Henry George Ward

“ You forget Europe and all the mingled advantages and restraints of civilization, and trusting to your horse for carrying you to the place of your destination, and often to your gun for a meal upon the way, you care neither for mountains nor rivers, but take at once the shortest and the most picturesque road, or branch off to the east or the west, at pleasure, should there be any thing, on either side, to attract attention. ”

“ I know few sensations more pleasing in life than those which I have experienced when starting, thus accompanied, upon one of my long expeditions, with all my party well mounted, a few spare mules and horses driven before us, and the certainty of finding, after traversing a new country, in the principal object of the journey, enough to gratify curiosity, and often to remove unpleasant doubts. There is something so wild and independent in the whole thing, that there are few people, who have stamina enough to support the fatigue, that do not learn to enjoy it. ”

“ It is quite melancholy to see magnificent rows of columns, windows, and doors, completely out of the perpendicular, with walls and staircases cracking in every direction. The roof, too, in some places, and the ceilings in almost all, are falling in, and a very few years will complete the destruction of this noble edifice, which ought to have served as a monument of the wealth and magnificence of the miners of New Spain, at whose expence it was erected. ”

“ I do not believe that I am guilty of any exaggeration in stating, that there never was a greater spirit of enterprise, more liberality, or, in general, better faith, displayed in any part of the world, than amongst the Miners of Mexico before the year 1810. Unexampled prosperity was their reward; and had freedom of commerce then existed, there is no doubt that the country would have derived the greatest permanent benefit from their exertions. ”

“ In general, the Mines both of Capula and Chico (with the exception of Arevalo) are poor; and although, where one good mine has been discovered, others may be found, there are so many districts in which the chances of success are greater, that the investments made by the New Mexican, United Mexican, and Anglo-Mexican Companies, in the inferior Mines of Chico and Real del Monte, appear to me to belong to that class of injudicious experiments into which Foreign Adventurers were betrayed, in the beginning of 1825, by the absurd competition for contracts which the mining mania in England created. ”

“ In the other parts of the town, some cumbrous furniture was occasionally to be met with, as bedsteads, presses, and tables, painted, varnished, and inlaid at a vast expence, but of a most uncouth shape, and generally as little calculated for comfort, as for ornament. All the other contents of the shops appeared to be European, but the supply was scanty, and the price enormous. Nature, on the other hand, as if to compensate the want of the luxuries of the Old World, appeared to have been most munificent in her gifts. ”

“ Every thing, in short, was characteristic of a state of things in which civilization had made but little progress: the natives possessed both the honesty and the hospitality of a primitive race; for our horses were brought back to us on the evening of our arrival at Sierra Hermosa, with even the holster-pistols untouched, notwithstanding the eagerness with which European fire-arms are always eyed in America; and at the Hacienda we met with a most friendly reception from the Administrador and his family, who insisted upon giving up to us all the best apartments in the house. ”

“ A town entirely abandoned by its inhabitants, must be, at all times, a strange, and a mournful sight; but when to this unnatural solitude are added the marks of recent warfare, houses riddled with shot, churches half in ruins, and flights of vultures, congregating around the carcase of some dead animal in the streets, it is difficult to imagine a more striking picture of desolation. ”

“ The Civil War has, indeed, reduced almost to nothing the value of these possessions, and there is little, at present, to demonstrate the wealth, to which, under more favourable circumstances, the principal families of the Republic will find themselves restored: but time alone is wanting in order to bring things round to their natural level; the seeds of opulence are there, and, in proportion as the country advances towards a more settled order of things, the period approaches, at which they may be again expected to produce their former fruits. ”

“ Waterton's enthusiasm with regard to the American women, it is difficult for the most casual observer not to be struck with their appearance; nor do I know any part of the world (not even excepting England) where the display of female beauty is more striking than at New York, and Philadelphia, where, from the warmth of the climate, the light dress of the South of Europe is seen in conjunction with the freshness, and bright colouring of a Northern complexion. ”

“ I know few places the approach to which is so tedious as that to Valladolid. For more than two hours you see the city apparently below you, while the road continues to wind amongst the surrounding hills. At length, a rapid descent conducts you to the plain, where a long causeway built across a marsh forms the entrance to the town. The suburbs are poor and insignificant, but the high street is fine, and the Cathedral, standing alone and unconcealed by any subordinate buildings, produces a very imposing effect. ”

“ From the summit of the Barranca to the Valley of Tĕnōchtĭtlān, or Mexico, there is a gradual descent, which becomes almost imperceptible on reaching the Venta de Chălcŏ, where Humboldt found the elevation to be exactly the same as that of San Martin on the opposite side of the range, viz. 7,711 feet.
Nothing can be finer than the first view of the Valley of Mexico as it bursts upon you from a little above the Venta de Cōrdŏvă, with all its lakes, rocks, villages, and Haciendas, scattered around the Capital in one vast basin. It is impossible not to be struck with so magnificent a scene. ”

