 Section 9 of Travels to Oaxaca by Nicholas Joseph Thierry de Menonville An anonymous translation from the French. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. We had got at a pretty brisk pace, a league, on our way, when my guide pointed out to me the garrita, or guardhouse, of the customs officers by the side of the road. I trembled on remembrance that I had no passport. The guards had the right to stop me, but we were now too near to seek to avoid them. I therefore conceived I could do no better than pretend to be asleep on my horse, and even half dead, in case they should attempt to force me to alight or speak. How overcharitable my opinion of the Spanish sentries to nourish such disquiet! The rain prevented these vigilant gentry from leaving their shelter, and even no doubt from seeing us, and we reached the village by night without any accident. In the shop of a grocer I met with bread, wine, eggs, and chocolate, and went to rest after agreeing with the negro to conduct me in the morning to the city of Córdoba for thirteen reals. I slept badly. At two in the morning I ran to the hut of my negro to awaken him and hasten our departure, but in vain we were not able to set off before four. We entered the gorge of the first chain of mountains through an immense forest. It seems the Spaniards at one epoch deemed this passage of importance. For at every league we discerned the ruins of forts, redoubts, entrenchments, and other fortifications, more or less dilapidated, by which the gorge had once been defended. The gorge is about a hundred fathoms in breadth. Between San Lorenzo and the city of Córdoba I reckoned seven of these forts, all of them built of stone, but not any of them in an integral state. In lieu of these it is, and near them, that some guardhouses, called by the Spaniards Garitas, have been constructed. Never did I look upon these guardhouses against smuggling in such an odious light, or as such a shocking proof of the arbitrariness of power as in the New World. In a country where with difficulty the most absolute necessaries of life can be obtained, is it tolerable that by the exertion of atrocious barbarity an indigenous plant, tobacco, which nature strews beneath the very footsteps of the inhabitants for their comfort, should become so far a scourge to them that they are not at liberty without the liveliest dread to stupefy themselves by its narcotic quality and steep and oblivion the memory of their sufferings. The soil we traveled over consisted of a deep and inexhaustible red earth, singularly fertile. I saw again another sugar plantation, and canes of monstrous size beyond immense fields of tobacco. Thus the most productive ground in nature is in the hands of a lazy people, who merely cultivate a plant which can give no nourishment to its cultivator. Four leagues brought us to the Villa de Córdoba. Domes, towers, numerous steeples announced a large city, and gave me great apprehension. A fresh garita at the gates of the city, might there not be some information given respecting me? Might not a troop of pikemen be waiting to put me into irons? Alone, on foot, I might have avoided the town as I intended, but to act thus in the face of an enemy, to implant suspicion in the mind of my guide, or even to make him a confident, him an African, an individual of a nation the most perfidious one of the subjects of the King of Spain the most devoted to his service. This could never enter my head. To send him back was by no means a safer plan. On the contrary, I treated him with great kindness. I therefore resolutely entered the city. But I deemed it right to play the same part I had done in the last village. How little I knew of the Spaniards! They are by no means so vigilant or active. They never inquired for my portmanteau, nor subjected me to the least scrutiny. I alighted at an inn in the suburbs, where I felt suddenly ill. I laid me down to rest, and had a soup made ready for me. I slept till two o'clock, and arose radically cured. After eating an indifferent soup made with excellent mutton, I paid my reckoning, and inquiring for the residence of the Alcalde Mayor, I pretended to direct my steps toward it, and traversed the whole length of the city without meeting any other than Indians or Negroes. The city of Cordoba may be a thousand fathoms square. Although an ancient town, the lots are still at least the greater part of them, gardens accepted in the center of the city, where is a large square equal in size to the palace Vendôme at Paris, with three sides of Gothic or Moorish arcades ornamented with a tasty fountain, which jets forth a prodigious volume of exquisite water. The fourth side is occupied by the Great Church. The streets are paved, broad, and rectilinear. Three-fourths of the houses are of stone. But the inhabitants are poor. Whenever nature is peculiarly bounteous to man, there is man constantly least attentive to nature. Accustomed to her boons, he contracts a listless, lazy habit, which prevents him from laying up-store against her vicissitudes. The city is built on a raised plain, formed by a long hill between two valleys, each of them bounded by lofty mountains, which form the pass into Mexico. The opening between the mountains may be about a league wide, but nowhere is such rich and beauteous vegetation apparent. Nowhere, a field for culture which could be so luxuriously repaid as on this long plain. The soil here is a red loam, from ten to fifteen feet deep. In the gardens, cherry trees, apples, peaches, and apricots are intermingled with sapoteus and orange trees, thus combining the fruits of both hemispheres. In the hedges are elders and ash trees, with a sort of arborescent convolvulus, the seed of which I could not procure, a second kind of this plant with bell-shaped flowers, which eight inches in length, by a breadth of three, are pendant, the margin terminating in long lacinier. The quantity of rain that fell at noon was considerable, and the road was very slippery. Still, in order to avoid all interrogations I determined on setting off, the most difficult point was to find the road to Orizaba, seven leagues distant. I followed one at all risk till I reached the extremity of the suburbs, where I met some Indians who put me on the right way, from which I had deviated about a hundred steps. After an hour's traveling it began to rain. At this instant I met a train of more than two hundred mules, their loading having been deposited under tents, and as for the mules themselves they remained quietly feeding in the high road, which is constantly a space two hundred yards broad, covered with turf of perpetual growth, but without any ruts or tracks of carriages, as there are none used in the whole distance between Veracruz and Tehuacan. I was obliged to enter an Indian cabin, where I drank a glass of pineapple water, or a beverage if well made, equally pleasant with lemonade. For this I paid a real, and the rain-ceasing resumed my journey. Two leagues dense I descended a deep ravine, in which I perceived a very solid stone building, without any roof and long deserted, but whether it had been a citadel, a temple, or a private house I was unable to ascertain, owing to the trees and herbage with which it was covered, and which concealed the plan of it. I merely remarked that the walls, still twenty feet high, were three feet in thickness. The windows resembled those of our ancient churches, but of what utility a church in this position, where not the smallest vestige of a village could be seen. It is therefore more probable it was originally some fort intended to defend a bridge over a small but very rapid river, which runs by its walls. Still for this purpose the site could not have been worse chosen, for by ascending or descending the river the fort could easily have been avoided, and it is moreover commanded by the summit of the hill, on the slope of which it is constructed. A few paces distant are seven or eight huts near another river, which like this has its course from the northwest, in the ravine in which it runs were some elders and ash trees of singular beauty. A league beyond on the left and at a hundred paces from the high road I saw four Mexican monuments forming a quadrangle, each consisted of a pyramid about twelve yards high with a base of twenty. The soil here was excellent, yet notwithstanding destitute of cultivation if a little tobacco be accepted. As for the pastures they were so exuberantly clothed that on a plot of about a square league I counted no less than eleven flocks of sheep, each consisting of six hundred. Night was now drawing on when fortunately I met an Indian whose