Mexico

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Mexico, by Charles Reginald Enock

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Title: Mexico Its Ancient and Modern Civilisation, History, Political Conditions, Topography, Natural Resources, Industries and General Development
Author: Charles Reginald Enock
Editor: Martin Hume
Release Date: April 2, 2007 [EBook #20959]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEXICO ***

Produced by Ron Swanson

THE SOUTH AMERICAN SERIES EDITED BY MARTIN HUME, M.A.

[Frontispiece: AN IDYLL OF MEXICO: INDIAN CARRIERS, RUINED CHURCH, AND SNOW-CLAD PEAK OF ORIZABA.]

MEXICO
ITS ANCIENT AND MODERN CIVILISATION HISTORY AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL RESOURCES INDUSTRIES AND GENERAL DEVELOPMENT
BY
C. REGINALD ENOCK, F.R.G.S.
CIVIL AND MINING ENGINEER AUTHOR OF "PERU" AND "THE ANDES AND THE AMAZON"
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARTIN HUME, M.A.
WITH A MAP AND SEVENTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

First Edition 1909 Second Impression 1910 Third Impression 1912 Fourth Impression 1914 Fifth Impression 1919
(All rights reserved) PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

PREFACE
The purpose of this work is to treat of Mexico as a topographical and political entity, based upon a study of the country from travel and observation; a method such as has found favour in my book upon Peru. The method of viewing a country as a whole, with its people, topography, and general conditions in natural relation to each other, is one which commands growing acceptance in a busy age. I have been able to observe much of the actual life and character of Spanish-American countries from considerable travel therein. Both Mexico and Peru ever lured me on as seeming to hold for me some El Dorado, and if I have not reaped gold as the Conquistadores did, there are nevertheless other matters of satisfaction accruing to the traveller from his journeys in those splendid territories of mountain and forest.
Mexico, superfluous to say, is not part of South America, although this book appears in this series. But it is part of that vast Spanish-speaking New World whose development holds much of interest; and which may occupy a more important part in coming years than is generally thought of at present.
THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS
PAGE BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
INTRODUCTION BY MARTIN HUME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv
CHAPTER I
A FIRST RECONNAISSANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Romance of history--Two entrance ways--Vera Cruz--Orizaba--The Great Plateau--Fortress of Ulua--Sierra Madre--Topographical structure--The Gulf coast--Tropical region--Birds, animals, and vegetation of coast zone--Tierra caliente--Malaria--Foothills--Romantic scenery--General configuration of Mexico--Climatic zones--Temperate zone--Cold zone--The Cordillera--Snow-capped peaks--Romance of mining--Devout miners-- Subterranean shrines--The great deserts--Sunset on the Great Plateau-- Coyotes and zopilotes--Irrigated plantations--Railways--Plateau of Anahuac--The cities of the mesa central--Spanish-American civilisation--Romance of Mexican life--Mexican girls, music, and moonlight--The peones and civilisation--American comparisons-- Pleasing traits of the Mexicans--The foreigner in Mexico--Picturesque mining-towns--Wealth of silver--Conditions of travel--Railways-- Invasions--Lerdo's axiom--Roads and horsemen--Strong religious sentiment--Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl--Sun-god of Teotihuacan--City of Mexico--Valley of Mexico--The Sierra Madre--Divortia aquarum of the continent--Volcano of Colima--Forests and ravines--Cuernavaca--The trail of Cortes--Acapulco--Romantic old haciendas--Tropic sunset-- Unexplored Guerrero--Perils and pleasures of the trail--Sunset in the Pacific Ocean.
CHAPTER II
THE DAWN OF MEXICO: TOLTECS AND AZTECS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Lake Texcoco--Valley of Anahuac--Seat of the Aztec civilisation-- Snow-capped peaks--Pyramids of Teotihuacan--Toltecs--The first Aztecs--The eagle, cactus, and serpent--Aztec oracle and wanderings-- Tenochtitlan--Prehistoric American civilisations--Maya, Incas--Quito and Peru--The dawn of history--The Toltec empire--Rise, regime, fall--Quetzalcoatl--Otomies--Chichemecas--Nezahualcoyotl--Astlan--The seven tribes and their wanderings--Mexican war-god--The Teocallis-- Human sacrifices--Prehistoric City of Mexico--The Causeways--Aztec arts, kings, and civilisation--Montezuma--Guatemoc--Impressions of the Spaniards--The golden age of Texcoco--Vandalism of Spanish archbishop--The poet-king and his religion--Temple to the Unknown God--Aztecs and Incas compared--The Tlascalans--The Otomies--Cholula-- Mexican tribes--Aztec buildings--Prehistoric art--Origin of American prehistoric civilisation--Biblical analogies--Supposed Asiatic and Egyptian origins--Aboriginal theory.
CHAPTER III
THE STRANGE CITIES OF EARLY MEXICO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Principal prehistoric monuments--Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan-- Pyramids of Teotihuacan--Toltec sun-god--Pyramid of Cholula--Pyramids of Monte Alban--Ruins of Mitla--Remarkable monoliths and sculpture-- Beautiful prehistoric stone-masonry--Ruins of Palenque--Temple of the Sun, and others--Stone vault construction--Tropical vegetation--Ruins of Yucatan--Maya temples--Architectural skill--Temples of Chichen-Ytza--Barbaric sculpture--Effect of geology on building--The Aztec civilisation--Land and social laws--Slavery--Taxes, products, roads, couriers--Analogy with Peru--Aztec homes and industries--War, human sacrifice, cannibalism--History, hieroglyphics, picture-writing-- Irrigation, agriculture, products--Mining, sculpture, pottery--Currency and commerce--Social system--Advent of the white man.
CHAPTER IV
CORTES AND THE CONQUEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .