Ancient Cholula.--A Grand Antiquity.--The Cheops of Mexico.-- Traditions relating to the Pyramid.--The Toltecs.--Cholula of To-Day.--Comprehensive View.--A Modern Tower of Babel.-- Multiplicity of Ruins.--Cortez's Exaggerations.--Sacrifices of Human Beings.--The Hateful Inquisition.--A Wholesale Murderous Scheme.--Unreliable Historians.--Spanish Falsification.-- Interesting Churches.--Off the Track.--Personal Relics of Cortez.--Torturing a Victim.--Aztec Antiquities.--Tlaxcala.-- Church of San Francisco.--Peon Dwellings.--Cortez and the Tlaxcalans 258 CHAPTER XV. Down into the Hot Lands.--Wonderful Mountain Scenery.--Parasitic Vines.--Luscious Fruits.--Orchids.--Orizaba.--State of Vera Cruz.--The Kodak.--Churches.--A Native Artist.--Schools.-- Climate.--Crystal Peak of Orizaba.--Grand Waterfall.--The American Flag.--Disappointed Climbers.--A Night Surprise.-- The French Invasion.--The Plaza.--Indian Characteristics.-- Early Morning Sights.--Maximilian in Council.--Difficult Engineering.--Wild Flowers.--A Cascade.--Cordova.--The Banana. --Coffee Plantations.--Fertile Soil.--Market Scenes 282 CHAPTER XVI. The City of Vera Cruz.--Defective Harbor.--The Dreaded and also Welcome Norther.--San Juan d'Ulloa.--Landing of Cortez.--His Expedition Piratical.--View of the City from the Sea.-- Cortez's Destruction of his Ships.--Anecdote of Charles V.--A Sickly Capital.--Street Scenes.--Trade.--The Mantilla.--Plaza de la Constitucion.--Typical Characters.--Brilliant Fireflies. --Well-To-Do Beggars.--Principal Edifices.--The Campo Santo. --City Dwelling-Houses.--The Dark-Plumed Buzzards.--A City Fountain.--A Varied History.--Medillin.--State of Vera Cruz 301 CHAPTER XVII. Jalapa.--A Health Resort.--Birds, Flowers, and Fruits.--Cerro Gordo.--Cathedral.--Earthquakes.--Local Characteristics.-- Vanilla.--Ancient Ruins.--Tortillas.--Blondes in a City of Brunettes.--Curiosities of Mexican Courtship.--Caged Singing Birds.--Banditti Outwitted.--Socialistic Indians.--Traces of a Lost City.--Guadalajara.--On the Mexican Plateau.--A Progressive Capital.--Fine Modern Buildings.--The Cathedral. --Native Artists.--A Noble Institution.--Amusements.--San Pedro.--Evening in the Plaza.--A Ludicrous Carnival.--Judas Day 320 CHAPTER XVIII.