'The Days of a Man 



1898 



An 



exquisite 



outlook 



"Los 



Toros" at 

 Guadala- 

 jara 



ing domes of brass, and, just below, the superb, 

 somber Mexican Cypresses Taxodium distichum 

 last relics of a giant tropical forest famous since 

 the days of Cortez. 



From Mexico City we went up the mountain- 

 side to lovely Cuernavaca, capital of Morelos, over- 

 topped by the perfect cone of Popocatepetl; and 

 from there we made a trip on horseback to the 

 ancient Aztec fortified town of Xochicalco, its 

 crumbling stone walls still embellished with in- 

 teresting carvings symbolic of vanished fancies. 

 At Guadalajara, reluctantly but somewhat as a 

 matter of duty, I attended a bullfight, a disgusting 

 spectacle of disemboweled blind horses and clever 

 butchery of dazed and disconsolate bulls; the on- 

 lookers, moreover, displayed national customs in 

 their most offensive aspect. The two classes into 

 which Mexicans divide are sharply set off at the 

 Arena. In the reserved section marked Ombre 

 (shadow) sit the people of importance land- 

 holders and professional men, Spanish for the most 

 part, self-contained and perfect in deportment, at 

 least unless unduly provoked. Opposite them, in 

 the Sol (sun) swarm the peons, mestizos mainly, 

 with high-pointed straw sombreros and red serapes, 

 the same noisy, impulsive, ruthless, hot-tempered, 

 uncontrolled mob which has flocked about the bloody 

 sands ever since gladiatorial combats and bull- 

 fights began. Yet Guadalajara seemed the most 

 prosperous, as it certainly is "the cleanest, finest, 

 brightest, and healthiest of Mexican cities" 

 people of pure Spanish extraction being there in the 

 majority. 



During our stay in that region we were all guests 



