Mendoza

“ Placed on the edge of a monotonous desert, and far from all other cities, Mendoza may seem a depressing place to dwell in, yet it has some attractions for those to whom natural environment means something. At the end of those streets which open to the west glimpses are caught of the distant richly coloured mountains; and the man who goes to and fro amidst the crowd on his daily tasks is reminded of the beauty266 of a far-off lonely nature. Then there is the view of the Andes from the southwestern outskirts of the city. ”

“ The campaign of Mendoza, which ended in the horrible tragedy of Pilar, brought on by the bad faith of Aldao, was to him the poetry, the idealization, the realization of his readings. He was only eighteen, a beardless youth, unknown to the world, but he lived in an ecstasy of enthusiasm, ready at any moment to be a hero, to sacrifice himself, or to die, in order to obtain the smallest result in the cause for which he fought,—which was liberty to all as well as to himself. ”

“ Mendoza, with 45,000 inhabitants, the largest city in West Argentina, has a remarkable record. Strange, indeed, that this town at the base of the loftiest of the Andes, by these separated from one ocean, and by 650 miles of pampa from the other, was founded nearly fifty years before the first settlement in the United States and twenty years before the city of Buenos Aires came permanently into being. If we knew or reflected more on the bold deeds of other days in other countries, we might, perchance, have more respect for others and less assurance of our own great superiority. ”

“ Mendoza, by nature firm, amiable, and just, seems nevertheless to have been a person who knew when it was necessary in a new country, to bend before the storm of popular opinion in order to avoid the destruction, not only of his own influence, but perhaps of society, civilization and the Spanish authorities themselves. ”

“ In 1914, foreigners were 310 per 1,000 of the entire population of Mendoza: a larger proportion than for the whole country. The immigrants going straight to Mendoza from the ports numbered 12,000 in 1911, and 15,000 in 1912; almost as much as for the province of Santa Fé, and more than for the province of Córdoba. Thus Mendoza plays a part of its own in the charm which Argentina has for the imagination of Europe. When we examine a chart of the population of South America, we notice that the oases of Cuyo contain the only important groups of European population at any distance from the coast. ”

“ A few silk-clad ladies and their perfumed escorts deigned to descend and stroll a bit. Policemen on magnificent horses, white plumes waving from their helmets, directed the traffic with princely gestures. By dusk all Mendoza was there, every class of society from the proud hidalgo descendent of the conquistadores to the millionaire Spaniard who came out forty years ago with his worldly possessions in a cardboard suitcase, and who now took care to avoid the old Spanish match-seller who was his boon companion on that memorable voyage. ”

“ The province of Mendoza has an area of sixty-five thousand square miles, and about seventy thousand inhabitants, or a little more than one inhabitant to the square mile. The state of education may be known by the fact that more than fifty-five thousand of the inhabitants cannot read or write, and [Pg 446] out of 17,216 children, between six and twelve years of age, in a given year, only 2132 attended school!
Most of the province is a plain; the greater part of this plain is fertile, but there are districts in the south where the herbage is too scanty for the support of cattle. ”

“ The most copious notice with which I am acquainted, of the life of Mendoza, is that attributed to the pen of Iñigo Lopez de Avila, and prefixed to the Valencian edition of the "Guerra de Granada," published in 1776. But his countrymen have been ever ready to do honour to the memory of one who, by the brilliant success which he achieved as a statesman, a diplomatist, a novelist, a poet, and an historian, has established a reputation for versatility of genius second to none in the literature of Spain. ”

“ The traveler who takes the seven-hundred-mile journey westward through the Camp, luxuriously housed in the coaches of the Great Western Railroad, comes upon a different scene and a different life when he reaches the ancient city of Mendoza in the foothills of the Andes. Here it was that San Martín recruited and organized his Army of Liberation, the army with which, emerging suddenly from its isolated hiding place, he startled the world by his crossing of the Andes to fall upon the unsuspecting Spanish. Mendoza is now the center of the wine and fruit industry. ”