“ In the time of the old Count Regla, when six hundred mules were employed daily in conveying ore from the mines to the Hacienda of Regla, which is nearly six leagues from the Real, there was no other mode of communication than a very dangerous path across the mountains. This has now been transformed into a road for wheel-carriages, which is beautifully laid down, and upon which timber, of a size never transported before in Mexico, is brought to the mines in the waggons that were originally sent out for the conveyance of the steam-engines from the coast. ”

“ In justice to the inhabitants of Zacatecas, I must add, that the inhospitable treatment of which we had so much cause to complain, is confined exclusively to the Capital, and, even there, does not extend beyond the working-classes; an ignorant and brutal race, sunk in low debauchery, and guilty of excesses amongst themselves, which the Government has too little energy to repress. The agricultural population is kind and hospitable; and from the landed proprietors, the authorities, and the more respectable citizens, we received every proof of the most friendly disposition. ”

“ There is, therefore, so little reason to question the producing powers of the country, that, were it necessary to adopt one of two extreme suppositions, there would rather be cause to fear a depreciation in the value of our present circulating medium, from the probability of too great an increase in the average annual produce, than to apprehend any great falling off in its amount. But the progress of discoveries, as we have seen, is liable to be influenced by a thousand circumstances, unconnected with the mines themselves: any great change, in either sense, must be the work of time ”

“ The view of the lights belonging to these hovels at night, scattered over the dark sides of the mountain, sometimes peeping forth from a barranca, and at others shining bright upon a little platform, so elevated and inaccessible that you can hardly suppose it to be the abode of any human being, is exceedingly singular. ”

“ I was much struck with the difference between the manner in which society is organized in Durango and in the Southern States. The women, instead of passing their days in languor and idleness, are employed, with bustling activity, in superintending the details of the menage, and even take a very efficient part in that most important department, the kitchen. The consequence is, that there is no part of the Republic in which the advantages of cleanliness are so highly appreciated, or the little comforts of life so well understood. ”

“ The success of the enterprise appears to me unquestionable; and regarding as I do the prosperity of the mines of Mexico, as intimately connected with that of our own trade and manufactures, I should think it a subject of just regret, if, after embarking so eagerly in speculations, of which nothing certain was known, capitalists should not be found to engage in one, the result of which can hardly be regarded as doubtful. ”

“ The children were carried on horseback by two servants; the maids were mounted in a similar manner; and after a very little delay, the whole cavalcade took the road to Tlalpujahua by the new Hacienda of the Chĭmāl, where we stopped to breakfast. Nothing can be prettier than the approach to the Real upon this side. The scenery varies at every turn in the Barranca, while the abundance of water, and the fine vigorous vegetation of the forests on the surrounding mountains, form a most delightful contrast to the monotonous plains of the Interior, by the recollection of which we were long haunted. ”

“ In the execution of these orders, I was obliged to embrace the question of Mining, (in as far as Mexico is concerned,) in the greatest possible extent; for it was necessary to procure, and embody, all the most authentic data now extant, with regard to the former produce of the Mines, and the proportion borne by that produce to the exports of precious metals from all the different ports of New Spain, before I could feel myself warranted in hazarding an opinion, at all, upon a subject so vast, and so important in all its bearings. ”

“ The men are a fine athletic race, but wild, both in their appearance and habits; they delight in glaring colours, as well as in the noisy music of the negroes, and form, when heated with liquor, and dancing after the labours of the day, a striking contrast to the meek and submissive demeanour of the Indians on the Table-land. ”

“ I shall not, therefore, attempt to deny that I write under the influence of these recollections, and that feelings of a private, as well as a public nature induce me to hope that what has passed may be buried in oblivion; for the only mode of averting the evils, which must otherwise be brought upon the country, is for the victorious party to show itself worthy, by its moderation, of the ascendency which it has acquired. ”

“ If a horse be added to the establishment, which is indispensable where there is any mixture of white blood, the forest furnishes abundant pasturage, and it causes no additional expence. A saddle, and a Machete, a long cut and thrust sword, which is almost always worn, are indeed costly articles; but these are transmitted, as heir-looms in the family, from one generation to another; and the young man who obtains possession of such treasures, during his father's life-time, by any exertions of his own, may be said to have established his independence at once. ”

“ It may exalt or debase the national character, strengthen or enervate it, according as it affords more or less scope for the developement of individual talent, and more or less encouragement for its application to the public service: but no constitution, even if it came down from Heaven with the stamp of perfection upon it, could eradicate at once the vices engendered by three centuries of bondage, or give the independent feelings of free men to a people, to whom, until lately, the very name of freedom was unknown. ”

“ The town stands upon a little platform 4,335 feet above the level of the sea, and would consequently be even more exposed than the Encerro to the North-west winds, which have the effect of stunting the vegetation both above and below this favoured spot, were it not protected from their violence by an intervening ridge of mountains; while this being exactly the height, at which the clouds suspended over the ocean touch the Cordillera, there is a constant humidity in the atmosphere, which gives a balmy feel to the air, and a delightful freshness to every thing around. ”