directions preserved me in the right road to Orizaba. Thanks to the rain and the shades of night I was not stopped either at the garita of the city or at another which I passed on an eminence near the ravine. I was much fatigued with a march of eight leagues through the rain and over a bad road. I entered three inns in succession but could meet with refuge in neither their hosts objecting to receive me and recommending me as a stranger to the Casa Real, a kind of hospice for travelers, the name of which, however respectable, was repugnant to my feelings. So much does ignorance at times give formidable shape to names. At length I entered a fourth inn called La Casa Grande. The front of it was a grocer's shop. Within was a vast court surrounded by arcades which served as a corridor from top to bottom and four sides of a building. The Casero introduced me at first into a room bestrewed with a dung of poultry which roosted in it. I looked at him indignantly with my stick raised and ready to strike him in case of his not showing me some other apartment. It is fit, I should remark, that no respectable tradesmen nor anyone in easy circumstances, with their shapes to keep an inn. Inns are consequently let at so much per day to a Casero, a description of men regarded in a meaner light than our footmen and who may be roughly treated with impunity. Though less filthy the chamber he gave me was no wise better furnished, a bed frame of bamboo, a table, a wretched seat with one of its legs rotten, similar to that of a citadel and the rusty hinges of which would not admit its closing. Such was the lodging I had to share with a posse of flapping bats. For supper I had four eggs, a dish of stewed beans, two Spanish radishes, and half a dozen lettuce leaves. As for bread and wine I was obliged to seek them myself at the shop. Such an expenditure made me considered of consequence and for two reals I obtained a mattress. My supper cost me four. At dawn next day I pondered on the means of learning distinctly the route and distance to Oaxaca. After long meditation I entered a convent of Carmelites where I begged to speak with the prior. I was no doubt thought to assume above my sphere in such a request and the sub-prior came to me. Judging from his round and jolly countenance I deemed him a person in whom I might confide. I therefore told him, as in secret, that, being a physician and botanist, my occupation was the study of natural history and plants. That for three years I had been on my travels in view of perfecting myself in this branch of science. That, during a tempest, I had made a vow to go on foot to Nuestra Señora de la Soledad in Oaxaca, which till now I had faithfully executed. But that, feeling myself exhausted with fatigue and pressed for time in order to return for embarkation, I was solicitous of learning whether such a favourable interpretation of my vow could be admitted, as would allow my completing the residue of my pilgrimage on horseback. In presenting as was but reasonable for the indulgence of deviating from the letter of my vow certain pious offerings and alms. After a learned discussion on this point my Carmelite was of opinion that I certainly might, by means of prayers and alms, acquit myself towards our Lady of the Solitude. Taking him at his words, I drew from my purse for medios de oro gold coins and begged of him to take upon himself the offering I wished to make. This he refused, affirming the sum to be thrice too large. Invane did I insist, I could not prevail on him to accept anything, which not a little disconcerted me, as I hoped by dint of bribery to obtain from him the information which I needed. Nevertheless I did not lose all hope from the civility he showed me. He even presented me to four other fathers, showed me the house, the garden, and was in raptures at the description I afforded him of different plants, of which the community was wholly ignorant. At length I was on the point of losing my sub-prior, when I be thought of inquiring whether there was not a convent of Carmelites at Oaxaca, and how far the city might be distant. This time my good monk fell into the snare. Anxious to appear well informed on what I inquired, he afforded me an itinerary, so minutely detailed, league by league, and village after village, that the general of an army might have trusted to it for the plan of a march, I had full means afterwards of ascertaining. Highly charmed after a route of forty leagues, in which I had, as it were, been obliged to feel my way, at meeting with a perfect and unsuspected guide, I was preparing to take my leave, when the brethren obligingly pressed me to take a survey of the upper apartments of their house. Hence it was that I could but admired the delightful situation of Orazaba. This city is about three thousand yards long by a thousand in breadth. The streets, spacious, clean and well paved, excellent water, pure as crystal, is found in every quarter. But the cool, preceding dense gives such a spurt of vegetation, that spite of every precaution the pavement is overspread with herbage, nay, even the houses, though of stone, are covered with moss, evergreens and ferns of every species. Its population is three thousand whites and fifteen hundred negroes or Indians. Its manufacturers consist of some tanneries and coarse claws. This is the entrepôt for the traffic between Veracruz and the cold countries. Here the caravans of mules rest and sojourn a while. And here the clerks of different houses fix their prices on the articles brought from the interior and from Europe. The city stands in a valley a league wide. The country about enjoys the advantage of yielding the fruits of Europe by the side of those of America. The air is mild yet lively and the temperature enchanting. At nine in the morning the thermometer Bourbon denotes twelve degrees above the freezing point. The city is surrounded by insulated mountains which leave between them so many little gorges or openings. The summits of these mountains present the effect of a palisade of pyramids covered with forests of the liveliest verter, delighting while they ease the eye. Their angular points resemble the eminent rises the volcano of Orizaba, clad in perpetual snow, and presenting at once in conjunction with the minor mountains the singular contrast of boreal winter with a summer's grateful garb. Let the reader figure to himself an immense sugarloaf its apex obliquely truncated towards the city and evincing a proof that when it burnt the ignited eruption rolled towards the plain of Veracruz and he will have the image of the volcano of Orizaba. The fact of the eruption of the lava in the direction assumed is confirmed by the pumices found by me on the very margin of the gulf of Mexico in the neighborhood of Veracruz. A fact the more surprising when it is considered the distance is not less than five and thirty leagues from the city of Orizaba. A city which assuredly was not founded previous to the extinction of the volcano which seems even now to threaten the city. When in the morning the plain was still enveloped with the darkness of night I saw and with sentiments of admiration and delight the towering summit of this lofty mountain shining like silver but silver with guilt with the saffron beam of day. The convent of the carmelites built with a magnificence truly barbarous possesses in its massive structure somewhat noble and striking internally it is lively very clean and kept in excellent order. Paintings in the most extravagant style are lavished on every part but their bright coloring pleases the eye. The torch as usual is guilt in ridiculous profusion but in the sanctuary worthy of remark is a very extraordinary picture representing the assumption of the virgin. Mary is seen still prostrate but in a superb chariot with six wheels. Two bishops dressed in copes and miters hold the naives of the wheels in one hand and a flambeau torch on the other. Six others are mounted behind on the footman's stand. The trainers are twelve cherubims with blue wings and in Roman dress a helmet on the head with feathers and their hair floating in the manner of dancers in a serious opera and they are harnessed to the car with traces like arcaneers to the gun. Elias on the box with a lily in his hand like a whip acts as a coachman and his disciple Elijah on horseback as a postillian. After having thus surveyed the whole of the convent of the Carmelites I departed loaded with civility when in the middle of the street a new incident which I had not foreseen disturbed me an instant. I knew every stage on my road by heart and all but the most essential matter the gate by which