“ Cattle-raising, horse-breeding, wheat-growing, and meal preparation, although the staple industries of the Argentine, do not exhaust the list. Mendoza, situated at a point where the Pampas merge into the foot-hills of the Andes, is celebrated for its vineyards. Poplar trees give shelter from the cold mountain winds, and the scene might almost be laid in the Rhone valley. Woods, streams, and lakes give a diversity which is welcome to the traveller who comes from across the plains. Mendoza has plenty of wide streets and low one-story houses. ”

“ Mendoza (137) , province in the extreme W. of Argentina; has the Andes in the W., Aconcagua (23,500 ft.) , the highest peak in the New World, otherwise is chiefly worthless pampa, fertile only where irrigated from the small Mendoza River; there vines flourish; copper is plentiful, coal and oil are found. Mendoza (20) , the capital, 640 m. W. of Buenos Ayres by rail, is on the Trans-Andine route to Chili, with which it trades largely; suffers frequently from earthquakes. ”

“ But the general scenery of the Mendoza Andes is most disappointing. In autumn, at least, even the mighty Aconcagua shows very little snow, and in general the mountains are perfectly bare with the straightest of contours. Their size is their only attraction. In the Province of Mendoza alone the following huge mountains are to be found:—
Nothing can be more desolate than the appearance of these unlovely monsters. ”

“ MENDOZA, DIEGO HURTADO DE (1503–1575) , Spanish novelist, poet, diplomatist and historian, a younger son of the count of Tendillas, governor of Granada, was born in that city in 1503. The celebrated marquis of Santillana was his great-grandfather. On leaving the university of Salamanca, Mendoza abandoned his intention of taking orders, served under Charles V. in Italy, and attended lectures at the universities of Bologna, Padua and Rome. ”

“ In the extreme west of the Argentine Republic, on the high road from Valparaiso to Buenos Ayres, lies the town of Mendoza, in full view of Tupungato and the mighty Aconcagua. Never having, in all their history, experienced any harm from these mountains, the people anticipated none.
“Mendoza had about 20,000 inhabitants and five hundred houses, nearly all of them very handsome. It also contained two very large hospitals, several schools, a splendid cathedral, and several churches. Its trade was prosperous, and more than a hundred large shops testified to the extent of its commerce. ”

“ Mendoza was not an imaginative poet; and it is observable, that when a person, not such by nature, deals in the ideal, the result is rather the ridiculous than the sublime. Acute, earnest, playful, passionate, but neither tender nor sublime, if we except a few of his minor love poems, we read Mendoza's verses rather to become acquainted with the man than seek the soul of poetry in his compositions. ”

“ The halts at Teneriffe and at Rio de Janeiro had resulted in some dissensions among Mendoza's men, and the execution by the orders of the Chief of one of his most popular leaders had all but caused open mutiny at the latter place. Nevertheless, when his forces landed at the site of the present town of Buenos Aires, they constituted a formidable company of men, admirably equipped with everything that the science of the age could devise for the purpose of conquest and colonization, particularly the former. ”

“ The town is said to contain about nine thousand inhabitants; but I think the estimate high, although many persons have given a larger population. It certainly, in numbers, falls below Mendoza. The town is laid out in the same manner as was Mendoza, and is watered by the canals that run from the River San Juan, a stream rising in the Cordillera.
No goitre exists in this vicinity. I saw only one case of it during my stay, and the subject had lived many years in Mendoza. ”

“ The population of the province of Mendoza is calculated to be from 35,000 to 40,000 souls, about a third of which is resident in the city and its immediate vicinity. The executive power is vested in a Governor, periodically chosen, as in the other provinces, by the Junta, or Provincial Assembly. ”

“ Hast heard of the game between Mendoza and Rogelio? No? Then 'tis worth thy standing in the rain to listen to the story. It is like a romance out of Italy. They played last night until the first call this morning, Mendoza losing steadily. That greasy, whimpering veedor hath a dexterity acquired only of the foul fiend himself—thou knowest it, I surmise, Pablo. Ha, ha! Well, Mendoza staked and lost his last duro, then his horse, then his share in the division of the goods of our hot-brained friend, Peralta, and was about to quit a bankrupt. But, would Rogelio take his note of promise? ”

