rate than similar property could be had from private owners. On this subject I will quote from an English writer who spent some time in Mexico a few years ago."
Thereupon Doctor Bronson read the following from "Mexico To-day," by Thomas U. Brocklehurst:
"'The Church of Mexico has been all-powerful since its commencement; it may be said to be the Government, the magistracy, the army, and the master of the homes. Everythingin Mexico has been subservient to its dictatura. The priesthood has been entirely free from the national courts of law, they have had courts of their own, and thefueros, or privileges of the ecclesiastics, placed them entirely beyond the reach of secular power. They levied taxes and tithes of everybody and everything they had a mind to. The extent to which the clergy accumulated wealth is almost incredible; they are said to have possessed three-fourths of the whole property of the country, consisting of lands and other real estate, rents, mortgages, conventual buildings, and church ornaments. Moreover, there were no bankers in Mexico except the clergy, so they had complete power over the estates as well as the souls of the people."'In 1850 Señor Lerdo de Tejara, Minister of Public Works, published a statistical account of the revenues and endowments of the Church, with the numbers of the clergy, monks, nuns, and servants connected with the religious establishments. The details he gives, like the evidence of the existing churches, and the remains of the disused ones all over the country, quite support his statement that the Church was possessed of three-fourths of the property of the State.'
"'The Church of Mexico has been all-powerful since its commencement; it may be said to be the Government, the magistracy, the army, and the master of the homes. Everythingin Mexico has been subservient to its dictatura. The priesthood has been entirely free from the national courts of law, they have had courts of their own, and thefueros, or privileges of the ecclesiastics, placed them entirely beyond the reach of secular power. They levied taxes and tithes of everybody and everything they had a mind to. The extent to which the clergy accumulated wealth is almost incredible; they are said to have possessed three-fourths of the whole property of the country, consisting of lands and other real estate, rents, mortgages, conventual buildings, and church ornaments. Moreover, there were no bankers in Mexico except the clergy, so they had complete power over the estates as well as the souls of the people.
"'In 1850 Señor Lerdo de Tejara, Minister of Public Works, published a statistical account of the revenues and endowments of the Church, with the numbers of the clergy, monks, nuns, and servants connected with the religious establishments. The details he gives, like the evidence of the existing churches, and the remains of the disused ones all over the country, quite support his statement that the Church was possessed of three-fourths of the property of the State.'
"Another writer," continued Doctor Bronson, "says that the property of the Church included about 900 rural estates and 25,000 blocks of cityproperty. When this property was confiscated and sold, the Church authorities warned all good Catholics not to invest in it. The result was that it went at very low prices, and fell into the hands of those who cared nothing for the religion of the former owners. The Church people probably see by this time that they made a mistake. Had they allowed Catholics to buy the confiscated property, they could have got it back again into their own hands with very little trouble, and at a small valuation. Dwelling-houses, shops, and all sorts of ordinary buildings, along with the rural estates and the convents, have been sold for secular purposes, but the church edifices proper are permitted to remain in the hands of their former authorities, and services go on there without interruption. The Laws of the Reform allow freedom of religious worship, and a Catholic has the same protection as the adherent of any other faith."
"Were there any Protestant churches in Mexico before the Laws of the Reform were proclaimed?" Fred asked.
"No," was the reply; "the Catholic Church did not permit them toexist any more than the Puritans allowed a Quaker in their midst in the early days of the Plymouth Colony. Human nature is the same all the world over, and any religious body that has supreme control of a country is pretty certain to exercise its power. You know the old explanation of the difference between religion and superstition?"
"What is that?"
"Religion is what we believe; superstition is what others believe."
The boys laughed, and said they had heard the definition before. Then the Doctor continued:
INTERIOR OF THE FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, CITY OF MEXICO.
"The Laws of the Reform tolerated all religions, and guaranteed freedom of public worship. During the Mexican War our army was followed by colporteurs, who distributed tracts and did other religious work. They followed the example of the priests who accompanied Cortez, but, unlike them, they did not succeed in converting the population. Missionary work was begun by the American Baptists in 1863, and followed shortly after by the Methodists, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians. There was much opposition on the part of some of the priests, and in several instances their ignorant followers were incited to hostility. You must remember that the Mexican priests are not as intelligent, taken as a body, as the Catholic priests of the United States; and understanding this, you will not wonder at the open hostility displayed towards all other forms of religion.
REV. JOHN L. STEPHENS, A MARTYR MISSIONARY.
"In the early days of the Protestant missions the missionaries in Mexico entered upon their duties at the risk of their lives. In 1872 a missionary and his wife settled in Guadalajara. During the first few weeks of their residence in the place they were stoned whenever they appeared on the streets. The Governor came to their aid, and in time the prejudice against them wore away. In November of the same year another missionary, Rev. John L. Stephens, settled in Ahualuco, a town of five thousand inhabitants, ninety miles from Guadalajara, and began his work. On the2d of the following March, at two o'clock in the morning, his house was attacked, and he was murdered with a brutality which could not have been excelled by Apaches or Sioux. One of his converts was killed at the same time, and others barely escaped with their lives.
