A peep at Mexico: narrative of a journey across the republic from the Pacific of the Gulf in December 1873 and January 1874

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A PEEP- AT MEXICO.

PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY EDINBURGH AND LONDON

MEXICAN EAGLE

PHOTOGRAPHED FROM A SILK EMBROIDERY WORKED

IN COLOURS. BY AN INMATE OFTHE

HOSPICIO DE GUADALAJARA.

i sit

NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY

ACROSS THE REPUBLIC FROM THE PACIFIC

TO THE GULF

IN DECEMBER 1873 and JANUARY 1874.

JOHN LEWIS GEIGER, F.RG.S.

ILLUSTRATED BY

LONDON: TRUBNER & CO., 57 & 59 LUDGATE HILL.

[All rights resetted. ]

a

Preface

Mexico, the first European colony on the North American Continent, has for the last three centuries, and especially in modern times, been a favourite resort of travellers and naturalists, and its capital, as well as the country between it and the eastern coast, have been frequently and ably described.

The portion westward of the metropolis, however, has not been so often visited, and information concerning it is comparatively scarce.

I have therefore ventured to offer the followingpages to the reader, in the hope that some novel facts may be gleaned from them, especially as my journey afforded me an insight into the country under exceptionally favourable circumstances.

The photographs accompanying this volume will, I trust, prove acceptable as an aid towards the better appreciation of scenes of which my imperfect description may have failed to convey a correct idea.

PREFACE.

Twenty-three of their number are reductions from negatives taken by me on the route (many representing views probably never previously photographed) ; the others are copies from photographs either prepared specially for me, or personally selected on the spot.

The short time spent by me in the Eepublic necessarily precludes the remotest claim to completeness for these pages : they simply contain the record of such facts as came under my notice, nor have. I entertained a more ambitious aim than to connect the isolated links of travel and enjoyment. J. L. G.

London, August 29, 1874.

Chapter I. From San Francisco To Manzanillo

Departure from San Francisco — A misnomer — San Diego — Its bay and its condition — The Lower Californian coast — Dolphins and flying-fishes — Cape St Lucas — American cousins of the Needles — Within theHropics — Mazatlan — Distance lends enchantment to the view — A dangerous pier — Dull streets — A sea of fire — Arrival at Manzanillo — Strange scenes — An airy bed — A chilly soldier — The Laguna de Cuyutlan — Short streets and small houses — The plaza — Agua fresca — A picturesque view — The harbour — German merchants— Cahntura — Water-carriers, .• . . 1-19

Chapter II. From Manzanillo To Colima

Early departures — A changeable lake — A curious steamer— Departure from Manzanillo — Uncomfortable thoughts — The Laguna de Cuyutlancillo — Cuyutlancillo — A straggling party — Mozos and their attire — Tropical forest — Organo cactus — Magnificent birds — An Indian village — The Rio de la Armeria — Frijoles — Tortillas — A small bill — Saddle-mules versus waggons — Hacienda de la Calera — Agua de Coco — A dark walk — The Via de Colima — Entrance into Colima — Fonda Hidalgo, .... 20-40

Chapter III. Colima

A pleasant "change — Situation of Colima — Climate — Fever — Streets and houses — The plaza — Its four sides — The Plaza Nueva — The viii CONTENTS.

Rio de Colima — Baths — Wonderful gardens — A vuelta on the plaza — Appearance of the people — Their dress — Charro — Modes de Colima — The theatre — The market — Cotton factories — Clever artisans — Position and productions of the State of Colima — Produce for home consumption and export — Import trade — Mexican promotion — Respectable Governors, .... 41-64

