Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/313

 Rh face was as guiltless of any knowledge of our approach as his body was of a shirt.

Probably the largest bachelor establishment on the American continent, perhaps in the world, is that of Baron Guillermo Wodon de S——. In the war of reform, when church property was confiscated and sold to the highest bidder, this gentleman became the purchaser of an extensive convent, and no transformation could have been more complete than that he wrought in the venerable building. The walls which had echoed only the sighs and prayers of pious nuns now resounded with the voices of the bachelor occupant and his bons-camarades. That the Baron makes an admirable host, we, with our friends, can testify, having been delightfully entertained at this metamorphosed hall. Our entertainer combined the grace and courtesy of the manner of his native country with that of the land of his adoption.

A more charming climate, both summer and winter, is not to be found in the republic than that of Michoacán, which is sixty English miles from the capital. It is so temperate that one experiences no dizziness.

The State is rich in minerals—gold, silver, and precious stones. It possesses woods of endless variety. Among them we saw in the museum the cork tree, pitch-pine, red and white cedar, red, white, and black walnut, wild olive, mahogany, poplar, ash, red and white oak, willow, laurel, beech, rosewood, ebony, and many others impossible to mention. Everywhere in the State fine fruits abound, and skirting as it does the tierra caliente, those of both tropical and temperate climes alike flourish. Here, for the first time, I saw in perfection the chirimolla and granadita.

In 1839 Madame Calderon de la Barca made the journey from the capital to Morelia on horseback, and regretted that so much beauty was wasted. She says: "We are startled by the conviction that this enchanting variety of hill and plain, wood and water, is for the most part unseen by human eye and untrod by human footstep." These beauties are now no longer concealed. The railway has penetrated