Adventures in Mexico

Front matter

wamtfv i'^v

OtJTI

ADVENTURE LIBRARY

Introduction

The first volume of this Library of Adventure was a description of trapper life in " The Old West " by George Frederick Ruxton. The author of that remarkable book made the second of his three visits to America in 1846-4*7, this time landing at Vera Cruz, and travelling on horseback from the city of Mexico northward to Santa Fe, about 2,000 miles as the trail bore. He then pushed on to the Rocky Mountains, where he lived the life of a free hunter until it was time to return to England, which he did by way of St. Louis and New York. In the spring of 1848 he published a narrative of his adventures that was pronounced by the most exacting of London critics " one of the most fascinating volumes which of late years has issued from the press."

Ruxton arrived at Vera Cruz in August, 1846, and proceeded by way of Jalapa to the city of Mexico. From a mysterious allusion that he makes in his preface to the circumstances under which he determined to traverse the war-torn republic, and from the cordiality with which he was received by Mexican officials — at times they even

6 INTRODUCTION

furnished him a military escort — one may guess that he had a mission of more consequence than merely to satisfy a thirst for adventure; but, if so, its object has never been revealed.

After staying in the capital a few days, Ruxton set forth on a long horseback journey to the northward. Mexico was a particularly dangerous country to explore. Its highways were infested with robbers almost to the portals of the capital. The northern region was overrun by hostile Indians. To make matters worse, Mexico was engaged in war with the United States, and every English-speaking person coming into the country was taken for '' a Texan, a Yankee, a jackass," to be treated accordingly. More than once Ruxton's own life was put in peril by his being mistook for one of those malditos Americanos,

The route at first followed the mountains, as the rainy season had set in covering the plains with water; but soon it was found practicable to descend into the charming champaign of the Rio Lerma. Passing along the edge of the upheaved volcanic region of Jorullo, Ruxton arrived at Queretaro without any incident more exciting than his " standing off " a band of highwaymen. Through the plains of Silao to Zacatecas, and by way of Fresnillo, he reached Durango, the Ultima Thule of " civilized " Mexico.

INTRODUCTION 7

Finding nobody else who dared accompany him into the wild, Indian-haunted country beyond Durango, he had to put up with a known ruffian as his Sancho Panza. Scarcely had they made a good start before this worthy tried to assassinate his employer that he might make off with the animals and outfit. Ruxton, instead of being dismayed at this unauspicious beginning of their acquaintanceship, thrust a pistol in the fellow's face, disarmed him, flogged him into submission, and then made him proceed to carry out his contract as guide and servant. All the way to Chihuahua the days were full of anxieties, and the nights gave constant practice in the art of " sleeping with one eye open."

Having passed through this desolate and savage land, which to Europeans was known only as a blank spot on the map, the adventurer reached Chihuahua in November, none the worse for hardships of the trail, but rather stimulated to go on and finish the task he had set himself to perform.

At Chihuahua we leave him, for the present ; for, although still a long way from the United States boundary line, he now began to encounter Americans, and the narrative assumes another aspect. How he continued his perilous jornadas, and what adventures befel him as a mighty hunter in the Far West, will be told in the next volume of this

8 INTRODUCTION

Library, under title of " Wild Life in the Rocky Mountains."

Our author belonged to that picked company of born explorers who not only know how to observe but how to fare in wild regions and to endure. Nothing came amiss : he was equally at home in mansion or hovel, or bedded on the bare earth of a cold and wind-swept plain. He was, too, a citizen of the world, with a happy aptitude for assimilating with any company that chance might offer. Tactful but dauntless, he could go anywhere — alone if need be — and " get through." Nothing escaped his shrewd powers of observation, to which were joined a knack of vivid description and a hearty sense of humor that enliven every situation in which he was thrown. There was a hard vein in him, however, like that which showed in nearly all our old frontiersmen (we wish he had not kicked the crippled lepero, or expressed regret at not having killed the unsuspecting Comanche chief), but that very hardness was often priceless amid the dangers and difficulties that beset his path.

