Mexico and its Religion Part 8

The practical advantage of this discovery was the establishment of the annual Manilla galleon, in which was sent out 1,000,000 silver dollars to purchase Oriental products for the consumption of Spain and all her American colonies. In this galleon sailed the friars that went forth to the spiritual conquest of India. In it sailed Spanish soldiers, who followed hard after the priests, to add the temporal to the spiritual subjugation of Oriental empires. To this harbor the galleon returned, freighted with the rich merchandise of China, j.a.pan, and the Spice Islands. When the arrival of the galleon was announced, traders hastened from every quarter of New Spain to attend the annual fair.

Little vessels from down the coast came to get their share of the mammoth cargo. The king's officers came to look after the royal revenue; and caravans of mules were summoned to transport the Spanish portion of the freight to Vera Cruz. Thus, for a short time, the population of this village was swollen, from 4000 to 9000, which fell off again when the galleon took her departure.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ACAPULCO.]

Such was the commercial condition of the town of Acapulco down to the time of the independence. From this time it was lost to commerce, until it was made a half-way house on the voyage to California. The town lies upon the narrow intervale between the hills and the harbor. It is built of the frailest material, and is destroyed about once in ten years by an earthquake.

The castle of San Diego stands upon the high bank, and, though commanding the entrance to the harbor, is itself commanded by the surrounding high lands, and has so often been taken by a.s.sault during the last thirty years as to be considered untenable. The harbor appears like a nest scooped out of the mountains, into and out of which the tide ebbs and flows through a double channel riven by an earthquake in the solid rock. Tradition says it once had another entrance, but that an earthquake closed it up and opened the present channel. There is still another opening in the sharp mountain ridge that incloses it from the sea, but this opening, dug by the labor of man, at a point opposite the entrance of the harbor, was to let the cool sea-breeze in upon one of the hottest and most unhealthy places upon the continent. Such, in substance, is and was the little city of Acapulco, the seat and focus of the Oriental commerce of New Spain and of all the Spanish empire.

WAR OF SANTA ANNA AND ALVAREZ.

Santa Anna and Alvarez are the only remaining insurrectionary chiefs in Mexico. When I was last in the capital, Santa Anna was reigning supreme in the vice-royal palace, and Alvarez was supreme at Iztla, the capital of the Department of Guerrero, of which Acapulco is the sea-port town.

The two chiefs had been long hostile to each other, but a gold mine, discovered upon the bank of the River Mescala, was "the straw that broke the camel's back." Alvarez had not been consulted in the disposition made of it. Santa Anna felt himself powerful in his newly-equipped army of 23,000 men, the finest army that had ever been seen in Mexico--an army which he was maintaining at a daily cost of $23,000. Alvarez was equally strong in his mountain fastnesses, in the affections of the _Pintos_, or "Spotted People," and, above all, in the poverty of his country. Santa Anna took the initiative by sending 2000 men to garrison Acapulco, and Alvarez committed the first open hostility, by closing the pa.s.ses against them. Then the campaign began. Santa Anna traveled at the head of his grand army. During his un.o.bstructed march to Acapulco there occurred a great many victories, for victories are indigenous products of Mexico. The siege of the castle of San Diego de Acapulco was the first of the long list of unsuccessful sieges that distinguished the year 1854. The besiegers dared not risk an a.s.sault, and they had not sufficient material for conducting a regular siege. For some weeks the opposing forces remained looking at each other, while almost the only blood spilled was by the clouds of musquitoes that hovered over the camp of the grand army, and by the swarms of fleas that infested the castle. It might well be called a b.l.o.o.d.y war, for few escaped without bearing the scars of wounds and bloodletting.

While the besieging army was itself thus almost devoured, and had devoured all the eatables of the Pintos, symptoms of rebellion showed themselves at Mexico, to suppress which required the presence of Santa Anna. The generals of his army thought that they also might render more important services to the country in the streets of Mexico than in this inglorious war with b.l.o.o.d.y insects! A retreat was therefore sounded, and the country of the Pintos was evacuated. Thereupon rushed forth the little garrison from the clutches of the devouring insects, and issued a heroic proclamation, which was enough to frighten a whole army.