“ To say that Mendoza succeeded were too much, but he did not altogether fail; and, despite his occasional Latinised construction, his Guerra de Granada lives not solely as a brilliant and picturesque transcription. It is also a masterly example of idiomatic [210] Castilian prose, published without the writer's last touches, and, as is plain, from mutilated copies. [15] Mendoza may not be a great historian: as a literary artist he is extremely great. ”

“ I now turn your attention to the provinces of Mendoza and San Juan, as these form a part of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata. In March 1822, I visited these places, and found a very great desire existing there, in regard to education. Our excellent friend, Dr. Gillies, was at that time (and still is) residing in Mendoza. He had contributed much to create such a desire, and was very active in using every means for satisfying it. ”

“ With the exception of the elevated districts of the Andes, the climate of Mendoza is hot and dry. On the plains the rainfall is insignificant, but on the slopes of the Cordillera rains are frequent and winter cold is severe. Agriculture is the principal occupation where irrigation can be used, the province having a high reputation for its raisins and wines. Alfalfa is an important product, being grown for fattening the cattle driven through the province to the Chilean markets. The mineral resources of the province are said to be good, but receive little attention. ”

“ Of the large number of viceroys sent out by the Kings of Spain to govern their new kingdom across the sea none was better fitted for the position than the first one, Mendoza. His many estimable qualities won upon people of all classes, and he paved the way for the future government of his successors by uniting the many apparently incongruous and inharmonious elements of society. ”

“ In this year 1550, I, being in the City of the Kings, heard that, when the most illustrious Don Antonio de Mendoza was viceroy and governor of New Spain, they found certain bones of men who must have been even larger than these giants. ”

“ He lived by the herds of semi-wild animals, which had multiplied amazingly since Mendoza's expedition had introduced the very limited stock, destined later to be converted into the stupendous riches of this country. ”

“ MENDOZA, PEDRO GONZALEZ DE (1428–1495) , Spanish cardinal and statesman, was the fourth son of Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza, marquess of Santillana, and duke of Infantado. He was born at Guadalajara in New Castile, the chief lordship of his family, on the 3rd of May 1428. The house of Mendoza claimed to descend from the lords of Llodio in Alava, and to have been settled in Old Castile, in the 11th century. One chief of the house had been greatly distinguished at the battle of the Navas de Tolosa in 1212. Another had been Admiral of Castile in the reign of Alphonso the Wise. ”

“ It is refreshing to be able to speak well of one of Spain's rulers in America. Mendoza made every effort to carry out the instructions he had received. The duties of his position had been rendered somewhat less difficult of performance by the previous exertions of the second audiencia in the work of reform; nevertheless it was no easy matter to rule with satisfactory results a community divided into factions, whose opposing interests were asserted with jealous claims of merit and equal expectations of support. ”

“ Mendoza was not annoyed by this singular apology.
"You are so quick-tempered, Miguel, that when one least thinks about it, you 'leave a man without the blood in his veins.'"
"It would be worse to leave one without any money."
"Man alive! you haven't lost it yet. I have no doubt that the matter will be settled all right."
"Do you know what plan Eguiburu proposed to me?"
"No; what?"
"That I should also guarantee the twelve thousand duros which he had furnished besides, and then he will wait."
Mendoza made no reply. Both remained lost in thought. ”

“ Mendoza, the new viceroy of New Spain, a man of fine character but utterly without sympathy for Cortes, and who was instrumental in bringing about his downfall, now determined on an expedition of great magnitude: an expedition that should proceed by both land and water to the wonderful Seven Cities of Cibola, believed to be rich beyond computation. The negro Estevan had lately been sent back to the marvelous northland he so glowingly described, guiding Marcos, the Franciscan monk of Savoyard birth, who was to investigate carefully, as far as possible, the glories recounted and speedily report. ”