Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/475

Rh thirty millions to build, and has survived no fewer than forty different managements, besides time and again losing its charter by revolution; but its completion at last attained was a great boon to the republic. On its way to the capital it ascends seven thousand six hundred feet, and its length is only two hundred and sixty miles: and "this is the short and long of it."

As is the case with all railways in Mexico, whether of tram or steam, there are first, second, and third class rates. From Mexico to Vera Cruz, the first-class ticket costs $16.50—the second class, $12.50; but there are no Pullmans attached, and the difference consists in having neatly padded coaches for first class, while plain chairs in common coaches accommodate the less fortunate.

From Maltrata the foliage and vegetation assume a more tropical appearance, but there are wanting the tangled masses of vines and luxuriant growths one naturally expects to see. The heat, however, grows more intense, and when finally we halt before the pretty station house at Orizaba, everything and everybody seems wilted and panting under the heat. Don Augustin saw us safely to the "Hotel de las Diligencias"—a name which has a peculiar and particular attraction for hotel proprietors all over the country. Don Augustin gave us the desired information that the hotels had retained the names of former times, when they were head-quarters of the stages.

Orizaba has perhaps twenty thousand inhabitants, and considerable manufacturing interests. The Alameda is a quiet, shady park with an abundance of glorious flowers peculiar to the section. Among them I saw nothing grander than the sweet-scented Datura arborea—generally known as the Floripondio—hanging like snowy bells, ready for the fairies to ring; and the Tulipan vibrating in the soft breeze, like flaming banners. I had seen both of these at the capital and other points, but they are insignificant compared with those grown in the tropics.

The Zocalo, the cathedral and the market—the latter always a place of interest to me—were duly inspected. But the heat was so intense,