from queretaro to the capital.—plain of the cazadero.—tula.—the great spanish drainage-cut.—disastrous inundations of mexico city.—a puzzle for engineers.—arrival at the capital.—hotel life.—restaurants, and the mode of living.—amusing stories of hotel management.—fondas and fonditas.—men for chamber-maids.—almuerzo.—a morning stroll along the streets.—women on their way to mass.—the mantilla.—sellers of sacred things.—dealers in lottery tickets.—lotteries run by government.—attending a drawing.—how the affair was conducted.—flower-sellers.
from queretaro to the city of mexico is a distance of 150 miles. the route of the railway lies through a region which is excellent both for agriculture and stock raising. frank and fred wished to stop at one of the cattle haciendas, but the doctor said they would have an opportunity to see one of these establishments at a later date; so they continued to the capital without making a halt after leaving queretaro.
comparative level of lakes.
they crossed the plain of the cazadero, which obtains its name from an incident of the conquest. about the year 1540 the indians organized a great cazadero (hunt) on this plain, to show their good-will towards the first viceroy, don antonio de mendoza. a great number of them assembled, and the game was driven in from all directions and duly slaughtered by the viceroy and his friends. hunts of this sort are of very ancient date; they are practised by aborigines in all parts of the world, and even
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civilized man does not disdain them. of the civilized class are the kangaroo hunts in australia, elephant hunts in ceylon and india, and the chase of wolves and other noxious animals in the western states of north america and in the siberian provinces of russia.
at the edge of the plain of the cazadero the train reached the foot of the mountain chain that surrounds the valley of mexico. the locomotive breathed heavily as it ascended the slope dragging its burden behind it. the speed was materially reduced from that by which the plain had been traversed, and the reduction showed very plainly that the grade was steep. every turn in
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the road gave a picturesque view, and the youths thoroughly enjoyed their ride towards the famous valley.
the great spanish drainage-cut.
the top of the ascent was reached at tula, of which we shall have something to say later on. then the train entered a gorge, which frank and fred specially wished to look at. it was the tajo de nochistongo, the great spanish drainage-cut, which was intended to save the city of mexico from inundation.
from the windows of the car they shuddered as they looked into the cut, and wondered if never an accident had happened from the falling away of the earth. the cut is twelve and a half miles in length, and is the work of human hands, not of nature. the railway enters the valley of mexico through this cut, and the track is laid on a shelf or bench along its sides and high above the bottom. our friends visited it a few days later, and we will here include frank's account of what he saw and heard.
"the city of mexico stands in a valley which has no outlet, the water that accumulates from the rains being evaporated by the heat of the sun or absorbed in the volcanic soil. the city is in the lowest part of the valley, and is therefore liable to be overflowed whenever the evaporation and absorption are not sufficient to carry off the water that accumulates. there are several lakes that cover a tenth part of the area of the valley. the lowest of them is salt, as it has no outlet, but the others which discharge into it are fresh. this salt lake is called tezcoco. it has an area of seventy-seven square miles, and its surface ordinarily is only two feet lower than the level of the plaza mayor, or great square of the city. in the days of the aztecs the lake surrounded the city, but it is now three miles away from it, owing to the recession of the waters. lake chalco is three and a half feet higher than tezcoco; while zumpango, the most northerly of all the lakes, is twenty-nine feet higher than the plaza mayor. the lakes are separated by dikes, some of which were built by the aztecs before the arrival of the spaniards, but the greater number are of more recent construction, as we shall presently see.
"now, it is evident that an unusual flood of water could raise tezcoco so that it would flood the city, and this is what has happened on five different occasions—in 1553, 1580, 1604, 1607, and 1629. the last inundation continued for five years, and caused an immense amount of suffering and loss. the city was covered to a depth of three feet, and the waters were finally carried off by an earthquake, which allowed them to run away through the crevices that it formed.
"here's where we come to the history of the great cut of nochistongo. the spanish government consulted all the celebrated engineers of the day,
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and they presented numerous plans for draining the city and keeping it out of danger from inundations. enrico martinez presented the plan which was adopted. it was to drain lake zumpango so that its waters would not be poured into tezcoco, but would run to the gulf of mexico by way of tula. for this purpose he proposed to make a tunnel through nochistongo, to carry off the superfluous water of zumpango, or, rather, of the river cuatitlan, which flows into it.
young girls of tula.