Chapter IV. Colima To Sayula

Preparations for departure — Cheerful intelligence — Start from Colima — JRanchos and their crops — Small-pox — Barrancas — Barranca de Tonila — Tonila — Abundance of food — The standard menu — The Volcan de Colima — The Pico Helado — Pedregales — Enter the State of Jalisco— Hacienda San Marcos — A fine view — Barranca de Beltran — Luxuriant plants and magnificent birds — Mvlas de cargo — Barranca de Vueltas — The pueblo of the hacienda labourers —Hacienda del Platanar — Strange scene — The escort — A dangerous forest — Evil and remedy united— Indulgent authorities — Barranca de Atenquique — A country restaurant — Nopales — M agiwy— Its uses — Pulque — Mezcal and Tequile — Arrival at Zapotlan — Its inhabitants — Corrupt priests — The hotel — The plaza — Fighting-cocks — A comfortable priest — Situation of Zapotlan — Its climate — Its manufactures and products — Mineral wealth — Departure from Zapotlan — A brigand punished — Graves by the roadside — Brigands and brigandage— The summit of the pass — A magnificent view — Arrival at Sayula, . . . . „ 65-99

Chapter V. Sayula To Guadalajara

A family likeness — Sayula — Its climate — An extensive vista — An attempt at swindling — First experience of a diligencia — Departure from Sayula — Closely packed — Cavalry escort — Lago de Sayula — La Cofradia — Carbonate of soda or tequesquite — A cotton-tree — Cebollas — Mexican diligencias — Cocheros and their assistants — Laguna de Zacoalco — A horrible road — Mismanagement of public works — Pozos — An extensive plateau — Santa Ana Acatlan — Santa Cruz and Christmas processions — The valley of Guadalajara — Mexican waggons and carts — Travelling Indios — A small but dangerous barranca— An agreeable change — Arrival at Guadalajara — Comfortable quarters, 100-120

CONTENTS. ix

Chapter VI. Guadalajara

The State of Jalisco— Situation of its capital— Its climate— Streets and houses — Architecture — Wretched outlying quarters — The plaza— - The cathedral — The palacio — The portales— Z)w/ces— Native toys — Clay images — Cajones — Composition of the population — Cotton factories and paper-mill— The Salto factory— Brigands and plagiarios — A picnic interrupted — Brave men — Insecurity of the city — Juan Panadero — A happy editor — Voz de Jalisco, the priest's paper — A violent pamphlet — Hospital de San Miguel de Belen — A morbid taste— The department for the lunatics— The schools — The Cimenterio de Belen — Gavetas — The burial-place of the poor — The Hospicio de Guadalajara — A town of charities — The cuna — Customs encouraging immorality — The schools — Superior embroidery— Trades for youths— The church and a doll-show — Girl's school of San Diego — The teatro, a Roman ruin — Fine interior — A Mexican Italian-opera troupe— Bull-fights, and the bull-arena — An enthusiastic audience — The paseo — The alameda — A Guadalajaran Rotten Row — Walks in the portales — Evening vueltas on the plaza — A practical arrangement — Female seclusion — Serenades without music — A simple pulley— Middle-age habits retained — Strange contrasts, 121-163

CHAPTER XLL

FROM GUADALAJARA TO GUANAJUATO.

Departure from Guadalajara — San Pedro — A poor district — Beggars — The valley of the Lerma — Lago de Chapala — Puente de Tololotlan — Zapotlanejo — A joke — Puente de Calderon — Tepatitlan — Sterile country — La Venta de Pegueros — A forced halt — San Juan de los Lagos — Its saint and its fair — Organo fences — Lagos — A clean diputado — Arboles del Peru or Peruvian pepper-trees — Enter the State of Guanajuato — Leon — Silao — Rugged country — Marfil — Arrival at Guanajuato, 164-188

Chapter VIII. Guanajuato

From bad to good — Site of Guanajuato — Jardin de la Union — New theatre — Superior administration — Foreign residents — Fine country houses — Loza — The presas — El Cantador — A Sunday afternoon there— Riders — Mineral wealth— La Valenciana mine — A pestilen-

CONTENTS.

tial road — A valuable village — A monster shaft — Mining operations— Other mines — Yield of precious metals — Conductas — The Castillo de Granaditas — Trajes del pais — Silver figures — Situation of Guanajuato, 189212

