San Juan de Ulúa

“ San Juan de Ulua is built of cement, the prison cells are under the sea and the salt water seeps through upon the prisoners, some of whom lie, half-naked and half starved, in dark dungeons too small to permit of a full grown man lying down in comfort. ”

“ This castle is built upon a small barren island, upon which Juan de Grijalva landed, in June, 1518. It being the day of the feast of St. John, the island was called San Juan de Ulua, The Spaniards found idols here, and vestiges of human sacrifices, offered, the Indians told them, by the natives of Culchua, or Ulua (Mexico) . The construction of the fortress is believed to have been begun in 1662, though spoken of in 1625, but not finished till 1796, when a light-tower (still standing) was added. ”

“ If this immense treasure is squandered on the Castle, it will surely be wasted alone to preserve a vain luxury; for, as Mexico has no hope of becoming a maritime power, San Juan de Ulua must always fall into the possession of such a naval nation whenever it makes war upon us. Experienced Spanish officers have recommended the dismantling of San Juan, and they now urge it more strongly than ever, as there is far greater reason to believe that it neither defends the nation nor even the city of Vera Cruz. ”

“ The 16th of April in anno 1556, we arrived at the port of San Juan de Ulua in New Spain, very naked and distressed of apparel and all other things, by means of the loss of our [Pg 19] foresaid ship and goods; and from thence we went to the new town called Vera Cruz, five leagues from the said port of San Juan de Ulua, marching still by the sea shore: where we found lying upon the sands a great quantity of mighty great trees, with roots and all, some of them four, five, or six cart load, by estimation ”

“ The alarm gun boomed once more from San Juan de Ulua, and reminded them that they could not linger long there. The rain was still falling, the night was cold, and, after their tremendous strain, they would need shelter as well as refuge.
"They'll be searching the beach soon," said Obed, "and we'd best be off. It's against my inclination just now to stay long in one place. A rolling stone keeps slick and well polished, and that's what I'm after."
"I think our safest course is to travel inland just as fast and as far as we can," said Ned. ”

“ The troops of Garay, including those three companies which landed in San Juan de Ulua, previous to his own arrival, amounted, according to my computation, to about twelve hundred men, most of whom were captured by the Indians of Panuco, and their flesh devoured at their festive orgies. Of the fifteen men who survived the expedition of Vasquez de Aillon to Florida, and joined our army, not a single man is now remaining! ”

“ Father Fray Felipe Tallada, a preacher, from Andalucía, who returned to the province.
18. Father Fray Rodrigo de Quiñones, a priest, from Andalucía.
19. Father Fray Juan de Ugarte, a priest from Perú, and a Vizcayan.56
20. Father Fray Francisco Rubio, a priest, and a Castilian.
Three religious died, in Méjico and San Juan de Ulua, of whom very good hopes were entertained. This has caused a great lack here as is the case when any sound religious is taken away. For since so many die, if there is no one to hold the fortification, what has been gained must necessarily be lost. ”

“ Lorencillo had recommended that a party be sent to surprise the fortress of San Juan de Ulúa, and if his advice had been taken, the pirates might have remained masters of Vera Cruz long enough to obtain an immense ransom. But this was deemed too hazardous, and they resolved to plunder the. town and make good their retreat as speedily as possible. ”

“ They have never been heard of because no political prisoner in San Juan de Ulua is ever permitted to communicate in any way with his friends or with the outside world. They cross the harbor in a little boat, they disappear within the grey walls and that is all. Their friends never learn how they get on, nor when they die or how.
Of the official assassins of Mexico the jefe politico is the arch fiend. The jefe politico commands the local police and rurales, directs the acordada and frequently gives orders to the regular troops. ”

“ Recruiting offices are established throughout the country; deserters are pardoned; the old militia, scattered or disbanded, are reunited and increased in number. The defences of San Juan de Ulua, where Lieutenant-colonel Juan María Soto is in command, are improved. To discipline the troops a camp is established at Jalapa. Command of the army is given to García Dávila, governor of Vera Cruz, efficient and experienced. Indeed, he is the only officer of rank in New Spain competent to fill the place. ”