"the tunnel was commenced in november, 1607, but when completed
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it was found insufficient to drain the lake, and a new plan was needed. a dutch engineer was then brought in, and he naturally proposed a system of dikes, similar to those of his own country and the dikes already built by the aztecs. he was allowed to carry out his scheme until the arrival of a new viceroy in 1628. the new viceroy would not believe the accounts which he heard of the floods that had occurred, and he ordered martinez to stop up the tunnel and allow the waters to take their original course. he was soon convinced of his error, and ordered the tunnel to be reopened. it was reopened and continued in use until the following june, when martinez found that it was being destroyed by the pressure of the water, and he therefore closed it to save it from ruin. a disastrous flood followed, and this was the one that lasted five years."
"how did the people get around in that time?" fred asked.
"they were forced to use boats," was the reply; "but the getting about was the least part of the trouble caused by the flood. most of the houses were of adobe, and these soon crumbled and fell. the loss was so great that the spanish government ordered the site of the city to be changed to higher ground, but on representations by the city council of the value of the permanent structures which would thus be rendered useless, the order was countermanded. the city was restored after the subsidence of the waters. it has been threatened several times since, but though it has been in great danger the cut and the dikes have saved it."
"but how about the making of the tunnel into a cut?"
"they put martinez in prison as soon as the flood came, and he was kept there for several years. then it was determined to change the tunnel into a cut, and he was released and put in charge of the work. it took 150 years to make it, and though nominally finished in 1789, it has never been entirely completed. thousands of indians died during the work of digging this enormous ditch. it was the greatest earthwork of its time, and in fact the greatest down to the cutting of the suez and panama canals. here are the figures:
"length of the cut, 67,537 feet; greatest depth, 197 feet; greatest breadth, 361 feet. the original tunnel of martinez was four miles long, eleven and a half feet wide, and fourteen feet high. portions of the old tunnel, or rather of its ruins, are visible to-day. there is a monument to the memory of martinez, which was erected a few years ago in one of the public squares of the capital city; it might possibly console him for his five years in prison if he could only come around and look at it."
environs of mexico.
as frank paused, doctor bronson took up the subject and said that even with the waters of zumpango drained away there was still a liability
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of the overflow of the lower lakes. he added that numerous projects had been proposed. some engineers were in favor of drying up tezcoco altogether by turning away the waters that flow into it; others advised draining the waters into a lower part of the valley, if such could be found; and others again proposed a long and large tunnel through the mountains at so
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low a level that tezcoco and the city could be thoroughly drained. to this should be added a canal from the upper lakes to flow through the city and wash out its sewers.
"what will be done about it no one can safely predict," the doctor remarked. "the city is badly drained, its sewage is only partially carried away, and such of it as the water removes is accumulated in lake tezcoco, which is becoming dirtier and more shallow every year. no plan has been proposed that has been pronounced successful, or to which there is not a serious objection. of course almost anything could be done with unlimited money, but mexico, like other cities and countries, has a limit to the amount that might be expended for any given purpose."
the smells that greeted the nostrils of the youths on their arrival at the capital convinced them that the drainage of mexico is little better than no drainage at all. fred remarked that if it were anywhere else than in the very high region where it is (7602 feet above the sea), it would have no need of drainage, as all the inhabitants would die of pestilence.
emerging from the famous earth-cutting, our friends had their first view of the snowy peaks of popocatepetl and iztaccihuatl, the great volcanoes which lie to the east of the city of mexico. they had read and heard much of these famous mountains, and had formed many mental pictures of them. to the credit of the volcanoes, it is proper to say that they fully came up to the expectations which had been formed of them.
the train sped on over the comparatively level region of the valley. for several miles the mexican central railway lies parallel to the mexican national line, and as there happened to be a train on the other track, the passengers had the exhilaration of a race as a concluding feature of their journey.
they had left queretaro a little before noon; it was seven o'clock in the evening when the train rolled into the buena vista station outside the city, and the journey over the mexican central railway came to an end.
doctor bronson had telegraphed for a courier from the hotel del jardin to meet them at the station, and the man was there in accordance with his request. the key of one of the trunks was given up to meet the requirements of the local custom-house, after the manner of the octroi of paris and other continental cities. our friends had found this regulation at all the towns where they had stopped on their route, but the trunks had invariably been passed without being opened, on the assurance that they contained no merchandise.
the hotel del jardin proved to be quite satisfactory, so far as the
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rooms were concerned, but there was not much to be said in favor of the supper to which the travellers sat down, after removing the dust from their garments and making themselves generally presentable. the boys ascertained on inquiry that the hotel was built around the garden of an old convent, and that a portion of it was really the convent edifice. some of the rooms are the former cells of the monks, and the youths concluded that the monks were very comfortably lodged.
