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Title: Anahuac

Author: Edward Burnett Tylor

Release Date: August 4, 2004 [eBook #13115]

Language: English

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANAHUAC***

E-text prepared by Carlo Traverso, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreaders Team

ANAHUAC

or, Mexico and the Mexicans, Ancient and Modern

by

EDWARD B. TYLOR

1861

[Illustration: Frontspiece. See page 93. THE CASCADE OF REGLA. From a
Photograph by J. Ball Esq. of the Hacienda de Regla. March 1856.]

INTRODUCTION.

The journey and excursions in Mexico which have originated the narrative and remarks contained in this volume were made in the months of March, April, May, and June of 1856, for the most part on horseback. The author and his fellow-traveller enjoyed many advantageous opportunities of studying the country, the people, and the antiquities of Mexico, owing to the friendly assistance and hospitality which they received there. With this aid they were enabled to accomplish much more than usually falls to the lot of travellers in so limited a period; and they had the great advantage too, of being able to substantiate or correct their own observations by the local knowledge and experience of their friends and entertainers.

Visiting Mexico during a lull in the civil turmoil of that lamentably disturbed Republic, they were fortunate in being able to avail themselves of that peaceable season in making excursions to remarkable places and ruins, and examining the national collection of antiquities, and other objects of interest,—an opportunity that cannot have occurred since owing to the recommencement of civil war in its worst form.

The following are some of the chief points of interest in these Notes on Mexico, which are either new or treated more fully than hitherto:

1. The evidence of an immense ancient population, shewn by the abundance of remains of works of art (treated of at pages 146-150), is fully stated here.

2. The notices and drawings of Obsidian knives and weapons (at page 95, &c., and in the Appendix) are more ample than any previously given.

3. The treatment of the Mexican Numerals (at page 108) is partly new.

     4. The proofs of the highly probable sophistication of
          the document in the Library at Paris, relative to
          Mexican eclipses, have not previously been advanced
          (see Appendix).

     5. The notices of objects of Mexican art, &c., in the
          chapter on Antiquities, and elsewhere (including
          the Appendix), are for the most part new to the
          public.

6. The remarks on the connection between pure Mexican art and that of Central America, in the chapter on Xochicalco, are in great part new.

7. The singular native bridge at Tezcuco (page 153) is another novelty.

The order in which places and things were visited is shewn in the annexed Itinerary, or sketch of the journeys and excursions described.

ITINERARY:

Journey 1. Cuba. Havana. Batabano. Isles of Pines.
               Nueva Gerona. Baños de Santa Fé. Back to
               Havana. Pages 1-14.

Journey 2. Havana. Sisal. Vera Cruz. Pages 15-18.

Journey 3. Vera Cruz. Cordova. Orizaba. Huamantla.
               Otumba. Guadalupe. Mexico. Pages 18-38.

Journey 4. Mexico to Tacubaya and Chapultepec, and
               back. Pages 55-58.

Journey 5. Mexico to Santa Anita and back. Pages
               59-65.

Journey 6. Mexico. Guadalupe. Pachuca. Real del
               Monte. Regla. Atotonilco el Grande.
               Soquital and back to Real del Monte. Real
               del Monte to Mount Jacal and Cerro de
               Navajas (obsidian-pits), and back to Real
               del Monte. Pachuca. Guadalupe. Mexico.
               Pages 72-105.

Journey 7. Mexico to Tisapán. Ravine of Magdalena.
               Pedrigal (lava-field), and back. Pages
               118-120.

Journey 8. Mexico to Tezcuco. Pages 129—162.
               Tezcuco to Pyramids of Teotihuacán and
               back. Pages 136—146. Tezcuco to
               Tezcotzinco (the so-called "Montezuma's
               Bath," &c.). Aztec Bridge, and back to
               Tezcuco. Pages 152-153. Tezcuco to
               Bosque del Contador (the grove of
               ahuehuetes, where excavations were made.)
               Pages 154-156. Tezcuco to Mexico.
               Page 62.

Journey 9. Mexico. San Juan de Dios. La Guarda.
               Cuernavaca. Temisco. Xochicalco.
               Miacatlán. Cocoytla. Pages 172-195.
               Cocoytla to village and cave of
               Cacahuamilpán and back. Pages 196-205.
               Cocoytla to Chalma. Oculán. El Desierto.
               Tenancingo. Toluca. Lerma. Las Cruzes.
               Mexico. Pages 214-220.

Journey 10. Mexico to Tezcuco. Miraflores. Amecameca.
               Popocatepetl. San Nicolas de los Ranchos.
               Cholula. Puebla. Amozoque. Nopaluca. San
               Antonio de abajo. Orizaba. Amatlán. El
               Potrero. Cordova. San Andrés.
               Chalchicomula. La Junta. Jalapa. Vera
               Cruz. West Indies and Home. Pages 260-
               327.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

     Cuba. Volantes. A Cuban Railway. Voyage. Passports. Isle of
     Pines. Mosquitos. Pirates. Runaway slaves. Baths of Santa Fé.
     Alligators.