Chapter IX. From Guanajuato To The Capital

Departure from Guanajuato — Irapuato — Improvement in the country — Salamanca — Celaya — Artificial irrigation — The Plaza — Banos — Apaseo — Indian village — Enter the State of Quere*taro — Arrival at the State capital — Superior hotel — Aspect of the town — Its manufactures — Situation and population — A hard day — Questa China — An oasis in the desert — San Juan del Rio — Enter the State of Mexico — The watershed — Arrival at Tula — Our clerical fellow-passenger — Venta del Refugio — A sermon — Traffic on the road — Huehuetoca — A finely balanced coach — Cuautitlan — Wide and shady roads — Tlalnepantla — The valley of Mexico — Irrigation— Modern Aztecs — Approach the capital — Arrival in the city of Mexico, • . . 213-245

Chapter X. In The Capital

Hotel Iturbide — Arrived in the tierra fria — Plaza mayor — The Cathedral— The Sagrario — The Palacio del Gobierno — Portales de Mercaderes — Casa de Cabildo — Lonja — Portales de las flores — View from Cathedral tower — The Alameda — Statue of Charles IV. — The Paseo de Bucareli — The Tacubaya tramway — Tacubaya — Plagiarios — The plagio of Senor Cervantes — The Tlalpam Railway — Chapultepec — A huehuetes — Spanish moss — Puente de Alvarado — Aqueduct of San Cosme — Fuente de Tlaxpana — Tree ■ of the noche triste — Tacuba — The teocalli — Trivoli de San Cosme — Guadalupe — A stone frigate — Paseo de la Viga — The canal — Indios — Guatemozin's bust — Garita de la Viga — Floating gardens — The Roldan market — Santo Anita — Ixtacalco — A strange burial-ground — The calendar stone — Aztec war-god — Sacrificial stone — The Museum — The Academy of San Carlos— Cimenterio de San Fernando — The Cinco de Mayo — Theatres — Situation of the city of Mexico — Its buildings and streets — Climate — The people —Foreigners, 246-294

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XL

ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS.

General ignorance about Mexico — Causes of the civil wars — Laws of Reform — The Intervention — Maximilian's death — Measures against the priests and religious societies — Custom-house malpractices — Inheritance from the Spaniards — Population of the Republic — Creoles — Mestizos — Indians — Climate and productiveness of the country — The future, 295-322

Chapter XII. From Mexico To The Gulf

Departure from the capital — Buena vista station — The Mexico and Vera Cruz Railway — A cold night — Apizaco and the branch line to Puebla — Pico de Orizaba — Boca del Monte — Maltrata — Escorts — Barranca del Infiernillo — Arrival at Orizaba— Fertility around the town — Cotton factory — Resume journey — Barranca de Metlac — Cordoba — Atoyac — Chiquihuite Falls — Luxuriant vegetation of tierra caliente — Barrenness of the country near the coast — Arrival at Vera Cruz — Hotel de las Diligencias — Peculiar hotel arrangements— The nortc — Baths — Embarkation on board the Floride and departure, 323-353

LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS.

The photographs in this volume have been prepared partly from the author's negatives, partly from photographic prints by Messrs Spencer, Sawyer, Bird & Co., Ealing Dean, Middlesex. They are printed by the mechanical autotype process in permanent pigments.

MEXICAN EAGLE, PHOTOGEAPHED FROM A SILK EMBROIDERY WORKED IN COLOURS BY AN INMATE OF THE HOSPICIO DE GUADALAJARA,

TO FACE SAN FRANCISCO AND THE" GOLDEN GATE, MAZATLAN ; THE BEACH, ....

CHIEF STREET IN MAZATLAN, MANZANILLO; THE BAY, .

MANZANILLO ; LAGUNA DE CUYUTLAN IN BACKGROUND. SHORE OF LAGUNA DE CUYUTLAN, MANZANILLO, . STREET IN COLIMA, ....

RUINED CATHEDRAL AND STATE PRISON ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE PLAZA

DE ARMAS, COLIMA, ....

PLAZA DE ARMAS, COLIMA ; NORTH SIDE, .

DO. DO. SOUTH SIDE, .

DO. DO. WEST SIDE, .

THE RIO DE COLIMA AFTER THE RAINY SEASON, . STREET IN THE SUBURBS OF COLIMA, VIEW TAKEN FROM AN AZOTEA, COLIMA, . STREET IN SAYULA, ....

