roofs, the Liliputian church, and the garden fields of Maltrata village. At this great distance and elevation the houses resemble match-boxes and the cows look no larger than dogs. The town is exposed to our gaze like a relief map, and in the centre stands a white-walled, red-domed church which bears an astonishing likeness to one of the toy churches of childhood - the plaster-of-Paris affair with red-stained mica windows and the illuminating candle within. The tremendous vista delights the eye, and the knowledge of altitude and distance charms the senses. Far to the left the watchful, ever-present volcano rears its hoary head above serried ranks of sombre pines. Between this point and the valleys miles below, the vegetation changes with each gradation of climate, and on the most distant, sun-lit lowlands the coquettish palms flash faint, heliographic signals -like ardent love-calls-over miles of flower-flecked valley-land, to the cool, brooding cypresses 5,000 ft. above them. The giddy ride along perpendicular cliffs and over majestic amphitheatres spanned by daring bridges is a memorable one. At every turn fresh beauties reveal themselves; hill is piled upon hill, vales merge and lose themselves in far-spreading valleys. As the train creeps across a spider-like bridge flung above some stupendous chasm, the sight drops a straight 2,000 ft. before it rests on anything on which a blade of grass or a tropical creeper can lay hold. Roaring waterfalls burst from hidden gorges or clefts in the mountains, and tear away like mad things in their search for lower levels. Finally, when the cars creep and skirl along one of the Maltrata cumbres, and edge around a sheer precipice whence the dilated eye dominates a thousand square miles of mountain ridge and tropical valley, the scenery attains its greatest achievement: the experience is akin to that the traveller feels as he rounds Sensation Rock on the Kandy (Island of Ceylon) Railway, or when he stands on a commanding spur of the Matterhorn and gazes with speechless admiration at the wonderful panorama spread out before him. We cross a fear-inspiring bridge on a curve smaller than that of the Metlac bridge, then, after diving through a long tunnel we come to 173 K. Boca del Monte, on the eastern edge of the great Mexican Plateau, 7,849 ft. above Vera Cruz and the sea. Since leaving that port we have climbed 1 M. above the fortress of S. J. de Ūlua, and we have touched three zones - the tierra caliente, tierra templada and tierra fria. Could we see the city at this distance straight below, its houses would appear mere pin-points on a white ground; its cocoa-palms a green blur in the landscape, and the ships in the bay but toy boats afloat in a pool. We should, it would seem, be in cloudland, but the arching sky high above is a beautiful cobalt blue. The air is so clear that details of the landscape stand out with startling distinctness. A range of huge mts. cuts the western sky-line, and behind the ramparts are Popocatepetl, Iztaccihuatl, Malinche, Ajusco, and the giants which guard the Valley of Mexico. 179 K. Esperanza. Rly. restaurant. Meals $1. At this station are huge ware-rooms for storing dried coffee, which would spoil in the moist lowlands where it is grown. A branch railway (F. C. Mex. del Sur-Ramal de Esperanza) leads hence (one train daily in about 4 hrs.) to Tehuacan (p. 526) through El Salado, Cañada Morelos, Ramal del Molino, Llano Grande, Rancho de Cabras, El Carmen and Miahuatlán. Consult the Guia Oficial. A fine view of the Pico de Orizaba is had from Esperanza. From the time the traveller leaves Vera Cruz for the capital this omnipresent, hoary-headed sentinel appears to watch him just as the swift runners of Montezuma spied on Cortés and his men and reported their advance, league by league, to the anxious monarch in Anáhuac. When the morning sun tips the almost perfect cone with a fugitive glory of golden light, or when twilight casts about it its mantle of crimson and violet shadows, the imagination easily pictures it as an Aztec signal fire flashing a warning to Malintzi, thence onward to Popocatepetl and the "White Woman," the guardian spirits of Tenochtitlán. The volcano shoots up ostensibly from the very plain on which Esperanza stands, as if to advise that it, too, has climbed the ramparts of the hills and now girds itself for the swift race to the ancient Aztec stronghold. “Orizaba has," says a witty writer, "what mortals rarely possess united: a warm heart, with a clear, cold head!" Though not so accessible as Popocatepetl, Orizaba, the monarch of Mex. mountains, has been several times ascended. The first essay was made by a party of American officers (of Scott's army) in 1848; the second by a Frenchman, Alexander Doignon, in 1851. When Doignon reached the summit he found planted there the tattered, wind-whipped remnant of an American flag, with the date 1848 cut into the staff. Hitherto the mountain had been regarded as wholly unscalable, and it was not until the daring Frenchman made this second attempt (which almost cost him his life) that the natives credited the story and accorded the honor of the achievement to the modest Americans. An iron cross now surmounts it. The Mt. is shaped like a great ant-hill; climbers experience but little difficulty, as there are no avalanches. The glissade from the summit down to snow-line is