Mexico, California and Arizona

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Mexico, California and Arizona (1900)
by William Henry Bishop
1219066Mexico, California and Arizona1900William Henry Bishop

ENVIRONS OF MEXICO.

MEXICO


CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA


BEING


A New and Revised Edition

OF

OLD MEXICO AND HER LOST PROVINCES


BY

WILLIAM HENRY BISHOP

AUTHOR OF

"FISH AND MEN IN THE MAINE ISLANDS" "THE HOUSE OF A MERCHANT PRINCE"

"DETMOLD" ETC.


WITH ILLUSTRATIONS


NEW YORK AND LONDON

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS

1900


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.


Copyright, 1888, by Harper & Brothers.


All rights reserved.

PREFACE.


In my opinions about Mexico I am glad to have been sanguine, because it is now seen that there was excellent ground for it. But I am glad also to have been a little sceptical, for the results have by no means equalled the highest expectations of the time of "the railway invasion." I have summed up now all the important changes since my early visit, and, as in most other human affairs, it is found that the realization is in a happy medium between the views of the extremely hopeful and of those who look always only upon the darkest side of any project.

I am not able, like several contemporaries, in whose accuracy, after all, the cynical pick flaws, to offer elaborate thanks to various notables and dignitaries "for valuable assistance in the preparation of this work," either the new edition, or the book as a whole. I wish, as a matter of interest, I could take the public into my confidence as to the number of letters written to, or interviews held with, minister resident, consul, and other persons, and the curious apathy with which these have often been met. I beg it to be believed that if there still be serious errors or omissions, they are not for want of continued and painstaking effort, which the modest result might not seem to have demanded. I may say that the book has been brought out also in England, and it has up to this time met with considerable favor. It has had the good-fortune to receive the commendation of leading journals in the city of Mexico—the more satisfactory in the place itself, where the most rigid tests of criticism are naturally to be looked for. Just as this goes to press I receive a letter from the editor of a prominent English paper there, containing these gratifying lines, which—though far too complimentary—I venture to quote: "I do not like to flatter, but I cannot refrain from saying that yours is the best book on Mexico in recent times."

CONTENTS.




Part I.—OLD MEXICO.

PAGE

I. By Way of Cuba and the Spanish Main

1

II. Vera Cruz

16

III. Up the Long Mountain Slope

24

IV. The Capital

37

V. The Projectors

54

VI. The Ferro-carriles

70

VII. The Railways at Work

80

VIII. The Question of Money, and Shopping

96

IX. Social Life, and some Notable Institutions

107

X. The Fine Arts and Literature

120

XI. Some Traits of Peculiar History, and the Mexican "Warwick"

134

XII. Cuatitlan, and Around Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco

149

XIII. To Old Texcoco

162

XIV. Popocatepetl Ascended

175

XV. A Banquet, and a Tragedy, at Cuautla-Morelos

185

XVI. San Juan, Orizaba, and Cordoba Revisited

192

XVII. Puebla, Cholula, Tlaxcala

210

XVIII. Mines and Mining Traits, at Pachuca and Regla

227

XIX. A Week at a Mexican Country-house

245

XX. On Horseback and Muleback to Acapulco

263

XXI. Conversations by the Way with a Colonel

275

Part II.—THE LOST PROVINCES.

PAGE

XXII. San Francisco

295

XXIII. San Francisco (Continued)

324

XXIV. The Villas of the Bonanza Kings

348

XXV. The Vintage Season, and Monterey

359

XXVI. A Wondrous Valley, and a Desert that Blossoms like the Rose

380

XXVII. Visalia, Bakersfield, and Life on a Spacious Ranch

399

XXVIII. Los Angeles

421

XXIX. To San Diego, and the Mexican Frontier

448

XXX. Across Arizona

469

XXXI. Tombstone

482

XXXII. Camp Lowell, Tucson, and San Xavier del Bac

496

XXXIII. Mexico Revisited

510

XXXIV. The Revival of Bull-fighting

629

INDEX TO PART I.

553

INDEX TO PART II.

563

ILLUSTRATIONS.




PAGE

MEXICO, SHOWING PRESENT AND OLD FRONTIER

5

CATHEDRAL OF MEXICO

9

DOMES OF VERA CRUZ

17

MAP OF ENGLISH RAILROAD FROM VERA CRUZ TO MEXICO

25

TRANSCONTINENTAL PROFILE OF MEXICO

31

A RAILWAY JUDAS

33

A FLOWER-SHOW IN THE ZOCALO

43

COMPARATIVE LEVELS OF LAKES

46

THE HOMES OF THE POOR

49

ENTRANCE TO A TENEMENT-HOUSE

51

OLD SPANISH PALACE IN THE CALLE DE JESUS

56

SEMI-VILLA ON THE PASEO OF BUCARELLI

57

THE MODERN STYLE

58

PORCELAIN HOUSE IN SAN FRANCISCO STREET

59

THE DRIVE TO CHAPULTEPEC

63

GENERAL RAILWAY SYSTEM OF MEXICO

75

THE GREAT SPANISH DRAINAGE CUT

85

PAY CARAVAN ON THE MEXICAN NATIONAL ROAD

91

"NOT HERE FOR THEIR HEALTH"