DO. DO. .

PART OF ESCORT IN THE PATIO OF THE FONDA, SAYULA, THE CATHEDRAL, GUADALAJARA, .

INTERIOR OF CATHEDRAL, GUADALAJARA, STREET IN GUADALAJARA, LEADING TO THE HOSPICIO, BULL-ARENA, HOSPICIO IN BACKGROUND, GUADALAJARA, ece.

PAGE

10 15 17 19 43

XIV

LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND MAPS.

BULL-ARENA, GUADALAJARA,

FOUNTAIN IN THE ALAMEDA, GUADALAJARA,

WALK IN THE ALAMEDA, GUADALAJARA, .

THE PASEO, GUADALAJARA,

VIEW TAKEN FROM AN AZOTEA, GUADALAJARA,

GUANAJUATO ; NORTH-WEST PART,

CHIEF STREET IN GUANAJUATO, WITH CATHEDRAL

THE CATHEDRAL, CITY OF MEXICO,

THE PALACIO, CITY OF MEXICO, .

PORTALES MERCADERES, MEXICO, .

PLAZA MAYOR, MEXICO, .

ENTRANCE TO CHAPULTEPEC, . .

CASTLE OF CHAPULTEPEC, NEAR MEXICO, .

TREE OF THE " NOCHE TRISTE " AT POPOTLA, NEAR MEXICO,

CHURCH OF GUADALUPE, NEAR CITY OF MEXICO,

TOLTEC CALENDAR STONE, CITY OF MEXICO,

VIEW ON THE MEXICAN RAILWAY : THE VALLEY OF MALTRATA AND

PICO DE ORIZABA, .

VIEW OF THE RAILWAY SKIRTING THE SIDE OF THE BARRANCA

INFIERNILLO, . . •

VIEW NEAR ORIZABA, . . .

ORIZABA, .....

CURVED RAILWAY BRIDGE OVER THE BARRANCA DE METLAC THE ATOYiC RAILWAY BRIDGE, .

THE ALAMEDA, VERA CRUZ,

TO FACE PAGE 152

333 334 336 342 345 353

LIST OF MAPS.

HYPSOMETRICAL MAP OF THE REPUBLIC OF MEXICO, . . After -preface.

MAP OF PORTION OF MEXICO, FROM THE PACIFIC TO GUADALAJARA, Toface p. 20 MAP OF PORTION OF MEXICO, FROM GUADALAJARA TO CITY OF MEXICO, . 164

MAP OF PORTION OF MEXICO, SHOWING RAILWAY TO VERA CRUZ, . 323

A PEEP AT MEXICO.

Chapter I. From San Francisco To Manzanillo

Departure from San Francisco — A misnomer — San Diego — Its bay and its condition — The Lower Californian coast — Dolphins and flying-fishes — Cape St Lucas — American cousins of the Needles — Within the tropics — Mazatlan — Distance lends enchantment to the view — A dangerous pier — Dull streets — A sea of fire — Arrival at Manzanillo — Strange scenes — An airy bed — A chilly soldier — The Laguna de Cuyutlan — Short streets and small houses — The plaza — Agua fresca — A picturesque view — The harbour —German merchants — Galentura — Water- carriers.

It was on Thursday, December the 4th, 1873, that I quitted San Francisco, and embarked on board the Pacific mail- steamer Montana, bound for the Mexican coast and Panama.

The glorious weather I had enjoyed during my stay in California had given way for the last two days to gusts of wind and drizzling rain; the hitherto splendidly clear sky was now covered with

A

A PEEP AT MEXICO.

black, heavy clouds, and the streets of San Francisco had for the moment lost their cheerfulness and fascination.

I looked upon wind and weather, however, without any feeling of discomfort, for was I not on my way to the tropics, where the rains were over ? and what cared I for Scotch mist, leaden sky, and muddy streets, when a few days would bring me to palms and brilliant sunshine ?