very exhilarating. The starting-point for the top is from the little village of San Andrés Chalchicomula (birth-place of the poet Manuel M. Flores), whence several parties start during the year. One or two dry and commodious caves, on the trail, serve as fine spots in which to camp. The natives at the base get ice from the higher reaches of the mountain. The management of the Mexican Rly. (at Buena Vista station, Mex. City) will aid climbers to plan the ascent. According to Aztec Mythology, Quetzalcoatl, God of the Air (p. 304), died at Coatzacoalcos (p. 550) after his departure from Cholula, and his body was brought to the peak of Orizaba, where it was consumed by a divine fire. His royal spirit took flight heaven-ward in the guise of a peacock, since when the Mt. has borne the name (Indian) of Citlaltepetl mountain of the star. The ancient Aztecs believed his spirit would return to Mexico, and to the present-day Aztecs the Mt. stands in almost the same religious light that Fuji-no-Yama stands to the Japanese. Humboldt referred to it as one of the finest peaks of the Mexican Andes. It is 18,225 ft. high, and it was considered the culminating point of North America, until Mt. McKinley (in Alaska) was found to measure over 22,000 ft. 203 K. San Andrés. The run hence to the capital is across the Central Plateau, which is practically level hereabout. During and after the rainy season many wild-flowers enliven the landscape. During the dry season the running train is apt to detach clouds of fine dust which is very persistent and penetrating. A railway line (Ferrocarril de Chalchicomula) runs hence (2 trains daily in 1 hr.) to Chalchicomula, where travellers may plan for the ascent of the Pico de Orizaba. 242 K. San Marcos, junction of the Interoceanic Rly. (Rte. 55), in a district celebrated for apples with a taste like sweet crab-apples. A tompiate (small round basket) of these may be purchased in the season for 25 c. The town is in the state of Tlaxcala, whose people were at war with Montezuma when the Spaniards reached Mexican shores, and who tested the prowess of the Europeans in a fierce battle. They were defeated by the white strangers, with whom they made an alliance, and whose stanch allies they became saving them more than once from annihilation. The isolated peak of Malinche rises close at hand (left), and affords a fine view. Malinche, or Malintzi1 (sorceress), 14,740 ft., is often covered with snow: the natives secure this, mix in lemon and orange juice, and offer it for sale at the station. Much Indian corn and wheat are cultivated hereabout, and the spiky aloe and nopal cacti are used as hedge fences. 259 K. Huamantla, noted for its many churches (uninteresting) and many beggars, most of them pulque-soaked and blear-eyed. The poor town lies on the slope of a hill to the 1. of the station. It is celebrated in American war annals as the place where Captain S. H. Walker, one of the most dashing and chivalrous figures in the war with Mexico, was killed. 285 K. Apizaco: junction of the branch line to (p. 508) Puebla (47 K., 4 trains daily in 1 hr.), trains for which leave from a siding in the same station. There is a rly. refreshment room in the station. Venders of peaches, pulque (p. lxxxii), parakeets, a great variety of canes, onyx souvenirs and whatnot occupy the station platform. The onyx (p. xcvi) pieces, from the quarries near Puebla, are clumsy imitations of better work obtainable either at Puebla or Mex. City. Some of the large canes (often sold to the credulous as coffee-wood) are made of cedar (fresno), and are crudely carved with the national emblem; with bulls, serpents, liberty-caps and cacti. The small, flexible canes are made of a native wood called clasistle; prices (bargaining necessary) range from 5 c. to one peso. Better specimens are also to be obtained at the antique shops of the capital. The rolls of biscuits (crackers) or galletas, which are put up in bamboo splits and sold (25 c. the package) at this station, are baked in the local panaderías. 295 K. Muñoz. 300 K. Guadalupe (not to be confounded with GuadalupeHidalgo, with its celebrated shrine, on the outskirts of Mex. City). At the Ocotlan siding we reach the highest point on the line, 8,333 ft. above Vera Cruz and 986 ft. higher than Mexico City. From this point the plain slopes gradually to the Valley of Mexico. 314 K. Soltepec. 331 K. Apam, in the heart of the great maguey region known as the "pulque district.' The Plains of Apam are as celebrated for pulque as the Valle Nacional is for tobacco and Yucatan for henequén. Here the pulque-producing aloe (Agave Americana), commonly known 1 The correct name of nick-name given by the terpreter to Hernan Cortés. Malinche is Matlacueyatl. Malinche was a in the U. S. A. as the Century Plant, attains its greatest perfection. Broad fields stretch away on every side, unbounded by walls and crossed by symmetrical rows of the huge, spiky plants which resemble exaggerated artichokes. Numerous hacienda buildings with battlemented, fort-like walls and barbicanned towers dot the landscape. Many tlachiqueros (p. lxxxiii) can be seen at work, while donkeys with barrels swung pannier-wise over their backs, and men with pig-skin receptacles carry the nauseous liquid to the fermenting rooms. The unbottled pulque sold at the station (and elsewhere) is apt to be adulterated and should be avoided. 