A Family Flight through Mexico, etc

Chapter XL

Conclusion LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. Istaccihuatl from Amecameca Front. Hazard Lighthouse, Florida . 12 Little Helena Johnstone . . 15 A Vision of Yucatan . . . 16 Scene upon the St. John's. . 18 Tomb of Columbus at Havana . 23 Banana ..... 24 Flying-fish. . . . . 25 Coral Reef . . . . 27 Bird's Eye View of Vera Cruz . 34 Vulture at Home ... 36 Fernando Corte's ... 39 Vegetation of the Tierra Caliente 41 Coffee Branch near Cordoba . 46 From the Tierra Caliente . . 47 View in the Island of Cuba . 53 A Mexican Idol. ... 56 Pyramid of Cholula ... 57 Fruit 58 The Jackson Statue ... 63 Luxuriating .... 74 Ornamental .... 80 The Viga ..... 84 The Cathedral at Merida . . 89 Ruins ..... 94 Lake Cuitzao .... 99 The Sportsman . . . .102 Quetzalcoatl . . . .104 Ladies' Delight . . .113 Ornamental . . . .114 PAGE.

Plaza Santa Domingo, Mexico . 118 Cacti. . . . . .122 Ruins found in Yucatan . . 129 Ancient Vase found in Missouri 130 Montezuma . . . . I^I Ancient Aztec Vase . . . 137 Queretaro I42 The Morning March. . . 143 The Virgin of Guadalupe . . • 144 Ornamental . . . .147 Birds on the Lake . . . 152 Castle of Chapultepec . . 164 Ornamental . . . .170 Cypress Groves of Chapultepec 175 Ornamental .... 178 Ornamental .... 184 Distant View of Mexico . . 186 The Tree of the Noche Triste . 187 Fountain of the Aqueduct . . 189 An Ancient Aztec Temple. . 193 Governor's House, Uxmal. . 197 Bas-Relief at Chichen-Itza. . 198 The Statue of Chac-Mool . . 199 Palemke 202 Tablet in the Temple of the Cross 205 Left Side of Tablet . . .208 Right Side of Tablet . . . 209 Statue at Copan . . . 211 Mayan Women . . . .213 Court of the National Museum .

List of Illustrations. 10 PAGE. Nezahualcoyotl . . . .221 Ornamental . . . 223 Interior of the Cathedral of Mexico . . . . .231 Ornamental .... 236 Municipal Palace . . . 237 Luxuriant Verdure . . . 240 Ancient Temple . . . 241 Interior of Car .... 248 Water-Carrier .... 253 Distant Tula .... 257 Benito Juarez .... 259 Maximilian .... 260 PAGE. Carlotta 261 The Execution of Maximilian . 262 General Manuel Gonzales . . 264 General Porfirio Diaz . . 265 A transient Passenger . . 268 Ornamental .... 269 In Monument Park, Colorado . 276 A Kansas Railroad . . . . 283 Pachuca ..... 287 Ornamental .... 291 A Lake City .... 293 Quien Sabe ? . . . . 299 In mid-ocean .... HAZARD LIGHTHOUSE, FLORIDA.

Chapter I. The

"CITY OF WASHINGTON." "\/OU see this is really very comfortable," said Miss Lejeune, -*- " and I am looking forward with rapture to having my stateroom all to myself. That top-berth, to which poor old Bes sie has climbed so often, will now hold all my little things, and there is plenty of room under the berth and sofa for the rest." " Well," said Clarence Hervey, with a sigh, " if you really like it, we can make no objection, but it seems rather forlorn to launch you off alone, even upon your favorite element." These two old friends were sitting on the sofa of Camerote number five, steamship City of Washington, sailing from New York for Vera Cruz, via Havana. It was the nineteenth of March. The snow was falling in thick wet flakes ; the deck of the steamer, and all the brass railings, ropes, ventilators, sky-lights, were cov ered with a white coating an inch and a half deep.