Ruxton wrote without prejudice, except where Spanish priests were concerned, yet his picture of average Mexican character is a sombre one. His reflections on the character and institutions of Mexico are peculiarly apposite to events of the

INTRODUCTION 9

present-day. Up to the time of his visit this unhappy country had suffered two hundred and thirty-seven revolutions ! It reminds one of what is related by the Spanish poet Quevedo, who, so he says, having descended into hell on a tour of inspection, asked to see the place appropriated to kings. He was shown a small apartment tenanted by only a few wretched spirits. On his remarking that there did not appear to be many of them, the attendant demon indignantly replied, " Fool ! these are all that ever reigned.*'

In the present edition of Ruxton's book, translations of Spanish words and phrases have been added where they did not occur in the original, and the Spanish, if not anglicised, has been italicised throughout, instead of being printed sometimes in italics but oftener in Roman characters, as in the English edition. The text is given in full, with no changes but the necessary corrections, and the elision of a few paragraphs, that add nothing to the interest of the work.

HOEACE KePHART.

Author's Preface

Some apology, I am aware, is necessary for offering so meagre an account of Mexico as that which is set before the reader in the following pages. In justice to myself, however, I may state that all the notes and memoranda of the country I passed through, as well as several valuable and interesting documents and MSS. connected with the history of Northern Mexico and its Indian tribes, which I had collected, were unfortunately destroyed (with the exception of my rough note-book) in passing the Pawnee Fork of the river Arkansas, as I have mentioned in the body of this narrative ;* and this loss has left me no alternative but to give a brief outline of my journey, which, bare as it may be, I prefer to lay before the reader in its present shape, rather than draw at hazard from the treacherous note-book of memory, or the less reliable source of a fertile imagination.

It is hardly necessary to explain the cause of my visiting Mexico at such an unsettled period;

* See Chapter XIV of the next volume of this series, "Wild Life in the Rocky Mountains." (^Ed.)

n

1^ AUTHOR'S PREFACE

and I fear that circumstances will prevent my gratifying the curiosity of the reader, should he feel any on that point.

This little work is merely what its title professes it to be, " The Rough Notes of a Journey through Mexico, and a Winter spent amongst the wild scenes and wilder characters of the Rocky Mountains," and has no higher aim than to give an idea of the difficulties and hardships a traveller may anticipate, should he venture to pass through it and mix with its semi-barbarous and uncouth people, and to draw a faint picture of the lives of those hardy pioneers of civilization whose lot is cast upon the boundless prairies and rugged mountains of the Far West.

With a solitary exception I have avoided touching upon American subjects; not only because much abler pens than mine have done that country and people more or less justice or injustice, and I wish to attempt to describe nothing that other English travellers have written upon before, and to give a rough sketch of a very rough journey through comparatively new ground — but, more than all, for the reason that I have, on this and previous visits to the United States, met with such genuine kindness and unbounded hospitality from all classes of the American people, both the richest

AUTHOR'S PREFACE 13

and the poorest, that I have not the heart to say; one harsh word of them or theirs, even if I could or would.

Faults the Americans have — and who have not ? But they are, I maintain, failings of the head and not the heart, which nowhere beats warmer, or in a more genuine spirit of kindness and affection, than in the bosom of a citizen of the United States.

Would that I could say as much of the sister people. From south to north I traversed the whole of the Republic of Mexico, a distance of nearly two thousand miles, and was thrown amongst the people of every rank, class, and station ; and I regret to have to say that I cannot remember to have observed one single commendable trait in the character of the Mexican; always excepting from this sweeping clause the women of the country, who, for kindness of heart and many sterling qualities, are an ornament to their sex, and to any nation.

If the Mexican possess one single virtue, as I hope he does, he must keep it so closely hidden in some secret fold of his sarape as to have escaped my humble sight, although I travelled through his country with eyes wide open, and for conviction ripe and ready. I trust, for his sake, that he will speedily withdraw from the bushel the solitary

U AUTHOR'S PREFACE

light of his concealed virtue, lest before long it be absorbed in the more potent flame which the Anglo- Saxon seems just now disposed to shed over benighted Mexico.