IN THE CATHEDRAL.
"There have been other martyrs, and many cases of persecution. Hostility has not ceased, but it is greatly diminished, and the Protestants have obtained a foothold in Mexico. There are not far from 300 Protestant congregations in the country, with 15,000 communicants and 30,000 adherents. There are about 100 foreign missionaries, many of them accompanied by their wives; as many more ordained native ministers; and twice that number of unordained native helpers. There are many day, Sunday, and theological schools, which have been established by the missionaries; and there are printing establishments, which are sending out religious matter for all who are willing to read it. There are more than fifty church edifices, some of them built expressly for the purpose, the others being old structures altered for Protestant use."
MEXICAN PRIESTS.
In closing this talk on religious matters, Doctor Bronson remarked that it would take many years for the quarrels between the Church party and the Liberals to come to an end; but in the mean while Mexico would continue on her progressive way, and all her friends, of whatever creed, would be encouraged to hope for the best results.
From Queretaro to the City of Mexico is a distance of 150 miles. The route of the railway lies through a region which is excellent both for agriculture and stock raising. Frank and Fred wished to stop at one of the cattle haciendas, but the Doctor said they would have an opportunity to see one of these establishments at a later date; so they continued to the capital without making a halt after leaving Queretaro.
COMPARATIVE LEVEL OF LAKES.
They crossed the plain of the Cazadero, which obtains its name from an incident of the Conquest. About the year 1540 the Indians organized a greatcazadero(hunt) on this plain, to show their good-will towards the first viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza. A great number of them assembled, and the game was driven in from all directions and duly slaughtered by the viceroy and his friends. Hunts of this sort are of very ancient date; they are practised by aborigines in all parts of the world, and evencivilized man does not disdain them. Of the civilized class are the kangaroo hunts in Australia, elephant hunts in Ceylon and India, and the chase of wolves and other noxious animals in the Western States of North America and in the Siberian provinces of Russia.
At the edge of the plain of the Cazadero the train reached the foot of the mountain chain that surrounds the valley of Mexico. The locomotive breathed heavily as it ascended the slope dragging its burden behind it. The speed was materially reduced from that by which the plain had been traversed, and the reduction showed very plainly that the grade was steep. Every turn inthe road gave a picturesque view, and the youths thoroughly enjoyed their ride towards the famous valley.
THE GREAT SPANISH DRAINAGE-CUT.
The top of the ascent was reached at Tula, of which we shall have something to say later on. Then the train entered a gorge, which Frank and Fred specially wished to look at. It was the Tajo de Nochistongo, the great Spanish drainage-cut, which was intended to save the city of Mexico from inundation.
From the windows of the car they shuddered as they looked into the cut, and wondered if never an accident had happened from the falling away of the earth. The cut is twelve and a half miles in length, and is the work of human hands, not of nature. The railway enters the valley of Mexico through this cut, and the track is laid on a shelf or bench along its sides and high above the bottom. Our friends visited it a few days later, and we will here include Frank's account of what he saw and heard.
"The city of Mexico stands in a valley which has no outlet, the water that accumulates from the rains being evaporated by the heat of the sun or absorbed in the volcanic soil. The city is in the lowest part of the valley, and is therefore liable to be overflowed whenever the evaporation and absorption are not sufficient to carry off the water that accumulates. There are several lakes that cover a tenth part of the area of the valley. The lowest of them is salt, as it has no outlet, but the others which discharge into it are fresh. This salt lake is called Tezcoco. It has an area of seventy-seven square miles, and its surface ordinarily is only two feet lower than the level of the Plaza Mayor, or great square of the city. In the days of the Aztecs the lake surrounded the city, but it is now three miles away from it, owing to the recession of the waters. Lake Chalco is three and a half feet higher than Tezcoco; while Zumpango, the most northerly of all the lakes, is twenty-nine feet higher than the Plaza Mayor. The lakes are separated by dikes, some of which were built by the Aztecs before the arrival of the Spaniards, but the greater number are of more recent construction, as we shall presently see.
"Now, it is evident that an unusual flood of water could raise Tezcoco so that it would flood the city, and this is what has happened on five different occasions—in 1553, 1580, 1604, 1607, and 1629. The last inundation continued for five years, and caused an immense amount of suffering and loss. The city was covered to a depth of three feet, and the waters were finally carried off by an earthquake, which allowed them to run away through the crevices that it formed.
"Here's where we come to the history of the great cut of Nochistongo. The Spanish Government consulted all the celebrated engineers of the day,and they presented numerous plans for draining the city and keeping it out of danger from inundations. Enrico Martinez presented the plan which was adopted. It was to drain Lake Zumpango so that its waters would not be poured into Tezcoco, but would run to the Gulf of Mexico by way of Tula. For this purpose he proposed to make a tunnel through Nochistongo, to carry off the superfluous water of Zumpango, or, rather, of the river Cuatitlan, which flows into it.
