The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 8, April, 1835Various
General
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 8, April, 1835
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
At the moment when the sun, sinking behind the mountains, has lost its
oppressive warmth, the population of Mexico pours itself upon this
charming spot. Hundreds of coaches roll along amid multitudes on
horseback and on foot. These ponderous vehicles, uniform in shape, are
various in their decorations, showing the several fashions which
prevailed at the time of their construction;--some adorned with
paintings commemorative either of heathen mythology or of remarkable
historical events; the pannels of some tell us of sieges or of battles
in days long gone by; some represent the perils of the deep; others
exhibit Neptune riding gently upon his subdued waves, or perhaps the
"pale Diana" or the "laughing Venus," or Calypso in her grotto using
her bewitching sorceries to win the youthful hero. These, and similar
devices, mark the period of vice-regal magnificence, and are now
peculiar to the hackney coach. Those of modern date, are in better
taste, being painted modestly, of a uniform color, but the wheels and
carriage part are generally richly gilded.
The coaches are filled with well dressed women--I won't say that many
of them are beautiful--who recognize their acquaintances by a
coquetish quirk of the fan--(a never-failing attendant even in coldest
weather)--or an active play of the fingers, at which the Mexican
ladies are very dexterous, and which might be misconstrued by the
uninitiated as a beckon to approach. Horsemen, in the characteristic
costume of the country elsewhere described, pass and repass,
exhibiting their proud and gallant steeds; and the multitude on foot
display their Sunday dresses, in which there has been of late a
manifest improvement.
The canal is strewed with boats, crowded with passengers of the lowest
class, who are amusing themselves with guitars, to which they sing and
dance. They return decorated with flowers woven into a chaplet, which,
contrasted with the black hair hanging down in a single plait behind,
of a pretty Mestiso girl, renders her quite interesting,
notwithstanding her copperish color.
All these in themselves present a highly exhilarating picture; but
added to the fine prospect of the mountain barriers of the Mexican
plain, and especially of the snowy peaks of the volcanoes of Puebla
which rise in full view to the south-east, this scene can scarcely be
equalled.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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