At twelve o'clock, the time appointed for starting, the steamer is unmoored, her huge paddle-wheels revolve astern, and the heavy ship gently backs towards the centre of the bay; the signal -gun is fired; and now good-bye to San Francisco, young and prosperous metropolis of the Pacific, — good-bye to the beautiful Golden State, and its warm-hearted, hospitable people.

The Montana proceeds slowly down the spacious bay, past numerous wharves crowded with craft of all shapes and sizes, and flying the flags of all nations. We gradually begin to lose sight of the city's tall buildings, and gliding by the isolated houses and villas along the shore, we are soon abreast of Alcatraz Island, which occupies the

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We had scarcely left Fort Point, with its graceful lighthouse and extensive fortifications, and were just nearing Point Bonita on the other side, when for awhile the rain ceased and through a break in the clouds the sun sent forth his piercing rays over the troubled waters, seeming to transform the surf that dashed against the craggy coast into showers of diamonds, and casting a magic lustre over the grand and impressive scene.

On the outlying rocks huge seals and thousands of sea-fowl, by their barking and screeching, seemed most thoroughly to enjoy the tumult of the waves, whilst black-fish and porpoises appeared near the sides of the steamer, and flocks of gulls were following in her wake.

A PEEP AT MEXICO.

Two miles to our left, we caught sight of the Cliff House and Seal Eocks, bright with many a pleasant reminiscence of happy hours, and before us lay for thousands of miles the broad expanse of the Pacific.

Yet what a sad misnomer this proved to-day ! Half a gale blowing from the south caused the waters to be anything but peaceful, and recalled to memory the normal condition of the Bay of Biscay rather than that of an ocean which owes its name to a reputation for tranquillity.

After crossing the bar, the steamer's head was turned southward, and away we w^ent against sea and wind, the Montana pitching and rolling to such a degree as to compel the majority of the passengers to seek the privacy of their cabins.

For the next fifty -two hours we sailed along the Californian coast, at a distance of about fifteen miles ; and at five o'clock in the afternoon of December 6th reached San Diego, the southernmost town belonging to the United States on the Pacific, and within a few miles of the Mexican frontier.

San Diego Bay is full of shoals and sandbanks, and the channel leading to the harbour most tortuous and intricate. The steamer was moored to the head of a pier which traverses the shallow approach to the land for about half a mile. The town itself, situate in a barren, desert -like country, is almost entirely composed of wooden houses, and is the exact type of what Americans would call a new Western town. Unlike most of these, however, San Diego is not in a very flourishing condition, and is said to be losing in importance and population. There are, notwithstanding, some who have faith in the future of the place, who still believe in a speedy completion of the Texas Pacific Eailway, which intends making its terminus here, and regard matters in a more cheerful light.

Next morning, at eight o'clock, we resumed our voyage, and for the following three days coasted along Lower California, at times out of sight of land, but mostly at distances from eight to fifteen miles from the shore. It is difficult to imagine anything more desolate than the appearance of this coast. It presents a continuous line of rugged mountains of a reddish-

A PEEP AT MEXICO.

brown colour, without a tree or a shrub, or indeed any green thing ; more forbidding in its awful, arid solitude than any wilderness, more dreary and monotonous than the prairie or the ocean. It was quite a relief to turn the eye away from shore towards the sea, which, in this latitude, is by no means inanimate. Dolphins were seen blowing jets of water high up into the air, black-fish and porpoises gambolled in all directions, whilst from the bows of the steamer we watched the graceful flying-fishes rising in crowds out of the water, and in long, sweeping circles endeavouring to escape from the mysterious monster, which, although harmless, frightened them doubtless more than the largest whale.

In the morning of December the 10th we arrived at Cape St Lucas, where we remained for a short time in order to send a boat ashore with a passenger and the mail-bags. This cape, the southernmost part of the Lower Californian peninsula, is a series of detached rocks, precipitous masses of various sizes and grotesque shapes, hollowed into countless small bays and caves, where hundreds of seals and sea-fowl have taken up their abode.

The so-called town consists of but three houses and a few huts standing on a decline that, between cliffs and hills, slopes gently down to the beach. The only vegetation apparent is huge cacti, which densely cover the surrounding hills, and here and there a palm near the houses ; but, despite the seeming barrenness of the land, there is much in this cosy, isolated little place that imparts to it that peculiar charm inseparable from a tropical landscape.

