Pátzcuaro

“ The German had learned that the parish priest of Tzintzuntzan wore glasses, and we parted agreed to make the trip together.
Patzcuaro is summery enough by day, but only the hardy would dress leisurely at dawn. A fog as thick as cheese, more properly a descended cloud, enveloped the place, a daily occurrence which the local authorities would have you think make it unusually healthful. An ancient cobbled road leads up and over the first rise, then degenerates to the usual Mexican camino, a trail twisting in and out along a chaos of rocks and broken ground. ”

“ At Patzcuaro you take a turn on the lovely lake in a new American steamboat. Return to Acambaro, turn north to Celaya, connect there with the Mexican Central, and return to town through Queretaro, San Juan del Rio, Tula, with its Toltec ruins, and Huehuetoca, with the great drainage cut of Nochistongo. ”

“ The tourist can visit the islands in one of their “dug-out" pine canoes (canoas) . Paddles with circular blades are used in the canoes by both women and men.
Perhaps no spot in the country deserves the name of "primitive Mexico" better than Lake Pátzcuaro.
Several excursions may be made from Pátzcuaro. The most convenient one is to Uruapan, forty-seven miles by trail to the southwest. There are two small hotels and a cotton-factory in Uruapan. The cotton is of excellent quality, and is brought from the west (Acapulco) coast by pack-mules. ”

“ We told him our time was short; that we must return to Patzcuaro that day to arrange our farther journey; we showed the governor's order and Padre Ponce's letter, but all in vain. We must wait until the cura came. With this I put some centavos in his hand and told him I was certain his duties called him outside the church and that we would not detain him; that we should stay awhile to gaze upon the picture, which deserved close and pious examination. ”

“ Fig. 1. Panoramic view of Lake Pátzcuaro.
Fig. 2. Stuffed skins, in dorsal view, of 6 males of Mephitis macroura macroura, all trapped within a radius of 5 miles of Pátzcuaro, to show the amount of individual variation in color-pattern. × 1⁄10.
Photo by W. C. Matthews.
PLATE 5
Fig. 1. Ungrazed pasture with oaks on slope of El Estribo, 7,700 feet elevation, two miles west of the town of Pátzcuaro, Michoacán. ”

“ Not disheartened, however, and having obtained in that town a few arms and three cannon, he proceeded to Zamora, where he organized a force of over 400 men, whom he placed under the command of Torres, with instructions to proceed to Pátzcuaro and unite his division with the troops under the revolutionary chiefs Padre Navarrete and Manuel Muñiz. [39] In the neighborhood of Pátzcuaro Torres was vigorously attacked by a royalist force. The contest lasted nearly the whole day without the enemy being able to dislodge the insurgents from the position which they taken up on the eminence of la Tinaja. ”

“ We passengers entered an antique tram car, drawn by six mules. It was packed to suffocation, most of the occupants being ladies of the city, who had ridden down to see the train arrive and were now riding back again. Among them sat one whose cracking face, I was told, disclosed leprosy, a disease here not uncommon. Not many gringos visit Patzcuaro, and our strange foreign clothing and unknown speech were matters of curious comment. Our mules clambered up the hill at a gallop, urged by a merciless rawhide. ”

“ Its name is an imitation of the noise of humming birds, which, in the Tarascan days, as now, darted in multitudes over the gay flowers that border the lake in profusion. This people loved birds as they did flowers, and excelled in the delicate feather-work still practised in Mexico, in which bright-colored plumage is daintily made to serve instead of paints. The monarch of Michoacan held court at Tzintzuntzan, but his pleasure-house was at Patzcuaro, eighteen miles away. ”

“ As we drew near Patzcuaro, the car filled up, and among the incomers were a number of pretty señoritas of high-class Spanish type. Their skins were fair, their facial outlines were softly moulded and their large dark eyes were lustrous beneath their raven hair. Most of the ladies smoked cigarettes, for every car is a smoking car in this Spanish-Indian land. Very few Indians rode upon the train. The railway is too expensive a mode of traveling for them. ”