Contents

CHAPTEB

I Southampton to Barbadoes

II The Ever-faithful Isle

Chapter I

ON the 2nd of July [1846], at 1 p.m., the royal mail-packet steamed out of Southhampton Water. For three hours we had been in the usual state of confusion attending the sailing of a packet on a long voyage. Being the first on board, and having no friends with long faces and handkerchiefs to their eyes to distract my attention, I had leisure to look about me, and survey the different passengers as they came on board, in every stage of delight and despair. Some there were who possibly had set their feet for the last time on their native shore, and had in perspective a tropical futurity, with sugar-hogsheads, cocoa-nuts, and vomitc * in the distance.

*The black vomit of yellow fever; here denoting the fever itself. {Ed.)

Others again were homeward bound, delighted to turn their backs on the suicidal mists of the isle of vapors, and revelling in anticipated enjoyment of the fiery paradise beyond the sea. Red and swollen eyes, however, were in a decided majority; and as the steam hissed and snorted, so did faces become more elongated, and the corners of mouths take a downward angle.

At length the ominous bell gave notice that the moment of parting had arrived. Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and lovers with quivering lip, for the last time embraced; the tender cast off her hawser, and the huge steamer was speeding on her way. And now solitary figures with swollen eyes leaned over the taffrail, gazing intently towards the land, and at the little speck dancing on the waves, which was bearing so quickly away loved objects, seen by many of them for the last time.

Our passengers comprised a motley group: Creoles of the West India islands and the main, Spaniards of Havana, French of Martinique and Gaudaloupe, Danes of St. Thomas, Dutch of Cura9oa, Portuguese of Madeira, Jamaica Jews, merchants of Costa Rica, military officers, and emigrating Yorkshire farmers, were amongst the various items of the human freight.

However, forty-eight hours' shaking together amalgamated the mass ; and when that number of hours and a southerly course had carried us into a smooth sea and heavenly climate, all sorrows were for the time forgotten. A Jamaica Jew had taken up a position on the cabin skylight, where, with a pack of cards and a pile of gold before him, he every day, and all day long, officiated as dueno of a monte-table; a little Rabbi, throwing aside his sacerdotal cares, and shining in glossy black, superintending the receipts and disbursements of the bank. The provideur, who by the way was the life of the ship, was already chalking on the deck a marine billiard-table ; and under his direction and tuition, English and French, Spaniards and Dutch, were soon engaged in momentous matches, on which depended many a bottle of iced champagne.

These amusements, combined with a vast deal of eating, drinking, and smoking, fortunately preserved us in good humor for six days; when, just as shovel-board had lost its charms, champagne its flavor, and the monte Israelite his customers, the welcome cry of " Land ho ! " at midnight on the 12th, turned out all hands on deck ; and there, looming in the misty distance on our starboard bow, lay Puerto Santo, part and parcel of " soft " Madeira.

When I rose the next morning we were standing into Funchal Roads, and shortly after came to anchor within three-quarters of a mile of the shore and opposite the town of Funchal. At this distance the island, rising to a great elevation from the water's edge, with the town, washed by the Atlantic, at its base, and innumerable white houses, with here and there a convent's spires, dotted up the sides, resembles a scene of a gigantic panorama, with every object so clearly displayed to the eye, and fore and back ground of deep-blue sky and azure sea.

On landing in one of the country boats, as soon as the keel had touched the beach, a cavalcade of horsemen, mounted on handsome active ponies, charged to the very water's edge, and, nearly trampling us in their furious onslaught, reined up suddenly, bringing their steeds on their haunches. Our first thought was instant flight; but, finding their object was pacific, we learned that this Arablike proceeding was for the purpose of displaying the merits of their cattle, and to tempt us to engage in an equestrian expedition up the mountain. Selecting three promising-looking animals, and preceded by their funnel-capped proprietors as guides, we proceeded to the town.