Mr. Hervey looked out of the square window of the stateroom, and said : " It is a dismal day too, aunt Dut, to send you off. I must say I think the skies frown upon your scheme as we have done." "My dear Clarence, I love this weather; I would not have it otherwise. It heightens the effect of contrast intensely. Only think of the satisfaction I shall have in Mexico, when I tell them the snow was an inch and a half deep when I left New York. And now, Mr. Hervey," she added, rising, " I think you had bet ter go, and I will hunt up Mrs. Johnstone and see if there is anything I can do for her. You know," she added, in a voice which broke a little, " I detest these partings, brief as have always been our separations." They left the cabin, and ascended the curved stairway which led from the lower saloon, upon which the staterooms opened, to a place built up on the deck called " the Social Hall."

As they passed the stewardess, a buxom, pleasant-looking English woman, Mr. Hervey said to her : " You must take good care of this lady, stewardess ; she is travelling by herself." " Never fear, sir," she replied in a cheery voice, "we shall be good friends, no doubt." The Social Hall was a dreary enough place, in spite of a piano, and a row of stuffed seats running around it beneath the windows. It was filled with a crowd of departing travellers and w-eeping friends, driven in from the deck by the discomfort of the bleak weather without. "Good-by," — "Good-by!" A firm clasp of hands, and eyes that looked into each other full of confidence and affection, said more than words could have done of mutual encouragement and cheer. " Do not let them worry about me at home," said Miss Le jeune at the last.

"I shall enjoy everything; and Bessie and Tom will be in Mexico before me, so we shall soon have a merry meeting." She could not well follow her friend through the sticky snow to the gangway ; from the open door she watched him as he crossed the plank, waving her handkerchief in farewell, and then as he disappeared, somewhat sadly she turned and descended again to the lower saloon. Like the upper one, it was crowded with departing passengers and their friends. A babel of languages filled the air, thick with smoke from the cigarettes of the Spanish portion of the crowd. French Spanish, English, American sentences followed close upon THE "CITY OF WASHINGTON." 15 each other and were mingled in .general confusion. Miss Lejeune found little Helena Johnstone, who led her, with some difficulty, to the stateroom of her mother, Mrs. Johnstone, for the sake of whom, in a great measure, Miss Augusta had undertaken the pres ent expedition, although her fondness for travel and several other reasons had made a "combination" which decided her upon it.

Mrs. Johnstone, an old school friend of Miss Lejeune, —and of Mrs. Horner as well, — had been married for about ten years, to an Englishman. During the greater part of this time they had lived in Canada. Not long be fore the beginning of the present "Flight" Mr. Johnstone received from the Queen -an of ficial appointment in Merida, which is the capital city of Yucatan. All the Johnstones came to New York for their outfit, and for a couple of months were in con stant intercourse with LITTLE HELENA JOHNSTONE. the Horner circle, all of whom became interested, with their usual avidity for new information about lands and peoples, in the civilization, both ancient and modern, of Mexico, Yucatan, and the Republic of Central America. Mr. Johnstone was a well-bred, well read man with a good deal of taste in archæological subjects.

He entered with spirit and interest into his new mission, hoping to combine with it investigation and perhaps discovery in the inter esting field of research in the antiquities of Yucatan. Mrs. Johnstone was devoted to her husband and family, — not so much to science. This may be excused, from the absorbing care and interest demanded of her by two children of nine and seven years old, and a new baby, just a year old on the day of departure. She was a gentle little woman of great sweetness of disposition, without any superfluous force of character. For some years her health had not been of the best ; it was hoped that A VISION OF YUCATAN. the milder climate and tropical attributes of Merida mi°*ht render it more robust. The interest which the Homers took in the Johnstone family helped much in making a New York winter tolerable to them.

As for Mrs. Horner, she was perfectly happy. In possession of her own house, with all her family about her, she declared she should never stir again from her household goods. Late in the autumn, just in time to celebrate Christmas in their own country the Herveys had returned to New York, and were pleasantly in- THE "CITY OF WASHINGTON." 17 stalled, keeping house, within easy distance of Mr. Horner's com fortable and hospitable menage. The Hervey baby was the centre around which everything turned. Miss Lejeune even,' who was celebrated for what may be called " an armed neutrality " in refer ence to babies, surrendered to the charms of this one and was known to have actually kissed it once, when no one but the nurse was present. So Mrs. Horner fondly flattered herself that the wandering days were over.