I had to leave the city. I ventured to inquire and a rogue of a shopkeeper directed me opposite to the right I had in consequence to retrace my steps and on return met my gentleman who merely laughed at me but a frowning brow and an angry look I darted upon him changed his countenance and made him pale as death. I at length passed the right gate into the road over a bridge that crossed a small river which bathes the exterior of the city a very large street which serves as a suburb led me to the barrier at the foot of another bridge. This pass was guarded by customs officers one of them inquired whether I was going I told him to collect plants and that I lodged at the Carmelite convent from which I was shortly about to go to Vera Cruz. In turn I put many questions to him and the fellow conceived himself highly honored at having in his power to give information to a foreign physician so learned as myself. The chief of the officers then took me aside into a room well furnished with spears, pistols and swords and now thought I to myself you are caged. I, however, quit for a moment's dread and a sight but little agreeable indeed, though without danger. The spectacle displayed was the consequence of a malady said to have originated in the country where I was and with which our chief was dreadfully affected. I prescribed to him a mode of treatment after which dying with impatience to resume my journey I left him in spite of all his offers of service and his invitation to take chocolate. I left Orizaba satisfied with having some claim of service for my man whom I should else have reason to fear on my return. I marched on in high spirits and mended my pace in view of gaining the mountain before me and even of climbing it if possible to enjoy the beautiful prospect I promised myself from its summit. When I had traveled about four leagues I found myself tired and in need of nourishment. I resolved on entering an Indian cottage on the road where I was well received and treated with bread and eggs, all that can well be expected from this wretched class of men, but what struck and charmed me far beyond my kneel was the perfect beauty of the mistress of the cottage. I looked for faultiness of her, but almost naked as she was, having nothing on but a furbaload muslin petticoat trimmed with rose-colored cord and a shift which left her shoulders bare. The nicest scrutiny discovered no defect. Her whole figure emulating in symmetry the regularity of her features. I told her she was very handsome. It seemed to please her the two old women who were present, the one her mother and the other her aunt, laughed heartily on the occasion. I put many questions to her and learnt she was married and had children. These circumstances but rendered her the more interesting and her charms had even a disorderly effect on my senses. I ventured to draw forth a piece of gold, but recollecting myself fetch, said I, what wouldst thou is such the object of thy toil in a foreign country friendless and without support environed by myriads of dangers still ever springing beneath your feet? Wouldst thou lose thyself? Wouldst yield to the innovations of lumpchlessness? Madman away! With these self-reproofs I left the cottage without or daring to take another glance and dragged myself sighing along. When I had journeyed half a league I found myself better. A thousand different ideas came to my assistance and consolation and I found myself quite refreshed, proving what is said by Labouillet that nothing more enlivens the spirits than the reflection of avoiding a folly. In spite of the bad roads I journeyed on a league and a half and found myself opposite to a cult single where the dedication of a belfry was celebrating. I did not choose to stop for I could have halted only at the Casa Real and I had imbibed such a dread of lodging of this kind that I had no inclination for experiment. I must observe that in every village Casa Real is the court in which the Alcalde sits and justice is administered when not appropriated to this August purpose the Casa Real is only a wretched caravansary or rather penthouse in which travelers obtain shelter gratis. Commonly the whole furniture consists of two or three frames of bamboo for beds, a table, a seat and a hemisphere a calabash which serves at once for pail, for piss pot and to drink from. An Indian is kept in guard of these precious articles and to wait on travelers that is to say to fetch them whatever eatable can be found in the village for their money. This garden is denominated a Casa Real he is also a cook but his whole knowledge of cookery is confined to grain and egg hard and burning a chicken. I traveled on and came to about fifty Indian huts built on the roadside wavering in opinion whether or no I should stop here or attempt to climb the mountain at the risk of being caught in the rain I remained some time irresolute at length fatigue the dread of losing my way and the more weighty dread of being thoroughly soaked determined me though it was yet broad daylight to enter the last of the Indian huts which I saw on the road it was built like the cabins of the charcoal makers in the woods of France but so low as prevented one standing upright I found here a female Indian and a little girl busily employed in making tortillas they received me without ceremony but yet with respect they did not comprehend a single word of Spanish nor I the least of the Mexican tongue so that our conversation was necessarily by signs the mother presented me a tortilla which I took and ate but with no appetite giving her in return a real I presented the little girl a packet of pins which she accepted and found mighty curious immediately another tortilla was served up covered with an egg and chili the latter dish I found excellent and paid for with another real I saw they were preparing me still others but I made them signs to desist tortillas have before been noticed they form the chief food of the Indians as for chili it is a Mexican sauce made of pimento and tomatoes or love apples pounded together in a mortar and mixed with salt and water it is the common sauce and indifferently for bread, meat, and fish and is the most delicate ragu known to these worthy people those who are in easy circumstances always keep it by them to eat their tortillas with which are without it insipid the Indian when he has no tomato knowing without doubt the affinity between them and nightshade and fasalis winter cherry ground cherry or tomatillo substitutes alka kenji or the winter cherry as I frequently remarked on my way a circumstance which puts me on guard in eating this sauce night coming on the father of the family arrived with five children the oldest about fifteen three others one of which was at the breast had remained at home thus in all eight children the father, mother, and myself were collected under a little roof of shingle in a hut but fifteen feet square the poor indian, tired with labour and half starved presented a mild and benign physiognomy he showed me some little attention but overflowing with affection he smothered his children with kisses while the tenderness love beamed in his looks directed to his wife save when from courtesy they returned to me he spoke a few words of Spanish but our conversation was little a profound silence reigned during the whole we passed served up consisting of tortillas and chili it was the stillness of delight interrupted at intervals by the tones of a language sweet and short and by sounds which resembled a little pinch thus joy, tenderness, and repose awaited the worthy indian as compensations were his daily toil he gained by his work but two reals I gave him in addition two but profits seemed to interest him little avarice finds rarely entrance in the heart of the child of nature awake to the feelings of a husband and a father end of section nine section ten of Travels to Oaxaca by Nicholas Joseph Thierry de Menonville an anonymous translation from the French this LibriVox recording is in the public domain I laid down to rest my heart full of this scene and adverting in thought to that at my dinner such said I such are the hearts in which you would have plunged ten thousand daggers by the seduction of a wife the joy and only solace of her partner to these reflections a thousand insects joined their troublesome hum to drive away repose I laid stretched on two bad sheepskins but the night was cold and I had no covering the rain even penetrated our slender roof as therefore I could not sleep I rose and left these good people in silence but deeply affected with what I had observed the evening before I noticed near their house a