Funchal in no degree differs from any sea or river side town in Portugal. The Funchalese are Portuguese in form and feature; the women, if possible, more ordinary, and the beggars more importunate and persevering. The beach is covered with plank sleds, to which are yoked most comical little oxen no larger than donkeys. In these sleds the hogsheads of wine are conveyed to the boats, as they are better adapted to the rough shingle than wheeled conveyances. To a stranger the trade of the town appears to be monopolised by vendors of straw hats and canary-birds. These articles of merchandise are thrust into one's face at every step. Sombreros are pounded upon your head; showers of canaries and goldfinches, with strings attached to their legs, are fired like rockets into your face ; and the roar of the salesmen deafens the ear.

Ascending the precipitous Truas [roads], we soon reach the suburbs, our guides holding on by the tails of the horses to facilitate their ascent. Still mounting, we pass where vines are trellised over the road; sweet-smelling geraniums, heliotrope, and fuchsias overhang the garden-walls on each side; whilst, in the beautiful little gardens which everywhere meet the ej^e, the graceful banana, the orange-tree and waving maize, the tropical aloe and homely oak, form the most pleasing contrasts and enchant the sight. Winding still up the mountain-side, the interminable stone-paved suburb is passed; but even whilst toiling over the uneven slippery pavement, and sitting in an almost vertical saddle, hanging on to the mane like grim death, it is impossible to whisper an imprecation, everything around is so soft and pleasing; and, malgre lui, one (even if he be an Englishman) has not the heart to growl or complain.

Here the vivid colorings of a tropical scene blend in harmony with the sober tints of a more temperate landscape. By the orange and leafspreading banana grow the oak and apple; the cactus and the daisy bloom together ; the luscious pine and humble potato yield their fruit ; and, side by side with the golden-colored canary, the robin redbreast warbles his sweet and weU-known song.

The sides of the mountain are clothed with vines, and numerous streamlets trickle along the roadside, cooling the air with their refreshing murmurs; whilst a mountain torrent here and there forces its impetuous way. The paths which wind along the mountain overhang precipices lined with foliage, and water everywhere glitters through the verdure and relieves the eye. In the valleys are seen delicious nooks, green and cool, shadowed by the lofty rocks, with picturesque cottages and smiling gardens, and scenes of such quiet beauty as one never tires to gaze upon. Turning in your saddle, you see the town of Funchal at your feet, reflected in the smooth and glittering sea. The vessels In the roads appear no larger than fishingboats; and the huge steamer, lying lazily at her anchor, will be the victim of a malediction, that it is so soon to bear you away from this sweet island.

The sun too is not the fireball of the tropics, or even the heat-engendering luminary we have left behind us, but shines faintly bright through a dim soft mist ; and while sweet-smelling flowers dispense their odors around, and the notes of song-birds are heard on every side, the air breathes soft and soothingly. . . .

On leaving Madeira we had thirteen days of most monotonous steaming, during which a most universal ennui prevailed on board, relieved occasionally by the outbreakings of some wooer of the fickle goddess, whose winnings or losings had been more than usually great, and consequently occasioned a greater or less amount of self-gratulation or excitement. When every mortal means of amusement was supposed to have been exhausted, it was providentially discovered that the Rabbi was in the habit of slaying with his own hand, and according to the strict letter of the Mosaic law, the ducks, fowls, and sheep which he desired to devour.

The day after the discovery the butcher was seen to approach the Rabbi with some mysterious communication, who immediately tucked up his sleeves, took a knife which was handed to him by the butcher, and accompanied that functionary to the hen-coops.

In an instant the quarter-deck was deserted; every passenger stealthily took up a position where he could witness the mysterious catastrophe. The Rabbi, with upturned wristbands, carefully kneaded the breasts of several fowls which were offered to his knife by the butcher, and at length, selecting one whose condition was undeniable, casting up his eyes and invoking Moses to give him the requisite nerve, he administered the mystic stab, and instantly retreated. As a reward for the excitement he had caused, I noticed that at dinner that day the Rabbi received most friendly offers of ham and roast pork.