347 K. Irolo. A branch line (ramal) of the Ferrocarril Hidalgo y Nordeste runs hence to (28 kilom.) Pachuca (p. 422), 1 train daily in about 2 hrs., passing through the towns of Amaninalco, San Isidro, Tlanalopa, Santa Inés, Venta de Cruz, Tanque and San Agustin. The line of the F. C. Interoceánico crosses the Mexican Rly. at this point. 356 K. Ometusco. A branch line of the Mexican Rly. runs hence to (46 kilom.) Pachuca, 2 trains daily in 4 hrs., touching at Venta de Cruz, Zempoalla, Tepa, Sandoval and San José. Considerable pulque is produced in the environs of Ometusco. 363 K. La Palma. 369 K. Otumba, the Otom pan of the Aztecs; a poor town 2 M. to the r. of the station. The plain of Otumba was the scene of one of the fiercest battles fought between Spaniards and Indians in the New World. Cortés and his army had been ignominiously ejected from the Aztec city, and they were on the march to Vera Cruz to recuperate their shattered forces. For a description of this battle (in which it is said 20,000 Indians were slain) consult Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, vol. ii, pp. 379 et seq. 370 K. Hueyapan, in the midst of a flat plain dotted with wide corn-fields, in which are skeleton bamboo lookouts that rise 20 or more feet above the ground. Indian boys occupy these fragile towers, swayed by every wind, and they are supposed to maintain a sharp watch for crows and thieves: where a line of trees flank the milpas the youngsters may be seen perched in the highest branches, as much at home 50 ft. or more above the ground as would be any member of the Simian tribe. The long line of electric wires supported by steel towers visible on the r. (one of the longest electrical transmission lines in the Repub.) brings electrical energy into the city from the Falls of Necaxa (p. 517). 380 K. San Juan Teotihuacan. The great Pyramids (see p. 425) are visible to the right. 391 K. Tepexpan. The shallow, brackish waters of Lake Texcoco (Tezcuco) are seen on the 1., and long strips of alkali-impregnated soil show how the lacustrine bed has shrunk. The alkali, a notable feature of the Valley of Mexico, renders the soil arid and retards vegetable growth. 401 K. San Cristóbal. We pass a number of hills, like ancient ramparts, and soon the hill and church spires of Guadalupe (p. 392) are seen on the far right. During the two centuries which succeeded the Conquest the journey from Guadalupe (the outpost of the capital) to Vera Cruz, was made on horse, or mule-back, or on foot, and was a formidable undertaking. At the beginning of the 19th cent. litters (literas) were employed between Vera Cruz and Jalapa (p. 503), and a line of coaches ran thence to the capital. In 1833 the first stage-line was established between Mexico City and Jalapa, and it was extended later to the coast. The journey was attended by many dangers. The unhappy travellers were held up, robbed and sometimes murdered. Bandidos (bandits) infested almost every mile of the road. Three bone-breaking days were required for the trip; the fare of $50 was collected in advance. 420 K. Guadalupe; the station for the sacred shrine, described at p. 392. Bits of ruined causeways, churches doing duty as rly. store-rooms, neglected plazas and lines of multicolored, squat and dreary-looking houses advertise the tawdry suburbs of the capital. The train soon enters the clean and commodious Buena Vista Station. Hand-bags are tumbled through the windows to waiting cargadores (comp. p. lii). A long line of vociferous cocheros (cabmen) and their cabs (coches) stand in the station yard. Hotel runners await the traveller on the sidewalk. A small rly. restaurant serves passengers in -the station. Several other restaurants are to be found a half square to the r., on the Calle de las Estaciones. The administration offices of the rly. are in the station building. 424 K. Mexico City, see p. 232. 55. From Mexico City to Texcoco, San Lorenzo, Oriental, Jalapa and Vera Cruz. INTEROCEANIC RAILWAY OF MEXICO. 474 K. One through train daily, in 13 hrs. (fare $14.39 1st cl.) from the Estación de San Lázaro (Pl. J, 4). Rly. restaurant. The best of the mt. scenery is between La Cima and Vera Cruz. To see this by daylight, travellers usually proceed to Puebla (p. 508) and board an early morning train from there (338 K., 1 train daily in 9 hrs., fare $10.14 1st cl.). Jalapa (p. 503) is one of the quaintest and most charming of the Mexican towns and is worth visiting. Trains for Puebla (several daily) leave from the same station. Between Mex. City and Vera Cruz the line crosses the states of Mexico, Tlaxcala, Puebla, and Vera Cruz. Mexico City, see p. 232. The train passes out through the E. suburbs, parallels the line of the Mexican Rly. (p. 484) and the old Tezcucan causeway, and traverses a swampy district which is partly submerged during the rainy season. Lake Texcoco is seen glistening in the distance, and a number of churches, some of them old and dismantled, dot the landscape. The first town of importance is 39 K. Texcoco (7,391 ft.), the one-time rich and populous suburb of the Aztec metropolis, and the seat of the Tezcucan kings. (The rly. usually runs special Sunday excursion trains to this point; leaving the Estación de San Lázaro at 9 A.M. and returning at 5 P.M. Inclusive fare 50 c.) Texcoco is now interesting chiefly for its historical associations. |