1892 
Querendaro 
(Miohoaoan) 
Lake 
Patzcuaro 
republic at whose very door are many interesting matters for invest!- 
-1 <*■ f • * ** • 4 a * 1 . Jr 
gation lying awaiting the research of someone from a foreign country 
while these ‘'scientists" carry on voluminous correspondence with 
societies of a similar character throughout the republic. 
fliis light and scattering character of the Mexicans inherited 
V . . > ‘ y !. • V i ' i . \ * . 
from the Spaniards is shown in many ways beside their unstable de- 
' 
votioa to science. I have so frequently had them say, "I will see 
< . . •. • , 
you again tomorrow" mentioning the hour,- and when tomorrow came, 
they had forgotten all about it and were probably making similar en- 
4 
gageraeats elsewhere, 
Emilio Castalear, in his article upon Columbus in the Century 
i • , v * • . ■ / r* * t ■ 5 
for August *92, gives an apt cliaracterizatlon of this mental trait 
in the Spaniards that it is worth repetition in this connection. He 
remarks that the Spaniards are an impulsive people who jump at hasty 
'» 
’ ' > 
conclusions from, a statement of the first principles and that if one 
thinks of doing a thing hie mind at once leaps from its inception to 
the finish and he sees it mentally as already done,- impatient and 
often utterly ignoring the frequently laborious means for its acoosapl- 
i • . _ 
ishment. 
* *_ 1 ' T * * * _ f •-. » 
Frcssa Morelia, the R.R. goes on gradually ascending among green 
hills until it reaches its terminus on the shore of I*ake Patsouaro 
at an altitude of about 6GOO feet. Here I presented my letter to 
the Jefe Politico and then settled down to work at the Hotel Ibarra 
near the station on the lake shore. This is one of 'die worst hotels 
I found in Mexico, while it is situated in one of the most beautiful 
spots in the republic. 
An irregular lake winding about in bays among the hills for 
10 miles or so and not over about 200 feet deep in deepest plaoe. 
Here and there along shore arc areas of rushes and flag, with a 
96 