It is time to commence my itinerary across the mountains northward to the city of Mexico. My journey was by the same mule-path that Oriental merchants have climbed for centuries, as is shown by the vestiges of that strange race of which Humboldt speaks--an inter-mixture of Manillamen and Chinamen with the native race.

My traveling companion, who had a pistol, left me and went back at the first _venta_, or station-house, four leagues from Acapulco. At Lemones, the second station-house, four leagues farther, I pa.s.sed the night sleeping upon a table on the veranda. This is the common lodging-place for solitary travelers in Mexico. Here I formed my first acquaintance with the _venta_ pig, who considers himself the peculiar friend of the traveling public. All the advances made by my new acquaintance at this first interview were occasional tugs at the blanket during the night, and divers unsuccessful attempts to turn the table over. At Alta, two stages farther on, the pig ensconced himself on a mat with the children, while he gave me no farther annoyance than an occasional visit, and thrusting of his nose into the hammock where I slept.

It was still dark when I left Alta in order to clear the Peregrino Pa.s.s and reach Tierra Colorado that day. In a few hours I gained the top of the pa.s.s, and sat down to take a survey of the zigzag way up which my old horse had climbed, and of the extensive region of hill and mountain country before me. It is difficult to believe that over this slight mule-path all the Spanish commerce of India has pa.s.sed, and cargoes of silver dollars, amounting to hundreds of millions, during a period of three hundred years. Over this pa.s.s armies have continued to advance and to retreat with one uniform result: if the army is a large one, it is starved out of the country; if it is a small one, it is destroyed.

Hunger devours the large armies; the Pintos devour the little ones. All around was now as quiet and solitary as the grave. There were no signs to indicate that this spot had been the scene of so much life and contention. The prospect was a delightful one, and I could have enjoyed it much longer had I not been a.s.sailed by that common enemy, that has a.s.sailed every general and colonel that has crossed this pa.s.s--an empty stomach; so that I and my old horse did our very best to reach the ford of the Papagalla, where there was a presumptive possibility that eatables might be found. I found entertainment for beast at the ford, but no food for his rider until we reached Tierra Colorado.

Here prevails not only that harmless cutaneous affection, the _Quiricua_, which causes people to appear spotted or painted (_Pintos_), but also _Cretinism_, the much more formidable disease so prevalent among the mountains of Switzerland.

This town is also remembered as the scene of a b.l.o.o.d.y battle. General Garay, who had lost his way the day before, had here come up, and we jogged along together; but as a Mexican general and escort are a doubtful protection to an unarmed man, if there is any real danger on the road, a prudent traveler will shake them off and travel on alone.

We pa.s.sed Buena Vista, the fine sugar estate of M. Comonfort, and Aquaguisotla, and slept at Mazatlan, and the next day arrived at the famous city of Chilpanzingo, or City of the Bravos, the centre and focus of the insurrection in the southern provinces. Here, in the public square or plaza, in front of a church built by Cortez, there was a grand bull-fight, or rather ox-fight, in which great efforts were made to infuse some life into a dozen stupid cattle. These efforts were attended with very indifferent success. A deep _barranca_ extends to the Mescala, the largest river in Southern Mexico, across which we pa.s.sed on a raft of gourds, propelled by two naked Indians, who swam across, each holding in his right hand a corner of the raft.

AN ILL-CLAD JUDGE.

The next night, after dark, I arrived at a little village, and turned into an open caravansary. The old man of the establishment was very kind, and offered me a mat to lie on, but he had no corn for my horse.

