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MEXICAN NOTES.
MEXICAN NOTES.
I. — FROM EL PASO TO THE CITY OF MEXICO.
Naturally one shrinks a little from writing about Mexico after passing
less than two months in its vast territory. There is so much to be said,
and there are so many qualifications to be made to whatever is said. The
longer one remains there tlie more he will hesitate to put down even his
impressions, and I fancy that in time one would abandon altogether any
attempt to write out his conflicting ideas: so much depends upon the
temper, the temperament, the tastes, the endurance, of the traveler. One
person returns from a trip through Mexico in a glow of enthusiasm,
interested in the people, enchanted with the climate, full of wonder over
the scenery; another, weary with the long journeying, disgusted with the
people, half starved by the unaccustomed diet, admits that the scenery is
wonderful, though it is monotonous, and that the climate — except that the
coast is too warm and the highland air is too rare — is delicious, and is
heartily glad that the expedition has been made and is over.
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To me Mexico is one of the most interesting countries I have seen, and so
novel on every hand that I enjoyed in a way that which is disagreeable
almost as much as that which is pleasing. It is novel, and yet, now and
again, strangely familiar; for in its life it is a patchwork sort of
country, with
a degraded civilization, constantly suggesting, in a second-hand way, a
half-dozen other countries and peoples. I spent most of my time outside
the city of Mexico — for it is not there that the life, except a certain
sort of artificial society life, is more advantageously to be studied —
and in these papers I purpose to touch upon general life and manners and
aspects of nature that came under my observation, with the intention of
replying to some of the questions that a returning traveler is commonly
asked about the pseudo-republic.1
Everything is on a vast scale. High ranges of bare mountains running
parallel for hundreds of miles, with plains between, often stony and
inhospitable, often good grazing land, verdure- clad under the summer
rains, but brown and barren, except when irrigated, through the long
rainless reason from October to June — this is the general character of
the highlands. Vast- ness is not picturesqueness, but those who pre-
1 The journey was made in February and March, 1877. |
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fer the
Sierra sort of scenery which characterizes our own Great West to that of
the New England and the Blue Ridge like it. Descending from the mountains
about the city of Mexico in any direction to the coast by a succession of
terraces, one has scenery of a different sort, but still grandiose, and
any warmth of temperature desired.
Entering the country by the gate of El Paso — a gate of ash - heaps for
hills, and sand, through which the Rio Grande sprawls over quicksands —
one has still twelve hundred miles to traverse — two days and a half by
rail — before reaching the city of Mexico. The road runs mainly through
valleys with low hills on either side ; but it is by no means a highland
level; the road is constantly ascending and descending. Starting from a
height of 3700 feet above the sea at El Paso, and never descending below
this level, some high mountains are climbed on the way. The course is
generally upward until the mountain silver-mining city of Zacatecas comes
in view, about 8000 feet above the sea. From here there is a sharp
descent, but a high level is generally maintained till Marguez is reached,
when the lost height is recovered in something over 8000 feet, and a
descent made into the Tula Valley, the scenery and vegetation be- |
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