Spanish America (Vol.1&2). Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle
As in all Catholic countries, religious processions and shows occupy a great part of their attention; amongst the most splendid of these, is the procession of the Corpus Christi, the festival of the anniversary of the conquest of Mexico, and the publication of the bulls of indulgence; which are hailed with eagerness, and looked for with earnestness. The great civil show, is the entrance of a new viceroy, on which occasion, the city is all splendour and joy. The lower people are immoderately fond of a liquor named pulque, and the number of houses for the sale of it have of late become so numerous that the Police allow them only to remain open from ten till four in the day-time, on account of the riots and violence that happens in them; this liquor is allowed to enter the city only by one gate, that of Guadaloupe; and such is the consumption of it by the inhabitants, that the tax on it yields a revenue annually of a million of dollars. The shopkeepers of Mexico issue tokens of copper, iron and wood; and even grains of cacao pass as current in the neighborhood; which arises from there being no bullion currency. The price of bread is regulated three times in the year by the price of grain. There are numbers of sugar mills in this capital, and from there numerous distilleries of rum are kept at work.
Mexico is at present a place of immense commerce, and will become of more importance in a commercial point of view, when the great roads from Vera Cruz, &c. are completed; as the transport of goods will then be easier and less expensive; and the wheat, &c. of the fine plains of Mexico, will find a ready market all over the world.
This city, though on a marshy soil, is in general healthy, and the black vomit or yellow fever is here hardly known; but consumptions, apoplexy, agues, fever, and pleurisy, are not uncommon. The worst disorder to which the inhabitants of Mexico are subject appears to be what they denominate “flato” or “flatus;” the unhappy patients appearing in a state of madness, and have hot and shivering fits as in the ague; convulsions, and hysteric affections also accompany this strange disorder; which has been supposed to arise from the great quantity of spice they use in their food, and from the excessive use of tobacco.
This extraordinary city attracts the notice of Europeans from its curious situation, as well as from the remembrances attached to its name. It is placed on a plain, the height of which above the level of the sea is 6900 feet, near the banks of the lakes Tezcuco and Chalco, which are about ninety miles in circumference; the waters of the latter are salt, of the former fresh; they communicate with each other, and contain only two sorts of fish, one of which is of very peculiar organization. The city at a distance, appears to rise from the waters of the former lake; the banks of which are beautified with the most enchanting village scenery; on the opposite side of the lake, a luxuriant and highly cultivated valley is contrasted with the towering summits of the enormous mountains, emitting flame and smoke, in regions where eternal snow and winter reigns. This extensive plain is covered with flax, hemp, cotton, tobacco, sugar, indigo, &c.; and furnishes the markets of the city with abundance of vegetables, meat, fruits, and poultry, and reaches to the mountains, whose bases repose on its bosom. These mountains are diversified into every form that imagination can present, and are clothed with cedars, shrubs, and plants, and contain in their bowels precious jewels and minerals. The plain extends on all sides of the city and of the Lakes Tezcuco and Chalco; but on the eastern-side of the latter it is not so prolific, owing to the saline exhalations from the waters. On the lower parts of the mountains, farms, country-seats and romantically situated cottages are seen; and the whole plain appears well watered by numerous canals and rivulets. To the north of the town, near the suburbs, is the promenade, or Alameda; it is surrounded by a rivulet, and is in the shape of a large square, with a basin of water and fountain in the middle. From this bason eight walks strike out, each bordered by two rows of trees: there are also several other public walks, but the ground, in the immediate neighbourhood of Mexico, is full of rivulets and canals, and rather swampy.
The cold at Mexico is not great in the winter, as the Lake Tezcuco seldom freezes thicker than a sheet of paper; in the summer it is very hot, but as there are regular showers, which fall in the evening, the air during the summer is much tempered. The rainy season occupies four months, from the middle of May, to the middle of September.
The houses of pilgrimage in the neighbourhood of Mexico are singular; the chief one is the sanctuary of Neustra Senora de los Remedios, on the spot where Cortez retired when he was repulsed.
The sanctuary of Guadalupe has a college, church, &c.
Just without the city is the sanctuary of Neustra Senora de los Angelos, formerly the retreat of an anchorite. The desert of the Carmelites is five leagues from the city, and here, in an inclosure of three miles, the most austere of these monks live in solitary cells.
About half a league from the city is the rock of the warm-baths.
The village of Traspana is also a place of great resort, the air being thought very wholesome and pure. On a hill in the environs, where there was formerly a palace of Montezuma, is the great aqueduct of Chapultepec, which conveys water to the city; it is above 9000 feet in length. The water of this, is however, not so pure as that of the aqueduct of Sante Fé, which is 30,600 feet in length, and which runs along the Alameda, but is not so beautiful a structure as the former, as the water is not conveyed the whole way over arches.
The surrounding scenery of the metropolis is in all respects highly beautiful and singular; from it are seen the summits of some of the loftiest mountains of North America, and the varied foliage of the cypress, the avenues of elms and poplars, which branch to the city from all quarters, the gardens of oranges and European fruits, the deep verdure of the plain, the golden tint of the ripening corn, and the different shades of the various Mexican plants, conveys, through the medium of a pure and cerulean atmosphere, the utmost delight to the eye of the beholders. The valley in which the city and its neighbourhood rests, is filled with villages and towns, and surrounded with enormous masses reposing on the great plain; two of which, Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, are the most remarkable of the group; the first is continually vomiting fire and smoke, though covered with snow. The Pico de Orisaba is also visible, and forms a grand feature of the scene. On the west of the city, the chain is very high and continuous.
The remains of the former city are inconsiderable; some traces of the great dikes yet subsist, as well as of the aqueducts. The temples have been destroyed, but the foundations of the ancient Mexican habitations are numerous in the environs of the city, and prove that it was much larger than it is at present.
The lake has retired a league from the city, so that it is now situated in a marshy soil to the left of the southern extremity of Lake Tezcuco, and between it and Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco. To the north it has two small lakes, one called Lake San Christoval, and the other Lake Zumpango.
The palace of Montezuma stood opposite to where the viceroyʼs palace now stands, and a palace was erected on the site of Montezumaʼs, by the descendants of Cortez, as they were obliged to resign the original building of the conqueror to the government; this house still belongs to a descendant of Cortez, who is Marquis del Valle de Oaxaca, and is also Duke de Monte Leone in Naples.
The building in which Cortez was stationed when he first entered the city, still shows some of its remains behind the convent of Santa Teresa.
Of the great temples nothing is to be seen; that dedicated to the god of war was destroyed to make room for the cathedral.
A fine modern equestrian statue in bronze, of one of the Spanish kings, ornaments the great square, which was cast and erected by a Spanish artist residing in the city.
In this city, there are a set of people who resemble, in their general habits, the Italian Lazaroni. They pass the night under the arcades and porches, and work one or two days of the week, to gain enough to enable them to buy sufficient liquor and food. They amount to 30,000, and are designated by the names of Saragates, and Guachinangos; they differ only from the Lazaroni, in not being ferocious, and in never asking alms.
After having given this extended description of the metropolis of New Spain, we shall return to the subject of its division into provinces, &c. These have been before enumerated; we shall therefore commence at the northern boundaries of the viceroyalty, and proceed regularly to the southern limits of North America, on the isthmus of Panama or Darien.