Charles Joseph Latrobe

“ No traveller, ancient or modern, has failed to notice the beauty and singularity of position of Chapultepec—the hill of the grasshopper—at three miles distance from the city. It is an insulated rock of porphyry, springing up upon what was the margin of the lake, and now surrounded on all sides by fields and meadows overspread by luxuriant vegetation. That it was a favourite place of resort of the Aztec monarchs, there is no doubt; and its foot is still clothed with an ancient garden in which they sought repose and solace from the heats of their shadeless city. ”

“ We here, if I recollect right, made our first experience of the difficulty to which the traveller is exposed in Mexico, in persuading the Indian to furnish him, even if paid in advance, with the slightest food or provender either for man or beast. Nothing was to be had. No hai! was the answer to every query. They had neither maize, nor chocolate, nor fodder, nor eggs, nor fowls; nor bananas, nor frijoles, nor tortillas, nor dried meat, nor even Chile. What did they live upon—for they were all, old and young, as plump as partridges. No hai! ”

“ To me the whole of the hollow valley of Mexico, with its ramparts of porphyric rocks, gave the idea of a vast crater, which had been, in ages of which no human tradition remains, the grand and principal vent through which the pent-up element, after, by repeated efforts, heaving up the continent step by step from its primeval level, finally escaped through the crust of the earth. ”

“ A varied vegetation, stimulated by the alternate vehemence of a tropical sun, and the gentle dews and moist showers from the mountains above, into an inconceivable rankness and richness of growth—all that is beautiful and gorgeous in colouring and curious in detail—birds, butterflies, insects, fruits, and flowers—are here presented to the eyes of the traveller, in the midst of a chaos of rent and riven rock and dizzy precipice, which would be worthy of the most savage defile of the most savage Alpine districts of Europe. ”

“ I could not realize all they felt—but, amid the desolation of most of the ancient fields and gardens; the aridity and utter barrenness of much of the broad plain which now girdles the city in every direction; the diminished extent of the lake; the solitude reigning on its waters; the destruction of the forests on the mountain slopes; I still felt that the round world can hardly match the beauty and interest of that landscape. ”

“ The most sublime part of the defile of the Cañada is that which extends two or three leagues above Tlacolula. A mountain of very great elevation appears literally cloven in twain front the very summit to the foundation; displaying immense perpendicular sheets of white rock, the innumerable lamina of which are twisted and gnarled like the roots of a tree. A wilderness of the richest tropical vegetation clothes the partial slopes, and chokes up the depths of the defile. ”

“ The view which burst upon us, as, escaping from the ravine of the Desierto, we gained a projecting woody knoll on the side of the mountain, impending over the great barranca before mentioned, was of matchless magnificence. The day had been altogether cloudless; but during our ascent, the sun shone too brightly; and a rich purple haze had thrown a kind of veil over the more distant parts of the plain, and the great chain to the eastward. ”

“ It matters little that the origin of the objects around you is hidden in the impenetrable mist of past ages; that their design and appropriation has alternately occupied and baffled the wits of far wiser than yourself; that the most laborious collation of evidence has only brought to light isolated and uncertain items of intelligence with respect to them—speculate you must.
You need not be reminded that our range of knowledge as Europeans, with regard to the history of this vast continent, and this portion of it in particular, only extends over a space of a little more than three centuries. ”

“ You have here the modern Mexican of every degree, from the substantial ranchero, or proprietor, bespurred, and bedizzened in the full and showy Mexican costume of stamped leather, embroidered vest, and gaudy serape and curbing a wild horse loaded with furniture; or the trusty arriero, with his long string of mules, his precious cargo of specie, and his train of assistant mozos; down to the poor adventurer whose whole wardrobe consists of a pair of faded velveteen trousers silt halfway up the leg, and a tawdry cloak, haunting the gambling table, and living upon what fortune sends. ”

“ Here rose the huge pyramid, based upon the wall of the surrounding mountains; growing, day by day and year by year, by the accumulation of its own refuse, amid the showers of its own ashes, the flow of its lavas, and amid the sound of its own fearful thunders, till it soared to where its summit now glistens, in the cold region of ice and snow. There an abrupt cone, bursting through the level plain, or from the bosom of the waters ”

“ Just as we rode out of the gateway of our posada, the first sunbeams were shining upon the white summit of Popocatepetl, which now appeared exactly in the east.
Cuernavaca is most nobly situated, on a tongue of land, girdled on three sides by tremendous barrancas; in which, matchless sterility, and the exuberant and broad-leaved vegetation of the tropics, are blended together in an extraordinary manner. It possesses a large church and prison, and many other buildings, the architectural details of which are uncommonly picturesque. ”

“ It may either have been a chapel erected for the edification of the new converts, or a fort constructed to overawe the Indian inhabitants.
In other respects, nature has reclaimed her own, and resumed her quiet sway over the Monte Penulco and its brethren, which exhibit throughout all their varied undulations of surface, an unbroken carpet of delicious verdure nurtured by the moist mists of the mountains, and beds of gentle flowers, fanned by the pure and elastic air of an eternal spring. ”

“ After a ride of many hours over difficult and steep ridges, and through close but fertile valleys under partial cultivation—often enveloped in mist, and continually a prey to doubt as to our ever finding our arriero—we at length stumbled upon him at the edge of dusk, tending his mules at an humble rancho, in a pretty valley nestled in the mountains. And here we brought our wet and fatiguing day's journey to a close, by erecting our camp beds under an open palmetto shed, drying our accoutrements as well as might be, enjoying our frugal meal, and betaking ourselves to repose. ”

