The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-12-29
THE CITY OF MEXICO.
trry SquireS' Travels20l a
Strange Land.
THE GREAT LEAP OF ALVARAD0.
The Plazas-The Mexicans as Mechanics =
President Diaz's Castle-Places of His
torical Interest-The Mint.

CRY OF MEXICO, Dec. 20, 1SS9.-lSpecla
correspondence of THE HERALD. II thinl
at the close of my last letter was speak
ing of scenes and incidents in and around
the city, so 1 will continue the subject
About the first things to strike the eye OF
the tourist are the plazas. There are three
of them, the Alameda, Zocalo and San Fer
nandO.
THE ALAMEDA
is the largest and principal one; it contains
about thirty square acres of land and is
laid off and arranged very handsomely with
fountains, beds of flowers and statuary.
The plaza is very old and contains some
magnificent trees, many of them towering
more than two hundred feet in height and
in every direction are beautiful beds of
flowers in full bloom, roses, geraniums and
many dollhouse plants all thriving in the
open air. Grass is fresh and green, trees
are densely covered with foliage and birds
building their nests and warbling their
songs among the branches. The whole
scene looks to me like mid summer and l
can scarcely imagine that it is near Christ
mas. A military band plays in this plaza
every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday fore
noon This plaza also boasts of having
the finest music stand in the world.
THE zocALo
is not so old nor yet so large as the Ala
media, but is arranged more artistically and
all the walks are made Of cement a mill
tary band plays in this plaza every Sunday
and
day and Thursday evenings. The bands
are very fine, the largest having something
over fifty musicians and l think it CON-
pares very favorably with the band that
plays every Saturday and Sunday in the
Golden Gate park in San Francisco. There
are about three hundred men employed TO
look after these plazas and they are guarded
day and night by large force Of police
and soldiers. One of the most interesting
places for stranger to visit is
THH MINT.
It is situated on Apartado street and is
open from am. to 5. pm. The institu-
tion in 300 years has coined $4,000, 5000
The first coin was struck in 1885, and coins
of republics, empires and relationships fol-
lowed in a steady stream of gold and silver,
but chiefly in silver dollars. There are
several markets The principal ones are
Volador and Mercia, south of the palace;
San Juan, Soreto, San Lucas and Santa
Catarina on squares OF the same name. In
these markets you can find almost any
mortal thing Besides these markets there
are thousands of peddlers-men, women
and children-on the streets; it seems to
me that the Mexican people are not frantj
cally attached to hard work and may be
safely called chronic set Of peddlers.
THE CEMETERIES
are laid out with great care and are adorned
with many costly tombs and monuments.
San Fernando is the chief one. 1t contains
the tombs of Presidents Juarez, Guerrero
and Comfort. The monument to Juar z is
very fine. In this cemetary are also the
tombs of generals Miramon and Meia, who
were shot with Macmillan; of General
Zaragoza, hero of the battle of May D, 1862;
of Melchor Acampo and other early patri-
OTIS and nCtables. The Mexican funerals
are very curious. There is q street car
track running to the cemetery (which is
situated at Chapultepec, about two and a
half miles from the city, and they have
one car fixed up like hearse; the coffin is |
placed in this and two or three other cars |
follow containing the relatives and friends; |
they use 10 carriages, like other people |
When they arrive at the grave the body is |
taken out of the coffin and wrapped In a |
blanket and the coffin is sent back to town |
to be used again. l was in the cemetery |
while a funeral was being solemnized and |
asked the grave digger why the coffin |
was not buried; he said it was to be used
again that day and that over fifteen hun
dred bodies had already been hauled out in
that same coffin. Within a short distance
of the city aresmany
PLACES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST.
On the road to Tacuba is the old cause
way, TlacoDa, where Cortez was routed on |
the night Of JuLe 80, 1920, 1.-The dismal
night" On this road is the place known
to this day as THE Leap of Alvaradon
where that cheftain saved his life, not by
his bravery but by his agility. This is in
front of the entrance to the Tivoli del |
Eliseo. At the extremity of the old cause
way is the village Of Popotta, wnere Cortez
wept at the foot of a gigaL tic cypress that
still exists, but is almost ruined having
been set on fire few years ago by ia
Matte This tree is called the Nocee Triste
tree. Further on is Tacuba where another
large cypress grows and where Cortez en-
camped The city is well supplied with
street cars, tracks oeing laid in all the prin
cipal streets, and all the towns adjacent &c
the city, but the mode of running them
is very peculiar to an American. They
have no switches on their tracks where
cars can pass. No matter ii the road is five
miles long and twenty-five cars are run
ming on that particular line, they 1.-THE cars)
will all leave one end OF the line together,
run through the whole distance, wait
awhile at the other end and then all come
back again trailing after each other.
THE MExIcANs AS MECHANICS
are exceedingly slow but what they do is
done in such a substantial manner that il
seems as il il would last for ever, and
building once finished never needs any re-
pairing. The hotel where | am staying, is
"A three story building built of adobies
the roof is brick, porches are iron and tin,
all the stairs are rock and the banisters are |
iron. This is about the style OF all their {
houses: thore is no earthly SD wv for fire {
There is a fire department here, but
whether it was ever called out or not 1 have I
been unable to learn. The following will i
give YOU some idea of the slowness of the
workman; was creditaoly informed that
after the cathedI al was finished ii took
large force of men seventeen months 20 .
take down the scaffoldiug around the out ;
aide of the building. Out on the paseo or :
two and a half miles from the 7
,ity, situated on rocky Mill, Is
PRESIDENT DIAz's CASTLE.
r. is very picturesque place, surrounded
nv extensive and well-kept grounds. Just
little TO the south is forest of banyan
trees some of them being very large
Tonspi .uous among them is one huge old b
rec measuring eighteen feet in dlamater t
Underneath this tree is where the once 8
1reat and famous Montezuma used to hold | O
,is court and the tree still bears his name e
Tyo weeks ago last Sunday, President S
0iaz having Just returned from trip @
through the republic, the entire military
;orce was called out on dress-parade, num- y
oering several thousands, including in