Page:Mexico, California and Arizona - 1900.djvu/535

 Rh circuit complete. Whosoever can do no more than this will bring away an enduring source of pleasant memories for himself, and will henceforth form a part of that intelligent and appreciative body of public sentiment which must counteract the influence of a rough and turbulent class always fomenting idle troubles, like that of the Cutting case, on the borders.

Mexico has become, meanwhile, a much safer country to travel in. David A. Wells, in his excellent "Study of Mexico," says, that prior to 1883 its "exploration was so difficult and dangerous that exploration has rarely been attempted, and those who have attempted it have greatly imperilled their lives, to say nothing of their health and property." I do not admit that it was quite so bad as that, judging, perhaps, from a peculiarly fortunate experience of my own, even in making so unusual a journey as that down to the Pacific coast at Acapulco. However, at the present time no military guards are employed on the line of the Mexican Central, and even those on the Vera Cruz road are spoken of as only "an antiquated survival."

Mexico is also a much easier country to travel in, in many ways. You are now met on your arrival at the Capital by express agents, who will see your baggage through the Custom House, and deliver it in any part of the city, and there are express offices of Wells, Fargo & Co. throughout the Republic. A new American hotel has been built around two sides of the old convent garden of San Francisco. It is not yet the gorgeous structure of the early visionaries, but travellers of such distinction as Patti, for instance, stop there, and at the worst it could not but be an improvement on the old ones.

Inland postage, once almost prohibitory, has been reduced to a uniform rate of ten cents per quarter of an