“ Mexico has few large lakes, the largest, Chapala, having an area of only 1,685 square kilometers. Patzcuaro is much smaller, but far more picturesque. The form is something like a fat horseshoe; fine hills rise around it on all sides, behind which are mountain heights, with jagged outlines; pretty islands dot its waters, and twenty-two villages or towns of Tarascan indians are situated on its borders. The indians of these villages rarely use the land roads in going from town to town, commonly journeying by canoes, of a somewhat peculiar type. ”

“ NW Pátzcuaro, 6,700 ft.
Remarks.—La Salada and three miles northwest of Pátzcuaro are the two localities represented by actual specimens. A live animal, at night, was seen one mile east and four miles south of Tacámbaro at 4,500 feet elevation. The young female from three miles northwest of Pátzcuaro was trapped at a break in a stone fence.
Ring-tailed cats live in the stone walls, crevices and rocky ledges, around corn fields and pasture lands.
Mustela frenata leucoparia (Merriam)
Weasel ”

“ As a province subject to the audiencia of Mexico, it was ruled by alcaldes mayores, [33] to whom were answerable a number of lieutenants and chiefs, controlling different towns and tribes. [34] Their residence
Transfer of the Episcopal Seat was at Patzcuaro, which in 1554 had been made the leading city by the transfer of the episcopal seat from Tzintzuntzan. ”

“ This route, formerly practicable for wagons, is well paved with stone on the heavy grades, and passes through a region where considerable wheat, maize, and barley are cultivated. On reaching the top of the hill, the observer may obtain a magnificent view of the Lake of Pátzcuaro, with the vast rolling country beyond. The hamlet of Santa Clara is soon reached. There are copper-smelting works here, charcoal being used for fuel. The ore is brought in leathern sacks on mule-back from Churumuco
Manzanillo Bay. ”

“ Then the road descends to a small village, where the mules are changed. Proceeding farther, the tourist enters a valley, with lofty and densely timbered ridges, or sierras, on either side. A few extinct volcanoes are seen, and the prevailing rock is blue amygdaloidal basalt. The worst part of the road has now been passed, and soon the stage-coach stops, to change animals for the last time. There is very little vegetation along this route. Traveling over an ascending grade for several miles, the observer obtains a view of the eastern end of the beautiful Lake of Pátzcuaro. ”

“ The plan had been matured with great secrecy, but owing to an imprudent act the revolt broke out prematurely in the town of Apatzingan, seconded in Uruapan, and followed up in Pátzcuaro, Guanajuato, San Luis de la Paz, and other places. The pretext alleged was the king's rescript for the expulsion of the Jesuits. Everywhere was heard the cry of mueran! mueran! There were constant violations of law and order; life and property became insecure. ”

“ It appears that it was arranged that all hostilities should cease during this solemn period, that the Wanacaces might join with their late enemies in the ceremonies. The lords of Curincuaro were particularly anxious that the brothers of Patzcuaro should appear at the feast, and to ensure their presence they employed an old [522] woman, who had access to them, to expatiate on the grandeur of the coming festivities, and the number of sacrifices to be offered. She played her part so well that the princes promised to be present ”

“ There were four leagues between us and Cheran, and many more beyond it to Patzcuaro, where we hoped to arrive the next night. Accordingly, we made an early start. Our host agreed to pilot us over the indistinct and tortuous bridle-path to the high-road. Many little mountains, almost artificially regular, arose in the otherwise plain country. As we rode along the trail we saw the church of Parracho far behind us in the distance. The latter part of the road, after Cheran was once in sight, seemed hopelessly long, but a little before ten o'clock we pulled up at the meson. ”

“ In Michoacan Régules had in Jan. made Pátzcuaro his headquarters and begun to encircle Morelia after taking Zamora, whereupon Mendez thought it better to mass his troops with these collecting at Querétaro, influenced by the defeat of Miramon. He left Feb. 13th with nearly 4,000 men. Hans, Queret., 9 et seq.; Estrella de Occid., Mar. 15, 22, 29, 1867; Diar. Imp., Feb. 20, etc. ↑ Basch relieves Fischer and Baron Magnus from the charge of having influenced the step, but casts the blame especially on the 'plutting' Marquez. ”