“ As early as August 16 Pillow wrote to his wife that Taylor thought it would be necessary to attack the city of Mexico by way of Vera Cruz.
2. The fortress of San Juan de Ulúa stood on a reef about three-quarters of a mile from the strong fort which guarded the north end of Vera Cruz at the water line. ”

“ Terrible accounts have reached this capital as to what is taking place at Tehuitzingo, District of Acatlan, State of Puebla. It is insistently reported that sixteen citizens have been executed without trial and that many others will be condemned to twenty years' confinement in the fortress of San Juan de Ulua. ”

“ Indeed a number of his most excellent measures were annulled, wherever the oidores thought it for their interest to do so. The restriction on bearing arms was removed, persons exiled for crimes were recalled, prisoners released, and apostates restored to their orders. Further than this, many worthy officials had to yield their posts to adherents of the new party, and among them Pedro Velez de Guevara, governor of San Juan de Ulúa, who was replaced by Francisco Bravo de la Serna, a nephew of the archbishop. ”

“ While the king and his subjects were in this state of anxiety and dread, news arrived, that a number of huge vessels, bearing men speaking an unknown tongue, and clothed in glittering armor, had arrived on the coast of his empire. These strangers, who so naturally excited the admiration and awe of the natives, were no other than Cortez and his companions.
On the second of April, 1519, this bold and enterprising Spaniard entered the harbor of Saint Juan de Ulua, on the eastern coast of Mexico, with eleven small vessels, containing only about six hundred men ”

“ After this victory Cortes sailed northward along the coast of San Juan de Ulloa. The natives of that region had heard of the wonderful white-skinned and bearded men who bore charmed lives, and they thought that these men were gods. ”

“ The annual deathrate is ninety per thousand population, while in the United States it is 22.28 per thousand. The safest way to see the city in the summer is to go in on the train, go out to the old castle of San Juan d’Ulloa about a mile out in the harbor, climb to the light house and take a good look, then get on the same train and get up and out, or rather out and up. The town covers about sixty acres and has no suburbs but sand and water. An avenue of palms on the main street is the principal feature. ”

“ The castle of San Juan de Ulloa is unquestionably the most celebrated of all American fortresses. Its construction was commenced in the year 1582, upon a bar or bank, in front of the town of Vera Cruz, at the distance of one thousand and sixty-two Castilian varas or yards, and it is entirely surrounded by water. ”

“ An attempt has been made to explain the whole, by asserting that, to put an end to the extravagances of Don Juan, and to pacify the family of Ulloa, without exposing the delinquent to the degrading penalties of justice, he was decoyed into this convent under a false pretext, and either plunged into a perpetual dungeon, or privately hurried out of existence; while the story of the statue was circulated by the monks, to account for his sudden disappearance. The populace, however, are not to be cajoled out of a ghost story by any of these plausible explanations ”

“ Out on the desert a man might stop and listen, forming his surmise as the sounds surged to meet him through the heat and silence. He might smile, if he knew San Juan, as he caught the jubilant message tapped swiftly out of the bronze bell which had come, men said, with Coronado; he might sigh at the lugubrious, slow-swelling voice of the big bell which had come hitherward long ago with the retinue of Marco de Niza, wondering what old friend or enemy, perchance, had at last closed his ears to all of Ignacio Chavez's music. ”

“ So, then, San Juan was "what you will." A man may fix his eye upon the little Mission cross which is always pointing to heaven and God; or he may pass through the shaded doors of the Casa Blanca, which, men say, give pathway into hell the shortest way.
Ignacio, having meditatively enjoyed his whiskey and listened smilingly to the tinkle of a mandolin in the patio under a grape-vine arbor, had rolled his cigarette and turned his back square upon the devil . ”

“ There is a peculiar fascination about Spanish and Oriental cities, a barbaric splendor that attracts the eye, even while our common sense tells us of its tawdry nature.
Many have described the San Juan of the past, and as a picture that has been turned to the wall, let us for the last time see the Porto Rican capital through the glasses of a [180] clever newspaperman, whose pen paints its colors just as might the faithful camera. This was as Roderic saw it the day after his safe entry into the town:
San Juan wakes early. ”

“ The street runs due north and south, pointing like a compass to the flat gray desert in the one direction, and in the other to the broken hills swept up into the San Juan mountains. At the northern end, that is toward the more inviting mountains, is the old Mission. To right and left of the whitewashed corridors in a straggling garden of pear-trees and olives and yellow roses are two rude arches made of seasoned cedar. From the top cross-beam of each hang three bells. ”

“ The province of San Juan, which adjoins that of Mendoza, occupies the space between the great Cordillera and the mountains of Cordova, as far north as the Llaños, or plains, of La Rioja. It is said to contain about 25,000 inhabitants, governed, at present, like those of Mendoza, and occupied very much in the same manner, in the cultivation of their vineyards and gardens, and in agricultural pursuits. ”

“ It is the day of San Juan. A broad grassy plain lies just outside the town of San Ildefonso, and upon this the citizens are assembled. It is the scene of the festival, and the sports will soon begin. Before they do, let us stroll through the crowd, and note its component parts. All classes of the community—in fact, all the community—appear to be present. There go the two stout padrés of the mission, bustling about in their long gowns of coarse serge, with bead-string and crucifix dangling to their knees, and scalp-lock close shaven. ”

“ When a baby is born in San Juan, a rarer occurrence than a strong man's death, the littlest of the bells upon the western arch laughs while it calls to all to hearken; when a man is killed, the angry-toned bell pendant from the eastern arch shouts out the word to go billowing across the stretches of sage and greasewood and gama-grass; if one of the later-day frame buildings bursts into flame, Ignacio Chavez warns the town with a strident clamor, tugging frantically; be it wedding or discovery of gold or returns from the county elections, the bell-ringer cunningly makes the bells talk. ”

“ San Juan has grown in population,—owing to the progress of agriculture there, and to the emigrants driven by hunger and wretchedness from La Rioja and San Luis,—and its buildings have sensibly increased in number; facts which prove the natural wealth of the region, and the progress that might be made under a government which cared to foster education and culture, the sole methods of elevating a nation. ”

“ About 1 1/8 miles northeast of the town are the Quintana thermal baths, in a building surrounded by pretty gardens. They are visited by sufferers from rheumatism and various other diseases.
San Juan is a perfect specimen of a walled town, with portcullis, moat, gates, and battlements. The wall surrounding this town is defended by several batteries. Facing the harbor are those of San Fernando, Santa Catalina, and Santa Toribio. Looking toward the land side is Fort Abanico, and toward the ocean the batteries of San Antonio, San Jose, and Santa Teresa, and Fort Princesa. ”

“ The city of San Juan is Colonial in almost all its aspects, and its public and private gardens, filled with mingled tropical and temperate zone trees, shrubs and flowers, exhale the lazy atmosphere of days the memory of which is so constantly recurrent in all distant Argentine towns. Sleepy hollow; maybe, but its charm! A charm which will not nor can ever be “reconstructed,” try all those of us who are afflicted with unhappy artistic temperaments, never so hard. But that charm is still in San Juan, in Misiones (the one-time “Jesuit Empire”) , Salta and Jujuy ”

“ At San Juan, as in all other pueblos, the old adobe church, with its absurdly barbaric furniture and uncouth appearance, is a center of interest. Climbing the rickety ladder to its little gallery, and thence ascending to the roof, one gets the best idea of how valuable a garden spot this district is. As far as the eye can reach, up and down the river, stretch farms and orchards and plazitas. ”

“ Newspapers in the cities commented variously, most of them sweepingly condemning the county's sheriff for a figurehead and a boy who should never have been given a man's place in the sun. New faces were seen in San Juan, in Las Estrellas, Las Palmas, Pozo, everywhere, and men said that the undesirable citizens of the whole Southwest were flocking here where they might reap with others of their ilk and go scot free. ”