CHAPTER XXIV. FURTHER SIGHTS IN PUEBLA.--ECCLESIASTICAL BUILDINGS.--SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ASYLUMS, AND OTHER PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.--CHOLULA AND ITS GREAT PYRAMID.--FIRST SIGHT OF THE PYRAMID; ITS CHARACTER, SIZE, AND PECULIARITIES.--ANCIENT CHOLULA.--MASSACRE OF INHABITANTS BY CORTEZ.--RUMORS OF BURIED TREASURES.--HOW A CRAFTY PRIEST WAS FOILED.--VISIT TO TLASCALA.--THE STATE LEGISLATURE IN SESSION.--BANNER CARRIED BY CORTEZ.--FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA.--ANCIENT PULPIT AND BAPTISMAL FONT.--A REVERED SHRINE.--FROM TLASCALA TO APIZACO AND ONWARD TOWARDS THE GULF. PART OF PUEBLA.

"In the height of its glory," said Fred, "Puebla contained more than ninety churches. In 1869 it had sixty churches, nine monasteries, twenty-one collegiate houses, thirteen nunneries, and numerous chapels and shrines. The confiscation of ecclesiastical property has reduced the number of the churches to little more than twenty, abolished the nunneries and all the monasteries except two, which are really hospitals or almshouses for old and disabled priests. Some of the confiscated buildings have been sold for private uses, and others converted into schools, hospitals, libraries, and other Government establishments for local, State, or general government use.

"Doctor Bronson had a letter of introduction to the superintendent of the Hospital de Dementes, or Insane Asylum, which is in the building that was formerly the nunnery of Santa Rosa. We accompanied the Doctor when he went to deliver the letter, and were politely received and shown through the establishment. The hospital appears to be well managed, and Doctor Bronson was much interested in it. Of course the building was particularly attractive to Frank and myself, as we wanted to see how the nuns were lodged in the olden times. They certainly had a most delightful home so far as the eye was concerned, and I don't wonder that the nunneries in Mexico were popular among the women. The decorations everywhere were of beautiful tiles; the courts and their walls, the walls of rooms, the ceilings, the oratories, the bath-rooms, and even the kitchens and cooking stoves, were all covered with finely painted and glazed tiles. It is easy to keep such rooms clean, and we certainly have never seen a cleaner and neater building anywhere. We did not ask whether the attractions of the place had any beneficial effect upon the insane patients, but certainly they ought to have.

"From all we could observe, the city is admirably provided with hospitals, schools, and asylums, and no doubt the fact that so many suitable buildings were ready at hand had something to do with their number. Then, too, the Church had made liberal provision for the sick and suffering, and the Government here, as in other cities, had the good-sense not to undo the philanthropic work which was so long carried on under religious auspices. In the general hospital half the patients are treated by allopathy and half by homoeopathy. The advocates of either system can readily demonstrate its superiority over the other, as they can in other countries besides Mexico."

Every visitor to Puebla should go to Cholula, and particularly to its great pyramid, which is, in some respects, the most remarkable edifice on the American continent. In point of fact, very few visitors fail to see it, and many of them go to Cholula before doing anything else.

"It is an easy excursion," wrote Frank, "as Cholula is only six or seven miles from Puebla, and can be reached by a tram-way which deposits you at the very foot of the great pyramid. A special car for sixteen persons or a smaller number can be had for ten dollars, and it is as much subject to your orders as a private carriage would be. As we were three instead of sixteen, we decided to go in the ordinary way, paying fifty cents each for the round trip. The cars afford a fine view, and altogether we greatly enjoyed the excursion.

"We took a guide from the hotel, and he called our attention to the various buildings and other objects, of which there were so many that they are considerably confused in our recollection. We crossed the Attoyac Valley, which abounds in fields of grain, and is dotted with ruined churches and monasteries, one of the latter having been converted into an iron-foundery and another into a cotton-mill. There is an old Spanish bridge crossing the Attoyac River, and the Mexicans have shown their ability to utilize the water-power of the stream by building several mills upon it.

"We had not gone far before our eyes took in the mound, or pyramid of Cholula, and also the great volcanoes of Popocatepetl and the White Woman all in one view. The mound did not seem insignificant, although backed by these great mountains; they are thirty miles away, though they seem much nearer, while the pyramid is close upon our horizon and steadily swells into the sky as we approach it.