After making some inquiries that were a little unpleasant for a man who was traveling without a pa.s.sport to answer, he said he would procure for me some corn from the alcalde. This village magistrate, who, in the absence of the "Judge of First Instance," is _ex officio_ a judge, was an enormous negro, over six feet in height, whose dignity was not certainly dependent upon his official robes, for a single napkin const.i.tuted his whole apparel. He sat upon an ox-skin, which did duty for the wool-sack--the very personification of the majesty of the law, with curled wig, and hide as black as the gown of the Lord Chief Justice, with the advantage that both were natural. This was the second negro I had yet seen in the country. The other held a commission as captain in the army, and was in the escort of General Garay.

I had a hard day's ride to reach the city of Iguala in time to witness the celebration of the independence, which was proclaimed here in 1821.

The celebration, for the most part, consisted in eating and drinking from booths placed around the central square of the town. As I had little time to spare, I hurried on, and soon came to the Puente de Iztla, the carriage-road, that is finished thus far southward from the city of Mexico.

I started early next morning upon my journey. During the greater part of the day the road led through a continuous corn-field, and toward evening we came to the pretty Indian village of Alpayuca, so neat and well-ordered that it might have pa.s.sed for one of the missionary Indian villages of our northern Indians, were it not for the fine old Catholic church, which must have cost in its construction, centuries ago, fifty times the value of the present village, without including the cost of the bronze railing, brought from China in the prosperous days of the Manilla Company.

CUARNAVACA.

Not stopping to examine the ruins of great antiquity near this place, I rode on six leagues farther, when I arrived at the venerable city of Cuarnavaca, the place selected by Cortez as the finest spot in all New Spain. This was bestowed upon him, at his own request, by the Emperor Charles V. as a residence. It merits to this day the distinction that has been given to it as one of the finest spots on earth. It stands close under the shadow of the huge mountains that s.h.i.+eld it from the northern blast, and it is at the same time protected from the extreme heat of the tropics by its elevation of 3000 feet. The immense church edifices here proclaim the munificence of Cortez, while the garden of Laborde, open to the world, shows with what elegant taste he squandered his three several fortunes acc.u.mulated in mining. The combination of a fine day in a voluptuous climate, the beautiful scenery, and the happy faces of the people celebrating New Year's day in the shade of the orange-trees, made an impression upon a traveler not easily forgotten.

I was too near the city of Mexico to remain long here, and I rode on, up the zigzag way that leads over the mountain rim of the Valley of Mexico. I was not fortunate enough to accomplish the journey from city to city in a single day, and, from necessity, had to pa.s.s the night at the half-way house, upon the summit of the mountain, 10,000 feet above the sea. A poor Hungarian, who had been detained here like myself, came and laid his blankets with mine, and then we lay down, and chattered and s.h.i.+vered together until the morning. Such a night as this detracts somewhat from the enjoyments of this otherwise pleasant journey; but when I got a morning view of the valley and city of Mexico from the Cross of the "Marquis of the Valley," the sufferings of the chilly night were soon forgotten.

CHAPTER XIII.

California.--Pearl Fisheries.--Missions.--Indian Marriages.--Villages.--Precious Metals.--The Conquest of California compared with that of Mexico.--Upper California under the Spaniards.--Mexican Conquest of California in 1825.--The March.--The Conquest.--California under the Mexicans.--American Conquest.--Sinews of foreign Wars.--A Protestant and religious War.--Early Settlers compared.--Mexico in the Heyday of Prosperity.--Rich Costume of the Women.--Superst.i.tious Wors.h.i.+p.--When I first saw California.--Lawyers without Laws.--A primitive Court.--A Territorial Judge in San Francisco.--Mistaken Philanthropy.--Mexican Side of the Picture.--Great Alms.--City of Mexico overwhelmed by a Water-spout.--The Superiority of Californians.

I can not enter the valley of Mexico, and there discuss the various subjects that present themselves, without first gathering from California the data that will elucidate the condition of a country abounding in precious metals.

MEXICAN CALIFORNIA.