Mr. Horner appeared to have completely changed his character. What he now liked was to stop in and see the baby on his way down town in the morning, and to stop and see the baby on his way up at night. He could not bear the sight of a map, a guide-book or a time-table ; foreign languages had be come odious to him, and the only currency he cared for was good American dollars and cents. But the Johnstones came, and the Johnstones' plans stirred the roving blood, and the thirst for travel still only dormant in some of the Homers. It was Bessie and Miss Lejeune who instigated the conspiracy. Miss Augusta was filled with compassion for her friend, the mother of three children, making a voyage with no other feminine companion than the nurse, or maid, who was to take the baby in charge. She boldly announced her intention of joining the expedition, with no thought for her own future after the end of the voyage ; thereupon Bessie, with the aid of Tom, built a scheme for her protection and their own satisfaction, which will be further unfolded later on, for we must not leave Miss Lejeune any longer in the saloon of the City of Washington.

The ship was off, and gliding along smoothly through the snow storm towards thick banks of dark clouds which hung all round the horizon. The steamer was well warmed with hot pipes, but the deck was intensely cold, and even under cover, as many rugs and wraps were needed as for the Atlantic voyage. Miss Lejeune's sealskin coat and muff and heavy carriage rug were barely enough to keep her comfortable on the firs : c « when she curled herself up «, a corner of the Social Hall and tried to make out some of her companions, by the dim light of the lamps, swinging and rattling, for the weather was somewhat rough. . , But in twenty-four hours all was changed, and on the third day SCENE UPON THE ST. JOHN'S. the passengers on board the City of Washington were sunning themselves on deck, and rejoicing in the softest of airs and love liest of skies.

Cape Hatteras, in the end of March, is held up as a dangerous and uncomfortable point to pass, but with the ex ception of some rolling and tossing for one night, there was nothing disagreeable. On Sunday they were floating tranquilly along the coast of Florida, a long, low shore about two miles off, which re- THE "CITY OF WASHINGTON." 19 minded Miss Lejeune of the Nile, — a line of white sand with bright green above it, broken by openings where rivers came down to the sea. Those of the passengers who knew the country described vividly the snakes and alligators with which it was peopled, for the part of Florida they were passing, is as yet almost inaccessible by any land routes, as railroads have not yet pene trated there. The moon, which was new when they left, grew every night brighter. Awnings were stretched on the deck during the day time, but these were taken away at night, and every evening was lovelier than the one before.

No wraps were now needed, and thick clothing could be discarded. A pleasant little knot of people with whom it was easy to make acquaintance under such circum stances gathered upon the after deck, who, leaning back in their ship chairs chatted lightly of their various past travelling experi ences, and anticipated the coming future ones. The captain, the purser and the first officer often joined their conversations. Won derful were their tales about the sharks which abound in these waters. They are often caught from these steamers. The excitement of cutting open a shark fifteen feet long, is to see what is inside of him, for he swallows everything (like the listeners to this statement), and the captain assured Miss Lejeune that he had seen several whole chickens, a soldier's cap with brass buttons, two hoofs of a cow, and a tomato-can, taken out of one shark.

Chapter II. Havana

IF you get up now, marm, you can see Morro Castle out of your window, right here," said the friendly stewardess ; and there it was. Miss Lejeune kneeled upon the sofa of her state room, and saw the stately castle that guards the entrance of Havana, close at hand. It is very pretty, its solid outer battle ments set firmly on the rock close at the water's edge. The lighthouse, more modern than the rest, forms a part of the build ings of the castle. It was hard to stop looking from the window, but Miss Augusta made haste to dress. Arrived on deck, she found the other side was the more interesting, for there in the full glow of early morning light was the city of Havana. The fine harbor is like an inland pond, with a very narrow entrance. On the port side was Morro Castle ; thence low hills, with some few palms, and the bright green foliage of other trees stretched round to the other side, where the low town encircles the bay.

