Aztec Land   By: Maturin Murray Ballou (1820-1895)

AZTEC LAND. A new Book. Crown 8vo, $1.50.

THE NEW ELDORADO. A Summer Journey to Alaska. Crown 8vo, $1.50.

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AZTEC LAND

BY

MATURIN M. BALLOU

The dust is old upon my sandal shoon, And still I am a pilgrim.

N. P. WILLIS.

[Illustration]

BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1890

Copyright, 1890, BY MATURIN M. BALLOU.

All rights reserved.

The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company

PREFACE.

Having resolved to visit Mexico, the question first to be considered was how to do so in the most advantageous manner. Repairing to the office of Messrs. Raymond & Whitcomb, in Boston, after a brief consultation with those experienced organizers of travel, the author handed the firm a check for the cost of a round trip to Mexico and back. On the following day he took his seat in a Pullman parlor car in Boston, to occupy the same section until his return from an excursion of ten thousand miles. A select party of ladies and gentlemen came together at the same time in the Fitchburg railroad station, most of whom were strangers to each other, but who were united by the same purpose. The traveler lives, eats, and sleeps in the vestibule train, while en route , in which he first embarks, until his return to the starting point, a dining car, with reading and writing rooms, also forming a part of the train. All care regarding the routes to be followed, as to hotel accommodations while stopping in large cities, side excursions, and the providing of domestic necessities, are dismissed from his mind. He luxuriates in the pleasure of seeing a strange and beautiful land, without a thought as to the modus operandi , or the means by which detail is conquered. In short, he dons Fortunatus's cap, and permits events to develop themselves to his intense delight. Such was the author's experience on the occasion concerning which these wayside views of Mexico were written. It was a holiday journey, but it is hoped that a description of it may impart to the general reader a portion of the pleasure and useful information which the author realized from an excursion into Aztec Land, full of novel and uninterrupted enjoyment.

M. M. B.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Locality and Political Divisions of Aztec Land. Spanish Historians. Boundaries. Climate. Egyptian Resemblances. Products of the Country. Antiquities. Origin of Races. Early Civilization. Pictorial Writings. Aboriginal Money. Aztec Religious Sacrifices. A Voluptuous Court. Mexican Independence. European Civilization introduced by Cortez. Civil Wars. The Maximilian Fiasco. Revival of Mexican Progress. A Country facing on Two Oceans. A Native Writer's Statement. Divorce of Church and State 1

CHAPTER II.