A BARRISTER'S TRIP TO MEXICO. * THE author of this volume
seems to be called much abroad by pro- fessional pursuits, or to make legal lore subordinate to the wisdom acquired by wandering like Ulysses from clime to clime. Inci- dentally he appears to be familiar with Europe, having penetrated even into Spain ; in the autumn of 1849 he started on a voyage to Mexico, per steamer. After touching at the Bahamas, Havannah, Mobile, and some other places, he reached Vera Cruz, without other troubles than arose from an indifferent table on board the vessel. From the coast he went on to Mexico by diligence ; and, after resting in the capital, proceeded to Tepic' a small town near the port of San Blas. His route lay through Queretaro and Cala- naxuato, in the highlands of Mexico, and Guadalaxara situated in the lower region. As far as this last town he used the public stage, but made the remainder of his journey—some 170 miles— on horseback. At Tepie he remained several months ; then pro- ceeded in a steamer from California for Panama ; returned across the Isthmus by the river Chagres ; and thence home, as he went out.
It seems an odd journey to have made to visit some friends ; yet that purpose is all that appears in the narrative either at Mexico or Tepic. The latter provincial town our author made his head-quarters, and he seems to have passed his time in shooting and exploring the neighbourhood. The rapid mode of his journeying and the superficial character of his pursuits have given something of superficiality to his narrative; but the book is nevertheless agreeable, and withal informing. The " Barris- ter " shows his training in activity of mind, the habit of in- quiry, and the power of directing his attention to the points of the case. Nor has he any bookmaking tendencies. He tells what he did, and describes what he saw, briefly and succinctly. This brevity of style, coupled with the comparative scarcity of tourists along his route, and the fact that we have no report of Mexico since the late war with the United States and the discovery of the gold-diggings in California, render his book pleasant and informing, if not necessary.
The invasion does not appear to have made much change in Mexico • society having been already so disorganized till an extra shlike or two is not seen. The chief result seems to be an increase in the number of robbers. The highways are, if possible, rather more infested by professors of the easing art than they were before : the streets of the capital are decidedly worse.
"We entered Mexico about six in the evening, by a wretched street, so bad that a stranger would be more inclined to fancy himself entering a stable-yard than the capital of a great nation. A soldier immediately joined us, and rode, to my great horror, on our side of the carriage with his carbine full-cock. He accompanied us as far as the Plaza, and would not take his leave until properly feed. I fancied that this was some customhouse regu- lation; but was afterwards credibly informed that were it not for this protec- tion, such as it is, the diligence would be as likely to be robbed, even in the
town, as not. * "A fortnight or three weeks before I arrived in Mexico, two diligences were robbed at two o'clock in the afternoon, in the Paseo, and within a stone's throw of two guard-houses; and an Englishman of my acquaintance was once eased of his horse, watch, money, and valuables, in the Alameda, through the agency of the lazo, which is a most effective weapon in expe- rienced hands. Shortly after I left the city, a most worthy old gentleman, a member of the Congress, was found at five in the evening, in a public hotel, stabbed in his bedroom, and quite dead, with thirty-nine wounds in different parts of his body. A stir was made about this murder, as it happened to a person of importance ; but nothing was heard, at the time, of the murderers, and probably never will be, until one of them confesses on his deathbed."
"There is no regular police in the city, and after dark it is dangerous to go far without pistols. The only guardians:of the night are some watchmen, who are armed with a spear and a lantern ; the latter they put in the mid- • A Trip to Mexico; or Recollections of a Ten-Months Ramble in 184940. By a Barrister. Published by Smith and Elder.
die of the street, and then retire to sleep quietly in some doorway, only waking up now and then to call the hours and give a peculiar sort of whis- tle like a boatswain's. An English gentleman, resident in Mexico, told me that one night returning from a party, he was attacked in the Collo San Francisco by three men, and it was only by producing pistols, which he al- ways carriea, that he got safely home.'
The passengers to and from California are not likely to improve the state of manners, or morals generally, though they probably would do justice on the spot towards thieves attacking themselves. Here they are at San Bias.
