[CHAPTER XXIV.]
FURTHER SIGHTS IN PUEBLA.—ECCLESIASTICAL BUILDINGS.—SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, ASYLUMS, AND OTHER PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.—CHOLULA AND ITS GREAT PYRAMID.—FIRST SIGHT OF THE PYRAMID; ITS CHARACTER, SIZE, AND PECULIARITIES.—ANCIENT CHOLULA.—MASSACRE OF INHABITANTS BY CORTEZ.—RUMORS OF BURIED TREASURES.—HOW A CRAFTY PRIEST WAS FOILED.—VISIT TO TLASCALA.—THE STATE LEGISLATURE IN SESSION.—BANNER CARRIED BY CORTEZ.—FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA.—ANCIENT PULPIT AND BAPTISMAL FONT.—A REVERED SHRINE.—FROM TLASCALA TO APIZACO AND ONWARD TOWARDS THE GULF.
PART OF PUEBLA.
"In the height of its glory," said Fred, "Puebla contained more than ninety churches. In 1869 it had sixty churches, nine monasteries, twenty-one collegiate houses, thirteen nunneries, and numerous chapels and shrines. The confiscation of ecclesiastical property has reduced the number of the churches to little more than twenty, abolished the nunneries and all the monasteries except two, which are really hospitals or almshouses for old and disabled priests. Some of the confiscated buildings have been sold for private uses, and others converted into schools, hospitals, libraries, and other Government establishments for local, State, or general government use.
"Doctor Bronson had a letter of introduction to the superintendent of the Hospital de Dementes, or Insane Asylum, which is in the building that was formerly the nunnery of Santa Rosa. We accompanied the Doctor when he went to deliver the letter, and were politely received and shown through the establishment. The hospital appears to be well managed, and Doctor Bronson was much interested in it. Of course the building was particularly attractive to Frank and myself, as we wanted to see how the nuns were lodged in the olden times. They certainly had a most delightful home so far as the eye was concerned, and I don't wonder that the nunneries in Mexico were popular among the women. The decorations everywhere were of beautiful tiles; the courts and their walls, the walls of rooms, the ceilings, the oratories, the bath-rooms, and even the kitchens and cooking stoves, were all covered with finely painted and glazed tiles. It is easy to keep such rooms clean, and we certainly have never seen a cleaner and neater building anywhere. We did not ask whether the attractions of the place had any beneficial effect upon the insane patients, but certainly they ought to have.
"From all we could observe, the city is admirably provided with hospitals, schools, and asylums, and no doubt the fact that so many suitable buildings were ready at hand had something to do with their number. Then, too, the Church had made liberal provision for the sick and suffering, and the Government here, as in other cities, had the good-sense not to undo the philanthropic work which was so long carried on under religious auspices. In the general hospital half the patients are treated by allopathy and half by homœopathy. The advocates of either system can readily demonstrate its superiority over the other, as they can in other countries besides Mexico."