It looked like Alexandria, in Egypt, Miss Lejeune thought; certainly very unlike New York. The houses were flat-roofed, and painted light yellow for the most part. The sunlight fell full upon them, and they stood out bright and clear against a sky of deep violet gray. The ship was already at anchor, a mile or so from the town, and swarms of boats were hastening towards it like birds of prey. They are called " canoes," but were large and solid, sometimes with two masts, generally with one far forward. Every one had a sort of hen-coop arrangement in the stern which could HAVANA. 21 be covered with an awning. If it was up, however, the heads of passengers stood out between the bars, like chickens going to market. In a few minutes these boats were clustered about the ship, and dark creatures were swarming up her side, some of them " cargadores," employed to unload the steamer of freight des tined for Havana, others runners from hotels ; and the boatmen themselves boarded the deck to make bargains with wary or un wary tourists.

Already trunks were being lowered into the boats, and a shout from a departing hen-coop drew the attention of Miss Lejeune to the pleasant Philadelphia party, going to stay awhile in Cuba. It was a misfortune to lose these agreeable fellow-pas sengers after a few days of easy intercourse. They were to be much missed the rest of the time, especially as the number of travellers was small. Havana is the capital of the Island of Cuba, the largest and one of the finest, of the islands of the West Indies. It belongs to Spain, and is a colony very important to her. Cuba was dis covered by Columbus during his first voyage. He caught the first glimpse of this " Pearl of the Antilles " on the twenty-eighth of October, 1492, and gave it the name of Juana, after Prince Juan, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella, who, unfortunately for the future of Spain, did not live to reign.

After the death of Fer dinand, the island received the name of Fernandina, and again that of Santiago, in reverence for the patron saint of Spain ; but the old Indian name has outlasted the others, and the island is known everywhere as Cuba. Havana, as Miss Lejeune said, is a word which shows how easy a language is Spanish. Turn it round and it means "a Haven." The island remained in the hands of the Spanish without interruption until the latter half of the eighteenth century. Havana was built early in the sixteenth century, its fine harbor, and the protection of the strongly built Morro Castle giving it a start over other towns, and in 1589 it became the capi tal of the island. In June, 1762, Havana was captured by the English, but they occupied the place for only a few months, for by the treaty of Paris in 1763, Havana was restored to Spain.

Yet in the brief time that the English were in the place, it is thought that they gave a start to its prosperity which it has en joyed ever since. Its climate, and the great fertility of the soil, good for growing the sugar-cane and the coffee-plant, as well as tobacco, rice and cotton, would render Cuba the most productive of places, but at present the system of heavy taxes pursued by the Spanish government has gravely checked the prosperity of the island. There is an air of poverty and deterioration about the streets and Paseo, once so gay ; the inhabitants are poor, de pressed and discouraged, a certain melancholy pervades the air, belonging to a population without the spur of progress. Neverthe less, Havana is still a picturesque and most interesting town. Miss Lejeune's Spanish, never very remarkable, was rusty with disuse, for it was two years since the Homers were in Spain.

However, she managed to explain to a dark boatman who hov ered about her on deck, very early in the morning, in a checked blue cotton shirt, tall straw hat, that " mas tarde," she might employ him. Mas tarde, therefore, — i. e. later on — when she had mustered her party, and the first officer had made for them a sharp bargain with him, they descended into his boat and were soon flying with spreading sail over the harbor towards the town, to the Muelle de la Caballeria. Crowds of small boats were fastened to the pier. Two broad steps led up to the landing. Pass ing by booths hung with bananas and oranges, they entered the walls of the town by an iron gate. Mr. Johnstone was with Miss Lejeune, and Theodore his son, commonly called Jack for short. Mrs. Johnstone stayed on the steamer with the nurse and the other children.

Two or three other passengers came on shore in the same boat, and the little groups kept together to stroll through the town with that want of purpose which is sometimes more entertaining than a settled object in first entering a new place. HAVANA. 23 Near the entrance was a pretty plaza bordered with large green trees and tall flowering shrubs, delightful to the eyes of the New Englanders, who had seen nothing but bare branches and slip pery sidewalks for the last four months. Here stands a small chapel and a monument to Christopher Columbus, both white washed, surrounded by an iron railing. Mr. Johnstone, with an im petuous devotion to the great discoverer, praiseworthy in an Englishman, was anx ious to enter the chapel ; but Miss Au gusta's feeble Spanish wrested from a passing Cuban the infor mation that the place is open for admission only one day in the year, the birthday of Christofero.