"The scene on the arrival of a steamer, either up to California or down from thence, is most amusing. These vessels carry the mails, and are very regular in their arrivals, calling at San Bias once a month, either way. They are always crowded with passengers ; and a most curious-looking set of indi- viduals they are. The steamers stop some four or five hours, and all the passengers who can find boats come pouring ashore, to buy fruits or get 'a drink.' The coolness of these fellows surpasses belief. Two or three times have I been sitting with friends at the door of our house on the arrival of one of these importations, and every time, owing, I presume, to its being the first habitation in the village, have we been inundated by these dirty red- shirted gentry, clamouring for liquor and other matters, and not to be per- suaded that it was not a public-house, though bearing, I am sure, no signs of one. The costume of a gold-digger on his homeward trip is—a red wor- sted shirt, very dirty ; no waistcoat, or if one, of black satin ; a pair of black trousers, very dirty, thrust inside boots, also very dirty ; and the up- per man crowned with a black hat, very bed; beard, moustache, and tobacco at discretion. The outward-bound Californian Yankee is a shade cleaner and neater in his apparel. The arrival of these stearaerg must be a capital thing for San Bias, as far as spending money goes, but a dreadful nuisance to the respectable portion of the inhabitants."
A very good rum is distilled at some of the sugar-plantations, but it is not a popular article with the Mexicans. The national tipple is pulque ; thus manufactured.
"We passed through the centre of a district in which the mag,ucy, or large American aloe, is extensively cultivated for the manufacture of pulque. Pulque is the common drink of all Mexicans, and answers to our beer, though more intoxicating. All who once get accustomed to the smell and taste like it much, and it is even said to become necessary to people after they have used it for many years. When the Republic was first established, many old Spaniards threatened with expulsion petitioned the National As- sembly to allow them to remain in Mexico ; the groundwork of the petition being that they had been so long accustomed to drink pulque, (not procurable in Spain,) that their lives would be endangered if they left it off. The manner of making this drink is as follows : when the aloe is just on the point of throwing up its huge stem from its coronet of leaves, deep amidst which its broad basis had been for some time forming, the farmer or gardener scoops out the whole pith, leaving the outer rind, and thus making, inside the circle of leaves, a bowl-like cavity about two feet deep and eighteen inches wide, according to the size of the plant. This cavity is soon filled with the sap which should have gone to nourish the stalk, and as it flows is removed several times daily for some months, or as long as the tap yields. A portion of this juice (called honey-water, aguamiel) is set apart to ferment and act as a sort of leaven or yeast for the rest. This is called madre-pulque, the mother of pulque ; and when completely prepared, (which it is in about a fortnight,) a small portion of it is added to the skins or tubs containing the fresh aguamiel, and sets it fermenting in a day or so. A large plant is said to yield from ten to fifteen pints daily, and this for mouths. Others vary the process by putting a small quantity of mescal into the cavity in the plant to mix with the sap as it flows in; and this seems to answer very well. This process of milking the aloe is, as might be expected, a fatal one to the plant ; but before it dies it always throws out shoots which keep up the stock. The fermentation is usually conducted in skins, and as soon as this is over the pulque is fit for drinking. To strangers both the taste and smell are horrible, something of the style of rotten eggs ; but one soon gets accustomed to the flavour. The fresh sap, or aguamiel, is often drunk unprepared, but it is too humble a tipple to be generally patronized.
"These aloes are often of immense size. The common leaves are eight or ten feet in length, more than a foot in width, and thick in proportion. The stem often shoots up to twenty or thirty feet or more, and is as thick as a man's body."
Among the numerous characteristic descriptions of scenery, where animal life frequently enlivens the landscape, one of the most remarkable is a garden at Tepic, showing what English taste can do in that climate.
"The grounds are, perhaps, four acres in extent, and full of all the fruits, vegetables, and flowers, that can be obtained. One main walk runs from the gate to the river-wall, and is lined with bananas on both sides ; and under them is a hedge of coffee-bushes, with their beautiful white flowers. The coffee grown in this garden is in constant use, and much approved.
"On the left of the central walk is a branch avenue of orange-trees, al- most always covered with flowers and green and ripe fruit. These oranges are delicious—some of the best I ever met with. Seats are disposed along this avenue, which is the pleasantest lounge in the neighbourhood. The trees are BO thick that no sun can penetrate, and they are always filled with an infinity of birds. A walk extends along the river-wall, and also goes round the garden, and is lined by some noble trees. One path is hedged by pomegranates, which are most beautiful when in full flower. "European vegetables here flourish well, with the exception of potatoes, and we had always a capital supply from this garden. Peas are never out of season, and appear on the table every day in the year. Vines do not thrive, nor do peaches ever come to much; still both are in the garden, and they do the best they can with them. Strawberries were being planted just before I left, and I hope ere this they have produced a good crop. Apples, citrons, melons, pines, and other fruits, all do well. In one corner of the garden were some magnificent aloes, one of which was on the point of flowering when I left. Its stem had shot up to the height of some forty feet, and was nearly as thick as my body. I counted thirty-nine branches from which flowers were to be produced, and several blossoms would appear on each branch."
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