Page:Our Sister Republic - Mexico.djvu/263

Rh, his mother-in-law Mrs. Allen, Gen. Mejia the Minister of War, and his daughter,—a magnificent blonde, one of the acknowledged belles of Mexico,—attended by a strong guard, rode out to Tacubuya, and from thence, via the old battle fields of Contreras and Churubusco, to La Cañada, a hacienda situated in a deep gorge in the mountains, fifteen miles from the city.

This is one of the most noted places of resort in the vicinity of Mexico, and one of the most beautiful in the world. The views of the snowy peaks of Popocatapetl and the grand amphitheatre of Mexico are magnificent, and beyond description. The hacienda itself is equally beautiful, and it is not to be wondered at that Maximilian, who desired to purchase or appropriate every beautiful spot in the country, desired very much to acquire La Cañada, and probably would have succeeded had the Empire and his funds held out. The party lunched there and returned to the City delighted with the excursion.

For myself, I stopped at Tacubuya, to call upon some friends temporarily residing there, and spent a most delightful evening. There I met Mrs. Gibbon, a Mexican lady, whose husband—a member of the family which produced the great historian—is a wealthy mine-owner of Pachucha; Mrs. Adele Mexia de Hammekin, the beautiful and accomplished wife of an American gentleman long a resident of Mexico, and daughter of the Republican General Mexia, who was shot in 1836, after his defeat by Santa Anna; Señor Acosta, a thorough scholar and accomplished civil engineer, and his daughter Señorita Luz Acosta, one of the most accomplished young women, and most devoted and loving daughters I have ever met, who, subsequently, visited the United