a member of the church party.
if all stories, or even a quarter of those that are told, are true, the mexican monks had an easy life of it whenever so inclined. no one doubts that there were many honest and conscientious men among them, but there is also little, if any, room for doubt that a great many men entered the monasteries with hardly a spark of religious feeling about them, solely for the purpose of getting a living without working for it. the number of idlers among them was fully equal to the proportion to be found in the ministry of the church of england. a union of church and state, whether protestant or catholic, is certain to develop a large number of adherents, who live in idleness at the expense of others, and bring discredit upon honest and zealous workers.
during their stay in the city of mexico our friends found that it was the better plan not to stipulate to take their meals in the hotel where they had their rooms. they breakfasted, dined, and supped wherever they pleased, and found the arrangement very satisfactory. in this way they
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tried all the restaurants, from the most pretentious to those of the second and third grades, and found the experiment an interesting one. here are fred's notes upon hotel life in the capital:
"we have visited all the hotels, and find them pretty much alike. as far as we can ascertain, we could not improve our condition by changing from the hotel del jardin, and so have concluded to stay where we are. we have dropped somewhat into the fashion of the country—you know we always do so when it is at all possible—but not altogether. we rise about six in the morning, and have chocolate and a roll or two at seven, and then we go out sight-seeing, shopping, or write letters until eleven, when we have almuerzo, which is a solid meal corresponding to the french déjeûner à la fourchette. so far we are in the line of the mexicans; this is their only solid meal, and late in the day they have chocolate and some light refreshment just before going to theatre or opera. we have so long been accustomed to at least two meals a day that we take a second one similar to the almuerzo somewhere about six o'clock. they tell us that it would not have been easy to obtain this second meal ten or fifteen years ago, but so many foreigners have come here of late that the restaurants are accustomed to it, especially those patronized by foreigners.
transcontinental profile of mexico.
"they tell some funny stories about the hotel customs here. one is that the advance agent of an excursion party went to a hotel and asked the price of rooms.
"'two dollars a day,' was the reply.
"'i have a party of sixty people,' said the agent; 'what terms will you make?'
"'it will be two dollars and a quarter a day for each one,' said the landlord; 'sixty people will make a great deal of trouble.'
"another story was told by a gentleman who came to the city some years ago and met a friend who had arrived one day before him. they left together, and when they came to settle their bills the one who came first, and had been there fourteen days, was charged for two weeks, at ten dollars a week, twenty dollars. the other was charged two dollars
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per day for thirteen days, twenty-six dollars. he protested, and in reply to his protest the landlord explained that when a patron was there fourteen days or more he was allowed weekly terms, but under fourteen days he must pay by the day. 'stay here another day,' said the landlord, 'and your bill will be twenty dollars.'
"'very well,' the stranger answered; 'i'll hold my room till to-morrow, but as i have the money in my hand i may as well pay you now.'
"the landlord accepted the money, made out a bill for twenty dollars, and receipted it. but when he found the gentleman was really going away immediately, he protested that the stranger would not be entitled to weekly rates unless he actually occupied his room that night!
interior court-yard of a mexican hotel.
"all the chamber-maids here are men; we have an indian mozo to look after our rooms, and have not seen a woman about the house since we came here, either as house-keeper, chamber-maid, or laundress. on each floor there is a muchacho, who takes charge of the keys and is supposed to be responsible for the safety of our belongings; and i'm glad to say we have lost nothing during our stay. the mozo and muchacho both
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expect a financial remembrance, and so do the waiters in the restaurants. their expectations are very reasonable, and they receive their gratuities with a quiet dignity that is far preferable to the manner of the attendants of hotels and restaurants in london or paris.
street view in the capital.
"the almuerzo, which i mentioned as the heavy meal of the day, is so important that the business houses and banks close from noon till half-past two or three o'clock,' when everybody is taking breakfast, dinner, and supper all in one. it is necessary to transact in the forenoon any business that you have to do, as it is not at all certain that men will get back to their offices again in the afternoon. the leisurely ways of the mexicans are not at all satisfactory to the impetuous citizen from the northern states of the union.