There is a striking dissimilarity between the two Californias. The American State of California is as celebrated for its fertility as for its mineral wealth. Peninsular California, on the other hand, is not distinguished for its minerals, nor remarkable for its fertility. With the sea was.h.i.+ng it on either side, it is a country of drought and barrenness. It is like a neutral ground between the two rainy seasons.

To the north of it, the winter is the season of abundant rains, with dry summers. To the south of it, the summer rains are heavy and continuous, without any showers in winter. Thus, lying between the opposite climates, it rarely enjoys the refres.h.i.+ng rains of either. Its back-bone is not a continuation of the rich Sierra Nevada, but of the coast range, which is poor in minerals. The Mexican estimates set down the population as amounting to 12,000,[26] but an American, who has carefully examined the country, going down the whole length of the peninsula on the one side, and returning by the other, fixes it at 4000. The inhabitants are an imbecile race of mixed bloods and Indians, dwelling in the few small villages which the country contains, and upon the ranchos and haciendas.

CALIFORNIAN PEARL-FISHERY.

Cattle thrive where water is to be found, and many of the natives are excellent herdsmen. Fish are abundant, but the Californians lack the necessary energy to become successful fishermen upon a large scale. The pearl fisheries have for centuries brought strangers to this sh.o.r.e of the Gulf, and many of the inhabitants have served as divers with success. The production of pearls in the Sea of Cortez, or Gulf of California, has been so great during the last three centuries, that Mexico has become the greatest country for pearls yet known. Every female above the rank of a peasant must have at least one pearl to ornament the pin that fastens her shawl or mantilla upon the top of her head. Most of these pearls are of small value, on account of their imperfection in shape or color; but their abundance is one of the first things that strike a stranger on entering Mexico. With a change of fas.h.i.+ons, the foreign demand for pearls fell off so much that, for the last half century, these fisheries have been almost discontinued; but with the reviving demand for pearls, the fisheries have again risen to importance. For a more detailed account of these pearl-fisheries, I must refer to the following note.[27]

In the year 1600 the Jesuits first undertook the establishment of a mission at Loretto, on the Gulf coast, which has ever since been the capital of the Peninsula. From the time of their first establishment here down to the time of the expulsion of the Jesuits from all the dominions of Spain, in 1767, they continued to cultivate this field, though it proved more than a match for their wonted perseverance. In a few places, the soil was made to yield its increase by the skillful application of the waters that sprung up among the mountains and rocks.

Wherever irrigation was possible at small expense, there an oasis made its appearance, which was in striking contrast to the general barrenness that prevailed.

The manner in which conversions were effected by the Spanish priests may seem a little strange to the "voluntaries" of our day. The idea of running down a convert with dogs may seem to be rather an original method of proselyting, and has been severely commented upon by Forbes, and other Americans who have visited the Missions. But then such men should bear in mind that Catholics are not voluntaries, and never rely upon persuasion to make converts when they have the power to use a stronger argument. If this same cla.s.s of missionaries used dogs to convert the Waldenses in Italy, there is a greater reason for using them among the half-brutish Indians of California. With such a race, moral suasion has no force; and to adduce arguments to convince a man whose only rule of action is the gratification of his sensual appet.i.tes, would be labor thrown away.

The good fathers took a more sensible view of the case. Having once obtained the consent of an Indian to receive Christian baptism, they took good care that he should not fall back from his profession, but retained him a prisoner of the cross. They used as much mildness as is compatible with their system, and only compelled their converts to labor as much as was necessary to the success of the mission, the rest of the time being devoted to their spiritual edification; that is, they were employed in repeating Latin prayers and a Spanish catechism, after an old Indian who acted as prompter. Sometimes it was necessary to allow the Indians to go abroad for a time, but then their return was provided for by retaining the squaws and papooses as hostages, in the same manner as they provided for the return of the plantation bulls, by shutting up the cows and calves in the _corral_.

