Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-28
MEXICO.
XW-A Land Of R0-
nance.

All n LULU VI NV
nance.
By Frederic ]. Haskin. III
With its capital built on the site Of an
ANCIENT Aztec capital; with its cathedral
standing on the identical spot where once
stood an aboriginal temple; with evil
dences everywhere Of prehistoric civiliza-
lions dating hack so far that even ira
dition is mute concerning them: with
prehistoric past and living present COM
mingled in the blood Of its people. united
in the names of its cities, its mountains
and its lakes: with no middle class among
its people; Mexico, from the Rio Grande
TO the Suchiate. from Yucatan to Lower
California. is indeed a land of romance,
a country Of contrasts.
Uncounted centuries parade their re-
spective types before the traveller Of the
Mexican highways. When he reaches
Mexico City in a modern, electric-lighted
Pullman, he is met at the train by a
Cargo dor who carries his baggage on his
back exactly the Aztec forefather car
ried his burden in the days when neither
the horse nor the OK were at his COM
n1anG. The Cargador carries the baggage
10 hotel which was built by Spanish
grandee and afterward became the palace
of al emperor. The sleepy donkey of the
past trots along the same street with
palace of imperial Montezuma is now the
castle of republican Diaz. and overlooks
modern Yankee amusement palace.
-
Bfigies Of Judas Iscariot. TO be crunched
g. az
the neck till
Bull Ring Is Built dead. are sold
Of Steel and Concrete. s,ores as
Paris gowns and American art ware
The bull ring. built of concrete and Amer
1can steel. is within earshot of the mag
nificent American colony. and the sound
of perfervid cheering, as the favorite mat
ador executes brilliant pass and the
hand responds with a diana, may be
waited into the very precincts of the
embassy Of the United States. The sacred
mountain Of Amecameca casts its bene-
diction over a modern American railroad
yard. Ignorant octogenarian Indians, who
know less of Benjamin Franklin than
their sorrowful looking dogs know OF the
131 holidays on the Mexican calendar.
peddle newspapers on the street. Often
one beholds all human progress at a
single sweep of the eye-a modern auto
mobile. railroad train. carriage. an OK
of laden Indians. all within the distance
of single city block.
And then Mexico is ancient. Centuries
before Christopher Columbus opened his
eyes upon the world he was destined to
enlarge there was in the prehistoric city
of Palenque marble tablet depicting
cross with worshipers before It,. Genera
tons before Europe dreamed there was
land beyond the sea Chinese inscrip
tons were being placed on pyramids in
Mexico which are half as large those
the kinship of their builders to the people
OF che land of the Pharaohs.
These pyramids were built ''by the
compass long before Aristotle had
proved that the
Pyramids of Mexico earth is round.
Built by Compass. built and we're era
nourishing centuries before Eric the Red
sighted Cape Farewell. Aztec astropo-
mers had built an observatory on the
Hin Of the Star at Churubusco. where
Americans now play golf and tennis, long
before Europe boasted Of the first one at
Uranienborg. Malinche, the Indian slave
girl, who was presented to Cortez and be-
came his mistress and interpreter, had
borne him son many a year before little
Virginia Dare's first small cry was heard
on Roanoke Island. Mexico had a uni
versity before Elihu Yale. John Harvard
or William and Mary were born. and
hospital before jamestown and Plymouth
Rock appeared upon the map.
How far back into the uncharted past
the existence OF Mexico dates mortal
man does not know There is a growing
belief to the effect that the cradle of the
race is to be found in the southern part
Of Mexico. 1t is conceded generally that
there We're civilizations in Mexico before
their advent into the land about 64S A.
D. The capital Of the Toltec nation is
said to have been upon the site of the
present struggling Indian village known
from the capital. 1t was here that Quet-
zalcoatl, the Fair God, appeared among
the Toltecs and taught them the arts OF
husbsndry and war, and then sailed away
in a boat built of snake skins. promising
to return some day. Tradition says the
Fair God was the reincarnation Of st.
Thomas. while history believes he was
some shipwrecked Viking. who had been
blown across the sea. After his depar-
ture he was deified, many monuments
were erected to his memory and altar
fires. kept burning for him. One of the
first things Cortez learned was the story
Of Quetzalcoatl. and he Immediately as
stunned the role Of the departed god.
The Toltecs dwelt in the country OF
AHdHOdC tHe eicNcDtH century,, anu
then, like the Arabs. folded their tents
and silently stole away There is a
tradition. however. that in the reign of
Tepancaltzin. eighth king of the Toltecs,
Papantzin. his kinsman, having seen a
field mouse gnaw hole IN the center
OF growing maguey or century plant,
tasted the juice that flowed from the
plant He was so delighted with it that
he sent some Of 1t to his imperial kins-
man by his beautiful daughter Xochitl
The king was SO delighted with the
pulque and SO pleased with the girl that
he placed her in his harem. To this
day there are DEMONSTRATIONS for the
dispensing OF pulque-tp be found in every
town and city where pulque is sold.
which bears the name La Hermosa
Xochitl,'' which means beautiful flower.
After the Toltecs came the Chichimecs.
a barbaric horde from the northwest. II
is generally be-
No One Knows lieved that they
vYyl A4>.. were the people
"~ S~ ~~~"' who gave to the
Mexican Indian his distinctly Monaghan
cast of feature. They were followed by
the Aztecs and other peoples. and here
began the rise OF the nation OF the Mon
tezumas. that wonderful people who met
l.