Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/477



E left the great city at six o'clock in the morning, when the air was cool, and before the sun had risen far above the snow-capped volcanoes that guard the valley, gliding over a smooth road-bed, through level fields of grain and grass divided by hedges of maguey, past immense savannas where flocks of sheep were feeding, tended by most picturesque shepherds in sarapes and sombreros, through clean stretches of good brown earth, where the corn-blades were just springing in the hollows, past great haciendas with buildings like ancient forts surrounded by high and loopholed walls, with willows drooping above mud huts, and church towers rising everywhere on plain and hill. At seven we reached Atzcaptzalco, a little town, and after leaving this pueblo again took our way through beautiful plains, with fields of peas in bloom bordering the track, and green levels stretching far away on either hand, dotted with feeding cattle. Above and beyond were grades and curves, and the hills were ascended one after the other, and we dipped into other valleys and got glimpses of the country farther on.

Up to Tlalnepantla the rich and easily-worked soil would have caused a Northern farmer to open his eyes, for there was not even a stone to sharpen the plough upon; it might be said that there were no ploughs either susceptible of being polished by friction from stones, for here these primitive farmers plough with a stick, as in times most ancient. One small valley we passed through belonged, with its surrounding hills and a gem of a lakelet in its centre, to one estate. Though the railroad cuts along the borders of a worthless hill, still the wealthy proprietor of this vast estate obliged the company to pay for a