Kane.] o72 [jan. 19, 



ranked among the Exact Sciences. To such I would turn, and, adopting tlie 

 terniinoh)gy of that imposing study, would indicate the value of Northern 

 Coahuila as a Ilell where we can study faithfully what Sin means. We 

 need be at no loss there for examples, for proofs that the sins of the fathers 

 are visited upon the children — and that, beyond the third and fourth gener- 

 ations. 



The splendid conqueror still dazzles our eyes as he flashes across the 

 page of hi3torJ^ We realize how chiquard it seemed to many a young Span- 

 ish noble of pure blood to follow in the footsteps of Hernando Cortcz, 

 to carry about or be carried about by, to lead or be led astray by his 

 Malinche — but we have come down to the end of that nice business. The 

 dreadful end ! The savage Indian would not now be re-asserting his 

 savage characteristics, but for the aid lent him by the Devil Avorking thro\igh 

 the illegitimate descendant of the Spaniard. There is no mistaking it ; it 

 is the Red Savage — the old Adam — terra rubra there, out upon the warpath. 

 The Spanish military rule first overthrown, he has subverted the civil 

 order which it sustained. For the law which the Spanish introduced (a 

 stately system not unworthy of its Latin origin) he prefers, perhaps on the 

 way to re-introduce ancient barbarous and local usages, the momentary 

 will of the last chief under whom he has fought as a brave (bravo) in battle. 

 The language, for the birthright to use Avliich all Christendom envies the 

 Spaniard, he is expelling from the country by debasing it more and more 

 with his native Indian below standard. Finally, he is destroying the last 

 bond which holds the peoples south of the United States together, their 

 religion. Under Juarez, who faithfuUj' merited his surname of El Indio, 

 and his successor, Lerdo, the persecution of the Catholic Chui'ch has been 

 successful in eradicating true religious feeling to an extent which, before 

 my last visit, I could hardly have believed possible. Among the ruling 

 politicians in the north, I did not meet one man who, in conversation 

 with me, did not proclaim himselfsuperior to "Superstition." The author- 

 ized school books, in the miserable attempts at public schools, taught 

 Iluitzilopochtli (alias Mexitli),^ Melantiuctli,'^ Tezcatzoacatl,'' and the 

 glories of Netzahual-coyotl* and Cuahtemoc.^ 



These be thy gods, O Israel 1 



There were old Spanish churches left, many of them not yet fallen to 

 ruin, into which occasionally glided a few women muffled in black shawls, 

 with their little children. Then a proscribed man might skulk in, per- 

 haps, through a little door under the altar, and don for the mass priestly 

 vestments which he was not allowed by law to wear outside the church. 

 But the building you would find did not belong to him, but to the State. 

 He could not, nor could any religious corporation, own property as re- 

 ligious societies do in the United States. If the Spanish bells in the tower 

 were not melted down, he had no right to ring them ; not to announce 

 fair da3'light to the sickbed, not to bid an Angelus tell the laborer that it was 



Gods— 1. Of War. 2. Of Hell. 3. Pulque. 4. Tezcocan King, d. 1436. 5. Ene- 

 my of Cortcz, d. 1525. 



