Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-07-31
ChapuItepeo.

from town as Guadalupe, the shrines
of authority and Of religion being
each exactly three miles off. Strange
enough their city centres, cathedral
and palace, are on the same square.
The ride thithcr is over u charming
avenue, called the Empress Road,
for long time called the road of the
Mad Woman. 1t is straight as an
arrow path from an Aztec bow, lined
with young trees, well wet at least
half its way, and every thing but
safe. That you take the risk of.
Carriage riders or horsemen may
find themselves lighter Of purse and
heavier of heart before they reach
the city streets, though they are only
mile out. But morning brings no
danger, or at least fears none. A
prancing horse that has only known
the saddle gayly dances with you as
his partner from the Alamcnda to
the gate Of the grounds. There you
dismount, if you so desire, Or pass in,
and on, and up.
The first thing that strikes you is
the woods. People have often been
struck with their substance. They
are more ancient than the palace.
They are the tall, broad-limbed &C.
dars which Yosemite delights in.
Some are twenty feet through.
Large groves of them linger round
the base of the hill. Several are
very large, and one rises to the dig
nifty Of bearing Montezuma's name.
Here, too, are the baths of Monte
yuma, the best just outside the
grounds. Much frcqucnted are they
yet, though not by him, unless his
spirit needs ablution, as most spirits
do, at least when in the flesh. The
one inside the gate is walled hole
in the ground. But few rods farth
er off, in what was undoubtedly his
park, there bubbles up forty feet the
clearest, coolest pool ever saw fol
bathing. Fifty feet square is the
bowl, and forty feet deep. You car
see the moss and ferns growing or
the bottom, and behold the hole il
the rock whence the water gushes out
There to plunge I found delightful
after a racy ride of an hour, just as
the sun was yellowing Chapultepe(
and with only cup of coffee be
tween my appetite and last night,
supper. A shallower basin, paveG
and walled to suit those who can no
swim, adjoins the fount, and is hard
ly less luxurious; while ladies have i;
suit Of similar luxuries adjoining, al
opening in ceasless gardens.
Taking this swim, we can driv,
through the woods, that open in some
places to quite respectable forests
We climb up the hill past two grin
idols still remaining hidden in thu
foliage, the gods of Montezuma
The sides are barren of all trees
save the Peru Or pepper tree, sor
of willow-looking bush that grows t.
quite height and solidity at times
and grows every where. The dries
and hottest soils are not too dry no
too hot for it. Red berries hang il
clusters over it, the choice fruit o
birds, though startling pungent t.
man.
The court just below the top stop
the horses, and a few steps land TIL,
visitor amidst a cool and shady gard
Ell, surrounded by broad verandas
where the singing and shining bird
of the country (very different spec
les here, as elsewherc) shine in tn
exquisite plumage, or melt in mor'
exquisite song. Long suits of rooms
command the superb valley, its city
villages, plains, lakes and mountains
No such panorama has any othe
palace in the. world. Windsor, th'
next most beautiful, is tame to this
Schonbrunn, Potscam, Fontaine
bleau, and all, are flat and cheap t
this rare combination. But then on,
is apt to live longer in these palace
and to die more natural death, ant
so is content with humber luxurics
From Montezuma to MaNimillian
the occupants of this hill palace
have many of them made violen
exit from their troubulous honors
Juarcz dared not stay here afte
nighth-fall without a large body
guard; and it is abandoned to occa
sional state breakfast, the heart o
the city being Judged a safer resi-
dence.-Harper's Magazine toI
July.