bath of a rather curious construction it was a little house eight feet long and six broad with walls two feet in height its roof shaped like ours covered with ridge tiles overtopped a wall built of brick and resembling that of an oven the floor also was paved with brick it was raised near a fountain or rivulet and beneath its level within the building a fire is kindled as in an oven to heat it the fire is afterwards withdrawn and the streamlet suffered to enter after a few minutes the invalid about to avail himself of the bath is placed in it feet downwards with no means of breathing the door which is about 18 inches square this remedy is rarely used and only in desperate cases as I was enabled to gather from the broken sentences and gestures of the Indian of stoves similar to this I met with several on my way I have observed that on quitting the plane the road lays through a gorge which begins at La Punta this gorge is bounded to the southwest by Akutzingo and suddenly by an appendage of the volcano of Orizaba which forms as it were a kernel or outcropping that unites the frame of the two ranges of mountains which form the gorge in which the cities of Cordoba and Orizaba are situate this kernel or outcropping it was necessary I should pass to enter into Tehuacan I had observed it attentively the day before and noticed the road traced on its reverse however high and steep the mountain this road which is very well planned and paved in certain parts would be far less laborious to traverse or do care taken to repair the injuries to which it is subjected from springs precipitated from the top of the rocks in a thousand singularly curious cascades and from the torrents which during heavy rains bear everything before them I was on this road by two in the morning the atmosphere was replete with moisture owing to the night dew and a thick fog which covered the mountain the cold in consequence was so benumbing that I could scarcely move my fingers I ascended rapidly and by daybreak was on the ridge of the mountain I saw there a number of oaks similar to those of the plane the savan, juniper and shrubs which I took to be myrtles but which the obscurity prevented my ascertaining I was pleasing myself with a magnificent prospect I should enjoy the ease with which I should contemplate the volcano and the bird's eye view I should have of the gorge I had to enter on the rising of day as I ascended the mountain but my expectations were frustrated by the fog which did not disperse the whole day long I saw on my way two dealers in poultry and further on two caravans of mules feeding around their encampment scarcely had I gained the summit before I had to descend for the crest of the mountain fathoms broad I now tripped lightly down satisfied within myself I had nothing further to apprehend and as much at my ease as if a thousand leagues from those whom my fears represented in pursuit of me I fancied myself in quite another country and in fact nature presented a volume perfectly new to my delighted eyes and treated them with a most herb display of plants of various genre here the geranium there a species of heliotrope of a very curious species no seeds of which unfortunately were ripe beyond these mistletoes pediscantia of very singular kinds a species of medler yuckas 30 feet high and finally at the bottom of the mountain, legae plant which became the most predominant the gorge I traversed now presented a road of beautiful turf and now a soft and even sand at seven in the morning I discovered a village the huts and houses of which divided from each other by long intervals gave me an idea of what the Spaniards call a pueblo it was chapulco divided into a rectory and currency and about a league in length this spot may be reckoned the vineyard of the country but what a vineyard a valley extending three leagues by half a league in breadth is enclosed by mountains covered with some cacti but chiefly with the agave americana or alose this plant which is indigenous in addition is here cultivated and multiplied ad infinitum by the Indians its leaves three or four feet in length by a foot and a half broad serve the inhabitants in lieu of tiles and some cottages I have seen were very skillfully covered with them the plant yields a beverage esteemed by this people delicious but of which the mere appearance was sufficient to excite disgust in me it is of a whitish color thick constantly turbid and unsusceptible of clarification the following is the manner in which it is extracted previous to the alose shooting forth its spear the Indian after cutting away some of the leaves in order to form a passage on arriving at the heart of the plant tap it to the pith in nearly the same manner as an artichoke he removes the crown of upper leaves enclosed the one within the other and after hollowing in the stem of the plant a cavity capable of containing two or three quartz he places the crown on again and leaves it in the course of the day and the following night the sap of the plant exudes from every part of the young leaves cut off with the crown and falls into the well below this the next day great care is taken in emptying and this process is repeated until the plant becomes exhausted when it perishes it is then hewn down and renewed by the piping basal shoots it generally bears this species of alose is sometimes so large as to measure 15 feet in diameter it throws out its leaves like the spheres of chivota a medieval cavalry barricade but of far more solid structure it occupies all the backs of the hills of chipulco a chalky and stony soil the bottom is sewn with barley and other corn the mourn of port au prince grows many of this species of alose this forms one of the chief objects of culture at chipulco which furnishes the consumption of the circuit of 18 leagues radius there are Indians who have constantly 40 of these wells which I could safely wager they empty every day I am ignorant at what price this beverage is sold but it is in great request and I have seen it on its way in skins to every quarter roundabout I had traveled 6 long leagues without eating in different night and but a bad supper the evening before it was no eyes astonishing therefore that I felt hungry I inquired of the first Indian I met where the tienda was the eating house but neither he nor several others I met with in succession understood me at last I ventured to enter a hut where I found two women and a young man I made signs to them by pointing to some eggs that I wanted food they brought me half a dozen which I caused to be roasted in their shell and devoured with four tortillas I afterwards for beverage made a kind of lemonade and might have been content with this meal but seeing my sly Indian had a fowl in the pot over the fire well seasoned I without ceremony asked him for a part he gave me first then another and afterwards a leg these I ate entirely to the great astonishment of the bystanders who thought me no doubt but ill-equipped in purse for such an appetite to dismiss their suspicions I took four reels for my purse which they received with pleasure and would have made me the remainder of the fowl but this I refused as I did also a beverage made from the mage and called by them pulque as the whitish troubled and dirty appearance of it inspired me with disgust I afterwards laid me down for an hour to rest in this little hut constructed in the same manner as the huts of our soldiers and but ten feet long but so clean with everything in so much order that nothing can be imagined more so than people were simplicity personified their language different from that of the Indians of Akulzingo is singular and little but quucking the only sounds distinguishable are the multitude of Ilyas and mute ease the man who comprehended and spoke a few Spanish words inquired of me how far it was from there to Castile I answered two thousand leagues but here I spoke beyond his understanding he readily conceived the numbers ten, twenty, nay, a hundred but beyond this number his ideas did not extend he admired the knot neural of my cane and its handle my watch and snuffbox observing them with the most innocent curiosity but without desire or anxiety I asked them at nine in the morning finding myself sufficiently refreshed I left my kind hosts a cooling breeze a cloudy sky everything promised me a pleasant journey and I determined on sleeping beyond Tehuacan scarcely had I gone a hundred steps before I was accosted by an Indian who inquired of me whether I was going to go to Oaxaca upon this he offered me horses but as he had a beggarly and idiotish appearance I paid no attention to what he said he continued obstinately to follow me and stopping me at the end of a street he showed me a horse held by a young man his pursuing me engendered suspicion I took him for a thief or at best a spy as induced him to go his ways I have since learned that my suspicions of him were groundless and that he was only one of those people called Topis whose office it is to seek horses for travelers and serve them as guides still I was not sorry on learning this that I had not taken advantage of his proffer for he would most assuredly have conducted me on horseback in broad day through the streets of Tehuacan a risk would have made me die ten thousand deaths with fear on leaving the Pueblo I saw a number of pretty rabbits by no means wild several birds of charming plumage and the arbol peruano which yields a species of pepper after three leagues through beautiful valleys in which the harvest had been reaped some days before and where already the husbandman was employed in sowing again I discovered from an eminence the plain of Tehuacan hitherto I had only traveled through the gorge leaving to it the scene which afterwards struck me was singularly delightful but the pleasure it occasioned was lessened by the revival of my cursed fears at the sight of a country so well and the reflection that I must necessarily travel through so large a city as Tehuacan which I painted to myself swarming with cordy guard alcalades and agua seals of every description as it was too early to wait till nightfall I be thought myself of the expedient of rounding the town without entering it in consequence I continued my way at a quick rate but not so quick as to be blind to the beautiful prospects around from the extremity of the gorge I had just traversed on reaching the slope of the hill is seen the vast and superb plain of Tehuacan its breadth is six leagues and it extends in a southeast and northwest direction some twenty leagues beyond Halapa between two chains of mountains which bounded east and west and separate the province of Tehuacan from that of Mexico proper the river of Tehuacan and generally speaking all the waters run in the same direction for the space of fifteen leagues toward the south the eye embraces with delight in a country covered with eternal verter intersected by innumerable rivers and checkered with five or six cities and villages and pueblos and habitations without number this fine country however minutely examined does not appear to be naturally so fertile as a view of its whole announces the plain properly so called is indeed very productive and yields every grain peculiar to Europe but the soil is of a grayish color abounds in clay and requires in order to render it fit for sowing a long continued inundation and when the growing crops appear to suffer from drought it is again watered by means of sluices contrived at its different falls with much ingenuity and care in the banks of the river of Tehuacan this is one of the best managed regulations I had hitherto observed in the whole country and doubtless the population were taught in its institution by necessity for the only compost necessary for the soil is water and here it is distributed to all the different farms in the same manner as it is to the sugar plantations of Santa Domingo the lands are tilled with the plow and they yield two crops annually the one in May and September corn does not rise to the same height as in the booze in France but the straw stands thick and the ear is well filled it is trampled on by ten or a score of horses in an area in front of the barns to get out the grain and the straw sells at a very high rate judging by the worksheds I saw the lands appear to be divided into states but as there are no slaves in this country and as the small number of Negroes here are free and commonly hire themselves out at four piasters per month every process of cultivation necessitates the employment on the part of the proprietor of other hands in addition to those regularly kept in his service to obtain these to the Alcalde Mayor who assigns him the requisite number of Indian laborers at two reels per head per day the Alcalde of the pueblos conducts them every morning by eight o'clock to the rendezvous always about two hundred yards out of the village where the bailiffs of the farms meet them and point out their work which continues until sunset these bailiffs remain constantly on horseback all day long exposed to the heat of the sun for the purpose of overlooking their laborers the upper part of the plain which comprehends the midway up the mountain sides is susceptible of no species of culture owing to the impossibility of furnishing water as much as from the nature of the soil which consists of little more than an inch of vegetable earth on a bottom of talc nothing grows in fact but mimosa, cacti and certain shrubs which, seen at a distance induce a conception of the soil possessing a degree of fertility the summit of the mountains is covered with many kinds of trees oaks, pines, etc but whichever way the eye is turned it constantly embraces a view of disruptions, erosions and chasms among the mountains visibly occasioned by violent convulsions for the ground there seems not to be a deposit of waters but entirely free from such accumulations among the innumerable species of cacti that I distinguished was especially the cactus nobulus icosandria monogynia linaeus mantissa it does not rise more than a foot from the ground and maybe ten inches in diameter I remarked twenty other species which I have nowhere seen described and which unfortunately I had no time to form a description of in order to have brought with me all I found worthy of the school of botany I should have needed an additional cart at every twenty leagues I therefore continued my journey sighing to leave behind me so vast a heap of treasures after crossing a division of the river I arrived at the suburbs of Tehuacan I saw a trellis covered with grapes yet green what would I not have given for ripe ones there I left the high road for the plain the corn had been just reaped and I noticed that abundance was left behind yet green and growing which proved it does not ripen evenly an observation which I made everywhere along the road I thus avoided the city as far as to the real bed of the river which runs through it at this part it is six yards broad and about three feet deep in order to pass it I was obliged to undress but at the instant I was about to enter it so prodigious a number of turtles which I had not observed plunged into it that I was extremely frightened on seeing them my apprehensions were dismissed these turtles are no larger than the palm of the hand of an oval shape of a dirty mud color not striated nor creanated plated or in any degree resembling others but even backed like land turtles or tortoises the sternum which is all of a piece is joined by an ossification and level with the back except the openings for the paws, the head and the tail of the animal the size appears to be regularly as I have stated for though the number I saw was considerable there was no difference unfortunately I drank of the water of this river I say unfortunately for all the night and all the following day my lips felt as if ulcerated I attributed this inconvenience to a rash proceeding from my drinking it when warm and after being weakened by fatigue but on my return the same accident happening and not to me alone but to several others I learnt that such is the common effect of its waters which are briny but which I had not before observed on account of my eagerness and thirst I entered the extremity of a suburb bought some bread there and drank a glass of wine this refreshed me and of refreshment I had urgent need it was now but three in the afternoon and I had already traveled twelve leagues but desirous of not entering the city I resolved to push on to San Francisco still five leagues further I then journeyed east south east the sun enlightening from behind me the beautiful plane I had in front my prospect was exceedingly varied and enlivened the high road in which I travelled is twenty yards broad and bordered with hedges of Cisalpina and Mimosa on every side I distinguished nothing but spacious dwellings lands well cultivated or covered with crops which were being gathered to me have been most delightful had I not been so perfectly tired after three hours walk I resolved on resting but scarcely had I stretched myself on the turf before I felt my tendons stiffen and my muscles swell I rose hastily in order not to catch cold the sun was on the point of setting the summit of the mountains on my left was beginning to be covered with clouds whence