YOUNG GIRLS OF TULA.
"The tunnel was commenced in November, 1607, but when completedit was found insufficient to drain the lake, and a new plan was needed. A Dutch engineer was then brought in, and he naturally proposed a system of dikes, similar to those of his own country and the dikes already built by the Aztecs. He was allowed to carry out his scheme until the arrival of a new viceroy in 1628. The new viceroy would not believe the accounts which he heard of the floods that had occurred, and he ordered Martinez to stop up the tunnel and allow the waters to take their original course. He was soon convinced of his error, and ordered the tunnel to be reopened. It was reopened and continued in use until the following June, when Martinez found that it was being destroyed by the pressure of the water, and he therefore closed it to save it from ruin. A disastrous flood followed, and this was the one that lasted five years."
"How did the people get around in that time?" Fred asked.
"They were forced to use boats," was the reply; "but the getting about was the least part of the trouble caused by the flood. Most of the houses were of adobe, and these soon crumbled and fell. The loss was so great that the Spanish Government ordered the site of the city to be changed to higher ground, but on representations by the City Council of the value of the permanent structures which would thus be rendered useless, the order was countermanded. The city was restored after the subsidence of the waters. It has been threatened several times since, but though it has been in great danger the cut and the dikes have saved it."
"But how about the making of the tunnel into a cut?"
"They put Martinez in prison as soon as the flood came, and he was kept there for several years. Then it was determined to change the tunnel into a cut, and he was released and put in charge of the work. It took 150 years to make it, and though nominally finished in 1789, it has never been entirely completed. Thousands of Indians died during the work of digging this enormous ditch. It was the greatest earthwork of its time, and in fact the greatest down to the cutting of the Suez and Panama canals. Here are the figures:
"Length of the cut, 67,537 feet; greatest depth, 197 feet; greatest breadth, 361 feet. The original tunnel of Martinez was four miles long, eleven and a half feet wide, and fourteen feet high. Portions of the old tunnel, or rather of its ruins, are visible to-day. There is a monument to the memory of Martinez, which was erected a few years ago in one of the public squares of the capital city; it might possibly console him for his five years in prison if he could only come around and look at it."
ENVIRONS OF MEXICO.
As Frank paused, Doctor Bronson took up the subject and said that even with the waters of Zumpango drained away there was still a liabilityof the overflow of the lower lakes. He added that numerous projects had been proposed. Some engineers were in favor of drying up Tezcoco altogether by turning away the waters that flow into it; others advised draining the waters into a lower part of the valley, if such could be found; and others again proposed a long and large tunnel through the mountains at solow a level that Tezcoco and the city could be thoroughly drained. To this should be added a canal from the upper lakes to flow through the city and wash out its sewers.
"What will be done about it no one can safely predict," the Doctor remarked. "The city is badly drained, its sewage is only partially carried away, and such of it as the water removes is accumulated in Lake Tezcoco, which is becoming dirtier and more shallow every year. No plan has been proposed that has been pronounced successful, or to which there is not a serious objection. Of course almost anything could be done with unlimited money, but Mexico, like other cities and countries, has a limit to the amount that might be expended for any given purpose."
The smells that greeted the nostrils of the youths on their arrival at the capital convinced them that the drainage of Mexico is little better than no drainage at all. Fred remarked that if it were anywhere else than in the very high region where it is (7602 feet above the sea), it would have no need of drainage, as all the inhabitants would die of pestilence.
Emerging from the famous earth-cutting, our friends had their first view of the snowy peaks of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, the great volcanoes which lie to the east of the city of Mexico. They had read and heard much of these famous mountains, and had formed many mental pictures of them. To the credit of the volcanoes, it is proper to say that they fully came up to the expectations which had been formed of them.
The train sped on over the comparatively level region of the valley. For several miles the Mexican Central Railway lies parallel to the Mexican National line, and as there happened to be a train on the other track, the passengers had the exhilaration of a race as a concluding feature of their journey.
They had left Queretaro a little before noon; it was seven o'clock in the evening when the train rolled into the Buena Vista station outside the city, and the journey over the Mexican Central Railway came to an end.
Doctor Bronson had telegraphed for a courier from the Hotel del Jardin to meet them at the station, and the man was there in accordance with his request. The key of one of the trunks was given up to meet the requirements of the local custom-house, after the manner of theoctroiof Paris and other Continental cities. Our friends had found this regulation at all the towns where they had stopped on their route, but the trunks had invariably been passed without being opened, on the assurance that they contained no merchandise.
The Hotel del Jardin proved to be quite satisfactory, so far as therooms were concerned, but there was not much to be said in favor of the supper to which the travellers sat down, after removing the dust from their garments and making themselves generally presentable. The boys ascertained on inquiry that the hotel was built around the garden of an old convent, and that a portion of it was really the convent edifice. Some of the rooms are the former cells of the monks, and the youths concluded that the monks were very comfortably lodged.