“ N Zamora, 5,500 ft., 2; 11 mi. W Zamora, 5,750 ft., 11; 61⁄2 mi. W Zamora, 5,950 ft., 4; 6 mi. W Zamora, 5,950 ft., 4; Rio Duaro, 9 mi. E Zamora, 5,500 ft., 1; 3 mi. N Pátzcuaro, 6,800 ft., 1; 3 mi. NW Pátzcuaro, 6,700 ft., 10; 11⁄2 mi. NW Pátzcuaro, 6,700 ft., 1; 2 mi. W Pátzcuaro, 6,700 ft., 3; Pátzcuaro (Chicago Nat. Hist. Mus.) , 5.
Remarks.—The ear measured from the notch is shortest, 19 (18-21) , at Zamora, intermediate, 21 (19-23) , at Pátzcuaro, and longest, 21.8 (20-23) , at the type locality of gratus in the Valley of México.
Peromyscus melanophrys zamorae Osgood
Blackish Mouse ”

“ Here, it is said, his Majesty of Michoacán came out to meet his Spanish ally, when he entered this territory.
Pascuaro is a pretty little city with sloping roofs, situated on the shores of the lake of the same name, and in front of the little Indian village of Janicho, built on a beautiful small island in the midst of the lake. C—-n says that Pascuaro resembles a town in Catalonia. It is entirely unlike any other Mexican city. We made a great sensation as we entered with our lancers and mules, tired and dust-becovered as we were, and brought all the Pascuaranians to their balconies. ”

“ It is probable, however, that the settlement of the Cuzco valley and district by the Incas or “people of the sun” took place some 300 years before Pizarro landed in Peru. The conquering tribe or tribes had made their way to the sierra from the plains, and found themselves a new land sheltered from attack amidst the lofty mountains that hem in the valley of Cuzco and the vast lake basin of Titicaca, situated 12,000 ft. above the sea level. The first historical records show us these people already possessed of a considerable civilization, and speaking two allied languages, Aymara and Quichua. ”

“ The land of the Pastos is excessively cold, and in summer it is colder than in winter, the same thing occurring in the town of the Christians, insomuch that the company of a wife is by no means irksome to a husband, nor is plenty of clothes disagreeable. The delightful town of Pasto was founded and settled by the captain Don Lorenzo de Aldana, in the name of his Majesty, the Adelantado Don Francisco Pizarro being his governor and captain-general of all the provinces of Peru, in the year of our Lord 1539. ”

“ When Gonzalo Pizarro had arrived within a short distance of Cuzco, his companions urged that, having been acknowledged as Governor at Quito on the strength of his appointment and nomination by his brother, he ought now to be Governor of the whole kingdom just as his brother the Marquis was before his death. Should he not take this step, they said, he would be looked upon by all as a weak man wanting in resolution, and he would be held in poor esteem for not daring to take what was rightfully his. ”

“ At a perpendicular elevation of upwards of two miles and a half, nearly on the snow line of the Andes, stands the topmost city of the earth, Ceno de Pasco. It is the capital of the richest silver district of Peru. At the before-named height, the Andes spread themselves out into vast plains or table-lands. Such table-lands—Punas, the Indians call them—sometimes extend hundreds of miles, and, on one of them—that of Pasco—stands the before-named city of Ceno de Pasco, which I took care to visit when I was a dweller in Peru. ”

“ The wild barrenness of the surrounding scenery, and the extreme cold of the rigorous climate—the remote and solitary position of the city—all denote that one common bond of union must have drawn together the diversified elements which compose the population of Cerro de Pasco. And so it really is. In this inhospitable region, where the surface of the soil produces nothing, nature has buried boundless stores of wealth in the bowels of the earth, and the silver mines of Cerro de Pasco have drawn people from all parts of the world to one point, and for one object. ”

“ Pachacutic united to his fame as a warrior the reputation of a wise and liberal ruler. He built the great Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, probably on the site of a still older building, and established in its walls the convent in which five hundred maidens were set apart for the service of the god. He also, it is said, instituted the great rite of the Ccapac-cocha, at which maize, cloth, llamas, and children were sacrificed in honour of the sun-god. He devised a kind of census, by which governors were compelled periodically to render an account of the population under their rule. ”