lightnings flashed and the noise of thunder proceeded I feared being caught in the rain and to avoid it determined on halting at the very first inn I inquired of a laboring negro where I should meet with one he answered that there was one at San Francisco about two leagues further but that I might meet with shelter at a farm, La Acienda of Don Joaquim the Armorer of Castile which he pointed out to me the distance of a quarter of a league from where I stood I was fearful of strain from the high road during the night from which I had already deviated and above all I dreaded the rain I therefore followed the advice of the negro and repaired to the farmyard the house was well built I found in the yard a bailiff employed in causing the corn to be gathered in which had been trodden from the sheafs and fanned in front of the barn mistaking him for the owner I explained to him my embarrassment and claimed his hospitality offering at the same time to pay for what I might have he received me with politeness and informed me he was not the master but if I could wait till he had completed the business which engrossed his attention I have the pleasure of introducing me to him I consented to wait his leisure and entered the barn where I stretched myself on some trusses of straw there I gave myself up to the reflections suggested by circumstances here said I is corn trusses of straw a barn here is the same mode of culture as in France but what a difference does locality make in sentiments there with what pleasure should I contemplate their labors always mingled with innocent pastimes there with security might I give myself up to the contemplation of nature should I change my sight it would ever be at pleasure and with certainty at a trifle of expense of satisfying all my wants here in the same manner a smuggler it is requisite I should wear disguise that I should dissimulate in order to procure for my fellow citizens the enjoyment of a benefit which nature herself designed no less for them than this jealous nation from which it must be stolen I find myself at length obliged to beg for shelter and subsistence to be indebted to men who not knowing me treat me with contumely these ideas undoubtedly a press sage of what was about to happen were interrupted by the arrival of the bailiff he conducted me instantly into the hall of the house which properly speaking was no other than a penthouse while he went to speak to his master I saw myself immediately surrounded by a crowd of negroes and Indian servants some in livery cloaks I felt cold approached a stove where chocolate was boiling and seated myself on the ground my back to the fire and wholly indifferent to the stupid admiration and the brutal laughs of the servants hall at length after half an hour had passed the bailiff made his appearance he brought the answer of his patron who was willing to allow me shelter but excused himself from seeing me indignant at such behavior I immediately decided on my reply I told the bailiff that I thanked his patron but not being of a quality to bear with indignity nor accustomed to such uncivil treatment I would neither sleep under his roof nor owe the slenderest obligation to a man whose vanity felt a shock at receiving me in person and raising my voice at the instant and pulling from my pocket a purse of gold I took out a piaster and showing it to the servants exclaimed who will earn this by showing me the way to San Francisco twenty voices answered I and I was only embarrassed respecting choice I fixed on a strong and hearty negro of good physiognomy and took my leave of the bailiff whom I left confused at the insult I had received it seemed to me even that this imitation of Spanish pride was not displeasing to the whole troop of servants and that one and all they blamed the conduct of their master it will readily be gathered that my offended pride caused me to make this hasty determination and I must confess that this weighed strong with me but at the same time it occurred to me that a man who could act in this ignominious manner might be capable of still greater baseness and perfidy hence in my resolve a portion of prudence was mingled when I left this unwelcome abode I breathed with greater freedom and as if I had just escaped from some impending danger and whether the result of my indignation I had taken I felt myself reanimated and in a short time reached San Francisco but not without a lowering atmosphere which threatened rain then I entered the dwelling of a tradesman as indifferent and easy as most of his countrymen I found in the house nothing to eat save eggs and peas but at the same time some tolerable wine and above all valuable two mattresses of which I availed myself with the more willingness from its being the first time since my departure that I had found so comfortable a lodging I undressed myself and after well barricading the doors of my room slept peacefully End of Section 10 Section 11 of Travels to Oaxaca by Nicholas Joseph an anonymous translation from the French this Librivox recording is in the public domain the next day I left my host at four in the morning after paying him six reals with which he appeared satisfied he informed me that at San Antonio two leagues further I should find horses and instructed me how to procure them I traveled along sprightly as the lark the morning cool and refreshing and the road good as on the preceding day before I arrived at San Antonio I had to traverse the river Tehuacan which at this spot is ninety yards broad its bed twelve yards deep it was now however nearly dry owing to the drainage of the sluices for watering the fields I conjectured from the enormous depth the bed of this river through a space of five leagues from Tehuacan that its swells must be frightful and attributed them to the torrents of the mountains of the northeast in which precipices are frequent whereas in those of the northwest there are none to be seen thus affording a conclusive proof that the heaviest rains throughout the gorge are brought by the winds of the west by then I reached San Antonio it was six in the morning this is a vast pueblo of indians extending from one side of the river the space of a league to the first rise of hills which precede the mountains there is but little land and culture the objects attended to are pimento french beans etc the streets are large the mosa exceedingly gummy and of which the bark of whatever age the tree is constantly of a bright green I forwarded some seeds of it to the king's garden I took my dinner at the house of the spanyard who keeps the shop at the same time the inn of the hamlet he was a good kind of man he sent for topos for me for horses there was but one mule to be had already I visited the church in the neighborhood it was adorned as much as possible after the spanish manor but before all the saints I noticed bouquets formed of lily flowers white and scarlet in very pleasing clusters I requested the vestry keeper in vain to furnish me with some of its bulbs he could not comprehend what I asked of him the researches the length of seeking for the roots of them what however forwarded me the most delight because it depicted naturally the simple manners of the inhabitants was the sight of two candelabras of a singular description one on each side of the chief altar these were so many plantain trees which in the shade of the church had risen to the height of 30 feet and nearly touched the roof and why thought I should these simple these natural gifts of heaven seem a less suitable decoration to the temples of the eternal than those vases of gold and silver displayed with such ostentation on his altars must not the sight of these plantains so valuable in their productions to man impress more feelingly than those rich metals the benevolence and power of the creator of all on leaving the church I bestowed my mule which was an excellent one and five hours brought me to San Sebastiano seven leagues from San Antonio the hire was seven reels for the master and two for the topoth or guide who ran before me however great the heat I yet could not reframe from a lighting three or four times to collect some pieces of talc so beautiful and so brilliant as at first to be mistaken for native silver or at least the most splendid mother of pearl the whole country was richly cultivated in corn the plants I saw as throughout the whole of the plane are very various the borders of streams yield a species of begonia with yellow flowers and leaves resembling those of the ash bearing a similitude to the begonia stands except in being merely a shrub where the other is a tree which rises to the height of from