"This is a good place for a bit of history. Cholula was an important city, and covered a large area, when Cortez came to Mexico; under the conquerors it had at one time fifty churches and other ecclesiastical buildings, but now it has dwindled to a population of less than 5000, and most of its former edifices are in ruins. The great pyramid is the principal monument of the Aztecs, and in fact it is the best preserved of their monuments to-day in all Mexico. For a picture of what it was when Cortez looked from its summit, we have read with great interest the description in Prescott's History. Here it is:

"'Nothing could be more grand than the view which met the eye from the truncated summit of the pyramid. Towards the north stretched the bold barrier of porphyry rock, which Nature has reared round the Valley of Mexico, with the huge Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl standing like two sentinels to guard the entrance of this enchanted region. Far away to the south was seen the conical head of Orizaba soaring high into the clouds, and nearer, the barren, though beautifully shaped Sierra de Malinche, throwing its broad shadows over the plains of Tlascala. Three of these volcanoes, higher than the highest peak in Europe, and shrouded in snows which never melt under the fierce sun of the tropics, at the foot of the spectator the sacred city of Cholula, with its bright towers and pinnacles sparkling in the sun, reposing amidst gardens and verdant groves. Such was the magnificent prospect which met the eye of the conquerors, and may still, with slight change, meet that of the modern traveller, as he stands on the broad plateau of the pyramid, and his eye wanders over the fairest portion of the beautiful plateau of Puebla.'

"We are quite willing to adopt Prescott's description for our own, as the scene is the same to-day as in the time of Cortez, except that there is little left of the sacred city of Cholula, with its spires and pinnacles, its gardens and verdant groves. The pyramid is a stupendous structure, and worthy a place by the side of the great pyramids of Egypt. It was long thought to be a natural mound, but all the excavations that have been made in it show that it is an artificial work, built by time and patience and the muscle of many thousands of men. Its interior is of earth, and its exterior was once stone and adobe, but time has covered much of the outside with earth, in which trees, grass, and bushes have taken root and grow luxuriantly.

"The car stopped at the foot of the pyramid, and there we alighted. There is a sloping road leading to the summit; it was built by the Spaniards, and in its construction much of the old masonry was removed. We ascended partly by this road, and partly by steps, pausing several times on the way in order to rest and take in the ever-changing view. We did not take the measurements of the mound, and therefore must give you the figures of others.

"Humboldt says the mound is 1400 feet square, covering forty-five acres of ground, and 160 feet high; another authority makes it 177 feet high, and 1425 feet square. Another, and probably the most exact measurement, gives the following figures:

"North line, 1000 feet; east line, 1026 feet; south line, 833 feet; and west line, 1000 feet.

"The summit is a platform, or plateau, measuring 203 by 144 feet, and having an area of not far from one acre. This plateau has a stone parapet around it, and there is a chapel in the centre; the mound was evidently built in four stories, like some of the oldest pyramids of Egypt; but they are less distinct than the stories or stages of the famous pyramid of Sakkara, on the banks of the Nile, which is said to have been built by the children of Israel during their captivity.

"The sides of the pyramid correspond to the cardinal points of the compass, north, south, east, and west; and in this respect the structure resembles the great pyramid of Cheops. Nobody can tell when it was built; the Aztecs found it here when they came, and the Indians whom they conquered said it was not the work of their ancestors. The Aztecs dedicated it to their god Quetzalcoatl, and every year they sacrificed on the summit of the mound thousands of victims in the manner we have described in our account of Tenochtitlan. When the Spaniards came here they found a statue of the Aztec deity on the place where the chapel now stands; one of the first acts of Cortez was to destroy the statue, and order the erection of a church in its place.

"In his report to the King, Cortez said the city of Cholula contained 20,000 houses and the suburbs as many more. The people received him kindly, but he learned, or pretended to learn, that they were plotting against him. So he called a meeting of all the dignitaries, under pretence of a consultation, and when they were assembled he ordered a general massacre. Six thousand of the people were slain, and for two days the city was given over to be pillaged by the Spaniards and their allies the Tlascalans, who were bitter enemies of the Cholulans. The Tlascalans were, of course, gratified with the slaughter and pillage, but Cortez offended them deeply when he refused to permit the sacrifice of the prisoners captured in the affair.

"We remained nearly two hours on the summit of the mound enjoying the magnificent view, and trying to picture the place as it was in and before the days of Cortez, and shuddering as we thought of the blood that had been shed there in sacrifices and by the swords of the conquerors. Fred made a sketch of the view, and then we descended and looked through the village, which contained very little of interest; next we took a Mexican dinner at the Fonda de la Reforma, a small but clean restaurant on the Plaza Mayor. The plaza is as large as that of the capital city, but so little used that it is grass-covered in many places. There were few people there when we saw it, but they told us that it is quite lively on market-day, when everybody in the town comes there; there is a Zocala in the centre of the plaza, but it offered so few attractions that we did not visit it. We strolled through the ruined churches, and our guide told us that one of them, the Capilla Real, which consists of three churches in one, was built for the especial accommodation of the Indians. The massacre which Cortez ordered is supposed to have begun on the plaza, but no one knows the exact spot.

"The natives have a tradition that there are vast amounts of treasure concealed in the pyramid of Cholula, and we remark that this tradition seems to prevail concerning old structures in all parts of the world. We heard it in Egypt, India, Japan, China, Palestine, and other countries, and presume we shall continue to hear it wherever we go until we give up travelling and settle down to home life.

"Mr. Brocklehurst tells a good story about a priest who once learned through the confessional that one of his parishioners had discovered the cave where Montezuma's treasures were hidden. He explains that there is a belief common through Mexico that at the time of the invasion Montezuma hid all his treasures, and afterwards he and his high-priest put to death all that assisted in the hiding, so that only they two should possess the secret.

"The priest persuaded the Indian to show him the cave, but it was only on the condition that he should be blindfolded while going to it. The priest thought to outwit the Indian, and so he managed to drop the beads from his rosary, one by one, as he walked along; in fact he had provided himself with several rosaries, so that he would have beads enough for the road.

"The priest saw the treasures in the cave and then walked home blindfolded, as he had come. When home was reached, the Indian remarked to his reverence, 'You had the misfortune to break your rosary, and drop the beads on the road; I picked them up, and if you count them you'll find they're all here.' And to this day no white man has found out where those treasures are concealed.

"Secrets are preserved generation after generation by these people; there may or may not be any treasures of Montezuma in the caves around Mexico, but if the Indians know of their existence and the place of their concealment, and believe it their duty not to reveal the hiding-place, nothing can ever wring the secret from them. Persuasion, threats, punishment, torture, have been tried repeatedly upon these primitive people, but all to no purpose.

"There is a document among the records of Tlascala which says a tribe of Tlascalans brought in large quantities of gold-dust, and gave to the Church enough to make and pay for the crown of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The Spaniards tried to find out whence it was obtained, but the Indians would not reveal the locality of the placer. Losing all patience, they tied up several of the Indians, and flogged them 'within an inch of their lives.' The Indians bore the pain without a murmur, and within a week the whole tribe left for Guatemala, and with them all who knew the location of the placer. To this day it has not been revealed."

From Puebla our friends went to Tlascala, which is interesting on account of its connection with the Conquest of Mexico by Cortez. According to history and legend, it was an important city when Cortez landed at Vera Cruz; now it has barely 4000 inhabitants, and the greater part of its public buildings have disappeared. When Montezuma learned of the approach of Cortez he asked permission to send ambassadors to him through Tlascala, which was then at war with the Mexicans; the crafty Tlascalans gave the desired permission, but at the same time despatched an embassy to negotiate an alliance with the Spaniards, and join hands with them in subjugating the Mexicans. Of course this was exactly what Cortez wished, and the treaty was made before Montezuma could be heard from.

"We went by the morning train towards Apizaco," said Fred, "and stopped at the station of Santa Anna, nineteen miles from Puebla. There we found a tram-car, which carried us to our destination, three or four miles from the line of the railway. It took us through the curious and sleepy little town of Santa Anna, where not even the dogs showed any signs of activity, with the exception of one that was biting a flea. Then we passed some ruined churches, went at full speed into the valley of the Attoyac, passed another town whose name I've forgotten, and pulled up at Tlascala in front of the hotel where we expected to have breakfast and pass the night. It was not a prepossessing hotel, but we thought it might be endured for our brief stay; the result was better than we anticipated, as the food, thoroughly Mexican, proved toothsome, and the beds were hard enough to get us up early in the morning without any summons from a night porter.

"The State Legislature was in session, for Tlascala is the capital of the State of the same name, which happens to be the smallest commonwealth of the Mexican union. We looked in upon the meeting and found the members seated in two rows, facing each other; there were eight of them, and all were smoking as unconcernedly as though in their own homes. Doctor Bronson told us that smoking is permissible at all times in the Mexican Congress, and therefore the State Legislatures only follow the example which is set by the higher body. At one end of the hall is a railing which shuts off a space for the President and his secretaries, and close by the rail there is a tribune where the members stand when making speeches.

