Tacuba

“ Austin is rich and comely, where live all that trade in silkes; but one of the longest and broadest streets is the street called Tacuba, where almost all the shops are of Ironmongers, and of such as deale in brasse and steel, which is joyning to those Arches whereon the water is conveyed into the City, and is so called for that it is the way out of the City to a Towne called Tacuba; and this street is mentioned farre and neer, not so much for the length and breadth of it, as for a small commodity of needles which are made there, and for proofe are the best of all those parts. ”

“ The retreat of the salt waters of Tezcuco has left the present republican city of Mexico a full league west of the lake. In the days of Montezuma, it stood upon an island two miles removed from the western shore, with which it communicated by the dike or calzada of Tlacopan,—now called Tacuba. The causeway of Iztapalapan, coming from the South, seven miles in length, passed over the island and through the city, and was continued in a line three miles further to the northern shore, and to the city Tepejacac, where now stand the church and the miraculous picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. ”

“ Teresa and to the west of the 2a Calle del Indio Triste. No northern boundary is given.
Taking the point A in the line of the Calle de Tacuba as the hypothetical site of the middle of the entrance in the Eastern wall of the Temple Enclosure and drawing a line A-B to the Eastern end of the C. de Arzobispado, we get a distance of about 450 feet; extend this line in a northerly direction for 450 feet to the point C, and the line B-C may be taken as the Eastern limit of the Temple Enclosure. ”

“ This would bring it sufficiently near to the Palace of Axayacatl for the Mexicans to have been able to discharge missiles into the quarters of the Spaniards. It would also occupy the site of the Solar de Alonzo de Avila, and might be considered to face the Solar of Cristóbal Flores and his neighbours, and we should naturally expect to find it in line with the Calle de Tacuba. Sahagun’s plan is not marked with the points of the compass, but if we should give it the same orientation as Tracing A2, the Great Teocalli falls fairly into its place. ”

“ The largest in the vicinity of Mexico, are those in the ancient garden, at the foot of Chapultepec, of which the most remarkable may be sixty feet in circumference.
Tacuba lies near the foot of the hills, and is at the present day chiefly noted for the large and noble church which was erected there by Cortez. A little in the rear, the ruins of an ancient Mexican pyramid are discernible, constructed of regular courses of unburnt bricks, six inches in thickness ”

“ Old age seemed to have settled down upon everything, and the task to arouse them was so great I refused the contract and left it just as Cortez found it in 1520. The valley surrounding it is very fertile and alfalfa and vegetables were as green as ivy.
Tacubaya is the Monte Carlo of Mexico and the most aristocratic suburb around the city, with fine residences and beautiful gardens and the most handsome villas in the country. From the gate of Chapultepec a causeway leads through a most beautifully shaded avenue to the city, and then I lost interest in it. ”

“ The views along this route towards Chapultepec on the left, and Guadaloupe on the right, are exquisitely beautiful.
Another hamlet, Apopotla, which you pass half a mile before you reach Tacuba, contains, within the enclosure of its churchyard, one of those noble cypresses of the country, which you still find scattered here and there, of a size which warrants their being considered monuments of an age anterior to the earliest traditions of the continent. That at Apopotla is a mighty wreck, with a bole fifty feet in diameter at the height of a man, and of much greater girth above. ”

“ About the middle of the southern causeway called that of Iztapalapa, another causeway branched off obliquely to the south-east, to the town of Cojohuacan; and at the place where these two causeways united stood the town of Xoloc, partly on the sides of the causeways, but chiefly in the water intersected by canals and ditches. Besides these three grand causeways for communicating with the land, there was a smaller mound about two miles south from the causeway of Tacuba, from a town named Chapoltepec, along which the aqueduct, or pipes, for supplying Mexico with fresh water was carried ”

