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A Study of Mexico (1887)

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A Study of Mexico (1887) Class /y-^/^" GojiNiiglitF COFYKKlirr Dk"vi3ir. / 1 ': .. > ;y &. r A STUDY OF MKXICO - BY DAVID A. WELLS, LL. D., D. C. L. NEW YORK D . APPLETON AND COMPANY Books for Wifiter Tourists. FLORIDA FOR TOURISTS, INVALIDS, AND SETTLERS: Containinj Practical Infonnation regarding Climate, Soil, and Productions; Cities Town?, and People ; Scenery and Resorts ; the Culture of the Orange an* other Tropical Fruits ; Farming and (Jardening ; Sports ; Routes of Travel etc., etc. Revised edition. With Map and Illustrations. 12mo, cloth Price, $1.60. APPLETONS: GUIDE TO MEXICO, including a CHAPTER ON GUATEMALA, AND AN ENGLISH-SPANISH VO CAHULARY. By Alfrko R. Co.nkling, Member of the New York Acade my of Sciences, and formerly United Slates Geologist. With a Railway Maj and numerou.<) Illustrations. New revised edition. 12nio, cloth. Price $2.00. APPLETONS' HAND-BOOK OF WINTER RE- SORTS. FOR TOLRISTS AM) I.WALIDS. Revi.^ed each season t( date of publication. With Maps and Illustrations. 12mo, paper w, Price, 50 cents. Tb« " Oand'Bonk of Winter Resorts " is designed for tonriets and invalids. It give complfttc lufunuatioii as to winter eanitaria and places of resort in the United Statei the West Indies, aud Mexico. The Great Metropolis. APPLETONS' DICTIONARY OF NEW YORK AND ITS VICINITY. An ali)lial)etically arranged Index to all Placeft, Societies, Institutions, Amusements, and other features of tbd Metropolis and Neighborhood, upon which Information is needed by th«l Stranger or the Citizen. Revised and corrected for the present season^ With Maps of New York and Vicinity. Paper cover. Price, 80 cents. NEW YORK ILLUSTRATED, a Pictorial Delineation of Street Scenes, Huililings, River Views, and other Picturesque Features of the Great Metropolis. With One Hundred and Forty-four Illustrations' from drawings make specially for it, engraved in a superior manner. With! lar^je Maps of Now York aud Vicinity. Each edition revised to date. 8vo, illustrated cover. Price, 75 cents. .\; CO D. AIPLETON , Publishers, 1, 8, & 6 Bond Street, Now York. A STUDY OF MEXICO DAVID A. WELLS, LL. D., D. C. L. MEMBRE CORRESPONDANT DE l'iNSTITUT DE FRANCE ; CORRESPONDENTE DELLA REALE ACCADEMIA De' LINCEI, ITALIA ; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE STATISTICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, ETC. REPRINTED, WITH ADDITIONS, FROM THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY Copyright, 1886, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. All rights reserved. PREFACE. This book owes its origin to the following cir- cumstances : During the early months of the year 1885, the author, in pursuit of health and recreation solely, availed himself of an opportunity to visit Mexico, under peculiarly favorable conditions. The journey, it may be further premised, was mainly made upon a special train, over the whole length of the " Mexican Central Railroad," over most of the " Vera Cruz and City of Mexico," and over a part of the " Mexican National," Railroads ; the aggregate distance traversed within the terri- tory of the republic being in excess of three thou- sand miles, the train running upon its own time, with its own equipment for eating and sleeping, and stopping long enough at every point of inter- est— city, town, hacienda, mine, or desert—to abun- dantly satisfy curiosity, and answer every immedi- ate demand for information. It is safe, therefore, to say that such faciHties for leisurely visiting and studying so much of Mexico had rarely, if ever, before been granted. 4 PREFACE. Fully recognizing that one can know but very little of a countr\', who, ignorant of the language, the customs, the political and social condition and pursuits of its people, sees it simply and hurriedly as a traveler, the journey in question was, neverthe- less, sufficiently instructive to satisfy thoroughly as to two points : First, that here was a country, bor- dering on the United States for a distance of more than two thousand miles, which was almost as for- eign to the latter, in respect to race, climate, gov- ernment, manners, and laws, as though it belonged to another planet; and, secondly, that the people of the United States generally knew about as much of the domestic affairs of this one of their near- est neighbors as they did of those of the empire of China. And with a realization of these facts, a temptation to enter upon a field of investigation, so fresh and so little worked, \vas created, too attract- ive to be resisted; and, accordingly, with the sole purpose of desiring to know the truth about Mexi- C(j, and to form an opinion as to what should be the future political and commercial relations between that countrv and the United States, the author, on the comjilction of his journev, entered upon a care- ful study of a large amount of information relative t(j Mexico, derived from both public and private sources, which he found at his disj)osal. And it is on the basis of this study, and with the kindliest feeling for and the deepest interest in Mexico, that he has written ; using his exjieriences of travel as a guide to incjuiry and as a factor in determining what it was desirable to know, rather than as may PREFACE. 5 be inferred or charged as a basis for original asser- tions or deductions. In so doing, however, he claims nothing of in- falHbility. He frankly confesses that in respect to some things he may be mistaken ; and that others might draw entirely different conclusions from the same data.* But for the entire accuracy of most * One curious illustration of this point is to be found in the follow- " ing extract from a letter recently addressed to the Mexican " Financier by a Mexican gentleman, in contravention of the writer's opinions re- specting the present industrial condition and prospective development " of Mexico. He says : If you pass through the Academy of San Car- los, you will see pictures executed by native Mexican artists in the highest style of art, comparing most favorably with any production of the academies of design of Paris, Rome, Munich, or elsewhere. Go with me, if you please, to a narrow lane in the small but picturesque city of Cuernavaca, and there in a small room, working with imple- ments of his own make, you will observe a native, whom you would perhaps class among the peons, carving a crucifix in wood, so highly artistic, with the expression of suffering on our Saviour's face so realis- tic, that any foreign sculptor of the highest renown would be proud to call it a creation of his own. Again, visit with me the village of Amat- lan de los Reyes, near Cordoba, and observe the exquisitely embroid- ered huipilla of some native woman, surpassing in many i-espects the designs of the art-needlework societies of New Yoi-k or Boston ; not to mention the fine filigree-work, figures in clay and wax as executed by the natives in or near the city of Mexico, the art pottery of Guadala- jara, the gourds, calabashes, and wooden trays highly embellished by native artists, whose sense or acceptation of art is not acquired by tedi- ous study at some academy of design, but is inborn and spontaneously expressed in such creations. Only yesterday in my walks about town I entered the National Monte de Piedad, where I heard the sweetest and most melodious strains from a grand piano of American make, and beheld, to my astonishment, that the artist was a native, a cargador, or public porter, clad in cheap sombrero, blouse, white cotton trousers, and sandals, with his brass plate and rope across his shoulders, ready to carry this very instrument on his back to the residence of some better- 6 PREFACE. Statements and deductions he believes he finds am- ple warrant in the published diplomatic and consu- lar correspondence of the United States during the last decade, and in an extensive personal correspond- ence with railroad and commercial men, who, from continuous residence, have become well acquainted with Mexico.* Making every allowance, however, for diderences of (Opinion respecting minor details, favored brother from a foreign land. If this is not innate genius, I know not what else to call it." To this it may be replied that the facts as above stated are probably not in the least exaggerated. There is undoubtedly in the Mexican people, inherited from their Spanish ancestry, much of cesthetic taste and an " innate genius " for music, painting, sculpture, embroidery, dress, decoration, and the fine arts generally. But this vcr}' fact, in view of the hard, rough work that Mexico has got to do to overcome the natural obstacles in the way of her material development, is not a maUer of encouragement. Yox it is not genius to carve cmcifixes, embroider huipillas, or compose and exe- cute music, that her people need ; but rather the ability to make and maintain good roads, invent and use machinerj', and reform a system of laws that would neutralize all her natural advantages, even though they were many times greater than the most patriotic citizen of the country could claim for it. * From one of these latter the following warning against publishing anything in the way of observations or conclusions was received by the writer : "CiTV OF Mexico, April 13, 1886. " The papers are filled with the letters of travelers about Mexico. If you do not conform to what many people here want you to say, you are put down as having taken a hasty or dyspeptic observation of the country, and had no opportunity to know anything. If you pass one week in an hotel, and should write conformably to what various inter- ests would have you, you are at once quoted as a 'most intelligent and experienced traveler.' A thorough investigation scrapes off all the var- nish, and will often expose the motives of not a few people in Mexico, who would have American capital plant itself there under conditions which afford no protection by their Government or ours." ; PREFACE.
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