Mexico

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
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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--T
he 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