The system pursued by the Jesuits, and, after their expulsion, by the Dominicans, was to treat the Indians as though they were half human and the other half b.e.s.t.i.a.l. Abstractly considered, this was very wrong; but it was practically the only system of treatment that gave any promise of improving their condition. Though in many respects they were treated as slaves, yet the missionaries had generally at heart the best interests of the Indians. With them it was a settled rule, that when an Indian was to be married, his kindred should be carefully inquired after, and that among them he was to marry, or not at all; for long experience had taught the fathers that certain diseases, hereditary among them, were checked by each marrying into his own clan, while they were aggravated by intermarriage with a stranger.

We may sum up the whole story of the combined missionary and governmental efforts at colonization in Lower Peninsular California, during a period of two hundred and fifty years, by saying that they jointly succeeded in establis.h.i.+ng a poverty-stricken village of mud huts, called San Josef, at Cape San Lucas, where the Manilla galleon, on its voyage to Acapulco, could procure a supply of fresh vegetables to stay the ravages of the scurvy among its crew. They also established a less important village at La Paz, which, with Loretto, and divers small hamlets and ranches, const.i.tutes all there is of this parched peninsula.

Upper California comes to my aid in ill.u.s.tration of the early condition of Mexico, for, without this a.s.sistance, many phenomena that are witnessed in Mexico would be inexplicable. The effects of sudden wealth, the great acc.u.mulations of precious metals in few hands, the gross immoralities to which such a state of things gives rise, the almost fabulous state of society that arises when, by delays in its export, the acc.u.mulations become burdensome to the possessors, are no longer novelties in our day, and they now serve to ill.u.s.trate the romance of the history of other times.

When, in the year 1847, a party of American settlers and trappers hoisted the bear-flag in Upper California, their situation was strikingly similar to that of Cortez and his party. Numbers were about equal in each case. The Territory of California was equal to the whole empire of Montezuma. The hunters and trappers had a more formidable enemy to contend with than Cortez had; but they proved themselves more than a match for all antagonists. Like Cortez, they found numerous villages of mud huts and a country governed by priests, but immensely superior in civilization and in arms to the Aztecs.

MISSIONS IN CALIFORNIA.

In 1776, the monks of the angelic order of San Francis had established missions along the coast. Adopting in this fertile country the practice of enforcing the labor of the Indians, the missions became vast grazing farms, where the priest, like the patriarchs of old, was the spiritual and temporal head of the establishment, and had flocks and herds innumerable. Villages (_pueblos_) had been established by the aid of the royal government, and mud forts (_presidios_) were founded as a protection to both mission and pueblo; and ranges (_ranchos_) for cattle were granted to individuals.

Such was California when it submitted to the "Plan of Iguala." It was reported to have had 75,000 Indians in connection with its missions, and a large white and mixed population. But, according to our custom, we must deduct two thirds from all Spanish enumerations, and estimate the population of every cla.s.s at only 25,000 at most.

The priests of the missions had quietly acquiesced in the usurpation of Iturbide, and acknowledged his empire; but when Santa Anna proclaimed a republic, they were struck with horror. The idea of conferring civil rights upon Indians was monstrous. The very existence of the missions depended on keeping these poor creatures in servitude. And as for republicanism, that was incompatible with the government of the Church; and, as good Catholics and priests, they solemnly protested against it.

Had these missionaries been as poor as the apostles, they probably would not have been disturbed for their want of republicanism. But their wealth proved their ruin, and the ruin of Upper California.

The new republic was at peace, and the surplus soldiery had to be got rid of. It was not safe to disband them at home, where they might take to the roads and become successful robbers; but 1500 of the worst were selected for a distant expedition--the conquest of the far-off territory of California. And then a general was found who was in all respects worthy of his soldiery. He was pre-eminently the greatest coward in the Mexican army--so great a coward, that he subsequently, without striking a blow, surrendered a fort, with a garrison of 500 men, unconditionally, to a party of 50 foreigners.

MEXICAN CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA.