Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/280

240 indigo, and all the tropical plants and trees, are successfully cultivated, and the 48 sugar estates comprehended within its limits, produce not less than 200,000 hundred weight of raw and refined sugar, besides 50,000 barrels of distilled spirits.

The chief town is Cuernavaca, lying 3,998 feet above the sea, 3,426 below the city of Mexico, and 5,786 feet beneath the Cruz del Marquez, from the neighborhood of which the whole panorama of this splendid valley bursts upon the traveller. Cuernavaca rests on a tongue of land projecting into the valley between two steep barrancas or ravines. Plentifully supplied with water, and situated in the midst of the tierra caliente, it is, of course, buried among luxuriant foliage which is never touched with frost. The town may, therefore, be justly called a garden, in whose midst rise the picturesque houses of the townsfolk,—the walls of the church built by Cortéz,—and the dwelling that was erected during the Spanish dynasty by the fortunate miner Laborde. The grounds, attached to this edifice, were laid out with care and taste. Lakelets spread out among the profuse vegetation; bellevues were erected at every spot whence a favorite prospect of the valley might be obtained; and bowers were built in the shadiest corners amid lofty palms or choice varieties of native and exotic plants. Time and neglect have done their work upon this beautiful structure; but the vegetation is so abundant and graceful, that the ruined portions are soon filled up and concealed by flowers or leaves. Few spots on earth afford a more agreeable retreat to a man who is willing to pass his life in a tropical climate and in a stagnant society.

is a village in the neighborhood of Cuernavaca, whose Indian inhabitants are remarkable for their entire separation from the rest of the Mexican population. They have never mingled their blood with the Spaniards during the three hundred years of foreign dominion, but have always preserved, intact, their own laws, habits, institutions, language and customs. They work on the neighboring plantations; but, with this exception, refuse all intercourse with the Mexicans, or part in their government. The authorities have never forced them to abandon their secluded system; but seem to have respected their feeble rights, as the invaders respected the republic of San Marino in Italy during the wars that succeeded the French revolution.

, or, an Indian village in whose vicinity lies the remarkable cavern of that name which winds