On the thirteenth morning after leaving Madeira the low regular outline of Barbadoes was visible on the horizon. This island exhibits less tropical scenery than any other in the West Indies, being less mountainous, and the plains and hills cultivated in every part, and consequently the bush is cleared off to make way for agricultural improvements. It is not, however, the less beautiful on this account; and everywhere the snug-looking houses of the planters, with mills and sugar-houses, and all the appliances of thriving plantations, were seen as we hugged the shore.

On landing I found myself, very fortunately and unexpectedly, amongst many old friends, whose hospitality I enjoyed during my stay at the island. . . .

I found nothing striking in Barbadoes but the sun, which is a perpetual furnace, and the pepper-pot — a dish to the mysteries of which I was initiated here for the first time. It is a delicious compound of flesh, fish, and fowl, pique with all the hot peppers and condiments the island produces, and mystified in a rich black sauce. The flavor of this wonderful dish is impossible to describe. Imagine a mass of cockroaches stewed in pitch, and a faint idea may be had of the appearance and smell of the savory compound.

Of Bridgetown, the capital, the less said the better. It is infested with a most rascally and impudent race of negroes, who almost resort to violence to wrench unwilling pistareens from the stranger's pocket. Just before my arrival half the town had most providentially been destroyed by fire, so that, if rebuilt, hopes are entertained of a more respectable-looking place being erected.

Chapter II The Ever-faithful Isle

THE next island touched at was Grenada, one of the most picturesque of the Antilles. The little harbor is completely land-locked, and, as it were, scooped out of the side of the mountain, which rises from the water's edge. An old green fort, perched upon a crag, commands the anchorage, and the little town, interspersed with palm-trees and aloes, appears to be crawling up the mountain. Here we remained but a few hours, and steered thence to San Domingo, one of the largest of the group. Coasting along, it presented a bold imposing outline of rugged mountains covered with forests, and but little appearance of cultivation. Staying but a few hours at Jacmel, to receive and deliver mails, we soon came in sight of Jamaica, with its fine bold scenery of mountain and valley; and threading the intricate and dangerous reefs, and passing the forts and batteries of Port Royal, we anchored about noon off Kingston, the chief town of the island.

Here we left the greater part of our fellow-pas- 26

THE EVER-FAITHFUL ISLE m

sengers, including the card-playing Jew and the Rabbi. The former left the steamer minus several hundred pounds by his monte speculation, the greater part of which had been won by two boys from Birmingham, who were on their way to Havana to set up a cooperage. Elated with their (to them) enormous gains, they, in honor of the occasion, sacrificed too freely to the rosy god, the consequence of which was that in a few weeks both were carried off by the relentless vomito.

A couple of days spent amongst the killbucra * and sopilotes * of Uppark rendered my regret at leaving Jamaica anything but poignant ; and taking leave of the dusty dirty town of Kingston, with its ruinous houses and miserable population, in a few days we were coasting along the south side of Cuba, passing Cape Antonio and the Isle of Pines, once famous, or rather infamous, as the resort of pirates, who infested these seas until within a few years, and still the rendezvous of equally nefarious slavers.

La Havana — the Haven — is one of the finest harbors in the world, and capable of holding a thousand vessels. It is completely land-locked, and the entrance so narrow that vessels must pass within musket-shot of the " Morro," whose frown-

*A yellow flower, which is said to be more abundant during sickly seasons. The sopilote is the turkey-buzzard.

ing batteries look down on the very decks. Besides the Morro, the formidable batteries of the Principe and La Cabana show their teeth on each side, and numerous detached works crown every eminence.

The Spaniards may well be jealous of Cuba, which, with their usual fanfaron (just, however, in this case), they style " La joya mas hrillante en la corona de Espana, the most brilliant jewel in the crown of Spain." This, the last of their once magnificent dependencies, they may well guard with watchful eye; for not only do the colonists most cordially detest the mother country, and only wait an opportunity to throw off the yoke, but already an unscrupulous and powerful neighbor " of the north " casts a longing eye towards this rich and beautiful island.