"the prices of the restaurants seem to us not much, if any, behind those of europe and of new york and chicago. the table-d'hôte dinner at the best restaurants is one dollar, and sometimes more; but we have found a restaurant, the café anglais, where the head-waiter speaks english, and the manager seems to be specially desirous of attracting american custom. at this restaurant the charge is one real for the seven
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o'clock breakfast of chocolate and bread, and five reals for the eleven o'clock breakfast; dinner is five reals; and all three of the meals are furnished for thirty dollars a month, or one dollar a day. of course we do not want board by the month, nor to go among americans, whom we did not come here to see; we have been eating mexican dishes at the fondas, and for four reals have had excellent meals. fonda means restaurant, and fondita means café; fonda also means hotel, and a hotel for travellers only. there is another kind of hotel or inn, for horned cattle and horses as well as for human beings; establishments of this kind are called mesones or posadas."
on the way to morning mass.
bright and early on the morning following their arrival the youths were out to see the sights of the mexican capital. they did not wait for the early breakfast, but on hearing the bell from a neighboring church tower they sallied forth in time to see the streets filled with people on their way to morning mass. fred made note of the fact that women seemed to be very much in the majority, and he was not surprised to learn afterwards, in conversation with a
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gentleman who resided in the city, that religion in mexico has its greatest hold upon the women. "the men are negligent of, or, as a general thing, indifferent to, religious subjects," said his informant; "and were it not for the women of mexico the church would have very little hold upon the population."
a modern street front.
the ladies were in mantillas, which are the rule of society for morning mass, though not for promenades at later hours of the day. since the influx of foreigners, in the last decade or so, the fashions of mexico have undergone a change, and steadily approach the parisian. but the mantilla still holds its place for morning mass, and will probably do so for a long while. of course the priests might change it if they desired to do so, but they are opposed to innovations, and were, speaking generally, bitter opponents of the railway and telegraph. the mantilla is a very becoming outside garment for a pretty woman whose brunette complexion harmonizes with what she wears. frank and fred carried with them for hours, if not for a longer period, the recollection of some of the faces that came within the range of their vision on that morning walk.
they were frequently accosted by the sellers of crucifixes, rosaries, and other things appertaining to the religion which was represented by the people on their way to mass. evidently the morning is the best time for these venders to dispose of their wares, and they endeavor to make the most of it. rather incongruously, these dealers in sacred things were jostled by the sellers of lottery tickets; these gentry pursue their avocations at all hours and in all places and are very persistent. they offer to sell you the ticket that will be sure to draw the highest prize, and in every way possible exercise their ingenuity to persuade you to buy. the tickets are of all prices, and one can invest much or little, according to his means and inclination.
frank investigated the subject of lotteries in mexico, and found that they were a regular institution of the country; in fact, they are to be
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found in pretty nearly all the countries of spanish america. the government gives charters to certain associations, and very often runs the lottery itself; the profits are large, and the government makes a handsome revenue from the business. the sale of tickets amounts to about $3,000,000 a year in mexico; and after deducting the value of the prizes and the expense of conducting the enterprise, the net revenue to the government is not far from $800,000.
mexican lottery ticket.
frank did not invest in the lottery, but he went to witness one of the drawings. it took place in public, and seemed to be perfectly fair. the numbers were drawn from the boxes by blind boys, who were brought from one of the hospitals for the blind, and were accompanied by the professor in charge of that institution. sometimes, when a blind boy or man cannot be easily obtained, the drawing is made by an indian who cannot read; and he is carefully blindfolded, so that there can be no suspicion of fraud.
judging by the large attendance at the drawing, it is evident that the lottery is very popular in mexico. nearly everybody seems to speculate in the tickets, and when the drawing is made and the lucky number announced, there is intense excitement. there is an old adage that lightning does not strike twice in the same place. it would seem as if the proverb
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should be reversed, as the story goes that señor manuel garcia, the owner of a hacienda near manzanillo, won the highest prize in the great national lottery three times in succession.
flower-sellers were out in goodly number when the youths took their morning walk, and the wares they offered were fresh and attractive. we have already seen the fondness of the mexicans for flowers, as shown at monterey and elsewhere in the north. the city offered no exception to the rule, and the size and beauty of the bouquets, combined with their low price, were calculated to astonish the visitors. for twenty-five cents frank bought a bouquet, which he sent to doctor bronson's room. it was about two feet high and the same in diameter, and was composed principally of roses of a dozen varieties. while frank was paying for his purchase fred sniffed at it, and was surprised to find that in spite of their beauty the roses had hardly any perfume. on inquiry, he learned that this was the case with nearly all flowers in the valley of mexico, and was supposed to be due to the rarity of the air.
"we had some difficulty at first," said fred, "in finding our way about the city, for the reason that the names of some of the streets change at each block. this plan, which is very annoying to a stranger, and even to a resident, is being given up; and they told us that in a few years they hoped to abandon it altogether. just think what new york or boston would be with such a system as this!"