93

MODERN SHOP-FRONTS AT MEXICO

99

THE "PORTALES" AT MEXICO

102

A "MERCERIA" AT PUEBLA

106

INTERIOR COURT-YARD OF MEXICAN RESIDENCE

111

MEXICAN COURTSHIP

113

LAS CASAS PROTECTING THE AZTECS.By Felix Parra

120

THE DEATH OF ATALA.By Louis Monroy

123

GENERAL PORFIRIO DIAZ, EX-PRESIDENT OF MEXICO

139

GENERAL MANUEL GONZALES, PRESIDENT OF MEXICO

143

ENVIRONS OF MEXICO

150

SUNDAY DIVERSIONS AT SANTA ANITA

153

CREW OF "LA NINFA ENCANTADORA"

165

THE "FIND"

169

IN TIERRA CALIENTE

186

THE HILL OF EL BORREGO, AT ORIZABA

196

PRISONERS WEAVING SASHES AT CHOLULA

217

OLD FONT AT TLAXCALA

222

THE FIRST CHRISTIAN PULPIT IN AMERICA. TLAXCALA

223

PART OF CONVENT OF SAN FRANCISCO. TLAXCALA

224

SUPERINTENDENT'S HOUSE AT REGLA

241

PLOUGHMAN IN GRASS CLOAK

243

THE HACIENDA OF TEPENACASCO

246

THE THRESHING-FLOOR

249

THE TLACHIQUERO

251

NURSE AND CHILDREN AT THE HACIENDA

261

THE "DILIGENCIA"

267

OUR CAVALCADE AT IGUALA

281

THE BELLS OF SAN BLAS

290

ALCATRAZ ISLAND

297

"NOB" HILL, FROM THE BAY

299

CALIFORNIA STREET, SAN FRANCISCO

305

LONE MOUNTAIN

309

"HIGH JINKS" OF THE BOHEMIAN CLUB AMONG THE BIG TREES

313

GOLDEN GATE, FROM GOAT ISLAND

317

HIGH-GRADE RESIDENCES

327

CHINESE FISHING-BOATS IN THE BAY

331

CHINESE QUARTER, SAN FRANCISCO

335

A BALCONY IN THE CHINESE QUARTER

337

IN A CHINESE THEATRE

339

RAILWAY ROUTE I SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA

345

PALO ALTO

354

RALSTON'S COUNTRY HOUSE

357

BOTTLING CHAMPAGNE AT SAN FRANCISCO

361

A BRANDY CELLAR, SAN JOSE

363

A BIT OF OLD MONTEREY

365

LOOKOUT STATION

367

CUTTING UP THE WHALE

369

THE HOTEL DEL MONTE, MONTEREY

371

CLIFFS AND FOREST AT MONTEREY

373

CHINESE FISHING VILLAGE

375

SAN CARLOS'S-DAY AT THE OLD MISSION

376

DRYING FISH AT CHINESE VILLAGE

377

COURT-HOUSE AT FRESNO

387

PRIVATE RESIDENCE AT FRESNO

393

FIRST BUILDING IN VISALIA

400

AN OLD-TIMER

401

LOGGING, BACK OF VISALIA

403

CHINATOWN, BAKERSFIELD

409

GYPSY CAMP AT BAKERSFIELD

411

A TYPICAL RANCH-HOUSE

414

SAN LUIS OBISPO

416

A RODEO

418

THE KERN RIVER CAÑON

419

TEHACHAPI PASS

422

MAIN STREET, LOS ANGELES

425

DON PIO PICO

428

MONGOLIAN AND MEXICAN

430

PARADISE

437

A MEXICAN WEDDING AT SAN GABRIEL

441

THE VINTAGE, SAN GABRIEL

443

IRRIGATING AN ORANGE-ORCHARD

445

A SYLVAN GLIMPSE AT RIVERSIDE

451

ADOBE RESIDENCE AT RIVERSIDE

452

OLD MISSION AT SANTA BARBARA

455

 
PLAZA OF SAN DIEGO, OLD TOWN

457

OLD MISSION AT SAN DIEGO

460

DON JUAN FORSTER

461

SEÑORA FORSTER

462

FORSTER'S RANCH

463

SAN LUIS REY

465

A TICHBORNE CLAIMANT

466

THE COLORADO RIVER AT YUMA

473

PASQUAL, CHIEF OF THE YUMAS

476

YUMA INDIANS AT HOME

477

DISTANT VIEW OF TOMBSTONE

484

"ED" SCHIEFFELIN

487

A TOMBSTONE SHERIFF AND CONSTITUENTS

494

APACHE PRISONERS AT CAMP LOWELL

497

AN ARIZONA WATERING-PLACE

499

CACTUS GROWTHS OF THE DESERT

501

STREET VIEW IN TUCSON

503

EXTERIOR OF MISSION CHURCH OF SAN XAVIER DEL BAC

505

INTERIOR OF CHURCH OF SAN XAVIER DEL BAC

507