# Mexico, California and Arizona

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 |