Unknown Mexico, Volume 1 (of 2) eBook

Carl Sofus Lumholtz
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 450 pages of information about Unknown Mexico, Volume 1 (of 2).

Unknown Mexico, Volume 1 (of 2) eBook

Carl Sofus Lumholtz
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 450 pages of information about Unknown Mexico, Volume 1 (of 2).

There is a small colony of Tarahumares living a few miles north of Guanazevi, near San Pedro.  Here I excavated some corpses that had been buried several years before on a little plain.  The graves were about four feet deep.  In Guanazevi a silver “bonanza” was in full blast and much activity prevailed.

We were now outside of the sierra proper; but on the route south, which I followed for several days, I was never farther away from the mountain range than thirty miles.  At Zape, about twenty miles to the south, there are some ancient remains.  As the principal ones have been described by E. Guillemin Tarayre, who explored Mexico under Maximilian, it is not necessary for me to dwell on the subject.  Suffice it to say that walls constructed of loose stones are commonly seen on the crests of the low hills and are attributed to the Cocoyomes.  Circles and squares made of stones set upright in the ground may also be seen, and nicely polished stone implements are frequently to be found near by.

Outside of Zape are a number of ancient burial-caves, which have been disturbed by treasure-seekers.  As a curiosity, I may mention that a Mexican once brought to light a big lump of salt that had been buried there.  It was given to the cattle.

One afternoon a gay little procession of men and women passed my camp, some on horseback, others walking.  One of the riders played the violin, another one beat a drum.  An old woman who just then stepped up to sell something explained to me that “an angel” was being buried.  This is the designation applied to small children in Mexico, and I could see an elaborate white bundle on a board carried aloft by a woman.  My informant told me that when a child dies the parents always give it joyfully to heaven, set off fireworks and dance and are jolly.  They do not weep when an infant dies, as the little one would not enter Paradise, but would have to come back and gather all the tears.

The way southward led through undulating country devoid of interest.  To judge from the clusters of ranches, so numerous as to form villages, the land must be fertile.  There were no more Indians to be seen, only Mexicans.  All along the road we observed crosses erected, where people had been killed by robbers, or where the robbers themselves had been shot.  A man’s body is generally taken to the cemetery for burial, whether he was killed or executed, but a cross is raised on the spot where he fell.  The crosses are thus mementos of the reign of terror that prevailed in Mexico not long ago.  Most of the victims were so-called Arabs, or travelling peddlers, sometimes Syrians or Italians, but generally Mexicans.

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Unknown Mexico, Volume 1 (of 2) from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.