sixty to one hundred feet the hedges are covered with the passion flower the fruit of which small as cherries are of the same color finally in these trees which bearing plums of a yellow color and tolerably pleasant mimic in appearance so well the pear tree that one might with ease be deceived but above all are remarkable the erect cacti everywhere seen half way up the hill of prodigious size and a great ornament to the landscape cacti of eight or ten different species their common height from thirty to forty feet on a trunk or stem rising from fifteen to sixteen feet and five or six in circumference from this trunk issue vertical branches which give origin to other similar the one supporting the other and dividing like the branches of a chandelier in such manner that the collective stock sometimes occupies a circular space in the air of from forty to fifty feet in diameter and represents a kind of chandelier of a sea green color and of singular beauty all the branches as well as the main stem are furnished at about ten or fifteen thumbs breath apart with a fascicle covering the space of an inch and comprising about eight or ten thorns stronger and thicker than the largest needles the fruit similar to that of the opuntia or prickly pear is like that defended externally with thorns in order to eat of it for its taste is pleasant it is necessary to wait till it opens and the pulp of a crimson color falls the Indians then extract the pulp with a spoon fastened to a long pole if the birds should not be beforehand with them a vast number of birds build their nests among the branches after the manner of our magpies nothing is more dangerous than the fall of the leaves of these trees these leaves are beams twenty feet long by one broad covered with thorns and would infallibly kill the unfortunate traveler who should happen to be beneath them but as they never fall except on occasion of violent storms or when rotten it is easy to be prepared this singular tree is more common than any other in this gorge throughout a space of thirty leagues the pitaya one of the species of cactus is commonly of color size its fruit is not covered with thorns but scales which are the leaves of the cup of the flower it is truly a delicious fruit and a vast variety of flavor it is assiduous and has a fragrant taste like raspberries which gives it a great superiority over the other species that have no poignancy within it is of a purple color without brown and its size is that of a small hen's egg in order to gather it the Indians make use of a long pole to the end of which is fastened a basket of twisted branches of an oval shape open at the sides closed only at the bottom and the top covered with two cross bars they elevate the pole and entangle the fruit in the bars this motion disengages it from the tree it falls into the basket and is emptied into another this indeed is the only method that can be adopted to obtain the fruit for neither man nor beast can climb the tree throughout the whole country the Indian lives on the fruit of this tree even the young branches when yet but half a foot long and while the thorns are yet soft are cooked he makes ragus of the buds and of the flowers before they are open for the seeds which are black and covered with a hard skin he dries them lays them in store and pounds them to make him bread at Wahaka I saw in the market leaves of a kind of opuntia which long, narrow and slender are boiled and eaten like asparagus with butter, oil or lard thus the prudent and frugal inhabitant of these parts complying without murmur or difficulty with the laws of nature draws from the native productions his means of subsistence while the capricious European not satisfied with the precious boons of series and Pomona or the animals which he has succeeded in naturalizing in the country is yet anxious at an enormous expense for those fruits and vines with which nature here refuses to pamper his insatiable and gluttonous appetite the pueblo of San Sebastiano is pleasantly situate it is in particular thickly planted with trees and in the midst is a public square and a casa real for the first time I ventured to a light at this formidable hotel which had been represented to me in such an unfavorable light I called immediately for horses the alcalde who was an Indian happened to be intoxicated the casero more sober showed me a schedule in the house on which the charge of traveling on every road was noted as established by royal authority it is commonly a shilling a league for each beast of burden to the topoth one two and sometimes three shillings are given the roads here are excellent and connect the neighboring cities and hamlets I met here neither with wine nor bread fortunately I had brought some bread with me from San Antonio which I ate with some eggs but for drink I was feigned to content myself with water in getting supplied with horses I had no such difficulty for the providers of them want to log her heads for who should furnish me I now set out mounted on a most excellent horse on leaving this place the beautiful valley of Tehuacan begins to become narrow and is no more than a league broad cultivation is also more spare the track of fertile land being of less extent little is seen but small hills of chalky soil huddled together clogging the gorge through which still runs the river of Tehuacan receiving another stream about a league beyond its banks are mostly sold with corn or maize as far as Los Quas after which its banks are barren declivities in which this village I saw a sugar plantation the second only I had seen in culture in all my journey here are distinguished canes of monstrous size and height a mill of wretched structure molds a foot in height and loaves of coarse sugar just taken from the pans in fine a few negroes who appeared to work very leisurely labor works must necessarily be very expensive in this country as for hard and laborious works negroes are indispensable and as the price of a negro here is from five to six hundred piasters Indians who can be hired only for a month or forty days sufficient time for other objects of culture would not be adaptable to this they would not have time to learn their business and as moreover they could not very often be obtained at those moments when the sugar works most urgently require their assistance I arrived at Los Quas about seven in the evening the necessity I was under of perpetually ascending and descending the hills I have mentioned rendered the way tedious and made rest unbearable the village of Los Quas seated on a steep rock and covered with a mount which was represented to me to have been at some time a fortress belonging to the Indians seemed a pass which might be with ease fortified all that would be requisite for this purpose would be to place a battery on the mount to command the river and road to see if I could trace any vestige of a wall but the only thing I noticed was the remains of an Indian dwelling I'm going to the Casa Real I overtook a Spaniard of good appearance who was traveling with two horses after exchange of salutation he offered me some pitayas which I ate with much gratification we conversed together for some time he informed me that there were robbers at Leta wither I was going but that some of them had been taken I learned from him also that the Topas were by birth the Agua seals of the villages and authorized to arrest all thieves but this however they rarely affected being great cowards except when backed by Spaniards at Los Quas again I was obliged to have recourse to my stock of bread and to be satisfied with water there is not in the village a single inn or rather it contains nothing to be had except the fruit of certain trees with which it is shaded this shade combined with the cool of a rivulet which trickles through the town give it a pleasing appearance that without these recommendations it would fail to possess here also I was obliged to pass the night on a sofa of bamboos but notwithstanding the hardness of my palate my slumber was sound at three in the morning I awakened my Topas and set off for Quiotapic after giving my horse a bundle of Sacates greenstuffs this caution often seemed to me necessary either on account of the avarice of the owners or the navery of their servants on the road to the west of a hill which commanded the highway we traveled I perceived some men who seemed as if concealing themselves behind bushes the relation I had of the existence of robbers in this part now occurred to me and I made preparation to defend myself with my knife the only weapon I had but on nearing the spot we saw the supposed thieves were only a poor