“ In the morning we have rode to Tacubaya and the environs, and the weather at that early hour has the most indescribable freshness, caused by the evening rains. Everything looks bright and sparkling. The Peruvian trees, with their bending green branches and bunches of scarlet berries, glitter with the heavy rain-drops, and even the hoary cypresses of Chapultepec sparkle with water in all their gigantic branches. Little pools have become ponds, and ditches rivulets, and frequently it is rather wading than riding, which is not so pleasant. ”

“ The sick followed on asses, and amongst them various masculine women, with sarapes or mangas and large straw hats, tied down with coloured handkerchiefs, mounted on mules or horses. The sumpter mules followed, carrying provisions, camp-beds, etc.; and various Indian women trotted on foot in the rear, carrying their husbands' boots and clothes. There was certainly no beauty amongst these feminine followers of the camp, especially amongst the mounted Amazons, who looked like very ugly men in a semi-female disguise. The whole party are on their way to Tacubaya, to join Santa Anna! ”

“ Soon afterward the Spaniards destroyed Tenochtitlan, and built a capital of their own on the same site, which has since borne the name of Mexico. Cortes made a great mistake in founding the modern city on the site of the old one, which was situated on soft ground, and involved an expensive system of dikes and causeways. It would have been preferable to have selected an elevated spot in the vicinity, like Tacubaya, about six miles south of the capital. Scarcely a vestige remains of the ancient metropolis. ”

“ This stream is the last that runs eastward, and soon after crossing it the track comes to the highest point over which the road to Tacna passes. Before descending, one notices to the northward, deeply indented on the side of the peak of Tacora, the aqueduct which conveys the water of the river Maury, an affluent of the Desaguadero, to the town of Tacna. This pass, which is called Chulancani, is surmounted by a huge cairn, or “apacheta,” [380] composed principally of the bones of the mules and donkeys that have fallen victims to the soroche. ”

“ On such a night we came to the Tucabaca, the only river of size between the Guapay and the Paraguay. I ordered a halt until the moon appeared, but clouds hid it, and we came perilously near losing a mule in forcing the frightened animals across. Frequently the Tucabaca rises in a few hours to a raging torrent that can only be crossed in a pelota, or in the dugout of a surly old Brazilian negro living in a cluster of huts on the further bank. ”

“ In about an hour stop was made at the equally famous Island of Taboga—the most beautiful place, as seemed to Charley, in the world. It had a white beach; from the beach rose long slopes of green, shaded by bananas, palms, figs, plantains, oranges, limes—every kind of tropical growth. And these slopes were gayly colored with tiers of peak-roofed huts and houses, in pink and yellow and brown and blue and red. Along the beach were scores of white canoes. The people of Taboga, mostly negroes and mixed breeds, appeared to have nothing to do but loaf about and fish and eat and play. ”

“ The 21st February, near the Perico islands opposite to Panama, we took another prize from Lavelia, laden with beeves, hogs, fowls, and salt. The 24th we went to the isle of Taboga, six leagues south of Panama. This island is three miles long and two broad, being very rocky and steep all round, except on the north side, where the shore has an easy dope. In the middle of the isle the soil is black and rich, where abundance of plantains and bananas are produced, and near the sea there are cocoa and mammee trees. ”

“ Taboga Island, the most important of the group, is only one mile and a half long by half a mile broad, but with the adjacent islet of Taboquilla, forms a very convenient crescent-shaped harbour, which unites to a secure haven a tolerably healthy climate, so that during the unhealthy season, when the yellow fever sometimes commits fearful ravages in Panama, many of the inhabitants resort to this island, which, up to the year 1858, had remained entirely free of the scourge. ”

“ The little fishing village is composed of leaning shacks blown out of plumb by heavy winds. Along the beach on bamboo racks the nets are hanging out to dry. At night the little fleet puts out for Punta Gorda, where a ruined watch-tower—a protection against Moro pirates—stands half hidden among creeping vines. The nets are floated upon husks of cocoanut, and set in the wild light of burning rushes. While the men are working in the tossing sea, or venturing almost beyond sight of land, the women, lighting torches, wade out to the coral reef and seine for smaller fish among the rocks. ”

“ Tacon had good reason to offer a special reward [pg 281] for the arrest of Marti, who was looked upon as the leader and chief offender of the smugglers. A daring and reckless man, notorious as a smuggler and half pirate, his name was as well known in Cuba as that of the governor-general himself. The admirers of his daring exploits grew to know him as the King of the Isle of Pines, this island being his principal rendezvous, from which he sent his fleet of small, swift vessels to ply their trade on the neighboring coast. ”

“ For the daily hunt the canoe was moored where the jungle met the river, but every evening at early sunset the camp was made at the edge of some broad, sandy playa as far from the forest as possible. Long before camping the Tacanas had kept a shrewd lookout for recent signs of savages, and after chattering among themselves would indicate a playa that seemed proper and secure. The savages, primitive and nomadic, scarcely more than animals, offered no menace by daylight, but in the darkness lies their opportunity. ”

“ As we honor and revere the names of Washington and La Fayette, so should the dwellers on that island ever love and cherish the name of the illustrious Tacon. At the expiration of four years, he voluntarily retired to Spain, and was succeeded in the government by General Espeleta. "May the shadow of Tacon never be less;" or, as they say in his own native tongue, "viva ustéd múchos âños."
The commerce of Cuba is with the world; yet its importance as a trading mart is chiefly realized by its nearest neighbor, the United States. ”

“ Tacita’s mind, floating between present contentment, a half-forgotten pain, and a mystical anticipation, confused the scene about her with others far away. Clustered windows, crowded sculptures and balconies, seemed to emboss the cliffs at either hand, or float in misty lines along their surfaces. The sound of the haunting cascade became the dip of oars, or the swash of the lagoon ploughed by a steamboat. She saw their time-stained old Venetian house; and the last scenes she had witnessed there rose before her. ”

“ Tahauku was a lonely, beautiful place, typical of the Marquesas, isolated, gloomy, but splendid. There were no craft in the bay except two small cutters moored near the foot of the stone stairs. A group of wooden buildings in an extensive clearing lined the road that led along the cliffs, and about it were thousands and thousands of palms, the finest cocoanut-grove that I had ever seen in the South Seas or Asia or India. They were planted regularly, not crowded, but with space for roots and for air. ”

“ The high bank, and with it the settlement, terminates at the mouth of a narrow channel which leads to a large interior lake abounding in fish, manatee, and turtle.
Beyond Manacápurú all traces of high land cease; both shores of the river, henceforward for many hundred miles, are flat, except in places where the Tabatinga formation appears in clayey elevations of from twenty to forty feet above the line of highest water. The country is so completely destitute of rocky or gravelly beds that not a pebble is seen during many weeks' journey. Our voyage was now very monotonous. ”

“ Blue was tapu to women in Nuku-Hiva, and red, too. They could not eat bonito, squid, popii, and koehi. They might not eat bananas, cocoanuts, fresh breadfruit, pigs of brown color, goats, fowls and other edibles.
Females were forbidden to climb upon the sacred paepaes, to enter the men’s club-houses (this tapu was enforced in America until the last few years) , to eat with men, to smoke inside the house, to carry mats on their heads, and, saddest of all, to weep. Children might not carry one another pickaback. The kuavena fish was tapu to fishermen, as also peata, a kind of shark. ”

“ Fifty-five barrels was our share of "the Juan Fernandez whale," which made us up to two hundred and thirty, all told; not so bad a start, as we were hardly five months from home.
Talcahuana, or "Turkeywarner," as old Jeff and the cook persisted in Anglicizing the name, is like many other places on the Spanish Main, merely the port to a large city; the cities along this coast being pushed up into mountains, at a considerable distance from the seaboard. The place itself is not much to look at, or to discourse about. ”