The chapel is said to con tain pictures repre senting events of the early Spanish discov eries. His tomb is in Tomb of Columbus at Havana. the Cathedral, on the right side of the high altar. Columbus was first buried in Spain, at Valladolid ; later his remains were removed to Seville, and in 1536 they were taken to St. Domingo. When in 1795 this place was given up to the French, the Spaniards resolved to retain the relics of their Great Discoverer, and the coffin was transported to Havana. They went to a money-changers to get some Cuban money, to spend that day only, as it would be of no further use to them. Miss Lejeune was pleased to find she was to receive two dollars and forty cents, Cuban, for a one dollar bill of the United States; but as she immediately after had to pay fifty cents, Cuban, for five five-cent stamps to put on her letters, she decided it was about as broad as it was long.

They wandered into the Cathedral, the exterior not so hideous as it is sometimes described, but within gaudily painted in fresco with tasteless pink and blue decorations ; the ordinary sights in the streets were what amused them the most, negroes, Cubans, whites, all dressed in the thinnest of summer garments, for the sun was very warm, although there was a cool breeze. They had the good luck to see a volante, a private one, new and fresh. It had two large red wheels with very long shafts on which the hooded body of the carriage, made to hold two persons only, was hung, something in the fashion of a "buckboard" wagon. There were two horses, one of them sad dled, and mounted by the postilion, a grand negro dressed in white with tall top-boots. Formerly volantes were the carriages in general use ; the owners were so proud of them that they kept them in their salons or else dining-rooms ; but now they BANANA. have in great measure disappeared.

The streets were lined with rows of open fiacres, like those in Paris, some of them shabby and tumbling to pieces, ready for hire. At the Hotel Telegrafo, a delightful place of which the in-doors was all out-doors, opening on a patio containing tall banana plants, and bird cages, they came upon the Browns and the Heatons who HAVANA. 25 had left the steamer early. They all met as joyfully as if they were lifelong friends who had been parted for weeks ; thus it is with travelling acquaintances, a voyage especially brings with it a flavor of intimacy. The Heatons were surrounded by Cuban friends, the ladies in mantillas, to visit in the country. After egrafo, our party took fiacres, eyes wide open for picturesque with fans, whom they were about an excellent breakfast at the Tel and drove about the streets, with bits ; then they were taken to the shore where a strong surf was breaking.

Across the narrow en trance of the harbor arose Morro Castle and its neighbor, the Cabana, very pretty with its rosy coloring, Moorish in effect. At the Muelle, " Mas tarde," for so they had christened their faithful boatman, was waiting, and over a choppy sea, with many a tack, they returned, not unwillingly, to the good City of Washington which they had come to regard as a kind of home. After this, everything was so changed that it was like a different voy age. The climate took. on a tropical aspect. They sailed over shallow seas of light emerald green, on whose coral bottom they were as- FLYING-FISH. sured great sharks were always hovering; flying-fish leaped about the ship. The deck, covered with an awning, was hot all day, and Miss Lejeune found her stateroom more comfortable than those on deck.

" I spend my life," said the purser, " in trying to persuade people not to take staterooms on the sunny deck." They were at Havana on Tuesday, and on the Thursday the steamer anchored off Progreso, the port of Merida, the ultimate destination of the Johnstones. Here Mr. Johnstone left them, but it had been arranged that his family should go on to the city of Mexico, while he was finding a suitable establishment for them in Merida. It was now that the society of Miss Lejeune was to be of the greatest importance to her friend, who was thus to be left, for a time, by her husband and natural protector. Mrs. Johnstone saw him launched in the boat which was to carry him on shore with a sinking heart. The Gulf of Mexico is so shallow around the coast of Yucatan that steamers are anchored several miles from the shore, only visible as a long low strip of sand and green.

