Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/758

 

the end of the last chapter we left the government of Juarez, based on the constitution of 1857, installed at Vera Cruz.

Before proceeding further, I will give here some in formation on the previous life of this extraordinary man, risen from the lower stratum of society to become one of his country s brilliant lights, statesman, patriot, and representative of a progressive age.

The city of Oajaca, capital of the state bearing the same name, is situated in a small valley near the mountain of San Felipe, a portion of the extensive and complicated ridge formed by the junction in the state of the two branches of the Sierra Madre. Twenty-two miles to the north-east of the city is the town of Santo Tomás de Ixtlan, within whose district lies, in the most intricate part of the mountain, the humble though picturesque hamlet of 150 or 200 inhabitants named San Pablo Guelatao, consisting of a few huts of adobe and the rest of straw, but surrounded by fertile soil that yields a variety of fine

(738)