CHAPTER I.
Jalapa.
If there is any place in Mexico where the sun shines upon a richer vegetation than that in the valley of Jalapa, there is certainly no part of the country that enjoys a moister atmosphere. A dense, compact mass of light gray vapors always stretches from the summit of the Cofre de Perote to the very verge of the horizon. From this dark canopy, which is always charged with moisture, a fine drizzling rain falls, cloudlets of mist roll along the roofs of the houses, the streets are deserted, and Jalapa suffers dreadfully during the greater part of the year for the magnificence of its perpetual verdure; but the sun has no sooner torn aside this cloudy veil, and the deep blue of the heavens and that of the hills has become blended into one, than Jalapa becomes the enchanting town which at a distance it promises to be. The steep streets, which have now put on a very lively appearance, present at every step some charm which is ever varying. The eye is arrested sometimes by the blue and red painted houses which peep out from clumps of guava-trees, of liquidambars and palms—sometimes by the mountains which overhang the town—by the rocks which are completely hidden by a drapery of convolvuli—by the thousand streams which burst from their sides—and by the paths which are soon lost to view between a double hedge of daturas, honey-suckles, and jasmines.
When evening has come a shade falls upon the landscape, but the veil is so transparent that it softens its contour without effacing it. Even the night at Jalapa is quite as beautiful as the day. It is then that life begins to stir in the town. The ground-floor is, in all houses in hot countries, the place of rendezvous for the family and friends. It is in the evening at Jalapa, and at several other towns in Mexico, that the stranger can obtain the best insight into the domestic life and manners of the inhabitants. Every open window then sends forth a welcome ray of light into the dark and silent street, and the traveler can not but hear the joyous merriment that is going on within. In the warm nights of this beautiful climate the stranger can thus share in these fêtes every evening; he can see the Jalapeñas[47] display their charming vivacity without affectation, from the first moment that the fête commences till the flowers in their head-dresses wither, the harp ceases to be heard, and the windows are closed behind their iron bars.
It is always with regret that you leave this charming, warm valley, whether you are going to Mexico through the icy fogs of the frigid zone, or to Vera Cruz through the stifling and unbearable heat of the country between Jalapa and that city. I had deferred my departure from day to day, and two weeks had almost rolled away like a dream since that evening when, permitting the silver convoy to go on in advance after the death of Don Blas, I had entered Jalapa alone. My pecuniary resources were almost exhausted, and I was obliged to set out, taking with me my servant Cecilio and another traveling companion, a young spaniel bitch, answering to the name of Love, an appellation which Cecilio had transferred into a Spanish name with quite a different signification, Lova (she wolf). This dog followed me in all my wanderings; and my horse Storm, who had contracted an affection for her, never galloped with greater animation than when he felt her bounding between his legs or fawning upon his chest.
We soon left behind us the fertile hills of Jalapa, its orange groves and daturas, its plains dotted with bananas and guava-trees, and arrived at Lencero. This name was given to the place by one of Cortez's soldiers who had set up a venta there. In that quarter are still to be found some of these huts called jacales.[48] Lencero offers likewise an additional interest to the curious traveler. Near the hamlet, upon the top of a hill, from which, in a clear day, the serrated tops of the Cordillera and a distant view of the ocean can be easily obtained, rises a little house with red stained walls, ornamented with a modest veranda, and surmounted by a mirador (belvedere) of glass. This agreeable retreat is the country house of General Santa Anna.
At some distance from Lencero our road passed through the gorges of Cerro-Gordo, and a dull roar, like the sea-waves breaking on a rocky beach, warned us of our approach to the River Antigua. Seven arches, thrown with great boldness over a deep ravine, at the bottom of which the river flows; the blasted rocks and the filled-up abysses, still attest the ancient grandeur of the old masters of Mexico. This bridge is now called the Puente Nacional.[49]
Vera Cruz is only about forty miles from the Puente Nacional; but since our departure from Jalapa, the heat had become gradually overpowering. Storm snuffed up with delight the burning wind which imbrowned the grass; it reminded him of the hot breezes of the savannas. It was the first time for five years that he had bathed in the rays of a sun similar to that of his distant querencia, and his joy was manifested by his wild neighing. Love, on the contrary, her tongue lolling out, and her chest heaving, sought in vain for some drops of dew in the midst of a vegetation parched and withered by the heat of such a sun.
Fatigued by a ride which had lasted longer than I had anticipated, I pulled up for an instant. I had not intended that my halt should be long, as I wished to reach Vera Cruz that evening, leaving my servant to follow next morning if his horse could not keep up with mine; but Fate had decreed otherwise. Cecilio, who had lagged behind, came up at the very moment I was going to start. The sweat was rolling in beaded drops from his burning brow, and his face, ordinarily so calm and placid, wore an appearance of extreme uneasiness. He shuffled up alongside of me. I was doubly surprised. It was the first time that he had ever shown himself wanting in respect, and the effort he now made to keep his horse close to mine was quite without precedent.
"Señor," said Cecilio to me, "if the accounts I have picked up on the road are to be relied on, we have entered the district in which yellow fever is so rife, and I must say that I have strong fears for my personal safety, and, with your lordship's permission, will go no farther."