“ But whether in the shape of thunder storm, darkness, barranca, or banditti, we seemed to have made up our minds to dare the danger, and to sleep at an elevation of two thousand feet higher up the country. In fine, just as the thunder began to echo among the mountains of the Rio del Chico, we might be seen issuing from the deep ravine, and urging our horses across the plain in the direction of the nearest chain, like men who knew that no time was to be lost. ”

“ One enormous wall of mountains rises behind another, each buttressing a broad step of table land, but in general the interval between them is far too great for the eye to command more than one at a time. Here and there, from the general level of the undulating mountain ridge, rises a tremendous cone, with a breadth of base, and an even smoothness of outline, which, at the same time that they proclaim its origin, and add to its sublimity, take from its picturesque beauty. ”

“ Espindola got into conversation by degrees with one of the elders, and Pourtales began to play the irresistible with another of the party. Good humour and confidence began to thaw distrust, and conquer prejudice. By-and-by, old and young began to move listlessly about. The charcoal fire was stirred up. Still there was no hurry. Another moment, and from under a cloth in a dark corner of the hut, the stone used in the preparation of tortillas cakes was produced; and, as though by accident, a bowlful of maize flour was discovered. ”

“ Regularly and even beautifully built, with fine open streets, a noble spacious square, and many churches—the principal channel through which the riches of New Spain are poured into the Old World—Vera Cruz is deserted in its appearance, and forbidding, from the utterly steril character of the shore on which it is based, and the flights of unclean birds which perch upon its roofs and churches, and hover round its walls. Mammon is the sole god of the city which is called after the symbol of our faith ”

“ The carriages of every description disappeared from the streets; not a horse or mule was to be descried; but innumerable crowds of both sexes, and of all classes, rich and poor, were seen intermingling on the same level, and pouring, morning and evening, in one unbroken stream through the thoroughfares, and under the portales. They clustered by hundreds about the doors of the churches; and by thousands—yes, tens of thousands—on the Plaza Mayor. ”

“ At the close of the day in question, a portion of the area in front of the portales or arcades, and before the palace, appeared covered by slight erections of bamboo framework thatched by matting, and shut in by a profusion of green branches and palm leaves. The more spacious were devoted to the sale of refreshments, and liquors of various kinds—lemonade, pinade, a liquor called chea, and pulque; or for that of dulces, for which the city is celebrated. They not unfrequently formed a booth of twelve or fourteen feet in length, with seats and tables for the use of the customers. ”

“ The pumps were sounded every half hour. The Halcyon was, however sound, and the captain's arrangements well and knowingly made; and there we rode, while one immense billow after another swelled up like a huge monster out of the mist to windward, advanced topling towards us, with its broad-spread moving slopes marbled by the bands of creamy foam, and after a moment of seeming hesitation whether it should go over or under us, was seen vanishing to leeward.
The history of hours thus spent must be passed over. This first day the Halcyon's stomach seemed to be annihilated. ”

“ You look in vain among all the exuberant forest growth and the giant flora of Mexico, for the sweet cheering freshness of Alpine vegetation; that luxuriance without rankness, which clothes the lower valleys. ”

“ The change from the sterility of the table land above to the luxuriant and teeming vegetation of this lovely region, was more striking than the contrast between the characteristic features of the great level plains with their barren volcanic cones, to the varied and beautiful wooded hills, vales, and mountains, which characterize this most lovely region of New Spain.
You and others have asked me, what comparison can be drawn between the Alps of Europe and the Cordillera? I was going to say none, but the traveller must learn not to be rash. The lines of just comparison are very faint. ”

“ What a strange machine the human body is. All this positive suffering seemed to be forgotten as soon as it was past! We supped as usual, drank inordinate quantities of ice—a luxury rendered a common one to the inhabitants of this torrid clime, by the vicinity of the volcanoes—threw ourselves upon our serapis on the floor, and the next morning rose, with both bodies and minds refreshed and invigorated, to enter upon another day's adventure. ”

“ If I may judge by what I saw and what I learned, I should infer that the barber, whose opinion I have elsewhere mentioned, was in the right, and that, of all countries I had ever seen, New Spain contains the largest proportion of canaille. How few, in that motley population, from the bedizened official of an hour to the lazar sleeping on the steps of the churches, merit any other name.
In the United States, however strong your bias to the opinion, you pause in asserting that the theory of popular self-government can never be reduced to successful practice among the present races of mankind. ”

“ Indeed, at all times, the inhabitants of this city, even when most civilized, and numbering many men of education, have been singularly apathetic with regard to the vestiges of the ancient people upon whose seat of empire they had established themselves by the right of conquest. For two entire centuries the same insane and bigoted spirit of wanton destruction, which the Spanish historians show to have influenced the conquerors, and to have caused the annihilation of much that was curious and valuable, seems to have possessed their descendants to a very late epoch, if not to the present day. ”

“ Perhaps a very natural dislike to retrace your steps, and ignorance of the real nature and extent of the obstacle, induces you to keep your direction in search of its termination; when, before you are aware, you find a hideous and impassable gulf yawning between you, delving deep for many miles into the face of the landscape, and no alternative left you but to return to its very source. ”

“ The Monte Ajusco, towards whose base we were bending our course, was comparatively at no great distance, while the two great volcanoes of Puebla towered, with their snowy caps, from a distance of sixty miles to the south. Beyond the flats in your immediate vicinity—over which the various causeways with their avenues of elm and poplar, and the aqueducts, are seen stretching for miles towards the base of the hills—the eye catches a glimpse of a lovely region of verdure and cultivation, studded with innumerable orchards, villas, and tasteful country houses ”