Indian with a son with poles and baskets gathering pitayas as we set off early we reached Quiotapic by ten o'clock at three leagues of this side of it the gorge of Tewa Khan is but a hundred tufts broad at the village itself it diminishes to the breadth of the Rio Grande the name of the river of Tewa Khan here which previously has received the contribution of the other that has a rapid course over very bulky round pebbles which render it highly difficult for a horse to pass when there is any water in the river as the horse unable to fix his feet with any security risks being carried away with the current we were to the girths in water but arrived at the opposite bank without any accident Quiotapic, built on the back of the northeastern mountain is a pretty considerable hamlet surrounded by a number of coco trees Cironelie, Zapotes, etc. a copious rivulet washes all its streets and diffuses a delightful cool to the mild and tranquil inhabitants for here, as in every other part on my journey mildness and tranquility are the characteristics of the Indians generally they are stout and well-made the women are tolerably fair and have pleasing nay, mostly handsome features I did not see a single individual either distorted in person or marked with a smallpox they do not seem destitute of industry but they neither possess the liberty nor means of putting their talents to use still the Spanish mob for persons of any knowledge are far from entertaining such an opinion imagine they possess wealth and conceal their treasures and in consequence of this rooted and popular belief they are subject to continual vexations notwithstanding the positive edicts in their favor issued by the sovereign but again, how sillily stupid is the obstinate persistence of the people in maintaining so wild a fancy when a person has gold will he not purchase with it the first objects of necessity will he not seek for more to multiply his means of enjoyment and to possess some property which he may transmit to his children such is the constant bias of the human mind cupidity indeed may induce a miser who prefers to the pleasure of enjoying and defusing the means of happiness the base and disgraceful employee of hoarding cupidity I say may induce such a being to hide his wealth and he may succeed in concealing it from every eye but to suppose a whole people would subject themselves to a thousand privations while in possession of treasures which would afford them every enjoyment that they should yet roll in wealth where not the slightest trace of it is visible and where so many watchful eyes interested in detecting such a fact have never been successful however well they might be disposed to deceive their cruel oppressors this is a charge against them which never can be admitted by what happened to me at Kyoto Pek a judgment may be formed of the extreme poverty of the inhabitants of that Pueblo on my arrival I asked for horses which were immediately brought but went about to pay in advance as is usual I found I had no silver upon this I presented a medio de oro but neither the master of the horses nor anyone in the village could give me change for it much embarrassed I prepared to the Alcalde a very civil Indian as all are to whom the Spaniards entrust this charge and entreated him to give me small coin for my gold which I showed him but he protested for Dios, for la madre de Dios for todos los santos that he could not he even prostrated himself at my feet and implored me to believe him his astonishment and that exhibited by his whole family at the sight of the medio de oro convinced me still more than his words will Spaniards presume to say all this was a farce? for my part I cannot think so and I testified my opinion by raising the good Indian from the ground I begged of him more over seeing how impossible it was I could manage otherwise, for want of money to order the topith to conduct me to quickatlan or undoubtedly I should obtain change and would pay him he agreed in the reasonableness of my request and as the fundamental laws of the country expressly enjoined him to give all aid and protection to travelers he accompanied me to the Casa Real and in a dignified tone which I did not imagine him capable ordered the topith to proceed with me to quickatlan I departed therefore at eleven in the morning after taking some refreshments it was necessary in order to pass the mountain at the foot of which Kiotapek is situate to ascend by a path only two feet broad cut in the side of the rock let the reader figure to himself two hundred steps of this tremendous staircase from each of which a precipice was visible below six hundred yards deep in which with horrid crash Rio Grande forced its way and then conceived the dread which froze my faculties I trembled in every limb my head turned dizzy and I was obliged to a light lead my horse behind me I held him by the bridle but without looking back and constantly ready in case of the least false step to leave my hold and let him drink alone of the water of that stream which would for him have been the river of oblivion often times at his slippery spot there was merely the branch of a tree laid on insecure stones to hinder the passenger from rolling into this frightful abyss beyond it was requisite to make a turn in a very narrow passage where the body of a horse could only pass by twisting I know not how the poor animal contrived although one might freely venture a wager he had done so a hundred times by three o'clock I found myself on the crest of this mountain in spite of its elevation as nothing is great but by comparison it seemed but a hillock by side of those mountains I saw on my left we traveled on this crest the space of three hours I found here some new species of cactus with flat and rampant leaves and antelope with granulated leaves dentated at the edges with thorns the neighboring mountains however lofty presented to our observation several villages one of them turned San Juan del Rey but it was not the village of which name we sought I was now enabled to enjoy at leisure one of the most beautiful prospects in nature behind me still more distinctly visible the environs of Tehuacan in front the two prominences of La Corta a mountain six leagues from Oaxaca Rio Grande ran on my right between frightful steeps finally on the left an immense country consisting of hills and gorges covered with wood extended between me and the mountains on which San Juan del Rey was situate and terminated with an insensible slope towards Tehuacan I began to be fatigued and weary of so long a route when an opening showed me the end of my toils at least for this day this was Quicatlan which we discovered two leagues before us in a tolerably handsome gorge we descended into it by a road somewhat less bad than that of the ascent but the aspect it presented was not less horrible it was a perpendicular chasm of 800 yards by a breadth of thrice that number seemingly occasioned by a mountain which had been swallowed up in this spot and the fragments and ruins of which strewed around Quicatlan formed so many eminences combined with this scene of horror was yet somewhat pleasing on the salient stones of the scissor of the mountain rose the cactus Peruvianus which formed a very grateful decoration but how much was the pleasure of beholding Quicatlan interrupted by the appearance of a Garita which seemed to forbid my entrance how to pass without being stopped, interrogated and delayed by these wretched guards these were the continually renaissance subject of my fears to sleep on my horse to counterfeit sickness these were slender stratagems now worn thread bear in which I felt no inclination to repeat I chose a plan more simple founded on the little consideration these kind of people had inspired me with as despicable here as elsewhere on getting near them I descended my horse in a bold and determined manner and my gold cane hanging at my buttonhole and my diamond ring on my finger entered the Garita without ceremony and pulling out some gold before the tobacco guards related to them the embarrassment I was under for want of change I mingled the statement with a thousand incidents relating to my dread of thieves and the unevenness of the road finishing with begging change for some medio de oros or doubloons such prattle no doubt made them so silent they never put a single question to me on the contrary I met with civility from them approaching even to meanness and they gave me change for as much as I wanted I then thanked and left them inviting the chief of the guard in a manner a superior accosts one beneath him to pay me a visit at the Casa Real End of section 11