The cruel dissensions and bloody revolutions which have so long convulsed unfortunate Spain have seldom extended their influences to this remote colony. Cuba, content in her riches and prosperity, has looked calmly on, indifferent to the throes which have agonized the maternal frame. Her boastful sobriquet, " Siempre fiel isla de Cuba — the ever-faithful island of Cuba " — has thus been cheaply earned, and passively retained by the ironical Havaneros, who will assuredly one day pluck out from the Spanish crown this " fine

THE EVER-FAITHFUL ISLE 29

jewel," or suffer it to be transferred to a foreign bonnet.

The harbor has been so often described that it is needless to dilate upon its beauties. In one corner is a rank mangrove swamp which exhales a fatal miasma, and which, wafted by the landbreeze over the town and shipping, is one great cause of the deplorable mortality which occurs here in the sickly season. Havana is quite a Spanish town, and reminded me of Cadiz more than any other. It is, however, cleaner and better regulated, with a very efficient police. The streets are narrow, as they ought to be in hot countries, and towards the evening thronged with volantes, a light spider-like carriage peculiar to Cuba, freighted with black-eyed beauties on their way to the paseo, shopping, or to Dominica's, the celebrated neveria or ice-shop, where they very properly pull up " a refrescar un tantito — to cool the courage " — before " showing " on the excitable paseo.

From seven to ten the Paseo Tacon is thronged, and a stranger had better pause before he runs the gauntlet of such batteries of eyes and fans as he never before, in his northern philosophy, thought or dreamed of. The ladies dress in white, with their beautiful hair unsacrificed by bonnet, and, if ornamented, by a simple white or red rose, a la moda Andalu^a, However perfect may be their figures, you see them not. One's gaze is concentrated in their large lustrous eyes, which, when you get within their reach, swallow you up as the sun swallows a comet when he is rash enough to approach too near, throwing you out again, a bumt~up cinder, to be resuscitated and reburned by the next eyes which pass. The Havaneras certainly surpass the Spaniards in the beauty of their eyes, if that be possible.

With their eyes and ahanicos (fans) the Havaneras have no need of tongues ; which, however, they can use on emergencies. Whereas every pretty woman can in some degree " make the eyes speak," no other than a Spanish beauty can use a fan. This is to them the idioma de amor — the language of love. Assisted by the eye it is eloquence itself, and in the hands of a coquette, like a gun in the hands of a careless boy, is a most dangerous weapon. To see this language spoken in perfection, visit the theatre Tacon, which by the way is the prettiest theatre in the world. Here, between the acts, nothing is heard but the clicking of fans, whilst cross fires of lightning-glances pierce one through and through. The front of the boxes in the Tacon is of light open work, through which the light dresses of the ladies are seen, and which has a very pretty effect. Unlike

THE EVER-FAITHFUL ISLE 31

the boxes of our opera, which invidiously conceal all but the beauties " above the zone," here the whole figure, simply draped in white is fully displayed. Foreigners say that an Englishwoman should never be seen but in an opera-box ; and the Spaniards affirm that, whereas an " Englishwoman should be seen at the window, and a Frenchwoman promenading, the gods have vouchsafed that a Spaniard may be looked at everywhere :" " La Ynglesa en la ventana, la Francesca paseandose, la Espanola, por onde se quiere."

Three miles from Havana is El Cerro, where the wealthy merchants have their country seats, and resort with their families during the sickly season. The fronts of these houses are completely open, save by light bars, so that at night, when lighted up, the whole interior is perfectly displayed. Night is the fashionable time for visiting; and through this open birdcage-work may be seen a formal row of males in front of the ladies, for here, in this excitable climate, it is deemed imprudent to bring into actual contact such substances as flint and steel, or fire and tow.

After four days' stay in Havana, I again embarked on board the steamer, and in such a storm of thunder and rain as I shall never forget. I engaged a shore-boat manned by two mulattos, and before we could reach the steamer the hurricane broke upon us. The lightning appeared actually to rain down, the flashes being incessant, whilst the r'ain descended with such violence as nearly to fill and swamp the boat. The boatmen swore and cursed, and crouched under the thwarts ; the sail and mast were blown clean away; and for more than an hour we were unable to face the storm. At length, taking advantage of a lull, we managed to reach the vessel, and after a vexatious delay of several hours got under weigh.