268 .... .... .... 356 The GREAT SQUARE at MEXICO BASALTIC ROCKS at REGLA VOL. II. SUBURBS of GUANAXUATO...to face the Title. INDIANS OF MECHOACAN VOLCANO of JORULLO ......... 119 121 THE MODERN TRAVELLER, ETC. ETC. MEXICO. GUANAXUATO. THE city of Santa Fe de Guanaxuato (or, as it is sometimes written and pronounced, Gonnajoato) is the Villa Rica of Mexico, being placed in the very heart of its richest groupe of silver mines, on the porphyritic range of the Sierra de Santa Rosa.* It is one of the most singularly situated cities in the world. One might imagine that the jealous spirit of the mine had chosen this labyrinth of mountain ravines as his capital, for the purpose at once of security and concealment; and the extraordinary shapes assumed by the gigantic masses of porphyry, have frequently the appearance of ruined walls and bastions. These rocks give to the environs an extremely romantic appearance. The hills which surround the city are partly arid, partly covered with shrubs and evergreen oaks, which greatly heighten the picturesque effect. The city itself is entirely screened from view by the windings of the narrow defile which leads into the recesses of the mountain; and when the traveller at *Humboldt gives the latitude 21° 09 N.; long. 109° W. PART 111. B length finds himself introduced into the city, he has no idea of its extent, one part being so hidden from another, that, viewed from the streets, it appears to be a small town. It is only by ascending the heights on the opposite side, that a view is gained of the whole valley, broken into ravines, along the sides of which the town is built. Surveyed from this point, the novelty of its situation strikes the stranger with astonishment. In some places, it is seen spreading out into the form of an amphitheatre; in others, stretching along a narrow ridge; while the ranges of the habitations, accommodated to the broken ground, present the most fantastic groupes. "Nothing can be more ruinous and gloomy," says the Author of Notes on Mexico," than the approach to the city; but, on leaving the bed of the river, we ascended a steep projecting rock, and entered a street, skirting a ravine, supported by a lofty stone wall, having houses on only one side of it. We soon found ourselves in the heart of the town, winding along crooked, narrow streets, and across open spaces, which cannot be called squares, for they are irregular and of indescribable forms, most of them filled with market-stalls. The houses present a very singular appearance. They are spacious and well built, of hewn stone, but the fronts have been newly painted, and of the gayest colours: light green is the favourite; and some exhibit the colours of the Three Guarantees of the Plan of Iguala,-white, green, and red, which are now the national colours of Mexico. We were conducted to the custom-house, where we had only to make a declaration that we had not more than one thousand dollars with us, and were * This was in the year 1822, during the reign of Iturbide. |