Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-04-10
MEXICO.
A Ride 10 Morelia and the sights
az Which Were Seen-Magniheent
Scenery and Houses in strange CON
trast.
Chicago Tribune.

trast,
Chicago Tribune.
Since last writing you have taken
a 5OOmile ride over the Sierras to Mo
relia, halfway to the Pacific, where,
from neighborirg mountain,
could have looked down upon Is wa
tiers of alleged tranquility.
Tho road that leads from the house
where am guest to tho station oil
the Mexican National Railroad is a
historic thoroughfare. 1t is solid
street now. with no water IN sight
anywhere; 300 years ago it was the
causeway hanked by lake and inter
cepted BY lateral canals down which
Cortez fought his way on that mem
orable night of his expulsion, and up
which he fought his way in his subse-
ouent entrance to the Aztec capital.
Still we were shown on our way to
the station the place where the chief
tain was captured for moment dur
ing that night Of terror the spot
where Velasques de Leon fell, the
bridge where Alvarado miraculOusly
upborne by an angel leaped the fifty
foot chasm and escaped from his enc
mics; and, Just beyond the station,
the celebrated Noche 'rriste tree, still
standing wounded and weather beat
en-. under whose branches COrtez sat
down and wept the destruction of his
army. The site OF the house where ]
am writing, now miles away from
any W ter, was then in the lake, sur
rounded by flowing canals, and con
tanning a house standing on piles like
the houses of Venice. The street IN
front still bears the name of st. Fran
ces Bridge.
THE NATIONAL DRINK.
The Aztecs manufactured pulque,
and got drunk on IL, Just as do the
Mexicans Of today. It is the great
national beverage lager beer or
hard cider of the land. It's a termen-
tation of the sap of he magney, and
is drawn by tapping the deep heart Of
the plant. When a specimen of the
magney feels real good il will yield
gallon of the sweet sap every day for
months together This juice is then
emptied into an unshOrn sheepskin,
turned wrongsde out, and the feet
tied up, in which il is transported to
the place of fermentation. Every
where the traveller meets donkeys la
den with these full skins, or a carga-
dore will trot along with one on the
the back Of his neck SO smooth, and
slippery, and unctious, that it looks
like a hog that has persisted of dropsy.
An enormous quantity of pulque is
oil Il IN /
don t want any more Of it, | tried it
the first day, as everybody docs. 1t
looks like sour milk a week old, tastes
like sour milk year old, sweetened
with asaietida, and smells like Con-
stantinople. If | couldn't become in
ebriatcd on anything but pulque |
would forego that pleasure for life.
But the magney plant is certainly
thing of beauty in the landscape, and
when one becomes superannuated and
farrow it ceases to give down, and
then it shoots upward a great central
stalk like a oloritied telegraph pole,
the top of which bursts INTO gor-
geous bloom before it dies-for this is
old century plant that we have read
of. The pulque produced along the
national road but especially ia the
Valley Of Tolucca, is famous for its
superiority all over Mexico. 1t is Vi
ciously strong, and the smell of it as
cends TO Heaven.
FINE SCENERY.
On the western boundary of the
Valley of Mexico, the rack climbs
over the foothills. Then the
heavy grade begins. We thread nu
mcrous cuts, sometimes through hard
metamorphiG rock, but oftener through
the spongy and crumbly volcanic ash
called tipetatI, which one sees in many
of the buildings Of Mexico. We leap
gulches with little brooks babbling at
the bottom, most welcome after leav-
ing the dust swept plateau; we skim
along the sides of tremendous raviues
on barrancas, and suddenly plunge
into a tunnel. In emerging we look
backward across the broad deep valley
and get a farewell glimpse of the cap
ltal Of the A2tecs, twiukling afar off
among lakes IN a misty atmosphere.
The valley below as rs one of the most
highly cultivated parts of Mexico.
Fields are carefully divided and thor
oughly TILED In two months, when
the rainy season has begun, they viii
fill the eye with beauty.
We sweep around great oX-bow
curves, over solid stone and iron
bridges, past myriads of unknown
trees. under the shadow of high rocks
water-worn into gIotesque shapes, bat
tlemented castles, towers, and nina
rets, and colossal caricatues oil the
. organ cactus with pipes of carved
trachite clustering in the sun.
We climb up, mp, up, 200 feetto the
mile, and soon reach Gina, or Sum
init, st the top Of the Sierras, and 10, -
200 feet above the sea. There is only
little station here. Thisis, believe,
the highest point reached by q rail
road on the continent Here are q
couple OF springs within sight of each
other from which two streams flow,
one ulcklug down to the great water,
of The east and the other finding lis
way through deep canyons into the Pa
cifc ocean. We takea drink and push
j a !