"After looking at the Legislature and listening for a few minutes to a discussion relative to an appropriation for making a road from somewhere to somewhere else, we looked at the curiosities in the Legislative building, which seems to be quite a museum in its way. They showed us the banner which Cortez carried in his conquest of Mexico, and afterwards presented to the Tlascalans in acknowledgment of the great services they had rendered him. It is about ten feet long and forked, or 'swallow-tailed,' at the end; the fine and heavy silk of which it is made was once a beautiful crimson; but it has faded to the complexion of a decoction of badly made coffee; and the tassels and cords are somewhat frayed and worn. Considerable sums of money have been offered for this banner on behalf of Spain, but the Tlascalans have refused all propositions for its sale. We saw also the grant of arms to the city signed by Charles V. of Spain, and the city charter bearing the signature of Philip II. and dated at Barcelona, May 10, 1585.

"There is a mass of official documents, all of great age, that we had no time to examine, but which would be of great interest to a student of Mexican history. They showed us the treasure chest, which had four locks; and it was explained that anciently the city was ruled by four chiefs, each of whom had a key to one of the locks. Each of these chiefs had a palace of his own, and when the Spaniards came they destroyed the palaces and erected churches upon their sites. Time is destroying the churches, and only their ruins remain to show where the palaces were.

"One of the documents preserved here is the Spanish translation of an order commanding that 80,000 picked men should march with Cortez against Mexico. Cortez personally gave orders for the translation of this historic paper. In the same room is the war-drum of the Tlascalans—a hollow log two and a half feet long and six or eight inches in thickness, and covered with curious carvings.

"The object of greatest interest to us was the first Christian church and the first Christian pulpit erected on American soil. They told us that the structure now standing is the original one built by order of Cortez; it is in good preservation, and evidently has been well cared for. On the pulpit is an inscription which relates that the church was the first erected in 'New Spain.' Not far from the pulpit is the font in which the four chiefs of Tlascala were baptized in 1520; it is cut from a single block of black lava, resembles a huge bowl, and is of very creditable workmanship. The portraits of these four chiefs are preserved in the Legislative building, and each of them has 'SeÑor Don' prefixed to his Indian name; other portraits are in the same building, and there are many paintings in the church, but few that we saw possess any merit beyond that of an ordinary tavern-sign.

"While we were strolling about the town," continued Fred, "we saw some Indians coming in from the mountains with logs of wood which were to be cut into planks, and beams already shaped and finished. We judged that these timbers weighed not less than 400 pounds apiece, and some of them little, if any, below 500 pounds. They carried these timbers as they carry most other burdens, slung over their backs and supported by straps crossing their foreheads. These are the descendants of the people that carried over the mountains the timber for the brigantines of Cortez which he launched on Lake Tezcoco and used for the reduction of Tenochtitlan. We examined a beam that one of the carriers had placed on the ground, and found it to be of hard pine, twenty feet long, ten inches wide, and six inches thick. You may make your own calculation as to its weight if you think our estimates too high.

"There are several old churches in Tlascala in addition to the one we have mentioned, and we visited some of them more to pass away the time than with the expectation of finding anything of interest.

"In the afternoon we went to the shrine of Ocatlan, which is on a hill a mile or more from the grand plaza. This, we learned, was similar to the church of Guadalupe near the capital, as it commemorates the miraculous appearance of the Virgin to a poor, ignorant, but benevolent Indian named Juan Diego, in the years not long after the Conquest. The shrine is mostly of modern construction, and is greatly revered by the Indians, who come here in large numbers from all the surrounding country."

The party spent the night at Tlascala and left the place in season to connect with the train from Puebla, which meets the downward train at Apizaco from Mexico for Vera Cruz. Their trunks went by the train of the previous day, and were waiting for them in care of the Apizaco station-master. They had an abundance of time for breakfast at the junction; the through trains stop there twenty minutes for meals, and our travellers arrived fully a quarter of an hour in advance of the train by which they were to depart.

Apizaco is eighty-six miles from the city of Mexico. For the next sixty miles of the journey there was nothing of special interest along the route, which traverses the table-land at an elevation of nearly 8000 feet above the sea. The highest point on the line is at the siding of Ococotlan, between the stations of Guadalupe and Soltepec, where the elevation is 8333 feet. At Esperanza, near the edge of the great plateau, 152 miles from Mexico City, the barometer shows a height of 7900 feet. Here they met the up-train from Vera Cruz, which had left that city at 5.30 a.m., and was due in the capital at 7.30 p.m.

Just beyond Esperanza the train reached Boca del Monte, or "Mouth of the Mountain," and here began the descent to the tierra caliente. What our young friends saw in this descent will be told in the next chapter.

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