Proceeding on our voyage, we observed three large rocks rising in succession from the sea, and vividly suggestive of the Isle of Wight Needles ; and then rounding another headland, the steamer changed her course to almost due east, on her way across the entrance of the Gulf of California in the direction of Mazatlan.

We were now within the tropics, a circumstance of which every turn reminded us. It was not only the increased temperature that told of our progress south ; the very air seemed changed, and appeared as if tinged with a purple hue, giving exquisite softness to the jagged outlines of the copper-coloured rocks on the sterile coast, and a

A PEEP AT MEXICO.

deeper, clearer blue to the waters of the sea. The gulls that had followed the ship in crowds ever since we left San JFrancisco were now growing scarcer and scarcer, and where hundreds had two days ago gathered, amidst their shrill notes, the smallest trifle that fell from the steamer, only three or four might now be seen flapping their wings lazily in the hot air, and refreshing themselves by an occasional bath, for the fatigues of this their foreign trip.

Shortly after our departure from Cape St Lucas, we lost sight of land until early next morning, when Mazatlan became visible, snugly situate at the foot of rocks and hills, and on the shore of a small circular bay. Viewed from the sea, the town is most picturesque in its aspect. The low, white, flat -roofed houses, overshadowed by tall palms, and surrounded by giant -leaved bananas, impart to it a truly tropical character, and awaken a longing to go ashore, in order to examine more closely a scene to which distance can lend such enchantment. The experiment of course proved disappointing.

After the Montana had anchored, a quarter of an hours row brought me to the pier, which juts out about a hundred feet from the land.

This was the first time that I had set foot on Mexican soil, and I silently asked myself if the ground I trod was, in its nature, emblematic of the whole country. This pier did not possess a single entire plank; it was rotten and decayed from beginning to end, and unless the eye could be riveted on the ground, an immersion in the sea would have been the unavoidable consequence.

The pier was formerly provided with rails, on which horse-cars transported goods from the landing-stage to the opposite custom-house, but for some unknown reason they had been removed ; another step, as my informant expressed himself, in the retrogression so potent in this part of the country.

Mazatlan may be described as a collection of straight, narrow streets, paved with pebbles, and lined with low, whitewashed houses. The latter are solidly built of stone or adobe* and, with few exceptions, contain a ground-floor alone. A few

* Adobe is sun-dried brick, and the most common building material all over Mexico. It is formed in shapes measuring about fifteen by eight inches in length and width, and about three inches in thickness.

more imposing buildings, belonging to the wealthy merchants of the town, are constructed on a plan (as I afterwards discovered) universally adopted in Mexico,' viz., round the sides of an interior square yard, on to which all the rooms open. There is great comfort in such an arrangement in a climate where shade in the open air is absolutely indispensable.

There is a small public square (plaza) in Mazatlan, lined with orange-trees, and provided with benches, but otherwise unattractive. I also saw a number of spacious gardens, adorned with cocoa -palms, bananas, zapotes, and a great variety of other tropical plants ; but little care seems to be bestowed on their cultivation, and they appeared wild and slovenly.

The streets of the town are dull in the extreme. There are no vehicles of any kind, and but few pedestrians ; a mule -driver beating his heavilypacked animal, or a hawker seated on a doorstep with his few goods spread out on a cloth before him on the pavement, form almost the only occupants. Besides this, the shops lack show-windows, and the houses, with their big iron-barred windows, are one the image of the other; so that a more tame or colourless effect can be scarcely conceived.

The population, numbering about 20,000, is chiefly due to Mestizos* whose features betoken peculiarities of both component races, — the complexion being a yellow brown, and not unlike that of the Arabs. In the best quarters there reside many descendants of true Spanish blood, whilst in the outskirts, composed of thatched huts, the pure Indians prevail.

In the evening, the Montana proceeded on her voyage. The heat was becoming so intense, that people hesitated to retire to their cabins, and the deck was full and gay until a late hour. On that night the sea was illuminated by the most magnificent phosphorescence ; the slightest ruffle on its calm surface flashed into a splendid sheet of fire, and where the steamer came in contact with the water, it would glitter with a million sparks, which lingered until a wide and brilliant trail marked the wake of the speeding ship.

The distance between Mazatlan and Manzanillo is

* Half-castes of Spanish and Indian blood.

about three hundred miles, which took the Montana thirty hours to accomplish, and at nine o'clock in the evening of Friday, December 12th, I arrived at the latter port. The sky was overcast, and the night gloomy, when I disembarked and was rowed ashore. The hot, heavy air was thick with insects, and appeared almost too dense to breathe; the waters gleamed like liquid fire, as each plash of the oars scintillated with waves of rising light ; while from the shore, as yet undiscernible, the breeze wafted notes of music, soft and harmonious. Was this real, or the delusion of a dream, the mockery of inventive imagination ?

I had not time to doubt; the boat was steered to a low pier, a plank of which yielded to my tread, and I stood before a wooden shed — the custom-house — which I was invited to enter by dark-complexioned officials with enormous hats.

After the examination of luggage, which proved less severe than I anticipated, a number of porters shouldered boxes and portmanteaus, and we walked towards the only fonda (inn) in the place.

Across an open space, where dark women and children were squatting before huts dimly lit by tiny lamps of palm-oil, I came to a narrow street, through which, on account of the crowds that thronged it, it was difficult to advance.

All Manzanillo, it seemed, had turned out to enjoy the comparative coolness of the evening after the scorching heat of the day. There were the tall, mysterious figures of the men, dressed in white, with their wide -brimmed sombreros, and knife, sword, or pistol strapped round their waists ; the dark-skinned women, whose most substantial garment was the cloth wrapped around their heads, their offspring in their arms ; children of every age playing amidst a crowd of dogs and pigs, — all mingling and moving.

At the corner of the street, the company was grouped on doorsteps or squatting on the ground, listening to the melancholy strains of two musicians, who, on a fiddle and a contrabasso, performed a strange and plaintive air, that sounded like a tradition of bygone generations.

What a weird, bewildering scene ! It was as if I had entered another world ; as if what I heard and saw were scarcely real; as if the towering palm in the background were an optical illusion;

as if the chirping of a million insects, and the hissing of the surf, were the phantoms of a fevered brain, or the visions of a trance.

I was, however, soon convinced of the reality of the situation when the fonda was reached, and a low barn-like structure of adobe, roofed with straw, pointed out as the sleeping accommodation. I was allotted a small square space partitioned by boards, possessing no window, but provided with a small bed and a rough table. The former consisted of an iron frame, a canvas covering over a network of wire, and a mosquito-curtain, which meagre arrangement I found fully adequate to the requirements of the climate.

The heat of Manzanillo is proverbial, and a story which I heard related about it is too characteristic to be omitted. The legend runs that a soldier stationed here, who had not led the most exemplary of lives, was, when 'he died, condemned to a region not usually named by polite society. Shortly, however, after his burial, his wife was not a little astonished to see her husband return, and beg her to give him his blanket, as he was afraid of catching cold in his new quarters.

Manzanillo is situate in 19° 6' 45" north latitude, and 104° 32' 10" longitude west of Greenwich, on a fine circular bay, surrounded on all sides, excepting the narrow entrance from the sea, by a range of hills, clothed from head to foot with the richest and most varied vegetation. On the other side of these hills, and not two hundred yards from the ocean, lies an extensive lake of brackish water, the Laguna de Cuyutlan. The town is built partly along the narrow strip of land between the mountains and the bay, partly on a small open space formed by a gap in the heights, and bordered on one side by the sea, and on the other by the lake. It comprises three or four short, narrow streets, intersecting at right angles the principal thoroughfare, which runs parallel to the shore, and all are neatly paved with small round pebbles. The houses are, with few exceptions, one-storied, and either substantially constructed of adobe, or lightly built of wood ; all are protected by tiled, sloping roofs, on account of the heavy rains so frequent here in the wet season. There are a goodly collection of neatly - constructed huts, with thickly - thatched