Habits of the _peon_ class--Their religion--The wayside
crosses and their tragedies--Ruthless political executions--The fallen
cross--Similarity to Bible scenes--_Peon_ superstitions--The ignis
fatuus, or _relacion_--Caves and buried treasure--Prehistoric Mexican
religion--The Teocallis--Comparison with modern religious systems--
Philosophical considerations.

The City of Mexico, typical as it is of Mexican people and their life,
by no means embodies or monopolises the whole interest of the country,
and the mere tourist who, having paid a flying visit thereto, thinks
thereby to gain much idea of the nation as a whole, will naturally fall
short in his observations. We must depart thence, and visit the other
handsome and interesting centres of Mexico's life and population, and
sojourn for a season among her people, and observe something of the
"short and simple annals" of her labouring classes. During the several
years which it fell to my lot to pass in this interesting land the
various phases of Spanish-American life as portrayed in Mexico were
often brought vividly before me, and indeed it is only after arduous
journeyings in a land of this nature that pictures of its life and
topography can be truly portrayed.

[Illustration: CITY OF GUADALAJARA: INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL.]

The general type of Mexican cities has been set forth in the former
chapter: their distinctive Spanish-American character and atmosphere.
The city next in importance to the capital is Guadalajara, in the State
of Jalisco. This is a really handsome community, with fine public
buildings; and it forms a centre of Mexican civilisation and education
of which its inhabitants are proud: not without sufficient reason. The
people of Guadalajara love to term their city the "The Queen of the
West," for the city lies upon the Pacific watershed, although the
Western Sierra Madre intervenes between her and the great ocean. The
population of Guadalajara numbers rather more than 101,000, and the
city is famed for its public monuments and institutions, religious and
secular. The elevation above sea-level of 5,175 feet insures an equable
climate, tending to a spring-like warmth, yet of an exhilarating
character, due to the breezes which sweep over the broad valley in
which it is situated. The region around the city is one of varied
topographical interest. To the south-east is the great Lake Chapala,
eighty miles long--a sheet of water of marked scenic beauty--an