Miss Lejeune would have gladly taken the boat to Progreso with Mr. Johnstone, and as the steamer lay there more than twenty-four hours, there would have been time to go, by rail, to Merida; but she could not well leave Mrs. Johnstone at this time, and she contented herself all day with watching and sketching in her feeble manner the native Mayans filling their boats with the merchandise brought from the States. Load after load of bags of Indian corn and other merchandise were taken from the hold, and the steamer grew lighter and floated high upon the waves. She was glad on the whole she did not make the trip, for in the afternoon the sea was rough, and the boatload of passengers returned dripping wet, and very seasick with bobbing about over the waves. The rest of the voyage was tranquil ; there were two stops, off Campeche and Frontera ; at each of these places the steamer was anchored ten or twelve miles from shore, and had to await patiently the intuitions of the folks on shore who sent out lighters to fetch the freight.

The telegraph from Progreso to Campeche, which announces the coming of steamers, was broken down ; and there can be no telegraphic communication whatever between Campeche and Fron tera, for the monkeys, who constitute the majority of the popula- HAVANA. 27 tion in that part of the world, are determined not to allow inter ference with their civilization by telegraph poles and wires. They instantly destroy the lines as soon as they are stretched, by acrobatic feats, and swinging with prehensile tails, to such a degree that the enterprising telegraph companies have retired baf fled from the field. Miss Lejeune was charmed with this information given by the captain in his most genial manner. " How different," she ex claimed, " how superior to the supineness of the New Yorkers and Bostonians, who allow their roofs to be stretched with wires in every direction.

Why! in Boston, there is such a network of them overhead, that it is like living in an aviary, or behind mosquito bars — another nuisance, by the way, of our civilization!" Perhaps she regretted this condemnation of mosquito-bars the next night at Vera Cruz ; but this is to anticipate. CORAL REEF.

Chapter III. Landing

IT was sad enough parting with Mr. Johnstone at Merida, and Miss Lejeune had hard work to keep the spirits of her party at a proper level for the rest of the voyage, in spite of the lovely weather and the beauty of the clear blue water over which they were sailing through the Gulf of Mexico. Mrs. Johnstone kept to her cabin for the greater part of the day, sometimes coming out to sit in the saloon between the staterooms, where, though dark, it was cool ; and here the others often found her submitting to the comforting conversation of the stewardess, who was always ready to furnish the results of her observation and experience to those under her care. Miss Lejeune and little Helena, and restless Jack on the other hand, passed most of their time on deck, where there was always enough going on to interest and amuse the children ; as for instance, when one of the boats from Campeche brought out two ladies as passengers for Vera Cruz, each of whom had to be hoisted up on deck in an arm chair, with the American flag wrapped round her knees.

One of the ladies brought a bright parrot in a tin cage, the other had a chafing-dish full of cuculeos, — strange-looking beetles which give out a bright light from their backs. A gentleman on board wore one of these creatures, alive, on his coat-lapel, held by a slight gold chain about its waist to which a pin was attached. The theory is that the beetles do not care to eat anything, ever, and are therefore happy and comfort able in chains, their lives one long between-meals. LANDING. 29 As the ship approached Vera Cruz, the great subject of conversation and anxiety became the weather, for this is of the greatest im portance on arriving there. A fierce wind called a Norther has a way of suddenly bursting in upon the loveliest air, stirring up the sea and making it impossible to land, for there is no good, natural harbor.

Steamers are sometimes detained for clays tossing up and down in full sight of the city without being able to send a boat ashore. Clear weather is to be hoped for also in order to see the white top of lofty Orizaba and its companion peak of Perote which should be visible for a long distance. The City of Washington was fortunate enough to escape a Norther, although it came in at the end of a little bit of one which had been blowing about for a few days ; the clouds left by it, however, hung over the shore, so that no wistful searching of the travellers could discover signs of the snowy peaks they so much longed to see. The shore was in sight when they rose in the morning, and as they slowly drew nearer and nearer, Miss Lejeune and the children kept their eyes fixed upon the outline of the pretty town, hoping for a glimpse of the mountains.